Vikings Invade Ireland
He watched others row the boat through the rough stormy seas. He was on his way with about another six hundred Vikings to invade Ireland. There were one hundred boats ready to land on the Irish beaches. Rein had trained from a young age and had fought many other battles before. He preferred the axe to the sword but if the time called for it he could wield it to crush his enemy. The waves began to crash over the ships sides making the deck wetter than the sea itself. After an hour of rowing they reached the outskirts of the beaches of Ireland.
The boats moved closer gathering speed as they got closer. The water was now been turned into storm by the Vikings themselves. As they drew nearer the saw that the men of Ireland were prepared to defend their lovely country at all costs.
The wooden boat was creaking more and more as the island became bigger and bigger. The tension was becoming unbearable as they drew closer. It was a long five minutes before the Viking jumped off their massive boats and charged out onto the sandy beaches. Rein wielded his axe high above his head and was determined to make the forty one metres to hack at the enemy. The archers formed a large group then they fired their arrows in the direction of the Irish. It was successful but they reacted with more archers and more arrows. The Irish arrows where fired high but when they fell back to earth they found their targets. Rein was running by himself now the rest where all behind him less determined to kill. His feet pounded the ground one after another; sweat was trickling down his face his axe gripped hard in his right hand and his shield was not being used to protect him from arrows to give more speed. When he reached the enemy he felt anger take over his last pockets of sense and he swung his axe in all directions chopping at his enemy. Within seconds his axe was soaked in blood and within an hour of fighting Rein and his friends had defeated the small enemy force. They had taken the beach with a loss of only of sixty fellow fighters.
Rein had lost his lust for blood after seeing his fallen allies. His sense had taken back over his body. His arm was starting ache a bit but he shook it off. He had received no injuries in the small skirmish. Some where missing body parts he considered himself the luckiest person on the world. While the day was still light they set to work setting up camp. It made Rein feel even luckier that he wasn’t on night watch. As he slept he thought about his long journey there.
When he woke up the following day he saw his fellow soldiers w ere dressed and prepared. He looked at himself wearing only his tunic he knew he had to get dressed before anyone saw him but today luck was not on his side. A man spotted Rein and then he shouted to the others who realised Rein was not dressed, this angered them he was sleeping while they were working their backs off. They decided with little exchange of words to beat him. Once he had got dressed and beaten up a bit more he joined in with the march to a small village nothing special but it would be a stepping stone. The walk was only ten miles but exhausted the Scandinavians. They reached the village in an hour of marching. They moved into the village swiftly and killed the farmers who tried to make themselves honourable soldiers only to be swept aside by a blade or axe. The village was pillaged and slaughter. They only spared the woman and young children so they could be used as slaves.
It had only took an hour to conquer the village that they decided to move on to a town that was three times the village they had just conquered. They walked over the vast plains and settled down on top of a hill, it overlooked the large town below. Once they had rested they charged down the hill and headed for the wooden gate which stood between them and a blood bath. The archers however stayed on top of the hill and fired on the village below. The wooden gate stood no chance against the mighty muscles of the Vikings. They crashed through the gate within a matter of minutes. The only resistance was local town guards and little children with their dead fathers’ sword. This was a bigger village but was still no threat. The men instead of setting up tents and sleeping in the night just chucked villagers out of their homes and slept. They had lost twenty seven men to the small battles only five hundred and thirteen lived to expand the great empire. As darkness drew over the village the party started. The beer was drunk mostly the Scandinavians missed and drenched themselves with its odour. Then fists and words were thrown about.
The Irish king was now beginning to feel threatened by the Vikings so he ordered his army to move to the closet villages to Dirkentuke and Fritentonpeke the towns occupied by the Vikings. He was desperate to stay in control of his thrown and country.
The celebration was beginning to get out of control; fights starting between everyone. Rein had got into two of his own before deciding he would like to keep his bottom front teeth. The beds were like sleeping in castles for the soldiers that had not seen a bed for a year or so.
The sun rouse over the horizon; the light spilled out over the valley. Rein woke bright and early eating what he could find left over from last nights brawl. It was another half an hour before he saw someone else wandering about the place. They rambled on about their life back home. Rein had made a new friend Atriet who had a wife but no children. Rein had talked about his family life too.
