Vikings in the Mist · Part 1 (1/2)
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"You're daft, Diana!" Derek exclaimed.
"I am not! You're just too stodgy to even consider any unconventional theory." Diana glared at Derek, her freckled face as red as her hair.
Derek tensed, preparing to evade Diana if she decided to supplement angry words with physical assault. She embodied the stereotype of the 'feisty' redhead, and she had slapped him before when he annoyed her. When she refrained from attacking him he continued, "Theory is one thing, wide-eyed delusion is another. Do you have any shred of evidence to support your assertion that mystic Vikings raid the coast of England every two hundred years?"
"Yes I do! I have incontrovertible historical documents. I'd show them to you if I thought you had the wit to understand them. And the Vikings return every two hundred thirty years, not every two hundred."
Derek and Diana were seated at a table in an espresso bar not far from the King's Manor campus of the University of York. Seated with them were their friends Hannah and Ella. All three women were graduate students at the Centre for Medieval Studies.
A young man joined the group. He asked, "What's every two hundred thirty years?"
Derek answered, "According to Di, that's how often ghost Vikings raid the coast."
"Sounds daft to me."
Diana exclaimed, "What do you know, Tom? You're studying computers, not history! And besides, I never said they were ghosts. There are other possible explanations. My friend Anli is a physicist. She told me a lot of really strange effects have been discovered lately, such as particles locked together even though they were far apart, and effects happening before the causes. That implies time travel! But I'm just reporting what happens, I'll leave it to others to explain why."
"I've heard about the new discoveries, Di, but they happen at the quantum level, not at the shipload level."
"As I said, Tom, I'll let others provide the physical explanation." Diana turned away, signaling the conversation was over.
Tom introduced himself to Hannah. "Hi, I'm Tom. I don't recall seeing you here before. If I had I certainly would have remembered." Hannah was very pretty, with long black hair that contrasted with her pale skin and blue eyes.
"I'm Hannah. I haven't been in York very long." She smiled at Tom. He was cute.
Tom noted Hannah's North American accent. "Where are you from?"
"Corvallis, Oregon."
"That's in the States, isn't it? Why the necklace with the Canadian flag motif?"
"I wear it because anti-Americanism is England's only socially acceptable bigotry, and I got tired of being verbally attacked every time I spoke."
"Ouch. I apologize on the behalf of every resident of the UK."
Hannah smiled. "Apology accepted. I haven't experienced much abuse here, except from some of the more rabid Trots. To them even Canada is too right-wing."
Tom joked, "You complete the set."
"What?"
"Ella is a blonde, Di is a ginger, and you're a brunette. A perfect set."
Di snorted. "Tom's a perfect sexist. Ignore him."
Tom said, "I am not! Nobody's perfect." He asked Hannah, "Are you an archeologist like Ella or an historian like Di?"
"Neither. I'm studying Medieval Literature. I have a BA in linguistics."
Ella interrupted, "Hannah knows Old Norse, Di. Have you shown her your 'proof'?"
"The documents are in some version of English, not Norse. The records were compiled by the victims, not the attackers."
Tom said, "Speaking of victims, I'd like to invite all of you to take part in the Viking Festival next weekend in Hornwick, my home town. It's much, much smaller than the Jorvik activities here in York, but it takes place on the first weekend in September, not during February, so the weather is usually better."
Hannah asked, "Where's Hornwick?"
"It's on the coast, almost due east of York."
"Why does it have a Viking Festival?
"Back in the ninth century it was one of the few places on that part of the coast with a harbor and a gap in the cliffs. It was one of the first conquests of the Vikings when they switched from raiding to settling. Of course, the Festival is more about tourism than history or archeology."
Ella sneered, "It's probably all made up. Tourists wandering about eating 'Authentic Viking Fish and Chips' and drinking Watney's Red Barrel. There isn't any natural harbor now, and I don't know of any archeological sites."
Tom answered, "The geography has changed a lot in the past twelve hundred years. The coastal erosion is severe. Anything near the shore back then has long since been swallowed by the sea."
Diana asked, "So what would we do at this Festival?"
"Mostly you walk around in costume and be decorative. The concluding event is the 'Viking Raid', when bloodthirsty Norsemen plunder the town and capture the maidens. Then you scream prettily as you're carried off to a life of servitude across the North Sea."
"Sounds sexist to me," Diana protested.
"Lighten up, Di. We're talking about 850 A. D. Feminism had barely started back then."
Ella giggled. "Sounds like fun. I always wanted to be a captive maiden. How about you, Hannah?"
"I'm in. My old anthropology professor said, 'When you travel to exotic foreign lands, take advantage of every opportunity to observe the quaint customs of the natives'."
Tom said, "The ship will be supplied by the Viking Society, but they can always use more crewmen. How about joining us, Derek?"
"I don't know if I could do it. I've never been a bloodthirsty Viking."
