Varangian

by Griff Hosker

  The incredulous survivors came out and inspected us. Siggi shook his head. “But you are not dead.”

  “I should think not. They were only armed with bows and we wore mail.”

  Harald laughed, “Now I understand the story of Ridley the Berserker. All Englishmen must be mad!”

  “No but we have a short temper. Harald you had better stay here, they may be back and here are two bows. I hope you can use them.”

  Jarl Gunnersson was worried at our late return but when Siggi told him of our exploits he smiled. “The Norns, Thegn Aethelward, they must like you or have some special plan in mind.”

  The boat was now on a line of logs with long ropes attached. We were split into four groups and each group given a rope. Four men were left to move the logs. They had the hardest task. We began to pull. The ground was flat and we moved quite quickly at first. The four men raced from the stern to bring the logs we had rolled over and put them at the front. Then, as we went up the incline it became harder and only two men ran with the spare log, the others jammed a log at the stern to prevent the boat slipping back down the hill. There was a technique to it which we quickly mastered and we found the going much easier. Once we reached the top we halted to catch our breath and to move more logs in front of the ship.

  Gunnar was pleased, “Now we stop pulling and we stop the ship from travelling too quickly.” The boat was balanced at the top of the hill. Gunnar, Siggi and the First Mate went to the stern and tipped it up. The momentum moved the bow forwards and the ship started to slip down the slope. It was hard to stop it crashing through the trees and being destroyed; we had to dig our heels in to make it move at a reasonable speed. The log men were soaked with sweat as they raced around us to replace the log rollers. By the time the sun was setting we could see the river and soon the boat was once againin its natural home, the water.

  Stig and the others had had no further problems and, as the furs and cargo were packed again, the talk was of the two mad Englishmen and their reckless charge into a band of barbarians. “Why are you not dead my lord?”

  “Simple Olaf. There is only one kind of arrow which can pierce this mail and my old friend Branton is the only archer to use them. Unless you are unlucky and an arrow strikes bare flesh you should be safe and, besides, it is hard to concentrate when two giants such as we charge you screaming and waving our swords. We learned that at Stamford Bridge when the three naked Norwegian berserkers, Harald’s countrymen, held off a whole army. Most men, even soldiers, fear death and those who seem more reckless make them think twice.”

  They all examined the armour for signs of damage but what we did gain from that wild charge was the respect of our men who had seen us put ourselves in harm’s way to protect them. They knew that we would never back down from a fight and, in the next few weeks, that was the difference between survival and death.

  Partly because we now had more men and partly because Jarl Gunnersson was worried about another attack we were excused rowing duties. “You are the warriors. The men we rescued are sailors and rowers. No offence Aelfraed but each man to his own skill.”

  I was not offended and I took the opportunity of finding out how good my men were as archers. As well as the two bows we had collected in the woods we had found four other similar weapons including a strange looking bow which had horn and wood combined. Stig held it to show us. “Now had this archer fired at you then you would have been dead for this is the bow of the men of the steppes and it is a fearsome weapon.”

  When Ridley tried it out he found out that, despite its relative small size, it could hurl an arrow to embed itself into a mighty tree. Someone had been watching over us. “So the Pechengs will have bows like this?”

  “Aye my lord.”

  “Then we need to improve the shields we use.” Ridley and I were the only ones with the large round shields studded with iron plates and we set about manufacturing shields for all of our men. The wood was plentiful along the river and we cut down a couple of trees and began to make them. Each day without an attack became a bonus. Although the wood was not seasoned it would afford some protection. The problem was finding the metal and we scoured the ship for nails and small pieces of discarded metal. We did not find many but each shield had some and it was better than nothing. The archery of the men was adequate and a bonus was that it was a skill which Eric had somehow acquired in his childhood. He might not be able to stand and fight with a sword but, if we came to grips with barbarians, he could annoy them with a bow. Snorri had taken to the boy for Eric had tended the warrior’s wounds and they soon became inseparable. Snorri was a sound warrior who was very quiet but, when we had a practice with our swords, I saw that he was more than competent and he increasingly reminded me of Osbert.

