On the voyage back to Greenland, Leif Ericson often had Ranald seated beside him at the helm of West Seeker. He gave Ranald instruction on navigation and the management of ships. 'There is only one constant star in the sky, the northern star, and that star is the sailor's friend always. But there is a great wheel of stars that swings nightly from east to west, and good sailors learn to read that map, and so they can hold a true course. There are five wandering stars that go like tinkers or like pilgrims among the star-towns, and we become acquainted with their ways too. There is always the mystery of the moon. Does the moon touch some pulse in our blood? I have noticed that the moods of seamen alter with the changing moon. Many a sane sober man says strange things under a full moon. I have known men of few words utter poetry at such a time. I tell you this, Ranald, it is a foolish skipper who sets out on a voyage under a waning moon ...'
Until she became a high-profile pawn in the wrangles between the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons, reference to Emma in contemporary documents is almost non-existent. We can only guess at the contributing factors in her childhood that gave her the courage, if not bloody-mindedness, to rise above her circumstances. It was not unusual for aristocratic women of her time to exercise some power, and many owned vast estates, but Emma was to be exceptional, taking centre-stage and becoming the most notoriously determined, manipulative and forceful female in Western Europe.
Simon had always had a squeamish side to him which the knight found either endearing or infuriating, depending on his mood at the time. For Baldwin, who had experienced warfare and seen death in many forms, there was a certain fascination in a new corpse. He was driven by a pure curiosity, not to prove a principle, but merely to find truth. Each time he saw a new body, he wanted to study it, and discover the reason behind the death, as if the corpse could explain to him if he would but listen and observe. And he was determined to give each the time it needed to tell him.
[...]
He stood back and surveyed the body. One thing was niggling him. When he studied the neck wound itself in more detail, he could see something that looked odd ...
