TLV - 03 - The Sign of the Raven by Poul Anderson Page B

but ..."
    Stumbling on the ice, he went over. Hall looked at him, puzzled, and Thormodh's ax came down. It split Hall's head to the jaws.
    A bellow went up. Magnus came jumping from one loose floe to the next. "What is it?" he cried. "Have you gone mad, Thormodh?"
    "No ..." The youth crossed himself and stared at the corpse. Blood and brains steamed as they flowed out onto the ice. "I was but avenging my kin."
    Magnus bit his lip. "Ill is this. The king will make short work of you if he gets his hands . . . No, I'll stand by you, my friend. Quickly, let's away!"
    Silent, half stunned, his crew finished their task under his barked orders. They entered the ship, got oars, and pushed into the unfrozen lake. An east wind had come up, and Magnus had mast and sail raised. The light vessel surge d ahead, westward over Lake Van em.
    It was some time before the others were clear. Harald's craft was the last one out. By then he had heard the tale, and wrath boiled in him.
    "That he would dare! That the lout would dare murder my own guardsman! For this I'll hang him myself. ... Set sail and after them!"
    The king took the steering oar himself and nursed what speed his ship could make out of her. His face was stiff, but he gnawed his mustache and muttered to himself.
    Thjodholf the skald ventured to speak: "This was a matter of blood feud, my lord."
    "If Thormodh had a lawful complaint, he could have brought it before me and the Thing," said Harald. "There's been enough of men who think they are the law."
    Only one man has that right? wondered the skald, but did not dare say it aloud.
    The short day had worn thin when Harald's ships reached the agreed anchorage. He saw Magnus' beached there, and sprang ashore and stormed toward his son.
    "Where is the murderer?" he snapped. "Bring him to me!"
    The prince flinched, then gathered courage to look up into his father's eyes. "He is gone. I let him go free."
    "You—!"
    "He is my friend. I myself will pay the weregild and whatever fine you levy-."
    Harald seized the boy's coat in both hands and shook him till his teeth rattled. "I want no monies, you cub! I want that rascal's life. Are you too in rebellion against me?"
    Magnus wrenched free and clapped a hand on his sword hilt; rage darkened his cheeks and drove out fear. "Have a care, father," he said shakily. "I'm not one of your dogs."
    "No—a dog keeps faith!" Harald lifted his arm and shouted through the winter dusk: "Hoy guardsmen! Come bind this puppy for judgment."
    Magnus looked around; his crew, young men like himself, mustered heart and bristled behind him. "If anyone lays hands on me," said the prince, "he is a dead man."
    "Then see if you dare fall on your own father!" Harald's blade whined out. Ulf and Eystein arrived. The marshal thrust his own body between the two. "What witch has been working here?" he cried. "Are you mad, that you make war on your own flesh?"
    Magnus stuttered in his wrath; Harald cuffed at Ulf. "Stand aside or it'll be the worse for you. I am the king."
    "Horse shit!" spat the marshal. "Take those tin swords, both of you, and cram them where they'll do the most good. Else I'll turn you brats over my knee and send you hungry to bed!"
    Eystein spoke more soothingly, but his voice was not heard until the anger of father and son had bent toward Ulf. Meanwhile, Thjodholf threatened Styrkaar, who was ready to fall single-handed on Magnus' crew: "Hold back, you ruffian, or I'll spit you myself and eat you raw." The skald's sword was poised at the warrior's neck,
    "Have done," begged Eystein. "In Christ's holy name, have done. Truly there must be witchcraft here; this quarrel can please none but our foes."
    "Well . . ." Harald's blade drooped. "If we can lay hands on the murderer ... if you will help in that task, Magnus ..."
    "That I will not," said the prince, "but I offer again to pay the fines, also one for any insult I may have shown you. A man stands behind his friends."
    "You call yourself a man?" growled