Vikings: Nordic women

Chapter 30: Acting on one's own initiative, fighting

……

Outside the Lord's Hall, after listening to Ralph's plan, Robert suddenly pulled back his hand, his face full of shock: "Are you crazy? Assassinating a Yael is a heinous crime! She will be furious!"

Ralph's eyes were crazy, he stared at Robert closely: "Don't forget, we swore to the gods that we would protect her forever even if it meant sacrificing our lives. If you are unwilling to help me, I would rather act alone. I tend to nip the threat in the bud and never allow anyone to endanger our family. The territory has just got on the right track, and I can't let anyone destroy our hard work. Robert, I need you. Although we have differences, you have to help me."

Robert's face was full of hesitation. He was silent for a moment, but finally shook his head and turned away: "No, I can't disobey her order."

Ralph's eyes revealed deep disappointment. He looked at Robert's back, followed him a few steps, and said with a hint of anger in his voice: "Coward! I thought you were going to do that in your speech in the hall."

Robert stopped and turned back to stare at Ralph fiercely: "I can pretend that I didn't hear what you said just now. I won't go crazy with you either. You will only make everything worse by doing this!"

Ralph stared at Robert's back until he disappeared from his sight. He slowly raised his head and looked at the vast sky, then slowly lowered his gaze and stared at his hands.

He clenched his fists tightly, his eyes flashing with determination: "I will return my soul to Hela, but before that, I will eliminate all potential threats for you! All this is because of your kindness, which saved me from famine."

Ralph turned around, trotted along, hurriedly found his adjutant, and ordered: "Huscarz left team, assemble immediately!"

The adjutant looked at him with a puzzled look on his face: "Sir, what happened?"

Ralph hesitated for a moment, looked at his adjutant's face, and finally lied: "My wife will hold a banquet tonight, and I am worried that the territory will lose its defense. So, you have to work twice as hard."

Forgive me for lying to you. I will bear all the blame alone! Ralph looked at him with a smile.

"Yes, sir, we obey your will!" The adjutant solemnly punched his left chest, then turned and shouted, "Sloth bears, come out! Sir Ralph has ordered, assemble everyone!"

There was a wailing sound and a few complaints from the barracks. Under Ralph's gentle gaze, the soldiers of the Knights came out sleepily.

They had been under great training pressure recently, and had to undergo rigorous archery training every day. But even so, they responded quickly to Ralph's orders because they loved this kind of day, suffering and laughing together.

……

As night fell, Ouni distributed the spoils to all those who participated in the battle in the lord's hall.

In addition to the necessary food, all valuable things from the looting were distributed equally to everyone, even those who were responsible for staying behind. This generous move won wide praise from the people.

"Robert, where is Ralph? Isn't he here?" When distributing the spoils, Ounnie noticed that Ralph and the members of Huscarz's left team were not present. She looked around, trying to find Ralph.

For some reason, she felt like she was about to lose something, and her heart was filled with confusion.

Robert hesitated, beads of sweat oozing from his forehead, his eyes dodging: "Ralph said that he was worried that there might be a sneak attack from the enemy during the night banquet, so he took people out to strengthen the vigilance."

Ouni was a little surprised. When did Ralph become so active? Although the defense of the territory could not be ignored, was this a little too cautious?
She shook her head and decided not to think about it anymore. That boy was acting on impulse and there was no way she could possibly keep up with his strange thinking.

O'Neal distributed the spoils of Ralph and others to Robert according to the number of people, and asked him to pass them on to Ralph.

"Yes, ma'am!" Robert responded, walking with his head lowered, as if he wanted to say something, but finally stepped back.

A group of lords thanked Eunice one after another, and everyone had a satisfied smile on their face, including the two lords who had expressed opposition.

"Madam, shall we return to our territory first?" Ludwig pulled Frederick and took the opportunity to say goodbye to Eunice.

Ouni frowned, but finally nodded in agreement. She watched the two men lead their team away.

"Ludwig, why are you so anxious? I haven't drunk enough!" Frederick yelled dissatisfiedly, with a smile on his face. The two of them mixed in the team of Viking warriors and gradually walked into the shadows of the alley.

Under the cover of night, Ludwig and Frederick talked in low voices, their voices filled with tension and uneasiness.

"It's too dangerous here. Think about Robert Jarre. We may be killed by her at any time. This woman must be controlled by Loki!" Ludwig said nervously.

Frederick was startled and quickly covered his mouth, looking around to make sure no one else heard their conversation: "Are you crazy? Are you cursing Madame Jarre? If you want to die, don't drag me!"

Ludwig's face turned grim, but he immediately laughed, trying to ease the atmosphere. He lowered his voice and said, "It's okay. These are all my trusted followers. Didn't you notice the looks of her men? If you don't leave, I'm afraid you and I will die here!"

Frederick looked pale, as if he had thought of something, and asked, "So what are you going to do?"

"I have secretly contacted other territories some time ago...A woman wants to rule everything?" Ludwig's eyes flashed with greed and calculation.

