Chapter Six - Messing about on the River
After a hasty breakfast the four pull their possessions together, fired the croft & hoping that Bjarni's talk of a village not far along the river was true headed out in the general direction in which he had pointed.
By mid day Grimhild had picked up several trails suggesting that they were heading roughly in the right direction & hour or so later they began to see signs of human occupation. Emerging through the trees there are some two dozen or so ground hugging turf roofed buildings built in a crude semi circle fronting onto a wide strip of shingle along the edge of the river. On the foreshore a dozen or so small fishing scows are beached, around the recumbent boats several men are gathered mending nets & carrying out repairs to to the tarred underside of the fishing boats.
For the moment ignoring the buildings, Thorfinn lead the others down to the boats to try & negotiate a quick passage up river towards Motala, unfortunately their are no immediate takers.
Walking back up to the village they approach the largest of the crude buildings which bears all the sign of being an inn come meeting place come trading post, sure enough as they walk into the shadows of its overhanging roof they are greeted enthusiastically by a fat moustached woman wearing a stained leather apron, & offered ale, hot stew or anything else they can afford to buy.
Deciding that they could do with a good hot meal Ragnar discusses bed & board with Hildigunn & agrees for several pieces of silver that they can use one of the store sheds out back for the night & eat their fill.
Settled in front of the fire the four begin to relax, particularly when a young lad produces four steaming bowls of a thick meaty stew & a couple of loafs of dark bread fresh from the oven, the meal is marred slightly however as a large wolfhound rises from in front of the fire & sniffs intently around Annora, eventually it returns to its resting place but continues to stare in Annora's general direction, reminding all four of recent events.
After eating, Annora & Grimhild, retire for the evening leaving Thorfinn & Ragnar to sup with Hildigunn. As the evening draws in the the number of patrons in search of Hildigunn's ale pots increases until likely most of the men of the fishing village are gathered under her roof, Ragnor, easing around those gathered, carefully picks for information & eventually draws out rumours of the occasional disappearance of some one or other, digging deeper it seems that those that have vanished were on the fringes of the village or simply passing through, they were never village born & bred so there disappearance was never pursued that vigorously.
Grimhild, bored, & maybe uncomfortable with Annora, decides to poke around the village before sleeping & despite the drizzle wanders around the clearing taking stock of the village, at one point she disturbs a couple of young lads drinking behind a hut, before she can walk away, they, passions inflamed by the ale, offer several coins for a roll in the grass, turning thier offer down Grimhild moves on.
Back at the store house Annora watches from the shadows of the door, as the clouds covering the moon slip away she can see a shadow move under the trees surrounding the village, catching sight of Grimhild, Annora gestures to her, glancing back towards the trees the figure has gone. Unnerved by the sighting both skirt the village towards the boats on the beach only to hear voices below them, standing quietly listening the giggling voice of a girl & then a boy can be heard drifting on the breeze, realising there is no danger they return to the barn to find Thorfinn & Ragnar have already returned.
In light of Annora's revelation about the watcher in the woods & with the ever present threat of pursuit by Ottar's vassals Thorfinn makes the decision to move on now rather than waiting until morning. Skirting around Hildigunn's still populated inn, the four move down to the beach but are brought to a halt by the ongoing courting of the the young couple in one of the beached scows.
Waiting in the shadows for the lovers to depart Annora glances back into the woods & is startled to see yet again to see a watching figure, this time however the shadow is recognisable as Sumarlidi, the youngest son of Bjarni. Deciding to face her pursuer, Annora slips away from the other & walks towards Sumarlidi, as she does she can hear the boy calling quietly to her,
"Come with us Annora, you belong with us now, take poor Saeunn's place, our pack needs a mother, we feel her loss, come run with us Annora"
As Annora listens to Sumarlidi's plea the temptation is great however before she can react an urgent whisper from behind catches her attention, turning back to the beach Grimhild & Thorfinn are dragging one of the scows towards the water whilst Ragnar keeps watch, sighing Annora goes to their aid.
Out on the water Ragnar takes charge, well familiar with such a vessel as this from her childhood days, progress is slow however as they are unable to mount the sail & must rely on the boats oars to pull against the ebb of the Söderköping, several hours before dawn & after a hard fought struggle against the tide they find themselves a mile or so above the village. Ragnar suggests Annora & Grimhild take a turn at rowing, unfortunately however as Ragnar & Thorfinn dose, Annora & Grimhild's incapability to row allows the boat to slowly loose water against the outgoing flow of the Söderköping & they find themselves slipping back past the waking village.
Waking, Ragnar bemoans their ineptitude & takes the oars from thier unresisting hands &, with the aid of the turning tide & Thorfinn, soon has the boat back above village, secured & hidden on the opposite bank,
"So, what's next"