It was now towards the end of winter, and although there was still snow on ground, the days were slightly longer and on a sunny day there was just a smidgeon of warmth. I was called before King Hrothulf as he had a job for me and my companions. I was introduced to two men: Osfrith of Goldburg, and one of the King’s gesiths, an elderly gentleman called Hafulk Hammerhand. The gesith had a prosthetic right hand with a hammer and a hooky back and I understood that he was someone that no longer fought in the shieldwall but acted for the King when problems arose.
Osfrith had been sent by the Hildwine, the Thegn of Falster asking for the King’s assistance as his lord. There was a madman loose on the island slaying householders and then mutilating them. Eabohrt had been found in the woods near his stedding with his cock and balls stuffed in his mouth. Tidgar had been found dead with his eyes put out, near another stedding also in the northern part of the island. News had then reached the Thegn of Beortfrith, who had also been slain and found with his cock and balls in his mouth, and Hildwine had then sought assistance.
Osfrith had done his best to investigate, but no-one had seen anything. The victims had clearly fought and it looked as though they had each been disabled, mutilated and then killed. He had investigated the first two attacks, but had then been sent to the King as soon as the news of the third attack had been received. All the attacks had been in the winter over more than a month. In Osfrith’s opinion, the perpetrator had woodcraft and knew how to cover their tracks. Often, they had committed the crime after waiting for it to snow to cover any signs. It also looked as though they had watched the stedding for an opportunity to get someone. In each case the person had been the head of the household. The last attack was believed to be further south than the first two. He had spoken to the families of the first two victims and they had been unaware of any connection. The two families did know of each other, but this was because the victims were of similar age and had attended musters together.
I told the King we would need to go and investigate and he was happy with the response and handed over to Hafulk. The veteran had a saex and a sword set to be pulled out with his left hand and did not seem to carry a shield. He was just over average height, spare, but well-muscled particularly his right arm and seemed very sharp. We started by discussing how to get to Falster. It would be quickest to ride to the other side of Zealand, south of Chapmanshafn where Osfrith had left his faering. There would be room for myself and four companions; Herewulf, Tohrwulf and Herefrith were lurking nearby as I talked to the King and we decided to also take Puttoc. We were all provided with horses, but apart from Herewulf none of us were comfortable on horseback. I had been practicing and despite my horse’s unease managed to cope without disaster, but Herefrith and Tohrwulf both fell off during the journey and Hafulk was unimpressed by our horsemanship, but I assured him we were more accustomed to the water.
It was after dark by the time we arrived but due to the high status of Hafulk, lodgings and food and drink were found for us in the small stedding. There we met the two men left with the faering.
In the morning we were taken to the strand and we set off in the faering. We rowed into a steady breeze from the south. It was Osfrith’s ship but Hafulk tucked the steering oar under his right arm and grabbed it with his other and seemed a competent steorman. After an hour or two the Gesith admitted that Geats seemed better seamen than horse, but that was not saying a lot. We followed the irregular contour of Zealand, heading out to sea initially to round a broad headland. At the end of the day, we came to a small harbour. To the south east another island was visible a mile or two away, Osfrith told us that there were actually two islands with a small island off the tip of the larger one to the south.
The stedding here had a beach for the faering and was less prosperous than the last one, but the King’s gesith was made very welcome and we were afforded what comfort they had. The cows and the lord and his family moved out of the hall to make room for us.
In the morning we set off again, still rowing for the most part, but able to hoist the sail from time to time to help. We followed some narrower channels and passed the islands we could see last night and headed into a wider narrow channel where Osfrith pointed out Falster to our left. We headed around the island to get to Goldburg. We made good progress along the coast and had the sail up for an hour before making a sharp turn into the teeth of the wind down a narrowing channel, where we could see a larger settlement ahead, Goldburg. We disembarked and went to meet the Thegn.
Hildwine was the thegn of Falster. He thanked us for coming so quickly and the King for sending us and told us that he had more news. We were introduced us to Athulf, a scrawny, pale, anxious, diffident little man, with a bandaged left hand, clutched to his chest. Athulf claimed to know the killer and explained that he had met her and they had spoken and he knew her.
He explained that they had been sort of companions. An evil thing had done to her and she was now back. His tale began about 8 years ago when they were youths and there was a war against the Heatherbard living to south, long-time enemies of the Danes, who had gathered a fleet. The King of the Danes had mustered around Goldburg and other places in the southern belt, ready to drive the fleet away. There were fears that the fleet might seek to go East around Danemark and attack Chapmanshafn. At Gedser there was a watchtower on the southernmost tip of Falster and the yuguth had been banded together and sent there to watch for the fleet. If they saw it going east instead of north riders would be sent galloping to Godlburg to give warning.
As Athulf related his tale, I realised with a sinking feeling that this was likely to be Saehild, our erstwhile companion.
