The Long Hunt (The Strongbow Saga) (3 page)

"I do not believe you! You are lying. You have always hated Toke. He is a great chieftain and you are…you were…but a thrall."

"That still troubles me," Ivar remarked to Bjorn. "How can one who was a slave for almost his entire life fight so well now? It should not be possible. I find it worrisome."

I ignored him. "There were no bandits," I said again. "It was my arrow that wounded Toke. I wish it had killed him."

Hrodgar stepped forward and spoke to Gunhild. "You do not remember me, but we have met before. I am the headman of the village on the Limfjord that lies just down from the farm that was attacked. We met when Hrorik brought you north to visit his lands there, after the two of you wed. What Halfdan says is true. My men and I reached the farm not long after the attack against it had ended. The longhouse had been burned to the ground, and all of its people had been slain. Toke and his men were there. He told us, too, that there were bandits. He told us Harald and some of his men had been at the longhouse—we had not known that—and that they had been slain by the bandits. But it was all lies. One of his own warriors later confessed to the truth of what happened. Niddingsvaark was done that night on the Limfjord by Toke and his men."

My anger had fanned the flames of Gunhild’s own in return, but Hrodgar’s quiet voice drained it from her, and his words seemed to suck the very life from her eyes. She covered her face with her hands, and, murmuring, "Toke, Toke, what have you done?" turned and staggered away from us. When she reached a bed-closet—the one that once had been my mother’s, and brieflymine—she pulled its door open and collapsed inside.

We still did not know what had happened here, at the estate. Turning back to Fasti, I asked, "How long ago did Toke leave?"

"Two days. No, no, three. It was three days ago."

"That is unfortunate," Ivar said to Bjorn. "We laid over for three days at Hastein’s estate, resting and feasting after the voyage from Frankia. If we had not.…"

"What happened with Sigrid and Ubbe?" I asked Fasti.

"I did not see it. I was out in the fields at the time. Most of the menfolk of the household, free and thrall, were there, too. We were harvesting hay. But I know that it started with Astrid."

"Who is this Astrid?" Hastein asked him. In his voice I could hear the same growing impatience with Fasti that I, too, was feeling.

I answered. "She is Sigrid’s maid-servant. She is a thrall."

From the high table, Bjorn called out. "And who is Sigrid?"

I turned toward him. "She is my brother Harald’s sister. They were born together. She is his twin. She is my half-sister."

Bjorn looked exasperated. "What does she have to do with anything?" he grumbled to Ivar. "What has Hastein dragged us into?"

I was growing weary of trying to pry information out of Fasti. Perhaps Astrid could tell a clearer story.

The folk of the estate were huddled down at the end of the main hall that was closest to the animals’ byre, seated together on the long benches lining the side walls, with Tore and another of our warriors watching over them. Once we had searched the longhouse and made certain that Toke and his men were truly gone, Hastein had ordered them to go there and wait. "I will fetch Astrid," I told Hastein, and strode down the hall toward them.

"I am looking for Astrid," I called out, as I approached. "I need to speak with her."

The faces of those along the benches all turned toward me, but at first no one among them responded. Finally a sturdily built man with brown hair and beard stood up and walked down to where a woman was seated, almost at the end of the hall. She hung her head and cowered as he drew near.

"It is all right, girl," he told her. "These men mean you no harm." Turning to me, he said, "She is here."

I walked over to them. The man stared at me curiously.

"You really are the boy, aren’t you?" he said. Seeing me scowl, he added, "I mean no offense. You’re clearly a boy no longer. But you are the one who was Hrorik’s son, by the Irish woman, the thrall. The one he freed and acknowledged just before he died."

He did not even know my mother’s name. She had been just a slave to him. As I had been, until Hrorik had freed me.

He continued. "My name is Gudfred. I was with Hrorik and Harald on their last voyage to England."

"Yes," I said. "I remember you." It was somewhat of an exaggeration. His face was vaguely familiar—I knew he was one of the carls who lived and worked on the estate, and had served Hrorik as one of his warriors—but I had not remembered his name. After I was freed and Harald had taken me under his care, he’d made a point of trying to teaching me the names of all of the free folk who lived on the estate. Before then—when I was still a slave—there were many, including this man Gudfred, whose names I had never known, as they, no doubt, had not known mine. Gudfred had been one of Hrorik’s followers, one of his housecarls, for years. For most of my life, that was all he’d been to me, as I had been just a slave, one of the estate’s thralls, to him.

