by Jorvik- A thrilling tale of Viking Britain (retail) (epub)
Asketil’s flesh crawled. The merest thought of last night was enough to send the blood pumping. ‘She must have eaten earlier. What do you intend to do about Lord Tostig, fostri? And can I help?’
Sigurd was unusually pragmatic; the draught had granted him a decent night’s rest. ‘You can help by making copies of the proclamation about Tostig and get a man to deliver them around the shire.’ He glanced at Asketil’s face. ‘You expected me to do more? Nay, there is nought I can do at present. I have grovelled to his father in the past, I shall have to do likewise again and bide my time. Tostig has no idea how to handle northerners; sooner or later one of them will kill him. I must simply ensure that he appoints me as his heir before then.’ An ironic chuckle burst from his lips. ‘The poor wretch! All that flattery I paid him as a youth has stood me in good stead. He treats me as an old friend on the rare occasions that I see him. Eat up, these herrings are delicious.’
After breakfast Asketil set upon his task with quill and ink whilst Sigurd had a meeting with his thegns. It was not until mid-morning, when the ealdorman plucked up the courage to face Mildryth and sent Asketil to find her, that the young woman’s departure was noted. At first it was thought that she had been abducted, for all her belongings plus her horse were left behind. Then Asketil searched the whole area, discovered from a guard that she had walked out of the gates of her own accord, and was left with the onerous task of having to tell Sigurd.
The jilted man displayed panic. ‘I do not need to ask why – ’tis because I have lost my earldom! We must find her, tell her it will not be long before I have it in my grasp again. Damn! That usurper Tostig will be here any moment. Oh, Asketil, I feel I am torn in two. I do not know whether to stay and pamper him or run after her.’
Sigurd’s discomposure was no less than Asketil’s, who now made a move towards the stables. ‘I can pursue Mildryth for you.’ For you, liar, for you!
‘Nay!’ Sigurd made a decision. ‘She is the more important of the two. I must go myself.’
‘But Lord Tostig…’
‘A shite on Godwin’s get – you entertain him until I get back. I have more vital things to do than lick the boots of that little snot.’ Sigurd shouted for his horse and moved quickly to the door with Asketil in tow.
Mildryth heard the thud of hooves upon the hardened track long before her pursuers came into view and was safely concealed in a thicket by the time they cantered past. Sigurd rode until it was evident that she could not possibly have come this far and with heavy heart ordered the party to double back in case they had missed her. Again Mildryth was forced to hide. This time she had the temerity to peep between the stalks of grass to see if Asketil was amongst the group. His absence hurt most cruelly. When the hoof-beats died away she did not emerge from her hiding place but lay there weeping and forlorn – though no less forlorn than Sigurd and Asketil.
The latter, having temporarily abandoned his scribblings due to lack of concentration, was rehearsing what he would say to Tostig, bowing and muttering to himself. It was all to no effect. When the Earl arrived with his wife on a tide of pomp Asketil, absorbed with daydreams of Mildryth, became tongue-tied and his stately welcome degenerated into nonsense. Tostig, now about thirty years of age and as unattractive a man as he had been a youth, was not impressed by the reception, demanding to know, ‘Where is Ealdorman Sigurd?’
An ink-stained Til bowed again, eyes still rather vacant. ‘He sends his regrets, my lord. Er… um… he had urgent business to pursue.’
‘And his Earl takes second place, it would appear.’ Tostig, after helping his wife down from her horse, whipped off his hat and hung it from his saddle-bow. ‘In fact, so highly does he rate my office that he leaves a clod to greet me.’
Asketil, jerked rudely from his preoccupation, reddened with offence. ‘My lord, I am second-in-command to the ealdorman!’
‘Just get out of my way!’ Tostig was dusty and aching from his horse-ride and in no mood to pander to the hurt ego of a seventeen year old. He elbowed Til aside and with his followers went towards the house he had inherited. ‘Attend my mare – if you have the wits to manage that! And pay her respect, she is worth more than you!’
