Viking Voices Read Free Page B

know that is the place to gather, though I see others are heading north across the bay. I have taken this course once before, as I assisted Ragnald to carry a large and very heavy wooden chest filled with leather bags full of silver. We took it across the bay to Dalkey Island and buried it there for safekeeping.
    Perhaps I am not the only one, who helped to move goods away to safety on that island or maybe another island, and perhaps Ragnald was not alone in foreseeing that this disastrous day was coming. The prospect of this tragedy was certainly extremely well signalled in the days leading up to the attack on our beloved town.
    Once on the island we pull the boat on the beach as high as we can, to be above the reach of the next tide, and then rush to meet our comrades. Everyone is frightened and anxious to know who has survived and who has not. After searching frantically for what seems like an eternity among the women who got here earlier I finally find Aud, and hug her close, collapsing in tears into her arms. We are both in tears, perhaps of joy, perhaps of relief but probably mostly of pure hysteria. She is still with her mother Grunhilde and my mother Edda, having been with them all the way on the boat, so they are all safe. There is no sign of my father Erik, my brother Kjartan or of Aud’s father Gerd. Naturally we fear the worst for them, so many men have died, and there will be little hope of seeing them again if they do not turn up here very soon.
    The sun is above us now, it is just midday. Only half the day gone and already many of our warriors have died, half my family missing and the work of four or five generations lost.
    There is surprisingly plenty of good quality food and drink already prepared and cooked as though someone is expecting us to arrive here in such numbers. Although it seems very odd to have good food available in these large quantities, in these circumstances we are glad of that food since we are all very emotional and completely exhausted. There is also the opportunity to wash away the stains of blood from our garments and take away the physical stain of that defeat, though the hurt and humiliation that go with it will not go away. It will be necessary to fight again and to avenge this day. Nothing we can ever do will bring back the lives of those that have died in the battle.
    Although it is just noon I am exhausted and fall asleep in Aud’s arms, taking comfort from being with her here. It is a shallow, unhappy sleep though and full of the sight, taste and smells of blood and death and is dominated by dark terrifying thoughts. So it is not long before I am awake again, shaking uncontrollably with fear and weeping bitterly for the relatives and friends I have seen brutally slaughtered in front of my eyes. I am horribly aware of my own death having passed so very close by me and I still tremble with fright. Although I have awoken from my sleep the terrible feeling of horror, weariness and misery will not go away from me. We are in desperate straits and facing a very uncertain future in a strange place.
    Aud comforts me and tries to get me to talk about it, saying that it will help me cope with the trauma and grief. I cannot cope with talking about it though, as even thinking of it brings the horror back. Not only can I not talk of what has happened but I will never talk about it again. It is sealed away in a compartment of my memory that I will never want to access again. Occasionally it will visit me at nights in the months and years to come, disturbing my sleep and waking me up in a hot sweat, trembling and shaking. It is one of the few things that I cannot and will not share willingly even with my wife, and even less with any other human being. In fact, Aud will become very familiar with the mood created by these disturbed dreams but eventually learn to accept it sympathetically and without question.
    By evening it is clear that all of those who are coming are already here, and our