When Jarl Gunnar Thorfinnson is killed by Saxons and his wife and son slain it throws the clan on Raven Wing Island into disarray. Internal divisions and strife is only stopped when Siggi White Hair becomes jarl. A raid on Frankia gives Hrolf the Horseman a vision of his dream of a new home. When treachery strikes and the Bretons attack it seems that all of his dreams will be destroyed before he can make them a reality. An exciting and fast moving novel this part of Hrolf’s life ends when he lands in what will become, eventually, Normandy and he battles Vikings and Franks for a new home.
In this third instalment of the series tragedy strikes the clan forcing them to rethink their lives. With internal divisions and strife the clan is in danger of disintegrating. It is only when Ulf Big Nose, Siggi White Hair and Hrolf the Horsemen combine forces that they find a solution to their problems. The solution comes, however, at a terrible cost.
Excerpt
We swung around the end two ships. The wind was against and our turn stopped us as though we had run into a stone wall. I held the shroud with my left hand and stood on the topmost strake. Arne, holding the kindling, threw the grappling hook but I had already leapt into the dark even as he threw it. I landed lightly on my feet and ran towards the two men of the watch who had woken. They raced to me with swords drawn. I saw that they were the curved swords they liked further south. Pausing only to grab a looped rope I did the unexpected and ran towards them. I hurled the coiled rope as I did what the Hibernian champion had tried with Ulf Big Nose. I rolled beneath their flailing swords. The rope hit one and I drove the seax deep into the inside of the thigh of the second. Blood gushed from the fatal wound. I stood and, as the second man tried to throw the coils of rope from him, slashed my seax across his stomach. It was razor sharp and he watched his entrails race from his body like a sack of worms.
Leaving Arne to deal with any other crew I picked up one of the swords and ran to the anchor. I hacked through it in one blow and then ran to the steering board. I pushed it hard over. Rurik had placed the pot at the foot of the mast and he scurried up to lower the sail. I heard a cry as Arne despatched one of the sentries. I turned and saw a fourth, a young ship’s boy. He looked at me and then leapt into the harbour. An uncertain watery future was better than three fierce Vikings. Arne laid the kindling around the base of the mast. He then grabbed as much wood as he could and piled it on top. As I watched I saw that two other ships were under our control and ‘Raven’s Wing’ was now facing the sea and waiting for the fire starters to join her.
Arne shouted, “Come on Rurik before those three ships upstream escape!”
“I am doing my best!”
I shouted, “Don’t bother untying the ropes! Cut them!”
As soon as Rurik slashed the ties holding the sail it dropped and the wind caught it. Already moving in the right direction we now moved with the wind coming from our steerboard quarter. Rurik slid down the shrouds and joined Arne. Arne looked over, “Ready whenever you are, Hrolf.”
“The ships are beginning to move. You light the fire and I will take us closer. There is little point in coming this far and letting them escape.”
They nodded and waited. I could see that seven of the ships were in our hands and the second and third were already on fire and heading upstream after us. The watches on the three ships further upstream had seen our intention and were cutting their cables in an attempt to escape. They were heading upstream to safety and I knew that they would escape the fires of the last couple of ships. I had to stay on longer.
“Hrolf!”
“You just jump! I can swim to the shore. Tell Sven to pick me up below the watch tower.”
They set the fire going and then ran to me, “And what if he cannot pick you up?”
I shrugged, “Then it is wyrd. You will watch over my family?”
They nodded but Rurik said, “You were not destined to drown, Hrolf the Horseman! We will see you on the drekar!”
They stood on the stern rail and then leapt into the water. They had, perhaps, four hundred paces to swim. They would make it. As the flames leapt up the mast they seemed to make us travel even faster. When the fire burned through the sheets and the shrouds I knew that the mast would not last long. It was hard to see the three ships ahead and I had to trust that I was going in the right direction. I saw one heading for the far bank. When its mast suddenly shivered I knew what had happened; it had run aground. That one could not escape. The smoke and the flames were making life uncomfortable for me. The dried wood of the deck around the mast was already on fire. I would have to time this so that I did not perish. Looking aft I saw that the other ships were echeloned behind me. Without helmsmen, however, their course was in the lap of the gods. Only my ship would strike where I chose and for that reason I had to get it right.
Suddenly the flaming mast, weakened by the fire at the base and with the weight of the sails unsupported, crashed forward. The stern bounced up a little and we were now bow heavy. It did, however, afford me a view of the river ahead. The two ships which had not run aground had fouled each other. They were just forty paces from me. The burning mast had now set fire to the bow and the raised stern acted as a sail. The wind raced us along. As the fire spread towards me I realized that I had used up all of my luck. Putting my seax in my teeth I jumped into the water.
