Svengal took the small beach anchor that another sailor lowered to him.
Two of them moved up the beach, fanning out to scan the country on either side, ready to give warning of any possible ambush. Svengal and his two companions vaulted over the bow, landing catlike on the wet sand. Erak felt the vibrations of the gentle contact with the shore through the deck beneath his feet.
A few seconds later, the prow of the ship grated softly against the sand. The four oars lifted out of the water as one, rising quickly to the vertical so that any excess water would fall into the ship and not into the sea, where it would make more noise. In the center section of the wolfship, his bosun, Mikkel, relayed the orders. Then he saw the beach and held up his hand, fist clenched.įar astern, at the steering oar, Erak watched his second in command as he revealed five fingers, then four, then three as he measured off the distance to the sand.Įrak spoke the words in a conversational tone, unlike the bellow he usually employed to pass orders. Plus white water would have made the line of the beach easier to spot in the dimness. The lack of surf might make their approach easier but a little extra noise would have been welcome, Svengal thought. In the bow, Svengal and two other crew members crouched fully armed, peering ahead to catch sight of the dim line where the water met the beach. Such was their skill that the loudest sound was the lap-lap-lap of small ripples along the wooden hull. They were Erak’s most experienced oarsmen and they were used to the task of approaching an enemy coast stealthily.Īnd during raiding season, all coasts were enemy coasts. The four rowers wielded their oars carefully, raising them only a few centimeters from the water at the end of each stroke so that the noise of drops splashing back into the sea was kept to a minimum. With her sail furled and the yardarm lowered to the deck, and propelled by only four of her oars, the wolfship glided slowly toward the beach. Wolfwind emerged from the predawn sea mist like a wraith, slowly taking physical form. Normal0falsefalsefalseMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/* Style Definitions */table.MsoNormalTable
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