Asketil fumed at the discourteous treatment. Grabbing Tostig’s hat from the saddle-bow he gouged two holes in it with his knife, rammed it over the mare’s ears, bowed low to the animal and at the observers’ laughter growled, ‘Is that sufficient respect to pay her?’ Given a choice he would have ignored the new Earl after this but Sigurd wanted him to be kept sweet and so, loyal to his mentor, he prepared for further insult and went into the Earl’s residence.
And all the time he was putting up with Tostig’s jibes he wondered whether Sigurd had found her, half of him desperately wanting this to be so, the other half praying he would never suffer the torment of her nearness again.
Why then was he so bitterly disappointed when Sigurd, broken and dejected, returned without her? Why did he instantly offer to abandon his writing and search the places that Sigurd had missed? It was madness; they were both of them better off without her.
Sigurd was of different mind and accepted the offer of help. ‘I will gladly excuse you to go and search – but hold, before you go.’ His voice held a tired irony. ‘How went the meeting with our new Earl?’
‘He hath no manners,’ answered Til, scrawling a last word on the parchment with his quill.
Sigurd looked sharp. ‘Did he insult you?’
‘Yea, but I managed to bite my tongue for your sake.’
‘Oh, you are a true friend.’ The weary man patted him, causing an ink-blot to fall from his quill upon the parchment and ruin the whole thing. Asketil closed his eyes in frustration and gave up writing as Sigurd added, ‘I will make it up to you, Til. He will not last long and you will be present to enjoy his downfall. Now, go and find our Mildryth, for I shall not rest until she is safe back here.’
The hunt was fruitless. Asketil visited every place he could think of, to no avail. ‘I have searched everywhere,’ he told Sigurd days later. ‘She is not to be found.’
‘Not everywhere,’ replied his foster-father. ‘We have yet to visit her kin. She will be there, I know it.’ And so a northwards expedition was planned.
Sigurd, Asketil and the party of soldiers who were to accompany them were in the process of mounting their horses when one of Tostig’s servants approached. ‘My lord, the Earl has called a gemot for this afternoon and wishes for you and all your thegns to be present.’
Sigurd groaned, leaned on his saddle and looked across at Asketil. ‘I cannot ignore the summons, for who knows what might be decided in my absence. Our trip will have to wait another day.’ Dropping the horse’s reins he went back towards the house. ‘Be so good as to broadcast the message to my thegns, Til, and let us hear what our new Earl has to say.’
Tostig’s first comment in the moot hall that afternoon was on the state of the earldom he had inherited. ‘My lords, Earl Siward was a great man – in his day – but his skills as a warrior in foreign parts allowed him to overlook the state of law and order in his own domain… and he appears to have had little assistance from those under his rule.’ He moved his eyes slowly around the assembly of nobles in an obvious rebuke. ‘Since my arrival in Jorvik I have heard numerous reports of attacks on travellers by outlaws, yet I can find few records of the offenders being brought to justice. It appears, my lords, that you have been most slipshod. This lawlessness shall not continue. I demand a purge on these vermin. They are to be driven without quarter from their lairs to the gallows. Ealdorman Sigurd, I expect you to act upon this without delay.’
‘Very good, my lord.’ Sigurd forced himself to bow.
The rest of Tostig’s speech was given to his proposals for the betterment of the shire. ‘All pure addle!’ opined Sigurd to Asketil when both were freed from this monotony an hour later. ‘But it will be to our advantage in the long run. Given the rope Tostig will hang himself within two years at most.’
&n
bsp; ‘If he does not hang the whole of Jorvik first,’ replied Asketil, preparing to ride in pursuit of outlaws.
‘Yea.’ Sigurd’s deeply-set eyes turned knowing. ‘Methinks he will not stop at outlaws, neither. We shall have to have our wits about us, Til. Now, waste no time in rounding up those criminals. The sooner Tostig has his executions the sooner we can continue our search for Mildryth.’
Asketil was successful. A week later, with twenty perpetrators dangling from the gibbet, he and Sigurd were able to make their journey north.
* * *
Mildryth’s parents quaked at the number of soldiers who arrived at their modest cottage, but when they heard that it was Lord Sigurd who came they threw open their doors and bade the mighty noble enter. ‘My Lord, we are overcome that you honour us with your visit!’ Mildryth’s father bowed and backed inside before Sigurd. ‘We have only humble fayre but everything we have is at your disposal. Sit, I beseech you.’ He indicated the best seat by the hearth then began to drag a low table towards them. ‘Mistress, fetch ale and meat for Ealdorman Sigurd and his friend. Daughter, feed the soldiers.’
