They sat together in silence for a few moments, remembering. After a while, Inga spoke up again. ‘I looked for you, you know … after. But you’d disappeared – you and Audun. There were stories.’
‘Really? Like what?’
Inga started scratching at the ground, absent-mindedly. ‘Like you being someone’s agent – some said King Olav’s, some said King Erik’s over here.’
‘Hm. Well, for what it’s worth, I kind of was, but not like that,’ Ulfar said. ‘Geiri and I were travelling on King Erik’s behalf.’
‘I was told that you worked for the Forkbeard. That’s why he sent us to get you.’
‘And who was that?’ Ulfar dropped the question almost without thinking, convincing himself he didn’t really want to know, that it was just curiosity, just an innocent—
Inga backed off as if she’d just seen a wolf in the room. ‘I – It was …’
He looked her in the eyes and smiled, a reassuring smile that he immediately suspected would comfort no one, but—
‘It was Valgard.’
For a moment, Ulfar forgot most of his aches. He frowned and scratched his head. ‘Valgard? The healer?’
‘Yes,’ Inga said. Her mouth trembled. ‘He said that we were to go and catch you and bring you back because he wanted to meet you, because you might know something about Forkbeard. But then, once when he’d had a little too much to drink and was running his mouth, he said he needed to have you because of something that happened on the wall when King Olav came.’ She was caught up in her own world, so Ulfar had a crucial moment to pick his jaw back up off the floor. ‘He said … he said …’
Finding a hidden reserve of power, Ulfar lifted himself up onto one elbow. ‘What?’ he muttered softly.
‘He was drunk, but he said … I could soften you up and then, after he was done with you, he’d get rid of you like your useless cousin,’ Inga said.
And just like that, everything fell into place.
Ulfar bent his knee and slowly, torturously, rose from his pallet. ‘Where is he now?’
‘Up north somewhere, I think,’ Inga said. She looked at him, and when she saw his face, she shuffled backwards.
‘He lied to you,’ Ulfar said. ‘He used you. He—’
There was a firm knock on the door. ‘Ulfar!’ Goran’s voice was loud enough to be heard through the walls. ‘Are you there?’
Ulfar glanced at Inga, then staggered towards the sounds. After a brief struggle with the latch, the door swung open.
‘Oh,’ Goran said. After a brief pause, he added, ‘Are you well?’
‘I’ve seen better-looking corpses,’ Heidrek said, standing behind him. Next to Heidrek, Arnar grunted his agreement.
‘What are you doing here?’ Ulfar wheezed.
‘Looking for you, pukeface,’ Heidrek said. ‘We got—’
‘Ingimar left,’ Goran said. ‘We had a little too much fun and passed out. He picked a couple of likely lads from town and ran off the next morning. Probably got them for cheaper, too.’
Arnar harrumphed in the background.
‘So we got to talking with the locals. Then Goran said we should check whether we could find someone rich, stupid and annoying who needed to leave very soon,’ Heidrek added.
The sunlight and the sounds of town brought the full force of the headache smashing into Ulfar’s forehead from inside. He smiled at the pain. Pain meant life. ‘Did you, now? Well – it just so happens that I’ve got places to go and people to see.’
He caught Goran examining him, uncomfortably like one would check a lame horse. ‘When were you thinking of leaving?’
Ulfar caught his eye. ‘Now,’ he said. ‘Go to the stables.’
A moment later, Goran nodded, and the three men turned and walked away. When they’d gone, Inga emerged from the shadows. ‘Take me with you,’ she said.
‘No.’ Ulfar turned and walked towards the door.
A strong, slender hand grabbed his shoulder and twisted him around. ‘Did it sound like a question?’ Inga said. ‘I’m coming with you.’ She stared straight at him. ‘I don’t like being used.’
Ulfar looked down at the fire blazing in the woman’s eyes and sighed.
*
When he showed up at the stables, no one asked any questions; they simply handed over the reins to five horses, unremarkable mares past their prime but well fit for their purpose. The stable-hand brought out bags of rations.
‘Thank him for me,’ Ulfar said to him.
When Ulfar emerged, Heidrek whistled. ‘He goes into the stables with no money and comes out with five horses and supplies. Impressive.’
