Daughter of Fire and Ice (7 page)

We made fair sailing that day. Bjorn moved about the ship and spoke with each slave individually. One by one, they pledged their loyalty to him and the mood on board the ship lightened. Bjorn further improved it by asking me to distribute a meal and a goblet of ale to everyone. He himself took over the tiller from Thrang, leaving the captain to manage the sail.

We’d left the coast behind us now, and the breeze had freshened. The second boat followed us at a distance. As I moved about, handing out food, the deck lurched suddenly under my feet, causing me to grab hold of some timber to prevent myself falling. I grazed my fingers on the wood and stubbed my toes. Annoyed at being so clumsy, I righted myself and walked on, a wary eye out for the next thing to catch hold of if the boat should move again.

‘First time on a ship?’ asked Bjorn with a grin when I reached his side.

‘Yes. But not your first voyage, I believe?’ I replied, watching him handle the tiller confidently.

‘No. I—’ Bjorn stopped suddenly, recollecting himself. ‘No, not my first voyage,’ he finished simply.

I handed him a goblet, which he held while I filled it. Thrang approached us.

‘Are you the healer Svanson spoke of?’ he asked gruffly, looking at me from under his brows.

‘I am,’ I admitted.

‘In that case, you should know that the
chieftain
,’ he emphasized the word with a dark look at Bjorn, ‘had your chest of medicines sent aboard.’

He pointed to the centre of the ship, and I could see, stacked next to the chicken pens, my familiar wooden box. I was glad to see it had reached the ship safely. I pulled my way across to it as the ship plunged in the swell.

I withdrew my key from the pocket of my tunic and fitted it to the lock. It clicked open smoothly, and I ran my fingers lightly over some of the contents. I was very glad to have them, I admitted to myself. Here was elder and willow bark to cure fevers. Cloves, traded from the east, to ease toothache. Selfheal for burns. And many other plants, collected and dried, or traded, that I couldn’t find easily again. I locked the chest and returned to Bjorn. His eyes were fixed on the horizon, and he didn’t look at me as he spoke.

‘You didn’t tell me you were a healer, as well as a seer,’ he said. ‘I suppose I should have guessed.’

I glanced swiftly at him. ‘I’m still in training,’ I told him.

‘You’re a useful person to have around,’ Bjorn remarked. He smiled at me warmly and I found myself smiling back.

As we left the coast behind us and headed out into the open sea, the swell increased and the ship dipped and lifted more steeply. I looked out at the heaving, blue-green sea. This ship that had looked so huge in the fjord now felt tiny and insignificant on this vast expanse of water. The other boat was still beside us, but I could only see it in snatches now, as we disappeared down into deep troughs, and waves the size of hills rose up between us.

It was no longer possible to walk without holding onto something. The slaves started to lie down and hold their stomachs. A few vomited violently over the side of the ship, hanging onto the edge for dear life as the ship dipped and reared under them. Looking around me, I saw it wasn’t only the people who were suffering. The animals too were lying down as best they could in their confined spaces, and one of the small lambs was bleating piteously. I staggered to its pen, trying in vain to comfort it.

‘If you want to help the animals, tend to that foal there,’ Thrang called to me roughly. ‘It’s lying down, and that’s sure death to horses. It needs to be on its feet or we’ll lose it.’

Here was a task I understood in this unfamiliar environment. I’d never been to sea, but I’d helped on the farm all my life. I went to the foal, and stroked its nose, speaking to it encouragingly. It lay still, sweat drenched and panting.

‘Try to get up,’ I urged it, pulling on its halter. The foal, a spindly palomino youngster, resisted. I climbed inside its enclosure and pulled harder, but it was a dead weight. I bent and put my arms around its body, bracing myself against the railings. The foal made a valiant effort to lift itself, getting its back legs under it. It swayed and would have buckled, but for the sudden assistance of one of the slave women. She caught at its hindquarters as they swayed and held it steady while I hauled it onto its front legs too. The poor creature stood swaying and trembling, leaning against us for balance.

‘Thank you,’ I said to her. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Asgerd,’ she told me briefly. I recognized her as the woman who had told me Thrang’s name in the night and also the mother of the one child on board.

‘Well, Asgerd, if you fetch me a rag dipped in water, we can try to give this youngster a drink.’

