Normandia - 2

II

Time was running out.  The sun had already reached the horizon, and we were still on the high breakers of the sea.  At any moment our vessel could be lost.  All it took was one man’s loss in concentration, and the ship would lean just a bit too far to the side, and she was lost.  We were still not far from land, so there was the hope that we could swim to shore, but we never needed that hope.  We were Vikings, and we never lost our concentration.  I stood at the helm, shouting orders to my men.  Near me, just a few feet to the stern, sat Thorax, one of my most trusted men.  He smiled mischievously as I surveyed his enormous arms churning the sea rowing us through the deep.

“Stroke, stroke, stroke.”  I yelled with short warnings to lean on the bow or stern as a wave came crashing out way.  Tonight was dangerous night on the sea.  We had seen the red sky that morning, and we knew a storm was coming.  The seas were getting restless, we didn’t have much time.

But on the other hand, we knew that the Franks had seen it as well and tonight was a night of one of their celebrations.  With the red sky, they would think we weren’t coming, and maybe they would be right.  Perhaps we shouldn’t have left the safety of our harbor, but my men are restless.  The northern shores of Franconia are as destitute as they are unfriendly, and we make a living off the Franks, a bad one of late.  So the council decided to send us.  It is the ripe moment, but a dangerous one.  And so we paddle, we paddle for the river.  The great calm river the Franks call the Seine.

Chapter I         Chapter III

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