Heroes of the Valley (21 page)

All heard him. All stood silent as, helped by his son, he rose painfully to his feet. All drew back, feet shuffling on the boards as, with hesitant steps, the Hakonssons progressed towards the doors. Hord's back was bowed, his nose protuberant. Ragnar's cheek was scratched and bleeding. They reached the doors, they swung them wide. Now they were gone, and bright daylight spilled into the room.

In Rurik's hall the silence held. Then there was a general exhaling.

Leif and Astrid stood staring at each other. As one they turned to gaze at Halli.

Halli clapped his hands together cheerfully. 'So,' he said. 'That went well.'

I
T WASN'T LONG BEFORE
Svein's House grew rich and splendid, and Svein himself likewise. He took to wearing jewelled brooches, torcs and rings, and intricately patterned cloaks made far down-valley. The traders who brought such delicacies were welcomed in his hall, but other visitors – beggars and wastrels drawn by wealth – aroused his irritation.

Svein had boundary posts erected at the margins of his land; within this area his word was law. He had a special chair carved and placed upon a dais in his hall, and from this Law Seat uttered judgements on thieves, loafers and other miscreants. His edicts were firm and not many disregarded them; a gallows in the yard helped keep his rules fresh in the memory.

For some time after the Hakonssons' departure, Rurik's hall remained a place of intense activity. While servants hurried to drag away smashed furniture, and others retired to bathe black eyes and minor wounds, the Lawgivers of the valley, Astrid included, huddled together discussing the situation. It was an unheard-of trouble; not since the early days after the Battle of the Rock, when several old feuds were still being pursued by the heroes' followers, had one House declared itself free of valley law. Opinion was divided about what action to take. One or two of the more warlike Lawgivers (the crone from Gest's House among them) wished to organize a punitive expedition against Hord and his family. Others pointed out that no one had any swords, and that anyway this would further destroy the careful peace the valley had long enjoyed. The majority view was that Hord would soon regret his hasty words, and retract them; all trade with Hakon's House would in the meantime be withheld, the better to encourage him in this regard.

'The snows are coming,' the Chief Lawgiver, Helga, said. 'Hord's anger will cool. He will have the winter to reflect on his intemperance, and in the spring we'll approach him again. Doubtless you will get your lands next year, Astrid.'

'I hope you are right,' Halli's mother said. 'But what if Hord carries out his threats? What if he seeks to attack us?'

'He would not dream of it! Think of the sanctions we'd impose! Between you and me, I view this as a positive development. It is good to rein Hord back a little.'

'Even so, I fear the consequences for my House and people.' Astrid's face was grim; she spoke almost reluctantly. 'And also for my son . . .'

Helga nodded. 'Ah, yes. Halli. I was going to mention him. He was a
little
outspoken in the debate. was he not? Not entirely diplomatic on occasion? I think that might have contributed somewhat to Hord's overwhelming wrath. I wonder if you might educate him during the winter on the merits of restraint?'

'Oh, don't worry,' Astrid said shortly. 'I shall.'

'Why blame
me
?' Halli roared, rubbing his throbbing ear. 'I did not strike a single blow!'

'You did not
need
to,' his mother cried. 'Your tongue did the job of a dozen brawling men. Time and again you baited Hord until he lost control.'

Halli folded his arms. 'I thought you'd be pleased, since you got more land out of the affair, which is all that's important to you.'

'We have got
nothing
yet, except for threats of vengeance – and may I remind you, you vile, stocky serpent of a son, that all this stems from
your
wickedness. Ragnar spoke the truth about what he saw, did he not?'

Halli looked away. 'He did indeed. But it so happens I did not kill Olaf.'

His mother gave a wrathful cry. 'Do not lie to me!'

'Is lying suddenly such a crime, Mother? I notice you lied to the Council too, and did so rather fluently.'

Astrid raised her hand to strike him, but Leif stepped quickly forwards. 'Mother, this demeans you.'

Halli gave a curt nod. 'Thanks, Leif— Ow!'

'It does not, however, demean me.'

Astrid's face was bone-white, her eyes staring. 'May a Trow take you, Halli, for the harm you've done this House.'

