Poul Anderson

by The Golden Horn; The Road of the Sea Horse; The Sign of the Raven (epub)

  "It's good that we are to be friends, kinsman," he said.

  "The man who gave Denmark to Svein should be a worthy warrior," muttered Eindridhi Einarsson sourly.

  "Let there be no talk of what's past," said Magnus at once.

  "As for that affair ..." Harald was in too good a temper to resent much what had been spoken. "Svein holds his seat with trouble, and what I did has weakened the land and made the Danes wonder what's to gain from supporting him."

  "Come, let us talk alone." Magnus led his uncle to his tent, and they spoke long together. The young king was clearly anxious to have the older man's good will, and Harald for his part was glad the strife had ended. Quarrels would arise later, he foresaw, but for now let him have a moment's peace.

  The next day Magnus gave a lavish feast. In the afternoon, when men were boisterous with ale, he came into the tent followed by carles who had bundles of fine clothing, weapons and gold. He gave each man a gift, but when he came to Harald he held forth only two stirring sticks. "Which of these do you choose, kinsman?" he asked.

  "The nearest," said Harald.

  Magnus reddened, gave it to him and said loudly: "With this stick you now take half Norway, with scot and duties and all domains, so that everywhere you shall be king with the same rights as I. But when we are together, I shall be the first greeted and seated; and if there are three kings, I shall sit in the middle, and shall have right to the king's place in harbor and camp. You shall support and strengthen us, in exchange for our having today given you that place in Norway we had never thought any man should take while our head was above ground."

  Harald thought his words somewhat high-flown, but stood up and thanked him in a courteous speech. They were merry together for the rest of the day, and it was good to see the pleasure in Ellisif’s eyes when she spied them arm in arm.

  Harald remained on shipboard that night. The next morning Magnus let the lur horns blow a summons to a Thing, and when the men gathered, he told them what he had done and made it lawful. Thori of Steig trod forth and gave Harald the name of king before all.

  Thereafter Harald held a feast in the tent he had set up for himself. Toward evening, he had the ships which bore his wealth unloaded, and the cargo brought in and gifts given to everyone. When the caskets were opened, he said to Magnus:

  "'Yesterday you gave us a great kingdom, which you had won in battle from our common foes, and set me by your side. That was well done, for we know what it has cost you in strife and work. As for us, we have been in foreign lands, and have also been in danger of our lives from time to time, ere I won that gold I am now going to show you. That will I now divide with you; for just as we have Norway's kingdom together, so shall all movable goods be divided between us. I know how different we are, you are more generous than I; therefore we shall each have half, and you can do with your share what you will."

  An oxhide had been spread, and over this was now poured gold and silver. Such a heap had never before been seen in the North. Scales and weights were fetched, and the dividing began. When an ingot the size of a man's head appeared, Harald lifted it—no mean feat of strength—and asked gleefully: "Where have you the gold, kinsman Magnus, you can set against this?"

  Magnus' cheer drooped a little. He answered slowly: "There has been so much unrest and so many great wars, that it's cost me nigh all the gold and silver I once had. I have only this ring left." He took it off his wrist and passed it to Harald, who studied it for a moment and then said:

  "Aye, that isn't much gold, friend, for the king who owns two realms; and yet there might be some who doubt that even this is yours."

  Magnus colored, but said: "If I don't rightfully own this ring, then I can't say what is mine by right; for my father King Olaf the Saint gave it to me the last time we parted."

  Harald laughed to see him so easily baited. "It's true what you say, King Magnus, that you had it from your father. My mother has told me of a ring made just this way. He took it from my father for some trifling cause; and, indeed, that was not a good time for small kings, when your father had his full power."

  Magnus took the ring back and slipped it on his arm and began talking loudly and gaily as if to cover the brief clash.

  Harald took from his share a birchwood bowl with gilt silver rim and handles, filled with silver monies, and gave it to Thori—likewise two heavy gold rings, and his own cloak, dark purple and lined with ermine. "This is yours for your help," he said, "and moreover you shall have my friendship and great dignities."

  The young man turned red with pleasure. Harald clapped him on the shoulder and looked around the tent, at gloating men and ruddy gold. He went to Elizabeth, where she stood shyly in a corner, and lowered his head to her ear.

