The Thrall (The Viking Hero Series Book 1) (8 page)

Neutral faced,
Jarl
Erling
quietly looked at Rowan for a few moments before
turning to one of his guards standing next to him and ordered, "bind
him."

The guard stepped
forward and took Rowan's hands behind him and bound them with leather
lashings. After tying the binding, he lifted Rowan up by his arm and
pulled him up to his feet.

The guard then guided
Rowan back near the fire that was in front of the Jarl and pulled him
back down to his knees and stood behind him.

As Rowan was being watched by one the Jarl's
guards, the Jarl instructed another guard to "fetch the
blacksmith's household."

The guard turned and expeditiously exited the
hall.

Rowan remained there on his knees facing the Jarl
with his head bowed down and hands bound behind him. He was not sure
of what was to become of him. This was definitely not a good
predicament to be in and now he questioned his decision to return.

The Jarl's Hall gradually began filling up with
men from the village. They were curious as to what was going on.
Rowan could hear the murmur of them speaking amongst themselves.
After a few minutes, a man stepped forward Rowan recognized as Thorn,
the brother of his master Bjord the blacksmith.'

Thorn spoke before the hall to Jarl Erling, "I
demand justice for my brother and his son Sven. Justice that this
thrall be put to death for his crimes of murder."

Rowan was horrified when heard this. It was
exactly what he feared might happen. He did not do anything wrong,
but how in the world would he prove it.

The karl that brought Rowan in, which Rowan had
now learned was named Oleg, quickly countered by saying, "I take
claim to this thrall."

"How do you have the right the take claim of
the thrall?" contested Thorn.

"I take claim for finding the thrall that was
trying to escape after having slayed his master. He no longer had a
master and belongs to the first to claim him." explained Oleg.

"That is nonsense." protested Thorn.
"The thrall, and any other property belonging to Bjorn, would be
passed to his heirs."

"There aren't any legal heirs, as the thrall
has claimed the blacksmith and his son, his only son, are now dead.
Without any heirs, the property is up for grabs." Oleg pointed
out.

"That is not the only heir and I am his
brother!" blasted Thorn, "besides, the murderer will be put
to death for his crimes and not claimed by anyone!"

At this point Jarl Erling stood up and called for
the men to settle down. He stepped down from his throne seat and
calmly said, "we're not even sure yet if Bjorn and his son are
even dead. Let us hear from his household first to verify."

This paused the two men of their bickering. The
Jarl turned around and stepped back up on his throne and sat in his
chair
. He motioned to one of the
guards that was standing off to the side and leaned in to whisper
something in his ear. When the Jarl sat back, the man quickly headed
out the door of the hall on some unknown task.

The chatter in the
hall gradually became louder and louder as more men continued to come
in and inquire as to what was going on. It was then when the
blacksmith's wife, Gwenda, showed up along with her mother Helga that
the Hall began to quieten.

The men in the hall
fell silent as Gwenda and Helga made their way past them. Gwenda was
helping her mother and supporting her as they walked to the end of
the Hall in front of Jarl Erling.

Gwenda stood before
the Jarl, still helping her mother along. She looked briefly at Rowan
with a puzzled look before facing the Jarl and asking, "my lord,
why have you summoned us to your Hall?"

"Woman, where is
your husband and son?" asked Jarl Erling.

"My lord, they
have gone into the forest up the mountainside a couple days ago.
They left with our thrall, the three of them."

"A couple days
ago with your thrall? Why did they go into the forest?"

"My lord, we had
been awakened in the middle of the night by a loud screech and the
sound of our livestock panicking. Our sheep were the most panic
stricken and they ran out of their pens into the house until they
finally ran through the door and escaped outside. We never seen what
was causing them to become so afraid, but our thrall said that a
strange cat had chased them."

"A strange cat?"
inquired Jarl Erling.

"Yes, our thrall
claimed that there was a cat that woke him up by sitting on his chest
trying to crush him him. He said when he tried to get the cat off of
him, it went after our livestock."

