 
# A VIKING MOON

# A Sarah Tremayne Adventure

# Book One

#

# By

# T M Rowe

A Viking Moon

T M Rowe

Published by T M Rowe at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 T M Rowe

License Statement

Thank you for downloading this. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to your favourite ebook retailer to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

For Hannah and Michael

Always have a go – don't be afraid.

Table of Contents

In the Beginning

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

About the Author

Other Titles

Connect with T M Rowe

# In The Beginning

My name is Sarah Tremayne and I am of the "Myrhes an Loor" which is Cornish (the ancient language of Cornwall) for the "Daughters of the Moon". Why Cornish and Cornwall? Well, this is where we began, the 'we' being the "Daughters of the Moon". Actually, to be more precise, this is where those with my gifts began. Our true beginnings were much further away and belong to another story. The ancient sites which you see around the county have a secret history, our history, a history that would probably blow the minds of many academics, my father included.

I was born in Cornwall; my family on my father's side has a long, long association with the county. Funnily enough he, my father, is an archaeologist and I often have to stop myself from arguing with him as he lectures me on the archaeology of particular places. It is of course possible that the Daughters were born in many different places around the world, after all many cultures have been known to worship the moon in the past.

Unfortunately events in our past, events over which even we have no control, caused many of us to go 'underground', to hide and to a certain extent deny our very selves. Fear can be a great motivator. We are divided and the elders who watch over those of us who choose to exercise our gifts insist that our safety is best served by being divided – I do not agree. Anyway, I am going off track, as all this will eventually become clear and this is neither the time nor the place for that particular discussion.

This is the story of my beginning.

I have been allowed to write this first chapter because as I pointed out there needed to be some background to my story and as I was not a Daughter in the beginning it needed to be written by someone who knew my story well and it wasn't exactly rocket science as to who that was. Seamus said I had caused a bit of a stir insisting on this _and_ the fact that I wanted to have absolute final say of whatever else was written. However, given they owe me big time what else could they do but agree?

Anyway I am probably getting ahead of myself. Firstly, I'd like to introduce Seamus who is my chronicler and it is he who will be the story teller of my life to date. There are only a few true chroniclers left in the world today where once there had been many but the Brotherhood put paid to that and those which remain do so under our protection.

A true chronicler can through various means, each unique to them, view the past. They are trained to be observant, impartial and objective. Because of this they were hunted by the Brotherhood and exterminated, after all, the really bad guys will always seek to justify and demonstrate that what they are doing is in fact for your own good. My father once said that history is only ever written by the victors, the Chroniclers were there as means of balancing out this bias...not so much now though.

I mentioned the Brotherhood, well, you will find out more about them later but for now I will give a brief introduction. To put it simply they are, agents of The Dark and yes capitals are necessary. I don't really know what exactly The Dark is, in fact I'm not sure that even the elders know, but it is enough to say that the purpose of The Dark is to cause discord, chaos and general craziness through the world.

The more insane the world gets the stronger The Dark becomes, it thrives on the madness of men (and women). The Brotherhood is the human face of The Dark. They do its work and we, the Daughters of the Moon try to undo that work and in some cases prevent it. Sometimes we are successful and in others, well, the less said the better. Once upon a time, the Brotherhood and the Daughters of the Moon were in perfect harmony. There was a balance; after all you need to have the bad times to appreciate the good times. Good and evil should co-exist in balance. It all changed though when one of the Brothers killed my mother.

My mother was also a Daughter of the Moon. The powers granted to the Daughters are hereditary, passed from mother to daughter over many generations (the name is apt in so many ways). Usually when a daughter turns thirteen her mother will hand her a moon disc and with it the mantel of being a Daughter of the Moon. There follows a period of training and mentoring where they discover their ability to move between times (yes, yes it is time travel but that sounds so sciency and this is more of a mystical thing). They learn to view the world through other eyes, literally, and they learn about the past and different cultures and most importantly they learn how to defend themselves. By their eighteenth birthday they are allowed to go it alone and their very grateful mothers retire, to become advisors/teachers. Like I said this is what happens normally, but for me it was anything but normal.

My mother died when I was eight and so there was no one to initiate me into my powers, the elders decided to leave me to my own devices. For reasons I kind of understand now though didn't at the time I had what turned out to be a sink or swim type of training. The following chapters are all about that time and as I don't want to spoil the story I will say no more.

When my mother died my father turned to his work and seemed to forget he had a daughter. I am older now and can forgive him (sort of) but at the time it was like losing both parents and it hurt...a lot. My saving grace was my Nan. For a while I lived with her in her little cottage in the far west of Cornwall, where the sea, the moors and the big sky helped to heal some of the hurt.

Nan has always been a reassuring presence in my life and even when dad decided to pack me off to a nasty boarding school, all the school holidays were spent at Nans and not at my Dad's London house. The less said about boarding school the better, wherever girls band together they are the meanest, nastiest things in the entire world. It is no wonder that the Brotherhood want us divided.

Anyway, boarding school was nothing like the stories I had read where crazy escapades, kindly matrons and midnight feasts were the rule. The only good thing about school had been meeting Rosie, my BFF. She and I had clicked on the first day, becoming inseparable fairly quickly. You see, at school it is really important to have someone who will watch your back, a proper friend.

Things went pear shaped at school when Rosie left, her father had been made redundant from his fancy pants London Company and had decided to go back to his roots in Scotland. Needless to say, boarding school was no longer affordable and Rosie went with her parents to Scotland. Thanks to a generous phone allowance from Dad and the internet we were able to keep in touch and still do. But it did mean that I was without the one person I could rely on and no one was watching my back.

Anyway, after an unpleasant run in with the school bully (whose father was a generous benefactor to the school), followed by an unladylike scrap in the dorm, I ran away from school (needless to say I was also expelled). It was to Nan's cottage I ran and I have never been so happy to see the twinkling lights of St Michael's Mount as the train rounded that last bend before heading into Penzance.

Funnily enough this had all happened on the eve of my thirteenth birthday, strange coincidence you might say? I didn't think much of it at the time but now I am very suspicious of coincidences. The next day at Nans I went for a walk up the hill onto the moorland and that is when I had a very odd encounter with a crazy lady wearing a mad hat. She probably wouldn't thank me for calling her crazy, no actually, she would find it very funny and probably agree, then fix me with that penetrating stare of hers whereupon I would stammer out an apology and she would laugh all over again. She can be very unnerving. Apparently, it's what happens when you don't have a daughter to pass the gift to. I ask the goddess not to let that happen to me.

At the time though, I knew nothing of this. I was, in my mind, just an ordinary girl with a dead mother and father who couldn't care less. It was my thirteenth birthday and I was feeling very sorry for myself sitting there on a hard granite seat under the big blue sky of West Cornwall.

Then IT happened.

" _That was a big sigh for one so young" said a voice._

I almost flew off the rock into orbit, heart beating, eyes wide as saucers, I looked around and there perched on a rock just above me like some naughty piskie was an old lady. From her clothes she looked like any other rambler, complete with stick out walking. However, it was that mad hat that drew my attention. It was a big, floppy, crocheted number and looked as though someone had used up all their odd bits in its production; it was a hat of many colours.

" _Jiggers! You scared the bejesus out of me"_

The old lady laughed raucously "Ha, I know, you should have seen the way you moved; gave me a right giggle".

I had never met an insane person before and was trying to figure out if there was some way I could leave without getting into a pickle.

" _No, Sarah Tremayne, I am not insane but we do need to chat," she said in a tone of voice my old matrons would have been proud._

" _Huh, how do you know my name and what I was thinking; sorry I'm sure you're not insane; chat about what?" The questions tumbled out of my mouth before I had a chance to put them into order._

Smiling the old lady in the big floppy hat of many colours patted the spot next to her. Strangely, I sat. Turning, I looked into her eyes. They were kind eyes but I also had the feeling that they were eyes that had seen a lot and not all of it was good.

" _Well, firstly I can see your mother in you, secondly your face is like a book – you'll have to learn a poker face, otherwise there will be trouble – thirdly, don't worry about it, sometimes I too think I'm insane"._

Of all things she had said the only one that registered was that she had known my mother. "You knew my mother?"

" _Yes, you look just like her, in another lifetime before the goddess called her"_

" _The goddess?" I was getting more and more confused as time went on._

" _All that aside, we are not here to talk about your mother – that is for another time and besides you are not ready for 'that' chat" said the old lady brushing imaginary crumbs from her lap._

" _You have wasted enough time already, I have been calling to you since dawn and it's now past midday, I had hoped to have more time to explain things but I guess you will have to learn as you go – after all I did and it did me no harm, sort of..." The old lady trailed off her thoughts going inwards. Patience is not one of my strengths and at this point I kind of lost it._

" _What are you rambling on about?" I virtually shouted._

Startled out of her thoughts the old lady replied, "Sorry my bird, it's my age you see" she chuckled to herself.

" _Anyway back to the business at hand. I have come here today to give you this. Keep it safe and carry it with you at all times and it will keep you safe – you are of the Myrhes an Loor"._

The old lady reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small velvet drawstring bag. Her eyes narrowed as she held it out towards me. The wind had died down and in the distance a rumble of thunder could be heard. The world seemed to take a breath, everything contracting, focussing on this moment. My hand automatically reached out for the bag but stopped short of taking it from the old lady, I had an odd moment of déjà vu, a shiver ran up my spine. The hairs on my neck stood to attention and as I took the bag my stomach lurched; I closed my eyes as a feeling of dizziness swept over me. When I opened them and looked down at the velvet bag in my hand I felt the world begin to breathe again.

" _Golly, you gave me a fright young lady, thought you weren't going to accept. Goodness knows what would have happened then eh?" said the old lady feigning a fainting fit._

Tentatively, (I was half expecting this to be some elaborate prank) I opened the bag and out tumbled a circular amulet, warm, no bigger than my palm. It was made up of circles within circles. The first was a thin flat piece of bone with a faint knot work pattern incised around the edge, on top of this was another smaller circular disc. It was a very bright shiny bronze material with the same knot work pattern repeated around its edge. The third circle was a perfectly round pale blue stone set into the bronze disc. I recognised the stone straightaway, it was moonstone. The only thing I had from my mother was a pair of moonstone ear rings.

The amulet hung on a plaited leather thong and without thinking I put it on, thereby sealing my fate. I remember holding the disc in my hands closing my eyes as a feeling of completeness came over me. At the time I thought it looked very old. Pictures of Iron Age and Bronze Age metalwork from Dads books flashed into my mind for they also had patterns similar to the one on the discs. As I tucked the amulet under my t-shirt a memory, unbidden tickled the edges of my mind.

" _Was this my mother's?" I asked._

" _Yes, for a time, though for now it is in your keeping until you pass it on. There is much you need to know, but time is short, I hope we will meet again Sarah Tremayne so I can tell you more. The only thing to remember for now is this; the amulet is important. You must understand that whatever happens from now on, happens for a reason," said the old lady hastily._

To be honest I wasn't really listening, still looking at the amulet, it all felt a bit overwhelming. I turned towards the old lady and asked;

" _How did you know my mother?" But as soon as the words were out of my mouth I realized that I was alone. I jumped up and scanned the plateau, the view is 360 degrees, but there was no old lady in a big floppy hat of many colours to be seen; in any direction._

All of this happened a long time ago but even now the memory is still very fresh in my mind. I know so much more than I did then and I often wonder if I knew then what I know now would I have taken the amulet?

Maybe, maybe not.

How different would things have been if my mother had been the one to pass on the amulet. Would I have done the things I did?

Maybe, maybe not.

I have often wondered why no one ever tried to stop the Brotherhood from killing my mother and thus upsetting the balance. Then there would have been no need for me to do what I did in order to return the balance. Was it fair to put a thirteen year old girl onto that path?

Maybe, maybe not.

The goddess works in mysterious ways and we are only her servants.

My name is Sarah Tremayne.

I am a Daughter of the Moon and this is my story.

# Chapter One

"What - ?" the only word she could manage as her thoughts pinged around her head like a pinball machine gone mad. Struggling for a breath a multitude of unformed questions whizzed around in her mind as she attempted to make sense of what just happened. A loud rush of noise caught her attention, forcing her to focus on the very pointy thing inches away from her nose.

Her eyes travelled up the length of the spear taking in the thick hairy arms, the woollen tunic and eventually found the eyes of a very large man. Scrambling back crablike, Sarah found herself up against what felt like, quite literally a rock and a hard place.

"What the...?" squeaked Sarah, her brain trying to make sense of what she saw, her eyes always returning to the pointy thing. Common sense told her that it was a spear, but who the heck has a spear in the twenty first century? The answer came to her fairly quickly as she tried to focus on the giant holding the spear – he did. From the look on his face he was not a happy man, words were coming out of his mouth but not words she understood, not surprising given she was in Denmark.

Gradually, as if a fog was lifting from her mind Sarah found to her amazement that bits seemed to be almost making sense. Shaking her head to clear the fog, Sarah concentrated on the words and then like a light switch being turned on, the words become clear.

"Odin's eye! What do mean, crashing around the forest scaring off the deer!"

Sarah was still confused. _What deer? What forest?_ The last she remembered she was in the Roskilde Cathedral museum with her Dad and a bunch of crusty archaeologists discussing the best way to preserve large timbers. _No, that's wrong_ ; she had gone into a side room and had been reading a stone, a rune stone, _what did it say?_

"Breathe girl" she muttered to herself, closing her eyes. It's a dream. She told herself pinching her arm but feeling the pain she opened her eyes again. No, still a forest and still a large man staring at her, but at least he had stopped yelling. The spear had, thankfully, been removed from the tip of her nose and he seemed to be waiting for her to say something. Not wanting to disappoint him, Sarah began with, "Umm...where am I?"

"Where are you? Hmph..." he shook his head and sighed deeply, seeming to come to a decision of sorts "well you can't stay here, get up girl you had better come with me. It's not safe when there are men out hunting, stay close and stop talking so much" the giant chuckled to himself. Sarah frowned, thinks he's funny huh?

"Do you understand?" he paused waiting for an answer, but Sarah simply nodded, for once she was completely lost for words.

"By the ways, I'm Ulf, have you a name?" asked Ulf as he hauled Sarah to her feet.

He was the biggest man Sarah had ever seen, or at least that was the impression she got. He wore a thick cloak attached at the shoulder by a round bronze coloured brooch under which was a serviceable brown wool tunic over trousers of a similar weave tied at the waist by a wide leather belt. On the left attached to the belt was a sword in a wool lined leather scabbard, the hilt highly decorated with silver wire and enamel. To the right tucked into the belt was a large hunting knife.

Apart from all the pointy things that had Sarah licking her lips nervously the item which caught her attention was the buckle on his belt. Two silver dragons with red enamel eyes chasing their tails in opposing figures of eight. The dragons seemed to be looking at her, looking through her, then astonishingly she thought she saw one eye close and then open in a very slow wink. Positive that she was going mad, Sarah forced herself to look up into the deep blue eyes of the giant Ulf who was still waiting for her to speak.

Nodding, eyes wide as saucers and with a mouth drier than the Sahara Dessert, she managed to croak out a reply, "My name is Sarah".

The giant was frowning at her, so with another nervous swallow she tried again, "My name is Sarah Tremayne, and I really don't know where I am or why I am here. Do you know?" It did occur to her as she looked at her rescuer/captor, that perhaps this was too much information.

"I heard ya the first time. Odd name that, Sarah...not like any I have heard before...so you're foreign. This I need to think on, come on up you get I said, we need to get a move on." The first was said contemplatively and the second far more briskly. This was a man who once he had made up his mind about something would not be slow to act on it.

Ulf picked up his pack and made off into the forest, far quicker than a man his size ought to have. Sarah was forced to half walk, half jog just to keep up, wondering why she was, when she could just turn around and go and find a sane person that didn't carry a big pointy spear and numerous other pointy objects that would in normal circumstances suggest he was a psycho of some kind.

However, something in Sarah said that it was okay and it was this less logical side of her personality which made her feet follow the giant Ulf as he disappeared into the trees. Confusion and sheer fright fought with each other but eventually the effort of keeping up with the giant Ulf removed all thought from her mind.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ulf came to a stop in a small clearing by a stream and realizing that they weren't going any further Sarah fell to the ground and closed her eyes. It felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest, her breath burned and as for her legs, they had turned to jelly. _Jiggers! Not...even...cross country...at school...felt this bad!_

As her heartbeat and breathing slowly returned to normal she became aware of the wet grass on her back (and the twig sticking between her shoulder blades), the smell of wood smoke and some sort of roasting meat. But mostly what she could smell, well...with her eyes closed she could have sworn she was at her Nan's and Brad the dog had been out in the pouring rain rolling in cow pats, a favourite pastime of his. However, she knew that there was no Nan and no Brad the dog. Very, very reluctantly she opened her eyes to find four pairs of eyes staring down at her.

"Well wot have ya got here Ulf?"

"I do believe it's a girl but from the way she is dressed I'm not sure what manner of girl – found her crashing around in the low scrub below Freya's rocks". There were mutters at that information and looks of alarm passed between the other three men.

"What was she doing there?"

"Don't know, almost ran her through, thought she was a pig at first. Anyways, she hasn't said much, told me her name is Sarah and wanted to know where she was. I think she might be a bit touched." This was not a thought that went down well. As one, they all took a breath and stepped back.

"Then, why didya bring her here!" exclaimed yet another hairy face.

Ulf sighed and then spoke slowly like he was explaining something very simple to some not very bright people, Sarah suppressed a smile.

"She's only a girl and the forest is not safe for anyone – touched or not. She will stay with us until we return to the steading, perhaps someone has come looking for her and if not; well it'll be up to Geir what happens to her." Ulf looked at the other three men, daring them to object, they obviously decided that this would not be wise. With mutters and a few sideways glances they turned away and began busying themselves.

"Almost ran me through? Thought I was a pig? Touched? Touched what?" realizing that she had spoken out loud when all eyes turned to her once more, Sarah took another breath trying to steady herself.

"Look, I don't know where I am or who the heck you lot are. I am not touched just really very confused, I mean one minute I was standing in the museum looking at this big stupid stone and then...I think I fainted because then here I am – so where the heck is here and, and...argh!" Flopping to the ground once more, hands on her head, Sarah realized that you need to breathe when talking and that she probably sounded nuts. _Perhaps that's what he meant by touched?_

Looking up her eyes met those of Ulf which were crinkling at the corners. Assuming he had just found her little outburst amusing Sarah smiled and shrugged, Ulf chuckled "So, you do have a voice a little screechy though for my liking".

"Good thing I wasn't trying to make you like me then, eh?" She replied without thinking.

Ulf laughed out loud and still smiling passed her a hunk of meat off the spit that had been roasting over the fire. As Sarah bit into the meat the juices ran down her chin and fingers and for at least the next five minutes nothing else mattered except the greasy morsel between her fingers. After awhile, Sarah began to take in her surroundings and started to wonder what was going on. Before, she had been simply reacting to her situation but now she needed to think of possible explanations. Suddenly she had a thought.

"Hey, I get it. My Dad set this up didn't he?" Sarah grinned at the four men who had stopped what they were doing, questions in their eyes.

"You lot are a part of some sort of Viking reconstruction thing aren't you?" Laughing, she looked around expecting (or was it hoping) her Dad and his cronies were going to pop out from behind a bush...Surprise! But the only sounds she could hear were the chirping of birds in the twilight, the crackle and spit of the fire and her own heart thumping a merry tune. The smile on her face wavered and then disappeared altogether.

Ulf frowned, "Thing? This year's one has been and gone, and as for Viking, well my raiding days are over as are Snorre's", a comment which was greeted with a snarl from the one called Snorre, "but the lads, Rolf and Arne, have just returned from a successful raid to the Kurland coast". Rolf and Arne both looked up and grinned in the direction of Sarah, showing teeth that were in serious need of a dentist.

Rolf and Arne must have been brothers and apart from the dental issues were well groomed, both had shoulder length dark blonde hair, with braids at either side of their face and both had brown eyes that twinkled when they smiled. The tan on their faces suggested a life spent outdoors, the only thing that seemed to separate them was height and width.

One was taller than the other by at least a head but had the build that even the Hulk would have been proud of. The other, in contrast, was smaller and more efficient looking. Well if it ain't the Hulk and David Banner themselves. Shaking herself, Sarah turned her attention to the other speaker.

Snorre, wasn't that the freaky name Ulf gave him? Compared to the other three men, this one was less than well groomed and rather belatedly Sarah realised that the nasty odour was actually emanating entirely from this man. Unlike the others who seemed to take pride in their appearance, Snorre obviously had a different opinion about grooming. His bright orange hair was in disarray and she wondered if he owned a comb. A grubby face, dirty nails and a matted raggedy beard added to the picture. When he smiled, Sarah felt an overwhelming urge to brush her own teeth.

_Boy, either these guys know their parts really well or...what? Or I've really somehow travelled back in time? Ridiculous!_ With a snort Sarah looked at the hairy faces which were still staring at her. It was hard to tell what they were thinking but she was sure she could see concern on Ulf's face, suspicion on Snorres and amusement on the remaining two.

_Perhaps I had better stop talking, in case they did decide to abandon me here in the middle of god knows where._ Ulf, who appeared to be the elder of the four, had dark brown, shoulder length hair with a smattering of grey at the edges which was kept in order by the presence of a piece of braided material circling his head. His beard had been neatly trimmed, covering most of his face and once again a sprinkling of grey indicated his age.

"Well Ulf, you found her so it's your decision but personally I think we should leave her here, I mean she could be a creature of the underworld sent to trick us", said Rolf (aka David Banner). Snorre rumbled an agreement and Arne stood silently to one side, just watching, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Ulf stroked his beard, brows furrowed. _Rolf had a point, it would be a sensible thing to do but he was not in the mood to be sensible, besides there was something about the girl that he couldn't put his finger on. At the very least it would annoy Geir_. With a wide grin, Ulf turned to the others.

"My decision stands, we take her to the village and let Geir decide".

Feeling that she had just been given a stay of execution, her heart slowed to a normal rate and another feeling took over, thirst. Wondering if she should speak again, Sarah nervously swallowed.

"Umm, could I have something to drink please?"

Arne threw a bag at her and managing not to embarrass herself Sarah caught it deftly. It was a goat skin with liquid sloshing around in it. With great trepidation she pulled out the stopper and took a sip. Expecting something totally disgusting she was surprised when it tasted quite pleasant, a bit like her Nan's honey mead. Suddenly her situation came crashing down on her. _Dad's going to think I've run away again, he'll send me back to Cornwall or worse, that snot nosed school!_

He had only just agreed to have her accompany him on this summer's dig. She was going to be his assistant and show him how useful she could be and it was meant to be a new beginning. Deep in thought, tears began to well in her eyes as she took another sip of the mead.

"Hey girl, don't hog the mead, pass it round!" growled the ugly one who had wanted to leave her in the forest. Startled out of her thoughts, Sarah hastily handed the goatskin over.

"Ay Snorre, leave her alone" said Ulf as he handed Sarah a rough wool blanket. "Here roll up in this and try to get some sleep, we have a good walk to go before we reach our steading". As she attempted to make herself comfortable on the hard forest floor Sarah was positive that she wouldn't be able to sleep. With her eyes closed she did the deep breathing exercises that Nan had taught her to do and as each of her muscles relaxed so too did her mind...sleep eventually claiming her.

Sarah woke with a start. Looking around she noticed the low fire, the four men packing up, the twitter of birds, the sun not yet risen _(who the heck gets up at this time!)_ a shiver rattled her teeth... _nooo it wasn't a dream!_

"Come on girl, time to be moving" said Ulf far too cheerfully for Sarah's liking.

Not being a morning person, Ulf's cheerfulness grated on her last remaining nerve and she snapped "My name is Sarah! Not girl! Sarah, okay?"

