At first her thoughts were all jumbled, her breath ragged and her heart thudding a loud beat in her ears. It took a lot of effort but, tuning out from everything around her, Sarah focussed on the one crazy thought; she wanted to talk to Thor.
A humming noise not unlike a swarm of bees filled her head getting louder and louder until she thought her head would explode, when it stopped with a loud pop. Her eyes still closed, everything was quiet, too quiet, she could no longer hear the sounds of the children or the boat’s rigging as it moved with the motion of the sea.
Slowly Sarah opened her eyes. At first she saw a very large pair of boots, her eyes travelled up and there she saw an even larger man outfitted in the clothes and chain mail of a warrior. Under one arm he held his helm and in his hand he swung a huge hammer to and fro. His face was smiling, Sarah with eyes wide open smiled back...sort of.
“Welcome to Asgard, Sarah Tremayne. You wanted a chat?” his voice was like thunder.
“Umm yes, sorry for bothering you but we could really do with some help. You see we are trying to get away...” Sarah began in rush. I’m in Asgard? Looking around she realised that yes she was in Asgard...sort of.
“Yes I know your story, we have been watching you. Your goddess is much older and though not of this land, you could ask her for help but you do not, why?” His voice boomed through her head.
There was that goddess thing again. “I thought it would be more appropriate if you helped? Hakon carries your amulet.”
“Hmm, so what is your plan?” His voice was beginning to hurt her ears. I am going to have one heck of headache later.
“Nothing fancy, I thought maybe a storm, strong winds to carry us away and if Aegir would help, a rogue wave for the dragon ship, smashing onto rocks or something…?” Sarah said with a hopeful smile.
His eyebrows rose and then he laughed making Sarah’s bones rattle. “You don’t want much do you? Why should we help? And what mortal girl, do you offer in return?”
“Why should you help? Because innocent lives are about to be lost if you don’t! I thought that the one thing all gods wanted was for the people to believe in them and I have two boat loads of potential believers, children who will grow into adults thanking the day that the mighty Thor helped them.”
Thor’s eyes narrowed and he was silent. It was not a comfortable silence. Perhaps I should have toned down the sarcasm. Eventually he spoke.
“If I do this, there will be conditions. You must pledge to wear my amulet alongside the amulet of your goddess.”
Sarah relaxed a bit. It was do-able, wasn’t it? My goddess? She nodded her agreement, hoping that this wasn’t one of those things that come back to bite you when you are least expecting it.
“Also…” he began, here’s the catch, thought Sarah, “When you return, a feast in my honour with the slaughter of two bulls”. Sarah wasn’t sure if that was possible and she was reluctant to agree but still, what choice was there? She nodded again.
“Aegir will want a sacrifice into the water, give him something of value and I will see that he sends the wave to knock out your pursuers”. She nodded a third time, her voice having deserted her.
She came to with a start, someone was shouting. It was Leif. The world around her came back into sharp focus.
“Sarah! Come on, snap out of it. We’ve rounded the point and so has the dragon ship, they’re getting their sail up!”
“Stop shouting, head for open sea and get everyone to brace themselves.” As she spoke, she looked down at her hand clenched around an object. She opened it and saw Leif staring at her in amazement. In her hand was a very fine silver hammer, the symbol of Thor, the Viking god of storms. It hadn’t been wishful thinking or a dream, she really had spoken with Thor.
“Good grief, what is happening to me?” Sarah muttered under her breath as she rubbed her eyes.
Then, without warning, lightening cracked in the sky above. The smaller children shrieked and huddled closer. Without being told the older children started to tie the younger ones to the gunwale. Great frothy waves began to break over the gunwale and they found themselves being tossed from side to side, the sail flapping madly in the wind. Sarah looked over towards Hakon’s boat and saw that they too were not doing so well.
Then the rain started, it came in large driving sheets soaking everyone to the skin in seconds. This was not what I meant, looking at the amulet clutched in her hand, if that big daft god thinks I will wear this when he sends a crazy storm that does not help, he can forget it. Thunder boomed overhead, making the children cringe as the rain lessened over them. Then a wind filled their sodden wool sails and the little vessels seemed to leap through the waves.
One hand slapping her head, she remembered. The rogue wave...which she needed to make a sacrifice to Aegir and the only thing of value she’d had was the arm ring she had used to buy food earlier. There was her own amulet, but something in her shied away from that idea.
The only other item of value she had were her throwing knives but she was really reluctant to part with them; they had saved them twice so far. What if she needed them again? But it was all she had so with great reluctance Sarah untied the belt and held it over the edge of the boat. Silently she offered her precious belt of throwing knives to Aegir. The knives sank into the dark waves and for a moment Sarah could have sworn she saw a pair of aquamarine eyes staring back at her.
The waves which had been accosting Hakon’s and Leif’s boats ceased almost immediately, the wind, rain and a slightly choppy sea almost had a friendly feel about it. All heads turned towards the dragon ship which, it seemed, was suffering a different storm. Their sail was torn to pieces, men were frantically bailing water and the rain was lashing down.
“Look!” shouted Hakon from across the water. There in the half dark of a Scandinavian summer night a large wave was racing straight for the dragon ship. Stunned that not only had Thor listened but also Aegir, Sarah could only watch as the rogue wave hit the dragon craft amidships, knocking it sideways and then rolling it. They saw screaming men and equipment being flung into the air. Sarah tried to block out the noise and pulling Harald close, buried face in her shoulder.
“Leif! Hakon! Time to get out of here,” she shouted turning her back on the carnage. With her words a new brisk wind filled the sails and away they went.
Chapter Nineteen