She briefly paused,
looking around at the faces of the men in the Hall. Many had puzzled
looks and were shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Yes, I
understand. Please, continue." Jarl Erling encouraged.

"Well,.. we ran
outside to fetch the frightened sheep, but they already ran up the
hill and went into the forest. We could hear them in the darkness
screaming as they ran. It was too dark to try to find them in the
night, so my husband decided to track them in the morning. When
morning came and before anything else had been done that day, my
husband, my son, and our thrall set out to find the sheep and bring
them back."

"And that was the
last time you had heard from any of them?"

"Yes, that was
the last time we had heard from any of them. Until now."

"Until now?"
Jarl Erling asked.

"Yes, my lord,
until now,." She turned and motioned towards Rowans. "I see
our thrall has returned. But what of my son and my husband? It has
been three days now."

There were repeats of
this question made angrily by several of the men in the Jarl's Hall
that had been listening.

At this point Oleg
yelled. "The thrall must be put to death for murder. The
blacksmith's household deserves justice!"

There were shouts of
agreement from several other men in the Hall. Rowan could feel a lump
in his throat as concern for his life began to grow even more.

Things began getting
louder, the Jarl had to stand up and raised his hand to quieten the
men in the Hall. Once the Hall became quiet again he looked down upon
Rowan and said, "tell us thrall Rowan, what happened to your
master?"

Oleg barked in, "who
cares what the thrall has to say, he..."

"Silence!"
demanded the Jarl before Oleg could finish what he was saying. "We
don't even know what happened. There is only speculation at this
point. We will give him a chance to tell us what happened and then we
will check his story."

Looking back at Rowan,
Jarl Erling again asked, " tell us what happened when you went
looking for the sheep? Tell us everything that happened."

Everyone in the Hall
quietened at this point to listen as Rowan told his story.

"Like Gwenda had
said, I woke up in the middle of the night because I was having
trouble breathing. When I woke up, I found a cat sitting in my chest
staring at me. It wasn't a normal cat, because it was as heavy as a
man. Its weight was crushing my chest and I couldn't breathe. It kept
getting heavier and heavy and seemed to also get bigger and bigger."

Someone from the hall
shouted in protest, "this is utter nonsense." He was
silenced by 'hushes' from the rest of the men in the Hall before the
Jarl needed to bother intervening.

Rowan continued. "The
cat had me trapped under its weight and I couldn't breathe. When I
tried to get it off of me by jerking my body, it howled and jumped
off of me. That's when it chased after the sheep. It screeching the
whole time it chased them. It scared the sheep until they ran out of
the longhouse and into the darkness of the forest."

Gwenda and her mother
Helga confirmed all this by nodding their heads in agreement when the
Jarl looked at them.

Rowan recapitulated.
"We left first thing the very next morning to track the sheep.
We tracked them up the mountain to a hidden burial mound that we
discovered."

"A hidden burial
mound? What?" Questioned the Jarl.

"Yes my lord, it
was when we were investigating the burial mound that it all happened.

"What happened?"

"We were attacked
by a large creature."

"A bear?"
Someone among the men of the hall called out.

"No, worse. It
was some kind of dead beast. Bigger than a man and stronger than a
bear. It killed Bjord and then it killed Sven. I escaped by running
and climbing down a cliff. I got down the other side side and hid in
the forest."

"So you ran like
a coward and left them to die."

"No, they were
already dead." Rowan bravely protested. "We were unable to
inflict any kind of damage to it. Except..."

"Except what?"

"Except when I
was able to put Bjord's ax into its back. It appeared to burn it."

"The ax burned
it? What do you mean, how can an ax burn anything?"

"My lord, when
the ax was embedded in its back, I could see smoke coming from the
wound and it struggled trying to remove it. It looked like the ax
really hurt it."

"It you were
hurting it, how come you didn't slay it?" Inquired the Jarl.

