by H A CULLEY
It was frustrating to see smoke columns rising into the air indicative of a large number of settlements and farmsteads being torched in the surrounding countryside. King Æthelred was carried up to the walls to see what was happening for himself. He wept to see the wanton destruction of Hamtunscīr and ordered the army to sally forth and attack the perpetrators. To do so would have been a disaster, of course, as the Danes would have cut us to pieces as we emerged from the gates. Thankfully wiser counsel, including that of Ælfred, Pӕga the Hereræswa and myself, prevailed.
On the twentieth of March the Danes appeared before the west gates with a battering ram which they had constructed from a large oak tree. It was mounted on four axles with eight solid wheels and it was covered by a wooden roof. It was crude, but it would have been effective had it been allowed to batter the gates unhindered.
Pӕga took one look at it and sent for barrels of oil. As soon as the ram was in position we poured oil down onto the wooden roof of the ram, some of which splashed the warriors holding shields above their heads to protect those operating the ram from our spears, arrows and rocks. As soon as we threw lit torches onto the roof it erupted into flames which spread to those soaked in oil nearby. Soon the ram and a score or more Danes were burning merrily.
The screams of those unfortunate enough to be set on fire were enough to send shivers through the most callous man, but it had the desired effect. The next day the Great Heathen Army abandoned the siege and marched away to the south west.
I set off with my warband to trail them whilst Ælfred prepared the army of Wessex to march out to intercept the Danes. Leofflæd had insisted on coming with us and I had, perhaps unwisely, given in to her demands. The children remained in the king’s hall with their nurses.
King Æthelred accompanied the main body, but he travelled in a small, specially adapted cart as his inflamed leg was now so painful that he couldn’t ride.
I had included the hunters and archers and the members of my fyrd who could ride in my warband. The extra horses came from the royal stables and so I now had a mounted force a hundred strong. We caught up with the first group of Danish stragglers less than four miles from Wintanceaster. They were on foot and numbered fewer than us. We rode around them and dismounted, the spearmen forming a small shield wall with a group of archers on each flank. I commanded one group and Leofflæd the other. If anyone objected to being commanded by a woman they were wise enough not to say so. We commenced shooting at the Danes and brought nearly half of them down with our first three volleys.
That enraged the rest and they charged us, yelling insults and vowing to kill us all. Whilst the hunters and other archers continued to shoot over our heads, my warriors dropped their bows and joined the shield wall. Another dozen Danes were killed or badly wounded before they reached us. By then we outnumbered them by more than two to one.
I was worried that the fyrd would break but they didn’t and, although a few of them were killed, we slaughtered the remaining Danes. I left Leofflæd and the younger boys collecting anything of value and pressed on. We repeated the tactic with the next group. This time there were less than fifty of them and we suffered nothing more than a few minor wounds.
By now word had reached the leaders that they were being harried from the rear and so they found a place called Meretum to make a stand. Once again it was an ancient British fort, but it wasn’t nearly as good a defensive position as Basinges had been for us. It stood at the top of a shallow incline with trees growing around it on three sides. There was a single defensive ring and that had been eroded over time so that it was no more than five feet in height in most places.
Leaving my warband to watch the Danes, I galloped back to brief Æthelred, Ælfred and Pӕga.
‘A frontal assault would be costly, cyning,’ the hereræswa said, addressing the king but, in reality, talking to the ӕtheling. ‘Our best tactic is to creep up on them through the trees, if they provide the cover Ealdorman Jørren says they do.’
‘I agree,’ I said, ‘but we need a diversion to keep their attention on the open ground to their front. Furthermore, if the Danes have any sense, they will have men in the woods to give warning of an attack from there.’
Pӕga look surprised, and then nodded his agreement. I had gone up in his estimation. I think he had always mistrusted my judgement in the past because of my youth. He didn’t have the same problem with Ælfred, although he was only three years older than I was.
‘What do you suggest?’ Æthelred asked before his brother could speak.
I sensed that his injury was not only causing him severe pain but it must have been exasperating to see Ælfred treated as if he was in charge.
‘If all those except for the diversionary force attack through the woods on one side of the fort, my scouts will act as the vanguard and quietly dispose of any Danes we find beforehand.’
‘Your men are that good?’ Pӕga asked sceptically.
‘They’ve had plenty of practice at disposing of sentries quietly, although that’s usually been at night.’
‘Then why don’t we delay, pretending we are about to launch a frontal assault until dark? Your men can take care of any groups guarding the woods at night; then we’ll move into position ready to attack at dawn.’ Ælfred said, tactfully looking at his brother for confirmation of the plan.
‘They’ll all get lost in those woods in the dark,’ Pӕga said disparagingly.
I nearly lost my temper and asked him if he had a better idea, but I took a deep breath before speaking.
‘Have we got rope or cord with us?’ I asked.
‘No, but we can easily fetch it from Wintanceaster,’ Ælfred replied, looking puzzled. ‘What do you want it for?’
‘To link each group together with one of my warriors leading. They will take them to the place they’ll need to form up.’
