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Thread: A Whale Riders Journey - Updated 19 December 2013

  1. #21
    Rex Anglorvm's Avatar Wrinkly Wordsmith
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 17/5

    Chapter Seven – Two smacks are better than one


    We set out at dawn, aiming to take the Franks by surprise at the time when a man is between dream state and wakefulness. We had marched towards our target, our men trailing behind Huw; apart from a skeleton crew we had left to guard our ships back on the beach. He had described the fort that we were about to take. Sven and I walked by his side, Sven holding the rope around his neck, whilst I had my sword pressed against the small of his back.

    ‘Fulk has quite a formidable fortress, its not wood you see, no timber palisade or stockade, it’s a Roman fort, its one of the only things that Fulk lavishes money on, because it keeps his wealth safe you see?’, the Welshman was pulling on the rope leash around his neck, but continued to describe the fort that we would need to take.

    ‘The problem is that although he has spent a fortune on the walls, strengthening them and so on, he has starved his men of gold, the battle would have seen all but his most loyal flee, so I think you will able to take them easily. The only problem is getting through the main gate, you could fire it, but it would take an age to burn, you could use a ram on it, but you would need to build one, which would take time, so I suggest that you use guile instead.’

    Sven stared at the little man, his interest apparent, like all Norseman he loved to trick or fool an enemy, ’Well, what’s your scheme then, lets hear it?’

    Raising an eyebrow Huw suggested ‘I think that Aed and I exchange places.’

    Sven, looked at the Welshmen and then at me, ‘Aed?! Ah, you mean Dogface!’

    I could feel my face burn up; I had wanted to tell my new friend my ‘name’ in my own time.

    ‘Well, Aed or Dogface or whomever needs to change places with me, I can lead him through the gates, Fulk will recognise him as the man who smashed his face in, he won’t wonder why Aed is my prisoner. He will just want to get even, see? We should be able to hold them at the gates, while you bring the rest of the men up to support us – the gates are narrow you see – the two of us should be enough of a handful.’

    Sven turned the idea over in his head and then asked the same question that I was thinking, ‘What’s to stop you from running into the gates with my son and then handing him over?’

    ‘Nothing’, Huw, as I would come to know was always straightforward. It wasn’t the answer I was hoping for…

    Sven looked at the pair of us and smiled, I could sense he was coming around to liking the little man from Gwynedd. ‘Alright swap over, but if you play me false Welshman, I will take that fort, I will gut you like a carp and let you watch as I eat your entrails.’

    Sven raised his right arm and our column of men stopped moving, a few taking an interest in what we were doing, most however stood around waiting for the order to move on.

    The little man nodded, and we swapped places, he took my sword and stuck it in his waistband, Sven handed him a battleaxe, and I took the rope from his neck and place it upon my own.

    ‘Aed, he wouldn’t really eat my innards would he?’ Huw had a hopeful look on his face’.

    ‘I wouldn’t put it past him, he is a mad bugger’ I smiled and laughed, and then felt a smack in the right eye as the Welshmen hit me.

    ‘What the hell did you do that for?’ I was rubbing my eye, tempted to smack him back when I felt another blow to the other side of my face, and landed with a thump on my backside.

    ‘Good idea, Welshman’, Sven had landed his meaty fist on my left eye and I could feel my eye swelling already.

    ‘It’s for your own good; I can’t drag you in there as my prisoner without a mark on you, can I?’ Huw smiled as he helped me to my feet, Sven and several other Norseman having a good laugh at my expense.

    I was not amused I can tell you.

    Huw looked at us both and spoke ‘We haven’t got long to walk now, about half a mile, we need to get on the other side of this small hill, see, and we will be able to see the fort, and the fort will be able to see us. Your men will need to remain here, while we approach the fort’.

    I was incredulous, ‘Half a mile?! We will be dead before our men can get to us. Can we not get our men closer?’

    ‘No, it’s all flat farmland over the rise, not a tree, hedge or stone to hide behind; the men will have to follow us’.

    It seemed we had no choice.

    Sven nodded, handed his shield to Huw and waived at us to go on, we walked up the small hill, the rope around my neck, just starting to chafe. As we crested it, I could see Huw had been telling the truth, before me lay a panorama of flat farmland, no cover, and a stone fort with a simple wooden gate in its centre.

    ‘Don’t worry, we will be fine, I’m telling you. The fort will be half empty. You and I will be more than a match for what’s left of Fulk’s men. We just need your boys to close on us quickly’.

    Huw handed me the shield, ‘You holding the shield is a good idea, it keeps your hands busy, and makes the Franks think you are no danger. When we get in the fort I will take out the guards, and then drop your sword on the ground and you can start fighting. Let’s go.’

    We walked along a well worn track, using the centre of the path to avoid the wheel ruts that had formed in the hard earth on either side. Huw had his battle axe in his right hand and dragged me along with the rope in his left. In no time at all we were in front of the fort.

    As we approached the fort a man who had been carefully watching our approach from the battlements raised his arm in acknowledgment of the Welshman. Huw shouted up to him in Frankish for the gates to be opened, I stumbled and fell, Huw pulling me to my feet whilst aiming a well aimed kick at my backside.

    The man on top of the gates laughed out loud and said something to Huw, he then shouted out again, and I heard the sound of a locking bar being lifted from behind the gates.

    The gates swung open and I saw four men in heavy mail standing before us, we had only counted on two….
    Last edited by Rex Anglorvm; November 09, 2012 at 09:33 AM.

  2. #22
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 07/6

    Huw... what a clever guy.

