Author notes

Book One, page 4

bravo1102

on Feb. 13, 2017

And another volley of arrows is loosed. A good archer could put an aimed arrow into the air every ten seconds or so. Maintaining this rate of fire was very strenuous so it would slow after a few minutes. Archers often would have several flights of arrows in the air simultaneously so it could hit a massed bunch of defenders pretty hard. Shields were pretty good at blocking arrows as at a range of 100-200 meters an arrow would not penetrate. At that range it was likely an arrow would deflect off chainmail. But that depended on any number of factors including the type of arrow head.

Berserks were known for not wearing armor. In fact the name comes from Old Norse for bear skin. Ivar, the heavily mustached Norseman, is wearing a bearskin. Arrows at long range could be deflected by heavy animal hide, which enables Ivar to use a two handed ax and not carry a shield.

"May you die in bed" was supposedly an insult to a Norseman during the Viking Age.