The Wolf Sea

the open shutters and died in a blaze of glory on the sconces, 'is in the church of the Archangel Michael in Kato Lefkara. It was left in the charge of monks there, to be delivered here.'

`What is it?' I asked.

Balantes wiped his mouth with the back of one hand and said, 'No business of yours. Yours is simply to get it and take it to your master who will take it to Choniates. Where is this Starkad I was told of anyway?'

`Delayed,' I replied. 'He has other business.'

I have heard of his other business — some renegade apostate monk,' growled Balantes, scowling. 'I also know you wolves were paid enough for him to put that aside until this task was done.'

I am here to do it,' I replied with as mead-honey a grin as I could pour out, spreading my hands to embrace them all. 'Simply get me the package and I will set sail at once.'

Now Balantes looked embarrassed.

`Not quite so simple,' Tagardis said, hesitantly, looking to his chief and back to me. 'There was. . a problem.'

And he saga-told it all out, like a bad drunk hoiking up too much mead over his neighbours.

The island had been once jointly ruled by the Great City and the Arabs, which arrangement Nikephoras Phocas had ended by making it clear if the Arabs didn't pack up their tents and leave, he would kick their burnous- covered arses into the sea. Most had gone. Some had not and one, who called himself Farouk, had taken to raiding from the inland hills.

Unfortunately, he has grown quite strong,' Tagardis said. `Now he has actually captured the town of Lefkara — Kato Lefkara is a village a little way beyond it and we have had no news from that quarter for several months.'

`How strong has he grown?' I asked, seeing from which quarter the wind was blowing.

A hundred or so Saracens,' Balantes grunted, using the Greek word for them, Sarakenoi. I learned later that this properly referred to the Arabs of the deserts in Serkland, but had come to be used for them all.

Tearing more mutton on to his plate, he added: 'The troops I have here outnumber him three to one, so he will not attack. However, he can't get off, nor can he get help, for my ships are better.'

I have seen your men,' I replied, 'and your ships would only need to stay afloat to be better against a man who has none at all.'

I watched Tagardis' lips tighten, then went on, 'What do you expect from me? I have less than a dozen men.'

I thought you Varangii counted yourself worth ten of any enemy,' snapped Tagardis.

Tomanoi, for sure,' I answered, which was foolish, since there is never anything to be gained from insulting your hosts — but I was young then and enjoyed such things.

There was a sliding sound as Tagardis pushed his chair back and half rose, face flaming. The Archbishop fanned the air; the Kephale started to bluster.

Balantes slapped the table with a hand hard as the flat of a blade. There was silence. The General spat gristle and scowled at me. 'I do not know you and though you look like a boy barely into chin hair, I do you the courtesy of allowing that this Starkad gave you command because you have talent for one so young. You seem witted enough. If you had more men, could you gain this church and the prize in it?'

`Not if they are the men I have seen,' I replied. 'And how do you know this Farouk does not already have your prize?'

It is well hidden and small,' the Archbishop declared. 'It is a leather cylinder, the length of your forearm and slightly fatter than a scroll-case. I will tell you where it is when all is decided.'

I had no idea what a scroll-case looked like, but still had a fair idea of what to look for. 'And the men?'

`What say you to fifty Danes?'

I gaped like a fresh-stunned fish, recovered and managed to grin. 'If they are the ones who have been in your prison for the last five years, I would say 'farewell fifty Danes' and run like wolves were chewing at my backside. They are as likely to rip both of us a second bung hole as fight a Serklander called Farouk.'

Balantes chuckled. 'That is your problem.'

`No,' I said, 'for fifty angry and armed Danes, I am thinking, are worse to you than all the Farouks on this island.'

Balantes leaned both meaty arms on the table. 'For the last five years they have been breaking stones to repair the fortress,' he said flatly. 'There is no hope for them, no chance to get off this island other than the one they take now. If they decide to turn renegade, they will have the Sarakenoi and me to fight and there will be no place for them to go.

`They can rampage all they like, steal what they can, but they will be opposed at every turn and die for every mouthful of bread. They may gain riches, but will have nowhere to spend it. There is no way off this island.'

This last he almost spat at me and I saw then that he was as much a prisoner here as they — which, it seemed to me, made them more Odin-lucky than he.

I considered it and the more I did the more it seemed as attractive as Loki's daughter, Hel, her whose bedhangings were Glimmering Misfortune.

`How do they get off the island when we have recovered this prize?' I asked. 'My own crew is about all the Volchok will take. It is a simple trading knarr and, even allowing that some will die, those left will be too many for that boat.'

`Your problem,' snarled Tagardis sullenly.

`No, for I am thinking these Danes will see that clear enough when this is put to them,' I answered. 'It is not a gold-gift, this offer of yours.'

Balantes stirred slightly. 'Their ship will be returned to them,' he said and I blinked at that, for Tagardis had given me to understand that it had been sunk.

`Foundered, I said,' he corrected with a smirk. 'Holed and driven ashore. We took her and repaired her, but have found no use for her yet.'

More likely the Greeks did not know how to sail it and they would not trust the Danes back on the deck of their own ship.

I will give them their ship and arms,' Balantes said, 'and the promise that they will be unmolested for two leagues beyond the harbour. After that, if I see that ship or the crew again, I will sink one and blind everything else.

`You will go quickly to the place, get this container and return it to me unopened. I will seal it, then you will take it back to Choniates, into his hands and no other. Time is against us here, so move swiftly. I do not care about Farouk's destruction, only what is in the container. Understand?'

I was hardly listening. A hafskip. Even allowing for the fact that Greeks did not know bollock from rowlock when it came to Norse ships, they could hardly have botched repairs so as to make her unseaworthy.

A hafskip was within my grasp and all I had to do was persuade fifty Danes not to kill their captors, to trust me, a barely shaved boy, and to take on an Arab and all his men. After that, I would have to think up some way of keeping the hafskip — and them if possible.

All of which made the Thing we held on board later that night a lively one.

Brother John thought we should find out how many were Christ-sworn and then convert those who were not, so that we all had that faith in common. Sighvat said it did not much matter what gods men believed in, only what men they believed in.

Finn said we should get them to swear the Oath, at which my heart sank. That Odin-oath never seemed to weaken — indeed, it grew stronger with every warrior who joined.

Kvasir, of course, slashed his way to the nub of it and, for a man with only one good eye, saw clearer than anyone, save me. I had already seen what had to happen, but just did not want to have to face it.

`These Danes will already have a leader, whether the jarl they sailed with, or one they look to if he has gone,' he said and looked at me. Orm will have to fight him and defeat him, otherwise all of them will be patient enemies for us, not sword-brothers to trust at our backs.'