  "Does this show you what I was striving for?" he whispered. "Do you think it was worth everything I had to do?"

  "Yes, my darling," she answered as low. He could not tell if she meant it, or if she had even understood him. Maria Skleraina would have done so.

  He straightened. Naught on earth would ever again take from him what he held dear, now that he was a king.

  CONTENTS

  Foreword

  map of Scandinavia

  Epigraph

  I: Of Kings in Norway

  II: How King Magnus Went to his Weird

  III: Of Thora Thorbergsdottir

  IV: How Anchors Were Dropped

  V: How Harald Reigned

  VI: How Svein Was Clever

  VII: Of Einar Thambaskelfir

  VIII: How Haakon Ivarsson Went Wooing

  IX: How Anger Spoke

  X: How Kalf Was Rewarded

  XI: How Haakon Ivarsson Came Home

  XII: Of Earl Godwin and His Sons

  XIII: How Gunnar Geiroddsson Fared to Nidharos

  XIV: How Harald Sailed North

  Scandinavia

  FOREWORD

  The Golden Horn told of the earlier years of Harald Sigurdharson, and of what had happened before he was born.

  In the year 872 A.D., King Harald Halfdansson, called Fairhair, finished bringing all Norway under himself when he smote his last foemen at the battle of Hafrsfjord. Many chieftains and yeomen disliked his stern rule and left the country. This was especially true in its northern parts, for Harald was from the South, where his Yngling family had been strong since mythic times. Above all, the men of the Throndlaw, the rich land opening on the Throndheimsfjord where the town Nidharos was, often stood fast against the will of Harald and his successors. Those who departed went to the British Isles, to Normandy, though that was mainly a Danish colony, and to the Iceland which Norse seafarers had lately discovered.

  Harald was followed by his oldest son Eirik Blood-Ax, who soon grew hated for his harshness and greed. Another son of Harald, Haakon, had been fostered in England, and now came back to claim his right; for any son of a king, legitimate or not, could inherit the power if the folk hailed him at their Things, their shire-meetings. With no backing left him, Eirik must needs flee to England, where he fell in warfare. Meanwhile Haakon reigned so well in Norway that he came to be known as the Good, though he did not succeed in making the country Christian as he had hoped.

  The sons of Eirik harassed him for years. After he died fighting against them, they took power in the West under the leadership of Harald Grayfell, who is therefore remembered as King Harald II. However, the North was held by Sigurdh, the jarl of Hladhi, who had been a friend of Haakon. ("Jarl" was the only hereditary title other than "king" in old Scandinavia, though a king could raise a man to that rank. Such a chieftain was often stronger than most who bore the name of king. Those might be numerous at any given time, no matter that their power was generally small and they themselves under the overlordship of the king of the entire country.) The South was held by lesser kings, also descended from Harald Fairhair.

  Sigurdh's son and successor, Haakon Jarl the Great, conspired with the king of Denmark and lured Harald Grayfell to his death. Thereafter Haakon Jarl, aided by the
Danes, took over most of Norway. He soon renounced his fealty to the Danish king and defeated an expedition sent against him.

  Yet in the end he became so oppressive that folk welcomed a new arrival: Olaf Tryggvason, formerly a Viking, later a lord in Dublin, a great-grandson of the first Harald. Overthrowing Haakon, who suffered a miserable death, Olaf made himself master of Norway in 995 and set about Christianizing it—by persuasion when he could, otherwise by fire, sword, and torture. After five years, he fell in a sea fight against a combined force of Danes, Swedes, and Norse, the last under the sons of Haakon Jarl.

  The leaders of this force became the strongest men in Norway, though vassals of Denmark, until 1015. At that time still another former Viking of the Yngling line arrived from the West. This was Olaf Haraldsson, nicknamed the Stout, born to one of those Southern shire-kings who had perished at the hands of enemies. The new Olaf, who had been baptized, fought his way to supremacy and undertook the conversion of the people as ruthlessly as his namesake had done.

  In time that provoked rebellion among chieftains and yeomen, including many Christians. They found help in the mighty King Knut of Denmark, known in English history as Canute. Olaf escaped to Russia, where Grand Prince Jaroslav gave him refuge.

