The Varangian guard, bearded and tall
Make the Greeks look so very small
Vultures circle as they form a shield wall
Their songs tell of Valhalla’s hall
Enemies break on their shields, shortswords out

The Varangian cut and stab. It is hot
Fighting from within a wall of flesh, wood and steel
Tired and sweat drenched they march forward till all yield
“For Wotan and the Eagle of Constantinople!”
“For Jesu, and the Divine Flag of Caesar Constantine.”
“For Great Thor, and the Hammer of the Righteous Sky.”
Many gods they invoke in their final hours, betrayed by Venetian bankers
But even a hundred mighty men like these cannot win against tens of thousands

(This is not strictly accurate. The Varangian were more or less culturally and religiously assimilated by the Greeks by this time. Three centuries earlier though, and this scene wouldn’t have been too far off.

Also, it was more like 10000 behind the city’s walls against 100000 and some ginormous canon. The defenders lasted 53 days. Then someone from the inside opened a gate… Western Europe was forced into accepting an Ottoman trade monopoly for eastern goods, and the rest is history: renaissance, major chattel slave trading that was kickstarted by a certain bankrupt Portuguese navigator king, colonialism, industrial revolution, and many ‘damned foolish things in the Balkans’…)