Plot

A man, having fallen in love with the wrong woman, is sent by the sultan himself on a diplomatic mission to a distant land as an ambassador. Stopping at a Viking village port to restock on supplies, he finds himself unwittingly embroiled in a quest to banish a mysterious threat in a distant Viking land.

A cultured diplomat joins a band of savage warriors in time to meet an even more fearsome enemy in this historical adventure. In 922 A.D., Ibn Fadlan (Antonio Banderas) is a Muslim emissary from Baghdad en route to meet with the King of Saqaliba when he is captured by a gang of Vikings. While Ibn and his people are intelligent and well-mannered, the Vikings are a rowdy and sometimes unpleasant lot, with an unquenchable appetite for food, alcohol, and women. However, in time he develops an understanding and respect for the Viking warriors and is welcomed into their society by their leader, Buliwyf. However, Ibn must now join them as they return to their homeland once they receive word of an invasion by a huge pack of bloodthirsty invaders who will destroy and eat anything in their path -- including the flesh of the men they have killed.

A Muslim ambassador exiled from his homeland, Ahmad ibn Fadlan finds himself in the company of Vikings. While the behavior of the Norsemen initially offends ibn-i Fadlan, the more cultured outsider grows to respect the tough, if uncouth, warriors. During their travels together, ibn Fadlan and the Vikings get word of an evil presence closing in, and they must fight the frightening and formidable force, which was previously thought to exist only in legend.—yusufpiskin

In AD 922, Arab Ahmad Ibn Fadlan is sent to the land of the Bulgar's as an emissary, because he fell in love with the wrong woman. During his journey, his caravan runs into a Vikings camp. They stay the night and the next day a young boy reaches the camp to call the warriors home: The Wendol, creatures of the Mist, have started attacking their homeland, killing and eating everyone in their way. The oracle forces a thirteenth warrior to accompany the Vikings, but this must not be a man from the north. Ahmad does not feel comfortable with the strange men of the north, at first, but when he finds out that the Wendol really exist, he bravely fights alongside the Vikings in an impossible battle against an enemy that can't be stopped.—Julian Reischl <julianreischl@mac.com> & Darcsyde <madklingong1@aol.com>

Before the dawn of the second millennium (922 A.D.), the city of Baghdad is the center of highest civilization. Within its cultured protection, young Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan, Ibn Al Abbas, Ibn Rasid, Ibn Hammad (Antonio Banderas) enjoys the privileges of a prominent position as a poet until he attempts to court a woman married to a jealous man who happens to be friends with the Caliph. Ahmed is then appointed ambassador to the distant Nordic land of the Tossuk Vlad, a noble way of banishing him.

Ahmed is traveling by caravan with his mentor and friend, Melchisidek (Omar Sharif), when they are attacked by a band of Tartars who abandon the chase when the caravan reaches the riverside and a Viking boat is seen approaching the land. A little further, they reach a Viking camp where other Viking boats are already ashore. The caravan then stops at the Viking camp for the night.

The Vikings seems to be having some kind of celebration. Ahmed through Melchisidek, tries to communicate with the Vikings to learn who is their king but none of them understands the different languages they try to speak. They finally find a man who speaks Greek named Herger (Dennis Storhoi). Herger explains there is no king at the moment as the last one just died. The celebration they are witnessing is actually part of their king's funeral. He then introduces Ahmed to Buliwyf (Vladimir Khulich) who is considered the heir apparent to the throne. Buliwyf is then attacked in front of everyone by a man whom he kills without hesitation in self defense which seems to secure his place as the new leader. Ahmed then attends the king's funerals and joins the Vikings in their night of festivities although without drinking. Ahmed finds himself appalled by Viking customs, their disregard for cleanliness, and their cold-blooded human sacrifices.

The next day, Ahmed finds that a new ship has arrived carrying aboard a young boy as a messenger from King Hrothgar of Venden. The king is seeking Buliwyf's help as his kingdom is being threatened by an army of evil beasts known to Vikings as an old evil that shall not be named. Buliwyf calls upon the angel of death which is revealed to be an old soothsayer who casts bones to guide them. The old women claims that Buliwyf shall be victorious if thirteen of his warriors travel up North to battle this evil. She then calls for the first warrior and Buliwyf himself steps forward. He is then followed by eleven other men which include Herger the Joyous whose love of women is only exceeded by his love of fighting, Helfdane the Large (Clive Russell), Roneth the Horseman (Neil Maffin), Rethel the Archer (Mischa Hausserman), Skeld the Superstitious (Richard Bremmer), Weath the Musician (Tony Curran), Edgtho the Silent (Daniel Southern), Halga the Wise (Asbjorn Riis), Hyglak the Quarrelsome (Albie Woodington), Haltaf the Boy (Oliver Sveinall) and Ragnar the Dour (John De Santis). When she calls for the thirteenth warrior, the old lady specifies that it needs to be a man that is not from the North. Everyone quickly turn to Ahmed who is forced by peer pressure to accept.

