The Angry Mermaid 77 or Y Morforwyn Dicllon 77

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The first phase of the battle between Vikings and Saxons deals with Drustina's contribution to it's progress before she is burned and incapacitated.

I'm sorry for the long delays between chapters but the superb cycling weather here in the UK coupled with a full DIY workload and my busy social life (Sparkle weekend et al) has precluded me from writing much.

The first phase of the battle takes place wholly at sea the second phase has not yet been started so please bear with me as to the long intervals between chapters at the moment.

Bev.

The Angry Mermaid 77

Or

Y Morforwyn Dicllon 77.

That night, as the long summer evening slowly shaded into night, Drustina took her whole fleet of mermaid ships plus Udris’s Celtic ships out to sea and southwards. Her plan was to wait in the darkness with the bulk of her ships just over the south-west horizon while the usual line of ‘picket ships’ stretched to the north so as to spot the main Viking invasion fleet as it sailed north-west towards the south coast of Wessex. This was the first time Drustina had ever faced the Vikings in full frontal ‘stand-up; knock-down’ battle where both sides were prepared.

She had fully two dozen ‘Mermaid class’ ships and a dozen Brithonic Celtic ships built to face heavy oceanic seas. This meant high freeboards, high prows and wide beams to withstand the mighty breaking wave tops in storms that would ensure certain death to the long, low, sleek, Viking longships. Sadly the high summer put the Celtic ships at a disadvantage because the seas were relatively calm.

She also had the three captured Viking longships that had been captured prizes for the Dumnonii when Drustan had helped defeat Blueface. There was also a veritable abortion of a craft that Carl and Althred had fashioned from two Old Saxon longships that were deemed not much use because of their age and decayed condition. The Saxons, at Carl’s encouragement, had secured the two craft together like a modern Catamaran and built a small trebuchet on the stable platform the hulls provided. However, this craft could only work in a relatively calm sea so Drustina was forced to let it loiter alone within the Eastern lee Ynys Wit.
In fact, the ‘catamaran’ was deemed more use to Althred’s contingent waiting hidden in the Cws Creek and the Porsea basin. Fortunately, by dint of the picket line of ships, the trebuchet catamaran was within contact distance of Drustina’s main force. During the night, Drustina encouraged all men to eat and sleep ready for an early morning attack. She even tried to sleep herself but the tension was too much. Eventually, as Dawn slipped long slender fingers of light into the sky, Drustina saw a signal arrow fired from the picket ship to the north and east of her. Immediately the whole fleet was on alert and started to sail towards the signal. As the Viking fleet appeared silhouetted in the dawn sunlight Drustina counted the odds, she turned to Hengis who returned her concerns.

“How many d’you make?”

“About seventy.” Drustina replied. “Of which about sixty are longships. The ships I’m more concerned with are those fat trading ships in the middle line. They’ll most likely have the cavalry horses.”

“Hence they are the ships enjoying the greatest protection.” Hengis frowned. “Two lines of longships on either side of them.”
Drustina shrugged.

“Well! Those are the ones we’ve got to get to. Unless we can stop those horses getting a foothold on the Wessex shore, the Vikings will have a bridgehead and they’ll be a bastard to remove. I don’t think King Ethelred will have the stomach for it and if Harald gets a grip on this south coast, you can write finis to any Saxon victory. Twenty years and the whole damned country will be speaking Norse.”

Hengis looked again at the overwhelmingly powerful Viking fleets and turned thoughtfully towards Drustina.

“So! Any ideas?”

“We’ve got the weather edge. They’re close hauled while we’ve got a soldier’s wind.”

Hengis smiled.

“Go on; tell me you’ve got an idea.”

