Viking War Page 17

  “Where are you going?”

  “I go to scout out the enemy.”

  “Why you?”

  I shrugged, “Because I am the best scout amongst us four. If Snorri or Beorn were here, perhaps even Arturus, then I would send one of them. As it is I am the best choice. Continue west at this pace and I will find you.” They nodded, reluctantly. It was not bravado; it made perfect sense.

  Perhaps the spirits were stronger in me now that I was older or it could have been my proximity to the heavens but I sensed that our followers were to the south and east of the road. I led my horse to the north of the road and headed for a depression I had spied. I mounted as soon as I was hidden and could no longer see the road. I rode east for a mile. I turned south and crossed the road. I could see the dots, in the distance, that were my companions. The road continued to rise. I hoped that Rorik’s men would not count us each time they checked on our position.

  I became more cautious once I reached the valley to the south of the road. I dismounted and looked to the ground. I saw nothing. I turned and headed back towards the road. I was almost at the road, just some forty paces from it, when I saw the hoof prints and the horse dung. The dung was still warm. We had not left the road there and so it had to be Rorik’s men. I mounted and began to follow the tracks. The trick to tracking is to look down and ahead to get the route and then keep watch up ahead. That way you did not get surprised. Every time I glanced down I saw that the scouts who were tracking us still held the line. The only time they deviated was when the path they were following threatened to rise towards the road. I noticed that human footprints sometimes headed north to the road and then returned to the hoof prints. They were making sure where we were.

  Horses are strange and almost mystical creatures. My beast’s ears suddenly pricked. I stroked his mane and then held my hand over his nose. I did not want him to whinny. The horses just ahead, hidden by a strand of straggly and windblown trees did whinny. The enemy were ahead. I could have returned to my comrades then but I needed to know numbers. How many had perished when I had attacked them? I dismounted and led my horse towards the trees which hid them. When I reached them I saw, just four hundred paces away, the six horsemen I had seen when we left Eboracum. They were riding in single file and following the road. I watched them gradually disappear in the dell which followed the road. Sometimes it became almost a dry gorge and at others it was a gentle undulation leading to the ditch which ran alongside the Roman Road. I watched as one warrior, not wearing armour, dismounted and crawled to the ditch. His head popped up and then he returned to the others. There appeared to be horsemen only and there were just six of them.

  I had seen enough. I turned and led my horse across the road unseen and, once on the northern side, mounted him to return to the others. The soft, springy turf had been dampened by the recent rains and the horse’s hooves were almost indiscernible. I rode closer to the road this time for I knew I could not be seen. As soon as I saw the ponies I rode harder and joined them on the road. I held my finger to my lips. Now that I knew where the enemy were I did not want to risk our words carrying on the breeze which blew from the west. It had carried the noises of the enemies’ horses to me. I dismounted and held up six fingers. I pointed behind me to the left. All three nodded. I pointed west and they nodded again. We all walked our horses. If we had to hurry away then I knew we could outrun these six horses which had to be tiring for they were being ridden.

  I began to concoct a plan in my head. As the afternoon wore on we saw the crest of the high divide. I knew that, beyond it, the green and fertile land to the west would unfold. This was where we would spring our trap. It was an overcast day and we could not see the sun but we saw the sky darkening behind us. We found some rocks which sheltered us from the approaching clouds and we set about making a fire. We could talk now.

  “There are six of them. Five are mailed and one is not. They are to the south of the road. Once they know that we have camped I am guessing that they will keep one man to watch us while the rest sleep. We will take them.”

  They nodded. Cnut asked, “How?”

  “We leave Aiden to maintain the illusion that we are all here. We use our cloaks to make our shapes beneath our blankets. We need no disguise now. Then we go on foot along the northern side of the road and approach from the west. There will be one watching. We need to eliminate four of them.”

  “Four of them?”

  “Aye, Haaken, I need a prisoner.”

