CHAPTER SIXTY ELVAR

CHAPTER SIXTY

ELVAR

E lvar walked behind the lines of the shield wall, bellowing commands, Grend, Gytha, Sólín Spittle and Berak shadowing her. The stone gates of Wolfdales were open a crack, the wounded limping or being carried into the great hall, the two stone wolves crouched either side of the gate with their hackles up, lips pulled back in savage snarls, eyes fixed on Lik-Rifa's war-host as it flowed through the bridge gate.

Berserkir and úlfhéenar prowled back and forth behind the bulwark of the shield wall, eyes of amber and green glowering at the oncoming horde, rumbling, snarling, growling. Between the Berserkir and the shield wall stood Vol, Uspa and Iva, heads together in conversation. Taras the Bull stood close to them, clothed in a steel skull-cap and a coat of mail, two hand-axes thrust into his belt.

A hand cart was pulled out from the open gates of Wolfdales full of bundled arrows, Sulich and Kesha pulling it at a half-run. They passed through the ranks of Berserkir and úlfhéenar to where Sulich's warriors in their druzhina kit waited, who fell upon the contents of the cart like the starving upon fresh-cooked bread. Sulich barked orders and they formed a line behind the shield wall.

Elvar stood assessing the war-host gathering in the space this side of the gates, saw Ilska marshalling her troops, shouting at warbands. A shield wall was forming, deeper than Elvar's, and behind it the vaesen milled in an ever-growing horde. Trolls lumbered, growling and roaring, skraeling gathered in tight clusters, frost-spiders spread like the sea, tennúr whirring and flitting in the air like starlings, many of them perching on the gate-wall, and behind them all Elvar glimpsed through the open gates the wraith-like bodies of night-hags.

The immensity of Lik-Rifa's war-host hit her, despite the hundreds, maybe thousands, that had already fallen in the assault on the gate and embankments, and a wave of fear washed through her, clouding her thinking for a moment.

"Where ith the dragon?" Sólín Spittle lisped.

"Out there somewhere," Elvar said, gazing at the dark wall of the forest. "Watching us."

But she hesitates, has not come to join the battle. Ulfrir was right, thank the dead gods. Because if she had joined the battle-fray this would have gone badly wrong already.

"Why hath she not come at uth?" Sólín asked.

"She fears Ulfrir," Elvar said. "Fears his wolf-cunning. Fears a trap. She will not risk herself. Wants to see us broken, first."

"Let her try," Grend snarled, and Elvar smiled at him, the spell her fear had cast over her shattering like ice under a stamped heel. It felt good to have him back at her side.

"It is time," Elvar said. "Gytha," and her captain lifted a horn to her lips and blew, long and ringing.

The gates of Wolfdales creaked and began to grind, closing with an echoing crash.

We are locked out, enemies ahead, a cliff behind , Elvar realised. Ulfrir better pass this test of trust, or it is our lives on the line. She looked at her war-host. All of us.

She strode through the Berserkirs and úlfhéenar , paused to look at them, Thorguna and Frek stepping forwards, their chosen captains.

"You know what to do, remember the plan, keep your beasts on a tight leash," she said, to which there were grunts and heyas and nods, and then she was striding towards Sulich and her shield wall beyond.

Orv the Sneak ran up to her, bow in hand, his quiver full to bursting with arrows.

"Thought I might be of better use with this than in the shield wall to start with, chief, if that's all right with you," he said to her.

"That's fine with me," Elvar said. "Come and join us when you run out of arrows."

"Aye, chief," he said, bobbing his head and moving to join Sulich and his crew.

Elvar shrugged her shield from her back and hefted it, a new shield taken from the supplies brought out from Ulfrir's chamber, as the shield she had been using on the wall was too battered and splintered to last long in the coming clash of shields and steel.

"Make way for Elvar Chainbreaker," Berak called out as they reached the rear of the shield wall. A great roar rose up, her warbands cheering her, ringing and echoing between the stone doors and two spurs of hill as warriors parted and Elvar looked up at the hulking warrior.

"Chainbreaker?" she said as the din faded.

"Aye," Berak grunted, "you have broken our chains, set us free. Your fair-fame will live on forever."

If any of us survive this day to remember it , Elvar thought.

She strode through the centre of the shield wall, warriors parting before her, opening a path.

"Jarl Elvar," Gytha said quietly, leaning closer, "you should rethink your position. If you are lost, your host will crumble."

"No," Elvar said. She knew that what Gytha said made sense, from a tactical point of view, but the tactics were all spoken of and finished now. This next part was about will and heart, about muscle and steel, about strength and courage, and she knew that she was the beating heart of her war-host. She had led them here, and she would fight with them here. Perhaps die with them here.

