The Saga of Colm the Slave (10 page)

“Are you laughing at us?” The twins’
eyes widened in anger, all four of them.

“Slave dog…” sputtered one twin, “I’ll
swat you like a fly! Crush you like… like…”

“A bug!” shouted the other.

Grim pulled his horse in front of
theirs. “Not yet. I have promised to speak to Thorolf the godi
first. After, we’ll see.” He glared at Colm. “Where did you get the
sword, slave?”

Colm made his voice steady. “I am a free
man. This sword was a gift from someone whose brother had been
murdered.”

Grim nodded, still glaring. “Well,
should there be a settlement for my cousin’s killing, that sword
may be part of it. Or maybe I’ll let you keep it so that I may have
the pleasure of removing it from your corpse. Because, settlement
or no, I mean for you to die.”

“So you mean to take money for your
cousin’s death and then to dishonor the settlement?”

Grim spat on the ground. “If I agree not
to kill you, then I will keep to the agreement. And Glum and Glam
will as well.” He closed his mouth, still staring straight at
Colm.

Colm took his meaning. Snaekulf was the
man delegated to murder him. Colm raised his eyes to Snaekulf’s and
slowly spread his lips in a wide grin, showing all his teeth. He
said nothing. A little shock rippled over the twins’ faces and they
both rocked back in their saddles. Gutless, thought Colm, and felt
some satisfaction. But Snaekulf never changed his expression and
Grim snarled, “Laugh now, laugh later, die laughing! Then we will
laugh as well!” Then he turned his horse and rode off, the others
following. The twins glanced back at Colm, both at once, but
Snaekulf never turned his head.

“Hush, Gagarr. They’re gone now.” The
dog had kept barking throughout the confrontation.

Colm picked up his tools and walked back
to the house. He felt shaky on his legs and had a great urge to sit
down in the cool of his own place. Gwyneth awaited him in the
doorway. She gripped the spear. Colm decided not to try to joke
with her. She said, “Are those the ones?” Colm nodded. “The tall
one in back, is he the dangerous one?”

“Any man can be dangerous...” began
Colm, but he saw Gwyneth’s eyes blaze up and reversed himself.
“Yes. But the others bear watching as well.”

Gwyneth furrowed her brow. “I’ll find
out where they are staying. We’ll go at night and kill them in
their sleep!”

Colm shook his head. “No. We’ll follow
Thorolf’s plan. Perhaps we can avoid killing anyone.”

“I doubt it,” said Gwyneth. Colm said
nothing. Gwyneth asked, “Did you really laugh at them?”

“A little,” said Colm. “Those twins are
really funny. One does something and the other is already doing
exactly the same thing like they were attached somehow. You know, I
bet they even fart together!”

Gwyneth sighed and shook her head. “You
and your smart Irish mouth.”

Colm thought, You and your dark Welsh
heart. But he didn’t say it.

“Well, I’m glad you’re my husband
anyway.” She gave him a sudden fierce look. “But don’t forget I’m
your wife. And I can help kill these bastards!”

Speechless, Colm could only nod.

A great crowd bustled about Althing:
chieftains come to make law or settle disputes, farmers arranging
business deals, boys and girls flirting under the eyes of parents
considering the future marriage of their offspring, and conjurors,
jugglers, gamblers, and fortune-tellers persuading people to part
with a coin or two. Not only was Althing government, it was a great
social event where people affirmed the bonds of loyalty and
friendship that shaped the community.

Most important families had specific
areas that they used year after year. They had raised walls of
stone and turf on these places and, after repairing winter damage,
they raised cloth and skin roofs to make a pavilion or booth where
they received visitors.

Thorolf addressed the group of men in
his booth. “I have spoken with Ozurr, Grim’s godi. He says that
Grim has no other kin in Iceland than the twins he fetched from
Norway.”

Bjorn nodded. “Good.”

Thorolf went on. “He says that, if Grim
should start a feud in our quarter, he would feel no obligation to
assist the man. And Ozurr says that berserks are dangerous to have
around and he would feel friendly toward any man that could remove
this one.”

