All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
Summers Raiding
The Jarl walked up to me with a grim look on his face. ”We are leaving tomorrow, Esger…”
“Fine,” I grumbled,” let me gather my things and say goodbye to my family.” The Jarl was my commander, and when he said we have to go, there was no questions about it. I was stunned that I would actually be leaving my family. I was afraid to tell my family the bad news, nonetheless I wanted to hurry home so I could spend my last moments here, at home.
I ran all the way to my front door, wanting to spend every last moment I could with my family. Yet at the same time, I was afraid. I was afraid of what they would say, think, or do. After standing outside the door for what seemed like hours, I finally opened the door and walked inside. My wife, Adhelin, had made a fresh kettle of soup, and seeing this, I embraced her. It was a while before, in her arms, I uttered very quietly the words ”I have to leave.” Adhelin started crying, she didn’t know what to say. Nobody knew what to say. After what seemed like ages, she finally asked, ”Where are you sailing to?” Now, I would have loved to tell her, but that was the thing. I couldn’t tell where I was I was headed to, as this information would surely upset her. I, along with the rest of my crew, were sailing to new lands. We were commanded by high officers that we must travel to these new lands, for Erik the Red had been slain by the natives there. Not knowing what to say, I simply avoided the question and acted like she never asked me.
“Well, mourning about this doesn’t do us any good,” said Adhelin. ”We must get you packed and ready.” She wiped her tears and took out my wooden chest. She proceeded in packing the basics for me, as well as an extra pair of my clothes. I slowly walked over to the chest. I had left it at the foot of my bed fifteen years ago, and it had not been opened until today. Upon opening the chest, I spotted my sword. This weapon was ahead of its time, and only the richest or most high elite Vikings had possession of such a beauty. Its name was the Ulfberht. It was made completely out of crucible steel, allowing it to stay sharp for long periods of time. I grabbed the sword and took it out of its sheath. Naturally, the blade was as sharp as razor, sharp enough to slash through chainmail.
I put the Ulfberht back in its hilt, and continued over to the wall. On the wall I had hung a thick dark blanket. Taking a deep breath, I slowly pulled the blanket, causing it to fall to the ground. This revealed my previously hidden shield. It was made of a single layer of planks bounded together by iron bands, painted with black and yellow on it. Alongside of the shield there was the common Viking bearded axe. This piece of equipment is both weapon and tool. One can either use the axe to land devastating blows or use the back end of the axe to rip the shield from one’s enemy. I grabbed all of my things and brought them before the Jarl. He then assured me that my belongings would be present on the boat before we left. I hurried home again to get a good night’s sleep. I would be setting sail by the next day.
The next morning, I said goodbye to my wife and made for the boat. Upon my arrival, I checked the boat for my belongings. I searched every nook and cranny, yet I could not find my stuff. My belongings were the only things that remind me of my family and my home.
Before I could panic, the Jarl walked up to me, handing me my bag. All thirty crew members, including myself, proceeded to climb into the boat. This boat was arranged ten paddles on each side, and had room for ten men in the middle. Once everybody was seated, the assigned Vikings started to row the boat. Just then, Adhelin came running at full speed toward the boat, and was yelling for the Vikings to stop rowing. This proved to be futile, as my fellow crew members did not pay any mind to her command. It was only when I shouted, ”Stop!” that they halted. They then rowed the boat up to the docks. I immediately made for Adhelin, giving her a hug when I reached her. Adhelin soon let go and gave me an arm ring. She then left without saying a word. I grasped my hand around the arm ring and kept it clenched until I sat down. They started to row the boat again, this time not stopping for anything. I unclenched my hand to see the arm ring. On it was inscribed the word ”Adjö”. ”Goodbye,” I read. I put on the arm ring, vowing to never take it off until I got back to my loving wife.
My crew and I had been sailing for about three days, and I could hear seagulls overhead. We were close to land. After a couple more hours, I could the shore of England. The place looked like it would have some nice places to raid. Up on the hill right off the beach is what appeared to be a grand city fortified by a rather large wall. This city was to be our first raid. We drew closer and closer to the shore. Eventually, I jumped off the boat along with a few other Vikings, leaving it about ten feet in the shallow water.
As we walked onto the beach, five men on horseback rode up to us. They were speaking some weird language that I couldn’t quite understand. It seemed as if they were trying to get us to follow them. However, my other crew members, who had stayed on the boat, didn’t trust these strangers, and pulled out their war axes. They swiftly charged at their enemies, and made to bludgeon them and their steeds. In retaliation, the horsemen unsheathed their swords and slashed at my fellow Vikings. While the two sides were engaged, I withdrew my own weapon, the bearded axe I that had brought along for occasions such as this. I was determined on killing the horsemen; if they got away, they could sent backup. Sure enough, one enemy stayed in the fight, who was quickly taken down by my comrades, while two others attempted to flee. I threw my axe at one of the men in the fashion in which one throws a tomahawk. ”Perfect!” I exclaimed; I had struck him right in the back. Although the rider fell off his horse, the animal continued to gallop away.
