by Jason Born
Olaf stood with the front group at the causeway peering across the river at the English campfires. It did not look like they were assembling for an attack, but looks were deceiving at night particularly when an enemy set out to deceive. I walked up to Olaf who was talking quietly to Magnus near one of the fires. The heat from the fire was unbearable when added to the hot air surrounding us already, but it was necessary if we were to have eyes and ears for someone attempting to cross the causeway. Olaf’s tarnished helmet hung on a tangled piece of driftwood a few feet away. He looked up to me as I approached, “Halldorr, what is taking so long to get the men here?”
“Amleth, the Danish thrall, was killed by a picquet so your message never got through. The men were all aboard their ships and some were drinking heavily by the time we started stirring them. Leif went to retrieve Sweyn and his closest men, but I haven’t seen any of them.”
He swore under his breath and said, “It’s better anyway, the men need one commander and that will be me.” The three of us stood there watching the flames from across the river reflect on the water’s surface. Occasionally, I saw a figure move in front of one of the fires, but it did look quiet.
After a time Magnus asked Olaf, “How will we cross the jetty with the whole of England standing in front of us?” It was a good question for I had pondered it on the trip to and from the ships. Olaf was a master warrior and would have the answer, so I awaited his comforting, confident words. None came.
Instead, Olaf walked to the edge of River Panta and snatched his helmet from the branch of driftwood. He walked past us toward the barley field now behind our growing army. Olaf paused as he passed us and said that we were to see that the sentry fires were fed all night and that at least fifty men were guarding the causeway at any given time. He reached up to my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Our eyes met for a moment and I could see into his mind. He didn’t know. Olaf, our great leader, had no idea how we would cross the thin strip of land and attack a force of superior numbers without losing countless men. And he only had a few hours to figure it out.
I thanked Thor that the English did not come. True, they would have had to cross the same causeway, but it seemed an easier task when I imagined them doing it. Fife had found some peas last night and we put them in our packs for the day. We had a breakfast of stale bread and ale, one cup. Sometime during the night Leif rejoined our group and when asked about Sweyn he just said, “Don’t ask.”
By the time the first strands of light lit the morning sky, Olaf had his army assembled across the plain on Northey. Any remaining peas were now ground into the earth beneath the heavy boots of Danes and Norsemen. Our crews were some of the best armed and so were positioned in the center of our line, directly in front of the causeway. Our line ran perpendicular to the causeway with the right flank bunched up against the tree line encircling the fallow farmland. We could not spread our forces wide on the island and therefore had fifteen rows with about two hundred men in each. I know Olaf would have preferred less than five rows of men showing a wider front, but he had to work with the terrain we were given. If he intended us to cross the causeway, our front would become all the more narrow.
For all my battle experience since leaving Greenland, this was the largest battle I had ever been involved with. I looked down our front line of men who would form a shield wall against the first wave of English and marveled at the sight. The shields and banners, the swords and spears, all made me exceptionally proud to be a Norseman. Olaf stood in front of us with the crew of Serpent surrounding him. He led from the front which was just one more reason I loved the man. He wore his dented helmet and looked fearsome. The English dogs would soon find themselves crying for their mothers at the other end of his blade. At that moment I was certain no army could have been more invincible.
Gradually the morning light became more uniform and I saw Byrhtnoth’s army spread across the plain on the mainland. I tried to maintain my confidence from just a moment ago, but could not hold on to it. Their numbers looked enormous as they were not constrained to limit the width of their front line. Byrhtnoth sat atop his charger which was pacing in front of his men. Most of the banners of the English army had a Christian cross of some color compared to most of our banners which carried ravens, eagles, or serpents. Despite these differences, their army’s weak piousness versus the savage strength of ours, their army looked menacing to me. I began to worry.
Olaf called to his commanders and we stepped out from our places to walk to him for a brief summit. He was finally going to unveil his idea and I put my worry away again. Leif, Magnus, and I stepped from our crews to Olaf. Fife, of course, joined me. As Olaf observed, the boy had become my shadow and I didn’t mind it. I decided last night when he found the peas I would make him a free man after our war with England. He would make an even better comrade if he was with us by choice. He was smart and crafty and as Amleth learned he was a fighter. I stood in silent anticipation for Olaf’s grand plan of attack and when the last captain made his way forward he began, “We will pack the causeway with men. At least thirty will march with their shields interlocking. I ask our best armed, most experienced men to be in the first wave to establish a head on the mainland. Once established the rest of our army can move across more quickly and support the main attack on Byrhtnoth.”
So that was it, we would die on the narrow jetty between the muddy branches of the River Panta, in England.
“My men will happily lead the first wave across the causeway,” Leif said with a smile. He always said he would lead men in glorious adventures and now he seemed focused on leading us to our deaths.
Olaf looked at Leif and said, “I would expect no less. You must get across and hold for just a short time. We will support you and be across just minutes behind you.” Olaf and the rest finalized the order of battle and what our formation would be once across. I didn’t listen to any planning for the battle once we were on the mainland because I assumed my destiny brought me to this muddy island to die.