  Chapter 15

  We found a spring for water and Aiden discovered some autumn berries. We used them to make a stew with the dried meat we had with us. Once Aiden put in some dried herbs the enticing smell began to drift on the breeze. I hoped it would reassure our pursuers. I wanted them to think that they had succeeded. We talked and we laughed. I needed Rorik’s men complacent. They had to believe that we had no suspicions. I explained how we would slip away. Cnut and Haaken quickly understood; they were Ulfheonar. Aiden would have the hardest task for he would have to wait until he heard the sounds of combat and then reach the last guard in case we had not eliminated him.

  When the fire had died to a glow I stood and went as though I would make water. I crouched down into the small hollow I had spotted. Haaken stood and pretended he was me returning to my bed. A few moments later Cnut stood and joined me. Finally, Aiden stood and went to where Cnut had been so that Haaken could rise and join me. Anyone watching would have seen each of us rise and, in the dark, assume it was the same man returning to his bed. The fire was just a glow and it would look as though we were all sleeping still.

  We moved east for thirty paces and then turned south. When we reached the ditch we used it for cover and we looked south. It took some time but I identified the watcher. He was on our side of the road in the same ditch as we were. He was a hundred paces from us. He was looking in the opposite direction. He kept lifting his head to check on us and then he lowered it. I saw the glow from our fire and saw occasional sparks as the logs crumbled into the red ash and they rose into the sky.

  I tapped Haaken on the shoulder and he crawled, with his dagger ready, towards their guard. Cnut and I drew our swords in case the sentry made a sound. I caught a glimpse of his white face as he turned, hearing some slight sound, but it was too late to save his life. Haaken’s knife sliced across his throat. Cnut and I slipped across the road, crawling on all fours. Once in the ditch on the other side we looked and we listened. The horses told us where they were. They snorted and munched as they ate the spongy grass. Both noises alerted us to their position. They were forty paces from the road. Haaken joined us and he wiped his bloody dagger on the turf. I waved Haaken to the right and Cnut to the left. We crawled towards the sleeping forms.

  They had not used a fire but they had huddled beneath blankets. I could not see them all but that did not matter; the horses were to the left. They would have to get through Cnut and me to reach them. The hard part would be sticking a sword into a sleeping body. It went against the instincts of a warrior. Inside you wanted your enemy to have a fighting chance. I steeled myself. My people would suffer unless I was totally ruthless and killed without mercy.

  I saw the first warrior. He looked to have his back to me and he was ten paces from me. I moved towards him, Ragnar’s Spirit held before me. I edged slowly forward. Suddenly he turned in his sleep. I saw his bare neck and I lunged at him. The tip entered his throat. His eyes opened, briefly to stare at me and I pushed harder. My sword struck a bone; I twisted and withdrew my bloody blade. No one else moved. All was silent.

  I looked for my next foe. There was a warrior between Cnut and me. I turned slightly. I saw Cnut’s sword raised above his victim. As he brought it down the warrior must have opened his eyes for he gave a shout of alarm before Cnut’s blade took his head.

  The other three were all good warriors. They were awake in an instant and, with swords in hand stood back to back to face the unseen enemy. We were in the dark and they had the fire behind them.
The warrior I faced had a sword in one hand and a single bladed seax in the other. I had seen these weapons before. They were slightly curved and, because they only had a single edge they had a much thicker blade at the back. They were very strong and would neither bend nor break as easily as an ordinary sword. He had the advantage with two weapons to my one. I heard the clash of metal as Cnut and Haaken took on the last two warriors. My opponent swung his sword at me at the same time as he stabbed forward with the seax. I deflected the seax as I turned my body. His sword slid down the metal plates on my shoulder. I thanked the man who had designed such efficient armour. I stabbed forward with Ragnar’s Spirit. He tried to resist with his seax but it was his left hand and that was not as strong as his right. My sword sliced through his mail links. He was not wearing leather beneath his mail and my sword came away bloody.

