by Griff Hosker
I pulled my shield around tighter and as I ran I was aware of the ache in my side. My wound would trouble me. I had to put the discomfort from my mind. There were spears ahead of me and, rising above the others, I saw that there were two horsemen ahead. They were in mail and they were shouting at more men behind them. That told me that this was a large number of men we fought. They had nobles ordering the fight. It would not be easy.
I stepped over Audun the Red; he was dead. His throat had been hacked by a weapon. There were others from our crew and they were lying on the ground amongst Frankish warriors. We kept moving to join the fray. The huts on both sides made the ground on which we fought narrow. Ulf, the Jarl, Siggi and Arne would be at the fore leading the fight. It was my duty to fight at their side. Only my wound had stopped me from scouting with Ulf.
I saw Knut Eriksson assailed by two men. He was in a gap between huts, to the side. Although neither of the Franks had mail they both had a helmet and a small shield. I put my shoulder behind my shield and ran at the one to his right. My sudden strike took him by surprise. He fell backwards allowing Knut to turn his attention to the other. The man on the ground was not about to go quietly to the Otherworld. He flailed his sword at my shins. I jumped to avoid it. That was a mistake as I felt my wound ache when I did so. When I landed, I crashed upon his knee. He screamed in pain. His arm flew up involuntarily and I silenced him with my sword.
I rejoined the press of warriors hurrying to help the Jarl. Siggi, Arne and Rurik were with the Jarl and heading purposefully towards the two horsemen. The gap between the huts had widened. Franks lay dead before the Jarl. The rest of our men were spread around in individual combats. The narrow passages on either side were filled with fighting warriors. I ran towards the Jarl shouting, "Knut, the Jarl needs our help!"
Knut slew his enemy and followed me.
I saw one of the horsemen make his horse rear. It was deliberate. He was using his horse as a weapon. A hoof caught Arne on the head and he fell. Enraged Siggi ran forward, recklessly, and plunged his sword into the belly of the horse. As he did so he pushed up with his shield. It protected his head and forced the wounded horse backwards. The dying horse toppled over and Siggi and Rurik leapt at the horseman on the ground. They hacked and slashed at him until he was dead.
The second horseman had a long spear and he was keeping the Jarl at bay while shouting for men to support him. I could see them running from a small burgh on the hill. I ran towards the horseman's right side. He was jabbing the spear at the Jarl who was trying to avoid it and the horse's hooves. The warrior wore mail to his knee and so I swung my sword hard at his hand. He had leather gauntlets but my blow was so hard that he dropped the spear. I suspect I broke some of the bones in his hand. With his left hand he whipped his horse's head around to make it snap and bite at me. I did the unexpected. I stepped closer in and, as I did so, smashed the boss of my shield against the horseman's knee. The mail gave him protection from cuts but not blows. At the same time Knut hacked at the horse's head. It reared as its throat was cut and then fell on the horseman. The Jarl stepped on top of the dying horse and slew the warrior.
In our moment of triumph Loki played a trick. A second wall of warriors burst out of the town to join the ones descending from the burgh. I think that most men facing such odds would have fled for there were many of them and we were surrounded by the wounded and dying of the clan. The difference was we were Vikings and we fought for each other. Siggi was bloodied but unbowed. He stepped between the Jarl and me and shouted, "Shield Wall!"
Knut stood next to me and we locked shields. Ketil ran to the other side of the Jarl along with Beorn Beornsson. Rurik locked shields with Ketil. Behind us the rest of those who had survived the first attack placed their shields over our heads. Our swords emerged like teeth from the front. The ones from behind added their blades. The Franks hurled themselves at us. There were now three ranks of us jammed between two huts with a dead horse and rider before us. One Frank used the horse to throw himself high into the air. He intended to smash a hole in our wall. It was brave. As he fell Siggi rammed his sword into his middle shouting, "Flying Franks die as easily as horses." Olaf punched his shield at the dead man and his body slid to the ground.
