The Rundjörn

By Aenarion

The knarr sailed steadily over the cold waters of the North. Winter was nearing to an end, but the deadly frost persisted and was present upon the North Sea and the shores around. The sailors from the village of Sagordyr sat patiently, huddled together to fight off the cold, hoping to arrive safely at the chief merchant city of Forderyr, which used to bring supplies and other resourceful provisions to its port. Recently, Sagordyr, was ravaged by wild fires and most of the stock had been destroyed.

With winter still mysteriously raging on, the inhabitants could not wait for spring to come. As hunger spread across the village, the trade-men, as they had done every year, were now obliged to set sail in bad weather. Upon, Rundjörn , their only available ship, they embarked on their journey, crossing the 40-mile distance between their own shores and the port of Forderyr.

On previous voyages, the Rundjörn was always accompanied by strange and mythical creatures, swimming and diving along the vessel’s port, starboard and bow. As it approached the other shores, the creatures gradually vanished, often following behind the boat’s stern, but always swam off as the ship landed on the beaches.

But on this voyage, for three days, no creature swam alongside the Rundjörn and the sailors sat alone and in silence – wondering whether they will ever get safely across the sea. And at the start of the fourth day from their departure, dark clouds loomed above and the wind rose from the corners of the earth.

The men of the Rundjörn spent all day trying to keep the vessel stable and preventing it from smashing against the icebergs. But late in the afternoon, a gust of wind dragged the boat straight into a rock of ice, shattering it in half and throwing the sailors into the freezing water. Soon afterwards, what remained of the ship sank to the bottom of the sea or was trapped under the ice that was now quickly forming on the surface. The sailors, battling the deadly cold, managed to get out of the water and stay adrift upon a thin sheet of ice.

“We’re all dead! We’ll never find the lands of Forderyr! That was our last and only ship. We have failed our own people!”, said one of them.

“Hold your wits and let us worry about ourselves first!”, replied the captain.

Night came, the cold increased and the men huddled together as close as possible. Each and everyone of them was now thinking how long it would be till they leave earth forever, with no chance of beholding a vision of the great warriors of old, sitting beside the gods in the greatness of Valhalla.

The Night closed in. Then something strange happened. The wind ceased and the clouds slowly rolled away to the East. A field of stars appeared in the heavens above. Amidst them, a light seemed to grow, faintly at first, but quickly became a wide circle of bright green radiance.

It appeared to be moving across first. But soon the sailors noticed it was falling upon them. Within a few moments, the large ray of light crashed just in front of them, breaking the ice apart as it kept on descending into the depths of the sea. For a moment the sailors, blinded by the light and too amazed to move, saw a tall column of radiance descending from the stars and illuminating the sea around them.

Then, soon afterwards, the water started being drawn towards the column of light, slowly at first but quickly gaining strength. The terrified sailors leapt back, stride after stride upon the remaining sheet of ice, trying to escape the pull into the sea. As weariness crept upon them and were about to let go, the water stood still and the column of light vanished. There was silence and the sea was still illuminated from beneath.

Suddenly, out of the deepest depths, a strange yet familiar object appeared before the sailors’ eyes – for in front of them they beheld the Rundjörn rising above the surface of the sea. It seemed far greater then it had been and was in a better state, almost new. The men were amazed but frightened at the same time – not the least when beneath the ship, they saw a host of magnificent creatures, large and small , most of which the sailors had seen on their previous voyages, as they lifted the vessel up.

Just before the men had time to react, the creatures vanished. The light disappeared and the silence returned. And the ship remained still upon the surface of the water. Although frightened of what might happen next, the sailors soon managed to get on board the Rundjörn. To their surprise, they found the vessel dry and provisions were laid inside for the rest of their journey towards Sagordyr.

None of them knew what and why such a thing had happened, and even though they managed to get all the needed supplies to their own village, of this event they never talked to anyone – and of the strange creatures, they never saw any trace of them, upon their voyages, ever again.