Osgar and his Brimwisas decide to take the attack to the Eowan. They sail to intercept their fleet at what they estimate to be roughly halfway along their column.
The four ships set off together but a series of fumbles from the sailing crew (a man down after the events of last night) mean that the Black Pig (the poorest sailing ship in any case) ends up trailing the others. The Osprey forges ahead with the Bluefish just in its wake. Then comes Spearhafoc somewhat to the north of them with the Black Pig bringing up the rear.
As they go, it becomes apparent to Wistan that there are more Eowan ships arriving all the time – many more than the original twenty or so that he spotted earlier – some issuing forth from hidden inlets in the coastline, others coming up from the south. Fortunately not all change course to intercept the Geatish ships, but well over a dozen split off to do so, though they come in a ragged array with some ahead of their fellows and others well behind.
The Osprey is first into contact. It evades the foremost of the Eowan ships and contrives to shear the oars of two more. There are bowmen aboard the Osprey, including its Brimwisa, Eoppa, and they take their toll on each ship they come near. Eventually two of the Eowan ships bring the Osprey to bay and contrive to grapple. A fierce fight is engaged on both sides of the ship. The port side is swiftly cleared of enemy combatants. However, the ship grappled to the Osprey’s starboard side is supported by two more Eowan ships that come alongside and lash themselves together so that all three crews can combine against the men of the Osprey. Moreover it seems that they have amongst them a witch, who perches upon the sternwale of her ship with broom in hand. She shouts and gesticulates to her crew who come on with abandon to strike at the Geats. From time to time she points at a Geatish warrior and at a gesture from her broom and her victim falls as if swept from his feet. Some unfortunates are pitched directly into the sea to be dragged down by their iron armour and helms to Ran’s realm.
Meanwhile the Bluefish comes up in support of the Osprey. The veteran Weather Geats steer a cunning course through the enemy. Two Eowan ships actually contrive to collide in their eagerness to come to grips with the sleek Geatish longship. However, she too is brought to bay at last by two Eowan ships, one aside. The Weather Geats take a different approach to the defence of their ship than that of the wild warriors of the Osprey. They take up their battle-boards and form a shield burgh against the screaming Eowan. Spears flicker out to take them as they try to board the Bluefish. It is apparent that the lightly armed Eowan have little answer to the grim shieldburgh of the Weather Geats but it is a slow process to grind them down and it gives the Eowan time to concentrate their forces. Soon the Bluefish is surrounded by Eowan ships as an Aurochs by a pack of wolves.
Swift and light, the Spearhafoc under sail is able to outmanoeuvre the Eowan ships with ease. Incredibly, two more of their craft manage to foul one another in the pursuit the Spearhafoc. A third craft is lured away from the main body and the Spearhafoc turns to fight. One on one this is a more even fight than the others for there are good warriors aboard, but there too there is a witch with whom to contend and many seith-crazed Eowans. The fighting is fierce and time is not on the side of the Spearhafoc, for the two ships that she manouevred into colliding are nearby and righting themselves.
At length the Black Pig arrives at the fray. By this time it almost resembles a land battle, so many ships are grappled to each other and the two great masses are close to one another, with new arrivals coming up from the West. The Black Pig crashes into the mass, catching one of the Eowan ships broadside, smashing it in two parts with its heavier, higher hull. Thegn Osgar leaps down from his prow upon the deck of the next Eowan ship and begins to lay about him with his great giant-wrought axe, his men streaming in behind him.
The first foe to face Lytelman is a large, wild-eyed man, naked but for a breech-clout and sporting bizarre scarlet and white paint upon face and body. He wields a saex in each hand. Lytelman’s first axe-blow strikes him to his knees. His next lops the head from his body. Lytelman finds himself in a press of enemies as they all crowd around him stabbing with saexes or overhand with spears. However, be-helmed and iron-clad as he is, their blades find little purchase and soon, his back covered by Svipdag, Grimcytel and the walcyrige Alefrith, he clears enough space for his axe to do its deadly work. Wistan Wulfinga settles in on Thegn Osgar’s right flank, rune-spear flickering and driving back the desperate Eowan seith-drinkers.
Tohrwulf and Herefrith find themselves in the second wave of Geats coming from the Black Pig and are able to use the space cleared by Osgar and his gesiths to join a group of warriors led by Leofric and Ruric taking the fight onto another Eowan ship. They find themselves in the midst of fierce fighting against foes, many of whom are clearly so crazed by seith that they feel no pain and fight like men in the grip of battle-wod. There fall Port and lovelorn Byrhtnoth, hacked by Eowan blades. Sweyn is amongst this band and does great slaughter with his axe until a mighty blow goes awry so that it becomes buried in the wale of the Eowan ship. Rather than spend time dislodging it, he simply wraps the Eowan champion he is fighting in a bear-like embrace and heaves him, struggling, over the side. Tohrwulf displays a battle-cunning none has ever before suspected in him, anticipating every move of his opponents so that he is ever free to move unimpeded and never cornered by too many foes. Herefrith too wields his spear bravely but his fight is cut short by a stray slingshot that catches him behind the ear. He falls senseless to the deck.
