Bragi stood cursing beside his upended barrel. He was moving like an old man waking after a long sleep. The wolfman was nowhere to be seen. Veles was wearing a smile that looked as if it had been cut into his face with a knife, shrugging as if asking for understanding. Vali felt angry and betrayed. He had looked up to the man, wished he was his father. Not Authun, Haarik nor even Forkbeard would have stooped to such a deceit.
‘Tie them!’ said Bodvar. A man came forward with a rope.
Time seemed to slow. One of Bodvar Bjarki’s men peered into the wolfman’s barrel as Vali heard Bragi come to the same conclusion he had, in the warrior’s more straightforward manner.
‘Bollocks to that!’ Bragi took a stiff step forward and cut off the head of the rope man. Bragi had his sword, thought Vali. Unbelievably, he had got his sword into his barrel.
There was a noise halfway between a vomit and a scream from Vali’s left and a guttural, crunching sound. The man looking for Feileg had found him.
Bodvar Bjarki didn’t have his weapon out, but almost before the head of his crewman had hit the bottom of the boat he stepped forward and delivered a blow with his fist. Bragi flopped to the boards as though he’d had all the bones knocked out of him. Then Vali saw the giant coming for him. He tried to dodge but Bodvar Bjarki didn’t just have the size and strength of a bear, he had the speed of one. He picked Vali up by an arm and a leg and smashed him down.
Vali fell badly, smacking his shoulder, but he quickly regained his feet. Bjarki was bearing down on him again.
The prince saw the realities of the situation in an instant. He was on his way to an enemy — Forkbeard or Haarik, it didn’t matter. He was valuable goods. Bjarki lunged for him but he rolled away and ran for the stern of the ship. He put his foot on the rail and turned to face the berserk.
‘Call off your men or I will-’
He didn’t get a chance to finish the sentence. Bjarki leaped at him. Vali had no choice: he jumped over the side. He heard the berserk curse as he missed Vali by a fingernail.
The cold rushed at Vali, crushing the breath from him. He gulped saltwater and was gripped by terror. His time in the mire had seeped into him and he now had a terrible dread of drowning. He had to fight to calm himself, to allow himself to swim as he could instead of panicking in the water. It wasn’t easy. His limbs were cramped from the barrel, but a flood of fear washed much of the stiffness away and he began to swim.
The swell meant that sometimes the boat was the height of two men above him, sometimes two below. It was coming about, side on to him. As the water lifted him, he concentrated to clear his mind and he saw it was a snekke, not as sleek or as quick as a drakkar but it could have twenty pairs of oars and maybe even carry a relief crew. They couldn’t fight that many but he did have one bargaining counter. He was wondering if he would even get to use it when he heard a voice shout from the ship.
‘Get back on the boat, goat brains!’ It was Bjarki, throwing him a rope. It hit the water next to him, but he didn’t take it even though he desperately wanted to.
He screamed as loud as he could, ‘Not until I have your oath you will not try to tie us or kill us.’
‘You’re in no position to ask for oaths!’
‘Yes, I am,’ shouted Vali. ‘If I drown, where is your ransom? ’
‘Drown then!’ Bjarki went to turn away but Veles appeared beside him. For a few moments Vali lost sight of them, then the berserk was calling to him again: ‘You have my oath, as you requested!’
‘And you’ll kill any man who does try to tie me or my friends while we are on your ship.’
Vali couldn’t be sure he saw Veles shrug, but he thought he did.
‘You’ve learned something of bargaining, prince!’ shouted the merchant.
‘Your oath. No hand raised against me or my friends.’
‘That too!’ shouted Bjarki.
The cold shot painful spasms into Vali’s limbs and he had to concentrate very hard to make his frozen hands take the rope. Then he was being pulled in and up over the side. Bragi sat where he had fallen, blinking and holding his jaw. Feileg was in a snarling stand-off with three spearmen.
Bjarki came forward and said in a low, almost confidential voice, ‘You’ve got your bargain, prince. You wouldn’t have died anyway, none of you. The old boy’s part of the deal and I intend to save your wolfman for where people can see me kill him.’
‘Where are we going?’ said Vali.
‘Back to Forkbeard,’ said the berserk. ‘You are the price of my freedom — that and a good whack of compensation.’
‘It was dishonourable to swear to that,’ said Bragi.
‘I’m meant for death in battle,’ said Bjarki, ‘not at the end of a rope.’
‘The king is entitled to compensation for any ransom he has to pay,’ said Veles. ‘And it will be a good one, because this is a prisoner of Hemming, king of the Danes.’
‘We escaped,’ said Vali.
‘Do you really think so,’ said Veles, ‘or was that for the benefit of spies? This way Hemming gets to sell you to Forkbeard; everyone else thinks you went there under your own steam. A neat solution, wouldn’t you agree?’
‘I will kill you, Veles,’ said Vali, ‘be assured of that.’
The merchant shrugged. ‘I think you are suffering from shock at your own stupidity. Don’t blame me, blame yourself. I am a merchant and a fixer. I buy and sell things according to their worth. You gave yourself to me when you came to Haithabyr unprotected.’
‘You were my friend,’ said Vali.
The merchant snorted. ‘I had enough of the friendship of your peoples when you burned my home in Reric,’ he said.
Bjarki butted in. ‘Do I have to kill him, or are you going to tell him to behave himself?’ he said, nodding towards Bragi, who was getting to his feet. ‘He’s part of the prize so it’d be a shame to lose him.’
Vali gestured for Bragi to be calm.
‘You have a sudden concern for profit,’ said Vali. ‘Has this merchant infected your thinking?’
The berserk spat. ‘I have none,’ he said. ‘As long as I can eat and stay dry then riches don’t concern me. “Cattle die, kindred die, but I know one thing that never dies, the glory of the great deed.” Does not the Lord Odin tell us this? My prize is renown and the fulfilment of oaths, which is why, when we come to dry land, I shall kill your wolfman. He is a mighty warrior and the man who kills him will be praised down the centuries.’
‘I am not interested in the wolfman.’
‘So what are you interested in? That girl? Forget her. Haarik has given her to the Whale People for his son.’
‘What do you mean?’
Bjarki looked at him and laughed. ‘I mean she is Domen’s bride by now.’
‘Speak plainly.’
‘The Whale Men will have used her for their magic. But why should I tell you any more? My oath concerns keeping you from harm while you are on this boat; it has nothing to do with your peace of mind.’
‘If you can find her you’ll be well rewarded,’ said Vali, already knowing the berserk’s answer.
‘Where’s the fame in that?’ said Bjarki and turned away.
Vali felt a strange exhilaration. This was the first real information he’d had on Adisla. He felt closer to her just hearing it. He looked around the ship. He saw some faces he recognised, but the rest were unknown to him. There were a couple of berserks, stripped to the waist in the hot day, their tattoos so thick that they seemed almost like fur. There were some warriors who looked like men of the Groa river, ten days from Hordaland on foot. They wore the distinctive plaited beards of those people. So Forkbeard was using mercenaries. Was he preparing for war? Or was he just keeping his own men at home to defend his lands while using hired warriors to settle his scores?
The River Men were not happy, Vali could see. Bragi and Feileg had killed their friends and only fear of Bodvar Bjarki kept them from revenge. As it was, they glowered at the pair, muttering threats under their breath but keeping their distance. Bragi was unperturbed and met their gaze with a soft smile that told them he was ready any time they wanted to try their luck.
Vali went to the back of the ship and sat with him.
‘Well?’
