by Griff Hosker
One of the two wolves feasting on half frozen human flesh saw us and turned to growl. The cold made their sense of smell less effective. It was why we hunted them in Þorri. Their eyesight, however, was faultless. A wolf’s defence is to attack and the two of them saw the four of us and leapt at us. Aðalsteinn and the men on the flanks reacted quicker than Germund. Their spears were hurled into the flanks of the two lean animals. Even so, one still almost made Germund. He rammed his spear into its chest but it took Erik’s spear to kill it. He rammed it in the wolf’s eye and it fell dead. My men retrieved their spears and looked around. I saw what they did. These had been Danes. I counted the remains of, perhaps, ten men. I only worked that out by the swords and shields. As men they were unrecognisable.
Germund said, “Here is a puzzle, lord. These are well armed Danes and yet their swords are in their scabbards. Why did they not defend themselves?”
I looked at the snow in the centre. Using my boot, I cleared it. There was no sign of a fire. “They froze to death. There is no fire. They were either scouting or coming here to take our lives. They did not light a fire for fear of alerting us. The cold came and they must have died. “I knelt down and looked at the moustache of one whose body had been gnawed but whose face was intact. “These are members of the Skulltaker Clan. They were here to kill me.” I took a knife from a scabbard. It had a long narrow point, almost like a needle used to sew leather. “These are assassin’s weapons.”
Gandálfr Snorrison, one of my new men said, “I can see ten swords but there are not ten bodies here. At least not ten whole bodies.”
I stroked my beard as I tried to unravel this knot, “I think that the wolf scout we heard some nights ago found the Danes. They may not have been dead then. He fetched the males from the pack and when they arrived, they took the men. They were either asleep or dead. More likely dead, I think. They have females to feed. Notice that they have taken the parts which are easy to carry. They have taken legs and the innards. They left the heads, the hands and the feet. These two wolves are not from the same pack. Sometimes there are rogue wolves. They live in pairs or alone. They took advantage of the feast that was left.”
I saw that Erik was opened mouthed.
“Erik Shield Bearer, your strike killed one of the wolves. You may have the pelt. Help the rest of my men to put spears through their bodies and we will take them back. Germund, rest your leg. Have the weapons and mail collected. Dagfinnr and Aðalsteinn, come with me and we will make certain that they are all accounted for.”
My spear was unbloodied as was Dagfinnr’s. Aoalstein’s had broken. He drew his sword. I led them beyond the camp. There were no Danish footprints. They had come from the path and made their camp. I turned, just before the tracks I followed descended. I saw sparks in the distance. It was Sámr’s Hall. I turned and followed the wolf tracks. Wolves are very clever creatures. They follow in the leader’s tracks. Specks of blood and small pieces of the corpses marked their trail. The trail began to rise again. I saw that the prints changed. One animal had left the pack and gone up the slope.
“Dagfinnr and Aðalsteinn, follow these prints and see where the wolf went. I will follow the pack.” As I moved, now alone, I felt the hairs on my neck begin to rise. I took my spear and rammed it into the ground. I drew my sword. Closing my eyes to enable me to smell the air better I put the blade to my lips. I heard Aiden’s voice in my head, ‘Beware Dragonheart. Walk the line between life and death. This is the land of the Wolf.’ And then the voice was gone
I opened my eyes. I could not smell wolf but my Ulfheonar senses told me that I was not alone. The path climbed. There was a large rock to my right and so I went to the left. As I neared the rock, I smelled wolf. Even as I turned the huge he-wolf leapt down upon me. It landed on me and knocked me on to my back. His huge paws were on my chest and he bared his teeth as his mouth came towards my throat. Aiden’s words came to me.
I did not raise my sword, instead I spoke, “Offspring of Úlfarr I am Jarl Dragonheart and this is my land. I beg you not to take my life.”
Its mouth came closer to me. Saliva dripped onto my beard. It must have heard something for its head turned suddenly.