I could tell that Siggi had the smell of battle in his nostrils. I said, "I pray you do not go berserk, my friend!"
He laughed, "Not this day. This day I hew heads!"
I jabbed forward at the Frank whose spear tried to find a gap in the shields. I moved my head slightly and felt the spear head scrape and grind along my helmet. As my sword found flesh Ketil and I moved our shields up. It trapped the spear. I twisted the sword and heard a scream. The Frank should have let go of the spear but something made him hang on to it. I pushed harder with my sword and he fell to the ground. We had another obstacle before us. Swords and axes crashed on to the shields held above our heads. Had we had spears we might have pushed them back but we did not and we had to endure the assault until the fourth rank arrived.
When we heard Gunnar Thorfinnson shout, "Rear rank! Push!" we knew that they had reached us.
I felt a shield pushed in my back and Siggi shouted, "One, two, three, push!" It was our turn to move but we had to move as one. There was an art to pushing in a shield wall. Everyone stepped forward with the left leg as they punched with their shields. The Franks were taken my surprise. They were fighting as individuals. Two fell but the whole line was forced back. The second action followed; we all stabbed and slashed with our swords. As they were still reeling from our push some found flesh. Their shields were not locked.
I saw the Jarl's sword cleave a head from a Frank's shoulders. He shouted, "Raven Wing and Sea Serpent, we push as one! One, two, three!"
This time the push from the last three ranks and our step forward happened at the same time. It was a much more powerful move. I had switched my sword from above to below. Alf the Silent had put his sword next to my head. As he jabbed forward I brought my sword up. The Frank was watching Alf's blade and he had a shocked look on his face as my blade entered his groin and then tore up through his middle. He gurgled blood and then dropped. I stepped carefully on to his body as we moved forward. The shield wall now had a life of its own. I could not stop even if I had wanted to. We were now walking steadily forward. Our feet were in time, as our arms were when we rowed. Blades hacked and stabbed from behind the impenetrable wall of shields. It was almost as though we were not individuals but one enormous killing machine.
Suddenly we broke the back of their defence. The wall of warriors had thinned and stretched around our flanks but the centre was now weak and one last push saw us trample over those who, moments earlier, had been trying to kill us. Those in the third rank killed them as we burst into the town. Before us we saw no more warriors; they were behind us and they were dead or dying. The people of the town had been encouraging their warriors and their men folk and now they fled screaming.
The Jarl turned and saw the bodies of his crew and his face darkened, "Kill every man! No quarter! Any women and children will be enslaved!"
Men had blood that was boiling. They were in a killing frenzy. As eager warriors raced forward the women and children who had yet to flee did so. Some ran down to the river taking a chance on survival there.
Not all of the warriors were dead and as our shields were unlocked a Frank wielding an axe charged at me from the side. I held up my shield as he brought his axe from a long way behind his head. I was ready to strike with my sword. Siggi's lesson had been well learned. As he struck I stepped to the side and angled the shield. The head caught between a metal stud and the boss. My left arm was numb with the strike. I thrust forward with my sword for he was busy trying to extricate his axe. He wore a leather cuirass. Boiled and then moulded it was tough but I had a point on Heart of Ice and my sword was well made. It pierced the leather and I brought my left knee into his thigh as I stepped forward. My right side was still weak for such a blow. Even so the effect was to overbalance
him. He fell backwards and then rolled to the side. Weaponless he rose to his feet and ran towards the river. Before I could follow him something clanged into the side of my helmet and made my head ring. Turning I saw a boy with a slingshot. Before he could throw another stone a spear was hurled at him by one of Gunnar Thorfinnson's men and the brave boy died. They were narrow margins on the battlefield. Had he escaped he would have been a hero. As it was none would ever remember the boy who had hit a Viking and saved a warrior's life.
The battle was not over for there were still Franks who fought to save their homes and to buy their families the chance to escape but it was not combat. It was slaughter. They were farmers with weapons who faced us; we were warriors. That was the day when the Sea Serpent clan came of age. They learned how to fight in a wedge and they learned how to despatch warriors who fought to the death with no thought of surrender.
