Pirates!

By Alan Norris

Pirates! This word often brings to mind the popular image of swashbuckling heroes such as “Blackbeard” and his contemporaries, but some of the earliest known Pirates were women and one of them was none other than King Alfred the Great’s daughter; the Princess Aethelflaed. After the King’s death, the Princess took control of the embryo Royal Navy and took up the cause of ridding the British shores of the Viking threat, often using viciously brutal methods.
In this, the third book in the Reluctant Warrior series, Hild, Ranulf’s widow, is pushed into a seafaring life after escaping from charges of Witchcraft and from being subjected to the vilest of medieval public executions. Burnt alive while tied to a stake.
She is innocent of course, but is still pursued by the Pirate Princess who has vowed to take vengeance and to reclaim the Navy’s warship the Sir Ranulf. Hild and her crew run the gauntlet between Viking and the princess with several sea battles and confrontations on land.
The story is a fast moving action adventure, with a sprinkling of violence and sex, but told as it must have been in those dark days of history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alan Norris
• Release date: Oct 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310468674

Alan Norris

Alan was born in Poole, Dorset, England on October 1st 1948. As a child, he lived in Canada for a few years in what was then a tiny settlement village called Malton in Ontario. He went to his first school in the village, a one-room school that was quite basic but typical of the time in those outlying areas of the Canadian countryside. Later in life he travelled to Western Australia where he worked as a design draughtsman and played drums in his spare time with a very active band called “Unicorn”. Eventually, Alan returned to England, where he found a winter season of high unemployment and a frosty cold that he’d forgotten about. After a couple of dead-end jobs he joined the Royal Navy and quickly worked his way up to become an engine room Chief Petty Officer. His first ship was involved in the brief skirmish of the mid 1970s that they called the “Cod War”. He should have seen the trend, because ten years later he was involved in the Falklands Conflict while serving on the frigate, HMS Argonaut. They were hit by two enormous bombs within minutes of the first day of action. One landed in the boiler room and the other became lodged in an ammunition magazine. Luckily neither of these devices exploded, but unfortunately two of our gunners were killed. One of them was just twenty-one years old that day. Alan’s writing began some years later when, as part of a team producing Technical Handbooks, he began to experiment with fiction and wrote a bag-full of short stories. The experiments continued until 2010 when he set out to use his new-found skills in a second career. Alan now lives with his wife Stella in a quiet part of central Brittany, surrounded by books, forests, fields and their precious dogs, Elsa, Jester and Monty. He still plays drums occasionally too.

Book preview

Chapter One

The Sir Ranulf slid quietly through the harbour’s narrow entrance and, with oars rippling each side of the sleek hull, it headed out into the open sea. The crew of thirty-five men and women were quickly becoming used to the fact that they were now outlaws, fugitives from the harsh laws of the late King Alfred’s royal court.

Hild stood tall on the raised master’s deck, acutely aware of the eyes that gazed at her. She’d strapped on Ranulf’s sword, Wolfbane, and felt self conscious of the unfamiliar weight at her side. She had what she hoped was a look of smiling confidence fixed on her face as she pressed on the handle of the ship’s steering blade making a gentle turn towards the west. She was meaning to hug the shoreline until she found a place where they could stop to rest up.

The ocean swell rolled smoothly under the keel, it seemed to have an oily texture, like it does sometimes on a hot summer’s day thought Hild, or like they do when a storm is brewing. It wouldn’t make for a good start to the voyage if we were caught up in the first storm of the coming winter.

~ ~ ~

How did I get myself into this I thought, as I looked at the rows of faces on the benches before me. I really don’t want to be here, there’s just no way that I want a life of violence, fighting with strangers for something so frail, so insubstantial as money. All I had wanted, was to go home with my husband, my dear Ranulf, and our little daughter. And now that can never be. Ranulf is dead, killed while he, my dear man, was trying to protect me and our daughter.