At the mention of a daughter both Sigurd and Asketil looked round sharply, but it was a much older woman than Mildryth. Both turned back to accept cups of ale.
‘It is too much to hope that Mildryth travels with you?’ The woman wore a look of anticipation.
‘She is not here, then?’ Asketil glanced at Sigurd.
The woman frowned and tinkered with one of the cheap brooches that held her shoulderstraps. ‘Why… I thought she lived with you, my lord.’
‘And so she did until last week,’ replied Asketil, then jumped in quickly to soothe the woman who had put a worried hand to her cheek. It was evident from which parent Mildryth had inherited her protuberant eyes, though her mother’s were not such an unusual shade. ‘Be not alarmed. We know that she left of her own accord and no harm has befallen her. It is simply that she left without telling us of her destination and we hoped that she might be with you.’
Mildryth’s parents looked at each other, then both presented blank faces to the visitors. ‘I regret to say that she is not, my lord.’ The woman resumed her task of hostess, placing trenchers of meat on the low table before the guests. ‘We have had no news of her since she sent word to say that she lived with you. But, tell us, why would she leave so good a home? You have more to offer her than have we.’ That was true. The only furniture here was the table at which they ate, and the benches around the walls. There were no hangings, other than the pots and pans that dangled from hooks. The floor was earthen and embedded with bones, litter and straw. Where Sigurd’s great hall glowed with candles this was as dingy as the shack that housed his slaves. The occupants’ garb was in great contrast, too. A disappointed Asketil, picking at his meal, fixed his downcast eyes to the man’s boots; their leather was dark with age, crinkled and creased, showing every line of his toes.
Sigurd had been watching the couple’s reaction to Til’s words, and for the moment did not eat. ‘If you are lying…’
‘My lord, why would we lie!’ Mildryth’s father looked aggrieved. Out of respect he and his wife remained standing.
‘Mayhap she asked you to,’ replied Sigurd, eyes only leaving the man to stare at Mildryth’s mother.
‘How could she when we have not seen her?’
‘Mayhap she told you to say that.’
‘But what reason could she have?’
Sigurd decided to acquaint them with his intentions. ‘It was my aim to wed Mildryth…’
Whilst the man portrayed disbelief that his little girl was now a woman, his wife voiced delight. ‘My lord, this is an honour!’
‘But I cannot wed her if she is missing. So if you know of her whereabouts I command you to tell me.’
‘My lord, I beg you to believe me!’ The man clasped his hands. ‘If I were hiding Mildryth do you think that I would continue to do so after what you have just told me? The girl must be mad to throw away this opportunity! I swear that she is not here.’
‘You swear to that on your lives?’
Without hesitation, the couple replied simultaneously: ‘We swear!’
Sigurd issued instructions without taking his eyes off the couple. ‘Til, go order the men to comb the area. If Mildryth is found within five miles of here, torch the house.’
The woman gasped and clutched her breast. Asketil stopped eating to look enquiringly at Sigurd, showing that he thought this a little harsh. Nevertheless, he did as he was told, then came back to finish his meal whilst the troops searched for Mildryth. In the interim Sigurd ate too, watched by the anxious parents.
An hour or so later, the soldiers returned without Mildryth, and much to her parents’ relief Lord Sigurd prepared to leave. ‘If she should come here after we depart, you must send word immediately.’
‘We will, my lord!’ The man’s tunic was dark beneath the arms from his nervous wait. ‘God speed you on your journey.’ And he watched the party ride away, before muttering to his wife, ‘No wonder she did not wish to wed him. He is old enough to be my father let alone hers, and if his treatment of us is any indication he would make her life a misery.’
She nodded ruefully and accompanied him back into the house. ‘But I could whip her for endangering us like that. She must have known that he would threaten us.’
Mildryth’s father was a loyal man. ‘Yea, but she is our daughter. She came to us for help and we promised to give it.’
