Chapter One Out To Sea

"Out oars! Back oars!" Stefan shouted. The Rolphin slid gracefully through the water creaking only a little more than normal. The Chaser along with two another merchant vessels copied its maneuvers. Soon the boats were pointing their prows toward the mouth of New Hackolm's wide harbor.

"Forward oars. Ulf and Harald raise the sails. Rolf and Rollin, standby to trim the sails. Point her head northeast at Catania." The crew obeyed instantly

The Rolphin, surged ahead of the three other ships. The Chaser fell in along-side them. The Ivan and the Sealion sailed behind them. The Ivan was a trader from Caspia. The Sealion was a Sardinian ship carrying goods from Elithia back to Sardinia. Both of them had hired the Rolphin as protection as far as Catania. The Chaser as you may already know had an agreement to supply the crew of the Rolphin with coffee in exchange for protection.

"Rolf and Rollin, trim the sails so that we are running parrallel to the coast."

"Yes sir." they replied promptly. They worked well to doing their task quickly.

"The two twins have come a long way in year and a half we have spent here in Elithia." Stefan remarked softly to Cnut who had walked over and now stood his side. "They never quarrel while they are on duty as was their habit before."

"Yes I was thinking the same thing. Perhaps our adventure has made them more mature. Loosing Arnulf and Wulf was enough to sober anyone. Gunther and Harald are fine fellows to be sure. But they haven't tasted battle so far."

"It was my fault Wulf and Arnulf died. I should never have had the crew walk into the alley. We were clearly at a disadvantage. But I can't change that now."

"Don't blame yourself. That is one of the worse things you can do. In fact it is a miracle more of us didn't die. If it weren't for the good discipline you kept we might have lost two or three more of our men. I say what is that? It looks like a whale of some sort or other though I can't quite tell at this distance. To bad we forgot the glasses. We could use them now. That might be a pirate ship."

"Nay. It isn't a ship. It seemed to disappear. That's impossible for a ship."

That night they pulled into a small bay along the Elithian coast. The next day the little fleet would had north to Catania. Rollo set about cooking dinner right away. He was a fabulous cook as was Sigberht. But Rollo was favored over Sigberht. That night Sigberht cooked a stew. It was made from a deer Sveyn had shot and a small store of vegetables they had onboard the Rolphin.

"The meal is fabulous as usual Rollo." Sigurd the navigator for the Rolphin said. "I wonder at you for refusing half a dozen jarls and even a king's request to be their own personal cook but instead chose to stay here and cook for us."

"I would much rather cook for my friends without getting paid much than work for some random person who I don't know and get paid lots of money."

"For that we should all be thankful." Stefan said. "Two cheers for Sigurd."

"Why not three?" Cnut asked. "Is that not the proper number of cheers?"

"Oh yes! Well who cares? After all giving him him only two cheers means our thankfulness is unique. Come on and give him and Sigberht two cheers each!"

The men cheered heartily with a good deal of laughing interspersed with it.

"Now why don't we all clean up for Rollo this evening to show him our oh–" "Perhaps thank would be the best word to use." Cnut suggested to Stefan.

"Yes. That, appreciation, and gratitude would be good words. Let's get to it."

With that the whole crew save those who were still eating got up and began to help with the tedious job of cleaning up. After that most just sat around the fire talking amongst themselves. Cut sat down beside Stefan on a rough log.

"Do you think we should set a watch tonight or not. We're in friendly waters."

"There's no need to set a watch. That's another matter when we get out to sea but for now we can afforded to be a little lax. The crew might need the rest later on in the near future. But look the Chaser is signaling something to us."

"What is the signal Edwin?" Cnut asked the Rolphin's unofficial lookout.

"They're sending three men ashore with our ration of coffee for tomorrow."

"Good! Bjorne, Cedric, and Alfred; I want you to go and pick it up alright?"

The three of them nodded their heads. When the small skiff was beached they rose and walked over to it. With the help of the three men aboard they were able to unload the coffee and take it into camp. Then they themselves transferred it into the hull of the Rolphin along with with all their other supplies.

"Well I think it's about time for me to hit the sack." Rolf said in a groggy tone.

"Good! Perhaps it will allow you to know what it's like when you hit me." said Rollin. This rejoinder was followed by a roar of laughter. Rolf's face reddened at the insult. He was about to retort but thought better of it when he saw the form of Gündar standing above him. He crawled over to his plaid blanket glan-cing around like a rat in a corner. He lay there a long time plotting his revenge.

One by one the crew members of the Rolphin decided to "hit the sack" until at last only Cnut and Sveyn remained awake. Sitting by the fire watching as it slowly disintegrated into ash. After a while Cnut rose to go gather kindling.

"I'll build the fire back up before I go to bed you may go to sleep now if y' like."

"I certainly will. I am dog tired. I was thinking of Sutem and Kutera. I guess I got lost somewhere on the everlasting "Train of Thoughts". I sure do miss them. I wish they could have stayed with us instead of going off back to their home."

"Yes. It must be harder for you because you were so closely attached to both of them; especially Sutem. By the way how has your archery and oh a was it knife throwing been going. I suppose you've been practicing them every day."

"Yes. I can shoot a running hare from at least eighty yards with my recurve. With the knife I can throw accurately up to twenty or thirty paces. Overall I am doing well enough. But I am still years away from getting as good a Kutera."

"Well even Sutem is barely as good as his mentor. So I don't expect you to be half as good as Sutem or Kutera. But it's getting late you'd best get to sleep."

With that Sveyn rolled up in his blanket to keep the cool spring breeze out, while Cnut picked up several logs and twigs to build up the fire. Soon the flames began to spring up again and the twigs crackled. But aside from an occasional crackle of the fire and the snoring of the men all was silent in the campsite.