Chapter 5

Our hero discovers that his imagination is not playing tricks on him. There really is someone out there. Maybe an ally on his quest.

CHAPTER 5

To Eric the night seemed to go on forever, even the slightest noise woke him up. His camp had already been raided twice, the raft lay in pieces on the beach. If he was to succeed on this quest nothing more must go wrong. Eric was on his guard all night, but in the morning everything was still in its place. Nothing else had happened

“Maybe I am imagining things” thought Eric.

The straps might have just broken, through general wear and tear. The horse might have run away, spooked by a sudden noise. The movement in the forest was probably just an animal, a deer or something.

Slowly, sleep still clouding his brain, Eric went to the beach. He knelt down and splashed his face with sea water. What he really needed was a bath, but the cold water had the affect he was after. Eric woke up properly and felt more alert.

Suddenly Eric whirled around. He sensed someone else there. All the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, but no one was in sight. Eric turned back to the sea and splashed his face again. He heard a yell, someone jumped on Eric’s back and he went down on the pebbles. He twisted out from under his attacker and came up, knife in hand.

Facing him stood a boy. He was taller than Eric and dressed the same way, but he wore an iron helmet and held a knife in his hand. At his waist there hung a small leather pouch.

“Where is it?” the boy demanded angrily.

“Where’s what?” asked Eric.

“Where’s my raft?”

“I haven’t seen your raft!” Eric answered.

This strange boy was accusing him of stealing his raft?

“Why did you wreck mine?” Eric wanted to know. “Why are you trying to stop my quest?”

Without warning the boy came at Eric. His fists began to pummel Eric one after the other.

“Where’s my raft?” the boy asked through gritted teeth.

Eric raised his arms above his head. The blows continued to rain down upon him. They weren’t very hard and didn’t really hurt him. Some of the blows missed him altogether.

“This boy doesn’t know how to fight”, thought Eric.

He hooked one leg around the boy’s legs and down he went. Eric straightened up. He put one foot on the boy’s chest to stop him getting up.

“Answers!” barked Eric.

The boy tried to struggle up off the ground. Eric kept his foot in place.

“Why did you sabotage my stuff?” he asked.

Eric pressed his foot harder into the boy’s chest.

“Why did you steal my horse? I know you’ve been following me. What’s your game?”

“You stole my raft!” spluttered the boy.

“Why would I steal your raft?” asked Eric. “I built my own, but you wrecked it!”

“I didn’t!” wailed the boy. “Let me up! I’m on a quest!”

Eric removed his foot. As the boy got up, his helmet fell off. Golden hair fell loosely from a pin, which fell to the floor.

“Y y you’re a girl!” Eric stammered in shock.

It all made sense now. No boy would fight like that. Boys were taught to use a sword, a knife or a battle axe. Boys learned how to wrestle. Girls learned how to cook, and sew, and mind babies.

The girl stood tall and looked at Eric.

“You spoke of a quest” she said. “My name is Gudrun. I am also on a quest.”

Eric stared at her. Shock and relief crowded his mind at the same time. He was not alone. Here was someone else to share the burden. A travelling companion, perhaps. Or maybe she was the saboteur after all.

“I am Eric Ivarrson”, he said cautiously.

“What do you seek on your quest?” asked Gudrun.

She, too, was still wary. She stood straight as a rod, one hand resting on her knife.

“I am seeking an herb root to make a cure,” said Eric. “There is illness in my village.”

“I know the plant. It is called Huonn”, said Gudrun. “It is a kind of Angelica that grows on the banks of a river that lies beyond the Vesteigen Mountain.”

Eric looked at her in surprise.

“There is sickness in my village too”, Gudrun went on. “Our men have gone raiding, and our boys are either sick or dead.”

She sat down on the ground, her head in her hands. Then she looked up at Eric.

“I’m the only one who could take the quest. There’s no one else who could go.”

“But you’re a girl!” said Eric.

“I am apprentice to Torunn the wise woman. I know what I’m looking for.”

Gudrun stood up, her head held high.

“I have all the skills I need!”

“But you can’t fight” Eric pointed out, smiling a little.

“Well, no”, said Gudrun uncertainly, “I can’t fight. But I know the sagas, and healing, and which plants are poisonous and….”

“Can you read runes?” asked Eric.

“Yes…” began Gudrun, uncertainly. “But I keep getting them muddled. Torunn says if I talked less I’d make fewer mistakes.”

“I have an idea”, said Eric. “Why don’t we quest together? You’ll know the plant when we find it. I’ll keep us safe.”

Gudrun took a good look at him.

“You’re rather short”, she said. “How old are you, ten?”

“I’m old enough to use a sword” Eric told her. “I’m just short for my age!”

“There’s still the question of a raft” Gudrun reminded him. “Mine seems to have disappeared.”

“And mine is in pieces”, said Eric. “It seems there’s someone else about and they’ve got your raft.”

“Come on” said Gudrun. “We’ll have to fix yours.”

“What about breakfast?” asked Eric.

“Typical man” said Gudrun. “You’re always thinking of your stomach!”

She turned and walked west, into the trees. Eric went the other way, back to his camp. In a short time they met back at the beach. Both had their packs. Eric had his sword and shield and axe. He was eating a chunk of bread.

“Come on!” said Gudrun again. “You’ve no time to eat. Time is wasting.”

Eric tucked his uneaten bread back into his pack. Then they got to work on the raft. First they laid logs side by side. Then they lashed them together with rope made from walrus hide.

“That’s not the way to do it!” Gudrun kept telling Eric. “Do it like this.”

She showed him another way to tie the rope.

Next they placed three logs cross wise, for support.

“You’re doing it wrong again” Gudrun said.

Again she did it differently.

Finally a thin branch was tied in an upright position for a mast. Two shorter ones were fixed top and bottom to hold a sail. Eric took his knife and began to whittle a branch to make a paddle.

Gudrun went over to Eric’s pack. She pulled out a blanket.

“Hey! What are you doing?” yelled Eric.

She was head and shoulders taller than Eric, and he held the blanket out of his reach.

“We need a sail” she reasoned. “You’ll get it back.”

Eric shrugged. She was right. Together they tied the blanket to the mast.

“You are so bossy!” he told her.

“It gets thing done” said Gudrun. “Shall we be off?”