Blood Eye(55)

'He battered you,' Svein confirmed with a nod, 'but you learned a good lesson.'





'Did I?' I said, wincing at a shooting pain in my head.





'Of course you did, lad. You can learn a hundred cuts and pretty dances, a hundred tricks, and it'll do you as much good as a spoon with a hole in it.' He frowned. 'Or a comb with no teeth,' he added, holding up his old antler comb. 'It's blind, bloody fury that puts men down. And you put him down, lad. You could have finished him. Maybe.' He shrugged his huge shoulders. 'Next time, you will.'





'Thank you, Svein,' I said, for without the Norseman's help I would not have put Aslak down. 'But I'll do it alone next time.'





He shrugged again. 'I've never liked the runt,' he said, beginning to pull the old comb through his thick red beard. 'He had his way with my sister when we were children. Denies it of course, but I'm not as dumb as they think I am.'





I grinned despite the pain and tried to imagine what Svein's sister looked like. In my mind she was not pretty. 'You're protective of her, hey, Svein?'





He nodded and tugged at a thick red knot of curled hair. 'But I don't need to be,' he said, wide-eyed. 'She's even bigger than me.'





A fresh May breeze blew through the camp, rustling the beech and oak and bringing the long hollow hoot of an owl. Someone moved away from the fire and the orange glow fell across the dried blood on my tunic.





'Where's Ealhstan?' I asked, spitting another wad of bloody phlegm and sitting up to search the flame-lit, flickering faces. There was no sign of the old man amongst the shadows beneath the beech tree where he had been sleeping.





Svein scratched his groin. 'Having a shit, maybe.'





'I hope he's off somewhere making me a curved sword so I can fight Aslak from behind a tree,' I said. But something was gnawing at my guts and suddenly I feared for the old man. I stood up as a wave of nausea hit me, making me retch. But my stomach was empty and I just spat more blood. 'I'm going to look for him,' I said, dragging my forearm across my mouth.





I walked through the camp to men's jeers and the odd compliment, and passed Aslak who nodded grimly. His nose did not look broken, but Svein said it was, and I grinned at him before kneeling by Bram. 'Bram, have you seen Ealhstan?' He was drinking as usual, but even when drunk Bram did not miss much.





'Haven't seen him since before your dance with Aslak, Raven,' he replied, pursing his lips. 'Now you mention it, old Asgot's scuttled off somewhere, too.' He frowned and craned his neck, peering through the groups of hunkered men. 'Glum's gone, and Ugly Einar.'





'And Black Floki,' I added.





'No, lad, he's on watch out there,' he said, pointing northwards towards the higher ground where, before there were men, a great rock had burst through the mossy earth. It was a good natural vantage point and because of it Sigurd had been happy to set a smaller watch than usual.





'Want me to come with you?' Bram asked. I shook my head. 'Ah, I'm not tired anyway,' he said, hauling himself to his feet with a grunt. 'I enjoy our walks. Remember last time?'





'Last time the English cleaned their boots on your face, Bram,' I said.





He batted the words away. 'You should be a skald, lad, the way you decorate a story.' He stumbled. 'The ale was strong tonight,' he muttered, blinking the drink from his eyes. 'Well, come on, Raven, time to fly.' He flapped his arms. 'Let's find your old man before he stumbles into a boar pit. Here,' he said, handing me a spear and snatching up his own.





As we moved away from the camp, the men's voices became muffled and the smell of smoke gave way to the pungent aroma of tree bark and forest litter. The moon was full and huge, but black clouds skated across her to extinguish the silver shafts that pierced the canopy. We trod carefully, using our spears to push through the low branches, and made our way towards the higher ground where Black Floki stood watch.





Bram stopped and I heard leaves being ripped from a low plant. 'I'll wait down here, lad,' he said, pulling down his breeches and squatting. 'Give Floki a kick in the bollocks if he's snoring up there.' Then he gave a great fart.





Once amongst the rocks I could see better, for there were no trees to shut out the moonlight, and when I had climbed to the low summit I saw a figure sitting at the far edge.





'What do you want, Raven?' Floki said without turning round. 'Uncle sent you to check up on me, did he?'





'No,' I replied, angry with myself for letting Floki hear me approach, though I couldn't say how he had known it was me. 'I'm looking for Ealhstan,' I said casually. 'The old goat's wandered off.' I walked up to Floki and crouched beside him, following his line of sight into the dark forest. 'Have you seen him?'