Banners of the Northmen (6 page)

"I must have more gold to raise more men." Ulfrik spoke flatly, searching the rolling hills before them. "We must take revenge and end this threat once and for all."

Runa could not control her sigh, and she pulled away from him. "You've said as much before, and now we have nothing. You spent everything on rebuilding your ships and weapons. Worse yet, you spent gold on rebuilding Ingrid's hall."

"Can we not discuss that again? I told you then, she is sworn to me and that hall is my own."

"Try taking it from her, and you'll see what she thinks. Her men are loyal to her, and somehow think she's a charmed little elf."

Now Ulfrik sighed, and he rubbed the back of his neck. A smile bordering on a grimace stretched across his face, and Runa recognized his effort at restraint. They walked a short distance farther, the salty air cool on her sweat-beaded face. She heard the dull throb of waves crashing on the cliff faces as she drew nearer to them.

"My father would have done more on this island than I have done." He stopped, placing his hands on his hips. He continued to stare into the distance, beyond the edge of the cliffs and fjord. "If he lived today, he would be ashamed that I have not done more for our family."

"You don't know what he would do, so stop raising his ghost to chide you constantly. You have as much success as him, even more." She brushed his arm, hesitant to offer too much comfort. She had learned over the years that he needed to speak his troubles through before clearing his mind. Comforting words tended to slow down the process.

"After the war with Hardar, my progress has stalled. I've not climbed beyond this." He waved a hand over a swath of the horizon. "We deserve better. I am a jarl's son, and you a jarl's daughter. But what do we rule over, except sheep and poor farmers living on a rock at the edge of the world?"

"You sound as if we came from grand estates. I remember Grenner, Ulfrik, and it was not a mighty kingdom."

"My father commanded over a hundred men and three ships. The people respected him, honored him, and his name was known everywhere!" He threw his hands into the air as he proclaimed the greatness of his home. Runa bit her lip, fighting the urge to remind him Grenner was a far more humble land than he remembered. He resumed walking, his stride agitated.

"Grenner's standard should fly over a great hall, not hang limp from a battered mast on a ship that sails nowhere. My sons deserve to inherit more. Men who have served me since Norway deserve wealth and glory."

"And they have received both from you, or they would not remain in your service. Now stop and listen to me." Folding her arms across her chest, she planted herself and determined not to move. "We have survived all that Fate has designed for us, and we have lived to see our sons grow. They are happy, and so am I. So we live as farmers. Better to live as freemen and not as slaves, and better still to be alive. That is success enough. In this life, with cruel gods laughing at us, living is the greatest success of all."

Her neck pulsed with her emotion, and she studied Ulfrik for his response. His eyes searched hers, and though she expected his answer, she still hoped for his agreement.

"It's not enough, Wife. Living is no more than what animals do. We were born to more, and that is why the gods have kept us alive." He dropped his head and shook it. "I can't believe we are under threat from those two scum, Thorod and Skard. Between the two of them they've not enough wits to piss a straight line. And yet, they're crushing me, undoing me. Can I let that pass?"

Runa waited, touching her finger to her lips. His head continued to droop, the wind blowing his hair across his face. The lines of his body drew defeat for all to see. Such weakness rankled her, but she kept her voice even. "Why even fight with fools? We could leave this place as easily as we came."

"God of Storms, this idea of yours will never go away." He tilted his head back to the sky and raked the hair from his face. "It is not like there are lands waiting for us beyond the horizon. We've already been everywhere, and everywhere another lord has claimed the land."

Runa rolled her eyes but let him continue. If she could be accused of suggesting the same ideas, Ulfrik could be accused of fashioning the same excuses.

"Ships that sail north never return. I don't care what men say; there's nothing but sea monsters and ice to be found there. Norway is fouled with a high king, and I'll never pay his taxes. Same for your home of Denmark, so please don't tire me with that suggestion again."

"Gods know I would not want to tire you."

"And the Svear and Baltic people would war on us until death." Ulfrik began to pace, oblivious. Runa tucked her head down to forestall a laugh. "So where does a man create a kingdom, when kings have already taken everything?"

"Odd how kings do that."

