This chapter describes the childrens narrow escape from the Norsemen and their first adventure.

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The Angry Mermaid 3
Or.
Y Morforwyn Dicllon.

Mabina. The youngest daughter and Twin to
Drustan Her twin brother.
Grandpa Erin the twins grandfather.
Giana The twins grandmother
Caderyn The twins father.
Morgaran The Twins oldest brother.
Aiofe The twins oldest sister. Famous for her beauty.
Tara The twins second oldest sister. Famous for her grace.
Feidlim Twins aunt (Caderyns’ beautiful sister.)
Mogantu Twins uncle (Married to Feidlim.) Chief of the Gangani tribe.
Brun. Twins 2nd cousin and the Acaman clans’ blacksmith.
Feorin. Twins second brother. Also training to be a blacksmith.
Rhun Feidlims’ son and Feorins’ favourite 1st Cousin. (Both red-heads.)

Brun put down the hammer as Feorin slowed the bellows.

“And what would you monkeys be wanting with hot iron?”

“We want to make some holes.” Mabina replied with her most beguiling smile.

“Holes in what?”

“Holes in wood.”

“Well if you bring the wood here I’ll do it for you later this afternoon.”

“We can’t,” Drustan replied.”

“Can’t or won’t, I know you two little monkeys of old! What are you up to?”

“It’s a secret.” Mabina smiled again.

“With that little racehorse of yours is it?”

Both twins nodded.

“Well if you set fire to her, don’t come crying to me.” Brun warned then added. “You’d best go with them Feorin, just to be sure.”

The taciturn Feorin nodded and the twins reluctantly agreed. Feorin was very different from his brother. Where Morgaran was lively, extrovert and sociable, Feorin was taciturn, introvert and thoughtful. Both Mabina and Drustan knew though that Feorin was the deeper thinker. If anybody was prepared to recognise any merit in their idea, it was Feorin and additionally, he didn’t go shouting about stuff. If they asked Feorin to keep silent, Feorin would, provided it wasn’t dangerous or harmful.

In the boat Drustan explained Mabinas’ idea and Feorin sat silent on the thwart just abaft the mast that acted as a vital stiffener. After Drustan had finished Feorin spoke.

“You’ll have to put a hound’s band around the top of the chair. The attached thwart adds strength to the gunwales when she’s close hauled and acts like a 'stringer'. The alternating lateral forces want to pant the gunwales inwards and outwards. That tends to have a splitting effect on the mast footing chair. If you cut a slot in the chair, it might weaken it too much.”

“We’ve thought of that. We’ve found a copper bar to make a hound’s band.”

Feorin fell silent again as he considered Mabina’s answer. After a short silence he replied.

“Copper’s too soft. It’s not strong enough and it might stretch or snap. Bronze would be better.”

“Bronze!” Drustan gasped. “Brun would go mad if we asked for bronze. He guards it like gold!”

“Then use iron. I’ll help you forge a hound’s band one evening after you’ve made your hole. It’ll be a test piece for Brun to check.”

Mabina let out a squeal of delight as Drustan gave his middle brother a hug.

“Thanks Feorin. You’re the tops, and please, please don’t tell anybody. We can work on this in the little hut at the end of the dock it’s right behind Bruns’ forge. Grandpa’s given us permission.”

“You make sure there’s no risk of fire. Brun stores his coals and charcoal in there to keep it dry.”

With agreement reached, Mabina and Drustan fell about their idea with enthusiasm. It was but a few steps from forge to the shed and the shed overlapped the little dock by several paces. Just enough room to push the little boat under cover if they unstepped the mast. Feorin could heat their iron borer to white heat then it was a few short steps for the twins from forge to boat. The nearness would enable them to quickly create the required slot in the mast foot chair. They set about their plan the very next night when the clan had a meeting because Cousins had come over from Eren to discuss the Viking threat. The Gangani tribes' tactics with the smaller Celtic warships had won the Acaman family considerable merit. Opinions were sought and respected.