And our home has been ruined, wrecked, by the same people who wanted to burn me as a witch. No judge, no trial, no appeal and no bloody truth…they were just going to do it. And they could’ve, they very nearly did, except for these lovely people here, who came to rescue me.

I’m not a witch of course. I have a lot of knowledge of healing and the use of herbs, it was all given to me by my mother, but I don’t want to think of her as a relative, not ever again. She tried to give me over to my father for execution…and why? For marrying a lovely man whose only crime was, that he wasn’t a Dane.

My Ranulf hated violence, wanted to be a scholar, an academic, we were going to write a book. But now he’s gone, it’s all gone and I really don’t know if I can do this without him. Lead these people into a life of….what should I call it…villainy, I suppose. We’re headed for a place that I’ve never been, recommended by a person that I don’t really know, a place that’s known as a den of pirates, corsairs and thieves. But what else is there? The King’s court has got long arms that’ll reach across most countries, so we can’t openly land anywhere civilised. We’d be recognised straight away as foreigners. And language wouldn’t be the only problem, it’d only take one person to get careless, speak to the wrong person and wham! They’d be running off to collect a monstrous reward and we’d be lucky if we were only dragged off to the nearest gibbet. Very lucky.

~ ~ ~

‘Hild…you look miles away. Want to talk about it?’

Gwen’s small, nervous voice came from the tiny deck-tent that we’d put up to give some shelter to the two children, Joseph, a delightful 5 year old orphan and Evelyn, my toddler daughter. Gwen was Peter’s husband, they are both good friends and, although she doted on Evelyn like a second mother, she couldn’t seem to get pregnant herself. Peter, like most men, had lain with several women before meeting his wife and he had no bastards in his closet, none that we knew of anyway. So it seemed likely that the problem lay in his body and not with Gwen. She looked up at me, and I could see in her pale round face that she was a long way out of her depth, the decision to come with us might have been more Peter’s than hers I thought. But I was selfishly pleased that she was here, the children would have need of her, a warship such as this one was no place for a nursery. I knew that I’d have to find them a permanent home, and soon. First though, I needed to tell her of my half-formed plans, in fact I needed to tell the whole crew. Maybe then some of them wouldn’t be so keen on pressing ahead with this adventure. Or maybe they would.

‘Aye Gwen, you’re right, I need to talk…but I need to speak to everyone. We all need to be sure of our position and what I’m intending to do. Where we will go. We all need to agree, I suppose.’ I said. ‘Can you ask Peter to take over the steering from me. I know he’s asleep, but we need to do this, and now is a good time.’

‘It’s alright Hild, I’m only dozing. Can’t sleep with so much in my mind.’ Peter said and pulled his coat tighter about him as he stepped up onto the raised deck.

I went forward a little way and told the men to stop rowing, but to keep their oars ready in case we needed to power out of trouble.

What to say and how to say it, threaded through my mind. Start at the beginning…it’s always best I thought.

I started by quickly describing what had happened to me at the Norseman’s settlement and even more briefly, because most of them were there, what happened when I was rescued. That explained to them why we had to be extra wary of Viking ships, particularly those of Halfdan, but all of them really, because word would have spread like a bad smell and they’d want us, or me, very badly. That brought me to the events in Portchester market square where some of Ranulf’s enemies tried to burn me alive for being a witch. I told them that because they had been involved in stopping the proceedings and with the death of one of their courtiers, they would all be under the pointing finger of the law, so they couldn’t go back, or stay anywhere nearby, for a long time. In fact, if Bill, the old shipbuilder, had taken the ships to present them to the late King’s daughter, the Princess Aethelflaed, as he said he would, they just might have put to sea in pursuit. Could even now be heading toward us.

Then I told them of the fortified town that Sunn had described to me and suggested that we might find refuge there and a profitable use for our ship. A heavily built man stood up from his place at his oar and interrupted me. Anger seemed to radiate from his dark eyes that were deeply set under a heavy brow, the shadow deepened by the gathering gloom of the approaching night.

‘And all this fits well with you and your fucking troubles…’ he shouted. ‘Well, I for one would rather stay in British waters and with a man at the helm of this ere tub!’

