24 Ch 24 V For Vendetta

Ealdorman Wigea had been given direct orders from King Aelle, Guard the coast at Middlesbrough so that's what he had been doing rather peacefully until just now.

He didn't believe the so called 'Thenn' would strike again any time soon but orders were orders and he stayed put at the small castle.

Then a loud banging Resounded at his door.

*BANG*BANG*BANG 

"MY LORD IT'S AN EMERGENCY!!!" His guard called out in a panic so Wigea stood from his desk and opened the door to reveal three men, one he didn't recognize but he seemed to be in a panic.

"Demons attacked the Abbey at Whitby, They are still there...." He heard from the unknown man....This got Wigea's blood pumping, finally some action.

He immediately called for his co commander Ealdorman Edgar and they both prepared to march off.

nintey footmen and a dozen archers were the force provided by King Aelle, a mighty force by any standards and should be able to fight off any measly raiders.

He could have brought forty more levies from Middlesbrough but he didn't think like he needed them and they'd only slow him down.

Wigea gazed at his men who were scrambling to get packed and moving.

His men were not the best quality though, he wished more of them had proper chainmail armor instead of just padded gambesons.

About a quarter of his men were well equipped with Chainmail, helmets, and good weapons but the rest left something to be desired.

Some only wore wrapped cloth as shoes and others didn't have shields....but he'd have to make due.

"How many raiders did you see?" Wigea asked the trembling man beside him. 

"A...About...Half a hundred my Lord..." He spoke and a chill ran down his spine.

Wigea let out a faint smile, against half a hundred he would surely prevail....immediately came up with a plan, he turned to his ci commander Ealdorman Edgar and spoke.

"I say we scour the beach near Whitby Abbey, we'd surely find that Dragon ship Brother Hal had spoken of..." He spoke and Edgar smiled.

"You do what you want Wigea, you know I'm not very interested in martial pursuits." Ealdorman Edgar spoke a bit annoyed.

"As you wish." Wigea spoke and urged his horse onward.

Soon after his men were lined up and marched out of Middlesbrough Castle and headed toward Whitby at a fast pace.

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(Elsewhere)

We had spent the last six hours combing through the entire town plundering and raping without a care and now we marched to the ship with chests upon chests of treasure and twenty pretty slave girls to keep us company for any more raiding.

As we marched out of the town I looked around and saw hundreds of bodies hanged on hooks, very few were still writhing around and nuttering for mercy.

The Church hall itself was the most macabre place however.

Floki had lined up dozens of heads and ripped out their right eyes as they faced the head preist.

Floki had taken his corpse and crucified it on the wall....a truly horrifying sight for any Northumbrians who find it.

Every footstep squelched from the stream of blood which slowly made it's way down hill from the steps of the Abbey which my men had completely plundered , any man who saw this would think it hell on earth.

We chatted happily as we walked on, all my men were exited at the sheer ammount of plunder we managed to extract from the town.....Ragnar and his torture of the merchant's and Rich people netted quite a bit of silver as well.

I looked back at the heavy chests lugged by my Men with a faint smile, it was a huge ammount.

I would need to transfer everything over to cloth sacks however, If I wished to raid once more.

After half an hour of marching I could sense a group of men between us and our ship.

I turned to my men and spoke. "Set down the Chests, Tie up the slaves well....We have a fight on our hands." I spoke and everyone moved like clockwork in getting ready.

Immediately they all donned their helmets and pulled their weapons...I had half of my men equip javelins for the opening salvo of battle.

Once my warriors lined up we marched forward steadily through the woods and into a clearing.... we found a force of about a hundred armed and armored men blocking our path.

They had about a dozen archers, two men on horseback while the rest were plain infantry.

"Defensive Formation, Protect yourselves and advance!!!"

Before long we had formed a shield wall and began moving forward while I moved to the very right left of my formation.

I could see over the heads of my men so I observed the enemies carefully and realized most of them were half starved peasants.....there were about twenty actual warriors in their lines but they didn't seem to threatening either.

I spotted Ealdorman Wigea and Edgar on their horses overlooking their Men from the rear.

