Axes for Valhalla: The third book in the Viking Blood and Blade Saga by Gibbons Peter

Author:Gibbons, Peter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Einar held his hand over Finn’s mouth, desperately trying to suppress his whimpers and screams because of the pain in his leg. The boy had fallen down the ridge whilst running through the forest’s darkness, plunging into the depths of the crevice which lay hidden in the forest’s deep darkness. Einar had found Finn at the bottom after sliding down the defile's mud and leaf-strewn walls and into its gulley.

Einar could hear Halvdan’s men crashing through the surrounding woods. They called to each other and walked with lit branches, searching for their prey. Einar lay there, one hand on the boy’s mouth and another around his waist to hold him still and keep the pain to a minimum. Finn’s breath was hot against Einar’s hand, and he shook and wriggled in his grip. Einar knew the lad intended to give him away, to call out to his uncle’s men to rescue him and bring him back to the safety of Tamworth’s walls. Finn has softened to Einar and Sten’s company, but the fighting must have unnerved the lad, and all he wanted was to get to safety.

He lay in the damp cold of the gulley, the stink of rotting leaves and foul water swamping him. Einar held the boy tight, lying still himself, trying to remain as quiet as possible and avoid Halvdan’s men. The wavering flame of a torch danced between the trees, only twenty paces away from where Einar lay. It was not above him, where most of Halvdan’s men were searching, and where Einar had leapt into the unknown of the ridge’s blackness, but here on his current level. Looks like waiting the bastards out is not an option.

The torch grew closer, and Einar could feel the shaking hum of Finn’s stifled shouts against his palm. He kept still, waiting for the enemy to draw nearer. Einar took his arm from around the boy and reached for his axe. He had laid it next to him when he grabbed Finn but took it up again now. Damp seeped into his bones, lying there in the dank, rotting depths of the forest. The vision of a hall with a blazing fire, Hildr at his side, hunting dogs at his feet, and a horn of ale in his hand had never been so appealing. He felt old, too old and tired to be lying wet arsed in a Saxon forest.

The torch was only ten steps away now, so Einar released Finn and pushed himself to stand. Finn instantly screamed for his uncle’s men, so Einar charged at the torch, seeing it waver. Then the face of a man appeared behind it, long-bearded and wearing a helmet. The man swept his torch at Einar, but he brought his axe up from his side, turning his hips into the blow. Einar’s axe blade sheared through the lit branch and onto the warrior’s face. Einar felt it jar as the axe slammed into tooth and bone. The enemy fell away, and shouting came from high on the summit of the crevice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.