Book 3: 'Arrow Odd'

5.0 ODDI AND THE NOR'WAY

CHAPTER FIVE

ODDI AND THE NOR'WAY  (Circa 856 AD)

"And his shield was called Hrae's Ship's Round,

And his followers were called the Hraes'."

Eyvinder Skald-Despoiler; Skaldskaparmal

(856 AD) Over the winter Oddi worked with Brak on Fair Faxi. The ship was old and there were many leaks between the strakes which had been weakened by many years of flexing in violent seas. It had made the Nor'Way crossing too many times. Oddi used his skill at making arrowheads to devise a nail clinching system to draw the strakes tightly together but Brak told him that it would not be enough. They added alloys from Damascus and Baghdad to their blooms of Indian steel and Oddi hammered them into clinching nails that would not corrode away once the strakes were tied together. Then they hauled Fair Faxi into a boat shed and began working on her over winter. It was time consuming and difficult work drilling holes and adding the strake-nails between the existing gut tied points, but Oddi and Asmund had the work completed before the snow was gone.

When spring came to Stavanger Fjord, Oddi became determined to join in on the Nor'Way trade, but he knew that King Roller would not let him travel with the trading fleet. His was no longer a ship of boys. All saw that they had come back from the Mediterranean quite changed. But they were not yet a ship of men. Oddi knew he would have to trail the fleet once more, but this time they were well aware of the route to be taken. They had all grown up hearing the tall tales of the Nor'Way and the seas to be crossed and the rivers to be travelled. Oddi decided that Fair Faxi would trail the trading fleet by two weeks, so they left Hraegunarstead well after the flotilla of Nor'Way ships had passed by from The Vik on their way to the north and then to the east.

Oddi had his men beach Fair Faxi in a small cove and he waved to his foster-father, Grim, in front of his large longhall in Hrafnista. It was the Hraes' Trading Company jump off point for the Nor'Way crossing, so the hall was the largest in the north and the Raven Banners of Ragnar Lothbrok fluttered from points all around the building. There was no question of who you were representing when you became a Varanger on the other side of the crossing. It was a family business that welcomed all reputable merchants, but it was still a family business and King Roller ran the northern end of it, while Prince Erik ran the eastern end. The old man, Count Ragnar, himself ran the lucrative Hraes' trading stations in Frankia. Jarl Grim greeted Oddi warmly and told him that his foster-brother, Gudmund and Cousin Sigurd awaited him with their ships on the other side of the island and were making offerings for a good crossing wind soon. Grim then welcomed Asmund and the rest of the crew into his hall and offered them food and drink. After the meal he presented Oddi with three golden arrows called Gusir's Gifts, arrows that his father, Ketil Trout, took from the Finnish King Gusir, who'd had them fashioned by dwarves. "I give you these arrows because the stories we have heard of you and Asmund and your crew in the Mediterranean foretell of your future greatness, Oddi," Grim said. "These arrows will help keep you alive to fulfil that omen." Arrow Odd was a young expert at fashioning arrows, but he had never seen arrows such as these. The arrowheads were gold with inset steel blades, fine grained steel for sharpness, and gold for weight, knock down weight, and they had flights both fore and aft and hollow metal shafts that seemed surprisingly light from the balance of the darts. They were flawless in manufacture, so perfect that they made Oddi want to string his bow and shoot them. Grim had suspected this would happen so he had Oddi's bow at the ready and three straw targets thirty paces outside the hall front doors. Oddi took his bow and the arrows and stepped out onto the porch. He let two of the arrows drop and they tick ticked into the deck of the porch, standing, quivering at the ready. He nocked the third and drew back on the bow then let the heavy dart fly. It flew straight and true, as if it had no weight at all, but when it hit the bullseye it knocked the target over as though it had been hit by a log. Oddi let loose the other two and they flew with much the same result.