Viking Sword

by Griff Hosker

  Haaken and Cnut flanked me and Sigtrygg stood next to Cnut on my right. The other three were Arturus' men. Proud, no doubt, to be making this stand with the vaunted Ulfheonar. There was another rumble and this time I only counted to ten before the flash lit up the hillside as though it was daylight. I thought I heard Aiden shouting something but the wind and the rain took it away. Of more importance was the proximity of Redbeard. He and his fifteen oathsworn were less than five paces away.

  He had done this before for he stopped to allow his men to get their breath for the final push. "You have no honour, Jarl Dragon Heart. You sneak from the hills and murder my men! You are a Nithing! I will tear the sword touched by the gods from your dead hands and then be the most powerful warrior in the Western Seas."

  A spear was hurled and an arrow was loosed from behind me and two of the warriors at the rear of the wedge tumbled down the slope to the valley below.

  "If Torgil the Cunning has finished with you." I saw the frown pass over his face. Aiden was right. "He is not with you is he? He lets you sacrifice yourselves on my blade and he hopes to finish me off then. You are being used, Redbeard! It is Torgil who leads and not you! You have been duped. This is all working to the advantage of Torgil."

  I almost laughed as I saw him working it out. Just then there was a crack of thunder and five beats later a flash of lighting. His face contorted with rage, Redbeard yelled, "Charge!"

  It is hard to get up to speed quickly in mail on a slippery slope. I knew the men with me and I shouted, "Strike!"

  We stepped forward and all stabbed down with our spears. Redbeard was an old and wily fighter. He punched aside the head of my spear; which went, instead, into the neck of the warrior behind. The warrior's dying hands clutched at the haft and he tore it from my hand as he rolled down the hill. The wedge was broken. I was drawing my sword as Redbeard stabbed up under my shield. He used the hill to his advantage. Although I managed to bring my shield down he still scored a hit on my left knee and I felt the warm blood as it dripped down my leg.

  He roared in triumph as he saw the blood on his blade. I heard Aiden's voice wailing behind me on the other side of the tower but I could do nothing about it. I had my sword in my hand as the lightning lit up my sword and there was another crack of thunder, closer this time. Redbeard seemed mesmerised by it. I brought it down and he just managed to get his shield above him. He was a powerful warrior and his next blow smashed into my shield and forced me back a few paces. He was able to step up and face me on the same level. He now had the advantage for I had a wounded leg. I could feel the blood sloshing around inside my boot.

  He grinned. "Now you see, Dragon Heart, you are outnumbered and the gods have forsaken you. Here you will die!"

  Predictably he swung on his last word and I was expecting such a move. I was already turning. I planted my left leg which was injured and spun around so that his momentum took him and his sword into my shield and then fresh air. I brought Ragnar's Spirit round to hit him in the middle of the back. I penetrated only links and his padding but the blow hurt him. He was an experienced warrior. He tried to sweep his shield at me. I stepped back on my right leg and planted that behind me. Once again the speed of my move had taken me away from the force of the blow. More importantly it had opened him up.

  There was another flash of lightning and then but a few heartbeats later a crack of thunder. The centre of the storm was almost upon us. He glanced up when the sky lit and I lunged forward. The tip entered his side and I twisted as it sank through the mail, and the padding finally tearing into his side. He brought his own sword down on my blade but all that did was to drive my sword down and open his wound even more.

  "Tricky little bastard aren't you! Torgil said to watch out for your tricks."

  I heard Aiden shout, again, "Jarl!"

  It was more than my life was worth to turn. I had to end this and end it swiftly. Aiden was in trouble. I had to use my injured left leg. I had no choice. I stepped forward and punched with my shield. The boss hit his wrist and he had to step back. The ground was slippery with mud, blood and rain. He began to overbalance and I took my chance. I brought Ragnar's Spirit over from behind me. I put all my weight into the blow. The tip struck his nose and carried on to slice open his face. I found myself falling forward and the sword continued to slice down into his throat. As all my weight landed on my sword it drove the point through his neck and pinned his wriggling body to the ground.