Holding up his hands in mock surrender and not in the slightest bit taken aback by her tone, Ulf smiled "Okay, Sarah it is. Now roll up the blanket and get ready to move".

Rolf and Arne led the way, followed by Snorre, then Sarah with Ulf bringing up the rear. The pace set by the front two was not fast but still had Sarah puffing after only a short time on the move, whilst they hadn't even broken a sweat and Sarah got the feeling they had modified their pace to suit her. Naturally this made her more determined to keep up. Eventually the half jog had become an automatic action, freeing Sarah's mind to tackle the nutty problem of where she was and how she came to be here.

The first, she guessed would be answered when they got to wherever it was they were heading, the second was a bit more difficult.

# Chapter Two

Astrid stood in front of her loom wishing, not for the first time that Freya had provided her with a daughter or two that had survived instead of the seemingly endless number of sons she had borne. Boys are all well and good when they help out in the fields and around the village doing men's work, but what she really wanted was a daughter to help her run the steading, to do those jobs that all women do and which men take for granted.

Her husband the Jarl, had bought her two thralls as her position demanded, however both girls were insolent, lazy and more interested in bedding her eldest two sons, as if that was going to be the way to gain their freedom. _Hhmph! Over my dead body, anyway the boys understood what would be required of them, the importance of making a good match_. Even so, just to be safe I will have word with Geir, he can make it clear to the boys where their responsibilities lie.

With a heavy sigh she realised that she had been standing in front of the loom for some time, lost in her thoughts. _Well this won't do I have my responsibilities too. Wishing for a daughter to share the load with is not going to get the weaving done, or the spinning or the cooking, or the baking, or the brewing, or the milking of the goats, or the feeding of the geese..._

Astrid picked up the batten on the loom, glanced towards the meal-fire where her thralls were supposed to be preparing the evening meal. Instead they were gossiping and giggling, but a glare from her set them hastily about their tasks, albeit still giggling. Astrid decided to ask Geir to sell one of the thralls and get another, an older one perhaps, one not given to constant fits of giggles.

Sometime later Astrid put down the batten and surveyed her work. It was going to be a good piece of cloth and would eventually make a fine cloak for her Hakon's coming of age feast. Rolling her shoulders to work the kinks out of her muscles, she became aware of shouting. _Must be Ulf and the other men back from their hunt_. Curious to know what they had killed she headed out of the hall. As she stepped out, shielding her eyes from the bright afternoon sunshine, it became immediately obvious that things were not as they should be.

Usually when men returned from a hunt there would be boasts about the one that got away or a near death experience with a boar of great ferocity, followed by laughter and jesting. But now there was a quiet muttering and several men looked back to the hall where she stood at the entrance. Astrid's immediate thought went to her husband and sons, something had happened to them, but no that wasn't possible as Geir had taken the eldest three out fishing and the other two were there by the wood hut where they had just put their latest load of firewood.

Clearing her throat, she called out, "Ulf? What have you there that it strikes the people dumb? Can we preserve it and bring it out when my boys start their bickering?"

This brought a few smiles to the faces in front of her and a loud bark of laughter from the one she had addressed. Ulf pushed his way through the crowd pulling behind him a girl. Ulf was Astrid's cousin, they had grown up together both being the youngest in their respective families and as such found friendship and comfort when their older brothers and sisters couldn't be bothered. When she exchanged vows with Geir, Ulf had gone off raiding with several other young men from their village. Several years later Ulf had turned up here in Astrid's new home and had stayed. There were lots of questions Astrid had for Ulf, like why didn't he go home or why didn't he take a wife?

But she didn't ask, for fear that she wouldn't like the answer and the trouble it might cause. He was a good man, a friend and one of the few people she trusted with her life and that of her sons and for her that was enough. With her eyebrows raised Astrid looked from the girl to Ulf and back again.

With a broad smile, Ulf presented the girl to Astrid, "I found her by Freya's rocks, she is a little, ah, confused, but quite feisty". Looking at the girl closely and frowning, Astrid asked "Do you have a name?"

Sarah who up until this point hadn't muttered a word just looked around her totally gob-smacked. She was in a real live Viking village and no one was wearing a horned helmet. Finding it all a bit much Sarah's bottom lip began to quiver just a little. _Stop it, remember what Nan always says deep breath, head up, look them in the eye._

"My name is Sarah", she said. Unconsciously her chin went up and her eyes swept the crowd staring at her before coming back to look boldly at the woman in front of her. Her insides had turned to jelly but Sarah was damn sure this lot weren't going to see that, even so, she really wished she could sit down before her legs gave out on her.

Astrid smiled, _the girl has backbone_. It had not gone unnoticed by her that Sarah had almost given in to the tears. With another frown Astrid looked at Sarah's clothing, jeans, t-shirt, Doc Martin boots and a hooded sweatshirt. Clothing which had Astrid known would not have looked out of place in a twenty first century shopping centre but to Viking eyes were very odd indeed.

"Where are you from, who are your people?" asked Astrid.

"Well, I'm not sure to be honest and quite frankly I don't really know where I am now." Sarah had decided that until she knew more about what was going on that she would keep certain information to herself.

"All I remember is coming to with his spear waggling in my face." This caused a few titters. Blushing furiously, she realised what she had said. Her mouth went dry but she continued.

"Anyway, all I remember is my name and that...well that...that there is something else I need to remember and I don't know what that is." Sarah's voice trailed off, _Jeez that sounded really lame._

Astrid raised an eyebrow; she knew when people weren't telling the whole truth, as the mother of five boys it was skill she had learnt quickly. But she felt that on this occasion, that more would come of it by a softer approach. For a mere moment the thought crossed her mind that only a short while ago she had been weaving and wishing for a daughter and then below Freya's rocks she was found and brought to her.

Looking at her arms which had turned to goose flesh, she remembered that there was magic in the weaving. She pulled herself together, for the wife of the Jarl there was no room for such fanciful thoughts, leave that to the skalds. With her eyes on the crowd Astrid made a decision. The oddness of the situation aside, there were rules of hospitality to be maintained and no one was going to accuse her of not adhering to those rules.

"All of you go back to your work, we will decide what will be done with the girl Sarah this evening when my husband returns." Then turning to Sarah, she said with a smile, "Welcome Sarah, come inside the hall and sit by the fire, my name is Astrid and I am the wife of Geir, the Jarl of this steading and surrounding lands. For now you are safe. Are you hungry?"

Sarah smiled back at Astrid, glad of a little mothering and remembering that it had been sometime since she had eaten.

"Thank you, yes I'm starving and would be grateful for a drink. Those guys sure move fast and I'm knackered," the words tumbled out of her mouth so quickly and would have kept going had she not physically slapped a hand over her mouth much to Astrid's amusement.

Some while later Sarah was sitting by the fire at the centre of the hall, her belly pleasantly full of a lightly spiced fish stew. Astrid had gone to fetch some clothes that were more in keeping with where she was. Looking around her Sarah began to take in her surroundings.

She was in a large building which, from the material her dad had given her to read on the way to Denmark, she figured was a longhouse and this case, the Jarl's hall. In the middle was a large stone lined fire pit where she was sitting. At one end of the pit was the pot, from which her stew had come, hanging from a large iron chain that was attached to the roof beam. To the left of the fire was a work area that looked to be the kitchen and at the rear of the hall there was a partitioned area. It all seemed oddly familiar, which she could only assume was a result of the readings her dad had given her.

The hall itself was quite gloomy, the only light coming from the fire and a number of narrow openings in the walls. The floor was of earth but hard like concrete with fragrant straw scattered over it. The roof was thatched and had a hole above the fire pit presumably to draw the smoke away, which Sarah realised was not particularly effective.

Standing up and stretching her muscles she wandered around the hall. Everywhere she looked space was effectively utilized. There were hooks on walls and posts for everything, wooden spades and buckets, coils of rope, cloaks, an axe and several swords.

Down the sides of the hall there were what looked to be beds. One was covered in furs and had curtains that could be drawn at night and she assumed that this was where Astrid and her husband slept. The others also had furs but were smaller, Astrid had mentioned that Jarl Geir was fishing with her sons so these beds must be for them.

Several of the posts within the hall were heavily carved with what looked to be snakes or dragons and other fantastical creatures that Sarah did not recognise, she recalled the outside of the hall was just as richly carved and painted.

On one wall behind a long solid wood table was a beautiful tapestry. Unbeknown to Sarah the tapestry told the story of Iduna the guardian of the golden apples, the fruit taken by the gods whenever they wished to be young again. One day Iduna was lured away from Asgard by Loki and a long winter blanketed the earth. Eventually Iduna was returned to Asgard and the gods were once more able to become young, Spring returning to the earth. Staring intently at the tapestry trying to decipher it, Sarah did not hear Astrid return.

"I have always liked that story" said Astrid standing at her shoulder. Sarah let out a little squeak and did a funny little hop to the side. Astrid burst out laughing, "My, aren't you jumpy?" Blushing furiously at her overreaction, Sarah said, "sorry, I don't know why I did that. I'm sure that I don't do that kind of thing normally, but then this is not a normal situation for me...or at least I don't think it is."

Astrid smiled kindly and patted Sarah on the arm, "You mustn't worry yourself too much. We won't feed you to the wolves or set you upon the sea to fend for yourself. In this steading we pride ourselves in our hospitality and looking after those who need it. Anyway here are some clothes for you to wear, which should stop the stares when you go outside, a little bit at any rate. They're nothing fancy but perfectly serviceable" said Astrid, holding up the clothes.

"Thank you Astrid, it's very kind and the clothes look perfect too," said Sarah thinking _Nan would be pleased with me, I finally remembered my manners._

Taking the clothes from Astrid, Sarah looked around for somewhere to change and then realized that there was no area for real privacy. Not unlike the dormitory at school Sarah would just have to brave it and change quickly. However, almost immediately a problem arose. These were not clothes that she was familiar with and was not sure what went where or how.

Astrid had walked over to the kitchen area and was busying herself with something. At that moment two young girls walked into the hall, they stopped and stared at Sarah for a long moment before giggling and walking over to the fire. It was the poke that Sarah needed, the giggling and staring was too reminiscent of school. Not for the first time that day she repeated her mantra, _deep breath, head up, look them in the eye. Then turn your back and get dressed, just like at school._

The first item of clothing seemed to be a long dress made from fine soft wool in a dark green colour and although there were no fasteners, the draw string around the neck allowed for a decent fit. With her back to the room and the women in it, Sarah decided to keep her modern underwear on although she was very aware of several sets of speculative eyes watching her.

Once the dress was on and securely fastened, the amulet safely tucked out of sight under the high neckline, she turned her attention to the next item Astrid had given her. It was a pale green linen tunic that had a few worn and mended patches. The two pieces of material which made up the front and back were joined together by thin straps that went over the shoulders.

Then there was a belt (well, she hoped it was a belt) that she tied around her waist and a square piece of material that Sarah assumed, looking at the girls near the fire, was a headscarf. Folding her own clothes neatly in a pile she looked at the footwear that Astrid had provided. Taking a deep breath she called to Astrid.

"Ahh, Astrid, please I don't want to offend you but would you mind terribly if I kept my own boots on?"

Astrid turned and looked at Sarah, _well who ever she is, she makes a very pretty maid_. "Of course I am not offended, takes more than the rejection of a perfectly good pair of shoes to upset me".

Smiling uncertainly Sarah looked at Astrid and when she saw the smile there realized that a joke was being made. Feeling the tension leaving her, she smiled her biggest smile, not yet realising the impact that smile had on the people around her. Astrid came over and gave her a big motherly hug, showed her where to put her meagre belongings and got her to work on preparing the vegetables for the evening meal.

After a while, Sarah became aware of a commotion going on outside the hall, Astrid looked up from her task and glancing at Sarah said, "Come, it sounds as if my husband and sons are back from their fishing".

Astrid led Sarah outside, standing a little behind her Sarah vainly hoped to be inconspicuous. Astrid welcomed home her husband and sons. They were displaying their catch of herring to the village women who came and to take the fish away for preserving. The buzz of activity enabled Sarah to observe Geir and his sons.

The Jarl was a man that demanded your attention, he stood proud his deep voice laughing at something someone had said, the sound making Sarah's skin tingle. But what made him more noticeable was the complete lack of hair on the top of his head, so far Sarah had seen very few bald men and this was the first one with no hair at all. However, what he lacked on top was more than compensated by the beard. Steel grey, it was divided into two long plaits that reached his chest. He was certainly impressive.

There was no doubt that the boys were Geir's sons, each being a younger version of the Jarl probably as he had been in the various stages of his youth, albeit with hair. The younger of the three had already spotted Sarah and was staring at her intently. Eventually, as the hubbub died down Astrid once more pulled her forward.

"My lord husband, this is Sarah. Ulf found her just below Freya's rocks during his recent hunting trip. She seems to have lost quite a bit of her memory and has no recollection of where she is from or how she got here. I have offered her shelter until this little mystery can be solved." Said Astrid in a tone of voice that Sarah had often heard from her Nan and it was one with which you did not argue.

"And these, Sarah, are my eldest sons, Eric, Hakon and Leif." Each boy nodded briefly at Sarah, curiosity burning in their eyes. But it was the Jarl that drew Sarah's attention. Looking into the piercing blue eyes of the Jarl it took all of Sarah's resolve not to turn into a jabbering wreck. At this point the amulet, so carefully hidden under her dress began to warm and feeling her spine stiffening she looked the headman in the eye.

"Was the fishing good, sir?" Sarah asked before she could stop herself.

"Hah! Yes it was good" Geir replied grinning. The grin suddenly disappeared, his eyes narrowed.

"Who sent you to spy on us? The Kurs or maybe someone closer to home, eh?" As Geir spoke he stepped closer to Sarah. The crowd of people fell silent. Fear rooted Sarah to the spot but the glowing warmth of the amulet gave her the strength to reply.

"I am NOT a spy and even if I was I wouldn't be a very good one if you could find me out so quickly!" Sarah continued to look Geir in the eye, even though what she really wanted to do was hide behind the relative safety of Astrid.

Everyone held their breath waiting for Geirs judgement. The big grin returned to his face and turning towards his hall he declared, "Astrid, I like her, she can stay, for now".

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# Chapter Three

"Come on miss, get those bones out of bed", a disembodied voice whispered in Sarah's ear.

Sarah groaned, opened one eye and then quickly shut it again. It was still dark and she had been having such a nice dream, involving a warm fragrant pasty in a crisp brown paper bag whilst sitting on the cliffs near her Nan's house in Zennor. _Such a nice dream!_ Slowly the sounds of snoring and the breathing of deep sleep penetrated Sarah's own sleepiness. Very carefully so as not to wake the young boy gently snoring beside her, Sarah slid out of bed and silently put her boots on. As she fixed her tunic to her dress she looked down at the boy whose blonde hair glinted red in the firelight.

His name was Harald and at four years of age was the youngest of Astrid and the Jarl's five boys. In the three weeks that Sarah had been here all the boys (except Hakon the second eldest who did nothing but scowl at her) had come to treat her like a sister but for Sarah Harald was her favourite, maybe it was because when he was introduced to her he had given her a hug instead of the manly nod that his brothers had.

In fact, Harald was a good source of hugs. During her first few nights when the tears had threatened to overflow it was Harald who had silently given her comfort and had the wisdom not to mention it.

Turning away from the sleeping boy and stepping quietly outside to use the privy, Sarah marvelled at how she had adapted to this life so easily. Holding her breath against the smell she completed her business quickly – the privy was not a place to sit and read the paper, not that there was a newspaper here, but if there was...

Once finished, Sarah began what had become her daily chores. First, she had to collect the milk from the goats which were being milked by the two girls who were Astrid's thralls and then help prepare the barley porridge which was to be the breakfast or the day-meal as they called it here. Once the porridge was bubbling quietly over the hot coals in the centre of the room Sarah would go to wake up the younger boys, helping the sleepy Harald to get dressed.

For the youngest three boys it was their responsibility to see to the family goat herd, Leif who was the oldest of the three at ten years would take them out to the fields above the village and the younger two, Harald and Rolf would then be able to clean out the goats stall, put down fresh straw and fill the water trough. It would not be until then that the boys would eat their morning meal as most people would do a couple of hours work before eating.

After this the younger boys would head up to the fields behind the village and relieve Leif of his goat tending duties, so he could also get something to eat. Although the goats generally looked after themselves it was the boys job to make sure they didn't wander too far or break through into the crops. The boys would also spend their time foraging for berries or herbs as requested by their mother.

The steading was a hive of activity, there was always something that needed doing. Gardens and animals to tend, wood to gather, grain to grind, wool to spin and weave, things to fix and mend and as it was situated on the coast, fishing was an important activity for many of the men and boys of the village.

The steading consisted of five main households with their own gardens and animals; a barrack type building where the Jarl's bachelor warriors slept and the hall where the Jarl's family resided. The hall was much more than just the Jarl's house as it served as a communal place where meetings were held as well as the place where feasts and festivals were celebrated.

The steading was also in the enviable position of having a forge, the only one for many miles and as a result there were numerous visitors from neighbouring communities with items to mend and requests for new tools. Ulf, the giant who had found Sarah all those weeks ago was the black smith and although the forge was his to run as he pleased he did have to pay Geir a tithe for being in the steading. Leif was to be apprenticed to Ulf in a couple of years, although from the amount of time he spent at the forge it would seem that his apprenticeship had already begun.

In the beginning, Sarah had been horrified at the amount of work the children were expected to do in any given day but as time had gone by she realised that it was a necessity. If the work was not done then people would suffer. There was no supermarket, no welfare, no hand outs. You helped yourself and when you could, your neighbours.

She had also found it hard to get her head around the idea of having slaves or thralls. The two girls who belonged to Astrid were not the only thralls, there were several others who also belonged to the Jarl and these were men and women who worked around the steading. It was possible to become a free person if you worked hard enough or did some great service for your owner who then had the right to declare a person free. In her innocent twenty first century mind Sarah thought Jarl Geir should go and buy as many slaves as he could and set them all free, which would have been the humanitarian thing to do. As of yet, it was not a thought she had voiced.

At first Sarah said little but gradually her natural curiosity got the better of her and she found herself asking questions and having some very interesting discussions with Astrid and the younger boys, as they were the only ones with whom she felt truly comfortable. It was during one of their many discussions that Astrid had pointed out that one of the many roles her husband played, apart from the farming and fishing, was to protect the steading and surrounding settlements (hence the warriors), resolving disputes and providing help for those who were in need.

The latter accounted for old Gudrun who now occupied a small corner of the hall. Her husband had taken their little fishing skiff out one morning and never returned. There had been two sons but both had gone off raiding and had yet to return.

With no children to provide for her Jarl Geir had taken the old woman into the hall. In the beginning she had helped to look after the younger children not only Harald and his siblings but many of the village youngsters. Now, however, with her eyesight failing she sat slowly spinning wool and occasionally nodding off. Sarah had figured that in this world it was considered shameful to be unproductive and so had rolled up her sleeves, and got stuck in with the rest of them.

There had been some funny moments like the time she thought she would give try her hand at milking the goats but it had been dark and, well, the papa goat didn't take kindly to being grabbed and squeezed in that part of his anatomy. From then on she left that job to the thralls; mostly she followed Astrid around being an extra pair of hands, something for which Astrid seemed grateful.

Today though, found the majority of the men up in the fields behind the village repairing the fences keeping the goats out of the oat and barley fields. The sun had been up for several hours when Astrid, Sarah and the thralls walked up the hill with watered ale, bread and cheese for the workers. As they approached the men working in the warm sun, snatches of their conversation floated down to them.

"She will be of an age to marry soon".

"Aye, hard worker, good with the young 'uns too, make a good wife".

"Yeah but who'll want her? You heard what the volur said the other night – who wants a woman that has been touched by the gods?"

"Knew we should've left 'er where we found 'er. Ulf, you seem quite taken with 'er and I've only ever seen you smile like that around the Lady Astrid"

"Shut ya mouth Snorre before I shut it for ya," growled Ulf taking a menacing step toward the now retreating Snorre who grinned wolfishly.

"Mind your tongues all of you! Your idle gossip shames you, Ulf did right in bringing the girl here, her future will not be decided by gossipmongers," growled Magnus, one of the warriors and Geirs right hand man.

Heat filling her face and neck, Sarah realised that they were talking about her. Looking at Astrid and the other two girls she knew they had heard too. At this point the men also realised that they had been overheard and all except the repulsive Snorre avoided Sarah's eyes.

Astrid cast a withering look at the men, Sarah stood up straighter returning Snorre's stare until he too looked away. Glancing at Astrid, she gave a slight smile and started handing out cups of ale. When she passed a cup to Ulf, his hand rested briefly on hers. Feeling her face go red yet again she quickly moved on.

_Good grief, marriage? I'm only thirteen, what crazy person marries that young?_ Then, looking at Astrid she remembered... _Viking women, thats who_. Taking a calming breath, Sarah said a short and silent prayer to any Viking god or goddess who might be listening that she wouldn't be here too much longer for marriage to become an issue. Although she didn't know how she was going to get home, she had faith that she would find a way...eventually.

After she had served the watered ale to the men Sarah found a spot a short distance away and sat down waiting to take the remainders of the meal back to the hall. Closing her eyes she felt the grass tickling the backs of her legs, the sun gently warming her back, the low murmur of conversation and the odd bark of laughter competing with the peeping noises of some unknown bird and the hum of insects.

The question that had been bugging Sarah since she got here was; how did she get here? And why was she in Viking Denmark? So far her conclusions were flimsy. Somehow she knew that it had something to do with the amulet that the crazy old lady had given her and the rune stone that she had been reading in the museum, but beyond that? Remembering the words of the old lady that everything that happens does so for a reason had given her some kind of comfort. She had so far managed to keep the amulet secret as deep down she knew without knowing how or why to let others see it would be asking for trouble.

Occasionally when a private moment arose she took the amulet out and held it trying to wish her way home but without success. Interestingly, on one such occasion she had let thoughts of the steading and Hakon enter her mind. The results had given her a fright. One minute she was sitting on some logs in the wood shed and then she was standing at Hakons elbow watching him drink from the water barrel outside and yet she knew that she was still in the wood shed. Putting it down to wishful thinking, she had walked out of the shed only to find Hakon drinking at the water barrel.

Sarah had repeated the exercise on several occasions with different people while always making sure that she chose someone who she neither knew well nor what they might be doing at that time. Each time a part of her was able to see what they were doing a little into the future, usually no more than about five minutes was her estimate. It was really very cool and having this ability made her feel a little bit better about not being able to go home.

There were times when the thought of spending the rest of her life stuck here frightened her so much she almost stopped breathing. She tried not to think too much about her Dad and Nan. What must they be thinking, her disappearing yet again. They would be worried sick and every time she thought about it her stomach clenched so tight it hurt. So, pushing these things to the back of her mind she just got on with her life as it was in the now. Deep down she felt that the problem would resolve itself and that home was just around the corner. Her time here was something to be weathered much like boarding school. Take it one day at a time had become her silent mantra.

Thinking of this brought back to her the encounter she had two nights ago. A volur and her entourage had arrived in the village and as a follower of Freya she was treated with great respect with a feast being held in honour of her visit.

As preparations for the feast had kept Sarah busy for much of the day and throughout the early part of the feast, she had yet to catch more than a glimpse of this VIP guest. Before the event turned rowdy, in true Viking style, the blue cloaked volur and her companions stood up and moved to the centre of the hall. Burning with curiosity Sarah found a spot to watch the proceedings.

An intricately carved chair was brought in and the volur sat as her companions stood in a semicircle behind her and began to chant. The song caught Sarah's attention and she felt the hairs on the back her neck stand on end and goose bumps ran down her limbs. With the ale jug in her hands, her head cocked to one side, Sarah listened, lost in the chant.

