by Griff Hosker
I had taught the Mi’kmaq to brace with their right foot behind them and their spears held before them. The Penobscot had spears and some had deerskin shields, but we had a solid wall of wood. I knew how to time my blow the best and I thrust forward as the warrior who came at me was just two paces from me. His stone-headed spear shattered on my shield and my spear tore into his throat. The warriors on either side of him were splattered by it and that distracted them so that Long Sight and his son speared them easily. More Penobscot were now rushing and so Long Sight shouted, “Stones and arrows!”
The women had no skill with a bow, but they could hurl rocks and I saw one warrior whose head was smashed by a stone thrown by White Doe so that it resembled a ripe plum which had burst! Arrows hit other warriors and I knew that my plan was succeeding. What we now had to do was to hold them! As I had expected they came for me but there were so many of them that they spread around our sides. They expected the combat to break down so that they could fight two to one. Our wall confused them. I later heard that the ones who came around our flanks were given a rude shock when the women stopped throwing the stone missiles and swung them like clubs. The boys also drove their arrows at close range deep into bodies. I learned of that after the battle for I was busy using my spear and shield to fend off attacks. Some blows got through and the stone clubs hurt. I saw one warrior’s eyes widen when he hit my head with his club, and it did not harm me. He struck the bear’s head and the helmet beneath. I speared him and then roared like a bear at the younger warrior behind. He stopped and it was a fatal mistake. My spear drove deep within him but, in his death, his body broke the head from the spear, and I hurled the now useless wood in the direction of the Penobscot.
Even as it caught a glancing blow to the head of one warrior a second ran at me with his spear. I had my hand on my sword and when I was pulling it out his spear hit my bear cloak and the head shattered on my mail. I think he expected me to fall over for he carried on charging towards me and in drawing my sword I half severed his arm before ripping up and taking off the bottom half of his face. I blocked with my shield as my sword swept across the faces of two others. I was assailed on all sides by Penobscot. Their weapons hacked, slashed and chopped at me. I think they believed that they could overwhelm me by sheer weight of numbers. My shield blocked most of the attempts to hit me and their spearheads clattered off my helmet and mail. When a blow did strike me, my mail held. I slashed and stabbed with my sword and each time I found flesh. The Penobscot did not wear any protection.
The image came into my head of Siggi and Arne at the top of the falls when they were surrounded by Penobscot and had their bodies broken by stone clubs. I kept close to the Mi’kmaq and their shields for that way I had a chance to survive and I did not want to die. As the Penobscot fell back a little I glanced down the line and saw that Mi’kmaq warriors had fallen. I knew that when I tired and became weak then they would have the opportunity to finish me. I raised my sword and shouted in Norse, “I am Erik the navigator of the Clan of the Fox. Hear my words and fear me. All of you will die unless you run!”
I saw the look of terror on the faces of those close to me and they recoiled. They had not understood a word of my cry, but I think they thought I had cursed them. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an object flying towards me and, instinctively, I flicked up my shield; the club struck it and cracked in two when the stone weapon hit its boss. That proved too much for some of those who had thought about attacking me again. As the arrows and flying stones continued to wreak havoc, a Penobscot voice ordered them to fall back out of range. When they did the Mi’kmaq cheered although I noticed that Long Sight did not. The enemy were not yet beaten. Although thirty or forty bodies lay before us there were at least fifty warriors waiting to attack us.
I turned to Long Sight, “Have the dead moved and then close ranks. They will attack again!”
As he gave the order, I saw that his spear was broken and that Black Bird’s axe was notched and he was covered in blood. He had the wild look of a berserker on his face for his weapon had slain as many as I had with my sword.
I watched as four Penobscot, all of whom had feathers hanging from their hair indicating that they were warriors of some renown, gathered behind the others. Wounded and bleeding warriors were making their way down the path and the numbers who were facing us lessened. They still outnumbered us but not by as many.
Long Sight came back and said, “We have them worried, but we have lost warriors.”
“And when they attack again, we will lose more for the wooden wall of shields is no longer solid.”
