by Griff Hosker
Snorri said, “But jarl, they will have fifty for every one of us. Have we each to kill fifty of them?”
“If you have to but those fifty are not all mailed warriors. Indeed, I doubt that they will all be warriors. I am hoping that they realise there are just a few of us and leave us to fall upon the Danes. They are doomed but we can give some of them a chance to escape by holding on as long as we can.”
“Then we will make it a glorious end.”
I shook my head, “Fótr Firebeard, we are not berserkers. This will not be our end. Tonight, and tomorrow will be a hard battle. Tomorrow night all will be weary. While they sleep we slip away.” I pointed to Olaf and Haaken, “These are Ulfheonar and my other men know how to use the woods. We carve a silent path through their sentries and we head for the Temese. I do not lie. I think that many of us will die. We cannot escape that. The Norns have spun. But we do not give up. I have a great grandson sitting on my drekar waiting for me. I wish to see his face again and any Saxon or Dane for that matter, who gets in my way is a dead man walking.”
Olaf said, “Enough talking, Jarl Dragonheart. Get to your places and may the Allfather be with us! Haaken, you take that side and I will take this. Harald Iverson, divide your men equally.”
I took my Saami bow and my arrows. I had just twenty arrows. They would have to do. I clambered up the barricade. Haraldr was there and he put down a hand to help me up. To my amazement he was grinning from ear to ear. “What makes you so happy, son of Leif the Banner?”
“If I am to die then think of the story of my death. How I stood next to Jarl Dragonheart and fought fifty times our number.”
I shook my head. “You are too young to die. Stay close to me and listen to all that I say. I would have us both get home. I saw that I might have saved my great grandson but I had another young warrior to save. I owed Leif the Banner that much. Aðils had found him for a purpose. Wyrd .
I looked up at the sky. There were still some hours of daylight. The Saxons did not like to fight at night. We had to hold them until night fell. This first night they would be alert. They would have more than half of their men waiting for us to escape. We would rest and we would sleep. The barricade would only accommodate twenty men and we were the ones with bows. There were ten others standing behind the barricade. They also had bows
I saw Galmr with them. He was instructing them. “When the jarl and the others release their arrows, we know that the Saxons are there. We do not need to see them to hit them. The road is straight and we release into the air and let our arrows fall amongst them.”
Haraldr had sharp eyes, “Jarl I see banners. It is the Saxons!”
I turned, “Ready! They come!” I could not get the vision from my head. It was the dream from the cave. ‘I found that I was sinking into the dead and dying bodies. They were like human quicksand. The more I struggled the quicker I sank. My waist was beneath them. As my head slipped down I found myself drowning in dead men’s blood. ’ Was that blood to be the blood of my own men?
I nocked an arrow and peered down the road. My bow would outrange them all save Haraldr’s. He had Aðils’ Shape Shifter’s Saami bow and he was bigger than I was. He would send an arrow fifty or more paces beyond mine. “Haraldr, you and I can send arrows further. Let us do so. Choose a target as far away as you can.”
He laughed, “Jarl, even my eyes cannot see that far!”
“Then aim at the cross or the banner which is beyond their front ranks.”
The Saxon army began to take shape. I saw that they had two priests at the front. They were carrying some sort of religious banner. They would be the first to die. It would dishearten the others. Behind them came men on horses. They were accompanied by men with banners and behind them marched their better armed men, the mailed warriors. The priests were within range of Haraldr and me but we waited. I knew the range of the bows we had brought. One hundred and fifty paces was a killing range. The Saxons saw the barrier and halted. There was a heated debate and then the leader, I recognised him by his actions, shouted something and waved to the left and the right. They were trying to outflank us.
“Erik Cold Blade, Snorri, they come for the flanks.”
“We are ready jarl. We have made the woods harder to pass.”
I smiled. Haaken and Olaf would have told them that. They would have made the approach a tangle of branches and undergrowth. The wild blackberries which grew there would slow down an attack as the thorny tendrils grabbed and tugged at men trying to get through them. The dying Saxon had said that the land would fight us. We would use the land to fight the Saxons.