The men all glanced at Colm. There were
seven of them: Thorolf, Bjorn, Magnus, Egil Bloodhead, his cousin
Thorgils, Ketil, and a farmer named Svart, who now worked the place
once owned by Hastein. Colm realized that he was the most
experienced fighter in the room. Egil Bloodhead and his cousin were
thought strong and fearsome but neither had been tested. Colm had
wielded a sword in battle and killed a man with it and he had
killed an outlaw, stood next to the man and shoved a knife in him.
None of these others had ever done anything like that. Colm had
carried a small, cold lump of fear in his guts for weeks and now he
felt it growing. He was to be the fighter in this group.

Thorolf said, “Remember, we are not just
one man.” The farmers had free men they could call on for help and
a number of slaves, too. Probably they would outnumber Grim’s force
by six to one or more. “We are more than just one man,” said
Thorolf, “But this Snaekulf is only one.”

Colm nodded. He decided that he should
speak. After all, he had actually seen the berserk and these others
had only heard rumors. “He looks like a strong fighter but no man
is strong when he is surrounded.”

“What of the others?”

“Well, you know Grim.” The others
murmured assent. They had never thought of the young man as a
fighter. He was just a local like themselves. Most of them imagined
they were his match. They looked a little less worried. “And the
other two, well…” Colm grinned. “You’ll have to see them to believe
what I’m going to tell you: The worst that could happen to you in a
fight with them is that you split your side laughing!” He chuckled.
The other men perked up at his words. Colm resolved to keep their
spirits high. He described the twins, exaggerating a little, and
when he said they probably farted together, the room erupted in
laughter. The others all built on his joke. They imitated these men
they had not seen. They speculated on their sex habits. Suppose one
was with a woman, would the other know it? Suppose they were apart
and one made water, would the other piss himself? And so on.

Bjorn egged them on, laughing
uproariously at the feeblest joke. Thorolf smiled and kept quiet,
watching for a time. “Well,” he said finally, after things had
quieted a little, “We’ve disposed of three of them, so that only
leaves the one for us to handle. We will take him as a group and he
will not stand before us.” The men turned serious and nodded,
mouths set. “Anyway, we shouldn’t have to fight the others. It
appears that Grim is after taking what payment he can for his
cousin and leaving the vengeance to this lone man.”

“Not a penny!” shouted Magnus. “Give the
bastards nothing but sharp steel! That thieving Grim, pretending
this is about honor and not his purse! And those fat twins! Gut
them and leave them for the ravens!”

Silence followed Magnus’ outburst. Colm
and Thorolf had reduced the tension by reducing the threat they
faced, but now Magnus had restored it. Four armed men, at least,
not just one.

Thorolf raised his hand and wagged a
finger at Magnus. He said, “It is agreed that I will speak for us.
I mean to end this and spill as little blood as possible. But,” He
clenched his hand into a fist. “One way or another, I mean to end
this!” He glared at Magnus and swept his gaze over the others. “I
will not have any man ride into my gothord and threaten one of my
followers – especially one that has done us a service by
eliminating an outlaw. But, that aside, each and every one of my
followers has my backing.” He glanced around the group, pausing to
look into the faces of Egil, Thorgils, Ketil, Svart, and Magnus.
“And I will not have foreigners disturbing the peace of my land!
You may think two of these are jokes and the third a monster, but I
tell you, they are all three fools to come here and trouble us.
And, werewolf or whatever he may be, this Snaekulf who has come
into my country will stay here forever and I personally will roll a
stone on his grave so that he will never walk above the earth
again!”

There was silence. Magnus swallowed hard
and looked at the ground. Finally, Bjorn sniffed the air and said,
“You know, I think I scent a barrel of beer somewhere about.”
Thorolf erupted in laughter, the first time he had laughed all
evening, and a well-timed laugh it was, causing the others to laugh
as well and break the tension.

The cask was breached, the men laughed
and drank and talked. Only Magnus sat quiet, nursing his anger with
swallows of beer.

The next day, Thorolf’s group met up and
walked among the booths, greeting friends and making a show of
strength. Thorolf took them near Ozurr’s booth and left them
outside while he went in to talk with the other chieftain. The men
strutted and laughed. They kept their chins high and their chests
out, but Colm detected a nervous shiftiness in their gaze. They
were standing about when Grim and the twins came upon them.

“Well, look who we have here,” said
Grim. “Have you come to visit?”

Colm said, “We accompanied Thorolf. He
speaks with Ozurr now.”