The other three looked at each other in surprise. It wasn’t something anyone else had thought of but I know that men get disorientated in the dark and become lost.
‘Right,’ Pӕga said. ‘We’d better make it look as if we’re going to attack this afternoon. We don’t want to let the heathens escape.’
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It went just as I had hoped, at first. There were several groups of Danes a hundred yards or so inside the woods in the sector we intended to attack from. Some stood together quietly talking, others watched the woods individually. Disposing of them was a task for my scouts, not the hunters or the fyrd, so I left the latter with our horses and fifteen of us cautiously worked our way forwards in a line.
When we saw a group we surrounded them and attacked together. Each man had a specific target. This was work for daggers and seaxes, not swords. I crept up on the first group with six others. They weren’t paying attention to the woods but were chatting quietly amongst themselves. They never knew what hit them. I stood behind my target and grabbed his face with my left hand, yanking his head back. A split second later my dagger cut across his throat and felt his warm blood cascade over my hand as I sawed the blade to and fro until I was sure that he was dead. The others had had similar success.
Not every group was executed so cleanly and silently but any sounds that were made were unlikely to have escaped the dense woodland. The trees were full of sound at night anyway as animals hunted their prey and called to each other.
My next target was a lone sentry who stood with his hands in front of his mouth as he tried to blow some warmth into them. He was young, perhaps as young as Erik, Ulf and Tove had been when they joined my warband. However, I couldn’t let that affect me.
Because he had his hands in front of his face I had to adopt a different tactic. This time I pulled his helmet from his head and quickly brought the pommel of my dagger down to knock him out. His beardless face stared sightlessly up at me in the gloom under the tree canopy. He was indeed very young, probably no more than twelve or thirteen and I hesitated.
I should have realised that a boy wouldn’t be out here on his own.
As I steeled myself to cut his throat I heard the merest whisper of movement behind me. My men who were nearest to me went to attack the Dane who had loomed out of the darkness but they would have been too late. Instinctively I dropped to one knee, turning as I did so. My reaction was unexpected and an axe blade cut the air where I had been standing a split second earlier.
I leaped up, ramming my dagger towards the man’s chest under his ribcage. At the same time I brought my fist up into his jaw to prevent him shouting out. With dismay I felt the point of my dagger slide sideways over a good quality chainmail byrnie. However, my uppercut had stunned my opponent. In the time it took him to recover his wits I was able to thrust upwards with my dagger again this time with more success and the point entered his neck just below his jaw. He gurgled briefly and then his corpse fell against me.
Now covered in blood, but his, not mine, I breathed a sigh of relief before being violently sick. I’d been in many fights but none had shaken me to the same extent that this one had. After checking that he was dead I went back to the boy. He was still unconscious and I went to cut his throat, but then hesitated. Instead I told one of my men to bind him and gag him. We’d take him back and question him later. Of course it was an excuse; I was being sentimental, but I felt better about myself as a result.
Once we were certain that the woods were clear of Danes in that sector, I took most of my men back with me to guide the main body into position. I left Erik, Cei and Wealhmær in case there was a change of sentries, but it was only two hours before dawn and I thought in unlikely that they would rotate before then. On our way I checked on the boy I’d knocked out. He was awake and stared at me wide eyed with fright. No doubt his head hurt like hell as well. I picked him up, surprised at how light he was, and slung him over my shoulder.
After leaving him with the baggage train I led the hundred men assigned to me forward into position. The plan was to attack with fifteen hundred men as the sun rose. The second wave would follow on. It would be light by then and they would have the sound of fighting to guide them in any case.
Once we had formed up just inside the wood I joined Leofflæd. We huddled together holding hands and waited for dawn to arrive.
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As the first rays of light struck the tops of the trees we got up and stretched our limbs, stamping our feet to restore circulation. I picked up my shield and drew my sword ready for the signal to attack. A minute later a hunting horn blared out three notes in quick succession and we walked forward to the edge of the trees. Another long blast rang out and we advanced in four long lines and climbed the low ramparts of the fort.
The enemy had all slept inside the fort and as I reached the top of the rampart I was greeted by confusion and alarm all over the level ground in front of me. Some of the enemy had slept in the open around camp fires that were now no more than embers, some had erected tents and some slept under their animal skin cloaks. The sound of the horn had woken most of them and they were busy grabbing their weapons. A number had taken off their byrnies to sleep and were still trying to put them on.
The camp was guarded by about two hundred men but they were standing on the ramparts beside the entrance to the camp watching the diversionary force from Dyfneintscir and Sūþrīgedcir some four hundred yards to their front.
We swarmed down the far side of the rampart and tore into the unprepared Danes. I cut down the first man I reached, who was still searching for his shield, and a second later used my own shield to deflect a spear thrust. I chopped off the head of the spear and then drove my sword into the spearman’s belly. I was still pulling it out when a Dane came at me with a two-handed battle-axe. I threw up my shield to deflect the blow and, as the man raised it to try again, Leofflæd shoved her sword into the man’s armpit. He screamed and dropped the axe. A second later I had severed his spine and we moved on.
