‘Then the business is not finished.’ Sviggar grimaced. ‘The kingdom won’t be safe until they are slaughtered in this stronghold of theirs.’ A sudden fit of coughing racked his body. Erlan saw blood fleck his withered lips. ‘A red day,’ he croaked. ‘Is this not what I’ve promised my people to avenge their blood? A red day for my son.’
‘Father, is it not revenge enough that their king is dead?’ exclaimed Lilla. ‘You’re sick. You can’t fight. You know you can’t.’
A grim expression settled on his face. ‘If I can but hold my sword—’
‘Father, you must not break the seal on that place! Though you kill every last one of them, there are things unseen down there – things not of this world – which must not be released. If they are, I fear for all of us.’ She turned and appealed to Erlan, eyes imploring him. ‘Tell him, Erlan! The seal must not be broken!’
But the king spoke before he could. ‘How you talk like your mother, sweet Lilla! You must forgive an old man his obstinacy. I deal in things of flesh and blood. These ill spirits and such you speak of – it is beyond a king to protect against these. But the kingdom must be secured.’
‘Lord, like you I know little enough of any spirit worlds,’ said Erlan. ‘But your daughter is right. There is untold evil down in those caverns. Perhaps what you have now is the best you can hope for. Perhaps, as Lady Lilla says, it is best to let it lie.’
‘Do you expect all these men to have ridden through this bollock-freezing wasteland just to crawl back to Uppsala with their blades still dry?’ said Bodvar, the lines in his face hardening. ‘Now? When the road to their enemy is finally clear?’
‘Oh, how the talk of you men sickens me!’ cried Lilla. ‘I have a blade wet with Nefelung blood. Am I more of a man than you because of it?’ Her gaunt features flushed with passion. ‘Well? Am I?’
The grizzled earl only returned her question with a wan smile.
‘Many of these men will die if you break in there!’
‘And when the spring comes?’ was Bodvar’s gruff reply.
She shook her head, seeing these men were not to be persuaded. ‘You should not disturb what you don’t understand.’
‘My child, I understand your misgivings,’ said Sviggar softly. ‘But the thing must be done. And done now.’ He seemed about to say more, but was suddenly overwhelmed by another fit of coughing, the worst yet.
Finn, his bodyguard, laid a hand on his shoulder, finally voicing what everyone was thinking. ‘Sire, on one thing at least, your daughter has the right of it. You’re too sick for this fight.’ The archer glowered at Bodvar to say something decisive.
‘Let Earl Heidrek and I be your hands,’ offered Bodvar, albeit with a circumspect look at the other earl. ‘Let us win you your revenge.’
The king’s breath rasped noisily while they awaited his answer. At last, he whispered. ‘Very well – I will heed my daughter’s counsel. You will do my killing for me.’
‘We shall not fail you, sire,’ said Bodvar.
Erlan had followed this, seen the way it was going. So when Bodvar turned to him, he’d already been turning over the question that the earl now asked.
‘If the entrance is sealed, do you think we can still find a way in?’
Erlan nodded. ‘Aye – I believe there’s a way.’ Though the prospect of going back down into the darkness was bitter as poison.
‘Is it far from here?’ asked Heidrek.
‘A day’s hard ride, no more. Maybe less with our tracks. I’ll show you myself.’
‘No,’ said Sviggar firmly. ‘You’ve done enough already.’
‘Lord, I’ll go again if I must. Don’t think my wounds would stop me.’
‘Wounds or no, my word is final. Your servant will stay with us too.’
Finn suddenly laughed. ‘Stranger, you’re a glutton for the king’s favour! Let these murderous bastards have their day.’ He jerked his head at the two earls. ‘I’d say you’ve had your fair portion, wouldn’t you?’
Aye – enough to burst my belly.
Erlan looked from Bodvar to the sagging figure of the king, and to Lilla beside him. ‘Then I’ll do as you wish, my lord.’ Relief washed over him. He suddenly realized he was nursing his wounded arm. A rest would be good. ‘But there is much I must tell you, Lord Bodvar.’
The earl chuckled. ‘There’s much I would know.’