The Saxon leader shouted something and a horn sounded. The two priests began to walk towards us singing and the Saxon army trundled down the road. The horsemen stayed where they were and the men on foot filtered through them. Saxons do not fight on horses unless they have no choice. Their leaders were afforded a good view from the backs of their mounts. They were about to get a shock.
“Haraldr, we can reach those leaders. Once our arrows fall amongst them they will move. Let us see how quickly we can send our rain of death towards them.”
“Aye Jarl Dragonheart!”
The priests were less than one hundred and fifty paces away. “Draw!” I heard the creak of bows as my men pulled back. I felt the power of the Saami bow. “Release!”
Even as my first arrow was in the air I had a second nocked and released. My first arrow hit the man next to the thegn who led. Haraldr’s hit the leader on the shoulder and he fell from his horse. There was pandemonium. As I sent my third arrow I saw the priests had been killed and twenty others lay on the ground. Some were dead and some were wounded. The arrows continued to fall. The men on horses tried to escape but there was a press of men behind them. Some horses bolted and, in their panic, reared and flailed their hooves. Saxons died by the own horses. Some of the horses bolted through the forest. The men advancing there would have to watch for danger from their rear. Haraldr and I found man or horse with every arrow. Three horses lay on the ground kicking their hooves in the air. They were dying. I felt my back burning with the effort. I had six arrows left and already we had halted the enemy attack. They had not made a shield wall and, until they did, then plunging arrows would make a mockery of mail.
A horn sounded again and the ones who survived hurried back beyond the mound of dead animals and warriors. I had not planned it but our arrows had made a second barrier. I did not think they would be able to advance down the road. First, they would have to clear their dead. That gave me an idea.
I sent my last arrows into the men who scrambled over dead and dying horses. “Haraldr, take charge here. Keep arrows for their next attack.”
I handed him my bow and clambered down. I picked up my shield and hefted it. Olaf Leather Neck was on one side of our defence and Haaken the other. I joined Haaken. He looked at me expectantly, “They were surprised. Haraldr hit their leader. Their horses caused much damage. Foolishly they did not employ a shield wall and they paid a price.”
Haaken pointed into the woods. I could see metal. “And here they come!”
I drew my sword, “Ragnar’s Spirit! Death to the Saxons!”
The hundred or so men I led banged their shields with their swords and roared. It was a message of defiance.
We had spread our men out. We had no second rank and we had no reserves. We stepped across the Roman ditch and into the eaves of the forest. My men had laid the snares and traps just eight paces in. We had eight paces to fight. Then we could fall back to the ditch. I hoped, by then, that night would have fallen. The Saxons had to approach us as individuals. Karl Olafsson was the first to strike a blow. He was one of my warriors from Windar’s Mere. His father had fought alongside me. He bore his father’s shield with the wolf painted upon it. The first Saxon who broke through the brambles stood no chance as Karl brought his sword across his body. The mailed Saxon had his throat ripped open and he fell across the fallen branches. He hung there, another barrier for the
Saxons to pass.
The first Saxon I slew had a leather vest, shield and spear. Caught in the brambles he jabbed at me with his spear. I fended it away with my shield and hacked across his body. He did not die instantly. He fell and slowly bled to death. Around me other Saxons were suffering the same fate as they came against a Viking warband which had nothing to lose. We fought because there was nowhere to run. A wild Saxon saw me and ran towards me with a wood axe in his hand. He did not look where he was going. I took a step back. He tripped over the dying man I brought over my sword and laid his spine open. I now had three bodies before me. Others had just as many. We had a wall. It was a wall of Saxon dead.
