The Ice-Shirt

by William T. Vollmann

  The Victor

  Freydis stirred the kettle and set out a fme meal of whale-meat; she washed her hair in a bucket of birchwood. Freydis sat listening by the open door, twisting the thread between her fingers and staring at her distafl'. Freydis watched the sun travel across the sky and felt very much alone.

  TheAccoiades

  There was no denying (said Karlsefni) that Freydis had showed great courage in battle, laughing at the Screechers as if in the best of humor. For this she was honored (although later she was boastful about her deeds). Just as gulls, no matter how black-seeming in the blue sky, become white against a black cliflf, so Freydis's virtues now became manifest to all, for though she was ruthless and greedy no one could call her a coward, and she had saved the Greenlanders in their time of trouble.

  Treydis and Gxidrid

  Gudrid said nothing when she heard Freydis praised. But the blood rushed into her cheeks, so that her face became a scarlet mask.

  The Skin-Sfiirts

  The next day, at Freydis's command, her thrall Skofte set out to loot the dead Skraelings. They lay black and swollen in the dreamy forest, where the grass was as lush and tangled as Gudrid's hair; they lay along the river bank. Skofte rolled them over and lifted them up, and they gurgled. - "Oh, you sing a different song today," he said to them mockingly, for he would now say what he liked to these warriors who could not harm him. He stripped off their bloody skin-shirts; he gathered together their scattered arrows and their stone axes, and he lashed his booty into a great bundle and dragged it to Freydis's longhouse. But the choicest items he secreted in the forest for himself, for he was weary with being beaten, and the time was coming when he would serve her no more.

  When Gudrid heard that Freydis had pillaged the slain without regard for the rights of others, she spoke to her husband and told him that he must be the one to accuse and punish Freydis. Karlsefhi took a drinking-horn and threw it down on the floor so that it smashed. - "No," he said. - But soon enough it turned out as Gudrid willed, and one of Gudrid's men asked her to come to their house.

  "Yes, Karlsefni, you be the doomsman to judge me," cried Freydis bitterly, "you are so far above personal loyalties and affections."

  Karlsefni stroked his beard. "Do you not think that my men have some right to these skins and stone weapons?"

  "/ was the one who defeated the Skraelings," shouted Freydis, "I and none other!"

  "Surely you are right and the rest of us are wrong," smiled Gudrid. "I know that I am wrong; after all, I am only a Christian bitch."

  Freydis ignored her. "Karlsefhi," she said, "you are the leader here. I feel that I am entitled to all of this treasure. It is for you to decide."

  "Everything must be divided equally," said Karlsefni quietly.

  Freydis stood looking down at her feet for a moment and breathing heavily. She twisted her hair in her fingers. "Well, Battle-Tree," she said.

  "well, Treasure-Tree,* I had hoped for fruit to grow from you for my reward; Draupnir's fruitf would have been best, but any would have done. However, it seems instead that you grow only the foliage of words." She turned on her heel and left Gudrid's house, and so they parted.

  The Outlaws

  Freydis knew full well that she harmed herself more than Gudrid by her actions. Often now she felt a stabbing in her breast (but it was only her heart); she felt a gashing in her throat (but that was no axe-tooth; it was only her pulse). - Yet just as Thorvard could never stop playing with his masses of amber beads when they were home at Gardar, sifting them through his fingers until they lay in mounds on the table like golden fish-eggs, so Freydis could not stop provoking and revenging herself upon Gudrid. It is written of Queen Gunhild that she once changed herself into a swallow and twittered at Egill Skallagrimsson's window solely out of spite, to distract him from composing a poem. Gudrid was now equally determined to rob Freydis of her every triumph; she wanted to drive Freydis out fi-om among their company. In this she was bound to succeed, because she was Gudrid the Smiler. - So Freydis dreamed happily of a headless woman, of many headless women lying on the floor vsdth blood trickling from their throats and breasts; and their white fingers were clenched and the wdnd rippled their dresses.