"Respect, Wife! Respect! I am serious. There's nowhere to go, but to build a kingdom here." He stamped the earth with his foot to emphasize his words. "Made from Ymir's last rotten tooth, this fucking island is the only place."

Runa waited, watching him stare at his foot. She realized her own foot tapped, and she halted it. "We can go to Hrolf the Strider. He is your sworn lord and oath-bound to provide safety and justice for you and your people."

He lifted his face to hers. Hrolf had been the unspoken threat for the last three years. More than anything the two cousins could do to ruin Ulfrik's dreams, a single word from Hrolf could ruin more. Runa understood this, and eschewed his name. Yet undeniably, Hrolf owned Nye Grenner. Ulfrik had sworn loyalty to him in exchange for his aid in defeating Hardar. Hrolf now controlled their lives, though he had never visited nor asked anything of them.

"Have you no shame?" Ulfrik said, his voice low. "Can I crawl a second time to him, and beg his aid?"

"Now you respect me. You know I'd not mention him lightly. I don't want to go upon my knees any more than you. But if the cousins are breaking your nuts like you say they are, then visit him. Ask him to lend you gold or men, or both."

Ulfrik spun away and considered her words. She unfolded her arms, then entwined them around his waist. She whispered to his ear.

"Just think on that idea, which I'll remind you is a new one of mine. You've tried to raise the gold on your own, but a loan could work just as well. Pay it back out of the spoils. Men do that all the time, don't they? They loan you their lives, and you repay them with gold. There's no shame in it."

Ulfrik clasped his arm over her hands, and rubbed them gently as he thought. "A loan might work. I could raise more men at least."

She hushed him, tightening her hold. "Just think for now. Winter will arrive and keep the cousins busy with survival. But we can plan and prepare for spring."

She felt his posture relax, then he sighed. "Let's get home before Gunnar wears out Toki. The boy not only has your looks, but has your energy."

Runa laughed, allowing herself a moment of satisfaction. War was at hand, she did not doubt, but for a short moment she had controlled a small portion of her destiny. Arm in arm with Ulfrik, she walked home and hoped she would never have to abandon it. Yet intuition told her she would not die on these lands, and that crowded her satisfaction with fear.

CHAPTER SIX

Two of the high-sided ships floated at sea as the third glided for the shore. Ulfrik and his men had assembled in haste, but with enough time to don mail and helmets. His guts roiled along with the ocean waves ramming onto the stony beach. Two ships were bad enough, but a third ship meant his doom.

"They're waving a hazel branch," Snorri said, craning his neck forward and squinting.

"Just spotting that now?" Ulfrik asked, hitching his shield up his arm. "They've come far if it's real hazel."

Snorri spit on the grass and grunted. Ulfrik observed the ship skipping across the dull green waters; a hulking figure standing in the prow cut boldly against a stone gray sky. Animal pelts wrapped his shoulders, giving him the look of a hulking bear. His long, thin hair streamed off his high forehead as he waved the branch.

"Hazel branch or no, it could be a trick," Toki said, flanking Ulfrik's other side. "How many times have we done the same?"

As men leapt into the crashing surf to guide the ship ashore, the air rushed from Ulfrik's lungs and his body slumped. Both Toki and Snorri stared at him in surprise, but Ulfrik clacked his sword back into its wooden scabbard. "My wife has a power to summon men with her words. Only two days ago did she mention Jarl Hrolf."

"Ulfrik Ormsson," called the fur-clad man as he steadied himself on the prow. "Put away your weapons. Your old friend has returned!"

"Gunther One-Eye," he explained. "One of Jarl Hrolf's closest men. Snorri, you remember him."

"Course I do. The man can drink a lake of mead and walk away from the table."

Ordering his men down and to break formation, Ulfrik laid his own shield in the grass. He started down the slope, relief pulsing through his body. Had the ships been filled with enemies, the fight would have been bitter. He arrived at the edge of the grass and waited.

Gunther One-Eye stomped ashore with both arms out as if greeting a lost son, a ragged smile on his scarred face. He had not changed in the three years since they last met. His face remained a horrid mass of scars, with a thick worm of white flesh tangled into the socket of where his left eye had been. Gray streaks flowed into his hair from his temples and from his chin into his beard. The only difference Ulfrik noted was Gunther had grown out his beard and gathered it at the bottom with a gold ring.