Suddenly a horde of them ran at us. They had shields held before them. They were not a continuous line. The trees and the undergrowth slowed some up. The shields they held before them limited their vision. My shield was held to the side. When I needed to I could pull it up in an instant. One Saxon stumbled. He put his arms out to regain his balance. I drover Ragnar’s Spirit into his chest. As I pulled it out another appeared and he tried to use this dead comrade to leap up at me. I slashed my sword across his middle. He lay writhing on his companion’s body. He tried to shove his entrails back inside. I had no time to give him a warrior’s death as others were coming for me. I knew why they came for me. It was not because I was Dragonheart. It was because I was a white beard. I was an easy kill. Four more Saxons found that they were wrong. As darkness descended a horn sounded three times and the Saxons filtered and fled back through the woods.
I turned to Haaken, “Watch here while I check on the others.” I went around and found that we had lost but six men. The Saxon wall lay all around us. “Erik, have the bodies stripped and then use them to make a barrier around us. Make the Saxon spears and swords into traps for the next attack.”
“Aye Jarl Dragonheart. A great victory!”
“It is a start only.” I turned, “Olaf, Haaken, Galmr!”
My three men ran to my side, “What is amiss, Jarl Dragonheart?”
“Nothing Galmr. I just have a plan for this night. Choose the six best men with knives. Tonight, we go out. They will try to shift the horses and their dead. I would make life hard for them. So long as that road is blocked then they must come through the woods. It will be a long day tomorrow but if we can hold them we have a chance to escape.”
Now that our battle was over we were able to hear the battle to the south. Some of those from the north were now engaged with Sigurd Snake in the Eyes. We were surrounded.
“Snorri. Have your band make a barrier to the south. The Saxons had wood axes. Use them to cut branches. Use Saxon bodies too.”
“Yes, Jarl Dragonheart.” He held up the byrnie he had taken from a dead Saxon. “Already four of us have mail! You have brought us good fortune.”
“Perhaps!” We would have a small stronghold. Eighty paces from east to west and a hundred and fifty paces from north to south, it would not be the largest fort but it was all we had and we would defend it with our lives.
Chapter 14
The battle sounds died away as night fell. The woods were filled with the sounds of wounded men who had been forgotten in the battle. They moaned for friends to come and help them. We took off our mail. We used the charcoal from the fire to blacken our faces and hands. I took Wolf’s Blood and a seax. I gathered the men I would lead around me. “We do not have enough warriors to waste any. Strike only when you know that you will not be seen. Our purpose is to slow down the removal of the dead and to spread terror. You can only do that if you are alive.” I did not look at my Ulfheonar when I said that. They would need no guidance from me. “When I give the howl of the wolf then return. That is my command.”
We slipped through the woods. My men had left a gap in the wall of warriors. As I stepped through them I saw that this was my dream. ‘I found that I was sinking into the dead and dying bodies. They were like human quicksand.’ Did this mean we had interpreted the dream incorrectly? Was it Saxon bodies I saw? Could we win? I put those thoughts from my mind. I had to concentrate on killing.
My movements were so well practised that I did not think about them. I did not have my wolf cloak but, other than that, everything else was the same. I watched where I placed my feet. I sniffed the air. I looked ahead before moving. All of that took time but it was time well spent for it meant I approached the Saxons silently. I heard them as they laboured to move the bodies. With two men to a body they had begun with the dead warriors first. The horses would be more difficult to shift. I saw Haaken to my right. I gestured ahead with my seax. Two Saxons were carrying the body of a thegn. With the mail it was heavy and they were struggling. At one point they dropped it. A voice called out to ask what was amiss.
“Nothing! We tripped!”
Haaken nodded. We would take these two men. Haaken and I had fought together for so many years that we could almost read each other’s thoughts. My hand was around the mouth of one and my seax slipping across his throat even as Haaken did the same with the other. The body of the thegn crashed to the ground. The other Saxons laughed and one shouted, “Clumsy oaf!”