We did our best to squeeze water into the foal’s mouth, but most of it ran back out. We took it in turns to stand with him, keeping him on his feet. Asgerd’s daughter Astrid came to help, chatting to the foal and stroking him. After a few hours, I was sure he was a little stronger and his eyes clearer. Asgerd herself leaned heavily against the pen from time to time, eyes closed. She was obviously suffering too, I could see sickness in the colours that pulsed around her head. I was surprised to find myself unaffected.

As night came, the waves seemed to grow rougher. Or perhaps it was just more frightening to be out on the open sea in the dimness of the summer night. It grew colder and colder. I huddled in my cloak, miserable, uncomfortable and unable to sleep with the wind whipping over me. Sometimes when we plummeted down a wave, the next wave struck us, sending sea spray across the deck. I was soon sticky and damp from the salt water. Thrang moved among us, ordering us to tie ourselves to the ship, and handing out ropes.

‘We’re in for some heavy weather,’ he told me.

For a moment, I was afraid again. But Thrang looked so calm, so in control, that I hoped we weren’t in any grave danger.

I watched him set to work with Bjorn, bringing down the sail, furling it and lashing it securely to the mast. The two of them went to the tiller and tied themselves to the side of the ship. I could see them speaking to each other. They seemed to be the only people still able to move about. As I watched them, I noticed that Thrang’s aura was no longer dominated by the streaks of sulphurous yellow that had suffused it earlier. His suspicion was fading already. Bjorn’s aura was now glowing a confident, beautiful turquoise. He was feeling exhilarated by the storm, confident and powerful. Such a change in one day.

It began to rain, and both men were obscured from my view by the lashing drops that splattered onto the deck and soaked us through in no time. I could hear the men and women around us raising their voices in prayer, imploring Thor to spare us from the storm. I joined them, whispering my prayers quietly. I had heard many tales of shipwreck and knew that ships at sea were the playthings of the gods. But I remembered Thrang’s glow of confidence and hoped all would be well.

The bad weather lasted all night and far into the next day before it began to ease. At last, the wind lessened and the rain stopped. I was stiff and numb with cold. The clouds hung low, making the day dark. Miraculously, our second ship was still in sight. How she had managed to stay with us through the storm, I couldn’t imagine.

I untied myself and got unsteadily to my feet. I found my dry tunic and, shivering, I changed into it. I wrapped my cloak around me, and wandered the sodden ship, avoiding the puddles of water and vomit that slid across the deck in time with the motion of the ship. The slaves were huddled together in groups, overcome with exhaustion and relief.

Thrang appeared beside me.

‘We need to get the ship cleaned up before night,’ he said roughly. ‘Can you help me get everyone up and to work?’

‘They’re sick and exhausted,’ I started to object. He waved my words aside impatiently.

‘They’ll get ill lying wet in all their dirt,’ he said impatiently. I knew he was right. We went from one huddled group to another, shaking everyone awake. Thrang set the men to filling buckets of water from the sea and sloshing them onto the deck, while the women scrubbed at the muck that floated everewhere, sweeping it out through the drainage holes. Bjorn was at the tiller and called me to him.

‘Everyone needs to eat again,’ he said. ‘Can you see to it?’

I looked through the barrels and crates of food that were stored on deck and found some bread and some dried meat to distribute. I poured more ale too, hoping it would make up for the rude awakening we’d put everyone through.

Mealtimes were cold and comfortless affairs on board ship, I thought. If ever we had needed hot food, it was now, but there was no way of lighting a fire. I went from person to person, handing out food, asking their names. Grim, Karl, Kai, Brian, Jon, Aud, Vigdis, Astrid and Asgerd. We weren’t many to be out on such a huge sea.

Once everyone had eaten, Thrang and Bjorn hoisted the sail. It flapped a moment, heavy and dripping, and then the wind caught it, making it billow. The ship leapt forward, speeding purposefully through the waves once more. Seeing us hoist our sail, our sister ship did the same, dropping behind for a while and then catching up with us.

I watched as the day faded. I hadn’t slept since before we came on board the ship and my eyes were sore with tiredness. When I looked around me, I saw the slaves who weren’t helping Thrang sail the ship had all huddled together once more, wrapping themselves up against the bitter wind that blew across us. I wished I could join them, but I didn’t know any of them well enough. Most of them were as wary of me as they were of Bjorn.

I thought of my own family in Norway and I felt so homesick that it hurt. I had no one here. I found a space in the prow and sat down with my back to some crates of food, wrapping my cloak tightly around me. I couldn’t imagine being able to fall asleep outdoors in this temperature. I clenched my teeth to stop them chattering. I was more miserable than I would have thought possible.

