THE SCENE: Crack open a beer and enjoy this epic brawl on the treacherous, icy rocks of Iceland where Steinthor absolutely dominates the battle, protecting his allies (Thord Blig) while taking the fight to his better-prepared enemies (Thorleif Kimbi and Freystein Bofi).
THE TEXT: When he saw that Steinthor was drawing his sword, Thorleif Kimbi said, “You’re still using the white-hilted sword, Steinthor, but I don’t know whether you’re still using the blunt edge you had last autumn at Alftafjord.”
“I’d like you to find out for yourself before we part ways whether or not I have a blunt edge,” Steinthor replied.
Their attack on the rock was slow, and when they had fought for quite some time, Thord Blig made a run at the rock, trying to lunge his spear into Thorleif Kimbi since he was always at the forefront of his men. The spear hit his shield, but in fending it off so powerfully, his feet slipped from beneath him on the broken ice that was on a slope, and he fell down and slipped backwards off the rock. Thorleif Kimbi ran after him, wanting to kill him before he could get to his feet. Freystein Bofi ran after Thorlief, and he had ice-spurs on his boots.
Steinthor ran up too and brought his shield down over Thord when Thorleif tried to strike him, and with his other hand he struck at Thorleif Kimbi and cut away his leg below the knee. At that Freystein Bofi lunged at Steinthor, aiming at his stomach, but seeing this Steinthor leapt up into the air and the spear passed between his legs. Steinthor performed these three things at once, just as described.
After that Steinthor struck at Freystein with his sword, and the blow landed on his neck and made a loud noise. “Was that a bad one for you, Bofi?” asked Steinthor.
“A bad one indeed,” Freystein replied, “but not as bad as you thought, because I’m not hurt.” He was wearing a felt hood with a piece of horn sewn into the collar, which is where the blow landed. Freystein then turned back up towards the rock. Steinthor told him not to run if he was not hurt. Freystein turned to meet the attack and they fought hard, but Steinthor was in danger of slipping since the blocks of ice were both steep and slippery, while Freystein stood firmly on his ice-spurs and struck both hard and often. Their contest ended when Steinthor struck Freystein above the hips with his sword so that the man was cut in two.
– The Saga of the People of Eyri, 13th Century AD
#Iceland #EyrbyggjaSaga #Battle #Killing #Feud #IceFight #Glacier