Branded as the foreigner they need to succeed, Ahmed reluctantly prepares his Arabian horse, which is the smallest of the group, for the journey. The North men make fun of Ahmed's horse for his size, calling it a dog, in their native language which Ahmed doesn't understand but gets the translation from Melchisidek. They then ask Ahmed for his name. Ahmed gives them his full name but they shorten it to Eban because of the repetition in his name of the word Ibn which means "son of" but they interpret it as Eban. As the events progress, most of the Vikings will take to calling him "Arabe" which means the Arab, save for Herger who will call him Eban or little brother, and Buliwyf who will try to call him Ahmed on a few occasions out of respect.

For the next few days and nights, Eban remains silent, closely observing the men's lips as they talk to each other, listening to them, analyzing their interactions, reactions and behaviors between each other. He slowly starts to make out words and what they likely mean in their language. He soon finds himself able to understand most of their conversations although he still does not speak. One night, as the men are antagonizing each other, one of them insults Eban's mother which causes him to speak for the first time, surprising the men when he is able to acknowledge the insult and retaliate with one of his own in their language. Impressed by how quickly Eban learned their language, Buliwyf uses the next moment he is alone with Eban to ask him if he knows how to "draw sounds", which is his way of describing Arabic writing. Eban confirms he can write and read. Buliwyf asks him to show him. Eban writes in the sand "There is only one God and Mohammed is his prophet". Buliwyf stares at the writing for a moment then leaves satisfied.

The next day, the Norsemen are still making fun of Eban's horse but he shuts them up with a demonstration of his horsemanship and how high his horse can actually jump, throwing Weath in the mud in the process which makes all of them laugh. Buliwyf jokes that the dog can jump which seems to close the subject for good.

After sailing through a nasty sea storm and dense fog weather, the warriors finally make it to Venden land where they arm themselves before stepping out of their boat. Buliwyf takes a moment to write in the sand what Eban showed him earlier, although with a slight mistake, revealing he has enjoyed the small lesson from Eban and values his knowledge. Herger then provides Eban with one of their swords which is much too big and heavy for him.

As they arrive into Venden, they quickly notice the lack of proper defenses available and the lack of men to defend it, which explains why King Hrothgar (Sven Wollter), his young wife, Queen Weilew (Diane Venora), and Hrothgar's treacherous son Wigliff (Anders T. Andersen), have been unable to stop their enemy's rampage so far.

The king confirms that their foe is indeed the ancient threat known as "Wendol", fiends who come with the mist to kill and take human heads. As the men are discussing the situation and whether the king is telling the truth or has just gone mad, Eban sees a bloodied, half naked, kid running towards the village crying. Queen Weilew recognizes the kid and leads them to his farmstead where they find several human bodies that were completely ripped apart, even gnawed upon. They also find a Venus figurine representing the mother of the Wendols. Upon investigating the area further, they find that the Wendols could be smart, cautious and may be observing them at the moment. The warriors opt to not try to find them but let them come to them instead.

At dinner, Eban is surprised to find his new friends are not drinking for the first time since he's been with them. Wigliff, son of the king, tries to antagonize Buliwyf who simply replies that he has not heard of any accomplishments from Wigliff besides killing his brothers to get where he is now. Wigliff leaves the table angered. The warriors then speak to a man who survived a recent Wendol raid in another village who can only describe them with beastly features such as lion teeth, bear head walking on both two and four legs at times and fighting with sharp claws. They always come in the mist at the darkest of the night. Edgtho notes there will be fog tonight. The old king offers Buliwyf to stand guard with them but Buliwyf turns him down politely at the behest of the Queen. They then prepare for the night, and go to sleep in a circular room. Eban questions how they can sleep in a time like this but Herger replies that his fate and his death are already fixed so he might as well not worry about it and just live freely and not in fear.

Eban falls asleep but awakens quickly from a nightmare. Looking around him, he realizes everyone else is only pretending to be asleep as something seems to be lurking outside. Herger whispers to him that when the fight starts, they will stand in the middle of the room in circle back to back. Eban objects that he is not a warrior but Herger tells him he is about to become one. Moments later, the fight starts and everyone jumps into action, including Eban. Although he is violently thrown across the room and suffers lacerations to his face, Eban survives the encounter almost unharmed while Hyglak and Ragnar are killed and beheaded. The men are worried when they realize they cannot find any Wendol body, even though they know they have killed a few of them.

Eban gets his face scars treated by Olga (Maria Bonnevie) before helping the village to build up some much needed defenses. He is told to use his massive sword to cut out wooden stakes but he is unable to do so since he can barely lift his sword. Tired of failing, Eban visits the local blacksmith and uses his tools to transform the massive Viking sword into a really sharp Arabian Scimitar which he uses to cut out the wooden stakes much more easily. The Vikings still playfully make fun of the sword for its smaller size but Eban laughs with them, showcasing a little bit of his sword handling skills.