There were mumblings and some nods from the group of men around him. In the back of my mind, I’d expected something like this, but my thoughts had pressed it to a far corner. My mind whirred. One bad apple, bad as far as I was concerned, could poison the whole crew. I took a few steps toward him and, although I’m sure my eyes reflected like chips of ice, I smiled.

‘Your name is Andy, isn’t it? You’ll have to forgive me, but I’m still learning all your names.’ I said.

‘Yes, Andy it is. And I were a sailor when you was still sucking your mother’s tit.’

‘Well now Andy. That’s good, you should have told me before. An experienced man in the crew is always a good thing.’ I said, putting a firm bridle on my gathering anger.

‘Wasn’t thinking of me being crew…Were we boys.’ he said glancing at those around him. ‘I’d do a better job of skippering this ere tub than you ever could.’

‘Oh…is that so, Andrew. What would you suggest we do now then?’ I said and stepped up onto the nearest rowing bench so he had to look up at me.

‘If it was you in charge of the Sir Ranulf, that is.’ I asked.

‘Well, that’s easy. We need food, we need money and we needs a good alehouse with clean women.’ he said with a broad grin.

I could feel his eyes probing my clothes and suppressed a shiver. You’re a brute I thought, and will have to go. Decision made, I started to walk away from him and called over my shoulder.

‘That’s fine Andy. If that’s all you want in life, we’ll set you ashore and you can bloody well go do what you want.’

As I knew he would, he stood to follow me. I turned sharply and, with a snake-like hiss, Wolfbane slid from its scabbard almost of its own volition. I wasn’t truly aware of it, but the razor-sharp point steadied itself at the centre of Andrew’s throat.

‘Ha!’ he snorted. ‘Women don’t know swordplay, specially jumped-up buggers like you…Look it’s falling already. Too bloody heavy for you ain’t it.’ and he laughed as he cautiously made a step toward me.

‘One more move, one more step and it’ll be your last. Want to try me…asshole?’

His laugh became brittle, but he didn’t back down, he couldn’t. Bullying brutes like him didn’t know how. His eyes fluttered, darting from side to side. I sensed that he was on the point of making a dive at me and lowered the vicious point of the blade to his groin. He stopped and took a half-step back.

‘Sit!’ I shouted. ‘Sit right where you are. On the deck.’

Slowly he lowered himself to kneel.

‘I said sit asshole. Do it…or your balls will await you in hell.’ I said.

My voice, like my anger, was under control now. I knew what I had to do.

‘Peter, would you make an easy turn to bring her bow head-on to the waves please.’ I said without turning away from the man before me.

When we’d completed the turn, the ship’s movement lost its rolling action and became easier.

‘I’ve a mind to have your hands tied behind you.’ I said to him. ‘But I’ll give you more of a chance than you would have given me. Stand on that rowing bench and move across to the ship’s side.’

‘I can’t swim ma’am. I know what you’re going to do. It’d be murder ma’am.’

‘Just do it. Wolfbane, my blade is getting hungry.’

I prodded him in the belly, hard enough to have scratched a cut. He looked around for help. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. His legs trembled as he stepped up onto the bench and shuffled slowly to the gunwale. He caught sight of the smooth, slippery looking waves as they rolled past and he began to turn toward me. I turned my wrist and, swinging the heavy sword with all my strength, I used the flat of the blade to send him over the side into the sea.

He disappeared without a sound into the purple-green darkness of the dusk coloured sea. He reappeared just moments later spluttering and splashing, fighting the water for breath.

‘Right…anybody else want to fight? If you don’t want to come with me…fine…you’ll be free to go when we stop later tonight. But I will not be threatened. Do we understand? Answer me damn you.’ I shouted.

Peter’s voice was the only one to break the silence. ‘Yes Hild...I think we all understand.’ he said.

‘Good!’ I said and pushed the sword back into its scabbard. ‘This ship is mine. I stole it from the crown and it is my responsibility if we’re caught. Does anybody want to argue?’

