The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell Read Free Book Online Page B

Scirebuman, and Burgweard had orders not to disturb the peace.
    'If the Danes aren't off the coast,' Leofric said, 'then we aren't.'
    'So what are you doing here?'
    'He sent us to rescue that piece of shit,' he nodded at Heahengel. 'He wants twelve ships

again, see?'
    'I thought they were building more?'
    'They were building more, only it all stopped because some thieving bastards stole the

timber while we were fighting at Cynuit, and then someone remembered Heahengel and here

we are. Burgweard can't manage with just eleven.'
    'If he isn't sailing,' I asked, 'why does he want another ship?'
    'In case he has to sail,' Leofric explained, 'and if he does then he wants twelve. Not

eleven, twelve.'
    'Twelve? Why?'
    'Because,' Leofric paused to bite off a piece of bread, 'because it says in the gospel book

that Christ sent out his disciples two by two, and that's how we have to go, two ships

together, all holy, and if we've only got eleven then that means we've only got ten, if you

follow me.'
    I stared at him, not sure whether he was jesting. 'Burgweard insists you sail two by

two?'
    Leofric nodded. 'Because it says so in Father Willibald's book.'
    'In the gospel book?'
    'That's what Father Willibald tells us,' Leofric said with a straight face, then saw my

expression and shrugged. 'Honest! And Alfred approves.'
    'Of course he does.'
    'And if you do what the gospel book tells you.' Leofric said, still with a straight face,

'then nothing can go wrong, can it?'
    'Nothing,' I said. 'So you're here to rebuild Heahengel?'
    'New mast,' Leofric said, 'new sail, new rigging, patch up those timbers, caulk her, then

tow her back to Hamtun. It could take a month!'
    'At least.'
    'And I never was much good at making things. Good at fighting, I am, and I can drink ale as

well as any man, but I was never much good with a mallet and, wedge or with adzes. They are.'

He nodded at a group of a dozen men who were strangers to me.
    'Who are they?'
    'Shipwrights.’
    'So they do the work?'
    'Can't expect me to do it!' Leofric protested. 'I'm in command of the Eftwyrd!'
    'So,' I said, 'you're planning to drink my ale and eat my food for a month while those dozen

men do the work?'
    'You have any better ideas?'
    I gazed at the Eftwyrd. She was a well-made ship, longer than most Danish boats and with

high sides that made her a good fighting platform. 'What did Burgweard tell you to do?' I

asked.
    'Pray,' Leofric said sourly, 'and help repair Heahengel.'
    'I hear there's a new Danish leader in the Saefern Sea,' I said, 'and I'd like to know if

it's true. A man called Svein. And I hear more ships are joining him from Ireland.'
    'He's in Wales, this Svein?'
    'That's what I hear.'
    'He'll be coming to Wessex then,' Leofric said.
    'If it's true.'
    'So you're thinking ...' Leofric said, then stopped when he realised just what I was

thinking.
    'I'm thinking that it doesn't do a ship or crew any good to sit around for a month,' I said,

'and I'm thinking that there might be plunder to be had in the Saefern Sea.'
    'And if Alfred hears we've been fighting up there,' Leofric said, 'he'll gut us.'
    I nodded up river towards Exanceaster. 'They burned a hundred Danish ships up there,' I

said, 'and their wreckage is still on the riverbank. We should be able to find at least one

dragon's head to put on her prow.'
    Leofric stared at the Eftwyrd. 'Disguise her?'
    'Disguise her,' I said, because if I put a dragon head on Eftwyrd no one would know she was

a Saxon ship. She would be taken for a Danish boat, a sea raider, part of England's

nightmare.
    Leofric smiled. 'I don't need orders to go on a patrol, do I?'
    'Of course not.'
    'And we haven't fought since Cynuit,' he said wistfully, 'and no fighting means no

plunder.'
    'What about the crew?' I asked.
    He turned and looked at them. 'Most of them are evil bastards,' he said, 'they won't mind.

And they all need plunder.'
    'And between us and the Saefern Sea,' I said, 'there are