“I am Ulfrik, and these are my warriors,” he said. “You are on my lands, which I hold for King Kjotve the Rich. Leave now or die where you stand.”
“I know where I am, and the names don’t scare me.” Koll pointed with his sword toward the treasure on the beach. In doing so, his shield slid away, leaving his neck exposed. “Put down your weapons and start loading…”
“Snorri!” Ulfrik bellowed, falling back. “Get behind the ship!” he ordered his men.
Snorri’s arrows hissed overhead as Ulfrik and the others threw up shields to cover their retreat behind the Wave Spear. Koll appeared dumbfounded. An arrow hit his mail hauberk, below the throat, and bounced away. Toki yelled the command to fire, and his bowmen wasted their shafts as their targets disappeared behind the ship. Koll looked down at his chest, then screamed as he charged. His men followed, struggling for traction in the sand.
“Form up here. Let them come to us!” Ulfrik pulled back his line, parallel to where he knew Snorri hid, and anchored the left flank to the ship. That forced the attackers to round the prow, preventing them from rushing forward all at once and leaving their shields facing away from Snorri’s arrows.
Snorri sent a second shaft whistling into the crotch of a man rounding the prow, who screamed as he collapsed facedown in the sand. His bulk formed a hurdle the man behind could not leap in time, and Ulfrik saw one of his own men rush forward to finish him.
“Stay in line!” Ulfrik commanded, right as Yngvar sprung his trap.
He shocked even Ulfrik as he leaped up from the Wave Spear, one hand clasping his ax, and a spear hefted in the other. Yngvar’s gleaming teeth were barred and his eyes wide with fury. He hurled the spear down as Koll approached the prow. Koll looked up, startled, as the spear’s point buried itself in the soft flesh of his neck, plowing three hands deep into his body. Koll’s feeble scream became a gurgle as he fell back on another man.
Not wasting time, Yngvar dove into the enemy bunched around the ship, immediately taking two men down with him. The remaining five men danced wide of the prow, Snorri’s third arrow catching one in the chest, stopped only by a leather jerkin.
Ulfrik saw the opportunity. “Kill them all!” He sprang forward and drove his sword into the back of one of the men Yngvar had tackled. The others charged forward, screaming, and fell upon the five enemies. As a raider braced his shield to block another blow, Ulfrik pulled out his blade and stabbed beneath the shield. Blood flooded his blade.
Yngvar leaped to his feet and killed the man beneath him with a mighty swing of the ax, as if he were chopping firewood. Glancing up, Ulfrik noticed two of his other men aboard the Wave Spear were taking bow fire. One was rolling over the rails, avoiding the missiles; the other vanished for a moment and then returned to yell down into the fray, “They’re coming around the other side.”
Ulfrik had feared the enemy from the second boat might round Wave Spear and attack from the rear. The fight was not over, but his men were prevailing. He prayed Snorri would hold his position. The first line of enemies was nearly broken. Yngvar was already moving forward to threaten them when the remaining four men called to surrender.
“With me!” Ulfrik shouted, then turned to charge the next wave.
The man named Toki was already halfway to meeting him, and four other spearmen were also moving toward the stern of the Wave Spear. Beyond them, the archers had trained their bows on Ulfrik. Two arrows hit the sand before him, and one glanced off his shield. Then he crashed into Toki.
Ulfrik towered over his dark-haired enemy and rammed him with his shield, staggering him. One of the four spearmen had doubled back, but rather than attack he shuffled to the side to flank Ulfrik.
Toki recovered, grunting as he thrust his spear forward. Ulfrik stepped away and avoided it, then responded with a clumsy backhanded strike that took the second man at the elbow. The man howled and spun away with the force.
Toki’s blade hammered on his shield, but Ulfrik was strong enough to absorb it. Behind him, the howls of his own men drew Toki’s eyes away from the fight. In that moment, Ulfrik slammed the iron rim of his shield into Toki’s face. The raider’s nose crunched and he flopped down unconscious, blood and snot slicking his beard.
The remaining attackers, including the injured spearman, ran for their ship, which two of the archers had hauled back into the waves. Relief washed over Ulfrik as his attackers took to the oars. His men howled and roared, waving their bloodied swords in the air. From the corner of his eye, Ulfrik saw a movement beneath him. Fast as a striking serpent, he crunched his foot down on Toki’s sword arm. “Surrender or die, although I hope you choose death.”
Toki let his bloodied sword arm fall to the side, and his body went limp. “Then I surrender, if that will anger you.”
“I may still kill you anyway.” Ulfrik smiled mirthlessly. “I should have no mercy for what you intended to do here.”
Yngvar appeared at his side. He spat savagely on Toki, and then leaned in to whisper in Ulfrik’s ear. “Johan is wounded-badly. Go to him before he leaves for the feasting hall. I’ll take care of this scum.”
Johan lay on the sand in a slowly widening stain of blood. A local boy, he had joined Ulfrik seeking adventure when Wave Spear was ready to sail. Now he lay dying in the shadow of that ship, trying to hold his guts inside the ragged cut in his belly. Someone had already laid his hands over his sword. The others made room for Ulfrik to kneel by his head. Tears streamed from Johan’s eyes and he shuddered with pain, but he made no sound.
“You are a fearsome warrior, Johan,” Ulfrik whispered.
“I thought he was dead,” Johan said, barely audible. “The spear, came up…”
Ulfrik quieted him, and watched as the life faded from Johan’s eyes. “We will meet again in the feasting hall, friend. Why have women when you can have Valkyries.” He removed Johan’s hands from his wound and placed them on the hilt of the sword on his chest.
Ulfrik stood and spoke over Johan’s corpse. “We will bury him and pay his share of the wealth to his family.” The others nodded and a few farewelled their dead companion. Then they turned to Yngvar. He had disarmed Toki, who was seated on the beach with his hands on his head. The bodies of the dead raiders were scattered about like a quiver of spilled arrows. Shields half buried in the sand resembled seashells. The raiders were gone, one man was lost, and the rest were no worse for their injuries. The treasure had been preserved. Best of all, Ulfrik now had a captive for ransom and a ship to claim. Were it not for Johan’s death, he would have counted it a perfect ending to his first raid.
Ulfrik returned to Yngvar’s side and looked down on Toki. “You are my prisoner.”
“I’ve noticed,” Toki replied. His accent was still distinctive, even if now nasal and distorted from his smashed nose.
“You’ll be digging a pit for your friends first. Then you’ll dig a grave for my man. While you’re digging, I’ll be looking over my new ship. What did you call it when it was yours?”
Toki turned away, spitting blood and snot onto the ground. “The Raven’s Talon. Now that it’s yours, you might as well call it the Dog Fucker.”
Ulfrik laughed at Toki’s insolence, but Yngvar kicked the raider hard enough to flatten him to the sand. He lay there as though he never intended to rise again. “Get this one working, Yngvar. Take another man with you, to help Toki concentrate. Karvi was a good friend of Johan’s. He should be eager to keep him focused.”