‘Tis true.’ The woman ballooned her flushed cheeks. ‘I could not wed a man like that, neither – nor could I ever earn my living as an actor. I trust I will not have to go through that again. Do you think he will return?’
‘If he does then he will get the same answer. And it will be no lie for she does not live here, does she?’
‘No, indeed!’ The woman turned a little cross. ‘We do not see her for years on end then up she jumps, expects us to put our lives at risk, then tells us she is off to help others more needy. Who can be more needy than her own parents?’
Her husband was less judgmental. ‘Mildryth is a good lass. She has made up her mind what life she will follow and we must support her. Lord Sigurd will never find out from us where she is.’
* * *
To all intents Mildryth had vanished off the face of the earth. Weeks later neither Sigurd nor his foster-son could eat nor sleep. For Asketil the loss was an ever-present knife in his heart but he could not voice this to Sigurd nor to anyone. His mother was dead now, his sisters married and moved to other parts. He felt totally alone in his pain, and likewise Sigurd whose own distress caused him to grasp at straws. ‘Mayhap she has been captured by raiders again, Til, and taken to Norway! That is one place we have not searched.’
Til was not about to argue. Each time the mountainous fjords came into sight he had the strongest feeling that he was coming home… though for Sigurd home would always be Jorvik. ‘Very well, I will arrange for the ship to be prepared,’ he told his foster-father, knowing deep in his heart that they would not find Mildryth, because she did not wish to be found.
Finally came the acceptance that she was lost to both of them and in time the chronic pain eased, leaving just a weeping sore upon each breast. Sigurd, vastly aged and broken-hearted, looked at Til and wondered if he felt the same; but this could not be spoken. Indeed, after the decision had been made to abandon the hunt any mention of Mildryth had become taboo. Tonight, though, when the two were alone by the fire, Sigurd announced, ‘This is madness. Much as it hurts me I cannot go on forever thinking she will come back. There is nought for me now save the earldom – for I will have that come what may.’ His look of anguish retreated. ‘But there is no need for you to share my misery, Til, and it is nigh time we found you a bride.’
‘No!’ Til, realizing that his swift refusal must look odd, qualified his negativity. ‘I am not ready for marriage yet. Besides, did you not always tell me never to trust a woman?’
‘Trust her, nay! Bu
t I did not mean for you to be celibate. A man cannot get his sons without a woman, and you will find it is a very enjoyable pursuit.’ Sigurd waited for a tell-tale look in Til’s eye, but none was evident.
Asketil thought about making love to someone other than Mildryth. What his foster-father said was right; he could not live like a monk – look how impossible it had been to resist what Mildryth offered. Having tasted that, he did not wish to abandon it altogether – his martyrdom did not stretch that far. But marriage? He could not face such a commitment yet. For answer he shrugged and muttered, ‘We will see what comes along. Of more import is your quest for the earldom. I will help you all I can. Just tell me what to do.’
‘Mmm,’ Sigurd was thoughtful. ‘There is nought much either of us can do whilst Tostig has his brother’s support. We shall have to bide our time. As I have said before, if we give Tostig the rope he will hang himself within two years at the most. And what is an extra two years to one who has already waited over thirty?’
Asketil seemed uncertain. ‘The townspeople appear to admire their new Earl. I have listened in the marketplace and have heard them praise him.’
Sigurd was unmoved. ‘And quite rightly! For does he not rid them of vagabonds and robbers to give them safe travel? But somehow I do not think his executions will stop there. Wait and see.’
Asketil nodded, then in the gap that followed, re-submerged himself in thoughts of Mildryth.
Thankfully, as the year ended, Asketil was eventually able to go about his life without thinking of her every minute of the day – even if she did return to him in the loneliness of his bed. More of a hindrance was the attitude of Earl Tostig who, because of the initial nature of their meeting, appeared to have retained a permanent dislike of Asketil, never failing to grasp some opportunity to belittle him in Sigurd’s eyes.
This made things difficult for Sigurd, who wanted to keep on good terms with Tostig out of self-interest. He tried to explain his apparent lack of support to Asketil after one unpleasant episode. ‘It is not that I side with Tostig against you, Til! I am not thinking merely of myself when I say I want the earldom. You would benefit, too.’
