The men who approached came in order. Dozens of them, with shields and byrnies and helmets that reflected the glow of the climbing flames. They came in rows from the direction of the harbor, up a wide path that led straight to the door of Ragnvald"s hall.
Hakon ran back to his friend. “Toralv! Come away! You"ll burn, man!”
“But they"ll escape!” he hollered.
“We have bigger problems!”
Hakon pulled him by the sleeve back to the shield wall to face the newly arrived threat — a threat that had stopped twenty paces away. Hakon looked left and right. There were smaller alleyways there that offered an escape, but Egil cut that notion short.
“Don"t even think about it, Hakon,” he called above the roar of the fire. “There is no way I"m letting you die with a blade in your back. Nor will I.”
H
