The Guests of Odin (15 page)

Next morning Guttorm went to Sigurd’s chamber but when he saw the man he had come to kill lying next to his sister, he turned and went. He came back again later, and Sigurd’s eyes blazed so fiercely that Guttorm lost his courage again. But the third time he went, Sigurd was asleep, and Guttorm drew his sword and stabbed Sigurd so deeply the blade entered the bed beneath him. Sigurd awoke, tore the sword from the wound, and flung it at Guttorm, cutting him in half.

Gudrun woke drenched in blood and she began to sob. Sigurd rose up on the pillow and told her, “Do not weep. Your brothers still live.”

He said, “Brynhild brought this about. I never failed Gunnar or gave him cause to want to work my death.” Then he died.

Gudrun moaned as he died, and Brynhild heard this, and she laughed at her sobs. Gunnar found her laughing and said, “This is not because you are happy. You are a monster and fated to die, and you deserve to see your brother murdered before your eyes.”

Brynhild said, “I wish to die.”

Gunnar tried to persuade her against it, but Hogni said, “She should not be discouraged.”

Now Brynhild took a great deal of gold and said she would give it out to anyone who wished for it. Then she took a sword and stabbed herself beneath her arm, and lay back on her bed. She prophesied the fate of the Gjukungs and particularly Gudrun. Then she asked Gunnar to build a pyre and place herself upon it beside Sigurd with two men at his head, two at his feet and two hawks. A drawn sword should be laid between them. Gunnar did as she had asked, placing Sigurd on the top of the pyre with his three-year-old son who Brynhild had had killed, and Guttorm’s body. When the pyre was ablaze, Brynhild laid herself upon it and she died there. Her body burned alongside Sigurd.

All who heard of this said that no one equal to Sigurd remained, and that never again would a man of his kind be born. His name will never be forgotten in the northern lands as long as the world endures.

Grief-stricken, Gudrun fled into the woods where she wandered alone until she came to the hall of King Half. She remained in Denmark with Thora, Hakon’s daughter, for three and a half years, weaving a tapestry showing Sigmund’s fleet sailing, and another showing the battle
between Sigar and Siggeir.

When Grimhild learnt where Gudrun had gone, she sent her sons to speak with her. They did so, arriving in great splendour, and although she trusted none of them, she forgot all this when she drank a potion prepared by Grimhild. Then Grimhild persuaded her to leave King Half’s hall and to marry Atli, who had asked for Gudrun’s hand in marriage when he heard of Sigurd’s death.

But still she mourned Sigurd’s death.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gavin Chappell was born in northern England and lives near Liverpool. After studying English at the University of Wales, he has since worked variously as a business analyst and a college lecturer. He is the author of numerous short stories, articles, poems and several books.