  I was still worried about Ulf. I hoped that he had drowned but I suspected that he had survived; he had had that sort of look about him. They say the good die young and that suggested that Ulf would live a long time. The attack on the other boats had happened too soon for him to be involved which meant he was still out there with the confederates from Velikiy. As we were not rowing, the night duties were not as tiring which was fortunate for two days after the portage, when we were anchored on the Dvina River, the attack came. Olaf was one of the sentries and he came to shake me. “My lord, I have heard noises by the river.”

  I had drilled into them that they should wake me for anything which seemed strange. I would rather lose a night’s sleep than men’s lives. “Wake Ridley and the others.”

  “It may be nothing.”

  I smiled in the dark. “True Olaf, in which case, I will apologise to the men for the loss of their precious sleep.”

  I went to Pig, who was the other sentry. Silently he pointed to the low trees which overhung the river. I could see nothing clearly but the shape of the trees seemed wrong and there was total silence along the river bank. That in itself was unusual for there were many animals that lived along the river and you would normally hear a duck or a waterfowl at night. It all pointed to men being on the bank. When Ridley arrived with the other warriors, all armed, I left them to wake the captain.

  He had the nearest thing we had on board to a cabin; chests surrounded a sleeping mat and an awning gave him protection. As soon as I touched him he awoke. “It may be nothing but we think there are men on the bank. My warriors are ready.” He nodded and I returned to my men. We were downstream and it would be simple enough to raise the anchor and float down the river but travel at night was dangerous. My men had told me of the rapids we would have to navigate and we did not want to try those at night time. When I returned to the side of the ship I could see that there were, indeed, men at the river side and they were slipping into the water. A horrible thought entered my mind. What about the other side? “Ridley, stay here, Snorri, Hammer, Stig. Come with me.”

  I took them to the other side and sure enough I could see the slick bodies of the barbarians pushing reed mats through the water. There was nothing to be gained now from silence and I roared. “To arms! To arms!” The crew were instantly awake for the attack on the other boats had served as a warning to all of them. Each man grabbed whatever weapons he could and they ran to the two sides. I slung the bow I had with me as did Eric and we began to fire at the bodies coming towards us. From the screams and shouts on the other side I knew that Ridley was doing the same. The night was dark and it was hard to aim accurately but I am sure that we struck four or five before they reached the side and began to clamber up. They were wiry half naked men, each one with a topknot and pony tail. They carried wicked sharp curved blades and they were numerous. I dropped the bow and took up Death Bringer. We were spread out along the length of the boat so that there were warriors and crew intermingled.

  “Watch my blade!”The crew had seen me practise and they gave me room. The singing blade soon began to strike every warrior who dared to board within eight paces of me. My long arms and the long handle meant that I could swing with impunity. Stig and Snorri also had
axes whilst the Hammer was also causing casualties with his own mighty war hammer. Eric had retreated to the stern and was firing at any barbarian which we missed. Soon there was no-one left to attack but the deck had eight bodies littered along its length. The first rays of the red sun peeped from our left and I saw the horde retreating. Had Olaf not woken me we would have all perished for they were numerous. It was then that I saw Ulf on the river bank sat astride a pony with, what looked like a couple of chiefs. He had survived! He still had his scowl; Eric chanced an arrow which plunged just before him and the party retreated. We had halted them, but they would be back.

  As the anchor was raised and the rowers began to take us south I checked our casualties. My warriors had emerged unscathed but some of the crew had suffered wounds. At least we now had some extra weapons from the bodies left littering the deck and would not need to call at a settlement to buy some. We also took the metal bracelets and torcs. They would all make useful additions to the protection for the men’s shields.

  The warband followed us down the river. They had ponies and, whilst we moved swiftly with the current, they could cut out the loops in the river and get ahead of us. It was a warning that we could not be distracted for an instant and, when we reached the next portage, we would have a battle on our hands. As we chewed on our breakfast of dried meat Snorri came to look at my axe. The others had all the opportunity of examining the blade but Snorri was new. “It is a fine Danish blade my lord. May I hold it?”

