The Long Hunt (The Strongbow Saga)

by Roberts, Judson

  "There are too many, Hastein. They are all around us. We cannot win this fight, and we cannot escape."

  His words caused my stomach to twist on itself with fear, and my mind for a moment carried me back to the night on the Limfjord when we had been surrounded by Toke's men, and Harald and so many others had been slain. There, at least, we could try to reach the safety of the forest. Here there was nowhere we could flee to.

  An arrow thudded into the mast nearby. Hastein instinctively ducked his head, then cautiously raised it again and peered over the top of the water cask, turning this way and that, studying our ships and the attackers around them. "I fear you may be right," he said to Torvald, after a few moments. "Perhaps we cannot win. But we must not lose. If we can just hold them off—if we can make the price of winning too costly for them—we may yet persuade them to withdraw and let us pass, and manage to come out of this alive."

  Turning to me he said. "Go to the Serpent and fetch Stig. Be careful. Stay low, and do not make yourself a target. And tell Hrodgar to join us here also."

  I handed my bow and quiver to Tore. "Keep these for me until I return," I told him.

  "Where is your shield?" Hastein asked.

  "Back in the stern."

  "Take mine," he said. "I will not need it while we bide here."

  Most of the crews of both the Gull and the Serpent were in the front third of the ships, where the greatest threat lay, although enough were in the stern of each to respond to an attack if the pirate ship there should close in and her crew try to board. The center of the Gull's deck felt strangely deserted. Keeping low, with Hastein's shield slung across my back for protection from stray spears or arrows, I scrabbled like a crab to mid-ship where the rails of the Gull and Serpent were touching and clambered across.

  Stig was in the prow of the Serpent, just behind the front rank of warriors there. The ship's sides, which curved up to meet the bow's stem post upon which the dragon's head was mounted, protected his men from their waists down as if they were fighting from behind a low stockade, and they held their shields high, completely covering their chests, barely looking over the shields' top rims while they stabbed and pushed with their spears at the pirates, who were fighting from only a few feet away, similarly protected behind their own ships' sides. Occasionally a warrior on either side might take a glancing cut to the face if he was slow to block with his shield, or a spear point might pierce or cut an arm reaching out to strike, but in truth, it would take either bad luck or great carelessness for a man to receive a fatal wound in the fight in the bows if it stayed like this. Perhaps we were not doomed, after all.

  "Stig," I said, touching his shoulder to get his attention. "Hastein wants you on the Gull, to confer." He nodded, told the warrior beside him where he would be and left him in command, then followed me, running in a low crouch, back to mid-ship where we crossed over to the Gull. As he scuttled forward to where Hastein and Torvald were waiting, I ran, crouched low, back to the stern and summoned Hrodgar, fetching my shield, extra quiver, and spear while I was there.

  "What are your losses so far?" Hastein asked Stig and Hrodgar, after we all arrived back at the water cask.

  "None dead aboard the Serpent," Stig answered. "A few wounded, but nothing that will not heal if we get out of this."

  "Two with minor wounds in the stern," Hrodgar said.

  Hastein nodded. "It is much same in the Gull's bow. Thorstein took a spear in his side, but it was a light throwing spear and his brynie stopped it from piercing too deeply. Cullain is binding the wound now. He will not swing a sword with much force for a time, but he will live. A few more have wounds, but they can still fight."

  "What is your plan?" Stig asked. "If the two ships now standing off should also close with us and try to board we will have to defend from several sides at once, and will be stretched thin. I fear too thin."

  "We must make their leader, Sigvald, believe that he will lose too many men if he presses this fight. He has already taken heavier losses than we have, when they first tried to board. I saw at least four fall that I recall."

  "I killed one for certain," Tore volunteered, "when he climbed up onto the rail. And together Halfdan and I shot down eight men, all armed with bows, on that ship off there," he added, pointing at the pirate ship off the Gull's steer-board bow. "They were attacking our men on the fore-deck with bows and spears, and did not see us shooting from atop the water cask back here."