    Great update mate. I'm looking forward to seeing what is going to happen next.

    +rep Now get updating a Tale of Rome.
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  3. #23
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 07/6

    Quote Originally Posted by Shankbot12 View Post
    Huw... what a clever guy.

    Great update mate. I'm looking forward to seeing what is going to happen next.

    +rep Now get updating a Tale of Rome.
    Thanks for the Rep mate. I hope to have TOR updated sometime next week

  4. #24
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 07/6

    Chapter Eight – Every dog has his day

    When the gates had swung open, for one instant I had hesitated, suppose Huw wanted to hand me over? Suppose he just gave me to these men? Fulk would then be free to torture me; they just needed to close the gates and drop the locking bar behind us.

    But then I looked at Huw and he winked…

    Quicker than you can imagine, Huw dropped the rope on the floor, and then drew my sword from his waistband and dropped it on the ground in front of me, at the same time he had his battleaxe ready in his right hand and had taken off the head of the first man in mail with one lighting fast movement.

    The little Welshman roared one word, ‘NORSEMEN.’ This was the signal for the crew to come to our aid.

    I did my best to recover from the speed of Huw’s actions, grabbing my sword from the ground, whilst dropping the shield for an instant and taking the rope from my neck, I then recovered my shield from the ground.

    Just as I regained my feet and stood ready, a massive double handed sword blade came whistling down to my right with the aim of cleaving me in two, knowing that my blade would shatter meeting such a blow, I moved to my left and then swung my shield round into my opponent, the boss of the shield, smashed into the side of my attacker, I could hear an audible snap, as I shattered a rib or two, I could hear the rattle and gasp of my opponent as he struggled to breathe.

    I chanced a glance to my right and saw Huw nimbly deflecting and meeting the blades of the two remaining guards, he and I knew that he would not be able to keep up such a hectic pace for too long.

    I needed to finish my opponent first.

    Quickly

    As he stepped back in and swung his blade to try to shatter my own blade once more, hoping to chop through my steel, and use his own weapon’s power and weight to cleave my skull, I dropped to a wide legged ‘seated position’ and moved to his right.

    This avoided his own downward blade, I then raised my shield over my head for protection, his weapon slammed on my shield, but it held, the crash making my ears ring and I winced with discomfort, I still had the presence of mind to swing my own weapon towards his un-armoured legs, as I connected with his right knee, he began to fall, and I moved further to his right and then finished him off with a blow to the back of his unprotected neck as he fell nicely forward for my killing stroke.

    I half severed his head from his torso.

    I had just enough time to see that more men were coming from inside the fort to the gates, Huw had held his two opponents off superbly, and I risked a glance over my shoulder and saw Sven and our men thundering towards us, down the gradient that let to the fort, the thralls were the men approaching us the fastest, light on their feet as they only carried spear, shield and no armour.

    I stepped in next to Huw at last, and took his right hand opponent from him, he nodded his thanks, and finally free to concentrate on one man, he swiftly swung that deadly axe once more and as the man lifted his blade to counter, the little man laughed and seemed to swerve backwards and then threw the blade from his right to left hand and took the man in the centre of his forehead in the blink of an eye.

    The Welshmen was an artist.

    The final man looked at the both of us and visibly gulped, to his credit he still came forward, but his heart had gone out of the fight, I have seen this many times since, like an animal, a warrior knows when his time is over.

    This man a grey-hair, grimaced a smile and came at us both, we met him in a flurry of sword and axe blade, we took him down, a sword blade to his chest, an axe to the side of his skull. As he fell to the ground, I wondered at the time, if I would end up like him one day, but as you can tell, as I sit in my hall, telling my stories, I have never had such a day.

    Huw stopped and picked up the fallen man’s shield, we stood side by side under the archway of the gate tower and waited for the enemy to meet us, as they closed towards us, we were submerged in a storm of bodies as they crashed into us at the same time as the thralls, who had somehow raced to aid us in our quest to hold the gates.

    Later, Sven told us that he had promised that any thrall that managed to get to the gate and help us would have their freedom and a place in his crew, the thralls knew that only a handful may survive. But they were prepared to take their chances.

    Huw and I pushed our forward out of the gateway and into the main expanse of open ground at the centre of the fort, a host of thralls followed all around us, their ferocity as they fought for their freedom would have been hard to match, even a Odin filled berserker or a legendary naked warrior from the Briton tribes of times past, would not have surpassed these men in their desperate struggle for their liberty.

    For the rest of the skirmish, as in truth I cannot call it a battle, for I have since been in battles where the enemy were like fleas on a hunting dog, Huw and I were but mere observers. Even as the warriors of the crew came storming into join the fray, the fighting was all but over, as the thralls tore into the enemy. Soon all around me the sounds of fighting had ceased, only the smells of carnage remained, the gore, blood, urine and dung that is ever present after the Gods of war have had their fill.

    The thralls had taken heavy casualties, but they had devastated what remained of Fulk’s men, all around I could see the slain Franks, between thirty or forty men lay dead, excluding our own.

    Sven came to stand in the centre of our men and bellowed his instructions, ‘Men hold, do not ransack anything, check the stores and the buildings for the enemy, Dogface, Welsh boy come here.’

    We walked towards Sven as his face opened in an unguarded smile; it reminded me of the way he smiled as he pushed Father Cormac off the longship.

    ‘Well boys, I have to say I am impressed, you have done your father proud Hakon. Allthis devastation for a few thralls, not a single crewman lost, I like these kinds of wins boys’, Sven was still smiling with an inane grin on his face.

