The Sage of Einar

Nelda, who was looking at the sea, realized that in the distance it seemed to be the coast, so a smile formed on her face.

"At last we have arrived, Anna. Everyone get ready because I want to get back my gold coins and everything I spent on this expedition."

Anna, who was behind Nelda, nodded and started organizing the women and children to start getting ready.

Ashraf, for his part, was wearing a deerskin to cover his body, as he could feel some cold.

"This climate is quite annoying, but at least the coast is in sight. Be prepared that the less time we spend in this place the better for us."

Einar, who was on the dock, was organizing a group of slaves who were carrying sacks of sand and wheelbarrows with sand and stones to the coast.

"They have to place the sacks where the marks are. The sand and stones must be placed next to them in order to form a functional breakwater.

If we continue with this rhythm of work, we will finish the small breakwater in just two months, so that our ships and the merchants' ships will be better protected ... "

At that moment an intermittent noise of a bell could be heard, so Einar looked at the watchtower before pulling out his spyglass and starting to look out to sea.

Although he did not have the advantage of being able to see from the vantage point, he was able to distinguish the silhouettes of 4 ships with European aesthetics.

From what he knew, they must be the last merchants to visit the tribe.

'Although the salt that I have refined these days is not much, I think I can sell 200 gold pieces of salt, but I will have to use honey liquor to make up for the sale.

Hopefully, that ship will have more slaves, as it could increase the production of salt and other materials. '

As Nelda's ship drew closer, she realized that the simple harbor was already quite changed.

Not only because of the wooden watchtower that could be seen in the distance, but there seemed to be more unloading docks for the ships.

Not to mention she could make out some wooden things that looked like unloading cranes to help ships.

As she got closer, she was surprised to see that there were hundreds of slaves, some were working, carrying wheelbarrows and some sacks to the coast.

From work, she realized that it was some breakwaters, but that only distracted her for a moment as other slaves were building a road.

Which seemed to get to where the tribe was, like the other slaves, only occupied his attention for a few moments.

The really surprising thing was to see two strange constructions that were being made around the pier. Because of the shape, they seemed to be some square towers.

But she did not understand that they were circular things that seemed to have an iron skeleton.

'I suppose Sven decided to make changes to his tribe, but what if he was conquered by some other Viking or Christian adventurer?'

Turning his head she looked at Anna "Prepare your weapons unless I tell you otherwise be ready because we do not know if the Jarl Sven is building or someone conquered it."

For a moment Nelda had some fear and anger because she did not know if her sale could not be made.

Fortunately, when she was close enough to the harbor, she was able to see a young redhead that he recognized as Sven's son.

So her nervousness and anger disappeared, giving a signal to Anna all the women put away their weapons because they did not want to have problems with the Jarl.

Einar, who was looking at everything they were doing on the deck of the ship, only showed a smile as he realized the surprise of all the women when they saw all their constructions.

'Wait for the breakwater to be built and build on it a wall with defensive towers with ballistae and a large chain to prevent the entry of ships.'

When Nelda's ship docked at one of the docks, a warrior came over and set up a wooden plank for them to get off.

When Nelda got off the ship, she smiled because she could see Einar "It's a pleasure to see Sven's son, but I don't think I could have done anything to deserve you waiting for me in the port."

Nelda, who was speaking in Latin, surprised Einar a bit by what she answered in the Roman language.

"The pleasure is mine Nelda, do not think that being a southern merchant you are unimportant."

Nelda was surprised to hear Einar speak Latin. For a moment she believed that the Greek woman would be the one to translate his words.

"Your Latin is quite fluent, the Greek woman named Kassia taught you."

Einar just gave Nelda a smile "Some things happened but I think I'll be able to explain them later…"

When the other ships docked, Einar interrupted his words because from one of the ships he could see a group of dark-skinned men.

Nelda, seeing Einar's surprised face, pointed to the ship. "They are a group of mercenaries from far to the south. The man is called Ashraf, although he can speak Anglo-Saxon but no Latin."

Einar, hearing that, could only smile 'First my father-in-law is a conqueror of Ireland, then I meet someone who must know the emirate of the Córdoba peninsula. I wonder if he can speak Arabic.'

Seeing him getting off the ship, Einar approached Ashraf and said in Arabic, "Assalamu Aleykum Es rahtmaturullah wa barakatu"

Ashraf, who did not think he could hear a blessing, again looked at the young redhead and replied in a kind way, "Wa Aleykum Assalam wa rahtmaturullah es barakatu."

Nelda, who had heard the strange language they were speaking, could only open her eyes because she did not understand how a young Norse man.

In the northernmost part of the known world, he could speak a language from further south. Even she had never wanted to travel south because she was more afraid of the pagans of the south than of the Vikings.

Because as a woman she would have no rights and would be treated as a commodity, at least that was what her father told her that is why.

That he always warned him not to travel south to Muslim lands to avoid being treated as merchandise.