Duke of Normandy

by Griff Hosker

The alarm was given the warriors ready

  Four scouts therewith hearts so steady

  Ulf and Arne thought their end was nigh

  When Hrolf the wild leapt from the sky

  Flying like the raven through the air

  He felled the Cymri, a raven slayer

  The power of the raven grows and grows

  The power of the raven grows and grows

  His courage clear he still fought on

  Until the clan had battled and won

  The power of the raven grows and grows

  The power of the raven grows and grows

  Raven Wing Goes to war

  Hear our voices hear them roar

  A song of death to all its foes

  The power of the raven grows and grows.

  The power of the raven grows and grows.

  The power of the raven grows and grows.

  The crew liked the song of my grandfather and soon we had a healthy sweat. Erik turned us into the wind but we just kept the same pace with the oars. After an hour Erik shouted, “Step the mast!”

  Haaken the Bold and half of the crew rose and left the other half of us to row. They went to the mast and unshipped it then stored it on the mast fish. They had an hour to rest and to drink before they relieved us. As we rowed I saw that the sky was no longer totally grey. There were patches of blue. The weather was changing.

  We had stopped singing and I was enjoying the simple rhythm of rowing. I watched my men working as a team to bring down the mast and secure it. We would now be invisible until we reached Nantes. We would raise the mast before we left but until then we would be low to the water. I had heard of sailors who had spoken of seeing sea monsters. I am not saying there are no sea monsters for the seas are wide and I have not yet crossed the great ocean but the ones they saw were drekar. Our dragon prow rose on crests and fell in troughs. To a simple sailor it would be a sea monster. Their work finished Haaken and the others made water and ate. The ship’s boys had little to do and so they ran out lines for fish. With luck when we were relieved there would be freshly caught fish. The silver magpies of the sea, with their almost purple flesh were delicious eaten within an hour of catching. The rest would be salted and air dried. We would not starve on such a short voyage.

  When I saw Lars turn the hourglass I knew that my shift was almost up. I had rowed for two hours and I felt it. Egil and Godwin would be in an even worse state. Haaken came down the centre board and stood behind me. He slid on the bench next to me and put his hands on the oar. “Ready, lord.” I slipped out and stood up. The changeover was seamless but then we were very experienced. Some of those by the prow were not as smooth and I heard the clatter of oars. We would be slowed, albeit briefly, until the men had the rhythm again. There was a bucket of sea water by the mast fish and I dipped and held my hands in the salty water. There would be salve for those like Egil and Godwin but for older hands like mine sea water was effective. It cooled and it helped to cleanse any cracks in the skin. I would apply some seal oil after I had eaten. Before I began to row again I would wipe my hands on my cloak. It would help to make the cloak resistant to water and prevent my hands from slipping on the oars. The new men would need to learn such routines. I ate quickly. Harold Strong Arm and I were the first at the water and we were applying the seal oil when Egil and Godwin appeared. Their hands were bloody.

  Harold shook his head, “Foolish warriors. Here wash them in the salt water.” I saw them both wince when the salt water hit the raw flesh. Harold was like a mother as he gently dried the hands.

  I fetched the precious salve we used. “Hold out your hands.” I smeared the salve on them and then took some of the cloth we kept for new rowers. I wrapped their hands in the cloth. “You should have wrapped cloth around your palms before you rowed.”

  Egil said, “I thought my hands were hard enough, lord.”

  “You will need many more voyages before they become the leather that is our hands. After you have eaten then wrap more cloth around them and lie down.” Egil cocked his head to one side. “Until you are used to it your back will ache. Lying on the wooden deck helps.”

  They nodded and Godwin said, “We do this all day?”

  “All day.”

  “Godfrid’s crew rarely rowed.”

  That was more information which would help. The endurance of a long row prepared a warrior for a long fight in a shield wall. The repetition of the oar was replicated in the rhythm of sword and shield. Blade to blade my men would win even against Vikings.

  “The wind is shifting, lord. I do not think we need to rig the mast again for by the time it has turned we will be close to the coast and I know you would have us hidden.” I nodded. “The wind will make the rowing easier and give us a swifter passage.”

  “Good.”