"Toke said you were dead," he continued. "He said you’d been killed with Harald, and Ulf, and Rolf, and the others. Up on the Limfjord, in the attack by the bandits."

"Toke lied."

Gudfred grunted. "About you, at least, so it would seem. And Harald?"

"There were no bandits. Toke and his warriors attacked the longhouse in the night. They burned it. They killed Harald and his men, and all the folk of the farm, too. I alone escaped."

"Gods! And he was here, living among us all these months. After Snorre left for Frankia with most of his men, he would have been at our mercy. If only we had known."

"We—the chieftains who have come here, and I—need to know what happened here, and where Toke has gone," I told him. "I was told Astrid was involved."

"Aye," Gudfred answered. "She was. But getting the tale from her will not be easy. She has not spoken much these last few days. I saw it all. I can tell you."

I looked more closely at Astrid. She was still huddled over, her head averted, her long hair hanging loose and hiding her face.

"Astrid?" I said. "I am Halfdan. Don’t you remember me?"

She slowly straightened up and looked at me. Had I not been told who she was, I would not have recognized her. Her face looked gaunt, with deep, dark hollows under her eyes, one of which was swollen almost shut. A dark bruise covered that side of her face. Her gaze was unfocused. "Is Harald here?" she whispered. "Has he returned?"

I shook my head. "No, Astrid. He is not here. He is gone."

She hung her head again.

"Come, then," I said to Gudfred, and we walked in silence back to where Hastein and the others were waiting.

Gudfred began his tale at its beginning, back when Toke had first returned to the estate from the Limfjord.

"There were none of us among the carls living here who much liked him," he explained. "We’d all followed Hrorik for many years, and had known Toke as he was growing up. We all knew what he could be like. We remembered why Hrorik had thrown him out. And we’d all been here when he’d come back earlier this year, when the ill will between him and Harald had almost caused blood to be spilled. Had we come to blows on that night, I, for one, would gladly have stuck a spear in Toke myself.

"We live here because we followed Hrorik. We were his men. And we were glad to follow Harald, too—he was a brave man, and a fine warrior. But when Toke came back, and told us Harald was dead.…"

Gudfred was silent for a few moments. He shook his head and started again. "Toke was the only heir, then, you see? This estate, these lands, became his. We could choose to stay on the land, if he agreed, and if we were willing to follow him. Or we could choose to go. When Toke first came backand told us the estate was now his, more than a few of us—I among them—were seriously considering leaving. It would have been hard on our families, though.

"But Toke seemed a changed man. He clearly wanted us to stay, and to accept him as our chieftain, and he worked at earning our good will and respect. Some of his crew were a rough lot, and there were minor troubles at first between us and a few of them—arguments, mostly, but once or twice men came to blows. But Toke made it clear to his men from the start that he considered us their equals in every way, and he showed them no special favors or treatment.

"His man Snorre was a hard oneto like—he seemed to enjoy stirring up trouble—but after he left to join the big raid on Frankia, and took most of Toke’s men with him, things here settled down. Only a few of Toke’s men stayed here. Most that did had been wounded, like Toke had, fighting the bandits up on the Limfjord."

"There were no bandits," I said. "I have already told you. I shot the arrow that wounded Toke."

Gudfred shrugged. "We did not know."

"We want to know where Toke is," Ivar said. He sounded impatient. "Where did he go? Back to Ireland?"

Gudfred shook his head. "East. To Birka. That is where he said he was going."

"Why did he leave here?" Hastein asked. "What happened?"

"His ship, the
Sea Steed
, returned from Frankia. Its captain, his man Snorre, wasn’t on it. Toke went aboard and spoke briefly with the crew as soon as the ship made land. I’d gone down to the shore to meet the ship, as had a number of our folk. Toke started cursing almost as soon as he went on board. Then he ordered everyone out of the longhouse, and he and the
Sea Steed
's crew went inside. They stayed there, and spoke in private, until almost dusk. When the rest of us were finally allowed back in to go about our business, Toke was well on his way to being drunk, and was in a foul temper."