  The next day Karlsefni summoned Freydis to meet with his wife. In his presence each of the two women spoke hotly of her own worth, embroidering her stories with gold.

  "I am worth far more than this granddaughter of a fi-eed slave," said Freydis. "From my father Eirik I claim all the rights of settlement over Greenland; from my brother Leif I have use of his houses in Vinland."

  "Yes, but you are a bastard," said Gudrid. "Anyhow, all the best country in Vinland belongs to me."

  Freydis flushed deeply, but said nothing, remembering now that she was forbidden to call Eirik her father anymore.

  "She is a wolf as her father was," exclaimed Gudrid, "and she should be hanged on the wolf-tree.ij: At the very least she should be driven out of this place." (This last, of course, was a hint to her husband.)

  * Common kennings for a man and a woman, respectively.

  t In the Elder Edda, Draupnir was a gold ring that gave birth to eight gold rings every night, t Gallows.

  At first Karlsefiii had tried to tell Freydis gently what tell her he must, for he strove always to be moderate in his behavior, but she began making difficulties as she was accustomed to do, and so quickly exasperated him that he resolved to be short. - "You are a guest on our home-mead," he said. "Your catde graze in our pastures; your men josde our men, and you are no longer welcome here. Vinland is a big country; you can take your own land."

  Then Freydis railed at him: ''Makings-of-a-Man* they call you, but the man was never made. I saved you all fi-om the Skraelings, and your reply is to outlaw me like a lone wolf! If I shook my tits at you, would you run away, too, you wretch?"

  Karlsefni stepped up and slapped her on the cheek so hard that the red print of his hand could be plainly seen. (But then he felt a snaky fear-twist in his guts, knowing at last that she who stood before him was the Queen Sigrid of his nightmares - and somehow she would get her revenge. In suspecting that she would trouble to glut herself on him, he continued, of course, to underestimate her.)

  Gudrid stood looking on.

  Freydis spat on the ground. She wdped her mouth very coolly on the back of her hand. She did not rub her cheek. She fixed her eyes on Karlsefni and said: "Even that you did not do of your own accord, for yonder blonde bitch goaded you to it. - Come now, Thorvard, and stow your pretty pelts on the boat. Come, you men. We'll see how long they last without you. Skofte, claim your gold leaf back from that bitch. - As for you others, if you dare to come in sight of Leif's houses you'll find a bloody welcome, do you hear me?"

  "We hear you very well," said Gudrid. But then she smiled so nobly, so wdnningly. "How have I hurt you, Freydis, that you should treat me this way?" She said this leaning forward, with shining eyes and parted lips.

  Freydis and her people set sail that same day, with no more words on either side.

  Port-au-ChoiXj Newfoimdiand 1987

  Wet brown-green grass grew over hummocky ground. The field was empty. There were no markers, no dead Indians even, since the latter had been put in

  * Literal meaning of Karlsefhi's name.

  the Visitor Center (which was closed). A white fence held back the woodpiles, the little box-houses, the schoolchildren running and shouting at recess. Across the street, powerboats scudded in the grey sea. There was a path across the field, and people rushed across it on their errands.

  "Is this the Indian cemetery?" I asked a little freckled boy.

  He looked down at the parking lot. He kicked with his shoe-toe. "I dunno," he said. "They used to find bones in it, I think."

  Wearing tfie WaU-Sfiirt

  Wise in measure should each man be, but let him not wax too wise:

  who looks not forward to learn his fate unburdened heart will bear.

  Odin the High One

  A

&n
bsp; fter being expelled from Gudrid's country, Freydis was harsh and tearless. Her husband strove to comfort her, but she repulsed his attempts, and in time he desisted. All her men still remained with her, excepting only Skofte Carrion-Crow, who had deserted to the woods, but they were discontented. Gudrid's country was much richer than hers, and they had found nothing to plunder even there. - So Freydis was forced to speak to them graciously, promising that they would profit from the journey in the end. - "And I assure you," she said, "that you wdll soon be able to return to your homes, for this devil-infested country is no good to live in. You will have a share in the grapes and timber that we have gathered together, and any pelts you take for yourselves you may bring back for your own gain. As for the Skraelings, I say again: Do with them whatever you like. Rape them, rob them, or make them your thralls; it's all the same to me." - But after the battle, never a Skraeling did they find.

