The Great Heathen Army

by H A CULLEY

  In that instant I regretted hitting him. It seemed that I might owe my brother’s life to this boy.

  ‘What are your names?’ I asked after a pause.

  ‘My name is Erik. My friend is called Ulf and the runt in the fur hat is Tove.’

  ‘Well Erik, is anyone likely to ransom for any of you?’

  ‘I doubt it,’ he said giving me a venomous look. ‘You and your friend there,’ he said nodding towards the unconscious Redwald, ‘managed to kill all three of our fathers together with my uncle, who was our hersir.’

  I gathered that hersir meant leader. He went on to say that his father, and that of the other boys, were bondi; what we would have called ceorls. Then he surprised me by giving me a sly grin.

  ‘You will be a great warrior when you grow up. Perhaps we shouldn’t have written the Saxons off as a bunch of women if they can produce a cub like you.’

  I didn’t follow everything he’d said, but I did pick up on the word Saxon.

  ‘I’m a Jute not a Saxon,’ I replied tersely. ‘Several centuries ago the people of Cent and several other places along the south coast of England came from Jutland. It’s...’

  ‘I know where Jutland is! It’s where we come from,’ he cut in.

  I grinned at him and said mischievously ‘perhaps we are distantly related?’

  ‘I doubt it!’ he shot back, glaring at me. He paused. ‘Mind you, you fight well, enough to be a Dane,’ he admitted reluctantly.

  I thought I detected a glimmer of admiration in his last words and I patted him on the shoulder in a friendly fashion before getting up. A glimmer of an idea had begun to form in my head.

  That night Cei and I took turns to stand watch. We felt shattered the next morning and infuriatingly the Danish boys slept well all night long. I’d found some mead in a flask on one of the dead Danes and Cei and I dribbled it into Redwald’s mouth from time to time to dull his pain.

  The next morning we made a stretcher of sorts to carry Redwald and slung it between two of the horses. I would ride the leading one and Cei the lead horse of the other two, trying to keep the stretcher as steady as possible. The problem I was left with was the three Danes. If I let them go they would doubtless tell their countrymen what had happened and we would become fugitives. I ruled out killing them and so I was in something of a quandary. To add to my problems I quite liked Erik, who I thought was probably the same age as me.

  ‘What will happen to you if I let you go?’ I asked Erik after we’d broken our fast.

  ‘We have no family left in England now; our mothers and sisters are back in Danmǫrk and they will have a hard time with no man to support them. No one here will want us either. We’re too young to be warriors so no jarl or hersir will let us join him.’ He paused and looked at the others, who both looked at the ground. ‘Orphans usually end up as thralls,’ he muttered gloomily.

  ‘Then I have a proposition for you, if you can fight,’ I gave Erik a steady look to let know that I was being serious. ‘Can you?’

  He shook his head. ‘Danish boys like us are just old enough to start our training. That’s why we were brought along – for the experience - but we couldn’t fight anyone yet. And now there is no-one left alive to teach us.’

  ‘There is.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘I will. I’m teaching Cei to fight, to track and to hunt. I can teach you as well.’

  ‘Why? Why would you teach Danes how to kill Saxons?’

  ‘Because I’m obviously hoping you won’t do that. I want you to join my warband.’

  Erik translated for the benefit of the others and suddenly they brightened up, looking eager. It had been a gamble but I thought it might work. I knew enough about Danes to know that, once they had pledged their loyalty to their jarl, they were honour bound to honour it.

  ‘Will you give me your oaths?’ I asked.

  ‘Does it mean we’d have to kill other Danes,’ Erik asked doubtfully.

  ‘Don’t Danes ever kill other Danes if their jarls fall out?’

  ‘True,’ he admitted. ‘Very well. I will join you and I’m sure the others will follow my lead.’ He paused. ‘Jarl.’

  Erik grinned and I chuckled but Cei looked upset by this turn of events. I think he resented the increase in the size of our group. It was certainly true that from then on we were no longer as close as we had been.

