Hadding knew well that he could not make for his ships. Scouts would be searching everywhere between. Soon after one of them saw his little gang, overwhelming might would overtake him. Instead, he headed west. By dawn they had reached wildwood. Wading down a stream, they broke their trail. He spent his skills keeping them from leaving any mark where they scrambled back onto land. ‘ Hardgreip could still have tracked us,” he said low. The sadness gave way to half a grin. “But no Swedish farmers.”

Now they were staggering with weariness. Where boughs roofed the ground so thickly that no brush grew, they lay down on the leaves of old years and slept. None rested well. Throbbing and burning, wounds made fitful the slumber of some, while nightmares beset that of others. Hadding never told how that day went for him. Though sorely cut and bruised, he bore no deep slashes or broken bones; but the weight upon him was heavy.

Nonetheless, when the men began to rouse toward evening, he stood before them and spoke firmly. His beard and bare locks were the brightest thing they saw amidst the green shadows. His words were a drumbeat under the gurgling of an unseen cuckoo. With a forefinger he counted his dirty bloody, scrawny, sweat-crusted, tatter-garbed following. “Eighteen of us. But good men, all of you.” His smile flickered. “How glad I am to have you alive, Eyjolf, son of, my oath-brother. And you, Ax-Egil, you old scoundrel, why, you must be unkillable. Gennar, you saved my life when those two Swedes felled Thorkel and came at me while I was busy with another of them. I’ll remember. Arnulf, it’s well you’ve kept your bow and some arrows; this, means we’ll eat. Svein, fear not, we’ll get you home to your young bride.” Thus he went on, with a few words for each; and as he did, bent backs straightened, stooped shoulders squared.

“We’ve a long way before us,” he ended. “We begin by giving up any thought of haste. I’ll show you how to make brushwood shelters for tonight. While you do, I’ll search for nuts or berries, and if I find any, use them to bait deadfalls. Maybe we’ll catch a squirrel or a few lemmings. In the morning, we must first find water, a spring or brook. We’ll camp nearby for some days while we rest and start to heal. I can make a fire drill and so a fire, but that’s dull work after the first time and I’ll be angry if you let it go out. Besides, I, and whoever else his woodcraft, must fetch us real food.”

“By Ull the Hunter,” swore Eyjolf, “here’s a lord with more than gold to give his men!”