Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 109 Indigo Raiders

The Vikings were caught off guard and hit by two volleys of javelins, leaving many gaps in their otherwise tight formation.

Seeing this, the Pickett coalition launched an attack with howls, their formation loose, charging into the weak points of the enemy's formation in small clan units.

To intimidate the enemy, many Picts smeared their cheeks with indigo dye, brandished short swords and iron spears, and their long, unruly hair danced in the wind. Compared to this wild image, the Viking soldiers seemed more like a group of civilized people.

Before long, the battle turned into close combat, with the sounds of shields clashing and screams mingling together. Due to the frenzied charge of the Indigo Raiders, the Viking warriors found themselves in a passive and defensive situation.

On the grasslands south of the battlefield, seeing that their own side was actually losing in their strongest area of ​​infantry combat, Yoren, Shrike and others were shocked and requested Vig to send cavalry.

"No, it's not the right time yet."

Riding on the back of a gray horse, Vig remained expressionless. Looking into the distance, he saw that his two thousand infantrymen, whom he had painstakingly trained, had been stunned by the reckless charge of two thousand five hundred Picts. Their formation was slightly loose, but not yet on the verge of collapse.

After a short wait, he sent out more than three hundred Viking raiders, along with the Welsh archers from the Shrike, to flank the Picts on the east side of the battlefield.

Before he left, he repeatedly reminded the shrike, "Remember, it's harassment, not a fight to the death. The Welsh are skilled with bows and arrows, not hand-to-hand combat, so a rash attack would be too risky."

"As ordered."

The shrike whistled loudly and led a group of mountain infantrymen draped in green cloaks on their way.

Less than ten minutes into the battle, Vig had wagered all his resources, except for the cavalry hidden behind the southwestern hills.

At this point, he was left with only about twenty shield guards led by Yoren.

After some time, the Shrike's troops circled around to the east of the battlefield. Without taking a break, he ordered his archers to unleash a rapid barrage of arrows at a rate of 12 per minute, firing wildly at the Picts' flanks and rear.

In just two minutes, a large number of soldiers on the left flank and in the center of Pickett's army were shot down. Some soldiers turned around in confusion, and in a disheveled state, they formed a shield wall facing northeast, unsure whether to continue the attack or prioritize dealing with these damned archers.

Taking advantage of the enemy's slowed offensive, the Viking warriors reformed their shield wall. With one-third of them wearing armor, they gradually gained the upper hand and began to push back the enemy's formation, forcing them to retreat continuously.

At this point, the battle became a stalemate, with the Vikings having the upper hand on the eastern and central battlefields, while the Picts were more dominant on the western battlefield.

After a brief discussion, the Pickett Alliance put up their last bargaining chip—thirteen nobles and their three hundred guards.

These men were targeting the eastern flank of the battlefield, attempting to drive away the Welsh archers and prevent the Picts on the east side from collapsing first.

Once the enemy had sent out their reserves, Vig breathed a sigh of relief and gave instructions to the impatient Yoren:

"Notify the cavalry units on the southwest flank to launch a flanking attack on the Picts on the west side of the battlefield."

"As ordered!"

With the military situation urgent, Yoren gripped his horse's flanks tightly, spurring it to the southwestern hills at top speed. There, two hundred bored cavalrymen sat listlessly on the grass behind the hills, one hand on the reins, the other rummaging through their collars for lice. Seeing Yoren, they instantly perked up and spontaneously began preparing their gear.

"Gentlemen, the lord has ordered an attack on the Picts on the western side of the battlefield!"

Upon hearing this, the cavalrymen scrambled onto their saddles, forming two loose horizontal lines. Before Yoren could blow the horn, some of the more impulsive knights suddenly roared:
“Vahalla!”

Led by them, the cavalry moved forward spontaneously, trotting quickly towards the battlefield two kilometers away. The ground trembled and the sound of hooves thundered. As the speed increased, the sound of the wind rushing past their ears grew louder and louder.

Upon discovering the arrival of the enemy cavalry, the Pictish army on the southwest flank dispatched four hundred men to block them.

For a long time, the Picts did not equip their horses with stirrups, nor did they have any organized cavalry units. In the commander's view, sending four hundred infantrymen to deal with this small cavalry force was more than enough.

Accompanied by the Picts' nonchalant gaze, the cavalry charged to within a hundred paces, then accelerated again, like a surging, towering wave.

Before the four hundred infantrymen could react, the distance between them was reduced to thirty paces. The warhorses increased their speed to the limit, and the knights in the first rank leveled their lances, aiming at this group of fools.

The next moment, the spear tip, carrying unimaginable force, pierced the enemy, easily penetrating the shield and the body behind it. The cavalryman then threw away the spear, drew the longsword from the saddle, and urged his mount to continue charging.

Within minutes, the Pickett infantry who came to intercept them suffered heavy casualties. Witnessing this carnage, their allies stood frozen in place, watching helplessly as the cavalry regrouped and launched a second charge.
When this charge ended, the Pict army on the west side of the battlefield completely collapsed. Under the influence of the fleeing soldiers, the entire Pict coalition suffered a chain reaction of defeats. The once invincible Indigo Raiders fled one after another, no longer showing their previous fanaticism.

Back at headquarters, seeing the enemy forces crumble, Vig dispatched his shield guards to deliver messages to the various units:

The Viking warriors rested on the spot and treated the wounded, while the cavalry and shrike mountain infantry continued the pursuit, returning before nightfall.

"I didn't expect the Pickett infantry to be so fierce. If we didn't have cavalry, we probably wouldn't have been able to handle them for a while."

He recalled Roman accounts of the Picts, some of which highly praised these barbarians who inhabited northern Britain, claiming that they caused heavy casualties to the imperial legions with their "ferocity that disregarded life and death."

In 117 AD, the Roman Ninth Legion, the Hispana, disappeared in northern Britain. Thousands of soldiers were never heard from again, becoming a mystery that has puzzled historians for many years. The most reasonable hypothesis is that they fought with the Picts and were completely wiped out from top to bottom.

The war continued until the very end, when Rome was the first to give out. In 122 AD, Hadrian, one of the "Five Good Emperors," built Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain, marking the end of the empire's conquests in Britain.

"Phew, luckily I dealt a heavy blow to the enemy's main force in the field battle. Otherwise, if they had held the city or infiltrated the mountains to launch a long-term harassment campaign, the casualties would have been several times greater than today!"

Half an hour later, reinforcements from the south arrived one after another, including a medical team led by the ravens. Their treatment methods were limited; the standard procedure was to rinse the wound with clean water and then suture it with needle and thread.

In addition, if soldiers have a cold or fever, the shaman will give them freshly squeezed garlic juice (containing allicin) and boiled willow bark (containing salicylic acid).

Overall, the cure rate for the wounded and sick did indeed improve, with effects far superior to the various herbal remedies passed down through generations of Norse shamans. Vig was very satisfied and instructed the Raven Whisperer and others to record the treatment results, summarize their experience in practice, and open a hospital in Tyne after the war.

(End of this chapter)