by Griff Hosker
A horn sounded and the men of Strathclyde began to stream back to their camp. We allowed them to go. I sheathed my sword and dagger. I listened. Einar Hammer Arm said, “Jarl, Cnut is wounded.”
I hurried to the sound of his voice. He had a wound to his knee. I cut a piece of dead warrior’s cloak and tied it around the wound. “Can you make it back to the camp?”
“I can still fight.”
I shook my head. “You cannot for if we run you will be caught. Go back to the camp and have your leg tended to. We will need you in the morning in the shield wall.”
“Aye Jarl.”
After he had left us we began to howl in the night. When we stopped, the silence was almost oppressive. That done we headed back towards the enemy camp. I heard a groan as Olaf found a wounded man and gave him a warrior death. Twelve warriors had perished in the woods. I knew not how many had fallen to our arrows but these were men who would not fight us in the morning. We waited in the dark. I saw that they had brought brands to the edge of the camp to make it easier to see us. They illuminated the sentries. This time we did not send our arrows blindly. We aimed them at the sentries. Eight fell before their shields came up. Then we sent arrows at their legs. Had they had bigger shields we would not have been able to do so.
There was a roar and I heard an order barked. They ran at us and we fled once more. This time we had to be more careful for there were bodies which threatened to trip us up. We ran further into the woods. I heard orders shouted. They were using a system this time. They would not run blindly in. They would hunt us. That suited us. I readied an arrow and sent it along the greenway to the three figures who were less than forty paces from me. I hit one and the rest took cover. They waited as did we. They had thought to hunt us and now they were being hunted. Aðils Shape Shifter lived up to his name. I did not see him strike but heard the cries from the two men he slew. Then Beorn used his bow to kill another. Once more they pulled back.
This time we did not rush back to attack them. We howled once more. They would then wait for our attack. We waited to lull them into a sense of false security. We had done so twice and they would be ready. We moved further east, towards the river. We had attacked from the west and the side across from the river. Now we would change the direction of our attack. We crept closer this time so that we could aim at the enemy. I saw that the king and his nobles were gathered around their standard. They were close to a fire which illuminated them. It was too good an opportunity to miss and we pulled back and sent six arrows into them. The king and his son were not hit but five nobles fell some were only wounded but it mattered not. Even better was the confusion. They could not tell the direction of the arrows. Shields came up and they cowered behind them. We waited a while longer and sent arrows at any man who was not protected by a shield. They were terrified of the dark. As we saw the first greyness appear in the east we ghosted back to our camp. We would be fighting men who were tired and men whose nerves were on edge.
Once back at our camp we ate, drank and I went to see Cnut. His leg was bandaged but he insisted that he could still fight. “Then you will carry my standard and be in the third rank of the wedge.”
“Aye, Jarl Dragonheart, I will be honoured.”
I sharpened my blades again and recovered my shield. As the sun began to break we formed our lines. Once again, we had every mailed warrior in a wedge and, behind them the ones without mail who would use bows. Once we engaged the enemy then they would lay down their bows. We did not sing nor bang our shields. I wanted the sun to come up behind them and for the rays to shine off our weapons. We would attack immediately.
We did not lock shields, in fact, most of us carried our shields over our backs. We stepped carefully over the bodies of those who had fallen the previous day. We could smell their fires and hear their voices as we approached. We were still outnumbered but they were not to know that. When they saw us, they would see a wedge with the Ulfheonar at the fore. That would be all that they would see. We had hurt them in the night and the sounds of our howls would have told them who we were.
We were two hundred paces from them when their sentries saw us. I heard the horns. We were already in a rough wedge and I said, “Shields! Wedge!” I slipped my shield around and held up my spear. Then, as the men behind locked shields we began to chant and to bang our shields.
