The Longboats

Colonel Hendricks paced back and forth near the communicators with Yngvildr standing nearby looking through a pair of binoculars towards the front. The Colonel had launched a counter attack against the Greek line as they attempted to fall back on the entire front with the Romans holding the right side of the Norse lines at bay. The Germans had advanced deep behind the Greek line from the left and were now penetrating into the Greek supply lines from the rear but the Romans refused to give any ground and held on stubbornly. Ralfs artillery continued to send shells into the Roman lines causing enormous damage to their troops on top of a hill near the coast. English troops had their first taste of a modern battle as they were sent in as the right flank of the German line to meet the Greeks. He saw that so far, the English proved to be able to hold their own in a fight.

“Message from the rear,” a communicator handed a message to the Colonel.

‘King found among wounded brought in yesterday. King is alive and in hospital under care.’

“Well, Yngvildr. The King has been found and is doing fine.” Colonel Hendricks said with a smile. “All we have to do now is push the Greeks back so we can clear them from the field.”

Yngvildr stood where she was with open mouth staring at the Colonel, un-moving. She felt she could now take control of the situation, along with Colonel Hendricks help and stabilize the front. If Gunny was in the rear, he could now take charge of everything, including speaking to the northern states of Norway and Sweden and try to get their help in this war. If he could do that we would, at the very least get a truce.

“Doc!” I asked as he came to my bed side. “How’s my kids doing?”

He smiled and nodded.

“Sara is taking fine care of them for you. She was here just this morning with them but you were asleep and I left orders for you not to be disturbed.”

“Damn it, Doc!” I said, rising up on my left elbow. “I want to see my kids.”

“Not a problem now that you’re awake....AND stronger.”

“Wait a second. How long have I been here?” I was confused. I thought I had been brought in just yesterday but I could sit up now with very little pain, unlike when I was brought in when I could hardly breathe without pain.

“You’ve been here for a little over a week.” He said as he removed my bandages.

“A WEEK!” I was dumb founded.

“Yep. And you’ve been getting stronger by the day. I want to move you to another room. I need the bed space here.” He said as he let a Corpsman start putting another bandage on my chest.

“How the hell have I been here for a week? I was just brought in....” I was cut off by Doc.

“You have been under sedation and we wake you up to eat three times a day, then you’re out again.” He said as he looked down at me.

“But I....”

“No buts.” He said with a smile. “If I let you move around with that hole in your chest you would have bled to death.” He picked up his small tray of instruments and started to leave. “But now it’s beginning to close and I will let you sit up in bed, but NO getting out of bed yet. Understand?”

I nodded as I tried to sit up.

“My Corpsman are coming in here in a few minutes to move you to a private room where your children are waiting to see you. Also,” he turned to me. “The Skipper is waiting to see you too with a stack of messages from the front. Seems we have made several breakthroughs in the past week.”

“OH!” Doc turned around as a Corpsman came in with a tray, covered with a white cloth and set it on the small table next to me. He leaned over pulling the cloth from the tray revealing what looked like a hamburger bun with a hamburger, cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion on a plate. My eyes got wide as I just stared at it in amazement.

“What the...” I said as I reached for the plate. “A HAMBURGER?”

“You did ask for one last week but you couldn’t eat solid food. I think you’re ready for it now.” He smiled at me as I began to devour it as a wolf on pray.

“OH DOC!” I said after I swallowed a mouth full. “If you’d shave, I’d give you a kiss!”

Doc chuckled as he walked off to continue his rounds.

Several minutes later I was rolled into a large corner room with windows on two sides, several chairs and a desk piled with paper work where someone had been working. As the Corpsman pushed the bed into the center of the room, Sara came in with my two children, and they ran to my bed to hug me.

My son, Bjarni was four years old now and, my daughter Torhild was five and Sara had been their father and mother for a very long time now. I hugged them but my chest began to hurt so I let them down slowly, Sara stood there with a smile on her face near the desk in the corner.

“Thank you, Sara. You have been good to us and the children.” I looked at her as she stood with folded hands in front of her.

Sara moved to my bed side, laying her hand on my foot as she looked at me strangely. At first I thought my eye sight was blurring as I looked at her, she began to transform into a taller woman with golden hair and a long gold and silver lined dress.

“What...who are you?” I asked as I sat up, holding my children closer to me, both of whom seemed calm and paid no attention to her transformation.

“She does that sometimes, dad.” Torhild said as she looked up at me with a smile. “Don’t be afraid. She won’t hurt us.”

“Who are you?” I asked again as the woman smiled and moved closer to me.

“I am Frigg, Odins wife.” She said, then stood close to me.

“I have wanted to meet you for some time and was hoping you would not meet your death before I could.” She smiled. “If you had, I would have taken you to my hall, Folkvangr but I wanted to talk before that happened.”

