by Griff Hosker
One man, obviously the farmer, shouted, “What will we eat if you take our grain?”
“You will eat your second crop, or you will fish.” I shrugged, “When you rebelled against my men you lost any sympathy I might have had. Be thankful farmer that I give you your life.” I prodded his stomach with the tip of my sword. “Going without a few meals might be good for you.”
I turned and left. Four warriors remained to watch the prisoners. There was little chance they would try anything. I went to the slave hall and we opened it. Inside were slaves from every nation but there were many Norse. They had been taken when the island fell. To them I said, “You are free. Help my men to carry the grain to the ship.” There were another ten. All were Saxons. “You will remain slaves but we will treat you well.”
They nodded their resignation and three of my warriors tethered them and led them off. Rolf’s men were already loading the bags on to the carts they had found to head back to the boats some mile and a half away. We had fewer men now and the second farm would not be as easy.
Dawn was rapidly approaching when Beorn signalled us to halt. This farm was as big as the first one and they must have had sheep for the dogs which guarded them began barking. We knew we had little time to lose and I waved the Ulfheonar forward. They would have to run hard to cut off the farm. As I waved my warriors towards the farmhouse I heard the noise of people within. The dogs had woken them and there was no time to lose. Had it been me and my Ulfheonar attacking alone we might have escaped notice for we dressed all in black but the men I led were not so dressed and must have been spotted by someone within. I heard the cry, “Vikings!”
“Charge!”
There would be no time for a silent and cautious approach. We needed to get to the buildings before they were made defensible. Arrows suddenly began to strike us. One hit my shield and another pinged off my helmet. The warrior next to me, Olaf the Troll, suddenly pitched to the ground with an arrow in his shoulder. It served to spur my men on and we covered the last few paces to the ditch and low wooden wall quickly. The ditch was not wide but it was filled with water and mud. Anything could be lurking in its depths and I leapt the ditch and then hurdled the wooden wall. I caught something moving towards me and instinctively held my shield up. The spear thudded into it. I wrenched it free and held it before me. I would return it with interest.
The wooden hall was similar to the first farm but here they had men in the animal byres loosing arrows. I saw a white face and hurled the spear. I heard a scream and knew I had struck something. The lower section of the building had openings for air and to facilitate cleaning. I threw myself at one of them; it gave way beneath my weight and I crashed through. My shield struck a bowman and pitched him to the floor. I drew my sword and stabbed him in the back. When I rolled him over I saw that he was a youth of no more than twelve summers.
I yelled, “I am Jarl Dragon Heart! If you fight then you will all die!”
A voice shouted, “We will all die anyway!”
“If you throw down your weapons I promise that you will live.”
An old man suddenly ran at me with an axe used for chopping wood. He swung it at my shield. I stepped to the side and then smashed the flat of my sword against the back of his head. He pitched to the ground unconscious.
“I could have killed him. Now throw down your weapons before I end the life of this brave but foolish old man!”
I heard the weapons as they clattered to the ground.
“Rolf, tie up the men. Get the slaves freed and the grain loaded. I will find the Ulfheonar.”
I was anxious to discover if they had been successful. I ran out and saw the first light of the new day peering over Wyddfa’s peak. When I reached the road which ran by the end of the farm I saw them heading towards me. Haaken hung his head. “I am sorry Jarl Dragon Heart but one escaped. We killed one but a second evaded us.”
I nodded. “We will need to be swift then. You will be the rearguard.”
The dawn had spurred Rolf and the others on. There were only two small ponies but we had attached them to a cart and loaded that with grain. The men had found some handcarts and they too were loaded. Each slave carried a bag of grain.
“Any losses?”
“Olaf the Troll had a wound in his arm but that was the most serious. He can walk.”
“Good. A messenger escaped. Get the grain back to the boats.”
With luck we would reach the boats before the Welsh could reach us. It was but a few miles. I joined the Ulfheonar at the rear. Snorri and Beorn were a hundred paces behind us. They waited, watched and then ran forward as they guarded the rear of the line.
“Did we do well?”
“Aye Cnut. We have much grain and many slaves. We have also freed some of our people enslaved when they took the island. It has been a good raid.”
When we reached the first farm I waved and the four warriors guarding the farm joined us. I smiled, “For today you can be Ulfheonar.”
They grinned as though I had given them golden armour rather than putting them in extreme danger. There were now sixteen of us to slow down any pursuit, I was confident that we would do so when I smelled the sea and saw in the distance the masts of my ships touched by the sun’s rays.
Snorri raced up. “Horsemen! And some of them have mail!”
That was not what I had expected. Their mailed horsemen were a relic of the days of Rheged and we had met them before. They did not have many of them but they were hard to defeat. I said to one of the four warriors we had picked up, “Thorgir, run and tell Rolf that there are horsemen. He must hurry!”
“Aye my lord.” He looked disappointed as he left us. He knew that we would be fighting and any glory that day would be ours.
I could hear the hooves now in the distance. With luck they would visit the farm we had last left and that would delay them a little. We had almost reached the sand dunes when Snorri shouted, “Shield wall!”