"I knew you would say no," Gytha said, a smile twitching her lips, "but as your captain I had to say it." Her expression shifted, became serious. "I am honoured to serve you, fight by your side," she said. "You are not your father."

Elvar faltered in her steps, and she looked at Gytha, nodded to her.

And then she saw her Battle-Grim ahead of her, two rows deep set at the front and centre of the shield wall. Sighvat turned and grinned at her, gave her a mock bow, offering her the space in the front row, and she took it with a smile. Grend slotted in on her left, Sighvat on her right, Berak and Gytha and Sólín behind her. She set her shield on the ground, resting her arm, and looked along the line. Saw chiefs and their crews from her mercenary bands either side of the Battle-Grim, beyond them Glornir and his Bloodsworn drawn up on her right flank, on her left flank Orlyg and Dagrun with his drengrs and Tainted. She turned her head and saw her drengrs lined three deep behind the Battle-Grim.

"Drink," Grend said, thrusting a horn of water to her and she took it and drank deep, knew that the battle-thirst would be on her soon with no chance of slaking it. Other warriors around her drank from cups and waterskins.

Horns blew and Elvar turned again to face Lik-Rifa's war-host. She lifted her shield and drew the slim-hafted axe from Oskutree at her belt that Grend had given her. Set her feet. Began to pound her axe-haft on the planks of her shield, Sighvat and Grend taking up the rhythm either side of her, until all her shield wall rang with the pounding, beating like a great beast's heart.

Lik-Rifa's war-host flowed into the road between the two hills, coming on like a wave of wood and iron and flesh, and Elvar saw that the Raven-Feeders were at the front and centre, their grey shields and black ravens, and Ilska led them, Drekr snarling in the second row behind her, his long-axe in his fists.

Biórr rose up in her head, dark-haired and sad-eyed, and she felt anger and sadness coil around one another. She searched their ranks, but could not see him.

A hundred paces separated them, and Elvar saw movement at the feet of the Raven-Feeders, saw spertus come scuttling out from between their feet, a black-glistening tide of them, antennae twitching, tails and stings arched high over their backs. They swept forwards and Elvar felt a jolt of fear. In the crush of the shield wall there was no escaping the poisonous creatures. Some of them opened their carapaces and their wings blurred, lifting them into the air.

A hissing from far behind Elvar, like the rising of a strong wind, and arrows were arcing over the warband, falling like hail into the wave of spertus, puncturing their black shells, black blood spurting, skewering them and punching them from the air to fall screeching. Another volley, and another, and another, and the ranks of the spertus thinned.

A score or so were left and they surged forwards, almost on the shield wall now, stings twitching and spasming. A handful were running at Elvar and her part of the wall. One seemed to be looking straight at her, ran at her, its sting darting forward like the lash of a whip. She dropped her shield to stop it running beneath the shield rim and stinging her legs and the spertus' sting cracked into the shield, stuck in the timber, and then Grend was leaning over and chopping with his hand-axe, a fountain of black shell and tar-slick blood and the creature was twitching on the ground. Grend wrenched his axe free and Elvar hacked the sting from her shield and raised it up. Saw another spertus to her left rise into the air on wings, its mouth open, a black cloud like flies issuing from its mouth, and warriors began to scream. One stumbled from the wall, dropping to her knees, clutching at her throat. Elvar saw black veins spreading through her face and the warrior toppled slowly to her side, feet twitching. The cloud of pestilence began to spread along the line and Elvar sucked in a deep breath, held it, heard raised voices behind her.

" Vetrar vinda, t?ta og t?ta svarta skyie, dreifa tví. "

A wind surged from behind her shield wall, hissing across her, tugging at her warrior braid, and the black cloud was shredding, whipped away like clouds in a storm. Spears snaked out from the shield wall, punching into the spertus' segmented belly and it was screeching, dropping to the ground.

A horn blast from the rear of Lik-Rifa's shield wall and the last of the spertus were veering away, curling around to scuttle back to the safety of the approaching war-host.

Sulich's archers continued to loose volley after volley, Lik-Rifa's war-host in range now, Elvar hearing the rattle of arrows striking wood, heard screams as some found flesh, saw shields drop in the front row, warriors from the second row stepping forwards, trampling their fallen comrades as they filled the gaps in the wall. They were close, the tramp of feet stirring up a cloud of dust, snarling faces, sharp steel glinting, filling the whole of Elvar's world.

"Chief," Sighvat said, frowning at the onrushing shield wall, "are you sure this is part of your deep-cunning plan?"

Elvar laughed, feeling the surge of fear and excitement, the battle-joy flooding her.

"Elvar," Grend said to her, and she looked at him. "I'll see you after," he said, and grinned at her.

Then with a roar Lik-Rifa's host surged forwards and the shield walls were crashing together.