So Gunnar held on out of the river, and he and Kolskegg were both
on board one ship. But Hallvard was on board another. Now, they
see the ships before them, and then Gunnar spoke, and said, "Let
us be ready for anything if they turn towards us! but else let
us have nothing to do with them."
So they did that, and made all ready on board their ships. The
others parted their ships asunder, and made a fareway between the
ships. Gunnar fared straight on between the ships, but Vandil
caught up a grappling-iron, and cast it between their ships and
Gunnar's ship, and began at once to drag it towards him.
Oliver had given Gunnar a good sword; Gunnar now drew it, and had
not yet put on his helm. He leapt at once on the forecastle of
Vandil's ship, and gave one man his death-blow. Karli ran his
ship alongside the other side of Gunnar's ship, and hurled a
spear athwart the deck, and aimed at him about the waist. Gunnar
sees this, and turned him about so quickly that no eye could
follow him, and caught the spear with his left hand, and hurled
it back at Karli's ship, and that man got his death who stood
before it. Kolskegg snatched up a grapnel and cast it at Karli's
ship, and the fluke fell inside the hold, and went out through
one of the planks and in rushed the coal-blue sea, and all the
men sprang on board other ships.
Now Gunnar leapt back to his own ship, and then Hallvard came up,
and now a great battle arose. They saw now that their leader was
unflinching, and every man did as well as he could. Sometimes
Gunnar smote with the sword, and sometimes he hurled the spear,
and many a man had his bane at his hand. Kolskegg backed him
well. As for Karli, he hastened in a ship to his brother Vandil,
and thence they fought that day. During the day Kolskegg took a
rest on Gunnar's ship, and Gunnar sees that. Then he sung a
song --
"For the eagle ravine-eager,
Raven of my race, to-day
Better surely hast thou catered,
Lord of gold, than for thyself;
Here the morn come greedy ravens
Many any a rill of wolf (1) to sup,
But thee burning thirst down-beareth,
Prince of battle's Parliament!"
After that Kolskegg took a beaker full of mead, and drank it off,
and went on fighting afterwards; and so it came about that those
brothers sprang up on the ship of Vandil and his brother, and
Kolskegg went on one side, and Gunnar on the other. Against
Gunnar came Vandil, and smote at once at him with his sword, and
the blow fell on his shield. Gunnar gave the shield a twist as
the sword pierced it, and broke it short off at the hilt. Then
Gunnar smote back at Vandil, and three swords seemed to be aloft,
and Vandil could not see how to shun the blow. Then Gunnar cut
both his legs from under him, and at the same time Kolskegg ran
Karli through with a spear. After that they took great war
spoil.
Thence they held on south to Denmark, and thence east to Smoland,
(2) and had victory wherever they went. They did not come back
in autumn. The next summer they held on to Reval, and fell in
there with sea-rovers, and fought at once, and won the fight.
After that they steered east to Osel,(3) and lay there somewhile
under a ness. There they saw a man coming down from the ness
above them; Gunnar went on shore to meet the man, and they had a
talk. Gunnar asked him his name, and he said it was Tofi.
Gunnar asked again what he wanted.
"Thee I want to see," says the man. "Two warships lie on the
other side under the ness, and I will tell thee who command them:
two brothers are the captains -- one's name is Hallgrim, and the
other's Kolskegg. I know them to be mighty men of war; and I
know too that they have such good weapons that the like are not
to be had. Hallgrim has a bill which he had made by seething-
spells; and this is what the spells say, that no weapon shall
give him his death-blow save that bill. That thing follows
it too that it is known at once when a man is to be slain with
that bill, for something sings in it so loudly that it may be
heard along way off -- such a strong nature has that bill in it."