  "Perhaps that can be our way out of this," Hastein said. "We will hold them off for now in the bows and in the stern, while all of our archers concentrate their fire on that ship, off our steer-board side, and further weaken its crew so they dare not try to board. If we can keep it and the other ship behind us from closing, so the fight is just in the bows, two ships against two, we will see who are the better men. How many have we between our two crews who are armed with bows?"

  It took some time to find out, and more still to pull those who were up in the ranks of the shield-walls out and have them gather their bows and quivers and meet mid-ship on the Gull, beside her mast. In all, there were thirteen archers between the two crews: six from the Serpent, and seven on the Gull: Tore, me, and three others of Hastein's men—Asbjorn, Hallbjorn, and Storolf—plus Einar and, to my surprise, Gudfred from the estate.

  "I wish Odd was here," Tore said.

  By now, the volume of missile fire from the pirate ships had slackened considerably, no doubt because their stores of arrows and throwing spears were becoming depleted. Hastein had spread the word among our own warriors that none should cast a weapon back unless he was certain of a hit, and several men had been tasked with collecting the spears and arrows shot at us that had not passed over the side into the sea.

  Up in the bows, the pirates behind their shield-walls had begun to lob stones over their front ranks onto our fore-decks. I saw one strike a man's helm with a loud clang and knock him to his knees.

  "They have opened up their deck and are throwing their ballast stones at us," Torvald said.

  The pirate ship lying off the steer-board side of the Gull had now begun to gradually edge further down along our hull—eight of her crew using the ship's back four pairs of oars to maneuver—in order to give the warriors shooting from her bow a better angle of fire at the backs of our men fighting on the Gull's fore-deck. They, too, had also begun hurling stones as missiles, as well as shooting arrows and—though now only rarely—throwing spears. In the Gull's bow, our warriors behind the front rank turned and raised their shields to protect themselves and their comrades from the flanking fire.

  I nudged Hastein and pointed at the ship. "They are drawing closer. They do not know we have gathered so many archers here. Our fire will be most effective if it is unexpected and concentrated," I told him. "If our archers can reach the rail of the Gull unseen, just opposite the bow of their ship, and rise up and fire as one, we can deal them a heavy blow."

  Hastein studied the pirate ship for a moment, then a grim smile crossed his face.

  "Perhaps we can do even more than that," he said. "We shall do as you say. But once your archers rise up and fire, they must keep shooting. Keep the ship's bow clear of all warriors. If you can do that, we will hook her and pull her in."

  I turned and looked at Tore. He nodded. "It is a good plan," he said.

  While Hastein, Torvald, and Stig prepared ropes with grappling hooks, Tore and I spoke to our small band of archers. "We will crawl flat on our bellies from here to the side there, just opposite that ship," I told them, pointing to where we would take our firing positions. "We must stay low. They must not see us."

  "We will rise up and shoot together, all as one, on my signal," Tore added. "Pick your targets and shoot carefully. Some of you have but a few arrows. Make all of them count. We will keep shooting until the bow of their ship is cleared, so Jarl Hastein can board her."

  "We are ready," Hastein said. He was holding a coil of rope in his left hand and a grappling hook, tied to the end of the rope, in
his right. His shield was slung across his back, and a spear—the hewing spear that had been a gift from Arinbjorn—lay on the deck at his side. Behind him, Torvald and Stig also crouched concealed behind the water cask, each holding coiled ropes and grapples. Five more warriors were hiding nearby, on the deck of the Serpent behind her rail, ready to cross over and join the fight.

  Tore and I crawled, staying low on our bellies like wriggling snakes, from where we'd been hiding behind the barrels of provisions stacked along the center of the deck over to the Gull's steer-board side rail. Tore, in the lead, positioned himself a short way down from the Gull's fore-deck. I moved into place beside him, and Einar took position next to me. It felt good to have him fighting by my side. The rest of our archers followed us to the Gull's side, lining up along her rail.

  Each man got to his knees, keeping concealed below the level of the top strake, and readied an arrow across his bow. "Good hunting," Einar whispered to me, and winked. Tore looked back at Hastein and nodded. Hastein nodded back.