The speed of our assault had prevented the Danes from forming a shield wall and individual fights were developing all over the interior of the fort. Then the second wave of our army appeared on top of the ramparts. We forced the enemy back until they were confined in about a quarter of the fort. They had little room to manoeuvre but they had at last been able to form a shield wall.
We withdrew to form our own shield wall, but the rear ranks of the enemy started to climb the rear of the ramparts behind them and flee into the woods on that side. I had anticipated this and our plan was for the fyrd of Dyfneintscir and Sūþrīgedcir to move up to block their retreat. Unfortunately, the Danes had been routed so quickly that the former diversionary force were still en route to the blocking position.
Less than half an hour later we were left in possession of the fort. I surveyed the ground. By my calculation we had lost perhaps a hundred men but I estimated the Danish losses at five times that. As was normal, we slew the wounded and started to collect our booty in terms of weapons, armour, coins, hack-silver and gold and silver arm rings.
I sent ten of my scouts to collect their horses and then track the heathen army to see where they went. They had been gone less than an hour when Cei and the others came galloping back.
‘They’ve re-organised and are coming back,’ he yelled.
‘Cei, over here. How far away are they and in what sort of strength?’ I asked, running over to him.
‘Under a mile away; it’s difficult to estimate their strength, but I’d say around two thousand or so.’
Now it was our turn to panic. Ælfred, Pӕga, Bishop Heahmund and I managed to restore some sort of order and gradually our army formed up on top of the ramparts to oppose the returning Danes. However, their leader, Halfdan, was too wily to make a direct approach and they appeared over the ramparts behind our position. King Æthelred, who had joined us in his little cart, was taken back to the baggage train by his gesith, despite his protests.
I cursed my folly in not sending Cei and the others back to track their approach but there was no point in regrets at this stage. We formed up facing the oncoming Vikings and formed a shield wall. However, we were at a distinct disadvantage, despite our greater numbers. Our youngest and least experienced warriors had been placed at the rear with our best fighters on top of the ramparts. Now boys of fourteen and fifteen and the fyrd of Dyfneintscir and Sūþrīgedcir were in the front rank.
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There was nothing that could be done immediately, but the other leaders and I pushed our way through the throng with the men from the top of the rampart so we could step into the breaches created when what was now the front rank fell. However, the latter were terrified and some of them started to push their way to the rear in any case.
There was utter confusion when the enemy hit us and they drove into us, slaying as they went. We must have lost hundreds of men in minutes before we managed to form a new shield wall with the ealdormen, thegns and more experienced warriors in the forefront. It took time but eventually we killed those Danes who had penetrated our ranks and held off the horde who were now filling the other side of the fort’s interior.
They were hampered in their attack by the numbers of their own dead from the dawn attack and gradually we managed to force them back by virtue of our greater numbers.
It was then that Halfdan launched his master stroke. I had thought that there should be more Danes but assumed that some had fled after the initial rout. I was wrong. Ubba led some eight hundred more Vikings over the rampart at our rear. Now we were hemmed in between two phalanxes of the enemy.
‘Pӕga, take men from the third rank back to hold the line against the Danes behind us,’ Ælfred yelled.
The hereræswa waved to show that he had heard and he and Bishop Heahmund made their way through the press to take command of our rear. Both fought valiantly and managed to hold the line, but at terrible cost. Both were killed leading the fight back against Ubba.
I was exhausted by this stage and, although I didn’t realise it at the time, I was bleeding quite profusely from a number of small cuts and nicks to my arms and legs. Then I saw
Leofflæd fall out of the corner of my eye. I literally saw red. A red mist descended over my eyes and more adrenalin flowed through my body. I attacked the enemy in front of Leofflæd’s body like a demon, my sword a blur despite my tired limbs.
Minutes later I had created a bubble around me as the Danes withdrew from my flashing blade. The men around me pushed into the tiny bridgehead I’d created and the enemy line buckled. I stood over Leofflæd as our warriors increased the gap in the Danish shield wall. More of our men poured into the gap as it widened. Now the Saxons at the front of the wedge were killing the less experienced Danes in the fifth and sixth rows of their shield wall.
Finally, the enemy broke and we chased them back up the ramparts over which they’d entered the fort. It seemed as if we’d won but Ubba was still fighting against our rear. As our men followed Halfdan’s fleeing army out of the fort, Ubba was left in possession.
Ϯϯϯ
As I fled I felt as if someone had knifed me in the guts. The thought that Leofflæd was dead made me wish that I’d been killed as well. What was worse, I’d been forced to abandon her body. Imagine my relief then when I reached the baggage train to find her alive and well. She had been knocked out by a glancing axe blow to her head. However, it could have been much more serious had she not been wearing a good quality helmet. Cei, Erik and two of our fyrd had fought their way clear, carrying her unconscious body to safety whilst I was doing my imitation of a berserker.
The blow to her head had made her sick and incredibly bad-tempered. I could only imagine how sore her head must be. She had vomited several times and that did little to improve her mood. When I threw my arms around her in relief I was roughly pushed away with a volley of curses. I didn’t mind and stood their grinning like a loon.