They had been marching to another city when attacked by a large army of at least three hundred men that looked well trained and had muscles bigger than oceans. They had charged at them their well trained archers took a huge toll on the Vikings before the infantry had even reached them. The battle started with a massive clash as swords ripped through flesh and arrows landing in soil and chests. Rein was sinking his axe into many body; him and his axe where covered in blood. The Norwegian soldiers ran back towards the archers but the Vikings out of stubbornness pursued them chopping down lines of enemy soldiers. The ones that surrendered were sadly shown no mercy and were decapitated. The Vikings stopped their advance due to the loss of men and the gain of injuries. They had lost two hundred and ninety men; it was a heavy toll. This meant that only two hundred and twenty three Vikings still lived.
The following day Rein and the men around were given what they had long waited for a day of rest. Rein just slept, he dreamt of the battles he had fought in during the recent days. It led him to remembering the person he had talked to the night of celebration. He remembered seeing his body laying on the ground his eyes looking into nothing his skin pale as a ghost. These bad memories brought him back to earth waking him with a start; it wasn’t the bad memories that had waked him it was an ambush. The village was being torched Scandinavians being killed in their sleep. He searched for his axe but couldn’t find it. An Irishmen bashed through the door brandishing a torch in one hand and a long blade in another. Rein charged at the man no weapon in his hand. He brought his foot into soldiers’ knee bringing the ambusher to his knees; dropping his sword on the down next to him. Many thoughts were racing through Reins mind but the one that told him to grab the sword was his favourite. He launched at it and sliced the enemy he ran out of the hut to see the whole village on light and the Vikings that surrendered were lined up then from behind stabbed with strong thrusts; some Vikings were running out of huts on fire. Rein for the first time in his life he was afraid. He ran out of the village and spotted a large forest he thought it was his best chances so he sprinted towards it hope burning in his heart his lungs gulping down huge amounts of air. Reins’ legs where continuously pounding the ground in his last desperate escape. He was two metres away from the forest when he lunged into it, he received several scars but it was worth it.
As he wandered round in the dark he found other stragglers who to had escaped the massacre. They all had a weapon of some sort one of them only had a sharp stone but that to could kill. They decided to go hunting to get food for the following days. They were walking through the woods keeping their eyes peeled for any life form other than themselves.
They had walked for an hour and all they had to show for it was a couple of squirrels and a small rabbit. Then Rein strained his eyes to make out a wolf carrying a dead fox. Rein saw his chance to get two animals in one so he picked up a small pointy stone and flung it hard against the wolf’s skull, the wolf gave off a loud howl and fell Rein pounced on it and finished it off. He picked up the body and regrouped his men. They were dumbstruck when they saw the two animals in his hand. They cheered him on as they made a small camp, a fire and a place to sleep.
Once they woke in the morning they cooked the rabbit and squirrels they were saving the big mammals for dinner. They decided to attack small groups of soldiers. It took them about two hours to emerge from the dense forest.
They immediately spotted a small patrol of six men. No match for the fourteen of Reins’ men. They hid in separate bushes preparing to ambush the small patrol. The Vikings waited in patience. Then once the Norwegians were in front of them they made a huge aggressive charge. They sliced through the enemies numbers sparing no-one. They went for a larger group of twenty men feeling lucky over their last victory. They had no bushes to hide in so they had to charge right at them. Rein was the one at the front holding his sword low preparing to stab the horse which carried a fat moustached man. He got his timing just right he didn’t stab the horse but through it into a state of confusion. It turned and jumped flinging off the rider. It then trampled over him crushing him but not killing him. The Vikings had taken full advantage of this distraction and had attacked the most confused men. One of the Vikings chose the wrong target and ended up without a head. The man he had gone hunting with turned to see his buddies body headless then looked up to see the killer. He charged with all of his might and stabbed the soldier and gave him the same death he had given his friend. Another Scandinavian died due to an Irish blade. Rein was hacking at a soldiers’ shield trying to break through it. He was almost there when one of his new friends stabbed the defender in the back. The Irishmen who had been stabbed from behind fell to the ground gasping for air his blood forming a pool of blood around him.
