Theign Osgar had the 70 or so fully active warriors split into 6 watches of around a dozen each. At any one time two watches would be active, two watches ready and two watches resting or sleeping.
The Eowan oar slave was now recovered sufficiently to be questioned. His name was Aelfferth and unlike most of the Eowan he had a beard and long, dishevelled hair, probably since his time as an oar slave; he did though have the typical tattoos. He was grateful for his freedom and seemed keen to help. He explained that he had been enslaved for a year – since the coven had suspected that his father had held back on his offerings to Nerfis. He would never be able to go back to the Eowan and was happy to throw in his lot with us.
He was able to reveal some information on how Eowan society was structured. The queen witch was in charge of the island and she ruled with the help of the coven – 12 other witches. Lesser witches competed to be chosen as part of the coven when a new member was required. He estimated that maybe there were two score witches on the island, but he wasn’t very sure. He thought each settlement had a witch, but there might be apprentices or old crones as well.
Aelfferth told us that the queen had her main place in the south at Eepdorp, but was also often at Stanbeorg more in the centre of the island, maybe 10 or so miles to the south or south west of us. The largest places were generally along the central ridge. He thought that witches had different specialist skills; some could grow things quickly, for example crops or hedges and might even be able to direct hedges to attack people. He knew that there were hedges at Sikvarp and had heard they might also be at Bornholm. Lytelman decided that he could be trusted to join with us and gave him weapons and he also distributed any captured weapons and equipment amongst the other recovered oar slaves so that they too could fight.
The morning passed quietly but then a lookout placed above the hall shouted that something that looked like a goat had drifted downstream to lodge in the sluice gates, through which our water ran. The theign took charge of a party and formed a shield wall to march up to the sluice gates. They came under fire and a few members were struck by slingshots, but they managed to retrieve the carcase of the goat. The retreat was much trickier as it is very difficult to retreat as a shield wall, especially over rocky and uneven ground. I was on the lookout for targets with my sling, but from our lower position it was almost impossible to pick out any opportunities. The party made it back safely with more bruises, but no serious wounds. We had already filled any empty barrels with water, which was just as well as another dead goat soon floated downstream to jam in the sluice gates. It seemed a futile exercise to send more men out to clear the corpse.
Around midday a thick mist rolled down from the northwest. We questioned Aelfferth, but he had not seen the like before so we guessed this had been caused by the Eowan witches. It swept slowly over the settlement and then out to sea. The men on the platform on the rocky spit could see over the mist as it wasn’t very high, but they couldn’t see any sign of impending attack. They could hear nothing either.
After about an hour the mist dissipated and we spotted a fleet of 20 Eowan ships rounding the point to the south, about 30 minutes away. Suddenly Miska the swami scout appeared in the compound – no-one saw him arrive. He was carrying a bow and two or three quivers of arrows and was grinning all over his face. Although he had no common language with us, we understood that he had seen many many to the south, many many to the northwest and many like us to the west. It was there that he had found the bow and arrows. On his return he had seen a witch and shot her and then sneaked back. He was certainly a master of stealth. The death of the witch probably explained why the mist had dissipated before the Eowan were able to spring their trap.
At this point the two Eowan forces to the south and northwest that Miska had described came in to sight. There were at least 100 in the each of the forces to the south and to northwest. Lytelman disposed his forces; two watches to defend the harbour and four watches around the compound. Herewulf lent Miska his rune marked bow for the day in exchange for Miska’s bow and a dozen arrows, and stationed himself above the hall where he hoped to be able to pick off important targets. Theign Osgar took command of the forces in the compound, while Eoppa had control of the harbour defences. I found myself with Lytelman, Wistan and Thorwulf, amongst others, in the compound.
There was a great whoop from the forces to the south and their attack arrived first. Theign Osgar deployed two watches to fight off that attack and deployed a third watch ready for the attack from the northwest and kept the remaining watch in reserve. The makeshift barriers we had erected, using the Eowan ships, gave us an advantage. Wistan fought bravely and managed to run through one of the enemy leaders with his rune-marked spear. The enemy forces regathered and attacked again, this time they were repulsed after another hard struggle and fled. Some of our men pursued their foes; led by the black figure of Chidi, the freed oar slaves tried to exact some measure of revenge before returning safely. Herewulf also managed to take down one or two of the Eowan with his bow.
