The Lord of Vik-Lo: A Novel of Viking Age Ireland (The Norsemen Saga Book 3) by James L. Nelson Read Free Book Online

Voyager ’s bow rose up from the hollow between waves, lifted into the night sky, scooping tons of water. The rain had come at last, torrents whipping sideways in the building wind, soaking the already wet men, finding those few dry places under shirts and fur cloaks, until there was no difference between being dressed or not, save for the weight of the wet clothes and the little bit of warmth they still offered.
      The ship’s bow rose to the apex of the wave, hesitated as the sea rolled under, and then once again plunged down into the low spot between rollers. But this time, rather than the familiar feel of the broad hull smacking the water, there was a sharp, solid impact that ran like a shudder through the ship’s fabric. Thorgrim felt it in the tiller. Over the howl of the wind he heard the sound of rending wood.
      “What by the gods was that?” someone shouted. Thorgrim leaned over the side. Lightning flashed and in that instant of light he saw something floating, ugly and dark and glistening, mostly awash, with the seas curling around it.
      A tree, a damned tree , Thorgrim thought. A tree washed into the sea untold miles from that place. A great oak or maple drifting for months until that moment, on that one spot of ocean, when tree and ship came together, their respective voyages intersecting for that one fraction of a second. And the tree, like a dying man determined not to die alone, positioned itself in such a way as to send Far Voyager and her men to the bottom.
      Trees do not put themselves in our path, Thorgrim thought. The gods put them there.
      And then it was gone. For the length of a lighting flash the tree was there and then it disappeared. Far Voyager came down into the waves and forward the men shouted and raced aft. Panic seemed to sweep along the deck where a second before there had been only apathetic misery.
      Agnarr appeared at Thorgrim’s side. “Let me take the tiller, Thorgrim, so you may go see what’s happened!” he shouted and Thorgrim nodded and stepped away as Agnarr took up the thick oak bar.
      Thorgrim staggered forward. For hours he had been all but motionless at the helm, and now as he tried to move along the deck he found it was no easy task. The ship twisted and rolled, pitched and yawed. Water slammed into his legs and threatened to knock him down and wash him away. The ship was crowded, but the men parted like waves as he came through. He could see wide eyes, mouths hanging open in shock.
      “Be calm, be calm, the ship still swims!” Thorgrim shouted as he moved forward, projecting a hopefulness he did not entirely feel. He had an idea of how bad the damage might be.
      He paused by the mast, wiped water from his eyes, wrung out his beard. The fur cape around his shoulders was now soaked through and heavy as chain mail so he cast it aside. He moved around the mast step and the ship took a heavy roll and the water came cascading aft. Thorgrim felt his feet going out from under him and then there was a hand on his left arm, a hand on his right shoulder, keeping him vertical. He half turned where he stood. To his profound irritation he saw that Harald and Starri were flanking him, apparently to prevent his tumbling into the bilge, the very thing that nearly had happened. He wanted to curse at them or order them away but he did not have the energy to shout above the wind, so he continued forward again.
      With the great rush of water rolling fore and aft it was hard at first to see the damage. Thorgrim worked his way forward of the mast, bracing himself against the beitass as he moved along. He searched that part of the hull where he thought the collision had occurred but he could see nothing but water. Quite a bit of water.
      “Do you see any damage, father?” Harald shouted and Thorgrim was just about to say he did not when Far Voyager took a hard roll to starboard and the water that nearly filled the larboard bilges rolled off amidships and there it was.