Athulf and Saehild had been part of group of nine, which had included Eabohrt, Tidgar and Beortfrith. They had spent long days together and friendships and rivalries had formed and Saehild was the only girl. She had been haughty, and was better than the boys at most of the things they did and would have nothing to do with them as partners. Athulf said he had never been a contender so they had been friends of a sort. After a while word had been received that the fleet had been defeated so they had returned to Gedser, where three of the boys or maybe young men were from. Their old man had been an evil bastard and had encouraged his sons to have their way with Saehild and they had raped her and others joined in. Athulf had tried to stop them ineffectively and had shouted for help, but had been powerless. Of the rest of the group only Tidgar took no part, but he had done nothing effective to stop the attack.
Afterwards with the connivance of the old man she had been sold as a slave to a merchant ship in the harbour at Gedser and a story had been made up of an accident. Saehild was an only child as her mother had died in childbirth, but her father had started asking questions and had had gone to the thegn with a complaint. Nothing had come of this and the thegn did not go to Gedser to investigate. He looked at the thegn.
Three nights ago, Saehild had caught him in the woods. She was changed, older and harder, and was going to kill him but he had begged for his life and something had stayed her hand and she had let him go. She had taken a finger as he hadn’t raised a finger to help her. She had taken the eyes of Tidgar as he had looked on. She was full of wrath for the remaining men, who she would slay.
I admitted that Saehild was probably our former shipmate on the Spearhafoc and that we had brought her to Denmark after freeing from slavery with the Eowan. Hildwine was furious and said that if we had brought her here then she was our responsible. We must slay her he said and count ourselves lucky not to have our task taken to Hafulk. Hafulk interrupted him to say forcefully that this was not the case. He told the Thegn he had no-one to blame but himself. He had sent Saehild’s father away without justice and this sounded like a justified feud to him. Saehild had been ruthless in her vengeance killing, but only within the circle that had harmed her. He reprimanded Hildwine for not finding out what had happened and told him that he now had no authority in the matter as he had passed the matter to the King and that meant him. Hildwine backed down immediately.
The question is what is to be done Hafulk continued. There are four more – where are they he asked. Athulf told him that they were all in the South of the island; Yowis in Fishbake and the three brothers in Gedser. Osfrith asked where she might be living, it was winter so she couldn’t be sleeping rough. Herewulf asked if the father was still alive, but was told he had died three years previously. Athulf told us that Saehild’s father’s stedding was abandoned and was perhaps five miles from here in the woods. Hafulk suggested sleeping on it and changed the subject by commenting on the good pork, saying that it was as tasty as wild boar, but tender which was an important matter at his age.
We stayed and ate and drank Hildwine’s provisions and were berthed in his hall. As we were getting ready to turn in, Hafulk squatted down. He whispered that he saw this as a legitimate feud and didn’t care about anyone involved, she was a hell-raising bitch and they were all bastards as far as he could see. There was nothing for the King here he added. She wasn’t killing wives and children and causing havoc. However, he wouldn’t be doing his job if he allowed it to turn into a wider revenge. Herewulf suggested we could talk to her, help her with the remaining men and then make sure it ended and take her with us away from Denmark. Hafulk thought that would be a neat solution. King could give her a three-year minor outlawry similar to mine and the matter would be over.
In morning Athulf was still there. I asked him if he would guide us to the abandoned stedding. He looked nervous and said that she had told him she would kill him if she saw him again. I agreed to protect him and he said he would guide us. Hafulk told us we were on our own and he would wait for us here.
We set off guided by Athulf and quickly plunged into the forest after a small perimeter of cultivated lands. The type of terrain was familiar to Herewulf and Puttoc, who seemed very comfortable as we followed a series of tracks. Athulf was very much at ease here. He had leather armour, a scramasaex, light shield and a spear. His had less bandages today and it was evident that he was missing the little finger off his left hand. He admitted he had blabbed everything to Saehild when she captured him, including her father’s complaint and told us that the father had died of a broken heart. Athulf told us that Saehild had not seemed surprised by the Thegn’s lack of action. If she had had faith in him, she would have gone to see him, but she hadn’t sworn vengeance on him.
After an hour or two at a clearing where there had been crops but the fields had started to get overgrown with weeds. The hedges were unkempt, and the stockade was broken down. There were still pigs and chickens around, but anything bigger had gone. There was a modest sized hall and a few broken down outbuildings.
I hailed Saehild, telling her who we were and that we had heard the wrong done to her and that we were here to help. I told her we were coming in and went up to the main door. The door was closed, so I knocked and repeated my words. When there was no sound from within, I opened the door and hearing and feeling something, I leapt back just in time to evade a spear. It was suspended from a rope by a crude mechanism, rigged to catch the unwary.