‘Alfgeir wants us gone,’ Ulfar mumbled. ‘Before there’s trouble.’
Goran checked the horses in silence.
Inga sat her mare gingerly. Ulfar reached over and adjusted her reins. ‘Hold like’ – he wrapped the band around her hands twice – ‘this. And squeeze with your legs, or your arse will hurt for days.’
Heidrek opened his mouth. The look he got from Goran nearly knocked out his teeth.
‘Thank you,’ Inga said.
The still, dark wave of trees rose slowly ahead of them and soon they were swallowed up. The cold shadows in the forest had a restorative effect on Ulfar’s head; at last it was clearing. He gestured to Goran to take the lead and rode up alongside Inga.
‘What do you think of the horse?’ he asked. When she didn’t answer he asked, ‘You have ridden before, haven’t you?’
She looked at him as if he was an idiot. ‘Can you pick and clean a four-man net in half the time it takes to unload a boat?’
Ulfar’s finger throbbed with the memory. ‘I’d be a bleeding mess in the blink of an eye,’ he said.
She smiled. ‘And I’m scared out of my wits up here.’
He smiled back. ‘They’re terrifying beasts, aren’t they?’ His mare whinnied in assent.
They rode side by side in silence for a little while.
‘You want me to tell you things, don’t you? About … him,’ she said, almost too softly to hear. Ulfar bit his tongue and waited. The gentle, rocking rhythm of the horses and the soft silence of the forest would do his work for him. ‘He … went straight over,’ she continued. ‘I don’t know why, but King Olav’s men spared him – they put him in charge of converting the faithless. About a week after the assault, he started being all friendly, asking how I was, whether I missed …’ Inga lost her words. She glanced at Ulfar, who looked back at her.
‘Every day,’ he said quietly. ‘When I’m just about to sleep. And when I wake. Every single day.’ He took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then let it out slowly. ‘Please continue.’
Inga’s words rushed out, eager to pull the story in another direction. ‘He was very nice to me, told me I was needed, that I was important. No one had ever done that. He said I could start doing the king’s work for him. And I got confused.
‘Then he told me to go and get you – me and four men. He told us all kinds of tall tales about how you’d poisoned Harald, how you’d seduced Lilia with rune magic, that you were evil. They were to strong-arm you, I was to be … bait.’
‘And he gave you the powder,’ Ulfar added.
‘Yes – the powder. He made it himself; he said it’d knock you out, make you look ill, make you easy to drag home. I don’t understand. I always thought he was very good with herbs and that stuff.’
Ulfar thought for a while. ‘He is,’ he concluded. ‘He really is.’ Inga looked at him. ‘Sometimes things just go a bit wrong.’ There was no doubt – of course Valgard had meant to kill him. It would have been absolute proof of his immortality.
‘The thing is,’ Inga said, ‘I don’t think …’
Ulfar turned back to her. She looked worried.
‘I don’t think we were the only ones he sent out to get you.’
The next thing Ulfar heard was a whistling sound – and then Heidrek slammed forward, coughing up blood. The arrow was buried deep in his back.
The next arrow took him in the shoulder, spinning him off the panicking horse.
With speed belied by his bulk, Arnar spurred his mount around to face the attacker. He dropped to hide most of himself behind his horse just as the third arrow took it in the neck. It whinnied in a panic, but he had a good hold on the reins and pulled for all he was worth.
Only a couple of moments had passed.
‘Goran!’ Ulfar called.
In between the trees, Ulfar saw a flash of white. There was a bone-crunching snap and a scream of pain and Arnar’s horse went down. The bearded man leapt from the saddle just in time and ran to grab the reins of Heidrek’s panicked animal.
‘You fucking …’ Ulfar muttered. To Inga he hissed, ‘Stay there! Make yourself small. We’re being hunted.’
He leapt off his horse and ran to cover behind the nearest tree.
‘Karle!’ he shouted. ‘Fight like a man, you skinny little bitch! I’ll break your arm again, if I need to!’
