‘Raul likes it. He told me it reminds him of home.’
‘And the way you laugh over things that aren’t funny.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like yesterday, when Vallon was practising lowering the yard and it swung round and knocked him flat.’
‘That
‘No, it wasn’t. He’d just finished spewing his guts out. You don’t laugh at the captain.’
Syth cast a look at her bare feet. She wiggled her toes. ‘I’m sorry. I won’t laugh or sing again.’
Wayland swallowed. ‘It makes no difference. You’re leaving.’
Syth’s face puckered, then she whirled and fled with the dog at her heels. Everyone had stopped work to watch. Vallon ordered them back to their duties. Wayland turned and clutched the stempost, a painful pressure in his chest.
‘Back to crusts and water,’ Vallon said, lobbing the remains of a cold and meagre supper over the side. Syth had taken to the hold with the dog and hadn’t been seen since her showdown with Wayland.
Vallon looked over the company. Everyone was assembled except for Snorri, who ate alone by the rudder. ‘Tomorrow we’ll try to grab a couple of extra hands. Snorri reckons we’ll sight land before daybreak. If this wind keeps up, we should reach the coast somewhere near the Humber estuary.’
‘Drogo will be expecting us,’ said Raul. ‘He’ll have posted lookouts all along the coast.’
Vallon nodded. ‘He knows we daren’t risk putting into a port. He must calculate that we’ll try to take on crew from a fishing village, so he’ll post guards in the larger ones and send flying pickets to keep watch on the others. Our best chance is to pick up a couple of men from an inland settlement not too far from the coast. Snorri knows several likely villages south of the Humber. We’ll creep in before it gets light.’ Vallon looked at Wayland and Raul. ‘Think you two can man — age on your own?’
Raul teased a scrap of gristle from between his teeth. ‘Snatch them, you said.’
‘I don’t imagine you’ll find volunteers.’
‘The village is about a mile inland,’ Snorri murmured. ‘The peasants will be in their fields before sunrise.’
Vallon turned. ‘Ready?’
Wayland nodded, his throat tight.
‘Don’t take any chances. We can always try again another day. We’ll stand out to sea for as long as we can. If you’re not back by nightfall, I’ll assume you’ve been captured.’
Wayland and Raul exchanged glances and picked up their weapons.
Snorri pawed Wayland’s arm. ‘Don’t forget the girl.’
Wayland glanced aft. Syth had emerged from the hold and was standing on the stern deck with the dog.
Vallon felt for his purse. ‘You’d better give her this.’
Wayland stared at the coins.
‘You told me you’d settled the matter,’ said Vallon.
‘I did. I mean, I thought I had.’
Syth stood nibbling her knuckles. The dog sat beside her, upright and alert.
‘Then what are you waiting for?’
‘She doesn’t want to go.’
‘What she wants doesn’t matter. You’ve decided and that’s all there is to it.’
‘I was thinking-’
‘It’s too late for thinking. We don’t have all day. Fetch her.’
Wayland swung his head away. Vallon’s jaw tightened. ‘Raul, put the girl in the boat.’
Raul glanced at Wayland. ‘Captain-’
‘Raul,’ Vallon said very quietly. ‘Get the girl.’
With another look at Wayland, Raul began to walk towards Syth. Before he’d taken three steps, the dog was on its feet, a thunderous growl shaking its frame. Raul stopped. ‘I ain’t risking it, Captain. Only Wayland can get near the dog when it’s in that mood.’
Vallon mouthed a profanity, drew his sword and marched down the deck. The dog sprang forward with saliva strung between its jaws.
‘Don’t!’ Wayland shouted.
Vallon looked back, his face dark with rage. ‘Fetch the girl or I will.’
‘It’s no good. I can’t leave her. I was going to, but I can’t.’
‘Jesus wept. If you cared for her, you’d be the first to set her ashore.’
‘I know. I can’t explain.’
Vallon walked towards him, breathing heavily. ‘So we’re back where we started. If the girl leaves, we say goodbye to you.’
‘I don’t want to leave.’
Vallon’s breathing steadied. His features settled into calm. He glanced at the paling stars and put his sword back into its scabbard. ‘It will soon be light. You’d better go.’
Wayland took a step towards him. ‘Does that mean-’
‘Go!’
Snorri sprang at Vallon. ‘But ye promised!’
Vallon thrust him aside. Raul grabbed Wayland.
They pelted for the ship’s boat. As Raul cast off, the dog launched out from the ship and crashed into the boat. They began to pull for the shore. Looking back, Wayland saw Syth run to the bow and give him a dazzling smile and an ecstatic little wave.
They grated on to a shingle beach and dragged the boat above a tide-mark of matted kelp. After three days at sea, Wayland’s legs wobbled disconcertingly. He could just see the knarr’s outline. He ordered the dog to watch over the boat and they set off inland. Grey light filmed the grass. Their feet left black prints in the dew. By the time they reached the village common, hedgerow birds were chorusing.
A placid river bounded the fields. The village itself was tucked behind a line of elms. Nestling rooks made an appalling racket in the trees. Wayland sat against a willow. Raul carved a loaf and held out a wedge.
Wayland shook his head.
Raul didn’t take his eyes off him.
‘You needn’t bother,’ Wayland told him. ‘Anything you say, Vallon’s already said it.’
Raul began to chew. ‘I’ve known you since Walter dragged you out of the forest, and I never saw you do one sappy thing until that girl appeared. Never saw you so much as glance at a maid. Now look at you. Off your food. Can’t sleep. You’re smitten bad, my friend.’
Wayland eyed the trees turning from black to green. A rooster crowed. ‘I feel terrible.’
‘Only one cure. Dump her before it’s too late. You’ll soon get over it. She’s pretty enough, I grant you, but there’s always another girl in the next town. A youth as handsome as you won’t even have to pay for your pleasure.’
Wayland plucked at a clump of grass.
‘It ain’t like she’ll perish of want.’
‘I know. I’d made up my mind, but when it came to it, I didn’t have the heart.’
Raul stopped chewing and seemed to study Wayland in a new light. He tapped him on the wrist with his crust. ‘She’s bewitched you.’
Wayland was prepared to believe anything. ‘Do you think so?’
‘Know it. Only a witch could have made you jump into the sea in front of a Norman army. She’s put a spell on the dog, too. Look at the way it follows her like a lamb. And her eyes — weird.’
Wayland threw the grass stems away. The sun had risen behind them. A delicate rack of clouds was taking shape in the heavens. A cuckoo called sleepily from a distant covert.