  "Archers! Now!" Tore shouted, and stood, drawing his bow back as he did. The rest of us did the same, while hurriedly scanning the ship across from us, searching for a target.

  Because they had been receiving so little return fire from the Gull's bow—only an occasional spear thrown back at them—and none at all from elsewhere on our ship, the warriors launching missile fire from along the pirate ship's rail were standing tall, exposed to our quarter as they searched for targets among the warriors crowded on our fore-deck. Their ship had pulled so close by now that I could have reached out and touched its side with a fully extended spear.

  Directly across from me a warrior with a long brown beard plaited into two braids was drawing back his bow while staring intently at our warriors in the Gull's bow. He was so close I could see his eyes widen as he glimpsed me suddenly rising up into view, and he tried to turn and aim his arrow at me. He was too slow—I put my arrow into the middle of his face and sent him flopping backward. The man just to his left, who was holding a large stone cupped in his right hand, swung around to watch in surprise as his crew-mate fell. Einar shot him in the neck, the arrow passing clean through, and he staggered away from the ship's side, blood spouting from the wound and from his mouth.

  Our archers' first round of fire, so unexpected and from such close range, proved deadly. All along the pirate ship's rail men dropped. "Keep firing! Keep firing!" Tore shouted, as he launched another arrow.

  Aboard the pirate ship, those along her side who were not slain by the first volley and our scattered follow-up shots dropped to her deck, out of sight and danger. Only seven men in the front half of the ship had survived our deadly attack. "Do not waste arrows," I cried, as they took cover.

  Hastein and Torvald rushed from cover to the Gull's rail and heaved their grappling hooks across the short gap between the two ships. The iron grapples thudded onto the pirate ship's now empty fore-deck, and Hastein and Torvald heaved on the ropes, setting the hooks against the ship's side. Torvald braced both feet against the top strake of the Gull's rail and heaved himself backward, holding the rope with both hands and straining against it to pull the ships together.

  "Quickly—to us! To the ropes," Hastein cried. The five warriors hiding aboard the Serpent scrambled over the rail and rushed to help pull on the ropes. Four of our archers dropped their bows and also joined them.

  Slowly our men dragged the dead weight of the pirate ship closer. Realizing the danger, three of her warriors who had taken cover to avoid our arrow fire scuttled on their hands and knees toward her bow and the ropes. The man in the lead rose up just enough, as he neared the fore-deck and raised a sword to chop at one of the ropes, to expose his back. He was not wearing a brynie. Tore and I both shot arrows into him.

  The other two men heading toward the bow dropped flat again, hidden from our sight. A few moments later, one of the ropes—obviously cut through—suddenly gave way, and our men pulling on it, including Hastein, fell backward onto the Gull's deck in a heap.

  Stig rushed forward and heaved the third line across, hooking the pirate ship again. "Tore! Halfdan!" Hastein shouted as he scrambled back to his feet. "Protect the ropes!"

  "I cannot see them," Tore cried. "I have no shot."

  "Hold my belt," I told him. "Do not let me fall." Pulling three arrows from my quiver and gripping them in my left hand together with my bow, I put one foot up on the top edge of the rail. Tore and Einar both hooked their fingers under the back of my belt and as they heaved I stepped up onto the top strake of the hull's side. As I stood swaying atop the rail, trying to gain my balance while they held fast to my belt to keep me from falling, I selected one of the arrows and nocked it on my bowstring.

  In the bow of the pirate ship one of the two warriors was sawing at Torvald's rope with a knife. I drew and fired, but my unsteadiness threw my aim off and the arrow thudded harmlessly into the ship's side above the man's head. The pirate ducked, startled, and turned to see where the shot had come from. I nocked another arrow and began to draw it back as he spotted me, but before I could fire he rolled against his ship's near side, out of my sight.

  The pirate ship's bow was now only a few feet from the side of the Gull. Drawing his sword from its scabbard, Hastein swung his shield around in front of him and ran at the Gull's side. He leaped up, his right foot landing on the top of her rail and in the same motion pushing off again, and soared across the narrow space between the two ships, landing on the pirate ship's deck just beyond her fore-deck. His momentum carried him forward and he staggered against the ship's side, off balance.