  I had to push myself up with my shield. I sensed a weapon coming from my left and I rolled to my right, leaving my sword impaling Redbeard. The axe cracked into my shield and forced me to the ground. I took the dagger from the back of the shield and slashed wildly. It struck a bare leg and the man shouted. I flipped the dagger so that I held its tip and threw it. Ragnar must have guided my throw for it struck his neck. I struggled to me feet and pulled my sword from the body of Redbeard. I glanced around as I gathered myself. The skirmish had become a series of fights to the death between two bands of oathsworn. I knew that I should help my men but Aiden needed me.

  I moved around the tower and was just in time to see Sven Gold Beard decapitated by a warrior I recognised. It had to be Torgil the Cunning. He had four oathsworn with him and was moving towards Aiden. There were two bodies lying close to Aiden. Aiden had managed to get to his feet and his back was to the tower. He had used his dagger well but now he had no weapon in his hand and the five warriors were moving towards him. I saw a spear lying on the ground and I threw it at the nearest warrior who was racing towards me. It hit him in the chest with such force that it threw him back into the second warrior. I ignored my injured leg. Aiden was in mortal danger. I fended off the blow from the first of Torgil's oathsworn while I sliced sideways at the other. It was a lucky blow and it hacked through his upper arm, cutting through to the bone. The warrior I had knocked over was below me and I dropped to my knee and brought the metal edge of my shield across his throat. The pain in my left leg almost made me pass out and I could hardly move. My weight almost severed his neck.

  The last of the oathsworn had regained his feet and ran towards me with his sword held high. There was no way that I could avoid the blow. Suddenly two arrows flew from behind me and both struck him, one in each eye. As I ran to reach Aiden I saw that Torgil had grabbed him and was using him as a human shield. There was an enormous flash of lighting which lit the whole hillside and a crack of thunder almost at the same time.

  Torgil laughed, "It seems you are lucky, Dragon Heart, but your archers will not strike me." He held his sword at Aiden's throat. My Galdramenn looked calm. I advanced toward them. "Do not come too close, Dragon Heart. Your Irish friend has a short time to live. Do not take away his last few moments of life." He laughed, "You avoided my first trap but I have you now and when Redbeard and his oathsworn reach you…"

  It was my turn to laugh as I took a step closer. He backed away closer to our signal fire. "Redbeard and his oathsworn lie dead. You have lost, Torgil the Cunning. Release my Galdramenn. He can do you no good."

  He took another step back and found his progress impeded by the wood of the fire. "It will give me pleasure to end his life and you will not leave me alive. I know that. This will not bring Sven Knife Tongue back but you will mourn his loss for the rest of your life."

  I raised my sword as he moved his hand away from Aiden's throat to allow him to give more power to the cut which would end the life of my dear friend. A number of events all happened at once. It seemed that they happened in slow motion. Aiden flung his head back and butted Torgil in the face. Torgil's hand dropped and Aiden rolled away. I threw Ragnar's Spirit at Torgil. There was a crack overhead and I hurled myself at Aiden to knock him away from Torgil. There was an enormous flash as the lighting hit the tower and lit the whole hillside as though it was daylight. The man from Orkneyjar looked at the blade sticking from his chest and grabbed the hilt to pull it from his body. I rolled Aiden away and saw the tower burst into flames and begin to fall towards us.
Aiden's burned feet and my injured leg meant we had to roll. As my head came up I saw the burning tower strike Torgil, the sword and the oil soaked wood. It went up in a huge conflagration. Torgil had been leaning against the wood and his body was covered in oil. He began to burn. His hands were stuck around the blade of the sword and I realised that it had pinned him to the fire. I watched as his face began to melt and his mouth opened in a scream which never came. It took him but a few moments to expire and we lay there watching the burning body of Torgil The Cunning.

  My men ran over to lift us up. Miraculously the rain had ceased and the storm had gone. Odin was finished with us. I hoped that the Norns had too.

  "That was either extremely brave Aiden or incredibly foolish."

  He shrugged, "I was a dead man either way but I knew that Odin would not let you suffer here of all places. The spirit of your mother watched over us all."

  I turned to Haaken, "Is it over?"

  "It is over. Redbeard's oathsworn fell with him and you despatched the last of Torgil's. The others had no loyalty and they are gone. We did not pursue them."

