126.
126.
It was the dawn twilight, a time more desolate than simply cold.
Dozens of ships moved across the surface of the River Clyde, where water mist lay thick and heavy.
[Sharrruk- sharrruk- kiiiik-]
"Quiet."
[Sharrruk- sharrruk-]
Everyone knew that the Norseman army would cross the river.
The warriors of Dir under Jarl Halfdan, the men of Kilmarnock who had brought their boats—practically their entire fighting strength—and were rowing, and the people of Glasgow and Cuban who prayed to God every day hoping those fearsome raiders would give up and turn back—all knew it.
The commander of the Second Army, Halfdan 'Hvitserk' Ragnarsson, also knew this fact. But this warrior, who wore white as always today, could not tolerate even the smallest noise.
Dark blond hair, different from Sigurd's brilliant gold, streamed down beneath his helmet, and his green eyes sank deep as he glared into the impenetrable mist, but Helgi's voice echoed in Halfdan's mind.
'Halfdan. I and the first army will draw as much attention as possible here with a clamor, but they're watching our movements from high ground. So they'll know we intend to cross the river eventually.'
'Aha. So they're preparing to welcome guests? That's rather exciting.'
'...Yes. A positive spirit is a good thing. But you must be careful. Even I can get hurt by a blind spear.'
'You...? Well, I'm not so sure about that. In any case, don't worry too much! My brother Konungr! I may not be your equal, but I am a warrior who has clashed bodies with those friends from East Frankia and the lands beside it in my own right!'
He had spoken with feigned confidence, reassuring his Konungr—the youngest brother who, excluding Björn, was in truth the most mature among them—but how could his heart not be glad?
For the conversation they shared was closer to one between brothers than one between lord and vassal.
That is one of Helgi Ragnarsson's many strengths, Halfdan thought.
He had reached a position and power where he could boast and swagger a little, yet was Helgi Ragnarsson not virtually unchanged from his days as Jarl of Árós?
That is what true strength is, Halfdan thought again.
There had been no need to bluster or bluff; everyone could see that Helgi Ragnarsson was the strongest.
In the world.
'So all the more reason I cannot fail.'
Was there anything more shameful to a Norseman than betraying trust?
[Charruk- charruk- ... shiiik- shiiiiik!]
'Damn.'
"Shields!"
[Hududuk- pak! Pungdeong! Pak!]
As if a brief moment of wandering thought had arisen, the world gifted Halfdan a baptism of javelins, as though sneering.
'We must have neared the riverbank.'
What in the world could those bastards see in this mist... Ah. It was the sound.
A rainless dawn thick with only mist was the finest time for those crossing a river, but if the enemy meant to block the way and lay in wait, no matter how careful one was, they could not help but hear the sound of over sixty ships rowing in unison.
Arrows as well as javelins were mixed in among the volleys, which suggested the enemy was thoroughly committed.
But the same went for us.
"Row! Keep your shields up! Battle awaits us!"
"Val-hall-a-!"
"Lady Hel watches! Death awaits!"
"Keep your shields up!"
[Swaaa- swaaa-]
Eight men per boat. Four held up large shields to cover, four rowed with fervor.
Unlike moments before, the Kilmarnock men's boats surged forward madly under the full-powered strokes.
Thanks to their leather finishing, the boats withstood the projectile attacks without breaking, gliding across the river even under the continuous hail of arrows, javelins, and darts.
And so, soon within the gradually thinning mist, the boat of Jarl Dir at the vanguard touched the riverbank first.
"Warriors of Dir! All forward-!"
"Disembark, quickly!"
[Shiiik- shiiik- pababak! Pak!]
"Agh!"
"I said keep your shields up! You fool! Fall back!"
Projectiles fell at irregular intervals that felt like one or two seconds apart. Pressing into that gap, the vanguard of Halfdan's army—a dozen or so ships—disembarked in the blink of an eye.
There were unfortunate warriors with blind arrows lodged in shoulders or thighs, but the shield wall formed by the large shields did not collapse easily, and soon a contest of strength unfolded on the riverbank of the Ghobhainn side between the warriors of Alt Clut and the warriors of Dir.