Wigea was dressed in armor and seemed to be in overall command as he shouted out orders.

{"ARCHERS WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!! OPEN FIRE!!!!"} Wigea yelled and his Dozen archers began pelting us.

There was a mass thudding of arrows on our dense round shields but none of my men were exposed enough for an arrow to strike into them as we marched forward to meet our larger enemy.

Any other force outnumbered as we were would have been scared but my men had seen me kill thirty men in one battle alone, and those men. Were far tougher than these weak Saxon cunts.

Before long the bows stopped firing and my men returned fire with a volley of Javelins that whizzed through the salty air and slammed hard on Saxon shields, a few managed to find their way into soft flesh as three screaming Saxons were heard from the enemy line.

Then the moment of truth came as my combined force of Sixty warriors clashed against their hundreds.

For a moment nothing happened until my men began using their tactics.

My warriors would periodically open one area for enough time for a Saxon to be pulled through only for them to be hacked apart with heavy and razor sharp Axes.

I made my debut by charging forward from the right side and becoming a whirlwind of death and limbs that shattered enemy shields and split heads and helmets alike with impunity.

"AHHHH!!!!"

"ITS A MONSTER!!!!" 

"IT WONT DIE!!!!" 

"GOD HELP US!!!!!"

A rushed like a beast as the Northumbrian soldiers were cleaved part by my axe....the bearskin cloak served it's purpose to intimidate and strike terror into their hearts.

My Axe cleaved through two or three men with every swing as Wigea and Edgar watched on in horror at the sight of the giant monster dressed in steel and a bear pelt cut through his men like a knife through soft cheese.

Limbs and trails of blood and gore shit everywhere as the enemy line collapsed nearly instantly from being put through the meat grinder and barely doing any damage to my men.

Before long cries of {"MERCY!!!"} and {"WE SURRENDER!!!"} Began resounding.

I turned to Their commanders and spotted them riding off at a gallop to the North with their tail between their legs.

My men snatched up the surrendered men and began stripping them naked and tying them up.

Tostig walked up to me while panting heavily and spattered with blood.

"Wh...What....Do we do with...The prisoners..." He asked while catching his breath.

"I'll take care of them." I spoke and he nodded.

I slowly made my way to the kneeling Northumbrian soldiers and they turned pale upon looking at me, I seemed twice as large and scary as the other Vikings.

I walked up to one and spoke in Saxon. {"Your God Isn't Here Saxons!!!."} I spoke loud enough for all to hear then I buried my fist into his chest and ripped out his still beating heart.

I brought the juicy morsel to my mouth and began taking ravenous bites a blood gushed and dripped down my face and arm while the other prisoners screamed in fear and prayed to their God with tears running down their faces.

I continued ripping out hearts and devouring every bite until there were only six or seven soldiers left.

Most of the dead ones had pissed and shit themselves out of fear when I moved to them, and these were no different.

I walked up to the remaining survivors and shoved a finger into their right eyes and pulled out their little disgusting eyeballs, one from each man.

When I had finished with the last one I spoke in their language. {"THENN ODINSON HAS SHOWN YOU MERCY.....TELL YOUR KING TO COME CRAWLING OR ILL TAKE MORE FROM HIM...."} I spoke with my mouth dripping in blood as I looked at the writhing and crying men who just had their eyeball ripped out.

One of them got composed and spoke. {"WE WILL TELL HIM!!! PLEASE I SWEAR TO GOD WE WILL!!!" He cried out and I smiled and cut their bindings.

They all scrambled to run away into the woods to the north while my men laughed at their pathetic showing.

My men then moved to strip the corpses of any valuables then hacked them apart and made piles of heads, legs, arms and torsos all under the direction of Floki just to be funny while the rest of us moved the gold into Grain sacks to save on weight.

Soon enough we had transferred our loot out of chests and into sacks while another group moved our ship back out to sea after a quick inspection....

it seemed the Northumbrians wanted to inspect it for their own designs after we had been dealt with so they didn't smash anything.