    ‘Hakon?’, I was confused, who was this Hakon. Hakon meant High-son, as in first born, the name a proud father would give his first son. Surely not me?

    ‘It’s your new name lad, get used to it, after today you deserve it. As for you Huw, lead me to this gold, I want to see if you were lying about this Fulk the Mean.

    ‘You will see Chief, Fulk’s probably guarding it now, come on, he uses an old Roman punishment cell to hold his gold.’ Huw was wiping his blooded axe on a piece of cloth he had ripped off a fallen Franks cloak.

    Sven motioned to a handful of men to follow us, and we trooped after Huw who led the way into a low building that looked like it had been used as a barracks. As he opened the door to the building, he walked through and turned to his immediate right and descended a flight of stone steps, you could feel the age of the workmanship, even though the stonework was old, this place had been built to last.

    As we reached the bottom of the staircase, and headed down a narrow corridor, Huw held his finger to his lips and motioned for silence. I heard nothing.

    Then a roar as a shape came flying out of an alcove to my left, it was Fulk, he slammed into me at full speed, more men came from the hidden alcoves of the narrow space. Nobody had the space to draw a weapon, and a savage fight ensued with men used punches, kicks, elbows, head butts, knees, biting and eye gouges. If you have ever been in a tavern brawl, you will have some idea.

    Fulk’s hands clamped around my throat, he was literally choking the life out of me, ‘You will not have my money you Norse scum. Time to die you thieving pig swill!’

    I needed to act and fast, I could already feel my head getting dizzy, through a lack of air, soon I would black out….
    Last edited by Rex Anglorvm; November 09, 2012 at 09:34 AM.

  5. #25
    Shankbot de Bodemloze's Avatar From the Writers Study!
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 18/6

    I was just about to say: Awww he has finally been excepted... Hakon. But then this great beast of a man comes out of nowhere and tackles him to the ground!

    I do hope he is okay...

    Your battle description was excellent mate, and I'm really looking forward to the next chapter.

    +rep
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 18/6

    Quote Originally Posted by Shankbot12 View Post
    I was just about to say: Awww he has finally been excepted... Hakon. But then this great beast of a man comes out of nowhere and tackles him to the ground!

    I do hope he is okay...

    Your battle description was excellent mate, and I'm really looking forward to the next chapter.

    +rep
    Glad you enjoyed it SB

    I will be updating one of the other stories first, so you will have to wait a little to see what happens to Aed/Dogface/Hakon next

    I shall let you know my secret regarding battle scenes SB, I like to listen to heavy metal when I write them!
    Last edited by Rex Anglorvm; June 20, 2012 at 03:58 AM.

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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 18/6

    I will do...

    Congrats n your TotW win as well mate. It seems wherever I go your writing is there!
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 18/6

    Chapter Nine – Fulk’s Hoard

    …. My head was still spinning; I swear I had never felt so scared in my young life. Even in my foggy headed state I had a moments inspiration, I drew my left leg back and thrust hard against Fulk’s right thigh, this pushed my body away, enough for me to launch a savage kick with my right foot against the left side of his head, I smashed another kick into his ribcage for good measure and his arms flung away from my throat as his body rolled off and away from me.

    I jumped to my feet, ah the agility of lost youth! And I reversed our roles, this time I had him pinned and I used my mail covered fists to send thunderous blows into his face, I was sucked into the vortex of a vile rage, animal instinct overcoming me as I hit him again and again, a red mist of righteous indignation swallowing up any basic human decency .

    I was oblivious to the fighting all around me, until I felt a meaty hand clamp on the back of my long hair and drag me to my feet, I reached with the back of my hands to grab my new found assailant, but stopped when he bellowed in my ear, ‘Hakon, stop hitting him you idiot, we need him alive, stop it, its your father you fool.’

    I stopped struggling and Sven let go of my hair, he stood there grumbling to himself about the rashness of young men and how they should learn to keep their temper when gold was involved, all the time with a smirk on his face.

    I looked down at my feet at the figure of Fulk the Mean laying prone on the ground, his face was a bloody unrecognisable mess, and even though I had killed men before, I had never been involved in hand to hand combat, when all you had to use was your hands, if you get my understanding.

    He was unconscious, but barely breathing, we would get no answers from him for the present, I surveyed the scene around me, three of our men lay in blooded heaps on the floor of the corridor, but I counted eight of the Franks, lying on the floor too.

    Sven walked over to the last two Franks standing on their feet; both had a Norse sword pressed against their throats, he looked at them and issued a string of orders to the surrounding men, ‘Take these two back out to the courtyard, we can have some fun later. Drag Fulk into one of the side rooms and post a guard, he may wake up and I want to question him. Welshman, show me this treasure that you’ve been bragging about.’

    I noticed that Huw was now sporting a black eye and a blooded lip, Sven by contrast was untouched apart from some heavily bruised knuckles, I was not surprised, I would have guessed that Huw could handle himself in a brawl, and as for ‘father’ a brawl was right up his street, as the Saxons would say.

    Huw turned to where Fulk was still laying, bent from the waist and looked about the Frank’s neck; he put his hand under Fulk’s tunic and grabbed a thick gold chain, then wrenched it free from the Frank’s neck. He brandished a heavy gold key at me and winked. He nodded at Sven and then set off down the corridor.

    While the men around set about their allotted tasks, Sven and I followed Huw down the corridor, he finally reached the end of the corridor and pointed to a door to the left, a heavy oak door reinforced with iron stood in our path.

    ‘That’s what the key is for boys, let me see here’. He placed the key in the lock and turned it, and after pausing for affect a large grin split his face and he pushed the door open.