During the day everybody was at the meeting except Feorin and the twins and the twins were truly grateful for their middle brother’s help. By noon the hole had been burned and shaped. After damping the forge, Feorin arrived to study the twins’ handiwork.

“And you intend to push your leeboard through that slot.” Feorin checked.

“Yes.” Mabina replied as Drustan put the finishing touches to the slot.”

Feorin took the now cooled iron poker and waggled it in the slot with some force for he was a strong young man. The Oak chair did not flex or budge and he nodded approvingly.

“That’s pretty strong; the hounds’ band will only serve as double insurance. What are you going to use as a leeboard?”

“We don’t know yet. We’ll try different woods, what do you think? Drustan replied.

Once again Feorins’ deep thinking mind served the twins.

“Try Yew first. It’s very tough and it’s very flexible. Think of the long bows that the Icieni use far to the East. That means it will take a lot to bend it but if the forces are too strong it will give better than oak, and it’s survives better in water.
Mabina exchanged a knowing smile with her twin. ‘Feorin was not just a blacksmith’s assistant. He was learned in many things but not prone to singing his own praises. His advice when asked for was carefully given and Mabina felt that Feorins' wisdom was carefully harvested then stored like precious corn.

The trick now was to find a yew plank wide enough and long enough and thick enough to shape into a precise fit for the slot. Several days later, Feorin appeared at the door of the little building shed. He was dragging a long thick bleached log.

“This’ll be what you’re looking for. I found it on the shore.”

The children gasped appreciatively as Feorin dragged the heavy bole that had obviously been swept up onto the shore. It was a full a week’s work to finally fashion three leeboards to provide spares. Eventually the boat was towed out and remasted. Feorin now claimed his price but the twins were happy to oblige, Feorin would join them in testing the new idea.

Thousands of years later the Lee-board would become known as a ‘dagger-board’ but in this early version the twins though not to rename it for it served the same function as the clumsy contraptions that were usually placed over the side and secured by whatever means was found convenient. Once the little craft was clear of the inner harbour the trio set it about putting the little craft its paces.

The leeboard worked well but they had to jam it down and Feorin made a note to bore a pin hole to use a copper pin to hold the board down in the slot. Once again the little craft raced across the harbour for all the clan to see, not to mention the
Visitors from Eren across the sea. They returned for lunch and a crowd gathered at the little dock to study the new leeboard arrangement. Caderyn, Morgaran and Grandpa Erin were impressed and plans were put in place to try a similar device on the second replica of the Viking warship. The rest of the day tests and plots were practised to determine the efficacy of Mabinas’ brainwave.

That evening grandpa Erin and their grandmother Giana took the children into their house and the children were surprised to find a small feast spread out for them. The rest of their immediate family were also present and a feast was held to celebrate the twins’ invention. Father Caderyn and Grandpa Erin had recognised that the twins little boat had become an excellent test bed for further ideas and ideas were desperately needed as the dreaded Viking longships were reported to have come south again and this time they had arrived earlier. It was only early spring and they had braved the cruel equinoctial gales to reach the Celtic Sea.

With heavy hearts, Caderyn and Morgaran assembled their little flotilla and bid goodbye to their loved ones. As the little fleet left the harbour heavy hearts and tears lay thick amongst the clan. Many wives would not see their loved ones again. Even Feorin, normally a dour, unemotional, young man, felt a tear rolling down his cheek. This was for two reasons. Firstly he had been denied the right to join the fight because secondly his skills as a blacksmith were too valuable. He and Brun had to finish the two remaining boats that lay unfinished on the slips. Then Brun might be allowed to sally forth to join his father and brother.