  The second of the two pirates—the one I had not yet seen—raised up, cocking a small-axe back to throw at Hastein. At almost point-blank range, I drew and shot an arrow into his back, hitting him between his shoulder blades. The impact knocked him face-forward onto the deck. Hastein pushed himself upright and lunged across the deck, stabbing with his sword at the pirate I had shot at moments earlier and missed. He was still hidden from my sight by his ship's rail, but I heard him scream, and when Hastein pulled back his sword its tip was bloody.

  The pirate ship's bow bumped against the side of the Gull's hull. Had Tore and Einar not been holding onto me, the impact would have caused me to fall.

  Torvald dropped the rope he'd been pulling on, bent down, and picked up Hastein's spear from where he'd left it lying on the deck. "Stig," he cried, "Secure the ropes. The rest of you…follow me!"

  While Torvald, the five warriors from the Serpent, and the four archers who'd been helping pull on the ropes clambered across the two ships' rails and dropped down onto the deck of the pirate ship, drawing their weapons as they did, Stig wrapped one of the grappling lines around the Gull's mast and secured it on a cleat.

  "Let go of me," I said to Tore and Einar. When they released my belt, I jumped down onto the pirate ship's deck and nocked another arrow on my bowstring. "I am coming too," Tore cried, and he and Einar climbed across after me.

  Of the original group of warriors who had been firing at the Gull from the pirate ship's bow when our archers had first attacked, only four now remained. They had retreated to just in front of their ship's mast and were bunched together there, crouching low behind their shields. Beyond them, in the ship's stern, eight warriors were still seated at the last four pairs of oars. Their backs toward the bow, they did not realize their ship had been boarded. Two more—one, who was manning the steer-board, presumably the ship's captain—stood on the raised stern deck.

  Hastein was running at the four warriors before the mast, roaring like a wild beast. Torvald and the rest of our men raced after him, a few steps behind. One of the four pirates turned and fled toward the stern. I drew and fired, hitting him low in the right side of his back. As he stumbled forward onto his hands and knees, Hastein crashed into one of the remaining three warriors—the one standing on the left side of their short line—smashing shield against shield. The impact knocked the pirate off his feet. As he fell, Hastein dropped into a
low crouch and swung his sword in a downward cut to his right, hitting the man beside him in the leg, severing it just below the knee. The third pirate turned toward Hastein, but by now Torvald had reached the fight and lunged forward with the hewing spear, stabbing its long blade through the side of the man's neck, then wrenched the spear sideways and hurled him down.

  Hastein raced on toward the stern, Torvald and our other warriors close behind him. One—it was Gudfred, from the estate—paused by the man Hastein had knocked down and hacked at him with his sword.

  The pirate captain was shouting now and pointing toward the front of the ship, trying to warn the men at the oars of their danger. Tore and I both launched arrows at him but he swung his shield up and blocked them. Einar drew and fired and hit one of the rowers in the back, as he was just turning his head to look over his shoulder. He fell sideways off his sea chest. I pulled another arrow from my quiver, nocked and drew it, and hit the man rowing in front of him.

  Then Hastein and the rest of our men reached the stern. The remaining six rowers were quickly overwhelmed, cut down as they tried to draw their weapons or pull their shields from the racks along the ship's rail. The pirate ship's captain and the warrior at his side attempted to fight, but too many weapons were hacking and stabbing at them to be able to block them all. Within moments they, too, lay dead upon the deck, bleeding from numerous wounds.

  Beside me, Tore gave a loud whoop. "We have cleared her," he shouted. "She is ours."

  While Gudfred and several others of our men began methodically checking the fallen pirates, finishing off any that still lived, Hastein and Torvald trotted back to where Tore and I were standing. Stig, who by now had climbed across to the pirate ship, too, met them there.

  "Well done," he said, grinning broadly. "Well fought."

  Still panting from the exertion of the fast-moving fight, Hastein bent over for a few moments, his hands braced on his thighs, and drew in several deep breaths. He was splattered with blood, but none of it was his.