Two hundred miles north of London, in Yorkshire, by a crystal clear stream, Tophi enjoyed a rare moment of relaxation with the cold water lapping on their cheeks. The sound of horses' hooves kept approaching, and they turned their heads to see a chestnut English pony in the distance carrying a soldier galloping towards the bridge, and they couldn't help but stop their movements, paying attention to the movement of this man's ride.

At this moment, a soldier hurried to the bridge, and found Odegar, one of Harold's guards and recruiters, and "Your ......Excellency," he hurried over, approached Odegar with a lot of worry, and after muttering a few words, he immediately turned and climbed on his horse and continued to run towards the other camp.

"Hey, everybody, stand up!" Odegar shouted, "Let's go, stand!"

The militiamen, resting by the stream, with a hint of boredom and impatience, but helpless, stood up obediently and looked at their leader with confusion.

"Leofric, because of your previous exploits in killing the leader of the Viking berserkers, I will promote you to captain, and you swear as you march. Odegar leaned out of the bridge and commanded at the tall, lanky Leofric.

"What's so urgent?" Leofrick didn't care too much about his promotion, anyway, as long as he finished beating the cane, he would still turn back into a farmer, at most it was just a little more reward, he cared about what was going on, and he asked the question that everyone wanted to know.

"The Normans are coming!" said Odegar, worried, "they have invaded after the war season, and they have landed in Sussex!"

"Sussex?" young Toffei's heart suddenly lifted, and he blurted out, this is their hometown, and all their relatives are in the village of Crohurst near Sussex.

"Stand up, let's go. Odegar raised his arms and shouted.

"Do you know where they are now?" asked Toffe, "where are they in Sussex?" Tofe was anxious, they were fighting outside, and they were too far away from the Normans who had invaded their homeland.

"According to the intelligence of the spies who kept changing horses along the way, they showed up in Pevensey, Sussex...... This was followed by the swift capture of the neighboring town of Hastings. Odegar sighed with some emotion, the county of Wessex, the heartland of the new king, was now almost taken by the Normans without a single soldier, which was undoubtedly a major blow to the English, and the enemy did not immediately attack London but established a stable rear here, which meant that the surrounding villages were exposed to this group of Normans who were also descendants of the Vikings in the name of brutality......

The Britons, who had not had enough time to recuperate, were now in such a desperate need for warriors that those who were purely for subsistence or money were allowed to join the army, regardless of their previous loyalty—prompting some of the Vikings, who had been defeated but were forced to hide nearby, to heeded their call to become mercenaries and join the ranks of their former enemy, King Harold of England.

As they worked day and night, Harold's army became weaker and weaker.

Tofe and Leocliffe marched through the dense forests of the north, and many of those who stopped to rest collapsed and died, and the rapid march exhausted the army. "We rest here. "Odegar was different from the urging he had come before, this time he yelled at the militia to rest, rather than rushing back desperately.

Towfi, who was breathing with his mouth open, put his hands on his knees, and worried about his new wife Judith, he raised his head and looked at Odegar eagerly: "Then I won't be able to get back to the south in time." ”

"I command you to rest. Odegar gasped in reply, and sat down on the ground.

The rapid gallop made many soldiers unable to control themselves and vomited, and some even vomited yellow-green bile.

In contrast, the few Viking warriors assigned to Odegar's team fared much better, and he said to Odegar, "In fact, if you are willing to send a ship to Norway, I believe that there are many more Vikings who will want to join us." ”

"It's too late, and we're going to be able to take a break from the winter. The overheveled Odegar replied amicably to his former foe - the Vikings, who usually had no bottom line when it came to raiding, had a good reputation after accepting the hire.

"Your king?" asked the Viking.

"I haven't heard from him for two days. Odegar said sullenly.

Leocliffe, who had a lot of dark circles under his eyes, looked at him when he heard this, "I hope he's running for more people." Odegar added.

"Hopefully?" the Vikings grasped the words, but Odegar was reluctant to answer.