'A Trow?' Halli laughed in her face. 'Big deal! I believe in
them
even less than I do in your doctrine of valley peace, which is nothing but blatant self-interest! Pull down the cairns! Let the Trows come for me! I don't care. I'm sick of all this.'

Both Leif and Astrid made instinctive wards against ill luck. Leif 's eyes were bulging. 'Brother, I believe you're mad.'

'On your horse, this instant,' Astrid said. 'And not another word. We must bring these hard tidings to the House.'

News that the hoped-for settlement had been postponed was greeted with muted despondency by the people of Svein's House. But Hord's threats caused a much wider ripple of anxiety. Old tales of massacres and burnings were aired and analysed, and there was great resentment at Halli's role in the affair. Although still treated with extreme caution as befitted a dangerous killer, he was now, by common consent, more or less ignored, kept at the margins in field and hall.

Halli kept up a dogged show of unconcern, but his isolation preyed upon his spirits. More than ever he regretted coming back to Svein's House, to its atmosphere of hostility, envy and petty fears. Of all the Houses he had seen in his travels it was certainly the smallest and most decrepit; the glorious claims of the old tales now seemed laughable to him. He could not abide the company of his family, nor they his, but there was no escape now that winter was setting in. The cairns upon the ridge were seldom visible behind its shroud of mist and cloud.

Two things only relieved his mood. One was the fact that Katla was suddenly disposed to talk to him again. The magnitude of his misdeeds seemed to have softened her displeasure, and she took to bringing soup while he sat in his room alone.

'Thank you, Katla. I'm glad
you
don't see me as a criminal and outlaw.'

'On the contrary, I believe you are truly cursed, and destined for a dismal and early death. Such is the fate of a midwinter's child, as I have always said, and events are bearing me out. But there you go. You have my pity and – while you're still with us – you can have my soup as well. Tell me of Olaf. How exactly
did
you slay him?'

The other, more substantial, compensation for Halli was Aud's imminent arrival. With the Hakonssons' star suddenly eclipsed and the Sveinssons the objects of sympathy among the Lawgivers of the valley, Ulfar Arnesson had lost no time in swinging like a weathervane and changing the plans for his daughter. Before anyone had left Rurik's hall, he had gathered himself up and run to Astrid to renew arrangements for Aud's visit. She was expected within days.

Light snows settled in the fields; soon the road past the cataracts would be impassable with drifts and ice. A week after the skirmish three riders appeared at the north gate. Two of them, burly men of Arne's House, immediately spurred their horses and headed back down-valley; the third, Aud Ulfar'sdaughter, came smiling into the hall.

A feast was held to celebrate her arrival; most of the House attended, except for Arnkel, who remained sick in his rooms. Word of his condition was not promising, and the atmosphere in the hall was jittery and febrile.

Aud was dressed in official finery, her hair scraped into an adequate dragon's-tail. With quick, elegant steps, she passed around greeting the notables of the House. Halli, watching from the sidelines, noted how her graceful figure won favour with almost everyone. Only Gudny seemed reserved, and held back from the throng.

At last Aud drew near, with Leif following close at hand. Halli gave a formal bow. 'It is good to see you again.'

'And you, Halli Sveinsson. It has been
such
a long time.' Her eyes were laughing. 'What have you been up to?'

'Oh, not much.'

Leif stepped between them. 'Miss Aud, you have better things to do than talk to this felon. Come, let me show you great Svein's weapons. I can tell you many tales . . .'

Aud, allowing herself to be led away, grinned back at Halli over her shoulder.

The following morning the snow clouds hung so low that the roof of the hall itself was swallowed, but the expected blizzard did not break. Its imminence hung heavy on the House. The last few animals were brought inside the walls to cluster hot and steaming in the sheds.

Astrid and Leif took up much of Aud's time that day and Halli seldom had a chance to talk with her. Observing from afar, he noticed that she was capable of many subtle adjustments of personality. Whereas he knew her to be outspoken and sceptical, with Leif she was wide-eyed and playful, verging on the coquettish; with his mother, she was altogether quieter, a modest young girl eager for instruction.

They met at last by chance in the passage behind the hall.

