Falcon Warrior (The Swordswoman Book 3) Page 12

  'Thank you!' Melcorka smiled at the bare-chested men who had joined her. They bowed deeply and spoke in a quiet language that she understood, although she had never heard it before in her life.

  'It is our honour Eyota,' they said.

  'I am Melcorka of Alba and this is Bradan the Wanderer,' Melcorka said.

  'You are Eyota,' the men said, scrambling down the cliff to Catriona. Melcorka joined them, with Bradan a few yards behind. The Skraelings spoke quietly among themselves, then gathered around Catriona and hauled her through the trees at three times the speed that Melcorka and Bradan had managed.

  'I don't know who you are or why you are helping,' Melcorka said, 'but I am glad to see you.'

  'It's the head-band,' Bradan said. 'They keep looking at your head-band and calling you Eyota.'

  'Maybe that means something in their language,' Melcorka said.

  'It's a name.' Bradan said. 'They think you are somebody called Eyota.'

  Melcorka ran the name around her mouth. 'Eyota.' It was strangely familiar. 'Eyota.' To her knowledge, she had never heard it until a few moments before yet she knew it from somewhere. She shook the idea away and smiled. 'I hope they don't expect me to do anything clever.'

  'Where are you going?' One of the Skraelings asked. 'Where are you going with the canoe?'

  'To the big river,' Melcorka said. 'We are going past the great seas and down the big river to Dhegia.'

  At the name, the man raised his hands. 'That is what the prophecy says, Eyota.' He smiled as if sharing some secret. 'You are here to fulfil the prophecy.'

  'I am Melcorka of Alba… I know nothing about a prophecy.'

  The men looked at each other and smiled. 'As you say, Eyota.'

  'Do you know Dhegia?' Melcorka asked. 'Are you from Dhegia?'

  The Skraelings smiled again. 'We are not from Cahokia or Dhegia,' they said. 'You know that, Eyota.'

  Bowing again, the Skraelings backed away, and then turned and fled into the woods, leaving Catriona safe at the side of the river with the waterfalls behind them and the Norsemen nowhere in sight.

  'They were a helpful bunch,' Bradan said. 'Even if they ran away.'

  'They knew about this place Dhegia,' Melcorka said. 'I wonder what this prophecy is that they spoke about.'

  'We might see when we get there, Mel,' Bradan said. 'Or should I call you Eyota?'

  Melcorka touched her head-band. 'This little piece of fabric seems very important,' she said.

  The vision returned; that huge city with the pyramids and neat buildings. That was Dhegia. It could be nowhere else. And she was Eyota.

  No; she was Melcorka.

  Bradan reached out and touched the head-band. 'It doesn't feel anything special. It must be that falcon design.'

  Don't let him touch it.

  Where had these words come from? Melcorka pulled back, frowning, and slipped the head-band off. 'It must be the design,' she agreed. 'I wonder who Eyota is.'

  'We may find out sometime,' Bradan said. 'Now we're past the waterfalls, let's hope that the rest of the journey is easier.'

  With a huge inland sea ahead of them, Melcorka and Bradan settled to wait for the Norse. They moored Catriona in the shelter of a dense copse of trees hidden from land and water, lay in the dappled sunlight and dozed.

  They heard the noise before they saw the Norse. Frakkok worked with the rest and urged the men on with her acid tongue and occasional blows as the Norsemen pushed Sea Serpent before them, swearing and shouting as they made progress, and then Erik gave a great whoop of joy. 'We are past them all!' He jumped up like a young boy, ripped off his clothes and ran into the water. 'Come on!'

  The younger Norse followed, with the older men looking on with expressions that could have been of envy or amusement, Melcorka was not sure which. For a few moments, she watched the naked young Norsemen splashing in the water, wondering how warriors with such a reputation for ferocity could look so much like other men.

  'You are smiling,' Bradan was lying on his back, ignoring the Norse as he watched Melcorka.

  'I know,' she realised that she had been concentrating on Erik alone and looked hurriedly away. She was a fraction too late. Erik looked up and caught her gaze. He looked down at himself and grinned, just as Bradan looked over.

  'We'd better be on our way,' Bradan rose abruptly, pulling Melcorka behind him. She looked over her shoulder and Erik waved to her, still obviously pleased with himself.