  I shook my head, "No, we will quit this place and return home."

  Aiden shook his head, "Not yet jarl, we must wait for the fire to die. It seems that Odin wanted the blade tempered a second time, this time in blood and fire. You now have an even stronger sword."

  We spent the rest of the night healing the wounded; they were brought to Aiden. The warriors who were untouched collected the treasures and weapons after they had taken the bodies of our dead to the beach to await our ships. We would bury them with honour in our home, in the valley of Cyninges-tūn. I had lost Ulfheonar. Tostig Wolf Hand, Bjorn Carved Teeth, Karl Bollison,Sven Sharp Blade, Einar Siggison and Leif Knutson. Many others, like me had serious wounds but we would heal over the winter and we would return stronger.

  It was just before dawn when our ships appeared below us. I went to the fire which still glowed and burned at the bottom. The blackened, charred body of Torgil the Cunning lay grotesquely over it. I went to see if the sword could be removed; the wood and the leather from the hilt had been burned away. It was now a single piece of metal. I touched the tang and it was merely warm.

  I turned to Aiden and my oathsworn who were there, "It is just warm."

  "Then pull the sword from the fire, jarl and let us go home."

  I grabbed the tang and slid the blade from the fire. The marks left by the burning, bleeding hands of Torgil had left an imprint on the sword it looked as though there was a dragon writhing on the blade. Ragnar's Spirit now had its own heart of the dragon forged in blood and fire. Redbeard and Torgil had tried to take it from me and come closer than any and yet they had only succeeded in making it stronger.

  Wyrd!

  Epilogue

  Our homecoming was a mixture of joy and pain. The pain was in the bodies of the dead who were reverently carried from the two ships and the eyes of their families. The joy was in our return and in the news that Elfrida was with child and I would be a grandfather. As we silently trudged back to Cyninges-tūn I realised that we had experienced all of life in one day. Death was ever present and sometimes we were the width of blade away from oblivion. We could be in the depths of despair and yet, if we hung on, then great joy could take us unawares. The storm had cleared the skies and we saw, reflected in the Water, the face of Old Olaf the Toothless and he seemed to be smiling. I had no doubt that Ragnar had told him that his Spirit now inhabited a dragon's body.

  Aiden and I had insisted upon walking; the constant pain was a reminder that we lived still and yet should have died. Haaken, who was ahead, turned to wait for us. He stared beyond us to the south and Mann, "Do you think we shall ever go back?"

  "There is no need. The tower is gone and Odin has finished his sword making. We were meant to go there. It was not just the sword which went through fire and blood. We all did and, like the sword, we are stronger still. I have finished with Mann. We may have fewer warriors but there are new ones yet to be trained." I smiled, "Perhaps my grandson will become a great warrior like his father."

  Aiden said quietly, "I think he will aim higher, Jarl Dragon Heart. He will become as great a warrior as the greatest Viking of all, Jarl Dragon Heart who wields the sword touched by the gods, twice. Whoever risks combat with you faces certain death."

  It was unprompted but every warrior took out his sword and yelled, "Ulfheonar!" and howled like wolves. We told our land that we were back!

  The End

  Glossary

  Áed Oirdnide –King of Tara 797

  Afon Hafron- River Severn in Welsh

  Bardanes Tourkos- Rebel Byzantine General

  Bebbanburgh- Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria

  Beck- a stream

  Blót – a blood sacrifice made by a jarl

  Byrnie- a mail shirt reaching down to the knees

  Caerlleon- Welsh for Chester

  Casnewydd –Newport, Wales

  Cephas- Greek for Simon Peter (St. Peter)

  Chape- the tip of a scabbard

  Charlemagne- Holy Roman Emperor at the end of the 8th and beginning of the 9th centuries

  Celchyth- Chelsea

  Cherestanc- Garstang (Lancashire)

  Corn Walum- Cornwall

  Cymri- Welsh

  Cymru- Wales

  Cyninges-tūn – Coniston. It means the estate of the king (Cumbria)

  Drekar- a Dragon ship (a Viking warship)

  Duboglassio –Douglas, Isle of Man

  Dyflin- Old Norse for Dublin

  Ein-mánuðr- middle of March to the middle of April

  Fey- having second sight

  Firkin- a barrel containing eight gallons (usually beer)

  Fret-a sea mist

  Frankia- France and part of Germany

  Garth- Dragon Heart

  Gaill- Irish for foreigners

  Galdramenn- wizard

  Glaesum –amber

  Gói- the end of February to the middle of March

  Grenewic- Greenwich

  Haughs- small hills in Norse (As in Tarn Hows)

  Heels- when a ship leans to one side under the pressure of the wind

  Hel - Queen of Niflheim, the Norse underworld.

