Chapter 9

As we sailed back to the island it started to rain, we could see there was a storm coming and when we beached the ship we saw that the other ships had been hauled up the beach as far as they could.

Halfdan met me on the beach. I could see Kleng’s ship beached further along the foreshore. I ordered campfires to be lit, let’s face it the Saxons knew were here now so there was little point in trying to hide the fact. A little warm food would please the men I thought to myself.

“So Uthred was your trip successful?” he asked as we walked in the rain. “It was my friend, we killed and wounded at least a hundred men!” I replied, “And lost less than a dozen to injuries and one man dead”

“Well done my friend, “he said as we walked up the beach. Men were busy building shelters. Spare oars and rigging was being put to good use. The sky was black above us and the rain was coming down harder and faster. I guessed we were in for a rough night. Gudvær met us and told us he had climbed to the highest point of our island and has seen a huge storm approaching, it looked like we would have to wait to see what tomorrow brought.

A clap of thunder rolled around the sky as we headed toward the main camp. Kleng rose to meet us and we embraced.

“So Kleng, how did the hunt go?” I asked as I helped myself to a mug of water from our drinking barrel.

“Good Uthred, I think we injured and killed at least eighty men,” he said. There were bread and cheese laid out, we both took some food and sat on a fallen tree. I was eager for the cooks to get the fires roaring and food cooking, cold rations does not fill the bellies of fighting men.

Kleng told me about his trip to seek out the Saxons and I told him about mine if we had taken a hundred and eighty men out of action that made the fight more even. After eating, I went to one of the streams and washed off the grime of war. The water was cold and refreshing, I washed off the blood and sweat, and tried to work out my plan of action.

Later that evening I called a council of war and the senior warriors came to sit and discuss our next move. We had moved into a bigger tent that had been raised using spare masts and sails. The air was thick with smoke and the rain dripped off the sides.

It was decided that we would make some more trips onto the mainland when the storm had passed. There was little to do now but rest and prepare for war.

We ate, drank, and some men sharpened weapons. The storm hit us hard, more and more thunder rolled around the island and lightning lit up the sky. The rain made new streams in the earth. So we slept, there was little more to do than sleep.

The morning came and the storm was still all around us. There would be no fighting today I thought as I stepped out of the tent and pissed up a rock. Men don’t like to fight in a storm, the rain can make it hard to get a good footing, a good footing is essential in battle.

I saw Kleng walking up from the beach. His sea cloak was dripping wet and his hair and beard were plastered to his skin.

“Kleng, is all well?” I shouted over the sound of the wind.

“Yes Uthred, the ships are drawn well up the beach and tied well” he shouted back. We walked back to the huge tent that had become my feasting hall and meeting place.

I called my trusted warriors to the tent, meat, bread and cheese were laid out for us and water and beer barrels opened. Most of the men agreed that the day should be spent preparing as it was not good weather for a battle.

The day drifted past and the storm did not abate, the tempest lasted for another two days and even then the sky was still full of rain. On the fourth day, the winds dropped and the seas looked calmer. We decided to wait for one more day.

I was sat in my tent when a cry went up from the lookouts on the hill, a boat was approaching the island. Men armed themselves and ran to the longboats. I ran to the hill, the lookouts pointed out a small boat that was about to beach itself on the landward side of our island. Three men left the boat and headed toward us. They looked like Saxons but I could not tell if they were armed or not. For the distance was too far to see them clearly.

One of the lookouts suggested they might be spies and I agreed with him. What other reason would the Saxons have for coming to this island? There was a natural pathway through the trees and the Saxons started to walk up in our direction. If they were spies they were not being very discreet.

Halfdan joined me on top of the hill as did Osgood, I called for another three men and we ran toward the Saxons, we needed to kill the spies. We ran down the hill and into the trees at its base. We found a great place for an ambush, and I hid half of us on either side on the path.

We heard them before we saw them, they came around a bend, they were not men but boys and one of them I knew, it was Jarun.

I called out and told my men not to attack. I stepped out of the trees and the boys nearly shit themselves.

“Lord Uthred...” Jarun cried out as I appeared in front of him, all of the boys dropped to their knees before us. I held out my hand and pulled Jarun to his feet.

“I thought you were dead Jarun,” I told him.

“I nearly was Master” he replied. A huge smile cracking his face.

“And Lucille, what happened to her?” I asked.

“Master we were cut off from the main body of men when the Saxon army attacked,” I told me his head bowed, “ we did not run master, we shot arrows until our quivers were empty”

He was obviously worried I might accuse him of cowardice, but he was no more than a boy and to be fair to him I also got left behind during that battle. Sometimes it was better to live to fight another day.

“Jarun I don’t doubt you tried, “I said, slapping gently on the back.

“Thank you, master, as for Lucille she is alive and well and enslaved in a Saxon Lords kitchen,” he said.

“Then we should go and release her, “I told him. I was eager to see the girl again.

“I have news for you Lord Uthred, the Saxons have a trap awaiting you!!” he replied.

It was decided to go back to the camp to hear young Jarun’s tale, he and his two friends who turned out to be young Celts, Cyalif and Yanto who had been taken from Wales as slaves, came back to our camp and after gathering my trusted men Jarun told us his story.

