CULLAIN
: A former Irish monk, skilled in the treatment of wounds and illnesses, who is now a slave owned by Hastein, and who serves as the cook aboard Hastein’s longship, the
Gull
.

EINAR
: A warrior from the village on the Limfjord in Jutland who is Halfdan’s closest friend.

FASTI
: A thrall on the estate of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father.

FLOKI
: A carl on the estate of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father; the brother of Baug.

GENEVIEVE
: A young Frankish noblewoman who was captured by Halfdan during the campaign in Frankia, and with whom he became romantically involved.

GUDROD
: A carl on the estate of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father, nicknamed Gudrod the Carpenter because he was in charge of woodworking chores on the estate.

GUDFRED
: A carl on the estate of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father.

GUNHILD
: The widow of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father, and the mother of Toke.

HALFDAN
: The son of Hrorik, a Danish chieftain, and Derdriu, an Irish-born slave owned by Hrorik; the warrior who has come to be known as Strongbow.

HALLBJORN
: One of Hastein’s warriors who sometimes fights as an archer.

HARALD
: Halfdan’s half-brother, and Sigrid’s twin.

HASTEIN
: A Danish jarl who befriends Halfdan.

HERIGAR
: The commander of the king’s garrison at Birka.

HROALD
: The headman of the village near the estate of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father.

HRODGAR
: The headman of the village on the Limfjord in Jutland located near the farm where Harald, Halfdan’s brother, was killed by Toke.

IVAR
: Ivar the Boneless, a 9th century Viking chieftain and one of the sons of Ragnar Logbrod.

NORI
: A village headman on the island of Oeland.

OSTEN
: A village headman on the island of Oeland, whose wife was stolen by pirates and died in captivity.

RAGNAR
: Ragnar Logbrod, a famous 9th century Viking chieftain; the father of Bjorn Ironsides, Ivar the Boneless, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and the war-king who led the Danish army that captured Paris.

RAGNVALD
: A chieftain who serves King Horik of the Danes.

RAUNA
: A young Sami woman.

REGIN
: A member of the crew of the longship the Serpent, who serves as the ship’s cook.

ROBERT
: The Frankish count who ruled over Paris; Genevieve’s father.

SERCK
: A villager on the island of Oeland, whose daughter was stolen by pirates and died in captivity.

SIGRID
: Halfdan’s half-sister.

SIGTRYGG
: A captain who serves Jarl Arinbjorn.

SIGURD
: Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, a son of Ragnar Logbrod.

SIGVALD
: The chieftain who leads the pirate band.

SKJOLD
: One of Toke’s men, who was captured by Sigvald’s pirate band and joined it.

SKULI
: A young man who lives in the village near the estate of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father.

SNORRE
: A chieftain who served Toke, and who was killed by Halfdan in a duel in Paris.

STIG
: A chieftain who serves Jarl Hastein; the captain of the longship the Serpent.

STOROLF
: One of Hastein’s warriors who sometimes fights as an archer.

TOKE
: The son by a previous marriage of Gunhild, the widow of Hrorik, Halfdan’s father; the Danish chieftain who murdered Harald, Halfdan’s half-brother.

TORE
: The captain of the archers who serve Hastein.

TORVALD
: Hastein’s second-in-command; a warrior of unusual tallness and strength.

UBBE
: The foreman on the estate of the deceased chieftain Hrorik, Halfdan’s father.

1
A Good Plan

Soon it would be done. Soon Toke would be dead, and Harald avenged. For we had a plan.

"I have been giving this matter much thought," Hastein had told me, after we’d reached Danish waters on our voyage home from Frankia. "You wish to bring a case under the law against Toke at a Thing, charging him with murder. And I would of course support you in such a case, as would Hrodgar. Having the jarl ruling over the Limfjord district and the chieftain of the village closest to where the killings occurred join you in the case would almost certainly guarantee success. But the greatest sentence a Thing can pass is outlawry. Toke would forfeit any lands he now holds here—lands which rightfully belong to you, anyway—and would be banished from the kingdom of the Danes. But there is a way Toke could contest a Thing-court’s decision. He would have the right to challenge his accuser to a duel…."