A dark shape appeared beside me.

‘Bjorn?’ I asked uncertainly. I couldn’t see his face.

‘Yes. You aren’t sleeping?’ he asked.

‘It’s far too cold,’ I admitted.

Bjorn took my hand in his, and it was warm around my numb fingers.

‘I brought some furs,’ he said, laying two sheepskins beside me. ‘And this cloak is big enough to cover both of us.’

I caught my breath. Was he suggesting we lie down together? When we had had slaves in my father’s house, the girls had slept apart from the men. It was done like that in all decent households. Moreover, I was freeborn and a healer. However respectfully and equally we treated our slaves, we didn’t cuddle up to them.

Bjorn seemed to have no sense of this. Perhaps he had already put aside all thoughts of being a slave. He’d taken his freedom, and had shouldered the role of being our leader. He noticed me hesitating and smiled. ‘Don’t you trust me?’ he asked. ‘I only want to keep you warm.’

When he put it like that, I realized I did trust him. I’d put myself entirely in his power and he had done the same with me. He was my friend and my ally, and I was grateful he was here. I could feel tears stinging my sore eyes and I blinked hard to keep them back.
Don’t reveal your emotions
, Sigrun had always said. I thought I had learned her lessons better than this. But then I’d never been torn away from my home before, unsure if my family were dead or alive.

I lay down on the soft, thick sheepskin, and allowed Bjorn to put his arm around me and draw me close. A few tears leaked from my eyes. My body shook with a suppressed sob. Bjorn didn’t comment on it, but he drew me closer and began to stroke my arm, and then my hair. As my tears continued to flow, he turned me to face him, wrapping his arms tight around me and laying his rough, unshaven cheek against mine.

I felt breathless with my tears and the unexpected closeness. His embrace could have felt frightening, inappropriate, but instead it felt reassuring. Like me, he had just lost his family. Like me, he needed someone to care for him.

‘Do you regret this?’ he asked softly in my ear. ‘Do you wish you hadn’t come?’

I didn’t answer straight away. I fought my tears and tried to think whether I regretted it. A few moments ago, I had done. But now I felt comforted.

‘I miss my parents,’ I admitted. ‘And my brother. I wish I knew that they were safe.’

‘I miss my sister, too,’ Bjorn said. ‘It’s like a pain in my chest that won’t go away. I keep seeing her, dying. I could do nothing. Nothing at all. When I think of that, I don’t feel sorry I’ve killed a man and stolen his goods. I’m glad I’m here, and not fleeing alone and on foot somewhere.’ He shuddered at the memory. ‘As long as I haven’t made you unhappy,’ he added.

‘I regret nothing,’ I told him. ‘It’s my destiny, and you are part of that. I’ve seen it.’

Bjorn drew back a little and laid his head on his arm close beside me, looking at me. The light was dim, and his face was in shadow, but I could see his eyes gleam. Around his head and shoulders, the beautiful blue colour that was his essence glowed peacefully.

‘You’re just a little frightening, you know,’ he said. But he softened his words by rubbing his thumb gently along my cheekbone. I could feel Bjorn’s warmth begin to steal into me, making my eyelids heavy. Sleep was coming and I couldn’t fight it.

‘Are you warmer now?’ Bjorn asked. His voice sounded as though it was coming from a long way away.

‘Yes,’ I assured him drowsily. It was a huge effort to speak. I felt my limbs turn heavy as rocks and my eyes slowly close, as sleep took me.

I woke up with the sun shining in my face. I was cold again. I knew at once that Bjorn had gone. I sat up and could see him standing nearby at the prow keeping look out, clad in his tunic and leggings. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and saw I was still covered in his cloak.

I struggled to my feet, stretching my stiff, painful limbs. The cuts and bruises from our forced march behind Svanson’s horse were very sore.

‘Thora, you’re awake,’ said Bjorn. As he turned and saw me, his blue aura was suffused with pink. It was the colour I saw around my parents when they told me they loved me. As I saw it, I knew that in following my vision I had made the right choice. I was meant to be here. I went to stand beside Bjorn and he smiled warmly at me. As I gave him his cloak, he caught my hand as he took it, pressing my fingers lightly, and then releasing them. There was a bond between us now, I thought, looking up at him. We’d only just met, but so much had happened. I could read his feelings for me as clearly as if he had spoken them. I felt a rush of affection for him in return. I’d never felt like this before.