Arold rode on his war horse, and the armor rubbed against the shoulder position with the bump of the war horse, although in order to reduce the discomfort of the user when the armor rubbed, it was generally worn in the armor with a lined cushion, but Arold's shoulder was bitten hard by Grace, and even the inner lining could not alleviate the pain at this time.

"Hmm." Arold frowned and turned around, he glanced at Grace, who was leading the Vikings, and felt Arold's gaze, Grace quickly pretended to talk to his fellow Viking warriors next to him.

As the Mason army moved northward, the cooler it became, the 10,000-year-old ice caps and glaciers in the Arctic made these Masons from the relatively warm south feel a different scenery, and the tall and dense cedar trees almost gave the Masons a sense of being swallowed up and disoriented.

"Look there." Arold was on their horses, with hardly any sunlight above them, and they seemed to be walking in a dark territory, and in the woods, where it was almost impossible to find a way, the procession suddenly stopped, for in the direction they were going, a large tree was nailed to the skin of a bear's skull, and around the bearskin a piece of bark was hung off, and some strange symbols were drawn in white lime, which made people shudder in this gloomy environment.

"It's the witchcraft of the infidels, but I'm glad I brought the court priest with me." At this time, the Count of Thuringia came to Arryd's side and said to Arryd.

"Pastor?" Arold certainly didn't think it was some kind of witchcraft, and he asked Grace to confirm that it was just a kind of Viking signpost, meaning they had stepped into the territory of a Viking warrior tribe. This was the first time that a march of more than 4,000 men had been seen in this area, and such a large-scale movement was like a giant elephant moving, and the sound of chariots and horses and noise could be heard for miles away, not to mention startled birds.

The march of the Masons did cause a stir, and in the way of their march was a small tribe of more than a hundred Vikings, who made their living by fishing and hunting, and of course like other Viking tribes, sometimes joining the raiding forces at the call of the Danish king to bring some extra income to their barren tribes, while the able-bodied men would take their hides and bone carvings to trade in other countries on days when they were not raiding. In any case, they did not expect that today an army of southerners was crushing them.

"Knock knock~~~." The Viking tribe built in a clearing in the forest. The felled trees simply fenced the perimeter of the settlement, and when a Viking warrior stormed into his settlement, a drum covered in animal skins sounded. The wooden doors of the settlement were immediately closed by strong Viking warriors. A heavy wooden deadbolt was lifted and lowered. The simple wooden arrow tower was mounted by a Viking warrior longbowman who drew an arrow made from animal bones from the quiver at his waist, and the Viking tribe was very poor. Their Viking warriors had no armor, only simple linen or fur coats, their long, filthy hair was scattered, and they wore a leather long-eared hat that had been looted from the Southerners, but it was really not very protective except to keep them warm.

"Wow~~~." Just when the Viking settlement was just finished defending, a sound like a rushing water sounded from the forest opposite them, the leader of the Viking warriors here was a mid-thirty-year-old warrior, his deep blue eyes were staring at the forest opposite, the dark forest affected his vision, but the sound in his ears made him nervous, he was wearing an ancestral chain mail, a bear fur on the outside, and a short tomahawk made of zuò on his waist, The muscular body resembles a humanoid bear, and its shaved head shines in the sunlight.

"Chief, it's an enemy, I don't know which tribe it's from, it's really damned." A longbow Viking warrior next to the Viking leader said that they thought that they were attacking the same tribe as Vikings, and that the Vikings were extremely cruel and ruthless to other weak peoples, and they were merciless in dealing with the Viking tribes of the same people, and they pursued a thoroughly aggressive jungle warrior culture, and Viking tribes often attacked each other, especially on days when there was little food and clothing.

"I don't know, whoever he is, he will die under our tomahawk." The Viking leader drew his battle axe and held it in his hand, he said to his men.

"Hey~~~Hey~~~~." They were stunned by the sight that came out of the forest not the Vikings they expected, but hordes of southerners, thin southerners with spears and shields in hand, and flooded through the forest to the tribes of Viking warriors, who were as numerous as rabbits all over the mountains, but even the number of rabbits would surprise the Vikings, let alone thousands of heavily armed enemies.

"Odin, what the hell is going on?" The Viking leader slapped his bare head with his hand that did not hold a battle axe, he didn't know why these southerners appeared outside his village in droves, when the weak southerners who were the objects of their plunder dared to come to their territory with weapons in their hands, and the Viking leader who couldn't understand this could only chant the name of Odin, the father of the gods, over and over again.

"So many chiefs?" The other Viking warriors also licked their lips, their throats sliding up and down, even with a martial culture, but not all Viking warriors were not afraid of death.

"Defend the walls and protect the village." The leader of the Viking warriors held his battle axe aloft and roared in his own rough voice, and his long-standing contempt for the southerners made him not afraid of the swarming Mason army, and in his mind each Viking warrior could kill more than ten southerners.

"It's the chief." The Viking warriors, inspired by their leader, raised their weapons and struck the shields in their hands, after all, a wall of wooden fences could also be the last barrier to their hearts, not to mention that they also despised the southerners.

"Just in case, give the weapons to the women, and let the old and weak take refuge in my house." The leader of the Viking warriors grabbed a Viking warrior beside him and instructed him, knowing that he could not show his cowardice at this time, but he still prepared for the worst.

Seeing that the small settlement on the opposite side actually put on a posture of full confrontation, the army of the Masons surrounded it under the leadership of the respective vassals of the Duke of Ebel, the army of Arold and the Duke of Abel blocked the front direction of the gatehouse, and the three vassals divided their troops from other directions, when this layout was completed, the sun had begun to set in the west, so the Masons did not immediately attack, but raised a bonfire to cook, and when the night completely fell, the bonfire lit by the army of more than 4,000 people was like a star in the summer sky, There was a dead silence among the Viking tribes.

"Damn it, chief, there are so many people, haven't you heard that the king of Denmark is attacking the southerners? Why do they still have so many troops? A Viking warrior asked his leader, puzzled.

"How do I know that Chief Khante has been summoned away by the Danish king, and now we don't even have a single foreign helper." The leader of the Viking warriors slapped the wooden battlements in annoyance, I really don't know how these damn southerners sneaked into the territory without being detected, in fact, it is not difficult to imagine that a large number of men were drawn by the Danish king to the island of Zealand to participate in the attack on Mecklenburg County, and it was at this weak moment that the Masons attacked, which was really a fluke.

"So, are we going to die here?" The Viking warriors grumbled.

"No, we're going to raid those southerners." A sly smile appeared on the Viking leader's lips, and he glanced at his men and told them his plan.

"Raid? Good idea, those southerners must now think that we dare not go out, and that raiding them at this time will surely cause them chaos. "The Viking warriors were adventurous warriors, and raids have always been their tried and tested tactics, taking advantage of the enemy's carelessness to launch a thunderous blow, even if they are small in number, but with the bravery of their individual soldiers, they will inevitably achieve results.

"But our village is besieged on all sides, and from which direction is it attacking?" Someone asked, but the Viking warrior leader had already thought about this question, and being able to become the leader of a group of unruly Viking warriors was not a reckless man with just a moment of courage.

"On the front, I see that during the day, the heralds of the armies from other directions are always frequenting them, and if I am not mistaken, their leader must be in front of us, and if you slam the bear on the head with a war hammer, you will not be afraid of its strong claws and limbs." The leader of the Viking warriors pointed with his battle axe in his hand, and the direction of the wooden fence gatehouse was the same direction where Arold and Duke Abel were. (To be continued......)