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except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Author Notes:

1. the runic alphabet used throughout the book is the Old Futhark.

2. As no reliable Old Norse online translators exists, the texts of inscriptions have been translated using the current Icelandic, considered the closest to the ancient language used by the Vikings. Icelandic has been then transliterated into runic system mentioned in point 1.

3. Runes were much more than a writing system. Each of them had associated a number of magical meanings. To each chapter has been added the name of the rune that according to author best illuminates its content and meaning. The Old Futhark with the chosen meanings has been inserted below.

CONTENTS

Cast of characters

Old Futhark

Chapter 1 Markland

Chapter 2 Yucatán

Chapter 3 The Feathered Serpent

Chapter 4 Thor´s Hammer

Chapter 5 Heimdall

Chapter 6 Wewelsburg

Chapter 7 Kingigtorssuaq

Chapter 8 The runes of Upernavik

Chapter 9 Helluland

Chapter 10 Buenos Aires

Chapter 11 Bluthund

Chapter 12 New York

Chapter 13 Nunavut

Chapter 14 Yellowknife

Chapter 15 Ottawa

Chapter 16 The Message

Chapter 17 Lakshmi

Chapter 18 Totenkopfringe

Chapter 19 Chinatown

Chapter 20 The Black Sun

Chapter 21 The Cave

Chapter 22 On gurus and disciples

Chapter 23 A place in the Taiga

Chapter 24 Rikers Island

Chapter 25 The Connection

Chapter 26 Kukulkan

Chapter 27 The Treasure of the Mayas

Chapter 28 War Sounds

Chapter 29 Trapped

Epilogue

From the Author

About the Author

Works by Cèdric Daurio

Coordinates of the Author

About the Publisher

CAST OF CHARACTERS

XI century

Bjarni Holgersson: Norwegian seaman, drakkar helmsman .

Knut, Lars, Kjell, Holger: drakkar crew members.

Mactzil: Young Yucatán woman, Bjarni´s wife. Iktan and Xareni´s mother

Quecholli: village chief and Mactzil´s father.

Anenerk: young Eskimo woman, Bjarni´s new wife.

1939

Lothar von Steinfurt: young SS recruit.

General von Knobelsdorff: Commander of the SS Wewelsburg Castle.

Sven Heidenstam: Swedish scientist, head of the expedition to Greenland.

Schmitt, Schneider, Gulyas: Members of the expedition.

Visvaldas: Lithuanian fisherman.

Nuiana: Lothar´s wife, mother of Inekunak

Current age:

Nancy Zhang (Liang Zhang) :Young Argentine woman, born in China.

Lucas Colombo: Nancy's husband.

Xu Huan: Nancy´s mother.

Margarita Zhang: Nancy´s younger sister

Xu Cheng: Huan´s uncle, Nancy´s I Ching guide.

Zhang Hung: Nancy´s father.

Jack Berglund: US runes expert.

Lakshmi Nania Dhawan: Berglund´s girlfriend.

Ingimar Ragnarsson (Ingo): Icelandic academic.

Ludwig Metzler: Bluthund member.

Nuvuk Steinfurt: Lothar´s grandson.

Dietrich Haushofer- a.k.a. Dieter Wiligut: German guide

Anila Ragnarsson: daughter of Lakshmi and Ingo

Chuck O'Brien: Makkovik cartographer. His wife Yvonne.

Keneisha Sullivan: FBI directive, Lakshmi´s boss.

Jorge Chehab: Mexican tycoon.

Teresa Cifuentes: archaeologist, Jorge Chehab´s granddaughter.

Marcelo Ferrand: Teresa Cifuentes´ husband.

Leila Chehab and Gonzalo Cifuentes: Teresa´s parents Gervasio Guerrero: Jorge Chehab´s driver.

OLD FUTHARK

Magic runes and their meanings

fehu: cattle, wealth, abundance

uruz: unexpected change

thurisaz: conflict

raidho: travel, evolution

kenaz: revelation

wunjo: harmony, pleasure

hagalaz: wrath of nature, uncontrolled force

nauthiz: restriction, confusion.

isa: frustration, grievance.

jera: harvest.

sowilo: the sun. success, honor, health

barkano: birth, fertility, desire.

dagaz: awakening, onset.

othala: ancestral property

ingwaz: growth, relief

laguz: sea

ehwaz: transportation

tiwaz: honor

algiz: protection, shield

perthro: secret, uncertain meaning

gebo: exchanges, gifts

CHAPTER 1

Markland

1040 A.D.

The man trudged through the combined effect of fatigue, cold and persistent wind that lifted the white snow that had fallen overnight and continued to fall. He knew that if his legs weakened and he fell on the floor he would not be able to get up and freeze in minutes. He was desperately seeking the hut built during the last season by himself and the remaining drakkar crew members under the command of the Jarl Eiríkr Gunnarsson, which Bjarni hoped to find following the contour of the coast, something a sailor always remembers in detail.

