Chapter 8

Those seven days went past in a blur. Every day Halfdan, Gudvær and I trained the crews of our ships. They were a mix of battle-ready men and young boys. Every morning I had them out in the longboats rowing up and down the coast, building up their muscles and their stamina. Every afternoon we practised swordcraft and every evening it was shield wall training. Shield wall after the shield wall was formed. I knew that the battle we faced would be a hard one and men had to be ready to fight for their lives. We had them form shield wall after shield wall deep into the evening. I even woke them in the middle of the night and made them form the wall, a good wall can save lives and can scare the enemy.

Every evening I ploughed my two lovely girls. They had cleaned up the cottage and the place looked like a home, every night they cooked and after we had eaten, I took my pleasure with them. Sometimes one at a time and sometimes the pair of them joined me in the bed. I remember those evenings fondly.

It was seven days since I had left my Uncles village and true to his word, he sent three ships and nearly 200 well-armed men. The lookouts saw them approaching and called us to the beach. The three ships led by Esbjorn, Audolf and Kleng drew up to the beach, their crews were soon off the boats and they looked like a handy bunch. They were well-armed and looked like a proper Viking war band. Introductions were made and a camp was formed for them. Fires were raised and the beach was soon full of the smell of cooking.

A council of war was held in my father’s huge hall. All the senior warriors and shipmasters attended. The plan of attack was worked out and reworked several times. Kleng was all for rushing into the Saxon stronghold and fighting to the death, Gudvær suggested laying siege to the village and starving them out, other men offered different ideas. Some good and some bad.

My uncle’s spies told us that the Lord Aldwyn had at least five hundred men in his own village, a mix of warriors, foot soldiers and fishermen. But he could call on another six hundred men from the villages around his, he ruled these villages with an iron fist and they dared not ignore his call.

So we could be facing a force over a thousand men and that meant we were well outnumbered. I guessed our force at three hundred and fifty to four hundred men.

The final plan was to try to dwindle down their numbers by attacking some of the surrounding villages and killing as many men as we could before they grouped together. It was agreed that we would leave at dawn the following day.

My father and his senior men sacrificed a horse to Odin the god of war and asked for his help and guidance in our battle with the Saxon lords. We all watched as the beast was drained of blood and men took turns drinking from horns filled with the still warm liquid.

My father laid on a huge feast that night, cattle were killed and cooked over huge fires and barrels of beer were brought into the hall. That night we ate, sang and drank and some men whored. I sat at the top table with Matilda and Rosie either side of me. Men drank like it was their last feast and, in my mind. I thought for some it might be. We stopped in the hall until just after midnight.

I ploughed both girls before I passed out drunk and I awoke the following morning as the sun came up. I kissed both girls and promised them I would return before heading down to the beach. Men were wandering around, kissing loved ones, loading stores and weapons onto the ships. There was a sombre mood on the beach, I think we all knew that this was a fight that could go either way.

My father stood flanked either side by his warrior bodyguards. He looked worried...

“Uthred, be careful!” he said as we embraced, “these Saxons outnumber you and they are battle-hardened”

“I will father” I promised. He told Halfdan and Gudvær to look after me and then turned away and walked up the foreshore as the boats were pushed into deeper water. I stood on the prow of my ship as men took to the oars and started to turn us toward open water.

My girls, Rosie and Matilda came to the beach and waved me off, as did many of the other men’s women. Kleng was on the prow of the ship next to mine.

“Uthred, you lucky bastard” he shouted, “if there was any reason to win this fight and return quickly it’s the thought of ploughing those two wenches!”

He was right of course, and I knew I needed to prove myself to my men. The next few days could make or break me as a warrior and there was every chance I would never return to the village and my girls.

The trip south was quite fast as the wind was on our backs, the men rested as the Njord the god of the winds was kind to us and hastened our journey. The village we sought was well known by two of my uncle’s shipmasters. They told me of an island just up the coast from the village’s landing stage and we all agreed to land there and wait for the right time to take the fight to the Saxons.

The trip took two days, and we were happy to see the little island, we landed late on the evening and camped on the seaward side of the island. I placed watchmen on the shore side in case the Saxons came to visit!

I had the men feast on bread and cheese rather than light any fires, we didn’t want to advertise our being there, the following morning I ordered Kleng to man one ship with his best men and to sail south and to make havoc.

