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In answer he swung his sword at my leg again. I brought my sword over and he managed to block it with his shield before rolling away. That was a mistake for he bared his back and Ragnar's Spirit hacked through his neck. The women and children who cowered in the corner of the room screamed and began to weep.

  "Do not try to escape and you will not be harmed." I needed them to be as calm as possible. I turned, "Finni The Dreamer, watch these."

  I went out of the hall. My men were finishing off those who had resisted and herding those who had surrendered towards the hall. "Ulf Olafsson, take some men and begin to drive the animals back to the ships. We will only need ten men for the prisoners."

  "Aye Jarl. We will eat well this night."

  I went to the other side of the hall and saw my four men walking towards me. They were driving four captives. When they neared me they said. "We killed the man. He resisted but we captured these."

  "Have them load all of the food and valuables into carts. They can pull them. I would leave as soon as we can."

  It was mid afternoon by the time we crossed the stream and headed south. In the distance I saw smoke spiralling into the sky and I wondered if that was one of my other jarls. I rode one of the captured horses and I went to speak with the woman who looked to have been the thegn's wife. I spoke in Saxon and, as always, it seemed to surprise the Saxon woman. "Your husband was a brave man. What was his name?"

  She looked up at me and I could see the contempt on her face. She contemplated insulting me but she must have been a pragmatic woman for she answered, "Wulfric of Belesduna."

  I nodded and rode in silence. That name would be useful. Aiden would put his red dot on his parchment and add another name. His maps were useful. It was how we had known of Lambehitha. The treasure from the two monasteries and their churches had almost filled the captured knarr. Even if the Franks paid us a fraction of their value we would still be rich.

  "What will happen to us, Viking?"

  "My name is Jarl Dragonheart."

  She crossed herself, "You are the one who can become a wolf!"

  I laughed, "It is a legend. Do not believe all the stories you hear. I wear a wolf skin and I carry a wolf charm. That is all."

  "You did not answer me. What will happen to us?"

  I liked her. She was afraid of me and yet she did not show it. She was willing to stand up to me. "To be truthful I know not yet. However I never lie and I say to you that it may be you become slaves. I will promise you this; if you are to be a slave it will be in my home and you will not be ill treated."

  She gave a scornful laugh, "And that is supposed to make me feel better? We will still be slaves."

  I pointed to the thralls who pulled the cart just ahead of us. "They were free once, lady. They are slaves. Did you treat them well?"

  She looked nonplussed, "They are thralls!"

  I shook my head, "As are you. If your husband had given you a wall and armed men instead of another building you might still be free. Those are the choices he made and you pay for them with slavery."

  I urged my horse on. I had been taken as a slave. It was not the end of your life. It depended upon your attitude. Scanlan and Seara his wife had been slaves and I had freed them. Now they were happy. Deidra and Macha had been nuns and yet they were now free and held in high regard by my people. Slavery was not the end of life unless you chose to make it so.

  My other bands had returned to the monastery with varying degrees of success. We had many sheep and cattle as well as enough horses to mount one warband if we chose. Raibeart returned with more treasure from a church. It was not as great as that from either Tilaburg or Lambehitha but there were precious metals and fine linen. He told me that they had destroyed the ferry which crossed the river at that point. We had cut off Tilaburg. We placed the captives, all of them, in the church. The priests comforted the wife and family of Thegn Wulfric. I guessed he had been an important man.

  Rather than raid the next day we consolidated what we had. We slaughtered the older animals we had captured and salted the meat. We had found a great quantity of salt at Belesduna. I did, however, send riders to spy out any other sources of treasure. They brought the news that the fyrd had been raised and were heading for us. It was not unexpected.

  "When will they get here, Snorri?"

  "If it was us then tonight but the Saxons move slower than a snail. It will be the morning before they reach us. They are heading first for Lundenwic."

  My jarls and captains gathered around me. "Do we stay and fight or leave, Jarl Dragonheart?"

