Tide Turned

The Vikings leapt from their ships with an enormous army. King
Sigmund and King Eylimi set up their banners and the trumpets were
blown. King Sigmund gave orders to blow the horn that had belonged
to his father, and this was the way he urged his men forward. Sigmund
had a much smaller army than Eylimi.

A great battle now began, and though Sigmund was old, he fought
hard and he was always at the front of his men. Neither shield nor
armor could protect a man from him, and he went again and again into
the army of his enemies on that day, and no one could see what the
outcome would be of this battle between the two armies. Many spears and
arrows were in the air. But Sigmund’s family spirits protected him so
that he was not injured, and no one could count how many men fell by
his hand. Both of his arms were covered in blood up to the shoulders.

And when the fighting had continued for a while, a man appeared
in the fray who was dressed in a long hat and a blue cloak. He had
only one eye, and a spear in his hand. This man charged against
Sigmund and hefted up the spear at him. And when Sigmund struck
hard with his sword, he hit the spearshaft and his blade broke into
two pieces.

Now the tide of the battle turned, and Sigmund’s luck left him and
much of his army was killed. Sigmund stopped even trying to defend
himself, and he continued to urge his troops on. Now it went like the
saying goes, that no one can compete against superior numbers. Both
King Sigmund and King Eylimi, his father-in-law, fell in this battle.
They were at the front of his troops, and most of Sigmund’s men fell
with him.

[...]

King Lyngvi now came to the king’s residence and meant to take
Hjordís, but this was not to be, and he found neither the woman nor
any treasure there. He went over the land and divided it among his own
men, and thought that he had killed all the Volsungs and that he had
nothing to fear from them any longer after this.

Hjordís walked among the fallen bodies the night after the battle
and came to where King Sigmund lay. She asked if he had any chance
of living.

He said, “Many live with little hope, but my luck has left me, so I
will not let myself be healed. Óđin no longer wishes for me to draw
my sword, since he has now broken it. I have fought battles while it
pleased him.”

She said, “Nothing would seem lost to me, if you were to be healed
and you avenged my father.”

King Sigmund said, “That is a task fated for others. But you are
pregnant with a boy. Raise him well and carefully, and that boy will
become the greatest and most famous of our family. Take good care also
of my sword’s fragments. A good sword can be made from them, which
will be called Gram, and our son will carry that sword and do many
great things with it which will never be forgotten. And his name will
be spoken as long as the world lasts. Take heart from that. But now my
wounds overcome me, and I go to visit our dead kinsmen.”

Hjordís sat over him until he died and the sun came up. Then she
saw where many ships had come to land. She said to her servant, “Let’s
exchange clothes, and you take my name and say you are the daughter
of King Eylimi.”

They did so. The Vikings saw the great carnage and saw where two
women were running for the woods. They understood that great things
must have happened here, and they leapt off their ships. The leader of
these warriors was Álf, son of King Hjálprek of Denmark. He had sailed
along the shoreline with his army and now they came upon this scene of
carnage where they saw so many dead.


- Volsunga Saga, Chapters 11 and 12