OOM (during the 4 year jump)

[gods_that_haunt_me]

I work like a Dwarf through the seasons.

My toil is fraught with frustration, and blessed with inspiration.

The gods move me. They give me every reason to wake up with the sun. To make love to Helga. To seek the trees with which to build my boats.

This is my existence. And I would not trade it for anything.


It is early spring, when the first warm breath of wind mingles with the receding chill in the air. The water reflects a cloudless sky. A perfect time to stay outdoors from morning to evening. Working, and delighting in the work.

With every pull on the draw knife, a plank of wood takes shape. I see what it will become; I see how it will be a part of the ship.

The ship itself is yet a skeleton. On its bones I will lay the flesh and smooth its skin, a living thing. I see it all in my head, and I pray to the gods to help me make my vision real.

Comments

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"They're still very dense, even though you've been taking some of them for years," Ragnar says. "That's why I thought that maybe, when you're not looking, trees come from further away to be part of our great endeavour, just like the men do!"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"There is a balance that must be maintained," Floki explains, as he stops to circle around one tree, looking up at it as if seeing something hidden in it.

"The trees that offer themselves must be replaced. Just like our men who fall in battle. We wait through the seasons for the saplings, tree and human alike, to grow big and strong until they are ready. I never take a tree if it isn't ready; that would only spell doom for the ship."

Floki pats the three trunk and moves on, looking over his shoulder at Ragnar.

"Rest assured, the trees that I take for this ship will all most certainly be ready."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I know," Ragnar says. "Ready, and willing, like a sacrifice in Uppsala."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Exactly. A sacrifice."

They walk along for a little while as the forest embraces them.

"So, Ragnar," Floki then says, "where will you be taking us to raid this summer?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Will the boat be ready to go to England?" Ragnar asks.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki looks at him and shakes his head.

"By summer? Not this one. I could try, but this is not a ship that can be rushed. No ship ought to be rushed, but I know that this one will be special."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Then we might need to wait another year," Ragnar says. "Depending on what King Horik says, of course. It always depends on King Horik, who in turn is rather undependable."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Within the year, it will be finished, I promise you that," he says nodding with certainty.

"And it's almost as if you can depend on King Horik to be undependable!"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"We might want to allow him to be so in public," Ragnar says, "and then point it out. Instead of covering for his plans with the lives of our friends."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki utters a thoughtful grunt as he scratches his jaw.

"But King Horik... He says things with such earnestness. And in that moment you have no choice but to believe him, for he is the king, and you trust his word to be gold."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"His word is more like polished bronze," Ragnar says. "It doesn't shine that long."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

He nods, idly sweeping his fingers through the bushes' leaves.

"That time you sent me to speak to him about Jarl Borg..." he then says, a little hesitant, as he is loathe to bring up the past.

"We were just like this, walking through the forest. He asked me to tell him about the gods. So I did, the oldest stories I could remember. And he knew them, too, Ragnar. He understood the gods as well as I! Yet...I think he is like two sides of a coin. A bronze one. One side polished, the other tarnished."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"And he knows very well just which side to show to men, at first," Ragnar says.

Long pause.

"I distrust men who tell me exactly what I want to hear, and who speak of what's closest to my heart as a matter of course. It often means they've made a study of me, and there is something they want and try to get by plucking strings in my heart."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"At least with Jarl Borg, we know right away what kind of man we are dealing with," he remarks a little darkly.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Yes," Ragnar says. "One who will be rude to wet guests."

Lack of hospitality being the worst thing among Vikings, of course.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki snorts.

"Why can't they all be like you, Ragnar? It would make things so much more pleasant."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Floki!" Ragnar snorts. "Do you really think that the world could deal with more than one Ragnar Lothbrok? Who all want the same thing?"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"That is true!" he laughs. "I couldn't possibly build ships for all of you."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"There would have to be a Floki for each Ragnar, and that would be quite as bad!" Ragnar laughs. "Just imagine a world populated with nothing but Flokis and Ragnar's!"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"There would be no one left to raid, and we certainly wouldn't want to go to war with ourselves! No, I think one of each of us is good enough for the world."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Which means we have to put up with the occasional Jarl Borg and King Horik!" Ragnar points put,grinning.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Bringing us back to the original problem, yes," he chuckles. "But you and I can handle them if we need to, I'm sure of that."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar smiles.

"We can," he says. "I trust you in that as much as I trust your ships to swim on water."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"You will never have to doubt your trust in me, Ragnar, or my ships," he assures him with a deep and fierce sincerity.

They wander on, Floki occasionally picking at plants and sniffing them before sticking their leaves into one of the pouches on his belt.

"Will it be the East again this year, then?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I think it may have to be," Ragnar says. "Some of the young men need to be bloodied, anyway."

As will Athelstan.