“Nonsense, of course,” he said to himself. The others were at the cave entrance, Ben keeping a lookout, John clearing away branches to make a safer path. “Nothing but dreams. And yet, such dreams. A man could lose his mind in this accursed country.”

Then he turned and went out, and I followed him, since that seemed to be the only thing to do.

Chapter Eight

I wondered, later, why it did not break my heart to go away across the sea, far from the forest, leaving no sign my brothers could read, no map or chart by which they might find me. The boat went east, and perhaps a little south; I supposed that we were heading for Britain. But where? Had I been able to think, had I been myself, that would have been a day almost beyond bearing. But the sea, as well as being wide beyond imagining, was stirred by freakish winds, and before long I was lying across the side of the small sailing boat, retching convulsively, as my body rejected what little food it had in it. Between the spasms, I heard the caustic comments of the two men, Ben and John, and the dour boatman who held the tiller. Red kept himself busy and said nothing. I wondered how much he’d let them get away with, before he decided to inform them that I could understand their jokes and curses. For all this, they took their turns in holding my head, and wiping my face, and shielding me from the wind. The voyage seemed to take forever, and I vowed to myself that when at last I returned home, that would be the one and only time I would ever go by water again. I felt so wretched, I hardly thought beyond my churning gut and my aching head. And so my homeland slipped away, and I scarcely felt the pain of parting.

At last the rocking stopped, and the boat was still. It was dusk, and I could hear gulls calling. The men were keeping their voices down. Norsemen, they said, and lie low. Then I was plucked out of the boat and carried into the shelter of a shallow cave, little more than a shelf of rock under which the wind was slightly less biting. I lay there wrapped in my cloak, shivering. I had not even the energy to look around me in the last light, to try to work out where we might have landed.

“No fire,” said Red. “John, you’ll take the first watch. Then wake me. We must be off again before dawn; the less attention we attract in these parts the better. The islands provide safe anchorage, but once out in open waters again we are easy prey for Dane or Pict alike.”

My heart sank. Off again by dawn. So there was to be more. This was only some midway point, and we must sail on, up and down, up and down…

“The girl’s not well,” John said bluntly. “You’d best get some water into her, at least, if you expect her to last the journey.”