He stopped, daunted by the roads his thoughts were taking. Styrkaar said: "Aye, my lord, what else can it be? No man bent on peace carries five hundred swords."
"Perhaps he is only afraid," said Ulf. "He may fear treachery on our part."
"Yes, that's what he thinks of you!" ripped from Thora. "Can such a man ever be aught but a foe?" She grabbed Harald's arm till the nails dug into his sleeve and the flesh beneath. "Do you mean to let him ring in this house and burn it?"
"He may not intend—" began Harald.
His leman stamped her foot. She was some months with child, but as yet it showed little on her full body. The breeze ruffled her smoke-red hair, the greenish eyes were narrowed, her nostrils flared and blood beat up into the wide strong face. "He will!" she cried. "If not now, then later. Hew him down before it's too late!"
He has . . . not given an open cause . . . yet," said Harald.
"Is this the king who conquered the South and chivvied Svein like a fox?" she asked scornfully. "No, you left your heart behind in Denmark this year, like everything else."
"Have done!" he roared.
Styrkaar tugged at his mustache; the cold pale eyes were thoughtful. "Your lady speaks truth, my lord," he said. "If you cut down I know not how many Saracens and Danes, will you boggle at one Norseman?"
Harald passed a hand over his face. "But he is a Norseman," he groaned. "No . . . say no more. Have the guards ready for trouble, but while Einar keeps the peace there will be no killing from our side."
"As you will, my lord," said Styrkaar. Thora caught his eye, and she nodded. "But I'll sound out the guards and find whom we can trust if it should be needful." He shambled off, bearlike.
Thora took Harald's arm. "Come," she said. "The time grows near to eat."
At eventide, as they went to bed, she stopped by Magnus's crib. The prince was growing fast, handsome gold-curled lad outrageously spoiled by every servant and guardsman. Thora bent over and kissed his sleeping eyes. "There, now, my pretty," she said. "Einar Thambaskelfir shall not harm you while I live."
"Nor while I do," said Harald; his face was pale.
"A she-bear will attack if anyone so much as comes near her cubs," said Thora with a jeering note. "But the he-bear cares naught."
"Enough!" snapped Harald. "Let's to sleep."
She yielded to his embrace, but coldly, and in the next few days lost no chance to goad him.
The Thing met in the market square, men massed together before the great stone block on which the king and the lawmen had their bench. It was mainly a meeting to settle disputes between folk, quarrels over boundaries and shares, weregild for woundings and slayings. Einar and Eindridhi were present, but stood aside among their men.
They happened to be away, however, on the third morning, when a thief was brought up for judgment. He was a brisk young fellow, who met the king's eye boldly though his hands were tied behind him. Ulf announced the charge: Thorolf Vigleiksson had been seen with a purse of money which the merchant Gudhbrand the Fat had had stolen from him in a crowd; the king's men had laid hands on him at Gudhbrand's word, and now here he stood.
Harald leaned forward. "You must take the oath and say if you are guilty or not," he said; "and a lie will send your soul to hell."
Thorolf smiled. "No need to swear, my lord," he said. "I took the money. I am a poor man, and this Gudhbrand seemed rich, to judge from his well-lined belly; so I thought for once in my life I'd enjoy some honest eating and drinking."
"Then know that a thief is hanged," said Harald.
Thorolf whitened. "A man's life for a few coins?"
"A man's life for the safety of honest folk. However, since this seems to be your first crime, I will set mercy before justice and condemn you to exile."
"My lord, I have a wife and children. Only I can keep the croft which feeds them ..."
"Let your kin look after them, or take them with you. Now be done, ere I change my mind," snapped Harald. Something about a man who stole by stealth prickled his flesh, he knew not why.
Another man trod forth; Harald recognized him as one of Einar's stewards. "My lord," he said, "this Thorolf served long and well at my master's house ere he got his own small farm, and I know my master has ever been his friend. Our house will make restitution to Gudhbrand, and pay whatever fine you set, if you will pardon Thorolf."