While the two were talking in secret, they did not notice that a shorter warrior quietly left the team. He lowered his helmet and his figure quickly disappeared into the night.

Meanwhile, Ralph rode his warhorse and hurried out of the territory. When he passed the gate, the guard stopped him.

"Lord Ralph?"

"Get out of the way, I want to get out!" Ralph said fiercely with a grin. "Yes, sir!" The guard called to his men, "Open the door!"

Not long after Ralph left, Ludwig and Frederick also hurried over. They exchanged a few words with the guards, and after dealing with them, they led their team out of the town. In the night, their figures quickly disappeared on the road in the distance.

……

On the vast plain, Ralph held the reins tightly, his palms soaked with sweat, his eyes fierce, and gently stroked the lance in his hand, which was made of a short sword and a bamboo and wooden lance with a small flag wrapped on it.

Behind him, fifty knights were ready to go. Each of them carried two bows, a lance made of ash wood core, a soft bow and a longbow on his back, and a mace and a bag of javelins were hung on the side of the horse.

"Sir, aren't we going to train?" Ralph's adjutant, Jurgen, asked in confusion. Ralph had remained silent from the beginning until now, which made him feel uneasy.

"Jurgen?" Ralph called.

"My lord?" Jurgen responded.

"Do you remember our military regulations?" Ralph asked.

"Of course, sir, we will always be loyal to the Mist Lady. Her enemies are our enemies! Her interests are our greatest interests! We don't ask how many enemies there are, we only ask where they are!" Jurgen answered firmly.

At this moment, a hurried report came from the front: "Sir! Someone is coming!"

In the distance, the light of torches shone in the night, and a group of troops were marching towards them.

"Now is the time to test your loyalty! These people are enemies, kill them all! Jurgen, 'Mangudai'!" Ralph quickly drew out his longbow, took out an arrow from the horse's butt, and prepared to fight.

"Mangudai" is a classic tactic of the Mongolian cavalry. Its core is to use the advantages of horse archery and speed to lure the enemy into pursuit by pretending to flee, while constantly turning back to shoot arrows during the escape, attacking the enemy and creating chaos. The essence of this tactic lies in speed, suddenness and continuous long-range attacks, which make it impossible for the enemy to fight back and eventually lead to the collapse of the enemy.

"Yes, sir!" Jurgen responded, and everyone quickly drew their longbows, drew their bows and put arrows on them. The sound of the taut bowstrings echoed in the night sky.

As the group of infantry got closer, the sound of an arrow pierced the night sky with a sharp whistle, and then a rain of arrows came like a storm in the dark night.

"What's that sound?" Ludwig, riding on his horse, looked around in confusion. He raised his hand, trying to find the source of the sound.

"Where's that sound?" Frederick shook his head drunkenly, apparently unaware of the approaching danger.

At this moment, Ludwig felt something whizzing through his fingers. Before he could react, the arrow had already pierced Frederick's neck.

Frederick groaned, his body swayed, and then fell off his horse.

At the same time, seven or eight soldiers were shot by arrows and fell to the ground, wailing in pain.

"There are enemies!" Ludwig was frightened and broke out in a cold sweat, then screamed in horror.

He suddenly felt the horse under him lower down. It turned out that it was also hit by the arrow and fell off in fright.

Seeing their lord fall off his horse, the soldiers reacted quickly. They formed a shield wall to protect Ludwig and mainly defended against Ralph and others.

"Split!" Ralph spurred his horse and waved the small flag on his lance. His voice rang out in the night sky, and his cavalry team quickly split into two groups. One group, led by adjutant Jørgen, stopped on the left and right sides of the Viking warriors.

The arrows were like messengers of death, knocking down several warriors, but the remaining arrows were quickly blocked by others with their shields.

The warrior who was shot by an arrow and was wailing on the ground pulled out the arrow, stood up with red eyes, and joined the shield wall formation.

"There are enemies on the left!"

“There’s one on the right, too!”

For a moment, the Viking warriors were attacked from both sides, their shields were constantly pecked by arrows, and from time to time arrows penetrated the gaps in the defense and injured people.

"Who is it? Who wants to kill me?" Ludwig was surrounded in the middle, yelling at Ralph and others angrily, his face full of anger.

Ralph and his companions were like hunters in the night, they kept moving around, looking for a favorable position. Once they found one, they stopped and leisurely shot arrows at Ludwig's shield formation.

"Slow down, save arrows!" Ralph ordered calmly. They needed to prolong the battle as long as possible to consume the enemy's morale and throwing weapons.

"Sir, torches! It's the torches that exposed our position!" The subordinates reminded him in time. The firelight was particularly conspicuous in the night and became the target of the enemy.

"Throw away the torches and retreat slowly! We'll be safe as long as we get back to the woods!" Ludwig made a quick decision. His soldiers threw away the torches in their hands, and the shield formation slowly moved in the darkness, trying to find a safe retreat route.

(End of this chapter)