  The Kievan state had gotten its dynasty from Scandinavia and still kept closely in touch with the lands of its forebears. While the gap between Catholic and Orthodox churches was widening, it had not yet become an open breach. Jaroslav had married a Swedish princess, Ingigerdh, to whom Olaf had once been betrothed. By her Jaroslav had had several children, including a girl named Elizabeth.

  In 1030, with what forces he could muster, Olaf returned to Norway, hoping to win back his realm. After he landed, some folk rallied to his cause.

  These included his half-brother Harald. Following the death of her first husband, Olaf's father, strong-willed Aasta had married a kinsman of his, the shire-king Sigurdh Sow. Harald had been born to them. After Sigurdh also died, Aasta ruled over the great family estate near the Oslofjord. In 1030, at fifteen years of age, Harald was already close to the seven feet of height he would have as a grown man, and wild to join Olaf. Aasta gave him a following of warriors.

  The hosts met at Stiklastadh: on the one hand, the king and those who would restore him; on the other, men who felt that they were defending their ancient rights against a tyrant. After a terrible combat, Olaf fell. Harald, wounded, was brought from the field by the Orkneyman Rognvald Brusason, who left him in the care of a dweller in the wilderness.

  When he had recovered, Harald went on to Sweden, where Rognvald was waiting. Together they sought out Jaroslav in Russia. He made them welcome. In the following years, Harald rose high in his army, fighting against insurgent Poles and predatory nomads.

  Meanwhile, Olaf's body had been carried to Nidharos, where it was said to lie undecayed in a church. The hand of the Danish viceroy was heavy, and folk began to fear that in killing Olaf they had killed a saint. Olaf's bastard son Magnus was also brought to refuge with Jaroslav.

  Harald saw that he must bide his time before he could go home. He needed wealth for the hiring of fighters, too; and he wished to see more of the world. Getting leave from Jaroslav, he took a following south to Constantinople.

  This was the queen city of Christendom, reigning over an empire that reached from the Balkans to Mesopotamia. Brilliant, rich, corrupt, reeling toward a downfall that nonetheless would take nearly five centuries more, the Byzantines found few whom they could trust. Among those few were the emperor's Varangian Guard, mercenaries from the Northlands. Erelong Harald was the captain of these.

  As such, for the next several years he warred against both Saracens and rebels. The great booty that he won he sent back with Russian traders, for Jaroslav to keep for him. He learned much about the ways of lordship. He got two close friends, the Icelanders Halldor Snorrason and Ulf Uspaksson. At last he fell in love with a young lady, an attendant upon the Empress Zoe, Maria Skleraina.

  A revolution brought Zoe and her sister to supreme power. When Harald sought her permission to marry Maria, she denied him. After all, he had fought for the former emperor against the uprising. That had simply been his duty; however, his later failure to toady to her and even seek to be among her lovers was still more angering. He swallowed his own rage and went off to campaign for the empire in Italy. Soon after his return, he was imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of embezzlement. His Russian connections had much to do with that, since Jaroslav had lately launched an unsuccessful attack on the empire.

  Harald escaped, together with his friends Ulf and Halldor, and even took Maria along. She, though, went unwillingly, and pleaded with him to let her go, since otherwise her family would be open to Zoe's lethal spite. He loved her too much to refuse this, but never afterward forgot that he had lost her because he was powerless.

  Having fared back to Jaroslav in Kiev, he was well received. Not only was wealth waiting for him there, but many things had been happening in the North. After Knut's death, the leading men of Norway had looked for ways to get rid of Danish rule. Foremost among them were Einar Thambaskelfir (the Archer), who had fought in the last battle of Olaf Tryggvason, and the brothers Kalf and Finn Arnason. They had fetched young Magnus, the son of King Olaf Haraldsson the Stout—who was now thought of as St. Olaf—from Russia, and gotten him hailed as the new king. The Danes were soon expelled and Magnus ruled alone. By treaty, he also had a claim on both Denmark and England.

  At first he was an overbearing lord, who caused Kalf Arnason to flee westward and brought his people close to revolt. However, his godfather Sighvat, a famous skald (poet), brought him to his senses, and before long he was known as Magnus the Good.