The rest of the day Erlan spent in conference with Bodvar and Heidrek. He disgorged every detail he could recall of Niflagard and had them repeat it all till they knew it as well as him.
‘Above all, you need light. Without it, you’re blind. With it, you can defeat them.’
Bodvar asked how they could break the seal into the place. ‘I have an idea, but if it fails. . .’ Erlan shrugged. ‘Maybe they’re fated to stay buried down there.’
‘We’ll not let the bastards off so easy,’ returned Bodvar. ‘Tell us.’
‘When you come to the place, you’ll find a huge fall of ice and rock.’ He threw a glance at Kai, who sat warming himself a little way off, but within earshot. ‘That one’s doing. Half the cliff blocks the entrance now. But on the left, the ice seals a large part of the cavern behind it. My idea is this. Build a furnace against that part of the icefall. Pack it tight. Pile it high. The fire’s heat will melt the ice and the way will be open into the hole.’
The two earls considered this.
‘Are you certain it can be done?’ asked Heidrek.
‘Certain – no. But there’s a chance it could work.’
‘At least it stands to reason,’ said Bodvar. ‘Ice yields to fire.’ Erlan’s skin prickled with the memory of Lilla’s strange spell and he felt a pang of guilt, imagining her reproach.
The next day, long before dawn, the two earls rode out at the head of a column of karls and thanes and high-born lords. Two full hirds, nearly three hundred men. They left behind only a dozen who would ride escort to their king and his daughter, back to the Uppland halls.
Kai and Erlan rode with them.
‘Onwards!’ cried the old king, astride his horse, watching his warriors move out. ‘Onwards to a red day and victory!’
Lilla tugged her horse around and rode off. Curious, Erlan did likewise and caught up with her.
‘You still have misgivings?’
She looked at him and he saw the foreboding in her dark blue eyes. ‘Sometimes defeat looks like victory,’ she said, kicking on.
‘Then we should pray the gods this isn’t one of them,’ he called after her.
But then he recalled the Watcher’s web of words and a doubt sprang into his mind.
Were there any gods to hear their prayers?
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Sviggar’s health improved not a whit as they journeyed homeward.
Each day they rode slower as his need for rest grew, and Lilla insisted they move on only when he felt strong enough to sit atop his horse.
By late afternoon on the third day, whatever gladness there might have been in returning home had long leached away.
‘This feels like a bloody funeral march,’ murmured Kai, as they rode along. A fair wind was gusting through the trees. ‘Not exactly the triumphant procession I imagined.’
‘Knowing your imagination, I’m not surprised.’
‘I should’ve been with Bodvar’s lot. I’m not all cut up like you. It’s past time I got my sword wet.’
‘Catch,’ said Erlan, chucking a flask of water. Kai caught it with his left hand and yelped in pain. ‘Wolf-Hand,’ winked his master, point proven.
‘Baaah! My sword arm’s good.’
‘Save it for a fair fight. Down that hole you’re not like to get one. Anyway there’s plenty of—’
‘Time – yes, I know. So everyone keeps bloody telling me!’ Kai glanced back at the king, flanked by his faithful Finn. ‘I’ll be wheezing away like the old goat before I get a decent fight.’ He pulled a face. ‘Still, there’s a thought! I could take the king of all Sveäland just no
w. Easy! Hey – would that make me king?’
Erlan gave up trying to follow his friend’s meandering mind.
‘First law I’d make – every new king gets three wives. In fact, I’d have all the fairest women fight it out for the privilege.’ He grinned to himself. ‘I can think of some of them Uppland minxes who wouldn’t mind.’
‘Isn’t it usually the other way round?’
‘Men fighting for women? Oh, I know that. But these darlings couldn’t stop ’emselves! With old King Kai on the throne, show me the beauty who wouldn’t want to share his bed.’ His face fairly glowed at the prospect.
Erlan answered his question with a nod in the direction of the princess riding behind. ‘How about our frosty maid back there?’
‘Hmm. . . Tell you what – a king should be gracious. She could be a prize of office. A reward for my most loyal servant, the famous earl of bloody Niflagard,’ he said, grandly. ‘And other stink-holes he’d care to conquer. The noble lord Erlan – son of no one, heir to nowhere in particular. There you are – what a generous king I’d be!’
