To ensure Thegn Osgar’s return to Gefndene by the most direct route, Eorl Sighere provided two of his own Gesiths as guides. He also furnished the Thegn and his party with horses. To the surprise of the Gefndeners it took but two days to reach Gefnhame thus mounted. Before the end of the first day they passed a confluence of valleys and their guides pointed out the most northerly of these as leading to Uppsalla where sat the Yngling king of the Sweons. Thus Lytelman and his companions came to understand just how close Sighereston, Uppsala and Gefnhame were each to the other.
When he reached his own halls, Thegn Osgar sent out the War Arrow to the folk of Gefndene and at the end of a week he had mustered a force of around a score of warriors drawn from his own household and the valley at large. It took some days for the messengers to go out and for all to set their affairs in order and make their way to the muster point at Gefnhame, so it was well into the month of Aerra Litha before the Gefndenings were ready to march. Lacking horses for all, they were constrained to move at foot pace. Thus it was that by the time they returned to Sighereston the Eorl and his men had already set sail for Vasterwick. However, true to his word to Lytelman, Sighere had left them a ship and a small crew of experienced sailors under a fellow named Hwaetman.
Discussions between Hwaetman, Lytelman and the two Gesiths, Brihtnoth and Beorhtsige, concluded that the best chance of reaching Vasterwick in time for the moot was to use inland waterways rather than chance the open seas with a ship full to bursting with inexperienced seamen. This meant a lot of rowing and four short portages but Hwaetman was confident that he knew the quickest route. The mast was un-stepped and left in Sighereston to make the ship lighter for portage, men stowed their war-gear aboard with some provisions and they set off the following dawn.
Progress was slow as it became immediately apparent that few of the Gefndeners had ever handled a ship’s oar in all their lives. Then, on the third day as they were heading up a river flowing into the Malanmere from the south they encountered a Nicor in the form of a large river serpent. The Geats acquitted themselves well. Driven off from the bow by Wistan and Lytelman who stood guard there, it shifted its attack to the starboard rowers, breaking and several oars and causing others to be jettisoned. It seized upon Leofric Tondberhtson seeking to seize him in its jaws and drag him down to its watery lair. In the end he was much indebted to his own hearthguard Ceadwalla who sat on the rowbench behind him and set upon the creature with his saex. His cousin Beornfrith who was on watch with his bow set several arrows into its neck. Discomfited from all the blows it took, the Nicor at last relinquished its hold upon Leofric, leaving him with a badly savaged shoulder and sank into the waters, running red with its blood.
Through all this the port oarsmen, urged on vocally by Herefrith, one of their number, held firm while the starboard sculls, including Herefrith, managed to keep enough way that the ship did not turn side-on to the current. Nevertheless, the Geats were unlucky enough to snag upon the only rock standing out of the mostly flat reedy banks which scored their ship’s side. By the time they pulled up on a sandy shore a mile or two further up stream it was clear they were taking on water. They lost a day and a half mending the damage.
As they workedto repair the ship, another shipload of Geats passed their mooring on the way to the moot. Though there was some good-natured jesting at their ill-luck, they were friendly enough and spared a pair of oars to compensate for some of those lost. However, they did not tarry for they did not wish to be latecomers themselves – arriving after all the celebrations, when the best of the ale and mead was done and all the good armour and weapons traded for.
When they reached the first portage they found that many had been there before them, including the ship that had passed them the previous day. That there was little food or supplies to spare and the gebur and theofs they had hoped would help them with the portage were engaged with other ships along with their draught beasts and rollers. It was a long haul hard for the inexperienced crew and took more time than Hwaetman had expected. Three portages they made in all and at each one the story was the same. To make matters worse the weather turned wet and the already churned ground of their passage became slippery and muddy.
By the time the Gefndeners finally came to Vasterwick. The moot was all but over. They received the news that King Wiglaf had declared his feud with the Beowulf’s treacherous gesiths done, as they were all dead or fled far away. He proposed that his muster should take ship as soon as possible to lay waste the island of the Eowan, as reprisal for their raid upon Stokeney the previous year. There were those who muttered that this had been better done last year, instead of raiding in the Small-lands pursuing personal feuds. However, in general this course of action was welcomed. The Weather Geats who had arrived at the moot with many ships were particularly in favour of an attack on their old enemies, for Eowan pirates were a constant menace to their ships in the White Sea and those of their trading partners.
There were few West Geats at the moot but men noted that amongst those that were present were no less than four Wulfings. It was observed but little remarked that the four spent much of their time together – as kinsmen, especially those long sundered, are wont to when they meet at the moot. That they were Wulfings meant that none were overly surprised when they set themselves apart from other men and were not much seen around the campfires at night. However, eyebrows were raised and tongues set a-wagging when the youngest of the Wulfingas, Wistan, ostentatiously bought a horse with gold from his own arm shortly after consulting a Tiw-Priest.
The horse itself was a magnificent creature and there was much speculation as to its previous owner – a thegn or eorl, perhaps – who clearly felt the need for gold more than horseflesh but did not want the world to know they needs must make such a choice. Perhaps it was someone who had thought to ride to war but now had greater need of a ship. In any case it seemed likely that this magnificent white steed was destined for the altar and men licked their lips in anticipation and wondered at the wealth and open-handedness of this young Wulfing aetheling. For who would not want to taste a morsel of such a mighty war-horse in the hope that some of the Battle-Luck that it brought might rub off upon them. However, instead of leading his purchase to the makeshift shrine where the Tiw-Priests sharpened their knives and set their seething pots to boil, Wistan showed every sign of keeping the horse and began to make enquiries about the possibility of feeding and stabling the beast while he was at sea.
Some shook their heads in wonder at the thought of a man so mazed or so reckless as to withhold sacrifice from the War God on the eve of battle. Others speculated that perhaps it was a deliberate snub by the Woden-worshipping Wulfings against the Tiw-born Hrethlings. Perhaps that was why these Wulfings were here when the bulk of the West Geats had stayed at home. Others suggested that perhaps Wistan was but a pawn in a greater pissing-contest between Woden and Tiw. Men remembered the hero Starcaed, blessed by Woden with great strength and a span of many lifetimes, but cursed by Thunor with great sorrow and infamy in each.
Meanwhile, despite his late arrival Lytelman found himself admitted to the councils of the Wise, sponsored by Eorl Sigehere, as they discussed plans the raid upon the Eowan. It seems that Thegn Osgar-Lytelman’s name was on everyone’s lips after his deed in slaying the Wose of Bardney. He also remade the acquaintance of the Arcenbright the blind scop, thyl and runemaege who some say set him upon the path to Bardney in the first place, although it seemed to bystanders that there was little kindness in the words exchanged between them.