by Lena North
"There's a place where there is a ledge, we'll make some kind of trail down to it, put something there, clothing or whatever, as proof. Then we lead the horses away to the side, I'll cover all tracks and take another way back. You'll go north then, there's a big harbor there. Ships are bound to go to the Northern Isles for trading, so maybe you could somehow get on one of those?"
It was a sketchy plan, and it had just been Fin and I making it up. There were more of us now, and I would remain in the village, so if we worked on it, we might come up with something slightly better. I was a bit uncertain about the last part, though, and this was where Fin and I got stuck all the time because even if there were ships, it would require coins or something else of value to get on a passage.
"Oh, Sissa. How long have you dreamed of escaping?" Mags asked sadly. She'd understood that I'd shared plans made long before, that I'd been by the gorge and found the ledge.
"We planned for a long time, my best friend Fin and I," I murmured, and my eyes went to Torbi. "I guess they were just silly, childish dreams, but we spent so much time on them, and we had such hopes."
Mags frowned, and I braced for her next words, knowing what she'd ask.
"Why don't you want to come with us?"
"Mags, I can't. You need the help, we could never figure out how to make the tracks just right, and it takes two persons to get up and down from the ledge so we could never decide what to do with the horses. With me staying behind, it would work." I said with more confidence than I felt, knowing that it was all mostly pitiful excuses for why I'd stay behind. Our plans could still be changed to include me.
"There is one problem," I added, trying to change the subject. "Getting on a ship will cost money, and bribes will be needed too because everyone will understand that you are escaping. You could barter the horses, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough."
"I have some coins," Torbi said suddenly.
"What?" I asked. This was a surprise, how could he have money?
"Trained with the warriors. They like to gamble on our fights, so I bet on myself, and I fought hard. Had nothing to lose, so I won most of the time too. Have saved the money, thought I'd add it to Fathers earnings from his wood-carvings, and maybe some day we could be free again," he said.
"Father doesn't know?"
"No. It's not a lot, but it's much more than he could ever earn. I didn't want to humiliate him until I absolutely had to," he replied.
"We'll send for you," Mags said suddenly. "Once we are free, we will send someone for you, Sissa, buy your freedom. If you still don't want to come, then we can give you that, at least."
"Oh Morag, don't think about that now. I will be fine here. We will get you out, and that will be good enough for me," I said.
Her words were sweet, but how could they do what she told me they'd do? I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders. It stung to give away the only way to escape that I knew of, and it felt like losing the last part of Fin, but it would have to be good enough that I helped to get them out.
We talked for a little while longer, but it was getting cold, and I could see that Torbi wanted to have some time alone with Nessa so I told them to go back to the village. We decided to give it a week, and then they would leave so we would have to make sure we had everything in place by then.
We didn't dare to go back to the village all of us together in case we were noticed, so Torbi and Nessa went first. Mags and I stood together in the cold winter night, looking at the stars.
"You are a good friend, Sissa," she whispered.
"You are too," I replied, and I meant it.
We disagreed often, and she challenged me constantly, but we also laughed a lot. I'd been lonely since Fin disappeared, and I'd grown accustomed to having someone to talk to again, so I'd miss her sharp wit and her black, sparkling eyes.
Then she slipped away quietly, and I sat down again.
I thought about what Torbiorn had told me, and he'd said to not get my hopes up, but I couldn't help myself. Joss had been the one who told me how I hadn't always been a thrall, about Torunn and my influential relatives in the south. Maybe he'd done that because he thought that I somehow could be free. Maybe the family that took my mother in as a foster child didn't know about her troubles, so if we only could get word to them, we'd get help. The fine had been paid, and if they helped us there could be a way to make us freemen, again, I thought.
