Viking Totem
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A völva is a wise woman who lives in the forest or on the coast and has many powers. It was said that she could predict storms, tell fortunes, cure illness and see what lies ahead for ships at sea. In some countries, like Ireland, there were two kinds of völvas: one kind called bóaire and another kind called siborn.
A bóaire would be an expert in healing, while a siborn could foresee events in the future. They often worked together to bring people good fortune. The Irish name for these women, huaisteal or sídheal, means “wise women.”
“We need a wise woman,” I said to my friends as we gathered around a small fire. We had made camp on the side of a grassy hill overlooking a great plain that stretched out into the distance.
The stars twinkled above us and the fire crackled cheerfully in front of our faces; it smelled wonderful, even with the wood being damp from last night’s rainstorm. It wasn’t too cold but we were all wrapped up warmly against the wind.
I glanced over at Thorgrim, sitting next to me by the fire. He was so handsome! His blond hair shone brightly in the light of the fire, and his beard glowed red-gold in the dying flames. He looked relaxed, peaceful, and happy. And he was right here beside me. All I had to do was reach out to him.
I wanted to touch his face—not just look at it, but really feel it. But if I did that … well, that might lead to something else. If I touched him, he’d know what I felt, and I didn’t want to spoil our friendship. I’d rather keep this thing between us as casual and uncomplicated as possible. That way, neither of us would ever be surprised.
He had taken off his leather armor and laid it aside. His skin looked soft and smooth, and I wondered how it would feel to kiss those lips.
“Do you have any idea where we are?” Harald asked, leaning forward and pointing toward a large dark shape on the distant horizon.
“No,” I admitted. “But we’re not lost, and that should mean we aren’t too far away from somewhere we’ve been before.”
Thorgrim snorted. “It looks like there’s more than one place on this earth that we’ve been before,” he said.
I nodded, feeling a little foolish. I hadn’t known where we were when we left Iceland either, and we ended up coming to this land after sailing through the Bight of Sleat, which led us to Ireland and then to England. Now we had come north along the coast. Where were we? I had no idea.
“I think Harald’s right. There’s something over there,” I said, pointing again. Even though the sun had set a while ago, the sky was still lit up behind the clouds, so it was hard to make out anything clearly. The shape I saw looked like a castle or maybe a monastery on top of the highest point on the ridge, surrounded by tall stone walls.
“You’re sure about that?” Thorgrim asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, absolutely. What else could it be?” I knew exactly what the structure was. It was the place we’d visited only days earlier, the great abbey where I had given birth to a son. When we got there, I hoped the monks would take care of the boy, and give him food and shelter. Maybe they’d adopt him. I didn’t want to return to the monastery empty-handed.
“So, it’s a fort?” Thorgrim asked. He seemed skeptical.
“It doesn’t look like the fortresses I’ve seen in France or Italy,” I said. Those had been big stone buildings built up around wooden towers. These walls were huge, much taller than ours at home in Norway. The fortress must be enormous. It had stood alone on its hilltop for hundreds of years. It seemed impossible to imagine anyone taking it down, even by magic.
“What do you think we’ll find inside?” Harald asked.
“Not a lot,” I answered. “If we went back now, we wouldn’t get very far. We’d have to spend months rebuilding the walls. As soon as we arrived at nightfall, they’d send men out to capture us. Then we’d probably end up killing each other.”
The thought brought a smile to Thorgrim’s face. “Well, you’re probably right.” He turned and looked over our small group. Everyone was looking back at him expectantly. He looked thoughtful and then shook his head. “This is why we can’t travel at night anymore,” he said finally.
“Why not?” Harald said, sounding confused. “We don’t have to sleep at night, so what difference does it make?”
“There’s no point in traveling when you can’t see where you’re going. And besides, there’s nothing out there at night,” Thorgrim explained. “We can’t tell if there are rocks under us or hidden trees, and there could be wolves in these woods or bears in those hills.”
“Or giant trolls who will eat us,” I added. “Those are worse than wolves or bears. We’ve been lucky so far. I hope that continues.”
Thorgrim frowned, thinking of what I said. “You’re probably right about that,” he agreed finally.
“What about the men?” I asked. “They need rest. They’re tired and hungry.”
“We could camp by the sea tonight. It won’t matter if we can’t see anything,” Thorgrim offered.
“Good idea,” I said with a nod. I had never seen this coast before, but I imagined the rocky beaches were exposed at low tide. We would be able to build a fire easily enough and cook some fish for supper.
That would make everyone happy. Besides, I wanted to be well away from any water we might run aground on in the dark, which was always a risk with ships like ours, since she was so wide.
“Let’s make this quick then,” I said. “Get a fire started here and go across the fields toward the fortress. Let’s just keep moving until morning.”