  Here Wic- Harwich

  Hetaereiarch – Byzantine general

  Hoggs or Hogging- when the pressure of the wind causes the stern or the bow to droop

  Hrams-a – Ramsey, Isle of Man

  Icaunis- British river god

  Itouna- River Eden Cumbria

  Jarl- Norse earl or lord

  Joro-goddess of the earth

  Knarr- a merchant ship or a coastal vessel

  Kyrtle-woven top

  Leathes Water- Thirlmere

  Legacaestir- Anglo Saxon for Chester

  Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)

  Lothuwistoft- Lowestoft

  Lundenwic - London

  Mammceaster- Manchester

  Manau – The Isle of Mann (Saxon)

  Marcia Hispanic- Spanish Marches (the land around Barcelona)

  Mast fish- two large racks on a ship for the mast

  Melita- Malta

  Midden- a place where they dumped human waste

  Miklagård - Constantinople

  Nikephoros- Emperor of Byzantium 802-811

  Njoror- God of the sea

  Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)

  Odin - The "All Father" God of war, also associated with wisdom, poetry, and magic (The Ruler of the gods).

  On Corn Walum –Cornwall

  Olissipo- Lisbon

  Orkneyjar-Orkney

  Pillars of Hercules- Straits of Gibraltar

  Ran- Goddess of the sea

  Roof rock- slate

  Rinaz –The Rhine

  Sabrina- Latin and Celtic for the River Severn. Also the name of a female Celtic deity

  St. Cybi- Holyhead

  Scillonia Insula- Scilly Isles

  Scree- loose rocks in a glacial valle
y

  Seax – short sword

  Sheerstrake- the uppermost strake in the hull

  Sheet- a rope fastened to the lower corner of a sail

  Shroud- a rope from the masthead to the hull amidships

  Skeggox – an axe with a shorter beard on one side of the blade

  South Folk- Suffolk

  Stad- Norse settlement

  Stays- ropes running from the mast-head to the bow

  Strake- the wood on the side of a drekar

  Suthriganaworc - Southwark (London)

  Syllingar- Scilly Isles

  Tarn- small lake (Norse)

  Temese- River Thames (also called the Tamese)

  The Norns- The three sisters who weave webs of intrigue for men

  Thing-Norse for a parliament or a debate (Tynwald)

  Thor’s day- Thursday

  Threttanessa- a drekar with 13 oars on each side.

  Thrall- slave

  Trenail- a round wooden peg used to secure strakes

  Tynwald- the Parliament on the Isle of Man

  Úlfarrberg- Helvellyn

  Úlfarrland- Cumbria

  Úlfarr- Wolf Warrior

  Úlfarrston- Ulverston

  Ullr-Norse God of Hunting

  Ulfheonar-an elite Norse warrior who wore a wolf skin over his armour

  Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture

  Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5) Windlesore-Windsor

  Waite- a Viking word for farm

  Woden’s day- Wednesday

  Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army

  Wyddfa-Snowdon

  Wyrd- Fate

  Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended

  Maps

  Coniston Water

  Courtesy of Wikipedia

  Anglo Saxon London

  Northumbria circa 800 AD

  Historical note

  The Viking raids began, according to records left by the monks, in the 790s when Lindisfarne was pillaged. However there were many small settlements along the east coast and most were undefended. I have chosen a fictitious village on the Tees as the home of Garth who is enslaved and then, when he gains his freedom, becomes Dragon Heart. As buildings were all made of wood then any evidence of their existence would have rotted long ago, save for a few post holes. The Norse began to raid well before 790. There was a rise in the populations of Norway and Denmark and Britain was not well prepared for defence against such random attacks.