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“He is not my king.”

  I saw a brief look of anger flash across Ketil’s face before it dissolved into a false smile. “He wishes to visit with you.”

  “He is nearby then?”

  “His ship is in the estuary. He thought it might appear aggressive if he appeared with his men unannounced.”

  “He is on his way here then? I should prepare…”

  “No, Jarl Dragon Heart, he will wait in the estuary until I return.”

  I tried to affect a relieved look. “Good for it will take us some time to prepare the hall for visitors.”

  “This hall looks more than big enough.” He swept his arm around the Ulfheonar. “You do not appear to have many warriors although the ones you have look to be well armed. This would be big enough.”

  I nodded, “It would for, what was it you said? One boat crew?”

  He relaxed and drank some more warmed ale. “Aye just the crew of one drekar.”

  I gave a slight nod to Haaken and Cnut. They would be ready. I said, evenly, “You would swear to that?”

  “Why should I swear?” For the first time he lost his confident manner.

  “It is a small thing but I do not know you Ketil Flat Nose. It could be that you lost your nose because you lied. It could be that you do not owe allegiance to Thorfinn Skull Splitter at all. So I ask again, would you swear that it is Thorfinn Skull Splitter and one drekar which is moored in the estuary?”

  He stood and put his hands between his legs. “I swear.”

  I nodded, “Then perhaps we should remove them eh, because there are four drekar threatening Úlfarrston? Seize them!”

  My men had been awaiting such a command and each of Skull Splitter’s men was pinned by two men whilst a third removed their swords. Ketil’s face became a mask of fury. “King Thorfinn will come here and eat your heart when I do not return.”

  I smiled, “Then I am safe because you will return to Thorfinn and I will take you.”

  “And you will be destroyed. These warriors may be well armed but they will be outnumbered ten to one.”

  Haaken put his face close to the emissary. “And you should know, little man, that the Ulfheonar think nothing of those odds.” He turned to me. “Can I take his little love sacks? They will make such a nice ornament for my helmet.”

  Ketil’s face paled. “Not yet, Haaken, but there is always time for that.” I stared at Ketil. “This warrior knows the punishment when you are foresworn!”

  I said to my men, “Bind their arms and bring them down to The Water.”

  I could see the fear on their faces. They were weaponless and a watery grave was not going to see them join their comrades in Valhalla. We reached the smithy. “Bjorn, I want their arms shackling behind with iron.”

  He nodded, “Do you need a key?”

  “No. If we have to remove them then we come back here and if they die then we will just hack their arms off.”

  Bjorn wandered off to gather what he needed. My warriors held the arms of the eight captives tightly. Haaken began to finger the necklaces around the neck of the warrior he was holding. “This is a pretty piece of silver. Shall I take it now or wait until he is dead?”

  Cnut said, “It would be rude to take it now and a few more moments will not hurt.”

  I went up to Ketil and stood before him. “Now Ketil Flat Nose, what is Thorfinn’s plan?”

  He stared resolutely at a point above my head. “Bjorn we will only need seven of these. Haaken take the jewellery.”

  Haaken took out his knife and slit the throat of the warrior with the necklace. He laid him in the water and then chopped off the dead man’s head. After hurling the head into the water he took the necklace. “It saved me having to open the clasp.”

  There were three younger warriors amongst the others and I could see the fear on their faces. “What was that warrior’s name?”

  “Thorstein Ill-Luck.” Ketil almost spat the words out.

  “He lived up to his name then. He will never get to Valhalla and his body will wander Niflheim searching for his head.”

  “What does Thorfinn intend?” Even Ketil looked nervous now. “I could threaten the blood eagle but that is messy and I want to go and visit with this treacherous leader of yours.” I pointed to the forge where Bjorn had almost finished forging the first shackle.

  Ketil looked at me in amazement. He nodded with his head, “You would go to fight Thorfinn with just these warriors? Then I will tell you for you and all your men will die.”