Rein and his fellow Scandinavians had lost five of their brothers to the country of Ireland. They headed back to their camp to enjoy their big meal.
The wolf was slowly roasting and kept turning on a stick round and round. It was a cold night so Rein sat near the fire which was roasting the wolf. He outstretched his hand to get the warmth going all round his frozen body. It was another hour before the Viking sank their teeth into the tender wolf. After that all but two people went to sleep, they were Rein and Finered who had been given the dreaded duty of night watch. Rein was looking into the darkness not seeing any shapes he fought he would take a small nap; this was the biggest mistake he would ever make.
Irish who had followed the Vikings since they had returned home after their second ambush slowly and cautiously moved closer steadying their grip on their blades. They walked up to the camp but missed the Irish missed Rein because he was on the ground and had not been trampled yet. He woke at the sound of blades being put into living bodies, one of Reins fellow fighters was able to give out a little squeal which warned Finered. Rein met up with him and they ran as far as they could from the ambushed camp.
They had been wandering through the many bogs that filled the land for weeks and had killed many innocent people but some had deserved it, they had even killed some recruitment soldiers. When they grew hungry they robbed farms and villages. All this in order to stay undetected.
After they had wandered round the country for a year avoiding patrols and killing people who spotted them they finally gave up their long hope of being rescued. They began to think of their limited options hide for ever in a country owned by the enemy or make one last desperate stand against the Irish soldiers. They didn’t need long to think they settled on their second option of making their last stand for glory and for their empire which they had sworn loyalty to.
They had lost their weapons in their many journeys so they had to improvise and make their own tools of destruction. They had to use out dated sticks and stones. It was easy enough too gather the needed materials. The hard part was finding where to attack. Finered was handy with a bow so he made one out of the wood and the string that they had plundered from villages. They thought because they had a bow they would attack on a hill to shoot the enemy below. Rein had crafted himself a large axe and had made him and Finered swords he had also made small daggers. It would take a whole army to take them down, that’s what they thought anyway. They walked through villages slaughtering the inhabitants to attract the attention of the loyal soldiers of Ireland. They did run into a cavalry patrol one ran off to tell the others while the ones charged at Rein and his friend fought of finishing there and right at that moment. They fought wrong. Rein heaved up his huge axe and smacked one of the riders of his horse then finished him off. Finered decided to keep out his bow and shoot the horses that carried the burden of a rider and rations as well as a large sword.
They looked around quickly for a big hill they didn’t have to look hard to see a large mossy hill only sixty metres away. Reaching the hill wasn’t the problem it was climbing up it to get to the top. It wasn’t long before they were seen standing proudly on the hill. The whole army turned and headed for Rein and his two man army. Finered fired his bow taking down enemies who fell to the ground and tripped up live soldiers who were in seconds trampled. As the enemy climbed up the hill Finered still shot them while Rein dropped large stone on them. As they reached the top of the hill Finered dropped his bow and unsheathed his blade. Rein picked up his heavy axe and charged at the enemy swinging it taking down many enemies and flinging some off the hill. Finered followed but took a less aggressive approach. He stabbed one of his enemies only to be stabbed himself. Rein killed Finereds’ attacker. Rein then went back to his blood bath. He was then grabbed and chucked off the massive hill he was following down waiting in frustration for his death when he would hit the ground. It came sooner than expected the impact was sore but it wasn’t long before he died.
Finered was on his own now the plan had sounded like such a good plan but now he saw the stupidity in it. He fell to the ground and was painfully grabbed he was going to be a prisoner. It was a long journey to his prison. He was dreading his cold damp cell he would have rather of been in Reins position, dead!
A few years later
Finered was eating his disgusting prison food thinking of his friend who had died in his last stand but not his own. He was about to go to sleep when the guard door was flung open and the man inside was flung down the ten steps. Finereds kin stepped through the door and released him and his fellows jail friends. The new reinforcements where followed by others and they where were followed by others within one year Ireland was captured and in the next two years Great Britain was captured. Finered then returned home and searched for a wife. His search was long he even thought it was harder than surviving in the battle field. His search was not in Vain though he found his true love and was able to raise children.
The End