  Maybe. Eyota's voice said in Melcorka's head. Maybe so.

  Chapter Eleven

  'Is this the third of these great inland seas, or is it the fourth?' Melcorka wondered. 'I have lost count.'

  'Does it matter?' Bradan adjusted the set of the sails so Catriona heeled slightly to larboard. This fresh-water sea was choppy, with high clouds scudding across a sky of brilliant blue and Sea Serpent was two cables-lengths astern with her striped sail now showing signs of wear and tear.

  'If it's four, then we are on the last inland sea,' Melcorka recalled the map that had been imprinted into her mind in the sweat-lodge.

  'I won't be sorry to leave them behind; the weather is as fickle as anything back home.' Bradan tugged on a line, which had no effect at all to Catriona. She powered on, throwing the waves aside in spumes of silver-white foam.

  'There's another vessel coming,' Melcorka said quietly. 'To the north.'

  Bradan ducked under the boom, shaded his eyes and looked north. 'I can't see anything,' he said.

  'It's gone now,' Melcorka said. 'I'm sure it was there a minute ago.'

  Bradan took a deep breath. 'I hope they're friendly, whoever they are.'

  'So do I,' Melcorka said. After so long with only the two vessels on the water, she was used to their own company. Whatever she thought about Norsemen, there was something reassuring having Sea Serpent with her crew close by when they were so far from home. Despite their lack of experience, they were still doughty warriors compared to most in the world.

  'There it is again,' Melcorka said.

  'That's no ship,' Bradan said. 'It's rising from the water and submerging again. It's some sort of fish.'

  'It's too big for a fish,' Melcorka said. 'Remember what Donnaconna said? He told us there were monsters in these waters.'

  'Dragons,' Bradan said.

  'He called them oniares,' Melcorka said. 'Huge water snakes with a horned head and they attack canoes.'

  'The Norsemen have also seen it now,' Bradan said.

  Sea Serpent altered course with a flurry of spray and flash of raised oars. 'Melcorka!' Erik's voiced floated over to them. 'It's a dragon!'

  'Best leave it alone!' Bradan shouted.

  'They want to be remembered in the sagas,' Melcorka said.

  'There's no need to seek trouble; it will find them when it's ready.' Bradan watched the Norse dip in their oars and haul mightily so that Sea Serpent powered through the waves with her dragon figurehead lifting with every stroke.

  'It's submerged again,' Melcorka said.

  Sea Serpent passed over the stretch of water where the oniare had been, circled and backed water. The Norsemen lined the sides, staring at the disturbed water. 'Did you see where it went?' Erik shouted.

  Frakkok pointed silently to the water.

  'There it is again,' Bradan murmured as the oniare rose a hundred yards astern.

  It was smaller than Melcorka had thought, perhaps twenty feet long and more green than blue, with a broad, flat head adorned with a single spike the length of a man's arm.

  'It's more like a large eel,' Melcorka said calmly. 'I thought dragons were huge scaly things with wings and fiery breath.'

  'That what everybody thinks,' Bradan nodded wisely. 'Until they see one.'

  Frakkok stepped onto the bulwark and shouted directions so that Sea Serpent steered straight for the oniare. Rather than wait until they closed, the Norse unleashed a volley of arrows. Two penetrated the creature's head so it reared up and let out a high pitched squeal.

  'It sounds l
ike a wounded pig!' Bradan said.

  Laughing in triumph, the Norse fired another volley of arrows as the oniare writhed on the surface of the water. It squealed again, lashing its tail against the hull of Sea Serpent with a sound like the beating of a drum.

  'It's calling for help!' Bradan said. 'Erik! Take care!'

  'We'll finish it off,' Erik sounded as cheerful as ever. 'This dragon is easier to kill than these polar bears were.'

  'Melcorka!' Bradan shouted. 'Here's the help coming!'

  A second oniare rose from the water on the larboard side of Sea Serpent, ducked its head and thrust its horn into the back of one of the Norse archers. The man's sudden scream alerted his companions.

  'There's another one!' Arne yelled.

  'There's another two,' a squat man named Knut fired a wild arrow as a third oniare curled around the dragon figurehead and slithered inside the Norse ship.