I said, “Hold your weapons! Do not strike the wolf!” I knew, without turning my head that it was Dagfinnr and Aðalsteinn. The wolf slowly turned its head and I stared into its eyes. In my head I heard a voice. It was not Aiden’s. ‘You are the defender of this land. You have the spirit of the wolf yet you have the heart of a dragon.’
I spoke, “The lands to the east are filled with our enemies. When your young are born take your pack there for I would not hurt you.”
‘We are hunters and this is our land. The Danes are enemies and we were sent to kill them. They feed our young.”’
“And more men will fill this land. We have bright steel and weapons which kill. You cannot win.”
I stared into its eyes and I saw wolves stretching back through eternity. The wolf’s mouth closed and as he stepped off my chest, I heard, ‘Winning and losing are your words, not ours.” With that he turned and loped off.
My two men ran to me to help me up. Aðalsteinn said, “If I had been told this I would have said that it was a lie. Why did he not kill you?”
“He spoke to me.”
“We heard no words.”
“They were in my head. Come let us return. The threat of the wolf has eased. The Danes gave them a larder but it shows that the threat of the Dane is still real.”
Chapter 22
We reached Sámr’s hall as dawn was breaking. My two warriors soon told the others of what they called the miracle of the wolf. I knew that Aiden had interceded. I did not know if the wolf pack would head east but I suspected they would not bother my valley again. I had no reason other than a feeling in my heart. As we had walked back Erik said, “Hunter found the Dane close by. What does that signify, lord?”
“That the land and the animals are our allies. We are at one with the land and the Danes are not.”
The sight of the two wolves produced such terror in Aethelflaed and Nanna that Elfrida and Astrid quickly took the two Saxons away. There were no longer any wolves in the land of the East Angles. To see a wolf for the first time was terrifying,
“Sámr, you need to watch the Hawk’s Head. This is the second time we have found evidence of the Danes.”
Baldr said, “Perhaps they will tire of losing men.”
“None had mail. These were swords for hire. Skull Takers are killers. They also have witches who are as powerful as Kara and Ylva. Those witches will not travel in winter but come the new grass then they will.”
Having crossed the ice once, the second time was easier and we reached my hall safely. My men began to skin the wolves. Erik would have a fur of which he could be proud. I spoke with Kara and Ylva. They knew all as I had expected. “It was my husband. He became a shape shifter and entered the mind of the wolf. It was he spoke the wolf’s thoughts. You were lucky, father, but the Mother is on our side.” She looked, wistfully, north. “Úlfarrberg and the cave of Myrddyn are both powerful allies.” She smiled at me. “Have you not thought, father, that both lie at the heart of the Land of the Wolf yet few people live close to them? That is not a coincidence.”
I had not thought of it before but now, as I walked back to my hall, I did. The farm at the Rye Dale and the farm at the foot of Úlfarrberg were among the only five farms in what should have been the most productive part of our land. My farmers chose other ground to farm. My jarls were spread out around the borders of our land but in the heart, the heart of the wolf, there were none to protect it. Perhaps it did not need protection. None had ever attacked us through the land twixt the cave and Úlfarrberg. This was not the time for such thoughts. We had an enemy to defeat who was human and voracious.
The cold spell lasted just ten days longer and then the snow and ice melted. It caused flooding to all of the low-lying areas. People endured miserable conditions for the whole of Gói. Ragnar a
nd my family headed south when the road south was free of water and the road was safe for the women. Elfrida was no longer a young woman.
Ragnar now knew the scale of the problem. He understood that this was not a possibility any longer. It was a certainty. “I will warn Gruffyd of the danger and tell him of your encounter with the wolf. I see now that my son, Sámr, was well chosen. We have lost him but we have lost him to the clan and that is good. I swear, grandfather, that we will be vigilant. We have strong walls and good defences. I know I am lucky to have Raibeart ap Pasgen as a neighbour. We can hold out for at least ten days. Gruffyd, I am certain can last longer. Here is where the danger lies for they will come for you. They come for the heart of the Clan of the Wolf.”