"Ho! Sarah, bring us that jug girl!"

The deep voice of Magnus brought Sarah to with a jolt. Her hands fumbling, she almost dropped the jug, much to the amusement of those around her. Rapidly blinkin, the room came back into focus and her eyes met Astrid's concerned look and Geir's more calculating one. She gave them both what she hoped was a reassuring smile and carried on serving the ale, trying to block her ears from the mesmerising chanting.

It was some time before she felt that she could look towards the centre of the hall. The chanting had stopped and now the volur was receiving various members of the steading and after touching them on the head she would then speak to them quietly. Some would come away looking pleased, others less so. Not knowing why, Sarah decided to steer clear of the woman. Eventually though her curiosity got the better of her and she grabbed Rolf as he ran by on an errand for his mother.

"Rolf, this may seem a stupid question to you, but who is she?" asked Sarah, nodding towards the lady in the centre of the room. Rolf raised his eyebrows but by then he was used to Sarah's questions.

"That's the volur, she is favoured by Freya" he answered as if that was all she needed to know.

"Yes, I know that bit...but what is she doing?" asked Sarah, feeling very daft for not knowing.

Rolf sighed impatiently. "She's a seer and can tell you your future," he said before dashing off into the crowded hall.

A seer? _Well, I think that it will be better if I keep a low profile_. For some reason that she couldn't define the woman made Sarah feel very uncomfortable. Even so, she couldn't help but cast surreptitious glances at the woman.

Her age was indefinable but Sarah guessed it was somewhere closer to forty than thirty. Her almost golden hair was shot through with silver and was elaborately coiled on top of her head. She wore a deep blue cloak held at the shoulders by two large oval silver brooches and around her neck was a long necklace of amber and silver. In her hands was a wand of alder signifying her power as a representative of the goddess Freya.

When there were no more supplicants, she stood up, raised her arms and closed her eyes.

"You have a visitor who comes from no place known. "Come forth girl, I wish to see you" commanded the volur. Until then the woman's voice had been nothing but quiet murmurs to Sarah, but now she found herself obeying even though everything in her screamed to find a corner and hide. Within an instant the hall fell silent and all eyes turned to Sarah standing at the edge of the hall.

"Come closer, I will not bite" smiled the prophetess beckoning Sarah forward.

Yet again, Sarah found herself doing as she was told and as every step bought her closer to the woman at the centre of the hall, her heart raced and her hands trembled. Trying to pull herself together, she reminded herself this was, after all just a woman, who had no power over her. There was nothing to fear. Or was there? Looking into the woman's clear cold blue eyes, she had a very strong feeling there was indeed plenty to fear.

"I know this girl." There were gasps and mutters around the hall. "She has come from a place far from here and is not here to stay. Treat her well and when you think that all is lost then know that it is not, for she will be your salvation." As the volur spoke she reached out and held Sarah's arm looking deep into her eyes holding her captive. _I now know how the rabbit feels when caught in the headlights of a speeding car._

"I will now speak in private with the girl," the seer said with a pointed look at Geir who, with eyes narrowed nodded at Magnus.

The large grizzled warrior stood up and led Sarah and the woman out of the hall to the communal barn that housed the steadings supply of hay and grain. After lighting an oil lamp for them Magnus retreated to the doorway and stood guard so that they would not be interrupted. All this time the woman had not said another word and Sarah was too dumbfounded to say anything to her. Once again the seer looked at Sarah but this time her stern face relaxed into a warm smile her eyes twinkling.

"Forgive the dramatics but to be a woman in this world is such hard work! Well I can see from the look on your face you are wondering what is going on? Hmmm, I won't tell you who I really am but let it be said that I know exactly where you are from. A land of cars, computers and television, also, that your principle concern is when and how you are going to get home, am I right so far?" asked the 'volur' patting Sarah's hand.

Sarah could only nod dumbly, "I am sure you have also managed to work out that your introduction to time travel has something to do with the amulet you have safely tucked under your dress?" Again Sarah nodded even more surprised than before, if that was possible.

"Well, it is my job to tell you that you will be able to go home but not until you have helped this steading, and I don't mean by doing chores or looking after little boys. This act will be something big and it will not be easy, so be prepared." The seer paused and at that moment Sarah finally found her voice.

"Who are you? How do you know about where I am from?"

Smiling she replied, "I can't answer those questions, but if you succeed in completing this task and return home, then your questions should be answered...mostly".

"If I should succeed? What happens if I fail?" asked Sarah.

"That is not a question you want answers to, my dear" replied the seer, the smile disappearing, her eyes turning to ice. Sarah made a mental note, failure was not an option.

"Ok, can you tell me what kind of thing I need to do in order to go home? Out in the hall you said I would be the village's salvation? Sounds pretty big to me, frankly the thought of being anyone's salvation, let alone a whole village, scares me stupid." Sarah's voice had begun to tremble.

Feeling some empathy the woman relaxed and put an arm around Sarah, after all she was still a child in many ways and one who had not been given any preparation for the destiny that had been thrust upon her. She wished that she could give Sarah more comfort and answer her questions but she also knew that to do so might change how things were supposed to turn out.

All her feelings about the situation aside, she knew that a lot rested on Sarah's ability to tackle the task ahead of her. Taking a deep breath she lifted Sarah's chin looked her in the eye and smiled gently.

"It seems hopeless right now doesn't it? But you need to be strong, even when things seem to be at their worst, keep your Nan, your Dad and your home in mind. They are good people, who have brought you up to be a strong and independent young woman so use the skills that surviving at boarding school gave you," the volur paused.

"Now I have probably said too much. We will go back to the hall and you can go about your business, even though they will be all agog to know what was said. Stand tall Sarah, do not be embarrassed or ashamed of who you are. I will be gone before you are awake so I will say goodbye now. Maybe we will meet again one day".

The volur – who was probably not a volur - gave Sarah a quick hug, turned and walked over to Magnus indicating that he could lead them back to the hall. As they entered the hall, conversation ceased and all eyes were on Sarah. The seer joined her entourage and Magnus resumed his seat to the left of Geir.

Astrid looked at Sarah with a question in her eyes but Sarah, who did not feel in the mood to talk, picked up a jug and wandered around the tables refilling horns and tankards, avoiding all eye contact. Perhaps if everyone got really drunk they might just forget the volur and their mysterious guest.

That had been two nights ago. Since then there had been the usual amount of stares and hastily ended conversations whenever she appeared but having been through it all when she had first arrived in the village it was relatively easy to shrug off. Astrid had been more direct. Wanting to be as honest as possible with the woman who had made her part of her family, Sarah had told her that she was still trying to make sense of it herself and when she understood then she would talk to her about it. Astrid had kindly left it there, heading the Jarl off when it looked like he wanted to push her further on the subject.

With her thoughts wandering Sarah had not realised that the men had returned to their work and Astrid and the girls were packing up the remnants of the morning meal. Standing up quickly Sarah hastened over to help, tucking her worries into a corner of her mind labelled 'to deal with later', but for now there was work to do.

Just as they were heading down the hill towards the village Erik came dashing up. He stopped briefly to excitedly inform his mother they had visitors from the King and he was sent to fetch Magnus and the men. Sarah observed Astrid's face as she watched her eldest son run off. She was frowning and did not look that thrilled at the prospect of nobility at her doorstep.

"What does it mean Astrid?" Sarah asked quietly.

"It means duty, obligation and a disruption to our peace" replied Astrid with a sigh. Turning Astrid continued down the hill towards the village with Sarah and the girls falling in behind her.

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# Chapter Four

The hall was packed full of people, men talking quietly amongst themselves as they waited, women standing silently for they knew what these new visitors heralded. Even the children were subdued and sat still by their mothers. When Magnus and the men from the fields arrived, Geir stood and formally welcomed the visitors standing beside him. Sarah didn't hear their names but knew from both the formality of the welcome and the reactions of the people in the hall that these were very important members of the King's court.

Their thick fur cloaks were held on by ornate circular gold brooches, their fine clothing proclaiming their nobility. Both wore the Hammer of Thor with pride as they stood tall in front of the crowd unsmiling. The right hand of the tallest one kept going to his side only to find that the scabbard which usually hung there, now was not. Their swords were hanging on hooks by the door, as a sign of goodwill. When Geir had finished welcoming the Kings men, the tall one stepped forward to speak, his hand stroking his moustache thoughtfully.

"Thank you Jarl Geir for your welcome. I bring greetings from King Horick who is pleased to remember the loyalty and honour of your hall. I am neither a diplomat nor courtier so therefore will not waste your time on longwinded and inadequate flattery." Approving noises filled the pause as he continued. "I will get straight to the point, your loyalty and strength are required once more. It has come to the King's attention that several lords to the north have banded together and wish to make themselves a kingdom of their own. Naturally, this is not acceptable and threatens the peace that reigns now after so many years of war and unrest. We are here to ask you and your men to join with King Horick and stamp out this rebellion. What say you Jarl Geir?"

All eyes turned to the Geir as Sarah wondered if he would decline but then remembering Astrid's words knew that it was a foregone conclusion. In his younger days the Geir had also been on raids and after a fashion (i.e. the spilling of a lot of blood) had become the captain of his own ship and crew. Eventually, he had decided that there was no point in pushing his luck and had returned to the place of his birth a rich man. His crew, give or take a few, had also decided to accompany him home, so great was their respect and loyalty to him.

Once home, by stint of having a number of well-armed men with him, he was declared Jarl. He built his hall and set about making the steading prosperous. The people were, by and large, happy with the new arrangements; the warriors provided protection and when needed extra manpower. Anyway this was the story that was told, along with many others, about Geirs bravery and steadfastness.

The Jarl picked up his drinking horn, filled it, turned to the men in the hall, raised his arm and declared "For the King." The men as one raised their arms in salute "Omm" and with that the decision was made.

That night Geir held a feast in honour of his distinguished guests. A pig which was being fattened for winter was slaughtered and roasted on the large spit above the fire. The Kings men had brought several flagons of fine wine from the south. Songs and stories were told of great heroes and battles where cunning and bravery won the day, as an ever increasing amount of wine, and then ale, was consumed. Sarah had the task of serving the Kings men, a job that she was most capable of doing. At one point she needed to refill the jug of ale from the barrel at the end of the hall, but as she walked past the last table she felt hands grab at her hips and pull her onto a lap. Warm fetid breath filled her ear;

"Hmm...a bit scrawny but I think I've drunk enough not to care" whispered Snorre, spit flicking onto Sarah's cheek.

Sarah gave a little yelp and tried to push Snorre away, but he held her fast. The other men at the table chuckled at her attempts to free herself. Swearing under her breath Sarah prepared to shove a 'scrawny' elbow into his flabby belly when the voice of the Jarl rang out above the noisy hall.

"Snorre!" It was all he said, but it was enough. Snorre's head snapped up, he pushed Sarah away and turned to his cronies, acting as if the incident had never happened. Sarah made a bee line for Astrid who had seen the whole incident.

"Stay by me now" was all Astrid said. Sarah didn't need telling twice.

Astrid gently shook Sarah's shoulder. Sarah's eyes flew open. Looking around she noticed that most of the men had left except for those who had simply put their heads down where they sat and were now snoring loudly.

"Come the drinking is over and even Snorre has returned to his own bed. Harald and Rolf are in my bed, you join them whilst I make my drunken husband comfortable and I will be with you. There will be much to do before the men leave" said Astrid. Smiling sleepily Sarah did as she was bid.

As it was, it took two further days for the men who were leaving to be provisioned. So on the third morning after the Kings men had arrived, a sombre group of women and children watched silently as the Geir and his band of warriors rowed out of the bay in the snekke. Not as large as some more traditional warships, its small size and narrow hull allowed it greater manoeuvrability and speed.

Geir's fame and wealth were a direct result of his ability to use the snekke to great effect during raids. The ship could accommodate up to thirty crew with twenty six oars each manned by either a warrior or those men from the other households who were able to fight. As far as Sarah could tell, Geir was duty bound to the King and in turn the freemen of the steading and surrounds were duty bound to Geir. Duty, honour, valour were values ingrained into Viking society.

As the ship cleared the headland to the north, they hauled up the sail with its checkerboard pattern, the dragon head clearly visible and standing proud on the horizon. The plan was to meet up with the King and the rest of the army in Roskilde and then onwards north to put down the rebellion, eventually returning home covered in glory.

Or, die an honourable death with sword in hand. It all sounded a little crazy to Sarah and if truth be told she had a suspicion that a number of the women, including Astrid, thought so too. Not that they would say this out loud, as it would just be a waste of breath.

Not all the men had left, some were too old or too young, much to the disgust of Rolf and Harald who spent the afternoon in mock sword fights, yelling and 'dying' all over the steading. Leif didn't seem bothered at being left behind, he was happy in the forge, although Hakon was different. Sarah never could figure out what he was thinking as he spent most of his time scowling, especially when she was around. Given what she knew of the people she figured he was unhappy at being left behind.

Of all the Jarl's sons only Erik accompanied the warriors, as his father's shield bearer. Allowing a fourteen year old to go to war was to Sarah's mind, bordering on insane. This, however, was not her world, something which was now more evident than ever.

The only able men not to go were Ulf, who had the responsibility of the forge and two of the warriors. They had not been happy to stay behind but Geir was the boss and he had ordered them to reamain, the steading was not to be left completely defenceless. So with great reluctance the two men stayed.

Sarah couldn't help but think that this was probably a good thing. Ever since the visit from the volur, she had been haunted by dreams she couldn't remember but which upon waking left her heart pounding. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to happen and it wasn't a good something.

As she stood on the shore with her arms wrapped around herself, she watched the ship sail into the distance until it was a speck on the horizon. Not until then did she turn and walk back up the path to the hall, unaware that she was also being watched.

# Chapter Five

Ulf had not bothered to watch the warriors leave. It was a scene he had witnessed and been part of many times. Instead he sat on the bench outside the forge and contemplated the strange girl he had found all those weeks ago. He would not readily admit it, but Ulf was a superstitious man, not in the extreme sense but he firmly believed that if the gods wanted you to do something you had better do it.

Although Snorre and several others had insinuated that he was looking for a wife and the girl was a good candidate, it could not have been further from his mind. At the best his feelings towards the girl were those of a father or big brother; some men might like their girls young and bony but not him. His ideal woman was someone older, with experience and curves, _someone like...well best not go there, even in his own head_.

To him Sarah was an oddity, actually to most of the steading she was an oddity but because she tried to fit in from the very beginning and had become good friends with the Lady Astrid most people left her alone. The incident with the volur had unsettled many including Geir, who later on that evening had requested a private meeting with the volur. He had asked Ulf and Magnus to be present, but it had turned out to be a frustrating question and answer session.

Many of the questions the woman could not or would not answer. All she would say was that Sarah was to play an important role in the future of the village. After a while the woman had held up her hand saying "Enough questions. You will get no more from me. Just accept things will be what they are," and then turning to Ulf placed her hand on his forearm and looked directly into his eyes, Ulf had felt a chill run over his skin even though the evening was mild.

"Help her prepare," she said in a voice that came from the spirit world itself.

Sitting in the weak sunshine of early morning, Ulf thought about those words. Help her prepare, prepare for what? _How do I help if I don't know what's it for? Does she want my help?_ Sighing he stood up, there were far too many questions surrounding the girl Sarah and right now just thinking about them made his head hurt.

There was a broken plough share to be fixed; maybe a good bit of hammering would help him get his head around the problem. He often found the monotony of hammer on anvil gave his mind space to think...and so it was, after a couple of hours of hard hammering, Ulf came to a decision.

Wiping the sweat from his brow he walked over to the large chest which under normal circumstances contained all manner of swords, hammers and knives. However, the chest had been plundered to provide for the warriors and men who sailed with Geir, although there was still a selection of items that might be suitable.

Ulf picked up a small sword. _No, too heavy, and it takes too long to master a sword, an axe is too bulky for a young girl, so a knife it will be, a sceax perhaps?_. Picking up several knives he laid them out on the bench in the forge and then walked out the door to look for Sarah.

Ulf found Sarah and Astrid in the hall preparing the food for the evening meal, Sarah was kneading dough for the bread that accompanied every meal, her face red from the exertion and with a look on her face that suggested she wanted to knead the dough out of existence. Both sets of eyes looked up as Ulf approached Sarah's ever watchful.

"Lady Astrid, if it is no bother I would like to ask if Sarah could accompany me to the forge?" asked Ulf formally.

With eyebrows raised Astrid nodded, saying "You may as well, given the mood she is in she would be better off in the forge or else we will be eating bread rocks tonight!" Astrid had not questioned why Ulf wanted Sarah in the forge but she had a fair inkling. Her husband had confided in her the volur's words to Ulf. He had obviously made up his mind to do something about it and, as Astrid well knew, once Ulf made up his mind he was as unmovable as any mountain.

"Right Sarah, you can leave my bread alone now, for which I am sure it will be grateful! Go with Ulf and help him with whatever it is," said Astrid with a smile, which she hoped reassured the girl.

Sarah's heart did a double flip, as she remembered the conversation of the men several days ago. _Surely this is not how it happens?_ _Oh for goodness sake, stop jumping to conclusions,_ Sarah brushed the flour off her hands, gave herself a mental shake, took a deep breath and followed Ulf out of the hall.

As they drew closer to the forge Sarah found her feet dragging. _Really this was silly_ , Ulf had never been anything but polite and kind to her. If it had been that odorous Snorre then she would have definitely had a reason to be worried. Yet with every step closer to the forge the pain in her belly intensified. At that point Ulf turned and looked at Sarah, something on her face must have warned him that she was on the verge of running or throwing up, maybe even both.

Stopping he said, "Sarah, I do not want you as my wife but I have been given a responsibility towards you and I mean to do my duty, so please stop looking at me like that. I am not one of those men who would take a child as a wife and even if I was it would not happen in my forge".

Not a man to mince words, Ulf's directness reassured Sarah enough to be able to walk into the forge with a degree of confidence that nothing bad was on the other side of the door. Once in the forge Sarah waited for her eyes to adjust to the gloom. On her left was the huge fire pit with bellows and all manner of tools stacked neatly beside the large anvil.

To her right was a doorway hung with a thick piece of leather, which Sarah guessed was Ulf's private quarters. Straight ahead of her was a long work bench with tools hanging above it, much like the man who worked the forge everything was neat, orderly and had its own place. Ulf walked over to the bench and beckoned for Sarah to follow.

"Tell me Sarah, do you know how to use any of these?" he said indicating the half dozen knives that were on the bench.

"Ummm, they're knives, and they are used for cutting things?" said Sarah uncertainly, realising as the penny dropped this was not what Ulf meant.

"You mean, to hurt someone or defensively don't you?" asked Sarah, although she already knew the answer.

"Yes, you remember the volur who visited awhile back?" said Ulf.

How could she forget, the encounter was etched on the inside of her skull, Sarah nodded smiling grimly.

"Well she had words for me too, words that concern you. She said 'Help her prepare' and at first I had no idea how or why. I once went to battle and have been raiding but apart from the forge they are the only skills I have. Given forge work is not an option I figured that the preparation you need is learning to defend or attack if necessary."

Ulf looked carefully at Sarah, who was frowning quietly as she studied the knives arranged on the bench. Being a patient man he waited. After a while she seemed to come to a decision and looking up smiled grimly at Ulf;

"You know Ulf that is a very good idea. I would like it very much if you could show me how to look after myself, because something tells me it will be necessary."

Sarah's days took on a whole different pattern after that conversation in the forge. Mornings were spent helping Astrid and doing chores but the afternoons were spent with Ulf. At first it was just Ulf and Sarah in the training yard behind the hall. Soon though word spread and many of the children gathered to watch and laugh at Sarah's inept first attempts.

After her first session she decided that a dress and tunic were not conducive to her training. Changing into the trousers and short tunic the boys wore, causing some raised eyebrows, but it was more practical.

A few afternoons later Sarah got tired of the jeers and laughs and she challenged them to put their money where their mouths were and although this didn't translate too well, they got the gist of it. Now Ulf found himself training an army of mini warriors and Sarah felt that some of the pressure had been taken off her. Even the warriors that Geir had left behind would come and help put the youngsters through their paces.

At first Sarah and the children were shown how to fight close up, hand to hand and having done a self-defence course at school only last term Sarah found that she had a bit of an advantage. During one exercise Ulf grabbed Sarah from behind with one arm around her neck, to which she very quickly responded with an elbow in the gut and stamping her heel down hard on his foot, wrenched the arm around her neck away, and still holding it, spun around behind him pushing it up hard along his back. Ulf fell away to the ground, puffing from the winding that Sarah's elbow had caused.

"Ulf? Are you ok? You told me not to hold back..." asked Sarah concern on her face. The training yard had fallen silent except for the odd noises coming from Ulf. Rolling over onto his back, Sarah realized that Ulf was laughing or trying to laugh as he hadn't quite got his breath back.

"You'll...do...fine...I think...it's time...for a break" said Ulf, standing up. The children and the warriors looked at Sarah in amazement and then burst into fits of laughter. Who would have thought that the giant forge master could be downed by a mere slip of a girl? It was something they would be talking about for days, Ulf would never live it down.

The next day Ulf decided that Sarah's preparation should be stepped up a notch. Now he wanted her to learn how to use a weapon so he presented her with a large and lethal looking dagger.

"This is a sceax, it is lighter and, unlike a normal dagger that is only used for stabbing it can also be used to slash at your enemy" Ulf told Sarah, his tone suggesting that this would be a reality.

All the talk of stabbing and slashing was beginning to make Sarah feel a little queasy. She fervently hoped that stabbing and slashing would not be a part of her life. All the same, she was a practical girl and so, trying to quell her stomach, she turned her attention to Ulf and began her training in the use of the sceax. Ulf also asked Gunnar to give Sarah some lessons in knife throwing using a selection of smaller daggers. It was a skill Sarah picked up quite quickly and although she would never be as good as Gunnar, Ulf was pleased.

Every afternoon Sarah practiced. Many of the younger children lost interest but a few of the older ones stayed to practice alongside Sarah. The adults in the village never openly objected but this did not stop the whispered discussions that would quickly end when Sarah, Astrid or Ulf came into sight. Sarah's nightmares continued to haunt her sleep and as the days went by the feeling of something bad coming became ever more ominous.

Almost two weeks had passed since Geir and his warriors had sailed away to support the King. Sarah had endured an awful morning, everything had gone wrong and even Astrid had snapped at her, she was now in the training field with Ulf, although that was not going well either.

"Focus girl! Let your guard down like that again and I swear to Thor I really will poke you with this sceax." Ulf too, was out of sorts.

"Oh stuff it! I've had enough, my head hurts, I'm tired and I want to go home!" said Sarah flinging herself on the ground and putting her head in her hands, knowing how childish that sounded but not caring. Realising that she really had had enough, Ulf put down the sceax he had been holding and handed Sarah the water skin.

"Drink this and when you are yourself again come to the forge, I have something for you" said Ulf collecting the weapons and walking back to the forge.

Feeling a little embarrassed by her outburst, muttering under her breath she took a big drink and a long moment to get herself together. Because sitting in the dirt wasn't actually helping she stood up, dusted off her trousers and walked to the forge. Inside she found Ulf by the bench at the back.

"This is for you" he said as he handed her a belt with six pockets, in each pocket was a small throwing knife.

"Put it on under your tunic and wear it always, even when sleeping"

With a beating heart, Sarah undid the belt around her tunic and quickly put the knife belt on under it, refastening her tunic belt.

"Can you see it? Do you really think it's necessary to be so dramatic?" she asked.

