Always Be By My Side - Sequel to Always Return to Me (The Last Kingdom Fan Fic)

Chapter 34

Ragnar

I stared at Rorik in disbelief as the onslaught kept coming. I felt his shield deflect an axe meant for my skull. I stabbed through the opening taking a man down. "Kill the cowardly bastards!" I shouted to my men. It had become my war cry in this moment. Our flimsy wall cycled between breaking and holding. Each time we broke a few more men broke through and rushed towards the village where easier prey lay. A few horsemen broke through where Rorik and I were. I jumped back to my feet finding that I had not been trampled and watched in horror as my wife faced off with one. I marveled at her grace as she ran the horse through. Rorik blocked another blade meant for me with his shield. "Lord!" he called me back and I fought on. When the second horse broke through down the line I felt my gut fall as it chased after Nadia fleeing as fast as she could on foot with a small boy in her arms. "Rorik!" I shouted to my man. He knew in an instant what I wanted to do. We killed the man before us, and I stole his spear. I broke away from the wall, with Rorik taking my place. I prayed to the gods as I let it leave my hand. It hit its target and I felt relief surge through my gut as the man died. My wife nodded at me and continued her sprint to the village with the child clutching tightly to her.

The hoard that attacked us felt endless, and I wondered what man had enough silver to pay for such an army. This was no battle, it was a slaughter by cowards. The one advantage we seemed to have was that our enemy was not expecting us to be as ready as we were. It was midsummer after all. We should have all been in a drunken stupor, sleeping till the sun was high in the sky.

"Who leads them?" I demanded to no one in particular.

"I see no banner lord," Rorik shouted back, slicing his man down.

Our wall had fallen and we were fighting in open combat. Nadia appeared from somewhere for a moment, taking a man down near my side. Her face was splattered with blood and her clothes were bloody. I hoped none of it was not hers. She smiled at me and whirled away as fast as she had come, killing three more men in her wake. She was a Valkyrie of death.

I did not have much time to wonder why a hoard of Danes were attacking my people on my land. But I had a sick feeling that Wihtgar was a part of this. I had not heard of any wealthy Danish lords nearby. Let alone, leading a slaughter against another Lord without announcing who they were. One of my questions was soon answered by the sound of a horn. Our Danish enemy was pulling back to regroup. I stole a glance at the eastern ridge where a Saxon army had appeared. Wihtgar's banner flew proudly in the breeze.

"Oh gods," Rorik breathed heavily, ripping his blade from a man's gut.

"Valhalla it is," I growled, stabbing another man through the throat. "Every man to me!" I shouted, trying to regroup our defense. If we were going to die, it was going to be by fighting warriors deaths against these cowards."

My wife was by my side in a moment and trailing behind her was our son. "Boy, get out of here!" I shouted at my blood covered son. 

Nadia whirled around, having been unaware of him being there. "Ragnar!" She scolded him, while looking him over for injuries.

"I can fight," he protested.

"You need to go back to Dunholm and protect your sister," my wife replied sharply. She let out a huff that was combined with frustration and fear as her eyes moved towards the Saxons. 

"Ragnar, I need you to protect our home. Someone needs to tell of what happened here. Can you do that?" I asked my son. He was no longer a child. He had drawn blood and stood in his first shield wall. He nodded at me, his eyes wide with fear.

"Rorik!" I called to my man. 

"Lord?" He responded.

"Take your young lord to safety." Rorik stared at me in shock that I was asking him to leave the battlefield. "I trust no other man with his life," I added.

Rorik's shoulder's sank but he obeyed my order and fled the field with our son who kept looking over his shoulder at me and his mother.

"How long has he been out here?" Nadia wheeled on me.

"I didn't know he was," I replied. 

"Thank the gods he..." She trailed off staring past my shoulder. "Oh gods," her tone changed.

I looked to where she looked and saw on the western ridge, across from the Saxons, a smaller but formidable enemy was amassing. "To me!" I rallied my men once more. I pressed my forehead against my wife's and heard her whisper, "Glory or Valhalla."

"I will see you in Valhalla my love," I whispered back. I heard her sigh one more time before we pulled apart.  "Men with me!" I shouted to what was left of us. "We kill these dishonorable cowards and send them to Hel's cold hands! Glory or Valhalla!"

My men echoed my cry, finding a new fight within themselves. We stood, ready for the charge from our sides and in front. I stole a glance at my wife who was staring ahead, a battle frenzy on the verge of breaking free. I smiled, and stood firm as we locked shields. 

The Danes across from us yelled, trying to frighten our ranks. But my men were better trained than that. We yelled insults back and beat our shields. They had made a mistake. We were trapped men. We were dangerous. 

"Ragnar, look!" I heard my wife's voice over the yelling. I turned to face the western ridge where I saw my banner flying. I blinked my eyes, unable to believe what I was seeing. Brida.

Nadia was quicker than I, and started yelling to my men. She pointed to the western ridge where Brida was surrounded by a score of warriors. "Odin has guided her to us!" She pointed to the Danes in front of us. "We kill these dishonorable cowardly bastards! Odin is on our side!" She then pointed to the eastern ridge where Wihtgar's men were retreating. "The Saxons flee his wrath! Now kill these bastards!"

"We move as one!" I shouted to my men and smiled at my wife. We shed our exhaustion and marched forward. The other Danes frightened by our newfound courage seemed to freeze. For every step forward we marched, they retreated back.

From the western ridge our very own Valkyrie came. "With Lord Ragnar!" She shouted to the army behind her. Down the ridge they swept like a wave crashing onto the shore. The Danes before us showed their cowardice and their wall broke, despite their leader's protests. "Forward!" I shouted to my men, breaking through the holes they left. I was aware of my wife slashing a path through the fleeing men. Her goal was clear. A man sat upon a horse with a helmet that hid his face. He was urging his men to not flee. 

Nobody had time to warn the man of my wife's furious approach. She bore a large axe I assumed she picked up off a corpse. The blade slashed into his horse's legs, taking the beast down. She discarded the axe, and drew a sword. The man was quick, and was on his feet in moments parrying the blows from my wife's blade of death. I missed what happened next, as I had my own man to take down. He fought well for a coward. It ended with my blade in his neck.  Brida brought her band through the middle, causing the fleeing Danes to spread. "Kill them!" She shouted, her own axe coated red. 

"I want one alive!" I shouted to her. She nodded her understanding and set about to find her target.

I searched for Nadia and found her rage killing another man. I waited by her side as she drove her dagger through his balls and slit him to his gullet. She breathed heavily as she looked at me. "He deserved it," she said calmly.

"I imagine he did," I replied.

"Something about desecrating my corpse and making my children watch."

"Balls to gullet," I smiled sadly.

The battle ended, as the cowardly men fled. I sat by my wife and watched as Brida's men ran them all the way into the tree-line, vanishing from sight. My men were at work separating our dead from theirs, stripping the enemy bodies of their loot. I looked sadly at the death around us. Somehow we survived, but too many men for my liking had died. Many more injured. I later learned that the dead numbered around forty-five. Some sort of gift from the gods, considering we had been at least three times outnumbered and not armed for war. As if reading my mind, Nadia softly said, "they feast in Valhalla now."

"Aye," I replied.

I felt her rest her head on my shoulder, and took her hand in mine. Women flooded the field, searching for their husbands. Wails pierced the air. The two of us watched the aftermath of the slaughter in silence.