"What happened with Sigrid, and with Ubbe?" I asked.

"It started over the girl, Astrid," Gudfred replied. "When Toke had first come back to the estate, he had tried to take her to his bed. She was afraid of him, and didn't want to go. He and Sigrid had argued then about it. He said he was the master of the estate now, and had the right to bed any of its thralls. But Sigrid stood up to him, told him Astrid was her slave, not his, and Toke backed down. He didn't want trouble, back then. He wanted us, all of us, to accept him. And besides, there were other female thralls.

"But that night, the night the
Sea Steed
returned, Toke changed. He was in one of his black moods, like the old Toke again. After the meal, he walked over to the hearth, grabbed Astrid by the arm, and started dragging her to his bed chamber. Sigrid ran in front of them—she has courage, that's for certain—and told him to let the girl go. But Toke just shouted at her to get out of his way. He told her if she didn't, it would be worse for the girl, and for her. He said something more, too, but in a lower voice so the rest of us couldn't hear. Sigrid stepped aside then and let them pass. I saw her face just afterward. She looked afraid.

"The girl had a rough night of it. We could hear her screams all through the longhouse. Sigrid begged us—the carlswho were Hrorik's former men, and Ubbe—to do something. But with the crew of the
Sea Steed
back again, Toke had as many of his own men to back him as there were of us."

"And it wasn't worth fighting over a thrall," I said bitterly.

Gudfred shrugged. "It's true. None of us liked that he was hurting her, but she
was
just a slave. Ubbe told us to stay calm, and bide our time.

"In the morning, Toke ordered us and his men to ready both ships for a voyage. To load them with provisions and water, and have them ready to sail by noon."

"Both ships?" Hastein asked.

"Toke's ship, the
Sea Steed
, and Hrorik's, the
Red Eagle
. Ubbe asked him where he was going, so late in the season. That's when Toke said he was sailing to Birka. When Ubbe asked him why, all Toke would say was that he had business there.

"'You cannot expect the men to make a voyage and not know its purpose,' Ubbe told him."

Gudfred paused and shook his head again. "All those months when he was trying to win us over to him, he threw them away with just a few words. ‘I do not want these farmers with me,' he told Ubbe. ‘I sail with my men alone.'"

"Did he have enough men to crew both ships?" Hastein asked.

"Just barely. Light crews in each. Enough to sail both ships easy enough, but if they have much need for rowing, they'll have slow, hard going, for certain.

"Our men backed off after that. We kept to ourselves and our own business—most of us went out to work in the fields, for there was hay to be cut—and left Toke and his men to prepare the ships on their own. When they were ready to sail, Toke and fifteen of his warriors marched back up to the longhouse. They were all wearing armor, with shields, helms, full kit, and were fully armed. Most had spears, and the rest had their swords drawn.

"As I said, most of our men had gone out to work in the fields, but those of us near the longhouse—I was one of the few who happened to be—ran for our own shields and weapons, and warned our families and the folk inside to run for safety, out through the byre. We didn't know what to expect.

"Toke and his men charged inside. Sigrid, Gunhild, and few of the kitchen thralls were at the hearth. Ubbe was there, too. On Toke's orders, two of his men grabbed Sigrid, threw her face down on the main table, and began tying her hands behind her back, and her feet together.

"Sigrid was screaming. All of the women were, even Gunhild. Ubbe grabbed one of the men holding Sigrid, trying to pull him off of her. Toke stepped forward, spun Ubbe around, and swung his fist back-handed into the side of Ubbe's face, knocking him to the ground. He should have stayed down. He had no weapon. But Ubbe was Ubbe. He was an old man, and crippled, but still a warrior in his heart. As he started to get back up, Toke drew his sword and swung it at him, hard, in an over-handed cut. He hit him here," Gudfred said, touching the edge of his hand to where his left shoulder joined his neck, "and split him down almost to his breastbone. Ubbe was dead before his body hit the floor."

"What about the rest of you?" Ivar asked. "Did no one help?"

"There were only five or six of us in the longhouse, and none of us was wearing armor. Toke's men formed a line, shoulder to shoulder, spears out, between us and the hearth. There was nothing we could do. When Toke's two men finished binding Sigrid, one of them hoisted her over his shoulder, and they all retreated back to their ships.