In the middle of the night the 1100 Northmen silently crept through the city, slitting the throats of unexpecting guards, hiding the body and moving on. The Northmen were everywhere across the city and soon the city watch was almost gone. As the army made it to the barracks a loud bell was being rung rapidly, as bells were tolling in response signaling an attack. Jon drew Reaper and his sword.
As they entered the barracks the Golden Isles men were scrambling for weapons. Jon was one of the first ones inside the building, and upon seeing the men, Jon began to hack and slash his way through the unarmored opponents.
Jon was faced with multiple opponents at once, using his sword to block strikes, he used Reaper and was removing heads from shoulders, hands from swords and chopping deep into the the exposed chests of his enemies. Jon became red from head to toe in the blood of his enemies. He was in a rhythm and getting faster and faster. Everywhere he went, death followed until every last Golden Isles man in the barracks were killed. As the Northmen left the building they were immediately besieged by a massive shield wall of almost 800 armored men.
Seeing this, the shield wall was formed and the men fell into ranks. Jon was closer to the front as his cohort had taken heavy casualties in the past. Jon heard a horn blow twice, and his father told him to stay beside him and to follow his lead. Jon was momentarily confused until he realized what was going on.
The entire army shifted position as the opposing shield wall was around 50 yards from them and closing in fast. The two horns being blown meant to get into offensive positions. The favorite of the Northmen was the Wolf's Tooth maneuver, where a single man is in front of the entire army, they form a triangle as the row behind the man has 2 men in it, increasing by a few men every other row down. The men would push the man in front of him, putting the entire strength of the army behind one man.
As Jon got into position, he looked up to the first row and spotted someone he had not seen in a long time. The Northmen who knew him, began chanting his name while banging on their shields, creating a rhythmic battle chant, every word enunciated by an earsplitting bang of metal on wood. "GU.. GU.. GUUUU! GU.. GU.. GUUUU!"
Jon's heart sank as he looked at the old man, who looked as though he was withering. The muscles he had were now almost gone. He was bald and had black paint over his eyes. The men drove their shields into his back and combat master Gu began to run at full speed towards the Golden Isles defense. As Gu approached the line, he was swept off of his feet by the speed and force of the one thousand men behind him. Gu raised his shield, and thrust his sword into the gap between two shields and down into the neck and chest of an enemy, but he was moving so fast he lost his sword, and dozens of spears pierced his body. He was still alive as they were ripped out of his body, spraying his blood everywhere. His corpse did manage to break through the enemy shield wall and the Northmen began separating their lines, flooding around to the back, through the widening hole in the center of the line.
As Jon pushed through he was using his axe and shield. The axe went through the enemy shields like the shields were made of rotten wood, striking the enemies arms underneath, almost cutting into bone. Jon was rushing to get behind the enemy as he was angry at them for the death of the man he spent the better part of the last winter and spring with. As Jon reached the backs of the enemies, he brought the wrath of the Gods.
Jon began using the beard of the axe to slice the neck of one enemy with a forward slice, flipping the axe over in his hand, he pulled the axe towards himself, hooking the enemy in his brain stem and throwing him to the ground next to him. Jon chopped into the face of the next enemy, almost removing half of his head. Jon's rage was becoming hotter and stronger with every kill. Jon was so enraged that he transformed into a bear, lumbering 14 feet tall on his back legs, arms thickening at least 4 times their original size, his legs thick as some trees.
Jon began ripping the enemies apart with his claws and paws. Slashing into fleshy necks and hitting them in the face so hard their necks snapped with a sickening cracking, popping noise. Jon blacked out completely.
When he woke up he was surrounded by bodies, some completely torn in half. The battle was over, it could not have been much longer than 45 minutes he was out of his body, but he was unstoppable by those men. As Jon came to, he realized that almost all of the men around him were staring at him. As he looked down, the bodies were uncountable and the blood formed rivers and made the earth thick with mud. Jon walked out of the mound of body parts, gore and dead men, Jon began looking around for his fallen friend and eventually saw the body of master Gu, completely mangled and broken looking, with his arms and a leg only hanging on by skin in some places. Jon picked up the mutilated body of his friend and gently carried him across the grounds of the city, laying him down on dry ground. A cloth was brought and placed over him, as he made it through the enemy lines, he was going to be buried at sea, with his armor, sword and shield and a few of his baubles. This was the highest honor an elderly Northmen could obtain in death. He would literally be sung about in taverns across the North for years to come. This was the first time Jon lost a friend from combat. The siege was still underway even though most of the cities defenders had been killed. Raska followed his son, his head down, sad over the state of living that master Gu had experienced before his death. The Berskaggr men found their way to Jarl Svygard and formed up to march on the tower of the nobles.