  The break from rowing seemed to fly by. I saw the sand almost ready to run out and so I went back to relieve Haaken. He gave me a rueful smiled, “Is it my imagination, lord, or was this not easier when we were younger?”

  “I do not think that this was ever easy, Haaken. If it is any consolation then Erik thinks it will be easier toward the end.”

  “I hope so but however long it lasts these Danes will suffer for the pain they have caused me!”

  For the next few hours I endured the monotony of the row east. I used it to plan how I would defeat King Charles. I had been duped. I now knew that. He had given us peace so that he could build a conspiracy and defeat me. That gave me hope. If he was a warrior he would have crushed me. He did not think that he could crush me. We had honoured his borders and protected his rivers. When we had defeated King Alan, in the spring, we would then begin to build up our numbers to defeat King Charles. I would send emissaries to those lords I knew I could trust. The Clan of the Wolf sprang to mind. I would invite them to send ships to Rouen. I would not give them the reason but until I could look them in the eye I would not be able to trust them.

  When I finished my last session at the oars the coast was in view. It was a smudge. This time those who had mail donned it. When we were in the river we would relieve the others so that they could prepare for battle and then we would be the ones who would land first. Unlike the others I would not take my shield. I would use Long Sword two handed. Hrolf’s Vengeance would be ready at my waist in case it was needed. With two seaxes, one in my belt and one in my boot, I was ready. Some men either darkened or reddened their eyes. Some bantered with Godwin that with his red eyes he already had terror etched by the Norns. It was then that he began to be called Godwin Red Eyes. I was not sure how he would take the name but when I saw Egil speaking quietly to him I knew that it would be alright. It was not an insult it was a statement of fact. It was also a badge of honour. That he had survived such an injury impressed those older warriors like Harold Strong Arm. Harold had been a warrior who had served with my father. One of the few to have survived the Danish treachery and the time of my brother he was the most experienced man left from the time of the Haugr. When he died he would not be replaced easily. He was made of rock. His wound had slowed him and as he was no longer a young man I wondered if it might end his time as hearth weru.

  I ate and I drank and then I spoke with Erik, “From what Godwin tells me we do not need to turn the drekar around until we leave. It will take you and Harold, along with the ship’s boys, time to step the mast.”

  “I know, lord. The boys know what they are doing but it will help that we have a strong warrior like Harold Strong Arm to aid us.”

  “Perhaps that is the work of the Norns. Had he not lost the leg or not been wounded then it would have been the ship’s boys alone who performed the task.”

  We were sailing into the dark of dusk and so we needed two pairs of eyes in the prow. Once the mouth of the river had been without people but since we had begun to raid and with the arrival of so many people there were now farms on the hill sides and boats drawn up on the beaches. One day they would build a tower. Sven Blue Cheek had already done so at the mouth
of the Orne. It would light a signal fire to alert him of danger. As we sailed through the sea like estuary it made no difference if we were seen. We would travel faster than any messenger sent to warn Nantes that the Vikings were coming.

  I relieved Haaken who quickly donned his mail, ate drank and made water. He relieved me before any of the others. He was oathsworn and he knew that I had to be the first ashore. I would have hearth weru around me when I landed. Haaken and the others would join them as soon as the ship was secure.

  I went to the prow where Lars was watching for sandbanks, shoals and rocks. Egil and Godwin were there. “Egil Flame Bearer, today you have no standard but you will need to guard Godwin.”

  The Saxon shook his head, “I need no protection. I am a warrior.”

  I hardened my voice, “And you know Godfrid. Until he is ours you and Egil stay just behind me. I do not want to have to shout for you. I want you close enough to hear me whisper.”

  “Aye lord.”

  Godwin had told us that there was an island in the middle of the river. They had not fortified it. It would be a good marker. It would warn us that we were close. Egil had sharp eyes. Perhaps Lars was looking down at the water. “Lord I see the island.”

  “Well done Egil. Go and tell the captain and warn the crew.”

