Thorgar's Arc

Chapter 8 of 13

The hull was whole by dawn, but the crew still stood at Kjell's shoulder, not Thorgar's. When the boat slid into the water, the men waited for Kjell to give the word to board. Thorgar felt it in his gut. The axe Kjell had melted down bought them a boat. It had also bought the crew's eyes, and every one of those eyes turned to the wrong man. Harek dropped from the bow and wiped grease on his apron. "Loaded and sealed," he said. "She'll take the ice. But the aft oar-bench cracked in the night." He held up a splintered plank. "One man rows short. Or you fix it before the tide." The crew groaned. An older rower spat and looked to Kjell. "We should wait for another smith," he said. "Kjell would say the same." Heads nodded. The men were already choosing. Gunnar came down the shingle with his hammer, red beard swinging. He had refused Thorgar's gold two nights back. He looked at the split bench and shook his head. "No time to forge new. Tide's turning." Thorgar did not look at Kjell. He took the cracked plank from Harek and snapped it clean off with his hands. The wood cracked like a branch. The crew went quiet. "No bench, then," Thorgar said. "I'll take the short oar. I'll row the gap myself." The older rower laughed. "You'll row against twelve men?" "I'll row harder than any of you." Thorgar planted his feet on the shingle. He gripped a full oar and drove it into the water beside the hull. He heaved. The boat scraped forward across the stones, moving on his pull alone. His shoulders bunched under the bear pelt. The oar bent. The boat kept sliding. He pulled again, and again, until the keel floated free of the beach. The crew watched the boat move on one man's back. No one spoke. Thorgar set the oar down and turned to face them. Sweat ran through the woad on his arms. "I killed the thing that ate my brother's crew," he said. "I'll pull this boat to the hoard the same way. Follow me or walk home." The older rower looked at Kjell. Kjell said nothing for a long moment. Then he stepped up beside Thorgar, not in front of him, and set his hand on the hull. "He rows," Kjell said. "That's answer enough. Board." The crew moved. But they climbed in past Thorgar now, meeting his eyes, gripping his forearm as they passed. Gunnar tossed his hammer aboard and followed. Harek took the tiller. Thorgar had the crew at last. But Kjell had spent his axe and his word both, and now stood empty-handed at Thorgar's side. The men would follow Thorgar into the ice. Kjell would follow too, owed two blades from a hoard no one had yet seen, guarding a thing that could not be killed.