From the Land of the Wolf
We are here for blood
In darkest night we bring you death
Viking warriors, taking heads
Viking warriors fighting back
Viking warriors, taking heads
Viking warriors fighting back
Viking warriors, taking heads
Viking warriors fighting back
Viking warriors, taking heads
Viking warriors fighting back
It was hypnotic. I saw that the men who faced us were still trying to get into some sort of order. The deaths in the night had stripped them of some of their leaders and there was confusion. I saw greybeards trying to force men into line. Men were fighting next to strangers. That never worked out well and all the time we advanced towards them.
They had made a small ramp around their camp up which we had to climb. The arrows from behind began to fall amongst their already disorganized line. Their leaders were desperately trying to marshal as many men into position as they could. As I reached the top a wild Hibernian warrior suddenly ran from the shield wall. He threw his shield at me and held his sword in two hands. Had he been a Viking I would have said he had gone berserk but he was just going for glory. His shield struck my shield but I did not stop. I pulled back my right arm as, using one of the dead warriors as a platform to launch himself, he leapt in the air. It was a prodigious leap and I saw the long curved blade come towards me. I thrust upwards with my spear. It tore into his chest and ripped into his heart. I let his momentum carry his body over my head. I heard it crash on the shields of those behind me.
“Dragonheart! Dragonheart! Dragonheart! Dragonheart!”
My men chanted and I felt Haaken and Olaf push their shields into my back as we closed with the enemy line. Their pressure was the signal for me to move more quickly and I ran for the last ten paces. I pulled back my bloody spear and aimed it at the warrior who was before me. I had eyes for no other. The spears and swords of those in either side of him might hit me but I would kill this warrior and that would break us into their line. I punched forward at the same as he. His spear came up towards me and I moved my shield with it. The head came up and glanced off my helmet. He tried the same manoeuvre but he had a small shield and he not make it. My spear struck him in the throat. To my side Haaken and Olaf speared the men facing them.
From the front a spear was rammed at me but, again, my shield was too big. I swept my spear sideways like a sword and it clanged off a helmet. We were still moving forward. I had two shields pushing me and the weight of a hundred men behind me. The enemy had not locked shields and were now paying the price. Arrows still fell amongst them and I saw the king and his son with their oathsworn holding shields up. They were trapped. Unless they risked the river in mail they would have to fight us. They outnumbered us but that was not important. What was important was that their will to fight had gone. They had not expected to fight. They had suddenly seen a band of Vikings intent on battle and they were not prepared.
I thrust my spear at a half-naked tribesman and, as he fell I saw that there were none behind him. They had made a long line of over two hundred men but it was only three deep and we were through.
“Break wall! Kill them!”
There is no more terrifying sight than a warband of Vikings intent on destruction. Here we were not fighting for Klakke Blue Cheek. My men were fighting for the land of the Wolf and the Dragonheart. Every warrior would willingly give his life to save mine. As I hurled my spear into the noble who rode at me to try to gain the glory of killing me I heard the roar of my two hundred men as they fell upon the hapless men of Strathclyde. It was no
t war it was butchery. With almost eighty mailed men we waded into the unarmed and half naked warriors from north of the wall. They had mailed warriors but they were protecting the king and the prince. Had they committed them then they might have defeated us. The hundred and twenty mailed warriors stayed in a circle around their king, their prince and their nobles. Their men were slaughtered.
I hacked and I slashed. Each time I saw a face the warrior died for, even when their swords and spears stuck at me, they struck mail or shield or helmet. Swords bent and spears shattered as we moved towards the king. Soon the men of Strathclyde saw the futility of fighting us. They threw away their arms and hurled themselves into the Eden.
The prince suddenly shouted, in Saxon, “We yield! End the slaughter! We yield!”
My men had the blood lust upon them but I knew that we might lose warriors to no end. “Lay down your weapons and you shall be spared. I, Jarl Dragonheart, command it!”
My men were still eager for battle but, first the prince, and then all the other men of Strathclyde, threw down their weapons. We had won. I dropped my shield and took off my helmet. I strode towards the prince and his father, the king. Two warriors tried to bar my way. Before I could even raise my hand two arrows flew from behind me and both warriors fell.
