When the Longships Came

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 2Kendra was wrong on both counts. The longships did not leave but she did find food to eat with the raw carrots, turnips and honey not a lot worse than the food she would have had for the evening meal at home. She now supported a bee sting on her right hand but the handful of delicious honey from the hollow oak tree made it worthwhile. The root crops came from a small, cultivated patch a few strides off the main track that led down the hillside while water from the stream quenched her thirst. She had also used it to splash over her sweaty arms, legs and face.

As the hours slipped by she watched those below. More loot was brought down from the monastery and it appeared that the longships were full, for stuff was now piled on the sand above the high tide mark. Later, the longships were rowed offshore through the breakers and anchored. The Vikings aboard just jumped overboard and swam ashore. Those on the beach dragged driftwood into a huge pile and a massive bonfire blazed away as the sun dropped over the western forest and twilight replaced the sunshine. It was still warm, though and in more normal circumstances, Kendra would have enjoyed her freedom up here away from the constraints of the monastery evening duties. She could smell the wood smoke and also that delicious aroma of cooking pork. No doubt the Vikings had slaughtered the monastery animals, including the pigs and milking goats.

She grimaced. At least the sheep were still safe.

Darkness didn't really frighten her, it was more the thought of being up on the plateau with no surrounding walls that made her wary. Anything or anyone could be in the nearby trees; outlaws, Vikings or even a wolf that attacked humans. It was something else, too! She had never been alone in the darkness before. Even in her cell, the small enclosure with her bunk and small side cabinet on which a candle sat, there was no door or curtain so she could see across the aisle to other girls in their bunks. They would chat even after candles were snuffed out and if she awoke there was the inevitable sighs or snores of those around.

She decided to make her way back to the cave before it became too dark to see. When she arrived she saw white blobs on the small rise near the cave. The sheep had already settled in for the night.

"You hardly need me, Molly," she whispered as she stepped over part of the earlier wall she had made and sat down just inside the entrance.

*

"Kendra! Kendra!"

The screaming, sobbing voice awoke her with a start. For a moment she was disorientated. This was not her bunk! She was stiff and sore down one side and the inky blackness was only punctuated by the sight of an oval to her left. Of course, she remembered where she was. The oval was the cave entrance but what had awoken her?

She sat up, rubbed her left arm to restore circulation and stared at the entrance. Had she been dreaming?

"Kendra!" echoed an almost hysterical voice.

Kendra felt terror rise in her body, her throat became parched and heart raced. Goose pimples rose on her trembling arms. The sound came from inside the cave... not outside! Had the avenging angels or even worse the devil of the underworld come to punish her for doing nothing to help the nuns? Perhaps it was even their spirits who had come back to taunt her for cowardliness. She cringed back and buried her face in her hands.

"Please God, help me find Kendra. She must be here somewhere." The voice was now a hushed sob.

Kendra looked up and forced herself to calm down. Though the words were distorted by the acoustics, she knew the voice!

Still shaking and scared, she stood up and reached for the wall behind. Somehow it gave her that wee dram of courage, She stared inside the cave but could see nothing through the darkness. Wait a moment... she could! In the distance was an elongated blob!

Again she almost panicked. It must be the ghost that was rumoured to haunt the monastery dungeon. What should she do?

"I'm here," she spluttered out. "It's Kendra. Who are you?"

"Kendra!"

The ghostly appearance that tore towards her became a girl dressed in a white gown that flowed back as she stumbled forward in new looking leather boots. It was Jolene, the postulant who had been at the monastery for only a few months and who slept in a cell near hers. They had become friends as they were of a similar age.

Jolene rushed forward and straight into Kendra's arms. The girl was cold, shaking and crying hysterically as she just clung on.

"It's all right," Kendra whispered. "You found me. I am here, safe with the sheep!"

Jolene sobbed and sobbed with trembling shoulder and limbs before finally calming a little and looking up through a grubby tearstained face.

"She's dead! She's dead," she cried. "The Vikings came and killed her, right before us…then… " She could not continue as the sobbing made her words incoherent.

"I know," Kendra whispered as she stoked the girl's hair. "I saw most of it."

"But you weren't there," Jolene sobbed. "Not in the entrance foyer."

"No I wasn't but I saw what happened on the beach."

"The beach?" Jolene obviously knew nothing about the m******e on the beach.

"You're safe," Kendra said. "The Vikings have not found this cave."

Jolene nodded and sobbed quietly for a few more moments before she spoke again. "They killed Abbess Jane right before us and made us disrobe. Sisters Frances and Mary tried to stop them but were held down, stripped to their undergarments and carried away. We heard them screaming and…"

*

"I am Lyting, Leader of the Hævne Ørne," said the giant of a man dressed in traditional Viking clothes. He had placed his weapons aside and stared at the assembled nuns. "We do not recognise your dark religion nor your pagan laws or creeds. Those of you who live shall become members of our clan to serve your new masters to help and provide..."

