Shieldmaiden (32 page)

‘Sigrid Kveldulfsdaughter, Jarl Sigurd sends word asking for your mother. What shall I say? The sun is sinking in the sky and there's no sign of her or the children.'

I sat up and heedless of my dirty, blood-stained clothing got up to speak to the Jarl's messenger. He led me to the hall where King Hakon and the Jarl sat in conference. Neither commented on my appearance. It did not differ from that of most of their retinue. The Jarl looked pale and tired. The King was like me dirty and dishevelled. He nodded to me.

‘My sister and the Jarl's wife have not returned. I believe your children are with them, are they not?' I nodded, too overcome to say anything. ‘We sent some men to search for them. They returned with the news that the hideaway in the forest is empty. It showed signs of a struggle. This was left behind.'

I couldn't hold back a cry of anguish. In the King's hand nestled one of Kveldulf 's little wooden animals.

The following day groups of men rode out in different directions to search for those missing. I asked to join them but the King refused. I spent my time pacing the perimeter of the farm until he summoned me.

‘Niece, it saps the courage of others to see you give in to your worry. The sauna stands ready. Your mother's household is at your service. People need to see you in command here as well as on the battlefield. Go and dress as behoves a royal niece.'

I noticed then he had changed into a splendid robe of red velvet with gold braid and on his combed blonde hair sat the royal diadem. I was pleased to be addressed as niece but embarrassed to have let myself down and apologised to him. He should not have to remind me of the necessity to act with dignity. My mother had shown me that all through my childhood. I knew I must follow her example. Her servants looked relieved when I ordered fresh clothes and asked one of the women to comb my hair.

Towards the evening I was summoned to join Hakon and Jarl Sigurd in the great hall. A look-out had brought the news that a small number of people were approaching on foot. They were some of the Jarl's household who had taken refuge in the hide-out. My mother and my children were not among them. Also missing were Toki and Jarl Sigurd's young wife. They had been taken hostage by a group of about fifteen warriors and we were told to expect a messenger from them the next day. I tried to think what my mother would have done in this situation. In my memory she had always remained calm which had reassured the household. I tried to do the same. I supervised the preparation of our evening meal and sat in my mother's seat while we ate. The only thing I didn't do was to lead them in Christian prayer. I no longer felt it necessary to keep up the pretence.

The messenger from the hostage-takers was spotted by one of the guards. The King sent for me. I was brought into the Jarl's private room. He and the King were seated at a table and a stool was brought for me. A rising tide of voices from the hall announced the arrival of the messenger. The heavy drapery separating the Jarl's room from the main hall was pulled aside. Toki entered supported by one of the housekarls. He limped badly, his tunic was blood-stained and his cloak torn. When he struggled to kneel in front of the King he was offered a seat. He shook his head and instead knelt with downcast eyes.

‘My Lords I have failed you. Your families are at the mercy of the chieftain formerly known as Jarl Olaf and his brother Helgi. I have been sent to tell you their demands.'

The Jarl went up to him and helped him to his feet.

‘Your wounds speak for you. There is no shame in your defeat.'

‘Who are they?' asked the King. ‘The ships carried the banners of some minor chieftains from Orkney. Are they with the treacherous marauder holding the hostages?'

‘No, none that I know, some of their men perhaps.'

I had fought to stay quiet but now the question uppermost in my mind broke out.

‘My children, my mother, are they hurt?' Toki shook his head.

‘No, they are unharmed. All the hostages are unharmed,' he added with a look at the Jarl who nodded.

The King glanced at me and I sat back and managed to remain silent for the rest of the talk. The chieftains wanted parley. The Jarl would speak to them but King Hakon was furious with the one called Olaf. He had once sworn allegiance to Hakon but, after an armed rebellion, had fled the country.

‘We must find them and kill them. I don't parley with traitors.'

I had heard him say those words once before. He said it to my father before he beheaded him. I closed my eyes, gritted my teeth and reminded myself how I had decided to restore my father's honour.

‘Impossible,' said the Jarl. ‘They know the country too well. They will have gone into the mountains, they will keep on the move and they will have look-outs. It's better they all leave. If they escape into the Upplands they can cause mischief among the chieftains there. If they join up with the crews that escaped after the battle we can expect another attack. Better they go to the other side of the sea. And we must think of the safety of the hostages. I want my wife back.'