Ulf shook his head, he had also dreamed last night, one he could not remember but when he awoke in a cold sweat he knew without a doubt that Sarah's time in the village was up. Her future and that of the village were entwined and whatever was to happen he had prepared her the best he could in the time he had been given. During that time he had come to know her, admire her spirit and her quiet determination. He smiled reassuringly at Sarah;

"Can't you feel it? It will be time for you to go soon. Don't ask me how I know this. I just do. You will be fine, in fact more than fine, I'm sure," he said with pride in his voice.

"Thank you Ulf, for everything" said Sarah, tears pricking her eyes as she turned and rushed out the door.

# Chapter Six

The mood that was affecting Sarah, Astrid and Ulf could also be felt throughout the steading. In an effort to raise spirits, Astrid decided to put on a feast of sorts and that evening everyone was in the hall enjoying a meal, gossiping and listening to stories.

Without all the warriors the feast was much less rowdy and the two remaining warriors had chosen to do a patrol. They too felt a sense of unease and Astrid was glad that her husband had left them behind. All evening she found her eyes glancing nervously towards the doors of the hall, half expecting something.

As the meal was coming to an end and mothers with sleepy babes rose to put them to bed. In a rush of cool air the doors to the hall burst open and a dozen warriors rushed in quickly subduing the only men, Ulf included. Women screamed and children ran to their mothers, hiding behind their skirts, sobbing. For Sarah all of this seemed to happen in slow motion as she quickly realised this was not Geir and his men and that two of these foreign warriors already had blood on their blades. As Ulf struggled with his captors, Astrid strode to the front of the hall and with barely contained fury demanded;

"Who are you to burst into my hall, threatening unarmed women and children?"

One of the men stepped forward. Unlike the others he had his sword still in its scabbard and wore no helm. He was obviously the leader of this pack. His eyes scanned the room insolently and without even a glance in her direction slapped Astrid across the face, the force of the blow causing her to crumple to the floor. At this Ulf struggled harder until one warrior obviously had had enough and knocked him unconscious with the butt of his axe.

"Quiet!" shouted the warrior. "Right, I want all the men over there and the women and children on the other side, kill any who resist". This casual declaration sent chills up Sarah's spine.

His warriors quickly sorted the villagers into the groups and ignoring the men, he quickly went through the women and children pulling out seven youngsters, including Harald and Rolf. Meantime his men were busily pillaging for anything of value, ripping brooches from shoulders, taking anything that took their fancy.

"Ok, so this is how it is going to be, I am taking these with me" he said indicating the children "if you value their lives then do not come out of this hall until daybreak." Turning he nodded at two men who each carried a bow and quiver.

"You two know what to do if any attempt to leave". With those words echoing into a stunned silence, the children were herded out of the hall.

As soon as the doors slammed shut and pandemonium broke out, Sarah rushed over to Astrid who was beginning to sit up, one hand nursing her face.

"I'm fine Sarah, you go and see to Ulf, I'll see to everyone else" said Astrid as Sarah helped her to her feet, a bright red hand mark clearly visible on her face. Too stunned to speak, Sarah simply nodded and did what she was told.

Astrid knew how serious the situation was. Children had been taken, her youngest two included. Fighting down the urge to scream, only a clear head was going to get the children back safe. Looking around she noticed that no one had yet made an attempt to step outside the hall, unarmed men and women were no match for archers, and no one seemed prepared to take the risk that the man may have been bluffing. _Where were Gunnar and Ivar?_ Their absence did not bode well.

Standing in the hall with men and women shouting and crying all around her, she calculated that the children they had taken were five boys between the ages of six and nine summers and two girls both around nine summers. None of it was making any sense, but realising that she was about to give in to the panic that threatened at the edges of her mind, Astrid made a decision, her eyes met those of her second eldest son, Hakon. She beckoned him over.

"Quietly now, sneak out of the hall through the hatch at the back and see if they really did leave men behind and if not which direction did they go," whispered Astrid urgently. Hakon looked his mother in the eye, squeezed her hand, nodded and quickly moved to the back of the hall to do as she had asked.

Astrid then strode over to the kitchen area picked up an iron pot and a wooden stirrer and banged them together loudly, knowing that this would be more effective at getting everyone's attention then shouting herself hoarse. The noise in the hall stopped abruptly, all eyes turning to Astrid.

"Right, now that I have your attention, for the sake of our children we need to be calm. Hakon will be back soon and he can tell us what he has seen. Sarah? Is Ulf alright?" asked Astrid looking over the heads towards where she last saw Ulf.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, had harder knocks in my life. But I don't know where Sarah is, she was with me just before you started making that racket and by the time you'd finished waking the dead she was gone," said Ulf as he made his way to Astrid's side.

Sarah had seen Astrid speak to Hakon and without thinking followed him to the back of the hall and out of the little hatch. Crouching in the shadows she watched as Hakon sneaked from shadow to shadow stopping once to inspect what looked like a lumpy shadow and then silently headed down the path that lead to the beach.

Taking a deep breath Sarah followed Hakon and as she approached the lumpy shadow, she could see that it was the figure of a man lying down. Slowly she crept forward, her heart pounding, then just as she was within a few feet of the man the moon came out from behind a cloud illuminating the man's face in an unnatural glow. It was Gunnar; his wide open eyes and a large gash from ear to ear telling Sarah he was dead. She was just about to open her mouth and scream when a hand was clamped over her mouth from behind.

"Stop Sarah, it's me Leif. In Thors name, be quiet – you don't want the men who did this to Gunnar know that we're out here, do you?" Leif whispered urgently into Sarah's ear as he slowly took his hand off her mouth.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you, but I saw you follow Hakon so I thought to follow you. Just as well really, you were about to go all girly and scream, weren't you?" said Leif shaking his head in disgust, trying hard not to look at the corpse at his feet.

Turning to him, Sarah gave him a punch in the arm that almost sent him toppling over the body,

"You bloody scared me! Don't you ever do that again and for your information I was not going to scream, I was just taking a big breath," she said in an angry whisper, Sarah was sure that whatever gods were listening wouldn't mind her little white lie. Leif didn't look convinced.

"Come on then," he said "we had better move it if we are going to catch up with Hakon" as he started off down the path after his brother. After a moment's hesitation Sarah followed.

As they were coming to the end of the path Leif suddenly stopped pulling her down into the dark shadows at the edge of the path his hand once more over her mouth. A dark figure was rushing towards them, but as he drew level with Sarah and Leif he stopped and looked intently in their direction, the moon, ever helpful, once more came out from behind the clouds illuminating the dark figure. It was Hakon; with a sigh of relief both Sarah and Leif emerged from the shadows taking him by surprise.

"Brother, what are you doing here? You could have got yourself killed, Mother will not be happy. Come on, we best get back to the hall, I've got things to tell her," said Hakon using his best grown up voice and making no attempt to be quiet, completely ignoring Sarah.

"Hakon. Stop! What things?" said Leif running after him as he strode off back up the path towards the hall.

Sarah, who was beginning to feel really irritated for no reason, ran as fast as she could and rugby tackled Hakon to the ground, winding both of them in the process. Figuring she didn't have a lot of time, Sarah then jumped up and sat on his back taking a handful of hair and pulled.

"Right Mr I'm So Important, you are going to answer your brother or I will pull your hair so hard that you will never grow a beard!"

"Aargh, for Odin's sake get off me you crazy girl" Hakon sounded very peeved, but then again, thought Sarah, _so am I_. Even so, she slowly got off him, giving his hair one last yank for luck.

Hakon rolled over, stood up and dusted himself off, glancing at Sarah with total loathing. He then turned to his brother, "there were no archers, they killed Gunnar and Ivar, they have left by boat with the youngsters and...they're Kurlanders" he said spitting on the path.

# Chapter Seven

The three of them stood there in the moonlit darkness, chests heaving, silent, as the implication of what had been said sunk in. Sarah had heard some of the warriors talking about the Kurlanders, mostly in disgust and she remembered Geir accusing her of being a Kur spy.

As far as she could tell from her appalling knowledge of the geography of the area, they were a group of people that lived somewhere on the northern tip of what she assumed is now modern Latvia. Much like her Vikings they too spent their summers being occupied by activities such as raiding and general piracy.

Unfortunately, the raiding and piracy was usually directed towards the Danes, and in all fairness it wasn't a one way street, hence the enmity between the two groups. For the children that had been taken this was the worst possible news.

"Why did they take the children? I mean, I can understand Rolf and Harald because they could ransom them, assuming they know who they are but why the others?" Sarah asked, speaking her thoughts out loud to no one in particular. Hakon finally deigned to look in her direction;

"No, as much as it pains me to say it, you are right. The others have been taken so that they can be sold as slaves" Hakon said with finality, Sarah's heart sank to her toes.

"Excuse the stupid question, but who buys small children as slaves?" Even before the words were out of her mouth she knew the answer, Arab merchants. Slave traders preferred young children for many reasons, they are easier to control, they eat less and they are easily indoctrinated into slavery. Not to mention their resale value was much higher than an adult. Shuddering as she thought of how frightened those little ones must be, she brought her attention back to the two boys standing in front of her. Hakon was still speaking.

"The Kur dogs will take the youngsters to a market place where they will be sold to Arab merchants in exchange for silver. Those scum would sell their own mothers for Arab silver" exclaimed Hakon.

Sarah raised an eyebrow as from what she could remember from the readings her dad had given her, Arab silver was highly coveted all over the Viking world and she was pretty sure that if the shoe was on the other foot, so to speak, the Kurlanders would be saying the same thing.

"Come on then, we had better tell mother" said Leif, who had been quiet throughout this little exchange, turning away.

"No, wait Leif" said Sarah, "surely the longer we spend talking about stuff the less chance we have of getting the children back before they are sold at some market and taken very far away?" Sarah looked from brother to brother. "After all, your little brothers are amongst that lot. Look, if we go now we could be on their tails fairly quickly, couldn't we?"

"What go after them? Are you mad? They're armed warriors and we're...well we're not" spluttered Leif, looking to his brother for support.

Hakon narrowed his eyes, thoughts of glory coming to the surface but hating to admit it, "We don't have a ship fast enough to catch them on open water, theirs was a snekke much like Father's, small but fast and anyway we don't have a crew".

"Ok, can you hazard a guess as to where they might make landfall, or what market they might take the children to?" asked Sarah, realising that from his tone he actually considered the possibility. Leif opened his mouth to object once more.

"Be quiet Leif and let me think" Leif's mouth closed with an audible snap. Eventually, after what seemed like hours of thinking, he spoke.

"They might head south to the coast of the Wends and then follow the coast line, probably not too closely until they reach their lands north of the Pols. I expect that they would then land and replenish their supplies before heading north again. I heard Father talking to some merchants a few weeks ago about a trading post in the land of the Chud on the edge of a great lake. They called it Aldeigjuborg and said that although it is used as a staging post for merchants going east, recently some Arab merchants had arrived there from the east. There had been talk that they were looking for particular merchandise, I didn't know what they meant at the time but from the look they gave father..." Hakon trailed off.

Shaking himself, Hakon looked at Sarah and Leif "Right, here's the plan. Sarah, you go back to the hall and tell mother what has happened, meanwhile Leif and I will take one of the small fishing boats and hopefully follow those dogs, tell mother to send..."

"Hang on minute, no way, send Leif back to Astrid, I'm going with you" proclaimed Sarah in a voice that dared anyone to argue. This, of course, was exactly what the brothers were going to do.

"You can't come"

"Give me one good reason" glared Sarah.

"Well, well, because you're, you're a girl" said Hakon realising that was a pretty weak argument.

"Well I'm not staying behind, besides you will need me, I'm a better navigator then you Hakon" Leif chimed in. Hakon silently agreed with his brother, he was a better navigator and if this rescue was going to happen he would need him. But Sarah was another issue. He knew she wasn't going to readily agree to staying behind and so decided to use her own argument against her.

"Can you give me one good reason why you should come with us?" he asked Sarah.

For a moment her mind went blank, being put on the spot like that doesn't help with coherency. Her hand went to her amulet still tucked under her tunic, warm against her skin, and in a flash it came to her.

"Because this is what I came here to do. This is my reason for being here, the volur told me that I would have a journey and that I would save the future of the village. Can you deny her prophecy knowing that if you do you will fail?"

It felt a little dramatic to say it but in her heart she knew that this was true and even if the volur hadn't used those exact words, she was sure the gods wouldn't mind her taking liberties to convince this puffed up Viking boy that she was needed. Her words took both Hakon and Leif by surprise. They had forgotten the visit from the volur. Both boys glanced at each other, neither wanting to gainsay the gods they reluctantly nodded their agreement.

"Right, well we had better get a move on. We will take one of the byrdings, as it is small enough that we three can manage it if we rely mainly on the sail," said Hakon attempting to keep control of the situation.

"Sorry to point this out, but what about mother? I mean, Rolf and Harald kidnapped, father and Erick away fighting and then we both disappear without a word – she won't be happy" Leif pointed out in what must have been the understatement of the year.

Hakon sighed but it was Sarah who replied, "It'll be fine" she said with a bravado she didn't really feel, "I am sure your mother and Ulf will be able to work out what has happened and when we get back with the children they will be too happy to punish us – imagine coming home after this adventure? You two will be heroes! Besides you can always blame me."

Sarah pushed back the dark thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her and turn her into a gibbering wreck. It was fair to say that the thought of the three of them going off into the unknown, after warriors that had already taken the life of two of their own experienced warriors absolutely terrified her but once again the amulet glowed warm on her skin and she knew it was the right thing to do.

With a final glance back up the path to the village the two brothers and Sarah headed quickly down to the beach where the steading's vessels were beached. They had been lucky that the raiders did not hole any of the vessels, they were obviously confident that no one would dare to follow them.

Sarah hoped that this was a good sign whilst Hakon had grunted about how sloppy they were and if they had been under his command it would have been the first thing he would done. Leif merely rolled his eyes and jogged over to the shed that housed much of the boating things and collected the sail for the small vessel they were going to use.

Within minutes the boys had attached the sail, loading water and other provisions onto the boat. Neither had thought to bring weapons with them but they did find a filleting knife each and after a quick think Hakon ran off into the dark, returning with a sword in its scabbard and a sceax.

"Gunnar would want us to use them, especially if it means sending his murderers to Hel" declared Hakon with a grim look on his face. Sarah remembered that Gunnar, Ivar and the other warriors were all part of the boys extended family and to them they were like uncles who taught them how to be men. Instinctively she wanted to comfort but did not know how. Hakon handed the sceax to Leif, who looked at Sarah apologetically.

"It's ok, I still have the throwing knives Ulf gave me" she said smiling patting the area around her waist where the knives were hidden under her tunic. "Suppose I should wear them on the outside now, just in case..." she muttered under her breath to no one in particular, not really wanting to think of a reason why she might actually want to use them. Even so she took them out from under her tunic and fixed them to her belt.

Sarah silently commended herself for choosing to wear the more practical boys clothing as she could not imagine trying to sail a boat and rescue the children bogged down in a dress and apron. The mere thought bought a slightly manic smile to her face and an overwhelming urge to giggle both of which she managed to hide from the boys just in case they thought she had lost the plot.

The three grabbed a section of the boat each and heaved it into the gently lapping waves of the bay, hopping on board once it was afloat. The boys manned the oars and with Sarah at the steering oar slowly made their way into open waters. Resolute in their course of action, not once did they look towards the shore and home.

# Chapter Eight

The moon had reached it's zenith and was now heading down towards the dawn. The three had been lucky on leaving the little bay that was their home for a good wind had blown in from the north, allowing them to set the sail and make better time. The clouds that had obscured the moon and the activities earlier in the night had departed, making navigation by the light of the almost full moon considerably easier.

It had not escaped Sarah that the very helpful wind and moon was probably also helping the Kurlanders. _Amend that, it has helped the Kurlanders_. For, they were nowhere to be seen.

Hakon had said earlier that it was unusual for raiders to travel at night, under normal circumstances they would travel in daylight then put in at a secluded spot to sleep on dry land. Attacks were usually made at first light; the behaviour of the Kurlanders worried him. It occurred to Sarah that maybe there was something more to the kidnapping of the children, the raid coming not long after Geir and the other men had left seemed a bit too convenient but it was just a gut feeling and until she had something more substantial she decided not to mention it.

Hakon and Leif were both experienced sailors and after a brief discussion decided that they would make their way to the island of Bornholm where the Jarl had friends in the south of the island. From there they would be able to replenish their meagre supplies of water and food before heading northwest across the sea to the land of the Kurlanders. Possibly even send a message back to the steading.

"Hakon? Just a thought but do you think it would be possible to get ahead of the raiders? I mean, presumably they are travelling in roughly the same direction we intend to go, so couldn't we in theory cut in front of them, let them pass and then follow at a discreet distance?"

Sarah wasn't sure how well her suggestion would go down with Hakon but you don't know if you don't try. Surprisingly, he didn't dismiss it out of hand but seemed to be giving it some thought. At that point Leif spoke up.

"It's not a bad idea, Hakon. If we put in somewhere, we could wait for them to pass us and then follow but because we are just a small fishing vessel they wouldn't be concerned and if they did see us we would look like fishermen and of no concern to them".

Hakon looked from Leif to Sarah, he was reluctant to admit that the idea was sound but only because he had not thought of it. For him, Sarah was a problem, that she didn't belong here was obvious, he had heard the elders whispering about how she was fae.

Worst of all though, were the strange tinglings he felt when she smiled at him and how he couldn't relax when she was around. Thinking about it he was glad that his brother was here, acting, albeit inadvertently, as a shield for his feelings. Coming to a decision and not looking at Sarah, he spoke to Leif;

"Okay, it's a good plan, we will continue onto Bornholm but we will veer around to the east side of the island and find somewhere to land that gives us a good chance of sighting them. We will still need to be careful though, Father did say that the island was still under our control but things do change and with the rebellion up north it could be that the Svears or the Geats have decided to take advantage and take control of the island again." Hakon knew that his words had come out in a rush and what he had said was obvious to his brother but he was very aware of Sarah watching and listening and for reasons he didn't understand it made his stomach tighten.

"Father only has friends in the south, so our plans to get more food and water will now depend on what we can forage or steal if necessary," he continued perhaps a little unnecessarily, but he really did feel the need to fill the silence.

Sarah on the other hand was beginning to wonder if she had done something to offend Hakon. It was possible that she had offended his Viking sensibilities by insisting on coming on this journey but then again, he was always grumpy around her back at the steading and would rarely speak to her unless he absolutely had to. She hoped that whatever his problem was he would get over it soon, or at the very least, not let it jeopardise their rescue mission. Shrugging her shoulders Sarah turned away and under Leif's tutelage learned how to manoeuvre their small vessel under sail.

After a while the favourable wind that had filled their sails at the beginning of the chase died down to slow breeze. They were still able to use the sail but their progress was slow and meandering. Staring into the dark sea Sarah felt her limbs go heavy, her eyelids started to droop and she struggled to stay awake. With a great effort she turned around to see both Hakon and Leif also drifting off to sleep. She opened her mouth to speak but peaceful oblivion claimed her.

Squawk! Sarah's eyes flew open and she sat bolt upright. Bright sunshine had replaced the near darkness.

"Jiggers. Leif, Hakon! Where are we?" She shouted in panic.

"Huh, what?" Both boys had also fallen asleep but were now scrambling to their feet, looking totally bewildered.

"Some rescuers we turned out to be" muttered Sarah. Hakon just kicked the mast in frustration. She couldn't believe that they had all fallen asleep. All she could remember was the moon's silvery reflection on the dark sea. She hadn't even been tired, none of them had been. So how come they had fallen asleep? Now they had no idea of where they were and or where the raiders were. She could have cried.

"Look, over there is land. It might be Bornholm, let's get in a bit closer and see if we can find somewhere to land," said Leif pointing to his right and effectively distracting his brother.

"I can't see a good place to land, everything is in shadow," said Leif trying to shield his eyes from the rising sun. Leif smacked his forehead as it sunk in – everything was in shadow. If this was Bornholm then they were on the western side of the island, the complete opposite of where they wanted to be.

Leif looked towards Hakon who had also come to the same realisation. The rescue would have to be called off and there was no chance that they could find the children now. The boy's shoulders drooped as they acknowledged their failure.

"Ahh, maybe we should find somewhere to land, have some food and discuss our options," said Sarah trying to sound positive _(what had the crazy lady said? Everything happens for a reason)._

Looking at the shadowy coastline it was easy to imagine warriors hidden in every cove or behind every tree waiting for them to land so they could pounce. A warm sensation on her skin reminded Sarah of the amulet, her hand went to it and she closed her eyes thinking of the coast ahead, wondering if they would find a safe place to land.

Images flashed into her mind, a rocky outcrop covered in birds, gannets, and then beyond the outcrop, twin coves separated by a thin finger of land. Here was a safe place to land. Sarah opened her eyes and scanned the land to her right.

In the end it was not her eyes that found what she was looking for but her ears. The noise from the gannets was enough to draw her attention. As they drew closer she was amazed that the image in her head matched the one she saw with her eyes. With her hand on her chest she silently thanked the amulet. The next question was how to mention the twin coves to the boys and explain that it was safe? Sarah decided to just let the words out.

"Just around the gannet colony are twin coves, the first is used by people who come to collect the eggs from the gannets but there is no one there at the moment. The other one is hidden from view by a finger of land and is very narrow. It'll be safe to land there and I think that there is fresh water there as well," she said staring at the land and not the boys. If she had bothered to look at them she would have seen them exchange questionable looks. Leif shrugged his shoulders as if to say, don't involve me and Hakon just shook his head. Neither replied to Sarah's statement.

"There, Hakon, see the little cove, please pull in there, I know it's safe, please Hakon" said Sarah pointing.

Hakon scowled, "How do you know it's safe? Is this a trick of some kind? Maybe you bespelled us to sleep!"

And yet he found himself steering the little vessel skilfully into the narrow cove and onto the beach. _I will, at some point, have words with that girl_.

Once ashore, Leif efficiently made a small fire with some driftwood, and as the three stared morosely into the flames, its cheery crackle seemed to mock their mood.

Hakon swore, "Now what are we going to do?" he asked no one in particular.

"Well..." began Sarah.

"No! You do not speak. You got us into this with your silly ideas, this all happened because of you, so I don't want to hear you or see you." Hakon face had gone a bright red and his hands were clenching and unclenching. Sarah gave a little yelp and scrambled behind Leif.

"Hakon, that's not fair, Sarah fell asleep too, it was like we were enchanted or something. Anyway, if anyone is at fault it's me. I think you need to go and cool off and maybe you ought a get some more sleep. You too Sarah, get some rest. We should probably only stay here a short while before heading home," Said Leif.

"What about you?" mumbled Sarah quietly into Leif's shoulder.

"I'm okay, I will go up onto the cliff, keep watch and forage a bit. In an hour or so I will come down and one of you can relieve me," said Leif his eyes still on Hakon, who seemed to be getting himself under control.

"Alright, but come and get me first as you two have enough to do managing the boat and need your rest," said Sarah as she made her way gingerly around Leif and over into a corner of the cove.

Sarah found a craggy nook to curl up in and wrapping her cloak around herself she settled down watching as Hakon and Leif exchanged a few whispered words before Hakon stormed off to the other side of the small cove. _Crikey! He really doesn't like me, thank goodness Leif is here. Perhaps he will feel better if he has sleep_. Given that only a short while ago they had been asleep Sarah still felt bone weary. _Perhaps it's the stress_ , she thought. If she felt this way she could imagine how Hakon was feeling, being the oldest he undoubtedly had decided to shoulder the burden of this little expedition. _Bloody Vikings!_

As she lay there in the shadow of the cliff face contemplating Hakon, Vikings and life in general, she felt the amulet warm against her skin, her hand reached for it and she let her thoughts wander, sleep being the furthest thing from her mind.