"So now Thambaskelfir is the brother of thieves!" growled Harald. "It scarcely surprises me, but I'll surely not let this nidhing go to wreak more ill. Hold him here today for all to see, then keep him locked away until a ship can be found that will take him." He rose, it was time for his midday meal, and went from the square with his guards. Behind him, he heard men mutter.
Thora stood in the hall as he entered. "Well," she asked, "did Einar give you leave to come home and eat?"
"Be still," he snarled. Stamping over to the table, he sat down with the warriors and a maidservant laid before him a round of flatbread heaped with salt cod.
"What's this?" he said. "It's no fast day."
Thora's lip lifted. "Get used to such fare, my lord," she counseled. "That's the best we'll have when the yeomen drive us from the land."
Harald's fist crashed on the board. "Be still or home you go!" he shouted.
"Better cleave to what friends you own," she told him with frost on her words.
The guardsmen shifted uneasily, down the long benches, and stared at their food and ate in silence. Eyes went sideways, to nettle against Harald's skin.
They had not finished the meal when a carle burst in. He slipped on the rushes and went down in a welter of dogs. "What's wrong now?" cried Harald, leaping to his feet.
"My lord ... my lord ..." The carle got up, shaking. "It's the sheriff—that thief you judged today—"
"Yes?" Harald came to him in three strides, picked him up by the coat, and shook him as a hound shakes a hare. "What would you say? Tell me before I knock your teeth in!"
"The sheriff ... his son ... my lord, they brought armed men to the Thingstead and freed the thief and took him away with them!"
Harald dropped him on the floor and looked around, into silence. Thora's breast heaved.
"That's an end of this." The king's voice came thin and far away. "Now he has broken the peace himself. Gather the guard, Ulf."
The marshal's ugly face twisted. "The custom was ever to try healing a breach before swords came out," he mumbled.
"Yes, my lord," said Thjodholf, starting forward. "He may yield. I'll go myself and speak to him."
Harald shook his head. The blue eyes were glazed. "Never again can peace be between us. If I let him defy me thus, he'll go on to something worse."
"He stood on the Long Snake when Olaf Tryggvason was sore beset," said Ulf. "He broke the Knytlings for you."
"As he will break you, my lord, if you let him," said Styrkaar.
Eystein's beardless face was bent toward the floor. "He is my own kinsman," he whispered. "I'll stand by you, my lord, if worst comes to worst, but God grant it be not so."
"A battle would rip the town open," said Ulf. "If we must fight him, let it be somewhere outside."
Harald swung on Thjodholf, furiously. "Well, go, then!" he shouted. "Go and bid him come hither. But take men with you if you want to come back on your feet."
The skald went out, buckling on his sword belt; Ulf, Eystein, and several others followed. The hall grew very quiet.
3
"And this is what the king's word is worth," said Thora at last.
"I asked not for woman chatter," said Harald dully. He stood with head lowered, hands clasped behind his back, and the dogs cringed away.
"Send me home!" she said. "I care not to stay with a braggart. Keep the boy; with such a father, he's worth naught." She wheeled and left the room.
Styrkaar got his ax. "This is more than Einar being true to a friend," he declared. "It's a locking of horns. The whole land will think it can do as it pleases, if you let him go free."
"I am not one to murder a m
an," said Harald.
"It can scarce be called murder when his following is as great as yours, or greater." Styrkaar took his helmet from a peg on the wall. "In any case, my lord, I'll do it; you need not bloody your hands."
"Have done," said Harald. "I can do my own killing."
He went up to the high seat and sat there, resting his chin on his fist. None cared to risk speaking. After a long time Thjodholf and the others returned.
"Well?" asked Harald tonelessly.
"He and Eindridhi will come, my lord, to talk over the matter."
"Is he ready to give up the thief?"
Thjodholf looked at the floor. "He said he would not desert a man who had served him well, but would make payment as his steward offered at the Thing."
"And what of his lawbreaking by using force there?"
"He said nothing about that, my lord."
"Well ..." Harald sighed, shook himself, and rose. He spoke softly. "We'd have come to swords in the end. Let it be now."
Styrkaar grinned and slapped his thigh. "Well done, King!"
Ulf's face went blank. "So be it," he said. "The guards are ready."
