Viking Dragon (5 page)

As the Danes marched up the slope with their double point the rest of Eorledman Brynoth's army fell in behind.  The odds were now most definitely stacked against us. "Sigtrygg, extend to the right. Spears!"

The two ranks behind us pressed closer to us and their spears were jabbed over our heads. We all had a spear in the front rank.  The main purpose of the double row of spears was to slow down their advance.  We all had our swords in the earth just behind us. They would be the weapons we used to kill. We would be able to draw them easier from the ground than from a scabbard.

I did not recognise the Danes, just their helmets, armour and battle rings.  There were many such mercenaries. They were happy to fight for anyone so long as they were paid. The Danish mail was as long as ours but I saw that some did not have sleeves. The front ten all wielded long two handed axes. My Ulfheonar knew how to deal with them but some of the newer warriors might not.  Our front rank was composed of our best warriors.  My jarls all stood with their oathsworn.  We would have to withstand the hammer that would be the Danish attack.

"Snorri, you know what you must do."

"Aye, Jarl Dragonheart. These Danes are in for a shock."

He and the archers would send arrows over our heads.  A Dane could wield an axe or hold a shield.  He could not do both! Snorri and the archers were twenty paces behind us and were standing on the monastery wall.   They had a clear line of vision to the Danes and mail could be pierced at fifty paces. The Danes were chanting.  It took some moments for me to realise what and then I heard it, "Halfdan the Black! Halfdan the Black! Halfdan the Black!" It was the name of their leader.  I saw why he had the name.  His beard and his hair were as black as my wolf cloak. I saw many scars on his bare arms, testimony to his battles.

We waited patiently and when they were thirty paces from us Snorri and his archers began to release their arrows.  It was a controlled shower. I saw the Dane next to Halfdan fall back with three arrows in his chest. Although he struggled to rise he was trampled by those behind.  He was the first to fall but seven more fell before they were close enough to us to swing their axes.  Only Halfdan and a second axe bearing Dane reached us and Halfdan had two arrows in his forearm.  They did not appear to bother him. I left Snorri to thin out the ones who were following and I waited for Halfdan.  I knew he would come for me.  Leif the Banner stood behind me with my wolf standard. I did not hide from my enemies.

He ran the last two paces, leaving most of his wedge behind.  He and his fellow swung their axes at Haaken and me in a double circle.  It was almost mesmerizing. I knew that if it hit my spear it would shatter it.  I wanted to strike a blow with it and so I timed my thrust so that the axe head was on its way up. It caught in his mail and I twisted and pushed.  It made him slow and I pushed again.  I heard a crack next to me as Haaken's spear was shattered. Above my shoulder were two spears but they would only help  if Halfdan closed with me. A warrior standing behind Halfdan grabbed my spear and pulled it from me.  I anticipated it and let go.  He overbalanced and, as he did so, an arrow struck him in the throat.  By my reckoning more than a third of the Danes lay dead.

As the axe of Halfdan the Black came at me again I dropped to one knee and held the shield over my head.  I reached for Ragnar's Spirit and as the axe smashed into the shield, numbing my arm, I thrust forward and stood up. Halfdan had good armour but my sword and my movement was too much for his mail. My sword went into his stomach and emerged at his shoulder.  He roared and tried to bring his axe at me but he was too close and the spears from behind me darted forward and struck him in the mouth and the cheek. He now had four wounds and that was too much.  I watched the light go from his eyes and he started to fall back.

This was our chance, "Push!" Spears, swords and axes fell upon the disorganized Danes.

Haaken had killed the other axe man and Sigtrygg and his men had slain the other Danes. We moved down the hill towards the Saxons. We now faced Saxons who did not wear mail. They were not in a tight shield wall and we were. They were downhill from us and when I brought Ragnar's Spirit over my head  it split the Saxon thegn's helmet and skull in two. Blood and bone splattered on those behind.  Olaf's axe took the head of the standard bearer and Haaken gutted a second thegn.  With their leaders and hired swords gone the Saxons began to fall back.