Even as she studied the five lines of Viking ships strung out and determinedly maintaining a north-westerly course, Drustina Realised Harald’s ships could not get any closer to the wind. They could not turn and meet Drustina’s ships without swinging through eight points of wind and sailing south-west; a course that would take them away from Wessex. If Harald Cold Blood wanted to maintain his main objective of invading Wessex he would have to continue sailing north-west. If he did this, it meant the ships to the rear would be hard pressed to get up to the fighting zone if Drustina concentrated her forces against the front port section of the Viking formation. Only about ten or fifteen Viking ships could immediately close up to defend the troop ships. Furthermore, the Viking warships to the north of the line would have to turn and thread their way between the slow lumbering troop carriers and that would totally upset Harald’s protective formation as the troopships would be forced to avoid the crossing escorts. If the Vikings took to using oars to close up their men would have to keep up their rowing for several hours and the Vikings had already encountered Drustina’s Mermaid ships. There would be little enthusiasm to indulge in several hours of hard rowing simply to exceed the mermaid ships by perhaps one or two knots. They had learned to their bitter cost that the mermaids were fast, unbelievably fast.

Drustina had thirty-nine ships running free before the wind. More importantly, she could gather them tight together and deliver a fast heavy punch where it mattered, into the enemy’s foremost weather squadron the forward port side of the formation. She turned to Hengis.

“Pass the message; tell all the ships to close up tight. We’ll hit them with one big powerful punch but not yet. Let them get closer to the Nab before we attack.”

“Go on,” Hengis replied. “I’m intrigued.”

“The closer we bring them to Althred’s squadrons and that trebuchet abortion that Carl has fashioned, the better our chance of concentrating all our forces. As they try to enter the Solanta they’ll be facing Carl’s forces ahead of them and ours on their port bow with the weather edge. Once they get anywhere near the Trebuchet ship we’ll attack their port forward section. I don’t know what range that thing of Carl’s has got but a few hefty rocks hurled into the hull of one of those longships will do some real damage; possibly even sinking one or two. I can live in hope.”
Hengis smiled as he swallowed the last of his cold meat.

“Carl told me his plan was to fire small loads of fist-sized stones at the greater ranges that will force the Vikings to take protective measures. Then, as they get closer, he’ll change the ammunition to much heavier boulders that should smash through the planking of those long ships. He’s depending on you to give him cover with fire arrows if he ends up in the thick of it. He’s too slow to get away from any ship that puts alongside him.”

Drustina sucked thoughtfully.

“It could work; in fact it plays into my plan. To be honest I’d more or less written that contraption off because it’s so slow but if he can damage two or more longships he’ll force Cold-Blood to reconsider their approach route. He can’t afford to have the port side columns of his fleet weakened too much because we will outnumber him by too much on this side. We’ll continue shepherding his fleet on a North-westerly course towards the Nab point and Carl’s artillery piece. Keep our ships closed up and when I give the order, we’ll come hard around and drive straight into their van when they come within range of Carl’s trebuchet. I’ll send one ship to stay close to Carl in case they have to evacuate if the Vikings reach them. How much ammunition has Carl got?”

“Enough for fifty loads of stone but he reckons the Vikings will be upon him before then and he’ll have to abandon. He told me he’s got preparations to dump the rocks if they are overwhelmed.”

Drustina nodded with satisfaction. ‘If Carl could get off fifty slings of stones, he could do some real damage.” She changed her orders.

“Send two ships to protect him with fire arrows. The more protection we give him and his men; the more he’ll be inclined to keep firing until they run out of ammunition.”

Hengis nodded with Satisfaction and immediately despatched two mermaid class ships towards Carl’s catamaran. Drustina watched them go then, when they reached Carl’s catamaran-barge she decided it was time to make her move. Even as she passed the order to advance, she had the satisfaction of seeing Carl fire off the first load of fist sized rocks. She watched the splash as some of the stones tore holes in the sail of the lead longship while some stones landed amongst the rowing crew. It seemed however that most of the stones splashed into the water just in front of the approaching ship. Drustina smiled with no small satisfaction as she noted that the commander of the longship diverted his attention from Drustina’s approach to the unquantifiable threat from the floating trebuchet. Consequently, Drustina had advanced to well within bow-shot before the Viking commander had realised he was under attack from two places, directly ahead and his port side.