I knew that it was stupid, ridiculous really, and unlikely to ever happen. I still sat there in the cold for a long time, dreaming of being free. I thought up scenarios for how I would snap at Freyja, sit next to Einarr and Astrid at the table in the longhouse and how I would walk around in the village wearing beautiful clothes. Josteinn would stand next to me when I snapped at Freyja, sit with us at the table and when I walked around in the village he would walk next to me. I felt silly thinking these thoughts, but it also felt good. It felt like I had a future after all, and I hadn't felt like I had one in the past years so I stayed there on the beach even when my whole body shook from the cold.
Then, finally, I walked back to our little house, and I slept the few remaining hours until Mother woke me up, without dreaming at all.
Chapter Nine
Ambitions
Einarr came to our home early in the morning the next day and started to interrogate Ulf about the day of the sacrifice. My brother was patient, answering all questions quietly and calmly. I wondered what it was Einarr wanted to know because he wouldn't give up and kept asking the same things over and over, ignoring that he got the same answer every time. As the hours passed, Ulf grew increasingly irritated.
"I don't understand, you said that you were out in the forest all day to pick rushes for the floors," Einarr asked for the third time, and Ulf sighed.
"Yes, Einarr, I've told you before, but I'll tell you again. I was in the forest all day."
"Where are the rushes then?" Einarr asked suddenly.
"What do you mean? I filled the Jarl’s longhouse from wall to wall with them. Ask Freyja, she had me go back out and fetch more three times," Ulf said sourly.
"But Ulf, then you weren't in the forest all day. You went back and forth between the village and the forest," Einarr said patiently. "Anything else you have lied about, Ulf?"
"I am not lying, and I wasn't in the village. I came to the edge of the village and put the rushes there. Freyja and Josteinn looked them over, then Joss carried them into the Jarl's hall." Ulf snapped.
When he mentioned Josteinn, Einarr straightened, and his eyes hardened. He leaned forward, and I was suddenly afraid for my brother. I could tell that Mother was too, and she started to move as if to intervene, but I couldn't let her.
"Einarr," I said quietly.
"Sissa, stay out of this," Ulf growled.
"Einarr," I repeated slightly louder, and he turned to me. "Can I speak with you?" I asked.
Our eyes held for a long time. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but I assumed that he was judging me so I straightened. My knees were trembling under the table, but I told myself that I couldn't cower. Not when my brother's life was at stake.
"Walk with me," Einarr murmured finally, and left the house abruptly, apparently expecting me to follow, so I did.
We said nothing until we'd left the village, but when we reached the clearing where Joss and I had thrown the ax just a few days earlier, he suddenly stopped.
"You know something," he growled, and it wasn't a question.
"The night after the sacrifice, when I'd been released, I couldn't sleep..." I started, and then I told him about how I'd gone to the grove to look at the hood. I explained how it had been gone, and how only a very tall person could have removed it from Heidrun's head.
"I know you suspect my brothers, but Torbi was with others the whole day, and Ulf is just too short to have reached for the hood," I argued. "Einarr, please consider this. You can keep him as one of the men you suspect. I know it sounds strange with all the rushes and running back
and forth to the village, but if he's guilty, then he wasn't alone. Someone else helped him."
My voice had taken on a pleading tone. It sounded almost like I was begging, but I had no other choice. He had to believe me.
He turned away from me, and I watched his back, letting my eyes move beyond him to the forest surrounding us. We'd had good weather for several weeks, with mostly clear skies and not a lot of snowfall, but it was cold. There had been little wind so the green firs were covered with thick layers of snow. It was almost midday, but as I peered into the forest, it looked dark and forbidding. I wondered if we'd get more snow before Torbi and the girls left. It would make laying tracks easier so I hoped we would, although I knew it would make their journey harder.
"It is a difficult situation, Sissa," Einarr said suddenly.
He'd turned while I watched the forest, and my eyes slowly went to him. Then he sat down on a log close to where Joss had sat the other day, and just like his son he motioned for me to sit down with him.