‘Reckon I’d be warmer sharing my bed with a block of ice.’
The two of them laughed long and loud.
‘What’s so amusing?’ a soft voice sounded behind them. They turned as Lilla nudged her horse between theirs.
‘This one’s foolishness isn’t for your ears, princess.’
‘Sometimes there’s great wisdom hidden in great folly.’
‘Then Kai must be the wisest man in the kingdom.’
Lilla laughed and Erlan discovered that it was a beautiful sound – free and fresh and full of life. She should do it more often, he thought.
‘Hey, it’s not that funny,’ protested Kai, as Lilla struggled to recover herself. ‘Now if you’ll excuse me, my lady. I must be alone.’ He gave a mocking little bow, pulled off to one side and dismounted, already unbuckling his belt.
‘A friend is a valuable thing,’ said Lilla, as they watched him disappear off into the trees in a hurry.
‘So it is. You should try it yourself.’
Her mouth only twitched in reply.
‘How’s your father?’
‘Stronger today. In his limbs, at least. His breathing is still weak. Sometimes he coughs blood. But the draught I gave him is helping.’
Erlan sucked on his teeth. ‘Well – a long life to him.’
She looked at him, scanning his face for sincerity, apparently unsure.
‘I mean it. My life is bound to his now.’ He glanced back at the slumped figure of the king. He had to admit that, just now, the withered old man looked a pitiful sort of protector.
Lilla gazed up at the wind gusting in the trees. ‘I fear what will become of this land when he dies.’
‘I suppose your brother will become king and rule as your father does.’
‘He may rule, but not like my father. A son is not his father. When kings die, bonds of fealty are tested. And kingdoms quickly fall.’
‘Are there any to challenge the Sveärs?’
She scoffed as if she couldn’t believe his naivety. ‘Many! There are always many. But the most jealous are blood kin.’
‘You mean the Wartooth’s line?’
‘You know about that?’ She sounded surprised.
‘I heard a little talk. That and your father nearly took my head for being King Harald’s catspaw.’
‘You’re lucky he didn’t.’
‘As are you.’
She ran a tongue across her dry lips. ‘I suppose so,’ she said, eyeing him carefully. ‘The jealousy of kings is long-lived and never simple. In the times of our fathers, there wasn’t the peace we have now. My grandfather was a great king. His power spread beyond Sveäland to Denmark and the lands of Eastern and Western Gotars.’
‘Ivar Wide-Realm?’
‘Indeed. So named because far and wide, kings paid him tribute. He lived long. Long enough to outlive his first wife, who’d given him a daughter called Autha.’
‘The Deep-Minded.’
‘So you know all this?’
‘Some – but little more.’
‘He married Autha to King Rorik of Denmark and they had a son called Harald. Later Ivar took another. . . My grandmother.’
‘But they were never married.’
Lilla looked up. A nerve pricked. She shook her head.
‘So both wine and mud run in those royal veins of yours,’ he teased.
‘You think I care about that,’ she snapped. ‘Except that it gives other fools reason to slander my father’s name.’ Her eyes fixed his. ‘They call him the Bastard King, but there was never born a bastard so noble. And as for my grandmother – she was a matchless woman. She had more dignity in her little finger than the blood of a dozen kings or queens.’
‘So why didn’t he marry her?’
‘For no better reason than he was a stubborn fool.’
‘But she gave him a son. Your father.’
‘Yes. For that he was grateful.’
‘So where did the bad blood between them arise?’
Her brow furrowed as she told how Autha had demanded that her father name her heir to his realm as his only legitimate child. Ivar was riled and instead named Sviggar heir, and schemed to murder her husband and take Denmark for himself.
‘He murdered his own daughter’s husband?’
Lilla nodded.
‘Small wonder she hated him.’
‘There were wars. First in Denmark and then across the East Sea in Estland and beyond. Harald, Autha’s son, won great fame for himself there, as did my own father. But this strife came to an end when Ivar died suddenly. He drowned off his boat one night, but no one knows how.’