He passed the order to the men to arrange their shields into a turtle to protect them from the falling rocks but this act only exposed the rowing men to the horizontal flights of the arrows zipping in on flatter trajectories from the side. For long seconds, confusion reigned as the Viking crew struggled to re-arrange some of their shields above their heads whilst leaving others to protect them from the flaming arrows slicing in horizontally.

The upshot of their efforts was to lessen the line of shields along the rail and thus leave some rowing positions exposed. Naturally the rowers in these positions were reluctant to expose themselves too much and the speed of the rowing dropped commensurately. Drustina had not anticipated this unexpected bonus but she took full advantage and soon the after rowers were incapacitated as flight after flight of arrows decimated their unprotected ranks.

As she watched the lead ship’s speed drop she saw the next salvo of stones crash onto the turtle but the turtle held. The stones were too small. Carl had obviously realised the problem because the next salvo comprised only a dozen or so larger boulders. Drustina watched with evident satisfaction at Carl’s success.

He’s obviously practised a lot with those stones and the range settings!’ She surmised as the turtle crumpled in several places and howls of agony erupted from the longship. The rowing rhythm faltered some more as injured men had to be replaced and Drustina decided it was time to strike. She led two other ships directly into the port side of the lead vessel and smashed many oars as the tough hulls of the mermaid ships slammed against the long-ship’s oars. More curses and howls erupted from the packed Viking crew as the broken oars whipped back and forth like scythes. As the mermaid ships came to rest with their bows embedded in the side planking of the bigger Viking ship, they pumped as many fire arrows as they could into the massed ranks of the Viking crew then steeled themselves for the enraged onslaught by the remaining uninjured Vikings.

It wasn’t long coming but the broken oars of the Viking ship precluded any chance of ‘oar-hopping’ aboard. They only had three points where they could board the three mermaid ships and that was by ‘shinning’ up the bow-posts of each of Drustina’s ships. This proved impossible for Drustina’s men could duck down behind the high bow-rail and concentrate their fire wherever they wished including the three points where the Mermaid bows were embedded in the long-ship’s side. Drustina looked across at her companion vessels and noted that the vessel that had impacted amidships had actually broken the long-ship’s planking down to the water line. It only remained for the middle of the three attackers to back off and expose the cleft to the sea. They arranged for one of the three captured longships crewed by the Dumnonii to row past and throw a line to the stern of the middle vessel. As they quickly fastened the stout rope, the speed of the passing vessel yanked her smaller ally out of the cleft in the planking and Drustina watched with evident satisfaction as the Viking long-ship started to take in water.

That’ll keep them busy.’ She thought as she debated how they were to extricate themselves from the after end of the sinking Viking.

As Drustina signalled for assistance from another of the captured Dumnonii longships she could fail to hear more curses coming from the inner longship as Carl’s trebuchet hurled several volleys of increasingly heavy stones as the trebuchet crew became more proficient and the inner lead ship got closer. She fretted until the Dumnonii longship had yanked her free of the Viking then she steered a course abaft of the disabled ship to attack the stern of the inner ship with more fire arrows.

This tactic served to slow the inner lead ship further as slowly the fire arrows began to pick off any improperly shielded Vikings. Other ships in Drustina’s fleet now took notice of her tactic and started to attack other longships in ratios of three to one. This was only possible because Drustina’s forces were up-wind of the centre of the Viking columns and thus the Vikings could not sail directly into the South-westerly breeze. After thirty minutes, four Viking were sufficiently disabled to be discounted whilst one Mermaid ship had been forced to flee to Nab point and beach herself before she sank.

At one stage, The Viking supply train came too close to Carl’s trebuchet and the second Viking merchantman paid a heavy price. Carl had chosen the largest stones he had and fired them into the transport ship with devastating accuracy. Drustina turned briefly to watch with satisfaction as the transport came to an abrupt halt as the masts swayed because of broken stays and the sails became unmanageable. As men exposed themselves to injury as they struggled to repair the rigging, Carl launched a second salvo of medium-sized stones to decimate their ranks. The Transport ship was reduced to a waterlogged hulk as horses screamed in terror and broke loose amongst their keepers. Chaos ensued as the horses plunged into the water and either swam for the shore if they were just ordinary mounts for the ordinary cavalry or sank like a stone if they were precious officer’s horses and too heavily armoured to swim. As she watched the carnage, Drustina had a brainwave.

