Viking Blood

by Griff Hosker

  “Aye Jarl Dragonheart.”

  Gurth son of Garth looked puzzled. “I would speak with the men on your ship. I wish to offer them life. Your presence might save useless bloodshed.”

  He nodded, “You are a strange Viking. You speak our language like a Saxon and appear to have mercy in your dragon heart. I do not understand it.”

  “That is because I had a Saxon father. I was a slave of Vikings, Gurth son of Garth, I am now a Viking. Perhaps that explains the blood in my dragon heart!”

  We waded ashore. My men had their weapons drawn although I did not. There were just fifteen survivors and they huddled around their hull as though they could defend it. I approached them my palms held out. “I am here to offer you life. When your other ship is beached I would have you board her. We will take you to our home and your hurts will be tended to.”

  The captain, I recognised him from the attack, stuck out a pugnacious jaw, “This is a trick! You will kill us!”

  Gurth, son of Garth, laughed, “You are a fool, Tadgh of Brycgstow. If he wanted you dead then you would be.” He shook his head. “With the Thegn dead then I command. Warriors, drop your weapons and board the ship. As for you, Tadgh, I would ask for forgiveness now for if you and your crew do not follow then you will die!”

  Gurth’s words had the desired effect and, dropping their weapons they trudged towards the Saxon ship which had just slid up on the beach.

  “Cnut Cnutson, gather the weapons. Let us go home!”

  We had to row for the wind was against. We used the Saxons to help us. The second ship had Ketil and his men making certain that the crew did as they had been told. As we passed the wreckage of the enemy drekar we had seen destroyed we spied the survivors clinging to pieces of wood, chests and pieces of the sails. They did not speak to us.

  Gurth son of Garth asked, “Will you not pick them up? They are of your blood.”

  “They are our enemies. They fought and they lost. Had it been us we would have drowned. That is the way of our people. They will all die. Ran is not merciful. The wiser ones will let go of the wreckage and slip into a painless sleep.”

  It was dark when we reached our home. We used the western channel to enter. We had not needed Whale Island as a defence but it was good to know that it was there. We first unloaded the dead from our drekar. All told, twenty two warriors had perished. Ketil, Asbjorn and Ulf had lost hearth weru. Aiden tended to the wounded. Thorghest and Gruffyd were the first to be see to. Astrid and Erika helped Aiden. My warriors carried the dead to their grave. It was close by the western channel. They would be in Valhalla but we would have a barrow to remember them. It was a sad day. We laid them with their weapons and built a barrow over them. We did so before we unloaded the rest of the ship. We stood around and we remembered the deeds each of the dead had done. With so many men working on the grave it was the largest grave I could remember. After that day, we no longer called it either the shipyard, or Ragnar’s Roost. It became the Barrow. When our drekar returned from raids they would pass the barrow and each warrior would pay their respects. It was a monument and a marker. It meant we would never forget. The moon began to rise as we trudged away and the barrow looked like an upturned drekar. It was a sign.

  We had enough crew for three drekar. ‘Crow’ had suffered damage as well as the greatest casualties and so we left her with Bolli for repair. We sailed, after we had eaten and sharpened weapons. The Saxons sailed aboard their ship. Gurth, son of Garth, had promised me that he would obey my orders and I believed him. He was of the White Christ but he had an amulet around his neck. The old ways were not buried very deep. The Saxons were just grateful to be alive. They had heard terrible things about Vikings and our ferocious attack seemed to prove them. Gruffyd, Thorghest and the other wounded wished to come with us. Their wounds were not life threatening. Gruffyd had a gashed face and Aiden had had to stitch it. I pointed out, however, that we could not afford to worry about wounded men. They accepted it. Astrid and Erika were most attentive to the wounded. I saw a change in my daughter that day. Brigid had said she would soon be a woman. That day I saw a woman in her eyes. She forgot to be a petulant girl and became a caring woman. The change was good.

  Sailing at night was always a risk. This was especially true that night for there was wreckage from the drekar which had sunk and so we sailed slowly with reefed sails. We were hampered by the slow pace of the Saxon ship. She sailed astern of us and my other two drekar followed her. I was keen to sail with the Saxon. Harald and his men would think she had been captured or sunk. I wished to plant hope in the minds of the Vikings on Man and then snatch it away. We planned on reaching them just after dawn. With the wind behind us we did not need to row and my men rested. They would row again at dawn for I wished us to approach not down the coast, from the north, but from the east.

  Dawn was a thin grey line to the east when we were abreast of Hrams-a. We hove to and I pointed to the west. I saw Gurth, son of Garth. He was at the steering board of the Saxon ship. I had returned his sword and he raised it in salute and then pointed at the west. He would ensure that Tadgh the captain would do as he said. As they headed west, we continued south. Now that we had no Saxon anchor to slow us we sailed as only a drekar can sail.

  There was more lightness in the sky when Erik Short Toe said, “Now jarl.”

  “Then turn. Oars and a song!” it was the song of the Cubs with an extra verse.