'Where have
you
been?' Aud said. 'If I hear Leif 's yawn-some stories of Svein once more I shall stab him with my hairpin. I keep waiting for you to rescue me.'

'Sorry.' He smiled at her awkwardly. 'So . . . I'm glad you got here in the end. There was talk you were going to be spending the winter down at Hakon's.'

Aud rolled her eyes. 'Yes. My revolting father had it all planned out. He'd pretty much made the deal with Hord, I think. Can you
imagine
? A marriage to Ragnar? He's so insipid and weak-kneed! I'd have run away if they'd tried to foist it on me, or slit my throat, or drowned myself. Thank Arne there was that rumpus at Rurik's House.' She stretched out a finger and poked Halli's arm. 'I believe I've
you
to thank for that, haven't I?'

'Well, strictly speaking it was Ragnar who—'

'Saw you when you burned his hall down. Yes. Credit where it's due, Halli. You've got a real talent for spreading happiness and light between the Houses. But in this case, it's worked out well – at least for me.'

Halli sighed. 'You're the only one who's celebrating. Hord's vowed vengeance on me, while everyone here thinks I'm a cold-blooded killer and treats me with varying mixtures of fear and dislike. You'll soon see.'

'Oh, Leif 's already warned me off you three times.' She chuckled. 'I just think he's jealous. And don't worry about Hord. He's a braggart, all mouth.'

'I don't know. He's a man who's not afraid of action.' Halli drew Aud aside as Eyjolf and a servant bustled along the passage; he noticed Eyjolf regarding them closely as he passed by. 'But I don't much care,' he went on quietly. 'Hord can do what he likes next year, because by then we'll be beyond his reach.'

Aud's eyes glinted. 'So you've warmed to my idea about the boundary, have you? Not scared of Trows?'

'I'd rather a Trow ate me than spend the rest of my life here. I'm sick of Svein's House and everyone in it. The whole valley, come to that. What about you?'

'Father plans to marry me off to
someone
next summer, come what may. If not Ragnar, there'll be some other dribbling dullard to take his place. Of
course
I'm still up for it. I'd go today if we could, but the weather—'

'It's impossible now; the weather's turned. We've got to wait for the thaw.' He grinned at her. 'But don't worry. It gives you plenty of time to get to know everything about our House and hero. No doubt Leif will make you an expert before long.'

Aud groaned. 'It's going to be a long winter.'

That night the storm broke. The House was buffeted by winds that set the shutters rattling and blew candles out in the deepest regions of the hall. The corridors echoed through the howling night. In the morning the light was white and sickly, the yard knee-deep in snow. The fields below the walls were featureless as floodwater.

From then on there was no respite. The blizzards began. People were penned in their houses like the herds. Peat fires burned high in every hearth; smoke trails laced the rafters of the hall. Each day men worked to clear passages through the snow between the buildings; when they returned indoors ice crystals hung glimmering in their beards.

Aud soon fell in with the House routine; she wove, she helped in the kitchens, she carried meal to the animals and seed to the chickens. In the afternoons she sat with Gudny, listening as Astrid recited the histories. But she had free time also, and it was noticed by many that she chose to spend this in Halli's company. They were regularly seen in close consultation, laughing and talking avidly.

Shortly after midwinter the storms reached a height of ferocity. No one went out. The atmosphere in the hall became fetid with smoke, stale beer and sweat; tempers grew frayed, and meal times became arenas of heightened tension, where the slightest incident triggered sudden rage. It was always this way in winter, but this year was worse than any. The threat from the Hakonssons still preyed on people's minds; also, it was becoming clear that Arnkel was very ill. He never left his bed.

Halli, bound up with dreams of exploration in the heights, kept his head down as best he could and sought respite in the company of Aud.

One morning he was working with his mother, bottling cloudberries in a corner of the kitchen. Astrid's hair was tied back and concealed within a rough hemp scarf. Her sleeves were rolled up and her forearms stained red from pressing and stirring. She was grey-faced from her vigil at her husband's bed the night before. She supervised Halli as he ladled hot berries into heavy clay jars, pausing occasionally to shout orders across the tables at the girls preparing lunch.