God of Vengeance: (The Rise of Sigurd 1) by Kristian Giles

Author:Kristian, Giles [Kristian, Giles]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781409043966
Publisher: Transworld
Published: 2014-04-23T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE KNÖRR WAS a good vessel, forty-five feet long, eleven feet wide and with a draught of a little under three feet. She had half decks both fore and aft, each with a few oar-holes for manoeuvring in harbour, and between these decks an open cargo hold lined with brushwood mats to protect the hull strakes. She could easily be run right up onto a beach for unloading and when she was in the sea she was as watertight as you could hope for, though still needed one man bailing on and off in a rough sea.

‘Ofeig Scowler was a lucky man to own such a vessel,’ Solmund said a little after dawn when they had the sail up to catch a fresh wind that blew them south along the pine-bristled coast.

‘He was not so lucky to get himself killed by being friends with that worm Guthorm,’ Sigurd said, and this got some ayes. For they were sure now that Guthorm and Æskil In-Halti had intended to murder them in their sleep for their silver and perhaps for whatever reward they would get from the oath-breaker King Gorm or Jarl Randver. For why else had Guthorm’s other guests had their weapons to hand in the dead of the night when the previous evening they had left them in the racks outside with those of the Skudeneshavn men?

In all likelihood Scowler had woken when the killing began, saw his host being attacked by the thrall and drew his own knife as any man would do, for all the good it did him.

‘I would sooner believe he was in on it too,’ Hagal said, ‘seeing as we have robbed him and made off with his ship, when he likely has kin somewhere looking out to sea for his return.’

‘You can believe whatever you like, for all the difference it makes now, Crow-Song,’ Olaf said, standing at the bow, eyes closed, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his left cheek.

And now and again Sigurd saw one or other of them staring at their new crew member as though there was some seiðr about him as dark as his long crow-black braids, or as if they were waiting for him to talk about that slaughter-filled night. Not that Black Floki had much to say about it, or about anything come to that. Solmund observed that clearly the lad did his talking with sharp edges, which was fine by him seeing as with Loker and Hendil aboard there was already too much talking for his ears.

‘What shall we call her then?’ Olaf asked, glancing from Sigurd to Solmund who stood at the stern like a king because he had a tiller in his hand again and that was all Solmund wanted from his life.

‘She’s wide, Olaf, so how about Ragnhild?’ Solmund said.

Olaf grinned at that, stroking his hand along the knörr’s sheer strake. ‘She’s too easy to handle to be named after my wife,’ he said, which got some laughter. A good sound on an unfamiliar ship.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.