The trebuchet was an ideal weapon to wipe out the line of transports now that the van of the invading Viking fleet was totally out of formation as they were reduced to protecting themselves from the tenacious, terrier-like attacks of Drustina’s smaller, more manoeuvrable Mermaids. Having realised the unbelievable advantages offered by the Trebuchet, Drustina attached her own Longships to Carl’s catamaran and the three captured Dumnonii prizes rowed as hard as they could to tow the artillery piece deep into the Viking fleet. Total mayhem followed as within half an hour, despite repeated attacks by the Viking escorts, the trebuchet had sent a further three of the transports to the bottom. The backbone of Harald Cold-blood’s invasion force was being decimated before his very eyes.

This unexpected success for Drustina did not come without a cost however, as her nucleus of mermaid ships bit deeper into the Viking lines, the Viking superiority of numbers began to tell. Now that the Mermaids were in the thick of the melee, the Viking oars began proving their advantage. The oars made them more manoeuvrable than the mermaids. Drustina needed reinforcements in the shape of Althred’s Saxon longships which were virtual copies of the Viking ships. It was useless trying to fire signal arrows because the sky was still ablaze with fire arrows as Drustina’s bowmen kept up their barrage of merciless destruction. Somehow, Drustina had to get a message to Althred’s ships. If not, her fleet would be overwhelmed. For long moments, Drustina watched mesmerised as her forces started to lose their momentum. She was stumped for ideas. She knew her plan of attack had been a calculated risk but at least she had halved Harald’s waterborne cavalry as the fifth transport finally succumbed to the trebuchet’s devastating barrage. Despite this destruction, Harald still had five remaining transports and an undetermined cavalry force aboard them. He still had a viable invasion force and Drustina’s fleet was facing total destruction. It was now that Drustina was compelled to think strategically of her own long term strategic aims as opposed to the short term tactical needs of the Saxon defenders of Wessex. Somehow, she had to extricate her fleet and run for the cover of the Saxon shores and the additional ships lying hidden in the several creeks like Cws, Porsea and Hamble. There was nothing for it but to retreat up the Solanta and trust to the commitment of Althred’s ships to join in the fight and assist them.

Firstly she had to gather the Celtic ships into a defensible squadron and despatch them towards Solanta while the Dumnonii longships prepared to release themselves from the Trebuchet catamaran then Carl was instructed to scuttle it. Drustina put the Angry Mermaid alongside the trebuchet barge to talk to Carl. At first he was reluctant for he still had several salvoes remaining and there was a brief argument with Drustina as he pleaded to be allowed to exhaust his stocks of ammunition.

“Look Dru! It will take a good half hour to scuttle her and those bastards could easily stop her sinking if they get onboard. If we exhaust her ammunition stock she is useless even if she is captured, for it will only take a moment to disable the trebuchet. Give me ten more minutes to try and sink one last transport ship. This has been the most telling and effective tactic during the whole battle.”

Drustina fretted as she watched the gathering longships massing to overwhelm the catamaran/barge. She knew full well that the trebuchet had been an amazing and unexpected development; Carl had been right. She turned to him with worry betraying her feelings for him.

“You won’t have much time to escape once your escort and tows retreat. You’d best operate with a skeleton crew and I’ll tie my ship to you until the last possible moment.”

Carl smiled knowingly.

“I knew you’d be stupid and offer to stay. You go! And delegate another ship to stay by me.”

Drustina cursed as a tear burned hot in her eye.

“Don’t you tell me what to do! You know I’d never leave you.”

“Dammit Dru! You’re too important to the cause. Leave now, I’ll take my chances.”

Drustina raged at him and screamed her frustration.

