A Sacred Storm

by Theodore Brun

  ‘What could merit so sudden an interruption to the assembly?’ said Torstig Snow-beard, in a grating voice.

  ‘Sudden is hardly the word. The wrong this man did me was some time ago. It has weighed on me ever since. But...’ She faltered, apparently composing herself. ‘But for the sake of our new king’s honour, I could not let this man utter his oath.’

  ‘He has wronged you, my lady?’ asked Vithar, leaning on his crutch.

  ‘Did I not just say so?’ Her voice was trembling. ‘Yes – he has wronged me. More than any man ever has. And not only me. He has betrayed my late husband, his oath-lord. Those filthy hands have dishonoured us both, though my husband never knew it.’

  ‘He’s an oath-breaker, then?’ Torstig interjected.

  ‘More. No man is fouler in all the kingdom.’

  ‘Why not denounce him before now, my lady?’ This speaker was Leidolf, the youngest of the Ældremen.

  ‘Why? Because my husband’s honour was worth more to me than justice for myself. How could I let his good name be made a mockery while he still lived? How could I break his heart with anger? And I was right to wait. His sickness took him and he was spared the distress of dying with poison in his heart against this man.’

  ‘You did right, my queen. No doubt of it,’ Sigurd interrupted. ‘But let us hear this man’s crime.’

  ‘It’s not long in the telling.’ She shot Erlan a dark look. ‘All here will recall how, after Princess Aslíf’s marriage, I rode in company with her to the Kolmark. There, we said our farewells. And, fool that I was, I had suggested that this... this fiend accompany me. After his deeds of the winter, I thought him a man of honour. Brave and skilful. How wrong I was! He knows nothing of honour. Sviggar thought he sent a protector. In truth, he sent a wolf.’

  Erlan listened, weighing up his predicament. He was buckled forward on his knees, but through his tousled hair he could see his judges’ faces. This was a game of wits with Saldas and already they were lapping up her story. All except Leidolf, maybe, who looked like a man not to be led by the nose anywhere.

  ‘On the road home, we camped in a wood where he wasted no time putting his plan to work. He made shelters for each of us and then we ate. My handmaid was tired and went early to her bed.’

  As she spoke, Erlan was trying desperately to piece together the hazy recollections of that night. But they were scattered and splintered like a broken pitcher. Even so, if he was to answer her, he had to remember.

  ‘Since she slept late,’ Saldas was saying, ‘I can only imagine he drugged her with some sleeping draft to put her out of the way.’

  ‘That’s a lie,’ he growled, earning himself a kick.

  ‘Silence, cripple,’ Sigurd snapped. ‘Your turn will come.’

  ‘No lie, my lord,’ Saldas said, with a fragile smile. ‘What reason have I to lie? My handmaid took to her bed and soon afterwards I, to mine. In any case, this man didn’t wish to talk, and—’ She stopped and touched her brow, looking affected.

  ‘Pray continue, my lady,’ croaked Vithar, like some kindly old bullfrog.

  ‘I didn’t like the look I kept seeing in his eye. I lay down in my shelter, but listened to hear what he did. For a long time, I heard nothing but his breathing, though I knew he was still sitting by the fire. Now and then I heard the sound of an ale-skin being lifted. By then, he must have drunk nearly the whole skin. I forced myself to stay awake, refusing myself sleep before I was sure he was settled. At last, I heard him rise and crawl into his bed. After that his snoring, and only then I closed my own eyes.’

  She seemed to falter again.

  ‘It’s clear the recollection is hard for you.’ Sigurd reached out and pressed her hand. ‘Simply tell what happened.’

  ‘I... I fell asleep... And the next thing I knew, I awoke with a start and fingers around my throat. I was terrified. For a second I was disorientated, not knowing who or what it could be. Then he hissed for me to be quiet and I knew it was him. I felt the prick of a knifepoint under my chin. Then he pulled away my blanket and... I’m almost too ashamed to tell.’ Her head dropped, her shoulders curled forward, wilting like a flower. But then, forcefully, she lifted her head. ‘He began tugging at my skirts. I saw he meant to have me and I began to fight back. I didn’t care about the knife or even whether he killed me. I just knew he mustn’t have me. I tried to scream to rouse my servant but his fist was fast over my mouth. Besides, I now know she was unconscious from his sleeping draft. I could have screamed all night, it would have done me no good. Instead I fought all the harder, tearing at his clothes and his body, trying to force him off me... But... he was too strong...’ Her voice cracked. ‘Too strong for me.’