I rubbed my eyes then looked at her again but she was still there.

“Am I talking to the goddess Frigg?” I asked.

“Yes, Gunny Hansen, you are. The Gods in Asgard are all watching you and your progress as you take Midgard forward.”

“What ...I mean, where...” I was tongue tied, looking for something to say.

“We want you to continue your quest against the Greeks and Romans. Their Gods have sights on controlling the entire planet but when you arrived you stopped them in their tracks and this made their Gods very angry.”

“Well....why didn’t you do something with your people to stop them?” I asked as I sat up. My children seemed indifferent to her presence.

“Simple. We can only give knowledge to people that they can understand. We cannot planet inventions into their minds that they don’t understand and cannot conceive into reality.”

“So....you brought us here to help?” I asked.

“Yes. But there was a miscalculation in bringing all of you here at once.” She smiled. “As it turned out, that was a benefit for us.”

“It was you that brought us here?” I frowned in thought.

“It was Asgard and Heimdal helped, when he saw what you and your men had to offer.”

“Then you can send us home!” I said, sitting up straight in the bed.

“No!” she said flatly, looking at me with searing eyes. “You are here to stay, there is no going back. You have work to do with our people and with this country. The Greek Gods are doing everything they can to kill every single person that does not comply with their rules.”

“And you are on their list I assume?” I said as I held Bjarni in my lap.

“So to speak.” She said. “There is another war going on as well, a war of the Gods and I assure you, the Gods can die as well.”

“I see. So who brought in that French officer for the Greeks and the British officer for the English?”

“Zeus!” She said. “The British officer was brought in by Heimdal to help the English fight the Romans.”

“I don’t understand.” I shifted in the bed. “Zeus is not Christian but he’s helping the Christians....why?”

“It’s a simple matter of tactics. Once he has control of the Christians, he will turn on them as he has done in the past with his people.”

“He’s using them as cover!” I said in thought. “And we, the Norse, have to destroy the Greeks AND the Romans just to defeat Zeus?”

“Exactly. And you have been doing a good job of pushing them back. Major Welsh, whom you have heard of, is leading the English now. You have gone a long way in building up these people and their way of life and I think they would balk if anyone wanted them to go back to the way things were.”

“I see.” I said.

“You come from an enlightened society where belief is held by only a few and even then they still fear death.” She moved to the window and stared out looking at the activity on the streets.

“Death is moving life from one part to another. It saddens the heart when you lose a loved one but you must remember, those loved ones have moved on to another life that is much more rewarding. Yet the sadness that you feel will stay until you have joined them...and I know this sadness.”

I thought I saw a tear in her eyes as she spoke.

“I have lost a son, Balder to the trickery of Loki.” She held her head down, trying to hide her tears. ’He is with Hella in his own hall now.”

“I know of this,” I said, not looking at her in her pain.

“This is why you must fight!” She turned around and came to my side, taking my hand, she held it softly.

“I urge you to keep fighting the Greeks until we have pushed them back to their homeland.”

I saw a sadness in her eyes and it gave thought to me that if a Goddess could have such feelings then I should try to do my best for her.

“Wait!” I said to her as I shifted uncomfortably in the bed. “You said the Gods can die. That means you are mortal?” She nodded yes. “Then how long have you been here? The old text say Odin created us and that we are decedents of the Gods.”

“Yes, you are part of us as we are part of you.” She said.

“Then you have been here since the beginning of time?” I asked with a wrinkled forehead.

“Yes. Since the beginning.” She had no expression on her face.

I moved to the edge of the bed and tried to stand but the pain was too great so I sat there looking at her with my head cocked sideways in thought.

“Then, tell me. How in the world, if you are mortal, can you live so long?” I looked at her closely before she answered. I wanted to watch her face and eyes to see if she told the truth. “I mean....Idun with golden apples? Come on!”

She smiled while looking directly into my eyes.

“Yes. That is part of the Sagas and, think about it Gunny! Would these simple people believe or even understand an intravenous drip?” As she spoke, she moved to put her hand on both my children.

“It would be like speaking to children but, you can understand when I say we have a laboratory researcher that has been with us since the beginning and found a way for us to extend our lives with an intravenous drip every nine years. The apples were for these people to understand how we live longer.”

“OK. Like Doc Roberts!” I said.

“Yes. Only Idun is a researcher and scientist and she has her own laboratory in Asgard.” She paused to look at me. “She is not a doctor like Roberts.”

“So. Do all the surrounding worlds,” I thought of a different way to say it but couldn’t think of one. “The other, dimensions, are you all there or were there, or have you been there?”

“Yes. Well, not All the worlds we have been to but all the worlds have a beginning.”

“I can’t fathom how you do it unless it covers several millennia.” I shook my head.

“Exactly.” She said smiling at me.

I looked up at her as she moved closer to my bed, a smile on her face.

