What History Doesn't Know

The Viking's Avenger

We made it to Pevensey Bay, tired and hungry. As I climbed off the boat, I scanned the place for any sign of William’s troops. In the distance, I could make out the others. I turned my head around to look at my men who were getting off the boat.

I did a quick head count. Only fifteen men including me. I had nineteen archers following my orders on the ship. Now, I’ve lost four honorable men. I wiped my forehead. Four of my men are lost. That’s four too many. I can’t afford to lose any more men.

At least when I regroup with William, I’ll get my other eighty archers back. Speaking of William, I have got a word to say to him. Sending me and my men on a sudden mission with Knut and then almost getting us killed. What was he thinking when he let Knut make his own decisions?! I can’t worry about that now. I need to see to it that I don’t lose any more of my men.

I walked over to Leonardo who had been placed on the ground while the others unloaded the stuff. The arrow that hit him was sharp, but Leonardo was lucky he it didn’t hit a blood vessel and cause him to lose blood. My men knew how to wrap a bandage but that was the limit if their medical skills. Now, the bandage was really bloody but at least the blood had clotted. I checked his bandage to ensure that it wasn’t dirty. It was bad enough he lost a some blood and would definitely be exhausted from the loss, but if he began to get an infection, I’m not sure what I would do.

“Is my leg going to be okay?” Leonardo asked as he held the thigh of his injured leg.

I checked his thoroughly. No severities. For now.

“I think your leg should be okay. What happened back there?”

“I don’t know. Either someone on the enemy’s side had aim as good as mine, if do say so myself, or I just got really unlucky.”

I didn’t respond to his words. I just lifted him to his feet.

“Well, injured leg or not, we can’t stay here. The other archers need their leader. The Duke will be too busy yelling his big head at the battlefield to be concerned about the archers.”

I turned and called Jacques. “Hey, Jacques. Could you give the disabled person some help until we get to the others?”

Jacques gave what he was carrying to another archer and came over to help Leonardo. The archer who was given the stuff by Jacques almost dropped what he was carrying. A few other archers came to help him. Even though there were several of them, they struggled to carry the object. I gulped. I can’t imagine how strong Jacques might be. His arms are probably more muscular than a horse’s legs.

Shaking my head, I shouted, “All right, men. Let’s head to the others.

Nobody responded. I didn’t have to guess to hard. I was tired. They were tired. If we uttered anymore words, I think we would have collapsed.

It was a long walk but we finally made it to the others. As we came closer to were the others were, eyes from the others were pointed in our direction, obviously surprised to see us.

“Hello, James! Had a nice view of the countryside? Did you draw a picture for me?” shouted Matthew, one of the knights. Some of his mates laughed.

I don’t know what came over me, but before I could think, I readied my bow and released. Fortunately for everyone, my arrow missed Matthew’s head by a few inches.

Matthew sat still before he glared at me. “Bloody hell! You could have shot my head right off!”

I walked over to where Matthew and his mates were sitting, undaunted by their size. I pressed my finger in between Matthew’s eyes and said, “Not could, because the next time you piss me off, I will. I barely escaped King Harold and his forces. They’ve already beaten Harald Hardrada and they didn’t even bat an eyelash. So the next time you want to anger a guy who just went to hell and back, you’d better think twice.”