Gone Viking 03

Gone Viking 3

Commerce

Vikings-- bloodthirsty marauders, rapists, plunderers, defilers. MERCHANTS! Yes, business. And Ellaf was a businessman. As was Niband, leader of her band and chief trade negotiator; at least, in large matters. Private deals were being struck between crew members of the longship and the People.

But first, the trade goods were unloaded from the longship. Ellaf was up at dawn, rousing the bleary-eyed crew. I was surprised because I thought I was awake. I must have dozed off after the early morning "visit" of the shaman. Did I dream of him?

His reality was demonstrated by the welts on my arm from his rawhide whip. My face...Ellaf did not react, except to my breath.

"Someone has given you mushrooms. You have the look and smell of a mushroom nightmare."

After last night's feast and late night "partying," breakfast was not on my mind, nor apparently, on anyone's agenda. This day was for business... serious business.

I helped carefully unload bundled cloth-- wool and woven linens. Perfumes, iron and steel tools for hunting, farming, and forestry. A few fine steel weapons of war. Ivory of walrus, elephant, and hippo. Gold and silver jewelry; a great surprise to me were bags of silver coins.

"Of what use is coinage to these People?" I asked myself.

I found out. The coinage was of value to the people as ornament, but they do understand that Northmen praise it for its value as currency.

I examined the coins closely. They were very thin but finely made. And the script! "Arabic!"

The People had furs, tanned deer hides, mocassins, deer-hide shirts; feathers of many birds, reed baskets, dried fish, preserved meats, and a concentrated food that included meat and fruits in a dense collection of fats, sugars, proteins, and calories.

Pine sap to repair leaks and waterproof hulls. Honey and syrups; bushels of dried corn. Timber. The People used the axes of the Northmen to stockpile suitable wood for the repair of the longships. They had debarked them and built a drying house to store and season the wood. The Northmen would buy the seasoned wood and take it to their base where they had a sawmill.

Along the seacoast, I learned there were safe harbors, stocked with supplies to repair ships damaged in the dangerous crossing from the Northlands. Cached preserved food and casks of fuel, water, and ale.

There was no ale or strong spirits in our trade goods. I didn't know why and none of the Northmen would tell me. Whether it was a peculiarity of this ship or this load or cargo, I couldn't decipher.

The trading was spirited. Loud, very loud. You would think violence was imminent. But I learned quickly this was the manner of negotiation in this place. Not so in other places. Each group had its own personality and also its own specialty.

Sometimes, captives were traded. Hostages returned to their own home band... at a price with the Northmen as a go-between. In this fashion, they served as diplomats, as well as traders.

The business of trading took all morning. By midday, the sun had burned all the mist off the river; Ellaf had inquired about the bands upriver.

The answer. "We have not heard from them since the ice broke on the river. All winter, they trekked on the ice, wearing snowshoes on sunny days to visit, as their camps are usually only a half day's short walk to the north. The game in their area was proving elusive, so they moved their camp further north. Now, with the ice floes just breaking up, the river has been too treacherous for dugouts and canoes. We have nothing like your mighty vessel," they said, pointing at our longship, small though it was.

Ellaf figured this next band was a good day's or so hard pull against a strong current, unless the wind gods favored us with a favorable breeze.

The Northern bands were good trading partners because their women were experts on the tanning of moose hide, and the beaver pelts they prepared were superior. They were also good customers for the boar spears; the other bands had no interest. This band had found the boar spear a good weapon for finishing off moose wounded with a poor arrow strike.

Agnar found me. He had been busy all morning working with Ellaf in trading with the People. Because of his "Lost Dove," the more sentimental of the People had a soft spot in their hearts for him. Also, they trusted him more than the younger Ellaf, who seemed to the People, to be a more aggressive negotiator.

"The younger men of our crew and those young men of the People are to play a game before the midday meal... it will be the only feast today. No late night 'party'." He smiled.

"How did the mushrooms affect you? Good dreams?"

"A demon awakened me. He claimed to be the band's shaman."

"Ah, you have met Mestigoit. He "visits" all the new crew. I wonder if he called you a demon?"

"Yes!"

"Those who wear the clothing of the opposite gender, in the eyes of the People, may be demons trying to disguise their wicked plans or true magicians worthy of respect. How did he find you?"

"I guess I am somewhat in between."

"Ha! So, we all are... between damnation and paradise."

Only then did I notice the cross on a rawhide thong on his neck... a rude thing of blackened iron.

We could hear the game the young men were playing, long before we saw the playing field. Stripped to loincloths, or completely naked, they glistened with sweat. Some of the People had greased their bodies in animal fat and drawn lucky signs on their faces and torsos with bright-colored earth. One had a design on his buttocks, which I assumed had rude implications.

They all carried sticks with a rawhide pouch. The goal was to capture a hide-covered stone and bring it to a poorly defined goal. Whatever rules this game had, it did not outlaw hitting, crashing into an opponent, tripping, or grabbing genitals.

The sides were not Northmen versus the People, but clothed men versus naked men.

The women were enjoying the game immensely, especially insulting the manhoods of the naked men, or other bits of anatomy. "Eric has a jiggly ass...X who had he entertained at night!" one young lady hooted at a red-headed Northman. She then stripped down to join the game. "This is how a woman of the People wins this game."

"Chenoa! Chenoa!" the women and men of the People chanted. Naked and barefoot, Chenoa was as fleet as a deer, as canny as a fox, and as vicious as a badger.

In short order, she tripped up three of the clothed male team and had possession of the ball; evading pursuers, she ran through the encampment of the People leaping over cooking fires-- showing off, I was sure-- making for the goal at the far side of the island.

There, she pitched the ball to mid-stream and swam, still holding her stick, to a barely visible sandbar, a good distance upstream... she waited 'til the crowd of Northmen and the People had made it to that shore, and then lifted her stick over her head in triumph.

Agnar was at my side as we breathlessly made it to the riverbank just in time. "She is Viking and of the People... she is my daughter."

Many thanks to my editor Kenji Sato. This tale continues.

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