Hrothgar and the Nicors’ Lair
It was now the tenth day since we had left Wasterwic. Hidegund looked particularly pleased when she delivered her morning report. No less than 15 more former slaves had regained their full wits. She hoped to see a faster recovery rate in the remaining victims of the seith brew as its effects left their blood. Of the remaining 32, maybe a score could row, leaving a dozen still very poor, of whom only two were still deranged and needing to be restrained.
Another five wounded patients had also returned to full fitness. There were still 17 wounded of whom three were capable of light duties. Osgar and Hunstan, the steorman of the Osprey had regained consciousness and could sit up. Five were still criticakl, including Sweyn and Leofric. Of the Eowan captives there were 19 in total; five lightly wounded, five more seriously and one gravely injured.
Miska had returned overnight. He reported that all our opposition had left Sikvarp. The Eowan ships had left to the South, and the army had headed West. One of Wiglaf’s scout friends, Linda, brought news. King Wiglaf had finally triumphed and seized Borgholm. The Eowan force was outside Borgholm, and there were remnants of the original force still holding out in the hedge maze. The Geatish fleet was now on the other side of the straits. She did not know who had control of Borgholm harbour, but Wiglaf had the citadel. There were several thousand Eowan now besieging him.
The Corn King and Queen requested an audience. They begged Wistand not to take them off the island, as they believed they would whither and die, due to their links with the land. They explained that they did not love the witches – they love the land. They further explained that the bodyguards had been linked with them by the witches, and they would be willing to let them go with us.
Miska was awoken and explained again that all Eowan forces had left Sikvarp. If there was anyone left they were very quiet. The last ships had left with many many slaves, few warriors. Many many warriors had left and headed to the west. This made it seem likely they had headed to Stanbeorg which was the muster point and then on to Borgholm.
Aelstan was very keen on taking Sikvarp. Apparently Wiglaf had not given the Weather Geats advance notice of his plans and many were already occupied when he had asked for aid. He thought that detailed information on Sikvarp might be invaluable for the future.
Wistan decided to load up the ships, which would take at least half a day and led a force to investigate Sikvarp. Before we set out the Corn King and Queen asked for a fire and their bodyguards. A fire was provided and they teenagers seemed to start grooming each other and then each pulled out a thread or a long hair out of their garments and burnt it in the fire. The bodyguards immediately collapsed into a deep sleep. The young twins admitted they hadn’t known what to expect but that they hoped the two bodyguards would be OK. They didn’t think it would matter whether or not they were there when the bodyguards awoke, and said they had all been together for five years now.
I went with the party marching to Sikvarp and the teenage twins came along with their gear. It took roughly two hours to get to where we could see into Sikvarp. There was a hedge surrounding it, with a hall and some other buildings. There were no dogs and no sign of any fires, although it was July. There was very little livestock, just a few stray goats and the odd chicken. All the ships had departed save for a couple being dismantled for the wood, drawn up on the shore. We headed down to the settlement, but there was no sign of life.
We reached the entrance to the hedge maze. The twins told Wistan that the witches force the hedge sprites to do things, but that they could control them. The female called something and the male added a name; they said a few words and told us Wistan that it was safe to enter. Sure enough we were allowed to pass through unscathed.
Past the hedge maze was a dry-stone wall, with a gate barred on the inside. We hoisted Wistan up on a shield and he jumped down and opened it. All was quiet within. Similar to Forc-Hafn there was a three-storey hall with the ground floor of stone and the upper storey with the entrance of wood. Above there was a viewing platform. The hall was completely empty. There were a few other buildings within the compound. These were also empty.
From the platform, there was a great view over the harbour, I couldn’t help the suspicion there was something lurking in the harbour. There was a big inner bay, with a small river running in to it. There was a small island in the river, closer to the southern side and sand bars across most of the mouth. There was a narrow channel to the south of the island and it looked like there might be a wider channel to the north at the end of the sand bar. Aetheflaed the West Geat, who had not been a prisoner for long, told Wistan that she remembered seeing vessels coming in and out of Sikvarp and they always used the narrow, southern channel.
Herewuld and a few others set off back to Forc-Hafn to pass on the information we had found, so that everyone could be transported her. Meanwhile Wistan arrayed his archers and slingers around the channel ready to give covering fire when our ships arrived.
A few hours later the Black Pig led the ships into Sikvarp, with Ruric at the helm. As it entered the channel, a nicor reared out of the water and tried to attack it. Its beaked head tried to strike the ship, but was struck by a flicker of blue flame from the ship and I joined in with our other missile men. It reared back and tried to strike again and Leofdag loosed lightning from his gem at it and more missiles struck it. The nicor grabbed an oarsman and threw him aside. It tried a third assault, but was struck with more blue lightning and missiles and was driven below the water. The Black Pig and the other ships were able to land safely at the harbour.
The oarsman was Eoffa, who had only recently recovered his wits after being a slave. Unfortunately, he was thrown to the shore by the nicor and was already dead when help reached him.
