Hrothgar and the landing at Forc-Hafn
The following events ensued directly after the sea battle with the Eowan. As we recovered from exertions and cleared the wreckage from the Black Pig, Wistan went back up the mast to observe the Eowan ships that had fled. To the west the surviving Eowan ships along with the Spearhafoc seemed to have gathered together to discuss their options. As far as Wistan could make out there were no signs of any reinforcement from the rest of the Eowan fleet. After about an hour the remaining Eowan split into two forces. The larger number headed on their original course to the North while a one ship along with the Spearhafoc took a more westerly course towards the coast.
There had been fourteen men upon the Spearhafoc – six each from the Osprey and the Blue Fish along with Saefrith and Hwaetman and there was much discussion of their likely fate. Some noted that the Eowan were keen to enslave their captives and turn them into oar slaves. Most, like myself, felt that we could not abandon our comrades and would rather pursue the Spearhafoc hoping to rescue them.
There was a lot of discussion of the best way to achieve this and preparations started on making the three ships ready to depart. However, Wistan shouted down that the Spearhafoc was heading away at some speed, so it was decided that the best course was for the Black Pig to pursue immediately, while the other two would follow when they had completed the necessary preparations the next morning.
The Black Pig set sail to the west with the remaining crew and the eight most aware and strongest oar slaves, to give more propulsion in the chase. When we finally set off, we were about two hours behind and it was obvious that the Spearhafoc had pulled ahead of its companion and would reach the coast long before it and ourselves. However, under both sail and oars we were making good time against the Eowan craft. Soon Wistan shouted down that when it reached the coast, the Spearhafoc had hove-to, furled its sails and seemed to be awaiting the other ship.
By the time the Eowan craft came up with the Spearhafoc, the Black Pig was only a few furlongs behind them. The sun was now sinking on the horizon, and Wistan had to squint into its brightness, but by now all were close enough to view the scene. The Spearhafoc was hove-to half a furlong away from a curious sort of harbour. Two rocky spits of land thrust out from the shore, perhaps thirty feet apart. Upon the end of the higher starboard spit was a rough-built rampart of dry-stone that further narrowed the entrance. A cloaked figure stood in the bow of the Eowan ship, arms aloft and screamed some Galdor. Then the ship withdrew slightly and the Spearhafoc outs oars and rows through the gap into the harbour, followed by the Eowan craft.
By this time the Black Pig was just a furlong or so behind the trailing Eowan ship as it rowed between the two rocky spits. We all looked to Thegn Osgar. Should we follow hard behind them, or turn aside and await our allies? Osgar looked at the bandaged One Foot, who shrugged as if to say either course had its dangers, but that it was for such manoeuvres that you have such a first rate steorman. “Decide now, he cried!”
“Onwards, onwards into the harbour!”, cried the Thegn, “we may never get a better chance”. There was a very narrow gap of some 30 feet, between two rocky spits. On the one to starboard was a rocky dyke or stone wall forming some sort of rampart. Wistan hurried down the mast.
As the Black Pig approached the gap, powered by the sail and the oar slaves, there was a shout from Leofdag in the bows: “ware Nicor”. Ahead there was a churning white bow wave approaching rapidly the ship. One-Foot called for shields, I clung to the rigging ready for the collision while Osgar and Sweyn hefted their axes in the bows. A large beaked head appeared and many tentacles tried to grasp the bows of the Black Pig. There was a shudder from the ship as it collided with the Nicor and blue flames burst on the Nicor from Leofdags’s wards as it made contact with the bows. The Thegn and his gesith were untroubled by the collision and struck at the Nicor and Sweyn lopped off a tentacle. The Nicor failed to gain a grasp and it slid along the bow on the starboard side. Herewulf and Beornfrith took up their bows and Beornfrith managed to put an arrow straight through the left eye of the Nicor – its head jerked back and it let out a scream. There was a cry of galdor from Leofdag and blue lightning leapt from his hand and struck the Nicor. The Nicor grabbed Beda, one of the seamen and dragged him down as it sank beneath the waves.
Despite the collision we were now safely though the gap, but we had been thrown off course and were now perilously close to the sea wall and heading to the rocks on the port side. One-Foot aided by Hild and Stibba hauled with all their might on the steering oar to try to save them from destruction. The slaves tried to pull in their oars, but two oars were smashed by the rocks. Above us from the ramparts of the starboard side the witch brandished her broom and pointed it at One-Foot.