They argued some more but the Jarl was determined and, when he offered to pay the ransom himself, the King gave in. Toki went to take the reply to the hostage-takers and horses to enable them to travel to the meeting place. I decided I had to find a way to accompany the King to the parley.

26.

The parley took place the next day. I waited on my horse by the gates. Hakon looked displeased but couldn't, in front of everyone, send me away after all the praise yesterday.

‘Remember, niece, you are a witness not party to these talks.' I nodded and followed him and Jarl Sigurd as they rode out onto the plains before Lade.

Rain hung like curtains from the sky and I got soaked while we sat on our horses waiting for the hostage-takers. At the appointed time three horsemen emerged out of the mists. They stopped while still out of range of bows and arrows. King Hakon and Jarl Sigurd rode to meet them. I followed but took care to stay behind the two lords. The Jarl opened the talks:

‘So you've had enough of fighting warriors, Olaf. You're scared of men and prefer to fight women and children. Will that bring you the praise and reputation you crave? The world will laugh when they hear that the cowardly piece of dog-shit called Olaf Biornson runs from the battle to fight with old women and babes in arms?'

I tensed in my saddle and almost cried out. How could he say such things? At such an insult surely the chieftain would either draw a concealed weapon and attack the Jarl or ride away and send us the severed heads of his hostages. But he gave a loud, braying laugh and stayed sitting on his horse, rain dripping from his wet clothes. Then Hakon spoke:

‘Olaf Biornson, oath-breaker and traitor, trying to buy your miserable life with the lives of women and children. Return your captives or be cursed by the Lord God and his son Jesus Christ for all eternity'

The chieftain bent forward and spat on the ground.

‘That's what I think of your god Hakon Haraldson, usurper and traitor to the Old Religion. And as for the toothless old mongrel at your side, tell him I shall enjoy his woman tonight. She is already looking forward to the feel of a real man.'

The Jarl retaliated with a sneer: ‘We shall catch up with you and your mangy crew long before that and, by the time we're finished with you, my dogs will be feasting on your entrails and your heads will be set on spikes for the crows to peck.'

It was the other chieftain's turn.

‘You two old women couldn't catch a crippled crone. We're armed and ready. We'll make you eat your own turds!'

The trading of insults and threats seemed to go on and on. I felt impatient at this time-wasting but despite being drenched by the persistent rain neither side showed any sign of urgency.

Finally something changed.

‘Your wife is worth something to you then, Sigurd?' The comment was so casual in the middle of the abuse, I almost missed it. The Jarl ignored it. Olaf continued:

‘She's worth a lot to me. My manhood stirs when I think about her soft body.' Jarl Sigurd had to clear his throat and Hakon took over with a stream of threats. The hostage takers turned their horses round and began to slowly ride away. I couldn't hold back a cry. This earned me a sharp look from Hakon. Olaf and his companion turned back.

‘For a free passage and three chests of gold, I might decide to return her to you.' Hakon replied with derisive laughter. This marked the beginning of the real negotiations. Several times one party or the other turned their horses and threatened to ride away. Then at last, the ransom was decided. The hostage-takers would get free passage, a knorr to take them across the sea and a quantity of gold. The gold was the main stumbling block. Hakon had none to spare for traitors but the Jarl was both able and willing to pay as Olaf Biornson must have known. He settled for a chest full of gold, one third coins and the rest ornaments and jewellery. They decided to meet the next day on the beach below Lade. The knorr would be there but no other vessels, the gold would be handed over, the chieftain and his men would leave and the hostages would be free. When that had been made clear the men dismounted and for the first time, got within reach of each other. They spat in the palms of their hands and shook on the deal.

‘How do you know they won't kill the hostages or take them away?' I asked the Jarl as we rode back to the farm.

‘Oh no, I have known Olaf Biornson since we were both young. He is a man of honour. He won't break his word.'

The rain continued through the day and into the night. I performed my duties as head of household and tried not to think of my mother and children, wet and frightened, and all the things that could go wrong with the release of the hostages. We were finishing the evening meal when there was a knock on the door. A serving woman went to open.