  “As I said, there is no reason not to tell us.”

  “And then you will let us die with a sword in our hand?”

  “I will not be foresworn. I told you what I would do with you; shackle you and return you to your leader.”

  He shook his head, “The tales they tell about you are true, and you are fearless. We were to scout out your numbers and then he would attack you with his warriors. If you go to him then our job is done.”

  Haaken smiled as he wiped his dagger on the kyrtle Ketil was wearing, “Now if you had told us then Thorstein Ill-Luck would still be alive.”

  “Ready, jarl.”

  We took Ketil over and Bjorn beat the metal ring around his wrists. He was not gentle. He did the same with the other side. I knew that the metal they used was hot for I could smell the burning hair and flesh but none of them made a sound. It took some time to shackle all of them but eventually their arms were behind their backs with a short iron bar between their hands.

  The rest of my warriors were ready. We would be outnumbered but we had something on our side which would give us victory; we had surprise on our side.

  Chapter 20

  I left enough men to protect Erika and my family but Bjorn and the fishermen would all be there too. They would be safe. I led the Ulfheonar and twenty other warriors. I saw the confident looks on the faces of our prisoners. They thought that I was a fool. We marched along the river with the snow flurrying behind us. I had left Arturus, much to his chagrin with Aiden and his mother. I would rather have had Aiden and his agile mind with me but I had a plan already there. I had no intention of sacrificing warriors in a futile attack on Thorfinn. I would use the river, the land and my mind to defeat him.

  We reached the place where the river from our water met the larger one. I saw that our ships were still hidden. Although I could not see Thorfinn’s ships I knew where they were from the masts sticking up above the river bank. The snow storm had turned into a blizzard. Mercifully it still came from the north and would blind Thorfinn and his men as it drove into their faces and obscured our numbers and our intentions.

  Rolf marched his warriors along the river bank to me. He pointed to the two small fishing boats. “I brought them but I do not know why.”

  I smiled, “We will make them into fire ships.” He frowned. “If you were anchored in the river, as Thorfinn is then you would feel confident about being able to defeat any who came down the river. Suppose you suddenly saw two fire ships heading for you?”

  He smiled as realisation dawned, “Then I would cut my anchor and try to flee as fast as I could.”

  “And that is what I am hoping. Have the two boats filled with kindling and hoist the sail. Soak them with pig fat to help the fire take hold. Tell the men to wait for my signal. We will take them with us.”

  While Rolf had warriors preparing the boats I went with Snorri and Beorn to spy out the enemy. I could see that they had landed many of their men. It looked to me as though he had left half of his crews on board. I had never seen Skull Splitter before but I had heard the legend of a man whose blows with his axe were so powerful that he could split a man’s skull in two. I saw a figure I took to be Thorfinn. He was large enough and looked to have fine armour. If you had a reputation, as I had, then you ensured that you had the best armour that money could buy.

  There were guards and sentries outside the walls but, crucially, they had not occupied the dell where we had camped. “When we return take the archers we have and occupy
the dell. Watch for my signal and keep loosing until they fall back.”

  “What if they do not fall back?”

  “They will fall back.”

  I returned to the warriors, more confident now of my plan. Before I had seen Thorfinn’s dispositions the ideas had been a little vague. His numbers on land would slightly outnumber mine. If he landed his men from the ships then he would overwhelm me. I intended to make him attack me and commit his men and hold him until my fire ships got amongst his. The snow and the oncoming night would both be my allies for we knew this land and he did not.

  Snorri and Beorn went to select their archers. I turned to Rolf, Windar and the Ulfheonar. “We will march in a wedge as though we wish to attack. I will use the prisoners as both a shield and a goad. I want him to attack us. When they move to defeat us I will order Snorri and the archers to shower them with arrows. The wind is behind and works in our favour. Then we will send in the fire ships. I hope to make him indecisive and when I see him waver then we will attack him.”