[Shiiik- shiik!]
"Incoming-!"
[Hududuk- pabak!]
"Is this all you've got! Throw and shoot more, you sons of bitches!"
"You had better pray those arrows are infinite! When you face me, you will surely die!"
Both those shooting the projectiles and those blocking them were beside themselves, pouring out shouts and curses, and the riverbank which had been filled only with mist and damp moisture was now brimming with wood and iron crafted by men.
"Jarl Dir! The vanguard has all disembarked! The second wave will arrive shortly!"
"Then we must make room! Dir-! Forward!"
"Did you hear the Jarl's words! Forward-!"
"Shields up, all of you!"
"Damn it! A javelin's stuck in my shield! It's heavy!"
[Buuuuum- buuung- cheok! cheok! cheok! cheok!]
When the horn sounded twice, long and low, to signal the advance, and a terror as though the knights of the apocalypse had arrived fell upon the warriors of Ghobhainn fortress.
Like a tortoise, the ranks of Dir—tightly wrapped with shields interlocked over their front and heads—began to advance.
[Cheok! cheok! cheok! cheok!]
[Shiiik- shiiik! Shuuuu-]
[Pababak! Pabak! Peok! Kung!]
"Long live Dir-! Long live Helgi Ragnarsson!"
"Long live Hel!"
"Lady Hel! Lord! Grant us strength-!"
The coexistence of the two faiths within Dir's domain was reflected fully in the warriors' cries, and the ranks that pressed forward vigorously marched some thirty paces like that and came to a halt.
Behind them, another dozen ships pushed their bows onto the riverbank.
How many arrows had they already loosed, how many javelins had they already hurled with all their might?
All those countless projectiles had accomplished was at most wounding a few enemy soldiers in the arms and thighs.
Indeed, some who had arrows stuck in their bodies simply snapped the shafts and continued to maintain the formation.
The Norseman warriors, far more fearsome than the vicious rumors, kept their ranks unbroken, howling all manner of savagery even though their shields—which had become like hedgehogs—must have been heavy.
Yet the warriors of Govan could not simply withdraw, so they continued to fire arrows. The throwing spears had long been exhausted.
[Shiiik- shiiik- chubung! chubung! hududuk- pababak-!]
The second wave landed safely, and in the following third wave, Halfdan himself finally disembarked.
[Shiiik- peok!]
'Damn, shi—'
The blind arrow failed to pierce the shield. Halfdan, who had thrown himself onto the riverbank, sprinted with all his might toward the shield wall that the warriors and Jarl Dir were holding.
[Tat! Tatat! Shiiik-]
"Halt! Shields!"
[Pababak! Pabak!]
He tracked the arrows that flew at him mid-run by their sound, dropped to his knees to make himself as small as possible, and trusted the shield in his left hand.
A large rectangular shield, modified on Helgi's strong insistence.
It was heavier, but its performance was undeniably reliable.
'If you can't carry this much, you're no Norseman...!'
Thinking such thoughts, Halfdan quickly scanned his surroundings. Fortunately, it seemed there were no casualties, so it was time to push forward again.
"Dair—! Forward!"
"Run again!"
Stepping in the exact tracks left by the leading warriors, Halfdan and his fighters dashed like the wind and hurled their bodies into the shield wall, where the smell of sweat and rough shouts were raging.
[Shiiik- hududuk! Pabak!]
[Peok! Peopeok!]
"Ugh!"
"Urgh!"
"Damn— getting body-checked by our own men hurts more than the arrows!"
"Stop whining!"
"What!? Whining!? You try getting hit like that!"
Amid a small commotion within the friendly shield wall, Halfdan squeezed his way through the tightly packed ranks until he could reach Jarl Dir at the front.
[Shiiik- shiik- hududuk!]
"Jarl Dir! This is quite cozy! It seems they're no archers of Jarl Leofric's caliber!"
"Hahaha—! Yarl Halfdan! Seeing you here is refreshing indeed! Jarl Leofric is a madman who aims for the gaps between shields—no comparison possible!"
