Starcraft Viking
Stories similar to this that you might like too.
The ship had been a long time coming, and even longer in the making. The idea was simple enough: to create a vessel that would be strong enough to carry men, weapons, and supplies to battle but small enough to allow it to sail down the coast of Ireland or any other island without attracting too much attention.
It needed to be fast and able to fight and defend itself on the water, but also have room for men to sleep inside when they were not out fighting. It had to be capable of crossing rivers, navigating through narrow channels, and yet be able to survive in the open sea. And it had to be as quick as possible to build so that Thorgrim’s fleet could be ready for anything at all times.
So Starcraft Viking had been built by the Danes, who knew their ships well and had plenty of experience building them. Thorgrim did not want to risk the lives of his men on a boat he did not know, but he felt confident that if the Danes could build this one, they could build any kind of ship.
As the name suggested, Starcraft Viking was a new design. Its hull was made from oak planks, and its keel and stem were reinforced with iron. It had a large stern to give it greater stability and a sharp prow to prevent it from being swamped when it hit the waves. There was a central mast to help steer the ship and a smaller mast for the sail.
It was a fine ship, Thorgrim thought, and he had no doubt it would serve him well. He was happy to have it, and he was eager to test it out.
“Thorgrim, look!” Asmund shouted, pointing to the south. “Look there! Can you see it?”
Thorgrim looked where Asmund pointed, and his heart sank. A ship was coming up the coast, and it was not a friendly ship.
“It’s a pirate ship,” Asmund said. “And it looks like they’ve got a big crew aboard.”
“Pirates?” Thorgrim asked. “Here? Why are they here?”
“They must have found a shipwreck or something, and now they’re sailing back to plunder it,” Asmund said.
Thorgrim felt a sinking sensation in his stomach. His father’s men had sailed north into the Irish Sea last year, looking for a place to attack. They had encountered no resistance, and the Irish had not seemed eager to fight. But perhaps the Irish were more aggressive than he had assumed. Or maybe this ship was just returning home after a successful raid.
“I hope it is a raiding party,” Thorgrim said. “But I think it’s too late to hide.”
“What do we do?” Asmund asked.
Thorgrim looked around at the men standing nearby. They were all familiar faces, though he had never met many of them before. He knew who they were, however, and he did not like what he saw. The crew of the ship was in full armor, and some of them were armed with swords and spears.
Others carried shields and spears, and a few carried axes or bows. At the bow of the ship rode a man wearing a helmet, and a sword hung from his belt.
“We’ll try to talk our way out of this,” Thorgrim said. “If that doesn’t work, we fight.”
Thorgrim had no illusions about how difficult it would be to talk their way out of this. If the pirates wanted to capture the ship, they would do so, and if they wanted to kill them, they would do that as well. Thorgrim did not believe he could convince them to let the men go, and even if he could, he was not sure it would matter.
Even if the pirates let the men go, they might decide to take the ship anyway. And even if they didn’t, he had no idea how the Irish would react to his crew sailing up on a pirate ship. He could not imagine it would be good.
Thorgrim glanced at Asmund. “What do you think?”
“I think we should fight,” Asmund said. “You know this ship, and you’re the one they want. I’m just here to protect you.”
Thorgrim nodded. It was clear Asmund was thinking the same thing he was. “As you say,” he said.
Thorgrim stepped forward, and the pirate captain turned to face him. He did not speak, but he pointed to the bow of his ship. Thorgrim recognized the man in the helm: it was the captain of the ship that had sailed north with them.
“My lord,” Thorgrim said. “I am Thorgrim son of Harald, and I am a friend of these men.” He pointed to the Irishmen. “They are my companions.”
The pirate captain shook his head. “What do you mean they are your companions? They have no weapons, and they look like slaves. They look like they’ve been captured, and they will be sold as slaves.”
Thorgrim did not reply. The man was right, he did not know what to say. He looked at Asmund, who shrugged his shoulders.
“We’re not slaves,” Thorgrim said. “But we do not look like free men either. We are Irish.”
That got a reaction. The pirate captain frowned, and the crew around him shouted out.
“Irish slaves!”
“Kill them! Kill them all!”
“I thought you were friends of mine,” the pirate captain said. “And now you turn out to be Irish slaves.”
“What?” Thorgrim asked. “You can’t be serious. You are the ones who came with us. I saw you before we left.”
The pirate captain’s brow furrowed, and he stared at Thorgrim. Then he pulled off his helmet, and Thorgrim felt a chill run down his spine. It was a strange sensation because the pirate’s hair was brown and so was his skin. But his eyes were the color of a wolf’s, and when he took off the helm, Thorgrim knew his suspicions were correct. This man was no friend of Thorgrim’s.
“What are you talking about?” the pirate said. “Who are you? And why are you on my ship?”
Thorgrim realized that his crew, or most of them anyway, had not heard the exchange between the two men. He called out, “This is my ship, and these are my men. I think we’re being taken prisoner by pirates.”
There was a chorus of shouts from the men on board the ship, but Thorgrim could not tell if they were cheering or jeering.
“I think this is what they want,” Thorgrim said. “I think they’ll take the ship and kill us.”
He turned back to the pirate captain. “Can we talk?”
The pirate shook his head. “Not until we know who you are. You should have told me your name before you climbed aboard my ship.”
Thorgrim held up his hand, signaling for silence. He took a deep breath, then he spoke in the language of the Irish. “My name is Thorgrim son of Harald, and I am a friend of these men. They are my companions, and they are prisoners.”
The pirate captain’s eyes narrowed. “Do you speak Irish?” he asked.
“Yes,” Thorgrim said. “As do many of my crew.”
“Then you understand that I’m asking you to leave us alone. I will not allow my men to harm them, and I won’t let you take the ship.”
Thorgrim nodded. The pirate was right; he had no idea how the Irish would react to this. But the pirate seemed confident enough, and so Thorgrim decided to play along.
“We are not here to take your ship,” Thorgrim said. “But we did come here with you. We were just talking.”
The pirate laughed. “Talking? Talking about what?”
“About our future. What we’ll do once we get home. I wanted to ask you what you thought. You came north with us, and I’d like to know what you think of the land here. Of the people. Do you think we can settle here?”
The pirate’s brow furrowed again. He stared at Thorgrim for a long time, then he shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never been here before. But I’m sure there’s plenty of room for all of us. And the land is fertile, I hear.”
“And it’s not too far from the sea,” Thorgrim said. “That’s good, isn’t it? For trade?”
The pirate shrugged again. “What are you going to do with this ship?”
“Well,” Thorgrim said, “I think we’re going to sail back to Ireland. We’re leaving tomorrow.”
He watched the pirate closely and saw a glimmer of understanding pass through his eyes. He realized that Thorgrim knew more than he was saying.
“You are Irish,” the pirate said. “Irish slaves. But you are not going to Ireland. You are going somewhere else.”
Thorgrim felt his stomach twist into knots. It was true, wasn’t it? The pirates were planning to sell him and his men as slaves.
“Yes,” Thorgrim said. “I know. We’re not Irish. We’re Norsemen. But we have some Irish blood in us. We’re from the North, but we came south, to Iceland.”
“Iceland?” The pirate frowned. “That’s where you came from?”
“Yes. That’s what we told the king of the Swedes. We had a fight with some of his men and so we ran away. He offered us a safe haven, and we took him up on it. But then he turned out to be a lying bastard and he sold us to these pirates. Now we’re trying to get back home.”
“So you want to go to Iceland?”
Thorgrim nodded.
The pirate shook his head. “You’re not going to Iceland. You’re going to Rome.”
The End