  Ϯϯϯ

  Now we had eight horses we used two to carry Redwald on a makeshift stretcher; one in front and one behind. Cei took the reins of the lead horse and I rode alongside the rear one to make sure it kept the correct pace and jolted the litter as little as possible. Erik and Ulf rode ahead of us and Tove followed on with the pack horse. There was too much booty I’d taken from the dead Danes to load on one horse so we all had to carry some of it. I had chosen a good sword for myself and hung two byrnies and several helmets in a sack from my saddle horn.

  We needed to find somewhere safe where Redwald could recover. We daren’t stay on the road and obviously we had to keep well clear of Theodforda. As the day wore on I despaired of finding anywhere, and then we emerged from a wood into a clearing with a charcoal burner’s hut in the centre.

  Smoke was coming from the mound near the hut indicating that charcoal was being produced so we knew that the hut was occupied. Leaving Cei with Redwald and the horses the three Danes and I warily approached the hut. Suddenly the door flew open and a middle-aged woman appeared holding a spear. A girl of about eleven stood behind her carrying a knife.

  ‘Be warned, Danes. We’ll sell our lives dearly.’

  Then she stared at us open mouthed.

  ‘You’re just young boys!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘And we mean you no harm.’ I reassured her. ‘I’m no Dane and we seek your help. We have a boy with us who the Danes have half-flayed.’

  ‘Leave your weapons there and bring him inside,’ she ordered briskly.

  We did as she said and half an hour later she had treated and re-bound Redwald’s wounds with clean bandages. He was in considerable pain and the flask of mead was finished. However, the woman, whose name I learned was Edyth, gave him something which put him to sleep.

  ‘We need somewhere to stay for the winter,’ I said. ‘If we hunt for food and do what we can to help you, will you allow us to stay?’

  ‘I suspect that you could have easily killed us if you wanted to and taken the hut for yourselves, so yes, you can stay. To be honest my daughter and I will be glad of the company.’

  The daughter’s name was Nelda, a rather shy girl, not saying anything to us for the first three days we were there. However, I noticed her making calf-eyes at Tove so I encouraged him to talk to her. Once the floodgates had opened she wouldn’t shut up. She got on my nerves but Tove seemed as enchanted with her as she was with him.

  October passed into November and then the snows came. By now Redwald was healing well and he was no longer in such pain, although he would always bear the scars. He started to exercise and by the middle of December he was fully recovered. I was eager to return to Theodforda to try and find Alric but there was no chance of going anywhere. The snow covered everything in a blanket of white and, as Erik pointed out, the Danes wouldn’t be leaving until the spring.

  Confined to the hut, the camaraderie that had developed between us began to deteriorate. Cei had become aloof almost from the moment that the three Danes had joined us and now he devoted himself to helping Redwald recover, shunning the rest of us. Erik and Ulf started to pick on Tove, teasing him about loving Nelda and he reacted by sulking. I found myself getting irritated by their petty squabbles and I also became isolated from the rest.

  However, that was the least of our problems. We had lived well at first, but then food became a concern. There were few wild animals to hunt and we also needed more fodder for the horses. Thankfully, a sudden thaw set in a week before the celebration of Christmas and we were able to ride into Godmundcestre with Edyth’s charcoal cart.

  Everyone’s
spirits picked up once we had escaped the confines of the hut and we laughed and joked amongst ourselves. Even Cei seemed more at ease with the Danes now.

  When he and I had been on our own, I had dreaded being challenged due to our youth. Redwald looked like a young man and after he’d joined us I stopped worrying. Now, with the presence of three more boys in our group, we excited attention again as we entered the settlement.

  Whilst Edyth and Nelda were selling the charcoal, Redwald, Cei and I left the others to look after the horses and went to the street where there were two armourers’ workshops. We had various Danish byrnies, helmets and swords for sale and I was hoping to get a good price for everything bar six of the best swords.

