Ongli at Sea

Ongli grabbed at the smalll cross he wore around his neck, tore it off, and cast it into the ocean.
He had thought to escape the violence on land by hiding at sea on his small fishing boat on the Austmarr [Baltic Sea]. Then, the winds were not nearly so fierce. With every gust, the little boat rocked and he and his family were thrown from side to side.
He was never a religious man, and was baptized to increase his trade with the Christians on the continent. He had received the primo signatio some time ago, but still felt some tension with the Christians that his poor family could ill afford. An increasing majority did not want to buy fish or whalebone from a filthy pagan. But now he swore at the Hvítakristr [White Christ], for his prayers went unanswered, and as with many before him, the thought of a poor death stirred a religious fervor in him.
He hailed Njord. He tossed gold overboard, hung a thrall by his neck in offering. Still, the winds continued.
He hailed Thor. He split the skull of his best goat. Still, the winds continued. And then, the sea filled with monstrous eels which gnawed at the boat's hull and spat venom at him.
The sacrifices have not been precious enough, he thought to himself. The gods take notice only when you sacrifice what is most precious. He looked at his son and his daughter, grasped tight in their mother's arms in a corner of the craft.
Ongli could not have known that the gods did not answer for most were dead or dying. The eels that now tormented Ongli were the spawn of the World-Serpent Jormungand, shat out as the High Thunderer crushed his skull. The prayers to Thor fell on dead ears, for the god himself lay dying from the Serpent's poison.
How his wife protested, as Ongli took the boy from her arms. He was but 11 winters, but was Ongli's heir and a source of pride. The woman scratched at Ongli as he pulled a noose around the boy's neck. She kicked at him and hurled curses as he drug the boy to the side of the craft. She pounded on him with her fists and he threw the boy overboard. His work done, Ongli simply shoved the woman aside and raised his arms in prayer.
Their daughter watched with no expression on her face as the eels tore chunks of flesh from her drowning brother. She was pulled back to the corner by her mother, who again wrapped her arms around the girl.
The family would survive. The boat was driven north by the winds and drifted into a sheltered cove where they waited out the storm. Ongli was now so sure of his faith, was reborn into the old ways. But mother and daughter together would nurse a grudge to this day.