One-Foot gave a shout and with the help of his mates hauling on the steering oar, managed to scrape through the entrance and avid the rocks by the narrowest possible margin – at what cost we would later discover. Our two archers fired rune marked arrows and Herewulf struck her body, while Beonfrith transfixed her shoulder, she collapsed and her broom seemed to catch fire. There was a hail of missiles from the ramparts and the unfortunate Ealhere was crushed by a large rock, but the Black Pig arrived and crashed into the Eowan ship moored in the harbour. Wistan and I were the first to react and he made a mighty leap, landing safely on the jetty, while I leapt on to the Eowan ship which now started to sink beneath me. Wistan immediately struck down the opponent in front of him and was joined by more Geats in mopping up the few Eowan still fighting. The remnants fled. I ordered the oar slaves on the sinking ship to the safety of the jetty before the ship sank beneath us.
The harbour was soon under control and we moved on to the Spearhafoc where there were a number of drugged and wounded crew; unfortunately, of Hwaetman there was no sign, but Saefrith was among their number, still in his byrnie, although he was badly beaten. During the battle the Spearhafoc had been holding her own, despite a witch tumbling a couple of their crew overboard, including Hwaetman, until the two ships they had caused to collide, had recovered and eventually returned, at which point they were overwhelmed.
We headed up to the hall, which to our eyes was an unusual construction, being made of stone as well as wood. The bottom floor was all stone, but the upper storey was made of planks from old boats – evidently there is not much of a source of wood on the island. There were maybe a dozen fugitives streaming up the hill and away, some of which were quite small, but in the hall, we found ten small children and a youth who tried to put up spirited resistance but was easily overpowered. There were also two heavily pregnant women and an old woman, who cursed us, but was evidently no witch.
The hall was quite richly furnished with rugs and hangings and pretty well supplied with food too. There was a stream running right under the Hall. Ruric said he had heard of Forkhaven and this must be the place. It was smaller than Sikvarp, which could support four ships rather than the two from Forkhaven.
Leofdag looked out of the harbour and used his god-gift. He said that the harbour was surprisingly deep and that there was something within it. Herewulf speculated that many sacrifices of gold and silver must have been offered into the depths.
On the Black Pig was slumped the body of One-Foot with Hild weeping over him. She held a cracked and blackened thong. It was a wyrdstone, made for him by a witch to grant his heart’s desire but he could only use it at a cost. As we had entered the narrow gap and he had been struggling to keep the course and under attack from the witch, he had willingly sacrificed his live to save the Black Pig – he will sup with the other heroes in Valhalla tonight. It was now twilight and out to sea could be seen the flames of the funeral boat for those fallen in battle with the Eowan; now we would need a fresh on for One-Foot, Breda and Ealhere.
We now had twenty-four more oar slaves along with the eight who had rowed us in and twelve wounded Eowan, who were secured. Ruric started feeding small amounts of the seith-brew to the oar slaves in an effort to wean them off the foul stuff.
The night passed uneventfully and during the last watch a large raven arrived. Speculating that this was probably from Saeric Raven’s Cloak and it was told that we had been victorious. It flapped off and about the middle of the day the Osprey and the Bluefish arrived with a small flotilla of Eowan ships. The seas were calm, but not all could fit in the harbour, but the Osprey and Bluefish came in for a council of war.
The Brimwisas determined that a couple of days would be needed for the majority of the wounded to recover. In the meantime, small groups could be sent inland and north and south along the coast for reconnaissance. Further reconnaissance would be carried out by the Spearhafoc with Wistan as lookout. Saeric would also send out his raven to determine the nearest points of habitation.
I remained in Forc-Hafn with Osgar, the other Gesiths and the bulk of our forces. We explored and looted the place. Under the hall was a stream, which was the water supply, but at one end led to a small sea cave just off the lagoon, where we found and despatched the wounded nicor, but not before it cursed the theign. Lytelman appointed Ruric as Steorman in place of One-Foot.
During the day, the wind shifted to the northwest and the Bluefish took the opportunity of a favourable wind to head home taking the Eowan captives apart from one reserved as a sacrifice for One-Foot’s funeral. Beorthulf would sell the slaves, collect some supplies, particularly arrows and then return, maybe with some reinforcements. He hoped to be back in five or so days.