  The first armourer offered us a derisory price so we went next door. Immediately the first man rushed after us and the two armourers started bidding against each other. In the end we sold everything to the first man and then I explained to both of them what we wanted.

  The swords I’d kept were too heavy and too long for any of us except for Redwald. I wanted them cut down but the armourer said it would make the swords unbalanced. He offered to make us swords to suit each of us, although it would cost more. Next we asked if he could alter the helmets to make them smaller and to look more like the pattern that Anglo-Saxons wore. Again he said that it would be easier to melt them down and make new ones.

  When he said it would take a month to do the work I went next door and asked the other armourer if they could do it in two weeks if I split the work between them. That’s what we agreed and the first man paid me the difference between what we had agreed and the cost of the swords and helmets. He would pay the other armourer for his help. I went away well satisfied thinking I had a goodly sum to add to my stack of coins; then Redwald whispered something in my ear that I should have thought of.

  ‘A leader should always split the loot he gains with his men. It is the custom amongst the Danes as well as our nobles.’

  I should have thought of that myself and nodded my thanks for his suggestion. It would bind the boys closer to me and raise their morale. I would still keep half though. I had half an eye on the future and my aim, apart from rescuing my brother, was to gain enough money to buy at least five hides of land somewhere. Then I could call myself a thegn. Of course, that would be several years in the future, but it gave me a goal.

  Next we sought out the appropriate merchants and purchased hay and oats for the horses, flour and root vegetables for us and bows for the three Danish boys that were suited to their build. I also bought more arrows so that that they could start training as archers.

  Once reunited with the others, Edyth accompanied us with the cart to collect our purchases. She insisted on sharing the cost of the food but I told her that we wouldn’t accept it. She had given us shelter so that Redwald could heal and a place to see out the winter. That was enough.

  In mid-March we decided that it was time to leave. We had collected our new swords and helmets and had spent three weeks practicing with them. We were hardly formidable swordsmen but at least we had mastered the basic parries, cuts and thrusts.

  I had given each of the others a small purse of silver pennies. They hadn’t expected it and they were suitably grateful. Cei was especially moved to have money of his own. I glanced at Redwald and nodded my head in appreciation for his suggestion.

  We were all sorry to say goodbye to Edyth and Nelda, especially Tove. Nelda hugged him hard and gave him a kiss on his cheek before running back into the hut to hide her tears. We were in a sombre mood as we rode away, but soon the thought of the excitement to come lightened the atmosphere. The others didn’t seem to have a care in the world, but I was apprehensive. Spiriting Alric away from the middle of the Danish camp was an almost impossible task and I had no idea how we could accomplish it.

  Chapter Four

  Spring / Summer 866

  We attracted a few curious glances as we rode through the narrow streets of Theodforda. We had approached the place with extreme caution, Redwald and I taking turns to scout ahead of the rest, but the Danes had gone. They hadn’t sacked the settlement, but they had stripped it bare of horses, provisions and any money and other valuables that they could find. A lot of girls and some older women were showing signs of pregnancy and I suspected that there would be a lot of Danish bastards born over the coming months.

  We needed more food, leather tents and a second pack horse or pony but none were available. I also needed to know where the Danes had gone so we went in search of a priest. My father had always said that churchmen were a lot of old gossips and knew far more about what was happening than the rest of us.

  At first the priest was wary of us, despite our youth, and I realised that the cause of his caution was the Mjölnir hanging around Ulf’s neck. The others also wore one but kept them tucked inside their tunics. The Mjölnir – or Thor’s hammer – was a talisman worn by many pagans and was of similar significance to them as a crucifix was to us. The priest would be all too familiar with it after a winter spent in close proximity to the Danes.

  The fact that half of my little group was Christian and the other half heathen hadn’t been a problem up to now. I had shown little interest in the Norse pantheon of gods and the three Danes had shown absolutely no desire to learn about Christianity. My policy, had I thought one necessary, would be that each was free to follow his own beliefs just so long as he kept it to himself. However, I didn’t expect the priest to take the same view.