“You have lost! Any more resistance and you will all be killed!”
I moved closer to the king and his son. The king looked ancient. His son did not look that old and so I assumed it was the battle had aged the king. I had never seen as many men brought south of the wall before now. King Dumnagual must have thought that sheer weight of numbers would have overwhelmed us. I stood before them. “Kneel!”
A warrior said, “This is the King of Strathclyde…”
He got no further for my fist smashed into his mouth and knocked him to the ground. I still had my sword in my hand and I held it to the king’s throat. “Kneel or die!”
The king dismounted and dropped to his knees. His son joined him. “When you yield then you lose all rights. A Viking never yields for we are men. Had you two been men then you would have led your men into battle and you might have won.”
The warrior I had hit rose. His nose was pouring blood but he still stared at me with pure unadulterated hatred in his eyes. “You are a brave man. You knew the risk you took. What is your name?”
“Malcolm.”
“Then Malcolm, take a horse and ride to your queen. The price for her husband is a thousand gold coins and the price for her son the same. You have six days. After that the prince will die. A day later and the king will die. Then I enslave every man who is here.”
“You are a hard man.”
“I am Jarl Dragonheart and I acknowledge no king. If you fight me then you had better kill me and seed the land with my body. If you do not then I will kill you!”
He nodded, “I will return.”
“You know what will happen if you do not.”
“I know.” He threw himself on his horse and galloped east to the nearest bridge over the Eden.
I turned to Ragnar who, along with Gruffyd was standing just behind me, “Keep the men here. I want guards to stop them escaping. Have the king, the prince and the nobles tethered and taken into Ulf’s hall.”
Ragnar and Gruffyd nodded. Ragnar said, “I knew you were great, grandfather, but, until this moment I knew not how great. Your boots will be hard to fill!”
I laughed, “Then it is fortunate that there are two of you to do so!”
I assigned some of the more experienced warriors to watch the two royal prisoners. I was not certain that they would not try to escape. I slept well. When I awoke I went to Ulf’s hall for food. I was ravenous. The king and his son were there eating. I sat opposite them. The prince looked at me with a sulky expression on his face, “If you had not raided us and taken our chests we would not have attacked you.”
I laughed, “And do you think that we will not raid you in the future? If you cannot defend that which is yours then you deserve to lose it.”
The prince looked shocked. King Dumnagual said, “He is right, my son. Do you think we can defend against these barbarians? They are savages.”
I was not certain if he was insulting me but I let it pass.
“Will you raid us again?”
“We may.”
“What will stop you from doing so?”
“Payment, weregeld.” Ulf was eating at the same table, “Pay Ulf here a hundred gold pieces a year and we will not raid you.” I let him take that in. “Unless of course any of your men decide to attack us in which case we will take your kingdom from you.”
“You could not do that!”
“Believe me Prince Artgal we could and we will if we have to.”
The king’s shoulders sagged, “Agreed. We will pay.” He looked at his son. “We will be taking back less than half the army we brought south. Who will work the fields? Sail the ships? Tend the animals? This is cheaper.”
And so, it was agreed.
We had our bodies buried in a barrow along with the others who had given their lives on this northern border. I allowed the levy to carry the enemy dead, and there were many, across the river where they, too, were buried. I then allowed them home. I just kept the nobles and the Hibernian mercenaries with us. I did not want raiders loose in my northern lands.
The Queen of Strathclyde wanted her husband and son back. The ransom was paid and we let them go. I shared the ransom equally between my jarls. I did not keep more for me. I was confident that our northern border was now secure.
Chapter 13
We sailed home with Ragnar. Ketil and Asbjorn marched their men away together. They took the horses we had captured from King Dumnagual and his nobles. It was another humiliation heaped upon the northern raiders.
Cnut Cnutson would never be the agile Ulfheonar he had once been. Aiden would have to look at the wound but it looked to be very close to the knee. He sat with me at the stern of our drekar. The winds were with us and we had no need to row. “Will I now be as Karl One Leg, Jarl Dragonheart? Will I just be fit to watch our walls?”