# Chapter Nine

"Sarah? Your turn for the watch" said Leif, shaking her gently by the shoulder.

"Huh? Oh Leif, sorry forgot where I was for a moment, yep I'm coming" said a groggy Sarah, not sure how long she had been asleep but certain it hadn't long been enough. Leif lead the way over to the cliff face and showed her the easy way up. Standing there at the top, she stretched out her limbs and turned around. Along the coast a bit she could see the thin column of smoke rising in the air, which Leif had mentioned and had advised her to keep an eye in that direction.

Leif was not going to sleep but rather was making preparations for the journey home and it was Sarah's job to keep an eye out for any surprises. She wandered over to the little rock formation that, as Leif had explained, would give her a good view out to sea and the cove, as well as keeping her hidden from prying eyes on the landward sides. It also had the added advantage of protecting her from the brisk breeze which announced the end of summer.

As she sat there listening to the gannets her mind was, for once, relatively blank and she wasn't drifting off to sleep. Her problems seemed inconsequential compared to those of the kidnapped children destined for a foreign slave market. With these thoughts on her mind she felt the amulet warm against her skin and reaching under her tunic, removed it and looked at it.

"You have caused me a lot of trouble" she whispered to it closing her eyes while her thoughts wandered to the sandy haired Rolf, bright as a button and to Harald with his cheeky smile, always ready for a cuddle.

Without warning her world shrank away alarmingly, her stomach rolling in protest. With amazement she found herself looking at Rolf, Harald and the other children. They were huddled together on the beach, some sleeping. One of the girls was quietly weeping and Rolf had his arm around her comforting her as best as he could but however, despite frowning defiantly his eyes were those of a scared little boy.

Oddly, no one had yet noticed Sarah. Glancing down she found that she could see right through her feet to the shingle below. Sarah's heart leaped as she frantically looked at her hands, her arms, her legs. She felt her face, yes, she could feel her body even though she looked like a ghost.

Being invisible was a very strange sensation and one which gave her see through flesh goose bumps. Swallowing the hard lump of fear she decided that this was a good thing as after all she would now be able to gather some information about the situation without getting caught. _Silver linings and all that?_

The warriors had also stopped to get some rest and whilst most of the men on the beach were rolled up in blankets sleeping, one was guarding the children and another was on watch further down the beach. Looking carefully at the warrior guarding the children she realised he was the leader, the one who had been giving the orders at the hall. The tattoos on his forearms caught her interest. One appeared to be a snake twisting around a sword, the hilt of which had runes inscribed on it that Sarah was unable to read.

Not knowing how much time she had, she looked towards the beach and counted the sleeping forms, including the guards and 'snake arms' there were twenty warriors, quite a few more than had raided the steading. The beach itself was interesting because they had chosen a spot not unlike their own cove, surrounded by steep granite cliffs with in the distance the noisy...

Sarah came back to reality with a start – gannets. Jumping up, she quickly moved off the cliff edge, her eyes drawn in the direction of the thin column of smoke she had seen earlier...but it was no longer there. Thinking about what she had seen, the fire that had been there earlier had been put out by the time of her vision. Should she make the trek along the cliffs to see if what she saw was true? There was still time before they were due to leave, so after a moment's of indecision, she set off.

Just as she was about to give up and put her vision down to wishful thinking she heard loud male voices. Dropping to the ground, the smell of damp earth in her nostrils, her heart pounded so loud that she was sure she would be heard. Getting her breathing under control she tried to make out where the voices were coming from. To her own amazement she found herself crawling forward on her belly, commando style. The voices were coming from just up ahead, so staying on her belly she inched forward, a small voice in her head telling her to turn around and get away.

When she was almost on top of them it became obvious that the voices were coming from below her. Still on her belly she slowly moved towards the edge of the cliff, her heart racing. As she reached the edge she kept her head down, too afraid to look over in case someone saw her. Listening to the voices she felt a similar sensation to the one when she first arrived into this Viking world and Ulf was talking to her. At first the words made no sense and then slowly she could pick out one or two words and then all of sudden it was as if she had spoken the language all her life. Many of the words were actually very similar to the language she had already been speaking, although obviously a different language.

"Right get those brats onto the ship, move your lazy arses, I'm not paying you to fiddle faddle about!" said one which Sarah assumed was 'snake arms'. Figuring (and hoping, mostly hoping) that the warriors would be looking out to sea as they got ready to board their ship Sarah dared a peek. Sure enough, the warriors were mostly aboard the slim warship with the children being dumped unceremoniously on board.

"Hmph! We've been babysitting for weeks now; you told us we were going to be striking a blow at the Danes, not wet nursing a bunch of snivelling brats. It's no work for a warrior! The price has just gone up," said one of the warriors still on the beach, a defiant hand on his sword hilt.

The tattooed man who had been overseeing his crew with his back to the beach now slowly turned around, his teeth barred in a parody of a smile.

"We agreed a price and it will be paid once we have reached Gotland with these children. Once paid you can all return to your stinking swamp of a homeland...except you," he pointed to the warrior who had complained. "You are going to die here on this beach without honour your body feeding the carrion birds."

As he finished speaking, a warrior wearing an animal skin cloak with the hood up over his head, jumped from the ship and roaring pulled his sword from its scabbard and charged at the dissedent warrior. Backing away in a scramble the defiant warrior lost his footing and landed heavily on his backside. Before he could get up again the roaring warrior used a backhanded slash to sever the man's head from his shoulders.

Slapping a hand over her own mouth to stifle the scream that threatened, Sarah closed her eyes wondering if they had bitten off more than they could chew. Silence had descended and Sarah did wonder if the rest of the warriors would do something in defence of their fallen comrade. But soon the normal noises of warriors preparing to leave started up again, and Sarah dared to look once more, trying to avoid the corpse on the beach.

"Hey stop it, you're hurting us" Rolf's voice floated up to Sarah "You don't want to damage the merchandise do you?" he asked in a superior voice, Sarah held her breath. The warrior who was rough handling the children looked as if he wanted give him a good smack, however, with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders he simply checked the children's bonds and walked away. Even after seeing one of his captors murdered for the slightest complaint he was brave enough to speak up and so taking her cue from the little Viking Sarah calmed her breathing once more, resolving that nothing now would stop her from rescuing these children.

Knowing that there was very little she could do at this point, she crept slowly back away from the edge and when she thought it was safe enough, jumped up and ran very fast back the way she had come. The warrior in the animal skin stopped cleaning his sword with the dead warrior's tunic and scrutinised the cliff top where moments before Sarah had been hiding. A slight smile played on his lips.

"Hakon, Leif quick wake up. We have to get moving...now!" shouted Sarah with the last of her breath as she scrambled down the cliff face. To their credit both boys woke up far quicker than she could and both had weapons in their hands – not for the first time did Sarah realise that they were very different from the lads she knew at home. Both ran over to her, Leif was the first to speak.

"What's going on? Are we under attack?"

Sarah shook her head and tried to get her breathing under control, "No...no but the Kurlanders who took the children are near..."

"Don't be stupid, they would never land here, they have no allies here, the risk is too great" scoffed Hakon as he sheathed Gunnar's sword.

Ignoring Hakon Sarah continued with her story, "Had a thought about that smoke you saw, and went to investigate. No one saw me, I was really careful, heard them say that they were heading for Gotland and I saw the children – who are all fine so far. Rolf is trying to be a pain in the backside from what I saw."

This brought a smile to Hakon's face; he had a special soft spot for his younger brother. However, the smile didn't last very long and was quickly replaced by the almost permanent scowl.

"Hmph, all sounds like hogwash to me, just admit it, you fell asleep and dreamed it all!" said Hakon, folding his arms and glaring at Sarah. Finally Hakon had pushed Sarah's buttons one time too many, she got angry.

"Oh, for goodness sake! Hakon you are the second oldest in your family and almost a man, but sometimes even little Harald behaves in a more honourable manner then you. I have told you the truth and if you don't want to help that's fine but I'm going anyway. Have I ever given you reason not to trust me? Do I habitually lie? Would I lie now and risk the lives of the children or us for that matter? You obviously have a low opinion of me although I really can't think why but I am willing to work with you to get the children back home. They are more important than some silly grudge you have against me."

She really wanted to smack that scowl off his face into next week and it was with great effort that she kept her arms firmly at her sides.

Leif turned away from his brother, embarrassed that someone like Sarah needed to remind Hakon about honour. Leif didn't know why his brother was behaving like this with Sarah but he had watched his brother change recently. Hakon had never been an easy brother to get on with but recently it seemed that the scowl never left his face. He walked towards the boat; there were children to rescue and regardless of what Hakon thought, Leif realised that Sarah was an important part of this rescue and without her they would fail. He only hoped that Hakon would soon realise this too.

With a sigh of relief Sarah followed Leif, although as she reached the boat she turned back to look at Hakon. She would try one more time.

"So is our captain going to join us or is the beach so comfy he wants to stay all winter?" She asked with a little smile.

Looking at the girl who somehow had become the bane of his life, his face finally relaxed as he came to the understanding that the gods had decided that they would be the ones to rescue the children. They were stuck with one another; they were in a sense each other's shield mates. Hakon jogged over to the boat and with a quick push they were on their way again.

# Chapter Ten

"Anyway, I overheard them saying they were going to Gotland" Sarah explained once they had their little craft out onto the water and pointing in the right direction.

This time however, it was Leif who questioned Sarah, "I know that there are some similarities between the speech of Kurland and ours but how did you know what they were saying?"

Biting her lip, Sarah had her answer ready. "Like you said, there are similarities and I could only really understand a few words but I did hear Gotland mentioned." She hoped that she had said it casually enough as she wasn't sure how well they would understand the whole language thing, in fact she didn't really get it, so goodness knows how she would explain it to a couple of superstitious Vikings.

Leif seemed happy with her answer and had turned his attention to the sea in front of him. Hakon had been busy tying off the sail during their little exchange and now went to the rear of the boat and took the steering oar from Sarah with a hesitant smile. The smile alarmed Sarah almost as much as the scowl for its unexpectedness and much to her annoyance she felt her face go hot. Quickly, she moved to the front of the boat where Leif had stationed himself to look out for the Kurlanders.

"Why don't you get some rest? I'll take a watch for the other vessel" suggested Sarah to Leif.

"It's okay, I'm not too tired really – why don't you try for some sleep instead?"

"No, I'm not tired either," she replied plonking herself down near the centre of the boat.

"Perhaps you could tell us what else you saw when you had your little adventure," Hakon's voice floated out from the other side of the sail, all traces of antagonism gone. Startled, Sarah sat up and gathered her thoughts.

"Well, I counted twenty or so warriors, all well-armed. They looked much like warriors from anywhere. One did stand out though he wore a thick animal fur around him as a cloak, I think it even still had its head attached, looked like it was a bear or something," Sarah paused.

"Berserker" said Hakon and Leif in unison.

Thinking hard, Sarah recalled berserkers being mentioned in some of the texts. They were ( _or in this case are_ ) a breed of warrior who would fight their opponents with a single mindedness that bordered on the insane. Stories told of berserkers who would not die even when limbs had been hacked off by their opponents, still they would fight. It was where the modern term 'going berserk' originated from. Having already seen him in action, she knew that this was not good and from the looks on the boy's faces they too thought the same. With a shiver she decided to keep the murder on the beach to herself.

"Any other good news for us?" Asked Leif with a wry smile on his face.

"Umm, I don't know much about the languages thing around here but the one who seemed to be in charge spoke to the berserker in a different language. The main body of warriors seemed to be Kurlanders but those two where different. The one in charge had a tattoo on his forearm, I couldn't really make it out but I think it was a dragon or snake twisting around a sword or spear, he had a similar design on his shield." Sarah breathed out, not telling the whole truth was very taxing.

"What? That doesn't make any sense." Just as Sarah was about to object at having her word doubted yet again Hakon continued, "it's not that I don't believe you, but it seems odd that the Kurlanders, who are strongly opposed to outsiders, would have a foreign captain. Where was the berserker when we were raided? I don't remember seeing him when I scouted the boat. And that symbol you saw, I should know it for it sounds familiar. Then there is the question, why are they here on this side of Bornholm? The Geats and the Svears have no love for the Kurs." Hakon trailed off, frowning at the thoughts that crowded his mind.

"Another thought," began Sarah tentatively, "didn't it seem a little convenient that the raid came not long after your father and the other men had left?"

Leif looked around at the both of them. "Are you suggesting that the raid might be part of something bigger?"

"Aye ya! Got it, the dragon twisted around a sword...I saw this same tattoo on the forearm of a visitor we had just before you arrived in the steading. He came to speak to Father, they spoke alone and after he left Father had a conference with the other warriors and elders. Remember Leif, there was a bit of a commotion and then riders were sent out. No one told us what the issue was but then, why would they, eh?"

"I remember and I know who it was" said Leif quietly, "I had been playing hide and go seek with some of the youngsters and was hiding very well behind the tapestry at the back of the hall. When I heard Father calling to Magnus to summon the men into the hall, I thought I should sneak away but I was curious as to what was going on, so I stayed hidden. He was a Svear envoy. There were a lot of words bandied about but from what I could tell he wanted our lord Father to ignore any requests for help from King Horic. He offered Father 'great rewards'...his words."

There was a sharp intake of breath from Hakon, "Odin's balls! I hope father told him where to go?"

"Yes, of course he did, and the riders he sent out were to alert the King of the trouble brewing."

"So," began Sarah, "I think we can say that your Father was not exactly surprised when the King's men paid a visit and secondly, the raid was in retaliation for not taking the deal offered. Or perhaps they want to distract your Father and other lords who support King Horic. But if this is a Svear plot, what are the Kurlanders doing getting involved?" She hoped that the penny would drop.

"Swords for hire..." said Leif, as the penny did indeed drop.

"And to throw the scent off. If anyone were to follow, they would make for the Kur territory and all blame would fall on them," Hakon added.

Silence fell as the enormity of what they had got themselves involved in began to sink in. This was no longer a straight forward rescue mission; Sarah felt real fear. If they didn't succeed there would be no going home either to the twenty-first century or even the steading. She wouldn't get to see her Dad or Nan again or her beloved Cornish cliffs.

Wrapping her arms around herself, shivering even though the sun shone bright and warm, she tried not to give into the panic that threatened to descend. Looking at Leif, she realised he was also having his own inner battle. She wished she could see Hakon but the sail blocked her sight.

"Right, here are our choices," said Sarah to no one in particular, "turn around and go home or we carry on until the end".

Sarah drew her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead there, waiting for the boys to answer. Closing her eyes, the only sounds she heard was the breaking of the waves as the little craft cut through the sea and the occasional squawk of a seabird.

Why are they not answering? Someone has to make a decision. Those poor children, Ralph, Harald and the others, we can't leave them, we have to try. I couldn't live with myself if we didn't try. But what if we fail, then what? What if we die trying? I don't want to die here. What about Dad and Nan? It'll be like Mum all over again. I'm so sorry Dad.

Sarah felt a hand on her shoulder and looking up found herself facing the clear blue eyes of Hakon. Feeling wetness on her face, she quickly wiped a hand over her eyes, a bit embarrassed.

"We started on this path and so we will continue regardless of where it will lead," said Hakon, still looking intently at Sarah.

"Yes, we will" she said quietly and then in a louder and firmer voice, "Yes, we will and goddammit we will get those children back and I will go home".

"Ahem if you two have finished starring in your own saga you might notice that there is a ship in the distance and it looks like it might be the one we are looking for," said Leif rolling his eyes.

Startled Sarah and Hakon backed away from each other and turned their attention to Leif who was pointing excitedly at the distant horizon. Scanning the sea Sarah could just make out a large rectangular sail. She didn't want to doubt Leif but she had to ask;

"Are you sure that's the one?"

"No, of course I'm not but so far it's the only one that has not been a fishing or trade vessel"

"Leif's right, it is our best bet. We will stay on the same course," added Hakon with a smile for his little brother.

"Okay, you guys are the experts so just let's keep our fingers crossed, eh?" said Sarah.

The two boys looked at Sarah, 'fingers crossed'? What was she talking about?

# Chapter Eleven

After a while, they managed to close the gap between the two vessels by a small distance and Hakon was able to identify it as being the one he had seen leaving the steading's bay. Its carved stern was distinctive enough to assure the trio that they were following the right ship. So far, the warriors ahead of them had not paid too much notice to the small fishing boat following behind them but then, why would they?

Sarah yet again wished she could send some sort of message to Harald or Ralph telling them to hang in there. Sitting on the bare boards at the bottom of the boat, she closed her eyes and feeling for the amulet brought it out from under her tunic and held it in her palm, her thumb gently following the pattern until it came to rest on the moonstone at its centre. Gradually the sounds of the boat and the sea began to fade away and she found herself staring down at the children as they huddled together in the middle of the warrior's ship.

Her hand reached out to touch Harald, her heart breaking to see her favourite little 'brother' so frightened. Her hand went through Harald's shoulder, she was at best a ghost to him, a ghost he could not see, or could he? He was looking right at her, his eyes wide as saucers, so putting a finger to her mouth she looked over her shoulder and pointed at the little sail that could be seen in the far distance and then pointed at her insubstantial self.

Harald's eyes followed her finger and frowning, his mouth opened as if to say something but then, remembering to be quiet, he closed it again. He gave her a tentative smile and nodded, he had understood. Sarah felt the pull of the other place and with a loud whooshing noise found herself back in her body of flesh and bone.

Opening her eyes, everything about her felt strangely heavy but after a few deep breaths to control her rolling stomach, her eyes opened. There was Leif sitting at the prow staring at her, a confused fear in his eyes.

"What did you see?" she asked in a whisper.

"I dunno. You went all still and then a bit pale, no, more like, see through, I could see the mast through you", his voice mimicking her whisper.

"Did Hakon see?"

"No"

"Are you going to tell him?"

There was a pause, "No".

"Leif, it is a gift I have, please don't tell Hakon, he's only just stopped scowling at me. I visited the children and Harald saw me, he knows we are behind him. I think it will help if they know we are here and someone is coming to rescue them" said Sarah. Leif still had the appearance of a rabbit in headlights.

"Are you a witch?"

Sarah had a feeling that depending on the answer, he was fully prepared to jump over board.

"No I am not a witch, I'm just me, I can do some stuff but I don't ever do it to hurt people, just to help" she said.

"I don't like keeping secrets from Hakon"

"I know, I'm sorry, please..." she didn't know what else to say to him.

Shaking his head and looking very unhappy, he turned to face Sarah, "I will keep your secret, there is a lot I don't get about you but...but I think...well, I don't know what I think," with fists clenching and unclenching he turned and smacked the edge of the prow in frustration.

Sarah flinched, what could she say? _Hello, my name is Sarah and I'm from the future, the far future. Like that would help_. Sarah remained silent, eyes downcast. Leif had been her ally and friend, goodness knows she needed friends.

Suddenly her throat went all dry and her eyes filled as the enormity of everything threatened to overwhelm her once again. Leif had turned his attention back to the horizon, watching the sail in the distance. What did that tatty old poster in Nan's kitchen say?

" _A journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step"_

Sighing she wished, not for the first time, that Nan was here, but even so she knew what she would say, _take it one step at a time, crossed each bridge as you get to it and don't stress the what ifs_. Smiling to herself Sarah wiped her eyes and turned to watch the horizon too.

It was not long until they sighted land off to the left of their vessel, but the warrior ship did not change course. Neither Hakon nor Leif had ever travelled this far before and so could not tell Sarah what land it was, although Hakon did hazard a guess that it was the land of the Geats. From what Sarah understood, modern Sweden was at this time divided into three; Lund, under control of the Danish king, the land of the Geats and the land of the Svears. She had always thought modern history was complicated but it was nothing compared to this time. It wasn't long before the land of the Geats disappeared and they realised that their course had changed slightly.

"I think we should be passing the southern tip of Gotland soon," said Hakon.

Sarah looked at Hakon and smiled mischievously, "How do you know that?"

"Yeah alright, I get it. Not because I feel the need to explain myself but Father has a map of the inner sea. It's very old and of great value, one day he unrolled it to show me how far he had travelled I wasn't allowed to touch it but I remember seeing an island in the middle of the sea which he said was the island of Gotland. It must be the same one the swords for hire mentioned."

Sarah searched her memory for more information and vaguely remembered an island too.

"I wonder where they will land. Are the people here friendly?" she asked.

Hakon shrugged, "from what I can remember, this island is inhabited by mostly farmers or traders. So who knows," he said.

It wasn't long before Leif shouted that he could see land, the warrior ship changed their course once more but this time they were headed towards the land. Staying a safe distance from the warrior ship the trio followed them as they rounded the tip of land and continued along the eastern side of the island. Hakon had made the decision to stay some distance from the shore but what they could see was a land of flat grasslands defined by woodland and a low rocky foreshore.

Occasionally, they would see thin columns of smoke rising into the air indicating a settlement; every now and again the flat pasture would be broken up by a slight rise or an even flatter area of marshland. Silently, they continued to shadow the other vessel. Sarah wondered out loud why they did not see any actual people.

Leif, who had finally decided to talk to her again, pointed out that the presence of a warship on their coast had probably sent many of the locals into hiding. No doubt word was spreading and a group of local warriors were shadowing the ship on land, in case of trouble. The thought sent a shiver up Sarah's spine and although she could not see the woodland clearly she imagined eyes watching their every move.

"It's okay, they won't be much interested in us, we are not on a warship" said Leif trying to reassure her and himself.

Sarah looked at the sky noticing that it was beginning to darken; surely they must be landing soon she thought, not relishing the idea of another night on the sea.

"Look Hakon, they are taking down their sail," said Leif pointing.

Sarah peered into the gloom, "Are they going to land?" she asked, rather unnecessarily.

"It certainly looks that way. We will go a little way further than them, then we will head into the shore, take the sail down and row until we find a safe landing some distance from them," Hakon explained.

Sarah was glad he had a plan because she was beginning to think that maybe she should have stayed at the hall. _In fact maybe I should have stayed at school and then I wouldn't be traipsing after heavily armed Viking warriors on some crazy quest to rescue a bunch of kids who are already dead in my time._ As soon as she thought it, she regretted it. The faces of the children, especially Harald, loomed into her mind and she knew that she would see this through to the end.

Slowly, their little vessel glided past the spot where the warriors had gone ashore. From their position they could see a cluster of buildings and beside the recently arrived warship there were a couple of other smaller boats sitting on the beach. From across the still water Sarah could hear dogs barking and the loud laughter of men greeting each other. It seemed that whoever lived there knew these warriors.

As she was staring intently at the distant settlement, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end and she got goose bumps all over. Pulling her cloak tighter around her, she saw a man standing apart from warriors, staring intently back. Eventually he turned and walked away disappearing behind the buildings. Sarah said a silent prayer of thanks to whatever gods were watching over them, although she was not sure why she felt such relief.

Flopping onto the deck of the boat, with the near darkness descending on the trio, Sarah exclaimed "It's no use, we can't see a thing, and how are we going to find a safe landing?" This time it was her who thumped the boat in frustration. With his eyes firmly on the passing landscape, Leif quietly asked, "Can your, ah, gift help?" With a slap to her forehead, Sarah nodded.

"I'll try, but can you sit on the other side of me just in case Hakon looks my way?"

Quickly Leif moved to shield her from his brother. Settling herself Sarah took out the amulet and this time just holding it in her hand, closing her eyes she imagines the children on the warship. Once more she felt the world dropping away but this time the feeling was less intense and the rolling stomach became a mere gurgle. Opening her eyes, she found the children, standing in tight group on the beach, looking cold and miserable but otherwise well.