"I don't think your brothers are to blame, though I will tell you that I wanted them to be," he started and raised his hand when I straightened.
"Sissa, please. Hear me out," he said. It wasn't a command but instead almost a question, which surprised me. Einarr wasn't very friendly, and I'd always found his sharp eyes intimidating, but now he suddenly sounded... Kind?
"It would have been easy for me, and certainly accepted because everyone would agree with the act of loyalty even if they didn't approve of how you were saved." He paused, looked down on the ground, and then he seemed to have made his mind up. "I know it isn't Torbiorn, doubt that it was Ulf, and I don't know who else it could have been but when I make lists... When I ask people? One name stands out as the one who I should suspect the most."
He turned to me with a silent question in his eye, looking grim. I understood perfectly.
"Josteinn," I said.
"Yes. Josteinn."
"Einarr, you can't think that it was Josteinn? It might look like it was him, and others might think so. I'm convinced it wasn't, and you should be too. He's your son. There's no way Joss would ever do something like that. He is not a murderer," I said, having a hard time holding my annoyance back. How could he suspect his own son?
"I know my son, Sissa. I know who he is, what he can do, and he is not a murderer. But... the one who killed Heidrun didn't have to hold the knife. It took a bit of planning and perhaps also some luck, but it required no violence to kill Heidrun. So I can't remove Joss from the list, and he had a lot to gain."
He looked at me as if to gauge my reaction, but I kept my face blank and turned to look the other way while I thought things through. I didn't know Josteinn as well as his father did, but I'd been watching him for as long as I could remember. Einarr was right, if Joss ever wanted someone dead, then he would probably plan it so that someone else did the actual deed. I just didn't think that he would ever kill anyone deliberately, and I'd always thought that he was very much like my brothers. Calm, stable, kind... and loyal. Heidrun had been his cousin, and they'd never seemed close but they'd gotten along well. No, I decided, Joss wouldn't have done this.
"I think you're wrong, but keep Joss on the list if you will, together with my brother Ulf. You just have to look elsewhere to find the killer," I said calmly.
"Will you help me?" Einarr asked, and I felt my mouth fall open.
"What?"
"You are the only one truly without blame, and you'll fight until the end to clear Ulf's name... and, I think, Joss' too," he said and I had to fight to keep my face from betraying anything. I wondered what he meant, and what he felt about me having any kind of relationship with his son but I was afraid to ask.
"You're too quick to draw conclusions, Einarr," I said instead.
"How is that?"
"I don't know when Heidrun was last seen that day, but if it was early in the morning, I could very well have hit her over the head, carried her into the shed next to mine and prepared her for the sacrifice. Then I was locked up, and all I had to do was hope that they picked up the wrong girl," I said.
He started laughing, and I'd never heard him sound so carefree.
"Sissa? You're trying to convince me that you did it?" he asked.
"No. Just saying that until you know, you should be careful to rule anyone out."
"Will you help me?" he asked again, and I thought about it for a while, but I knew that I had no choice, not really. He was right, I'd fight for Ulf, so I would have to say yes.
"Tell me what you found out so far, Einarr," I whispered.
I heard him shift next to me, and then he sighed.
"Heidrun was seen in the morning that day, ordering the thralls to start on the morning meal. Because of the celebrations we all ate a midday meal, with some of the guests, right after they'd moved you into your shed. I was there, of course, and so was Heidrun. Then we all had things to prepare for the evening. Heidrun walked off to get more to drink out of the storage, Disa went with her, and then she was around and about in the village the whole afternoon," he said.
"Okay," I said, but then I was silent. I needed to think a bit about this, but there were a few things that I wondered if he'd asked about.
"The shed she was in, did anyone go there?"
"Yes. Josteinn was there several times during the afternoon."
I turned to stare at him, understanding then why he was worried his son had somehow been involved.