“Ah. Deciding what you can afford to pay
for my poor cousin, is he?”

Colm shrugged. One of the twins spoke,
“Who ever heard of a slave paying wergild?” Grim snickered.

Bjorn made a farting noise with his
mouth. The twins looked at him, looked at each other. Svart said,
“Hey, don’t accuse your brother! You both done it!” Bjorn erupted
in laughter. All the others began laughing as well. All except
Magnus, Colm noticed. Magnus’ mouth was pressed into a hard line
and he stared coldly at Grim.

The twins turned red simultaneously and
seemed to swell and become fatter. Bjorn and the others laughed
harder. Grim shifted his angry eyes about the group. “That will
cost you!” He finally spat out.

“No one will pay you a penny!” Magnus
leapt forward, his hand twitching for a sword hilt. “Selling your
cousin’s life and pretending it is a matter of honor! Scum like you
have no honor! If you were any kind of man you would have sought
vengeance long ago! Yes! And met your death doing so!”

Grim’s face went white, then red, then
white again. “I will take no settlement from you, now or ever! And
we will see who meets his death when I avenge my cousin. I cared
little about you before now, I was seeking other targets.” Grim
nodded toward Colm, then turned back to Magnus. “I thought you had
dishonor enough with a whore for a daughter-in-law…”

Now Bjorn stepped forward, no longer
laughing. “I am to marry Gerda and proud to do so…”

“You think marriage will make her any
less a slut? She was to marry one man but fucked another. Yes,
Magnus! Your son wasn’t man enough so she came to my cousin for her
needs!”

Thorolf stepped out of the booth into
the sunlight. Ozurr was behind him. Grim kept on. “There’s the man
whose fat daughter screwed away his honor! Are you really going to
fight for that cunt? Why, every farmer and his slave has probably
had his way with her!”

The blood ran from Thorolf’s face and
his eyes blazed. Colm knew then that there would be no settlement
now or ever. Sometimes fighting broke out at Althing, even though
weapons were not allowed. He thought of his sword, laid aside in
Thorolf’s booth, and considered how long it would take him to fetch
it.

Ozurr stepped forward. “You speak like a
fool!” he told Grim. “Don’t count on any help from me!”

“I never expected aught from you since
you failed to seek justice for my cousin!”

“The man was outlawed! He went into
hiding! If he had come to me before the sentence was
pronounced…”

“Ha!” Grim spat on the ground.

Ozurr started to speak, then fell quiet
as he caught sight of Snaekulf, standing behind the twins. The
berserk was silent. There was no telling how long he had been
standing there. All of Thorolf’s group quieted as they regarded
him. Snaekulf was a fearsome sight. His unblinking eyes with
pinpoint pupils and teeth bared in a not-grin chilled them all.
Colm wanted to say something that would rally the other men’s
spirits, but could not choke up a single word.

Grim’s eyes glittered. “Well, not
laughing now? Tell me, Olaf, when we are done, will you help me or
hunt me?”

“I urge you not to…”

“Enough of that! I am your follower!
Will you come after me?”

Ozurr spoke quietly. “No. But if you act
in this foolish way, I will not stay the vengeance of others. And
these three,” he waved his hand at Snaekulf and the twins, “Are
nothing to me. In fact, I blame you for bringing them here and for
causing these problems.”

Grim shrugged, turned on his heel, and
stalked off. Glum and Glam wheeled as one and followed but no one
laughed at them. Snaekulf regarded the others for a moment, then he
also turned and left.

“That is a hard-looking man,” said
Ozurr.

“He is only one and we are many,”
answered Thorolf.

“Yes,” said Ozurr. “Well, make certain
you are as many as possible when you take him on. You cannot be too
many for that man.”

Thorolf nodded. And Colm silently
agreed.

When Althing ended and the men took up
their weapons, Thorolf’s contingent travelled in a group back to
their farms. It was a tense caravan. The men clutched their sword
hilts and studied the rocky slopes for signs of ambush as they rode
along. The women caught the mood and muttered nervously in their
wagons. Magnus wanted everyone to ride at once to Grim’s farm and
attack whoever was there, but Thorolf’s scouts reported that the
place was empty. It was decided that each one would return to his
own farm and make ready to regroup as soon as Grim or any of his
party was spotted. Then they would all attack together.