“Tell them, Silvi. Tell them what you have told me. Then speak the words, if you can. For I cannot.”
She swallowed, the memory of the vision still soaring around her. The words came hard. “When Magnus said he would be executed in my place if I was found guilty, I made a promise to the gods that if they stood with us and gave us victory this day, I’d give myself to them, to serve them all my life. I had to be certain Magnus was safe. That he would live.” She met her mother’s wide eyes. “I must keep my word. I know, Mother, that I promised one year, but I have a larger vow to keep. I must go to Uppsala.”
Tears shielded Magnus from her, but Silvi stood and faced him even though he was only a blur. “I divorce you, Magnus, in front of witnesses. My dowry, I leave with you. I will take only what I brought here with me.” The words tore from her throat, leaving it raw. “But first, listen to me, Magnus. I have had a vision—”
He slashed the air with his hand. “I have listened enough to you. Tell your visions to the gods. They’re all you care about.”
Lifa tamped her staff on the ground. “You will listen to her, Magnus. This last time.”
He pressed his lips together, but gave a short nod.
“I saw you approaching the woods, a sword and shield in your hands. From within the branches of the trees, dozens of small birds with long, sharp beaks flew down and attacked you. You raised your shield to defend against them, but I saw no more. Somehow, Toke will attack you, Magnus, in a way you do not expect.”
“So, I am too weak to fight Toke. I am too feeble-minded to defend us at the trials. And now you say I must fear little birds. That he will send them to peck at me.”
He shook his head and turned to Eirik. “Take her from here in the morning, to Uppsala, since it’s all she ever wanted. Take her, her ships, her dowry, all of it. For she takes my heart as well. I’ll have no need of them any longer.”
He stormed out and Silvi sank down, sobbing. Warm, strong arms enfolded her as Eirik, Asa, and Lifa surrounded her on the ground. She buried her head in her mother’s chest, curling up into her pain.
“My brother is an idiot.” Leif’s disgusted voice sank into her. “I’m going to beat some brains into him. Or out of him.” The tent flap rustled.
“We’ll leave in the morning,” Lifa said. “We’ll go to Uppsala.”
“What?” Eirik sounded frustrated. “We’re just going to let this happen? Not be here to back Magnus in the hólmgang?”
“For now.” Lifa lifted Silvi’s face so she would look at her. “Magnus doesn’t need the distraction when he fights. Silvi needs time to think, to understand. The gods need to speak with her and tell her what they truly want, and there’s no better place for that than the temple where the gods walk. Magnus must come to terms with this as well, and fight the duel. In the end, all will be as it should be. You know, Eirik, even in war, one retreats for a time from the battlefield in order to rest and regroup, then returns. There’s no dishonor in that.”
“Very well, Mother. But I’ll leave the ships here. He may have need of them and will have no choice but to take them. Besides, he’ll get to Uppsala to take Silvi back much faster in a warship than in a knörr.”
He smiled at Silvi, and she tried to return it. At least she still had her family. But soon, all she would have would be hard, dead wooden statues, empty dreams, and an even emptier heart.
* * *
Magnus stood on the shore, scowling at the two ships.
Damn Eirik. He’d left them behind, knowing they’d be a link to Silvi. He couldn’t leave them for anyone to take. They were far too valuable.
“I’m surprised they don’t burst into flame with how you’re looking at them. Did they do something to offend you?” Kaia had walked over to him and he hadn’t even seen her. She’d been directing the men loading supplies on her ships.
“No. It’s nothing.”
“Are you certain you don’t need my help any longer? I can stay until after the duel this morning. Just in case.”
“My thanks, but you must have other places to be this summer. I have my own men, and once I crush Toke, there won’t be any more threats to us.”
“I like your attitude. I’ve enjoyed my stay at Thorsfjell. With weddings and wars and poisonings, it certainly wasn’t boring.”
“No, it wasn’t. Where will you go now? Back to Vargfjell?”