“Whatever happens we have hurt them and their dreams of conquering us are over. For that the whole of the Mi’kmaq people are grateful.”
The debate amongst the Penobscot was long and heated. That suited us for it meant we were able to present a solid, albeit shorter, line of shields. Then some of the younger Penobscot were summoned and I saw them head down the trail. I wondered if the battle was over and yet more warriors remained than had gone. If this was a Viking warband we fought I would have understood their tactics better.
Next to me, Long Sight appeared equally confused, “I do not understand this. Where have those young warriors gone? Have they been sent to fetch reinforcements or have they been ordered to attack our sides?”
I shook my head, “I do not know how you people fight but I know the terrain and I have scouted out this land. The two deep valleys on either side of the camp means that if they do try to come that way, they will struggle to bring numbers of men. I think they are trying to confuse us. See one approaches.”
“He is coming to speak. He holds no weapons.” He turned to his son and said, “Hold my shield, I will speak to him.”
Behind me, I heard Wandering Moos say, as he shouldered his way past me, “I have done little fighting and I have watched my young men die. Let me speak.”
He walked forward to meet the Penobscot warrior. We still did not know who was the chief but that really mattered little. The battle hung in the balance and those words might bring either victory or defeat. The two men spoke for a while and then, while the Penobscot remained where he was, Chief Wandering Moos returned and faced me.
“This concerns you alone, Erik, Shaman of the Bear. They wish their champion to fight our champion or at least they wish their champion to fight you.”
Long Sight shook his head, “I like not this, Wandering Moos. Erik will win. No matter who they send against him his metal shirt, his shield and his sword guarantee that whoever he fights cannot defeat him.”
I put my hand on Long Sight’s and smiled, “You are right, Long Sight, and for that reason, I will fight him for I can save the lives of your young men. I am of this tribe now and I will fight for them. Whom do I fight?”
Behind the Penobscot warrior, I saw another warrior being prepared. He was almost as tall as me and he was broader. He bore scars on his half-naked body and he held a tomahawk and a spear. In his belt were a knife and a club. “The warrior behind their war chief, Laughing Wolf, is his son, Wolf’s Tooth.”
I could almost hear the Norns spinning. My brother was trying to get the clan to the safety of the Land of the Wolf, and I was fighting a wolf. Long Sight was correct, this felt wrong, but I knew that I could do nothing about it. If I refused then my adopted tribe would lose heart, they would attack, and we would be defeated. “I am ready.”
Our words had only been heard by the three of us and when I stepped forward the whole tribe cheered and shouted. The Penobscot remained ominously silent. When they saw that there would be a battle between champions the Penobscot warriors stepped back and Wolf’s Tooth advanced. I felt overdressed as I approached. The warrior was about my age, but he would be able to dance around me. I had not seen the warrior fighting and that meant he would be fresh and his weapons sharp. I could see his plan; he would try to stay away from my sword and to get behind me and use the stone club to break bones and yet why was the club in his belt? He held a spe
ar and a tomahawk. Neither could hurt me unless they were poisoned. I was no longer in command of my destiny; I had prepared as well as I could but there were other forces at work. I forced those thoughts from my head. If he was intending to dance around me then I would have to be alert.
I looked at his eyes. He could not see mine for I wore a helmet. His eyes showed no fear and that meant he thought he would win. The only way that would happen would be if he had allies who helped him and both tribes were a clear thirty paces from us. If he attempted to draw me closer to them then I would hold my ground. I was correct, he intended to use his speed and the length of his spear. He raced towards me and lunged with his spear. I saw it coming and flicked up my shield. He danced around my back and I felt a pain, as though I had been kicked; he had hit me with his tomahawk when he had passed. It was no consolation to me that I had been proved right. The Penobscot cheered.