The two bodyguards had now awoken. They were Gethunge and the last thing they remembered was having been in a storm and washed up on a beach. They realised this must have been five years ago and they had no recollection at all of the intervening time. Wistan explained what had happened to them and they clung to the mention of the witched. They were reunited with their gear and once they were armed, they started to feel a little better. They said the had been on the way to the Isle of the Weather Geats to act as bodyguards for a merchant, but none of the Weather Geats present recognised the merchant’s name.
Wistan asked the corn king and queen whether the nicor was still present, but they were unable to confirm whether it was still alive.
On the headland to the north of Sikvarp was a very small hall, with room for six to sleep and a platform to view out to sea. From there we I could see well out to sea. There was an outer bay outside Sikvarp, which gave shelter in all directions apart from to the south. The inner bay was protected in all directions. Forc-Hafn was past a couple of headlands to the north. To the south was Ossby, the harbour for Eekthorp.
Once all the ships were safely moored Leofdag took charge of one of the Eowan ships and a group of armed men to collect Eofor’s body. Disturbingly he returned empty handed – the body was no longer there. He had found drag marks leading to the inland side of the island near to large, flatish rock with runes and blood stains. It looked like it had had long use as a site of sacrifice and was close to a convenient landing point.
A watch was posted on the viewing platform on the headland north of Sikvarp. Which should be able to give sufficient warning to load up the ships and vacate the harbor should the Eowan fleet return. Watch would just be kept during daylight hours. Pairs of men were drawn by lot and the last watch of the day was made up of two freedmen – a Sweon called Aelmar and a Small-lander called Bryhthelm. They failed to return at dusk, which caused some concern, but it was thought unwise to search in the dark.
A larger party was sent out to check the platform at dawn and found it deserted. There were no signs of any struggle at the platform but Miska identified a spot where there had been a struggle and a trail through some reed-beds into the water and some traces of blood.
Hildegund’s positive morning report was somewhat overshadowed by these worrying signs. Sixteen of the mind-enslaved were now recovered this morning. There were now less than a score of the seith-blasted remaining in her care, all of whom could probably row if required and none now needed restraining for their own safety.
The best news however was that Thegn Osgar was now fully recovered and back to normal. There were now only 11 remaining in the sick-bay but of these, five were fit for light duties and only Leofric, was still in a serious condition. Sweyn was amongst those now sitting up in bed and sipping gruel.
The most pressing matter was the disappearance of the two watchmen and Eofor’s body. It seemed likely that the nicor was still active or that there was more than one of them. This meant that the ships would be vulnerable on trying to leave the harbor, especially as the Black Pig was the only ship with protection. All looked towards the thegn and his companions.
Amongst the crew of the Sea Otter there was a portly, jolly Wade-Priest, called Bhumoth who said that for those who had silver to sacrifice he might be able to provide amulets that would allow them to operate in the water for a while without the need to breathe. He wore a sealskin cape, which looked rather too warm for wearing at this time of the year. For a sacrifice to wade he said that he could craft an amulet. The outcome could not be certain, but he would waive his normal priest fee. The length the of time the amulet would last depended on the amount sacrificed and whether the God was receptive. A sacrifice of 1lb silver and God willing it might run for an an hour. For 2lbs of silver the duration would be longer and would allow free action underwater. The amulets would last for no more than a moon.
There was an inlet in the island near the site of the sacrifice, with drag marks and where it was obvious the level of water quickly deepened. The altar was a large flattish rock, which was obviously a natural feature but some efforts had been to flatten. This seemed a likely spot for a cave for any nicor. Leofdag agreed that it was almost certainly the area.
I looked at my meagre collection of silver and realised that even with my share of the loot garnered so far I had insufficient funds to pay for even the lesser of the two amulets. Fortunately my generous lord, Osgar offered to pay for a sacrifice of 2llbs of silver for both himself and I. Herewulf, Torwulf, Wistan and Leofdag also put together bags of silver.
Bhumoth took us out to the headland by the tower and climbing down to the water’s edge, put his hand in the water and shouted his galdor. He took Lyttelman’s silver and threw it into the sea and then handed an amulet back to the thegn. He announced that the God was pleased with the sacrifice. Next he took the silver for my sacrifice and threw that out to sea and handed me an amulet with no further comment. He then repeated eth process with 2lbs of silver from Wistan and 1lb of silver from Herewulf, Torwulf, Herefrith and Leofdag. He made no further comments until he had completed all the amulets, when he told us that he was particularly pleased with Lyttelman’s and Herewulf’s amulets and less pleased with Wistan’s and mine. He told us the trigger words for our amulets.