I shouted, "Second and third rank, pass!"

It was a manoeuvre we had practised and, as our front rank turned the next ranks stepped forward; a fresh line with unbroken spears. They hit the disordered Saxons while I formed my shield wall once more.  We moved down the hill, following my men.  They began to spread out before us into a large half circle. If Eorledman Brynoth had had any sense he would have formed his reserves into a shield wall behind which the others could shelter but all he did was to feed more and more men, piecemeal, into the fray. It failed!

As we came up behind my men, who were tiring now, I shouted, "Break left and right!" I was proud of our men for they did it in one motion. I raised my sword for my elite warriors, "Charge!"

We began to move quickly down the slope and I led my thirty warriors directly for the Eorledman and his banner.  The other thegns and leaders were mounted and gathered around him.  We were just twenty paces from him when his nerve broke and he turned and fled. The other thegns followed a heartbeat later. The ones who had no horses, the ordinary warriors were struck by a solid wall of Ulfheonar. Their braver warriors stood but they were slain.  The others were no match for my wolf warriors. All resistance ended and the Saxons left the field. We were too tired to follow but not too tired to cheer.  We had won! Or, at least, the Saxons had retreated and were no longer a threat.

I turned to Haaken. "It seems we can stay a little longer in this land." I headed back up the slope stepping over the Saxon dead.

"Then we can go home as the richest Viking raiders ever."

I turned over the body of the warrior I had taken to be Halfdan.  I looked at his many wounds. The spear I had thrust through him would have killed a normal man. "Perhaps he was a berserker."

Olaf said, "I remember being told of potions and plants which warriors can eat before a battle so that they feel neither pain nor wounds. This one should have succumbed to his wounds when you struck him with the spear."

"
Wyrd
. Have the bodies stripped.  You were right Olaf.  We have a fine haul."

Our warriors had suffered wounds and deaths.  Some of the men of Cyninges-tūn would not be returning home. Arne Sheep Head was now missing a piece of his distinctive hair.  He would live but he had taken a fierce blow.

I took off my helmet and wandered down to the river to bathe.  It was not the clean water of home but it would have to do. I felt better with the blood and the gore cleansed from my body.  I longed for the steam hut. I shook my head. Old Ragnar would be appalled. I was becoming soft.  I was almost a Roman. I washed the blood from my sword and my seax.  I cleaned the cochineal from my face and then trudged back to the monastery. 

Some of my warriors were coming the opposite way and we exchanged greetings. Those, like Sigtrygg, Ulf and Asbjorn, who had fought with me many times, paused to clasp my hand and nod.  It was the bond of the warrior.  We had emerged victorious but we had all lost enough friends to know that there might come a day when we would not.

I went into the hall where the captives were held.  I could hear wailing as I entered. Audun Karlsson had commanded the guards.  I went over to him. "Why the wailing?"

He laughed.  I had chosen him because he could speak Saxon. "The old priest told them that God was on their side and he would give strength to their warriors' arms and they would be victorious. They were all on their knees praying throughout the battle. When they heard that we had won then they began to weep."

I shook my head and shouted, "Listen to me. Those who came to rescue you are dead or fled. You will be treated well but you are my captives.  Cease this wailing for it offends my ears. I was a slave once and I now lead men. Your salvation lies not with this White Christ but within yourselves!"

I saw the priests crossing themselves as I uttered the blasphemy. As I left I wondered if I should have sent them to Frankia with Aiden.

The next day I sent out three large warbands to the east.  We had not raided there.  Although the land was marshy they did have farms and churches. For two days they scoured the land and returned with more candlesticks, linen, animals and slaves. We could have left then but I wished to wait for Siggi and Aiden to return.  We still had many days before we had to meet Coen's knarr on the Sabrina. Despite my words the captives still wept and prayed.  It was getting on my nerves. My ships in the river were a large enough deterrent to ensure that no one moved up or down the river.  They were a dam of ships.

"Snorri, how many horses do we have?"

"Thirty, Jarl."