“Well. Doesn’t it get boring to stay alive that long?”

She chuckled as she turned to the window and leaned closer to the glass to look out side.

“Actually, no! The people of Midgard keep us very busy.” She turned back to me with a smile. “And now with the Greek Gods bearing down on us we have cause to worry.”

“So the Greeks can invade Asgard too?” I asked, trying to get more information out of her.

“Absolutely and that is why we need you here to lead our people to victory.” She just stood there looking into my eyes.

“Somehow I can’t let go of the feeling that you are not telling me something that I SHOULD know!” I told her, then I saw the Skipper at the door to the room standing there with his mouth open.

I nodded in agreement, took a deep breath and looked at her.

“I will not stop until I have either joined your Hall or have victory, Frigg.” I said. “I give you my oath.”

I could see her eyes change as she smiled at me.

“Take this.” She put an oath ring on my wrist that was solid gold with writing of the Elder Futhark on top. It read;

‘To Frigg I am bound. To this I swear. ’

I smiled as I looked at it, then back to her, the Skipper still standing there with his mouth open seemingly unable to moved.

“I do have a question for you. I hope you’re not offended, it’s just that I’m curious.”

She nodded to me.

“You said you can die and that would mean you are mortal.” I looked at her deeply. “Where are you from?” I mean a different planet?”

She smiled at me broadly.

“I knew you would ask that eventually and I had a prepared response for it. But now I think I shall not answer it other than to tell you we are not from the same world.”

“OK. I’ll buy that, an advanced race of people. But what would happen to your Hall if you die?” I asked.

“You would inherit the Hall to yourself.”

I nodded then looked at her with a sheepish smile.

(Elder Futhark: is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic (Viking) tribes for the northwestern and Migration period dialects.

“But, what about Sara? Will she, you, still take care of my children?”

“She will and she is bound to me as well so do not worry over your children. As the Volvur told you, your decedents will conquer the sea of black.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, when I opened them Frigg was gone and Sara stood next to my bed. I reached out taking her hand.

“Did you just see what happened or where you away?” I asked her.

“I could hear it, Gunny.” She said with a smile.

“Teach my children how to fight and fight well. I know you can teach them.” I said and she nodded she would.

The Skipper walked in slowly scanning the room as he did so. He took a deep breath and sat in the chair rubbing his face with both hands as he took a deep breath again, letting it out loudly, then got up and walked out of the room.

Hagan was on the bridge of his boat when he got several messages from Skavateland from the King. The king wanted him to sail south to Brest, to the tip of France and clear out any Greek or Roman ships he finds. Create a blockade in that area and let no ships pass. Engage at will, he said. Hagan smiled broadly as he looked up at the sky and thanked the Gods.

“Make sail!” He yelled. “Half power and full sail. We head out to find the Greek navy and kill them!”

He heard a cheering throughout his boat that made his heart expand with pride.

“No more sailing around waiting for them, we’re going find them!” He yelled again as his boats sails fell into the wind.

There was renewed vigor he could actually see in his crew, both men and women, as they renewed their work on the boat at a quick pace. They were finally getting back into the war.

Major Welsh had been on the front for over a week and had become accustom to his surroundings and leading his men in the World War One tactics. He was still a bit uncomfortable being allied with the Germans as just a few years ago he was fighting against them with every fiber of his being. He kept telling himself this was a different time in history and the Nazis of the nineteen forties were not yet conceived. Oswald proved to be a man of his word on two separate occasions when the Greeks had nearly overrun his position he came to their rescue, saving them from total annihilation. A trust had been formed at that time but still, in the back of his mind he held animosity simply because he was a German.

“Message from Colonel Hendricks, sir.” He was still amazed at the telegraph system that those U.S.Marines had made.

‘Yngvildr; hold position. Germans are moving right. We are moving left. The center needs to be held for counter attack.’

Well, he thought, she certainly does know how to lead an army and is not afraid of a scrap. This Viking queen is not someone to trifle with.

“Gunny!” The Skipper came back into the room as I sat on the edge of the bed. “Our forces are closing in on the Greeks and they have pushed them back to several miles outside of Paris.” He looked around the room nervously.

“What about the Romans?” I asked.

“They have retreated near Calais and Dunkirk. Sound familiar?” He smiled as he sat down at the desk.

“Well. If Hagan has his ships out there on station they have nowhere to retreat to!” I said with a deep sigh. “What in the world are they trying to prove anyway?”

“Don’t know but they have committed suicide at the very least by not staying with the Greek army.” He turned to read more messages on the desk.

“OH!” He turned to me. “Our council has made a decision ...for you!” He said as he looked at me from the corner of his eyes.

“For me?” I was confused.

“Yes. It was agreed that you will NOT dress in a privates uniform anymore and will dress accordingly so we can keep an eye on you.” His face was that of a blank stare.

