Attack of the Vikings by Tony Bradman

Author:Tony Bradman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-10-19T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

A Tool for Killing

The sky darkened suddenly, with a cold wind from the sea bringing sleet that stung the skin, and Kjartan invited Ylva and Finn into the warmth of his hut. Pine logs burned in the small hearth, snapping and crackling and filling the hut with the scent of the forest, but Finn barely noticed. He was too busy listening to Kjartan’s tales of his early days as a Viking with Ingvar, the grandfather he had never known.

‘Ingvar was my friend,’ said Kjartan. ‘I met him on my first Viking voyage. It was his first voyage too, and we were the two youngest in the crew. For us it was an adventure, a holiday from our boring lives at home, but all the others were hard men, interested only in plunder and slaves. Ingvar and I took care of each other, bench-mates at the oars, shield-brothers in battle. A bond like that doesn’t break.’

‘So does that mean you and my grandfather were... raiders?’ said Finn. It was strange to think of this gruff old man as someone much younger, a warrior in his prime. It was stranger still to think of his own long-dead grandfather as a boy who had been bored by farming and wanted a different life, just like Finn himself. Perhaps it wasn’t only the colour of your hair or eyes that you got from your family.

‘If you’re asking whether we were sea-wolves, then the answer is yes,’ said Kjartan, turning to him. ‘Oh, we did many things. We stole the gold from Christian churches and burned them down. We fought for lords and chiefs who paid us, and we switched sides when they ran out of money. And in between times we raided villages, running our keels on to beaches and leaping from our ships with fire and sword...’

Kjartan talked on, and for a short while it was as if the world Finn had glimpsed in old stories and legends filled the little hut. It seemed that Kjartan and Ingvar had travelled everywhere, and seen many wonders – and many terrible sights as well.

‘Ingvar grew tired of it all eventually, and decided to settle down,’ said Kjartan. ‘He left the crew, went back to his village, married a pretty girl, had a fine son...’

‘My father,’ said Finn, and almost smiled to think of Ottar as a baby.

‘But that isn’t the end of Ingvar’s story, is it, Kjartan?’ Ylva said softly. ‘Or yours, come to that. You must tell the boy everything, however painful it is for you.’

Kjartan turned to her now and held himself very still. Then he let out a great sigh, and his shoulders sagged. ‘I missed my shield-brother, so I often came to visit him, and a few times I got him to come away with me for a summer’s raiding. To be honest it was never that hard to persuade him, even though his wife hated the idea and didn’t want him to go, fearing that he wouldn’t return. And then one year.

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