We loaded up our ship and rowed away while everyone shouted and cheered for our great plunder, the fight was easy and the only dead Men were two of Knuts guards and Three of Ragnars men, the only ones wounded on my side were quite minor.

Tostig sat next to me cleaning his Axe, it had seen nearly fifty years of constant use and it's age and wear could clearly be seen even through the razor sharp edge.

"Thenn, I wonder when I will see Valhalla...I have fought for so many years...all the friends of my youth have died while I still remain, battle after battle it think....Now My Time Has Come.....but it seems the Aesir do not want me in their Great Hall!!!" He shouted and rubbed his old face in desperation.

"The Gods have deemed that you still have battles left Old Friend, you taught me how to fight when I was a spry young lad, now you serve as my Lieutenant.....we have made history together, Until that Boy if yours Gains his arm ring you can't die on me yet." I spoke and patted his shoulder.

"Very well, if I stick with you I'm sure the Skalds will sing my praises before long....I wonder what they will say about us long after we're gone." He spoke and drank some mead from his wineskin.

"I don't know about that, but I know we still have much left to do....and far more glory awaits us both." I spoke and chewed on some dried meat.

Then Balgrud who was getting handsy with the only male prisoner we caught turned to me and asked aloud.

"BOSS, WHY ARENT WE SAILING HOME? WE ALREADY HAVE SO MUCH GOLD...." He asked and burped loudly.

"Balgrud you giant beast, are you seriously happy with this measly Gold??? We actually want the Skalds to sing of our glory after we are gone!!! We move for more plunder you giant Bastard so quiet down and play with that slave under a tarp if you really have to.....we all don't want to see that around here." I spoke aloud for all to hear and my men started laughing and tossing peices of dried food at the Giant Fat Viking.

He didn't seem to get upset as he just picked up the bits of dried meat and hard bread then ate them without a care.

I checked my System Map as well and saw our location....moving northward... 

Id need to land near Newcastle where the King and his court were to get my hands on his Daughter and Wife....

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(Elsewhere, Later)

King Aelle sat in his court with all the nobles, his wife, and daughter Princess Judith.

There was a messenger from Wigea with something to report, he had ridden hard from Middlesbrough to get here.

The messenger kneeled and spoke.

"My King, Those Heathens have attacked Whitby Abbey, Ealdorman Wigea marches with his full contingent to crush those Evil Men." The man spoke then handed the King a letter penned by Wigea himself.

He broke the seal and handed it to his chamberlain to read since Aelle was illiterate. 

["Moving To Whitby. Enemy Half Our Number. Expected Victory. Whitby Being Sacked As I Write This. Praise Be To God."] The chamberlain spoke aloud for all in the hall to hear.

A small cheer of celebration Resounded as they heard of Wigea about to crush the Heathens who burned The Holy Island of Lindsfarne....

Aelle smiled and nodded. "Very Good, give the messenger food, drink, and a room....we await good news." The King spoke and murmurs of approval echoed from his courtiers.

Queen Ealhswith who sat silently beside the King had a bad feeling in her stomach...Her nightmares about the Demon who would fill her with his seed had only become more intense with every passing day.

 She excused herself and walked off to her private room to pray in absolute silence, she felt a wetness between her legs when she thought of those nightmares she had been having.... Lately the Demons face became more and more clear to her.

It had one white eye which seemed to glow as it stared at her hungrily....she knelt down beside a small golden cross that stood at her bedside and began to pray.

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(Elsewhere)

Ealdorman Wigea and Edgar rode hard along the Roman Road toward Newcastle....the engagement was a catastrophic faliure.

Not long ago Wigea and Edgar had doubled back to assess the damage and finally got a good look at the enemy Commander....he was seemingly twice the size of the Saxons who he stood in front of.....during the fighting he moved like the grip reaper, only leaving a swath of gore and blood behind.

They had to ride off before truly looking at him but now they watched intently.

They saw as the infamous Thenn the One Eyed plunged his hands into their soldiers bare chests and devoured their hearts like a wolf....Both if them believed he truly was a demon on earth.

Wigea and Edgar urged their horses harder to face their surely enraged king.