  ‘Redwald, why don’t you take the others off to an alehouse and have a drink whilst I talk to the priest?’ I suggested.

  Once they had departed I dismounted, tied my horse to the rail outside the priest’s hut and produced a silver penny, saying that I would like to make a donation to the Church. He nodded, although he still looked suspiciously at me, and I followed him inside the hut. His wife and a little girl beat a hasty retreat to the corner of the only room. The mother ignored me but the girl stared at me wide eyed.

  I gave him a brief outline of my adventures to date, leaving out anything to do with killing. He wouldn’t have believed me if I said that I had killed three robbers and several Danes anyway; he’d think I was boasting. He seemed to accept that I was searching for my brother but he said he knew no more than the fact that a third of them had ridden off northwards whilst the others had headed eastwards on foot.

  Perhaps my father had been talking about monks, rather than priests, when he said that they were the best sources of the latest information?

  To me what the priest had said indicated that they were all heading towards Northumbria; those on foot returning to their ships before sailing to the north. I thanked him and left.

  The others had made for the nearest tavern and were drinking ale when I joined them. We had all been brought up on weak ale, it being safer to drink than polluted water. Cei poured me a flagon from the earthenware jug in the middle of the table and I took a mouthful. It was pretty foul, and stronger than I was used to, but I was thirsty so I grimaced and took another swig.

  It seemed that Redwald had had more luck than I had. Danes in their cups were a talkative lot and the tavern keeper had told him that they intended to invade Northumbria. There was some story about their king, Ælle, having thrown the father of some of the leaders into a snake pit to die. Their motive seemed to be revenge as much as anything else and their first objective was to take Eforwic, Ælle’s capital.

  The Danes had a four day start on us but I knew that two thousand warriors plus their camp followers and baggage train would do well to make twenty miles a day. I wished I knew what lay eighty miles from Theodforda but none of us had more than the haziest notion of how far away Northumbria was. What we did find out was the Ermine Street led there, so it looked as if we would have to retrace our steps along the way that Cei and I had taken and re-join the Roman road. I don’t suppose that this was the route along which the Great Heathen Army had marched – they would have taken a more direct road but, unlike us, they pre
sumably knew where they were going.

  Ϯϯϯ

  It took us a week to reach Lindocolina. The three Danish boys could ride, but they had never ridden for any great distance and we soon ran out of Cei’s mother’s balm. We managed to buy more sheepskins to make their saddles more comfortable and we stopped at a monastery where the infirmarian gave us some unguent of his own devising in exchange for a donation. By the end of the week we were all used to spending several hours in the saddle at a time.

  We approached Lindocolina cautiously. It was the seat of the Ealdorman of Lindesege and it looked to be quite a large settlement, but it had evidently been attacked. It sat on the top of a hill and so we could see the black smoke from miles away. I studied it carefully as we approached it but there didn’t seem to be any sign of life. I hoped that the inhabitants had managed to flee in time, but I feared that we would still find many dead in the streets. Cei suggested that we by-passed it but we needed more provisions and I hoped that the Danes might have left something.

  Evidently, whatever the route taken by heathen army when they left Theodforda, they had now joined Ermine Street. The huts, workshops and stores were still burning so they couldn’t be that far ahead of us.

  We strung our bows and nocked an arrow as we approached the outskirts on foot. Tove and Cei led the horses as they were the worst archers, although they were improving all the time. As I had anticipated, there was no sign of life, but there were a lot of dead bodies, nearly all Anglo-Saxons. The people of Lindocolina had obviously put up a fight as there were numerous blood stains everywhere. The fact that the bodies had been taken away for cremation indicated that the blood came from Danish casualties.

  When we reached the far side of the settlement we hurriedly retreated back into the shadows. Below the hill, not six hundred yards away, the enemy army had built a series of pyres on which lay at least three score bodies. The enemy were gathered around the various pyres whilst some sort of ceremony took place. Then men stepped forward with torches and set the pyres alight.