“It is not, just , Cnut, for Karl trains young warriors and keeps my hall safe. Besides I do not move as quickly as I used to. Since Leif the Banner fell I have no one to carry my standard. If you wish you can be my standard bearer and watch my back.”
“I will be honoured, Jarl Dragonheart. I do not think I have yet done all that I might.”
Haaken had been listening, “Young Cnut do not try to be exactly as your father. He was a good friend and a great warrior but each man must be true to himself. The jarl and I have been lucky. We know that. When we get to Valhalla your father and the others who await us there will tell us that. I know not why we are lucky but I am grateful that it is so. Each day I am not dead is another day to enjoy life and that is what I now do.”
Olaf Leather Neck had been on the deck apparently asleep. When he spoke, we knew he was awake, “And we will all be rich men. Jarl Dragonheart has made us so. Your wife will be happy that you are back and you can lavish gifts upon her. You have a wound. Haaken has managed to survive for forty years with one eye and he still manages to kill our foes.”
I went to the larboard side of the drekar and watched my mountains as we sped down the coast. Olaf was right. We were rich. Magnus Axe Head, Erik Ironshirt and even Thorghest the Lucky showed what most Vikings were like. Their men had had little mail and their drekar had been poor. I knew that Erik and Thorghest were now totally different to the two men who had come to me. I think that Magnus, too, would have changed. The connection was myself and the Land of the Wolf. I would visit Old Olaf at the top of his mountain and speak with my past.
I had allowed others to take the mail and weapons from the dead. I had enough with my share of the ransom. I rode with my Ulfheonar and the men of Cyninges-tūn. Some had used their coin to buy horses or ponies from Raibeart ap Pasgen’s people. They had also used the burgeoning market there to take home gifts for their families. Since we
had made Ragnar and Raibeart’s halls a citadel Úlfarrston had become a successful market. The ships that landed at Whale Island brought goods to sell and Úlfarrston profited. Coen ap Pasgen would be happy with the way his town was growing. It had been destroyed but, from the ashes, came a stronger burgh.
I sat with Kara and Aiden in their hall and told them of our victory. Ylva, Ebrel and Bronnen all listened. When I spoke of Gruffyd I saw Ebrel become tense. The Norns were spinning still.
“And we have dreamed too.”
I looked at my daughter. They often dreamed but the only time they spoke of it was when it concerned me. “Is there danger?”
“Perhaps. We saw Danish warships and they filled the ocean.”
“Klakke Blue Cheek.”
“We saw no faces just armour that was almost white.”
“That would be Klakke. Were they attacking?”
“No, we just saw them sailing towards the Land of the Wolf.”
“Then that means they would come to Whale Island. I am content. I have three jarls there who are strong.” I rose. “And now I will go and see my wife.”
Brigid was more content these days. She was resigned to Erika leaving and she had grown closer to Myfanwy. My youngest child was more like Brigid than either Gruffyd or Erika. She was also a Christian. I might not have been happy about that but I had not forbidden them to worship the White Christ. There were eight women who worshipped him in Cyninges-tūn. If a man had tried to join the cult I might have objected. A Christian cannot be a good warrior for he is always thinking about forgiveness and turning the other cheek. Since the Saxons had taken to that religion they had become weaker warriors.
I went, alone, up to the top of my mountain. If the weather was clear I could see almost to Wyddfa. I took a stick and my wolf cloak and I climbed the winding trail. I passed the mines and the blue water. After that I was alone. The stone and the copper were mined lower down and the steep slopes were without sheep. As I had climbed the clouds had been hiding the top of Old Olaf but, as I climbed higher the winds moved them away and I saw patches of blue. It was a cold wind which blew and I was glad of my cloak. The staff also made the journey easier than it might have been. As I turned to climb up to the peak the last of the clouds scudded away and I could view the Land of the Wolf.
