Varangian (Aelfraed) (8 page)

“Watch my blade!”The crew had seen me practise and they gave me room. The singing blade soon began to strike every warrior who dared to board within eight paces of me.
  My long arms and the long handle meant that I could swing with impunity.  Stig and Snorri also had axes whilst the Hammer was also causing casualties with his own mighty war hammer.  Eric had retreated to the stern and was firing at any barbarian which we missed. Soon there was no-one left to attack but the deck had eight bodies littered along its length.  The first rays of the red sun peeped from our left and I saw the horde retreating.  Had Olaf not woken me we would have all perished for they were numerous. It was then that I saw Ulf on the river bank sat astride a pony with, what looked like a couple of chiefs.  He had survived! He still had his scowl; Eric chanced an arrow which plunged just before him and the party retreated.  We had halted them, but they would be back.

As the anchor was raised and the rowers began to take us south I checked our casualties.
  My warriors had emerged unscathed but some of the crew had suffered wounds. At least we now had some extra weapons from the bodies left littering the deck and would not need to call at a settlement to buy some.  We also took the metal bracelets and torcs.  They would all make useful additions to the protection for the men’s shields.

The warband followed us down the river.
  They had ponies and, whilst we moved swiftly with the current, they could cut out the loops in the river and get ahead of us. It was a warning that we could not be distracted for an instant and, when we reached the next portage, we would have a battle on our hands. As we chewed on our breakfast of dried meat Snorri came to look at my axe. The others had all the opportunity of examining the blade but Snorri was new.  “It is a fine Danish blade my lord.  May I hold it?”

“Of course.”

He swung it easily.  “It has a fine balance and feels like a smaller axe.  It is a good weapon. How did you get such a weapon?” I told him the story of my first battle in the woods of Mara and he nodded, “
Wyrd
. I can see that I was meant to serve with you my lord.”

“Why is that Snorri?”

“The other warriors I fought with were mercenaries.  They fought for the coin.”

“I am now a mercenary.
  I now fight for coin.”

He shook his head, “No my lord, Eric has told me that you seek to fight with the Varangians and I know why.”

No-one, not even Ridley knew the real reason I had headed south to Byzantium.  How had this man who barely knew me divined the reason? “And why is that?  Do you not see me as a sword for hire?”

He laughed, “No my lord for Eric has also told me that you have coin, no the real reason is that the Byzantines are the only ones who can defeat the Normans.
  You hope to go to Italy and fight them there.”

“As the Emperor is now a prisoner of the Turks and the Varangians lie on the field at Manzikert with bleached bones it does not seem to matter.”

“There will be a new Emperor and there will be more Varangians but you my lord, you are a strategos.”

I was going to ask how he knew that but I worked it out myself, “Eric again?”

He smiled, “Yes my lord.  The boy sees you as some sort of hero who has taken him away from the hell that was his home. He told me that he has never been happier than on this voyage.”

“He is a fine boy; he did not deserve to suffer in Hedeby.”

“No my lord, but a mercenary would have demanded money to take the boy and then been rid of him as quickly as possible.” He was right but it unnerved me that he had seen all of this through his words with Eric.

“I hope that he will find all he seeks in Miklagård.”

“He will, my lord, I will see to that, for he has shown kindness to me without thought of reward or gain and that is a rare thing in our world of war.”

Late in the afternoon I was summoned to the tiller where the two captains were in conference.
  “That was well done last night Aelfraed and we are safe for a while. I intend to sail through the night.  I will rest this afternoon. I would like you to have half your men on watch for the rowers will be tired.”

“As you wish Jarl Gunnersson.”

“We have another portage coming up and that makes us vulnerable to attack.  I would make the quickest passage possible.”

“The problem is that Ulf knows our route, you told me that.
  He is a cunning man and he will anticipate our vulnerability and be at the portage waiting for us.  I now know how perilous that journey can be,”

He shrugged, “There is little else we can do.”

I smiled for I had an idea which had been fermenting since our last attack.  “Do you have a map of the river?”

“Aye we have a chart.” He brought it out.

“Where is the portage?”