    ‘Enough of your dramatics Huw let me see.’ Elbowing Huw aside Sven entered the room first, his voice exclaimed at the surprise awaiting him, ‘By all the Gods, I’ve never seen so many chests, hang on’, Huw and I trooped in the room after Sven just as he was opening the top of a large chest, inside lay a huge mound of coins, Sven let out a huge belly laugh and scooped up a massive handful of coinage.

    ‘Let me see here, coins from Frankia, Mercia, Castile, Aragon, Wessex, Novgorod, and on and on, by Odin’s beard boys, there are coins here I don’t even recognise’, Sven shoved one in his mouth to test the silver, ‘their solid too. How did that weakling Fulk accumulate this hoard?’

    Huw explained how Fulk had got so rich, ‘He used to tax all the ships coming up the river from Paris and the ships at the costal docks that wanted a safe haven from the Norse. Then he would attack weaker lords, so he could steal their land or make them pay huge fees so that he would leave their lands in peace. I can’t believe all this is in here, and the skinflint would not even pay me my wages, I’m glad you pounded him Hakon, it saves me a job’.

    ‘Right you two; I want you to stay in here and guard the hoard. If my bunch of pirates gets a sniff of all this wealth we could have a riot on our hands. I’ll get Halfr down here to make a tally, you can help him too.’ With that Sven left the room and set off down the corridor taking all but the guard looking after Fulk with him.

    I turned to Huw and asked him the first question that sprung to mind, ‘What are you going to do now? I mean take your money and go back to Gwynedd or settle down?’ I was hoping he would say neither, that he would want to continue his adventures with me…not us.

    I had a plan.

    ‘Well if I turn up at the King’s court with a wagonload of gold he may forgive me, or he may just run me through and take the gold anyway. I’m not sure I’d get the warmest of welcomes back home. I’m not sure I want to settle down either, I mean why should I? I’m young and handsome, why should one women have me all to herself? That would be very selfish of me.’ Huw delivered the last part of his response with such a straight face; I truly believed that he had a firm conviction that he should ‘share’ himself around for the good of all woman-kind.

    ‘Well suppose we take our share of the gold and start our own crew?’ there I had said it now, it hung in the air, unanswered for around five minutes.

    Finally Huw responded; ‘How about Sven, I mean I’ve heard the talk around camp. You’re getting married soon to Halfr’s daughter. Sven won’t give his permission, anyway he may not give us enough gold either’.

    ‘You’ve been with Fulk too long my friend, Sven maybe crazy, but his not mean, his one of the most renowned gold givers of all the Norse. As for Halfr I can always explain that I want to be able to give his daughter the best of everything, he thinks the world of her, so that should work nicely. If I have my own crew I can bring back more wealth to his daughter, he may understand that, and with his daughter Aifdis back in Ireland she can’t even object’. I was desperate to put off marrying Aifdis, even if it meant that I had to sail the whole of the whale road the rest of my days to avoid it.

    ‘I can see you have given this a lot of thought. But we would still need a sailing master, a crew and a ship!’ Huw smiled at me and shook his head in amusement, ‘this woman must be the ugliest alive for you to be wriggling like a worm on a hook like this, I’ll tell you what. If you can get the crew and the ship I can get the sailing master’.

    ‘So you’re in then?’ I looked at him with the best puppy dog expression I could muster. Not easy when you are covered in blood and gore, have killed men in a battle and half beaten a man to death with your fists.

    Huw smiled back at men, the little man’s perpetually happy demeanour winning through. ‘Yes. God help me, I’m in. You better hope that Sven buys this though. Otherwise you will be marrying Aifdis and I will be looking for gainful employment’.
    Last edited by Rex Anglorvm; November 09, 2012 at 09:35 AM.

  9. #29
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 26/6

    Anything to avoid marriage.

    A great update mate, and I noted the use of father... they're all becoming a happy family now.

    One thing I noticed:
    himself around for the goof of all woman-kind.
    Good?

    I wonder what will happen, will they got their crew? I have a feeling Sven won't be too keen on the idea.

    Thanks for the rep, and keep it up.
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 26/6

    Quote Originally Posted by Shankbot12 View Post
    Anything to avoid marriage.

    A great update mate, and I noted the use of father... they're all becoming a happy family now.

    One thing I noticed:

    Good?

    I wonder what will happen, will they got their crew? I have a feeling Sven won't be too keen on the idea.

    Thanks for the rep, and keep it up.
    Thanks for pointing out the typo SB, have fixed it now. I have a feeling you might be a little surprised when it comes to Sven, you can never know which way his mind will go

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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 26/6

    Chapter Ten – Freedom Beckon’s

    I bided my time, I waited until we had counted the whole of Fulk’s hoard, it had been truly staggering, the wealth was incredible, Sven had been dumfounded when Halfr had shown him the tally board, that he, Huw and I all agreed upon.

    Sven sat down on a heavy oaken chest in the treasury room, he checked the long column of figures on the wooden tally board again, and sighed a huge outtake of breath, ‘Are you sure, really sure that this is the full amount, I mean you haven’t miscounted or anything have you’.

    The big man looked offended when he replied, his large fingers drummed against the tally board in Sven’s hand as he replied, ‘Now look here Sven, you know as well as I that I can count better then most men can take a dump! Not to mention that the boys have also treble checked my figures, this is a dead reckoning.’

    Sven blinked back at Halfr’s affronted expression, the big man was the only man that I knew, that Sven would allow to speak to him in such a manner, he would have chopped the head off any other man, including me.