As summer came, news of the Celts progress was sparse and eventually Feorin was forced to put to sea with the two remaining boats in the hope of meeting up with his fathers’ fleet. Then as he searched off the isle of legs he learned the bad news. The huge Viking fleet had trapped his father’s little fleet in the great Cumber Bay. Fortunately, thanks to their shallower draft, the little fleet had managed sail further up the bay but now they were trapped. Only the two Celtic copies of the Viking longships had managed to escape by fighting their way out but the fighting had been bloody and Feorin learned that his father and his brother might be among the dead or captured for they of course were in the thick of the brief bloody fight. The whereabouts of the Celtic ships was unknown, they might even have been captured by the Vikings but Feorin doubted this. The Celts would have burned their boats first before letting the Norsemen learn of the secrets of the changes the Celts had made. Feorin stood off the Viking fleet with a heavy heart for although his two new ships were every bit as strong and manoeuvrable as any Viking warship they were outnumbered sixty ships to two and the ships were undermanned scratch crews, left over’s from the cream of the Celtic tribes who had joined with his father Caderyn.

All Feorin and his first cousin Rhun could do was stand off and intercept any communication between the huge fleet and their messengers. In this, the Celtic longships were admirably suited. They were fast and they could sail closer to the wind with their secret ‘dropping lee boards’. The Vikings began to run short of supplies and information. Eventually the Norse Chieftains were forced to acknowledge Feorins’ tactics and a flotilla of Viking ships was sent to destroy them. Here the Norsemen were singularly unsuccessful. Feorin and Rhun proved to be clever captains and skilful seamen who worked together well. Neither was jealous of the other for both were phlegmatic, practical seamen who hid sharp brains under their thick red hair. They were the only two members of the Acaman clan who sported their grandfather Erin’s carroty hair and whilst being the butt of gentle humour amongst their fathers, brothers, uncles and cousins, it also sought to bring the two together. Rhun and Feorin had always been close when Caderyns sons came to visit their Aunty Feidlim who was Rhuns’ mother. They became known to the Vikings as ‘The red scourge’ and to have their skills so recognised was no mean achievement for the Celtic Cousins.

Despite their brilliance, Feorin and Rhuns’ efforts had little effect. The Viking fleet was just too big and eventually the Norsemen captured several cities on the Celtic Sea. Slowly, inexorably, Feorin and Rhun had fewer places to run to for supplies and shelter until eventually they became refugees on their own sea. Other Celtic tribes made parley with the Norsemen who had at last recognised that war was the least effective way to somehow take advantage of the rich farmland that the Celtic, Brithonic Islands had to offer. Slowly, in the northern areas, trade and intermarriage brought settlement and peace; except for the Brithonic Celts of Cambria and their Hibernian Gaelic cousins.

Much blood and bitterness lay between the Vikings and the Southern Celts. Thus the strife moved south until the Shores of Cambria and Southern Hibernia were the battlegrounds. As the summer passed, Feorin and Rhun returned to the Family lands of Lleyn. The Celtic fleet had been trapped and soundly beaten by the huge Viking fleet and the invading Norsemen had decided to overwinter in Bail a Cleuth. Nothing could have left a stronger message to the Celts that the Norsemen where there to stay.

Of Caderyn and Morgaran the clan heard nothing and the village mourned the loss of many other men. Gathering the harvest that year was left to the women, children, old and the very few men who had returned. Feorin and Rhun were among that number and they almost felt guilty for being alive.

In the spring further disaster befell the clan.

On one of the first clear warm days Drustan and Mabina took their boat out to get rid of some cobwebs. The little craft had been fretting all winter between her bigger sisters until the winter storms abated. The day was set fair for some excellent sailing and Drustan suggested that Mabina and he take the boat around Fon to visit their cousins in the copper mines.

“D’you think we should?” Mabina wondered. “Hadn’t we better tell Feorin and granddad first?”

“Why. We’ll only be a day or so. This boat is fast.”

“I still think we should tell them.”