He pointed to it on the chart. I saw what I had hoped to see.
  “Here the river takes a loop, just before the portage.  How far is it by land between the two loops?”

“Three or four miles, it is low lying and I have known other captains use that as an emergency portage when the river is iced over. Why?”

“If you stop there then I can take my men across land to ambush the barbarians.”

The two of them looked at me.
  “But there are only ten of you!”

“True but do you think they will be expecting to be attacked?
  Or do you think they will be watching the river for the moment when we start to climb over the hills with our bales?”

“Even so ten against that number!”

“If the ship can make a speedy passage around that loop then we will have a refuge and we will be no worse off than we are now.”

“But you may have lost men.”

“We are here to guard the ship.  It is like having a guard dog and keeping him in the house for fear of the wolf. We are not afraid of this wolf and remember I have seen these people fight.  They are brave and they are tough but they deign to wear armour and they will not stand against my men.”

“Even Eric?”

He was right Eric was our weak link but he was my man now and that made him one of us. “Aye, even Eric.”

“If you think you can pull this off then so be it.”

“I will need one of your sailors to act as a guide and a messenger if anything goes wrong.”

“If anything goes wrong Aelfraed, then we are all dead, not just you and your warriors.”

Surprisingly my men were all happy about the idea.  Even Eric looked excited. “Ragnar you will watch Eric.  It is his bow which will help us.” The old warrior nodded eagerly.  He seemed to have gained ten years of his life since we had left Denmark.  That was what having a purpose in life did for you.

“I can fight with a sword.”

“I am the leader Eric and I say that you will use your bow for we will be outnumbered but you can make the difference.  While we fight them you can thin those out who are beyond the reach of our weapons.” I looked at each eager face, “Our advantage is our armour and our blades; that and the fact that we are all better warriors!” They roared their approval and we prepared for war.

Bjorn was chosen to accompany us.
  He had been the First Mate on one of the ships which were captured and his brother had been killed in the attack.  He was not only knowledgeable, he was keen to get revenge and he came armed with us.  It gave us eleven men as opposed to ten. The Jarl pulled in as close as he could to the bank and threw out a plank to save us getting too wet. I was grateful for the brief respite we had.  The land we traversed was marshy and covered in high reeds; although it gave us cover it also made movement slower than I hoped.  Within a hundred paces we had lost sight of the mast of The Maiden and we were in Bjorn’s hands. He navigated by looking up at the sky and sniffing.  I did not ask why as I assumed he knew what he was doing.  I followed him with Ridley bringing up the rear.  Our small numbers meant that we would be hard to see, or at least I hoped we would.

Bjorn turned to me.
  “The river is close.”

How he knew it I had no idea but I trusted him.
  I halted the men and spread them out in a line abreast with Eric and his bow at the rear.  Bjorn scurried on ahead and we waited for his return. His gleaming smile told me that he had spotted the ambushers long before he opened his mouth.  They are in the woods overlooking the bend of the river and I saw the mast of The Maiden, she is working slowly down the river.”

At least this part of the plan had worked; the attention of the barbarians should be on the river and we would be able to strike them from behind. I could see why some captains had made a longer portage for the ground was flat and then we saw the hill leading to the next valley as it rose slowly with a wide swathe in the trees showing where the ships were dragged.
  It was obvious to me that the barbarians would be on both sides of the portage and that also gave us an advantage. We stealthily made our way through the undergrowth and I, for one was glad to be free from the cloying mud through which we had trudged. The greatest relief, however, was from the biting insects which had plagued us and we all sported red blotches where the insidious insects had bitten us. We laboured up the hill with Bjorn a little way ahead.  Suddenly he raised his hand and we all dropped to our knees.  He gestured to me to join him and I slithered along the ground like a serpent.

Bjorn had done well and had found a spot about fifty paces above the ambush site.
  I could see the lighter part of the forest where the portage lay and I could see the twenty to thirty warriors who waited there.  Their number did not worry me, I had anticipated more than that.  There would be more on the other side but, in my experience a surprised warrior always sees two enemies where there is only one. We slithered back to the rest and I gathered them around me. “We can take ten out quietly, sneak behind them and slit their throats.  When they are dead, draw your weapons and charge. Our aim is to make them run but listen for my command and when you hear it, I want you to run down the hill to the boat.  It should have reached the portage by then.  Eric, you shoot the warriors the furthest away from us and keep moving.  Make them think there are ten of you.” I saw Snorri pat him on the back and his face beamed like a torch burning in the night.

