The Longship slid to a halt on the beach, the hissing of its keel on the sand brought Wulfgar out of his reverie, he had been musing on the bad luck that had seen him once more return to Hjartsfjord with a depleted force and a bruised ego.
Now that his brother Sigurd had joined his army and he had been to consult the ancient and wise warlord known only as “Darklord”, Wulfgar had embarked once again on a quest for riches and Glory, the last of the Raids before Winter closed the Fjord with ice and the Warriors took to their halls to feast away the dark months.
Wulfgar had sent out the call to all of his Hirdmen and Thegns to prepare themselves for the next seasons campaigns, while he would lead this one last raid, across the Narrow sea into the lands of the Northern Alliance. Hopefully this raid would be more of a success and the Wulfen would gather their strength ready for when the ice retreated and their Longships could prowl the coasts down to the soft southlands again. Although the Northern Alliance were not the easy targets they once had been, since the Refugee Raven Riders from the Free Dwarfs had joined with Talannar there had been an increase in the instances of their Longships being spotted and intercepted away from land and with the demise of Wulfgar’s Chimeras, the Wulfen had no flyers of their own to counter the Frostclaw threat, Perhaps Thrudella could help with that, Wulfgar grimaced as he thought of that conversation with the gigantic woman as it would probably involve arm wrestling and ale. To counter the Ravens for now, Wulfgar planned to attack the Northern Alliance settlement at night, when the Ravens couldn’t fly.
The Night Raiders spread out from their docked longships, flowing down the jetty and creeping between the wooden huts at the waterfront, bows and axes at the ready, any resistance was met with an arrow or a swift blow from a hand axe and soon they were approaching the palisade that separated the harbour from the town. They could see the flaming torches on the high wall and see the silhouettes of the defenders in the flickering lights of the flames. They paused at the edge of the light cast from the Towns defences as if afraid to be seen in the light, for a moment all was still and then a horseman pushed through the crowded Tribesmen and, raising a red-dripping axe above his head, screamed an inarticulate yell. As one the dark mass surged forwards and the first arrows and spears flew from the palisade to meet them.
Einar hooked his boot under the armpit of the corpse and lifted his leg, heaving the body over onto its back, he bent down to examine the dead mans face more closely, grunting he stood up straight and swept his long blonde hair back from his face with both hands. He paused a second then turned to his Hearthguards. “I don’t recognise these tribal tattoos” he said” Any ideas?”
His bodyguards had no idea either and as he stood listening to them positing theories he stared at the shattered palisade and destroyed buildings of Jansarbour, the second of his Fathers Vassal towns that had fallen to these raiders. They had killed all the men, plundered the buildings and carried off anything not fastened down, including the women and children. His Father the Jarl would lose face amongst the other chieftains if he could not defend his Folk. But Einar suspected these were no ordinary Pirates and that these raids were the precursor to something more. In the meantime he would double his naval patrols and visit other small Towns along the coast to ensure their defences were strengthened, although he suspected that an envoy to Prince Talannar would be more effective as they had access to better troops than just Einar’s Tribe could provide and if Einar’s suspicions were correct, they would be needed soon.
Einar knew of the Varangur, the Worshippers of Korgaan that were similar enough to the Northern Alliance Tribesmen that they could be Cousins, indeed they were from the same common stock, but where the Northern Alliance worshipped the Light, the Varangur venerated on of the ancient old evils that had once stalked the world before the Celestions arrived. They were a savage brutal people, driven by their evil Gods whims and malices and, if they were raiding this far down the coast for Captives and weapons, then they must be planning a large campaign. If they gathered enough ships and men then they could make life very difficult for the soft denizens of the lands to the South of Einar’s home.
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