Knowing that she only had a little time she quickly looked around. Desperately she silently wished she had a bird's eye view. Suddenly and without warning the ground rushed away from her and she found herself floating high above the warship and beach. ( _Note to self, do not make random wishes_ ). Once her stomach stopped flopping around she turned and searched for the boat where Hakon, Leif and her more substantial self were. Floating away from the children (which apparently needed just a bit of thought, literally) but not losing sight of them, Sarah spotted their own little craft, casting around she saw what she was looking for, just as the whooshing feeling of returning to her body descends.

Opening her eyes, she found herself looking into those clear blue eyes of Hakon's. Leif was nowhere to be seen. _So much for Leif shielding me_. Swallowing, she opened her mouth to say something but Hakon put an imperious hand up to stop her.

"Did you see a safe place for us to land?" he asked.

"It's all pretty flat with hardly any cover but if we go just a bit further there is a spit of land and we could put in on the other side of it. There also seemed to be a largish harbour with many boats on the opposite side of the bay," Sarah replied wondering how she was ever going to explain that knowledge.

"Normally I would want to know how you know that, but we don't have time and I am not really sure if I want to know, so we will leave it for now and I will just accept that you are not a normal girl and these are not normal times," said Hakon standing up and pulling Sarah with him. _Fine, if that's the way he wants to play it, suits me_.

"Leif, turn her towards the shore, we are going to land, no need to row, the wind has decided to favour us" shouted Hakon.

Hakon moved away to help Leif steer their way onto the shore, leaving Sarah standing there feeling somewhat at a loss. In the end she plonked herself back down and wondered if either of the boys had a plan, then decided that maybe she should think of one.

After several scenarios had run their course in her head (all of which ended in their bloody deaths) she heard Leif run up the side of the boat and watched as he launched himself feet first over the side. Springing up in fright she looked over the edge and realised that he was guiding the boat into shore.

"Want some help?" she whispered to him.

"Not at the moment" he whispered back.

"Here Sarah, help me with the sail," said Hakon as he was untying the ropes which secured the sail. No sooner had they finished dealing with the sail the boat came to a sudden halt.

"Can't go any further, you two will have to get your feet wet and help me drag her up the beach," called Leif from the front of the boat. Once the boat was out of the water, Sarah began packing some supplies into their packs. Hakon looked up from what he was doing and saw Sarah winding a rope across her body, mountain climber fashion.

"What are you doing with that rope?"

"Well, you never know do you? Might come in handy" replied Sarah as she continued to wind it around body, Hakon just shrugged his shoulders and carried on helping Leif stow the sail and dismantle the mast.

"What happens if we need to get away quickly, surely you should leave the mast and sail in place," said Sarah watching the boys with concern.

"Yes and what happens if we do that only to find that someone else has found the boat and taken it? This way the boat is low and can be easily hidden. Besides we can still row if needs be," said Leif. Not having an answer for that Sarah copied Hakon and just shrugged her shoulders.

Although Sarah knew that it never got truly dark in the Baltic during summer she was thankful for the burgeoning darkness of the season's end. They were on the outer edge of large sized bay that was well protected from the vagaries of the sea and on the opposite shore the trio could make out what seemed to be a decent sized settlement.

"Well?" asked Leif looking at Sarah.

"They are over that way" said Sarah, pointing behind them. "It's a small settlement, no more than three or four buildings".

Without a word the three checked their weapons. Hakon touched his Thor amulet, Leif double checked he had Gunnar's sceax and Sarah sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening as she patted her little throwing knives with one hand and with the other felt for the amulet, warm against her skin. Then, as one, they turned and set off to confront whatever the fates had in store for them.

# Chapter Twelve

"So, what now?"

The three would-be rescuers were huddled behind a low outcrop of rocks looking across a shallow bay towards the settlement. The brief journey from their landing place to here had been uneventful, not counting the curses that exploded from Hakon when he stepped into a rabbit hole.

Given that the flat landscape didn't provide a great deal of hiding places should they have got themselves into a pickle, Sarah was grateful that they didn't see anyone else. They had been lucky so far with the moon lighting the way for them and promptly hiding behind a cloud as soon as they came within view of the settlement.

From behind their dubious vantage point it soon became apparent that any kind of rescue would be difficult, not that they were expecting it to be easy. All of the warriors were sitting around a large fire enjoying some hot food (Sarah's tummy rumbled in response to the lovely smells wafting in their direction) and from the sound of it, plenty of ale. The children were nowhere to be seen.

"They must have moved them, perhaps they are in one of the buildings" said Leif hopefully.

Unspoken was the dread that they had lost track of the children, as Sarah tentatively reached for her amulet, "Well, maybe I could do my thing and locate them?" she suggested, not looking at the boys. Hakon and Leif went still, Sarah held her breath, the pause seemed to go on forever.

"Suppose you'd better than," said Hakon eventually, his voice betraying his unease.

Sarah settled herself onto the ground, closed her eyes and breathing deeply felt the now familiar sensation of the ground falling away. Directing her thoughts towards Harald, it didn't take long to find out what they needed to know. Within a few minutes she was back on firm ground. Her eyes opened. Neither Hakon nor Leif had moved away from their positions watching the warrior camp, their backs to her like a silent wall of mistrust.

"The children are still in the camp, they have been moved to one of the buildings" said Sarah sighing.

"Which one? Are there guards?" asked Hakon, still not looking at her.

"It's the one on the far side but one," said Sarah pointing. "There is one guard, unfortunately it is the beserker and he is inside the building". Hakon muttered several swear words that made Sarah blush.

"We need to know what is going on, where they're being taken and such. Only then we can make a plan to rescue them," said Leif.

Hakon looked at Sarah, "No, it wouldn't help," she said, "I can only do it for a few minutes at a time. It would be pretty hit and miss".

Hakon glanced at the camp, "They will be settling down for the night soon, I will go down to the camp and find the children, they might be able to tell us something".

"Not the best plan I've ever heard you come up with" said Leif shaking his head.

"No, I think it's a good plan to wait until most of them have gone to sleep but we should all go, splitting up is always a bad move" said Sarah, thinking about the movies. Bad things happen when people split up and she had no intention of being the 'red shirt' in this scene.

"Sarah's right, we need to stick together" Leif chimed in.

"Okay, so here's the plan," said Hakon, trying to keep control of the situation. "We will have some food and wait until that lot of carrion feeders have nodded off, then we will head down there and have a nosy around and if there is a chance we can rescue the children now we will take it".

Leif nodded in agreement and Sarah rummaged in her pack for the oatcakes and berries which was to be their dinner.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm knackered and hungry" said Sarah.

"What's knackered?" said Leif stumbling over the foreign word.

"Worn out, it means I'm really, really worn out. To be honest I'm glad we have stopped for a moment, I couldn't rescue a dormouse at the moment." To Sarah it seemed that the over use of her 'gift' equalled a certain amount of tiredness.

"Wakey, wakey" said a voice in her ear.

"Go away, too tired, more sleep" Sarah mumbled trying to brush away the insistent voice in her ear.

"Time for us to make a move," said the voice. Opening her eyes, she saw it was Leif was crouching beside her. Sitting bolt upright she realised she must have nodded off. A red-faced Sarah grinned at the boys.

"Told you I was knackered".

As soon as Sarah had rubbed the sleep from her eyes the trio silently made their way down towards the settlement. The warriors had mostly fallen asleep where they had been sitting around the fire, with the exception of the two who were obviously on watch. Each had stationed themselves at either end of the little bay, both facing landward.

Hakon had decided to take them on a roundabout route using the forest at the back of the settlement as cover. Retracing their steps they headed inland to the tree line and then doubled back towards the settlement. Travelling in near darkness amongst the trees was not easy and Sarah was beginning to get annoyed at the random tree branches that seemed to have it in for her, not to mention the tree roots that kept trying to trip her up.

She was sure that the whole settlement would hear them coming given the racket she was making. As they got closer to the settlement it seemed that Hakon too was worried about the noise she was making because he took them out of the forest to its edge.

"The deep shadow from the trees should be enough to hide us from prying eyes and the walking should be easier for you Sarah," was his only explanation.

Eventually they came to the end of their shadowy cover. The tree line had ended at the edge of a track way leading towards the small hamlet and now there was nothing but open land to traverse until they got to the relative cover of the settlement where the trio huddled together by the track.

"Right. Keep low and keep up, if you hear anything at all go flat to the ground," Hakon whispered.

Watching him with his sword tightly clenched in one hand, Sarah could only guess that for Hakon, who was in training to be a warrior, this skulking around in the shadows didn't sit well. _After all, wasn't it the Viking way to go charging in, all gung-ho?_ Hakon led the way with Sarah in the middle and Leif bringing up the rear. Hunched over, they jogged in a diagonal line towards the hamlet. Every now and again Hakon would stop abruptly and drop down to a crouch and with a finger to his lips he would listen. Each time Sarah's ears would strain to hear anything, but the only sounds she heard were the normal sounds of the night. After a while, he would set off again. Sarah shook her head, _boys!_

Eventually they reached the edge of the settlement and skirting around a flourishing vegetable garden Hakon indicated that Sarah should lead them to the building that the children were being held in. With clammy hands, Sarah went ahead trying to keep to the shadows.

There were two main dwellings one at either end of the little bay and in between an assortment of other wooden buildings facing out to sea, used for storage and workshops. The one that the children were being held in was next to the house at the far right of the bay. The warriors camp was on the foreshore fifty or so paces away from where the children were being held.

Sarah, Hakon and Leif positioned themselves at the rear of the row of buildings, darting between them into the shadows. Their objective was in sight and as Sarah took a breath about to make another dash across the gap to the next building a hand grabbed her and yanked her back. Letting out a little squeak of surprise just before another hand clamped over her mouth and turning her head Sarah quickly realised that it was only Hakon, who let go of her arm and pointed.

Just ahead of them a warrior stumbled out from between two buildings. He must have heard Sarah's squeak, as he was peering intently in their direction. Sarah and the boys stood absolutely still, hardly daring to breathe. Beside her Hakon stood as tense as a coiled spring, but it was Leif who had a calm restraining hand on his brother. If they drew attention to themselves now, all would be lost.

After what seemed like hours the warrior turned and walked off a short distance and Sarah let out her breath. She felt Hakon relax and then almost immediately tense up...the warrior had stopped again. Sarah's heart jumped into her throat but then she heard a sound not unlike water being poured from a height.

She clamped a hand over her own mouth to keep the hysterical giggle, that threatened to surface, from coming out. Even warriors needed to pee. When he had finished, he turned back towards them still peering intently in their direction but with a shrug he continued around the other side of the buildings away from Sarah and the boys.

Sarah's legs turned to jelly as she slid awkwardly down the rough wood exterior of the building whose shadows had kept them from being discovered. Silently she thanked the moon for staying behind a cloud. Her heart was thundering in her ears and it took a little while to realise that the boys had also slid to the ground beside her.

Hakon had his head back against the wood, his eyes closed and Leif had his head in his hands. Leif looked up and meeting Sarah's eyes, he grinned. Hakon opened his eyes, his usual scowl replaced by a manic grin. The smiles were infectious and Sarah found herself grinning like a madman, she decided that they really were quite insane.

The building in which the children were being held was only a very short distance away and once there, by some unspoken agreement, they began to look for a way in or at least a way to talk with the children. Sarah put her ear to the wooden planks; she could hear the soft snores of the children. As she walked around the outside of the building she found that the snores were louder in one spot than in others. Using her fingers she searched for a hole or gap that could be widened.

Just as she was about to give up she found what she was looking for, a loose plank lower to the ground. Someone had replaced some rotten timbers near to the ground but had not done the best of jobs. She was about to pry the timber out when Hakon and Leif arrived. Sarah left them to pull the plank away whilst she kept an anxious watch.

The boys managed to pull a small section away with a noise loud enough to wake the dead. They froze, ears straining to hear, barely breathing, ready to run. With a silent sigh of relief Sarah realised that no one had heard. Looking at the gap she was dismayed to see that it was just large enough for a hand. Getting down on her hands and knees she peered through the gap and found by sheer luck Harald was the child nearest to her. Sarah gave him a gentle poke, almost instantly Harald sat up, rubbed his eyes and looked around in confusion.

"Harald, it's me, Sarah" she said as quietly as she could. Harald still looked confused but then his eyes found the gap and Sarah's smiling face.

"Where's your guard?"

"Outside".

Sarah quickly told Hakon and Leif, who then took up watch positions.

"I've got Hakon and Leif with me, we've been following you, it's okay we're going to get you lot out of here and back home soon" she reassured Harald.

"I knew you would come".

"Quick, tell me what you know"

"Rolf overheard them talking that we are going to be sold to a merchant and that he was going to take us east to be sold to the Arabs. Most of the warriors are leaving in the morning; they are just hired swords from Kurland. The guy with the snake arms and the bear warrior are the ones in charge."

"Thank you Harald, can you get Rolf for me, quietly though eh?" Sarah gave his arm a quick squeeze as he silently crept over to where Rolf was sleeping. When Rolf saw Sarah his eyes were as wide as saucers and he came close to the gap.

"We're going to be moved tomorrow. There's a trading harbour not far from here. 'Snake arms' and the bear are going to take us to the merchant who is waiting there for us. I think there are other Dane children there too," said Rolf without any preamble.

"What makes you say that?"

"I heard 'snake arms' say that once he hands us over to the merchant that would make twenty-one children and a nice profit for them. I think he was meant to hold on to us and some other children until we could be ransomed but the profit is greater and it's an easier path to sell us." Rolf quickly looked over his shoulder and flung himself down onto the dirt floor, his back covering the gap. Sarah moves away and once more found herself holding her breath. Eventually, a small hand emerges from the gap and she hunkers back down.

"What was that?"

"The guard came in," said Rolf a little breathlessly; he had also been holding his breath.

"Jiggers, okay, I think I know which harbour you'll be taken to but why are the warriors leaving?"

"The Kurs are not welcome in the area, and 'snake arms' can only risk them being here for a short time. The people who live here are kin I think or something like that...either way, they know him well. He boasted that he didn't need guards for a bunch of children, the bear would be enough. The harbour is only half a day's walk away and then we would be the merchant's problem."

Rolf sounded most put out that someone would not consider him enough of a problem, the need for guards irrelevant. But for Sarah this was good news, _it may just make their job easier._

"It must be almost sunrise and I need to tell all of this to Hakon and Leif...tell the others that we are here and to be ready. We will come up with a plan, somehow, just be ready." Sarah gave Rolf's hand a quick squeeze and standing up cautiously beckoned to Hakon and Leif.

# Chapter Thirteen

"Well?" said Hakon.

"Not here, let's get back to the cover by the track first," whispered Sarah and as she pointed to the trees they could see the sky beginning to lighten. None of them wanted to be here when the settlement stirred to life.

Once more Hakon took the lead. They were half way to the trees when they heard a shout from the hamlet and they threw themselves to the ground. Sarah's heart jumped into her throat and glancing quickly around at Leif, who was as pale as a sheet, she realised that for all his bravado he was just as scared as she was.

Hakon had commando crawled back to them; he at least seemed to have some control over himself.

"Listen" he whispered.

It was then that they all realised that the shout wasn't about them but part of the normal sounds of the little community waking. It had probably been one of the warriors on the beach; even so, it had given them all a fright. Hakon indicated that they should crawl through the long grass until they got to the relative safety of the trees. Crawling slowly on all fours the trio made their way back there.

Once they had reached the forest, Sarah stood up and stretched out the kinks in her back. Looking around she saw what she wanted and led the boys over to a dense bush that could provide them not only with some cover but also with a view of the track.

Hakon's eyes narrowed as she took the lead but then relaxed when he realised what she was doing. Sitting down, Sarah quickly recounted the story Rolf had told her. When she had finished, both Hakon and Leif were silent for what seemed like an eternity and an overwhelming sense of urgency came over her.

"Come on you two, we need a plan. Once that lot are loaded onto the merchant ship we don't have much of a chance to get them back," said Sarah, her voice tinged with desperation.

Something in her voice must have registered with Hakon, who looked directly at Sarah and smiling, he said, "We will get them back and you are right, we have to get them before they are handed over to the trader. We will follow them when they leave the settlement, you chose a good place to watch from, and later on when it is dark and quiet we will get them, make a dash for the boat and go home".

Hakon made it sound very easy and straightforward, like a trip to the seaside for an ice cream. Sarah felt certain that it wasn't going to be like that, in fact from the look on Hakon face he had something else planned. She decided to stick close to Hakon, although she wasn't really sure as to what she was going to do.

"Sarah, you mentioned other children?" asked Leif frowning.

"Yes, Rolf seemed to think that they were not the only children that were taken," replied Sarah. Putting a hand to her forehead, "We have to save them too".

"No we don't, they are not our responsibility and besides our boat is not big enough," said Hakon, his eyes not meeting Sarah's.

"You have got to be kidding? Of course we are. How can we not? It would be wrong. We are going to rescue ALL of the children and as for the boat situation, well we can steal a bigger one can't we – in for a penny, in for a pound as my Nan always says"

"No we are not Sarah, we can't be responsible for everyone, if we had an army behind us, well maybe, but just us three?" said Hakon almost shouting. Sarah though, was not prepared to back down on this one.

"Yes we are!" Sarah was equally firm. "How could you condemn those children to a life of slavery, doing goodness knows what. There are families who will be beside themselves with grief. Your mother would be ashamed of you for not even trying, we have to try. They may not be your responsibility Hakon, but it is my responsibility to help those in trouble," Sarah wasn't sure where that last bit came from but she knew it was true.

Yet again it was Leif who played the mediator. "Why don't we wait and see how the land lies before we make any firm decisions that we might later regret, hmm?"

Realising that she would never get Hakon to agree by losing her temper, but equally certain that she was right, she nodded her head in agreement. Seeing Sarah agree, Hakon also hastily signalled his agreement, an uneasy silence fell on the little group as they watched the road leading from the hamlet.

It was about an hour or so after sunrise when Sarah decided she needed to answer a call of nature. Trying to be casual about it, walking a little way away saying "Umm, I'll be back in a minute". Neither of the boys noticed, toilet habits were matter of fact, not something anyone would comment on. On the boat, it was nothing to simply sit on the edge with your rear hanging over the water and after some reluctance on her behalf she too had done the same, grateful for the length of her tunic.

Even so, her very English upbringing still had her blushing furiously every time she needed to go. Just as she was rearranging her tunic and checking her throwing knives, Sarah heard a whistle.

Hurrying back she found both Hakon and Leif watching the settlement and there heading along the same path they had taken late last night, were the children. Each child had their hands tied at the front with a rope linking them to the child in front. 'Snake arms' walked in the lead and the berserker at the rear. There were no other warriors, just as Rolf had said.

Crouching behind Hakon, Sarah saw his muscles tense up just as the children were passing their hiding spot. Realising that he was about to do that stupid thing and probably get himself killed into the bargain she prodded Leif. Hakon would listen to his brother.

Glancing at her and then his brother, understanding dawned in his eyes and he placed his arm firmly around Hakon's shoulders. Hakon tried to shake off the arm that had effectively imprisoned him, but the time in Ulf's forge had given Leif a strength that his older brother could not match. After a brief struggle the wind seemed to go out of Hakon's sails and he became still.

From behind the bush, the trio watched as the last of the children passed by. Sarah could see that whilst the children looked somewhat bedraggled they seemed in good spirits, several of them kept looking around them. She could only guess that this change in attitude was a result of their visit last night, or was that this morning?

It was while she was thinking this the berserker loomed large on the path in front of them. To say that he was a big man would have been an understatement. His appearance was enhanced by the cloak he wore. It appeared to be made entirely from a single pelt of an equally large bear, its head still attached and which had been transformed into the hood of the cloak.

Underneath the bear cloak the man was bare chested, his muscled torso criss-crossed with old scars. But the most astonishing thing was his face. Sarah expected an ugly scar ridden face at the very least, but no, his was the face of a young man, oddly clean shaven and without any imperfections. On the surface he was quite fanciable but for the odd feeling of revulsion that swept over Sarah as she looked at him.

Sarah stared at him in amazement and he stared back. For the trillionth time her heart leapt into her throat and she felt the urge to run far, far away. Luckily for her though Leif had her in a firm grip just as he had his brother only minutes ago. She felt for her amulet, the reassuring warmth calming her.

The berserker had not been staring at her, he had been staring into the gloom of the forest, and yet the cold blueness of his eyes had lodged a finger of ice into her heart. After a few agonising minutes, the cold warrior ceased his scrutiny of the forest edge and turned away, jogging quietly to catch up with the children and 'snake arms'.

Sarah collapsed to the forest floor, gasping for breath. It felt like she had run a marathon. Neither of the boys seemed to have been affected in the same way, they were both watching the track carefully, waiting for the right time to follow.

Once she had her breath back, Sarah stood up, brushed the leaves off her tunic and turned to Leif.

"Thanks".

Leif smiled, "Between you and Hakon we almost failed in our quest before it even got started, next time if either of you think you might do something daft, could you please give me some warning, huh?"

Both Sarah and Hakon just sheepishly nodded their heads, not looking at the other. Leif was right, the presence of the berserker sent a shiver up Sarah's spine. Just thinking about him highlighted the need to be extra careful. _Who was he_? She didn't think that he was an ordinary berserker, not that she had a lot of experience with berserkers-she didn't even think he was an ordinary Viking. Something was not quite right here.

Anyway, there was no more time to ponder this particular mystery, Hakon and Leif were off following behind the line of children and their captors. Keeping to the forest edge, Sarah would need to concentrate on her footing if she was to keep up with them.

# Chapter Fourteen

Sarah, Leif and Hakon followed the party of captive children in silence. Leif had quickly identified an animal trail that ran parallel to the path. Sarah was especially grateful as she had not yet mastered the art of moving silently and on more than one occasion was certain she had brought the wrath of the berserker down on them. From the way the boys kept looking at her it was obvious that they had made a conscious effort to find the trail.

Whatever their motives, she was grateful and the animal trail had made the going a lot easier. _Perhaps I should join the scouts when she got home and learn all this boy stuff. Do they take girls?_ Being deep in thought Sarah failed to notice that Hakon and Leif had stopped moving until her face tried to make a dent in Leif's back.

"Sorry" mumbled Sarah rubbing her nose.

Leif hastily put a hand over Sarah's mouth and glared at her. Sarah glared back pushing Leif's hand away. With hands on hips and trying to look indignant Sarah moved quietly past Leif to look where Hakon was pointing. The group of children had arrived at a junction where the path that they had been on now joined a main road of sorts.

Looking around Sarah realised that they had skirted past the spot where they had landed last night and were a bit further around the bay. It seemed that they were indeed heading towards the harbour that they had seen last night.

The warrior they had taken to calling 'snake arms' stopped to point out the grisly remains of what was once a person. It hung from a tree which had once stood proud and green by the side of the road it's dead grey branches now echoing the corpse hanging from them. They were close enough to hear what 'snake arms' was saying.

"Pay attention you runts! This man was a slave in life but he disobeyed and tried to run away, now he is food for the ravens. Where you are going there are punishments worse than death. Remember this and you might live longer than most slaves. Now stop gawping and get a move on. You lot of snivelling brats have a date with the slave block and I have a date with a large sum of silver." 'Snake arms' laughed and turned his back on the body swaying in the breeze.

Sarah was really angry. Tormenting the children like that was not nice. She made a mental note that if she ever got the chance she would happily give the man a taste of his own medicine. However, she did have the satisfaction of knowing that not one of the children was actually snivelling and that they were, in fact, putting on their best brave faces. Even more astonishing was hearing Rolf pipe up and ask;

"Excuse me, My Lord," only a hint of sarcasm present in his voice, "but could you tell me how long the body has been hanging here?"

Snake arms turned with a look of amazement at the small boy standing before him, not only did he not sound frightened but he actually had asked a question. With eyebrows narrowed, expecting a trick, he slowly replied;

"Seven nights".