  When Harald the Black came to make a war

  He tore the heart from Dyflin’s Jarl

  Slaughtered and killed by Vikings black

  The town was lost to a sneak attack

  The Ulfheonar came when all seemed lost

  Gunnstein’s folk paid a fearful cost

  The ones who lived swore to fight

  They would join the wolves of the night

  Angry cubs and the warrior wolves

  Angry cubs and the warrior wolves

  Dragonheart’s clan is their new band

  Reborn they fight for the wolf’s land

  Erik Ironshirt led his men

  And brought them to Dyflin again

  With Knut, the brave, and ten men true

  They sailed the drekar over oceans blue

  With hearts which burned with hatred black

  They sent their ship to a deadly attack

  Fearing nought they swam away

  Their fire ship turned night into day

  Angry cubs and the warrior wolves

  Angry cubs and the warrior wolves

  Dragonheart’s clan is their new band

  Reborn they fight for the wolf’s land

  When Saxons came with Harald the Great

  The Clan of the Wolf did not wait

  Sailing south they fought the foe

  Thorghest and Ironshirt brought them woe

  Although struck down they maimed and killed

  Warriors great and Vikings skilled

  Angry cubs and the warrior wolves

  Angry cubs and the warrior wolves

  Dragonheart’s clan is their new band

  Reborn they fight for the wolf’s land

  With the sun behind us and sails billowing in the breeze we headed speedily for Duboglassio. I knew that morning that the Allfather favoured us. It was a glorious sunrise and the light from behind us lit up the island just as the Saxon ship sailed south past the last of the drekar left to Harald. I doubted that they would see us yet. They had no high towers but they would see the Saxon. He was close inshore. They might think he would land and bring reinforcements. I hoped they would think that they were coming to help them and raise their hopes but the Saxon would sail south. The next thing they would see would be the three drekar under full sail, fully crewed sailing from the east. They would see the wolf on my sail and know that the Dragonheart was coming for them!

  By the time the Saxon ship had disappeared below the horizon the sun was up and we were just a thousand paces off shore. Our approach was measured. We stopped rowing so that the
oars could be stored and warriors could prepare for battle. I discerned movement on the walls and on the drekar. They had kept a watch in case we tried to cut them out. Now they had a choice. They could try to defend them or they could run. I heard a horn sound from inside the stronghold and knew that they had decided to run. They abandoned the drekar and ran back to the safety of the walls. Instead of heading for the quay my ships headed for the two breakwaters. I intended to destroy Duboglassio. When we had left, all those years ago, we had simply abandoned it. I had not wanted to destroy what had been Prince Buthar’s home. My people had suffered because of that. Now I would make it a blackened and burned reminder of the folly of fighting the Dragonheart.

  We headed for the southern breakwater and the other two drekar for the north. The ships’ boys secured us to the land and then came with us. Aðils and Beorn led twenty archers to stand three hundred paces from the main gate. I saw that the walls were lined with warriors. Even as Haaken led the ships’ boys and the Ulfheonar aboard the last of Harald’s drekar Ketil, Raibeart and Ulf led their men to head for the western gate. None would escape. The rest of us formed up. Asbjorn and his men stood on one side of me while Ragnar and Erik Ironshirt had the rest on my left. There was a small gap for my Ulfheonar. We just watched the walls. I wanted them to wonder what we were about. The ships’ boys from the three drekar began to strip the two ships of anything of value: compasses, rope, sails, oars, anchors and chests. All were taken. The chests were left behind us but the rest were taken to our ships. Then I heard a loud roaring noise from behind as my men set fire to the drekar as flames began to engulf the remnants of Harald the Great’s fleet.. The men inside Duboglassio were going nowhere. To escape they would have to kill us and take our drekar. This would be a fight to the death. Only one clan would survive.

  Chapter 16

  The Ulfheonar joined me. Olaf Leather Neck looked happy, “Harald the Great now has no fleet. I always enjoy lighting a fire but the last one was the best. He has nowhere left to run! We will meet them shield to shield and they will learn the Clan of the Wolf never loses!”

  We waited until the heat from the burning drekar and quay began to be felt before we moved forward to join my archers. Harald the Great had archers but I doubted that they were the equal of mine. Those of my warriors who had the Saami bow would be able to penetrate mail and even the archers who used an ordinary bow would do more damage than his men. Bagsecg had made new arrows which had a narrower point. We had found that they could pierce mail. They did so by breaking any ring they struck.

  I saw Harald the Great on the fighting platform over the gate. The warriors with him were also mailed. Their shields were before them. They knew of the prowess of my archers. The towers and the walls were lined with our enemies. If every wall was equally manned then we would be outnumbered. I had to hope that they had placed the majority to face us. They had raised the bridge over the ditch so that we would have to descend into the ditch. Unless they had repaired it recently there was neither water in the ditch nor traps buried there.

  “Beorn!”

  Beorn and the archers with the Saami bows loosed there arrows. They targeted the archers we could see. There would be others who could use the bows. Every Viking could draw a bow string but the others we could see were mailed and that makes drawing a bow harder. Six archers pitched into the ditch or were hurled into the stad. Shields came up. An archer on a narrow fighting platform cannot release while he is behind a shield. Those archers without Saami bows hurried forward to close the range while the shields were up. Beorn kept their arrows hitting any archer on the walls who showed themselves. There were archers in the towers but they were too far away to cause us trouble.