An arrow thudded into the tree next to him, setting it vibrating with the force of the impact. A voice rang out, some way away. ‘I’d fight a man, but you’re less than that, Ulfar Thormodsson. Animals get hunted. I’m going to enjoy this. Alfgeir Bjorne is not here to send you into hiding.’
Ulfar felt the air move as another arrow whistled past the trunk of the tree. ‘Fine. If that’s the way you want to play,’ he muttered, ‘then that’s how we’ll play.’ He touched the sword at his belt and looked up, then down. Bending his knee and taking care not to reveal any part of his body, he fumbled in the undergrowth until he found what he was looking for. Then he reached up, trying to make himself as tall and narrow as possible – there. A knothole. Just big enough for two fingers. And another, just above.
Ulfar hauled himself up as fast as he could. He was soon within reach of thick branches on both sides.
Left – no. Right. He swung towards his right and sure enough, a flash of white sable in the distance, circling away from them. Having had his sport, Karle would no doubt be looking for the perfect shot, something that would start counting.
Ulfar climbed higher still. Now he was up above the height of two men. Down on the ground, Arnar was busy keeping the horses calm. Goran had made Inga crouch behind a fallen tree for cover, and now they were all scouting the perimeter nervously. Ulfar had to lever himself up half again a man’s height again, until he found a thick enough branch, stretching over to the next tree.
His plan wasn’t perfect – in fact, it couldn’t really be called a plan at all. But it was better than cowering down on the ground, waiting to be shot. He just had to hope the bastard didn’t look up.
Even wearing almost glowing white, Prince Karle still did a damn good job of hiding in the undergrowth. Ulfar scanned the ground below – there! The prince was close – too close. Well within range.
Working quickly, Ulfar leaned against the trunk and freed both hands. He pulled a piece of string off his belt and used it to lash together the three pine cones he’d found on the ground.
He’d have only one shot at this.
In his mind he charted the leap and winced. It was going to hurt like a bastard, too. However, surprise sometimes helped.
Sometimes.
With all his might, he threw the pine cones arching over Karle’s position.
The prince’s head whipped round and a moment later, his body stiffened. In a flash he was up out of his crouch and heading towards Uppsala at a dead run, caring nothing for who might see him.
Ulfar was left standing halfway up a tree, his mouth agape.
His eyes narrowed. He clambered down. Goran was waiting for him at the foot of the tree.
‘How’d you do that?’ he said, with more than a touch of admiration. ‘What did you—?’
Ulfar didn’t reply. Instead he walked straight over to where Prince Karle had been waiting to pick them off. Then he inched outwards in expanding half-circles, staring at the ground until he found what he’d been looking for, about forty yards away.
He knelt down, traced a pattern with his fingers and picked up his pine cones. Then he went back to their little clearing. He looked at Heidrek’s body, lying there in a puddle of his own blood. Then he turned to Goran.
‘It wasn’t your idea, was it?’ he said.
Goran looked at him. The guard’s stance shifted slightly, unconsciously anticipating the fight. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Coming for me. It wasn’t your idea, was it?’
‘I can’t remember,’ Goran said. A cloud of confusion crept over his face. ‘No – wait. I sat with Ingimar. But there—’
‘There was something strange about him. He was older. Thinner,’ Ulfar snapped, scouting the perimeter.
‘How do you—?’
‘And let me guess,’ Ulfar added. ‘He had real trouble seeing out of one eye.’ Goran and Arnar stared at Ulfar.
‘What did you find out there?’ Inga asked.
Ulfar looked at her, his face dark with anger. ‘Wolf tracks.’
Suddenly there was no lack of shadows in the forest. Every noise sounded louder and more significant.
Arnar broke the silence. ‘Hrmph,’ he snarled, grasping the reins of the four remaining horses. He reached out and pulled Inga up, helping her to mount her horse again. She moved slowly, as if she’d just woken up. Arnar looked at Heidrek’s body and then at his own horse, lying on the ground and twitching in pain.
‘Go,’ Goran said.
As he walked off, Goran drew his belt-knife and sighed.
A while later, Goran and Ulfar were walking again, following Arnar and Inga, heavy sacks by their sides. They walked in a relaxed silence.
‘… like that. Soft, see,’ a deep voice rumbled. ‘Look. Look how her head droops. She likes that.’
