Read TLV - 03 - The Sign of the Raven for Free Online Page A

the spaces at either side bristled with weapons. The king came at those two in a rush, ignoring the men who stabbed at him from below. His weapon blazed. The shock tumbled one Dane off the plank. The other smote with a sword, Harald felt the shock on his heavy byrnie and struck in his turn. His ax split the wooden shield and stuck fast. Pushing on its shaft, he got the enemy off balance and sent him falling too. He whipped out his own sword and killed the man from above.
    Battle roiled between and across the benches. Blades flickered, axes crunched, war hammers clanked on helmets. Harald ran down the plank to Svein's banner, slashed the cords, and flung it on the heads of the Danes.
    "Estridhsson!" he shouted. "Svein Estridhsson, I'm looking for you!"
    When the foe saw their flag gone, terror smote them. The Norse went aft and scythed them down. Harald's sword caught the dawn light in a runneling of red. With one last howl, he cried his pack on to the kill.
    Such of the Danes as still lived sprang overboard. The sea gulped all but a few, who managed to reach the loose boats that drifted about. Harald stood at the tail of Svein's ship and looked across the waters.
    The scene was frightful. Even in this part of the lines, full seventy ships floated manless. Blood dripped from the planks and stained the sea; a horde of gulls was already swooping down to feast. Harald scarcely noticed any of that. What he saw was the Danish fleet broken, fleeing in disorder, finished!
    War boiled in his veins. "Back to the Fafnir!’ he cried. "Back, cut the cables, after them!"
    As he entered his flagship and the nearer vessels began rallying about, he saw Thora. She had put a helmet over her red locks and bore a shield, as if she were a young Valkyrie. "Did you not stay where I told you?" he asked.
    "No—how could I? When you were like Odhinn come back to earth!" She leaped up to kiss him. Blood was on her mouth when she stood aside.
    He had no time for her then. It was hard work getting out past the wreckage which littered the water. He cursed his crews and egged them on to toil faster. It was as if he bellowed so loudly to drown out the forbidden thought: that he had not seen Svein, not anywhere.
     
     
    III
    How a War Was Lost
     
    1
    Haakon Ivarsson knelt in the forward part of his ship, between the first bench and the deck across the prow. Sunrise colored the sky pink and gold, from shadowed hills came the first drowsy noise of birds, and waters gleamed like dull metal. Ships wallowed about him, their crews staring sightlessly into heaven, blood clotted over the grinning lips of death wounds. He could make no headway in that clutter, and had not joined Harald's pursuit of the Danes.
    The jarl had taken off his battered helm and byrnie. A light wind ruffled his hair. Sweat, soaking his garments, made him shiver in the chill; there were gashes in his arms and legs, and he felt a drag of weariness. But his hands were gentle as a woman's, binding the hurt of the man who lay beside him.
    "Steady, there, Leif," he said. Splintered bone stood out of the fellow's left arm. He took the limb and brought it together. The grating sound gave him a queasiness in the groin, but nothing showed on his face. The warrior's sweat-studded features grew death white, his eyes rolled up and he slumped.
    "Best for you, I suppose." Haakon took splints carved from a broken oar, laid them on, and began lashing them fast with strips torn off his shirt. "You'll have little use of this arm, my friend, but if it doesn't inflame you ought to live." He stroked the fainted man's forehead. "You fought well, Leif; you shall lack for naught while I have my land."
    A boat which had been feeling its way between the wrecks now struck the longship. A tall man who rowed it called: "Where is the jarl?"
    Haakon finished his work before going to the side and leaning over. "Here I am," he said. "Who are you?"
    The man edged his boat closer. "I am Vandraadh," he said in a tired,