As soon as the last man was killed we stopped to look to our comrades who had fallen. I ran back to Arne Four Toes. He had been felled by a blow to the head. When I found him, to my amazement, he was alive. He was seated with his helmet in his hands. The side of his head and face was a bloody mess and he seemed almost drunk but he was alive. "Siggi! Arne lives!"
Siggi raced over for, like me, he was certain that his friend had perished in the battle. "You should be dead! That blow would have felled an ox."
"Perhaps I have a hard head. Did we win?"
"Aye we did." He pointed to the bodies of Audun the Red, Karl Karlsson, Sven Three Fingers and others. "They died well but I can hear Loki laughing at us. Did we think it would be easy?"
The Jarl's voice rang out, "Gunnar, fetch your drekar and mine. We will feast here tonight. We have fought enough today!"
"Aye brother! A great victory! Men will talk of this for years to come!"
Siggi White Hair frowned, "What if other Franks come? Should we not risk the river?"
As Gunnar and his men hurried upstream the Jarl took off his helmet and joined us. We were a dwindling band, "Look at the men, Siggi. Can they row? We have fought two battles in one day. The men are heroes. We eat and we feast. If enemies come then we will fight them but the only men who could come to attack us are north of the river in Angers. It is why I bring the drekar. If they come and try to cross the river we let the current take us to the sea and to home."
Arne did not nod but he smiled, "It makes sense, Siggi. Besides I am weary and I need to rest. I will row in the morning.."
"And I am starving!" Siggi nodded and shouted, "Ketil, do something useful. Butcher the dead horses. I made a start on one of them for you!"
We found no beer but there was wine a plenty. It was a little tart for my taste but it numbed the pain of my wound. Although the stitches had held blood seeped out. With the drekar tied up to the river bank we all felt safer. While the food was being cooked we ransacked the town. The church was emptied. We had a fine bronze bell which Bagsecg could melt down as well as linens from the altar and many candles and candlesticks. The more metal we could find the less iron ore we would have to steal. There were also great quantities of spices which could be sold for more than their weight in gold. There were many barrels of wine and there were bolts of cloth. They were probably the most welcome of our booty. Now that we had slaves we could have finer clothes made for us.
The hams, cheese and grains were also welcome. We had learned our lesson with the pigs and the boar were killed and cooked while the sow and the four piglets were led aboard the drekar with the fowl we had found. This time we caged the fowl. The warriors who had not fought kept a watch that night and we slept well. Before we left, at dawn the next day, the Jarl had every building fired. He wanted to leave the Franks a message. We had empty oars but we did not have to row too hard as we headed downstream. When we came to the junction of the Maine, which led to Angers we saw horsemen on the bank, many of them, and two boats waited close by.
Siggi White Hair had not had enough killing and he shouted, "Come! Take us on if you dare!"
They did not but they watched. Sven said, "We had best prepare for an attack at Nantes. Staying overnight was necessary but it has allowed the Franks to prepare a welcome for us."
The Jarl nodded, "Then we will meet whatever they have blade to blade. We have lost warriors but we are stronger because of it."
I shook my head and said to Rurik, "I am not so sure. It is not just the warriors who have been lost but the ones who are wounded."
Rurik said, "We must trust the Jarl. No ship has ever brought back such riches. We have enough to buy golden armour."
Siggi snorted, "Stick with iron and steel! Golden armour would make an attractive target for all your enemies!"
Sven's words created a certain amount of unease as we headed down the ever broadening Liger. He was a measured, thoughtful man and if he feared a trap then we should be prepared. I sharpened my sword and then took out my bow. I had brought it with us but not used it. Something told me that I would soon.
Karl, who now sported the sword I had given him, shouted, "Ships ahead, Captain. A line of them across the river."
Siggi White Hair snapped "Count them boy! Do they fill the river or are there gaps? How big are they?"
There was a pause and then he shouted, "There are ten of them and there are gaps between. Two are as big as 'Sea Serpent'."
