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Pov of a Varangian
Anno Domini, 831-March-17
''Ah, this is good steel. This is what the damned men of Swearike have been keeping for themselves'' I said, looking at the axe I had traded for a horse I had captured, while I ran the edge along my arm, shaving off the hair there.
''A bit expensive, honestly. A half horse for an axe that size. I think they took you for a fool'' said one of my companions, who was looking at the axe.
''It is an investment. My axe broke when I smashed that sarakenoi's skull, so I needed a replacement. Besides, the Romans were asking me to stop using a two-handed axe while we carry out maneuvers on land and said I had to use a shield, so a good hand axe and a good-quality shield were what I traded for, using part of my loot so I can get even more loot later… besides, I bought armor that was not too expensive, but useful'' I said, smiling as I touched my new shield, which was made of oak, leather cords, a steel interior and a steel frame.
''Well, yes, the shield clearly looks good compared to mine, but I am not going to spend a thrall on a trade like that'' said my companion, shaking his head as his braided beard swayed in the air.
''Ha, we will see when your shield breaks in the middle of combat. At least I know I can stay calm'' I said, putting the axe into its sheath as I placed it on my belt and adjusted my shield onto my back with the straps.
''Afraid of Valhalla? You are showing a lot of fear of dying in battle'' said another of the men sitting in the boat, carving a piece of wood.
''I have to return home alive. I have to take those eight thralls and the horse I got back to Pannonia. We need many hands to work the land.''
''Hey, and the armor you bought with the rest of the horse?'' asked my companion, who was touching my clothes.
''It is hardened cotton armor with some steel pieces. It is light and not very heavy, but it should protect me well from an arrow or a cut. I am still waiting for it. They are scarce because, with this damned heat that keeps rising, everyone wants light armor, but clearly not enough of it is being produced and, of course, we have to wait for the next shipment to arrive'' I said, adjusting my old armor, which had protected me from several cuts from the locals.
''Well, today, unless I am mistaken, we have to make sure no one crosses the sea. Luckily, we can already raid without much restraint, since the Roman general changed his mind about what we have to do and we have free rein to loot everything we can, since the Roman general changed his mind about respecting the locals'' said the man who was carving after blowing away the wood shavings that scattered across the drakkar.
''Yes, that is why I bought this. I want to be at the front all the time so I can bring many thralls to our lands and, if possible, many horses and animals for the plow. With that, I will fill my family with pride, and then I will be able to seek an honorable death, which for now I must avoid'' I said, smiling as I gripped the drakkar's oar.
''Well, it looks like you will not have to say much more. It seems we are moving'' said my companion as he pointed at several more of our men approaching, along with several Romans climbing onto their large ships.
''Good, time to watch the seas. We have orders to sink anything that moves across the water. No mercy for anything. Any ship on the water either goes to the bottom of the sea or everyone aboard is captured, so there is your chance to fill your pockets. Jarl Basil will never let his loyal warriors return with empty drakkars, so if you want wealth, there it is. It is yours, take it by force'' said one of Jarl Basil's hersir, who pointed toward the sea with a steel sword that had jewels and gold on its hilt.
I held back my smile and took my place on the drakkar, and it did not take long for us to begin moving.
As soon as the order was given, we left the port rowing, beginning to sail while keeping a steady rhythm, trying to match the speed of the Roman ships guiding the voyage.
As our drakkar cut through the sea and I felt the sea breeze striking my face, it was a very different feeling from what the last few years had been like, since it was usually that cold one could never get used to. But feeling heat while you were wet was something completely different and completely unpleasant as you slowly sweated like a pig in the high temperature you had to endure while rowing.
Several hours passed as we sailed, watching the nearby ports, but for the moment we had orders to watch the sea, so we simply ignored ports that were ripe to be completely looted.
At midday, when the sun was beating down with great force and I felt drops of sweat running down my body, one of the lookouts on the Roman ship finally began shouting and pointing in one direction while watching from his elevated position.
As we stopped after rowing for a long time, I took my hands off the oar and began moving them to rest them a little.
The hersir of our ship began speaking with the Roman drungarius, and they exchanged words.
''Sarakenoi ship ahead. It is only one, but it is a large transport ship, so prepare to board'' said our hersir.
I took up the oar again, and once more we found our rowing rhythm. We heard the drum inside the heavy dromon's oar deck begin to beat, and all the oars increased their speed. Hundreds of oars struck the water at the same time, gaining great speed, to the point that we had to hold back our own pace as we began pursuing that ship.
A moment passed as we closed the distance, since the ship was simply relying on its sails and was using a kind of oar system it had probably improvised to increase the ship's speed.
But while we were rapidly cutting down the distance to our target, the Roman drungarius began shouting at us from his ship, and we stopped our advance by order of the hersir.
There was an exchange of words without us understanding much of what was happening, until the hersir looked at us.
