Oars formed their legs, pulling across the sparkling azure surface. Inside the ships, flesh colored dots swayed back and forth in unison with the oars. Each dot was a man and each ship held twenty men at ten oars to a side. Other men walked between the rowers or leaned on their tillers. Some sat idle in the prow.But the men at the oars labored, as they had for a full day. Their grunts were audible above the splash of the water and the creak of the hulls. They sat on sea chests, and some had their feet bound with seal skin rope. Those with free legs sang songs. Those with bound feet grunted or kept silent.Ulfrik had not spoken since being dragged aboard Kjotve's ship. His arms and shoulders burned from the strain of rowing. His back and chest felt tight and heavy. He kept his head down, focusing on the seawater sloshing around his bound feet. Though others sat before and behind him, he was alone. The foolishly brave men who had followed him into slavery were seeded throughout the other ships.