Drustan shrugged. Sometimes he couldn’t understand his twin sister. Oft times she showed more daring and craziness than he when it came to doing new things with the boat, like the time they first ‘shot the Swilly’. It had been her that egged Drustan on. But when it came to not telling the family, Mabina seemed almost cowed by fear. Drustan was mildly baffled but he bent to Mabina’s insistence and swung the boat about as they screamed over the waves back to the village.

Having now gained permission, and some small cargo of corn and iron tools fashioned by Brun, the pair restarted their journey.
As they sped northwards both Mabina and Drustan savoured the boat’s speed and they chatted idly as the land’s mans’ south-westerly wind sped them north with ease. The pair had little to do except steer and they settled to a quick passage comfortable. They chatted idly about many things.

“We should give her a name you know.” Mabina suggested.

“Who?” Dustan replied absently as he measured his leeway to see that they would easily weather the high jagged stack of rock that marked the corner of Fon before they turned east.

“The boat you fool!” Mabina replied as she double checked Drustan’s course and shared out some meat and bread.

“What does she want a name for?”

“All boats have names. You know that. Noden must know a bopat by her name.

“But if you give a boat a name, she gains a spirit and what if that spirit is bad.”

“Give her a nice name. Go to Renus the druid and ask him. If she’s got a nice name, she’ll have a nice spirit.”

“Renus doesn’t know anything about boats. Grandpa Erin knows more about boats.”

“Well ask him then, or Grandma Giana.”

“OK then, when we get back.”

Mabina smiled and took the steering oar while Drustan ate his food. Within a few hours more they had the mountain of Paris in sight and they made landfall before darkness. Auntie Feidlim and Uncle Mogantu made them welcome and the iron tools were most welcome. At dinner they exchanged news and it was not good. Like the Boat-builders, the miners had also suffered terrible depredations and many tears had been shed over lost husbands and sons from the Viking battles. Feidlim was afraid for Drustan and Mabina.

“You be careful going back children. The Vikings use this sea now as if they owned it. If they see a strange sail they immediately investigate.”

“Don’t worry aunty, Mabina smiled. They’ll not catch our boat.

“No, I don’t suppose they will, Rhun has told me how fast that strange craft of yours is and as for you and your brother, well you are as sea bred as the mermaids themselves. You’d best get some sleep now. It’ll be a harder journey returning or are you thinking of going back through Madogs throat?”

Mabina turned to her twin brother and they shrugged mutually. That was a decision dependant on the wind in the morning and the tide. The way the tides were at the moment they might have a faster and easier passage through Madogs throat despite the perilous rips and whirlpools that could fling unwitting victims onto the numerous reefs and rocks. For Madogs’ throat to be a viable option, the wind would ideally have to have turned to at least an easterly or preferably north- east. However, anything with a northerly component was usable. They could but wait and trust to the remarkable performance of their little boat that was still as yet un-named.

The whole tribe woke at dawn after Rhun had assessed the wind with his cousins. It was north-westerly and usable for a quick sheltered passage southwards through Madogs throat. They made hasty but careful preparations and put out with some copper, silver and gold. Normally such precious metal would not have been entrusted to such young children but these were uncetain times and no-one could be sure if and when they could next call with a bigger more powerful ship and crew. The bullion the children carried back to Lleyn was to pay for an earlier ship the Acaman clan had built and delivered during the winter. After the Viking wars the Celts were short of ships for reparation had been taken by the victorious Vikings. The Acaman build and delivery at short notice had been a clear demonstration of filial ties for the ship was essential to the mining clan to maintain their trade in valuable metals. The new trading ship also enjoyed some of the secrets that the Acaman clan had garnered from Mabina and Drustan’s beloved little ship. It was slightly faster but a much better sea boat than previous trading ships.

Mogantus’ mining enterprise had benefitted enormously and the bullion that Drustan and Mabina were shepherding back was to also pay for a second ship.

