I had found a small hill to sit on. It allowed me to see all the way to the marsh. It was dark then; the channel was a black scar running through the land. The water separated the heathen from us. But it hadn't worked. I could see fires lighting in the distance. Small glowing spots spreading on our side of the channel. At first it was one, but now they are vast in number. Invading the peaceful darkness there once was.
"Aeleva, what happened to you? You left the council." Ealdorman Edward said as he walked up the slope.
"I had to go." I said, my voice faint.
"They have crossed now," he said as he sat down. "They have camped by the shore line." He stared where I was looking, at the heathen lights.
"What was decided? What will happen now?"
"We will fight them tomorrow." He sighed and paused. "You and I will burn the jetties."
"Lord?" I asked, and turned to face him.
"You are disposable and it was my idea, I'm not going to send any of my men to their deaths." He did not look at me but kept captivated by the Danes. I bit my lip and looked to my feet.
"But we will be trapped?"
"Alwin will attack them at dawn, hopefully it will draw them away from us." He answered as if it was a simple task.
"Why burn the jetty?"
"So, they are trapped. They cannot run through a marshland."
We stayed still for a moment. I thought about how, in the Lords name, we were going to run through a Danish camp and burn the jetties, let alone get back alive.
"It's a bright night," Edward said after a while.
I looked up to the sky. The moon was bursting through the inky night, and the stars pinpricks in the darkness.
"The Danish believe the moon is a god called Maní and is brother to the goddess Sol who is the sun. They are chased across the sky every night by hounds, and only when the chaos comes will the hounds catch them." I turned to face Edward and he smiled at me.
"They think you a heathen," the Ealdorman said quietly.
"I know."
I looked back up to the stars, I tried to find pattern in them. I tried to find the meaning that some people saw.
"I know you are not."
"Thank you, Lord."
"You belong here, Aeleva. You are not a simple farm girl." I laughed at him statement.
"What?" He asked, turning to me. His face was smiling but his eyebrows were screwed together.
"You're not the first to say that to me." I explained.
And we fell into a comfortable silence again. Something about being far away from the Danish camp and them not being able to touch me, soothed me. I could see where they were. I tracked as much movement as possible.
"You know him don't you, Hagen?"
I thought for a moment. "I'm not sure I do."
"I will leave you. Get some rest. Goodnight Aeleva." The Ealdorman said after a moment.
"Goodnight Lord."
I could see the Dane camp from the hill. I could see the tents and the fires glowing. I thought of what they were doing, I knew all too well what they do before battles and raids. Perhaps they were killing the livestock like they had done in Kolding. Perhaps they had a feast to please the Gods. I stayed on that slope, waiting for tiredness to come. But it did not. When I did put myself to bed, I only managed to get two hours of sleep before my mind woke me again.
I rose and dressed. I wore leathers and no chain-mail. The metal rings did not move silently, and I may need to run at such speed the mail is too heavy for. I sheathed my sword and dagger and placed my axe in it holding on my back.
"Are you ready?" Ealdorman Edward said, hushed, when I joined him. I nodded in reply. It was still dark. Some men had arisen, most were still sleeping in the camps. The Ealdorman wore a short tunic and trousers with a sword by his side. He had left the gold chains and finely embroidered shirts at Reculver.
We moved soundlessly through the camp. Over the ropes holding up the tents and avoiding the large campfires. We couldn't let anyone know we were going. We had spies in their camp, it was assumed they had spies in ours. When we reached the edge, the Ealdorman brought a cart out of the tree line.
"What is it?" I asked.
"What we will use to light the jetties." The cart was full of buckets of stinking pig's fat and large sticks with bundles of ragged clothes wrapped around the end.
He motioned to move. He headed in the direction of the Danes, keeping to the treelines. I followed behind the cart. The wheels creaked over the uneven ground. The fat sloshed and spilled over the side of the bucket. Each wave making a newly ripe smell of rancid fat waft to my nose.
We didn't walk for long. The Danish camp came in sight quickly. The Ealdorman stopped just before the break of the trees.
"Grab as many as you can, drown them in fat." He instructed, keeping his voice as low as possible. He proceeded to grab a stick and drench the bundles with the fat. I did the same. Between us, we had 12 sticks.
"Follow me, don't stop moving. Do not look at anyone. Go unnoticed." I nodded. The Ealdorman swiftly turned. He watched the camp for a moment.
There were hundreds of tents. They had camped all alone the shoreline. Some just before the Marsh. You could not see the jetties through them. Even from the trees I could see swords, axes and spears on the ground. If we were discovered, there would be no chance. The sun had only begun rising. The sky was brushed with faint oranges and blues. We had moments left of the darkness.
The Ealdorman signalled to move. He walked straight into the camp. I followed.
He kept to the edge of the tents. He weaved in and out of them. Ducking under washing lines and around campfire.
"Head down." He whispered to me as I walked behind him. He saw him before I did. The Dane man ahead. He had not seen us but there was no way to avoid him. We were walking down a tight lane, tents on both sides. And a Dane in the path. I sunk my head, controlling my breathing as we neared him. The Ealdorman had not stopped when he saw him. Dread pitted in my stomach when I realised. The madman was going to walk right passed him.
I was holding 6 planks with bundles of clothes sodden with fat. If this Dane took a second glance, we would be dead.
The Ealdorman walked closer to the man. The Dane turned when he heard us approaching. He glanced at us.