  My warriors were so confident in our ability that they nodded happily. As soon as I saw Snorri and Beorn lead their men by the secret ways to the dell I prodded the prisoners before me. “You will only live if I choose to let you live. Keep that thought in your heads.”

  “Will you not free our arms?”

  “No, Ketil Flat-Nose, you lost all rights when you told me a falsehood. You are lucky that we do not kill you here and now. Your life lies in the hands of your leader.”

  I knew that the wedge was forming behind me and we moved forward. As soon as we turned the bend in the river we were seen and I heard the furore as warriors were summoned. I tried to picture it as Skull Splitter might see it. He would see seven of the men he had sent in chains. He had to know now that his plans were now in disarray. He would see that he outnumbered us by a considerable force as there were twenty two warriors hiding in the dell. He could flee or fight. For someone who wished to be a king then he would have no choice, he would have to fight.

  Once we were level with the dell we stopped. The snow was still whipping south. Once it neared the sea it became sleet but it lost none of its biting qualities. At the front of the wedge I was totally sheltered and felt, if anything, slightly warm. In the time it took to ensure that the wedge was well formed we were seen and I saw movement amongst Thorfinn and his men. He was not a good leader. If he was he would have had sentries further out to give warning of an attack such as ours.

  Thorfinn soon organised his men and they came towards us in four smaller wedges. It was a good tactic and would normally be effective. The middle two wedges had the men with the best armour. The two flanking wedges had men without armour. I saw that the weather still favoured us. Although the snow had abated somewhat it still drove icy flakes into the eyes and faces of the men forming the wedges. I watched as warriors raised their shields a little more to protect their faces from the worst of the snow. The ground was slippery with soft snow fallen on hard ground. The wedges which advanced moved a little more slowly than they might have liked.

  When they were a hundred paces from us and well within the bow range of Snorri and his men they halted. Thorfinn stepped forward. He had to shout against the wind. “I see you have captured my emissaries?”

  “Aye, although it is a poor leader who sends men to tell a falsehood on his behalf. If you just wanted to battle Dragon Heart all you needed to do was ask.”

  He laughed, “Your words are a hollow boast, little man. You will all die here. I have more than twice your numbers. If I so wished I could bring all of my warriors ashore and crush you like a cockroach.”

  “Then stop wasting time and do it. I have a meal waiting for me at home and I hate my food to spoil.”

  “Let my men go first.”

  It was my turn to laugh, “Why? It amuses me that they will be the first to die when you attack. I do not like treachery. This is not the blood eagle but it will do for now. Perhaps when I have captured you I will try that too.”

  I knew I had enraged him now. He suddenly lifted his axe and yelled, “Charge! Kill these insects!”

  I shouted, “Now!”

  As they charged forward, the snow flying in their faces was joined by twenty two arrows. My archers could launch ten flights before they became tired. The arrows fell amongst them and, because they had neither seen nor expected them, they struck home and warriors fell to the ground pierced by arrows. The left hand wedge disintegrated. Their shields were still to their fore and by the time they raised them there were dead warriors where there should have been shields. They had no defence against arrows.

  The screams of the wounded men drew the attention of the other three wedges which faltered slightly when they saw the sudden slaughter of their comrades on their left. Snorri and his men could not be seen. I saw spears hurled from the third ranks of Skull Splitter’s wedges and Ketil Flat-Nose fell to the ground, killed by his own warriors. The other spears struck our shields.

  I shouted, “Now Rolf!” I knew that Rolf would give the order for the fire ships to be launched. They were quite small and, in the snow, almost invisible to the four ships in the river. With the wind behind and the sails hoisted they would fly towards the waiting ships. The flames which would eventually turn them into a floating inferno would be small at first. The current and the outgoing tide would do the rest. They had anchored their ships so that they filled the river and were an inviting target for the two tiny boats.