“No. Rorik is overdue. He would have sent word to me that he returned and where he wanted me to go next, but I’ve heard nothing. He was supposed to raid with Ragnar Lothbrok up the Humber river. As weak as the people are there, he should have amassed another fortune and been back by now. He has important matters at home to see to. I’ll go to Haardvik and wait for a time. He’ll put in there once he’s made the crossing, and it’s closer than sailing all the way to Vargfjell.”
“Or then again, you might be offering to stay because Leif is here.” He glanced sideways at her.
“Men have died for insinuating less than that.” She smiled. “But you have one duel already to fight this day, and the blood loss might make you weak. You have to relieve that cursed nithingr of his head. I’ll grant you mercy. For now.”
He inclined his head to her. “My thanks, shieldmaiden.”
She sobered. “Just remember that he is a nithingr, without honor, disgraceful, and a coward. He had some sort of crew for his ship to get here. Where are they? Watch for treachery.”
She stalked off, shouting at her men to hurry with the provisions. He drew a deep breath and walked back to camp. One reason he’d brought such a show of force was that he’d already thought of the outcasts Toke brought with him. Ketill had told him he’d had twenty men on their ship. They couldn’t show themselves, and that was the problem. They were hidden somewhere, no doubt ready to strike if it went badly for Toke at the trial. As outcasts, they didn’t want to lose their only source of shelter and support.
Silvi had warned him of the same thing. He hadn’t wanted to listen to her. The words of the divorce she’d spoken were still ringing in his head as she’d told him of her vision. He hadn’t wanted to hear anything else.
And he hadn’t wanted to think of her these past three days. But memories of her crept into his mind—her beautiful silver eyes, her sweet smile, the way her lips parted when he brought her to her ecstasy. She was his. He’d known it since the first moment he saw her. She was the light to his dark, the water to his thirst, the way to something beyond himself. He’d gone into the trial with the same confidence with which he went into war. He had already won. He just never dreamed she wouldn’t feel that way as well.
He couldn’t stop thinking about her vision, and now Kaia, a warrior, warned him about the same treachery. He’d be foolish not to heed them. Regardless of what Leif often said, he wasn’t an idiot.
Come the time when he went to the hólmgangustadr, place of duels, he would look to the skies, and the trees. Then, only when he had vanquished the enemy who had torn his life apart, would he look into his heart.
* * *
Magnus walked at the head of his group of men, Leif at his side. The hólmgangustadr was just beyond the stand of trees ahead. Toke should be there, guarded to make certain he didn’t run. Magnus still didn’t trust the situation. He searched beneath the trees as they approached the combat area, but the shadows there were too dark to make out any shapes.
He hesitated, and the men behind him stopped. Silvi had said she saw tiny birds with long, sharp beaks. They hadn’t come from under the trees, but in them. In them. Of course. He almost smiled.
He motioned to the five bowmen behind him and they came forward. He addressed them all in a quiet voice. “Archers. In the trees. No one would see them on the way in, and neither would we until it’s too late. When I give the signal, drop and form a shield wall. Bowmen, shoot from behind us into the trees. Let’s see what prey we flush.”
“Yes, Jarl.” They continued on, positioning themselves as they walked. Then, when they were just within range,
Magnus dropped his hand. They knelt and slung their shields forward, forming a solid barrier in front of them. The bowmen remained standing, protected by the shields, and shot a volley of arrows into the trees.
Several men fell, screaming, out of the trees onto the ground. Others jumped down and ran. Magnus and his men chased them, slaying all they found.
As they surveyed the carnage, Leif clapped him on the back. “You saved Silvi’s life, and now I suppose she’s saved yours. I think you need to go and thank her in person.”
“After I slay a coward. He thought to take her from me, but not even the gods will do that.”
Magnus walked into the clearing. The Law-Sayer and twelve men who would witness the duel sat to the side. Toke stood, his face white, as he saw them coming. Magnus stopped in front of him. “You still try to have others fight for you. Now, shall we do this the honorable way?”
He approached Yrian. “In the woods you’ll find a number of dead men. They were archers, hiding in the trees to ambush us. No doubt, they were the last of his outcasts and they died like the nithingr their leader is.”
