Blood Eye(100)

'He's a good lad. Worth a lot of blood, this one,' Penda said, still grinning as Weohstan coughed and spluttered and spat a gobful of water back out. 'If the ealdorman had sent more men with us, we might have got the lad back without having to fight at all.' He shook his head. 'But they've had their fun with him, Raven. Boy's in no state to walk back to Wessex.' He looked up at me. The spikes of his hair were matted with gore and the whites of his eyes shone strangely against the filth. Even the Norsemen must have found Penda a terrible sight.





Sigurd looked Penda in the eyes. 'Then let the boy rest awhile, Englishman,' he said, for his blood was up and his eyes hungered for more slaughter. 'We'll have our fun with these savages before we go back to Wessex.' Penda looked up at the fortress and suddenly I thought the timber walls did not look so sturdy. 'Tonight we sleep in Welsh beds!' Sigurd called, and the Wolfpack cheered, for there was more blood to be spilled in honour of their gods.





The afternoon brought a stirring, westerly breeze to cleanse the air of the stink of faeces and death, and the sun was warm on my skin as we made preparations to drive the Welsh from their homes. Sigurd had ordered the warriors of Wessex to gather as much dry wood as they could before dusk. They had not liked being told what to do, especially Penda, but Sigurd seemed so confident in his scheme that they obeyed him anyway. What choice did they have? Some of the Norsemen joined the Wessexmen, whilst the others stood before the fortress gate, ready with sword and shield in case the Welsh should attack.





'Come with me, Raven,' Sigurd said, heading off round the eastern side of the fortress. I gathered all my war gear and followed him, wondering what he planned to do with the wood, for we would never get close enough to the walls to set a fire beneath them. Not without suffering a rain of rocks, arrows and Welsh piss. 'Do you think there is a little Welshman still sitting in that tower up there?' he asked, gesturing to the stone structure up on the hill from where smoke had risen the previous day.





I shook my head. 'He'll be long gone. I would if I'd watched what happened down here.' Sigurd nodded.





As we climbed the tor, Sigurd explained how he had led the Wolfpack back into Wessex after evading King Coenwulf's Mercians. The Norsemen had stopped for food and rest, as he put it, at a small village. I did not ask what happened there.





'I had no thirst to return to Ealdred without the White Christ book, Raven, but there was no other way. This is not our land.' He grimaced. 'Hoped to catch up with Glum there, as I knew he would take the book to Ealdred. That dog would have filled his journey chest with my silver.'





'Glum's was a good death, lord,' I said, wincing as pain from aches and cuts flooded my body. 'Too good for the likes of him.'





Sigurd nodded, though I believe some part of him was pleased that the man had died as a Norseman should. 'The Englishman wouldn't give me my ships,' he said, grunting as he hauled himself over a rocky outcrop, 'but he coughed up half the silver he owes me.' A smile touched his lips. 'It's a fair hoard too!' He laughed. 'I've never seen its like, and that's only half of it.'





'And Floki?' I asked.





'What would you do with an Englishman's hoard, Raven?' he asked, kicking into the soft ground to gain purchase. 'Imagine you're surrounded by enemies and about to head out after a murderous, blood-eyed boy who can't keep his sword in its scabbard.' He shot me a knowing look which I ignored because I knew he was teasing me about Cynethryth. 'Well, lad, what would you do with enough silver to raise an army?'





I thought for a moment. 'Bury it,' I said.





Sigurd smiled again and nodded. 'When I knew the English were in their beds I buried Ealdred's silver. Buried it deep near the beach. I left Floki to watch over it. He's happier on his own anyway.'





I must have betrayed my misgivings then, because Sigurd stopped to catch his breath and looked me in the eyes. 'Floki is not Glum,' he said. 'I know he can be a foul-tempered doom peddler, but you don't have to worry about his loyalty, Raven. Not Floki. He'll be at my side when the dark maidens come. The Norns have woven this. It is destined.'





'I have heard him say as much, lord,' I said.





Sigurd nodded, then continued climbing. 'Ealdred told me that Weohstan was his son.' His eyebrows arched. 'Didn't see that coin in the well. He said that you had set out with fifty men to steal him back from the Welsh.'





'Fifty?' I blurted. 'Mean bastard gave me thirty and only ten were warriors. But they fought well.' I thought of Eafa and Saba and Eni and the rest. 'But he keeps your ships, lord?' I asked. 'I gave him the book. Put it in his hands. You should have been free to take Serpent and Fjord-Elk across the sea.'