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raft’s mast, while Bos had grabbed the broken oar of the dragon ship as a spar. Once they had been hauled on board they could get a good look at their rescuers. They were big and blond and hairy, withdrooping moustaches and curly beards. But physical appearance apart, the horned helmets identified them, as, of course, the ship itself had done once Simon realized it wasn’t a sea monster. They were Vikings.
    That left a lot of questions unanswered. To begin with, what was a longship doing three thousand miles from the area in which one would expect to find it? And how did it happen that the language being spoken by the Vikings was not some Scandinavian tongue, but a corrupt form of the Latin spoken in Europe on this side of the fireball?
    The most important thing, though, was that despite their barbarous looks, and the stone axes hung in a long row inside the gunnels, they seemed amiable. A horn was offered round, and proved to contain a sweet, warming ale. Another Viking produced from a chest tunics of soft skin to replace their wet clothing. And although their version of Latin was not too easy to follow, there was no doubt they were expressing pleasure at having been able to snatch the four of them from the sea’s clutches.
    Simon said to Brad: “I don’t get it. Do you have any idea where they come from?”
    â€œWherever it is, not too far away. I heard one of them say that but for the mist they wouldn’t have found us—they’d have been back in home harbour two hours ago.”
    â€œHome harbour? On this side of the Atlantic?”
    â€œI’ve been trying to figure that out. Of course, there was speculation in our world that the Vikings could have crossed the Atlantic. There was the theory that some of them reached what they called Vinland, which was probably not far from where we landed. And what may have been Viking artifacts were discovered in the Great Lakes area. So there’s no reason why they shouldn’t have crossed the ocean on this side of the fireball, too. On the other hand . . .” He was looking puzzled.
    Simon said: “On the other hand, what?”
    â€œOur Viking Age began about 800 A.D .—that’s more than four hundred years after the emperor Julian. And it’s generally accepted that what permitted them to swarm across Europe was the weakness, in fact the disintegration of the Frankish empire. But the Frankish empire only came into being after the Roman empire collapsed . . . and in this world it didn’t collapse. So where do these Vikings come from?”
    â€œI don’t see the problem. Even in this world, the Romans didn’t occupy the whole of Europe. Bos was born free as a barbarian in north Britain. In fact, most of Scandinavia isn’t under Roman rule, so why couldn’t they simply have crossed from there?”
    â€œYe-es. There’s just one little thing that bothers me about that.”
    â€œGo on.”
    â€œIf their original home was outside the empire, why are they speaking Latin, rather than Norse?”
    Simon thought about it. “So what is the answer?”
    â€œI don’t know. I suppose we’ll find out eventually. The good news is that we can talk to them. And that these natives definitely are friendly.”
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    While the longship wallowed idly, the Vikings chatted and passed round the horn of ale, replenishing it from time to time from a wooden barrel. They didn’t seem concerned about being immobilized by the mist; the sea was flat calm and longships were provisioned for long periods at sea. Food was provided: dried meat, salt fish, and a kind of biscuit. Once he had warmed up, Simon realized how hungry he was and ate ravenously.
    He found the guttural, distorted Latin more comprehensible as he got used to it. Their rescuers clearly knew of the lands on the far side of the ocean and assumed they were castaways from a ship