Eystein nodded, as if his skull had grown too heavy for him. The other warriors looked up eagerly, waiting their orders.
Harald walked about, commanding them to their places. Most he posted around the courtyard leading to the hall, a ring of armed and armored men in Ulf's charge. He himself went into the entryroom with half a dozen. He told them to close the shutter of the only window, up in the loft, so that little light could reach them; then, in a thick gloom, he waited.
"Take the banner, Eystein," he said.
"Yes, my lord." The boy's hand shook, but he gripped the staff.
Presently Einar and Eindridhi arrived. With a stamping across flagstones, the yeomen followed, the whole five hundred bearing shield and helmet, packed together inside the wall of the king's men. Spears bristled out of their mass, the afternoon sunlight ran off the whetted heads.
Einar turned to his son and laid a hand on his shoulder. "This is a risky business," he said. His eyes looked out of their crow's-feet with a deep warmth. "Were it not a matter of our very manhood, I'd not go in."
"I too—" began Eindridhi.
"No, wait out here with our folk." Einar looked at the outnumbered guardsmen, and dropped a big hand to his sword hilt. "Then I'll be in no danger. He hasn't that much courage."
His broad form blocked out the light within as he stepped across the threshold. "Dark is the king's room," he said.
Harald's blade hissed free of the scabbard, but it was Styrkaar who rushed forth, ax swinging. The dull meaty sound came of steel going into flesh. Einar roared, stumbling back, and the guardsmen were over him in an iron storm.
Eindridhi heard the noise, yanked out his sword, and plunged after his father. Harald saw his shadowy figure go down, and cursed. "That was my task!" he cried.
Outside, Ulf yelled an order, and some of the guards sprang in front of the door. The yeomen stood agape, hardly knowing as yet what had happened. Then someone shouted: "Einar is dead! The king has murdered him!"
"Kill him!"
The front rank lurched, half pushed from behind toward the line of guards. Ulf brandished his sword and a fence of spears snapped down around the court. The yeomen swore, milling about and egging each other on, but none would be the first to die.
There came a clash and clank from the doorway, and King Harald stood there, looming over them, helm and byrnie shimmering like gray ice. Beside him, the raven banner unfurled and caught the breeze. For a moment he stared at the crowd, and nobody met his eyes. Then the few guardsmen behind him fell into battle formation, and he led them forward. No one spoke a word; like cattle, the yeomen scrambled aside and the king went past them and into the street.
When he had come some way, Harald heard the shouting break loose. The strong force he had left under Ulf could defend the hall, his family should be safer there than anywhere else, but by sunset revolt would be aboil throughout the town. "What now shall we do, my lord?" asked Styrkaar. He hefted his ax, which still dripped blood. "Let them rise against us and put them down?"
"Not unless we must," said Harald. He looked straight before him, and his face was wooden. "Two murders are enough for one day. We'll take ship out to Austratt, Finn Arnason's garth, and ask his help. The folk will listen to him."
"Good," agreed Styrkaar. "If you're gone a few days, tempers should cool."
"Yes, the rabble have not brain enough even to carry a grudge. What we must do is forestall any who might seek to lead them. Come, down to the docks." The guards tramped behind him, and folk were quick to make way.
Bergljot Haakonsdottir was at her husband's town house when a man came running in. She looked up from her weaving and asked: "What is that uproar I hear in the streets?" Sharply: "And why do you weep?"
"The king has murdered my master and his son."
Bergljot sat very quiet. Briefly, her eyes closed. Then she rose and went out. The house keys rattled at her waist as she walked swiftly to the royal hall. Scores of folk surged about, under the wary eyes of guardsmen who ringed in the buildings, but some recognized her and forced a way through.
Ulf had had Einar and Eindridhi laid honorably in the courtyard. Bergljot stooped over them. Her hands brushed the son's red-matted hair and went across his husband's gashed forehead; she closed their eyes. "Then farewell, my dearest," she whispered, "and thank you."
Rising, she swept the armed yeomen with a gaze like dry flame. Her voice lifted. "Are you waiting there yet? Are you not men enough to avenge him who ever stood by you? What do you mope here for when a murderer and tyrant walks the earth?"