I knew what Hastein had left unsaid. I was greatly changed from the boy who had sworn an oath of vengeance against Toke. I had gained much experience as a warrior in Frankia, and I had killed men—many men, counting all those my arrows had felled in battle. I had even killed Snorre, Toke’s second-in-command, in a formal duel. But Toke was different. I did not want to face Toke one on one. He was as strong as a bear and nearly as large as one, and very quick and light on his feet. And I was afraid of him. I had always been afraid of him, for as far back as I could remember. I did not believe I could best him in such a fight.

"No, we must surprise and trap him with overwhelming force. Then, as jarl over the Limfjord district, I will call upon him to surrender. I will tell him I will take him to King Horik, to answer the charge that he wrongfully killed Harald and his men, and I will give him my oath that he will come to no harm on the journey there. Ivar and Bjorn will join with me, also—it will be no small thing, to a man like Toke, that two sons of Ragnar Logbrod are urging him to come peacefully and appear before the king.

"Toke is of noble birth. He is the grandson of a jarl. He will not believe the king will do more than outlaw him, if that." Hastein smiled a grim smile. "Had he only killed Harald and his men, he would probably be right. These things happen. His mistake was killing everyone—the women, the children, even the thralls. And he killed them after giving his oath that they would be safe. It was the worst kind of niddingsvaark. King Horik is a man who greatly values honor. He has no use for a Nithing. He will hang Toke. I feel sure of it. It is a good plan."

My own plan differed slightly from Hastein’s. I knew Toke. He would never surrender. He would fight us, even if he knew he could not win. He would rather die with a sword in his hand, killing as many of his enemies as he could, than allow himself to be taken without a fight. He would fight us, and when he did, I would put an arrow through his eye.

Soon it would be done.

We had landed at dusk a short distance up the coast from the estate that had once belonged to Hrorik, my father, and after him to my brother, Harald. Ivar and Bjorn had indeed come with us. They wanted to see the end of the tale Hastein had told the entire army at the feast that last night in Paris, the night before our fleet had left Frankia and sailed for home with the ransom and plunder we’d won. Hrodgar and the men from the village on the Limfjord had come, too, although some of them had grumbled at the prospect of further delay in returning to their homes, once they were so close.

"It is our duty," Hrodgar had chided them. "It was we who discovered the slaughter at Hrorik’s farm. It was to us that Toke spun his web of lies, to cover his own misdeeds. We allowed him to escape, and even sent two of our own to help hunt Halfdan, believing Toke’s tale that he was a bandit. Toke must know, when he is brought to justice, that we are no longer his fools."

We planned to surround the longhouse in the last hours before dawn while the household still slept, trapping Toke and his men inside. Hastein and Ivar and most of their warriors were with me now, hiding in the edge of the woodlands that bordered the cleared lands of the estate. I’d led them there in the dark, through the forest I’d hunted in so often as a boy. At first light, Bjorn, Hrodgar, and the rest of the men would bring the ships around to block any chance of escape by sea.

"It is time," Hastein whispered, touching my arm from where he was sitting nearby, his back against the trunk of a tree. When we’d arrived, he’d been but an indistinct shadow. Now I could make out his outline, and see the looming shape of Torvald sitting beyond him. "The sky will begin to lighten soon," he continued. "We should be in place before anyone ventures outside."

I seated my helm on my head, twisting it back and forth with my hands until it felt comfortable, then tied the strap under my chin. I stood, braced my bow against my right foot, and strung it. Beside me, Tore did the same.

"Do you think he might fight?" he asked me. "This Toke? Against great chieftains like Jarl Hastein, and Ivar, and Bjorn? It would be madness. But Torvald says he is a berserker, and with them, you never know."

I shrugged my shoulders in answer, and slipped the strap of my quiver over my head, so that it hung at my right hip with the arrows ready to draw. I searched through them and selected one I knew shot true. It had a heavy oak shaft, and was tipped with a short iron head with a square cross-section that tapered to a sharp point. I called such heads mail-breakers. I’d found a barrel full of them in a storeroom in the island fort that had been the home of Count Robert of Paris before we’d taken it and the town. I’d stowed a sack of the heads in my sea chest, and had mounted two dozen on my heaviest arrows during the long voyage back from Frankia.

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