  Harald, meanwhile, married Elizabeth, daughter of Jaroslav and Ingigerdh. In the Norse tongue, her name was softened to Ellisif. With what strength the Grand Prince would supply and that he himself could raise, Harald crossed the Baltic Sea to seek his fortune.

  After taking over in Denmark, Magnus Olafsson had made Svein Estridhsson his jarl over that country. Svein, on his mother's side, was a scion of its old Skjoldung kings—hence his nickname, for his father had been of lower rank than her. He soon rebelled and proclaimed himself the Danish king. Magnus contested that, and made Svein flee to Sweden, whose own king was not loth to give shelter to an enemy of his Norse rival.

  There Harald found Svein. Since Magnus would not agree that his uncle had at least an equal right to head Norway, Harald allied himself with the Dane. During the strife that followed, the first child of Harald and Ellisif was born: a girl, whom the father had christened Maria.

  The alliance was uneasy, with bad faith on both sides. Harald negotiated secretly with Magnus. Later Svein sent a man who tried to kill Harald. Thereupon, in 1046 A.D., the Norseman took his crews off to meet with his nephew.

  They reached agreement, Harald and Magnus. They would share the kingship of Norway and the riches brought up from Byzantium, though Magnus, as the son of St. Olaf, would always take first place.

  For the time being, Harald was content. He was no longer a landless wanderer, unable even to keep the woman he loved. Between them, he and Magnus ought to break Svein and lay Denmark under them. After that, through old treaties, they had a claim on the throne of England.

  Full of joy was the faring

  on fjords beyond the beaches,

  when kingly ships did craftily

  catch with sails the breezes.

  Hurrying sea horses

  hewed with keels the waters;

  swiftly went we storming

  seaward in the longships

  —Sighvat

  Chapter I:

  Of Kings in Norway

  1

  With many ships and men at their beck, King Magnus and King Harald sailed to Jutland. There they made landfall and harried widely. Their foe Svein did not care to meet them, but took his own fleet eastward along Scania, to wait till he heard the Norse had gone home. The Jutes themselves raised a force under
a mighty yeoman, Thorkell Geysa, who had named Svein King of Denmark at Viborg Thing; but in a hard battle they were defeated, and Thorkell himself carried prisoner back to Norway.

  Thither Magnus and Harald steered in the fall, agreeing that next year they would come with a real army and quell the Danes for good. Magnus went straight to Nidharos, but Harald, who wished to see more of this land he had won, entered the Sognefjord.

  In and in his ships went, under tall cliffs helmed with forest through which showed occasionally the slender gleam of a waterfall, a gnarled tree clinging within a cleft, a steading perched, tiny, on the heights. The water was cold and darkly clear; clouds blowing over the steeps made it seem they were endlessly toppling; an eagle hovered far aloft on sun-gold wings.

  "So this is your country," said Elizabeth. Her voice was very low, as if crushed by the hugeness around her. "I see now what shaped you."

  "My shire is less grand," Harald answered. "But my blood comes from such wellsprings as you see here. The very word 'Viking' means a man of the vik, the inlet."

  She shivered a little.

  Leaving his vesssels beached under guard, Harald rode off into the mountains at the head of such warriors as there were horses for, mounts either carried aboard or bought from folk of the neighborhood. Through a high wilderness they fared, where rivers brawled down into the tangle-wood of glens, flushed birds rose skyward in thunderous thousands, wolves howled, oftimes the mighty form of elk or aurochs shook horns against heaven. Dwellings were few, far apart, mostly small and poor, in the middle of fields carved out of the forest. A house could give shelter to the king, the queen, maybe two or three more, but the rest of the troop must spread sleeping bags outside. Then in the evening, the guests would likely hear fearsome tales of what haunted the land: elf and drow, were-bear and troll; no housewife failed to set out a bowl of milk for the hearth goblin, and on feast days offerings were made at the howes of long-dead chieftains. Hai, was that a rush of rain and wind in the night, or a ghost thumping his heels on the roof? Some men swore they had seen the Asgardh's Ride, one-eyed Odhinn leading the unhallowed dead on their endless hunt through the air, with screaming horns and baying hounds whose jaws dripped flame..