Sword for Hire

by Griff Hosker

  Birger Persson shook his head, “They are nomadic. They move around. That is why this is the best time of year to catch them. They stay in one place while the snow covers the ground.”

  “Do they have horses?”

  “They have reindeer and sometimes ride those but they do not ride to war as we do. They are primitively armed but do not underestimate them. They have thick hide armour. Arrows cannot pierce it save at close range. It resists swords and spears too.”

  I was not certain that it would resist the arrows my archers used but I said nothing.

  The Jarl Birger Brosa said, “We strike quickly before they know we are here. We will charge in and use the speed of our horses to reach them quickly.”

  I shook my head, “The ground is slippery and slick. Horses risk damage. Better we take the horses around to the far side and attack with the men on foot and the horses.”

  “And the knights just watch and wait?”

  “No jarl. We attack from the far side. Hit them simultaneously. They will be confused and in the confusion then order will win. If their hide armour resists cuts then we use the weight of our horses and mail to do the damage.”

  Jarl Birger Persson nodded, “He is right. We need them all captured or killed. If some escape then they will tell the other clans. If they band together then we will lose.” He pointed to the two warrior priests, “The two brothers can lead the men on foot with the cross.”

  The priests seemed happy to be placed in such danger.

  We took a wide sweep around the village. I could not see it but I did spy tendrils of smoke, and as we moved around I could smell both the animals and the wood smoke. It was a well-hidden settlement.

  Once we were in position, in the cover of some spindly pine trees, I readied my spear. I preferred a spear to a lance. I noticed that the others had copied me. I saw the huts some two hundred paces from us. The light was fading and we were approaching from the east. We would be harder to see. The nine knights were in the front rank with William. He did not have to carry my banner. We had six already. I wanted him next to me and able to defend himself. He had improved since the battle of Arsuf.

  The Jarl Birger Brosa turned to his squire who held a cow’s horn. “Give the signal!”

  Two blasts were sounded on the horn and we moved forward. We had four lines. We were compact and we did not gallop. We did not wish to risk a slip. As soon as the horn sounded I saw Estonians race towards the sound. I guessed they had never seen so many horses at one time. How would they react? I saw that someone was organizing them to make a rudimentary shield wall. As we closed I saw that it was an illusion. The shields just touched each other. They did not overlap. I saw The Jarl Birger Brosa spur his horse to go a little faster. We had to copy him but I hoped it was not a mistake. I brought up my shield and it was just in time. Arrows flew towards us. One of the young knights was either too slow to bring his shield up or too arrogant to believe that a primitive weapon such as a horn bow could hurt him. He was proved wrong and the arrow hit him in the shoulder and he fled to the snowy ground.

  When the Estonians cheered it showed that they thought they could beat us. At thirty paces, I lowered my spear and held it slightly behind my body. When I had been a young squire my father had made me drill for hours at a time until I could hit the tiny ring in the tilt yard with my spear. I had not forgotten the skill. I picked out a huge Estonian. He had a leather cap and a round shield with a wolf’s head crudely painted upon it. He had a spear with a bone head. I was under no illusions. A bone head could penetrate mail just as easily as a steel head. Our line would meet theirs man to man. The warriors on the side of their line would slightly overlap ours but my men at arms would deal with them. It meant that I had one man to deal with. Others were racing to join their first line of defence but, for the moment, it was one rank deep. I stood in my saddle and pulled back my arm. I rammed it forward. Skuld flicked her head to one side to avoid the bone headed spear and it gouged a line across the cantle of my saddle. My spear smashed into his face and out of the back of his skull. Those racing to join him were spattered in blood, bone and brains.

  The ones behind held their shields too low. I pulled back and powered my spear into the throat of the next warrior. His sword did not even get close to Skuld. The warrior next to him was thrown to the ground by Skuld. I pulled back my arm and sought another target. I could see, ahead of me, the priests leading the men on foot to engage the enemy there. The confusion meant that there were many Estonians torn between which enemy was the more dangerous. That suited us.

  My efficient and deadly strikes meant that I was ahead of the rest. I could wheel Skuld and choose my targets without fear of hitting another horse. One warrior who ran towards me was quick on his feet. He jerked to my left when Skuld approached him. Using my knees and jerking on the reins I struck him in the shoulder. The hide armour was tough but it only covered his upper arm. My spear pinned his shield arm to his body. I pushed and, as he fell, he pulled the spear from my hands. I drew my sword and wheeled Skuld to the right. A horseman with a good horse and a sharp sword can do serious damage to men on foot who are without order. I leaned out to the side as I swept my sword at neck height. These warriors were shorter than the ones I had fought before. The first two were facing me. They misjudged my speed and my blade. Both paid with their lives.

  As I looked up I saw that the two priests were being beleaguered and likely to be overwhelmed. I yelled, “William!” I needed at least one other horsemen by my side. That way we could hack and cut our way through the Estonians and relieve the pressure on the priests. The Jarl Birger Brosa and the other Swedes had forgotten that the men on foot would not be having such an easy time of it.