  There was an excited buzz of conversation as Egil passed the word. I heard the seal skin boots of my men as they tramped up the drekar. I had arranged it so that the men who landed with me were the more experienced half of the crew. Haaken the Bold would lead the other half for me. Æbbi Bonecrusher was the first to arrive, along with six of the hearth weru. Haaken had just one with him and Harold would be staying aboard. Pai Skutalsson, Habor Nokkesson, Thiok Clawusson, Magnús Magnússon and Óðalríkr Odhensson were close behind. They had retrieved their shields from the side of the drekar. I saw the less experienced men watch them hang the shields from their backs. They emulated them. The mail they wore and the scars they bore were testimony to their experience. The younger ones would learn from that.

  I could now smell the land. It was the smell of animal and human waste. It was the smell of wood burning. It was the smell of cows and animals. There was also the noise of the town. We had just the creak of the oars and the swish of the bow wave but the land had the sounds of dogs barking. Cows lowing. There were still men drinking or whoring for an occasional cry came from ahead. It was reassuring that none reacted. Godwin had told us that the Dane was the pampered son of a Count. I had hoped that Beorn Straight Hair had not given him discipline and it appeared that he had not. There were no men watching his drekar. We saw the Danish drekar, ‘Wave Skimmer’. She was in the centre of a line of smaller ships.

  “Egil, tell the captain to lay us alongside the drekar. We will board over her.” If Godwin was correct then the men left on watch aboard the drekar would not be doing their job diligently. A prisoner might tell us where Godfrid was.

  The sleeping crew would be alerted when we neared as we would have to order the larboard oars to be run in. There was no way of avoiding that. I pulled myself up onto the larboard side of the ship. I did not have a weapon in my hand. I held on to the forward stay and balanced. On a river this was easier than when we boarded at sea. There was less motion. I heard an order which seemed to ripple down the drekar, “In larboard oars.” That half of the rowers would stack their oars and be ready to follow us quickly. On the second drekar Gandálfr would choose where he landed. I saw two large knarr tied up close to ‘Wave Skimmer’. With a lower freeboard they would be boarded easier than the drekar.

  Even as we closed with the drekar I saw a face appear from the deck. We were close enough for my long legs to take me and I leapt across the gap. My left foot landed on the gunwale and my right connected with the sentry’s face. He fell backwards. The bump of our hull and the sound of a giant landing on the deck woke the other five men but it was too late for them. Æbbi and my hearth weru closely followed by Thiok Clawusson, Magnús Magnússon and Óðalríkr Odhensson ended their lives.

  The man I had hit was coming to. I reached down and picked him up, “Do you want to live?” He nodded. “Then where is Godfrid?”

  Godwin had been right. Godwin’s crew had little loyalty for their lord. The sentry pointed, “He is in the large hall just up the hill. There is a square close by.”

  Harold Strong Arm appeared on the larboard side of my drekar. I thrust the Dane towards him, “Here, he can help you raise the mast. Then let him go.”

  The man looked terrified, “Where lord?”

  “I said I would give you your life. I did not say I would give you a life! Run, find a hole in which to hide! I care not!”

  Already my men were pouring down the gangplank. Although there had been noise it appeared not to have disturbed any others in the port. I raced down the gangplank and said to Æbbi, “Head to the square. He is in the hall there.” In my eagerness to discover the whereabouts of Godfrid I had forgotten to ask about Beorn Straight Hair. I hoped he was here too. Once again, my long legs meant that men struggled to keep up with me.

  “Aye lord.”

  I turned to Godwin, “Where is the square?” He pointed to a wider road between an ale house and a warehouse. I drew Long Sword and turned up the cobbled street.

  The town’s folk had now heard the noise and doors opened as people looked out. The cry, “Vikings!” rang out. It was obvious that we were not Godfrid’s Danes. Some of the cries turned to screams and shouts as my men killed the men.