  Erlan had to admit, it was a flawless performance. She went through the same pretence of wilting, then composing herself, as if a welter of emotions roiled inside her.

  ‘He was strangling me, harder and harder till my mind filled with blackness. I kicked and scratched but what could I do? Alas, I am only a fragile woman. I began to weaken, to lose consciousness. I must have stopped fighting because then I felt him. He was...’ She pressed her hand to her mouth. The judges’ grizzled faces were watching her intently, but their expressions were stone, even when a tear shone on her smooth cheek. ‘He was inside me,’ she said. ‘Raping me... Raping his queen.’

  Saldas had finished her story. Through his tousled hair, Erlan watched her resume her seat.

  ‘She’s lying,’ he said, careless of the blow it drew. There was only silence.

  Finally Torstig Snow-beard spoke. ‘A terrible ordeal, my queen. This man will pay for his wickedness.’

  ‘He will,’ Leidolf added quickly, ‘if this is true.’

  ‘Of course it’s true,’ Sigurd said. ‘Why would the queen humiliate herself before us all for a lie?’

  ‘I have not accused her of lying, my lord. But the Sveär law holds sway over this matter. No man accused is not allowed to answer the charges – even ones as grave as these. That is, after all, why you have us sit here in judgement, is it not?’ Leidolf raised an eyebrow at Sigurd.

  ‘You’ll get no truth from him,’ said Saldas. ‘His tongue is crooked as his heart is black.’

  ‘That is for us to judge, my lady,’ Leidolf replied.

  ‘Very well. Let the villain speak his lies. Though it only wastes our time.’

  ‘Speak then, Erlan,’ Vithar croaked.

  ‘Like this?’ The guards still held him buckled over on his knees.

  ‘Let him kneel upright,’ said Leidolf.

  But the guards held him until Sigurd snapped his fingers. The strain in his shoulders was released and he felt blood flow back into his arms as he sat back on his haunches. For the first time, he could look his judges in the face.

  ‘This woman can’t speak a word but it’s a lie. This story of hers is just the same.’

  ‘Slanderous cur—’ Sigurd exclaimed.

  ‘Tell us only what occurred,’ interrupted Vithar. ‘Keep your opinions to yourself.’

  ‘Very well. We left Ringast’s company earlier that day and made camp, as she said. I put up shelters. We ate, we drank. Only it was she who took care of the drink. She insisted on that. I drank what she gave us, as did her servant.’

  ‘Who is this servant-girl?’ Leidolf asked.

  ‘Her name was Bara, Balli’s daughter. We drank what the queen gave us, and the last I remember clearly was a sudden weariness coming on. Too quickly to be natural in my opinion, but I don’t know for sure. After that, as I recall, we three went to our shelters at the same time. And when I lay down to sleep, my mind was filled with strange thoughts... A jumble of memories.’

  ‘Strange thoughts! A jumble of memories!’ Sigurd sniggered mockingly. ‘Do you hope to convince your judges by proving you’re mad, cripple?’

  ‘I speak what I recall.’

  ‘Let him go on,’ said Torstig.

  ‘I’m not mad. I mean only to show why I believe the queen drugged the drink she was so set on se
rving us. I recollect nothing of her shelter. I deny completely attacking her or harming her in any way. As to laying with her—’ He broke off, choosing his words carefully. ‘If your law demands the truth, then I will tell you the truth. I don’t know whether I lay with her or not. I certainly can’t recall it.’

  ‘He doesn’t even have the decency to deny it,’ Saldas gasped.

  ‘This is absurd,’ said Sigurd.

  ‘How can a man not know whether he has lain with a woman?’ Leidolf demanded in a steady voice. ‘Were you drunk?’

  ‘Not drunk, but drugged. Of that, I am certain.’

  ‘Then why do you even admit the possibility?’

  Erlan hesitated. ‘I... I have a flash of a memory.’

  ‘A memory. Of what?’

  ‘Of a coupling. But not with her... With another.’

  ‘What other?’

  ‘One of another time and another place. Not her.’

