by Lena North
He sighed then.
"Are you sure you want to do this, Sissa? If you don't have enough, you and I can go through what you know. Then we search for more, until we have what we need."
"It's too dangerous to wait. Jarl Ingolf has lost his eye. I was almost killed last night. We can't let this fester and cause more damage. I have enough, Einarr. Trust me."
"Right," he said. "You know what to say and how? Ingolf will not be happy," he added.
"I think so."
"Huh. Well, I guess it'll have to be good enough," he said with a small grin. "Don't worry, Sissa. We'll get through this," he added.
On Einarr's orders, we gathered at midday in the longhouse. Astrid and Josteinn were there, and my family too. I'd asked Einarr to include Hjalvor and Sigurd, the two warriors who had brought Heidrun out to the altar. Einarr raised his brows in surprise but nodded and did what I asked.
After a commotion that erupted when Freyja wanted me and my family to sit by the fire, whining that thralls shouldn't soil her beautiful home, we sat down around the table that stretched through the Jarls great hall. Jarl Ingolf was awake, but he was resting on his bed, still too weak to sit up for longer periods of time. Our Jarl was oddly quiet most of the time. The loss of his eye had been a shock to him, and it was clear that he still struggled with how to handle that. That it happened to him before he'd learned to live with with how his daughter died made it even harder for him to accept, and he brooded.
When Einarr nodded at me to start, I took a deep breath, wiped my palms on Astrid's beautiful dress, and began.
"Most of you know that Einarr asked me to help him with the investigations around Heidrun's death," I started. "I'll briefly go through some facts that you all are aware of. Then we'll discuss the details that we have found."
Everyone nodded, Ulf gave me a tight smile, and I threw myself right into the explanation.
"Jarl Ingolf announced that I'd be sacrificed just the day before the event, and that was a surprise to everyone. I spent the evening at home with my parents, and my mother used the evening to make the hood I was supposed to wear. The morning after I was at home until midday when Jarl Ingolf and Einarr came to get me. They locked me up in the small shed and then they went for a midday meal in the longhouse."
"Don't we all know this, Sissa?" Freyja interrupted.
"Yes," I replied calmly and continued as if she hadn't said anything.
"Heidrun was there for the meal, and afterward, she went with Disa to start preparing for the celebration. You, Freyja, had ordered my brother to bring home fresh rushes for the floor, and you helped him to deal with them. Then Heidrun left the storage house, and Disa went to look for her. Ulf had brought back too many rushes so Freyja started putting them in the shed close to the one I was in. Josteinn helped with that."
They all nodded when I looked at them. I had no reason to make a pause, but I needed a break to gather my thoughts so I faked a thirst I didn't feel and gulped down water.
"Mother came with my last meal," I continued, "and then she looked into the shed next to mine. No one was there, so she put the beam on the door, with Josteinn's help. At the time of the sacrifice, Hjalvor and Sigurd went to get me, but they went into the other shed and got Heidrun. She was sacrificed. I spent the night passed out and locked up, until Torbiorn let me out the next day."
I turned to Einarr, wanting him to confirm what I'd said.
"Yes, Sissa, this is an excellent summary of what we know," he said calmly.
"There's one thing I don't understand," I said, looking at the two warriors. "How could it be that you didn't know which shed I was in?"
Their mouths fell, and they looked at each other. Neither seemed to want to speak, but before Einarr could order them to do so, Hjalvor started talking.
"We didn't lock you in there, Sissa. Both of us spent most of the day moving the stone that was to act as an altar," he said, seemingly a little embarrassed. "We wanted to do that for Torbi, Sissa. He was a good man, a good friend, and we felt sorry for him. To have to haul the stone his sister -"
"But how did you know which shed to go to later then?" I interrupted.
My gut clenched because I'd not managed to figure this out. What they said could throw everything around. They looked at each other again, and this time, it was Sigurd who replied, and he'd turned to Einarr.
"But... you told us where to go, Einarr?"