There was a silence, most eyes turned toward the deck, some glanced at friends, but nobody spoke. I prayed that that was the last time I’d have to do something like I’d just done. I nodded, sat down to control my trembling and told them about Ranulf’s treasure that he’d hidden on a small, uninhabited island. I told them about the journal that I had, with its details and descriptions of the hiding place where he’d hidden a king’s ransom in jewels.

‘That will be our starter. I’ll need to keep some to pay for our voyage, but the rest we’ll share equally. As we will everything from now on. Gains as well as crap, we’ll all take an equal share.’

Chapter Two

Hild went back up onto the steering platform and stood beside Peter, Gwen looked the other way as she passed. The older woman didn’t know what to say, she was shocked and confused. Peter turned sideways and looked deep into Hild’s eyes.

~ ~ ~

‘I’d never have believed you’d do that. The Hild I used to know wouldn’t have.’ said Peter, there was a coolness in his voice.

‘Hm…I guess I’ve been too close to death over these past weeks.’ I said. ‘Or maybe there’s more of my father’s blood in me than I thought. Anyhow, I think it’ll be less likely that there’ll be another attempt to rebel. For a while, anyway.’

‘He could swim you know. The big ugly brute, I saw him as the current swept him past us. A bit splashy, but he was definitely striking out toward the shore.’ Peter said and glanced over his shoulder.

But there was nothing there, just darkness and the phosphorescent, foamy glow of the small wave tops. I felt beads of sweat trickle down my back. Icy cold and they made me shiver. A throbbing headache was beginning to probe my forehead. Did I really do it, send a man over the side, without a thought for his death. I would have to be much more careful, catch my temper before it became out of hand. Could it have been the warrior spirit that lives inside each of us. The one Ranulf told me about, the one he described? If that’s what it had been, I didn’t like it. Although what I’d done had been very deliberate, I’d had the sensation of being out of control. As though someone else was making me do it. As though I’d become another person.

I looked down at the handle of Ranulf’s sword and rested my hand on the decorated pommel. I knew that I should take it off, hide it away, it was a danger in itself. But I couldn’t bear the thought of being without it. No…I’d keep it, just be more careful.

‘I had to do it you know.’ I said to Peter. ‘He was aggressive by nature, I’m sure of it. I shouldn’t have brought him I guess. But he looked like a handy warrior who could use a sword, and I’m sure there’ll be times when we’ll need people like him.’

‘Oh I know, I know. One rotten apple in the barrel and all that…but it came as such a shock. The crew’ll be talking about it for a long time. And if you ever need to do something like it again, they’ll be a lot more careful. Watch your back Hild. Watch your back.’ he said.

‘I think, at the moment, I’m more inclined to watch the weather. I feel there’s a storm brewing and not far away. See the broken waves, they were as smooth as honey just a while ago.’

I took the steering handle back and Peter sat on the deck, an arm around his wife in a possessive sort of way. Gwen kept looking up at me and I thought I could see a hint of fear in her eyes. But there was a new look of determination on her pale, round face, it reminded me of my grandmother. Normally, she’d been like a little mouse, tidy, quiet and always in the background…until she was roused, then she became pure fury, like a cornered polecat, she’d take on anybody. And, by sheer determination she nearly always won too, mainly because she didn’t know that she couldn’t. I’d have to spend some time chatting with Gwen I thought, mustn’t have her thinking she’s a passenger and not useful to us, she is, and she must feel as though she’s part of it all. Part of the ship’s crew.

But shelter had to be my priority just now. I steered carefully toward the shore that was a line of darker black before us. I’d need lookouts in the bow very soon and asked Peter if he’d mind, he said he’d be happy to be my eyes up in the forward part of the ship and Gwen surprised me by saying she’d go too.

‘We’ll go one each side.’ she said. ‘The two babes are sound asleep…they’ve had a busy day.’

