Rick made swift progress along the River Trent by untying a moored boat that didn’t belong to him and rowing it, aided by the incoming tide from the Humber. Any scruples he had about the theft were banished by the nature of his mission; to save he didn’t know how many villagers from Viking tyranny.
He rowed alongside the quay at Torksey as the twilight dwindled to dusk. Men began putting flames to bundles of pitch-soaked reeds to illuminate the tasks they were about. Rick checked his belt for the LED flashlight Esme had supplied him and blessed her forethought. It would make his task so much easier. On the quay, nobody challenged the presence of a boatman. Evidently, there was much coming and going and nobody saw his presence as unusual.
Darkness enshrouded him as he moved away from the