"Ver Heil og sᴂll." The Dane said. The Ealdorman froze. I could see him staring back at the man. His mouth opened to speak.
"Heil sᴂll." I said before the Ealdorman could say anything. The Dane stared back for a moment. Then nodded and went about his business.
Edward looked back at me. He sighed and chuckled. I signalled to move him forward.
We continued through the maze of tents. The darkness still hiding us in the shadows.
The camp thinned as we arrived at the shore line. The Marsh was vast. It reached out, the muggy waters stretching for miles. The jetty stood against it. Its wooden rigidity looking awkward against the grassy plains.
"Here." The Ealdorman walked down to the shore. And jumped. He disappeared into the waters.
I ran over. "Edward!" I whispered. As soon as I peeked over the edge, I saw him smiling up at me. The shore line was a small cliff. The grass line created an illusion of it going on forever. He beckoned me down and I jumped.
The ground wasn't hard, but I wasn't sinking. The Ealdorman stood as far under the grass verge as possible and signalled for me to do the same.
"We wait here." He spoke into my ear.
"What?" I snapped my head up to his. "This is a Dane Camp! We cannot stay here!" I said hushed.
He chuckled at my outrage. "This is the plan. We wait until we have the signal. Then we light the jetties. We make them glow so bright you can see them from the heavens."
"You did not tell me we would be hiding in the camp!" I said still outraged. "We are going to be spotted! The whole camp will be against us!"
"Did you think we could simply walk into the camp when it is light, Aeleva?" He said, his face serious. "We had to move in the darkness and hide. We wait for the signal. It won't be long; it is dawn now."
From our position under the grass verge, you could see both jetties. It would take us maybe half a minute to get to the first jetty. Longer if we had to evade hails of arrows. The jetties were manned by two men. If we wanted to, we could simply go and light them then. But instead, the Ealdorman ordered me to sit under a grass verge. Watching the sunrise with an unlit torch, stinking of rancid fat, inches from my face.
We watched and we waited. It wouldn't have been more than a few minutes. But it felt like agonising hours. The men were chatting around a camp fire on the jetty. Both men were unaware of us. Neither glanced in our direction.
Suddenly they both stopped and looked up towards to the camp. They instinctively grabbed the hilts of their swords. We could hear faint shouting in the camp.
"This is it. Be ready." Edward muttered.
The men ran off the jetty and onto the bridge connecting the Marsh to the mainland.
"Go." Edward ordered. And moved as swiftly as he could though the marsh towards the jetty. I followed.
The ground was thick. The mud slid whenever you placed your foot. It squelched beneath my weight and sucked each footstep back in. The jetty was only a stone throw away from our shelter. But it took so long for us to get there. Too long.
Ealdorman Edward got there first. He jumped up onto the deck. He turned to me and outstretched his hand. I grasped it and hauled myself up. The wood whimpered under my weight, but it was solid.
"Light one, quickly," Edward said.
He thrust a plank into the fire. It roared and lit instantly. I did the same.
"Run! Do the other pier!" He shouted as he sprinted to the end of that pier. I leapt off the platform and ran as best I could through the mud. My torches alight, burning my face. The smell of burning cloth filled the air. We needed to move, now; the flames would give us away.
I reached the second pier. I struggled on to the wood. My legs kicked behind me as I pulled my belly up. I got to my feet and hurtled down the pier as fast as I could. I looked to my left and saw Edward had managed to light the first pier. Half the length was up in flames.
As soon as I was at the end. I fell to my knees. Feeling desperately with my hand for some dry wood. My hands darted across the splintered wood, until I found sandy planks. They were dry.
I swept an unlit torch across the dry planks, to coat it in fat. Then touched the flame. It flashed hot and the wood caught fire.
I jumped to my feet and ran five paces on, to do the exact thing again.
Edward was nearing the end of his pier. He was on his last torch. The Danes had noticed the fire. Men were running towards Edward.
They came slashing their axes and swearing with rage. Edward had lit the last pier and jumped off. Turning to run to me.
"QUICK!" He cried. The Danes a few paces behind him. He unsheathed his sword, spun and hacked at the closet man to him.
I was half way down my pier. I scrambled to the next spot. I had three torches left.
The Ealdorman was still fighting the Dane in the Marsh. Their movements slow, the ground pulling their feet down. Edward blocked the Danes axe as it came hurtling down towards his head. He kicked him in the stomach and the man stumbled backwards. It gave the Ealdorman just enough time to slice though his neck. Blood flew everywhere.
The wood beneath me had caught. I ran to the next spot. Only two left. I turned to see the first pier. It was fully ablaze. No amount of water would save that.
The Ealdorman shouted to hurry.
I was at the end of the pier. The whole thing was aflame but I had to finish the last spot. I rubbed the unlit cloth on the corners. Lurched forward to light it. And drove the flame to the pier. The fire ran across the wood. We had destroyed it.
A deep bellow came from behind me. I spun around and saw a bald Dane race towards me. I didn't have time to reach for my sword. The torch in my hand, I shot it forward. The fire hit his face. He staggered backwards screaming. His skin sizzled and hissed.
"Aeleva, move!" The Ealdorman shouted at me. He leapt up onto the bridge to the mainland. I dropped the torch and sprinted after him.
"Mod vest! Sakserne er her!" I heard a Dane cry.
"Alwin is here!" I shouted.
Edward span and faced him. He cheered, pumping his sword to the sky.
"Then let's join him!"
~~~~~
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