I was unworried by the attack for my mail had held and I had a padded kyrtle beneath. I might be bruised, I might even suffer a broken bone but neither would impair my ability to fight. However, I was no fool and I determined to bring the fight to him. He placed himself before me and a thought came into my head. I know not whence it came except a voice said, ‘Sway and plant your feet on the ground’. It was not Gytha, but she had taught me to heed such words when they flowered in my head. When he launched himself at me, instead of blocking the blow with my shield, as his spear came at my head I swayed out of the way. The spearhead missed me completely and I was balanced so that, as he tried to get around my back, I turned the opposite way and my sword hacked through his spear and drew blood on his left forearm. This time the cheers were from the Mi’kmaq. The voice had aided me, and I now had a way to fight.
The eyes of Wolf’s Tooth were still undefeated. I had drawn first blood, but he seemed not to care. He drew his stone club and advanced. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement in the trees. I thought nothing of it and, to be honest, my bear cloak and helmet made it hard to see but I should have heeded the movement. This time, as he approached me, the Penobscot warrior moved more quickly and danced from side to side. Once again, I swayed but he did not try to attack me, instead, he raced to the side and threw himself to the ground. Suddenly, from the trees, twenty arrows flew at me. I only knew they were arrows later. I was struck by all twenty. The stone and bone heads stuck in my bear cloak and mail, but some hit me below the mail byrnie and broke my flesh; one hit my right hand. More arrows came and I heard shouts of anger from behind me. This was treachery. Wolf’s Tooth tried to rise and move away as a second shower flew. He tried to get away from the arrows but the Norns were spinning and he slipped. I brought my sword over and split not only the back of his skull but also his spine and then I turned to face the Penobscot.
I could feel the blood dripping down my leg, but I was angry. I shouted, in Mi’kmaq, “You have no honour and now you will face the wrath of the bear!” I ran at them and I watched them flee. They were not encumbered by mail and they would escape me and so I slowed. In addition, I began to feel weak. Those who had climbed the trees to shower me with arrows, however, were caught, not by me but by vengeful Mi’kmaq who hacked and chopped their bodies long after they were dead.
Even as a bloody but unbowed Black Bird came up to me, I felt the strength leaving me. I could not hold the shield and it fell from my hands as though I was lifeless. As my knees buckled and I fell to the ground I forced my fingers to hold on to the sword. If I was dying, then I would go to Valhalla and see my brother and my cousin. The brothers of the blade would be reunited. I saw Black Bird’s mouth moving but I heard no words and then I fell into a black pit and I saw nothing.
I fell but I did not land, and faces flashed before my eyes. I was at sea and a terrible storm rocked and rolled ‘Ada’ and then I was tossed out into the sea. I sank to the bottom of the ocean and then, as I rose, I saw a tunnel and I headed along it. I even glimpsed an open doorway with a glow behind and the sound of wassailing warriors came to my ears. I knew that was Odin’s mead hall and I was nearing Valhalla, from within I heard my name called and I recognised the voices of my father and Snorri. I tried to walk towards it, but it was as though my feet were stuck in mud; the door was closed as I saw two women approaching. I knew they were women from the shape of their bodies but I could not see their faces. That they were strong women became obvious for they lifted me easily and then I realised that I was as naked as Bear had been the day that he had been born. They took me to another dark place; it was as though we were journeying underground and then I felt the heat. Was this Hel? Had I committed some crime so that I was being punished before I could enter Valhalla? I would fight to get to Valhalla, or I would fight to live! I was a Viking and had been born into the Clan of the Fox. I had a new clan now and I owed it to my son and my wife to fight for life. I had been hurt but the pinpricks of the Penobscot arrows could not harm me. I tried to raise my arm and I could not and so I closed my eyes to will myself to move.
When I opened them then the source of the heat became clear. I was in a steam hut and then all went black and I knew nothing except that I seemed to be floating. Faces flashed at me and I saw Gytha and Ada. I saw the grey-haired woman I had not recognised before and then Laughing Deer’s face flashed before me and then, as the door to Odin’s mead hall opened, all went black and I saw nothing.