"You've played rugby, haven't you? The skill sets are very similar."
"All right, I'll be part of the crew, especially if it gives me a chance to capture Ella." He leered at her, and she giggled again.
Tom asked, "How about you, Di?"
"All right, I'll do it, even if it is sexist. But the next landing of the Vikings is before the end of September, and I want you to come with me to observe it."
"Where does this 'landing' take place?" Tom asked.
"South of Whitby. I haven't calculated the exact time yet, but it will be sometime in the next few weeks."
"It's a deal, Di. I'll go with you. How about the rest of you? Will you help Diana with her research?"
Ella asked, "Why not? Nothing I like better than freezing on some damp beach."
"I'm really interested in this," Hannah said. "We can't dismiss documented events just because we don't have an explanation for them. Can I look at your documents, Di? I can read Old English."
Diana smiled. "Of course, Hannah. I'm glad to see at least one of you can keep an open mind."
"I'll go with you, Di," Derek said, "even though I think 'mystic Vikings' are bollocks. But I'll be there to console you and help you recover from the crushing disappointment."
Diana snarled, "Thanks a lot, you patronizing bastard! But I won't be disappointed. You skeptics are the ones who will be forced to admit the truth of what I'm saying."
Early on Saturday morning of the Festival weekend the five friends were part of a crowd of several dozen people gathered in the meeting room of the Hornwick Historical Museum. A woman in her forties stepped onto the podium at the end of the room and called for order. She was in costume, wearing an ankle-length dress made of a coarse fabric and dyed a dull yellow. Her hair was covered by a sort of square hood with a rounded upper back. It was tied under her chin and extended for some way down her neck all the way around her head.
Once the people quieted down she said, "I am Mrs. Baxter, the chairman of the Historical Society's Festival committee. The purpose of this meeting is to provide you volunteers with the information you will need to make this an enjoyable and safe experience. Let me remind you that your main purpose is to be part of the scenery, so to speak. The members of the Historical Society will be available to answer any serious questions from the public. Some of you have asked me about costumes. The Historical Society has many, and the Viking Society has others, primarily for the men, so I'm sure we can accommodate all of you. Niceties of fit were unimportant, and stains and patches were common, back in the ninth century, so don't worry if some of the costumes are shabby, it is an authentic part of the era."
She looked around the room and directed a steely gaze at Tom and the young men around him. "I want to address my next remarks to those of you who will be part of the 'Viking raiders'. I do not approve of the 'raid', but the public finds it attractive and Festival attendance suffers without it. So we tolerate it, but with strict rules, of which these are the most important: First, you are not to touch anyone who is not in costume. Young women who are part of the audience, no matter how attractive, may not be abducted." She pointed to her headdress. "This is called a coif.
In the middle ages only young unmarried women wore their hair down, the hair of respectable married women was always covered. We're not sure if coifs were common in ninth century England, but we have adopted them anyway as a clear marker. Only the women who have volunteered to be part of the raid will be bare-headed. Anyone wearing a coif is strictly out of bounds. And you may not change a woman's status by removing her coif. Is that clearly understood?"
Tom and the other young men nodded. Mrs. Baxter continued, "Very well. I want to emphasize that neither the committee nor the police will tolerate any repetition of the disgraceful events that took place last year. Now, are there any questions?" Mrs. Baxter answered some questions and then left the podium to end the meeting.
Before the crowd dispersed Tom called, "All raiders assemble over here." A half-dozen young men, including Derek, formed a loose group around Tom. He said, "I'm not going to add to anything Mrs. Baxter said. What I want to do is introduce you to one of the more practical aspects of raiding. In spite of what you may have seen on TV, it's not easy to secure a captive maiden if she's struggling. Of course, real Vikings would just clout her until she stopped struggling or became unconscious, but we can't do that. We'll be working with willing women, but they may still struggle either for audience appeal or because they panic. I'm going to show you how to deal with this. The technique was developed by the Viking Society, and it is very effective."
Tom was carrying a paper sack, and he took from it a piece of brown rope about a meter and a half in length. "This is what we'll use. It's ordinary braided cotton rope, six millimeters in diameter. It's been dyed brown to look more authentic." He put the rope back in the sack and removed similar pieces that had been doubled and had a loop formed at the doubled end. He gave one to each of the other men. "The straight rope is for tying ankles or whatnot. For tying hands we'll use the rope with the loop. Notice that the knot isn't an ordinary slip knot, it's sometimes called a 'zip-snare' knot.
With this knot you can't tighten the loop by pulling on the free ends of the rope." He put his left hand in the loop and pulled on the doubled rope with his right hand. The loop diameter didn't change. "To tighten the loop you have to slide the knot along the rope." Tom easily moved the knot with his left hand and the loop contracted. "The best property of this knot for our purposes is that you can't loosen the loop by pulling on it." He demonstrated by grabbing the loop with both hands and pulling hard. The loop didn't move.