There was a cry from the northwest and the remaining land force charged in to attack the compound and Lytelman committed his reserve. He then leapt over the barricades to rescue a member of the Osprey crew, who was being dragged out by three enemy warriors. He quickly slew one and drove the others off and helped his comrade back into the shield wall. He then fought and slew one of the enemy leaders before clutching his chest when under no apparent attack and collapsed. Meanwhile I was playing my part in the shield wall. I was knocked down by one fierce blow, but managed to leap straight back up and reform the shield wall, I was then involved in a prolonged struggle with another large Eowan leader and I had not spotted Osgar’s predicament. Thorwulf after despatching a couple of Eowan also seemed to come under magical attack but was able to shrug it off. Unfortunately, at this point I was knocked out of the shield wall by my opponent. Thorwulf was also wounded and knocked off his feet.
Herewulf spotted the two magical attacks and spotted the perpetrator. Nocking a rune marked arrow to his bow, he took careful aim and struck her in the body and she gave a cry and went down. This was the impetus we needed and the Eowan were repulsed. They left, with a few of their number dragging the body of the witch. Herewulf put an arrow in their midst, but wasn’t sure if he had struck the witch again. The unconscious body of the theign was carried back to the compound and Wistan took command.
At roughly the same time, the Eowan ships launched their attack on the harbour. The Eowan did not want to crash their ships on the rocky shore and therefore concentrated on the harbour entrance where Eoppa had arrayed many of his men on the prows of the Osprey and the Black Pig. My comrade Herefrith was in the shield wall on the Black Pig. The Eowan ships were trying to form a raft in the harbour mouth, so that they could board our ships and then make their way ashore. There was a long, fierce struggle around the Black Pig and the Osprey. Herefrith slew two opponents and then came up against one of the Eowan leaders, he fought hard, but was knocked over and fortunately pitched back into the Black Pig rather than overboard but was knocked out. We had a pile of rocks on the spit overlooking the Eowan attack and one of them was successfully dropped onto an Eowan ship – it went straight through the bottom of the ship, which rapidly sank. Some of the Eowan forces managed to land on the southern spit, but Eoppa rounded up some men to face them and as we had already been victorious in the compound, Wistan was able to gather half a dozen men around him and dash to their aid. Wistan then came up against the leader who had earlier bested Herefrith, but he was no match for the Atheling. The Eowan broke. They managed to leave in good order, but in addition to the ship we had sunk, we also managed to capture two more enemy ships.
We regrouped, caught our breath and started to count our losses. Herewulf began to gather a group to despatch the Eowan wounded, but the Frankish priestess seemed to think this would offend her God and tried to intercede. Others including Leofdag and Aelfferth were more pragmatic, believing that they might be used as hostages or sold and so should be kept alive. Wistan was acting commander as the theign was unconscious and decided that the wounded Eowan should be kept alive in case they could be exchanged for our comrades captured from the Spearhafoc.
Our fallen were Leodmar, the East-Geatish ship guard who died defending the harbour, along with Brihtric a seaman from Osprey, and Ordric, a Weather-Geatish freedman who gave his life in defence of the compound. Apart from Lytelman we had four others seriously wounded including Sweyn the giant Sweon warrior. There were also half a dozen warriors with less serious wounds including my fellow gesith Grymcytel and Miska who proved somewhat less talented as a warrior then he was as a bowman and scout. Of the Eowan we had slain maybe two score, although some of these may have swum away, and we had captured seven who had collapsed when their battle brew wore off. There were also eleven more freed oar slaves from one of the Eowan ships. Hopefully the Frankish priestess will be able help the theign and our other wounded to a speedy recovery.
Despite our sad losses we have shown the Eowan that we are ready for them and we will prove a tough nut to crack.