Read Viking Ships at Sunrise Online
Authors: Mary Pope Osborne
Viking Ships at Sunrise (5 page)
“It looks like they're planning to climb the cliff,” whispered Annie.
“We need to hide until they go,” whispered Jack. “Then we can look for the tree house.”
“Let's hide in a ship!” said Annie.
“Good idea,” said Jack.
They crept back to where the ships were tied.
Jack was happy to see that the sides of the smallest ship were very low. They would easily be able to climb over them.
“You go first,” said Annie.
Jack waded through the shallow water. It was cold!
He reached the ship and grabbed one side. He pushed himself up and onto the ship's deck.
The ship jerked forward. Jack looked at the shore. It was now thirty feet away. The ship's anchoring rope was pulled tight. The serpent prow bobbed up and down with the waves.
The fog and the movement of the ship made Jack feel as if he was in a dream. For a moment, he forgot to be scared of the Vikings.
“This is so cool,” he called. “Come on, Annie!”
Annie started to wade out to the ship. Suddenly, she disappeared.
“Annie?” called Jack.
Her head popped out of the water. She splashed with her arms.
“Itâit's deep!” she gasped. “My dressâtoo heavy!”
“Use the rope!” called Jack. “Like when we climbed the stairs!”
Annie grabbed the rope that stretched from ship to shore. It held her weight as she began inching along it.
“Hold on tight!” cried Jack.
“IâI am!” gasped Annie.
She kept going, hand over hand, along the rope, toward the ship.
When Annie got close to the ship, Jack reached out to help her. As he pulled her in, the side of the ship dipped down.
Then the rope went slack, and the Viking ship slid out to sea.
Annie fell to the deck of the ship.
Jack pulled the rope out of the water. The end of it was still tied in a loop.
“What happened?” asked Annie.
“We're heading out to sea,” said Jack. “I guess all the pulling lifted the rope off the rock.”
Annie sat up and looked at the misty whiteness.
“I can't see the island,” she said.
“I can't see
anything
,” said Jack.
Annie looked at Jack.
“Do you think this is our darkest hour?” she asked.
“I don't know,” said Jack. “Maybe the book will help.”
He pulled out their research book. He found a picture of a Viking ship. He read the caption aloud:
Viking warships were the best ships of their times. When there was no wind, the crew would take down the sails and row with oars. The smallest ships had four rowers, and the largest had as many as thirty-two. Rowers sat on boxes that stored their belongings.
“Great,” said Annie, jumping up. “This
isn't
our darkest hour!”
“Why do you say that?” asked Jack.
“There's still hope,” said Annie. “We can row to the other side of the island and find the tree house.”
“Are you nuts?” said Jack.
“Please, Jack,” said Annie. “Can we just try?”
She grabbed one of the oars. She could barely lift it.
“Forget it, Annie,” said Jack. “It takes four big Viking guys to row this thing. You're too little.
I'm
too little.”
“Come on, Jack. Just try,” said Annie. “You get an oar, too. We'll sit on boxes across from each other.”
“Oh, brother,” said Jack.
Annie dragged her long oar over to a storage box.
“I'm not doing this alone,” she said.
Jack groaned. Then he dragged an oar to the box across from Annie.
“Cool!” said Annie. She peered into a storage box. “Look, one for each of us!”
She lifted out two small Viking helmets.
“Maybe these were made for Viking kids who sometimes ride in this ship,” said Annie.
“Maybe,” said Jack.
He hadn't thought of Vikings as real people beforeâpeople with families and little kids.
Annie pulled off her scarf and put a helmet on her head.
“Now I feel like a Viking, too,” she said. “I bet it will help me row.”
She handed Jack a helmet. He put it on. It made him feel a little different.
“I don't know about this,” he said. The helmet wasn't as heavy as the one he had worn in the time of castles. But it was still pretty heavy.
“Well,
I'm
braver with mine on,” said Annie.
Jack smiled. He didn't know how Annie could be braver than she already was.
“Ready to row?” she asked.
“Yup,” said Jack. He was feeling braver himself.
The wind picked up as Jack lifted his heavy oar over the side of the ship.
He lowered it into the water. But the current was so strong that the oar was ripped from his hands.
Jack fell over backward as his oar slipped into the sea.
“I lost my oar!” Annie yelled.
Jack looked up as rain started to fall. The sky was black. A gush of seawater poured over the side of the ship!
“Brrr!” said Annie as she tried to stand.
The black sky shook with thunder and flashed with lightning.
Jack crawled to the side of the ship and pulled himself up.
Another huge wave was coming right toward them!
“It's our darkest hour
now!
” cried Annie. “Get Brother Michael's book!”
Jack reached into his leather bag. He pulled out the jeweled book and held it up.
“Save us, story!” he cried.
He looked at the sea again. What he saw made him scream.
Rising from the oncoming wave was a giant sea serpent!
The serpent's head rose higher and higher above the water.
Jack couldn't move.
“He's beautiful!” said Annie.
“Beautiful?” cried Jack.
The serpent's neck was as tall as a two-story building. Its green scales were covered with sea slime.
“Go away!” shouted Jack.
“Noâstay! Help us!” shouted Annie.
The great serpent glided closer to the ship.
Jack ducked.
“Come on!” said Annie. “You can do it! Get us to shore before the ship sinks!”
Jack closed his eyes. He felt the ship jerk, then move forward.
He looked up. They were gliding over the giant waves.
Jack turned. The great serpent was pressing its long neck against the back of the ship, pushing it toward the shore.
As the serpent pushed them, the wind grew calmer. The clouds lifted and the water glittered with sunlight.
The rocky shore grew closer. Jack could see the tree house on the ledge above it.
“Hurry!” Annie called to the serpent monster.
The great serpent gave the ship one last push. The ship
swooshed
onto a sand bar near the shore.
Jack put the jeweled book carefully back into his bag. Then he and Annie climbed out of the ship onto the wet sand. They looked back at the sea.
The great serpent was rearing its long neck into the air. Its scales glittered pink and green in the sunlight.
“Bye!” shouted Annie. “Thanks a lot!”
The monster seemed to nod at her. Then he dove into the sea and was gone.
Jack and Annie headed toward the rocks. All of a sudden, Annie gasped.
“Uh-oh,” she said, pointing to the top of the cliff.
Two Vikings were staring down at them!
“To the tree house!” cried Jack.
The Vikings shouted and started down the steep stairs.
Jack and Annie began scrambling up the rocks.
They reached the tree house and climbed inside.
Jack grabbed the Pennsylvania book.
Annie stuck her head out the window.
“Go home! Stop causing trouble!” she yelled to the Vikings, who were almost to the ledge.
Jack pointed at the picture of the Frog Creek woods.
“IWISHWECOULDGOTHERE!” Jack shouted.
Just as the Vikings reached the ledge, the wind began to blow.
The tree house started to spin.
It spun faster and faster.
Then everything was still.
Absolutely still.