Goran’s eyebrow rose.
Ahead, blurs of colour became shapes.
Arnar stood by Inga, guiding her hand as she brushed her horse down. A tilt of the head showed the bearded man had noticed their approach, but his eye remained trained on the young woman. ‘Good, good,’ he said. ‘You’re doing well. Last one,’ and with that he moved her hand gently away from the horse’s flank. ‘See? She’s happy now.’
The mare shook her head and nudged Inga affectionately.
Even from a distance, Ulfar and Goran could see something in the young woman’s shoulders soften as the smile lit up her face.
Beside him, Goran took one step to the right and broke a twig with his foot. ‘Arnar!’ he called, clearing his throat. ‘We’re back.’
‘About time, too,’ the bearded man rumbled. ‘Need to get going.’
*
Later, as the sounds of Karle’s flying arrows faded into memory, Ulfar sidled up to Arnar. ‘You saved our lives,’ he said.
The bearded man nodded. ‘Bad business.’
‘Bad business,’ Ulfar agreed.
There was nothing more to add, so he spurred his horse to catch up with Goran.
They rode together up front in companionable silence.
After a while, Ulfar spoke. ‘Tell me about him,’ he said.
‘I don’t know,’ Goran replied. ‘He was … old?’
Ulfar raised an eyebrow. ‘Nothing gets past you, does it?’
Goran frowned. ‘I can’t really remember,’ he said. ‘Everything he said made such sense at the time. Find someone, he said, someone who’s a bit of a, you know—’
‘A bit of a cock.’
The old guard nodded, smiling. ‘Well, yeah. So, someone like you, and then see if they would pay us to follow them.’
Ulfar struggled to keep a smile on his face. ‘Let me guess. He bought you drinks?’
Goran still looked vaguely confused. ‘I suppose he must have. My purse is no lighter.’
‘And you passed out and missed the caravan,’ Ulfar said. ‘Funny, that.’
Goran’s shoulders slumped and he cursed silently. ‘Who … ? Was he—?’
‘I don’t know, but I think he may have been follo
wing me for a while. I also think he’s watching us, but I don’t know why.’
Arnar trotted up alongside them. ‘Hunh,’ he grunted.
‘Good question,’ Goran said. ‘Where are we going?’
‘We’re going to find a friend of mine. He’s somewhere to the south,’ Ulfar said.
‘One man? You’re going to “go south” and he’ll just appear, will he?’ Goran said.
‘Don’t worry,’ Ulfar said. ‘I don’t think we’ll struggle to find him.’
*
They felt the setting of the sun on their skin. The heat went out of the air and around them everything dampened. Sounds died on beds of pine needles as the horizon crept closer and closer. Overhead, thick clouds drifted slowly across a darkening sky.
‘Do we ride for the edge?’ Goran asked.
‘Hm,’ Ulfar said. ‘Yes. We need to get out of here before dark, I think.’
Soon enough, the party was making reasonable time through the woods. The shadows grew longer around them as the tree growth thinned; they broke out of the woods around Uppsala just as the sun dipped below the edge of the world.
‘There,’ Ulfar said, pointing to a pass between two small hills. ‘Through there and we’re on the road.’
‘Might be good to stay on this side of that hill, then, just while we wait for daylight,’ Goran said.
Ulfar looked back towards the woods. Somewhere in the back of his head something crackled. His tongue tasted like fresh metal and he could feel the sword in his gut.
For a fraction of the blink of an eye he knew everything again – but then it was almost all gone. The only thing that remained was a sense of danger.
‘I don’t know what I like worst, the forest or the road,’ Ulfar muttered. ‘Doesn’t feel right.’
Arnar dismounted and led his horse towards a thick tree trunk. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘As good as any.’ He pulled out a brush from his pack and started methodically brushing the horse down.
Inga’s mare followed, and Inga whimpered as she clambered off. ‘Can’t understand why anyone would choose this over sailing,’ she said. ‘I hurt everywhere.’
‘Just wait,’ Goran said, smiling as he pulled the reins to guide his horse to Arnar’s side. ‘Tomorrow you’ll be crying until well past midday.’
The Valhalla Saga Page 52