Fótr
It took many months to finally scour the Norwegians from the Land of the Wolf. When we did Sámr and I went alone to the cave. Sámr and his cousin greeted each other, and I waited without for they needed to be alone. Then they welcomed me within, and I placed the helmet and wolf cloak back where I had found them. Sámr and Ylva stood back as I addressed the Dragonheart’s body. “Thank you for the loan of your helmet and cloak and for the skills you taught me. I will now live in your land and the Clan of the Fox will be a part of the Clan of the Wolf. I will kill a wolf, as you did, Dragonheart, and I will wear its skin. I can never be the Dragonheart, but I can be Fótr the Wolf.”
Ylva hugged me as I left the cave. “Farewell, Fótr the Wolf. None shall see me again but you and Sámr here will always have me in your minds. Call to me when you need me, and my spirit will be here.”
That goodbye was hard and, I think, was the goodbye I should have had with Erik if the Norns had allowed. There were tears in my eyes as I left the cave where I had become a warrior. I waited without as Sámr and Ylva said their farewells. When he came out, I saw that he, too, had wept. Nodding to each other, for we were too full for words, we headed down the trail towards the Rye Dale. We were both silent. We had just reached the Rye Dale when we heard a rumble and, looking back, we saw the rocks sliding down the Loughrigg to bury the entrance to the cave. I stared at Sámr who looked at me sadly, “You knew?”
He nodded, “She used her power to save the land and her body was weary. Now she and my great grandfather will use their spirits to watch the Land of the Wolf.”
We walked in silence for I was lost in my thoughts. Already the Clan of the Fox was splintering. Aed and Padraig had decided to make their home where we had landed. I left them the snekke and the Hibernian pirate ship. They and their families would be fishermen once more. It was wyrd. Half of the clan chose to live at Cyninges-tūn while Ebbe, Bear Tooth and our families had made our home at Úlfarrston.
As we crested the col which overlooked the Water I said, “And you, Sámr Ship Killer, what now for you?”
“You are a clever man, Fótr the Wolf, and I think that you know what I will do. I will get a crew and sail to Norway. I have a family to find. You of all people know how important that is!”
I nodded, “Aye and I will come with you for our threads are tied. I believe that Bear Tooth and Ebbe will also choose to come.”
He beamed, “Then there is hope for your return from the New World is a sign that anything is possible with a true heart and the courage of a wolf!”
Erik
When I opened my eyes, I saw Laughing Deer and White Do
e peering at me. Behind them, I saw Stands Alone, and she was cradling Bear. Laughing Deer was weeping but White Doe had a joyous look upon her face. “He lives! He is a strong warrior and his gods have saved him.”
I tried to speak but no words came. White Doe said, “Give him some of his ale, Laughing Deer, and I will go to fetch my husband. She went outside as Laughing Deer poured ale down my throat. I was parched and the ale tasted, to me, like honeyed mead. I heard a cheer from outside and Laughing Deer smiled, “She has told the tribe that you live. They have been anxious.”
Wandering Moos, Black Bird and Long Sight came into the dwelling and Laughing Deer said, “Come, sister, let us give Bear some air.”
I managed to croak, “What happened?”
Long Sight shook his head, “The Penobscot are treacherous. They used the venom of the snake to poison their arrows. Their young warriors sent more than sixty arrows at you and five of them found flesh. You should have died.”
Wandering Moos nodded, “And you would have done had White Doe and Laughing Deer not spent two days and nights with you in the steam hut. Their potions and their love brought you back. You have lain here for seven days and each day you have come back a little more from the other side.”
Black Bird asked, “What is it like there, on the other side?”
I shook my head, “It is dark, and it is frightening. Do not ask again.” I shook my head for I knew how close I had come to death. “And the Penobscot?”
Long Sight smiled, “Those we found we butchered and when we reached the sea, we saw that the gods had punished them for their treachery. As they headed south a terrible storm came and every boat was swamped. None returned to their homes and the sharks feasted on their corpses. We are safe from them and it is thanks to you.”
Wandering Moos said, “Come Black Bird, we need to celebrate with the tribe. This is a good day for the Mi’kmaq! We have a story to add to the wapapyaki!”