TLV - 03 - The Sign of the Raven by Poul Anderson Page A
Authors: Poul Anderson
Tags: Historical Novel
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either side. Stars flickered in the twigs, as if netted there. So narrow was the trail that just one at a time could pass. Harald's standard-bearers rode in front of him and behind, the leader carrying the bear flag of King Magnus. Its white folds glimmered like victory.
Ulf was wandering off on a long discourse. His words drifted faintly to Harald: "... see you, many ways t' buil' a ship, down south th' galleys 're clumsy, but they've a thought with decking o'er the whole of 'em. Woul'n' y' like t' row dry f'r once? An' warm—Hell take me, 's cold! No more in that jug, Gunnar? No? Well, well, I'd but have more o' headache t'morr'w. . . ."
The king smiled. A drowsy warmth rose inside him. Good it was to ride victorious with friends at his back.
He heard brushwood snap to the right, and started awake. The broken moonlight shuddered off steel. A man was leaping across the path—a tall man who bore a spear in one hand.
"Hoy!" shouted Harald, and snatched for his sword.
The tall man lifted the spear and hurled it. The king heard it smack in flesh; suddenly the point gleamed out of his foremost standard-bearer's back. The youth gave a scream as he fell from the saddle.
Ere Harald could draw blade, the tall man had seized Magnus' banner and was gone with it.
The Norse line jarred to a halt. Torches bobbed, throwing eyes and teeth out of night. "What is it, what happened? In Christ's name what's this latest ill?"
Harald drew a shaking breath. He felt the cold crackle around and through him.
"Give me my byrnie," he said. "The jarl lives."
VII
How Ellisif Was Angry
1
In that part of the night which remained, the Norse stayed aboard their ships. By dawn the chill had deepened, and in the first light men saw that the river had frozen over again, this time so thickly that one could walk on the ice.
Magnus came sliding merrily down it, until he reached his father's craft; there he caught the stem and twirled to a halt. "What shall we do?" he asked.
The king glowered over the side. It was a gnawing in his soul that Haakon had escaped; he told himself it mattered not, the jarl's power was broken, but that was a frosty comfort. "We must chop a way clear," he said. "The Uplanders shall not enjoy their insolence a day longer than I can help."
"So be it. Whoo-oo!" Magnus skated back on his boot soles. His ship had been last to enter the river, and thus lay closest to the lake. He cried orders to the crew, and took a hand himself.
Though the air was searingly cold, it was a bright morning, with blue shadows across an utter whiteness of snow and the ice ashimmer. The sound of axes and boat hooks made echoes bounce over the stream and back from the woods. Tired though they were from yesterday, the men worked fast, if only to keep warm; the cooks wavered across the ice with food and drink for them, and water swirled blackly in the holes they cut.
Erelong they were in sight of the lake. The ships behind Magnus' were using the channel, so that their men had less to do and came to help his. Last of all was the king's vessel. From it sprang a guardsman, Hall Otryggsson, who was renowned for his great deeds and stood high in Harald's favor. He fell to with a wild strength; the ax was blurred in his hand.
One of Magnus' crew stopped to watch, and said admiringly: "There you see it, as often before; no one can lay so much power where it's needed as Hall Kodhran's bane. See how it goes!"
A young man in the prince's following grew suddenly pale. This was Thormodh Eindridhason, who had but lately joined Magnus from the North country; it was his first taste of war, though he had already made himself a good friend of the king's son.
"Is that . . ." He gulped and asked through dry lips: "Is that indeed the Hall who slew Kodhran Gudhmundarson many years ago?"
"So it is; they had some quarrel. What of it?"
"Only this," whispered Thormodh, "that Kodhran was my mother's cousin. I was scarce a year old when he was killed,
Ulf was wandering off on a long discourse. His words drifted faintly to Harald: "... see you, many ways t' buil' a ship, down south th' galleys 're clumsy, but they've a thought with decking o'er the whole of 'em. Woul'n' y' like t' row dry f'r once? An' warm—Hell take me, 's cold! No more in that jug, Gunnar? No? Well, well, I'd but have more o' headache t'morr'w. . . ."
The king smiled. A drowsy warmth rose inside him. Good it was to ride victorious with friends at his back.
He heard brushwood snap to the right, and started awake. The broken moonlight shuddered off steel. A man was leaping across the path—a tall man who bore a spear in one hand.
"Hoy!" shouted Harald, and snatched for his sword.
The tall man lifted the spear and hurled it. The king heard it smack in flesh; suddenly the point gleamed out of his foremost standard-bearer's back. The youth gave a scream as he fell from the saddle.
Ere Harald could draw blade, the tall man had seized Magnus' banner and was gone with it.
The Norse line jarred to a halt. Torches bobbed, throwing eyes and teeth out of night. "What is it, what happened? In Christ's name what's this latest ill?"
Harald drew a shaking breath. He felt the cold crackle around and through him.
"Give me my byrnie," he said. "The jarl lives."
VII
How Ellisif Was Angry
1
In that part of the night which remained, the Norse stayed aboard their ships. By dawn the chill had deepened, and in the first light men saw that the river had frozen over again, this time so thickly that one could walk on the ice.
Magnus came sliding merrily down it, until he reached his father's craft; there he caught the stem and twirled to a halt. "What shall we do?" he asked.
The king glowered over the side. It was a gnawing in his soul that Haakon had escaped; he told himself it mattered not, the jarl's power was broken, but that was a frosty comfort. "We must chop a way clear," he said. "The Uplanders shall not enjoy their insolence a day longer than I can help."
"So be it. Whoo-oo!" Magnus skated back on his boot soles. His ship had been last to enter the river, and thus lay closest to the lake. He cried orders to the crew, and took a hand himself.
Though the air was searingly cold, it was a bright morning, with blue shadows across an utter whiteness of snow and the ice ashimmer. The sound of axes and boat hooks made echoes bounce over the stream and back from the woods. Tired though they were from yesterday, the men worked fast, if only to keep warm; the cooks wavered across the ice with food and drink for them, and water swirled blackly in the holes they cut.
Erelong they were in sight of the lake. The ships behind Magnus' were using the channel, so that their men had less to do and came to help his. Last of all was the king's vessel. From it sprang a guardsman, Hall Otryggsson, who was renowned for his great deeds and stood high in Harald's favor. He fell to with a wild strength; the ax was blurred in his hand.
One of Magnus' crew stopped to watch, and said admiringly: "There you see it, as often before; no one can lay so much power where it's needed as Hall Kodhran's bane. See how it goes!"
A young man in the prince's following grew suddenly pale. This was Thormodh Eindridhason, who had but lately joined Magnus from the North country; it was his first taste of war, though he had already made himself a good friend of the king's son.
"Is that . . ." He gulped and asked through dry lips: "Is that indeed the Hall who slew Kodhran Gudhmundarson many years ago?"
"So it is; they had some quarrel. What of it?"
"Only this," whispered Thormodh, "that Kodhran was my mother's cousin. I was scarce a year old when he was killed,
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