By the time I got my axe back, it was too late. The last horseman had fled toward for the city, and if we were to follow him, we would surely be outnumbered. ”Get back to the boats!” I yelled. Everyone climbed aboard with much haste, as reinforcements were spotted heading toward us. The enemy was mere inches away from us when we pulled off shore. On the ride back to sail back to Sweden, I had at first felt that this trip was pointless, but this feeling quickly disappeared when I observed that my crew had grabbed the weapons, shields, and armor from the fallen foe. Most of these we made from solid iron, we would smelt these down to create coins and arrows.
After sailing for three more days, we had finally set foot in Sweden. We went to the Jarl and showed him the supplies that we had captured. The Jarl seemed a bit disappointed about how little we had brought back. I spoke with much caution,” Jarl, these are just the supplies of the troops that meet us at the beaches.” ”There was an entire city sat upon the ridge next to the beach.”
The Jarl’s expression of disappointment grew into a furious grimace, and he glared at us with anger. ”Why would you leave all that potential loot behind?!”
“We were getting stormed by men on horseback, sir!” I quickly replied.
The Jarl stood up, clenching his fists as he raised his voice. ”You imbeciles! They will only have more time to set up defenses! You should have set up a shield wall or something!”
“Do you wish for us to go back?” I asked.
The Jarl looked at me profoundly “Well, how promising did the town look?”
For a while I sat there in silence trying to recall how the town looked. ”The walls looked sturdy so I am guessing that they are protecting something that is expensive.”
The Jarl looked around the room with disgust, staring at each and every one us with his fiery eyes of hatred. ”Gather some food and leave, and don’t you come back until you have searched the whole city!”
My comrades and I trudged somberly out of the Jarl’s house. As I walked to the dining hall, I felt as if I had failed everybody. Upon arrival, everyone grabbed a couple baskets of food and a couple of kegs of water. We hauled the goods back to our boats. Just as we started to row off the docks, Adhelin appeared in the distance. I waved to her, raising my arm so that she could see her ring on my arm. We set sail back to the lands that we had just left.
Once we made it back to England, we all saw that the walls were lined with troops. We got to the shallows as quickly as we could. My crew and I jumped out of the boat and made for the beach. The troops proceeded to charge at us. After every one of us were on the beach, we set up a shield wall, interlocking our shields to create a barrier to hide behind. Sure enough, the enemy ran straight into our shield wall, pushing up against it. Eventually, they broke through at one point, and they all flooded in, striking down four of our men. We turned around and put up a shield wall, trapping our foes in the center of our circle. No matter how ferociously they slashed, their attempts to escape were futile. When the entrapped soldiers eventually tired, our men advanced into the center to slay them. I grabbed my axe and started swinging, with every swipe more and more of them would fall. Soon enough, there was only about twenty of the enemies remaining. One of them charged at me with a spear. I sidestepped the attack, but he managed to slash my left arm. I dropped my weapon in agonizing pain. The man who had just wounded me was standing above me. He grabbed his spear and prepared to stab me in the chest. In the nick of time, I rolled to the side and grabbed my sword, swinging it precisely at his gut. He collapsed to the ground. I made it back on my feet, noticing that all the remaining enemies had been killed by my crew.
After winning the battle, we started for the city. One of my men saw that I was wounded, he ran back to the boat. He grabbed one of his extra shirts and ripped it. He then wrapped the cloth around my wound tightly. The gate to the city was locked, so we had to use our axes to chop at the door. The Viking who bandaged me ran over to the battlegrounds. When he returned, he handed my axe to me. I tried to chop at the wood, but I was in so much pain that I could not do very much. Once we created a large enough hole, we all climbed through. It looked like the city had been abandoned, but we still searched the place. While my friends couldn’t find anything of value, I entered a large building in the middle of the city and found nothing in there but riches. There were gold medallions, silver cups, and other rich metals as far as the eye can see. We grabbed every cup, medallion, and coin we could possibly hold. Two large chests were filled to the brim with the metals and placed into the boat. We started our second trip back to Sweden.
We returned to Sweden after less than two days of sailing. The Jarl was standing at the docks, waiting for us. He stared at me with stern eyes and asked, ”How much loot have you brought back?” I didn’t say a word, instead opening one of the chests. “Is this all the loot you got?!” I brought the second chest over and opened it. I watched his face as his jaw dropped in awe while he ogled at the gold medallions and silver cups. ”How many more of this towns are there?!” Clearly, this man cared for nothing but riches.
“We couldn’t see any more from where we were,” I explained, “but it looked like a large island.”
The Jarl stood quietly for a while, his eyes peering into our souls. ”We will send more ships there, but all of you can chose if you would like to stay or go.”
My men unanimously decided that they would like to stay. The Jarl turned to face me; he wanted my input. I blurted out, “ I would like to stay here for one raid, and then I’m going back!” The other Vikings were surprised to see that I was eager to go raiding again. ”I want to have some time to spend with my wife, but I must go back…I have to fight. I don’t think that my god Odin is pleased. I must go back.”
The Jarl seemed surprised with my answer, “Well, okay it’s decided… you can go now.”
I started to walk back to my house. I walked in. My wife was gone…she had gone raiding.
Similar books
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This book has 0 comments.