The hall was deserted, but had not been so for that long. There were the remains of a pig, and the embers were cold. On a crude stand was Saehild’s set of studded leather. Her blanket and bedroll were missing. There was a truckle bed with the straw still there and we found a pouch containing around 2 pounds of silver.
Athulf told us that Fishbake was halfway between here and Gedser and it was about 15 to 20 miles to Fishbake. After discussions we decided that Saehild would probably return here from Fishbake before going to Gedser. I sent Athulf home and told him to keep his head down and he headed away with some relied. We waited at the hut with someone evidently in sight all day for a couple of day.
On the third day Puttoc bagged a couple of the chickens. I was sat outside trying to keep warm when I thought I heard the nicker of a horse. I called out to Saehild explaining who we were and that we were there to help but there was no reply. I heard nothing more and Tohrwulf replaced me.
Tohrwulf replaced me and was looking out on a dreich day. After a while he realised that the bush he was looking at was a figure sitting and observing from a concealed position. He waved. And the figure stood up and revealed itself as Saehild. She grumbled that her wood skills must be rusty. Tohrwulf swore that she might depart if she wished and she came into the hall. She was wearing leathers, had a saex, langasaex and franca in her belt and some daroth in her hand and had a large fur lined cloak wrapped around her. She went back out to deal with her horse and then joined us by the fire. When asked she told us that she had killed the man in Fishbake.
I explained what had happened with Hafulk and that he had deemed it a legitimate feud and agreed that if the feud went no further than the brothers in Gedser that she would only be charged with minor outlawry and asked to leave Denmark for three years. We told her we were there to help kill the brothers and we discussed plans.
As we ate the chicken, she told us that Gedser was a sizeable stedding and after the death of their father the oldest of the brothers was now in charge. There was a long thin strip in the salt marshes with two harbour areas, one in the channel and one on the tip of the island. There was a causeway from one harbour to other along the eastern side of a ridge and a path up from the causeway to a palisade surrounding the stedding. She thought there would be maybe 6 to 12 armed men including the three brothers. Her plan had been to sneak into the compound at night, set fire to one or more buildings and then try to kill the brothers in the confusion she hadn’t been sure that she would survive the assault. We decided that with six of us we should go to the stedding and call the brothers out.
Saehild decided to trade horse for a boat as it would be easier to get there by boat than walking and hers was the only horse. Stating that it was too late to set off today, she picked up her cloak that had been drying by the fire, stabled her horse, and wrapping herself in the cloak went straight to sleep.
The next morning there was sleety rain. Saehild, now wearing studded leather with her war spear and war shield, led us to a nearby settlement to trade for a boat. Her offer of the horse for a boat was accepted with alacrity by multiple vendors and we picked the one in best condition and set off down the channel from the settlement. The wind was in a favourable direction so we put up the sail and headed south.
The channel narrowed and turned slightly to the west and then there was an island ahead, which made the channel very narrow indeed and we had to choose which side of the island to pass. Saehild did not know the route. Gedser was on east but the channel that side was very narrow so we headed to the West of the island. We soon came to another marshy looking island and this time took the eastern channel.
After starting down the channel we realised it was full of sandbanks. We hit one and there was a noise from the mast so we took it down and rowed off the bank and headed back to the last junction. We hit another sandbank and had to extricate ourselves again but then made it back to the junction and headed to the south. We passed the low island and came to what looked like a large inland lake but was still salt water. There was an obvious channel to the south, so we hoisted the mast and set sail again.
We were heading along a straight coast to the East and saw a fishing smack ahead, where there was someone waving frantically at us. Misunderstanding the warning we ran aground on another sand bank and the fishing smack managed to tow us off. I explained that we were heading to Gedser, which was met by surprise and suspicion, but I told them that we were with the King’s man, who had been sent here on the request of the thegn.
They took us to their village and they gave us a loft in the largest building. I gave them six sceattas and they were delighted. They offered us a pilot and we accept the help of an alert looking youth named Ceol.
We set off in morning, with Ceol perched in the prow giving directions and asking questions all morning. In the middle of the afternoon Gedser could be seen ahead and Ceol pointed out a line of white water. There were a set of hidden banks and rocks over a two or three mile front preventing easy access to the wider sea.
We sailed into a small harbour where we saw a fisherman and an armed man. The armed man introduced himself as Saeoca from Gedser, he had a shield and spear but no armour. I told him that we had urgent business with his boss, and that we were from the King’s man who is in Goldburg. He told us to wait here and he would relay the news to the dreng, but I told him that this was urgent and we would go straight with him. He was flustered and said that’s not how it normally works but we hurried after him along the causeway.
We could see the salt marsh off to the right and a thin strip of marsh to the left before the ground rose up to the west. Ahead and to the east was a long lozenge shaped hill with a palisade on the top. A path led uphill from the causeway to the palisade about halfway along the ridge. Saeoca ditched his spear and shield and started to run. Puttoc asked if he should shoot him, but I told him not to.
