I assume he just grapped the nearest battle axe he could find. My place is littered with them. It seems every Christmas someone gets me a battle axe, a broad sword, a bladed mace, etc. The cat o’ nine tails last year was the last straw. I had to send letters out saying “Please no more medieval weapons. I’m running out of space for them and I can hardly even lift a few. Something like a fruit cake would be just fine instead”.
My husband has bought me bastard swords, katanas, and the like for Christmas but no battle axe yet... there’s always this year...
I got a medieval fruitcake I can send you. Studded with hard candy and quite deadly when thrown by hand or by catapult.