Viking Vengeance (Dragonheart Book 11) by Hosker Griff

Author:Hosker, Griff [Hosker, Griff]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Sword Books Ltd
Published: 2015-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Their plan became clear as soon as they moved. They had their horsemen on their left and their heavily armed and mailed men in the centre. They would be the housecarls of the king. They would have been ordered to get to me. I saw that they were led by Eorl Ethelred and he had, behind him, the dragon war banner.

I shouted, "They come for me and Wolf Killer! That means the rest of you will have poorer warriors facing you. We hold and you slaughter!"

Once again the cheer was reassuring. I glanced to my left and saw the walls of Hamwic bristling with archers. Our left flank would be secure. I hoped that Gunnstein Berserk-Killer and his men from Dyflin would weather the storm of the horsemen. The heart of my line had the experienced warriors in the front rank. Even those in the second rank had fought many times. We would hold and we would be the rock upon which the Saxons would break.

As I had expected King Egbert and his banner of Wessex remained close to the trees. He was not committing his entire army. He had at least a third in reserve. If we showed weakness or we faltered then they would fall upon us and exploit it. The Saxons who advanced kept a tight line with shields held before them. As soon as they were in range Snorri and his archers sent arrow after arrow into their ranks. Those with mail largely survived but their shields were on the wrong arm and many with armour found their sword arm struck by arrows. They began to edge and bunch towards the centre.

I hear Eorl Ethelred shout, "Hold your line!" Those around him heeded his command but the ones behind began to drift to their left. The horsemen on the left flank suffered. They had no room to manoeuvre. When the housecarls were fifty paces from us the Eorl ordered the charge and they ran at us. I presumed they had seen the spears planted in the ground and chosen to ignore them. It was a mistake. The cohesion of the line was destroyed as men dodged the bristling spears. I glanced to my right as I saw the leader of the horsemen decide to charge Gunnstein. They were the first to strike our line and I watched in admiration as the men from Dyflin held their nerve. The horses refused to strike the men and, as they reared and bucked their riders fell to the ground to be butchered. Others were pulled bodily from the backs of their horses and hacked to pieces.

Then my attention was drawn once more to Eorl Ethelred. He was keen for revenge and he and his oathsworn decided to eliminate the spears by hacking at them with their swords. It meant they had to hold their spears in their shield hands and when my men in the second rank hurled Saxon spears and javelins they could not protect themselves. Eight warriors fell.

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