First to return later that day were Herewulf and Herefrith, who had headed south through rough country. They had seen herds of goats and few goatherds, but left them undisturbed. They crept over the ridge line, taking care to avoid being silhouetted and looked down on what they realised must be Sikvarp below them. It was about 5 miles from Forc-hafn. There were about four dozen ships in the harbour and maybe 1000 men, although many of these might be oarslaves. One group including a few mules was heading westwards laden with bundles, another group were returning unencumbered. Deeming the information important they headed straight back to Forc-Hafn.
Beornfrith and Leofric had headed north and they returned later in the day. They had seen nothing unusual just some quiet settlements, which they had avoided. They had then headed to the northwest uphill, where they came across. On investigation they found that this had been burnt out and looted. There were some bodies, but not the 100 or 200 indicated by the size of the settlement. There had been a low stone wall topped by a palisade, but this had been torn down. They headed back along the ridge and came across another settlement, this time just surrounded by hedges. Again, it had been destroyed and looted and there were more corpses.
The funeral pyre was set for One-Foot, using one of the Eowan craft, a barrel of tar, that had been found and a sacrificed prisoner. The other dead were included and the boat was set off to sea soon after dusk. He deserved affine send-off and we did the best we could.
No doubt guided by the light of One-Foot’s pyre the Spearhafoc returned around dawn. They had rowed up the East coast to the North where Wistan had spotted the Eowan fleet beached. There was smoke from inland and it looked as though the Eowan’s had landed and managed to burn at least some of Wiglaf’s fleet after he had marched inland with most of his forces. The Spearhafoc had sailed close to the entrance to the northern harbour, where there were two Geatish boats moored, blocking the entrance. No-one on the Geatish ships seemed keen to engage in conversation, so the Spearhafoc returned.
It was now apparent that the Eowans had two fleets – that moored to the North and four dozen more ships in Sikvarp. Presumably the remaining ships from the sea battle had joined the fleet to the North and therefore our presence was known.
Later that second day Saexulf and Hrithwuld returned from their scouting to the West. They said they had some good news and some bad news; Saexulf considered himself a comedian. They had found Wiglaf, who had burnt a couple of settlements – undoubtedly the two found by our scouting group – and was now laying siege to Bornholm. This was a large settlement on the West coast, almost directly West of Forc-Hafn. Saexulf and Hrithwuld spoke to some of Wiglaf’s scouts, without revealing where they were from. Most of Wiglaf’s army is there, save the guards for his fleet. Earl Sigurd had been killed and morale did not seem to be high.
Wiglaf was not please with Osgar and was considering outlawing him. He had assaulted Bornholm unsuccessfully, defeated by a combination of the dense, entangling and piercing hedges and witchcraft. He felt Osgar’s missing force would have made all the difference.
The Eowan fleet from the North headed past us and a couple of ships put in to Forc-Hafn but after hailing the port realised that we had taken it and headed by. Four Eowan ships were left to watch.
Some of the oar slaves, just over a score, were now recovered from the witches’ brew. Some of these look very useful additions. There was a Frankish priestess, who claimed to be a princess, who took charge of the care of the wounded and the slaves still under the influence of the Eowan drugs. She was very forthright and had some sort of religious symbol of a hanging man. Most of the rest seem to be able to hold a weapon.
Of the Black Pig’s original crew there were now about four dozen remaining with some 26 deceased. There were about a score of wounded – of these five could possibly fight and four were barely conscious.
There were another eighteen oar slaves, who were starting to emerge, but hadn’t made it yet and eight were able to function as oarsmen and had been sent on the Bluefish. A dozen were just listless, but would stand up, sit down etc when told and at pinch might row. The remaining dozen were in a poor state, some catatonic, some rocking to and for and moaning and three were completely crazy and had to be locked up for safety.
There was a council of war to determine our next steps. The Theign was in favour of gathering all our forces, abandoning Forc-Hafn and marching on Sikvarp for glory or death. This would have probably meant that burning the ships and Eoppa in particularly looked most unhappy at the suggestion. We realised that any assault in daylight would not have the element of surprise, and moving a force south in the dark would be a perilous undertaking. Trying to escape the port with the current wind direction would not be easy and getting all three ships out would take too long.
