Erik was angry that he did not get to fight King Asmund but he found it strange that Asmund would retreat knowing the repercussions of such an action. Asmund was no dunce when it came to battle, let alone strategy but thinking now would do nothing for Erik.
Erik took a deep breath like he was trying to calm himself, before screaming.
"LISTEN WARRIORS OF VESTFOLD! YOUR KING HAS CONCEDED DEFEAT! YOU HAVE LOST THIS BATTLE!" Erik's voice echoed throughout the battlefield, the fact that his voice was coming from behind their lines gave authenticity to his words.
The blind arrow barrage had cut down their numbers in great numbers. Erik's gamble had paid off, and with this news, their morals dropped to the ground.
They ran out of the smoke and Erik cut down one or two just to feed his axes but they were retreating, and the cheers of the Vikings showed that they had secured victory.
They pushed out of the smoke, barely clinging to life as they coughed.
The fresh air entering their lungs did wonders, they couldn't believe that they had secured a victory on the first day, despite the odds stacked against them and it was because of Tyr's reckless plan that proved to play a pivotal role in this fight.
A forest fire was reckless nonetheless and Sven knew to scold the boy, something he was prepared to do the moment he exited the black smoke.
"Where is he!?" Sven screamed and he noticed the look of anger in Erik's eyes as he picked up ax Tyr from the ground, Sven's eyes darted around to try and pick out Tyr's dead body from those that lay around but could not find him.
He could rule out that he was killed but it has been ages since he has seen that look in Erik's eyes.
"Tyr won us this battle…" Erik muttered, he was both proud and angry that a kid stole the spotlight. And Sven noticed this but he did not care too much if he was dead or alive.
"We won because the gods willed it, I think we should try and circle their forces," Sven suggested as he knew that despite their demoralized state, the enemies still had numbers and he doubted that another trick would work on them.
"Erik, we need to move now!" Sven shouted at Erik, Tyr was taken but there was nothing they could do, he would not be the first casualty of war either.
"Move? I came here for the head of King Asmund and I am going to get it," Erik said, pointing in the direction he saw them retreat.
Sven knew the real reason he wanted to go, those eyes he saw before were not one of someone that longed for just a battle but of one that had something taken away from him.
Sven knew they could not split their forces due to their insignificant numbers and they did owe Tyr for the victory.
"You will get yourself killed, Erik. Are you fine betraying your lies of being a god?" Sven said in a low tone, loud enough for only Erik to hear.
"Asmund possesses the strength to send me to Valhalla and if I take his head, my name would be sung throughout the ages. I win in both cases." Erik said.
"We should rest and secure our wounded before going into another battle, if they took the kid then they do not intend to kill him immediately," Sven responded, giving a more cool-headed analysis of the situation, an analysis that Erik agreed with.
"WHAT WAS THAT YOU CRAZY MAN!?" A voice shouted, it was the voice of Oskar as he had just left the smoke and was fuming with Erik.
Erik was in no mood for this and Sven knew that Oskar would lose his head if he bothered Erik at his particular moment.
"That is enough Oskar, his strategy is what helped us win the battle," Sven said and Oskar was surprised that Erik was standing with a few arrows in him.
"I think we need to take a breather, I need my wounds covered up and burned so they do not get infected," Erik said, ripping out the arrows buried in him, and tossing them in the direction of Oskar.
"If you address me that way again, Oskar. I will kill you…" Erik said, looking right into the eyes of Sven's right-hand man, Oskar wanted to retreat into his shell like a turtle but unfortunately, he was no turtle.
"Let us celebrate our victory, I cannot help but feel like we have been had," Erik said, sitting on the ground with his wounds bleeding profusely and a warrior popping out of nowhere to tend to them. They had healers with them, healers that knew how to fight, and the Day 1 battle concluded with this.
Kattegat had won the first battle. But they knew something was amiss with this victory but could not point to what.
-
Tyr was taken to a camp not far from the battlefield, this was more of a town than a camp and for some reason, this man did not give off the aura of the fearful Asmund and Tyr knew exactly why.
The warning his allies gave him right before being cut down was not just any random warning but rather directed at the identity of this man that had captured him.
The man noticed that Tyr's eyes were opened and he smiled gently, an action that irked Tyr.
"You are a son of Ragnar, I have heard great things about you," Asmund said with a smile, Tyr knew there was no way they killed everyone that night as it was only normal for some escaped back to their camp.
Tyr looked the man on horseback right in the eyes and asked a question that was brewing in his mind.
"You are not King Asmund, are you…?" Tyr asked, the tone he used hinted at it being rhetorical and the smile from the man confirmed this, the man before him was not King Asmund.
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