  I smiled, Olaf Grimsson was the youngest of my captains. "We stay and fight, Olaf. Firstly we have to wait for the return of Aiden and Siggi and secondly the Saxon fyrd is not a reason to flee. We will, however, be prudent. The ships will anchor in the river. It will stop the Saxons using ships to attack us and prevent reinforcements joining from across the river."

  The afternoon and evening was spent in sharpening weapons, oiling mail and preparing defences. I knew we would be outnumbered. I intended to use the land to help us. I would make them attack up the slope. I had Snorri gather fifteen warriors to use bows. We still needed men to guard the captives and so I was left with a hundred and twenty men to face the enemy. Twenty five of us had full byrnies but all my warriors had a helmet, a shield and either a short byrnie or leather armour. We would be better armed than the fyrd.

  We rose before dawn. Snorri had said it was unlikely they would attack before morning but it paid to be prepared. We had cooked a half a dozen old sheep the night before and we ate well. The monks brewed good ale and we were as prepared for battle as any. Each warrior went through his own ritual. Mine was the same each time. I donned cochineal and then groomed myself. I took out Ragnar's Spirit and asked for the help of my old mentor and I touched the pommel stone which had come from deep within the earth. It was a link to the Mother. That done I was ready.

  I went outside to join the sentries who watched to the west. Snorri had seen the fyrd approaching Lundenwic from the west. They would join the remains of the garrison. The warriors of the garrison were the real warriors. There would be other thegns who would bring their hearthweru. The Saxons found courage in numbers. The Saxons made good swords; some said the best but they did not handle them as well as we did. They used them like an iron bar. We had Beorn put a sharp tip on our swords so that we could stab. We had discovered that you could open up mail that way.

  My men wandered out as they were ready. If I had given the alarm then they would have rushed but there was little point until the Saxons were in sight. One of the sentries shouted, "I see the banners and the crosses, Jarl. They come."

  The Saxons always liked to have their priests with their crosses in their armies. They also carried boxes with pieces of the dead holy men with them. It rarely seemed to help them. I saw them as they rose along the Roman Road to Lundenwic. It looked to be a large number but there was little order. I saw the standard of Eorledman Brynoth and he rode with five or six other fully mailed men. I took them to be other thegns or Eorledmen. The hearthweru looked to be small in number, perhaps forty of them and only half were mailed. They looked to have brought a fyrd all of whom had a shield and a spear. Lundenwic was indeed a rich city.

  They halted at the bottom of the hill upon which the monastery stood. It was neither a large nor a steep hill but we would have the advantage of height and that was always an advantage. Eorledman Brynoth rode forward a little way ahead of the throng of warriors behind him. He took off his helmet and held his hands open.

  Haaken said, "It looks like he wishes to talk. Do you think he comes to surrender Essex to us?"

  My Ulfheonar laughed.

  "Possibly, Haaken. or maybe he has heard the stories about you and wishes to know the truth!"

  That brought an even bigger laugh. It showed my men were comfortable but, more importantly, the Saxons shifted uncomfortably. They outnumbered us and yet we could still laugh. That was always disconcerting. Our ships were on the river and y
et we had not fled.

  "I will go and speak with him." I took off my helmet and handed it to Leif the Banner. My shield was behind my back and I kept my hands from my sword. I stopped twenty paces from him and waited.

  "I come to ask you to surrender the captives you took, Jarl Dragonheart."

  "And why should I do that?"

  "Because if you do then you shall leave and live. If you do not then you stay and die."

  I shook my head. "The last I saw of you, Eorledman, was when you were running back to Lundenburgh's walls. I do not think we have anything to fear from you."

  "You are outnumbered and the men of Kent are coming."

  "We stay until I am ready to go. We have many more animals to eat and there are churches all over this land. They yield much treasure and your women... well they are not as comely as ours but they will fetch a good price in the slave markets of Dyflin."

  "This is your last chance."

  "And we reject it."

  He smiled, "Very well, then let battle commence."

  There was something disquieting about his demeanour. He was up to something but I could not work out much.

  "What did he want, Jarl?"

  "He wanted us to leave!"