“Don’t you tell me to leave you. You know I can never do that. Don’t you understand you stupid oaf! I bloody love you! We’ve been through too much together! Now fire off those last Salvoes and I’ll wait until the last possible moment before releasing your tow-ships. Fire your bloody trebuchet, fire for all your worth! Go on, quickly, no more bloody arguing!”

For a shocked moment, Carl stood gaping with open mouth as he stood lost for words. Then he recovered his wits and span around to address the trebuchet as Drustina ordered the three Dumnonii longships to lengthen their towlines and get ready to slip as soon as she gave the order. Even as she turned to watch Carl and a couple of his crew prepare the trebuchet again one of the Viking longships was close enough to hurl spears. She turned to Hengis and cursed.

“Ten men to put a turtle around him with their shields. Go on! I won’t abandon you!”

Hengis wagged his head for he had heard her declare her love for the giant blond Saxon and knew now that she would take crazy risks to protect him. There was no choice but for he and nine others to form a turtle as the remainder of the mermaid’s crew retaliated in kind against the advancing longship by peppering it with fire arrows. Their efforts caused the Viking to momentarily deviate but it quickly resumed its approach and before Carl had fired off his final salvo the Viking had crunched violently against the barge on the opposite side to the Mermaid. Fifty enraged Vikings spewed out onto the catamaran platform. At point-blank range, Drustina’s bowmen were picking them off like skittles but there were too many of them. It was only at this close range that Drustina recognised Harald Cold-blood almost prancing with anger at the steering oar of the longship. He had been unrecognisable in his sombre battle armour but he was now prancing because he had recognised Drustina as ‘The Lioness of Carthage’! Worse still he now realised she was the same Celtic bitch he had raped on the cavalry training field but a few days earlier. With a bellow of incandescent rage he flung himself onto the barge and hurtled across the deck to confront the bitch who had brought his plans to nothing.

Drustina whipped out her sword to defend herself as several of her loyal guard followed suit. Even in his rage, Harald realised she was too well protected for the rail of the Mermaid was appreciably higher than the heavily laden barge. Deflected from his purpose, he turned to attack the preoccupied Carl.

Drustina’s scream of warning only just alerted Carl in time and he turned wide-eyed with fear as Harald Cold-blood charged. Carl had no sword to hand so he reached down for a jar of oil that had been kept hidden under the frame of the trebuchet. Drustina realised that he was going to ignite the catamaran/barge before abandoning it. Unfortunately Harald and a dozen of his best warriors were now rushing towards Carl and his turtle.
Drustina watched Carl retreat under the turtle then it shuffled towards the Angry Mermaid. As soon as the turtle was clear of the oil stain she instructed her archers to fire their flaming arrows into the spilt oil. Flames immediately erupted from the workings of the trebuchet but by now, Harald and his royal bodyguard had fallen on the retreating turtle. It was obvious that the turtle was outnumbered and hampered by their tight formation and Harald’s power would soon reduce it to a shambles. Without a thought for her own safety, Drustina and several other swordsmen quickly flung themselves at Harald’s Vikings from the rear as the flames quickly spread along the barge. Drustina now realised that Carl had prepared well for this moment for under the temporary deck he had placed old canvas sails saturated with oil and these had now ignited. Even as Drustina's sword pierced one of Harald’s bodyguards, everybody realised the barge was turning into a raging inferno. Harald roared with rage again as his attention was now diverted between the flames that threatened to engulf him and the Celtic bitch that was now facing him across the wall of flame with sword drawn. Frustrated in his ambition to finally finish off the nemesis to almost all Viking ambitions in the south of Britannia, he turned towards the turtle that was still struggling to hold its formation as it tried to avoid the flames leaping up between the planking

