Viking Sword (13 page)

I lifted my spear and rested the end of the weapon on my shield.  I felt the two spears of Haaken and Cnut slide over my shoulders. The first warrior to face us would need to be a very brave man. When the gate went it went suddenly.  It was as though it had held on for as long as possible and simply died.

"Now!" I moved my right foot first.  We had trained for this many times.  It meant we could run and keep our formation.  Few other warriors were as skilled. The others all stepped onto their right foot too. The first two through leapt from the front of the ram and, in their enthusiasm to get to us were impaled on my spear and Cnut's.  I released the now useless weapon and drew my sword. I held it up.  "Ragnar's Spirit!"

"That sword is mine!" I saw a half naked warrior swinging an axe leaping towards me.  He ran into Haaken's spear and ripped the head of the spear from his shoulder where it had stuck. He seemed impervious to the pain and he swung the axe over his head.  I lifted my shield to block the blow and rammed my sword into his unprotected middle.  The blow from the axe almost drove me to the ground and I had to drop to one knee. I knew he was a tough man and I brought Ragnar's Spirit into his groin and up into his body.  I felt flesh and kept pushing and then, as I twisted, I withdrew the bloody blade. It seemed that most of his wriggling insides came out with the sword.

He was such a big man that there was a gap at the end of the ram.  I heard Cnut shout, "Another spear." One was passed from behind and we had two spears jutting out before me. We moved to the end of the ram. The spears protected my head and I slashed at the legs and feet of the men who climbed along the ram to get at us. Suddenly the top of the ram was empty as the archers of Arturus and the stones from the walls took their toll.

"Quick.  Shoulders to the ram." I shouted up to the walls.  "Pour oil and fat on the ram."

"We have little ready."

"Just use it all and then have a fire arrow ready!" I put my shield against the ram. "Heave!"

My men all pushed.  I felt the pressure of the men behind and I thought that my chest would burst but inexorably the ram began to move.  I saw liquid being dropped onto the ram as it began to move quicker.  Mercians were running towards the ram, desperate to finish this; I could see above it now that we were through the gate.  The Wessex archers were having more success and the few who made the ram died quickly.  Then the rear wheels struck the ditch and the ram fell away.

"Flame arrow!" I turned to my men.  "Get some timbers and shore up this gate!" We ran back inside the fort.

Outside there was a whoosh as the pig fat was ignited. Had I not had my helmet on then my beard would have been singed.  As it was I was knocked back by the force of the flames. Then the flames leapt along the faggots so conveniently laid by the Danes and the Mercians.  By the time the gate was finally shored up the whole of the ditch was aflame and we could hear the screams of dying, burning warriors.

By the time I reached the gate tower the battle was over.  Guthrum and Coenwulf were retreating to lick their wounds. The fire meant that they would not be fighting until the flames had gone and, thanks to their own endeavours, that would not be until the next day. We had bought another day.

They came again the next morning just after dawn.  This time, however, they came for a truce. They wished to talk. I saw that there was King Coenwulf, Guthrum and another Dane. I wondered if he was the new leader of the oathsworn.  He certainly looked like a tough warrior.  He had a short byrnie and his helmet was a well made one with a mask for the eyes. He too had a gold torc around his neck. Working for King Coenwulf appeared to be profitable. They approached with no shields, no helmets and their hands at their sides to show that they came to talk. They halted twenty paces from the still smoking ditch.  I knew that we would have to clear it as soon as possible for it would allow the enemy to swarm over the ditch and the gate's repair was but temporary. King Egbert was summoned and he joined us at the gate tower. Eorl Edward was a quick learner and he had ten of his archers with their bows levelled at the three of them in case of tricks.

"What is it that you want, Coenwulf?" King Egbert shouted.

"I want my town and my fort back." He spread his arms towards the ditch.  "Soon we will walk over the ditch and destroy the gate again.  This time we will triumph. You have less than a hundred warriors you cannot last long."

"And how many more of your warriors do you wish to smell burning?  You have lost many too.  We will wait. These walls were Roman built and they are built to last."

King Coenwulf turned to the new Dane. "We have new allies.  This is Magnus Skull Splitter and he is come from the north.  He is here with fifty of his men.  What say you now?"

"I say bring as many of these Danes as you wish.  They die as easily as women anyway."

I saw Guthrum begin to become agitated. His eyes burned hatred towards me.  Each day I heaped more pain and misery upon him.  I had killed his son, sunk his drekar, destroyed his fort and now I had drubbed him twice.  I could see that he was barely able to contain himself. He wanted to leap at me and kill me. The new warrior, Skull Splitter, turned and said something in his ear.  He quietened.

King Coenwulf shouted, "You use the Vikings too.  Magnus here would like to fight a single combat against your Dragon Heart.  What do you say, Viking?"