    The blond Viking shrugged his shoulders and let out a little chuckle, ’Alright I believe you, I thought that you Hakon and Huw would do a good job, but this is amazing, the wealth that we have acquired here will see us able to equip a fleet, we could terrorize the Saxon kingdoms of England with this’.

    Halfr relaxed and smiled at Sven, who in return had the broadest smile I had ever seen on his own face, an even bigger smile then when he had thrown Father Cormac off the Longship five years hence.

    I took my chance.

    ‘Father, Halfr – my Father soon to be, while you’re both here I have a plan to put to you’. I prayed that my instincts were right and the two men were at their most pliable.

    Sven waved his permission at me with a regal hand, ‘A plan Hakon, well go ahead son of mine, let me know what your thinking, after all your last plan to let this Welsh sheep farmer live was a great success after all’, he pointed all around him at the chests of coin.

    I looked at Halfr, and he nodded his permission to continue. ‘Well, I and Huw have been thinking’, I deliberately put myself before Huw, so that if Sven flew into a rage then he would be shielded from his wrath, well a little anyway. ‘We would like to lead a crew of own, you know from the gold that your will give us, my most generous and kind Father’, yes, I was laying it on a bit thick, but I needed Sven to agree remember. ‘Huw knows a good sailing master and perhaps you could give us enough men for a skeleton crew, we could then purchase a vessel’.

    Sven held up his right hand to stop me talking, ‘And where would you go son of mine? Raid the Saxons? You could do that with me!?

    ‘No Father, I thought perhaps we could sail to Miklagaard, I know it’s a long way, but think of the fame that would attach to your name, the wealth that we could take from the rich Moslems of Africa and the Greeks rolling around in their baths of gold’, I knew this argument would appeal to Sven as he had heard the saga’s of men who had sailed the middle sea and brought vast wealth and even larger fame home with them to the lands of the Norse.

    ‘Hmm, well, that is a long sail my Son, especially when you have only sailed this one season with us and on a small trip to Frankia as it is! Still it does have merit, and I know that a young man must make his way in the world. But what of your wedding, I’m sure Aifdis would want you home soon, after all with the wealth we have here we will be sailing home, there’s no point to continued raiding, this haul is worth five seasons of good raiding!’

    Halfr butted in here, ‘I agree with your Father Hakon, this is a silly idea, you can come home get married and use your share of the gold to buy yourself a good farm and raise a brood of grandchildren for Sven and I, we can go raiding next summer.’

    I was horrified, buy a farm, get married, have a brood of children! I could feel a sheen of sweat break out on my forehead, I didn’t want any of that. it was too soon, that could all wait, I was eighteen, I wanted to carve a name out for myself, I wanted to see the cities of the Greeks and the temples of the Moslems, all the things the skalds described in their tales and songs.

    Huw could see the look of panic in my eyes and attempted to come to my rescue, ‘If I may, we wish to make names for ourselves. Lord Sven you must see that’ the blond Viking nodded in agreement, any Norse would understand that desire, gold was meant to be spent, it was transient, but a name, a name lasted forever, in the form of a saga. ‘Halfr, I know that Hakon would come home tomorrow and marry the lovely Aifdis’ at this I almost laughed out loud, ‘lovely’ was not a word I would use to describe the big shipwright’s daughter.

    Huw carried on, ignoring my attempt to straighten out my face, fortunately Halfr had not noticed, ‘As I said he would come home tomorrow, but he does not feel worthy, he has only had one, one raid, how could he come home and claim the hand of a daughter of such a great warrior as yourself, he would forever be in your shadow, its not about gaining more wealth, although I’m sure Aifdis would not object. Hakon feels that he must prove himself, to show that he can care, protect and look after your daughter as you would yourself.’

    Halfr looked at me studying my features, he then scanned Sven and the Norse lord nodded at him to continue, ‘Is this true Hakon, and don’t lie to me boy, you may be the Lord Sven’s son but I will pull down your breeches and tan your hide in front of the whole crew if you lie to me, then you will have a name alright!’

    I composed myself, and really thought before I answered; after all I really didn’t want to bare my behind to a horde of laughing Norsemen. ‘Truly Halfr, what Huw says is the truth from my heart, yes I am young, and nervous at the prospect of marriage, but that is not the reason why I seek to postpone the date. I do wish to make my name, to prove myself worthy of your daughter, to prove to you that I am more than a stripling youth. Yes I have wealth enough now, and I could buy a farm and settle down, but I would be forever in your shadow, not a man you can admire and be happy that you could entrust with your only daughter. I need to make this trip; I need to sail to make a name’. I turned so that I could look at both older men, ‘I need this, Father, Halfr, please let me make my name’.

    Halfr and Sven looked at each other each nodding their approval.

    ‘I can see that you are both determined to do this, and both Halfr and I can admire your determination, you boys will have your share of the gold, and to make it last, for you will need every penny, I will furnish you with a ship, you can have ‘the boat.’

    ‘I know it’s not much, but it will be enough until you can steal another. As for a crew you can have all the thralls that survived the fight, they’re all free now, but they will need to make money, so they will sail with you, take whatever Frankish weapons, mail, provisions and equipment that has not been taken by the crew. You can ask the other men if they will join you, some of the youngsters might for adventure. I can’t give you a sailing master though; we need Halfr, where will you find one Welshman?’, Sven had pointedly asked the question of Huw, my ‘Father’ had done all he could to help, and he wanted to ensure we would not sail off the world’s edge.