It seemed this Saxon lord was cleverer than we gave him credit for and he had amassed a second army, made up only of bowmen and had made them camp five miles inland. There was apparently a valley that sheltered them and they were well hidden there. Jarun had been serving food during a council of war and had overheard the Saxons talking about it. They planned to bring their warriors, horsemen and foot soldiers to the beach. They would mock us and tempt us onto the beach, once we had landed they would retreat, knowing that we would give chase and then from the tree line their second army of over a fifty archers would let rip their sky born terror. A group of fifty archers would be able to unleash huge numbers of arrows and there would be little doubt that they would weaken our numbers.

It was known that Vikings hate bowmen, real fighting was done hand to hand chest to chest. Fighting from afar was not the way real men fight. This new news was a worry as there was no way we could win if the archers rained their barbed shafts onto us.

I took off a gold arm ring and used a sword to cut it into two half’s, one half was given to Jarun the other was halved again and given to the other two lads.

The boys were sent from the tent, Halfdan and Kleng wanted to attack now and surprise the Saxons. Gudvær thought we should send for more ships and try to outnumber them. I knew that no matter how many ships full of warriors we had the Saxons with a fifty archers would kill us before we had a chance to meet them face to face.

I seemed to me that Lord Aldwyn had a warrior’s brain and a good tactical brain at that. We had to get to the archers and put them to the sword before the Saxons had a chance to call upon their services.

I decided that I needed to do a little spying of my own to see what could be done to get rid of these bastard archers. I told my senior men that I was going to the mainland that night to check out the situation. We would use one of the small fishing boats, the Saxons would have lookouts looking for longboats full of men and, I hoped and prayed to Odin, they would miss a smaller vessel.

We headed across the small stretch of water to the mainland as midnight approached. It took nearly two hours to sail the small boat into a small cove and to hide her, as we would need her for the trip back.

I didn’t want the Saxon spies to see us land. Jarun, Osgood and I had brought dark sea cloaks and we covered ourselves as we quickly ran up the beach and it the trees. Once we got into cover we hunkered down and waited to see if we had been spotted.

We saw small bands of mounted Saxons patrolling the foreshore but they had missed us landing.

After an hour I decided it was time to move inland, I told Jarun to lead us to the valley where the bowmen were hiding. He told me the village of the lord that had enslaved Lucille was on the way so we decided to go their first.

The night was dark, there was no moonlight, and the sounds of the darkness surrounded us. We felt bats whooshing around us, heard owls hooting to each other and heard the movement of animals as the moved away from us as they heard us.

Jarun guided us through the woods and up over a small hill. We had to hide at one point as we saw a group of twenty men riding past us, they were only three swords lengths from us but the darkness of the night hid us well. We had to skirt two villages so that the village guards and their dogs did not sense us. The journey took longer than I would have hoped as we had to tread carefully.

We came to a dense copse as the sun was rising to brighten the sky, so we buried ourselves in the deepest part of the thicket. We had brought water and dry rations with us. We ate and then took it in turns keep watch while the other two slept. The day’s sun rose and started to fall, I had been sleeping and Osgood awoke me.

It would be dark enough to travel in an hour or so, we ate and finished off our water. Jarun was eager to move on straight away but we waited until the darkness would totally envelop us. We moved on with caution. Jarun was sure that the village where Lucille was enslaved was only a mile from where we had camped for the night.

He was not wrong; we saw the village in the distance and edged our way nearer. We could see a feasting hall, some small shacks and a small stable. We saw two men wandering around the village. They were the lookouts but they were not doing a good job. There was a small shack set back in the woods beyond the village. Jarun pointed it out to me.

“That’s the slave hut master,” he told me.

There is something wrong here!” I whispered, Jarun and Osgood both looked at me as if I had gone mad.

I stared down into the village, I sensed something. I was not sure what but something was odd about the village.

“Master Uthred, what is wrong?” asked Osgood. I waited at least five minutes before I replied.

“Look around, the stable block is empty, there are no horses and no carts!” I said, “And there are no fires in the village”

We all looked at the village, even at night there should be smoke coming from fires in the main hall and the shacks. I guessed that the village was empty there was only one way to find out.

“Osgood you sneak around the left and I will take the right,” I told him, “Jarun, give us to the count of one hundred and then walk into the village”

“But master...” He started to say but I stopped him

“It is fine when the guards see you, we will sneak up behind and deal with them! “I said.

Osgood nodded his understanding and we head into the woods to outflank the guards. I managed to get behind one of the shacks and awaited Jarun’s arrival. As I had predicted as Jarun walked into the village the guards ran toward him and ignored everything but him. Osgood and I were behind the guards with sword tips digging into their flesh before they knew what was happening.

Osgood took a man into the hut and tied him up, I took mine to the centre of the village. I sat him down and asked his name.

He told me he was called Eird, and was only doing his duty. He was young and scared and he was eager to talk.

“So Eird, where are the villagers?” I asked in my most threatening voice.

“They have gone to fight the Vikings; Lord Aldwyn has called in all the villagers from all around, “he said.

“So who is left in the village?” I demanded.