"Now I'll show you how this works." He called, "Diana! Can you help me?"
Diana strolled over. "What do you want, Tom?"
"I need some help with a demonstration. How about it? It'll only take a few minutes."
Diana shrugged, "Alright, I'll help."
"Thanks!" Tom turned to the men. "The first thing is to adjust the loop so it is about twice the diameter of your fist, and put it over your left forearm." He did this. "Now we're ready. Watch how this works."
Tom grasped Diana's left wrist with his left hand, then spun her around, grabbed her right wrist, and forced her hands together behind her back, palm-to-palm. "Next, you hold both of the maiden's wrists in your left hand. This only works because men are stronger than women."
Diana started to struggle, but she was unable to free her hands from Tom's grip. She cried, "Stop! Let me go!"
"That's right Di, keep struggling!" Tom continued his explanation. "Move the loop up over your hand and around her wrists. Now comes the tricky part. You have to slide the knot to tighten the loop. Hold the free part of the rope with the last three fingers of your right hand and use your thumb and forefinger to slide the knot. Once it's fairly tight you can let go with your left hand and use it to tighten the knot the rest of the way." He demonstrated and stepped aside, holding the rope in his right hand. Diana was obviously fighting to free her hands, but the loop didn't slacken.
"For the final touch wrap the ends of the rope in opposite directions around the loops to make a cinch. Pull this tight and knot it. Your captive is now securely tied." Tom tied the final knot and released Diana.
Diana was furious. She stomped on Tom's toe and demanded, "Release me at once you, you…barbarian!"
Tom winced and grunted. He took another looped rope from the sack, longer than the other ropes. "If the maiden is still causing trouble here's a cure."
He spun Diana around and pulled the loop up her arms until it was above her elbows. He slid the knot and the loop tightened, drawing her elbows together. She tried to make the loop fall free of her arms by bringing her elbows together, but Tom held onto the rope. She screamed, "Let me go!"
Tom commented, "If she doesn't calm down just keep tightening the loop until her elbows touch. That usually works." He tightened the loop until it wouldn't slip down Diana's arms, but he didn't come close to making her elbows actually touch.
Diana stopped struggling. Her arms hurt, but this was minor compared to the psychological shock. She knew that men were stronger than women, but she had never really believed it, because it wasn't fair. Yet Tom, who was young and active but certainly wasn't a bodybuilder or a weight-lifter, had easily tied her up, even though she did her best to prevent it. Her feminist world-view had suffered a profound shock. Men and women weren't equal, at least physically. She tried to free her hands, but quickly realized she was inescapably bound and dependent on a man for her release. It was very humiliating. "Please untie me, Tom," she pleaded.
"At once, Di, since you put it that way." He took the loop off of her elbows and untied her hands.
Diana rubbed her reddened wrists. "Thank you. Now where do I get a coif? I want to be first in line." She stalked off as the group laughed.
"Right you lot," Tom chuckled, "you've learned the most important skill. Now we'll go outside and practice fighting with the 'village defenders'."
Soon the public started to arrive and the Festival was officially open. The volunteers wandered around, trying to be decorative. Sometimes they posed for photographs, but there wasn't much for them to do and most were bored by the late afternoon.
About an hour before sunset a Viking longship, with six pairs of oars, rowed into Hornwick's small artificial harbor and tied up to a floating pier. Tom called to Hannah, "The Viking Society is here! Come with me and I'll introduce you to my friend Ragnar, the leader. He's from Iceland, and a direct descendant of Vikings."
Tom and Hannah walked out on the pier where a large man with a long and bushy yellow beard was supervising the securing of the ship. Tom called, "Hail, Ragnar!"
Ragnar replied, "Hello, Tom. Who's this?" He cast an appreciative and feral eye on Hannah.
"This is Hannah. She's a student at York."
Hannah spoke a phrase in a language that Tom didn't recognize, but Ragnar did. He replied, "That's the ritual greeting from one of the old sagas. Your accent is strange, but I understood what you said. Where did you learn Icelandic?"
"It's not Icelandic, it's Old Norse. I'm surprised you can understand me."
Ragnar smiled, showing his teeth. "Perhaps we could meet later to discuss this further. Are you going to participate in the raid? Maybe I can capture you." He watched her as a hungry wolf might eye a helpless fawn.
Hannah now realized that perhaps Ragnar took the Viking thing a bit too seriously. She was relieved when Tom said, "She's mine, Ragnar. But don't worry, there are more than enough maidens to go around. We'll see you later." They hurried off the pier.
"Thank you, Tom, that could have been awkward. But am I really yours?"
"If you want to be."
Hannah didn't reply in words, but she took his arm as they walked back to the 'village'.
Vikings in the Mist · Part 1 (1/2)
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