Up on the Black Pig’s bow Herewulf and Beornfrith ply their death-dealing trade, pouring a rain of arrows down upon the Eowan on the decks below. However, spying a broom-witch upon the stern of the ship, the two bowmen switch their targets to try to take her down. The witch has another idea. With a flick of her besom the arrows veer from their paths to flick harmlessly away into the sea, and with a second gesture and a shriek of galdor, the two archers are enveloped in a raging tornado, along with Hrothgar, who is standing on the bow, looking for a gap in the heaving mass on the deck below into which he might leap. Herewulf manages to grab a rigging strut and cling on until the storm passes. Hrothgar is spun off his feet and onto the deck landing heavily and awkwardly between two thwarts. Beornfrith, though, is caught completely off guard and pitched over the side into the debris-laden waters below.
As the battle swirls, Wistan, Atheling of the Wulfingas, sees that he is not far from the besom-witch and pushes forward to intrude his spear point into her before she might do more mischief. However, as he makes his move, their eyes lock and with a gesture from her broom he is swept from his feet, and sent staggering towards the wale-strakes. A watery wyrd awaited the Wulfinga but for the swift hand of Thegn Osgar who contrives to grab him just in time to prevent him pitching into the sucking deep.
The two gather themselves and forge onwards towards the stern of the ship where the witch and her steorman stand. As they do so, the witch screams more galdor and the oar slaves, who have spent the fight so far inert and slumped over their oars suddenly get to their feet. They are unarmed and indeed seem not inclined to strike at the Geats but crowd towards them to impede their progress towards the stern. The witch takes the opportunity to make a mighty leap, broom in hand, across the water to the next Eowan ship along. Her steorman, a tall, lithe looking fellow with a shaved head makes as if to follow her but as he mounts the wale, a daroth sprouts from his back, hurled by Hrothgar who has extricated himself from the thwarts. He plunges into the sea, but the witch lands cleanly upon the stern of the second ship, which is lashed to the first and has a mass of Geats and Eowan fighting upon it. However, she stays not there but takes another prodigious leap, one that cannot be other than galdor-aided, to leap onto a third ship.
Once there she takes matters in hand. The ship is cut loose. At her call many of the lightly armed Eowan fighting in pockets on other ships throw themselves into the water and swim towards her ship. As they pile on board they are helped by the oar slaves who, as the ship fills up, calmly throw themselves in the water to make room.
The Geats of the Black Pig take stock. They have smashed one Eowan ship to matchwood and cleared two others, but some of their number are dead and many others are wounded or exhausted by the fighting. Fighting still continues around the Bluefish and the Osprey and far off there is the noise of combat on the Spearhafoc. There comes a cry from the Black Pig that One Foot is down – like Herefrith, knocked senseless by a slingshot. All men look to Thegn Osgar for their lead.
“Attack!” cries the Thegn and his folk obey. Leaping from ship to ship they go, slaughtering Eowan as they find them and giving succour to the crew of the Osprey whose headlong attack has now run out of impetus and who are dispersed among several ships, fighting in knots, back to back, against many foes. Lytelman and his companions arrive at one such knot to find but two Osprey warriors alive. They are veteran hearth-guards to the two Osframling lads – the sons of the East Geatish thegn who sent them to sea to make men of them. Both their charges are dead and they curse Osgar and his companions roundly for robbing them of the chance to wipe away their dishonour by dying alongside them. Meanwhile Ruric, who seems to have taken charge of the second, larger group of Black Pig warriors, leads them by another route back to the Osprey where they meet stiff resistance. When Leofric is wounded and knocked down, his bondsman, Ceadwalla defends him with his body and pays with his life for his loyalty. Steadily the Geats start driving the Eowan back and it swiftly becomes a route of Eowan retreating to their ships and bidding their slaves to row them away.
Meanwhile on the Black Pig, the crew free the ship from the wreckage of the Eowan craft it crushed and get her underway once more. Herewulf and Beornfrith stand upon the bow and turn their gaze upon the Eowan ships in a leaguer around the Bluefish. It is a further away than the fighting around the Osprey but there is less chance of hitting a comrade. Their first shots are aimed at the witch, standing at the stern of the nearest ship, who seems to be organising the three ships around the Weather Geats. This time, their arrows fly true – perhaps because her gaze was not upon them. Grey goose feathers sprout from her back and she pitches forward into the sea to the consternation of her folk. The bowmen continue to rain death upon the backs of the Eowan as they face the spears of the Geats to the front. The Eowan ship soon cuts loose and flees, and is followed by a general retreat. The second successfully disengages. The third is overrun by the Weather Geats – exhausted by their long defence but given fresh legs at the prospect of revenge upon their foes.
The exhausted Geats lean panting upon their weapons. Around them are several abandoned Eowan ships, their oar-slaves slumped and inactive. Around the same number of their ships are fleeing towards the Eowland coast. To their dismay, they can see that amongst them is the Spearhafoc.