"You look fat and happy, Gunther." He strode forward, meeting Gunther at the edge of the surf. They clasped arms, then clapped each other's backs in greeting. Gunther's cloudy eye glinted, and his yellow teeth showed in his smile.

"And you look like you've missed me. May the rest of my ships come ashore? We've sailed far, as you know."

"Without delay, friend. And you'll come to my hall to eat and drink, and wash the sea salt out of your face."

Horns blared on both sides, to signal Gunther's other ships and to signal Nye Grenner's hall that danger had passed. Ulfrik waited in awkward silence as Gunther's crew disembarked. He glanced at the hall, seeing Runa the first to emerge with a sword and shield in hand. He smiled at the sight.

As the other ships pulled ashore, Ulfrik left Toki to greet these men while he and Gunther proceeded to the hall. He tried to hide his anxiousness, noting how Gunther's single eye managed to appraise every building and person in Nye Grenner. He was grateful for Gunther's silence, who instead turned his attention to Runa as they arrived at the hall doors.

"As beautiful as ever, your wife. Now with a sword to match her temper." Runa's eyes widened and her mouth gaped. Gunnar, who had clung to her side, suddenly stood before her as if in challenge. Both Ulfrik and Gunther laughed. "And your son has grown fierce and strong!" He growled at Gunnar, who flinched but remained before his mother. "Braver than his father, too!"

"And another son in the hall as well," Ulfrik said.

"You've not been idle with your success, I see!"

Laughter eased both Runa’s and Gunnar's stances. Ulfrik introduced Gunther again, both to Runa and to the other men. Most had never met Gunther, though Thrand the Looker had. His greeting to Gunther bordered on disdain, and Ulfrik glared him into a better welcome. Others who remembered him were warmer and Gunther shocked many of them with specific memories of their details. "You've got a sharp memory for a drunk," Ulfrik said.

"Mead sharpens the mind. Now let's go sample some of that famous drink of yours!"

Ulfrik welcomed them into the hall with a wan smile. He let them pass inside, each man laying his weapons at the door as custom demanded. Runa followed Ulfrik inside, and whispered over his shoulder, "I'm worried about this."

"That you summoned him out of the past?" he whispered over his shoulder.

"No! That he's here with three ships. Are we in trouble?"

"We'll find out."

He shepherded Gunnar along with Runa into the darkness of the hall. Moments of embarrassing confusion ensued as the villagers who had sheltered against a possible raid filed out and Gunther and his warriors entered. Runa assumed command of the transition, and held several girls back to assist her in the hall. Gunther chuckled, and his men stood in patient attention. Ulfrik caught Humbert leaving with the others, but barred him with his arm.

"Master will need Humbert?"

"You stay where I can see you. Forget any plans for taking advantage of the confusion. Go see my wife for instructions."

Moving from battle readiness to hosting guests proved a jarring and complicated transition, one that frustrated and embarrassed Ulfrik. Fortunately, Gunther One-Eye smoothed everything over with easy laughter and wry comments. One of his crew had a horn pipe, and played a tune while the hall settled. "He's a lot happier than I remember," Snorri quipped at one point. Ulfrik agreed, but wondered as much as Runa did at the meaning of his arrival.

Ulfrik had passed a wearisome afternoon entertaining nearly one hundred guests, and now sat at the high table with Gunther and his bodyguards. Toki, Snorri, Einar, Ander, and others of Ulfrik's men had joined them. The hall reverberated with loud talk and laughter, and despite the chill night, sweat beaded on many faces. Doors and windows hung open and stars winked in the indigo squares.

Gunther's arrival had forced Ulfrik to slaughter two lambs and open a cask of winter ale. Runa had prepared a sumptuous stew from the fresh goat meat and blood, and the thick aroma filled the hall. She leaned over the iron pot with a ladle, and caught Ulfrik starring at her. He smiled, but she looked away. Later, once the feast had ended, in bed, he feared her anger. He had no doubts how strongly she opposed draining winter stocks for an extravagant feast. A glance at her bearing and he heard every complaint ringing in his mind.