Viking Voices Read Free

Arriving too late, but in even larger numbers than the Irskrs now have on this side of the fence, they can only fall on the assailants and revenge the deaths of their kin. Now it is the Irskrs who are overwhelmed, now it is they who are hacked to pieces. This time I am very close to the action and can see the red spray as blood is spilt. This time I can hear the screams and gurgles of the dying men, and although they are the enemy, I feel sick with horror at their fate.
    We move to re-build the gap in the palisade but the Jarl Guthfrith is here and he stops us. He wants the Irskrs to keep coming through in the limited numbers that can make it through the gap, so we can continually outnumber and overwhelm them as they come, and it works for a short while too. Around another twenty or so are killed, but then they realise what is happening and start to pull down the stakes to widen the gap, allowing more to get through together. Now the fortune of the battle swings against us once more.
    Having moved to one side of the fortress our defenders have diluted their ability to maintain a defence all around the semi-circle. This is fatal when the whole palisade is under a determined and concerted attack, as a fence is of no value unless there are enough determined defenders behind it. “Enough” is a very large number in a battle of this size. Before long the foreigners have two more gaps in the fence and are streaming through. It is immediately obvious now that the battle will soon be lost; we cannot hold the fence as a defensive line, which was our best and perhaps only chance, and we are heavily outnumbered.
    This is the moment that Mael Finnia, the overking of Brega, chooses to appear. He is a huge man, who looks as powerful as his reputation says he is, and he is accompanied by a group of even larger warriors; he is striding through one of the many gaps which are appearing on the side farthest away from me, like a conquering hero. Unlike the Norse Jarls the Irskr Lords do not bear banners, but they do have their own emblems, and he carries the sign of a white stag. He carries a two-handed sword and has no need of a shield as he has protectors all around him. They keep pace with him blocking any attempt to thrust at him and allowing the king the glory of striking out, to kill opponents unopposed. It reinforces the confidence of the attackers there and is a dreadful sight for us defenders.
    It brings new energy and confidence to the assailants and they rush towards us screaming and howling to hack and cut at us with new vigour. The energy and confidence it generates is like having a thousand new warriors and the Irskr are re-invigorated and triumphant.
    We are Viking warriors though and we cannot be intimidated by Irskrs! Despite their overwhelming numbers I see my brother Kjartan urging a group of our men to rush against them, they are valiantly trying to organise sufficiently to form a shield wall to advance on them and halt their advance. A group of men who organise themselves into a wall share each other’s strength and will always have an advantage of a rabble. For a moment it seems that Kjartan and his friends might succeed.
    They have created some confusion among the Irskr who have lost several of their number, who flung themselves against the wall and have been stabbed from below the shields by the short swords of our men. Many of them are bleeding profusely from severed arteries in their thighs. None of these men are likely to survive, having sustained such horrific wounds. The Irskr are now paying a heavy price for intruding into our settlement.
    Then, just as suddenly, the Irskr are around the back of the wall, and they enjoy far greater success there. There are simply too few of our warriors to turn and form a second defensive shield to protect both sides of the line, and the whole line simply disappears into the Irskr throng, who clamber over their bodies in a welter of waving clubs. We can hear the thud of