  I glanced behind and saw Edward and William hurrying towards me. The ground was no longer frozen. The Estonians had been tramping over the ground. If anything, it was muddy. I raised my sword and shouted, “England!”

  The Estonians would not know my shout but my men at arms would and I hoped that they would hurry to my side. It made some of the Estonians turn and that allowed our hidden archers to send arrows into flesh rather than catching on the hide armour. Four of the Estonians turned to face us. I was still ahead and to buy me time and also to terrify them, when I neared them I pulled back Skuld’s reins and stood in the stirrups. She was a frightening sight for a warrior unused to fighting horsemen. Skuld’s hooves smashed the skulls of two of them and, as he landed, I brought my sword across the neck of a third. Edward still had his spear and the fourth was pinioned by Edward’s weapon.

  “We are coming, lord!” I heard Henry Youngblood’s voice and the three of us took heart and charged the Estonians. They were caught between our blades and horses on one side and the priests with the banner blessed by Bishop Albert and backed by our foot on the other. We ground them into the ground. The white snow flowed red.

  As the last of those before us fell I saw that we had not had it all our own way. There were many dead pagans but twelve of the Swedes were also dead. Others had suffered wounds. I heard a cheer behind me and the Swedes chanted, ‘The Jarl Birger Brosa, The Jarl Birger Brosa, The Jarl Birger Brosa’ over and over. He had his first victory.

  Edward nudged his horse next to mine and stroked its mane. He said, quietly, “That was your victory, lord. If you had not brought us to the aid of the priests then the battle would not have been won.”

  I shook my head, “We are swords for hire, Edward. We take the coin that we will be paid. If we lose it will be our fault and if we win then the glory will go to someone else. This is a means to an end. When we have enough treasure, men and weapons, then we return home and take back that which is ours!”

  There were many captives whom the Estonians had enslaved. Most were women and there was great bitterness when they were released. Some children and some of the old had been mistreated and had died. If the priests had not been there then I think there would have been a great slaughter. I did not understand enough of the words to follow the
argument but I could tell, from the actions and gestures, what was going on.

  Jarl Birger Persson joined me, “This is more satisfying than fighting the Turk, Thomas. These are our people we have rescued. Some of these were taken five years ago.”

  “And what of the Estonians?”

  He pointed to The Jarl Birger Brosa who was speaking with them, “He is giving them a choice. Become Christians and stay in his lands or head north.”

  “They will die.”

  He shook his head, “They are tougher than you might think. They will survive but the Karelians or the men of Novgorod will enslave them. They will convert. The ones who are attractive to our men will become brides and the rest will be employed in our halls.”

  I saw the drooped shoulders of the Estonians. Birger was right. Christianity was a better option. They would pay lip service and still worship the old gods but they knew how to appease the priests. They were not like the Mamluks who had been Christian and when they converted to Islam became even more ferocious and fanatical than the Seljuk Turks themselves.

  I dismounted and handed my reins to Edward. Until I managed to get another squire Edward would help William. Petr took Birger’s horse. Birger pointed to one of the large huts. “And in there is your treasure. The jarl is pleased with how you fought. It did not escape his notice that it was you and your men who saved the priests.”

  “There is gold in there?”

  He laughed, “The Estonians have little gold. There will be coins but their real treasure is in their hides and furs, their skins and their seal oil. It will be sold back in Stock Holm or traded. You are well on the way to becoming rich.”

  The days were short. When dawn did arrive, the jarl decided that we would use it to rest. There were two more camps he wished to eradicate. Thirty or so of the villagers had headed north across the frozen river. To make sure they did not return he had his men break open the ice with war hammers.

  There were enough huts for us to be given one to ourselves. It was surprisingly cosy. I had thought that we would need to be covered in furs but we did not. There was reindeer meat for us to eat and some fermented milk. I was not keen on the milk. Henry Youngblood was picking his teeth with a piece of bone, “I can see why they need us, lord. They are keen and they are fierce but they are not yet warriors.”

  The others who had been on the crusades nodded their agreement. Edward said, “Then you have never seen the Scots fight. They are almost the same except they have even less armour. I have seen them fight naked.”

  “Do not forget that they are hard to kill.”

  “As are the Estonians. Our arrows bounced off the hide when the range was too great. Will and I examined one we took from a dead warrior. It is not just hide. It is hide covered with seal skin. It reminded me of the layers the Turks wear. You have to aim for flesh.”

  Will nodded his agreement, “And their archers have good bows. They are shorter than ours but equally powerful. It is how that young knight was wounded.”

  I stretched, “We have two more villages like this. Edward divide us into two watches. William will command one and I the other. William, wake me at noon, or whatever passes for noon in these parts.”

  I rolled in my fur and was asleep almost instantly. After William had woken me and I had made water I went to speak with the other sentries. Jarl Birger had made sure that we had half of the men watching at any one time. He was up. “I have sent back the captives and the converted Estonians with Brother Magnus and Knut, the knight who was wounded today. There are enough men with light wounds to guard them.” He waved a hand, “I used the Estonian sleighs and the reindeer they use to pull them. We will travel faster.”

  “Are the next two villages far?”