Later that day, as Eban takes a break from his work and talks with Olga, she reveals that Wigliff has been purposely spreading rumors that Buliwyf intends to usurp the king and take his place. Eban shares the information with Buliwyf and Herger who decide they need to make an example. Herger picks up a fight with Angus, Wigliff's friend whose much taller, younger and stronger than Herger. The fight escalate to a three shields sword fight to the death. Each man has to break all three of their opponent's shields before they are allowed to kill him. Herger loses his three shields rather easily and seems quite exhausted from the pounding when Wigliff signals Angus to go for the kill. As Angus goes for the finishing blow, Herger swiftly moves asides and kills Angus in one blow, revealing it was all a deception meant to make the prince fearful of what he doesn't know. Confident the deception is enough to keep Wigliff out of their way, Buliwyf and his men resume the fortification of the village.

As they get closer to the night, Eban and Edgtho sees the "fire serpent" or "fire worm" they kept hearing about announcing the imminent attack from the Wendols. As the men awaits the attack, they spot a little girl running towards the village just ahead of the fire serpent. Eban jumps on his horse and jumps the fence to save the child and bring her back to the village which allows him to get a closer look at the fire serpent and realize the serpent is just Wendol warriors riding horses closely to one another carrying torches.

The men spread out around the village and the battle begins. Eban is surprisingly able to kill one of the Wendols and soon realizes the Wendols are just men disguised as beasts. As soon as he understands his enemies are just men, Eban, suddenly relieved of his fears, slips into a murderous rage and kills every Wendols he can get his hands on, to the amusement of Herger. The warriors fight well and the Wendols eventually opt to retreat for now, having killed Skeld, Halga, Roneth and Rethel during the battle. Eban, shaken from the fight, shares a drink with Herger and Olga after finding out Viking mead is made with honey, not wheat, which technically is not forbidden by his religion. Eban then spends the night with Olga as they both comfort each other.

The next day, Eban rejoins Buliwyf and his men to discuss their next step. Their numbers dwindling and their position all but indefensible, they consult an ancient völva of the village. She advises them to track the Wendol to their lair and destroy their leaders, the "Mother of the Wendol" and their Warlord who wears "the horns of power". The warriors leave the village to try and hunt down the Wendol. They quickly learn that the Wendol are quite easy to track, revealing they are no longer worried about the warriors coming after them. After finding bear skulls, Eban reflects on what he knows about them so far. They dress like bears, walks like them and fight with bear claws. Eban deduces they see themselves as bears and probably live like them too. Buliwyf understands his line of thinking and orders his men to look for a cave nearby which they find.

Buliwyf and the remaining warriors silently sneak into the Wendol's underground village all the way to the deepest part where the mother's lair is found. While the warriors form a line of defense against the Wendols who are now aware of their presence, Buliwyf enters the mother's lair to fight her. He is able to kill her quickly but not before he is scratched deeply across the shoulder by her poisoned claw. The warriors then escape through an underwater cave they found that leads back to the outside, losing Helfdane along the way who decides he's had enough and stays behind to block the Wendols and give his friends more time to escape. They also find out that Buliwyf is weakening fast and may not live another day.

They return to the village where Buliwyf is touched to see Eban being sad about his upcoming death. King Hrothgar promises Buliwyf he will be buried as a king but Buliwyf replies he would feel much more wealthy and honored if someone were to draw the story of his deeds, a wish Eban understands was directed at him. He also understands now why Buliwyf was interested in his ability to write all along.

As Buliwyf awaits death, the other warriors and the villagers prepare for a battle they know is coming as they expect the Wendols will seek vengeance for killing their mother. Before the battle, Ahmed takes a moment to remove his boots and armor and kneels in the mud to pray that he may live the next few minutes of his life well and asks for forgiveness for everything he should've done or said in his life but didn't.

As the battle is about to begin and the warriors are preoccupied by the sheer number of enemies standing in front of them, Buliwyf staggers outside, looking to die fighting instead of just waiting, and stares down the Wendol's warlord. He inspires his men, including Ahmed, by reciting a Viking prayer for the honored dead who will enter Valhalla. The battle gets under way and, although weakened by the poison, Buliwyf succeeds in killing the Wendol warlord which causes the Wendol army to retreat immediately, as the old völva had predicted. Buliwyf then sits on a made up throne and dies as the figure of a proud warrior king that the Wendol people should fear, standing watch over the village.

Later on, Ahmed witnesses Buliwyf's royal funeral before returning to his homeland, grateful to the Norsemen for helping him to "become a man and a useful servant of God". Ahmed goes home where, in respect to Buliwyf's dying wish, he writes the tale of his journey with the men from the North as the thirteenth warrior.