Everyone nodded, pleased by the decision, and began preparing the ground to make a fire. I took my turn helping, which was mostly gathering fallen wood and dragging it toward the fire pit I had made earlier with rocks. The men were making ready their weapons, which they would put away once we reached the fortress, as well as saddling their horses. It was time to move.
Harald and I went to our sleeping quarters to pack up what we needed for the night. I had taken off my armor, but I still wore my sword belt and shield, which I slung over my shoulder. For all the work I’d done getting us through the forest, it was clear I wasn’t cut out for life on horseback, and that meant I couldn’t ride a horse in battle.
If we were going to do battle, I’d be better suited walking alongside the beast.
I found Harald’s things piled on top of mine in a heap near the door. I grabbed my helmet and handed it to him along with his shield and spear. He did the same for me, which he had already done several times during the day. We’d gotten better at packing quickly.
There were fewer pieces to carry and they were lighter to haul around. I took one final look at my sleeping room before I left. A few minutes later, when the others began gathering outside, I followed them into the night.
As we made our way through the darkness toward the fort, the sound of our horses’ hooves against the ground echoed in my ears. I tried to imagine that we were only a score of men, a handful of warriors heading out in search of plunder, not a whole company of men at arms.
We traveled slowly, stopping often to listen. Nothing moved. The moon rose behind us, casting long shadows on the land. We were headed straight across the open space between the hill we stood on and the fortress ahead. When we neared it, we would circle around to the rear entrance and try to sneak in undetected.
“Can you smell anything?” I whispered to Harald.
He shrugged. “No. I’m sure there must be something, but I don’t notice it.”
“It’s not the wind,” I said quietly. “But maybe we shouldn’t speak of it too loudly. Someone might hear us.”
“That’s an excellent idea,” he said. “You’re a brilliant tactician as well as a skilled fighter.”
I smiled at him and we continued forward. As we got closer to the fortress, it was easier to hear its sounds: the soft rustle of the wind in the trees above, the occasional call of a bird. The wind carried the scent of the sea, though it was hard to pick out exactly what it smelled like—the salt air perhaps, or the dampness of the nearby marshland.
Whatever it was, it brought back memories of being on shipboard and I hoped those old thoughts were enough to keep the bad ones at bay.
Harald was riding on the other side of me now, keeping pace as best he could on his pony. He glanced back occasionally, watching the fortress. It lay before us in a series of small hills that made it appear taller than it actually was.
Its walls looked tall enough to defend anyone who lived inside it, and yet they were nothing more than a collection of stone blocks built haphazardly, without much regard for defense, or else for style.
The stones had been stacked and shaped, but they weren’t mortared together properly, so a few moments ago a wave rolling over the land had dislodged some of them, causing a section of wall to lean drunkenly toward the ocean.
“What do you think of this place?” I asked him.
He shrugged again. “There’s little to recommend it if it’s supposed to be a fortress. What is a fortress anyway? It makes no sense to me.”
I knew he was right. It didn’t make any sense, and I agreed with him about that. We rode closer to the wall now and the light grew brighter. The wind was stronger, bringing with it the sound of waves breaking against the shore.
We had passed the point where a man-made structure existed and was out among the wild woods now, which were filled with pines, spruce, and alders. We heard birds chirping from time to time and a rabbit or two scurried away into the underbrush. But there were no other signs of life, not even a deer.
We circled around to the rear of the fortress and dismounted. We tied our horses to a tree and walked around the backside to find that the rear entrance was just as open as the front gate had been. We entered on foot now and made our way along the outer wall until we reached what appeared to be another guard post or lookout tower.
We stopped here briefly while Harald checked over the wooden ladder that led to the roof, looking for any traps he could spot. I waited below while he climbed up and then down again with a nod, apparently satisfied the steps were safe.
After climbing to the roof of the tower, Harald motioned us to come up and join him. We stood atop the tower and watched the surrounding area. The sky was clear now, so the stars were bright and twinkling. In the distance, I saw a small cluster of lights on the water.
It must have been another fishing village, far off on the coast. We listened to see if any movement came from within the fortress, but nothing stirred. Even the waves on the beach seemed still, which I thought odd in itself, considering how rough the sea was today.
Perhaps it was just the night breeze or the fact that it was late autumn, the cold weather drawing in sooner than usual. Either way, there was no sign of any movement within the fortress walls.
The moon lit up the landscape, turning the forest and sea into shadows and reflections of each other. I turned my attention from the sea to watch the stars, thinking about how they were so far apart, yet connected by their shared gravity.
They seemed so distant, yet so close when you looked at them in that particular way. I wondered if the stars would ever end or if they would go on forever, never fading away. The thought was strangely comforting.
“How long will it take to get to Constantinople?” Harald asked after several minutes of silence.
I looked over at him and realized he was probably talking about travel time, not the stars. So far, it had only taken us a couple of days, to travel by ship. The seas were calm for the most part and we had been able to stay in the open ocean without fear of being attacked or chased by enemies.
The End