The Battle For A Home (Norman Genesis Book 3)

by Hosker,Griff

  "Of course there will be danger but the men of Vannes have emptied the land. They think they had taken all that is to be had and will not return. At least they will not return this year. We have grain. Siggi bought that. It is part of his legacy. We will have a short time over winter to build our new home. We will use that time well."

  "But you will fight these enemies who are your kin first."

  "We will if only to deter them from doing so in the future."

  As we curled up to sleep my worry was that Knut and Ketil would remember the pleasant land around the haugr and they would seek us there. We had to end this decisively.

  Fitting out a drekar took time. There were sheets and shrouds which had to be fitted perfectly. Ballast had to be loaded so that the drekar had balance. The prow and the mast changed the way the ship moved. I gave Sven the more inexperienced warriors while I took the rest to keep watch on the enemy. I took my bow as did Ulf. We were not there to battle them but to spy on them.

  I took Nipper and led four of our men. Ulf led the other four. We were not mailed and we wore no helmets. If we had to battle then we had lost. I stopped a mile from the village. It was on a high part of ground with scrubby bushes and spindly trees. It was scant cover but it would conceal a few men. Ulf had led his to the trail which approached our home from the north. It was close to his home and he knew every blade of grass.

  I spread my men out and settled down with my dog next to me. It was noon as the weak sun climbed to its zenith that his ears pricked and he stood. I gave a low whistle as I stood and readied an arrow. My dog gave a low growl and I patted his head. He lay down in his hunting position. He would wait there for my next command. I knew that Rurik, Arne, Erik and Einar would all have their bows ready. I could not see them but they were ready. I heard the warriors as they came down the greenway from the village.

  I peered through the bushes which lay before me. They were about two hundred paces from me. Gunnstein Gunnarson led eight Frisians. As they drew near I heard them. "I will tear out their lungs and make myself a drinking vessel from their skull! Olaf was like a brother to me."

  "Aye but what was he doing so far from the village? The jarl thinks he was working for himself and Karl."

  "We are Vikings! It is what we do!"

  I pulled back on my bow. I aimed at the Frisian who was next to Gunnstein. He sounded like a leader. The others would wait until my arrow struck. I had a longer range and I waited until they were closer so that the other four could hit their targets. I released when they were a hundred and fifty paces from me. I had good arrows and my first struck him in the neck above his byrnie. The spurt of blood which erupted told me that it was a mortal wound. Gunnstein fell with two arrows. Rurik and Arne hated a traitor. One Frisian was hit in the arm while a second in the leg. I loosed my next arrow but the Frisian managed to bring up his shield. The two wounded men were despatched and four arrows showered the rest. Two more were wounded and their three comrades grabbed them to help them back down the greenway. They were not cowards but how do you fight an enemy you cannot see?

  I managed to hit another warrior in the leg as they disappeared back to the village. "Quick! Search them!"

  When we reached them Gunnstein was still alive although he was dying. As the others stripped the mail from the Frisian leader and the weapons from the others I knelt over Gunnstein. "My sword!"

  I handed him his sword.

  He nodded, "I am sorry we became enemies Hrolf but family." He had married Ketil and Knut's sister. I nodded. "I will soon see Jarl Gunnar. I will beg forgiveness from..." His eyes closed and he died. I took the sword from his dead hand as Rurik and Arne came to strip the mail from his body.

  "You are too kind. I would not have given him his sword!"

  "Arne, we fought with Gunnstein in a shield wall. He changed. Loki stole his heart. I gave him his sword for the warrior he was not the one he had become. Let us go. They may return."

  When we reached my home Ulf had not returned but the knarr had. I hurried down to the quay where the iron was being unloaded. Sven was already there speaking with Harold. Harold Fast Sailing shook his head, "I knew that something was amiss. I felt a weight upon me as we headed through the islands. I thought it was the witch now I know that it was my old friend passing to the Otherworld. If we had not gone for the metal...."

  "Jarl Siggi would still be dead and we would not be able to make the weapons we need." I saw six warriors standing by the knarr. None had mail but all had a sword and shield. They had helmets but they did not look like Vikings. They were round skull caps. "Who are these, Harold Fast Sailing?"