Bjarni Holgersson crawled through the thick snow that caused him great fatigue in each step and knew that in a short time he should stop somewhere because his legs just would not respond. He no longer had illusions about his fate because he had heard countless stories of sailors whose track was lost in those white storms on earth and whose bodies were found the next year with the thaw, or were simply never found.

With narrowed eyes and his eyelashes and eyebrows full of frost, Bjarni barely saw where he was walking, so that he was oriented intuitively just trying to prevent his course from twisting.

A strong gust of wind almost knocks him on the floor and he could precariously recover his balance waving their arms in the air. Then he briefly saw it. Before him a white mound was rising from the ground like a big oval stone. The wind blew off the snow for a moment revealing something that struck Bjarni like a log, just to cover it immediately with more snow. The sight revived hope in the man who was about to surrender to his fate. He quickened his pace and after a few moments reached the white mound. He desperately scraped the snowy cover and found that there was actually a piece of wood beneath it. Bjarni immediately recognized it; it was part of a drakkar rib that was broken in a collision with a reef and had been replaced by another piece made by the carpenter with a wooden board coming from a big spruce chopped down by the crew. With that broken rib the carpenter had improvised a door to close the hut they had built in their month and a half stay in that part of the coast. Bjarni struggled with the door until it finally relented and could enter the precarious cabin.

The darkness was complete so that the sailor had to leave the wooden door ajar at the expense of letting the cold from the outside get within the enclosure. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness he recognized the house by walking and stumbling inside. Finally he could find a candle and some elements to light a fire that had been left there by the Jarl Eiríkr´s order just anticipating the possibility that some crew could eventually return to the hut.

The expedition organized by the Jarl (member of the royal family) Eiríkr Gunnarsson had left Brattalid in Greenland in the summer of 1040 DC. Following a northwest path it had arrived at the shores of what is now northern Canada, which the seaman Leif Eriksson had named Helluland and had included in the Greenlandic Sagas. Leif had followed the route described by Bjarni Herjolfsson, first recorded presence of the Nordic sailors on American soil, on a trip that probably took place in 1002 DC.

Leif and his men crossed the Groswater Bay and then sailed in a southerly direction along the coasts of the Labrador peninsula. In their landings they explored the forested hinterland so they named this area Markland. Continuing their route southward they reached what they called Vinland, presumably located in what is now Newfoundland, Canada. The Viking establishing at L'Anse aux Meadows, the oldest proven record the presence of Europeans in America, was built during these exploratory activities.

Eiríkr and his men had followed the Leif´s footsteps for which they had set sails with two drakkars from Greenland. The ships separated afterwards in the middle of a violent storm at sea, and while the longship commanded by Eiríkr had fulfilled the exploratory mission planned by the organizer, the other ship led by Bjarni Holgersson was lost and was never seen again nor its presence recorded in the Norse sagas, and the surviving seamen assumed that it had sunk in the storm.

In fact the ship was at the mercy of the winds for two agonizing weeks, during which the crew suffered cold, thirst and hunger and two of the crew members disappeared undoubtedly swallowed by the ocean.

Eventually the sailors sighted and could approach the coast and finally land on it. They stayed one month repairing the longship, and it was during such repairs that several damaged frames were changed by others manufactured with wood from native trees. During their stay several huts were built with wood, stones and earth, using wooden debris discarded from the ship. One of these dwellings is the one Bjarni providentially found years later. After the repair period they decided to continue their journey, but since the summer had came to an end rather than undertaking the return to Greenland the drakkar set sail south trying to escape the harsh winter in these latitudes and find warmer climates.

The ship, belonging to the class called snekkja, was smaller than most ocean drakkars and was designed rather for war raids on coastal towns than for long ocean travels. It had a length of 18 meters, a width of 2.5 meters and its fretwork was only 70 centimeters. The ship had seats for twenty rows of oars and the crew was 39 men, including 38 oarsmen and the helmsman, who was Bjarni himself. The crew obviously had other functions besides onboard rowing propulsion, since as all the Vikings were both seamen and warriors.