  They returned north in Freydis's ship, which she called Ice-Swift; they moved their possessions back into Leif's houses. Just as after a storm torn branches float in the water, their leaves still green, so Freydis's plan-remnants continued to flower for a Httle space. But she had a dream that Gudrid was coming to kill her. Although in her dream she was naked, Freydis rushed out with her axe. She threw a helmet on; her hair streamed down her back. Then she saw Gudrid waiting for her; she saw Gudrid's face, so soft and pure; she knew that if she could strip Gudrid naked she would be safe; she would expose Gudrid's soft white buttocks. But already under Gudrid's gaze her

  hair was coming alive, rising and coiling and hissing; her head became a net of Hell-vipers that bit her in her face and in her breast; she woke up choking, with a sour taste in her mouth and an ache in her chest. . .

  As a blue sky may seem blue-green through a thicket of leaves, so Freydis colored her actions to a greener and richer shade than they were by distributing gifts to her men. Everything was beautiful there in the forest, among the spangles of white and purple flowers. So they settled in and awaited her commands. They wandered again among the trees (although not so far as before the battle with the Skraelings); they lay scratching themselves in Leif's houses. They threw down tanned bear-pelts on their beds as did the Skraelings in their wigwams, but because the longhouses were so moist and noisome the skins quickly became moldy.

  Tfte Last Lesson

  Blue-Shirt came into her dreams every night. He taught her much witchcraft, both Galdr and Seidh,^ and confirmed her in her evil. But He said that there was still one trick left.

  "I would like to see that," said Freydis.

  "Here it is," laughed Blue-Shirt, and He struck her full in the face ...

  Hetji ondFinnbogi

  Now must I tell something of the Icelandic brothers who had accompanied Freydis in hope of gain. - Strange were the marvels of Wineland. It is written that Karlsefni and his men one day discovered a glittering Uniped along the western coast; this creature rushed down from the hills at them when they shouted, and shot arrows at them. - But the two Icelanders were just as strange, for they never did anything, but stayed in their camp with their men except when they were hunting or hewing timber. So the others despised and feared them.

  When Freydis had cast them out of Leif's houses, the brothers led their men into the woods and soon raised up a longhouse by a lake. - "Now, tell me, brother," said Helgi, "what plans you have now."

  "That is easy," said Finnbogi. "Our foremost purpose must be to enrich ourselves on a par with these others."

  "No," said Helgi. "One day a man's highest desire might be for gold. The

  * Witch-songs and necromancy.

  next day the iron spear-rain might fall, and then gold will be of no use."

  "What are you saying?"

  "I am saying that our foremost purpose must be our defense while we are here. If Freydis or any of those others come to visit us we must be friendly; we must be more agreeable even than it is manly to be, for we Icelanders are few, and the Greenlanders are many. And we must always keep watch, and stay in our own camp until the ships are loaded. We never should have come here."

  Something bad would come soon; of this Helgi and Finnbogi were both aware. It would come from Freydis Eiriksdaughter.