"Odega, we're well rested. The pale-faced Tofei gasped and hurriedly reminded.

"We can't go as we did when we came to the north, the road is starting to get rough, we have to conserve our strength and stop bothering me. Odega, who was sitting on the ground, turned her face away impatiently.

"What is Crocherst doing?" insisted Toffe.

"It's just a small village of less than ten families, and England is a country. Despite Odega's heartache, his answer was a bit ruthless for the sake of the bigger picture.

"Please, at least let me go back. Tofi pleaded.

"If we allow a few people to look for their families, we won't be able to win this battle. Odegar hung his head, and Toffei couldn't make out his expression, so he turned around and asked Leocrife for help, only to find his nemesis staring into the distance—there seemed to be some smoke drifting from there.

The militia stopped talking, and scattered to lower their bodies and slowly envelop the smoke, the sun shining through the woods, dappled light and shadows in the clearing, and they eventually found a white horse tied to a tree and resting there, a group of tan horses also tied to the white horse's back with a rope, and smoke rising from the ashes of a nearby burned-out wooden cart.

But at this time the attention of the Anglo-Saxon militia was on the backs of these two horses, and the sound of mosquitoes and flies buzzed, and they surrounded the two horses, so that their tails swept from time to time.

"What is this?" asked Leocliffe, somewhat uncertain.

"Good work done by the Normans. Odegar answered the question of the new militia squad leader with a gloomy face.

On the white horse, a female corpse was leaning over the white horse, surrounded by mosquitoes and flies, her charred feet hanging from the horse, and her unkempt hair was on the horse's back, leaving behind a skeletal face and blackened body.

The corpse of another tan horse was even more pitiful, the charred body lying on its back on its back, its wide mouth as if to accuse it of the inhuman abuse it had suffered before, and to tell everyone about its pain.

Odegar stepped forward and looked at the charred corpse on the horse. He lifted the covering clothes on the ground, and there were charred corpses underneath.

"This is a message to your king. Several Vikings looked at each other and said.

Odegar looked around at all the militia present and said in a sad tone, "I'm going to show all the soldiers here the corpse of this village woman," his tone grew intense, "That's why we have to fight!"

"Go back to Crohurst Village, boy," Odega looked at a somewhat stunned Tofe, "you go back south and see our village." ”

"No, there must be a deception in this, and they sent the bodies of these women here to provoke you to rush back to fight. The Viking mercenary, who was familiar with the Normans, who also derived from the methods of the Vikings, calmly suggested.

The bodies of the women were dismantled from the white horses, and the rest of the militia began to place the bodies of the dead women, so that their bodies were no longer exposed to broad daylight and that they were buried in peace.

Odgar didn't pay attention to the Vikings who spoke, but looked at the bewildered Tofi and ordered, "If you're not afraid to encounter the Norman scouts, go back to the south." Ride this horse. ”

"Leofrick," Odegar continued, "don't forget that you're the captain, come with him, be careful, and if you encounter a Norman, don't fight, just run!"

Leofrick wanted to say something to Odegar, but Odegar interrupted him and shouted, "Let's go!"

Odegar turned and walked two steps, then turned to look at Leofrick and instructed, "If you go to Crawhurst, if you find any surviving women, take them to the abbey, the Normans will not dare to harass these hermits' courtyards easily, find as many men as you can, and tell them that we will send a large army, but we need more men, go." ”

"I don't know which way leads to Crawhurst. Leofrick held out his hand and asked for help from Odegar, who had turned to leave.

"We'll find our way, we'll have to follow the path of the fish carriers, the ones that come and go before you smell the salt. Odegar replied.

"The smell of ash will help you find your village. A Viking added, only to be met with an angry Anglo-Saxon glare, and he shrugged back into his ranks.

Leocliffe looked solemn, turned around, mounted the white horse, and sat behind Tofi, who had been waiting for a long time, and had already mounted the horse.