I took a ship north, a ship loaded with the thirty youngest of my warriors, they need to be put into battle and get used to the intensity of a fight. We rowed for half a day and then saw a small inlet. Gudvær was steering our ship and Halfdan was on the prow with me; we were dressed for war and armed to the teeth. There was a small beach with four or five hovels on it, we beached the ship, and I led my men up the foreshore, the shacks were empty.

I left five men and told them to take the ship out into deeper water and await our return. I took my raiding party up a track into the woods that surround the small village. We walked for an hour before we saw signs of life. In a clearing, there was a village of over twenty houses, a smithy and small feasting hall.

I ordered my men to get out of sight and I went forward to see if I could get an idea of the numbers of men. It was hard to count but there were upwards of thirty men of fighting age milling about the village. There were other men as well but they didn’t look armed.

I went back to my men and we planned our attack. I decide to trick them into attacking us. I split my men into three groups. One group, commanded by Halfdan, was hidden on the right side of the track around two hundred yards out of the settlement. The other group led by a young warrior called Osgood was hidden in the woods opposite Halfdan’s men.

The others Commanded by me, baited the trap by walking up the track toward the village. I told my men not to be quiet, we wanted the Saxons to hear us and hear us they did. We were only fifty yards away when I heard shouts and then saw the Saxons arming themselves. We stood our ground as forty to fifty men started to gather on the outskirts of the village. I saw two men on horseback ride off and guessed they were off to gather men, perhaps even to ride to see Lord Aldwyn and ask him to bring his men to fight us.

The men were full of bravado and jeered at us, seeing a dozen Vikings walking toward them must have seemed like a gift from the gods. Taunts and threats were shouted and weapons rattled against the rims of shields. I called out to my men to be brave and to be strong, for many this was the first time they had fought in a battle.

I called for the men to build a shield wall, once the wall had been formed I whispered that they should be ready to run when I told them to. The Saxons soon saw our wall and started to walk toward it. The numbers were worrying but I knew we could win that day.

Their war band was half warriors and half farmers, some men carried swords, others spears and other farm tools, bill hooks and the like. I was happy to see no archers in their number. I let them get halfway down the track before I told the men to run. Our shield wall disbanded and my men ran back down the track toward the sea.

The Saxons mocked us, called us cowards and then gave chase. As always happens some ran faster than others. We had marked a line in the dirt floor of the track and as we got to it we turned and formed the wall again. Some farmers got to us first and we dispatched them with ease. By the time the bulk of their force got to our small wall, there were a dozen dead men for them to clamber over. The tide was turning slowly in our favour. I looked up to see the main band of men only six yards from us.

They hit the wall with a crash of weapon on weapon, shield on shield and the wall took a step backwards under the pressure. I had a short sword in my hand and was fending off attackers and hoping that my friends Halfdan and Gudvær wouldn’t leave it much longer to come to our aid. A shout went up and I saw warriors come from the trees into the Saxons flanks. The fight seemed to last for hours but was probably over in five minutes.

The bloodletting started. The sound of battle filled the air, the clank of metal on metal; of sword hitting sword; of shield hitting shield. The curses of men as they fought; the moans of the wounded and dying. I broke free of the shield wall and slashed at the neck of man that was using a long spear to try to pierce the shields of my men in the wall. He went to his knee and another hack from my sword took his life. The ground where he fell quickly turned red with his blood.

A huge farmer charged me with a billhook, he swung high and I dropped to one knee as the dangerous-looking weapon swooshed over my head. My sword jabbed up into his guts, blood sprayed. He looked at me and as he opened his mouth I slashed at his right hand, the billhook dropped to the floor the hand still gripping it. The shock on his face lasted for less than a second as I slashed at his throat and he died before he hit the floor.

A young warrior rushed me but he had a bad technique and left himself open, I ran my sword into his guts, pulled it out and slashed across his thighs. He dropped to the floor and before I could swing my sword I saw a war axe buried into his head, spewing blood everywhere. I looked up and saw one of my young warriors swinging the huge axe toward his next victim.

I watched as Osgood took on a warrior and dispatched him with the slashed of his sword.

It was over in seconds, forty Saxons lay on the floor, dead or dying. We could see other men running toward the village. We let them go, it was good to let some of the survivors report what they had seen. We had two men injured, neither would die so after we had plundered the dead I sent them back to the beach with our treasure. We took gold and jewels only, we walked into the village, now deserted. We searched the shacks for gold and found little; so we torched them, throwing burning lanterns into the thatch roofs.