Vikings raid the shrine of St Gatien...

Sven Eriksen and his men drop in on the coast of the continent on their way home ..

---oXo---

The men in the watchtower spot three sails by the coast, they lose sight of them as they pass a forested headland; just in case of trouble the men assemble ...

One of the viking ships has come up the estuary and makes land near a village ...

The vikings move slowly inland towards the village ...

The lookout at the watchtower has seen the viking ship in the estuary and the men make their way to help the nearby villagers ...

The villagers have armed themselves, but seeing there are too many vikings fall back to safer ground ...

The villagers make a stand in front of the old ruined shrine of St Gatien...

The vikings move through the surrounding marshland and charge in to the attack, their archers hang back and pick off a few of the defenders... 

The villagers are losing ground ....

The men from the watchtower have arrived and taken up position in the shrine ..

The vikings are undeterred and press home their attack ...

The vikings draw back, the defenders of the shrine are surrounded and being picked off slowly by the viking archers .... Sven Eriksen offers to spare their lives if they agree to a 'fight of champions'. If they win the vikings will leave, if not they may leave with their lives.

The two champions approach each other while the men both sides watch intently ...

The combat continues for some time, however a swing from the vikings' champion mighty axe wins the contest ...

The defenders leave the shrine, taking their wounded. Sven Eriksen and Elfric (a monk) examine the relics of St Gatien.

Elfric finds the thing they are looking for - a piece of parchment showing part of a map, he carefully closes the casket and returns it to the shrine. The vikings leave, after a brief stop at the village to steal all the food and livestock - then burn it down.