Afterwards the young Sviggar had returned to Sveäland to secure his throne, while Autha sent Harald home to Denmark to take up his inheritance. Lilla sighed as she came to the end of her story. ‘There he now rules – over Danes and Eastern Gotars. And my father kept Sveäland and draws tribute from the Western Gotars.’
This was all new to Erlan. He had heard of the Wartooth, of course, but never how he had come by the Danish crown.
‘And now there’s peace between your lines.’
‘For now – yes. . .’
‘You think it will hold?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Would Harald still try to take your father’s kingdom?’
‘Harald isn’t strong enough to do that. As for my father, he’s long lost his appetite for finishing Autha’s line.’
‘So a balance is struck.’
‘While my father lives. And if my brother Staffen had lived. . . He understood the limits of the kingdom’s power. Oh, he was conceited, but he wasn’t stupid, nor blinded by grand ideas.’
‘And Sigurd?’
‘He’s not the same. He always speaks of the “true kingdom” – the Wide-Realm of our grandfather, in which Danes and Gotars and Sveärs were all under one king. That’s how he believes the kingdom should be and he’s forever goading my father into restoring it.’
‘And what do you think?’
She laughed. Again he was struck by its sweet sound. ‘What a strange question!’
‘Why?’
‘One thing you learn as a girl raised in the halls of kings – it’s not a woman’s place to speak openly her opinions on realms and war.’
‘Only whisper them into their menfolk’s ears at night, perhaps?’ He smiled. ‘Is that not a woman’s skill? To make a man believe her thoughts are his own?’
‘Are you so distrustful of us?’
‘Some of you.’
‘Well, you needn’t fear on my account,’ she smiled. ‘Kingdoms are ideas in the heads of men seeking glory. I care not for ideas, but for people. For my folk and family and those I love. If I want glory, I need look no further than the woods I walk in or the first glimpse of a sunrise.’
‘Men die for glory. Would you die for those you love?’
She thought for a moment, and then said, ‘
Yes. . . Yes, I would.’
‘Hel of a gale up!’ They turned to see Finn smiling at them from atop his grey mare. It was true – the whistle of the wind overhead seemed to be getting louder all the time. ‘How’s the arm?’ he asked Erlan.
‘Stiff. Sore.’
‘Well, what wound isn’t? But you’re a big lad now, eh?’ He leaned over and thumped Erlan on the back. ‘If it’s not keeping you from amusing our fair princess here, I won’t be worried on your account.’
‘I’m about as far from fair as ever I’ve been,’ said Lilla, demurely.
‘And yet a lot closer than most women are ever like to get.’
She gave a flick of a smile in reply.
‘What about him?’ Erlan nodded at the king. ‘Are you worried on his account?’
‘I’m always worried on his account,’ joked Finn. ‘But you’re right. I doubt he can go much further this evening. We’re losing light fast.’
‘Seems we cover less ground each day,’ said Erlan.
‘Well, the days are getting shorter.’
‘It’ll soon be the winter solstice,’ observed Lilla.
‘Yep,’ replied Finn. ‘By rights, we should be wrapped up cosy in our halls, toasting our way through the long nights and feasting on a fat Yuletide hog. Hel’s teeth – I can’t remember a night out here I haven’t dreamed of getting home. One thing that wife of mine can do is keep a man warm in bed!’
‘We’ll reach there soon,’ said Lilla.
‘Not soon enough for me,’ he grinned.
‘You surprise me,’ said Erlan. ‘Didn’t you want to join Bodvar and his men?’
‘I suppose there was a time I might have wanted to,’ admitted Finn, cheerfully. ‘But a man can’t do everything. And I realized long ago, if you miss one fight, there’s usually another round the corner. Besides which, once you’ve figured where your duty lies and you stick to it, life becomes a lot simpler. Mine – for good or ill – is beside that fella.’ He tipped his head at Sviggar.
He seemed to have all the answers. Erlan found himself envying Finn his untroubled mind.
Behind them, there was a thud of hoofbeats approaching. Kai rode up at a canter, shot straight past the king and pulled up beside them, eyes wide.
A Mighty Dawn Page 42
