Battle At Sea

Nicholas van Rijn of the Polesotechnic League, (also here) Dominic Flandry of the Terran Empire, Manse Everard of the Time Patrol and Skafloc Half-Elven fight battles at sea.

In Skafloc's battle:

war-horns blow;
sails and masts are lowered;
ships row, linked by ropes;
arrows fly;
three hit Skafloc's armor;
elves fall;
spears, darts and stones are thrown;
Skafloc's shaft pins a hand to a mast;
a rock hits his helmet;
Imric's ship hits Illrede's;
warriors smite with swords and axes;
Skafloc leans his shield against the enemies' and strikes with his sword;
beside him, Firespear wields a pike and Angor of Pictland uses a long axe;
each fallen warrior is instantly replaced;
Skafloc kills a troll;
Firespear kills the replacement;
Skafloc leaps across and kills the troll to the left;
Angor beheads the troll to the right;
elves swarm after Skafloc and stand back to back;
Skafloc stands ahead of the elves because his iron mail would harm them;
they cover his back, clear the bows of trolls, then move aft, driving the trolls back;
Skafloc challenges Valgard;
elves continue to board while their archers continue to shoot;
Skafloc's sword opposes Valgard's axe;
both fall wounded and roll under the benches;
Grum Troll-Earl leads a charge;
Angor severs Grum's right arm;
Grum catches his stone club with his left hand, breaks Angor's neck, then crawls to shelter to carve healing runes on his wound;
Skafloc and Valgard resume their fight;
Skafloc's sword breaks on Valgard's axe;
Firespear and other elves attack Valgard;
the elves hold the troll flagship;
Valgard dives overboard;
he is weighed down by his byrnie but grabs a floating mast;
ships have been wrecked by ramming and collisions;
Valgard and others steer the mast towards their ships;
Imric oversees his fleet as a sea-mew;
Illrede will be doing likewise, therefore is not to be found on his flagship;
the elves scuttle the troll ship and return to Imric's;
Imric reports that the elves are outnumbered two to one and that some trolls are landing unopposed;
foe cut ropes and the fleets drift apart;
Imric's longship rows to support two elven ships surrounded by three hireling craft and one troll dragon;
arrows fall on the elves but their quivers are nearly empty;
bat-winged Baikal demons attack with lances (like Diomedeans);
the elves spend their last arrows but the Baikal continue to swoop;
the longship lays alongside the goblin ship from which the arrows are coming;
Skafloc leaps across;
he bisects one goblin, gashes open another and beheads a third;
Firespear transfixes two with his pike while mortally kicking a third;
more elves board and the goblins retreat;
Skafloc throws heavy arrow chests to the longship;
elven archers slaughter the Baikul;
the other two elf ships rally against the goblins, Oni and imps;
trolls board the longship;
Skafloc, running forward, slips on blood and falls as a spear meant for him kills Golic of Cornwall;
Skafloc, rising, is beset by trolls;
he shears a troll's face with his iron shield and rejoins the elves;
snow falls more thickly and the wind rises;
fighters fall to the lower deck but rise to fight on;
Skafloc throws his now battered and useless shield at one troll and kills another with his sword;
a troll protected from iron by leather seizes him from behind;
caught in a bear hug and rolling on the deck, Skafloc strangles the troll, then splits his skull on a mast;
he is the first elf or human to kill a troll barehanded;
his "'...deed is worthy of a Beowulf and will be unforgotten while the world stands...'" (p. 107);
the elves have won the sea battle but at great cost;
however, another fully crewed troll longship approaches and mounted trolls wait on the shore;
England is lost to the trolls;
the elf longship steered by Skafloc rams the troll dragon and smashes it on the skerry;
Skafloc and the elves not too badly wounded dive and swim ashore;
the mounted trolls attack and kill some but most escape;
an erne bears the sea-mew to earth;
they transform into Illrede and Imric;
trolls club and bind Imric;
Skafloc must "...reach Elfheugh and Freda ahead of the trolls." (p. 109)