It was a battle I was losing. The spike came nearer and nearer and he was stronger than me, but then, quite suddenly, his eyes went wide, he stopped snarling, his hand lost all its strength and the long nail fell, just missing my eye. He began to vomit blood, great gouts of blood that were black in the night, blood spurting with extraordinary force to blind me, blood warm on my face as the man choked and gurgled from the sudden slash in his gullet. At almost the same instant the second man let go of both my arm and of Serpent-Breath’s crosspiece.
A woman shrieked like a demon in pain. I was standing, shouting as much from fear as relief. The barn stank of blood. The man who had tried to take Serpent-Breath was backing away, a spear threatening him. He had been wounded in the ribs, presumably by the spear, and I finished him by slicing Serpent-Breath back-handed and so opening his gullet. The big man who had started the fight was still gripping my leg, but feebly, and I stabbed down with my blood-soaked blade and pierced his arm, then, filled with rage, I rammed Serpent-Breath through his eye and deep into his skull.
There was a moan, some gasps from the women and cries from the children, then silence.
‘Anyone wounded?’ Finan called.
‘Me,’ I said bitterly, ‘but I’ll live.’
‘Bastards,’ Finan spat.
Ten of the oarsmen had been persuaded that their best chance lay in killing us and now all ten were either dead or dying in the blood-reeking barn. The rest were huddled against the far wall. Irenmund was one of them. ‘We didn’t know, lord—’ he began.
‘Quiet!’ I silenced him, then stooped and plucked the seax from the dead man’s hand. ‘How did he get this sword?’ I demanded of Irenmund.
‘I was sleeping, lord,’ he sounded terrified. ‘He must have stolen it, lord!’
The big man had stolen the seax and then, slowly and quietly, he had undone the knots in one of the chains. He had loosened it link by link, working through the dark, until he reckoned he could move unhindered. Then he had attacked.
It had been Benedetta who had shrieked like a demon in pain, not because she was hurt, but in astonishment as she had lunged the spear into the ribs of the man trying to take Serpent-Breath. She still held the weapon, her eyes wide in the moonlight, but her astonishment was nothing compared to mine because beside her was little Alaina, also holding a spear, and it was Alaina who had thrust her blade into the throat of the man trying to stab me with his makeshift knife. She appeared quite unconcerned, but just looked up at me proudly. ‘Thank you,’ I said hoarsely.
Two of the other girls had seized spears and helped my men woken by the sudden fight. The freed slaves should have overwhelmed us, but the chain had hindered them and they had only the one sword and two makeshift knives, and my men were given just enough time to seize their own weapons.
‘That was too close,’ I told Finan as the dawn showed a sullen grey in the east.
‘How’s your shoulder?’ he asked.
‘Cut deep, feels stiff, but it’ll mend.’
‘The women saved us.’
‘And a child.’
‘She’s a little wonder,’ Finan said.
I nearly died that night and it was a child with a spear who saved me. I have been in too many battles and stood in too many shield walls, but that night I felt the despair of death come as close to me as ever I felt it. I still remember that spike getting inexorably nearer to my eye, still smell the man’s rancid breath, still feel the terror of losing Serpent-Breath and thus being denied my place in Valhalla, but then a child, a seven-year-old girl, had driven death away.
Wyrd bið ful ãræd.
There was no sign of any pursuit in the dawn, but that did not mean our enemies had given up the chase. There was a mist over the river meadows and that mist, together with the trees on the higher ground and the hedgerows in the fields beyond, could have hidden a dozen scouts who were looking for us. Rædwalh came with the rising sun, riding a big grey mare and bringing a gift of hard cheese and bread. ‘I sent two men to Werlameceaster last night, lord,’ he told me, ‘they haven’t come back.’
‘Did you expect them to?’
‘Not if they’ve any sense, lord.’ He stared towards the river mist. ‘We’ve seen no East Anglians for a couple of weeks so they should have had no trouble. I dare say they’ll be coming back with Merewalh’s men. And you, lord, what will you do?’
‘I won’t stay here,’ I said.
Rædwalh looked at the children who were wandering around the door of the old barn. ‘You won’t get far with those little ones.’
‘With a spear up their backsides?’ I asked, which made him laugh. ‘And I’ve left you a problem,’ I went on.
‘A problem, lord?’ I led him into the barn and showed him the slaughtered oarsmen. He grimaced. ‘Aye, that’s a problem.’
‘I can drag the corpses into the wood,’ I offered, ‘let the beasts have at them.’
‘Maybe
