“Well?” said Hakon.
“Not here, let’s get back to the cover by the track first,” whispered Sarah and as she pointed to the trees they could see the sky beginning to lighten. None of them wanted to be here when the settlement stirred to life.
Once more Hakon took the lead. They were half way to the trees when they heard a shout from the hamlet and they threw themselves to the ground. Sarah’s heart jumped into her throat and glancing quickly around at Leif, who was as pale as a sheet, she realised that for all his bravado he was just as scared as she was.
Hakon had commando crawled back to them; he at least seemed to have some control over himself.
“Listen” he whispered.
It was then that they all realised that the shout wasn’t about them but part of the normal sounds of the little community waking. It had probably been one of the warriors on the beach; even so, it had given them all a fright. Hakon indicated that they should crawl through the long grass until they got to the relative safety of the trees. Crawling slowly on all fours the trio made their way back there.
Once they had reached the forest, Sarah stood up and stretched out the kinks in her back. Looking around she saw what she wanted and led the boys over to a dense bush that could provide them not only with some cover but also with a view of the track.
Hakon’s eyes narrowed as she took the lead but then relaxed when he realised what she was doing. Sitting down, Sarah quickly recounted the story Rolf had told her. When she had finished, both Hakon and Leif were silent for what seemed like an eternity and an overwhelming sense of urgency came over her.
“Come on you two, we need a plan. Once that lot are loaded onto the merchant ship we don’t have much of a chance to get them back,” said Sarah, her voice tinged with desperation.
Something in her voice must have registered with Hakon, who looked directly at Sarah and smiling, he said, “We will get them back and you are right, we have to get them before they are handed over to the trader. We will follow them when they leave the settlement, you chose a good place to watch from, and later on when it is dark and quiet we will get them, make a dash for the boat and go home”.
Hakon made it sound very easy and straightforward, like a trip to the seaside for an ice cream. Sarah felt certain that it wasn’t going to be like that, in fact from the look on Hakon face he had something else planned. She decided to stick close to Hakon, although she wasn’t really sure as to what she was going to do.
“Sarah, you mentioned other children?” asked Leif frowning.
“Yes, Rolf seemed to think that they were not the only children that were taken,” replied Sarah. Putting a hand to her forehead, “We have to save them too”.
“No we don’t, they are not our responsibility and besides our boat is not big enough,” said Hakon, his eyes not meeting Sarah’s.
“You have got to be kidding? Of course we are. How can we not? It would be wrong. We are going to rescue ALL of the children and as for the boat situation, well we can steal a bigger one can’t we – in for a penny, in for a pound as my Nan always says”
“No we are not Sarah, we can’t be responsible for everyone, if we had an army behind us, well maybe, but just us three?” said Hakon almost shouting. Sarah though, was not prepared to back down on this one.
“Yes we are!” Sarah was equally firm. “How could you condemn those children to a life of slavery, doing goodness knows what. There are families who will be beside themselves with grief. Your mother would be ashamed of you for not even trying, we have to try. They may not be your responsibility Hakon, but it is my responsibility to help those in trouble,” Sarah wasn’t sure where that last bit came from but she knew it was true.
Yet again it was Leif who played the mediator. “Why don’t we wait and see how the land lies before we make any firm decisions that we might later regret, hmm?”
Realising that she would never get Hakon to agree by losing her temper, but equally certain that she was right, she nodded her head in agreement. Seeing Sarah agree, Hakon also hastily signalled his agreement, an uneasy silence fell on the little group as they watched the road leading from the hamlet.
It was about an hour or so after sunrise when Sarah decided she needed to answer a call of nature. Trying to be casual about it, walking a little way away saying “Umm, I’ll be back in a minute”. Neither of the boys noticed, toilet habits were matter of fact, not something anyone would comment on. On the boat, it was nothing to simply sit on the edge with your rear hanging over the water and after some reluctance on her behalf she too had done the same, grateful for the length of her tunic.
Even so, her very English upbringing still had her blushing furiously every time she needed to go. Just as she was rearranging her tunic and checking her throwing knives, Sarah heard a whistle.
Hurrying back she found both Hakon and Leif watching the settlement and there heading along the same path they had taken late last night, were the children. Each child had their hands tied at the front with a rope linking them to the child in front. ‘Snake arms’ walked in the lead and the berserker at the rear. There were no other warriors, just as Rolf had said.
Crouching behind Hakon, Sarah saw his muscles tense up just as the children were passing their hiding spot. Realising that he was about to do that stupid thing and probably get himself killed into the bargain she prodded Leif. Hakon would listen to his brother.
Glancing at her and then his brother, understanding dawned in his eyes and he placed his arm firmly around Hakon’s shoulders. Hakon tried to shake off the arm that had effectively imprisoned him, but the time in Ulf’s forge had given Leif a strength that his older brother could not match. After a brief struggle the wind seemed to go out of Hakon’s sails and he became still.
From behind the bush, the trio watched as the last of the children passed by. Sarah could see that whilst the children looked somewhat bedraggled they seemed in good spirits, several of them kept looking around them. She could only guess that this change in attitude was a result of their visit last night, or was that this morning?
It was while she was thinking this the berserker loomed large on the path in front of them. To say that he was a big man would have been an understatement. His appearance was enhanced by the cloak he wore. It appeared to be made entirely from a single pelt of an equally large bear, its head still attached and which had been transformed into the hood of the cloak.
Underneath the bear cloak the man was bare chested, his muscled torso criss-crossed with old scars. But the most astonishing thing was his face. Sarah expected an ugly scar ridden face at the very least, but no, his was the face of a young man, oddly clean shaven and without any imperfections. On the surface he was quite fanciable but for the odd feeling of revulsion that swept over Sarah as she looked at him.
Sarah stared at him in amazement and he stared back. For the trillionth time her heart leapt into her throat and she felt the urge to run far, far away. Luckily for her though Leif had her in a firm grip just as he had his brother only minutes ago. She felt for her amulet, the reassuring warmth calming her.
The berserker had not been staring at her, he had been staring into the gloom of the forest, and yet the cold blueness of his eyes had lodged a finger of ice into her heart. After a few agonising minutes, the cold warrior ceased his scrutiny of the forest edge and turned away, jogging quietly to catch up with the children and ‘snake arms’.
Sarah collapsed to the forest floor, gasping for breath. It felt like she had run a marathon. Neither of the boys seemed to have been affected in the same way, they were both watching the track carefully, waiting for the right time to follow.
Once she had her breath back, Sarah stood up, brushed the leaves off her tunic and turned to Leif.
“Thanks”.
Leif smiled, “Between you and Hakon we almost failed in our quest before it even got started, next time if either of you think you might do something daft, could you please give me some warni
ng, huh?”
Both Sarah and Hakon just sheepishly nodded their heads, not looking at the other. Leif was right, the presence of the berserker sent a shiver up Sarah’s spine. Just thinking about him highlighted the need to be extra careful. Who was he? She didn’t think that he was an ordinary berserker, not that she had a lot of experience with berserkers-she didn’t even think he was an ordinary Viking. Something was not quite right here.
Anyway, there was no more time to ponder this particular mystery, Hakon and Leif were off following behind the line of children and their captors. Keeping to the forest edge, Sarah would need to concentrate on her footing if she was to keep up with them.
Chapter Fourteen