LEFT BEHIND
I REALLY WANTED to go with Uncle Ulf on the raid, but no matter how hard I tried he would not agree. I asked him again down by the harbor, where the longboats were lined up like horses ready to spring into a race.
“You can’t fight,” he growled, as he combed back his hair into a single long braid, ready for battle.
“I can!” I protested, standing up and swinging my knife.
“You’d fall over in the longboat,” Ulf pointed out patiently. “It’s rough crossing the Big Water.”
“I could sit on my sea chest and tell you which way to go,” I suggested. “I can steer by the stars! Bjorn the Elder has been teaching me. And then I could stay and guard the boat while you’re ashore.”
Ulf laughed and swung the butt of his sword against my shriveled