Herewulf was in favour of just defending Forc-Hafn, stating that it was a position which we had the force to defend from land and sea and time would enable our wounded to heal and maybe the Bluefish to return. Osgar and Wistan wished to be more pro-active and to show the Eowan we were a force to be reckoned with.
After much discussion we planned an attack by the Osprey on the ships watching Forc-Hafn and a land reconnaissance. Eoppa said that we should pack the Osprey as full as we could and this left about a score for scouting and guarding the compound and preparing its defence.
The reconnaissance team set out in two groups of five including Herefrith, Herewulf, Beornfrith and Frithiogyth, but also six of the recovered oar slaves: Chidi, a large black man, Miska, a swami, Beorhstan, an Angle, Eofor, a swede and Puttoc, all of whom armed themselves with a mixture of daroths, spears and slings. All had indicated that they knew something of missile weapons or skirmishing, although for some of them language did some a limiting issue.
The reconnaissance team left at much the same time as the Osprey and also at this point there was a lot of cawing from a group of gulls and a curious incident. There were three gulls on the hall roof, cawing persistently. A raven came down and pounced on one of the gulls and tore its head off. Mathelweald the lame was on watch and armed with bows and arrows and he shot one of the other gulls and the remaining one flapped off to the south. Saeric Raven’s Cloak emerged from one of the outbuildings in a cloud of pungent smoke. He looked exhausted and took a seat in the hall. He said that he had visited Wiglaf’s camp as a raven and spoken to some there. About half the Geatish fleet had been burnt and Wiglaf was still trying to sack Bornholm. He had lost a fair number, but had had some successes. On returning to Forc-Hafn he had spotted three gulls acting suspiciously and knew they were the fetches of witches. He knew that if a witch lost her fetch then she might wake up dead. Let us hope that this happens in this case.
I was able to watch the reconnaissance groups a little way, but they soon disappeared from sight. When they returned carrying Beornfrith, Herewuld told me what had happened. They had immediately been observed and came under slingshot fire. Luckily Herewulf realised they were being drawn into a trap and they stopped. Chidi, the black man, had spotted a goatherd and moving with incredible speed had caught and killed him before anyone had chance to suggest taking him prisoner. From the emotion he showed no-one was convinced it would have made a difference if anyone had said a word.
Beornfrith was struck down by a slingshot behind the ear and lay motionless. Chidi went after an opponent who he had spotted and moving with amazing speed over the rocky ground, almost caught him, but did hit him a glancing blow with a daroth, before returning. Those armed with a shield covered the rest and they returned to camp without suffering any more wounds, but very bruised. Of Miska there was no sign. No-one had seen him fall and Herewulf suspected he had hidden ready to pounce on some enemy scout when opportunity presented.
Meanwhile the Osprey had made a sluggish start leaving the harbour. As soon as it emerged the four Eowan ships put up a small spritsail and, mainly powered by their oars, headed southwards along the coast. The Osprey spread some canvas and gathered speed. I watched it close in on the trailing Eowan ship, but could no longer see clearly what happened and so the rest of my description comes from Wistan, who was on board.
The Osprey grappled the Eowan ship and Wistan was in the forefront of the boarders. The oarsmen on this ship were Eowan’s this time so they left their oars to join the affray making the enemy two dozen strong. They were no match for the men of the Osprey and they were all slain or thrown overboard, Wistan in particular leaving a trail of spear victim behind him. By this time a second Eowan ship had returned and drawn along side and the remaining two were also returning. To Wistan’s horror he saw two score more Eowan ships appear round the headland to the south as he despatched his last victim.
Wistan was able to shout a warning and after damaging the second Eowan ship, they were able to cut themselves free and head back to Forc-Hafn. Leofdag had not originally planned to go on the Osprey but noticing that there was still one berth available at the last minute, he deemed this an omen from the gods and took the last spot. It was fortunate that he had done so, as w=he was able to let a mage-wind out of his bag which seemed to blow in whatever direction the helmsman pointed and the Osprey was able to return to Forc-Hafn, outdistancing the Eowan pursuit.
Eoppa was at the helm as the Osprey returned, as the normal steorman was slumped with a daroth in him. Eoppa was in a rage; he had lost six men dead and a further six including his steorman wounded. “I hope your King is happy with our activity!”, he shouted at Osgar as the Osprey pulled in to harbour.
A couple of Eowan ships sailed close to the harbour and roared their derision. Again, four ships were left to watch Forc-Hafn and the rest returned to the south.