Viking Legend Read Online Free PDF Page A

fight them?”
    “We meet them at the edge of the sea. They will be hampered by the waves and the sand when they try to land..”
    I nodded, it was a good plan.
    He raised his sword. “Forward, we take no prisoners! I want their heads along the beach as a reminder of their folly!”
    Our spears were still on my drekar. My warriors had swords only. They would have to do. It was a sloping shingle beach which bordered the wooden jetty.  Thorfinn sent his archers to the jetty while we began to spread out along the beach. I could now make out the half naked warriors who crowded the bows of each of the five ships. Each ship appeared to have a leader who wore a helmet.  I saw no armour. That was a good thing. Although the ones who leapt ashore first might be the only ones who were lacking mail.
    One ship was moving faster than the others and it headed for the jetty. The others all headed for the safer approach of a wide shingle beach. The twenty bowmen who were standing on the jetty began to shower the deck with arrows.  The lack of armour amongst the men on the ships and the shortness of the range drove the ship towards the beach which was safer than the wooden jetty. The jetty would be safe and the archers there could continue to pour death into the flanks of the Scots. As we watched them approach, ever closer, I realised that but for Erik we would have been surprised.  Thorfinn kept no watch upon his bay.  We would have been slaughtered where we slept. Wyrd .
    As luck would have it the boat closest to me ground upon the shingle and the sea was filled with reckless warriors who jumped into the surf and raced towards us.  Thorfinn had been correct.  They struggled towards us.  Their legs sank into the shingle and it took more steps to reach us than it should have. It looked to take twice as much effort to move a short distance.  The shingle and the sea would sap the energy from their legs.
    The first ones ashore made it to our shields quickly for they were bare footed and had no mail.  They threw themselves at our shields screaming ancient war cries. They were easily slain but allowed those slower ones with mail to begin to clamber up the beach and meet us sword to sword on the level sand and shingle where we stood.  Their leader had a hammer and a shield. He roared some unintelligible words at me and launched himself towards our line.  He brought his hammer from a long way back. His feet were still in the soft, slippery shingle. Had we fought on dry land then I might have been in trouble but the treacherous shingle conspired against him.  I angled my shield as the blow came.  He slipped slightly and the blow slid harmlessly down the side of my shield. I brought my sword overhead too but I had feet firmly planted. I caught him across the neck. The blood spurted and sprayed the men adjacent to the leader.
    There was a roar of anger as the men around him saw their leader die.  I knew then those close to him were his oathsworn and they would either kill me or die trying. Haaken and Asbjorn the Strong flanked me.  Our shields overlapped. The warriors who tried to get at me threw themselves recklessly at our blades. Their swords clattered and clanged off our shields and our helmets. We sliced, hacked and stabbed at the sea of Scots who flooded from the surf towards us.  I felt a blow on my knee as a dying warrior tried to hurt me with his last act on this earth. His sword struck my long byrnie which came below my knees.
    The rising sun behind them showed their reckless courage for bodies were floating away on the ebbing tide. Suddenly a spear head was thrust from behind the man I was fighting. It found a tiny gap between the sides of my helmet and the tip pricked my face.  I brought my shield up sharply and the head broke on the sharp edge of my shield.  The metal head fell at my feet. It had barely penetrated but blood flooded freely down my face. I judged that we had taken enough. “Ulfheonar! Forward! Drive them