Drustan and Mabina were pleased and proud that their aunt and uncle had trusted them with such an important task as conveying bullion. It was a huge responsibility for two young people who had only just passed their twelfth summer. That morning they set off with the fair wind to run Madogs’ throat. By noon they had shot ‘The Spittle’ and the ebbing tide was sweeping them southwards towards ‘The Belly’. Mabina was tending the tiller as Drustan was checking the sail when he caught sight of a thin tendril of smoke rising from the approximate position of their village.

“Looks like Brun has got his forge blowing hot again,” Drustan grinned.

Mabina smiled and nodded as she checked the leeway to make sure they cleared ‘The Raker’, a sharp partially submerged rock that had caught and disembowelled many an unwary ship before it swept clear of Madog’s Arse.

Drustan was gazing absently at the smoke for he knew his twin sister was every bit as knowledgeable as he about Madog’s Throat and it's many hazards; - then he grew concerned and turned uncertainly to Mabina.

“That’s a hell of a lot of smoke!”

Mabina studied the expanding plume that was now beginning to stain the whole south eastern sky and the same fearful weight settled in her belly.

“What’s wrong?” She wondered aloud.

Drustan shinned several feet up the mast to get a better view then cursed.

“Shit! The village is on fire. No, there’s ships, - Viking ships on the beach. Oh no!”

“What? What!” Mabina begged as she desperately tried to see without releasing the new fangled tiller and rudder.

Drustan dropped down to the deck and seized the tiller to allow his sister a view. With equal agility, she shinned up the mast and confirmed Drustan’s worst fear.

“They’re burning the village!”

A sense of dread settled on the twins as they debated what to do but they couldn’t decide. Fear almost paralysed them until they saw the dreaded black sail of one Viking warship set out from the beach and steer straight towards their little craft. Drustan and Mabina had been spotted!

The sweeps of the long-ship beat a steady deadly rhythm as Drustan and Mabina fretted.

“What’s best?" Mabina cried. "What do you think?” Drustan

Drustan shrugged with equal uncertainty.

“We can’t beat back up Madog’s guts the tide’s still ebbing and the we’d have to beat into this north westerly wind.”

“We’ll have to try and close haul her and slip by to the South West.” Drustan offered it’s the only way out. It’ll still be tight, let’s hope we’re fast enough.

“But, ‘the Claw!’ Look at the height of the tide. The Claw is submerged. Where is it? If we strike it, it’ll rip our belly out. Look at the rip.”

Even as she cried her warning. Mabina knew that Drustan’s suggestion was their only hope. The passage between the cat rock and its razor sharp claw was desperately narrow and the ebb tide sucked and swirled through it like a writhing serpent. Mabina’s eyes teared up with fear as Drustan turned to stare at her. She scolded him more through her own fear than anny sense annoyance.

“Don’t just stare at me. Get up the mast, see what you can see. There’s still hope.”

Drustan needed no further prompting. Like a squirrel he shinned up the mast again and grabbed the yard to hold on as he searched the eddies and whirls.

The wind was still having effect though and it gave Mabina some steerage, it was certainly helping to drive the boat south but the wild rip was taking them faster. Both twins knew their fate was in the lap of, Nodens the sea god and they silently offered up their individual prayers. The boat swept ever faster into the roaring race as the tide sucked them south and west. Drustan watched mesmerized as the black, limpet coated rocks swept by at hypnotic speed. Then he spotted the biggest rip where the sea actually cleaved either side of the claw’s razor sharp ridge and he knew the deeper safer water lay between the cat and its claw. To pass outside the claw would fetch them up on the shallow reef that stretched into Madogs arse like a hidden haemorrhoid. If they fetched up on the reef they would be stuck, and easy prey for the Viking raiders, if they hit the claw they would be ripped open. Their only chance was the desperately narrow gully betwixt cat and claw. Drustan shouted down to Mabina and pointed towards the rip where the hidden razorback lay waiting hungrily.

“Starboard. Aim for the big tree on the point.”

Mabina peered uncertainly and found what she hoped was the tree that Drustan was referring to. She eased the rudder cautiously but Drustan shouted urgently.