"My lady ..." One of them pointed to the guards who leaned on their weapons and waited.
"And you with twice their numbers!" she shrieked. "God cast you down to hell! A dog would fight if its master were slain, but you, you crawling slime-gutted spew of a sick codfish, you stand and let him spit on you and lick it off and thank him. When did he geld you? Coal-biting cowards, spineless brainless gutless muck worms, Satan fry you so you sizzle! Give me a sword! I, old and alone, am more a man than any hundred of you! Cut them down, I tell you! Burn the house! Feed Harald your spears, trample his pack of hirelings in the mud, throw his whores off a cliff, dash his brats' brains out! If you let this hell spawn of an Yngling house live, you'll have collars about your necks and whips on your backs. God curse you now if you betray your friends. Blood, blood on my hands here, blood on the defiled earth, all Norway is one swamp of blood while that wolf runs loose. Follow me and kill him!"
Her gaze fell on the harbor and she saw the king's dragon putting out of the river and into the fjord. Something went from her, she slumped as if under a sudden weight of years and said through unsteady lips: "Now we sorely miss my kinsman Haakon Ivarsson; for never would Eindridhi's murderer be rowing down the river if he were on the bank."
As she stood, gray head lowered, one of her housefolk drove up with a wagon. Silently, the men laid the two bodies in it, and Bergljot mounted up beside the driver. She looked over the yeomen and said quietly: "There will be no more freedom for you, but that is as you deserve. . . . Drive slowly. We will be home soon enough."
Einar Thambaskelfir and Eindridhi his son were buried beside King Magnus the Good.
VIII
How Haakon Ivarsson Went Wooing
1
Finn Arnason had prospered with the years. He was the king's sheriff in his district, out where the fjord opened to the sea; his youthful second wife, also named Bergljot, was a daughter of Harald's brother Half dan; he owned broad acres, and his West-Viking cruise had yielded a huge booty. When the royal longship, with her crew of a few guardsmen and some hastily rallied carles, docked at his garth, he came down himself to bid his lord welcome. Peering and round-shouldered from his nearsightedness, gray of hair and wrinkled of face, he still cut a powerful figure, and sensed quickly that something had gone awry. So he took the
king alone into a small loft room, set two big English goblets of mead on the table, and said: "Now, then, if there is aught in which I can help you, let me hear."
Harald drank deep, wiped his mustache with the back of one sinewed hand, and in a few blunt words, told what had happened and how the whole Throndlaw would soon be in an uproar against him.
Finn's hairy cheeks changed color, and he burst out: "Indeed you do ill in all things! Everywhere you wreak mischief, and afterward you're so frightened you know not what to do!"
The king laughed bleakly. "I think I had scant choice in this matter. And this I do know: that you, kinsman, are now going into the town to make my peace with the yeomen, and if that fails, you must journey to the Uplands and see that Eindridhi's folk don't rise to make an end of me."
Finn stroked his beard with nervous fingers. "The man to beware of is Haakon Ivarsson," he muttered. "He's the son of the sheriff Ivar the White, away in the Uplands, and a daughter's son of Haakon Jarl the Great. I got to know him well when we were together in the Westlands—a young man, hardly more than twenty winters old, but brisk, valiant, clever, and haughty as Satan. Surely Einar's widow will send to him to avenge her husband. This is an evil business; I would it had never happened."
"I too," said Harald. "I'd not make it worse by bearing a shield against my own folk."
"Yes, better to swallow one bitter mouthful than spew up everything in our bellies. But what will you give me if I venture on this mission for you?" Finn blinked and squinted, as if trying to read the blurred bony face across from him. "For we know this much, that both the Thronds and the Uplanders will be such foes to you that no messenger of yours will dare near them if he be not one who'd be spared for his own sake."
"Go you, kinsman," said Harald. "If anyone can soothe them, you are the man. Afterward you may ask of me whatever you wish."
Finn paused. A wistfulness crossed his heavy countenance. "Well, then," he said at length, "if you will give me your word, I shall name my reward: that my brother Kalf be allowed to come home in peace and safety, and get not only his property back, but the same honors and powers he had ere being exiled."
The Road of the Sea Horse Page 10