  I concentrated on the task in hand, the approaching wedge. Snorri and his men were now raining arrows on to Skull Splitter’s wedge. Instead of their shields facing us they were facing the arrows. The four prisoners who remained were hacked down by their own countrymen as they closed with us. They were a human shield who died to a man. The advancing warriors then had to climb over the bodies and the slippery ground. It meant that they did not run the last few paces to hit us with their weight. They weakly lurched across the ground to get to us.

  Skull Splitter’s axe smashed against my shield. I knew what to expect and I angled the shield to deflect the blow into fresh air. I stabbed forwards with Ragnar’s Spirit. Thorfinn’s shield was giving him protection from the arrows and my blade slid between links and scored a deep cut down his left leg. I lifted the reddened blade for all to see.

  Suddenly those at the rear of the right wedge began shouting ,”Fire!”

  Skull Splitter tried a second weak blow with his axe but he was peering over his shoulder. I could now see the fire ships; they were burning fiercely and the sails although on fire were filled with the northern wind which sped them towards the wooden wall of drekar. Two of the drekar had tried to move and became entangled in each other’s rigging. I could see their ships boys struggling up the mast to cut the ropes which bound them. One ship had managed to turn and was heading out to sea. The last had tried to reach the shore but had been struck by one of the fire ships. It was in the shallows and the crew were trying to douse the flames. It was a disaster and Thorfinn Skull Splitter yelled, “Back to the ships!” He had been wounded, out witted and now his only means of escape was in danger of being lost. He was cutting his losses.

  This was too good a chance to miss and I shouted, “Charge!” We hurtled after them. Some of them slipped and tripped over bodies and the mud, snow and ice which made the ground treacherous. The ones who lost their footing were slain where they fell. None had time to help their fallen comrades as it became a foot race to the river. One of the ships which had been entangled had caught fire and both crews were desperately trying to put it out.

  I was keen to drive this would be king from my land so that he would never dare to try such a thing again. A handful of his oathsworn stood to delay us while Thorfinn Skull Splitter ran to board one of his ships. The Ulfheonar were with me and they each chose a warrior. A large warrior in an open helmet ran towards me. His shield had three yellow hands painted on it around a red eye. In his hand he held an axe. He was taller than me and I think I detected a hint of
Thorfinn in his looks. My shield and my helmet marked me for who I was and I could see that this warrior was keen to earn the praise for the killing of Dragon Heart.

  He did not make Thorfinn’s mistake of bringing his axe overhand, it was too easy to deflect. Instead he swung it sideways. I had no option but to block it with my shield. He was ready for my stab and as I saw his shield come up I twisted my wrist and hacked across his leg. Although he had a long mail shirt and the blow was not full strength I felt it bite into the mail and he stepped back. I punched forward with my shield before he had the chance to swing his axe and I stamped at his injured leg with my right leg. He stumbled backwards and I swung my sword at his head. He was now in full retreat. His own momentum carried him towards the river bank. He was on lower ground as he descended to the icy waters. An axe is a mighty weapon when you can put your weight behind it and swing easily. He could do neither. I alternated punches with my shield and swings with my sword and I put my whole body weight behind the blows. It was tiring for me but more so for him as he had no idea where he was stepping. When he tripped on the body of the warrior slain by Cnut I took my chance and pinned his head to the ground. My blade went through his eye and killed him instantly.

  I withdrew it and looked for another enemy but the only ones who remained were the dead and those about to be despatched. The rest were clambering aboard the three remaining drekar. One of those which floated might not do so for long for it had been burned by the ship which had now sunk. A second ship had some fire damage and he only had one undamaged drekar left to him. I watched as a bedraggled Thorfinn Skull Splitter was hauled aboard his ship. He waved his axe in my direction but the sound of his voice was taken away by the wind. The snow had abated but the wind still whipped wildly. I did not care what he shouted to me; he had been soundly beaten and this had been an expensive venture which had failed. Over forty of his men had been killed and more were about to join the dead as the wounded were killed.

  My men began banging their shields and chanting, “Dragon Heart! Dragon Heart!”