  "These warriors were stranded in the land of the Cymri. The king of that land paid them as warriors."

  One stepped forward, "I am Gudrun Witch Killer and I lead these men, hersir. The King did not pay us much and when we saw brother Vikings we asked leave to serve you."

  "Have you heard of us?"

  "We came from Orkneyjar and we called in at the land of the wolf. There they told us of Raven Wing Island."

  "And where is your jarl?"

  "Our ship was wrecked by the rocks close to the Sabrina. All those with mail perished. We five were the only survivors. We carried our shields and swords. We lost everything else."

  "Would you serve under me for I am young?"

  "Harold Fast Sailing and Gilles have told us of you and your deeds. You are young but you are skilful. You have defeated Hibernian champions. We will take our chances if you will have us."

  I took out my sword, "This is Heart of Ice. It has had a spell cast upon it, Witch Killer. Will you each swear an oath on the blade?"

  "Aye, hersir."

  One by one they swore an oath. Gudrun was the oldest and the other five were all my age. "Then I take you as my oathsworn until I release you from your pledge, welcome Gudrun Witch Killer, Karl Anyasson, Beorn Tryggsson, Olaf Head Breaker, Ulf Strong Swimmer and Kolbjorn Olvirson. Welcome to the Raven Wing Clan."

  They headed up to the hall and Harold said, "They seem honest warriors fallen on hard time."

  "I hope they do not bring us bad luck." Sailors were very superstitious.

  "Perhaps they have had all the bad luck they are due, Sigurd. Now we can begin to move our people. How goes the drekar?"

  "With Harold to help me, by tomorrow."

  "Then when Ulf returns we can see about buying time for us to load the two vessels with the first of our people. Come I need to see Bagsecg."

  My blacksmith was still toiling at the drekar. His prodigious strength was like that of two men. He stopped as we approached. "Bagsecg, we can leave for the haugr tomorrow but I must lead the warriors here to stop the enemy making our task impossible. I need you to lead those I send and to defend them until we can be picked up from our island." He nodded, "You will only have the boys, the old men and the wounded like Erik One Hand."

  "It will be enough."

  His wife Anya chided me, "Hersir we are Viking women! We do not blow over in a breeze. We can work and we can fight. You bring our men to us when these nithings have been taught a lesson."

  When Ulf returned, late in the afternoon, they had not spied any enemies. While half of the women prepared food and the other half helped Bagsecg, Sven and Harold to load the ships I held a council of war with our men.

  I had already spoken with Ulf and we were in agreement. "Tomorrow we begin to leave this island. It will take our ships a day and a night to reach our new home and unload. It will take a day and a half to return. We need to buy three days for them. We cannot abandon our home for there are still things we need to take. Ulf and I intend to meet the Frisians before they reach here."

  Karl the Tall said, "Is this our army, Hersir? I count only twenty five warriors."

  "And that is six more than we had yesterday. Besides we will not fight as we normally do. All of those without mail will use bows. I intend to mount four of you to join Gilles and me on our horses. Ulf will command the archers and those with mail."

&nbs
p; "Vikings on horses?"

  "Yes Gudrun Witch Killer. You did not think they named me Horseman for naught did you? I can ride and I can fight on a horse. If the Frisians wish to defeat horsemen they make a solid wall. This might give us an advantage."

  Rurik nodded, "And the archers can then hurt them while they stand."

  "If they break then we will have them on our horses. What we will not do is to charge them! We break them down. We annoy them. We make them become frustrated and make them charge us. That is where Ulf and our mail will halt him when he is weakened and he is wild."

  "But do you know that he will come?"

  "He will come. We have bloodied him twice and the Frisian cannot afford to lose men without avenging them. He may even try to come tonight. We will watch." They nodded. "Remember we do this so our families can have a safe home. We fear no Frank living or dead. We will battle for our new home but that battle begins here. If we die then we have died for the clan and that is no bad thing. Jarl Siggi White Hair died for us. Let his sacrifice not be in vain!"