  “Of course.”

  He swung it easily. “It has a fine balance and feels like a smaller axe. It is a good weapon. How did you get such a weapon?” I told him the story of my first battle in the woods of Mara and he nodded, “Wyrd. I can see that I was meant to serve with you my lord.”

  “Why is that Snorri?”

  “The other warriors I fought with were mercenaries. They fought for the coin.”

  “I am now a mercenary. I now fight for coin.”

  He shook his head, “No my lord, Eric has told me that you seek to fight with the Varangians and I know why.”

  No-one, not even Ridley knew the real reason I had headed south to Byzantium. How had this man who barely knew me divined the reason? “And why is that? Do you not see me as a sword for hire?”

  He laughed, “No my lord for Eric has also told me that you have coin, no the real reason is that the Byzantines are the only ones who can defeat the Normans. You hope to go to Italy and fight them there.”

  “As the Emperor is now a prisoner of the Turks and the Varangians lie on the field at Manzikert with bleached bones it does not seem to matter.”

  “There will be a new Emperor and there will be more Varangians but you my lord, you are a strategos.”

  I was going to ask how he knew that but I worked it out myself, “Eric again?”

  He smiled, “Yes my lord. The boy sees you as some sort of hero who has taken him away from the hell that was his home. He told me that he has never been happier than on this voyage.”

  “He is a fine boy; he did not deserve to suffer in Hedeby.”

  “No my lord, but a mercenary would have demanded money to take the boy and then been rid of him as quickly as possible.” He was right but it unnerved me that he had seen all of this through his words with Eric.

  “I hope that he will find all he seeks in Miklagård.”

  “He will, my lord, I will see to that, for he has shown kindness to me without thought of reward or gain and that is a rare thing in our world of war.”

  Late in the afternoon I was summoned to the tiller where the two captains were in conference. “That was well done last night Aelfraed and we are safe for a while. I intend to sail through the night. I will rest this afternoon. I would like you to have half your men on watch for the rowers will be tired.”

  “As you wish Jarl Gunnersson.”

  “We have another portage coming up and that makes us vulnerable to attack. I would make the quickest passage possible.”

  “The problem is that Ulf knows our route, you told me that. He is a cunning man and he will anticipate our vulnerability and be at the portage waiting for us. I now know how perilous that journey can be,”

  He shrugged, “There is little else we can do.”

  I smiled for I had an idea which had been fermenting since our last attack. “Do you have a map of the river?”

  “Aye we have a chart.” He brought it out.

  “Where is the portage?”

  He pointed to it on the chart. I saw what I had hoped to see. “Here the river takes a loop, just before the portage. How far is it by land between the two loops?”

  “Three or four miles, it is low lying and I have known other captains use that as an emergency portage when the river is iced over. Why?”

  “If you stop there then I can take my men across land to ambush the barbarians.”

  The two of them looked at me. “But there are only ten of you!”

  “True but do you think they will be expecting to be attacked? Or do you think they will be watching the river for the moment when we start to climb over the hills with our bales?”

  “Even so ten against that number!”

  “If the ship can make a speedy passage around that loop then we will have a refuge and we will be no worse off than we are now.”

  “But you may have lost men.”

  “We are here to guard the ship. It is like having a guard dog and keeping him in the house for fear of the wolf. We are not afraid of this wolf and remember I have seen these people fight. They are brave and they are tough but they deign to wear armour and they will not stand against my men.”

  “Even Eric?”

  He was right Eric was our weak link but he was my man now and that made him one of us. “Aye, even Eric.”

  “If you think you can pull this off then so be it.”

  “I will need one of your sailors to act as a guide and a messenger if anything goes wrong.”

  “If anything goes wrong Aelfraed, then we are all dead, not just you and your warriors.”

  Surprisingly my men were all happy about the idea. Even Eric looked excited. “Ragnar you will watch Eric. It is his bow which will help us.” The old warrior nodded eagerly. He seemed to have gained ten years of his life since we had left Denmark. That was what having a purpose in life did for you.

  “I can fight with a sword.”