"We take the Ulfheonar and Sigtrygg and his men. We will ride to Lundenburgh. I think I will speak with this Eorledman Brynoth."

The horses were not the largest I had ever seen and my feet almost touched the ground but it saved walking and cut the journey by half. We were seen long before we reached the Saxon stronghold. The gates were barred and the walls were manned. I dismounted and, with Leif the Banner and Haaken One Eye, I approached the walls. I stood a hundred paces from them.  It was a contemptuous act for if they had any decent archers they could have easily hit me but I knew that they would not even try. My guards at the monastery had told me that the Saxons regarded me as some sort of mythical monster. I think they believed I was a half human form of Grendel!

The Eorledman shouted down, "What do you wish now?"

"If I wanted your town I would take it for I have seen little to stop me.  Even when you hire savages from the east we defeat you. You have no honour, Saxon.  I did not see you in the shield wall.  You did not trade blows with us. King Egbert will not be happy when he returns."

I had hit home with my last barb for he jabbed an accusing finger at me, "And he is returning, Dragonheart! We have sent riders to him!"

I laughed.  It would take almost half a month to reach him and as long for him to return.  Even if a message had been sent to the King of Wessex, Egbert was too clever a general to come back for one Viking raid.

"Then I should go, should I not, before he returns? Perhaps I shall go now and sell my captives in Dyflin's slave market.  And yet I stay here.  You have much yet which I can take and no one to stop me. Your men of Kent failed to arrive, did they not? Who is left? Perhaps the Mercians will come to aid me?  We change our allies these days.  I fought for Egbert against Coenwulf and the Danes and now you bring Danes to fight me. Strange bed fellows!"

He was silent and Haaken said quietly, "You have him confused now, Jarl.  He knows not what to do."

"And I have not finished yet, Haaken." I raised my voice, "Perhaps I should bring my men and ships from Tilaburg.  We could camp here around your burgh.  What say you to that?"

He had not seen that possibility.  I doubted that there would be enough supplies in the burgh to feed the ones who had fled there and I knew that we had hurt their trade and Lundenwic prospered on trade.

After a short silence the Eorledman shouted, "What will it take for you to leave?" Before I could answer I saw a priest next to him say something. "And to leave all the captives here too?"

"Gold and silver!"

"How much?"

"Bring all that you have in three days to Tilaburg. If it is enough I will leave. If you have brought all that you can then I will let you have the captives."

"But how do I know how much is enough?"

"You tell me.  How much is the prosperity of Lundenwic and how much do you wish the captives returned?"

He spoke to those around him and said, "And how much would you pay if the situation was reversed?"

I laughed, "You do not know me Eorledman; any who touches what is mine pays with his life. Ask the Danes Egbert sent to hurt me.  They enjoyed the blood eagle. Do not make the same mistake King Egbert made.  I inflict this upon Lundenwic because your King Egbert sends assassins, warbands and killers into my land. So the answer is, I would pay in blood! I would pay in death!"

Even from a hundred paces I saw his shoulders slump as he said, "Very well we will come but do you give your word that you will not raid while we gather the gold?"

"If you want me to stop raiding then come sooner!"

I sent Asbjorn and Ketil south of the river, the next day and they scoured the lands of Kent. The men of Wessex had taken much but we still managed to bring pots, treasure and weapons.

Siggi and Aiden returned the day before my deadline. I noticed that the knarr rode higher in the water.  They had managed to trade. Aiden and Siggi's faces confirmed the success of the voyage.

"We have many chests of gold, Jarl.  The King of Wessex is not popular in Frankia.  They may not like Vikings but they despise the men of Wessex."

"Did they know you were Vikings?"

"They suspected but, like Haaken here, they turned a blind eye to it for they wanted the knarr and the treasure we took."

"Good.  We can begin loading the knarr with the best of the animals and the rest of the treasure. The Saxons come tomorrow with gold to buy us off.  I intend to sell the captives back to them.  We will not have the bother of selling them in Dyflin. Siggi, we will need someone from your knarr to steer the captured knarr."