  At first the brothers tried to discover the meaning of her actions, but of course there was no more meaning in Freydis than there was in glistening water. - "Is this our bargain then?" cried shrill Freydis, clashing her arms together in her anger. - "I don't give in easily," Freydis said. - "Don't try my temper further," said Freydis, smiling through her teeth. "You think your small equalities are satisfactory, do you? I don't need you." - "There are knives in her softest looks," said Helgi; but he thought nonetheless (for we can only know each other's outer shapes) that although Freydis was a loud unpleasant woman she was not impossible to do business with provided that one humbled oneself to her - which few men were willing to do. Helgi sincerely thought that her esteem could be won if he were only patient, as an outlawed Icelander must be with some scowling Norwegian King: - he would greet the King, and the King would return no answer; and he would make friends who were in good standing with the King and they would plead his case, until at last the King would grant him a surly safe-conduct, but still refused to let him serve him at his court; he would compose a great verse in praise of the King, over which the Queen would exclaim in delight, and then the King would nod very faintly to acknowledge him; he would go into the fells to dispatch a family of ogres, and when he returned with their heads in his pouch the King would greet him in a low voice; he would join a battle unasked and perform some high deed, after which the King would smile slightly to see him; he would bring the King great gifts of silver and gold, and then at last the King would clap him on the back and joke with him and acknowledge him as his man. - So Helgi thought his path must be. - But he would not see that it was impossible to conciliate Freydis. He wanted his own murderess to love him. (Thorgunna had made the same mistake wdth Leif) -As for Freydis herself, she once thought that whenever she was kind the two brothers should have fallen on their knees and thanked the WHITE CHRIST for this kindness, not that it was anything in itself; but just as the heroism of

  a coward is more valuable than that of the insouciantly brave, so the kindness that came forth from Freydis's grey and withered heart was so uncommon that it should have been prized like the scent of the angelica-flower - but the brothers did not even notice, and so they were doomed. Now she had better reasons for dooming them. She wore the Ice-Shirt; she wore the Bear-Shirt; she was of the wolfish kind. - Certainly the brothers would be excellent objects of revenge. She would punish them for what Gudrid had done. She would plant the frost-seed in their skulls.

  FimxboqVs Luck

  One night Finnbogi dreamed that a great woman came to him from the sea. He had seen her before; she was his luck-spirit. The woman said: "My advice to you is to return to Iceland." - He was happy to remember Iceland, where sometimes the stones formed a pavement at the base of the green, green hills. Eyvind Skaldaspillir once made a pretty kenning for the Icelanders, calling them "Eel-Sky Dwellers," and just as it is true and lovely that ice is an eel's sky, so everything in his home country was lovely and true. Waterfalls made silver rainbows between the hills; geysers came up between the flowers. But he replied: "I don't believe that there are any more dangers here than there were at home."

  And at this the woman was silent, for that, too, was true.

  Every day the brothers and their men felled trees with their axes, striking them not in parallel gashes, as is the case with suicidal neck-wounds, but in scattered cuts, for this was homicide. But there remained so many trees; Wineland was widely wood-clad. And the night pressed tight around them. The darkness of it made the air into a deep dark sea in which they wave-swam, the liquidness of it easing and supporting them at the same time that it stifled them. Bad dreams grew in their hearts like coral. A Death-Kraken moved somewhere inside that dark maze of coral; the brothers could feel the rubbery weight of it upon their ches
ts. They moaned in their berths as the Death-Kraken slithered its arms out of coral-holes and grappled its suckers into their hearts . ..

  Rexmion

  Helgi raised his head alertly. "I hear her," he said.

  Presently she came through the trees. They wondered at how fine she looked: for, indeed, she wore a shirt as blue as a lake.

  The SecondAjcc-TaU

  I know for certain so much, that you will not get a kingdom if you don't ask for it.

  Earl Hakon, to Gold Harald (ca. 980)

  Dost thou not apprehend that thou art in that condition that, hereafter, there can be neither victory nor defeat for thee?

  King Olaf, to his prisoner, Earl Hakon (ca. 1013)

  w.

  hen Gore-Month came, Helgi and Finnbogi proposed that there be games of archery and spear-throwing between the two camps, and Freydis agreed to this, but presently, the tale says, discord crept into their entertainments, and they gave them up. They drilled separately, the members of each house practicing covering themselves with their shields, as if they planned to make war upon each other. Helgi and Finnbogi practiced launching stones with a stafF-sling. Men dreamed of blood-sport, slaughter-sport. Then no one from one house visited the other, and so it was for most of the wdnter.