  I was vaguely aware of the others fighting around me but I had a dangerous opponent. Whoever made the first mistake would die. I decided to take the offensive. I swung my sword horizontally. He lifted his seax to counter it and I stepped inside his swing. The flat of his blade struck my left arm. I grabbed his belt and pulled him closer. He was not expecting it and I head butted him. His eyes watered as his nose burst. For the briefest of moments he was disorientated. I lifted my sword and struck him again with my hilt in the face. He stepped backwards. Holding Ragnar’s Spirit in both hands I swung it sideways and smashed the flat of the blade into the side of his head. He fell unconscious at my feet. We had our prisoner.

  I looked around and saw that the other two warriors lay dead and Cnut and Haaken were watching me. I was their jarl and they would not take away my victory. Behind them I saw Aiden approaching with his blade drawn.

  “Secure the horses. Let us take this mail and their weapons.”

  I took the seax and stuck it in my own belt. It was a handy weapon. I began to take the mail from the unconscious warrior. Cnut looked at me curiously but did not say a word. We left the dead where they lay but we took their weapons and armour, along with their unconscious companion on their horses to our own camp. There was still some time until dawn. We built up the fire.

  “Take all the warrior’s clothes from him and stake him out. Aiden see to his wound. Apply honey but do not stitch him.” I saw that I had aroused their curiosity but they would not question me.

  By the time dawn broke we had washed the blood from our bodies and eaten. The mail and the weapons were all secured on the horses. The six horses we had captured would make a fine addition to our herd. It would make movement around my land much easier.

  I heard a murmur. The warrior awoke and tried to rise. He could not move for Cnut had staked his naked body out well.

  I said nothing and finished the ham I had just taken from the branch hanging over the fire. I wiped my greasy mouth with the back of my hand and swallowed some spring water. The others remained silent too.

  He stared belligerently at me to show he did not fear me. “I will tell you nothing, Jarl Dragon Heart. You might as well kill me now and save yourself some time. I am oathsworn and I am a warrior. If you have killed my brothers then I will see them soon in Valhalla.”

  I smiled and stood over him. “We have all the time in the world. Rorik will not worry about you for many days. By then we will be safely in my home and your gnawed bones will be the last reminder to Rorik of his failure.”

  “You cannot frighten me. I am a warrior. I am Sven Two Swords!”

  “And you will die here without a sword in your hand, Sven Two Swords. You will not go to Valhalla.”

  For the first time he looked worried. “Then give me a sword and kill me. I am a warrior and deserve a warrior’s death.”

  “First you will tell me exactly how many men Rorik has and what are his plans.”

  He laughed, “I will not be foresworn. Leave me here to die.”

  “We will not leave a fellow warrior. We will watch. My healer has tended to your wound. He has applied honey. It helps the wound to heal.” I saw him frown. He did not understand my motivation. “He did not stitch it and it bleeds still. It mixes with the honey and falls next to you. The flow is slow but the smell is strong. There are ants over yonder. Already they smell the honey. My healer tells me that ants are attracted by its sweetness. Soon they will come to devour the honey and the blood. That will increase the blood flow and then the rats and the foxes that are now feasting on your companions will come. By then you will be tired and weak. We will go to the rocks and watch as they enter your body and begin to eat you. The birds will come down to enjoy the feast too.” I pointed to Haaken. “Haaken here wants to have honey poured on to your balls too. He wonders how long it will take the ants to eat through to the flesh. Of course Cnut just wishes to castrate you. As you can see we have lots of time and we are patient. We do not like being followed and we know the treachery of Rorik and his men.”

  I retired to the rock where the others waited. Aiden had found somewhere close to an ant’s nest and I had not lied. The first ants were already closing with the warrior. I was not exactly certain if they would do all that I had said but it sounded reasonable. It took an hour for him to break. The ants swarmed all over his body as they sought the honey. Aiden had put a few blobs on his naked chest and his cheeks. He shook his head to try to rid himself of the crawling creatures but they were persistent. It must have been horrific to have them crawling over his body and biting him. He was a warrior and could endure much pain but this was insidious.