He put it as a question, and I saw Einarr's jaw drop. This was not at all the answer I expected.
"I told you to go to the shed, and get the girl," he said harshly. "I did not specify which one," he added assuredly.
"But you did," Sigurd insisted. "You said to go to the locked shed. Both our Jarl and his wife was there, and they nodded," he insisted stubbornly, and then he added, "Only one shed had a beam over the door so we didn't even look in the other."
"Are you saying that Sissa's shed wasn't locked?" Joss asked, sounding incredulous.
Einarr jerked when he heard the tone of his son's voice, and turned slowly.
"Joss..." he whispered hoarsely.
"What?" Joss asked, but then his eyes widened. "You thought I had removed the slat," he said, glaring at his father.
"You could have," Einarr murmured, but he looked a bit uneasy with how the discussion had turned.
"Well, I didn't," Joss stated, and then he continued sourly, "Maybe I should have."
"Maybe you should have," Einarr echoed, and I stared at him.
I understood why he'd been so reluctant to talk to me about why the warriors had gone to the wrong shed, but it suddenly sounded like he had wanted Joss to disobey him, and give me a chance to get away. If Mother hadn't given me herbs, I thought, then I might have pushed the door open and escaped. I wondered briefly where I would have gone, if I would have made it. Then I pulled myself together and opened my mouth to continue explaining, but I was interrupted before I even could start speaking.
"I'm sorry, Ingolf. The gods had asked for the sacrifice, but we were uneasy about it and wanted it over and done with, so we hurried. We should have made sure we knew," Hjalvor said. It was clear that both men regretted that they hadn't looked.
"But I don't understand? Sissa was in the locked shed, wasn't she?" Freyja said suddenly, utterly bewildered.
She glanced over at me, and it was just briefly, but I saw it then. A sly, cunning look that belied the stupidity I'd always believed she possessed. Suddenly I remembered how Joss and I had sat on the beach the night I'd been to the grove to look for the hood. I thought about how he'd described the sacrifice to me and then I had to press my lips together to keep them from smiling because I knew what had happened. I decided to continue like I had planned.
"Disa was poisoned," I said abruptly.
There was a stunned silence and then Freyja started to cry loudly, wailing about her dear Disa and asking all and sundry how it could be true. It took a while to calm her down but finally she sat silently in her seat again. She appeared to be completely shattered by this news, but it seemed a bit exaggerated to me. I saw how the others exchanged looks. Disa had been dead for a while, and the knowledge that she'd been poisoned didn't change that fact.
"What could have been used?" Einarr asked.
"Henbane," I answered.
Astrid pulled in breath audibly and started to speak, but Mother interrupted.
"Or Nightshade, but I don't know where anyone would have found it, I haven't seen it for many years, and it is even more difficult to use."
"Few would have known how to handle Henbane, Mother tells me. It's easy to give too much and kill instantly, it needs to be just right," I said, watching Astrid as I continued. "Our two healers would know," I added slowly, "and their families. Stein could have known from his grandmother. There could be others who has this knowledge as well, but we've found none so far."
"Sissa -" Josteinn started but stopped again when his father put a hand heavily on his shoulder.
"I went to the grove and look
ed at Heidrun, the night after the sacrifice," I said then, and there was another stunned silence.
This was good, I thought. I wanted them all a little bit confused and surprised because I didn't want anyone to have time to prepare their answers. I wanted the truth from them all.
"I wanted to look at the hood she had, but it was gone. It wouldn't have made a difference if it had been there, though, because I wouldn't have managed to look closely. She was hanging from a branch high enough so only a tall man would have been able to pull it off," I shared.
Jarl Ingolf made a choking sound and I turned toward him.
"I'm so sorry, Jarl Ingolf. I know this is hard for you to hear, but we need the details to give your daughter the revenge she deserves."
He grunted, and I decided to take that as a confirmation that I could continue.