After they had gone, I began to work more closely with my new men. I had seen, on the hunt, that they were good warriors but that was only part of their role. They would have to fight in a shield wall. As the weather warmed, I began to work for an hour each day with my new men, the veterans and my town watch. This would be a battle in which all of us would take part. Haaken had rejoined me as soon as the weather had improved. We practised on the flat land between the walls and the Water. We combined the shield wall with our archers and slingers. The young boys of the town were keen to fight for the clan. They knew no fear. I had my shield bearer train them. He was older than they were and knew how to use a sling. Unlike them he had used a sling to kill a man in battle. In the time Erik had been with me he had learned much. Atticus helped him for Atticus had read about ancient battles.
Haaken and Rollo helped me to make the shield wall as effective as it could be. I had my veterans and new hired men in the front rank. The ones without mail, who had not fought in a battle, were in the second and my town watch was the third. Germund joined the town watch. They were the shortest of the three ranks. I knew that if they were involved in the fighting then we had lost. Their task was to give steel to the younger warriors before them. We practised locking shields. We showed the newer warriors how to add their spears from the second ranks. We had to teach them how to hold their shield above their heads to protect from arrows. Each day that the Danes did not come made us stronger.
I blamed myself for the injury. We had been practising moving from a shield wall to a boar’s snout formation. I had been too concerned with looking down the line and did not see the rut in the earth. I tripped and fell forward. Sweyn Jorgenson, who was behind me, looked down and, as he did so, the tip of his spear gouged a line along my leg. I was more annoyed with myself than him but Aðalsteinn and Ráðgeir berated the poor youth until I stopped them. “It was an old man’s carelessness. Leave the boy alone. Erik, come and help me back to the hall. Germund, take over the drill.” I saw Haaken trying to hide his laughter. He would tease me about this later.
Atticus, of course, had a self-satisfied look on his face, “I told you that you are too old for this.”
I thought about going to Kara to be healed but this was not a serious wound and Atticus could deal with it. “Listen old woman, stitch me up or do whatever you have to. It is nothing. Erik, ale!”
Despite my words the wound hurt and it irritated me more than I would have believed thirty years earlier. I was unable to train for a few days. I made up for my lack of practise by walking around my walls each night to ensure that the gates were barred and the walls were manned. The Danes had not come yet but that did not mean they would not come! When I walked my walls Haaken One Eye was with me. He had one eye but it was a sharp one and he spotted things which I did not.
It was the end of Einmánuður. I had eaten well and I had drunk well. I should have slept all night but I did not. My wound no longer ached. It was almost healed but it itched. I rose to make water and, being up, decided to walk my fighting platform. The air felt damp despite the time of year. As I climbed the ladder, I felt a twinge in my leg. Another wound which would make my life difficult. When I reached the gate towers Karl Word Master was already there. He pointed down the Water. “Fog, Jarl, at this time of year who would have thought?”
I said, absent mindedly, “Aye.” The ale had dulled my wits. I looked down the Water and saw that the fog was coming quickly. Fog did not move quickly. It insinuated its way across the land. Then I remembered Kara’s words. “It is the Danes! Sound the alarm! Light the signals!” In the time it took for me to say that, the fog had closed to within a couple of hundred paces of the walls. This was not natural. It was witchcraft! “Alarm! Alarm!”
I raced down the ladder as quickly as I could. I ran into my hall and saw that I had roused them. “It is the Danes, arm and get to the walls! Erik, Atticus, help me with my mail!” Haaken ran for his mail while I dressed for war and battle much quicker than I had ever done before. Even so I heard men dying as I ran, sword in hand and with Erik Shield Bearer and Haaken behind me, to the walls. When I saw a Danish head appear over the walls, I knew that they had brought ladders. Karl Word Master and Cnut Cnutson, along with the other old men, were holding off the enemy. I saw one Dane struck in the side of the head by Karl’s sword and he fell. Men were racing up the ladder to reach the fighting platform. What we had not practised was where men would go when we were attacked and I saw that too many were heading for the main gate.
