Dawn was rising over the fjord like a silver curtain, and Eira was sharpening her knife. Her father, a ship's carpenter, said it wasn't the job for her. But the wind smelled of travel and the sea, and her hands itched with curiosity. She bit her lip and looked out over the water. A cove waited beneath the cliff, where a longship was being built for the jarl. On the sand lay a white whale bone, incised in old marks. Eira had learned the runes from her grandmother Ragna, though no one took it seriously. That morning she spotted a spiral with a dot on the bone, the sign of the Isthmus. Leif, her friend, had brought a chest full of rivets and tar. - Are you staring at the signs again? - he muttered. - Rowing does not read runes. Eira pointed to a spiral and then to a cliff where the water drew like a breath. - There is a passage there. At low tide the entrance will be revealed. In the evening the torches went out in the long house, and jarl Sven called the council. The rudder stone, sacred as an oath, has disappeared; we will not sail without it. - Whoever hid it will give it back tomorrow," he said, "or the sea itself will pass judgment. The words rose like smoke and then fell heavy on the benches. Eira clutched the seal's tooth pendant as the mark on the bone trembled in thought. Night descended from the mountains like a dark sleigh, and the mist crept into the cove. Eira moved there with Leif, carrying a lamp sheathed in shell and leather. Underfoot, hollow cavities rumbled, as if the ground had its own drums. A spiral shone again on the wet stones, leading straight into a dark corridor. - 'We'll just have a look,' whispered Eira. - 'If anything clatters, we run. The corridor smelled of salt and tar, and the ceiling glistened with seaweed. A quiet sloshing sounded in the depths, like the whispering of many tongues at once. Leif reached out, touched the wall and froze, as the stone vibrated. In front of them, the prow of an unknown ship emerged from the darkness, pressed into the cave. A stolen stone glimmered on the rudder board, and someone moved overboard. The light of the lantern twitched as the unfamiliar triple horn signal sounded over the water.