Chapter 3

We stayed in our camp for a week; the wounded needed time to recover and I was not eager to run into a battle with so many men out of action. We took the time to repair and sharpen our weapons, Halfdan and Bergvid, as my senior warriors drilled the fit men, forming shield wall after shield wall. They drilled them at day and night when they were not prepared. I was preparing to move the following week and not before.

It was the seventh night when they attacked. My sleep was disturbed by the yells of several men calling out ‘shield wall’ from all over the camp. I grabbed my helmet, swords, and shield and ran toward the commotion. Getting dressed as I ran, I saw the shield wall was forming; I head for its centre and Halfdan made room for me and as we touched shields, he smiled a nervous smile.

Any man that tells you he does not get scared in the face of a battle is mad or a liar. Men die in battle and it only takes on slip or one lapse in concentration for that man to be you. It a battle you need to keep your wits about you and never let your concentration levels drop. I have always thought a little fear kept me on edge and alert.

“What’s going on Halfdan?” I had to yell to be heard over the din of the wall forming.

“The guards saw a large force of men coming this way,” he yelled back, “They said there were at least one hundred men.”

I looked around, the wall was thirty men strong and we were ready to do battle. We were on a spit of land that was narrow with deep gullies either side. It was ideal. They could not send that many men at us in one go. They came out of the darkness and ran at us.

Their screams cut through the night air. The first wave hit us and most died before they had time to fight. Our short swords and spears cut into them. They were obviously not used to fighting against a shield wall and ours was well drilled. We held our shape and used the skills we had been taught since childhood.

Viking boys are taught the rudimentary rules of the shield wall from an early age. They practice it with wooden staves for swords and are put through their paces day in day out until it becomes second nature.

If they attacked high we defended low, if they attacked low we defended high. When the first wave retreated, I called for my men to take a step backwards. It was a ploy my father had taught me. It meant that the second wave had to clamber over their comrades’ dead bodies to get to us. That slowed them down and gave us an edge.

We fought them off easily, though one of my men stumbled as a spear bit into his leg and he was dragged from the wall and replaced as soon as possible. He was not mortally wounded but he would have been a weak link in the shield wall, and a weak link can be exposed and broken.

As the second wave retreated I heard the thwap of bow beside my left ear. I looked around to see who was using the bow, it was Jarun. He was shooting into the throng of men running away from us, I watched as he loaded another arrow and dispatched it toward the Saxons. A second thwap from my right side caught my attention, I swung around and saw that it was Lucille. I watched as she fired arrow after arrow into the men. I watched as several found their targets. Lucille was not as fast as Jarun but she was just as accurate.

That night they attacked twice more, but they were no match for us. I decided to keep the men in the shield wall until daylight. The Saxons had gone and when the sun rose, it was obvious why. We must have slaughtered over fifty of their men that day and any leader worth his salt would have retreated. You cant lose that many men and not have it affect the morale of the war band.

I smelt food coming from our campfire and let the men stand down. Vegoff, Halfdan and I searched the bodies. There was nothing of value to be taken, the odd decent weapon and a few shields but no gold or silver.

Most of their weapons were shoddy and they had no armour to speak of. We guarded the thin strip of land that led to our camp until some of my men had eaten then we went for our breakfast. Jarun and Lucille fed the men and tended to a few wounds. We had survived well but I was sure the Saxons would regroup and try again. This time their leader would bring more men and perhaps archers. Archers can make a difference again a shield wall.

Jarun and Lucille went out and pulled the arrows from the wounded.

I ordered the camp to be flattened and within hours, we were pushing my longboat off the sandbank into deeper water. The oarsman took their places and rowed us into the sea. As we moved away from the beach, several Saxons ran out onto the sand and jeered at us. They were brave from a distance. I ordered Jarun to use his bow, he fired a few shafts until we were too far away for him to be effective.

Once into open water Vegoff raised the sail and had the oarsmen pull in the long wooden oars. I never did see the point in working men when the wind and tide would move us along just as fast. We sailed all day and as evening closed around us Vegoff steered us into a small inlet for the night. We had made good distance and I was sure the Saxon villagers would not have followed us. I allowed the men to make camp, light their fires and soon the smell of cooking fish and meat filled the air.