All of us obeyed instantly. We turned around and locked shields with the men closest to us. Beorn and Snorri ran behind us and notched arrows. The first horsemen were a hundred paces from us. A pair of arrows soared above us and the horsemen held their shields to catch them. I saw that there were only two mailed warriors and they held lances but there were ten horsemen that I could see and I saw movement beyond them indicating more were arriving.
Four of my men had spears which would give some protection but when the horses struck us they would simply knock us over.
“Wedge on me!” The warriors on either side suddenly slipped behind me so that Haaken and Cnut were to my rear. It gave us the most protection we could hope for. I saw the lance heading for me. As it closed I prepared my shield. As the lance tip touched I angled my shield so that it ran down the side of my shield and then Cnut’s. It struck nothing. I brought Ragnar’s Spirit over my head and hacked into the neck of the mailed warrior’s mount. The beast crumpled to the ground in a torrent of frothy blood. The rider tried to save himself and he pitched from the horse. Cnut leapt forward and skewered him through one of the eye holes in his helmet.
Their loss made the rest wheel and reform. “Back!”
I saw that there were still fifteen of us and we ran. Suddenly one of the men we had brought from the farm fell forward with an arrow in his shoulder. “Pick him up!”
We were on the dunes and I suddenly had an idea. I had brought a handful of the hedgehogs with me and I threw them on the hard ground before me. As the wounded warrior was helped over the dunes the Ulfheonar gathered protectively around me. I watched as the first three horsemen eagerly gathered towards us at the crest of the dune. Two of them suddenly reared and threw their riders from their backs. The rest reined in and began to examine the ground.
“Back to the ships.”
I could see that ‘Serpent’ had been loaded and was standing off the shore. Rolf had a dozen men with bows ready to support us. We had a hundred paces to run. We would make it. And then Ragnar Siggison tripped. I was c
losest to him and I stopped and turned. Two horsemen were galloping down the dunes towards us. The soft sand had held them up but now they were on the harder beach and they leaned forwards with their spears. The others were too far away to help and Ragnar locked his shield with mine. “Sorry Dragon Heart!”
“When I say ‘now’, drop to one knee and be ready to strike at the horse on your left.” I had a desperate idea and it relied on the fact that horses do not like to step on men. I turned my shield so that the left and right of our bodies were protected. They were just five paces away when I shouted, “Now!”
We dropped and the spears clattered on our helmets. The horses tried to jump us. As the hooves from the one on the right clipped my shield and knocked me backwards I thrust up into the animal’s gut. I was showered in hot red blood. The horse pitched over us and I leapt to my feet ready to finish off the rider. I saw him lying in the sand with a broken neck. Ragnar had killed his horse too but he was lying unconscious. I sheathed my sword and slipped my shield around my back. Grabbing his arms I hauled his inert body over my shoulder. With his mail he was almost too heavy and I felt my feet sinking into the sand. I struggled towards the ships and the sea now just a tantalising fifty paces away.
I heard the whoosh of arrows and then Haaken and Cnut were by my side helping to carry my wounded Ulfheonar. I felt real relief when the salty sea lapped around my feet. Ragnar was hauled on board and I turned. The horsemen were gathered some two hundred paces away. They had only lost two men but we outnumbered them now. As the oars were run out I took off my helmet and saw the dent in one side. Bjorn made good helmets and it had saved my life.
Haaken and Cnut grinned at me as they began to row. “Lucky Dragon Heart once again. What were you thinking, Jarl? That your head is harder than a horse’s hoof?”
I laughed. “At least I know that a horse will not step on a hedgehog and tries to avoid a man so it was worth the lesson.”
Chapter 17
We did not risk the shallow waters of the river and our new slaves as well as our warriors marched to Cyninges-tūn. It was not as long a journey as that up Windar’s Mere. Rolf and his men were also anxious to see the improvements which would have been made in the few days we had been away. Had the winds not been against us we would have been back a whole day earlier but we did not mind. That was a small price to pay for such a rewarding raid.
As we marched up the small river I discussed with Rolf and Haaken the hedgehogs. “They worked. I only had ten or so with me. Had we had many then they would not have been able to advance at all.”
They both agreed. “It would be easy to have a bag with each group of warriors.”
“These Romans impress me more each day.”
Haaken gave me a shrewd look. “Could that be because you think that you were descended from them? That you have Roman blood coursing through your veins?”
He understood me well. “It would explain many things. Why I felt different as a child on the Dunum and what makes me different from warriors such as yourself.”
Rolf laughed, “Everyone knows that you are not Norse, Jarl Dragon Heart and that is what makes others, such as Ragnar Hairy-Breeches, fear you. We all know that you do not fight the way the rest of them fight.”
“Perhaps that is why we are so successful.”
“When we were in Duboglassio we listened as you asked, Jarl, and we heard that Erik, King Erik as he styles himself, wishes to create a kingdom in the west to rival that of the Danes. His men see Northumbria and Mercia as minor kingdoms ripe to be plucked.”