  Eventually he said, “I will tell you! Just cut me free and give me a sword.”

  “When we have the information we require.” He nodded. “You are a trusted chief are you not?”

  “I am one of Rorik’s oathsworn.”

  “How many men does he have?”

  “He has six hundred of his own men and his allies have the same number.”

  “His allies?”

  The warrior laughed, “You are not a popular man Jarl Dragon Heart. Sihtric Silkbeard and Erik of Mann hate you. Ragnar Hairy-Breeches and Magnus Barelegs both owe you for past insolence. They all wish to share in the bounty of your land and to find your treasure.”

  “We have no treasure.”

  “You lie! Erik of Mann has told us of the magic sword you found as well as the blue stone and gold mines you have. How else could you afford such fine armour? How else could your men wear the golden wolf?”

  Erik! He had betrayed me. ”And when does he come?”

  “That I do not know. I have told you all. You gave your word! Not that I believe you anymore. You have not spoken the truth. You are foresworn. You are a nithing.”

  I was angry. “Give him a sword and send him to Valhalla.”

  “You will burn my body?”

  “No! The rats and the animals will feast on the flesh of Sven Two Swords.”

  Cnut put his sword in his hand and Haaken gave him the warrior’s death. We put the armour and weapons on the horses. As we headed west I wondered about the treachery of Erik. I wondered why he had not tried to mine the gold and the blue stones for himself. It was only then I remembered that he had not gone with us to the mines themselves. He had waited in the estuary on his boat. He had received the bounty; he wore a wolf pendant around his neck and yet he had betrayed me. He had sworn an oath to follow me. He would be punished. I would need to speak with Kara. My wife would know her brother’s mind and heart.

  The other Norse kings who were coming were just lazy leaders. They were like the rats and foxes which would be eating the flesh of Rorik’s men. They let others do the hard work and then they preyed on the ones who had toiled. I had more respect for Rorik; at least he had captured Eboracum from the Northumbrians.

  “We are no wiser then, Jarl Dragon Heart?”

  I shook my head but Aiden said, “We are.”

  “How so?”

  “We knew already that Sihtric and Erik would be coming from the west. Now that we know they are allies of Rorik then we know that one attack will mean there is a second
coming. This is vital information. Had we not questioned Sven Two Swords then we might have drawn all of our forces to face one foe when there was another waiting to attack. We do not know when they will come but Pasgen now has a tower. We have ships we can use to watch Mann. As soon as they sail from Mann then we will know that the attack from the east is also imminent. Where Magnus and Ragnar will come from is anyone’s guess. They could join Sihtric and Erik and attack from the west but I think that Rorik will want to divide his forces.” He hesitated, “The inescapable truth is that he could have a thousand warriors at his command and they will fight as your men do. They are Vikings and not Saxons!”

  I could not fault Aiden’s thinking. We still had time. Winter would be upon us in a matter of ten days or so. Rorik would have to wait until then to see if his scouts returned. I was even more convinced than ever that the attack would now come after the winter. We had been lucky. If we had not evaded the trap laid for us by Sihtric and Erik then Rorik would already have attacked. The ambush by his ships had been well planned and almost succeeded. There had to be communication between them. Then I remembered that Ragnar Hairy-Breeches ruled the land north of the Maeresea. With Rorik at Eboracum they now cut the land in two and Magnus Barelegs ruled Anglesey. All that they needed was to ally with the men of Strathclyde and we would be completely surrounded. Our attack on them had been judicious. We might have had to fight even more enemies else.

  When we reached Cherchebi I was pleased to see that Arturus had built two tall wooden towers facing south and east. They gave a good view over the low lying land and would warn him of an enemy’s approach.

  His men had hunted and we ate well. The four day journey back had been on dried and salted food. The fresh meat and ale were welcome. We told him and his warriors of our journey. He, too, became angry when he learned of Jarl Erik’s perfidy.