It was now well into afternoon and we set off for the altar after a hearty meal. Bhumoth explained that those with the 2lb of silver amulets should be able to use any of our weapons, but that stabbing would probably be better. We were rowed out to the inlet and left at the altar. Wistan carefully tied a rope around the rock, where there were already scraps of old ropes – probably from the tying of sacrifices. Bhumoth accompanied us, he was not armed, but was dressed in his sealskin cape. Lyttelman followed by myself then Wistan started to climb down the rope and I triggered my amulet. It was easy to go down as my weight carried me down with seemingly less resistance from the water than I was expecting. Also the water did not seem as cold as expected and I could breathe normally; the water seemed to not quite reach me – it almost seemed to retreat away from me. As I climbed down, hand over hand, it soon became quite dark, although there seemed to be a bit of a glow from below. There was another flash of phosphorescence and movement below and Osgar let go of the rope and dropped to the seabed. A nicor, the source of the flash of luminescence, moved in to attack him and tried to bite off his left arm. I also let go of the rope to drop down in aid of my thegn, while Wistan faced with a longer drop continued climbing down. Lyttelman scored along the nicor’s side with his rune-marked scramasaex. As I regained my balance, I noticed luminescence from the island and a flash of movement. I stood by the thegn with my spear ready as the nicor closed in again. Wistan dropped his spear butt first and slid down the rope.
The nicor came in for the attack and Lyttelman again scored down the side of its body with his scramasaex. I stabbed it with a two handed spear and pierced the side of mouth and into its body. I was forced to drop the spear as it rushed up the spear towards me with its jaws snapping in its death throes. It thrashed in the water spilling dark ichor. Wistan joined us and picked up his spear. Herewulf, Torwulf and Herefrith triggered their amulets and swam down. I reclaimed my spear.
The seabed was a mixture of sand and rock. All that could be seen was one phosphorescent spot. We started to head towards it and Herewulf spotted the entrance to a tunnel.
Osgar followed by me, Wistan, Leofdag, Herewulf, Herefrith and Bhumoth crawled into the low tunnel. Herefrith made his way backwards acting as the rearguard. I believe it was a bit of a squeeze for Herewulf, who is a large man. After about 10 yards I could see it opening up ahead. In front of us, sitting on a rock is what looked like a little girl. “Have you come to see my mummy?”, she asked. Undeceived by the wiles of the nicor, which he had experienced before, Osgar rushed straight in and stabbed her, and I followed him in. The little girl changed to a serpent and the thegn stabbed it in the middle as it tried to wrap a coil around him. Both Osgar and I hit it again and it started to squeeze. It sank its teeth into Lyttelman’s left arm and he started to feel the pain from the venom as we both sunk our weapons into it again and it started thrashing around in death throes.
We were in a smallish waterlogged cave with an exit ahead. I watched the exit as Wistan treated the thegn – giving him a tourniquet, opening the wound and trying to suck out the poison. Osgar looked glassy eyed and seemed to be weakening as the venom took effect, but Leofdag took his arm and muttered some galdor. He said he had stopped the progress of the venom for now, but the thegn would need proper healing.
There was a larger tunnel ahead and Wistan led the way in followed by myself, Leofdag, Herewulf and Torwulf. Herefrith stayed with Lyttelman. We suddenly emerged in a cavern free of the water and Wistan was faced by a large black and scarlet naga, with the body of a snake below the upper body of a woman. Armed with a two-handed long-bladed spear, Wistan dodged the naga’s attack, but was struck a glancing blow. He struck back with a glancing blow with his own rune marked spear. The naga tried to loop a coil around him, which started to wrap around his right leg. Wistan struck at the coil in an effort to free himself and the naga struck another glancing blow. He managed to break free of the coil and stabbed her again and I also struck her with my own spear, but my spear, not being a rune weapon, just didn’t seem to penetrate as I would have expected.
Leofdag was the next to emerge and prepared to cast a spell. Wistan failed to dodge and was struck on the head and dazed. I stabbed the naga again, but she managed to loop a coil around my middle. Herewulf came in to assist us. The naga stabbed Wistan again, this time in the guts, causing him to double over in pain, incapacitated, and at the same time started to squeeze me. I thrust again into the coils and Herewulf stabbed with his own rune marked scramasaex, catching it where the naga changed from a woman’s body into the serpent tail, but she continued to squeeze out my life force. The naga beats Herewulf’s dodge and stabbed him in the chest, knocking him back into the water and she squeezed more tightly.
Leofdag cast his galdor and touched a coil – there was zap of blue, I stabbed it again. The naga gave a convulsive squeeze, thrust her spear at Leofdag but seemed to lose interest and top of its body flopped over my spear. I managed to step clear of the coils, exhausted.
Ahead we saw a rocky plinth, that looked like a bed of sorts with a naked young woman on, with several wounds. She was still breathing. On another plinth was Bryhthelm one of the missing sentries still alive, but Aelmar the other was an inanimate corpse hanging on a nearby hook. Herewulf despatched the naked female body, which was the nicor that had attacked the Black Pig as it had entered Sikvarp. We found some remains of Eofor. There seemed to be a substantial amount of treasure. Bhumoth appeared and seeing this, said that the sacrifices seemed to have been worthwhile. Leofdag took the four human heads of the nicor. By now my amulet had finished as had most of the others, but those of Lyttelman, Herewulf and Leofdag, still seemed to be active when they were stopped.
Bhumoth had things he could do with water and took charge of bringing up the treasure, while Leofdag handled taking back Osgar. We returned to the homestead at Sikvarp to considerable acclaim. Despatching four nicor was an impressive achievement.
Leofdag took Osgar to Hildegund. She had some ideas on how to heal him. And she put a poultice on his arm and put him to bed in the sick bay.