  'And here is Father,' Bradan shouted as the water erupted at Sea Serpent's stern and a huge oniare, at least five times larger than the first, emerged into view.

  'We'd best give them a hand,' Melcorka watched as the giant oniare stretched toward Sea Serpent. It opened its mouth to reveal a triple row of backward slanting white teeth and let out a squeal so loud that every Norseman winced. Erik covered his ears.

  'Go to them, Bradan!' Melcorka yelled, drawing Defender.

  'If only they had left the first beast alone,' Bradan muttered. He steered Catriona toward the dragon-ship. 'I don't like killing things that have done us no harm. Erik Farseeker should mind what he does.'

  'I think he is trying to prove himself to Frakkok,' Melcorka said.

  'And to you,' Bradan's voice was so quiet that Melcorka barely made out his words.

  The largest of the onioares swept its head sideways, knocking a bald Norseman into the water, where one of the smaller creatures wrapped its coils around the unfortunate man and dived under the surface. Another Norseman lunged at the huge creature with his spear, only for the oniare to bite him clean in two.

  'That thing's evil!' Melcorka said.

  'I think that thing is a mother protecting her babies,' Bradan said. 'Look!'

  The largest oniare gave that tremendous bellow again and one of the smaller oniare slipped away from Sea Serpent and returned into the water.

  'So it is,' Melcorka said. 'It did not even appear until the first oniare was hurt.' She sighed. 'I don't wish to hurt a creature that is only looking after its young.'

  Standing in the stern of Sea Serpent, Frakkok took an axe from one of her men and pushed Erik toward the oniare.

  'Be a man!' she screamed. 'Go and kill that dragon, or die at least trying to be a man!'

  'There's another example of a mother's love.' Bradan said. 'I'd be happier if you left the Norse to fight their own battles, Melcorka.'

  'You know I can't do that.' Melcorka said.

  Bradan nodded. 'I know. I wish you could.'

  'Bring Catriona alongside,' Melcorka held Defender two-handed, 'and watch for the children.'

  Bradan gave a small smile. 'The children are twenty feet long,' he reminded, easing Catriona close to the Norse vessel.

  'I noticed,' Melcorka vaulted onto Sea Serpent.

  The huge oniare lifted its head and screamed again. Holding Defender in front of her, Melcorka stopped. 'I don't want to kill you,' she shouted. 'And I don't want you to kill me.'

  'She's talking to it!' Arne shouted. 'That fool of an Alban is trying to talk to a dragon.'

  'We killed one of yours,' Melcorka continued, and you have killed two of ours. Shall we call the bargain fair and end this here?'

  The oniare opened its mouth wide, with the triple row of teeth gleaming and a forked, snake-like tongue darting out. Melcorka stood still as the tongue flicked toward her.

  'Stop fighting!' Melcorka shouted to the Norsemen. 'Don't kill the little ones!'

  'Who are you to give orders?' One man shouted and plunged his spear into the body of an oniare. The creature writhed and screamed and the mother oniare lunged forward, its great jaws snapping. The Norseman backed away, lifting his bloodied spear.

  'Help me!' He shouted. 'The dragon has me!'

  The mother closed its mouth on the man, cutting him clean in half, and used its tongue to push the two halves into the water, where more of the smaller oniares appeared, gnawing on this fresh meat.

  'Kill it!' Frakkok screamed. 'Erik! Kill that monster.'

  'No!' Bradan shouted. 'It's not a monster: it's only looking after its children. Let the little ones alone and it will leave. If we don't attack them they won't attack us.'

  'Kill the dragons!' Another middle- aged Norseman lifted an axe and aimed at the nearest oniare.

  Melcorka parried his blow with Defender. 'Bradan's right!'

  The huge oniare swirled toward Melcorka. Replacing Defender in her scabbard, she stood still, trusting to Bradan's words. The oniare pressed its face close to hers, with its massive eyes unblinking as it surveyed her. Its tongue flicked out, probing at her neck and face and then withdrawing.

  It screamed again, coiled around Melcorka with its head close to hers and much of its body still in the water. Its weight pulled Sea Serpent onto her side so water lapped over the bulwarks and began to fill the interior.

  'It'll have us over,' Arne said. 'We'll capsize!'