  Torstig cleared his throat. ‘Yet you admit a coupling did take place?’

  ‘I told you, I don’t know. I can’t say whether the memory is of a dream or of something real.’

  Leidolf scoffed. ‘Young man – you can hardly expect us to judge a thing on your dreams.’

  ‘I well know it, my lord. But this is the best I can tell. If it did happen, it was under some craft of hers. I have no memory of her. There was no rape.’

  ‘See how he insults me,’ Saldas snorted. ‘He rapes me and claims it was my doing. For the sake of decency, how much more of this must we hear?’

  ‘You know the truth, Saldas.’

  ‘I do,’ she said, returning his glare. ‘That is why you will pay for what you did.’

  Erlan knew he had one more arrow to shoot. Bara. But he couldn’t figure how to use her witness without also dragging Kai into this mess. If he told them what Bara had told Kai, Saldas would know immediately that Erlan could only know what had happened through him. And if that happened, his little brother wouldn’t outlive the day.

  ‘Her servant Bara must have known something,’ he said.

  ‘How could she when you had drugged her?’ Saldas retorted.

  ‘Who is this Bara?’ asked Leidolf in a level voice.

  Saldas touched her lips. ‘She was my personal maidservant.’

  ‘Well, we must fetch her here at once,’ Leidolf replied.

  ‘You cannot, my lords.’

  ‘If the justice lords summon her, she must come,’ insisted Vithar.

  ‘Summon her from the halls of Hel then,’ Erlan said grimly. ‘She’s dead.’

  ‘Dead?’

  ‘You saw it yourselves.’ He threw a damning look at Saldas. ‘Your queen butchered her this morning.’

  But Saldas’s face was steady. ‘Such cruel words. Bara had the high honour to be King Sviggar’s companion in death.’

  ‘What, this same servant?’ The shock in Leidolf’s voice was evident.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You murdered her because she knew what you are,’ Erlan snarled.

  ‘Murdered her?’ Saldas laughed. ‘How ridiculous! The poor girl was distraught at my husband’s death. She was on her knees before me, begging that she might accompany him out of love and loyalty. And now you defile her sacrifice with more of your desperate lies!’

  Erlan laughed a hollow, bitter laugh. ‘Convenient that the one person who could prove you a liar sacrificed herself under your butcher’s blade.’

  ‘It seems we could go back and forth a long while to no purpose,’ said a deep voice. It was the fourth lord of justice, Eirik, who so far had not spoken. ‘With no other witnesses, we have only the word of Queen Saldas against the word of the Aurvandil.’

  ‘Surely the word of a queen carries more weight,’ Torstig said.

  ‘Perhaps,’ Eirik returned. ‘But this man has not been proved a liar before.’

  ‘If the queen says he attacked her,’ Sigurd said impatiently, ‘what possible reason have any of you to doubt her? Let’s just get on with this.’

  ‘I had hoped for the same courtesy, my lord,’ Saldas said, glaring pointedly at Eirik. ‘But I see now my word is not enough for these venerable ears.’

  ‘Eirik is right, though,’ said Vithar. ‘Without witnesses, the word of any two adversaries carries equal weight, unless one is already a proven liar.’ He shifted his weight on his crutch. ‘Or else there are further proofs.’

  ‘Very well,’ replied Saldas. ‘I had thought I should not need them, but I do have such proofs.’ She stood and proffered her fist, waiting until she was sure every eye was on it. Only then did she open it. And in her palm was a tangled leather thong. She lifted it so that it hung to its full length. ‘This is his.’

  Erlan scowled. And in his mind, he heard that soft voice in the shadows: I must send you out, my love – into the wild winds of the All-Father’s will. The winds were wild, sure enough, and right now they were blowing him onto the rocks.

  ‘What is it?’ Leidolf asked.

  ‘An amulet,’ she said. ‘After he had taken what he wanted, I found this on my blanket in the morning. I must have torn it from his neck as we struggled.’ She tossed the scrap of silver and its thong onto the table. ‘There’s your first proof. Ask him. See if he denies it is his.’

  Leidolf leaned forward and picked it off the table, turning it over in his fingers. Suddenly he looked at Erlan. ‘Do you deny it?’

  ‘It’s his,’ said Sigurd. ‘I’ve seen it around his neck.’