  Chapter 15

  I did not sleep in my hall. I dozed in the tower with Rurik and Gilles. It was Nipper's growl which awoke us. I had an arrow ready in an instant. The attackers were noisy and they were clumsy. We had laid logs and branches across the path leading to the hall before dark and they stumbled on them. I loosed three arrows blindly at the noise and was rewarded by a cry.

  "To arms!"

  My men had slept in mail and with arms close by. They raced to the path. Ulf was with them and I heard a scream as he slew the first Frisian. This was a battle in the dark and I had done all that I could in my tower.

  "Come! This is blade to blade." We clambered down the ladder.

  I left my bow and drew my sword and seax. Leading Rurik and Gilles I followed Arne and Erik as they ran to the sounds of combat in the dark. A figure I did not recognise loomed up out of the dark. He reacted quickly by raising his sword but I reacted quicker. I blocked his sword with mine and rammed my seax under his raised arm, deep into his body. I pushed it from me. A battle in the dark can be frightening. What saved us was our familiarity. We knew where the ditch was. We had laid the logs. As the enemy tumbled into our stake filled ditch others tripped on logs. There was no honour in killing them but we sought no honour. We just wanted them dead!

  The sound of them fleeing brought us to a halt. Ulf shouted, "Stay here, Hrolf! I will make sure that they are gone."

  "Hold! Is anyone hurt?" My men all answered me. "Take their weapons and we will deal with their bodies in the morning."

  Ulf came back some time later. He wiped his seax on the kyrtle of a dead Frisian. "They fled back to the village. They were not happy." He then came closer and spoke quietly, "Another Frisian has joined them. They have more men recently arrived. I made one speak before I sent him to the Otherworld."

  "Then we have tomorrow to end this."

  He nodded, "I will go to the village and scout out their true numbers. I will pick up any weapons from their dead."

  "Be careful. We have twice the number of enemies now."

  He laughed as he went. "Not quite. I think you will find there are eight of them dead here and two more on the way back to their hall. We are whittling them down!"

  There was little point in going to sleep. "Gilles, let us take the ponies and foals down to the knarr. I would send them to our new home."

  "They will not like the voyage and the foals will miss their mothers."

  I nodded as we went down to the stable, "I know, that is why you will be going with them."

  "But I thought I was going to ride with you and defeat the enemy."

  "So did I but I need our animals to be safe. The foals are our future and they will need the ponies. You can return with the knarr. We will still be here."

  "But there are two crews of Frisians."

  "It does not change my plan. If there are more of them then we will have a bigger target."

  By the time dawn broke Sven and Harold had already begun loading our drekar. The old men would have to row the drekar. It would not be a true test of her as a ship of war but she would be a knarr for one voyage. The women would also have to row. It was now even more urgent that they left as soon as possible. Brigid was the driving force. She chivvied and she scolded. When women became tearful at their parting she chastised them. Both vessels were heavily laden and I hoped that my captains would cope. Sigurd and Skutal were there to assist Sven and Harold. When they returned they would sail their two fishing boats to our new home.

  Mary's face was red and wet with tears, "Our son will not like this upset, wife. Be happy for we go back to the land of your birth."

  "Come back to me, husband. I need you. Your people need you. With Siggi gone there are just you and Ulf who can lead us. They all know that."

  "I will take care, now board for the sooner you get there the sooner they can return."

  I felt a lump in my throat as the two vessels headed north to catch the wind from the east. It was a cold wind and would bring snow to the high ground. It brought a chill to the bones to us but, more importantly, it would mean they would not need to row until the haugr was in sight. The gods were with us and the Norns' webs were working.

  Ulf arrived after they had left. He looked disappointed. "I had a gift for your wife. I left this in your hall with my weapons. I thought I would return before she left." He handed me a small chest. "Give it to her when you reach your new home."

  "What is it?"

  I went to open it but Ulf snapped, "It is a gift for your wife! She will be the one to open it." He began to lay out his weapons. "I was not certain what we might need so I brought them all." He shouted, "If any of you have a poor weapon then take one of mine. They have served me well over the years."

  "What did you spy at the village?"