"My friends are dead," I said, and they almost jumped at this change of subject. "But before they ran away Nessa told me she ate the leftovers from Heidrun's plate after the midday meal here in the longhouse, and she got sick. Drowsy and stumbling around. Stomach pain."
"Small amounts of Henbane, from the leaves and not the root," Astrid whispered, her eyes locked to my mother's.
"Yes," Mother replied grimly.
I was silent for a while then, letting it all sink in. I'd had many hours to think about all of this, and they needed time to grasp all the details.
"Here's what I think happened," I said, finally.
"Heidrun was poisoned at midday, and she fell asleep a while later in the storage house. Someone went in there, took off her shoes, and some of her clothes. You found them later Einarr," I said, pointing to my feet. "You gave her shoes to me."
His mouth fell open, as he looked at the soft shoes I had on my feet like he'd never seen them before. I didn't give him any chance to say anything about it.
"Then Heidrun was pushed out through the large window that faces the forest. Ulf had brought big pine rushes close to where she would have fallen, so someone put one or two over her and pulled her over to the shed. I saw marks in the snow beneath the window before the snow fell, and I saw her heels in the grove, they were muddy and scraped."
Mother nodded thoughtfully. She had cleaned Heidrun up when they'd brought her down from the grove, and would have seen the dirt on Heidrun's feet as well.
"Then she was pushed into the shed next to mine, through the window on the back side. The shed is partially dug out, and the window is close to the ground on the outside, so it would have been easy enough. The person who did it went around to enter through the door, dressed Heidrun in a thrall dress, covered her with the rushes, closed and latched the window from the inside. As they brought in more rushes, she got more and more hidden under them. Finally, Mother passed by, peeked into the shed, saw nothing so she and Joss put the beam on the door."
Josteinn had straightened and looked stunned, but suddenly Hjalvor made a strangled sound so I turned to him with my brows raised.
"We thought... we thought you were afraid, Sissa. Who wouldn't have been? You were mostly under the rushes when we came for you, and it looked like you were trying to hide. We had to drag you out. You started struggling when we did. Then we heard that it had been Heidrun... I just didn't think about the rushes, not until now" he said.
It looked like Einarr wanted to yell at them but then he sighed, wiping his brow a few times.
"Then when everyone had gathered by the altar, someone took the slat off my door. It's not heavy like the beam on Heidrun's shed, so it would be easy to do. The sacrifice was performed, and the same person rushed back to put the slat on my door again," I said confidently, although it was partly fake because I had little evidence about this part. "It's not as if we stand in straight lines during the sacrifice. We're mostly milling around so to get in and out of the crowd without anyone noticing is easy," I added.
"What about my brother? Why was he injured?" Einarr asked, and our eyes met.
He knew well that I wanted to move on to something else and this we hadn't discussed so he leaned over the table toward me. I made a rueful face because I felt a bit guilty about this.
"I told my family that we were close to knowing and that we just needed to talk to the Jarl. I exaggerated quite a lot but I wanted to give them hope, and I wanted them to stop asking questions that would get them into danger. Right after that, we heard sounds outside. We thought it was rats, but I think someone heard us and wanted to stop us from talking to Jarl Ingolf."
A sound coming from behind startled me and then Jarl Ingolf staggered across the room to sit down in his chair at the end of the table.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked grimly.
"Who convinced you that there was a need for a human sacrifice? Who said it had to be me?" I countered immediately before I could lose my courage.
His eyes went straight to his wife.
"Freyja?" he said incredulously.
She started to say something and her hands were fluttering. Then she moved as if to stand up, but both Jarl Ingolf and his brother moved slightly.
"Sit down, Freyja," Einarr ordered calmly. "You'll listen and answer Sissa's questions. If you have nothing to hide then there's no harm in that, is there?"
She sat down immediately. Before she could say any of the words that clearly was at the tip of her tongue, the Jarl addressed me, and he did it in a hard and angry voice.
"You're coming with serious accusations, Sissa. You need to explain."
Chapter Twenty-four
Truth
"This was planned in advance. There are too many things that had to be prepared, and most in the village didn't know that I'd be sacrificed until just the evening before," I started.