"That's very interesting, the body has rotted quite quickly, do you do anything to the body before hanging it?" asked Rolf, smiling pleasantly as if he was having an everyday conversation with one of his brothers. The other children sniggered and 'snake arms' realising that Rolf was trying to make a fool of him took two quick strides towards him striking him hard across the head with the palm of his hand. Rolf crumpled to the ground, the other children giggles vanished immediately as they rushed to his aid.

It had not taken any of Sarah's special gifts to know that the little exchange would not end well for Rolf and even before the man had struck him she had a restraining hand on both Leif and Hakon. Both boys had started to move to their younger brother's aid but common sense and Sarah frantically pulling them back made them stop.

"Get up! Move! No more talk!" The voice of the berserker brought everything back into focus and the children, now quiet once more, were herded along the road. After waiting awhile Hakon and Leif made to follow but Sarah stopped them once more.

"Let's wait a bit longer, if we keep following them like this we are bound to be spotted eventually. Besides, we know where they are heading," she said pointing to the large settlement on the opposite side of the bay.

"Could we not go and get the boat and row there? Then at least the boat would be within easy reach when we rescue the children."

Both boys nodded their agreement as they crouched behind a tree, waiting until they were sure it was safe for them to come out of their hiding place.

Later, as they were rowing across the bay towards the larger settlement that they had seen the day before, Sarah could see that the harbour was a busy one. There were numerous boats of many shapes and sizes hauled up onto the beach, as well as a number of partly built craft. A long jetty jutted out into deeper water and tied up to it were several larger vessels which Sarah could only guess were the long distance trading vessels she had heard about.

To the rear of the beach were numerous buildings, some large, some small but all aligned along the beach with a second row of buildings behind them. She had no idea what the buildings were for but could hazard a guess that the ones with smoke seeping out of the roof were homes and the rest were workshops and storage sheds of varying kinds.

As they got closer Sarah suggested that they row off towards the seaward end of the bay as she could see several craft similar to theirs pulled up onto the beach. Leif smiled at Sarah.

"What?" said Sarah.

"Still determined to rescue ALL the children, aren't we?" said Leif.

Sarah shook her head, "I have no idea what you going on about. Just thought we should make an effort at blending in, our boat would stand out less if it was beached with other similar ones." This was of course the main reason but it had also occurred to Sarah that another similar vessel would be ideal to help carry the children that they couldn't fit on theirs. Not that she would admit it, of course.

Although there had been some curious stares when they landed they were not challenged and it seemed to Sarah that the harbour settlement was quite used to visitors. On closer inspection the village consisted of two rows of predominantly wooden buildings with a main street running between them. The buildings in the middle section all faced inwards to the street whilst the buildings towards either end of the settlement faced the bay. It was these that looked like warehouses, some had large doors and on closer inspection she found they were used to house boats that were under repair or being built.

Sounds of hammering and sawing reached Sarah's ears, as did all the usual sounds of village life that she had become used to. Although there were differences there was also much that was the same as Hakon and Leif's home.

"Well we can't stand here staring all day, we'll attract attention" said Sarah walking off down the main street (that it was the only street seemed totally irrelevant) as if she had reason for being here. Hakon and Leif once more found themselves dutifully following behind and it had occurred to Hakon that at some point Sarah had taken the lead but if he was honest with himself, he wasn't that bothered, he should have been and if anyone was to ask he would have scowled and made complaining noises, but really, he wasn't bothered.

"Where are we going?" piped up Leif.

"Don't know but I figure the children will come in from the far end, so..." began Sarah.

"We need to find somewhere to keep watch and see where 'snake arms' takes them" finished Leif.

"Precisely"

Walking down the street, the trio found their noses assailed by the most delicious smells. Given that they had been living on a diet of dried berries and hard oat cakes for the last couple of days, it was not surprising that they found themselves drawn to the house from where those tantalising aromas were coming. As they drew closer, a woman stepped out of the door. Frowning she stared at them.

"What do you lot want? Standing there like simpletons. Off with ya!" she said waving her arms.

Without thinking Sarah said, "Sorry, we're very hungry and whatever it is you're cooking smells heavenly". The woman stood with her hands on her hips, her head cocked to one side.

"Hungry are ya? Ah well, you've come to the right place. You can have some of the stew I have cooking and a loaf between ya. But it'll cost ya, nothing is free in this world. Go sit on that bench over there and I'll have the girl bring it to you," the woman turned to go back into the house but Sarah quickly put a hand on her arm.

"Please, how much? We don't have any coin," said Sarah her stomach growling loudly.

The woman frowned as she looked down at the hand on her arm, "Well, that arm ring should be sufficient payment for the three of ya, I'll even throw in a jug of mead, watered down of course," she said sternly.

Sarah looked at the boys - the arm ring had been a gift from their mother. A nod from Hakon was all Sarah needed, she handed over the arm ring and the trio went and sat on the bench waiting hungrily for their first substantial meal in days. Once the stew arrived they fell upon it with gusto, all talk suspended until their bellies were full.

"Now I feel that I could face an army and win – it is very hard to remain positive on an empty stomach!" said Sarah, rubbing her belly in appreciation. Hakon and Leif burst out laughing, their troubles momentarily forgotten.

# Chapter Fifteen

By some sort of mutual understanding they decided to stay sitting on the bench in the warm sun listening to the busy sounds of the harbour settlement. After all, it did provide a good view of the street and the farmland behind the harbour. But it wasn't long before their peace was interrupted when from behind the row of houses 'snake arms' appeared herding the children before him. Not daring to move, as the berserker had yet to appear, they sat very still...waiting.

Without a glance in their direction snake arms moved beyond their view and none of the children gave any indication that the trio had been seen. Still they waited. Finally, not able to wait any longer, Sarah jumped up and walked to the rear of the house, peering cautiously around the side of it.

"No berserker. Just snake arms. Where is he?" Sarah said to the boys, who were standing right behind her.

"This is good news, a lot less trouble if he's not around. Come on, we need to move. Look, 'snake arms' just went between those two big buildings at the end. Quick Leif, see if he comes out the other side" said Hakon.

Leif ran quickly to the other end of the house. "No, he's not come out on to the street" said Leif on his return. Sarah though was still puzzled by the absence of the bear warrior.

"So, that means the children are being held in either of those buildings."

"Right, so we lay low until dark and then get the children, and then..."said Hakon.

"Look, we need more information. A good plan is one where all the possibilities are accounted for. I hate to say it, but we need to split up for reconnaissance and information gathering, between now and nightfall," said Sarah.

"What do you want information for?" asked a small voice from behind them. Sarah almost flew out her skin, Hakon and Leif both had the presence of mind to almost draw their weapons but stopped when they saw that the enquiry came from a small skinny boy. Putting a hand out to halt the boys, Sarah quickly crouched down.

"Do you live here?"

"Why do want to know?"

"We need some information, we could make it worth your while if you would help us?" said Sarah in the kindest voice she could muster. The boy seemed to think on this for long time. Impatient, Sarah tried a different tactic, "My name is Sarah. What's yours?"

"Olaf" he replied.

"Hello Olaf, this is Hakon and Leif. We are strangers here and we're looking for some friends of ours."

"Don't you mean, those two are Danes and you are something else. You're looking for the Danish children who are off to the slave markets, aren't you?"

For all his size, the look he gave them was of someone much older; Sarah shuddered to think what he had gone through in his short life. She decided that honesty was probably the best policy here.

"Yes, we are. Can you help? We just need some information," said Sarah holding the boys gaze.

"I was taken from my village in the north where my parents raised reindeer. Raiders came to our summer camp...they...they killed my mother and father. My brothers and sisters were taken and we were all sold, I don't know if they are alive or dead." He paused.

"I will help you because there was no one to help me. I have been a slave for five summers; I do not want to be a slave any longer. Will you take me with you when you leave?" The way he spoke, in a flat monotone voice, caused Sarah's eyes to well up; she just wanted to give the little man a big hug.

"Of course Olaf, you can come with us you won't be a slave anymore".

"What are you two talking about?" said Hakon impatiently. Sarah realised that neither he nor Leif had understood a word that had been said, they had been talking in Olaf's native language. Trying to be nonchalant, Sarah told the boys Olaf's story and request.

"Sarah! We can't go around picking up every waif and stray that comes along!"

"I'm not going back on my word!"

"Gods! You are too soft for your own good. You don't know who he is! Thor, save me from this crazy girl!"

Sarah smiled sweetly at Hakon who was trying to look stern. She turned to Olaf who had watched this exchange with interest.

"Are you two married or something?"

"Good grief! No!" said Sarah blushing furiously, changing the subject quickly.

"What can you tell me about the children that are being held?"

"Okay, I know lots 'cause I take their food to them. But not here, that old crone would beat me if she saw me talking to you. Come with me." Olaf ducked out between the buildings and into the fields at the rear of the settlement.

Sarah, Hakon and Leif exchanged a look and then quickly followed him across the fields, Sarah kept looking over her shoulder, feeling very exposed. Olaf led them to a low pile of rocks which they huddled behind. As soon as they were settled he continued.

"There are many Dane children in the second building from the end. Some are bigger than me but most are like me or smaller. They were bought by Skavgard, he is the chieftain around here, but he won't keep them. A Svear merchant named Svein the Fat, a huge man, takes them across the sea where they are sold to Arabs for silver. Skavgard is obsessed with silver and will do anything to get it. Rumour has it that he has a huge cache hidden in the ground somewhere near his hall. But people 'round here are too scared of him, he's really mean." The last was said with a grimace.

Sarah had been translating all of this to Hakon and Leif as Olaf was speaking. Hakon touched Sarah's arm. "Ask him how many guards and if there is a way to get the children out without drawing attention to ourselves". Sarah started to translate, but Olaf quickly stopped her.

"It's okay, I understand their language but will not speak it. My language is all I have left that is my own." Pride tinged Olaf's voice.

When Sarah told Hakon and Leif this, Hakon simply shook his head and repeated his question, this time asking Olaf directly.

"Sometimes there are two but mostly just one. The warehouse is quite old and is about to be repaired in several places because the wood is rotten. Perhaps in the rotten places you can make a gap big enough to get your kin out," he replied with a shrug. Once more Sarah translated.

"Have you seen a large warrior with a bear skin cloak?" His absence still bothered Sarah for some reason. Olaf just shrugged his shoulders saying;

"Whatever you do, you'll have to do it tonight; the fat man intends to leave at first light".

"Bum!" said Sarah as she told the boys this last bit of not-so-good information. Silently they sat as they absorbed all that Olaf had told them. A shout from the settlement made Olaf spring to his feet.

"I have to go. It is time for food to be taken to your kin. I will check out the rotten wood and perhaps pass a message onto someone," said Olaf quickly, all the while keeping an eye on the settlement.

"Ask for Rolf, tell him that we will get them out tonight and to be ready, ALL of them. We will wait here until it gets darker and then..." began Sarah but before she could finish Olaf was off at a run towards the settlement. Sarah watched him go, feeling two pairs of eyes on her back, she reluctantly turned towards Hakon and Leif.

"What?"

"You can speak Sami?" It was more of an accusation then a question. Hakon had obviously been bursting to have a go at her.

"Is it really that important? Shouldn't we be focussing on how to get the children out?" Sarah knew that there was no way to explain that stuff, Hakon would just have to get over it.

"She's right, our attention should be on the children" said Leif. Silence fell once again as there wasn't much more to be said and it was still sometime until nightfall.

# Chapter Sixteen

Sarah awoke with a start, her heart racing. She had fallen asleep, again. Looking around frantically it all came rushing back to her. It had been a dream that had woken her; she didn't normally remember her dreams but this one was particularly vivid.

Not that it made any sense, mostly images of her mother and the old lady in the multi-coloured hat and a full moon, but then there were snakes and the cold eyes of the berserker that had merged with the liquid brown eyes of Olaf the slave boy.

That was what had woke her up and had her heart racing. _What is it about the berserker that worries me so much? Why was Olaf in my dream?_ She had been certain they could trust him but now, she wasn't so sure. _Just a dream – doesn't mean anything – it's the stress_.

Hakon and Leif had also drifted off, not surprising given how little sleep any of them had had since they had left home three days ago. Three days ago? Or was it four? It seemed like an age. It was getting dark, she reached over and gently shook Leif's arm.

"Wakey, wakey sleepy head" she whispered, smiling.

"Huh! I'm not asleep, just checking the insides of my eyes for cracks" said Leif almost instantly awake.

At the sound of his brother's voice Hakon also woke up. The three of them cautiously peered over the pile of stones at the settlement. The village was winding down for the evening with the exception of a group of men sitting on the benches where they themselves been sitting earlier. Heart in mouth Sarah quickly and quietly followed the two boys as they headed for the warehouse that Olaf had indicated earlier.

Both boys were now carrying their weapons, ready for action. This did not make her feel any better but all the same she removed two of her throwing knives from their belt and held them ready. She was sure someone would see them. To her great relief they made it to the rear of the warehouse without any problems.

Just as they were getting their breath back the slight figure of Olaf appeared from the gloom. All three had their weapons raised before they realised who it was. Olaf held his hands up, palms out.

"It is only me," he said nervously licking his lips, his eyes darting back and forth.

"Sorry Olaf, you startled us" said Sarah, frowning. Something was wrong. Olaf's previously impassive face was a picture of movement. Before she could say anything, Olaf spoke rapidly.

"Put your weapons away and come, I have found you a good place, it is just around the side here, very rotten wood. I told your family that you were here; your brother Rolf had already found the rotten planks and has been working at them. There is only one guard at the moment and he is outside at the front, I will watch for him."

Beckoning, Olaf turned away from them not waiting. Hakon and Leif put their weapons away and followed. Sarah hesitated, something wasn't right; still frowning, she didn't move, waiting for the pieces to fall into place. Everything clicked at the same time as she heard a muffled shout from around the side of the building. It was Leif and it was a warning.

Without thinking she ducked around the other side of the building and sprinted to the front. Quickly peering around, she saw the guard standing before the doors of the warehouse, nonchalantly swinging an axe. The sight of the axe gave her a brief anxious moment but before she knew it her hand flicked out.

The warrior gurgled, dropped his axe, clutched at his throat and crumpled into a silent pile. She stared amazed at her hand as she realised that she had just thrown one of her little knives. She ran over to the man, apologised under her breath and gingerly retrieving the valuable knife, ducked into the darkness of the warehouse.

_Please let the children actually be here_ , she prayed to herself. Trying to see in the darkness was difficult, but she could hear shuffling and whispers to the rear.

"Rolf? Harald? Are you here? It's me Sarah", she said in loudish whisper.

The tension in the air seemed to dissipate with her words and a small crazy boy launched himself at her legs. Sarah picked him up and gave him a big hug.

"Sarah, quick 'snake arms' and the bear have Hakon and Leif, come listen" said Rolf pulling her to the end of the building. When she got there she saw that at least some of what Olaf had said was right, the boys had been trying to dig their way out. But now the hole that they had made was blocked by several large booted feet and the ends of a bear cloak could be clearly seen. Sarah listened.

"Where is she?" It was not 'snake arms' who spoke, this was a voice that had misery and death in it. Sarah closed her eyes, trying not to give into the feeling of despair that threatened to overwhelm her.

"I will find her and when I do you will watch as I kill her, slowly. There is nothing more pleasurable than killing one of the Myrhes an Loor." His voice dripped hatred.

There's that name again, Myrhes an Loor? Why does he hate me so much? Someone had better tell me what is going on very soon...

Focussing her thoughts Sarah looked at the children surrounding her; they all looked as terrified as she felt. Reaching down deep inside herself she motioned them all back and then with shaking hands reached and yanked as hard as she could on the bear cloak.

"You want me? Better come in and get me then!" She said trying to sound braver than she felt. _I do not know why I did that_. Sarah scrambled to her feet yanking her little knives free of their belt, the children melted into the darkness. Standing with her legs in the stance Gunnar had taught her, his words echoing in her head 'relax, focus, see the target, not with your eyes but with all your senses'.

"Dear goddess what am I doing?" Sarah muttered to herself.

Heavy footsteps preceded a loud roar as the door was ripped off its hinges announcing the arrival of the bear. He stood silhouetted in the door way, a dark, featureless being of the night.

"Your goddess won't save you now. I have never had a double before, first the mother and now the daughter" he sneered. For a moment Sarah's resolve started to waiver, confused thoughts flitting through her mind. _What the heck was he talking about?_

He had started to move forwards, a small shriek from one of the children brought Sarah's world back into sharp focus. The full moon appeared from behind a cloud illuminating the man as he looked towards the noise exposing his neck, her target. The amulet began to hum and glow brightly, her breathing slowed. It seemed like there was no one else in the room, just the two of them. She blinked and had an odd sensation of being separated from herself.

Sarah watched as her arm moved back, the little knives flying in slow motion one after the other. The first two missed, one flying through the door into the darkness beyond and the other thwacked into the door frame but a third and a fourth found their target. The bear stopped in his forward motion as stunned, he clutched at the knives protruding from his neck. A fountain of blood erupted.

He tried to speak but blood gurgled from his lips as he sank to his knees, his eyes fixed on hers. Images flashed into Sarah's mind. Men and women dying, swords flashing, gun smoke, the whirr of arrows flying, death and then her mother holding her stomach as her life seeped into the dirt, the bear standing triumphant, a smile cold as ice.

A scream from one of the girls brought Sarah back into the present. She saw Rolf, eyes wide as saucers staring at Sarah, Harald's face was hiding behind his older brother. She heard the last gasp of the bear as he fell forward with a thump.

"Come on, we have to move, all this noise will have the whole village down on us, no talking okay" Sarah started towards the doorway, when another figure loomed large. Sighing, she really wasn't sure she could do all that again, all the same her hands found another little knife.

"It's me, Hakon".

Relief flooded through her, "Where's Leif?" she asked.

"Tying up 'snake arms', are you okay? Once you distracted the bear we were able to get the better of him. What about the children?" said Hakon walking towards Sarah, coming to an abrupt halt before the sprawled out figure of the berserker.

"What the...who?"

"Hakon, it was incredible! Sarah, did it, she killed him" said little Harald excitedly, almost jumping up and down. Hakon looked at Sarah, questions burning in his eyes.

"Look, we don't have time for all this, we need to get moving to the boat but not before I get my knives back," said Sarah, tentatively removing the two knives from the bear. Even dead he was scary.

Hakon sighed and shook his head; "Right, everyone come here. When we get outside the door we are going left, be as quiet as you can and keep up. Can a couple of you carry the little ones?" Several heads nodded.

Hakon and Sarah peered out of the doors, looking left and right. All was quiet. In the distance some laughing and singing could be heard from the men who were drinking but to Sarah's amazement no one had come to investigate. She looked up at the night sky and without thinking or knowing why said a silent thank you to the moon, which was once more hidden behind a cloud.

Hakon took the lead and motioned for the children to follow while Sarah stayed at the back, making sure none got left behind. Briefly she wondered what had happened to Olaf, she probably owed Hakon an apology. She saw Leif join his brother, glad that he too seemed unhurt. They had a brief discussion and then Leif moved off quickly towards the boats.

# Chapter Seventeen

Hakon had already started to manoeuvre their boat toward the water but it was obviously going to be too small of all of them. Sarah spotted another boat almost identical to theirs a little way down the beach. Leif too had noticed it and after picking a couple of the bigger lads in the group it wasn't long before two boats were being pushed out into the water.

When the boats were almost afloat the children scrambled into them. Every scrape or whisper, no matter how softly said, had Sarah's nerves stretched to breaking point. When everyone was almost on board Sarah heard a soft sound from behind her, whirling around she came face-to-face with Olaf.

"I'm sorry, please take me with you," he began.

Something on Sarah's face must have alerted him that he would get no sympathy from her. His voice changed from pleading to demanding, "If you don't, I'll yell and then the whole village will be down here and you'll never get home!" Smug satisfaction written all over his face, like the berserker, he too was not what he seemed.

Sarah was gobsmacked, he had her fooled alright. Not knowing what to say, she just shook her head and turned towards the boat. Just as she did though, she heard a sharp intake of breath that was abruptly cut short then a grunt. Turning she saw Rolf, an oar three times his size in his hands and Olaf lying at his feet, Rolf was grinning.

"He was mean, used to eat half the food before giving us any," was all he said before he sauntered off to the water's edge and the waiting boats. Sarah fought the urge to laugh out loud as she followed him.

Sarah watched in fascination as all the children on both boats seemed to know exactly what to do with the older ones taking charge, oars were quickly put in place with two children per oar, each pair working together to row the boats out and away from danger.

She was fairly certain that children in her time wouldn't be so...organised, not to mention the way they handled the small boats as if they had been born to it. With a grimace Sarah realised that they had, this was why Viking sailors were applauded even in her time. The sea, ships and all things maritime were in their blood.

Although she felt relief at getting away she knew they were not yet out of danger. The bay was like a squashed 'U' shape and they needed to get past the long jetty that jutted into it and around the spit into open water. At the far end of the jetty a large merchant ship was tied up, which Sarah assumed belonged to Svein the Fat. Suppressing a chuckle, she did wonder if boats resembled their owners. As she was thinking this she found Leif picking his way towards and when he got to her he hunkered down close.

"We have to be careful, there'll be a guard or two on board that ship and they might just notice two boat loads of children, that were meant to help line his master's pockets, slipping by," he whispered.

Sarah nodded, "I'll try to keep this lot quiet, but they are excited about going home".

Leif stood up and was about to say something when a shout from the shore almost caused him to fall overboard. All heads on the two vessels turned in that direction. The moon shone bright for a second illuminating 'snake arms' waving frantically and shouting at the men in the village.

"Odin's balls!" said Leif.

"I second that!" said Sarah.

"Right, no need to be quiet now, let's hoist those sails and get out of here!" Said Leif to his crew.

There was a flurry of activity as Sarah rushed to help and glancing over at the other boat she could see Hakon with his crew doing the same. They had the sail up easily just as a brisk wind came to their aid. Leif had taken the steering oar and was trying to manoeuvre them away from the jetty and the merchant ship.

Sarah watched as men ran down the beach and along the jetty. Looking over her shoulder she could also see another boat being put into the water, this one looked more like a proper warship, the dragon head clearly visible in the moonlight.

A shout from Harald drew her attention, he was pointing towards the merchant ship. At first she couldn't make out what was happening and then she saw two flames flying through the air towards them. Flaming arrows! One missed but the other landed near the mast. One of the children thought quickly and tossed a bucket of seawater over it, the flames going out with a hiss.

"They won't miss a second time, the first volley is to judge distance and wind" shouted Hakon, "Use your knives Sarah" he shouted a little more desperately, as they watched the two archers prepare for another attempt.

With a mental shake she drew her knives, took a deep breath, said a silent prayer to whoever might be listening and as she let her breath out, one of the small but lethal knives flicked out and flew in an unerring line straight towards the archers illuminated by their own arrows.

A strangled shout indicated that one of the knives had found a target. Suddenly flames erupted on board the merchant ship. The arrows that had been intended for them had fallen to the deck catching on the dry timber, creating panic and disorder. It had bought them enough time to get past the jetty.

A ragged cheer erupted from the two boats, Sarah looked at Leif, who merely grinned.

"Can't celebrate yet, look!" shouted Hakon, thumb pointing over his shoulder.

Sarah and Leif both looked, the dragon ship was getting closer and they weren't even using their sail yet. Sarah's heart sank, it really did not look good and feeling helpless she observed the expectant faces. Thinking fast she squatted down by Harald.

"Who is the god of the sea?" She knew it was a bit of a random question and the look on Harald's face said the same thing.

"Aegir" he replied hesitantly.

"And Thor is the god of storms, right" said Sarah, still thinking and wondering if she was going mad.

"Yeah?"

"What do we do if we want help from Aegir?"

