13. THIRTEEN
THIRTEEN
The Northern Coast, H?logaland
It’s the middle of the night and the Gellir has pulled ashore and made camp.
Her sleeping crew is scattered along the shore like washed-up victims of a shipwreck, lying in the thick patches of grass that carpet the rugged coast or slumbering propped up against the rocks.
It’s a clear night and bright streaks of purple shift across the northern sky, colouring the sea with their shimmering reflection.
Dozens of red fires flicker along the dark coast where other crews have dragged their ships ashore and made camp.
Of the Gellir’s crew, three men are sitting up around the fire, taking their turn on the watch.
Two of them are quite young—brothers from a farm outside of V?gar, for whom it is their first raid.
The other is the fish-eyed sailor, Olli.
“Do you think it’s true what Dwerg said about the Hafgufa?” asks the younger brother, Kimbi.
Olli leers at him across the fire. “Are you accusing your skipper of telling lies, boy?”
“No—no that’s not what I—”
“He doesn’t have to be lying,” says Kimbi’s older brother, Geir. “It sounded to me like he really believes it’s out there.”
“And you think that you know better than he does?”
Geir shrugs. “Seems a bit farfetched don’t you think? A sea monster that’s more than a mile long?”
“If Dwerg says it’s what he saw, then it’s what he saw.”
“Come on,” says Geir, “it was his first voyage to Ladoga and there was a heavy mist over the sea. Everyone knows that if you stare into the fog long enough you’ll start to see things that aren’t there. No one else saw it leaping out of the waves.”
“Don’t let him catch you saying that,” says Olli, “He’ll have his knife in your guts before you can even say Hafgufa.” He chuckles, “Did you hear Arne’s story? About the Serpent of Lake Storsj?n? I missed most of it.”
The two brothers glance at each other uneasily. “That sounded much more realistic,” says Geir.
“He said the people who live on the lake make a yearly sacrifice to the serpent,” says Kimbi, “and that he was there when they sacrificed a girl. Her scream was cut short as she was snatched under the water! And then when he was rowing the lake he said—”
“No,” says Geir, “I don’t want to hear that part again.”
But Kimbi can’t resist. “He said he bumped something with his oar.”
“Kimbi.”
“It was the girl’s arm, all pink and lumpy, gnawed down to the bone, like a swarm of rats had been nibbling on it through the night. He said the stink of it stung his nostrils for the rest of the day. Rotten eggs, he said it smelled like, even through the water.
Geir shivers. “Frig and Freya...”
Olli is staring at Kimbi with his fish eyes. “Then what?”
Kimbi swallows. “He tried using his oar to fish the arm out of the lake. But as he reached out to grab it, he looked down into the water … and saw the creature …”
“Swimming right underneath his boat,” says Geir, “winding through the depths like a snake through the grass—”
“—Brown and scaly like a trout, “says Kimbi. He spreads his arms. “Body, thick as a ship’s hull. And a yellowish cloud was wafting off it. He thinks that’s what made the smell.”
“Loki,” says Olli, shuddering. He throws off his fur and stands up from the fire. “Speaking of serpents, I have to piss.”
He saunters down to the water past the longship hauled up on the shore.
He pulls up his tunic and pushes down his trousers, and sprinkles his shimmering stream into the waves.
There’s a change in the wind and he twists his hips towards the north.
It’s a warmer breeze from the south, rich with the smells of the woodland and damp fertile earth.
He inhales deeply, thinking of his farm and what he’s left there.
It’s been more than a week since he’s been with a woman, and he’s been thinking about his bed-slave Erna ever since they put off from V?gar.
Not in a caring or sentimental way; rather, the arch of her back as she rocks against him, her soft body filling his rough hands; her quiet moans and gasps, the sweet scent of her sweaty flesh.
He shakes himself off and pulls up his pants, but he doesn’t go back up to the fire just yet.
It aches when he walks. There’s a fire in his loins. And that woman doesn’t help. Hervor—Princess Hervor, the jarl’s granddaughter.
She’s sitting up against the rocks, asleep, her lips parted slightly. Her chest heaves with a quiet snore.
That dress doesn’t hide her figure well—and wouldn’t he love to rip it right off her—give her a good squeeze, a good slap—those white legs wrapped around him …
His mouth is watering.
She must be aching for it too. Why else would she join a crew of forty men? She must be waiting for one of them to be a man and make a move. She must be getting impatient. Oh she must be a hungry slut by now. Yes. Yes, that’s what she is.
“Olli? What are you doing?” whispers Geir.
Olli silences him with a dead-eyed glare. Neither of the two brothers has the nerve to challenge their older, larger crewmate. They stand by, holding their breath in the purplish light, as Olli reaches down to cover the girl’s mouth with his hand.
But in his excitement, Olli forgets that the moon is at his back. The woman stirs in the change of light as his shadow falls across her face, and Olli realizes his mistake. But too late.