  “They are closer to our home. This was as far as I wished to come. We will be heading home when we take them. We wish to approach them from the side they feel safe. They should be smaller than this one. The chief here led the most successful of the clans who invaded our lands.”

  “Then this is not where they normally live?”

  “No, their land is across the ice. They came here some years ago and they crossed the ice to do so. At first, they just moved their herds around and we tolerated them. Then, some four or five years ago they began to raid the outlying farms. It was not a major attack and we were too busy doing other things; we went to Rome, we improved our home. We ignored it and that was a mistake. In the past two years their attacks have increased. They have made the land to the north of us a wasteland. Even now Bishop Albert is seeking the support of King Sverker to invade Estonia and end these raids once and for all. It is not just us who are suffering.”

  “That would not be in the winter.”

  “No, it would not. We would use ships to transport an army.” He leaned to me. “My daughter, Ingegerd, is at court now. The king’s wife is not well and he has shown an interest in my daughter. She is not averse to a marriage with the King of Sweden. Her mother, after all, is the daughter of the King of Norway. If she marries him then we will have more influence.”

  I saw politics here rather than anything else. I saw now why Birger Brosa had been so keen for me to train his men. He was becoming the most powerful man in Sweden. If his daughter married the king then, with his connections to Norway, he could rule the region. He reminded me of some of the Dukes and Counts of Normandy and Anjou.

  He smiled at me, “Your coming was quite propitious. I saw, last night, that you and your men are superior to mine in every way. It is not just your armour; we can make and buy mail and helmets such as yours, it is the way you fight. We fight as though it is like the hunt. You fight ruthlessly. I need you to teach me to be as good as you.”

  “You need to become better riders. Did you notice how I rode Skuld with my knees.”

  “Skuld? She is one of the Norns.”

  “I know. She is bred from a line which began with a horse thus named. A Norwegian named her. The line seems to have the ability to sniff out danger before it is seen. That is why the name is used in every generation. It would be bad luck to change it.”

  “And that is something else, “The gryphon on the blue background and your chance meeting with Birger Persson, it is almost as though you were meant to come here.”

  I laughed, “Realistically I had nowhere else to go, being an outlaw.”

  “And will you go back?”

  “When I have earned my penance, and made enough coin, I will go back. I will return when there is a king of my country who deserves my support.”

  “Then you will go back a rich man. Your share has been sent back to Stock Holm. By the time we are done here you will have a chest of gold!”

  We left in the middle of the night. The jarl wished to attack at dawn. We had fewer men but then again there would be fewer men in the village we were going to destroy. This time he reversed the plan. He had the men on foot and the archers work their way around the village and we would attack. He had seen the benefit of horses with mailed men charging an enemy.

  We only had twenty miles to cover but the icy path had banks of snow on both sides. It was barely wide enough for three men abreast. Jarl Birger Persson thought this a good thing as it hid us from view. For myself, I feared an ambush. I think the fact that it was at night when we travelled made it less likely that any would be watching for us. I was glad that our horses had had food, shelter and rest. The cold sapped energy just as much as the heat had in the Holy Land.

  I rode next to William and Edward. Each day I saw a difference in William. He was now more confident. He had shown great skill in the battles we had fought. I noticed even my more experienced men at arms respected the young squire. We talked of Stockton. Now that he helped William Edward had opened up to me even more.

  Edward told me how life had changed dramatically after my father had died. “It was not just that he had died but the other knights. It was as if there was no one left to take charge. When the Scots raided and took captives it was the last straw. We sough
t help from the bishop and he betrayed us by claiming the land. Had he done anything to stop the Scots then we could have lived with that. We were forced to ride forth and stop them.” He shook his head, “None of us had the skill of your father or grandfather. We ride behind you and you make it look easy. As we discovered it is not. We defeated the Scots but we lost more men than we should. That is why you have so few to lead.”

  Each day I rued my father’s decision to go to the Holy Land. Nothing good had come of it. The handful of men we had found and the treasure we had earned could not compensate for the loss of so many loyal men and the valley itself. I knew that my father would have said the same. “I am sorry, Edward. I can see now that my father made a mistake when we followed King Richard’s banner. I just pray that it is not too late.”

  “It is not, lord, I feel it in my water.” Edward, like all of my men had a positive attitude to this war. They had more confidence than I did.

  When the scouts spotted the settlement, we had to wait longer for it was men on foot who were making their way around to await our attack. The scouts told us that they thought there were fifty or so warriors there. And, once again, there were captives. We also had the knowledge that their herd of reindeer were on the far side. Our men could use them for cover.

  We waited. This time there would be no signal. We would not alert the enemy. They would hear our hooves and the rattle of metal on metal but they would not know what it was. As the jarl had said, they had never experienced this type of war before. They would learn but we had the chance to make decisive victories. We waited on a frozen stream. The bank hid us and we had men at the top watching the village. One of them, Eystein, came slithering down, “Jarl, they are all collecting in the middle. It looks like they are having some form of gathering.”

  “This is too good an opportunity to shun. Even if the men on the other side are not in position, we will attack. Mount.” He looked at me, “And remember that we have a duty to protect Brother Harald and his men.” He had been listening when I had spoken.