"Provide what?" one of the more brave nuns retorted.

"In our culture, women are not cast away in remote castles to whither into old hags." He nodded at the body of Abbess Jane on the floor. "You are our future, you provide us with the pleasure and the children who become new warriors to replace us when we become too frail to continue. Each of those worthy shall become our slaves and if capable may even be allowed to become wives."

"And if we object?" the same brave nun replied.

"You will be of no value to us so can meet your so called god sooner rather than later. Two of your superiors have already proved unworthy." He shrugged and his voice turned hard. "Obey and you may live to see the moon tonight. Stand in a line."

The nuns who hesitated were poked into place by Vikings with long axes. Once they were lined up, other Vikings walked along and ripped the heads pieces and bibs off every nun. When her attire was yanked aside Jolene shook her blonde hair out and stared trembling at the Viking before her.

"A fine specimen," he said and ran his fingers through her hair and glared down the gaping top of her blouse. "Far superior to some of your swarthy brethren." He nodded at the brunette nun beside her and walked away.

The next orders were to disrobe. Again several objected and one was dragged before the line and stabbed in the stomach. She cried only once as her blood squirted out and her now lifeless body collapsed to the floor.

"Our women are proud not ashamed of their bodies," Lyting announced. He held a hand up and a female Viking appeared from a nearby alcove. "This is Hervor, my second wife. She will teach you everything you need to know about your duties and, as I mentioned, those who are deemed to be suitable may even end up in my household." He turned to Hervor. "Tell them."

The woman looked hard and Jolene’s skin turned cold for she could see not one dram of kindness in the evil face.

"You can leave your modesty garments on in the meanwhile but will remove those pitiful overclothes you were forced to wear." Hervor smiled almost sadistically. "Afterwards you will each be entertained by our warriors. There are over seventy men and a smaller number of yourselves. You will, therefore be expected to provide relief to three or four warriors." Her smile faded. "Those who object will be..." she ran a hand across her throat.

Jolene realise that modesty garments meant her loincloth and fascia. She did as she was told and stood terrified as the Vikings walked along the line and touched women on the shoulder. These were led off into side rooms with several warriors. Some screamed and cried and were literally carried away. Sobs, screams and shouts were heard everywhere but still Jolene stood waiting panic-struck at her coming fate.

A glowering Viking stood before her. "Your name, girl?"

"Jolene," she whispered.

"A noble name, no doubt after a goddess. Lyting has taken a fancy to your beautiful hair and fair skin. He shoved a garment and leather boots into her hands. He also likes to be teased, shall we say. Put this on and await for him for you are about to learn the ways of a Viking slave mistress."

"Where?" Jolene asked.

The Viking grabbed her arm and pulled her roughly forward. He bent down with his face was so close that she could feel his beard tickle and smell his breath of wine. "One of the rooms to the side, you silly b***h or would you rather I warmed you up here on the floor so all can see how women receive our babies?"

Jolene nodded and followed a younger Viking along to one of the side chambers used by the abbess to entertain visitors. She was allowed to walk in, told to put the gown on and left.

She was alone, terrified and knew that she would be lucky to survive the day unless she did what was asked of her. She slipped on the surprisingly smooth garment. It was white with a dark red top that was held by two leather straps over her bare shoulders. A similar strap was sewed to the waist at the back and hung loose. She pulled it tight and tied a bow and glanced down. Her ankles were exposed but would be covered by the boots that she pulled on. In doing so, she glanced up. There, at the far end of the room was a second door. She tiptoed over to it and found the handle turned. Inside, was a curved corridor lit by a narrow window above her head. On the inside of the door was a solid looking latch.

Hoping against hope that she could escape, she stepped through, shut and bolted the door. She ran along the narrow corridor until it came to a flight of stairs. These, though went down into the dungeon. The thought of going there was scary but nothing compared to what would happen to her back in the room with that horrible Viking.

She gulped and walked down into the darkness below.

*

"So how did you find the cave here?" Kendra asked when Jolene finished her story.

"The stairs led to a tunnel, not the dungeon and along to steps twisting upwards. I followed them and came out into this cave. I was too scared to go very far from the entrance and hid when I heard someone coming. It must have been you but I thought it the Vikings had arrived. I remember little else except that I stayed at the back of the cave, I must have dozed off and dreamed about you. For some reason, it stuck in my mind that I had to find and warn you to stay away from the monastery." Jolene smiled through her tears. "So here I am."