  "They are preparing for war. I was close enough to hear this Frisian. He was not happy with Knut and Ketil. They had said that your home could be taken easily. We proved them wrong. Next time they come in force."

  Once we were armed we saddled my horses. Arne, Rurik, Beorn, Erik and Einar were all familiar with horses and I mounted them and gave them each a spear. "You need to use the spear to thrust at the enemy. Your stiraps mean that you can stand and thrust down." I pointed to the mail which Rurik wore. "See, there is a gap between the byrnie and the helmet. Strike there. Do not charge and pull the horses away if the enemy threaten."

  I turned to Gudrun and his men of Orkneyjar. I handed Gudrun my old helmet. I wore my new one. "Use this one. It is better than the one you were given in Cymru. The rest of you men take the ones we took from the Frisians last night. Take two spears too. I would have us kill them at distance."

  Ulf said, "Follow me and I will lead you to the killing ground. When we fall back we make for here and Hrolf's walls. They are sturdy and the ditch is filled with traps." We had embedded new ones and sharpened them. Ulf grinned, "I have another present for the Frisians too." He dropped his breeks and emptied his bowels on to the stakes in the ditch. Others laughed and emulated him. If any warrior fell on stakes covered in excrement they would be poisoned. I stayed on my horse. I had eaten little in the last day and I had nothing to leave the Frisians.

  When they had finished we marched off. There was no one left at the hall or the stockade. It was just the ghosts from the haunted farmhouse and Siggi White Hair's spirit who remained. I wondered how many of us would return. I felt as though I was saying goodbye to my home.

  I had two spears with me. I had a heavier one in my left hand behind my shield and a throwing one in my right hand. I had told the others not to throw but I had practised. I would have one extra chance to kill an enemy before we closed with them. As we rode I realised that I needed a smaller shield on my horse and one that had a better shape. This one would have to do. I found the new helmet much better. It felt as though I had a clearer sight of any enemy.

  Ulf's killing ground surprised me. It was at the bottom of a dell with a wood b
ehind it. The greenway passed through it on the way to my home. I looked up at the rise which led to the village. The path was well worn. "Why here?"

  "It is dead ground, Hrolf. If you annoy them they will charge after you because there are so few of you. They will not see us. When you flee, go left and right. The archers will have a clear sight of the enemy. You can then ride around their flanks."

  "This was not my plan."

  "No it is mine and it is a better one. Remember we delay them today and then disappear. We fight them again tomorrow and vanish. Then, when the drekar and knarr return, you can escape and leave me to my island. Now go for we need to make this killing ground even deadlier for our foes. We need an hour!"

  "You heard the general! Let us ride." We rode to the top of the rise. I looked behind as we crested the rise. We had only gone ten paces when Ulf and the others disappeared from sight. He was right. If we could make them pursue us then we could give them a surprise. I hoped Ulf knew what he was doing. We could ride away but he and his men might be trapped. Of course Ulf knew what he was doing. He and Siggi had been fighting when Jarl Dragonheart was still living on the Dunum. Perhaps I could persuade him to come with us to the haugr. We needed an old wise head like his.

  When we had travelled a mile or so I turned in the saddle, "We are here to make them charge us. I want no heroics from any of you. "

  "It is all I can do to stay in the saddle!" Beorn was not a comfortable rider yet. I would have to teach him and the rest of the clan how to become better when we reached Frankia.

  As we neared the village I slowed. I could hear the noise inside the wooden walls I had helped to build. I knew its strengths and I knew we would never be able to take it with so few warriors. Yet there were no men on the walls. They were all within. I led the five of them to within forty paces of the gate then I said, "Stay here."

  The bridge was still in place across the ditch and I rode towards it. I could see the backs of the warriors. They were listening to someone standing in the doorway of the jarl's hall, out of sight to the right. When I was ten paces from it I spurred Dream Strider. As we clattered over the bridge I saw men at the back turn and look in surprise. I chose the largest warrior I could and, galloping to within ten paces of them, hurled my spear as hard as I could. It went through his mail and into his stomach. I wheeled Dream Strider around and was across the bridge again before anyone could move. I turned around in a line with my men ready to face the enemy.