    ‘Here. Fulk’s soldiers found six men washed up on a shore from a foundered vessel a few days ago, they are as black as night, they claimed to be fishermen, but they were covered in scars, whip scars, he thought they had escaped from a sinking pirate vessel, galley slaves you see. It turned out that one of them spoke Greek, a language I have a basic knowledge of due to a liaison with a certain merchant’s daughter a couple of years back. Anyhow he claims to be a sailing master, I kept the knowledge to myself hoping that it may come in useful, Fulk had planned to sell them all, but you arrived first’.

    I hoped to the Gods that Huw was right that this man was indeed a sailing master, if he was we would soon be sailing the whale road and I would be free from matrimonial bliss for a while longer….
    Last edited by Rex Anglorvm; November 09, 2012 at 09:37 AM.

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    Shankbot de Bodemloze's Avatar From the Writers Study!
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 11/7

    He's evaded Aifdis clutches once more, but for how much longer?

    A great update, and now the wheels are in motion I'm looking forward to seeing their journey to the end of the world.

    +rep mate. For a fantastic story.
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 11/7

    Quote Originally Posted by Shankbot12 View Post
    He's evaded Aifdis clutches once more, but for how much longer?

    A great update, and now the wheels are in motion I'm looking forward to seeing their journey to the end of the world.

    +rep mate. For a fantastic story.
    Thanks mate, glad you enjoyed it, I hope to update ToR today or friday

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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 11/7

    Chapter Eleven – Recruitment Drive

    I still couldn’t believe that we had convinced Sven and Halfr so easily. When I look back in hindsight, with the benefit of all my long years, I have realised that both men understood that I did need to make a name; that this wasn’t about stalling on my marriage with Aifdis; that was just a bonus!


    We walked away in a merry mood, I could not believe that I been given permission to take voyage on my own, I had my own ship, Sven had told me how much gold I could expect, which had near made my eyes pop out! But now we needed a crew, Sven had said the thralls would come and I was sure they would, but first we needed the sailing master.

    I followed Huw out of the treasury room, and back along the corridor, went up the stairs and exited the building. We marched over the open space at the centre of the fort and headed for a pit in the ground, covered by a metal grill.

    Huw bent at the waist and peered into the murky depths of the pit, ‘He’s in there. Fulk liked to put his prisoners in comfortable positions as you can tell, he said the cells were too soft. At least your Norse have not killed them yet.’ With that he unhooked his axe from his belt and used the flat edge of it as a hammer and knocked a rusting lock off a locking bar.

    ‘Out’, he motioned for them to climb a set of wooden steps that led out of the pit, a dozen men came out of the darkness, shambling up the steps, their ankles and wrists in metal chains, six of whom were the blackest men I had seen in my young life up to that point, I had seen Greek and Italian sailors, but never people this dark, the others looked like a mixture of Franks, Frisians and one solitary Norseman. By the Gods, did they smell though, you know how a cesspit smells in the height of summer? It was truly bad, in fact even worse, yes, worse than a rotten corpse or a pigs sty.

    I could hear mutterings of fear from behind me as some of the men watching touched lucky amulets, such as Thor’s hammer or their Odin charms. Men as dark as this could only come from Loki’s work or the Norn’s, suspicion creased the features of some of the men, a couple even going as far as picking up their long blades and strolling over with a purposeful look in their eyes.

    I had to do something and fast before we lost our sailing master.

    I pointed at the lone Norse prisoner, ’you, what’s your name?’

    ‘Erik my Lord’, the man looked like he had been in the pit for a while.

    ‘Well Erik, these men, are they demons, has Loki sent them from Hel?’ I was gambling that Erik would have come to know them as men, and would have lost any lingering suspicions of his fellow inmates.

    Erik shook his shaggy main of black unwashed hair, ‘No my Lord, they are just men, men from the far south, from the lands that border the middle sea, that one in the middle speaks Norse. They are sailors, well, pirates really.’

    I shouted out loud, so that my voice carried across all of the open space, even before the two men cradling their weapons and looking on menacingly, ‘did you hear that men? They are just sailors, my guess is that they live so far south that the sun had roasted them!’ I put a jest in the lie hoping that it would ease the men’s fears, now as an old man, I have seen men of all colours, hues and creeds, and there is good and bad in all, judge a man by his deeds I say, but back then I knew no different then the Norse around me.

    The two men continued to look at the prisoners, but as all around them men visibly relaxed and lost interest in the prisoners, then so did they, in the end they sauntered off with their long blades resting on their shoulders.

    I let out a long sigh at least that had dealt with that issue, the last thing I wanted to do was fight our own men.

    Huw, who had been standing cradling his own axe ready to leap to my defence, hooked it back upon the leather loop on his belt and walked over to the prisoner that had been pointed out by Erik. ‘I thought you only spoke Greek?’

    I looked at the man who spoke, he was tall, slim and had a neatly cropped beard, he had after all only been in the pit for a few days, and Erik I assumed had been their much longer. ‘No sir, I speak several languages, I learnt Norse from some men who found themselves in a similar predicament to my own, although we gave them much better living conditions then the man Fulk had us. I had no idea you spoke the Norse tongue.’

    I could tell Huw did not believe him, but could you blame the man? After all if you were a prisoner would you not want to have a small advantage over your jailer? Still I thought we could only trust him up to a point; don’t forget we were pirates too, I looked at the man’s face; we knew what each other was thinking.

    Just then a shadow crossed my face, and I realised that Sven had joined us unnoticed, ‘So these are the men Huw mentioned, Hakon you may have them all, for what use they may be to you’, he then continued in an undertone, that only I could hear, ’Boy, you handled that situation well, but don’t trust these men until they have proved themselves, and even then be on your guard.’

