Alric hurried in pursuit of his companion. The lethal dance bewitched him. Death occurred in the corner of his eye, a flash of a blade here, a lunge from the shadows there. Hereward was everywhere and nowhere, appearing from the blizzard and gone in a swirl of flakes. Bodies littered the streets. Yet the only sound was that of the wind roaring across Eoferwic from the flood-plain beyond the clustered houses.
Dazed by the brutality of one eviscerating kill, the monk staggered out into a street only to realize his mistake a moment later. A huscarl was emerging from the side of a pigsty nearby. Before Alric could retreat, the man bellowed a warning and raced to investigate. Waving his torch in the monk’s face, he barked a query. Alric was tongue-tied. The bearded man glanced down at the monk’s habit and his eyes gleamed with suspicion. He raised his spear towards the younger man’s chest.
Movement flashed on the edge of Alric’s vision. Hereward bounded from his hiding place, sword raised for a killing stroke. But the huscarl glimpsed the movement too, and he whirled, swinging his spear. The weapon clattered against the side of the warrior’s head, pitching him into the snow. In an instant, the spear-tip pressed against Hereward’s neck. The monk glimpsed a bead of blood rise up.
‘I… I am sorry,’ Alric called, realizing how pathetic he sounded.
The huscarl grinned at Hereward. ‘No devil. No ghost. Just a man.’ Tossing his torch to one side, he gripped the spear-haft with both hands and prepared to ram it down. With a cry, Alric darted forward, but the huscarl lashed out with the back of his hand, catching the monk full in the face. The younger man tumbled backwards, seeing stars. When his vision cleared, the huscarl was hunched over the spear once more, ready to make the killing blow.
Four men swept out of the blizzard and wrestled the Viking to the ground. Before he could cry out, the attackers rained blows down upon him. Two of the men were armed with cudgels. By the time Hereward scrambled to his feet to help, the huscarl had already been beaten senseless.
As Alric staggered upright, another man slipped from the lee of a house. He glanced round and the monk saw that it was Wulfhere. The rebel beckoned with his good hand. Within moments, the four men, Hereward and the monk slipped into a deserted textile workshop. In the dark, they crouched beside the loom amid the bitter smell of dyes.
‘Thank you for your aid,’ the warrior whispered, looking round at Wulfhere and his men. In Hereward’s face, Alric saw an expression of bafflement, as if the warrior couldn’t understand why anyone would have risked their own life to save him.
‘You have opposed Tostig’s cruel rule,’ the one-eyed man replied, ‘and the people of Eoferwic have taken strength from that. We could not stand by and see you killed.’
‘We hope you will join us in an uprising against the earl,’ one of the other men said.
Hereward shook his head. ‘This is not my fight.’ When he saw the disappointment around him, he added, ‘And this is not the time for an uprising. You will be crushed.’
‘The taxes bleed the life from us. Tostig steals our freedom and tries to bend us to his will. He is a man of the south. He does not understand how we do things in Northumbria.’ Wulfhere waved his good hand with passion. ‘We fight or we are broken anyway.’
‘I understand. But this is war, no less for lacking axes and spears. Fight it as you would any battle, choosing the time and the territory. And ensuring your forces are strong and well ordered.’ As Hereward spoke, a hint of a cold smile lit his face. Alric could see his companion was relishing giving the strategic advice that could damage his enemies.
‘What do you suggest?’ Wulfhere asked.
‘You must get the thegns on your side. If they support the earl he will never be moved from his hall. They are the true source of his power across Northumbria. Speak to them. Tell them your concerns. If it takes a year… two… win them over. Then your victory will be assured. Tostig cannot oppose all of Northumbria with only his huscarls at his back.’
My thoughts exactly, the monk said to himself, pleased. And that will weaken Harold Godwinson. The warrior was clever; he didn’t need a sword to wound.
Wulfhere and his men agreed that Hereward’s suggestion was a good one. ‘What now for you?’ the one-eyed man asked. ‘There are places where you can lie low, but-’
‘Tostig will not rest until I am found,’ the warrior interrupted. ‘He will burn your houses and make trouble for your neighbours until you are forced to give us up. I would not wish that upon you. We must leave Eoferwic this night. Where we go…’ he glanced at Alric, ‘we have yet to decide.’
He thanked Wulfhere again and slipped out into the night. When the monk followed him to the door, Wulfhere handed him a cloak. ‘Keep warm,’ the one-armed man said. ‘It is a bitter night, and you will freeze out there. Go well, Alric, and with all our thanks.’ Touched, the monk clapped the man on the shoulder and hurried after the warrior.
By the time he caught up with Hereward, Alric realized the wind had dropped a little, and the snow was falling more slowly, in larger flakes. He felt a tranquillity that brought back sharp memories of childhood Christmases, but the recollection was fleeting. Barked orders filled the air. Feet pounded through the snow. In the direction of the church, a red glow lit the sky accompanied by a distant crackle and spit. Twists of golden sparks rose up to meet the snowflakes. Other ruddy glows appeared on every side, and Alric’s nose wrinkled at the sting of smoke.
‘Do they burn Eoferwic to the ground to find us?’ he asked, filled with mounting trepidation.
‘They have lit the bonfires the Northmen were preparing for their fire festival three days hence,’ Hereward said, his mood darkening. ‘With this snow all around, reflecting everything, they will light up the night, leaving fewer shadows for us to hide in.’
‘They must hate you greatly to go to such lengths.’
‘They fear me.’
The monk heard no boasting in his companion’s words, only a calm acceptance of the facts. Hereward crept along the narrow path between the houses until they heard raised voices and puzzling peals of laughter. Peering over the warrior’s shoulder, Alric saw a knot of men further along the street towards the church. Tostig was there, with Kraki and two other huscarls. The earl’s expression was severe as he conversed with an equally grave Ealdred. The archbishop was wrapped in a thick woollen robe, as grey as his face now appeared to be. But the laughter came from Harald Redteeth, who prowled around the group of men, occasionally throwing his head back and roaring his humour to the heavens. He looked, Alric thought, quite mad.
A man ran up to pass on some urgent information and disappeared just as quickly, and then another. The monk saw they were not huscarls. Tostig had bought more aid with his gold.
Hereward was watching the patterns the men made as they darted among the houses. ‘They scour the streets in an ordered way,’ he said. ‘They will have covered the gates and the walls. There is little chance of escape.’
‘What can we do?’
‘Burn Eoferwic down. In the confusion, we may be able to find a way out.’
‘We cannot kill good men and women,’ Alric said, horrified. ‘Our lives are not that important.’
Hereward bunched his fists in frustration and for a moment looked as if he might knock Alric to the ground. ‘Very well,’ he replied, calming. ‘You have probably ensured our own deaths, but so be it.’ Glancing back at the group of men, he murmured almost to himself, ‘There are now too many to fight, and they are too well organized.’
‘I have a plan,’ Alric said.
A few minutes later, the two men were creeping down a street where several families kept their pigs in a single large sty. Alric went in and herded the animals out while Hereward waited to slap their flanks as they passed. The squealing pigs bolted into the street in a frenzy, and within moments their owners ran out of the surrounding houses, bellowing their anger. Nearly twenty men, women and children chased after the pigs to round them up, calling incessantly, while more people emerged from their houses to see what was going on.