Her blue eyes snap open. She stares at him in surprise and confusion.
Then she understands. Her eyes widen with terror, the way Erna’s had the first time he’d took her in his bed.
She cringes away, like she’s trying to melt into the rocks behind her.
Then the colour changes in her face and her petrified expression curdles into enraged disgust.
Her hand shoots for her sword, but Olli’s quicker, catching her by the wrist. He mouths an oath as she draws in her breath; he smothers her with his free hand, stifling her scream.
A bright flash leaves his ears ringing and his jaw numb.
He’s surprised at how much strength is in her punch.
She hits him again, a thunderclap inside his skull.
The third punch comes, but he jerks back and ducks his head, throwing her off balance and using her momentum to roll her over onto her stomach.
He’s on top of her, pinning her down. She wriggles furiously underneath him, snarling and jerking her face away from his palm. He squeezes his hand tighter over her mouth as she tries to bite him. “Easy girl,” he whispers, shushing in her ear.
Kimbi watches the two of them struggling on the pebbly shore. His mouth is dry. His heart his pounding. He’s clutching the hilt of his dagger like he’s about to intervene, but he’s paralyzed, like Geir.
Olli pulls her dress halfway up her back, exposing her white, supple form. Avoiding her butting head and jabbing elbows, he works on getting his trousers down. He leans off her a bit to push them to his knees—not realizing he’s allowed her to slip her arm behind her back.
She gives him a hard squeeze like she’s crushing a pair of robins’ eggs. His high-pitched squeal rips through the camp and causes the startled crew to leap to their feet with much swearing and confusion.
Olli is doubled over, gasping, his hands between his legs; the woman, Hervor, is headed straight for him with a drawn sword.
“Hervor, wait!—Don’t—”
A sudden glimmer sends Olli’s head rolling across the beach.
The rest of him smacks against the rocky ground, black ink squirting from his severed neck.
Dwerg glares at her in disbelief. “What did you do that for?”
Arne laughs. “I think it’s pretty obvious why she did it,” he says. He’s still wrapped up in his furs and is the only man not holding a weapon.
“Olli tried to rape Hervor,” Kimbi says quickly, “I saw it—we both did. She was only defending herself.”
His heart sinks as he meets Hervor’s fierce regard.
“You saw it?” she says acidly, “You mean, you niddings just sat there and watched as he crept up to me while I was sleeping? Gods—well I guess we’ve all seen your courage. Glad to see you’ve got my back.”
Her voice is shaking like she's on the verge of tears. “And as for the rest of you,” she says, addressing the bewildered crew, “if there’s anyone else who wants to come up my dress in the middle of the night—she points her sword at Olli's headless corpse—You can join your friend in Niflheim!”
No one speaks or makes a move.
“Fy Faen,” she croaks, and runs off into the dark.
“I told her this would happen,” hisses Dwerg.
He turns on the two brothers. “She was right,” he says, “you just stood there watching.
Did you stop him? Did you try talking him out of it?
You see that mess there? You see that? That's what happens.
Now we've lost one of our most seasoned men.
How many raids have the two you been on?
Hmm? How many times have you sailed to Ladoga?
Do you speak Finnish? Rus? Olli did. Loki!
I'd make you walk back to V?gar for your cowardice and stupidity if I wasn't so certain you'd die along the way. Couple of blunt knives you two are. Gods in Asgard!”
He shakes his head “Alright then, strip him and gather up his belongings. We’ll make a cairn for him in the morning before we leave.”
Geir and Kimbi hang their heads as the rest of the crew heads back to their furs and bedrolls. A few of them grumble oaths and give the two brothers nasty looks. Arne sucks his teeth as he trudges past them.
“I wanted to stop him,” says Kimbi.
“But you didn't,” says Arne, “you froze.”
Geir heaves a sigh of frustration. “I just don't see why he had to go and do that.”
Arne grins. “It was only a matter of time before someone did. I know I'm not the only one who's snuck up behind the rocks to watch her bathing in the sunrise.”
“Swedish lecher,” Kimbi says under his breath.
Arne frowns. “So, now you’re coming to her rescue?”
Kimbi winces as Arne punches him in the arm. Then Arne glances at Dwerg to be sure he isn’t within earshot.
“Don't you boys be too hard on yourselves,” he says quietly. “Olli would have killed you. Then we’d be down three good men. We all know it, including Dwerg. He’s just angry that Olli’s dead. Pull your weight, and he won’t stay mad at you for long.
“Hervor, on the other hand, is probably going to hate you for a while.”
Geir nods understandingly, but Kimbi looks particularly discouraged.
“However,” says Arne, “there’s another way of looking at it. By staying out of it, you gave her the chance to her prove herself. The whole crew watched her chop Olli's head off. I don't think anyone's going to be too keen to mess with her again.”