Book 3: 'Arrow Odd'

12.0 THE CALLING BACK OF THE HRAES'

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE CALLING BACK OF THE HRAES'  (Circa 862 AD)

"The tributaries of the Varangians drove them back beyond the sea

and, refusing them further tribute, set out to govern themselves.

There was no law among them, but tribe rose against tribe.

Discord thus ensued among them, and they began to war one

against another. They said to themselves, "Let us seek a prince

who may rule over us and judge us according to the Law." They

accordingly went overseas to the Varangian Hraes': these particular

Varangians were known as Hraes', just as some are called Swedes,

and others Norsemen, Angles, and Goths, for they were thus named."

The Hraes' Primary Chronicle

(861 AD)  When King Frodi had left Kiev and the Varangians had left Gardar, the local Slav tribes began fighting amongst each other and all trade through the Southern Way ceased. Slav envoys were sent to Constantinople to establish trade, but envoys of Prince Erik had already been there, reminding the Emperor of the contract that the Hraes' had established during the Siege of 860. Prince Vadim the Brave didn't even bother to send envoys to Baghdad for trade talks. The Slavs knew that the Arabs were only interested in trade talks if slave trade was involved. A constant influx of purchased slaves were required in the markets of Baghdad, because the offspring of slaves were considered as being born free. Eventually Erik met directly with the Slav envoys of the Poljane and Drevjane, bypassing Vadim the Brave, and they worked out a plan for the calling back of the Hraes' to re-establish the Southern Way. Slav royals and chieftains would be allowed to participate in a new slave free Southern Way trade. Erik was to be returned control of all Gardar in return for reopening freer trade.

Vadim the Brave and a few loyal followers fled Kiev and returned to their homes in Staraya Russa in the north of Gardar. They were not included in the new Southern Way, so they hunkered down and prepared for a siege.

Over the winter, King Frodi learned that his Kagan Bek had regained control over Gardar and he made plans to return from Denmark with the vast army he had been raising in the north. He had a great fleet of longships being equipped in the harbour town of Liere and his daughter, Princess Eyfura, was readying her twelve sons for a return to Gardar. Her husband, Jarl Arngrim and her brother, young Prince Alf, had another fleet of longships to prepare and the prince was excited to get under way.

(862 AD)  In the spring King Frodi and his Hraes' sailed across the Baltic and entered the mouth of the Dvina River into the land of the Sclavs, where decades ago he had gained his first victory in a battle of hosts and had slain King Strunick with his own hand. It was where he had first earned his byname of Angantyr , 'the hanging god king'. They sailed past the ruins of the Sclav fortress then on past the town of Polotsk and on to Surazh where they were to be portaged across to Smolensk on the Dnieper River. But they had a side trip to make first. Prince Alf and Jarl Arngrim's fleet were portaged to the Lovat River which they sailed down and entered Lake Ilmen. King Frodi and Princess Eyfura watched from the lake as the Hraes' forces under the command of Jarl Arngrim and Prince Alf laid siege to the stockaded town of Staraya Russa.