As the men around them grumbled at the outrage, Yrian nodded at Magnus. “How did you know about them?”
He grinned. “The birds, Law-Sayer. The birds warned us.”
Yrian stroked his beard. “Do you, then, wish to continue with your challenge?”
“Of course. The fight only loosened up my sword arm.” He rolled his shoulders. “My blade has tasted blood this day, but it thirsts for more.”
“Very well. Let it begin.”
The men guarding Toke pushed him toward the area designated for the duel. A square of cloth about the length of two men was laid within the boundaries, with three lines etched into the ground around it. It was roped off at the outer boundary, with a hazel post at each corner.
Toke held one sword and had another on a cord attached to his wrist in case the first one broke. Magnus chuckled. He would never have the chance to use the spare. As was their right, Toke had three shields, held by a man outside the square. Magnus had brought only one sword and one shield. It was all he needed. When Toke saw this, it would further unnerve him.
“Neither of you may step outside of the bounded area,” Yrian said. “If one of your feet touches outside the ropes, you will be considered to have yielded, the mark of cowardice. If both feet touch the exterior, you’ll have fled, the mark of a nithingr. The duel is ended when blood touches the ground.”
They faced each other. The other men and witnesses stood outside the square. Toke sweated, his eyes darting as though he looked for a way out. Magnus waited. Toke was already nervous and the longer he could draw it out, the more likely Toke would be to make a mistake.
“So your little pale wife cast her spells on the assembly also. Does she whisper her dark words to you as she lies beneath you? After I kill you, perhaps I’ll find out. Except I’ll cut out her tongue first to stop her magic.” Toke sneered as he moved from side to side.
Magnus didn’t react. He affected a bored expression, though he was focused on every shift of Toke’s body. “We didn’t come here to talk. Your words are the lapping of waves on a distant shore. Let us finish this.”
“Why don’t you try for me, then? Or do you only slay children?” Toke glanced to one side in a feint, then charged. Magnus raised his shield and Toke slammed his blade into it, trying to shatter it. Magnus didn’t deflect it, taking the blow full force. The blade bit deep. He twisted the shield, bending the sword so that it stuck fast.
Toke held on to it a moment too long. Magnus jerked him forward and drove his blade into Toke’s stomach. They were face to face as Toke’s wide, disbelieving eyes bore into him.
He spoke so the words were only between them. “For Silvi.” He ripped his sword to the side and shoved him away with his shield. Toke dropped to the ground, screaming, mortally wounded. He tried to grasp the sword still hanging from his wrist.
Magnus snapped the cord and threw the weapon out of his reach. He stood over him. “You are not worthy of Valhalla. I did not drown your son, Gudrodson. I want you to take that to your death.”
“It is no matter now.” Toke gripped his stomach as blood pumped out of it, spreading underneath him. “Though I will not see him, he is feasting with Odin, a warrior grown, as he should have lived to become.”
He breathed his last and lay still. Magnus faced Yrian. “The rules state that the duel ends when blood touches the ground. I believe the requirement has been met.”
“And so it has, Jarl Sigrundson. I declare you the victor. You will take possession of all his property.”
The men came forward, congratulating him. He stood looking down, his sword dripping Toke’s blood. He was anything but victorious. Toke had still taken his revenge, still taken the one thing that mattered. The one thing he loved.
But he would rectify that. And in the end, though he would have to fight the gods themselves, in the end he would win . . .
Silvi.
The Great Temple Uppsala, Uppland, Sweden
“There it is, Leif.”
Magnus reined in his horse, borrowed at an exorbitant price in Birka, and gazed at the massive building. Leif, next to him, whistled through his teeth.
The temple stood in the midst of a vast plain, a towering, complex structure, with many gables and staves. Around the top of the roof hung a glittering chain, said to be pure gold. It was set there so that all who came would see it from a distance. A massive tree grew beside the temple. It was always green, though no one knew what kind it was. Perhaps the god who had built the temple, Freyr, had brought it from Asgard and planted it. Mountains surrounded the plain, and in the distance, groves of trees stood. Ancient burial mounds rose nearby around the valley.
