knife and checking its edge.
To the south-east the riders had dismounted and were performing the same strange rite, their horses waiting patiently, some of them dipping their heads like their masters as though the seidr filled them too.
‘Stay up here, Gorm, with two others,’ I said, to which he nodded, calling the names of two Danes. ‘And don’t drop anything on us or you’ll wake up to find your own head in a barrel of piss.’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time,’ Gorm said, grimacing at Rolf. Then, whilst the blaumen greeted the dawn with their faces in the dirt we descended into Gerd’s Tit and readied for a fight.
There were thirteen of us waiting for the blaumen to attack, with three more above us on the lookout platform, whose job it was to keep an eye on the enemy and call down to us with their movements.
‘Let’s hope they come,’ I muttered to Penda as we stood in a dog’s leg line so that half faced the north-east and the foot soldiers, and half faced the mounted men to the south-east. We were a good spear’s throw from the open doors of Gerd’s Tit, meaning we would have to retreat forty paces over that hard-baked ground and so it would all be in the timing.
‘They’ll come, Raven,’ Penda said, taking his spear in great circles to loosen his arm muscles. ‘They’ll come eager as crows to a hanging. We burnt their village. Some of it, anyway.’
Columns of grey rose lazily into the blue sky from smouldering piles of ash where lean-tos, cattle stalls and simple shelters had stood the day before. Many of the surrounding stonehouses were scorched, their doors either burnt where they stood, hacked to splintered ruins or taken to feed our fires. Chickens scrabbled in the ashes, pecking for food. Penda was right. The blaumen would come because we had brought death and fire to their homes. But they would also come because we looked like a sorry bunch of raiders with barely five or six decent blades between us. I glanced up at my spear’s blade, noting that it could use a good whetstone. Then again, I knew that even a blunt spear can gather enough speed in the air to pass through a man’s body. Not that I intended throwing it, not unless I had to.
‘Danemen!’ Rolf yelled in a voice that was bigger than he was. ‘You will take your orders from Raven. Do as he says and soon we will be back aboard Sea-Arrow with a decent silver catch and another tale for the skalds.’
‘I was killing men when Raven was still clawing at his mother’s tit!’ a man named Beiner shouted. I glanced over at him and he glared at me and shrugged, and I had no doubt he was telling the truth. He was a big man and had held on to some of his muscle even chained like a mad dog in that Frankish Hel. ‘Why should I take orders from a whelp? My woman has more of a beard between her legs!’ The other Danes laughed at that and Rolf rounded his cheek and hoisted his brows as though to say it was up to me to convince Beiner and any of the others who needed convincing. But I knew that I was beginning to get a reputation as a killer. Even Beiner must have heard how I had slaughtered the giant Frankish warrior who had leapt aboard Serpent , but reputations are hungry things and you must feed them to keep them alive. So, without telling Penda what was going on, I undid my belt and handed it with the scabbarded sword to the Wessexman. Then I stepped out of the line and walked towards the blaumen to the north-east. And after just ten paces I cursed under my breath, because to my right two riders had urged their mounts forward and were now coming towards me, and I would rather have faced men on foot.
‘Get back here, you bloody heathen fool!’ I heard Penda yell, but I kept going, thinking to myself how the gods love to watch us mortals abandon good sense and throw ourselves into the Spinners’ web to see whether the strands will hold or snap. ‘Raven! Get your arse back here!’ The spear suddenly felt light in my hand
To the south-east the riders had dismounted and were performing the same strange rite, their horses waiting patiently, some of them dipping their heads like their masters as though the seidr filled them too.
‘Stay up here, Gorm, with two others,’ I said, to which he nodded, calling the names of two Danes. ‘And don’t drop anything on us or you’ll wake up to find your own head in a barrel of piss.’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time,’ Gorm said, grimacing at Rolf. Then, whilst the blaumen greeted the dawn with their faces in the dirt we descended into Gerd’s Tit and readied for a fight.
There were thirteen of us waiting for the blaumen to attack, with three more above us on the lookout platform, whose job it was to keep an eye on the enemy and call down to us with their movements.
‘Let’s hope they come,’ I muttered to Penda as we stood in a dog’s leg line so that half faced the north-east and the foot soldiers, and half faced the mounted men to the south-east. We were a good spear’s throw from the open doors of Gerd’s Tit, meaning we would have to retreat forty paces over that hard-baked ground and so it would all be in the timing.
‘They’ll come, Raven,’ Penda said, taking his spear in great circles to loosen his arm muscles. ‘They’ll come eager as crows to a hanging. We burnt their village. Some of it, anyway.’
Columns of grey rose lazily into the blue sky from smouldering piles of ash where lean-tos, cattle stalls and simple shelters had stood the day before. Many of the surrounding stonehouses were scorched, their doors either burnt where they stood, hacked to splintered ruins or taken to feed our fires. Chickens scrabbled in the ashes, pecking for food. Penda was right. The blaumen would come because we had brought death and fire to their homes. But they would also come because we looked like a sorry bunch of raiders with barely five or six decent blades between us. I glanced up at my spear’s blade, noting that it could use a good whetstone. Then again, I knew that even a blunt spear can gather enough speed in the air to pass through a man’s body. Not that I intended throwing it, not unless I had to.
‘Danemen!’ Rolf yelled in a voice that was bigger than he was. ‘You will take your orders from Raven. Do as he says and soon we will be back aboard Sea-Arrow with a decent silver catch and another tale for the skalds.’
‘I was killing men when Raven was still clawing at his mother’s tit!’ a man named Beiner shouted. I glanced over at him and he glared at me and shrugged, and I had no doubt he was telling the truth. He was a big man and had held on to some of his muscle even chained like a mad dog in that Frankish Hel. ‘Why should I take orders from a whelp? My woman has more of a beard between her legs!’ The other Danes laughed at that and Rolf rounded his cheek and hoisted his brows as though to say it was up to me to convince Beiner and any of the others who needed convincing. But I knew that I was beginning to get a reputation as a killer. Even Beiner must have heard how I had slaughtered the giant Frankish warrior who had leapt aboard Serpent , but reputations are hungry things and you must feed them to keep them alive. So, without telling Penda what was going on, I undid my belt and handed it with the scabbarded sword to the Wessexman. Then I stepped out of the line and walked towards the blaumen to the north-east. And after just ten paces I cursed under my breath, because to my right two riders had urged their mounts forward and were now coming towards me, and I would rather have faced men on foot.
‘Get back here, you bloody heathen fool!’ I heard Penda yell, but I kept going, thinking to myself how the gods love to watch us mortals abandon good sense and throw ourselves into the Spinners’ web to see whether the strands will hold or snap. ‘Raven! Get your arse back here!’ The spear suddenly felt light in my hand
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