Fortunately, some of Drustina’s bodyguard had ended up on the other side of the belching flames and they somehow managed to partially deflect Harald’s enraged onslaught away from the turtle. Their efforts were not enough however, and Harald howled with delight as he finally reached the turtle and it disintegrated even as it almost reached the Angry Mermaid’s rail. It remained for the men in the turtle to somehow open up and enable the un-armed occupants to scramble aboard the mermaid and gain its sanctuary. With Harald furiously slashing away with his sword, Carls exposed back immediately became a perfect target as he struggled to reach out and clamber up over the Mermaid’s rail. Through the flames, Drustina saw the danger and once again through caution to the wind. She leapt through the blazing wall that erupted through the deck and slammed her sword against Harald’s just as he lunged forward. Her parry managed to deflect the blade and Carl felt the blade slice off his right ear as it embedded itself in the Mermaid’s woodwork. Harald’s momentum and bulk however had slammed Drustina to the ground and she crashed back into the flames screaming as she felt her left shoulder and neck being scorched. Carl span around and screamed up to the mermaid’s crew to give him a sword whilst Harald cursed and struggled to yank his sword out of the woodwork. Unfortunately it had sliced up between two planks and as Harald levered his weight on it to free it, the blade snapped off.

As Carl took the sword proffered by a swordsman on the Mermaid, Harald realised he was now virtually weaponless. As Carl’s sword sliced deep into the Norse King’s forearm, the tyrant was forced to leap back through the flames to where his own men were now stymied by the blaze. Only then did Carl hear Drustina’s screams as she struggled to escape the flames. He reached out to grab her unwounded shoulder and yanked her to safety. Frantically he smothered her burning hair and almost hurled her up into Hengis’s waiting arms before ensuring he was the last man to leave the barge. Even as he scrambled up the side of the Mermaid the gap between her and the barge was widening as one of the Dumnonii prize ships had thrown another towline and yanked the mermaid clear of the blazing barge. Hengis had now taken rightful command of the Mermaid as Drustina collapsed in pain while Carl simply sat shocked and wondering how to address Drustina’s burns. Quickly, he and Hengis exchanged ideas.

“You’ll have to get her to the healer in Cws.” Carl declared.

Hengis stared down thoughtfully then looked up at Carl.

“Will you be okay handling the rest of the battle?”

“I’ll have to be, besides, once those cowardly buggers discover that there’s a chance of success, they might come out and fight.”

“They’ll bloody have to or we’ve lost. There’s no way our fleet alone can face this lot.” Hengis agreed. “So what d’you plan?”

“Much as Dru said it.” Carl replied. “Draw the wolves up into the Solanta and close the trap astern of them.”

“You’ll also be trapped up at the top by the great forest.”

“But they’ll be trapped between superior forces. Anyway, we’ve no other choice. I’ll transfer to the Dumnonii longship and operate my command from her. You make all speed for Cws.”

Hengis agreed reluctantly and Carl crossed to the Dumnonii prize ship. As they parted company, rumours of Drustina’s impending death were already beginning to circulate around the fleet. Serious burns were rarely recovered from and Drustina was burned up the back of her left side from waist to neck with some burns to her ear and cheek. Her long lustrous hair had also been scorched from her nape left scalp.

~~oo00oo~~

Gazette of Characters etc.