  “I am the leader Eric and I say that you will use your bow for we will be outnumbered but you can make the difference. While we fight them you can thin those out who are beyond the reach of our weapons.” I looked at each eager face, “Our advantage is our armour and our blades; that and the fact that we are all better warriors!” They roared their approval and we prepared for war.

  Bjorn was chosen to accompany us. He had been the First Mate on one of the ships which were captured and his brother had been killed in the attack. He was not only knowledgeable, he was keen to get revenge and he came armed with us. It gave us eleven men as opposed to ten. The Jarl pulled in as close as he could to the bank and threw out a plank to save us getting too wet. I was grateful for the brief respite we had. The land we traversed was marshy and covered in high reeds; although it gave us cover it also made movement slower than I hoped. Within a hundred paces we had lost sight of the mast of The Maiden and we were in Bjorn’s hands. He navigated by looking up at the sky and sniffing. I did not ask why as I assumed he knew what he was doing. I followed him with Ridley bringing up the rear. Our small numbers meant that we would be hard to see, or at least I hoped we would.

  Bjorn turned to me. “The river is close.”

  How he knew it I had no idea but I trusted him. I halted the men and spread them out in a line abreast with Eric and his bow at the rear. Bjorn scurried on ahead and we waited for his return. His gleaming smile told me that he had spotted the ambushers long before he opened his mouth. They are in the woods overlooking the bend of the river and I saw the mast of The Maiden, she is working slowly down the river.”
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  At least this part of the plan had worked; the attention of the barbarians should be on the river and we would be able to strike them from behind. I could see why some captains had made a longer portage for the ground was flat and then we saw the hill leading to the next valley as it rose slowly with a wide swathe in the trees showing where the ships were dragged. It was obvious to me that the barbarians would be on both sides of the portage and that also gave us an advantage. We stealthily made our way through the undergrowth and I, for one was glad to be free from the cloying mud through which we had trudged. The greatest relief, however, was from the biting insects which had plagued us and we all sported red blotches where the insidious insects had bitten us. We laboured up the hill with Bjorn a little way ahead. Suddenly he raised his hand and we all dropped to our knees. He gestured to me to join him and I slithered along the ground like a serpent.

  Bjorn had done well and had found a spot about fifty paces above the ambush site. I could see the lighter part of the forest where the portage lay and I could see the twenty to thirty warriors who waited there. Their number did not worry me, I had anticipated more than that. There would be more on the other side but, in my experience a surprised warrior always sees two enemies where there is only one. We slithered back to the rest and I gathered them around me. “We can take ten out quietly, sneak behind them and slit their throats. When they are dead, draw your weapons and charge. Our aim is to make them run but listen for my command and when you hear it, I want you to run down the hill to the boat. It should have reached the portage by then. Eric, you shoot the warriors the furthest away from us and keep moving. Make them think there are ten of you.” I saw Snorri pat him on the back and his face beamed like a torch burning in the night.

  I waved them forward and we slipped through the trees. The barbarian’s slick sweaty bodies stood out against the brown of the wood and they were intently watching The Maiden as Jarl Gunnersson edged her slowly around the bend. The caution and slow approach was a deliberate tactic for he wanted their attention on him alone. My axe and shield were slung as we would not need them at first but I had my dagger ready. Bjorn eagerly sliced through the windpipe of the rearmost warrior and slowly lowered the body to the ground. My warrior was oblivious to everything as I wrapped my powerful left hand around his mouth and ripped across his throat with my dagger. He was small and he was light; I laid him at my feet. Ridley’s mark began to turn but Ridley held his hand over the man’s mouth and stabbed directly into his throat. I do not know how many died silently but, inevitably, one cried out and the others turned. Even as I was yelling I saw the arrow embed itself in the chest of the warrior at the edge of the trees. We roared forwards. I had slipped Death Bringer around and hacked at the first warrior who foolishly stood in my way. The blade cut his torso in two. I had to be careful with my swing because of the trees and I smashed the spiked head of the axe into the face of the next warrior and, as he fell, stamped down onto his face, crushing his skull. They ran.