It was tempting to take the mail but that would have been noisy and taken time. Haaken and I moved a little closer to the road and waited for the next two men to come by with bodies. I had to hope that my other men were enjoying the same success as we were. When we heard the next two lumbering through the undergrowth Haaken slipped around one side of the tree. As the first Saxon came next to me I rammed Wolf’s Blood up under his ribs and into his heart. He and the body fell. The other Saxon grew another mouth as Haaken killed him.
Inevitably some of my men were spotted. I heard a cry, “Vikings!” It came from the far side of the woods.
I gave a howl and with two weapons ahead of me Haaken and I raced towards the road. There were ten Saxons there and they were labouring to remove a horse. They had had to resort to using axes to dismember the beast. The ten Saxons were looking to the far woods. Siggi Einarsson and Folki Siggison joined as and we burst amongst them while they were hacking the dead animals to pieces. This time there was no need for silence. I tore Wolf’s Blood into the side of one while I ripped open the stomach of a second. Olaf Leather Neck appeared from the other side. He had picked one of the axes they were using to dismember the horse. His axe took first one head and then another. I hacked and slashed at shocked, stunned and surprised Saxons. It was one thing to know that Vikings were near but another to have to face them in the dark of night. There were none left alive.
“Back!”
We hurried down the road. There were noises from the Saxon camp as they realised that the men they had sent to clear the road had been attacked. I saw Haraldr and the ones we had left behind looking anxiously as we came through the gaps in the walls they had made.
Erik Cold Blade asked, “Did it work?”
“I am not certain but we have delayed it in any case. They will attack again tomorrow.”
Haaken wiped his blade on his cloak, “With any luck they will attack the Danes instead of us.”
“Haraldr, how many arrows do we have left?”
“In total, Jarl Dragonheart just under two hundred.”
“Then give my Saami bow to one who can use it and pick the ten best archers to defend the road. When they are gone, they are gone.”
Snorri Haraldsson said, “Jarl Dragonheart, get some rest. We will set the watch.”
“I am not too old to stand a watch.”
“No but without your mind we are doomed. We wish to live and you give us the hope that we might.”
Before I slept I sharpened my weapons and used oil on my mail. I needed sleep but I needed to be protected in battle and my mail and sword would do that. As I curled up in my cloak I felt more hopeful than I had since we had discovered the second Saxon army. We had held them and, from the lack of noise further south, the brothers had too. We had another long day to endure. If we survived that we just had an eighty-mile march to the Isle of the Sheep.
I fell asleep to the sound of blades being sharpened on whetstones.
Haaken shook me awake. It was still dark. “What is it?”
“We heard noises and movements from the Saxons. I think they were trying to be quiet but the sentries heard them.”
“Rouse the camp.”
“They are roused. You are the last.” He handed me my sword. “Harald sharpened it for you last night. He is a good lad. His father would be proud.”
I smiled, Ragnar’s Spirit had been doubly sharpened. I grabbed my ale skin and took a deep drink. It was stale now. Three days in a skin did not improve the taste. It was wet. I took out a piece of cured venison and bit a chunk off. It would take some time to chew. The chewing would make me less hungry. It was the time to fight rather than eat. When I reached the men, I was greeted by smiles. There was an air of confidence amongst the men. We had been outnumbered and we had held off the enemy. More than that we had hurt them in the night. They had not completely cleared the road. They would have to either come through the woods or from the south. I wondered if the brothers had thought to fight their way back to us. Had I been in their position then I would have done so. To stay where they were just meant a longer journey back to the river. Then I realised, they thought they could still win. They still had the dream of conquering Wessex. That had been their plan the whole time and I had been the means to do so.
We stood in silence and I listened. I could hear, in the lightening morning air, the sound of men moving through the undergrowth. If they thought they were being stealthy then they were wrong. We stood in a long line. Without reserves any breach would be disastrous. We each held our shields and our sword and axes. Haraldr led the men on the barricade. Olaf the men to the east, Snorri the band to the south and I had the west. Snorri would be the one who would need to be reinforced. They had just a few hewn logs and branches to slow down an enemy. I was ready to go to his aid.