Mabina.... Ch 1 The youngest daughter and Twin to
Drustan.... Ch1 Her twin brother.
Grandpa Erin.... Ch1 The twin’s grandfather.
Giana.... Ch1 The twin’s grandmother.
Caderyn.... Ch1 The twin’s father.
Herenoie.... Ch1` The twin’s wise and beautiful mother.
Morgaran.... Ch1 The Twins oldest brother.
Aiofe.... Ch1 The twin’s oldest sister. Famous for her beauty.
Tara.... Ch1 The twin’s second oldest sister. Famous for her grace.
Feidlim.... Ch1 Twins aunt (Caderyns’ beautiful sister.)
Mogantu.... Ch1 Twins uncle (Married to Feidlim.) Chief of the Gangani tribe.
Brun.... Ch1 Twins 2nd cousin and the Acaman clans’ blacksmith.
Feorin.... Ch1 Twins second brother. Also training to be a blacksmith.
Rhun.... Ch 2 Feidlims’ son and Feorins’ favourite 1st Cousin. (Both red-heads.)
Arina.... Ch 4. Child of a Demetae fisherman, (rescued by the three siblings.)
Penderol.... Ch 6 Dumnonii Minor chief.
Udris.... Ch 6. Young Dumnonii warrior. Ch 6
Dryslwyn.... Ch 7 High chief of the whole Celtic nation. Dwells in Brithony. Ch 7
Bronlwyn.... Ch 7 Dryslwyn’s wife (and queen.)
Magab.... Ch 8 The moor who taught numbers.
Eric.... Ch 9 Saxon galley slave rescued from Corsair pirates.
Carl.... Ch 9 Another Saxon galley slave rescued by Drustan.
Torvel.... Ch 9 Celtic galley slave rescued from the same captured corsair ship
Arton.... Ch 7 Turdetani Chieftain Holder of Gibral Rock.
Carinia.... Ch7 Arton’s wife.
Isobel... . Ch 7 Arton’s adopted daughter.
Appotel.... Ch 9 King of the Turdetani Tribe. (Southern Iberia.)
Bramana.... Ch 9 Queen. (Wife of Appotel)
Pilus.... Ch 10 King of the Capetani.
Shaleen.... Ch 10 Pilus’s queen and sister to Bramana.
Pedoro.... Ch 10 Lord Marshal of the Southern border region.
Lady Shulaar.... Ch 10 Lord Pedoro’s wife.
Taan.... Ch 11 The scullery maid.
Isaar.... Ch 11 Pedoro’s oldest son.
Ferdie.... Ch 11 Pedoro’s 2nd son
Sular.... Ch 11 Pedoro’s 3rd son
Gontala.... Ch 11 Pedoro’s youngest son.
Shenoa.... Ch 11 Pedoro’s only daughter.
Portega.... Ch 14 Tyrant King to the west.
Portua.... Ch 14 Portega’s grandson.
Jubail.... Old Fisherman.
Mutas.... Magab’s younger brother and usurper.
Walezia.... King of Malta.
Alviar.... Megalomaniacal bishop of Carthage. (Hates Drustina.)
Ethelia.... Female healer who treats Drustina during her pregnancy.
Seripatese.... Drustina’s faithful horse.
Astos & Amitor.... Minor royalty who govern Alexandria. King and Twin Queen.
Meronee.... Nubian Queen of Nobatia The northern Kingdom of the Nubians.
Horam.... The Egyptian master Boat builder.
Muraa.... King Astos’s male partner.
Tuk.... Makurian general.
Fantu.... Makurian Captain.
Irene.... Emperor Leon’s only child.
Leon.... Byzantine Emperor.
Zano.... Byzantine general who defeats the Bulgars with Drustina’s help.
Urthos.... The Gaul elected captain of the 4th ship. Ex Barbary galley slave.
Horus... . Horam the boat-builder’s son.
Sister Catherine.... Leader of the pirate nuns.
Guthrun.... Jarl of Bornholm.
Etheline.... Guthruns’ wife the countess of Bornholm.
Capenda.... Taras’ mare.
Athun.... Gay king of Dark Age Denmark.
Queen Elthorn.... King Athuns’ Consort.
Iselda... . Athun and Brendigan’s, younger (middle) sister.
Heingist or Hengis..... Drustina’s loyal Danish pilot who becomes her 1st Mate
Brendigan..... Athun’s older sister and consort queen of Svenland.
Bjorn.... . The captain of the Palace Guard. King Athun’s gay partner.
Morgan and Amethyst..... Drustina’s twin children.
Dalcimon..... Queen of West Friesia.
Andrar..... Prince of West Friesia (Dalcimon’s son.)
Jupus..... Carl’s stallion.
Heliox..... Drustina’s second mate and deputy navigator (Ex Belgiie fisherman)
Gisela..... Viking princess captured after the Battle of Godwin Sands.
“Althred..... Young Saxon Naval commander who allies his fleet with Drustina
Symone.... Young teenaged rape victim who join’s Drustina’s band.
Edburg.... The Angry mermaid’s cook.
Harald Cold Blood.... Ch 69 The Viking King, father of Gisela

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Comments

Not liking seeing Drustina injured

every other chapter. Wondering what Bev has planned for our heroine. Hope she makes it "home".