"I didn't have a
weapon any longer and knew I would not be able to kill it. Now alone
and disarmed, I did the only thing I could do. I ran."

"You ran?"

"I ran, but the
beast gave chase and was unnaturally fast. I knew I wouldn't be able
to outrun it, so I took the rope we brought and climbed down the side
of the cliff. That was how I escaped it. I spent the next day finding
my way back. That was when Oleg found me. I was on my way to the
blacksmith's house to inform his wife what had happened."

There was much debate
and loud murmuring going on amongst everyone in the Hall at that
point.

Oleg stepped forward
plead to the Jarl, "my lord, you don't believe this thrall's
story do you? It's obvious that he has made up a tale to cover up his
crime."

A raspy voice broke in
from behind everyone near the main door. It was the settlement's
lawspeaker, Alvis the wise. The old man had quietly come in and had
been listening to the whole story.

"There may be
truth to the thrall Rowan's tale." He said in a dry raspy voice
as he made his way to the other side of the Hall through the other
men with the assistance of his staff aiding him as he walked.

"What say you
lawspeaker." asked the Jarl when the old man had came in front
of him. He motioned one of the guards to fetch a chair for the old
man to seat himself.

After the lawspeaker
sat down, he spoke again saying, "there has been talk of
something dreadful lurking in the mountain side for a few years.
Stories that men have told when they ventured too far up the hill
when hunting."

Someone in the crowd
piped in stating, "those are just tales!"

The lawspeaker nodded
and said, "yes tales they are, but none the less they all seem
to say the same thing. What we know of the dead walkers is they do
have the power to shape shift into a small creature and it has also
been said that they will try to crush someone in their sleep by
growing larger and heavier."

"Sorcery!"
yelled someone from the crowd.

"Perhaps."
affirmed the lawspeaker, "but we don't really know what they
are. I haven't heard of a dead walker since I was a young lad. They
called them Draugs."

"That was in a an
age before time itself!" joked someone loudly from the crowd,
making a reference to the lawspeaker's age. Laughter erupted in the
crowd.

The lawspeaker when
silent upon that joke, he didn't find it funny at all. After they got
their laughs out, the Jarl spoke and said, "we will send a group
of men to investigate the burial mound and see if what the thrall
claims is true."

There was murmur of
protest about this until someone stepped forward and said, "this
is nonsense, there are no monsters on the mountain. This thrall
killed his master and his master's son and needs to be put to death
for it."

There was a load roar
of agreement from many men in the Hall with this statement.

The Jarl had to once
again quieten the Hall and said, "we will investigate this
matter by sending a group of men to the location. The thrall will
lead them to the mound. If there is any proof of wrongdoing by the
thrall, he will be brought back to this hall and be put to death in
accordance to our laws."

There were a few men
shaking their heads, disagreeing to the Jarl's decision. They
otherwise had no choice but to accept it. The Jarl added to this by
stating, "however, if there is any truth to this, then the
thrall will be cleared and we shall have to do something about the
creature."

Most of the men agreed
to this resolution, however many exclaimed their protests because
they didn't believe in such a creature and that thrall was doing
nothing but creating a story to save his own hide.

Jarl Erling then
called for volunteers. "I need some men to go up the mountain.
They will be guided by the thrall first thing tomorrow morning to
investigate if there is any truth to his story."

Nobody stepped forward
and the Hall became silent.

"Why aren't there
any brave men to step forward, I thought none of you believed in such
creatures. After all, this thrall that I have repeated heard some of
you call a coward has faced this beast." Jarl Erling mocked.

Having their courage
and honor now challenged, several men stepped up and proudly
proclaimed that they'd go.

The Jarl took five of
the Karls from the village wishing to volunteer and an additional
three of his own guard of Housekarls to accompany them.

It was planned that
they'd leave at sunrise and the thrall Rowan would guide them to the
exact location in order to verify his story.