“More starboard, we’re setting down onto the claw! More starboard!”

Mabina hauled the tiller right over and stared fearfully as the little craft seemed to refuse to respond. The tide had her in its grip now and there was no control! Drustan cursed as his fear took control then he cried with relief as the boat finally, slowly, ever so slowly, swung its stubborn head to starboard. Then Drustan realised that she would swing too far and head straight into the vertical face of the cat rock. In a frantic panic, he dropped down from the yard and nearly broke his ankle as he limped to the sheet and hauled it tighter yet. This obliterated Mabina’s view and she cursed angrily.

“I can’t bloody see!”

“Just keep the tiller as you are, steady as she goes! We’re in Noden’s grip now! I hope your prayers work!”

“And yours brother.”

The boat suddenly swung violently to starboard and there was a terrifying scraping sound. For a moment Drustan thought the vibrations were coming from their new-fangled centre board for he felt the vibrations through his feet and the boat heeled violently. His face paled as he tried to look for the claw but his desperate grip on the starboard mainsheet denied him a view over the port gunwale. Then he realised that the sheet was vibrating in his grip and his gaze followed the rope right up to the yard. The little boat was so close to the face of the cat rock that the yardarm was actually scrapping along the face of the vertical cliff. Frantically, Drustan released the sheet and the yard swung violently free as the boat recovered its stability and lurched upright again. Mabina gave a shriek of fear for she thought the leeboard had struck the claw but Drustan reassured her.

“It’s okay sis! We’re through the worst, just keep her close to the cat; stroke her whiskers even!”

Mabina smiled at Drustan’s remark as she studied the scratched yard.

“I think we really have dusted the cat’s whiskers! Look at the yard.”

‘Dusting the cat’s whiskers’ was a reference to the remark the family had always used to fly in the face of danger. The passage between the claw and the cat had always been a test of navigation and the family often let their younger members try it in a small dinghy. It was a rite of passage for either sex to prove their mastery. Nobody had ever done it in a larger sea-going boat and the twin's stomachs sagged with relief when they finally realised they had made it. There could not have been more than an arm’s span of clear water on either side of the boat.

Mabina looked at Drustan who was grey with fear.

“That was close! - too bloody close!”

“We’re not out of it yet sis, that bloody long-ship’s going to cut us off if we can’t make some more speed.”

“Not if he keeps that course. He’ll hit the reef, she’s bigger and deeper.”

“Hell yes, he probably doesn’t know about it. Dammit! Look. That’s Aiofe, they’ve got her prisoner!

“Well we can’t help her now, cried Mabina, this current is just too strong and the channel is still too narrow yet to beat against it. There’s nothing we can do!”

“Hold on Sis, those stupid buggers are going to hit the reef!”

“Even as Drustan spoke, the Viking - gave an unearthly creak as it hurtled onto the submerged reef and snapping timbers gave way as the ship reared up onto the shallow rocks. The ripping tide finally put the ship to death as the vicious eddies swung the long narrow hull around and ground out the last vestiges of strength. The Vikings were still dressed for battle after having spotted the twin’s craft and recognising it as the wonder ship that had become the talk of the Celtic sea. They had put out to sea in haste to catch the little craft and they were still wearing the battle armour. As the long-ship broke apart it swirled and rolled in the tide-race until finally it gave one dreadful groan and rolled over on its beam ends. Amid shouts of despair and panic men were flung into the sea and quickly sank before they could shed their chain mail or body plate.

Drustan and Mabina watched in horror as they watched dozens of men sink to their deaths. Some managed to cling onto flotsam from the ship and some managed to hold onto the broken wreck but they were going nowhere. The broken parts of the hull were fastened to the rocks and the men had two choices, remain where they were and hope somebody would come from the rest of the fleet to rescue them at low slack water. Alternatively they could strip off and strike out for the nearest shore, a perilous business in a cold sea. Additionally the powerful tide made the latter virtually impossible for the detached men were being swept further and further out to sea.