With this boat they continued fleeing the cold and storms. After several days touring the Markland coast Bjarni decided to land in order to replenish fresh water and meat. They established a transient camp in the desolate coast and walked into the forest that started a couple of hundred meters from the beach to engage in hunting. Bjarni was at the head of one of the groups of hunters and they had not yet found any prey, when a rumbling sound reached his ears. He quickly realized that the sounds came from the other group of hunters who had gone into the forest on a parallel route to maximize the chances of finding prey. Although the sounds were muffled by vegetation they could discern screams among them. Bjarni and his four companions rushed through the forest in the direction of the sounds despite the obstacles placed by the trees and undergrowth, aware that the group of peers led by Bjarni´s deputy, a giant named Knut could be in danger.

Arriving at a clearing in the grove they saw a sight that froze their blood. The Vikings were surrounded by an uncertain but large number of men armed with spears and other weapons that were rushing everywhere; and at least two of the sailors had fallen one of which lay motionless while the other was still struggling from the floor, describing large circles with his sword to keep the wild attackers away.

Knut fought with four men at a time and as they saw him he had just crushed one of the attackers head with his sharp battle ax. Many attackers lay on the ground, dead or wounded.

Bjarni just needed to look at his men; without a word they threw themselves on the wild assailants, which taken from behind could barely defend themselves. Swords and axes from the five new participants in the fight opened a bloody path strewn with corpses finally reaching the nucleus where Knut and his men were still struggling. Completely overwhelmed the Indians finally fled, leaving about twenty bodies on the ground. Several of the Vikings followed them through the thicket to make sure the attackers had disappeared.

“ Bjarni, you arrived just in time.” Knut said with obvious signs of exhaustion and his body lacerated by multiple wounds.” We would not have lasted much longer. These Skraelings really know how to fight.”

Skraeling was the derogatory name that Norwegians gave the natives of the newly discovered lands. It was similar to the one they used to call Inuit with whom they were already in contact in Greenland.

Bjarni gave one of his men the order to blow the horn to bring back the men who had followed the natives.

“The attackers can return at any time. We must not divide our forces.”

One of the men approached Bjarni giving account of casualties have occurred in combat.

“Kjell is dead and Lars is wounded. We must take him to our camp and try to heal him. The others are full of wounds but out of danger.”

Bjarni gave the order to load the wounded while he carried Knut, his childhood friend. He called the last of his men who stood on the battle site finishing off the fallen attackers, according to the brutal customs of the time.

“Hurry up. We must regroup our forces and get on board immediately. The Skraelings will return in greater numbers and we will not be able to fight them.”

As they reached the beach the Norsemen quickly broke camp, packed their gear in the drakkars and accommodated Lars therein. As it was small and light the snekkja was pushed over the beach sand and made it to the sea. Bjarni hurried his men to board the ship while he covered the rear with his sword in hand. He nervously watched movements in the lower branches of the nearby trees. Then he looked sideways and saw that the drakkar was already floating in the water and Knut had risen to it.

The first arrows fell when Bjarni was running to the boat and the Skraelings got out of the coverage offered to them by the maritime forest and approached him preparing their spears to throw them at him. One of them, a small young man gained distance and sought to block his path while another, bigger and wearing a flashy attire that made presume a leader prepared to throw his spear from close range. Bjarni faced the young Indian who was the closest threat. The presumed chief made with his arm a back and forth motion to throw the spear on Bjarni as Tore, the youngest member of the expedition blew the bowstring.

Everything happened simultaneously. The Skraeling spear stuck in Bjarni´s left shoulder, the native’s leader fell with an arrow in the middle of his chest and the young Indian pounced on their prey. Bjarni, seized by intense pain could barely lift his heavy sword and with one blow severed the head of his valiant opponent. He vaguely realized that as he collapsed on the beach several arms raised and threw him aboard the snekkja.

When he awoke they were already at sea. Knut realized that was partially lucid and approached.

“ Bjarni, this time it was close.

“Too close. How long was I unconscious?”

“ Six days and six nights. We landed to load water and we left you on board. For a moment we thought you would not recover.”

“How are the others?”

“ Unfortunately Lars died of his wounds. We buried him when we landed.

“And how do you see mine?”

“We managed to keep them clean. We'll see if you can move the arm when it heals. Some muscles might have been torn.”

“Where are we?”

“We have no idea. The coast is far away. I do not think that any Norseman has ever sailed so far south.”

Due to the soft drakkar pitching Bjarni fell asleep again and kept no memory of the navigation.

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