When the men around started to disband I realized the meeting was over and, stunned, I turned to make my way back to the line. Fife walked next to me, looked up, and said, “That doesn’t sound like a very good plan.”
I remember getting incredibly angry. I was thinking the same thing, but couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud. I shouted, “We deal with the situation we are given! Who are you to think you can think of something better.” Pointing back to Olaf I continued, “that man has killed more men than you have even seen living. I think he knows and cares about this army more than you ever will.”
“I’m sorry, Halldorr. I know Olaf is a good man. He’ll lead us out of here.”
I wanted to be sick. “Just keep quiet.”
In silence, we walked the last ten steps back to the line where Leif was telling the men we were to move to the causeway. When the crews of the Skull, the Boar, and The Whale made it to the tail of the causeway, we formed into our lines. I would be in the center of the first line with Leif and Magnus surrounded by twenty-seven others including Cnute, Loki, and Brandr. We had enough men in our crews for a second line and part of a third. Fife followed right behind me with my extra javelins and his spear. I took a look back to him and with his dirty hands he was shoving peas into his mouth. He would probably vomit those up yet this morning when the first blood started to run. Behind our crews, the captains of other ships were assembling their men in similar fashion. Sweyn was nowhere to be seen.
Standing on the bank next to the river I could now hear Byrhtnoth’s booming voice echoing across the water. As his spirited steed paced in front of his army he shouted encouragement. “Mighty men of Essex, across the Panta an army of pirates has assembled to kill you and rape your women. They plan take to your children and make them slaves. Your daughters will find themselves on their backs in their pirate halls in Dyflin and Roskilde unless we slaughter them this day! Our land cannot be so easily tread upon by villains without an answer. So answer them today. Grip y
our shields and forget your fear. You are men, men of England!” He turned his horse to walk in the other direction, while the monk made his scribbles nearby. “Take note fellow warriors that all our cavalry have dismounted. I too will dismount and will fight the bastards with my bare hands if I must. We will drive them away with the points of our spears one step at a time. We will step on their dead as we push the last pirate into the sea!” With that his army gave a great shout and he dismounted, giving the reins of his horse to a young boy. The boy led the white beast to the back of the English line with the fine horses of other men-at-arms. The only man now sitting atop a horse was the scribbling monk who wrote down all that the earl said. Byrhtnoth joined his troop in the line’s center then led the entire line up to the banks of the river. They stopped and waited.
The two armies arrayed on either side of the river stared across at one another for passing years. Finally, I heard Olaf’s voice from just behind us shout, “Leif, move your men forward!” We locked our shields into a wall and stepped onto the causeway. To our left and right the tide was falling and there was fifty soggy feet of mud on either side of the causeway surrounding us. Our first steps went unanswered by the enemy and my confidence rose. I drew my sword and held it beneath my shield, ready to plunge it into an Englishman’s belly. Then a lone arrow cracked into my shield. The force stopped me for a moment but then I kept moving. We were approaching halfway when I heard the now familiar voice of Byrhtnoth shout, “Wulfstan! Defend the ford!” Over my shield I saw a man in brilliant armor step onto the causeway. Following him were his own fifty men supported by boys carrying spears, javelins, and arrows. The fifty men spread across the causeway in front of us and overflowed into the muck.
Blood spilled. These men launched their missiles much like the men of Sparta must have done. Arrows slammed into our shields slowing our progress. I heard a scream and then another. Loki fell with an arrow lodged in his leg and another in his eye. Brandr, my pig steward from the summer strandhogg, was propelled backward by a javelin that found its way between a crack in the shield wall. At least ten more of our men fell within one minute of the beginning of Wulfstan’s onslaught. Leif encouraged us forward, but we broke. In battle, once fear creeps into a man, it can quickly spread to others. It spread to us all that day. Several turned their backs and ran only to find a quick death from English missiles. Those of us yet living held up our shields and slowly backed down the causeway to Northey Island. We reached the island and Olaf without so much as loosing a single arrow. Fifteen Norsemen lay dead on the causeway all from our crews.
The English gave a mighty yell. One of Wulfstan’s men walked forward to Loki’s body and pissed on his face. This brought another loud cheer from Byrhtnoth’s men. For my part I looked at the face of my red shield and counted no less than thirteen arrows. I set the shield on the ground and used my sword to cut the shafts off so that I could wield the shield with ease. I would have to buy myself a new shield in Dyflin. I thought again, I would buy myself a new shield if I ever got back to Dyflin.
Olaf called his captains for another summit. We left our men in the same rough formation at the very end of the causeway and picked our way back through the men. As we walked I noticed Fife had blood splattered all over his face. He looked to be well so it must have been someone else’s blood. Down one side of his shirt he carried the unmistakable sight and odor of pea vomit.
This time Sweyn stood next to Olaf. Sweyn was swearing and shouting at the warlord. “How could you fall back without even throwing a single spear? I never should have trusted a Norseman to lead Danes into battle.” Sweyn stumbled about and tripped over a trampled pea vine.