"That is better." He turned to the Jarl, "What do we do, lord?"
One thing I admired in the Jarl was his ability to make decisions and make them quickly. Sometimes they were not the right decision but you knew where you were.
"Signal my brother to follow us in line astern. Those with bows get to the prow. The rest on the oars. Siggi, I want to break through their line."
He stood and faced the crew, "Right you motherless dogs, today we shall row so fast that the drekar will rise out of the water and we shall fly over the Franks! We are Raven Wing and today we shall be as the raven!"
The men banged and cheered. I took off my helmet and went to the prow. As I passed him the Jarl said, "I want you to target those on their rudders. Let us see how good this Saami bow is eh Hrolf?" He glanced up at the raven standard flying from his mast head. "Make the raven proud!"
There were eight or us. Apart from Erik Green Eye the rest were young warriors. I chose my best arrow and knocked it. I knew that my side would hurt when I released it but I would have to bear the pain for the sake of the drekar. If they managed to stop us, no matter how good we were, they would overwhelm us with sheer numbers. We would not be able to use a shield wall on water. As Siggi set the men to rowing we were almost knocked over with the power they created. I knew they could not keep it up for long; they did not need to. We had to break through the line. Even as we approached I saw the middle two ships converge to trap us. They were the point of an arrow and the other boats fanned out behind them.
I had seen Snorri send an arrow over four hundred paces but that was from a wall and with the wind behind. I had to estimate and aim at a moving target. I aimed at the steering board of the ship to the right of me. There was a crowd of men there. I released when it was three hundred and odd paces away. I guessed we would be closer when it hit. I did not hit the steersman; the Allfather himself would have had to guide my hand for that but it did hit the warrior next to him and the warrior pitched overboard.
The other seven all released their arrows but they barely made the bows of the ship. What they did do was to strike two of the rowers. I saw men hurry with shields. I knocked another arrow and adjusted the flight. This time I hit no one but the arrow plummeted into the deck a hand span from the steersman. I quickly sent a third for we were just a hundred and fifty paces apart. The other archers were raining arrows on the rowers and as luck would have it they hit a number and oars were sent into confusion. Despite the steersman's best efforts he could no longer hold a straight course and I finally managed to hit him. My arrow struck his leg and as he fell the steering board went over taking the ship away from us.
Rather than headin
g for the gap Sven and the Jarl took the bold step of aiming directly at the second boat which was coming for us. The gap was now down to less than a hundred paces and I aimed at the warrior who was urging on his rowers. He wore mail and had a fine helmet. At a hundred paces there was no more powerful bow than the one I held. The arrow went through his mail and pitched him amongst the rowers. The other archers showered arrows on the stern. The steersman fell with three arrows in him and the ship swung around, directly in our path. We were going to strike.
Sven the Helmsman was a skilful captain. "Steerboard side back water! Fend off their bow!"
There was no one in command and the ship came towards us as though the Norns were directing it. The ship's boys used the spare oars to keep the Frank from striking us. We would strike him! The Raven on the dragon prow had a long beak and it tore through the stays on the Frankish ship. Our bows collided. 'Raven Wing' was better built. The Frankish ship sprang some seams and strakes. As our hull ground down the bow the planks were torn from her and she began to sink by the bow.
The Jarl shouted, "Archers to the stern!"
I saw what the problem was. The first ship had regained control and was now heading directly for 'Sea Serpent' with the smaller boats in attendance. I think we could have escaped but we could not leave our comrades to die. As we reached the stern I knocked an arrow. The ship was less than fifty paces from us but heading for the bows of the Jarl's brother's ship. My arrow hit the man next to the steersman. Erik Green Eye was a fine archer and his arrow struck the helmsman in the middle of the back. As another raced to take over the rudder two arrows hit him. The ship began to drift away from the threttanessa. Our last flight of arrows cleared the stern. Any of the officers who were still alive were hiding from our arrows. We were through the trap. Nantes receded in the distance and ahead of us lay the sea. We had escaped.