[Hududuk-]
Exchanging banter with Dir, Halfdan peered through the gaps in the shields at the enemy. With his free hand, he pulled the leather waterskin from his belt to calm his ragged breathing.
With three waves ashore, the Dair warriors on this beach numbered two hundred and ten. Once the first phase of the landing was complete, they would be around four hundred and fifty.
'Just holding out won't solve anything. We have to take the ground they're standing on.'
Armor and shields aside, human stamina was not infinite.
The sound of arrows drumming against the shields overhead gradually diminished, so it seemed their arrows were not infinite either.
Halfdan, who had lifted his helmet slightly with the sleeve of his white tunic to wipe his forehead, casually spoke to Dir, who was likewise peering at the enemy beyond the shield wall.
"Jarl Dir! Doesn't that hill look terribly tempting?"
"That place, you mean!"
[Hududuk- hududuk-]
The spot Halfdan pointed at was the low hill from which the enemy were gleefully raining arrows. Their numbers were at least a thousand.
Would they keep taking arrows here, or would they push through their disadvantage and seize that hill?
Dir didn't hesitate.
"Let's go! Yarl Halfdan!"
"Very well! Jarl Dir! Dair—! Push them back! Prepare for battle!"
"Aye! Yarl Halfdan!"
"Sound the horn—! We advance!"
[Hududuk!]
[Tat! Tatat! Peopeok!]
"Urgh!"
"Gack!"
"Come in a little gentler! Like a blind arrow like that could even scratch this big shield!"
"Now you know how I feel!? You were the one doing that a moment ago!"
"There! Enough chatter! We advance!"
[Buuuuung- uuuung-]
Just then, the fourth wave that had disembarked joined them, and the Dair warriors, now numbering around two hundred and eighty, all straightened up from their crouch and began to advance slowly.
'The distance to the hill was roughly fifty or sixty paces. Get a little closer, then charge, and they'd reach it in an instant.'
The enemy, having exhausted their javelins, formed the front line, while the shooters, intent on firing every last arrow, positioned themselves just behind.
The enemy's armament was light—small round shields and spears.
'Nothing particularly new here.'
He would show them why every warrior under Helgi Ragnarsson wrapped themselves head to toe in steel and wood.
[Hududuk- hududuk- cheok! cheok! cheok! cheok!]
Now the distance was about forty paces.
"Ready! Prepare to charge!"
"All, prepare to charge—!"
"Raaaahhh!"
At Halfdan's order, the warriors, gradually shedding their human guise and beginning to transform into beasts of the battlefield, roared out the names of the gods and their war cries.
From this point on, it was the realm of instinct, where reason held no sway.
[Hududuk- hududuk!]
The moment the noticeably diminished enemy arrows struck the shields, Halfdan's eyes, as if bursting with a green flash, widened enormously, and at the same time he leaped forward and bellowed.
"Charge—!"
"Charge!"
"Forward!"
[Iyaaaa—!]
Even though it was just a low slope, attacking uphill—
Tactically, it was a zero-score attack, but war was not an arithmetic equation like one plus one; it was waged with flesh, spirit, and coin.
Against the mass of ironclad figures charging all at once while roaring in the tongue of beasts, the options available to lightly armed infantry were extremely limited.
They took advantage of the height to thrust their spears.
[Puk! Pukpuk!]
"Ugh!"
"Kuk!"
Even if they somehow managed to land a thrust, if they didn't kill with a single blow...
[Peoseok! Seogeok! Peok!]
"Gack!"
"Aagh!"
"Ugh!"
Then, their formation would be smashed to pieces before the enemy's charge driving in at a single point.
"Kill them all—!"
"Iyaaaa—!"
"Hel! Lord!"
"Don't stop, keep climbing! Pay no heed to the fallen enemy!"
The outcome of the battle, which had turned chaotic in an instant, could only be described as a one-sided slaughter, and soon the archers, who had been panicking behind the spearmen, all turned and fled.
Thus, Govan's attempt to block the river crossing failed without producing any meaningful result.