  With the other archers in position, Beorn led those with Saami bows closer. Behind me the ships’ boys had returned from the drekar and they had pots filled with coals and fire. They placed them behind us and then ran for the chests we had taken from the drekar.

  Now that they were closer Beorn, Aðils and the other four with Saami bows aimed at the junction of the shields and helmets. One of the warriors who was close to Harald the Great suddenly sprouted a feathered missile. The Allfather had guided Beorn’s hand and the arrow had hit the warrior in the eye. He tumbled from the walls. Heads dropped and shields were raised. I wondered what they would do next and then arrows were loosed blindly from behind the palisade. They were annoying more than dangerous but it meant there were no more archers on the walls. All that awaited us were warriors with swords, axes and spears.

  Olaf Leather Neck shouted, “Angry Cubs, forward!”

  The Angry Cubs marched forward. Their job was to protect the ships’ boys who carried the chests. The boys reached the ditch and then carefully laid the chests in the bottom. We had taken thirty chests. The boys had to make two or three journeys. One of them, Sven, the son of Red Sven, was struck in the shoulder by an arrow but other than that we were lucky. We now had a long bridge, thirty paces long, across the ditch. We were ready to attack.

  As the ships’ boys raced back behind us I said, “When we have taken this stad then you shall choose your treasure!”

  “You are so sure we will win, Jarl Dragonheart?”

  Without turning I said, “Aye, Red Sven. If I were not I would not risk my grandson!” I slid Ragnar’s Spirit from its sheath. “Forward!”

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  We banged our swords against our shields as we marched. The enemy used spears but this day we would not. Red Sven led the men from Cyninges-tūn. They marched behind us. In pairs they held the ropes from which hung the pots of fire. Behind them came the ships’ boys carrying the faggots of wood. Arrows fell on us. One struck my helmet. It slid down and was caught in my wolf cloak. I left it there. Those on the walls now risked my archers to hurl spears at us. One of the Angry Cubs tumbled into the ditch. Two of those who had thrown spears joined him. When we reached the edge of the ditch we halted.

  Raising my sword I shouted, “Men of Cyninges-tūn, now is your time! Show these black hearted and treacherous Vikings that all of those who live in the Land of the Wolf are better warriors than any we face!”

  We stepped aside. The ships’ boys sprang lightly across the chests in the ditch and hurled their faggots to rest next to the wall and the gate. Erik Eriksson was struck in the calf by an arrow as he crossed back. His brother grabbed him and pulled him to safety. Then Red Sven and his men crossed the chests somewhat more gingerly than the boys and they swung together to hurl their hot pots against the wooden walls and gate. The clay pots shattered and the red hot coals spilled and ignited the faggots. Flames leapt up the walls. The wood was at least thirty years old and it caught fire easily.

  My men sang as it burned. It was a warning to those within.

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  Ulfheonar never forget

  Ulfheonar never forgive

  Ulfheonar fight to the death

  The fired roared to the skies. Pieces of ash and debris began to tumble from the skies. The pall of smoke was blown by the wind towards the faces of the defenders. The fire was a symbol of their defeat hitherto.

  As we waited, Ragnar said, “Will they not try to flee from the other gate?”

  Haaken answered for me,
“The land there is rough and hilly. Ketil and the others can shelter there and attack them as they try to leave. They have archers too. If they come out then they have to cross the bridge over the ditch. They shall not pass. And, of course, they have no ships. If they wish to leave this island then they must beat us and take our ships.” He pointed to the walls. “See, they have left the walls. They will be clearing the buildings so that the fire does not take the whole place. Then they will make a shield wall. This will not be swift, Ragnar, son of Wolf Killer. Today you learn patience.”

  “Patience?”

  I nodded, “The fire must die down before we can enter. It may well be late afternoon or even early evening before we can do so. He is going nowhere.”

  Just then we heard a roar and the clash of metal on metal. There were screams and shouts and then silence.

  Olaf Leather Neck growled, “I think they tried to leave by the other gate.”

  “Aye.”

  “We will need those men if we are to beat all those who await within.”

  “And we will Olaf. They await the sound of my horn.”

  “Shield wall.” My men moved into position so that we had a narrow frontage thirty men wide by three men deep.

  The fire on the walls burned well. I could hear them coughing inside as the smoke from the two fires flew in their faces. As the smoke died down it was replaced by the burning timbers of the palisade growing redder. The weaker ones crumbled and fell. As they did so they revealed the interior. The enemy had destroyed the huts closest to the walls and I saw spear heads and shields as they prepared to meet us. It would be a shield wall. We had done the easy part. The next part would be the hard one. It would be Viking against Viking. We knew how they would fight and they knew that we would fight the same. In the end it would come down to who wanted to live more and who was the better warrior. I looked down my line. These were the best of warriors. They had all fought in many battles. Then my eye rested on Ragnar. He was little more than a youth. I was tempted to order him to a place of safety but that, I knew, would be a mistake. He would never forgive me and it would make those he led doubt him. I had to have faith in my grandson; even if that meant his death.