"Oh Jolene," Kendra was almost in tears again herself. "I'm so glad we found each other. I've been scared too..." She told Jolene of her own experiences during the day.

They had both had a terrifying time but somehow having someone to talk to helped her and Jolene too for her friend smiled as she munched a small apple she gave her.

"I’ve got no number on my gown," the girl said.

"Probably because that head guy wanted you for himself. We will have to be very careful tomorrow. He knows you are here somewhere."

Jolene nodded. "I never thought of that but there's something else..."

"And that is?"

"Perhaps that is why the longships never left. Lyting may have stayed so he could search for me in the morning."

"You could be right,"

Jolene sighed. "Damned blonde hair!

"Be thankful you have fair hair that took his fancy."

"Why?'

"If you had dark hair you would be dead by now with your throat cut on the beach with those others."

The girl's eyes widened. "But why. Kendra? What harm would any of the nuns have done if they had been let go?"

"None," Kendra replied. "But the Vikings will live to regret the day they attacked Bramingham Monastery, that's a promise I make to you and all the souls of our departed companions. This day shall go down in history as the day the tide was turned against the barbarians who attack our shores."

"Noble words."

“I mean it, Jolene. I don't know how but we will not only survive but will revenge this s*******r and k********g of our sisters."

Kendra hugged her companion and stared out the cave mouth to where the hillside was bathed in dim moonlight. What would tomorrow bring?

*

The search the following dawn was thorough with dozens of Vikings searching the plateau, through the forest and even into the cave.

Kendra and Jolene were not found for they were sitting at the top of the gigantic oak tree, the very one that contained the bees hive where Kendra had found her honey. The bees were angry and she was willing to wager that it would take a brave Viking, indeed, who would try to climb the tree through them. Neither of them was stung so perhaps an angel was guiding them.

The thick leaves made them almost invisible with Kendra's only fear being that their white gowns would show out against the dark green leaves. She told Jolene to sit in a vee between two branches and not to move even her little finger. She climbed above her and found a similar position to wait. This was just after dawn and a mere half-hour later the enemy arrived.

"You have to learn the first law of our clan, Jolene," Lyting's angry voice rolled through the forest from near the cave mouth not long afterwards. "That is obedience. You are a nobody now, a non-being who will rot in your hell throughout eternity. You one chance is to come to me as my chosen wife. I shall be blunt; do that and I promise you all the comforts and power Hervor has. You will replace her for she is old and bitter and her body has grown flabby through baring too many female children. I need a son brought forth through your body."

"Don't listen to him," Kendra hissed when she noticed Jolene’s frightened eyes staring up at her.

Jolene bit on her lip but nodded.

"Okay," the warrior screamed five minutes later. "You have one final choice. Submit to my warriors or I shall slit the throat of those redheaded women we allowed to survive the first selection process. Their lives are on your shoulders."

"Kendra!" whimpered Jolene. "I want nobody else to die."

"And what's to stop him killing them, anyhow?" Kendra whispered. "Go down and you will be r***d by every man there before having your throat cut. You have already pricked his pride and he is not about to honour any promises he makes."

"You think so?"

"They are barbarians with a code of honour only to themselves."

Jolene stared up at her with tears in her eyes but she nodded, clung to the trunk and held on... just as two Vikings arrived near the base of their tree.

"Wild honey, Thorg," one said in his home language that Kendra understood.

"But the bees have been disturbed," Thorg replied. "If you go within six paces of that nest they'll attack. Remember last year when it happened to Ozur. The forty or more stings he got almost killed him. Is it worth the chance?" He laughed. "I'd sooner find the girl, anyway. The man who finds her, beds her first. I bet... " His voice became indistinguishable as the pair retreated through the trees.

Kendra almost said, 'Told you so’ to Jolene. However, she saw the utter despair on her friend's face and knew she had understood every word that had been said.

"It is okay," she whispered. "They can't search forever. I'm betting they'll leave soon, sail away but leave a small group behind to grab us if we go back to the monastery."

Jolene nodded. "You were right when you said they'd find us if we stayed in the cave. I’m glad they never found the door into the tunnel I came up." Her lips trembled. "What do we do if we can't go home?"

"Walk south to the next village. A trader told me once that it's only half a day journey by foot."

"Through the forest?"

"No along the coast. As far as I know the beach continues for several leagues before there are more cliffs."

"But we have no food or clothes! Look at me. This gown...”

"We are alive, Jolene. After everything that has happened why worry about some exposed flesh? We can swap clothes if you are that concerned."

"I'd like that," Jolene whispered.

Below, silence returned through the forest and no more Vikings were in sight. It appeared that they had gone back but nothing was certain.

"We stay here," Kendra said and wriggled into a more comfortable position. It was going to be along wait.

*