Jarun brought me food and beer; I was sitting talking to Vegoff, and Halfdan. We all ate well that night. We had decided to head down the coast a little more and see if any small villages might offer up some treasure. A few guards watched over us all night but there was little for them to report in the morning.

The following morning when we headed back into the sea there was little wind so the oarsmen were used to propel us. Our dragon’s head cut through dense fog as we moved down the coast. The visibility was as near as damn it down to nothing and we hugged the coastline. Vegoff was worried about heading out into open waters. The fogs that hung around the coasts of Britain could hide a boat for days on end. They made it hard to navigate. We carried such limited food and water on board the longboats that if we got becalmed at sea for a few days things could be tough.

We heard the battle before we saw it, the clash of steel on steel. Men’s death screams and war chants. At first, I thought it was Saxon on Saxon but soon Danish voices could be heard amongst the din. While we sailed Vegoff was in charge but now we were hearing battle I took over. I ordered Juran to fetch the arms and armour from the hold and watched as he and Lucille worked tirelessly. Lucille worked as hard as any man. She made sure I got my equipment first. She helped me dress as I ordered the men to ship their oars.

Danes were fighting some unknown enemy and we might be able to help them.

The tide was drawing us toward the battle; the thick fog was mixed with smoke now. You could taste it on your lips. We drew ever closer and the noise of battle was unmistakable now. The fog parted and what we saw shocked us. One dragon boat was beached smoke billowed from it; another rocked in the tide, and another was drifting away into the tide. Flames licked along the hull of the drifting boat and it seemed crewless.

The beach was a maelstrom of activity. There was a shield wall of Vikings and it was being pummelled by wave after wave of Saxon warriors. The air above them was thick with arrows. The Saxon leader used his men well, they rushed the wall and when they retreated the archers let fly with their flying shafts of death. They were not giving the men in the shield wall any time to regroup. I admired the Saxons lord; he was a good leader indeed.

The Saxons looked like they outnumbered the Viking ten to one!

I called for our sea anchor to be deployed to slow us down and called my men to face me.

“Men these are our blood brothers, we need to go to their aid!” I cried out, “Will you fight for them this day?”

There was a loud shout of agreement and a rattling of weapons against shields.

“Good, then prepare yourselves!” I called to them. I thought that if we split the Saxons into two attacking groups we would have more of a chance.

I called for Vegoff to steer the longboat toward the beach; we were over two hundred yards from the fight and it gave us room to make our shield wall before the Saxons saw us. As my men got ready to go over the side I called Jarun to me.

“Stay on the ship, keep Lucille with you and help Vegoff guard it, do you hear me, boy?” I yelled.

He nodded his understanding. I then pointed at the group of Saxons archers that were standing by a copse of trees firing down onto the beach. They were making life uncomfortable for the Viking already fighting for their lives on the beach.

“Do you think you can hit them from here?” I asked him.

He looked over at them judging the trajectory and distance.

“Yes lord I think I can,” he said still looking at them.

“Once we have our wall formed, start letting your arrows fly,” I ordered.

I was the first one over the side; I left a crew of five on my ship. We rushed to through the surf and quickly formed our fighting shield wall. This was travelling wall, its shape was that of an arrow. The side arms were there to help protect the men at the front of the wall. We edged forward and it took longer for the Saxons to notice us than I thought it would. As soon as we were spotted some of the archers rained arrows down on us.

Our shields went up and took the brunt of their attack. Jarun started to fire arrows into the group and that made them move backwards but not before he had killed four or five men.

We moved forward and I saw a group of Saxons break from the main group and charge at us. They hit us hard and fast, they were good warriors and they gave us a hard fight. We fought off the first wave and awaited the second wave. As we did so, I dropped out of the wall and pulled Halfdan and four other men with me. We huddled behind the men in the wall. We were hidden from the Saxons by the shields.

As the second wave of Saxons hit the shield wall I led my five men to a ditch that ran along the right-hand side of the battlefield. We had to put the archers to the sword or they would kill us as we attacked the foot soldiers. We ran with as fast as we could with our weapons and armour.