Sigurd Slembedegn's chances of becoming king were thus very slight. But, hoping to revive the indignation against Harold Gille and thereby mitigate his own offence, he took the blind and maimed Magnus, Sigurd the Crusader's son, out of the monastery, and tried to rally his old friends and followers about him. In this he had some success, but less than he had expected. He therefore sailed to the Hebrides for the purpose of increasing his force, leaving Magnus in charge of Björn Egilsson and Gunnar of Gimse. Before Sigurd had returned, however, Magnus had been attacked at Minne, in the Oplands, by King Inge's guardian, Thjostulf Aalesson, and defeated in a bloody battle (1137). Thjostulf, either to encourage his men, or because he was afraid to trust him to anybody else, carried the two-year-old king in his girdle during the battle, while he himself fought with a sword and spear, and the deadly missiles fell in showers about him. The poor boy, who was unequal to such hardships, soon began to show the effects of his premature experience of war. A hump grew on his back and one of his legs withered away. He therefore received the surname "Crook-Back." Magnus the Blind fled after the battle into Sweden, where he persuaded the earl, Charles Sunesson, of Vestergötland, to come to his assistance; but was again overwhelmingly beaten at Krokaskogen by Thostulf Aalesson (1137). The little king, Inge, was again carried under his guardian's cloak, and heard, though scarcely without fear, the clash of arms and the fierce tumult of battle. This time Magnus fled to Denmark and succeeded in inducing King Erik Emune to sail to Norway with a fleet of 240 ships. The Norsemen, however, defended their coast so well that the Danish king for a long while did not venture to land. At last he burned the city of Oslo, but was immediately afterward attacked by King Inge and his liegeman, Aamunde Gyrdsson, at Hornboresund, and all his great fleet routed. Sigurd Slembedegn, in the meanwhile, had returned from the Hebrides and was cruising about in the Baltic, fighting in viking fashion with Wendic pirates, and occasionally harrying on the coasts of Norway, and injuring the friends of the young kings. He was soon joined by Magnus, and the two were met by the fleet of the kings, Sigurd and Inge, at Holmengraa (1139). The battle was fought with great vehemence on both sides, until suddenly all the Danes fled, and left their allies in the lurch. Hoping to save the blind Magnus, Reidar Grjotgardsson lifted him from the bed upon which he was lying, and tried to carry him on board another ship. But a spear pierced both from behind and they fell down, dying. Magnus exclaimed as he felt the steel in his vitals: "That comes seven years too late."