King Alfred's Viking

or thrall, noble or churl. Maybe I had rather be called by that name than by that which was mine when I came to England, though it was a good title enough that men gave

ip and men, the circle of wide sea round me was nought that I could rule over

e content with a simple English earldom; or how it was that a viking could be useful to Alfred, t

d his men to make an end of Vemund, my father. For Harald had sworn a great oath to subdue all the lesser kings in the land and rule there alone, like Gorm in Denmark and Eirik in Sweden. So my father's turn came, and as he feasted with his ninety stout courtmen, the j

{i}. I mind that she neither wept nor shrieked as did the women round her, and her voice was clear and strong over

s. Ill may all things go with thee, till thou knowest what a burning hall is like for thyself. I rede thee to the o

to his ships with no more words and men said that he was ill at ease and little content, for he had lost as many men as he had slain

I might know on whom to avenge my father's death. After that she went to

the trouble of ruling it; and men began to leave Norway because of

is father, and we heard that he would take to the viking path, and go to the Orkneys, to win back the jarldom that Sigurd's death had left as a prey to masterless men and pirates of all sorts. So my mother took me to him

at he might towards making a good warrior and seaman of me; and he was ever thereafter as a foster father to me, for my ow

, and my first fight was in Einar's ship, against two of the viking's vessels. After that we dwelt in Sigurd's great house in Kirkwall

said, the words that my mother spoke to Jarl Rognvald

ht, and so my feud was at an end. But the king would in nowise forgive his sons for the slaying of his friend, and outlawed them. Whereon

ither in Einar's best ship to learn if Harald meant to make the Orkneys pay for the

bitterest sorrow and wrath was ours; for the town was a black heap of ruin, and the few men who were left showed me where the kindly hands of the hill folk had laid my mother, the queen, in a little mound,

as one might suppose. I set up a stone over the grave of my mother, graving runes thereon that should tell who she was and also

ast hilltop sank beneath the sea's rim astern of us. I did not know that so it would be at that time--it is well that one sees not far into things to come--but even now

e he was when he heard of my mother's death. Many things he said to me at that time which made hi

. It is in my mind that he seeks not so much for revenge as for payment of scatt from our islands. Now he has a reason for

and put the matter before them; and they set to work and did his bidding, driving th

that never had the Orkneys been so rich as in Einar's time. And he bade them make peace with the king when he came, an

ar would use this cruise to do so, seeing that we must put to sea. We were not the first who had laid these shores under rule from

bow. Then the great teeth of the chief swung against the jarl's leg and wounded it, and of that he died, and so was laid in

had been so laid waste by Sigurd's men after his death that there was nought to go there for. But at this time we had reason for getting into some quiet, unsought place where we sho

t for some miles we had rowed the ships up the winding reaches of the firth; and then, as we laid in the oars and the anchorage was reached, there crept from inland a dim haze over the sun, dimming the light, and making all things look str

der the awning, and spoke in low voi

hunderstorm a

n," the ja

w nearer, like and yet unlike thunder, roaring and jarring ever closer to us, till it was al

us; and then the sound passed on and down the firth swiftly and strangely as it had come, and left us rocking on the troubled waters that plashed an

" the jarl said;

ering if my face was white and scared as

and the troubled water was still. Then presently our fears passed enough to let us speak with one another

th Jarl Sigurd came aft to us, and stood at

n my mind that Sigurd, your brother, is wroth beca

Einar

made that it

it. Or maybe he thinks that enough honour has not been paid him. He was a great warrior, jarl, an

ood seaman and leader of men, and one who was held to be wise in

I, Thord," Einar answered. "Is it p

d. "I think it certain that Sigurd is angry for some reason;

gry ghost was no light matter. It lay far up the firth, Thord said, and the ships could n

Sigurd's mound and see if he ails augh

be supposed, but I could not le

," I said. "Will no

rim Orkney

ted place, as it seemed--all but one man, who sat on the mast step swinging his feet. This was Kolgrim the Tall, the captain of the fore deck, a young man and of few words, but a terrib

be enough, jarl," I said. "Kol

enough. We shall not fright Sigurd with more, a

he would go with us, and went to get

hould be met by warriors. The men were very silent, whispering

my brother needs somewhat, and calls me. I

n the ships, for not a soul stirred on board them, as it seemed, so intently were we w

nywhere along the shores, nor in the deep glens that came down to them, each with its noisy burn falling along it. Once I saw deer feeding far up at the head

head of the firth, where the hills came round in a circle that was broken only by the narrow waters and the valley that went beyond them among the mountains. It was a fitting resting pl

t we could see. They had made it on a little flat tongue of land that jutted from the mountain's foot into the deep water, so that on two sides the mound was close to its edge. So we pulled on softly round the tongue of land, being maybe abo

gh half the grass-grown side had been shorn away by a sword cut; and in the midst of that scar was a doorway, open to the grave's heart, low and stone built. Som

Sigurd loom gigantic and troll-like {iii} across the doorway; and the

--my br

nk back into his place and swayed against me, while his

staring at the open mound; while old Thord muttered spells again

he water and swung the boat round, and when once Kolgrim's back was towards that he feared, he held water strongly and then

wers slackened their pace only when the ben

inding that Ei

g from? there was

olgrim stopped rowing, and Thord mus

stay here. The dead

us; the cry we heard w

made all things seem strange, with the dull light that

crumbling even yet from the broken side. The blow we

r spoke, and his

unhonoured, and he is an

back and see more of this. I was drawn to do so, as a thing they fear will make some

to ask Sigurd that," I said; an

ave us retur

arl has called us as it seems, nee

said

ind how he looked at that time. Somewhat we

ing his chin on his hand, and s

had stayed to fight Harald and fall under his sword before. I too must s

he meant what he said. Nevertheless it seemed t

s close friend, and I have had nought to do with him. I will go back, therefore, and learn what I can of him. I

will of a dead hero, so that he shows no fear and is a friend.

I s

that he is a ghost. I do not know if I

is hand on mine

ty, the scalds will sing of you for many a long day. Go, therefore, boldly; this i

said

for a token whereby we may know

ar said

give that to the man who dares speak to him, for he will k

ulled the boat to the bank where I could step on a rock and so to shor

, and maybe I will return in t

king that Kolgrim held the boat's painter.

im, will yo

ld the king's son; I will com

de a little, and then went steadily towards where the mound was, with Kolgrim close at