“Can you see Aiofe?” Screamed Mabina above the desperate shouts of the drowning men. “She was wearing red! She should be easy
to spot.”

“Where her hands tied?” Drustan cried as he desperately scanned the surviving heads in the water.

“I don’t know. I hope not.”

Desperation drove Drustan shinning back up the mast despite his damaged ankle and he managed to get himself bestride the yard to get the best vantage. From the higher vantage point he could see deeper into the water. To his relief he finally spotted a flash of red sweeping by underwater as Mabina held the little boat in irons then hauled the mainsheet and paid off as Drustan screeched instructions. There was nothing for it but he had to dive into the water from the yard as the boat span and rescue the red clothed body of his oldest sister.

“Let her run free sis! She'll drift with the tide and stay with Aiofe, I can see her.” He screeched as he tore off his clothes whilst gripping the yard between his knees and his leg twisted around the mast.

Mabina looked up and gasped as she saw her brother scramble along the port yard then shout one last instruction.

“Starboard Sis! Starboard! Starboard.”

Trusting entirely to her brother’s judgement, she flung the tiller over and squealed as he dived off the yard into the turbulent waters.

She immediately brought the boat about to take all way off again and she waited nervously for what seemed like ages before she heard Drustan screaming and spluttering like a grampus just under her stern. Without hesitation, she flung the rope to him and set about recovering her brother and her comatose sister.

Like everybody in the Acaman clan, the pair were past masters at recovering people from the sea and in short order Aiofe was lying still and blue in the well.

Mabina immediately set about trying to revive her sister while Drustan watched on fearfully as he looked around for the safest escape route. The whole incident had been seen from the shore and now two more ships were being readied for pursuit. Drustan cursed the black sails with their red flame motif and put about as he headed immediately for the open sea.

“Will they catch us?” Begged Mabina between her efforts to revive her sister.

“I dunno’. We’ve got a good start and they’ll not be rushing headlong after seeing what happened to that lot.” Drustan flung out his arm to indicate the last few remaining men in the water. Gradually the racing tide and their heavy armour was sucking them down and killing even the strongest swimmers.

Fortunately for the twins, the second gang of pursuing Vikings were now the worse for drink and it wasn’t long before they were forced to concede defeat. Within hours, the twins were gone and clear over the southern horizon. Even better news was the desperate cough that Aiofe gave as she finally spluttered back to consciousness.

“Oh Sis, thank the gods, by all that’s of Noden's sea, thank the gods you are returned to us!” Cried Mabina as Drustan offered up yet another silent prayer to the Sea God Nodens.

Fortunately they carried a spare linen sail and with this they were able to wrap Aiofe up to keep warm. Drustan had to climb the mast for yet a third time that day to recover his vestments from the truck. Mabina smirked as his naked body was plain to view.

Finally, as calm returned to all three, they held a parley to decide on the best course of action. Aiofe described how the raiders had attacked at dawn with overwhelming numbers and quickly overpowered the few men left in the village.

“Are they all dead?” Sobbed Mabina, barely wanting to hear the answer.

Aiofe swallowed remorsefully and nodded. She found it impossible to voice the word ‘yes’ as her throat tightened with despair. Then she found breath enough to add

“I think’, but they may have been taking the younger women and girls as slaves. That’s what they were doing with me.”

“So maybe Tara, she might be alive?”

“Maybe,” whispered Aiofe, “but I don’t hold out much hope for her.”

“She’ — she’s pretty though,” Drustan offered hopefully Maybe someone will take her as his wife.”

Both his sisters looked scornfully at him and he turned his head away in despair. The Vikings were nearly always after slaves or concubines.

With heavy hearts and copious tears, the three survivors set a course south to take them clear forever of the dreaded Norse raiders. Their last view of their beloved home was one of smoke enveloped destruction.