“Remember, we can’t bring our weapons onto the sacred ground.” Leif checked his sheathed sword. “I imagine there will be a place where we can leave them.”
“No doubt. I wasn’t going to leave my sword on the ship in Birka. We still had to ride through Sigtuna and all the way here.”
“Nor I.”
“Besides, I don’t need weapons to convince Silvi to come back with me.” He grinned. “Maybe a little rope. But not weapons.”
Leif frowned. “Rope? You would force her? If I’d known that—”
“Of course not. Just a little reminder of our nights together.”
“For once, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He gave his brother a dubious look. “You mean you’ve never? With a willing woman?”
“What? Why would a woman want that? Odin’s eye, Magnus, that’s as bad as someone with a sheep.”
“Forget the damned sheep already. I still don’t know where you hear these things.”
“You talk of me hearing things.”
“Listen, Brother, if you want that shieldmaiden, you’d better start thinking of rope, yourself.”
Leif gave a short laugh. “I’ll just use my charm and wit to win her over, as I do all the women I’ve been with.”
“Both of them?” Magnus studied him for a moment. “Just keep beyond the reach of her sword and you should survive.”
“I’d like to keep her well within the reach of mine.” He winked.
“In that case, when we get back to Birka, we’ll look for some nice silk sashes for you.”
“Me? Do I look like a woman, to want such things?”
Chuckling, Magnus rode on while Leif grumbled beside him. They’d traveled many days by ship, then had ridden here, leaving their men behind with the two warships in Birka. They were sick of each other, but their journey was at an end. At least, until they had to return. Then Silvi could keep them from killing each other. If he could win her back.
He and Leif descended into the valley. People walked throughout the temple complex, some clad in the regalia of the priests and priestesses, others dressed as Magnus and Leif were. As they rode up to the temple and dismounted, a priestess greeted them.
“You must no
t bear arms in this sacred place. If you will give me your weapons, I will take them in peace and you may retrieve them when you depart. Keep your knives to eat with.”
With reluctance, they handed over their swords and seaxes. She took them with a small bow, then walked to another small building.
“That wasn’t easy.”
“No. But if we’re not safe here, where else would we be so?” Leif took a deep breath. “Let’s go inside.”
They entered the temple. The ceiling rose to the highest rafters, gold ornaments hanging from it. Gold glittered everywhere around them: on the walls, the statues, and on the underside of the roof itself.
“I think we’re safe enough.” Leif craned his neck as he studied the ceiling. “If anyone attacked us, they’d be more interested in all this treasure than in us.”
A beautiful woman, dressed in the robes of a priestess, came to them. “How may I help you, travelers?”
“I’m Jarl Magnus Sigrundson and I’ve come to speak with Silvi Ivarsdottir. Is she here?”
“I will ask Unn to come and speak with you. She will know.”
“My thanks.” As she left, he spoke low to Leif. “At the trial, when Lifa introduced herself, she said she was trained by Unn. That must have been many years ago. Can she still be alive?”
“I remember her saying that. She also said Unn was a völva, so there’s no telling how old she might be.” He looked deeper into the sanctuary. “There are the gods.”
Magnus spun. Three large wooden statues stood in front of the far wall. They were up on a pedestal, offerings of food and valuables placed before them. Magnus drew closer. Thor was in the middle, with his hammer, Mjölnir. On either side of him were Odin with his spear, Gungnir; and Freyr, the god of lust and happiness. It was obvious what he was armed with.
Perhaps if he had brought a sacrifice of some sort, it would help. But the gods had already taken all that meant anything to him. He had never thought to bribe them in the past. He had always done for himself.
“Jarl Magnus?”
He turned. An elderly woman had come in, flanked by several young priestesses. She stood straight, and was clad in regalia much like Lifa wore when she wished to show her rank.
Lord of the Mountains Page 28