Then I turned to the Freyja. She was guilty, I knew it in my core. She was also wife to the man who owned me, so I would be punished if they didn't believe me. Freyja would see to that, quickly and harshly. She was guilty, though, and I couldn't just let that pass, so I had to make them understand. Mustering all my courage, I continued.
"I think that you created the hood and collected the poison a long time ago, Freyja. I believe that you did it already at the end of last summer. And you started complaining more than a week before the sacrifice about how the mead they'd selected wasn't just right, wasn't enough. We all heard you. How you made Jarl Ingolf think that it was a good idea to sacrifice a human, I do not know, but then you convinced him it had to be me. He probably didn't think much about why you wanted it to be me specifically, and it didn't matter anyway because an insignificant thrall girl like me was an easy choice. But you wanted it to be me because of my resemblance to Heidrun.
"If he hadn't agreed to the human sacrifice then none would have been the wiser, but he did, so you put your plan in motion. You probably opened the window in the shed, and hid some thrall clothes there, already the same night. You sat next to Heidrun at the midday meal and somehow you managed to put Henbane on her plate."
"She was leaning over her plate several times," Astrid interrupted. "I sat next to Stein on the other side and remember it clearly because I thought she was ridiculous, leaning over Heidrun to giggle and pat Ingolf on his arm so many times."
I nodded and before anyone had time to say anything I continued.
"Then I suppose you made some offhand comment, Freyja, something about real men needing much to drink?" I looked around, and both Einarr and the Jarl's mouths tightened.
I turned to look at Freyja again.
"So then Heidrun went to select more from the storage. She runs the Jarl's household so you knew she would and you had not counted on Disa going with her, but you used it. You were fluttering in and out of the house, and then you asked Disa to go with you on some errand. Ulf saw you leave."
Ulf made a grunting sound and nodded slowly.
"When you came back to the storage house, you turned in the door, telling Disa that Heidrun wasn't there. You called out for her several times, and then you sent Disa to look for her in the village
. Except I believe that Heidrun was still in the house, unconscious.
"Disa went away, and you went into the house, opened the window on the back side, waited until Ulf had gone back into the forest, pushed Heidrun out, and pulled her over to the other shed, covered with rushes."
"I saw her," Joss said, and his voice shook a little. "I was outside the longhouse and helped them carrying tables. The rushes seemed to be too heavy for her to drag around. I felt sorry for her, so I walked over to help when we'd finished. She was in the shed then, I met her at the door."
"She would have been in there to put the thrall's dress on Heidrun, gag her and tie the hood to her head. You both went to meet Ulf, and then you carried rushes into the longhouse while she put a few more in the shed. After that, you piled more rushes on top of your cousin, Josteinn."
He paled, but I ignored it. I'd planned exactly what I wanted to say. So far I'd gotten confirmation of some of my theories from the others, but there was more speculation to come.
"Then you all went to get ready for the sacrifice. I'm not sure what she planned to do with the door to the shed. Perhaps you coming along was a stroke of luck, Mother," I said.
"She asked me to go back and put the latch in place," Josteinn said, and I could hear anger vibrating in the tone of his voice. "She said she didn't want the door to blow open and animals to go in there for shelter. I thought it was stupid, but it was easier to just go back than to argue."
"How silly," Freyja said suddenly. "I know nothing of herbs and Heidrun was huge so there's no way I could have done what you said," added confidently.
"But you knew about Henbane, Freyja," Mother interjected. "We used it for Torunn in her last weeks. You were there every day to help. You asked about it, wanted to help us prepare the infusions. You even tried, but you used too much, and it was pure luck that I saw and sto-" Mother froze and stared at Freyja. "You used too much, and I thought you were too dumb to know the difference between a spoonful and a cup," she said accusingly.
"Oh, rubbish," she said breezily. "I have no knowledge at all about these things. Ingolf, why are you letting them accuse me this way?"