''The ship is packed with troops armed in heavy armor, so they must be transporting the troops we were asked to intercept. We do not have the men to board it'' said the hersir as he looked at the ship, which kept moving, pulling away from us.
''But are we just going to let it go?'' I said, looking at the hersir.
''No… the Romans are going to prepare to ram it from the side. It does not have a ram, but it does have an iron covering. They are going to sink it because we cannot board it, but that heavy armor will do them no good when they are drowning, so prepare to deal with prisoners sinking in the water if you want loot.''
I pulled a rope out from under my rowing post and began tying many knots to extend the ropes when the time came to try to grab some prisoners.
The Roman ship began to move while all the drakkars accompanying it were preparing to try to seize as much loot as possible.
The Roman ship began moving again and, since it had oars, it clearly did not take long to outpace the Sarakenoi ship. They soon overtook it and began maneuvering in the water while only one side of the oars rowed, making the ship rotate, putting it in position to keep pace with the Sarakenoi ship.
We followed the Romans more slowly, waiting for them to act, until finally the Romans gathered great speed while closely following the Sarakenoi ship, which tried to turn in the water to avoid a direct collision, but between having far too few oars and the little wind there was, they could do nothing.
And we watched as the heavy Roman dromon slammed into the Sarakenoi ship, and we saw dozens of men who had been on the ship go flying in every direction as the vessel split in half. Splinters flew everywhere, and it did not take long before we saw many falling into the water and sinking under the weight of their armor.
Once we were beside the destroyed ship, I took a rope and, after stripping off almost everything except my trousers, I jumped into the water with the rope in my hands, swimming as I watched some men sink into the sea.
Diving down, it did not take me long to grab one by the hand and tie the rope around him while he tried to cling to me. I finished the knot and freed myself so I could swim back upward.
''Cough*... pull that one'' I said, pointing to my companions, who quickly began pulling, and taking another rope, I dove back under.
As I went for another of the soldiers who was sinking and watched one being dragged upward, I ran into a man from another ship, and it seemed we had the same prey.
I swam with all my strength and managed to grab him first, watching as I tied the knot while the other sailor returned to the surface.
Once again, I swam back and came up, grabbing onto the ship.
''This one'' I said, pointing to the rope while I watched them tying up the one they had just pulled out.
I spent a long while like that, trying to pull out everyone we could, but some had already sunk too deep to recover, and the ones being brought up were already dead.
Coming out of the water and looking at the three I had managed to pull out while others did the same, I saw that some had gone for the easiest prize and had pulled from the water those wearing light armor, men who could actually swim, except they had to beat them properly or even wound them with spears to keep them from trying to take control of their ship.
''Ah, my eyes… I will keep two, you keep the third'' I said, feeling the burning in my eyes from the salt water.
''Eh, but it should be equal shares'' said one of the two who had helped me.
''I threw myself into the water to bring these men up and ran the risk of them dragging me down with them'' I said, wiping my nose with my hand as I heard some shouting and watched a prisoner being punched in the face several times for resisting being tied up.
''Certainly. We are dry while he is covered in salt water, so that is more than generous'' said the other man who had helped me. ''But we want the one who is alive. This one is dead. He swallowed too much water'' he said, pointing as he kicked the lifeless Sarakenoi body.
''Fine. From the look of it, they have good armor'' I said, beginning to strip the dead Sarakenoi's body. ''Oh… mail'' I noted as I opened the armor and saw that he had a mail shirt.
''One of the cheap ones, four rings. The expensive ones are five'' said the hersir, looking at the armor I had captured.
''As long as it protects, it is good loot'' I said, pulling the mail shirt off the dead man.
''Remember that the Romans will ask for a tenth of the loot because they struck the ship'' said the hersir as he began inspecting all the prisoners we had managed to capture.
''Well… true…'' I said, looking at what part of my share I would hand over to the Romans. ''Do they choose, or can we give them the least useful part?'' I looked at the hersir.
''All the loot will be counted, and one part will be handed over in coin. With that, you will be able to buy back parts of the loot you want at a lower price. We do not want problems with the Romans over this'' said the hersir.
''Bah'' I said, kicking the dead man.
We cleaned the area for a while, trying to secure all the loot.
''They were transporting food, so luckily there was not much of value that sank'' said the hersir after finishing coordinating with the Romans.
''Now what?'' I said as I dried under the heat of the sun.
''We are going to raid a port. I do not know where the ship sailed from, but there is another one nearby, so we will see what can be looted there'' said the hersir, pointing at the Roman ship.
I was one of the first to take my place at the oars, and it did not take us long to accompany the Romans as we sailed. Within an hour, we were looking at the port we were going to attack.
And I could not stop smiling as our ship entered the sandbank. I immediately jumped onto the sand, drawing my axe and shield as I adjusted my helmet.
''THOR!'' I shouted at the top of my lungs.
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If there are spelling mistakes, please let me know.
Leave a comment; support is always appreciated.
I remind you to leave your ideas or what you would like to see.
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