  'Stand still!' Bradan shouted. 'If you attack, it will sink you and you'll all die.'

  One by one the smaller oniares slipped off Sea Serpent and vanished under the surface. Only when they were safe did the mother also leave. She crawled from the bow to the stern, looking at each member of the crew in turn before flicking her tail in farewell. The disturbed water settled down as if the oniares had never been.

  'You cowards!' Frakkok screamed. 'You are not fit to be Norsemen; not one of you is fit to be a Norseman!'

  Erik looked away. 'We could not kill it…' he began.

  'You did not try,' Frakkok said. 'Oh I wish I could meet a real man again; I want to meet a man like your father!'

  'This is a family dispute,' Bradan said quietly. 'And as such is best left to the family to work out.'

  'I am glad that woman is not in my family,' Melcorka stepped on board Catriona.

  Bradan nodded. 'You did well, Melcorka. You always do well.'

  Melcorka smiled. She glanced back at Erik. 'Some day that boy will have to stand up to his mother. Until then he will never be a man.'

  'That is also a family matter,' Bradan said.

  Chapter Twelve

  The great seas stretched ahead, limitless, pulling them onward as Melcorka followed the map she had in her head. She remembered that there was a small outlet from the final sea, a small river that led to one infinitely greater.

  'Bradan,' she pointed to a break in the coast. 'That is where we must go.'

  They looked at it together.

  'It's not very impressive,' Bradan said, 'it could be any river in Scotland.'

  'Do you trust me?' Melcorka asked.

  'I do trust you,' Bradan replied immediately.

  'Then follow,' Melcorka said.

  Neither of them mentioned Erik yet the smiling Norseman was in the forefront of Melcorka's thoughts as she steered for the small opening where twin trees marked the river-road south. She pointed to the carved falcon on both trees.

  'You are right again,' Bradan said.

  'Dhegia lies ahead,' Melcorka signalled to Sea Serpent and they eased into this new waterway. 'Now we head southward into the unknown.'

  'And may God be with us,' Bradan said.

  Every night as Bradan slept, Melcorka slipped on the head-band, closed her eyes and experienced the visions until she could walk the streets of the city as if it was home. She could nearly smell the food cooking and hear the murmur of deep, musical voices. Each time she wore the head-band it was harder to take it off so she spent each day counting the hours until she could return to a city she had begun to think of as her own. She began to resent Bradan keeping her away.
>
  They smelled the smoke a day before they reached the village.

  'There is something ahead,' Bradan said.

  Melcorka nodded. 'Best tell the Norse,' she touched the hilt of Defender.

  'We can ignore it,' Erik began, glanced at Frakkok and said, 'but we are Norsemen! We will investigate.'

  'It may help us find Dhegia.' Melcorka agreed. 'Although we are still many miles to the north of the city.'

  'I will lead,' Erik said loudly.

  Melcorka nodded. 'As you wish.'

  They advanced through the open woodland with swords drawn and arrows fitted to bows, one careful step at a time with the noise of birds around them and an increasingly unpleasant smell in their nostrils.

  'I know that stink,' Melcorka said. 'It is the smell of death.'

  'Oh, sweet aroma of battle,' Arne said. 'It is welcoming heroes to Valhalla.'

  'Oh, dear God preserve me from fools with big mouths,' Bradan said quietly, tapping his staff on the ground.

  'You older men,' Erik said. 'Return to the ship. The rest come with me.'

  Arne pushed in front. 'I will lead,' he said.

  'I should lead,' Erik said, stepping aside.

  'I am the stronger,' Arne told him.

  Melcorka watched and said nothing. Bradan sighed and looked down at the leaf-mould that covered the ground. 'There have been many people here,' he said quietly, 'walking in single file. See how deep their impression is on the leaves? No single man depresses the surface so far.'

  Melcorka loosened Defender in her scabbard. 'Warriors?'

  'I would say so,' Bradan said. 'Villagers have no need to hide their numbers.'

  'A raiding party then.' Melcorka said.

  They found the first body a minute later. A thousand flies rose as they approached, buzzing around their heads in a persistent blue-black cloud.

  They stood around the corpse. 'His head has been crushed.' Erik said.

  'He died easy,' Arne pretended to be unaffected by the sight. Erik stepped back slightly.