    With that he turned and walked away, shouting out at his men and giving them a stream of orders one of which was to assemble the thralls and young men in a huddle for me to address, once I had dealt with the prisoners.

    He looked back once more, smiled, and shouted ‘I want everyone ready to move in two hours, your men too Hakon’, and with that he returned to the building with the treasury room.

    Your men too Hakon

    That was the first time I had been addressed as a lord, my heart swelled with pride, and I noticed that other men had took the meaning of the words onboard too, men of Sven’s crew nodded at me approvingly, I may still be a stripling youth, but I had landing them each a king’s ransom of gold. Even the two men with the swords over their shoulders gave me looks that reappraised my worth.

    I was a lord now, a gold giver, a ring giver, but I still needed my crew.

    I approached the man in the middle of the prisoners, our Greek and Norse speaking friend, the sailing master I assumed. ‘My captain tells me that you are a sailing master, is this true?’

    Huw’s perpetual smile widened still further when he heard the reference to captain – I knew he would like that.

    He dipped his head, and touched his forehead and chest, in what I assumed what a respectful greeting, ‘Yes my lord, my people are born sailors, we sail by the moon and the stars, much like your own people, these other men of my homeland are sailors too, the Norseman Erik, is a shipwright’.

    I looked at Erik, ‘Is this true? Why are you here?’

    Erik nodded his shaggy mane again, ‘yes my lord it’s true, I was Fulk’s shipwright, but he refused to pay me what he owed and threw me in the pit when I refused to work for him till he settled his debt. The other men, the Frisians and the Franks are my workmates’.

    What luck! A sailing master and a shipwright! ‘Would you sail with me Erik? You would receive a good wage and a share of the profits of the voyage? You too…err?’

    Erik didn’t hesitate, ‘Well as I have nothing but the shirt on my back and no way of getting home to Norway, I will say yes – I’m with you young lord.’

    The sailing master looked at me then at his friends, ‘My name is Abdalla, but what of the others? I will sail your ship for you if the men are free to come with us, otherwise you may throw me back into the pit!’

    ‘Your men will come too, they will receive no wage, but will be given a share of profits, and the same for any man here, the rest are free to go where they please.’ I had decided to only have volunteers; I did not want unwilling men on my first voyage as a lord. I knew that Sven had no room for slaves on his ship, so the men could leave unhindered, the Norse all around me too busy thinking of all the gold to worry about a few slaves.

    In no time at all, all of Abdalla’s men had joined, I assumed because there was no other way for them to get home; Erik had already pledged his services; both Frisians had joined, but the Franks all whished to leave, I let them shuffle away and out of the gate to whatever fate had in store for them.

    I now had ten men not including Huw and myself, I looked over my shoulder at the crowd of men waiting to be addressed by me, a crowd of thralls and young men, men who needed to make a name – like myself, or men who needed money, after all these lesser men would receive a lesser share or no share at all of the treasure.

    ‘Huw, can you find an anvil and strike the chains off? Get them a bath, and get them to pick over the stores that have been set aside for us’. Huw nodded, adjusting to taking orders from me seamlessly and motioned the men to him; they formed a neat line and walked slowly behind him.

    Free from the smell of the prisoners, or should I say my crewmates, I walked over to the crowd of waiting men.

    I took a deep breath and started, ‘I am the son of Sven, most of you know this, once called dogface’, that brought a few laughs and I smiled at them, but then quickly turned my face hard, ‘Now I am Hakon, and as Hakon I held that gate with my Captain, the noble Huw, so that the thralls amongst you could be free, free to find a life. And as Hakon I fought in front of the Treasury room with my bare hands to give gold to my crewmates, more gold than they can spend in five sailing seasons! So, if you sail with me as a free man who was once a thrall I can give you gold, and a freedom become reality! And if you sail with me as an unproven young man, I can give you gold and a name to be respected amongst our people! Or you can sail home with a paupers share of the gold, or nothing but the shirt on your back, it is your choice. If you sail with me, we go to the middle sea, to the lands of the Moslems and the Greeks, to Alexandria and Miklagaard and to a skalds tale that will hold your name forever!! WHO IS WITH ME?’

    I expected silence or a chorus of laughter, but I have learned that when you promise young men gold, adventure and glory, even when the truth is blood, pain and misery for all but a few…they will shout themselves hoarse.

    And they did…. a wave of noise hit me as men shouted they’re approval and they banged sword hilts and axe shafts against their shields…I had a crew and the middle sea awaited us…
    Last edited by Rex Anglorvm; November 09, 2012 at 09:38 AM.

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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 17/7

    He has a crew.

    As ever a great update, and I love the little phrases you put in from an older dogface.

    I'll look forward to their journey around the world... in 80 days perhaps?
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 08/08

    Chapter Twelve – The Thoughts of a Sea Lord

    I had taken my leave of Sven, Halfr and the rest of the men a week ago, after Sven had made the last two surviving Frankish bodyguards of Fulk fight each other until only one remained, he had then made the last kill his former leader.

    Fulk had died well, spitting defiance and hatred from every pore of his being, Sven had thrown a pouch of gold at the last Frank, the man had taken the gold and then had walked towards me asking if I would take him into my crew.

    I stood now at the stern of the ship watching the man pulling on his oar in the thwart position, wondering if I could trust him, was he seeking revenge for Fulk, or was he just a wandering warrior in need of a new master? I did not dwell on the matter; time would tell what type of man had joined my band of young warriors.