  ‘Do you?’ Leidolf repeated.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then explain how the queen should come by it.’

  His memory was a fog. All he remembered were shattered fragments of the dream. Inga. The pleasure. And the pain. ‘By some trickery of hers – how else?’

  ‘Trickery? But how, exactly? And why?’

  ‘I don’t know. She took it somehow. But not like that.’

  Sigurd scoffed. ‘See how his lies run dry.’

  The chamber fell silent.

  At length, Eirik spoke, in his quiet, deep voice. ‘You called this your first proof, my lady. Are there others?’

  ‘I believe there are – though I don’t know for certain. I fought wildly with him, tearing at his skin with my nails, even as he was... Well, you examine him. His own body will bear witness against him, I’m sure of it.’

  The stern gaze of the four Ældremen settled on Erlan. He felt a vertiginous chasm opening up at his feet.

  ‘Strip him,’ said Leidolf.

  In a moment the guards had ripped off his cloak, pulled his tunic over his head and flung them on the floor.

  There in the dim and flaring light, his pale torso was streaked black and purple with the fading welts that Saldas, in her runaway ecstasy, had raked over his skin. The marks were still there, marks that told of a struggle, though whether made in the grip of passion or of fear, they were silent.

  Torstig sucked his teeth. The others leaned forward, looking closer.

  Erlan knew it was over now. They would never believe him, even if he told them what Bara had witnessed. And if he did that, Kai would be taken. So he kept silent.

  ‘Do you have anything to say?’ Leidolf’s expression was hostile now.

  Erlan shook his head. He only prayed Kai was getting out, getting far away from this place.

  ‘Then I believe we are ready to pass judgement. Are we agreed?’

  The other three Ældremen nodded. Sigurd was smiling. Saldas looked calm, almost serene, as though she had resumed her place high above the tawdry business of dispensing justice.

  ‘Your decision, Torstig?’ rasped Vithar.

  ‘He is guilty of a most heinous violation against our beloved queen.’

  ‘Eirik?’

  ‘The same.’

  ‘Leidolf?’

  ‘With these,’ he gestured at Erlan’s torso, ‘and no explanation... Guilty.’

  ‘That is my verdict as well,’ Vithar said. ‘Erlan Aurvandil, kneel before your judges.’ The guards shoved him to h
is knees. ‘Any man who lies by force with a woman not lawfully his own is in violation of the law,’ he intoned. ‘If she is married, his life becomes forfeit to her husband and his kin, unless the husband accepts lesser compensation for this crime. In this instance, you have been found guilty of rape. Rape of this, our noble Queen Saldas, the wife of your oath-lord and king.’ The words shivered through Erlan like the tolling of a mighty bell. ‘You are hereby declared an oath-breaker, outside of the law. Since King Sviggar no longer lives, his claim passes into the hands of his son and heir, Sigurd, King of Sveäland. Therefore, your life is forfeit to him.’

  Sigurd rose and walked around the council table with measured strides. ‘A wise and just decision. I will give careful thought to the fate of the man who has disgraced my father’s trust and violated the honour of my queen.’ He stopped in front of Erlan. ‘As for the gifts my father bequeathed on you...’ He reached down and took hold of the golden torque that circled Erlan’s neck. ‘They are yours no longer.’ He tore it off. Erlan gagged as the metal wrenched his throat. ‘Take him away.’

  But before they did, Saldas snatched the amulet from the table, with a glance at him in which was a flash of triumph so fleeting only he could have seen it. ‘I’ll take this. It hasn’t brought you much luck, after all.’

  Erlan was hauled to his feet, and a sibilant whisper sounded in his ear.

  ‘You’re mine now, cripple. All mine.’

  Then the world went black.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  With bile souring his gut, Kai had stood at the back of the hall among the thralls and freemen and watched. Watched the earls bend the knee, watched Bodvar make his stand and vanish, watched others do the same – too few but worthy at least of some respect. Watched Erlan denounced and dragged into the council chamber. And then, along with every other man, highborn or low, he had waited.

  Eventually the upstart king and his black-hearted queen had emerged and Kai had watched some more as Sigurd bound the rest of them with their oaths. A few more refused and were ushered away to this last feast that Sigurd had promised them before they were free to leave the halls.