by Matt » Wed Aug 24, 2005 10:17 am
Once the Nass was under sail, headway dropped off. The ship could not make as much speed on its beam reach as under oar, but with current that so aided the return trip, impeded the outbound. The oarsmen could not fight against both. As mid-afternoon approached, the three ships rounded the two points marking the passage from the inner fjord to the outer. Here the ships turned northwest, and had to sail very close to the wind indeed. Turning to Jorst, Lord Anaka says, “Not as much shipping as I would expect. Just a few fishing craft and the one merchantman. We should have seen two or three more by now. I like it not.”
As the ships passed Chulainn Island to the west, the wind began to die down again. “Ha!” cried, Lord Anaka. “Sarajin has stayed his icy hand! Reef the sail!”
At once, men sprang to the task. One limber fellow shinnied up the mast and unhitched the rakke from the masthead, and as men hauled the sail down, used his weight to help push it down to the deck. Even as this was happening, other men were positioned to catch the sail, and fold it in alternate layers and then secure it to the yard. This accomplished, the men swung the yard parallel with the keel and secured the yard to the t-posts fore and aft of the mast.
“Unship oars!” ordered Lord Anaka. “And, on the alternate - heave!”
All through the late afternoon, the three ships rowed northwest, pausing only to relieve the rowers with those who had rested. As the Nass was short-handed, everyone took a spell, including Lord Anaka. By nightfall, the flotilla had passed the Raze Rocks - the teeth of the fjord. A few hours later, steering by the stars in the near darkness - for the risen moon was but a slivered, silvered crescent - the Nass parted company with the other ships. They hailed and cheered as the other two warboats turned to the northeast, raising sail now that they would be running before the light winds of the night. The Nass, by contrast, continued to row steadily northwest, alone now but for the starry night.
Soon, Lord Anaka pointed to the west. “There is Thuinn Island. Once we clear the north point, we must turn due west.” Shortly before midnight, they could see a storm brewing inland to the southwest, with lightning strikes. “Bjarri’s hammer,” murmured some of the men, as the sound of thunder floated across the fjord. As the warboat approached the shore, Anaka turned the tiller and the warboat proceeded north, hugging the shoreline. “There it is,” he said at last, pointing. The mariners could just make out a part of the shore which seemed darker - a small cove. “There we shall spend the rest of the night,” Anaka proclaimed. He turns to the Seld warband. “We are about half a league north of Hoeg. Will you spend the night here, or will you scout the village now?”