  They all laughed. I had just donned my helmet and turned when I heard a roar from the bottom of the slope. The fyrd opened ranks and thirty mailed warriors, Danes, began to march towards us in a boar's head wedge.

  I shook my head, "He has hired mercenaries!"

  Olaf laughed, "At least we will get some decent armour from their corpses." He spat on his hands and prepared for battle.

  Chapter 3

  As the Danes marched up the slope with their double point the rest of Eorledman Brynoth's army fell in behind. The odds were now most definitely stacked against us. "Sigtrygg, extend to the right. Spears!"

  The two ranks behind us pressed closer to us and their spears were jabbed over our heads. We all had a spear in the front rank. The main purpose of the double row of spears was to slow down their advance. We all had our swords in the earth just behind us. They would be the weapons we used to kill. We would be able to draw them easier from the ground than from a scabbard.

  I did not recognise the Danes, just their helmets, armour and battle rings. There were many such mercenaries. They were happy to fight for anyone so long as they were paid. The Danish mail was as long as ours but I saw that some did not have sleeves. The front ten all wielded long two handed axes. My Ulfheonar knew how to deal with them but some of the newer warriors might not. Our front rank was composed of our best warriors. My jarls all stood with their oathsworn. We would have to withstand the hammer that would be the Danish attack.

  "Snorri, you know what you must do."

  "Aye, Jarl Dragonheart. These Danes are in for a shock."

  He and the archers would send arrows over our heads. A Dane could wield an axe or hold a shield. He could not do both! Snorri and the archers were twenty paces behind us and were standing on the monastery wall. They had a clear line of vision to the Danes and mail could be pierced at fifty paces. The Danes were chanting. It took some moments for me to realise what and then I heard it, "Halfdan the Black! Halfdan the Black! Halfdan the Black!" It was the name of their leader. I saw why he had the name. His beard and his hair were as black as my wolf cloak. I saw many scars on his bare arms, testimony to his battles.

  We waited patiently and when they were thirty paces from us Snorri and his archers began to release their arrows. It was a controlled shower. I saw the Dane next to Halfdan fall back with three arrows in his chest. Although he struggled to rise he was trampled by those behind. He was the first to fall but seven more fell before they were close enough to us to swing their axes. Only Halfdan and a second axe bearing Dane reached us and Halfdan had two arrows in his forearm. They did not appear to bother him. I left Snorri to thin out the ones who were following and I waited for Halfdan. I knew he would come for me. Leif the Banner stood behind me with my wolf standard. I did not hide from my enemies.

  He ran the last two paces, leaving most of his wedge behind. He and his fellow swung their axes at Haaken and me in a double circle. It was almost mesmerizing. I knew that if it hit my spear it would shatter it. I wanted to strike a blow with it and so I timed my thrust so that the axe head was on its way up. It caught in his mail and I twisted and pushed. It made him slow and I pushed again. I heard a crack next to me as Haaken's spear was shattered. Above my shoulder were two spears but they would only help if Halfdan closed with me. A warrior standing behind Halfdan grabbed my spear and pulled it from me. I anticipated it and let go. He overbalanced and, as he did so, an arrow struck him in the throat. By my reckoning more than a third of the Danes lay dead.

  As the axe of Halfdan the Black came at me again I dropped to one knee and held the shield over my head. I reached for Ragnar's Spirit and as the axe smashed into the shield, numbing my arm, I thrust forward and stood up. Halfdan had good armour but my sword and my movement was too much for his mail. My sword went into his stomach and emerged at his shoulder. He roared and tried to bring his axe at me but he was too close and the spears from behind me darted forward and struck him in the mouth and the cheek. He now had four wounds and that was too much. I watched the light go from his eyes and he started to fall back.

  This was our chance, "Push!" Spears, swords and axes fell upon the disorganized Danes.

  Haaken had killed the other axe man and Sigtrygg and his men had slain the other Danes. We moved down the hill towards the Saxons. We now faced Saxons who did not wear mail. They were not in a tight shield wall and we were. They were downhill from us and when I brought Ragnar's Spirit over my head it split the Saxon thegn's helmet and skull in two. Blood and bone splattered on those behind. Olaf's axe took the head of the standard bearer and Haaken gutted a second thegn. With their leaders and hired swords gone the Saxons began to fall back.