    My thoughts turned to the parting from Sven a week ago. It had been a bittersweet leaving of my ‘Father’; he may have murdered Father Cormac, be responsible for my parents’ deaths and destroyed my village; but he was the man that had brought me up for the last five years, and I would miss him.

    The ship I was standing on was nothing special; it wasn’t a longship, or even a fighting ship of any description. It was as Sven had described ‘the boat’, just a former merchant vessel, it was slow, it was cumbersome, and it sailed like a stone.

    But I loved it for a very simple reason; it was mine, a gift from my ‘father’, it did have an advantage over a speedy longship, it held twice as many men and it had a huge hold, it had enabled me to stock the vessel well with the supplies plundered from Fulk’s fortress.

    The men around me seemed relaxed and confident, they pulled on their oars with the simple ease of youth, casting playful insults and jibes amongst themselves, even the men from Africa seemed happy, the Norse around them happily teaching them Norse insults and basic commands and I supposed the Africans would be happy after finding themselves caged in a pit for weeks on end.

    Erik the shipwright, who had been with the Africans in the pit, had proved his worth since joining, he had repaired the ship after what looked like long years of neglect, the ship even seemed to sail a little better and its one and only sail seemed to respond well to the changing moods of the summer winds.

    Abdalla the sailing master had proved as expert as Erik had shown to be, he had managed to drag every bit of possible speed out of the vessel, and had trained the men to work as one when rowing the vessel, as most of them were former thralls who had not been allowed to pull an oar on a ship of war, as they were deemed unworthy.

    I had arranged the ship’s crew into four watches, each watch took it in turn to man the ship for six hours a day, for another six hours the men trained and exercised as much as they could in the restricted deck space, I often took the lead at these times, and for the final twelve they could please themselves, those who had money gambled, others fixed the weapons and armour they had ‘inherited’ from their former Frankish owners, but mostly they slept.

    I stood at the stern with the wind blowing from my hair; we hugged the coastline along the Bay of Biscay, the smooth countryside showing green and verdant to my left, I had thought about were my first raid should be, should I raid along the coast of western Frankia? But I thought perhaps the pickings would be slim here, so I had decided, what with the good trade winds the Gods had blessed us with, to sail past the lands of the Franks, past the Kingdom of Asturia in the north of Spain, and then finally strike at the Emirate of Cordoba. I would plunder the lands of western Cordoba, before heading for the middle sea.

    Abdalla had explained that the Emirate was a large, rich and abundant land, that there was plenty of small villages to be raided and plenty of merchant vessels waiting to be plucked along the long coastline of the Emirate, the only problem we may face would be at the pillars of Hercules, which we would face after working our way down the long western coastline of the Emirate.

    The pillars were two small narrow spits of land that almost joined Europe and Africa, and that formed the narrow entrance to the middle sea. The straits were jealously guarded by Moorish corsairs and sea captains, we would have a challenge to get through unscathed, and I looked forward to it.

    My eyes turned to the stairs that led from below decks, Huw came up the stairs and strode towards me the little man’s rolling gait matching exactly the pitch of the ship as it made its way through the sea on its way to our first raids with me as its is sea lord.

    ‘My lord’, Huw made a little half bow to me, he had made it his mission to make it clear to my new band of warriors that I was a man to be respected and by little shows of courtesy it helped to reinforce their view of me as a man to be followed and feared, especially after the way that Huw and I had held the gate together.

    I was not a fool though, even as a young man.

    I knew that I would have to prove myself and soon, these men would need money, and what’s more they would need to see me in combat and more importantly as a leader of men; I needed these trade winds to hold until we were within reach of Cordoba, or I would be forced to raid the poor villages of the Franks or the Asturias.

    ‘You’ve been standing here for hours, thinking away to yourself, what’s on your mind my lord?’ Huw stood next to me that perpetual smile on his face awaiting an answer.

    Making sure I was not overheard, I answered him in a low voice, I had to be the epitome of self confident arrogance that every Norse war leader must portray to his men, ‘I’m hoping that these winds hold up, that the men keep patient until we reach the lands of the moors and that my first raid as leader won’t be my last.’

    ‘Well that all sounds cheery your lordship; I’m sure that we will have these winds on our side, Abdalla seems to know his business after all. I’m certain that we will make a success of this raiding game, after all whose better than a Welshmen at making money!?’ There it was again, that playful grin and sparkling intelligent eyes.

    How could I ever doubt it, Huw was right, I had come so far in such a short time, I had my own ship, money and crew, and what’s more I had the best second in command that you could ever find.

    It’s been many long years now since I first sailed with Huw, but I have never known a better man.

    But back then I was worried, I needed the first raid to go well, but would it?

    I was a Sea Lord; I would show no fear…
    Last edited by Rex Anglorvm; November 09, 2012 at 09:39 AM.

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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 08/08

    Well they are becoming exotic. I wish him the best of luck, although those last couple of sentences make me wonder whether it will all go to plan.
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 08/08

    Quote Originally Posted by Shankbot12 View Post
    Well they are becoming exotic. I wish him the best of luck, although those last couple of sentences make me wonder whether it will all go to plan.
    Yes, we shall have to see

    I wish I could get a few more comments on this story over 700 views and very little feedback, oh well

    Thanks for following SB

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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 08/08

    Nice story you have here. Hmmm, I wonder also if everything will go to plan.
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    Default Re: A Whale Riders Journey - updated 08/08

    Quote Originally Posted by Scottish King View Post
    Nice story you have here. Hmmm, I wonder also if everything will go to plan.
    Nice to have you drop by SK, WRJ does not attract many comments all though its had a lot of views, its one of my own favourites too

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