Sons of the Raven by H A Culley

Author:H A Culley [Culley, H A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orchard House Publishing
Published: 2018-05-26T16:00:00+00:00

‘We advanced into Wessex and eventually arrived outside Reading in the autumn. By then word had reached us that Ivar and Olaf the White had attacked the Strathclyde stronghold of Dùn Breatainn on the River Clyde. It would appear that the Britons were unwise enough to attack the Isle of Man, which was a dependency of the King of Duibhlinn. Ivar and Olaf had retaliated by besieging the fortress of King Arthgal ap Dyfnwal, capturing it after a siege of four months.

‘Arthgal escaped but his people were enslaved and shipped to the slave markets of Duibhlinn. It was said that there were so many of them that Ivar’s fleet had to take many of them to the Moorish markets in Spain to sell them all. Ivar destroyed the stronghold so completely that Arthgal had to move his capital to Govan much further up the Clyde estuary.

‘Ivar didn’t sell all his captives, however. We heard that he had fallen in love with Arthgal’s daughter. Not only did he free her, but he then married her.

‘By the time that Reading fell winter was approaching and Bagsecg and Halfdan decided to stay there until the spring.

‘However, the Saxons had other ideas and Æthelwulf, the Ealdorman of Berkshire, advanced towards Reading at the start of January. Bagsecg, Guthrum and Ubba were in favour of advancing to attack him, but Halfdan and his brother Sigurd said that it was pointless; they preferred to stay safe within the palisade surrounding Reading until the spring.

‘On the thirtieth of December the Danes marched out to meet Æthelwulf, who roundly defeated them. We couldn’t see what happened but we were told later that Æthelwulf had lured them into a trap. Whilst his shield wall formed up on top of a rise, his archers and his horsemen had hidden in the trees on either side of the approach. When the Danes advanced they were attacked from the flanks, first by Æthelwulf’s archers and then they were charged again and again by his mounted warriors.

‘When Bagsecg was killed the Danes lost heart and began a fighting withdrawal back to Reading. Several hundreds were killed but the most serious loss was their king. He left no heir and Sigmund Snake-in-the-Eye, more like snake in the grass, managed to persuade the so-called Great Summer Army to elect him as their new king.

‘Without telling his brother or Guthrum, he crept out of Reading that night with five hundred Danes and made his way back to the fleet near Lundenwic. From there he sailed back to Denmark.

‘However, the other leaders didn’t have much time to brood about his defection because a few days later King Æthelred and his brother Alfred arrived to reinforce Æthelwulf. They made repeated attempts to storm the walls and the gatehouse but were repulsed each time. I hate to admit it but I was forced to defend the gatehouse with the rest of Halfdan’s warband, but I only killed Saxons when my own life was at stake.’

Karl broke off gloomily at this point and stared sightlessly into the fire.

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