Every eye turned to me. King Egbert nodded that I should speak. I smiled as I considered my words. "I have fought many men in single combat and I have always won. I will let this Magnus Skull Splitter live.  If he wishes to fight me then let him lead your armies.  I will be at the fore of the defenders."

I had spoken in Saxon so that both armies could understand me. I had given an answer which satisfied the Saxons on both sides. There was something about this Dane that made me suspicious. My suspicions were confirmed when he spoke directly to me. "Half breed, I will have this sword of yours. When I hold the sword touched by the gods then I will be invincible. I will come for you when this battle begins."

"Then you will end your life beneath these ancient walls. And the only time you will possess it is when it ends you life."

King Egbert looked at me and asked, "What was that all about?"

"He wants my sword."

King Egbert nodded and turned back, "It seems King Coenwulf that we will have no entertainment.  You will have to try again and more of your warriors will die."

"And when we enter we will slaughter all! It will not just be your warriors who will die. Those who are not slain will be given to the Danes here. They yearn for prisoners!"

They turned and departed. King Egbert turned to Eorl Edward. "How many men did we lose yesterday?"

"Fifteen dead and ten wounded."

"Jarl?"

"One dead and three wounded."

"He has not hurt us yet."

"No, but today he can. By noon the ditch will have cooled enough for them to cross.  They will not need a ram today.  The gate needs replacing.  They will send fresh Danes with sharp axes."

"Then we use arrows to thin them out."

Eorl Edward said, "We do not have many arrows left.  We used too many yesterday." I knew that the king would rue the profligate use of his arrows.

We were walking back towards the walls and the still smoking ditch.  Beyond the walls and the ditch I saw the river.  I had a sudden idea. "Then we cool the ditch down quicker."

"What?"

"If we break through to the river on both sides of the fort then we make a defence of water. He will need to build bridges to cross it."

"Have we time?"

"We waste time by talking. Leave half the men on the walls and have the other half connect the ditch to the river at both ends."

In the end it proved relatively simple.  We had men using anything they could, including Bjorn's ploughs, to dig through the earth.  The god Ran helped us for he sent a high tide to surge down the river.  It raised the levels of the water. Even though we had not dug much out the rising river flooded over the banks and filled the ditch.  The waters steamed as the smoking wood was doused. The tide would continue to rise for an hour or so by which time the ditch would be completely filled. In fact it had worked to our advantage for when the river receded the water would still remain as it had two small dams to hold in the water.  They would have to build bridges. Before we ate we sharpened all our weapons and gathered our arrows. We would be prepared when they struck.

I ate in the warrior hall. King Egbert came to me.  "This sword of yours, it draws men does it not.  Why?"

I nodded to Haaken who told him the tale. He concluded, "The sword can never be defeated."

Eorl Edward asked, "Then who ever fights you is doomed to die?"

I washed the food away with a horn of ale. "Each one who tries believes that there is a moment when my strength will fail and they are also arrogant enough to believe that they are great warriors already. With Ragnar's Spirit they hope they will become greater.  Oh they are good warriors, Eorl Edward, but they are big fish in a small pond. Guthrum is a leader who has not fought great warriors. That is why he is rarely at the forefront of his men. He allows others to do the fighting for him.  He hates me more than anyone for I killed his son and yet he did not challenge me to single combat. Now Magnus Skull Splitter is a warrior; I can see that. This Magnus has fought in a few raids.  He may be a skull splitter but that does not tell me that he can handle a sword. An axe or a hammer is a weapon to terrify a nervous warrior. If he leads the attack and comes at me with an axe then he will die."

"You seem confident, Jarl."

"King Egbert, I know my own weaknesses and my strengths.  I do not enjoy fighting but I know how to do it well. I do not boast which is another reason I did not accept his challenge.  I have done it too many times already."

One of the guards from the walls came running in.  "King Egbert, we can hear chopping.  They are cutting down trees."

I smiled, "As we knew they would." I emptied my beaker.  "Let us go to the wall and watch them.  It will tire them out if nothing else and we are well rested."

The Weird Sisters weave complicated webs.  We stood on the walls and, by noon, the chopping had ceased.  I say noon for we assumed it was so but large black clouds had rolled in from the south west. Haaken mused, "It will not be long now."

Whoever had directed the building of the bridges had been clever. They had split logs and made them as long as the ditch was wide and as wide as the body of a man.  Those way ten warriors could carry the wooden structures like a giant shield.  With their own shields slung across their backs and only their helmets showing they would be a difficult target for our archers.

"We will need to use our best archers to hit them when they try to lay the bridges. Once they get them across then they will use the Danes to race across them."