"That's why I asked so much about the rushes Ulf was bringing to the village. Freyja was not satisfied with how they looked or smelled, or something, so they had more than was needed and Joss put it in that shed. I don't know why and he doesn't have a very good explanation."
"Was Josteinn the last to have been in the shed?" I asked.
"No, he wasn't," he said, and then he smiled a little. "Your mother was the last one to go in there," he added.
"What?"
"She brought you your last meal during the afternoon and after that, she passed by the other shed on her way back home. The door was wide open, and she peeked in but saw only the usual things and the huge pile of rushes so she closed the door. Several attest to seeing her, says that she didn't go into the shed, but confirms that she closed the door. Joss helped her to put the latch on because it's heavy and she couldn't lift it on her own."
My mind was spinning with all the details he'd given me, and I knew that I had no answers for him right then.
"I need time to think, Einarr. Maybe ask some questions too, look around. I will help you if I can, but you need to give me time to think, and you will want to investigate more too. Can you make an announcement to the village in the meantime, saying we have indications that it was one of our guests or something like that?" I asked.
"Why would I do that? They're all innocent as far as I can tell?" he asked back.
"Because rumors are flying. Everyone suspects everyone, the Jarl’s wife likes to gossip, and I heard her saying things," I held his gaze, "about Joss."
"Why Ingolf ever -" He cut himself off and looked away. To criticize his brother's choice of wife in front of a thrall was not something he should do and he knew it. I made no comment and waited for him to continue.
"I'll give you time, and you're right. I'll announce something to calm the village down. You are an unusual girl, Sissa, and I want you to know that if my son comes asking for money, I will give it to him," he watched me through narrowed eyes but before I could say anything he put a hand on my shoulder.
"Things have changed, in a way I never expected, but now I have to plan for what to do. It can not come as a surprise to you that I want my son to be the next Jarl under the current circumstances. I never wished for Heidrun's death, and Stein is a good man, but Josteinn is too."
Einarr stopped talking, and I looked down at the snow on the ground. I didn't know what to say, didn't want to hear about his plans and ambitions. He was a hard man, and I knew that he could be as ruthless as Jarl Ingolf but in a different
way. When he spoke next, he surprised me.
"I am not without honor, Sissa. I want my son to be Jarl, but he needs to become Jarl the right way. It should be because he's strong and clever, not because he arranged to have his cousin killed. If you find that Joss was involved, then all I ask is that you tell me first. Let me deal with my son myself."
I turned toward him, too astonished to even speak, and I felt my eyes widen slowly as we looked at one another. He had a soft look on his face that I wondered if he showed anyone very often. I'd heard rumors about Einarr and there was a lot of talk about how he was popular with the women in the village, but I hadn't seen him with anyone, and he had no thrall living with him and Astrid. Until that moment, I'd never quite believed that the forbidding and shrewd-looking man could be the reason for so much hushed up giggles.
His eyes crinkled a little at the corners as he leaned closer.
"Don't look so surprised, little girl. I might be the Jarl's brother, and I know that you're a little afraid of me, but I'm just a man. Nothing more, and nothing less."
It looked like he was about to say something else but then we heard people approaching on the footpath through the forest. As I watched him, his face hardened, his eyebrows lowered over narrowed eyes and the lines around his mouth came back.
"Excellent, Sissa. Now I know about your brother's whereabouts," he said loudly, although it sounded a bit stilted.
As we got to our feet, I saw Mags and Catriona approaching, and I started toward them.
"I will let you know if I find out more that can be of use to you, Einarr," I called over my shoulder.
"Making sure your future is safe, Sissa?" Mags surprised me by asking, just like she had a few days earlier. I looked at her and snorted.
"Einarr? I wouldn't think so," I said. "He's Josteinn's father. Besides, he's old."
"Not so very old, Sissa, and very handsome," Catriona giggled, but I didn't laugh with her.
Handsome? I thought about the look on his face, that short moment of gentleness, and I could see why she'd think that. But still... Einarr?