  I shouted, "Second and third rank, pass!"

  It was a manoeuvre we had practised and, as our front rank turned the next ranks stepped forward; a fresh line with unbroken spears. They hit the disordered Saxons while I formed my shield wall once more. We moved down the hill, following my men. They began to spread out before us into a large half circle. If Eorledman Brynoth had had any sense he would have formed his reserves into a shield wall behind which the others could shelter but all he did was to feed more and more men, piecemeal, into the fray. It failed!

  As we came up behind my men, who were tiring now, I shouted, "Break left and right!" I was proud of our men for they did it in one motion. I raised my sword for my elite warriors, "Charge!"

  We began to move quickly down the slope and I led my thirty warriors directly for the Eorledman and his banner. The other thegns and leaders were mounted and gathered around him. We were just twenty paces from him when his nerve broke and he turned and fled. The other thegns followed a heartbeat later. The ones who had no horses, the ordinary warriors were struck by a solid wall of Ulfheonar. Their braver warriors stood but they were slain. The others were no match for my wolf warriors. All resistance ended and the Saxons left the field. We were too tired to follow but not too tired to cheer. We had won! Or, at least, the Saxons had retreated and were no longer a threat.

  I turned to Haaken. "It seems we can stay a little longer in this land." I headed back up the slope stepping over the Saxon dead.

  "Then we can go home as the richest Viking raiders ever."

  I turned over the body of the warrior I had taken to be Halfdan. I looked at his many wounds. The spear I had thrust through him would have killed a normal man. "Perhaps he was a berserker."

  Olaf said, "I remember being told of potions and plants which warriors can eat before a battle so that they feel neither pain nor wounds. This one should have succumbed to his wounds when you struck him with the spear."

  "Wyrd. Have the bodies stripped. You were right Olaf. We have a fine haul."

  Our warriors had suffered wounds and deaths. Some of the men of Cyninge
s-tūn would not be returning home. Arne Sheep Head was now missing a piece of his distinctive hair. He would live but he had taken a fierce blow.

  I took off my helmet and wandered down to the river to bathe. It was not the clean water of home but it would have to do. I felt better with the blood and the gore cleansed from my body. I longed for the steam hut. I shook my head. Old Ragnar would be appalled. I was becoming soft. I was almost a Roman. I washed the blood from my sword and my seax. I cleaned the cochineal from my face and then trudged back to the monastery.

  Some of my warriors were coming the opposite way and we exchanged greetings. Those, like Sigtrygg, Ulf and Asbjorn, who had fought with me many times, paused to clasp my hand and nod. It was the bond of the warrior. We had emerged victorious but we had all lost enough friends to know that there might come a day when we would not.

  I went into the hall where the captives were held. I could hear wailing as I entered. Audun Karlsson had commanded the guards. I went over to him. "Why the wailing?"

  He laughed. I had chosen him because he could speak Saxon. "The old priest told them that God was on their side and he would give strength to their warriors' arms and they would be victorious. They were all on their knees praying throughout the battle. When they heard that we had won then they began to weep."

  I shook my head and shouted, "Listen to me. Those who came to rescue you are dead or fled. You will be treated well but you are my captives. Cease this wailing for it offends my ears. I was a slave once and I now lead men. Your salvation lies not with this White Christ but within yourselves!"

  I saw the priests crossing themselves as I uttered the blasphemy. As I left I wondered if I should have sent them to Frankia with Aiden.

  The next day I sent out three large warbands to the east. We had not raided there. Although the land was marshy they did have farms and churches. For two days they scoured the land and returned with more candlesticks, linen, animals and slaves. We could have left then but I wished to wait for Siggi and Aiden to return. We still had many days before we had to meet Coen's knarr on the Sabrina. Despite my words the captives still wept and prayed. It was getting on my nerves. My ships in the river were a large enough deterrent to ensure that no one moved up or down the river. They were a dam of ships.