On the way back to camp, Ingvarlen asked Leif for details.
"Which unit was chasing us?"
"Charles of Portigny, a baron under Gunnar. He kept waiting for the supply convoy that never arrived, so he sent cavalry to search the rear—and ended up catching us."
What had begun as a solid victory had turned into a rout. Leif hated this Baron Charles with a burning passion. If the man had moved even faster, the Marine Battalion's losses would have been far worse.
After the supply convoy was attacked, Gunnar withdrew his forces from southern Denmark. The fate of Louis the Younger no longer mattered to him. His primary objective now was to keep watch on Vig, preventing him from causing even greater trouble.
Studying the map, Gunnar dispatched riders to settlements along the middle and upper reaches of the Elbe River, ordering them to prepare defenses in advance and prevent the Viking fleet from pushing farther inland.
In truth, Vig had no such plan—at least for now. He currently had only three thousand ground troops. Even if he captured towns upstream, he lacked enough men to garrison them.
May 18
Reinforcements from Esbjerg arrived in Hamburg. Vig remained cautious, suspecting that Gunnar might be lurking somewhere, waiting for the perfect moment to deliver a decisive blow.
He had no intention of repeating Nils's disaster at Magdeburg. Instead, he stayed in Hamburg, ordering his troops to strengthen the defenses while observing Gunnar's next move.
Coincidentally, Gunnar also had no desire to initiate open battle. He dispersed his infantry to nearby towns to help local lords build fortifications, attempting to seal off the river routes in the middle and upper Elbe.
By the end of May, not a single clash had occurred.
Both sides waited for the other to make a mistake.
The war settled into its most tedious and stagnant phase.
At the northernmost front stood the army of Louis the Younger
In central Denmark remained the Nordic coalition
In the south, Vig's army held Hamburg
Farther south still waited Gunnar's reinforcements
Each commander faced his own constraints.
Gunnar possessed the strongest field force—
2,000 cavalry
2,000 mounted infantry
Over 3,000 foot soldiers
But horses consumed enormous quantities of grain. His army depended on a secure supply line at all times.
If Gunnar marched north into Denmark while allowing Vig to seize positions along the Elbe and cut the supply routes, he might conquer Denmark—only to starve afterward.
Vig's weakness, on the other hand, was his shortage of cavalry. Once he moved away from rivers or coastlines, his supply convoys would become easy targets for Frankish horsemen. As a result, he had to adopt a more cautious strategy.
Fortunately, Britain's grain reserves were abundant—enough to sustain him through a prolonged standoff.
June 1 — Late Night
More than a dozen rowing longships drifted silently downstream, approaching the pontoon bridge spanning the river.
"Hurry up. Don't let the Vikings notice."
Under the officer's whispered commands, the boats drew close. Frankish soldiers began sawing through the bridge planks with iron saws, remaining constantly alert in case the Hamburg garrison detected them.
After sustained effort, they succeeded.
A central section of the bridge broke free from the rest and drifted downstream with the current, leaving a gap more than twenty meters wide.
"Signal them!"
The officer slapped a soldier on the shoulder. The man imitated the call of a bird, summoning the fire ships waiting upstream.
After an anxious wait, more than a hundred small vessels loaded with firewood finally arrived. One by one, they passed through the gap in the bridge and headed toward the Viking fleet moored along the Hamburg riverbank.
Two hundred meters.
One hundred meters.
Fifty meters.
Suddenly, the leading fire ship jolted to a halt.
A Frankish sailor stepped to the bow—and saw the problem.
A heavy iron chain stretched across the river ahead. Because of its weight, the chain sagged slightly beneath the water's surface, perfectly concealed. The scouts had failed to detect it.
More and more fire ships slammed into the hidden barrier, piling up uselessly in midstream. Some men tried hacking at the chain with axes, but it barely scratched the metal.
"Who goes there?"
Guards in watchtowers along both banks noticed the commotion and immediately rang alarm bells. Archers attempted to fire, but the distance was too great. Flaming arrows traced weak arcs through the darkness and splashed harmlessly into the river.
Across the shore, bells began ringing throughout the camps. Viking soldiers rushed from their barracks and assembled in disciplined silence under the supervision of junior officers. Anyone who shouted or caused disorder risked severe flogging.
Along the riverbank, sailors sleeping in the holds were jolted awake. Even in the darkness, they knew their ships by heart. They quickly rolled up their hammocks and moved to their assigned stations.
Peering into the distance, they saw flickering points of silver light on the water—the reflection of weapons.
"A night raid?"
The captains issued orders:
Raise anchors.
Unfurl sails.
Move the ships away from shore.
The fleet spread out across the broad waters of the Elbe, avoiding the danger of clustering together and being burned by fire ships.
For a long time, the attackers struggled to cut through the iron chain—but failed.
With the operation in ruins, the crews pushed their firewood cargo into the river and rowed back upstream. In the darkness, the Vikings could not aim precisely. They managed to sink only two unlucky boats.
The surprise attack ended in a clumsy failure.
At dawn, the Frankish vessels returned to their departure point and reported the results to Carloman.
He responded in silence.
Beside him, Gunnar seized the opportunity to speak.
"I warned you before—Vig is cunning and unpredictable. Tricks like this won't work on him. Here is my suggestion: let me continue watching Hamburg to prevent any attack upstream. The two of you should go to Denmark and retrieve Louis the Younger. Withdraw quickly. The Jutland Peninsula is nearly deserted now—holding it by force serves no purpose."
"Back to Denmark again?" muttered Charles the Fat, still shaken by his previous defeat.
But after a moment's thought, he realized the alternative would be worse. If Gunnar went north instead, he himself would be left behind to face Vig's army.
Reluctantly, he agreed to Gunnar's plan and prepared to accompany his brother Carloman on another expedition into Denmark.
Before departing, however, Charles the Fat voiced his anxiety:
"What if Vig abandons Hamburg and sails to Denmark to block us? What then?"
"Embarking and disembarking an army takes time," Gunnar replied calmly. "It's not as easy as you imagine. If he returns to Denmark, I'll simply follow him there."
Even with that assurance, the two brothers remained uneasy. Deep down, they almost wished to stay safely in northern Germany and let their brother Louis the Younger perish on his own.
But the nature of the war left them little choice.
Louis had declared his campaign as a holy mission to eradicate pagan raiders. The Church, the nobility, and the common people all supported him. Even in Bavaria and Swabia, public sentiment strongly favored Louis.
If Carloman or Charles the Fat made any reckless move, they would hand their uncle—Charles the Bald—a perfect excuse to declare war and eliminate his disobedient nephews.
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