  The door to the hall opened as we entered the square. Men began to pour out. Some wore mail others were just in the clothes the Danes had slept in. I did not falter. I held my sword above and behind me. I began to swing it as I approached the five Danes who ran at me. The two on my right had no helmets and when my sword sliced down it hacked through one skull and into the neck of the second. A spear rammed into my mail. Egil and Godwin were, as I had asked, behind me and Æbbi was next to me. The three Danes all died for their weapons had been aimed at me and my men slew them quickly. Egil and Godwin might be inexperienced but even they could kill an experienced warrior who did not defend himself. The men who poured forth had just heard the noise and rushed out. They came at us one by one. My oathsworn and most experienced warriors had joined me. We had not made a shield wall but we were in a solid line and we hacked, hewed, stabbed and slashed at the Danes who ran at us. When the remainder began to form a shield wall I raised my bloody sword and shouted, “Godfrid of Frisia, I am Göngu-Hrólfr Rognvaldson come to end your worthless life! You are a treacherous coward and you will now pay for your crimes!”

  The Danish leader burst out of the hall. He wore a byrnie and an open face helmet. He had a Frankish axe in his hand. “I am not afraid of you Göngu-Hrólfr Rognvaldson! You are a lumbering troll whom I will hew down to size!”

  He and his oathsworn ran at me. This would be a test of his men and mine. I could not fight all of them alone. My oathsworn were to my right and Pai Skutalsson, Habor Nokkesson, Thiok Clawusson, Magnús Magnússon and Óðalríkr Odhensson on my left. Egil and Godwin had heeded my words and were behind me. I heard a horse and a rider gallop from the side of the hall. I had no time to speculate. He could be someone fleeing or someone seeking help. We had to kill the Danes first and then worry about reinforcements.

  The Danes advanced. They had the slope with them and we had both rowed and fought. In theory they should have been fresher. I could smell the ale on them. Some were still drunk. That did not mean that the warrior would be easier to defeat for a drunk could be like a berserker. He could fight on with the most terrible of wounds. However, a drunk had slower reflexes.

  Godfrid saw that I was not using my shield. I watched him pull back his arm. He had either forgotten or did not know that I had a longer sword than any other warrior. The axe never reached me for Long Sword smashed into his shield and made him reel. One of his oathsworn saw that my right side was unprotected. He lunged at me. Magnús’ sword stabbed him under the ribs and hi
s sword came out through the Dane’s neck. With such men around me I could fight without fear knowing that both sides of me were protected. Instead of bringing my sword back over my right shoulder I allowed it to continue the swing and then used a backhand blow. Godfrid could not have fought someone with a long sword before for he came at me again, swinging his axe. My backhanded blow hit his axe handle and sheared it in two. The head flew in the air and clattered off a Danish helmet.

  Godfrid’s open helmet meant that I could see his face and I saw fear spread across it. He drew his sword. I swung at his shield again and this time he was ready. He did not reel but I saw him wince at the power of the blow. There was a crack as my blade hit the willow. He should have struck at me with his sword but the blow had hurt him and he stepped back. I used a backhand blow to strike at his sword. He blocked it and sparks flew as the blades rang together. He stepped back again. I saw him ready for a blow to his shield but, instead, I swung at his sword. He was not ready for it and he stumbled to his left. I have long legs and, as he fell backwards, I stamped hard with the heel of my boot on his knee. He gave a scream, like a vixen in the night and he completed his fall backwards. His sword fell from his hand.

  I brought my sword over and hit, first his head and then his prostrate body. It was a quicker death than he deserved. “This is for the people of the Haugr. You will wander the seas crying to be free!”

  “Killer!”

  I whirled as one of Godfrid’s oathsworn launched himself at me. Had he not shouted then his sword might have connected. As it was I whipped my sword around and almost cut his body in two. My own warriors redoubled their efforts as they butchered the last of the Danes.

  By the time dawn came up all of the Bretons in the port had finally fled. With the wharf and all of the ships there in our possession, as well as the houses, we began to strip the town of all that it contained. There was so much that we would need another ship. We loaded ‘Wave Skimmer’. Harold Strong Arm told us, as we sailed home, that Godfrid had renamed her ‘Ghost Dragon’. All Vikings knew that you did not rename ships. It made them cursed. Godfrid and his men had paid the price for their foolishness. As the houses and churches were emptied they were fired. The flames soon spread and, by the time we were ready to sail they had reached the wharf. We had no need to wreck the ships there; the fire would destroy them and the wharf! The Haugr was avenged but as Beorn Straight Hair had escaped us Carentan, Saint-Lô, Nefgeirr and Halfi Axe Tongue remained unavenged.