Slipping my shield over my back I shouted, “Beorn Hafþórrsson, take twenty men and go to the south wall!” The fog had come from the south. The odds were that they would be attacking there. I saw Kara, Ylva and another four volvas emerge. They stood hand in hand and began to chant. Kara and Ylva knew it was witchcraft and they were countering it. The fog was unnatural. There were witches with the Danes! They might defeat the witches but the warriors were a different matter. I began to clamber up the ladder. I saw that Siggi One Eye had already been felled by a Dane who had gained the fighting platform. Karl Word Master ran to end the threat. He had rarely had to run for many years and his lame leg became his bane. It gave way just as he reached the Dane with the axe and the Danish axe gouged first, into his neck and then, his body. Erik Shield Bearer’s arrow went under the arm of Karl’s killer. It emerged from his shoulder. He roared and turned to face us. I clambered up the ladder and he stood swinging his axe in anticipation of taking my head. I held Ragnar’s Spirit behind me as I climbed, one handed, up the ladder. I had to time it right. As he swung the axe, just a little too early, I climbed the next rung and, swinging my sword, hacked through his leg. He might have been a giant but even a giant needs two legs. He tumbled to the fighting platform and Cnut Cnutson hacked off his head and kicked his body to the ground.
When I reached Cnut, I swung my shield around. The Danes had managed to get a foothold in three places on the fighting platform. Beorn and his men would have to fight up ladders to clear the south wall. There was little point in bemoaning our fate. The sisters had spun.
“Erik and Germund guard our backs. Cnut and Haaken, flank me. We will clear the fighting platform. “
We walked down the fighting platform three abreast. It was a tight fit but it meant none could get past us. Even as we moved, I saw another two of my men slain. They took two Danes with them but it meant that the east wall south of the gate was in their hands. If they were able to get down the ladder then they could open the gate and all would be lost. I spied hope for Ráðgeir had organised Dagfinnr and my new men into a wedge. They were heading for the gate. If the gate was breached, they would attack whoever came through. I was confident that Beorn could reach and take the south wall. Already the rest of my men were hurrying to help us. The town watch had bought us time. It was up to me to use that time well.
We did not run down the fighting platform. We needed to hit them together but we had to reach them before they could descend the ladder. The boys trained by Erik came into their own. They began pelting the Danes, who had attained the platform, with their deadly pebbles. I saw one man struck in the head. Even though he had a helmet he plummeted to the ground. Others were struck on the arms, legs and bodies. They would hurt. The stones could break limbs b
ut, most importantly, while they were protecting themselves, the Danes could not climb down the ladder and take the gate. Cnut was on the left and Haaken on my right. He had free rein to swing his sword.
As we neared the boys, I heard Erik Shield Bearer shout, “Now target those on the south wall!” Erik had grown since he had become my shield bearer.
When the barrage of stones stopped the Danes tried to move towards the ladder. As Haaken One Eye swung his sword into the side of the nearest Dane, I brought my sword over my head to strike the helmet of a second Dane who ran at me with his sword. His sword struck my shield and he was stunned. Cnut used a back-hand swing to hack into his neck. He fell to the fighting platform and we stepped over his body.
Cnut made a fatal error as he did so. He did not look down to see if there was a ladder at the wall next to him. There was and a warrior emerged and a Danish spear was rammed up under the edge of Cnut’s helmet into his skull. He died instantly. Germund swung his sword so hard that he knocked the Dane and the ladder to crash into the stake filled ditch. He and his companions were all impaled. We had no time to see to our comrade’s body and we moved down the fighting platform. More men had now joined us on the fighting platform and it looked like it was just the south wall where the Danes had made any progress. They could no longer take the gate and I shouted, “Ráðgeir, take your men and reinforce Beorn!”
“Aye Jarl!”
The archers had now joined the slingers and were busy thinning out the enemy ranks. Ráðgeir led his men along the west fighting platform so that we were approaching them from two sides. I could hear my daughter and her women chanting. They were fighting the battle as hard as we were. Beorn and Benni, along with Aðalsteinn, had lost men but they were now hacking at the legs of the Danes on the fighting platform. When the Danes lowered their shields arrows and stones struck their heads.
