Catla and the Vikings by Mary Nelson

then another.
    â€œHere’s Hugh coming now. Sven, he’ll want to talk to you about these ideas, but they should wait until another time.”
    â€œRight. I’d like that.”
    â€œI look at the stars too,” Catla said. “I don’t go so far as the standing stones, like Sven, but I’ve gone up on the heath twice, and when I’m at the circle, the stones tell me stories.” She had never told this to anyone.
    She looked anxiously at Edith and Sven, in case they laughed at her.
    â€œDo you now?” Sven’s tone of voice was thoughtful. “Do you see the patterns in the stars too, Catla?”
    â€œI see groups of stars and I would like to see the patterns,” she said.
    â€œWe will talk later,” said Edith. “But now let’s put our minds to defeating the Norsemen.”
    Hugh joined them and said, “Well, have you everything figured out? You’ve been talking so intently I’m sure a plan is in place.” He turned aside and winked at Catla as he spoke.
    â€œThere’s plenty of time before the standing stones, Hugh,” Edith said. “Now you wouldn’t be telling your good wife what to do?”
    Catla’s body stiffened. What would Hugh say? If she or her mother spoke like that to her father, there would be a swift and cutting tongue-lashing.
    â€œNay, nay, madam,” Hugh said, chuckling as he spoke.
    Catla was amazed at the friendly teasing in their voices. There was no anger. These two people laughed together. Would she ever find someone like that? She had yet to laugh or even chuckle with Olav. She wasn’t sure if he knew how to laugh. Her eyes lit on Sven. Was he more even in his temper? Only sometimes , she thought.
    Hugh said, “Let’s talk. We need to surprise the Norsemen. Sven, you have a plan?”
    â€œI do,” Sven said, “and so does Catla. She just told us she uses a hidden path too. The one I use is too dangerous, I think.”
    â€œWell, lad, the whole situation is dangerous. We need both a good plan and some good luck. Catla, what about yours?”
    â€œMine has danger with it too. It comes into the village close to the goat pen.”
    â€œThat’s where the villagers are, isn’t it?” Hugh pondered this news as Hindley and Matthew joined them.
    â€œSven, where does your path enter the village?” Edith asked.
    â€œOpposite end to Catla’s. Closer to the council fire,” said Sven.
    â€œWe plan to free the Covehithe prisoners before we attack the Norsemen,” Matthew said. “They are known to sleep at council rings. If we use your path, Sven, they will be between the Covehithe prisoners and us. That’s not good.”
    â€œYes,” Sven replied. “It’s not an easy path and in the wrong location. What’s the danger in using your path, Catla? I didn’t know there was a path there.”
    â€œWe use it sometimes to go up on the heath,” Catla said. “It’s narrow and goes up through some bushes, around a big boulder and then ends at the top in the middle of some bracken. We go a slightly different way each time so we don’t make a visible track. It’s steeper than the main pathway.”
    â€œThe bracken is a problem,” Hugh said. “It’s noisy. The Norsemen could hear us.”
    â€œWhat’s your solution to that, Catla?” asked Edith.
    â€œWe’ll have to go one-by-one, slowly, and hold the bracken fronds so they don’t hit each other. Bracken is only at the top and for a short way down the hill before the bushes take over.”
    â€œIt’ll take too long,” Hindley protested. “They’ll hear us. What’s at the bottom?”
    â€œYes, it will take longer,” said Catla. “But they won’t hear us if we’re careful. At the bottom there’s a clearing within the bushes. The winter peat storage hut is beyond the bushes. It’s