Chapter 411 Tyr's Desperate Struggle!
"TYR! THEY ARE PUSHING US BACK!" Thorgard screamed and Tyr knew this.
He knew there was only so much a moral boost could do, these men were strong and they didn't seem to have a leader either so there was no one for him to target.
Tyr took a deep breath, there was no way this would be the place he died, at least not according to his dreams but they were in trouble no doubt.
Tyr knew it was time to tap into a state that would leave him exhausted but this would be the only way to level the playing field.
"Thorgard! I want you to follow Alf and secure Ecgberht," Tyr commanded and Thorgard listened without question as he ran to Alf's side.
Tyr looked at Calvin and he knew that this man was someone of prominence, his death would instil fear in their hearts or make them angry, and this would force them into making mistakes, mistakes he could exploit.
"What are you going to do, Tyr?" Thorgard asked because it left a bitter taste in his mouth to be abandoning him in such a dire situation.
"Ha! Are you worried about me?" Tyr asked and Thorgard was surprised how he could be so calm in such a situation because they were losing men.
At this rate, they would all be slaughtered but Tyr knew he had to make a statement.
"Tyr, be careful…" Thorgard said and Tyr found his worry comforting but he was yet to show what he was capable of. No one knew the limits of Tyr's strength and he needed to bring it out today if they were going to survive.
"Trust me, I will be fine but I need Ecgberht alive, do whatever is in your power to make sure this is the case." Tyr tried to reassure him.
"But they will follow us," Thorgard said and Tyr chuckled because he knew that this possibility existed.
"Then you show them why you are a son of Gardsson… I trust you to handle this Thorgard and the signal… You will know the signal," Tyr showed that he had faith in him and these words lit the fire in his soul/
Tyr walked up to Calvin and picked him up by his hair before screaming.
"CHRISTIANS! WATCH AS I SHOW YOU WHY YOUR GOD CANNOT PROTECT YOU!" Tyr screamed at the top of his lungs and he could tell that they had their eyes on him.
Tyr proceeded to bury his axe into the top of Calvin's head before swinging the other axe horizontally to take off his head.
The men were infuriated just as he suspected because whoever this Bishop was must have been respected but if they engaged in battle then they must have anticipated this outcome.
"ARCHERS! TAKE OUT THE LIGHTS!" Tyr commanded and even the people on his side were confused because there was no way they could fight in darkness.
They needed to see to fight and defend themselves so why did he want to take away the only thing that would enable them to do so?
The archers fired to take out the lights and some were successful but others failed, this significantly reduced the light that illuminated.
They could barely see a meter in front of them and this was the signal. Thorgard and Alf used this opportunity to take Ecgberht to safety.
"It is time to go a little crazy…" Tyr said with a smirk and the look on his face changed, the light leaving his eyes.
Tyr charged at them in the darkness and all that echoed were screams of despair and pain.
Tyr could fight in the darkness but he was a man and was prone to fatigue.
He slayed them like dogs and without mercy and no one knew what was going on.
"Fall back!" Baard commanded because they didn't know if it was their men or the enemy dying but they had to take a step back to reevaluate their next course of action.
"Archers, fire…" Rolf said coldly, and they obeyed because he was the one prominent warrior from Kattegat seeing as Bjorn or Hagen weren't there.
The screams lasted approximately ten minutes before the area fell completely silent.
"What the fuck is going on?" A Viking asked only for a light to be picked up from the floor.
"That's Tyr…!" A man muttered; Tyr was covered in blood but it wasn't his.
"TYR! TYR! TYR! TYR!" The Vikings cheered, he was a source of strength to them but Tyr was just a man in the end.
He took a deep breath to regain himself before falling on one knee due to exhaustion.
"What? He is alive?" Rolf thought to himself, he knew that Tyr was the one fighting and that was why he rained the arrows but for none to touch him, how was that possible?
That could be nothing short of a miracle but Rolf refused to believe that the gods favored Tyr.
The Vikings cheered the moment that this happened, they began to feel invincible as long as they had Tyr on their side.
"That was… close." Tyr thought to himself because in actuality, an arrow had grazed his left shoulder but it was due to the hail of arrows that he was able to make quick work of them.
They weren't just defending against the shadow that hunted them, they were defending against the arrows so their attention was divided but they weren't the only ones that were wary of this.
"Son of Ragnar…" A voice called out to Tyr, Tyr looked over his shoulder to see Baard offering his hand.
Tyr looked at him and knew that taking his hand would imply that he couldn't stand on his own.
This was a kind gesture but it had a deeper meaning than what met the eyes.
Tyr got up on his feet and for the first time in a long time, he looked worried.
"My father… He is in trouble," Tyr thought to himself, this army was far stronger than he thought and before they could even celebrate their small victory.
An army was already on their way to crush them and with Tyr exhausted, the probability of victory for Northumbria was a whopping 80%,
"We are all in trouble!"
Author here, I didn't want to drag out this fight as it is sort of irrelevant nor did I want to do it off screen as Ecgberht's escape needed to be shown and a little hype for Tyr as well to state the condition he would be in for the main fight!