I told them that aside from any rocky shoals, to look out for an inlet or an estuary. But I realised that in this densely dark lull before the storm, seeing anything at all would be difficult. I’d left it too late. Lightning flickered across the horizon behind us, the silence before the rolling thunder found us seemed to last an age. I felt the first spots of rain spatter onto my shoulders. The wind was beginning to freshen and, as it swept past us, it began to moan a warning through our mast’s rigging lines. I felt small.

The next sky-cracking, splinter of lightning was closer, much closer and I felt a buffeting from the air as the thunder swept and rolled across us. But the flicker of light, brief as it was, showed me two things. My two lookouts seemed to be intent on talking, or arguing might be more correct and not keeping a watch. If they had, they would have seen that we were entering the broad reach of a bay or perhaps a narrowing estuary. I needed god to send me another flash of his lightning to be sure. I knew that somewhere around here should be the river entrance to the port that we’d originally been heading for, a well raided town called Hamton. And, from memory, I knew that the entrance to the estuary was guarded by a large island, and that, I thought must be what was to our left. If we could just round the point that must be a little farther ahead of us to the west, we’d be in a sheltered stretch of water. I turned the ship, easing her toward where I hoped the island’s sandy beaches would be. Normally I’d not have thought to land there, the Islanders were well known among the Vikings as strong defenders of their shores, but with this storm raging, I hoped we would be safe enough.

A softer flicker of light from somewhere deep inside the clouds showed me that I was right and just ahead was the rocky promontory that marked the islands most northerly point. Another few moments and we would be in quieter water. I told the people at the oars to ease a little

‘Peter, we’ve rocky shore ahead. I need to know when we’ve cleared them.’ I shouted.

I waited an age for his answer and when it came I could hear the edge of anger in his voice, so I was right, they had been arguing.

‘Yes I can see the bloody rocks! You need to steer away a couple of points.’ he said.

I pulled on the steering blade handle and veered away from the phosphorescent gleam that danced in the near darkness. But I didn’t move the ship very far off its course, I thought Peter’s advice sounded a bit prickly, as though he felt guilty that I’d alerted him to the danger instead of the warning coming from him.

Oh well I thought, I guess we’re all a bit tired and bitchy. Must stop soon, get everyone fed and get some sleep.

I could see what I hoped was the end of the rock strewn finger of land and brought the steering oar up to swing the ship into the calm water behind it. Lightning still flickered, farther away now and I could make out the pale colour of a beach framed by the darkness of a forest edge. Probably pine I thought. We’ll go a little farther.

I’m not sure why I thought we should go on a little farther, intuition perhaps or maybe second sight, but, hugging the darkly visible shoreline, we turned to travel on. Lightning was flickering among the distant clouds almost continuously giving a strange, ghostly appearance to the sea around us and the beach that was in plain view now.

Peter came back towards me from the forward lookout, I could see that his eyes looked almost everywhere except at me. He knew he’d failed me. Feared I’d be angry too I suppose.

‘Sorry about that Hild. I should have seen those rocky shoals before you did. But Gwen was upset and it fell to a bit of a row. She’s staying up there, on her own for a bit…’ he broke off and was staring at something over my shoulder. ‘Yes, by god’s legs…it’s them. I’m sure it is. Bill the old bastard did follow us.’ he said pointing behind and moving across to the ship’s side.

‘Hold your rowing men, but stroke on the landward side to keep us in position side-on. Not a word from anybody, keep silence.’ I called softly.

‘They don’t seem to have seen us though.’ Peter said.

‘Maybe, against the darkness of the beach and the trees beyond, we are invisible to them’ I said, hopefully. ‘If I’d stopped us as soon as we were in sheltered water, as I was going to, they’d have seen us for sure.’

‘You’re right there, I’d wager…It would’ve been the end too I’m thinking. And I can’t imagine there’d have been many survivors to tell the tale neither.’ he said.

He was almost whispering, perhaps in case they should hear I thought.

‘No there wouldn’t have been any quarter given, not from them. No mercy, I’m certain of that Peter.