As Saeoca reached the path he started shouting that there were armed strangers approaching. not to shoot him. We reached the path and headed up towards the palisade where there was a man waiting flanked by two warriors with shield. “What do you want?”, he asked.
Saehild announces herself and told him that she had come to you kill him. “You look prouder than the last time I saw you”, he responded. Saehild called on him and his brothers to come down and fight or she would kill everyone in the settlement. “I don’t fear your threats” he replied and then turned to consult his brothers. We start seeing heads appearing on the palisade and waited for their response.
After a short time, there was the sound of a horn or similar, the gates opened and a band of men came forth. We formed a shield wall with Saehild in the middle flanked by myself on her right and Tohrwulf on her left in the front rank with Herewulf behind me and Herefrith behind Tohrwulf, while Puttoc headed back down the path to find a suitable spot from which to fire his bow.
There were 9 or 10 men approaching, 6 in studded leather, and the eldest brother in a byrnie. They formed a rather disorganized shield wall and rushed down the path towards us. Puttoc fired four arrows as they approached of which three found their mark on those not wearing armour, one of whose number looked wounded and dropped back.
They wasted the advantage of the slope by arriving in some disarray and I was quickly able to wound the first of my opponents and force him off the path. Saehild was up against a well-armed hearthguard but was having the better of exchanges and wounded him in the left shoulder. Herefrith managed to wound Tohrwulf’s opponent in the groin with a spear thrust from the second rank. It was noticeable that the brothers did not believe in leading from the front – none were in the front rank.
Next, I was faced by a hearthguard in studded leather; I hit him in the shoulder, disabling his shield. Saehild thrust her spear into the inner part of the thigh of her hearthguard and he went down fountaining blood. Tohrwulf and Herefrith both struck their foe in the shoulder and he too went down. While myself with a thrust in the chest and Herewulf with a thrust in the leg, set down our opponent. Saehild was now fighting the eldest brother in his byrnie who was taunting her, but she managed to get a glancing blow through his defence.
Tohrwulf was now faced with a man in studded leather and both he and Herefrith hit him with glancing blows and then hit him in the chest and left hand respectively and he was forced back out of the shield wall to be replaced by another man in studded leather. I was faced by another of the brothers in studded leather who I soon wounded in the groin. Saehild started to get the upper hand in her fight and struck him in the right shoulder causing him to drop his spear. Tohrwulf and Herefrith both received light wounds in the right and left shoulder respectively.
I hit my opponent in the chest and Herewulf hit him in the left arm and he dropped his shield and went down and Saehild, Tohrwulf and Herefrith continued to further wound their opponents.
No-one replaced my opponent and two men, one in leather armour and one in studded leather were heading up the hill pursued by arrows. I turned to help Saehild and as Herewulf and I hit him in the shoulder, Saehild hit him savagely in the groin and he collapsed obviously dead.
There was a cry from up the hill as one of the fleeing men took an arrow and I headed up the hill after them. Saehild turned on the man fighting Tohrwulf and Herefrith, who was the remaining brother. Herefrith hit him in chest and Saehild ran him through. There was another cry as an arrow strikes home. The man in studded had two arrows in him, one in the leg and was now crawling up the slope. The more lightly armed man had got away.
Saehild reached the remaining brother and he was treated as she had treated her earlier victims and she whispered in his ear as he lay dying. All three were now dead and she had had a hand in the death of each.
I tried to help the wounded. One looked too badly wounded so I help the one with a couple of arrows. With help from my comrades, we moved the wounded to the gate and Saehild announced that she was Saehild, daughter of Saelred and that she had killed the brothers who had raped her. She told those in the settlement to consider themselves lucky that she didn’t kill all those who knew about it but had done nothing.
We made our way down to the fishing village, as darkness fell, and asked for accommodation for the night. Seeing our blood soaked, heavily armed figures, the fishermen vacate the largest hut for us and found us food and drink. I handed over 6 sceattas with which they were delighted, asking if the King’s men could come and deal with their dreng more often. Ceol was staring wide eyed at us.
The next day we set off back to Ceol’s village where he was kidnapped by his mother and not allowed to accompany us further, much to his disappointment. We were guided on to Goldburg by an older cousin.
Hildwine was outraged when I reported but Hafulk shut him up immediately, telling him that if he didn’t want the King’s justice, he shouldn’t have asked for it. He told the thegn that Saehild would be given a minor outlawry lasting three years, but after that time she would be free to return.
Hafulk ordered a faering and we returned uneventfully to Hereot. The King thanked me for our help and asked whether Saehild would be staying with the Spearhafoc. I told him that she was a free woman but I would be delighted if she joined us on our voyages. She wasn’t sure what she would do, but thanked me for the offer. Nobody seemed to be insisting that we depart immediately.