Warriors of Ethandun by N. M. Browne Page B

against metal. He did not put his sword to Aelfred’s neck, though he was tempted. Instead he turned to face the armed men now running towards him.
    â€˜My Liege – stay back!’ one of them called, and Dan was dimly aware of Aelfred hastening away on unsteady feet. Dan knew Aelfred had not recovered his knife and so dismissed him from his mind. He needed to focus on those who could do him harm – Aelfred was weak and unarmed.
    The three men checked their pace when they saw the sword in Dan’s hand. They carried spears and long knives but not swords. Dan had no shield but the raft and that was too cumbersome to wield. He pulled it up so that it was on end and dragged it backwards to stand by a small tree, the only thing of any size likely to offer his back some small protection from the spears.
    There was a kind of joy in losing himself to his dark place of madness. He felt himself slipping away and did not resist … Madness was his only hope and he embracedit – he let himself fall into the place where he and his sword were one.
    The first warrior was a lanky man of around twenty. He charged towards Dan and drove his spear over the top of Dan’s makeshift defence. He had to come too close in order to get his spear over the top. Dan, cowering below the wall that the raft had made, sprang up and his powerful upward sword thrust found the unprotected area under the man’s arm. He screamed in shock and pain and Dan pulled the spear from his unresisting hand and turned it on the second warrior, who had circled the raft to come upon him from the rear. Dan’s speed startled the man who lost his footing on the uneven ground. That instant’s loss of concentration as he tried to regain his balance cost him his life. Dan thrust the barbed point of the spear straight at the man’s throat and pushed. The man toppled backwards. Dan placed his foot on the man’s torso, to give him the necessary leverage, and pulled the spear free. Now that he only had one enemy to defeat, Dan abandoned his position and ran to do battle with the third man.
    â€˜Stop!’ King Aelfred staggered from his safe place and screamed at Dan. There was a moment in which Dan might have killed him too, but he was not yet so far gone in his madness that he could not hear and understand. Dan lowered neither his sword nor his spear but he stopped running.
    â€˜There is no need to kill Eadric. They did not intend to kill you, only to take you prisoner.’ He was paler than ever and appeared shocked by the swift turn of events.
    Dan was breathing heavily and, now that his brainbegan to clear, was beginning to wonder why he had allowed his madness the upper hand.
    â€˜Sire, you pointed your knife at me and set three armed men on me – what did you expect me to do? I am a warrior. I fight and I kill.’
    â€˜I can see that,’ Aelfred said, ‘and these deaths are also on my conscience. Will you drop your weapons?’
    Dan dropped the gore-splattered spear on the ground. He did not much like spears. He wiped his stained sword on the grass, dried it carefully on his sweatshirt and sheathed it.
    The remaining enemy let his spear and shield clatter to the ground and by the look on his face, pale beneath his helmet, was not sorry to let it end that way.
    â€˜I made a mistake in trying to take you prisoner,’ Aelfred said quietly, ‘and I have no doubt that my men thought you wished me harm.’
    â€˜I did not wish you harm, but attempting to have a man killed is not a good way of encouraging his respect or his loyalty – a true king should know that.’
    Aelfred winced visibly: ‘You are right. Please accept my apologies. I still do not have your name and title.’
    Dan hesitated. The adrenalin that had sustained him in the fight left him and he felt weak, drained and full of remorse. He had not wanted to kill again. ‘My name is Dan and I have no title,’ he lied.