Slowly the dragonship turned, passing alongside the doomed vessel prow to stern-so close that the flame-roar drowned out all other sound, so close I could feel the heat-blast on my face.
One gust of the fitful wind and our own ship would be caught up in the blaze. Crouching low, I rowed as best I could, keeping one eye on the sail overhead and hoping against hope the wind did not shift. Not so Harald Bull-Roar; he lashed the grapple rope to the sternpost and called Thorkel to make for the red ships.
Cursing his sorry fate, Thorkel laboured over the steering oar, working it this way and that, fighting to keep the line smooth and clean so as not to waste a single stroke of the rowers' blades-a chore made much the more difficult since we were now towing a burning wreck.
"Faster!" roared Harald, his voice booming out in exhortation to his oarsmen. "Huh! Huh! Huh! Huh!" he grunted his encouragement.
Aided by the rescued seamen, we plied the oars and the doughty pilot brought the dragonprow around sharply, driving straight for the nearest red raider. As the further red ship swung away, the raider in our path prepared to loose his fiery projectiles.
Twice I heard the whirring whistle of the missiles as they passed-so near that I smelled the acrid oily pitch scent as they sped by. The third time we were not so lucky.
Closing on the red ship-we could see the enemy now, and see also the bronze tube at the prow by which, through unknown means, the Greek fire vomited forth-the distance decreasing with every juddering thump of my heart, I saw the white smoke belch from the brazen tube, heard the whiz of the weapon and saw it soar straight towards the open hull.
Brave Dugal saw it, too, and up he jumped, holding out his hands as if to catch the thing.
"Dugal!" I shouted with all my might. "No!"
Down and down it came, plummeting from heaven with the speed of a falling rock. Up Dugal reached, straining for his catch. The projectile sailed over his head. Dugal leaped, hands high. He must have got a hand to the missile, for it appeared to bounce from his fingertips and up into the lower part of the sail, which arrested its flight. The thing slid from the sail and fell into the bottom of the ship.
I saw then that the missile was nothing more than a rounded earthen jar, made to shatter and spill out its vile liquid. But this particular jar did not burst. Perhaps in diverting the jar into the sail, Dugal kept it from breaking. Certainly, he saved us, for even as it landed with a hollow thump on the hull timbers, Dugal scooped it up and dived for the prow.
As Dugal ran, a portion of the Greek fire spilled down the side of the pot and splattered onto the handle of an oar. Blue-red flames instantly started up where the stuff touched, setting the wood alight. The startled Sea Wolf stood up and flung the oar into the sea before it could do any damage.
Meanwhile, Dugal scrambled with the terrible jar to the dragonhead prow, took aim, and hurled it back at the red ship.
It was an act of valour worthy of a hero, and had we been but a few hundred paces closer, it would have been magnificent. As it was, the jar simply plunged into the water and sank with a bubbling hiss.
Still, the Sea Wolves, greatly inspired by this display of courage, cheered him as heartily as if he had driven the enemy ship under the waves with a mighty clout.
Closer now, Harald called for us to row faster, and faster still. Already, my heart was pounding with the exertion; my breath came in raking gasps and I could feel the burning deep in my lungs. My hands were raw, and there was blood on the oar grip. The muscles of my back and shoulders were a knotted mass. Heedless of the pain, I plied my oar with grim determination, sweat pouring from me.
The dragonship, streaming rapidly through the waves, bore straightaway towards the raiders. I could hear the enemy yelling, and when I hazarded a look, I saw them scurrying around the bronze throwing tube, desperate to ready the foul instrument to spew again.
The dragonship was closing swiftly now; the pirates, believing themselves about to be rammed, braced for the impact, while their helmsman headed the enemy vessel directly onto us to force a glancing blow.
Now did Harald's daring show its genius, for at the last possible moment, he ordered Thorkel to turn hard aside. Then, lofting a war axe, he leapt to the sternpost and with two quick chops, severed the rope which bound us to the burning ship.
Suddenly loosed, and with no one to steer her, the flaming longship slewed sideways in the water. The enemy pilot tried to turn aside, but it was already too late: the raiders struck the burning vessel amidships and the mast gave out a deep sighing groan, teetered, and then plunged like an axe-felled tree to strike the red ship's cross-member where it hung, catching the sail alight and showering flames into the hull below.
The sight brought the Sea Wolves to their feet; they leapt onto the benches and onto the rail where they cried their joyful acclamation at the enemy's demise. I cheered, too. Before I knew it, my feet were on the rail and my voice was loud in jubilation as I shook my fists in the air.
I felt hands on me and looked down into Dugal's face; he was grinning with relief, but holding tight to me lest I should tumble overboard. He said something, but his voice was overwhelmed in the glad commotion, and I could not hear a word he said. "Yes!" I shouted in reply. "It is a splendid sight!"
Harald allowed the Sea Wolves only a moment's celebration, and then ordered everyone back to the oars. We rowed clear of the burning wrecks, which were now inextricably entangled and drifting dangerously in the waves. Casting a last look over my shoulder as the dragonship swung away, I saw the red ship's sail fully ablaze and falling in great fiery patches onto the heads of the Arab pirates as they screamed in terror, their pitiable cries swallowed in the smoke billowing from the flaming hull to flatten on the breeze and spread over the water.
Leaving the wailing enemy to the doom he had prepared for us, Harald turned his attention to the second red ship.
Standing at the sternpost, his bull voice belling, the Sea King called cadence as we rowed to engage the raiders in combat. "Huh! Huh! Huh! Huh!" he bellowed. It soon became apparent that the two remaining longships had not only been able to stay clear of the raiders' fire-throwing prow, but had somehow navigated themselves into position behind the red ship and beyond reach of hand-thrown missiles. They were now angling for the attack, one on either side of the enemy vessel, keeping the raider ship between them.
The red vessel appeared to be trying to swing about in order to confront her attackers, but to no avail. The oar-driven longships could easily remain out of reach. Preoccupied with this difficulty, the red ship did not immediately see the dragonship ploughing a wave-furrow straight towards her.
Thorkel steered a course that would bring us up from the rear to come alongside the red ship-a much-loved Sea Wolf tactic, allowing them to grapple onto the other boat and, once the defenders were subdued, to board and loot the vessel. I knew the strategy welclass="underline" it had been used to ruinous effect on little Ban Gwydd.
Whether it would have been successful against the red ship is a matter for eternal speculation. Before we could close on them, the raiders discovered our swift-charging onslaught. The Arab enemy took one look at the dragonship leaping through the waves in its eagerness to devour them, changed course and fled before the wind.
We might have made good the chase, and caught them, but Harald knew better than to exhaust his men with hard rowing and then expect them to win a battle. Instead, he broke off pursuit, and signalled the two remaining longships to follow him.
Thus, we turned aside, leaving the burning ships behind. There were men in the water by now; forced to choose between a fiery death or a watery grave, many had chosen the latter. Three half-drowned pirates bobbed into view just a spear's throw from the rail on my side of the ship. They hailed us in the name of Jesu as we drew near, but the rest of their speech was incomprehensible to me.