I laughed, “Then he will get a shock when he tries. He would need an army; more than that he would need a well organised army. I have heard, from Alf and other captains, that the Saxons are beginning to build what they called Burghs. They are forts to defend their towns. The days of being able to raid wherever we wish will soon be gone. If they ever learn from the Romans then we will have to find other places to raid like Dál Riata or Hibernia.”
Haaken wrinkled his nose. “That does not appeal; you can only tell the difference between their men and women by the length of their beards… the women’s are longer!”
We laughed at his joke but I knew that they would both be thinking of my words. Perhaps the other Viking Jarls, now Princes and Kings had been deluded by our small victories, into thinking that they could do the same on a larger scale. It would not happen. Not, at least, until we had a leader who knew how to rule clans who liked to fight as a group and to be able to organise large numbers.
We reached the southern end of The Water as we called it and you could almost feel the relief amongst the men. This was home. The march from the sea seemed to free the mind of the battles and prepare you for the life of peace which we had at home. Many of the men had only recently married and would be looking forward to being with their new wives, even for a short time.
As we walked along the shore I began to think of our next raid and where that would be. We had enough grain but what we would need would be iron. There was Mercia but that was too far away or there was the Dunum, close to my first home. That was a risky sea voyage, around the northern coast of the island of Britannia or a hazardous march across the top of the world into the heartland of Northumbria. I would need to give it some thought.
Those who lived on the western shore reached their homes first. The thralls who had been captured would be taken with us to the eastern halls where they could be held until a thrall hall was built.
As we reached the trail which led to my home Rolf and his twenty remaining warriors said their farewells. They carried half of the grain we had collected and ten of the slaves. I wanted both of the settlements to prosper. This was not Man. We could support each other here. Farms and small settlements might dot the land but we would only need two large settlements. Man had taught us that. You needed somewhere you could protect and a refuge. I was under no illusions we were still vulnerable to attack and my visit to Erik had only fuelled my fears.
We had been seen from the other side of The Water and all were there to greet us. I knew that Erika would be looking to see that Arturus was safe and that we had not lost too many men. Her smiled betrayed her relief.
“A good raid?”
“We have grain for the winter.”
“And how is my brother?”
“Not like the brother I first met. Perhaps Hlif has taken his soul for he appears afraid of her. He has also become false. He lied to me.”
She nodded as though she was not surprised. She poured me some ale as I described his court, his flag and his ambitions.
“He always felt our father should have fought harder to hold on to what we had. Perhaps he will do that.”
I put my horn into the ringed holder on the wooden table. “He is a good warrior but he is not a great warrior and he is not a leader that men will die for. I am sorry to be so blunt about your brother but I have to speak the truth.”
She touched my hand, “I know and you are right. He has sown his own seed and he will have to see what grows. As for me I am happy with what we have.”
“You do not wish to be Queen?”
She laughed, “As much as you wish to be king I think. Besides what would we gain from a title? Would the people love us any more, or less?”
“You are right.”
“Besides, the people think that you are a king for you wore the golden crown on Midsummer’s day.”
“But that is nonsense. It was the Old Man who wore the crown.”
“They believe what they believe. Surely the warrior whose sword is touched by the gods can be crowned by them too.”
The next seven days were spent distributing the slaves and the grain. We all shared in the victory although I still retained the greater share. If things became hard I would have a reserve to distribute. Aiden worked busily on my sword which now neared completion. Each day I would walk down to the water and watch the work in progress. Bjorn had a roof over his head and the rains of late summer made him grateful.
Aiden looked up proudly as I entered. “It is almost complete.” He pointed to a space close to the pommel. “As soon as we can acquire a red stone then it will be done.”
“Good then you have fulfilled your task well. It is now my task to find such a stone. Perhaps I will find one when we travel north for the treasure of the map.”
Bjorn came over. “He has done good work there, Jarl Dragon Heart and the blade looks magnificent. I will incorporate some of the ideas into my new swords but I have to tell you that we need Frankish blades and we are short of iron. The new tools we needed have used up my supply. The copper helps but it is too soft for weapons and armour.”
“I know. I will take warriors to the Dunum. We will see what we can find there and I will send ‘Serpent’ and ‘Butar’ to Frankia. We have more coins than we can use. Let us use our bounty to make us stronger.”
Aiden walked with me as we left the smithy. “It is a dangerous journey is it not Jarl Dragon Heart?”
“Not as difficult as the one we took to Hexham. We will have to be careful but the Saxons are not like the Welsh, they do not use horses. We would need to use our skills as trackers and scouts to evade capture. I would not take a large number of warriors, there would be no need.”
“You could always trade for it.”
“No Aiden, for metal is more precious than gold. It makes weapons which enable men to steal gold. It is good that you worry but we will plan this all very carefully.”
Aiden’s words preyed on my mind over the next few days as I dealt with all the problems the new village brought. Although Scanlan was a freeman and a farmer he still acted as a kind of steward. He and Maewe were close to both my wife and my family. He took many of the problems away from me.
“We need to work out a fair way to tax the people my lord. We offer them protection and they should pay.”
“Are they happy about paying for protection?”
“Most are and if they are not then they can always leave.”