I waved them forward and we slipped through the trees.
  The barbarian’s slick sweaty bodies stood out against the brown of the wood and they were intently watching The Maiden as Jarl Gunnersson edged her slowly around the bend. The caution and slow approach was a deliberate tactic for he wanted their attention on him alone. My axe and shield were slung as we would not need them at first but I had my dagger ready.  Bjorn eagerly sliced through the windpipe of the rearmost warrior and slowly lowered the body to the ground.  My warrior was oblivious to everything as I wrapped my powerful left hand around his mouth and ripped across his throat with my dagger.  He was small and he was light; I laid him at my feet. Ridley’s mark began to turn but Ridley held his hand over the man’s mouth and stabbed directly into his throat. I do not know how many died silently but, inevitably, one cried out and the others turned. Even as I was yelling I saw the arrow embed itself in the chest of the warrior at the edge of the trees.  We roared forwards.  I had slipped Death Bringer around and hacked at the first warrior who foolishly stood in my way.  The blade cut his torso in two.  I had to be careful with my swing because of the trees and I smashed the spiked head of the axe into the face of the next warrior and, as he fell, stamped down onto his face, crushing his skull. They ran.

“After them!” We burst through the edge of the trees and there I could swing unimpeded.
  A few brave souls tried to charge me but, as I swung the axe around my head and struck three of them, the rest fled.  Suddenly I caught sight of Ulf.  He was racing to attack Ridley from behind. “Ridley, down!”

My old friend just dropped to his knees and the blow intended for his back struck his opponent in the chest.
  I swung my axe at Ulf who tried to bring his sword round to deflect it but it was caught in the dead barbarian’s rib cage.  By the time it met the axe head the blade was sliding down the sword and slicing into Ulf’s arm.  I saw the blood spurt and terror appeared in his eyes. He started to turn to run but I raised Death Bringer, and, true to its name, it sliced down the length of Ulf’s back, splitting him in two. When I looked up there were no living barbarians left. I quickly looked up and down the portage way and saw that, although some of my men were wounded, they were all standing. Ridley began banging his shield and the others took it up, “Aelfraed! Aelfraed!”

“Eric, go down to the ship and tell the Jarl that the portage way is secured; the rest of you, well done.
  Salvage any weapons and armour which may be useful and then keep watch for their return.”

Stig wandered up to Ulf who was lying in two ugly pieces.
  “Now that would have been a nice piece of armour if some dozy bugger hadn’t sliced him in two.”

“I am sorry Stig, next time I will just take the head.”

“Much better my lord, and a lot less messy.”

The Jarl decided not to use us to pull the boat as long as the barbarians were still around.
  His sailors carried the bales, carefully avoiding the gruesome bodies which lined the portage way.  I sent Stig, Olaf, Pig and the Hammer to guard the bales along with Eric whilst the rest of us watched the woods. I did not think they would return for there were too many bodies in the woods; it was uneconomic and I suspect we had taken their leaders for three of them had many battle bracelets and torcs. However it did not pay to be complacent and a little extra watching was no hardship.  As they started to pull the ship up we joined in to help them.  Our extra strength gave impetus over the last steep section.  As they lowered the boat down the other side we stood guard at the top of the ridge until Eric came to tell us The Maiden was afloat again.  It was dark by the time we made our weary way down to the river once more and the Jarl had decided to make a camp there and cook up some hot food. Eric had managed to shoot a young deer on his way up to us and we ate our first hot meal in weeks. We washed it down with a barrel of ale the Jarl had been saving and it was a happy group who sat around the campfire sharing stories of the day and its battle; battle is probably a little grand for the skirmish that it was and my dead comrades from Fulford and Stamford would have laughed at us but we felt as though we had won a battle for the odds were against us and none of us had died.  Probably the most pleasing part was that Ulf, the traitor, renegade and oath breaker had been killed.