I asked Leif quietly as the drama of our leadership unfolded, “Where was Sweyn?”
Leif whispered back, “Completely, totally drunk. I thought all good seafarers could hold their mead, but he was passed out when I got to his ship. He still looks drunk to me.”
“What would you have me do, king?” asked Olaf with sarcasm.
“Attack, attack, attack!” shouted Sweyn as two of his men helped him to his feet.
“Thank you for the counsel, but I think our best course of action is to withdraw. Our opponent is a gifted warrior and will cut us down all day as we cross the Panta. We can keep them from the island with a small force while we board our ships,” said Olaf. He was not used to losing and it had to pain him to recommend retreat.
Sweyn shouted again, “I said attack, attack, attack!” The Dane captains were clearly ashamed of the sight of their king at this moment, but held firm awaiting any type of official order.
“If we get across, can we beat them on a fair battlefield?” shouted Fife to Olaf. Olaf scanned the crowd of warriors and his eyes finally fell to Fife who stood at my side waving at the warlord. Fife repeated his question.
“What? Yes, yes, absolutely. We are the better army. We are warriors they are farmers for the most part.” And then to me he said, “Halldorr would you please control your shadow boy.”
“Lord, forgive me, but I think I have a plan for getting us across the river unscathed,” said Fife in perfect Norse. I began to panic at his audacity and bent down to get a hold of him, but he waved me off and stepped forward toward Olaf. “Lord, it seems Byrhtnoth is a justifiably proud warrior. He has wealth and has assembled a huge army to defend his country and king. Why not use that pride against him? Send someone to ask him, to goad him into letting us cross untouched.”
Olaf scoffed, “Who would walk over there and ask him to let us cross?”
Before my mind could stop my mouth I answered, “I will.”
The men of Olaf’s and Sweyn’s troops all gave a gasp at my bravery or apparent insanity. Leif had that same assured look on his face the night of our attack on Aber Tawe before it became Sweynsey. Fife looked thrilled and Olaf just looked sad. He looked at me and I realized for the first time that maybe he looked on me as a son he did not have. His first wife and one true love, Geira, had died from fever ten years ago before having children and Gytha appeared to be barren. He said, “Go Halldorr. Go and we will await your return. If you are hemmed by the sword of Byrhtnoth we will begin our retreat.” I nodded and began the long walk through our men and across the causeway.
When I reached the center of the causeway I felt more alone than I had ever felt in my life. There were over six thousand men within five hundred feet of me all staring at me yet I felt alone. I made a show of extending my left arm out to drop my shield. Then with both hands I lifted my helmet and dropped it to my side. My sword, axe, and saex remained safely secured in my belt and I stepped forward. I heard quick footsteps behind me and turned to see Fife running to catch up. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going with you,” he said simply. “If you die, one of your wretched men will want to take me and sell me in the auction. We can’t have that.” I rolled my eyes and started walking again. At the end of the jetty, Byrhtnoth stepped forward to meet me. As we made our approach Fife said, “Thank you for believing in me.”
I didn’t have a chance to respond because the ealdorman said, “What is this? A proud Dane and his grubby boy, have you come to join us in victory?” That drew a laugh from his men nearest him. He stood tall waiting to see what I had to say.
“My lord, no, I am not a Dane. I am just a humble Norse farmer from Greenland and this is a humble Scot,” I said. The earl’s face betrayed that he was typical of most men and had never heard of Greenland. “I am Norse like Olaf Tryggvason who leads our band. He has seen your power on display this morning and acknowledges that we are not able to cross the causeway with your army in place. I have been sent to make a humble request from Olaf. He asks if you, the clear lord over these lands, will please allow us to cross the river so that we may take up battle with your army on the mainland.”
Byrhtnoth was stunned by my request. His face showed anger and confusion all at once. He studied me and he studied Fife. Then his face took on a look of pride and I knew we would be allowed to cross.
Pride has killed more than a few men throughout history. He smiled while nodding his head, “Olaf is wiser than I thought upon meeting the dingy man last evening. Please go tell him that he is wise to understand my strength. He is not wise to wish to fight me, but my army will withdraw and give him plenty of room to cross the river.” The earl marched back to his men and shouted that they were to retreat to the heights just south of Maldon.
Fife and I looked at each other with wide eyes. It worked! Fife’s plan worked. We would cross the ford and fight and win today. As we walked back across the jetty, Fife picked a saex from the belt of a fallen Norseman and I retrieved my discarded armor. We were welcomed with smiles and congratulations and slaps on our backs by our fellow warriors. Olaf stood before me looking like a proud father and gave me a bear hug in front of the rest of his army.
And Byrhtnoth’s army pulled back to let us pass.
We crossed over the causeway unharassed, yet vigilantly watched, by the English army. Our crews crossed on the dry earth right before us, but many of the captains had their men hoist their shields over head and wade through the mud or receding water. It was a slow process and Byrhtnoth could have massacred us all had he chosen to do so, but the white-haired warrior was proud and wanted a glorious victory. That pride, I hoped, would be his and his army’s undoing.