King Egbert looked at me, "You think King Coenwulf would waste his allies so?"

I stared at the king. "He has paid for them; I daresay he will use them as he sees fit. He will certainly not risk himself or his own bodyguards.  He has men he can use as he will." The king almost recoiled and I wondered if I had gone too far but he nodded. In that moment he understood.

The wall of bridges advanced.  They had built just eight of them.  Behind the eighty warriors who carried them we saw the Danes advancing in a shield wall.  There were two lines.  The first was led by Magnus Skull Splitter and the second, surprisingly, by Guthrum.  That alone told me that they were confident. They thought that they could span the ditches and scale our walls. I strung my bow and selected an arrow. Eorl Edward had had a supply of stones brought to the ramparts and they were ready to be thrown down as men tried to cross the bridge. I looked at the water in the ditch.  It had mixed with the ash to make a grey sludge which lay across the surface. If anyone fell in then it was hard to see them getting out easily. The sky continued to darken as they approached. The Christians did not appear to notice but my men sensed the gods at work.

When the eighty men reached the edge of the watery ditch they halted.  I saw archers run from behind the first line of Danes.  "Archers!" I wondered where he had got the archers from.  There were not many but they were a surprise.

Arrows began to fall upon the Saxons but some reached the bridges and began to send arrows back.  As the bridges began to be laid we loosed arrow after arrow.  The men of Wessex had no more to send and they could do no damage to the bridge with the stones we had; it was too far to reach with the large stones which had been gathered. There were too many targets for our few bows and, inevitably, the bridges were laid. I saw that they were spreading their attack out this time.  The bridges were spaced along the length of the wall. Their reinforcements had made the difference. They all waited along the ditch.  They would attack us all at once. I saw that Magnus Skull Splitter had chosen the North Gate. He knew where I was. The wolf on my shield marked me out clearly. He was desperate to get his hands on my sword.

"Save your arrows.  Arturus, I will take the Ulfheonar to the gate. If we get the chance I will lead a sortie and destroy this bridge.  If I do have half of your men support me with their bows while you and the others guard the gate."

"Aye Jarl."

I saw him glance at King Egbert who seemed resigned to waiting for an assault.  Arturus shook his head. This was not the way for a leader to lead.

I took Haaken and Cnut to the western tower of the gate; the better to see where they were going to place the bridge. "There is no way we can stop them rushing across there in a wedge.  I want Arturus to conserve the arrows we have. They will break through again and this time they will be quicker for they will not have to stand on top of a large tree trunk. We will use the same tactic we did yesterday.  Arm every warrior with a spear and we form a wedge but we will stand closer to the gate." I paused, "I want to weaken the gate."

"Weaken it?"

"Aye Cnut.  If we weaken it then they can break through all the quicker and we can then rush them. It will not be their best warriors who break in.  They will conserve those.  They will wait behind the shield wall until they break through the gate.  Our best chance to hit those warriors will be when they try to cross the bridge. We will hit them there and drive them from the far side so that we can pull the bridge back and use the as a gate."

"But we will be on the wrong side of the fort."

"I intend to get rid of the other bridges too. That is why Arturus is saving his arrows so that they can support us."

"And how do we get back inside?"

"We do not.  We make our way around the wall to the south gate and we board our ship."

Haaken laughed, "I hope we survive for this will be a glorious saga!"

We quickly made a wedge. Arturus' men formed up behind us. "When we charge the enemy your task will be to stop any from breaking through.  We will bring the bridge back and you will use it to make a new gate."

"How?"

I shrugged, "You are young and clever you will find a way.  It does not need to be permanent. It is just to keep them outside while we clear the ditch."

They nodded and I knew that I could rely on them. We heard their horns sound and their war cries roared as they rushed the bridges.  Spears and stones would be thrown but they would be an irritation only for they came with shields held aloft. We took away some of the large beams which had been placed against the gate and cleared a path for us to run at it. We heard the axes as they hammered on the gate. We held our spears at head height.  I did not have my seax in my left hand, instead I held the spear with two hands.

As I had expected the Danes quickly broke down the gate.  They stood for a moment in surprise and exultation.  It was a fatal pause. "Charge!"

We hurtled at them.  They had been working individually; we were a warband fighting together. We were able to run on the hard parade ground of the old fort. Our spears struck them and swept them away.  I heard their screams as the spears tore into faces and necks. Inevitably one or two spears broke.  We kept running.  The land dipped a little to the ditch and we struck the armoured Danes who were rushing to gain access to the fort. We were a solid mass of armoured warriors and we were moving quicker than they were. The ones who were not impaled on the last of the spears were knocked into the stinking wet ditch.  There were still weapons and branches below and they pierced skin and armour. Men who fell in there would not rise.