‘Olvir!! Oh, my dear little boy. Where have you been all this time? We've been so worried about you.' She fussed and exclaimed while bringing a soaked and exhausted Olvir up to the fire. I leaped out of my seat and embraced the wet, dishevelled little figure. He was out of breath and shaking with cold. I refused to let him talk until he had been dried off and given hot gruel to eat. He insisted he must talk to the King.

‘Olvir, you'll never be admitted to the King. Even I am not allowed to just go and talk to him any time I want.'

‘But his life is in danger. I must see him and tell him.' He looked flushed. I wondered if he had a fever.

‘Tell me first and we'll decide what to do.'

‘When they hand over the gold tomorrow some of the men will run over and kill the King.'

‘How do you know that?'

‘I heard them.'

‘Who? Odin's beard Olvir! What have you been up to?'

‘I saw the people run from the attack and I followed them. Kveldulf and the baby were there. I wanted to help. But then I saw Toki so I didn't go to them I just followed at a distance. Then the men came and took your mother and Kveldulf and the baby and some others and I stayed hidden and followed them too and today when the chieftain came back he told them all they would get lots of gold for the hostages and then I saw some of the men nodding to each other and they went away like if they were going for a piss and I heard them talk and they hate the King and they want to kill him and they're going to.'

I thought for a moment. Olvir did have a knack of creeping up on people and listening in. But he was very young and didn't always understand what he heard.

‘Who were the men?'

‘I don't know. How am I supposed to know that? Sigrid you must believe me! If I don't tell the King he'll die and it'll be your fault.' He cried and a deep cough rattled in his thin chest. I put another shawl around him and together we went to seek the King.

We were stopped at the entrance to the hall. I explained to the burly housekarls and after a delay we were admitted. The King and the Jarl sat together close to the fire. They didn't believe us. Jarl Sigurd had heard from Toki about Olvir's lies about the trader and now he was outraged by Olvir's slander of yet another man of high standing.

‘But it isn't the chieftain himself. He doesn't even know.' Olvir trembled in his frustration at not being believed. The Jarl looked furious.

‘Olaf 's men will all be under oath to him. There is no threat. The hostages will be freed.'

I wondered how much of the Jarl's conviction was made up of his desperate wish to see his wife again. I turned to the King.

‘Forgive me uncle. I would feel easier in my mind if you would at least have your housekarls around you.'

‘No!' interrupted Jarl Sigurd. ‘It would be the end of the exchange. We must show that we trust Olaf and personally I have no reason to take the word of this urchin over his.' With that we were dismissed.

Olvir cried so hard I had to give him some mead before he was in a fit state to listen to me.

‘We need Ragnar to help us with this. You must tell me where he is.'

He shook his head. ‘They've gone west, the other side of Nid. It's another five days before I meet them again. I don't know where they are.'

It was up to me. There was no one else. I must not despair. I thought for a while. Maybe there was a way to thwart the assassins' plot.

‘I must act on my own and rely on Odin and Thor to help me.'

‘And me!' Olvir, pale and exhausted but always at my side.

‘Yes, be alert and ready to get Kveldulf and Harald to safety if anything happens.' There was nothing else he or anyone could do. I was alone in this.

The next morning Hakon ordered the beach to be cleared of people and a small knorr was pulled as close to the shore as it would go. A chest was carried down and left in the sand under the guard of Jarl Sigurd's most trusted housekarls. It was not long after midday when the horn sounded for the arrival of the hostages and their abductors. The people of Lade were kept well away by King Hakon's housekarls and stood in silent rows watching the event. The hostages had been on horseback but were now helped to dismount. Double lines of Olaf 's warriors walked, swords drawn, on each side of Toki, the two women and my two children. The Jarl's wife was in front with one of the abductors holding a knife to her throat. Behind her my mother carried Harald and Kveldulf walked between her and Toki holding on to their hands. Having seen that they were unhurt I looked away before any emotion could cloud my judgement. I had to keep calm and concentrate on the task ahead. I concentrated on the hostagetakers and tried to read their intent on their faces.