A Viking Voyage

Chapter 1 – A Gateway to the Past – August 1959

 “Where do ye think yer gannen?  Wha are ye? Go on ye!  A way back to where ye cam from!” came the welcome greeting from the gang.  Somehow Adam got the feeling that the natives where not friendly.  Had they been evenly matched it would not have been a problem but there were twice as many as them.  They stood their ground that was until Angie laughed and then they charged them.  Flight or fight?  They scattered and Adam cut down an alleyway with two of them hot on his heels.  It was at that point that he dived through the gateway towards the churchyard and suddenly he was under attack from a different foe.  They say that curiosity killed the cat.  Well it didn’t kill Adam but it did have a jolly good try the last time he passed through a portal.  Would it succeed this time? 

All Adam did was pass through an old gateway!  But then he felt the unforgettable surge like a force field that he had always felt when nearing the portal by Carpow.  It was at that moment that his troubles really began.

It never failed to amaze Adam just how different the time zones were.  How the same place looked so different but then you are talking about a difference of many hundreds of years.  Not that Adam had much time to think about it.  He had been running at the point at which he passed through the portal and the force of passing from one time to another threw him on to his knees and as Adam slowly raised his head he found that he was assaulted on all sides by the noise of battle.

Adam had left Carpow in the middle of a battle and now found himself in the middle of another.  He turned to throw himself back through the portal but already someone was blocking his way.  He was a huge giant of a man and Adam’s eyes were immediately drawn to his face and headgear.  He had long blond hair hanging down to his shoulders, a bushy beard and moustache and his head was encased in a large helmet with a metal nosepiece and goggles protecting his eyes.  He was certainly no Celt or Roman and warning bells were clanging in Adam’s mind “He’s a Viking and he’s going to kill me!” 

By this time Adam’s eyes had left his face and were focussed on the huge axe that the Viking held in both hands.  “I am going to die!” Adam thought. 

Adam’s sudden appearance had momentarily stopped the man in his tracks.  Well Adam had just materialised right in front of him.  Adam’s flee or fight mechanism had now kicked in and he sprang sideways away from the gateway turning his head as he did so to glance behind him for an escape route but there was none only a melee of fighting, jostling and screaming men feet from him.  Adam was still in a half crouch with his hands on either side on him ready to help propel him in a new direction.  The fingers of his left hand touched something that was not the soil and a quick glance downwards told him it was a crude wooden club about three foot long.  With his right hand he scooped up a handful of soil and threw it into the face of the giant looming over him.  At the same time Adam swung the club in front of him and gripping it in both hands brought it down on the Viking’s foot.