“And what the hell does that mean? Do I have to wear something that makes me look like a tyrant now?” I asked, dropping the messages to my lap.

“No.” he smiled. “It means you have to wear an officers uniform from now on AND carry a sword that was hand made from one of the old blacksmiths of this city.”

“Well. The uniform I can see but a sword too?”

“I think you’ll like this sword when you see it. Being a historian you will love it.” He said with a smile. “And he is just outside this room waiting to give it to you right now.” He stood up and walked to the door, leaning out he motioned with his hand for someone to come in.

An older man with a long braided gray beard and long gray hair came into the room holding a beautiful Viking sword in both his hands. He walked slowly to my bed side as he held the sword out to his front for me to take. It was one of the most beautiful swords I had ever seen and it was an Ulfberht sword. Elder Futhark inscriptions were on one side and the name of Odin and Frigg on the other. The older man handed me the sword then took a step back to look into my face.

“An Ulfberht?” I said as I stood with a slight grunt. The older man had a slight smile on his face when he saw my face light up at the sight of such beauty.

“This is the most beautiful sword I have ever seen.” I looked at the old man. “I cannot thank you enough for this, sir. I will treasure it for all time. AND....I make this a declaration.” I looked at the Skipper. “Write this down, Skipper and give it to the council for me.”

“This sword shall be handed down to every king of our country from this time forward.” I said but couldn’t take my eyes off the blade and the workmanship.

The Skipper looked at me with wide eyes and surprise.

“Well. I wasn’t expecting that, Gunny. But yeah, I’ll have that put in our laws right away.” He said.

“And give this man anything he wants, a new house, land, whatever he wants, Skipper. He just created a countries heirloom.” I said as I looked at the old man.

“This is a sword of power. It will take you to victory in any battle and will overcome any foe.” The old man said then he stepped back a few feet as the Skipper had to move away. Suddenly his features began to change into a tall warrior with one eye. The Skipper slid back to the wall with wide eyes, tripping over the chair then backing into the corner of the room.

“You will carry this with you at all times, Gunny. It will protect you and give you strength. It has the strength of Thor and the power of Odin with the courage of Tyr! With this you will regain the honor of our people.”

His image began to change back to that of an old man but the Skipper was still on the floor in the corner with wide eyes and open mouth.

(Ulfberht sword: 9th and 11th century swords made to modern day specifications. No one knows how they did it).

“What the HELL was that?” The Skipper asked loudly as the old man turned to look at him then back to me.

“He told me to say nothing.” The old man said with a smile. “And for me to just give it to you.”

“I will treasure this to the end of days, Odin!” I said to him.

“HAY! ANYONE?” The Skipper took a step forward. “Can you PLEASE tell me what the hell just happened?”

I smiled at the Skipper then laid the sword on the bed next to me.

“That was Odin, Skipper. He has visited me several times in the past but this time it seems he is on the winning side.” I said.

“I have to tell you on this one. I was just about to pass out with this, Gunny. It’s getting a bit strange here.” He said as he sat in the chair and held his head in his hands.

“You don’t know the half of it, Skipper.” The old man started to walk out of the room.

“Wait!” I said loudly to him.

“Skipper. Take this man to where ever he wants to go, tell the council about him and give him whatever he wants.”

“OK, Gunny. But I’ll be back with that uniform that you HAVE to wear when you leave here today.” He said.

“All right!” I snapped but showed him a smile on my face as they left.

“I can see now why you are the King, Gunny!” The Skipper looked at me with a wrinkled forehead. “You said this has happened other times?” I nodded. “If you can speak to these Gods, and I never really believed in them anyway, but if YOU can speak to them and SEE them all the time, then I have to follow you more closely. You ARE the king!”

He turned and left with the old man when another young female warrior in the green uniform came in carrying my new uniform. She hung it up near my bed, came to attention then did an about face and left. I stood, carefully, to walk over and have a closer look at it.

It was the standard green color of all our uniforms but on the stand up collar was gold Thors Hammer devices (the Mjolnier), with red piping around the top of the collar, down the front of the coat seam and around the cuffs. Four buttons were sewn onto the cuff with red piping going all the way around the cuff about six inches above the bottom to come to a point on the outside of the sleeve. There were also epaulets on the shoulders trimmed in red piping with a Mjolnier on each side. The pants had more red piping along the seams but that was all the decoration that was on them. I also noticed my metal Gunny chevron was on the left breast pocket.

“I need to start giving these soldiers some sort of decorations for their uniforms. Ribbons and medals should look nice on them.” I said to no one in particular but Torhild, my five years old looked at me.

“Dad, ribbons would look good on that green uniform!” She said.

I looked at her and smiled broadly.

“Yes they would, sweet heart, they surely would.” I picked her up and held her without pain of any kind, then took Bjarnis hand and helped him onto the bed.