Harald looked really bothered by her line of questioning but one of the girls piped up;

"You need to make a sacrifice, you know give the sea something of value to you and then just ask" she said.

"What about Thor?"

"Normally, you would also make a sacrifice but on dry land, this is the realm of Aegir. Perhaps burning something or making a pledge" the girl shrugged. She wasn't a priestess and this was her best guess.

Sarah looked over her shoulder again; could she do what she was thinking? The dragon ship was gaining on them. _What if I can't? Gods and goddesses aren't real, are they?_ She could hear snake arms shouting at the men as they heaved on the oars. Looking ahead she could see that they were almost past the spit of land and into open sea, but she also knew that the dragon ship would put up their sail once they had cleared the point and then it was just a matter of time.

They really did need some mystical intervention and because she had no better ideas, Sarah sat down cross legged. The children watched in fascination at the strange girl who had rescued them. Sarah tried to smile reassuringly and putting a finger to her lips took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

# Chapter Eighteen

At first her thoughts were all jumbled, her breath ragged and her heart thudding a loud beat in her ears. It took a lot of effort but, tuning out from everything around her, Sarah focussed on the one crazy thought; she wanted to talk to Thor.

A humming noise not unlike a swarm of bees filled her head getting louder and louder until she thought her head would explode, when it stopped with a loud pop. Her eyes still closed, everything was quiet, too quiet, she could no longer hear the sounds of the children or the boat's rigging as it moved with the motion of the sea.

Slowly Sarah opened her eyes. At first she saw a very large pair of boots, her eyes travelled up and there she saw an even larger man outfitted in the clothes and chain mail of a warrior. Under one arm he held his helm and in his hand he swung a huge hammer to and fro. His face was smiling, Sarah with eyes wide open smiled back...sort of.

"Welcome to Asgard, Sarah Tremayne. You wanted a chat?" his voice was like thunder.

"Umm yes, sorry for bothering you but we could really do with some help. You see we are trying to get away..." Sarah began in rush. _I'm in Asgard_? Looking around she realised that yes she was in Asgard...sort of.

"Yes I know your story, we have been watching you. Your goddess is much older and though not of this land, you could ask her for help but you do not, why?" His voice boomed through her head.

There was that goddess thing again. "I thought it would be more appropriate if you helped? Hakon carries your amulet."

"Hmm, so what is your plan?" His voice was beginning to hurt her ears. _I am going to have one heck of headache later._

"Nothing fancy, I thought maybe a storm, strong winds to carry us away and if Aegir would help, a rogue wave for the dragon ship, smashing onto rocks or something...?" Sarah said with a hopeful smile.

His eyebrows rose and then he laughed making Sarah's bones rattle. "You don't want much do you? Why should we help? And what mortal girl, do you offer in return?"

"Why should you help? Because innocent lives are about to be lost if you don't! I thought that the one thing all gods wanted was for the people to believe in them and I have two boat loads of potential believers, children who will grow into adults thanking the day that the mighty Thor helped them."

Thor's eyes narrowed and he was silent. It was not a comfortable silence. _Perhaps I should have toned down the sarcasm._ Eventually he spoke.

"If I do this, there will be conditions. You must pledge to wear my amulet alongside the amulet of your goddess."

Sarah relaxed a bit. _It was do-able, wasn't it? My goddess?_ She nodded her agreement, hoping that this wasn't one of those things that come back to bite you when you are least expecting it.

"Also..." he began, here's the catch, thought Sarah, "When you return, a feast in my honour with the slaughter of two bulls". Sarah wasn't sure if that was possible and she was reluctant to agree but still, what choice was there? She nodded again.

"Aegir will want a sacrifice into the water, give him something of value and I will see that he sends the wave to knock out your pursuers". She nodded a third time, her voice having deserted her.

She came to with a start, someone was shouting. It was Leif. The world around her came back into sharp focus.

"Sarah! Come on, snap out of it. We've rounded the point and so has the dragon ship, they're getting their sail up!"

"Stop shouting, head for open sea and get everyone to brace themselves." As she spoke, she looked down at her hand clenched around an object. She opened it and saw Leif staring at her in amazement. In her hand was a very fine silver hammer, the symbol of Thor, the Viking god of storms. It hadn't been wishful thinking or a dream, she really had spoken with Thor.

"Good grief, what is happening to me?" Sarah muttered under her breath as she rubbed her eyes.

Then, without warning, lightening cracked in the sky above. The smaller children shrieked and huddled closer. Without being told the older children started to tie the younger ones to the gunwale. Great frothy waves began to break over the gunwale and they found themselves being tossed from side to side, the sail flapping madly in the wind. Sarah looked over towards Hakon's boat and saw that they too were not doing so well.

Then the rain started, it came in large driving sheets soaking everyone to the skin in seconds. _This was not what I meant, looking at the amulet clutched in her hand, if that big daft god thinks I will wear this when he sends a crazy storm that does not help, he can forget it._ Thunder boomed overhead, making the children cringe as the rain lessened over them. Then a wind filled their sodden wool sails and the little vessels seemed to leap through the waves.

One hand slapping her head, she remembered. The rogue wave...which she needed to make a sacrifice to Aegir and the only thing of value she'd had was the arm ring she had used to buy food earlier. There was her own amulet, but something in her shied away from that idea.

The only other item of value she had were her throwing knives but she was really reluctant to part with them; they had saved them twice so far. What if she needed them again? But it was all she had so with great reluctance Sarah untied the belt and held it over the edge of the boat. Silently she offered her precious belt of throwing knives to Aegir. The knives sank into the dark waves and for a moment Sarah could have sworn she saw a pair of aquamarine eyes staring back at her.

The waves which had been accosting Hakon's and Leif's boats ceased almost immediately, the wind, rain and a slightly choppy sea almost had a friendly feel about it. All heads turned towards the dragon ship which, it seemed, was suffering a different storm. Their sail was torn to pieces, men were frantically bailing water and the rain was lashing down.

"Look!" shouted Hakon from across the water. There in the half dark of a Scandinavian summer night a large wave was racing straight for the dragon ship. Stunned that not only had Thor listened but also Aegir, Sarah could only watch as the rogue wave hit the dragon craft amidships, knocking it sideways and then rolling it. They saw screaming men and equipment being flung into the air. Sarah tried to block out the noise and pulling Harald close, buried face in her shoulder.

"Leif! Hakon! Time to get out of here," she shouted turning her back on the carnage. With her words a new brisk wind filled the sails and away they went.

# Chapter Nineteen

The rain had almost stopped as Sarah rummaged through the sea chest that had been left on board the stolen boat. She found some dry clothes, several sacks and a cloak. Handing them out to the children she saw the looks of deep suspicion that they gave her. Well, she couldn't blame them; if the roles had been reversed she would be a tad scared too.

Once she had made sure that everyone was comfortable, she went and sat next to Leif who was still manning the steering oar. Sarah, finding it difficult to cope with the uncomfortable silence, finally opened her mouth to speak but before the words came out, Leif uttered a simple "Thank you". Two words which took the wind out of Sarah's sails, leaving them to sink back into a much easier silence.

Sarah was certain that the events of the past few days hadn't properly really sunk in; otherwise she wouldn't be sitting here so relaxed. When in reality, she should be a gibbering wreck. Smiling to herself she wondered at her own ability to stay so calm. Her Nan always said that it was at times of great stress that we find out things about ourselves that we didn't know.

Sarah pulled out the Thor amulet from her little satchel and with a sigh threaded it onto her own amulet. They clinked against one another and hooking it back around her neck, the two settled side by side, warm on her chest.

Thor had mentioned 'her goddess' and it wasn't the first time this had come up. She had even called upon the goddess, without thinking. There were far too many questions and not enough answers. She hoped that if she ever got home then maybe she would find the answers. A nudge from Leif brought her day dreaming to a halt as the sun began to rise in the sky.

"That's a relief, the sun is to the left of us, means that we are going in the right direction and that storm didn't send us off track," he said.

"How long before we get back?"

"A day or so, though if this wind keeps up it may well be less," he shrugged.

The spirits of the children rose with the sun. Quiet chattering and the occasional burst of laughter filled Sarah's heart with joy. Harald made his way gingerly towards her, the apprehension on his face bringing tears to her eyes.

"Want a hug?" she said, arms wide open, smiling.

He hesitated and looked to his older brother. Leif smiled and gave a small nod. Harald ran into Sarah's waiting arms, he smelt all salty but it was good to have a hug. With Harald nestled beside her, a number of the other children lost their reticence and also came over. She gave hugs to those who wanted one and spoke quietly with them.

After a while Sarah heard a shout from Hakon's boat which was a little way ahead of them, making her heart leap as she jumped up quickly, startling some of the children. This time she heard the shout more clearly.

"Land Ho!"

A ragged cheer came from both of the boats. Leif and Sarah exchanged a look; they had been through enough to know that this might not be good news.

"Can you tell what land it is?" Sarah asked quietly.

"Not yet, it could be Bornholm again. We'll know as we get closer," said Leif squinting at the distant land mass. After what seemed many hours but was actually mere minutes, Leif spoke again.

"It is, it's Bornholm and the right coast this time, see how flat it is?" he pointed excitedly at the low lying coastline. "Shout to Hakon Sarah and tell him we need to make for the coast, I'm sure I can find father's friends".

Relief flooded through Sarah as she hastened to do as Leif had asked; it would be nice to hand over responsibility to an adult. She knew that she had asked for a bit more adventure in her life...but really! The children on both boats were starting to get excited now, the chatter was of the great adventure they had had. Sarah had a feeling this would be a story that would be told again and again and no doubt getting more fantastical through time. Personally, she was looking forward to some warm food, a bath and some clean clothes, in that order.

Coming out of her daydream she found that they had made good time and were now sailing close to shore as Leif was concentrated on scanning the coastline for landmarks that he recognised. Unlike the other side of Bornholm this side was flattish land with gently sloping beaches of white sand. As on Gotland they could see small settlements, set back a bit from the beaches surrounded by farmland. Small boats were beached above the tideline and some were stored in sheds close to the water's edge.

"There!" shouted Leif.

Sarah turned and saw a short jetty to one side of a narrow bay, at the head of which a cluster of buildings was visible. It looked much like the settlement that they had escaped from but smaller.

Tied up at the jetty was a boat. Sarah frowned as it had a carved head that for some reason looked really familiar. Just as she was about to say something to Leif, they heard a shout from Hakon. It was Harald who interpreted the shout.

"He's saying that the boat is one of Fathers, he recognised the carving, and it was being repaired when Father left".

They heard a woman shout from the settlement; it was not an unwelcome noise. People then started to emerge from the central building, which Sarah assumed was the hall. Wondering what kind of reception they would get, she found herself holding her breath. Scanning the crowd that was now gathered on the beach, she saw a familiar blonde head towering above everyone. She stood up and shouted, "ULF!"

The crowd parted and Ulf came forward, looking every inch the warrior although the effect was softened by the huge smile as he took in the two boats, Sarah, Hakon, Leif and the children.

"Where in the name of Thor have you been?" he bellowed.

"It's a long story, but please can we get these children some food and warm clothes and then we will tell all."

Sarah ushered the children off the boats and into the arms of the women who clucked over them like brood of hens. Several of the men helped Hakon and Leif secure the boats, noticing that some of them knew the two boys although she did not recognise them. She supposed that they must have come from neighbouring farms that owed fealty to Geir.

Sarah stood silently on the beach, not really sure what she should be doing when one of the women came over to her and gently guided her to the hall. She found herself sitting in front of the fire a beaker of warmed mead in her hands and a rough wool blanket around her shoulders. She wondered how she should start the story. Gently sippings the mead, she stared into the fire letting her thoughts wonder.

"Ahem"

Sarah came too with a start to find that both Hakon and Leif were sitting on either side of her. The whole settlement had crammed into the hall to hear their story. She looked around and saw that all the children were safe and being fed. Someone handed her a bowl of stew, absently she said thanks. Hakon gave her a nudge, he wanted her to speak?

She shook her head "No, you're the eldest, you tell what happened, I'm hungry and want to eat".

A ripple of laughter ran around the assembled people as Hakon shrugged and began to tell their tale. Sarah concentrated on eating her stew hoping that Hakon would play down her side of it. The last thing she wanted was accusations of witchcraft. As the tale came to an end, Sarah began to relax. Hakon had not mentioned, nor had the others, anything about Sarah's gift.

They hadn't been able to avoid the bit about her killing the bear warrior (although she was sure he was not actually a real berserker), this had caused some mutters as did the information that the children had been pawns in some political game for the Danish crown. The bit about the storm and the rogue wave also caused a stir and had some of the men reaching for their hammer amulets.

Although she could feel the gaze of many on her, it was the intense look that Ulf gave her that made her the most uncomfortable. As she looked at Ulf she felt her amulet warm against her skin, giving her confidence. She felt herself sit up straighter, her chin lifted and she smiled at Ulf. It was then his turn to look uncomfortable and looking at Hakon he spoke.

"Your mother is beside herself with worry" he began, Hakon and Leif tried to look elsewhere.

"It was rash to go haring off chasing warriors but, you are back safe and sound and have done our neighbours and allies a service by rescuing their young 'uns as well. Not to mention, coming back with some plunder – a whole new boat; she might forgive you eventually. When I left, your father was still away with the King and I had convinced your mother not to send for him." Ulf turned to a man that Sarah assumed was the headman of the settlement.

"Can we ask for your hospitality of one more night, we will leave at first light tomorrow," he asked cordially.

The headman nodded his assent and clapping his hands he sent most of the people in the hall back out to their work; after all, it was only just past noon. Sarah was glad of the respite from the stares and whispers. Ulf too, had left with Hakon and Leif to check over the boats and make sure that they could make the last leg of their journey. Walking over to a cluster of women she offered to help and was put to work with an older woman making the bread for the evening meal.

The next day dawned bright and clear, the children were distributed amongst the three boats as were the more experienced sailors. Thanks were given, hands shaken and the goodbyes said. Then they were off once more but this time the only thing that the trio needed to fear was the wrath of Astrid. With the sun on her face and the wind in her hair, a feeling of peace came over Sarah as the realisation set in that it would only be a matter of time before she too would be going home.

She laughed out loud, the smile on her face infectious. "It is good to be alive" she said to no one in particular. It seemed that she was not the only one who felt that all was well.

Singing could be heard from Ulf's boat and uproarious laughter from Hakon's. So, it was with light hearts that the three boats eventually pulled into the cove that was home. There must have been someone on look-out because a crowd had gathered on the beach; Sarah could see Astrid standing at the front, her expression unreadable from a distance.

# Chapter Twenty

Astrid pulled Harald and Rolf close to her. Hakon and Leif stood back a bit, not sure of their reception until Astrid beckoned them forward and they too were enveloped in a family hug. Eventually as the chaos calmed and people stopped talking, Sarah sat with the children who were not yet at their home.

Once more Hakon explained what had happened and Astrid stepped into full 'wife of the Jarl' mode. Arrangements were made for messengers to be sent to the families of the children who in turn were found places to stay amongst the families of Geir's settlement.

Throughout this bustle of activity, Sarah made herself useful but would occasionally find either Ulf or Astrid looking at her thoughtfully. She knew it would only be a matter of time before she really would have to explain things and she wasn't sure how she could do that when she had so many questions herself. Sarah decided that avoidance was probably the best choice.

Waking in the early hours of the next morning, Harald once more snuggled by her side snoring gently, Sarah thought she had done well during the previous evening. Hakon and Leif had told the full story of their adventures yet again, not mentioning Sarah's gift, at least not directly.

There was some talk of the intervention of the god's when it came to the storm and the rogue wave. Sarah had found it difficult for much of the tale to look at anyone and suddenly something on the floor looked really interesting.

She knew that everyone was looking at her and that they were remembering the words of the old prophetess. The two boys had taken turns at keeping her company and heading off any awkward questions. But the time had come, she needed to leave. Sitting up the knowledge of what she must do came to her. Dressing quickly, she crept out of the hall and made her way to the forge.

Standing outside the door of the forge in the early morning chill, she hesitated. She raised her hand to knock when the door opened. Sarah let out a little squeak of fright and stumbled back, Ulf swore as he too stepped back a pace.

"Gods girl! What are you doing lurking outside my door at this hour," he demanded in a whisper.

"Sorry, but I need your help," Sarah replied. Her eyes narrowed, "What about you? You look like you're going somewhere?"

"Uhh, it don't matter now, what help?"

Not convinced, Sarah was silent for a time then shrugged her shoulders in a manner reminiscent of Hakon, "I need you to take me back to the place where you found me".

"What? Now?"

"No silly, sometime next week," the sarcasm dripping from her voice.

"Can't it wait?"

"No it can't, please Ulf" Sarah pleaded, why was he being so awkward?

"I've got something to do first and then when I get back in a few days, I'll take you there then".

"Ulf, I have to go today. Well if you won't take me, I'll go on my own" said Sarah, determined that she was going home today.

"I'll take her" came a third voice from out of the dark, startling Sarah and Ulf. It was Hakon.

"I'll take her" he repeated. Sarah smiled and looked at Ulf.

"There problem solved. Where are you off to anyway?" she asked Ulf as she went to stand next to Hakon.

"He's going to find Father and tell him and the king about the plot," Hakon answered for Ulf.

"Oh. I am free to go though, aren't I?" She said, fear taking root in her stomach.

"Sarah, your arrival was a mystery. This whole thing has been a mystery, I know that the boys have downplayed your role in the rescue and I have lots of questions, so does Astrid and I am sure Geir and the King will too. But I think that on this occasion not knowing might be for the better," began Ulf, a snort from Hakon interrupting him.

"Perhaps" he continued with a glance at Hakon, "it would be best if you were to leave soon. It would make a good ending for the story," said Ulf absentmindedly stroking his beard.

"He's right Sarah, forget the goodbyes, I will say them for you. If you want to go we should go now. I know the way to Freya's Rocks."

Sarah looked from Ulf to Hakon. She was reluctant to sneak off in the middle of the night without saying goodbye, it seemed wrong somehow, although she also realised that they had a point.

"Okay, but give me a minute to get my stuff" she ran off quickly before they could stop her.

Sneaking back into the hall, she stood quietly for a long moment making sure that all were still asleep. Harald had curled the blanket around himself and she gave him a brief kiss on the forehead softly whispering goodbye. Reaching under the bed and grabbing her modern day clothes. She took one last look over her shoulder from the doorway and said a silent farewell.

Ulf and Hakon were still standing by the forge door when she returned, Hakon looking a little sheepish.

"Okay, I'm ready" said Sarah wondering what had been said whilst she was gone.

"Wait, before you go, here," said Ulf handing her two little throwing knives identical to the ones she had sacrificed to Aegir. "Leif told me that you had given them to Aegir, these two are the rest of the set that wouldn't fit on your belt. From all accounts, you might find that you will need them again one day".

Sarah sincerely hoped that she wouldn't but accepted the gift, giving the big man a big hug.

"Now, I am ready. Goodbye Ulf and thank you" she said, a lump in her throat. Turning, she followed Hakon who was already on the move.

Sarah and Hakon walked steadily through the early morning hours of darkness, marking the rise of the sun with a few oatcakes that Hakon had in his pack. Sarah wasn't sure where the pack had come from or the oatcakes for that matter but was glad he had thought ahead. They walked on in silence, the only time Hakon spoke was to point out a deer or tell her to mind her step. It was not an uncomfortable silence and so it was that Sarah found herself not wanting to fill that silence. The sun had passed well over head when Hakon came to an abrupt halt.

"The rocks are just through those trees" he said.

"Thanks. Ahh, could you wait one moment" said Sarah, as she dashed off behind a bush.

When she emerged she was wearing her own clothes. It was going to be hard enough to explain to her father where she had been all this time, let alone why she was wearing Viking clothes. Hakon's eyes were almost popping out of his head.

He had never seen a girl dressed in jeans and t-shirt before. Sarah handed him the clothes his mother had lent her. Silently he took them from her. As Sarah bent over to tie the laces on her boots, her amulet and the Thor hammer tumbled out of her t-shirt. The moonstone at the centre of the amulet had begun to glow.

"I don't understand who or what you are but I would like to apologise for treating you badly, when all you wanted to do was help. Thank you Sarah" said Hakon, holding Sarah's gaze.

Sarah felt her mouth go dry, she should reply but there was nothing she could say, so instead she took two quick steps towards him her lips lightly brushing his cheek.

"I will miss you all, please tell your family that," she whispered, her throat tightening, turning away quickly before he saw the tears that threatened to spill.

Sarah walked alone through the trees, blindly tripping over tree roots, silently cursing the trees and her own clumsiness whilst at the same time, telling herself that she really did need to learn some forest craft. It was only a matter of minutes before she came upon the clearing in which stood a jumble of rocks.

Coming to a halt, she gazed at them; there was something familiar about them. As she walked towards them she realised that they were an ancient burial cairn. Trying to remember what her dad had told her she thought that maybe it was Neolithic or perhaps Bronze Age.

It seemed to her that this was another piece of the puzzle that was currently her life. She wished that she had the box so she could see the picture. Frowning she realised that this sounded very much like something her Dad had once told her about archaeology.

" _Archaeology is like a giant jigsaw puzzle, but you don't have the box and only a vague inkling of what the picture should look like. Then, to make things worse, someone has gone and lost some of the pieces down the back of the sofa."_ Sarah could hear his voice, laughing at his own joke. She really did miss him.

Standing in front of the cairn Sarah reached out to touch the rocks, one hand gently resting on the warm stone the other clasped around her amulet. There was a connection; a feeling of calm came over her. She felt safe.

Finding a sheltered spot tucked away in the corner, she sat down and waited. Letting her mind wander she thought about home. _How am I going to explain my disappearance? Dad will think that I have truly lost the plot if I try to tell him that I can time travel. Time Travel? Can I actually time travel?_ She knew it had something to do with the amulet...but how...and why her? Questions tumbled through her mind, but the warm stone at her back and the sunshine on her face soon put a stop to the questions. She felt herself getting drowsy, her eyelids getting heavy and gradually sleep claimed her.

"Wakey, wakey my girl. This is not the place to take a nap, come on Sarah up you get."

"Huh, what?" mumbled Sarah. Opening her eyes, she felt really very groggy. A man was kneeling over her, one hand shaking her shoulder gently. Slowly, her eyes focussed on the man looking at her, kindly concern on his very, very familiar face.

"Dad?"

THE END (for now)

Thank you or reading my book. If you enjoyed it, won't you please take a moment to leave a review at your favourite ebook retailer. Thanks T M Rowe.

# About the Author

I have been many things in my life, waitress, barmaid, child/dog minder, student, promo girl (eek!), journalist (briefly), customer service, archaeologist, teacher, wife to my biggest fan and now mum to two precocious children and of course author. But I have always come back to the things I love the most writing and the past. It is never far from my mind and I find inspiration in all that is around me. Having lived in Cornwall for eight years, where I met my husband (who is Cornish through and through), I also fell for the magic that permeates the land in that county. Although I now live in my home country of New Zealand, Cornwall, archaeology and magic are never far from my mind.

I have unashamedly used a member of my family for the basis of one of the characters in Sarah's adventures – Brad the Dog is in fact my very own Brad the Dog, a great dollop of a Labrador who keeps me company when I'm writing and gives me a nudge when he thinks I've done enough for the day (strangely, it seems to correspond with him wanting to go for a walk...).

# Other Titles

Cornwall in Prehistory 2005 Tempus (print only) – a basic introduction to the archaeology of this fascinating county in the UK.

A Megaltihic Moon – A Sarah Tremayne Adventure - Book Two

# Connect with T M Rowe

www.tmrowe.com

Facebook – T M Rowe-writer

Email – tmrowe70@gmail.com

Instagram - @tonimaree.rowe

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