Then Eric was glad, and presently six men, headed by Jon his thrall,the same man who had watched on Mosfell when Eric went up to slay theBaresark, rode to them and greeted them. "Beggar women," said Jon, "whomthey met at Ran River, had told them of the death of Ospakar, and ofthe great slaying at Middalhof, and they would know if the tidings weretrue."
"It is true, Jon," said Eric; "but first give us food, if ye have it,for we are hungered and spent. When we have eaten we will speak."
So they led up a pack-horse and from it took stockfish and smoked meat,of which Eric and Skallagrim ate heartily, till their strength came backto them.
Then Eric spoke. "Comrades," he said, "I am an outlawed man, and, thoughI have not sought it, much blood is on my head. Atli is dead at my hand;Ospakar is dead at my hand; Bjoern the Priest, Asmund's son, is dead atmy hand, and with them many another man. Nor may the matter stay here,for Gizur, Blacktooth's son, yet lives, and Bjoern has kin in the south,and Swanhild will buy friends with gold, and all of these will set on meto slay me, so that at the last I die by the sword."
"No need for that," said Skallagrim. "Our vengeance is wrought, andnow, as before, the sea is open, and I think that a welcome awaits us inLondon."
"Now Gudruda is widowed before she was fully wed," said Eric, "thereforeI bide an outlawed man here in Iceland. I go hence no more, though it bedeath to stay, unless indeed Gudruda the Fair goes with me."
"It will be death, then," said Skallagrim, "and the swords are forgedthat we shall feel. The odds are too heavy, lord."
"Mayhap," answered Eric. "No man may flee his fate, and I shall notaltogether grieve when mine finds me. Hearken, comrades: I go up toMosfell height, and there I stay, till those be found who can drag mefrom my hole. But this is my counsel to you: that ye leave me to mydoom, for I am an unlucky man who always chooses the wrong road."
"That will not I," said Skallagrim.
"Nor we," said Eric's folk; "Swanhild holds Coldback, and we are drivento the fells. To the fells then we will go with thee, Eric Brighteyes,and become cave-dwellers and outlaws for thy sake. Fear not, thou shaltstill find many friends."
"I did not look for such a thing at your hands," said Eric; "but stormywaters show how the boat is built. May no bad luck come to you from yourgood fellowship. And now let us to our nest."
Then they caught the horses, and rode with Brighteyes up the steepside of Mosfell, till at length they came to that secret dell whichSkallagrim had once shown to Eric. Here they turned the horses loose tofeed, and, going forward on foot, reached the dark and narrow pass thatBrighteyes had trod when he sought for the Baresark foe. Skallagrim ledthe way along it, then came Eric and the rest. One by one they steppedon to the giddy point of rock, and, catching at the birch-bush, enteredthe hole. So they gained the platform and the great cave beyond; andthey found that no man had set foot there since the day when Eric hadstriven with Skallagrim. For there on the rock, rotten with the weather,lay that haft of wood which Brighteyes had hewed from the axe ofSkallagrim, and in the cave were many things beside as the Baresark hadleft them.
So they took up their dwelling in the cave, Eric, Skallagrim, and thesix Coldback men, and there they dwelt many months. But Eric sent outhis men, one at a time, and got together food and a store of sheepskins,and other needful things. For he knew this well: that Gizur and Swanhildwould before long come up against them, and, if they could not take themby force, would set themselves to watch the mountain-path and starvethem out.
When Eric and Skallagrim rode away from Middalhof the fight still ragedfiercely in the hall, and nothing but death might stay it. The minds ofmen were mad, and they smote one another, and slew each other, tillat length of all that marriage company few were left unharmed, exceptGizur, Swanhild, and Gudruda. For the serving thralls and womenfolk hadfled the hall, and with them some peaceful men.
Then Gudruda spoke as one in a dream.
"Saevuna's prophecy was true," she said, "red was the marriage-feast ofAsmund my father, redder has been the marriage-feast of Ospakar! She sawthe hall of Middalhof one gore of blood, and lo! it is so; look upon thywork, Swanhild," and she pointed to the piled-up dead--"look upon thywork, witch-sister, and grow fearful: for all this death is on thyhead!"
Swanhild laughed aloud. "I think it a merry sight," she cried. "Themarriage-feast of Asmund our father was red, and thy marriage-feast,Gudruda, has been redder. Would that thy blood and the blood of Ericran with the blood of Bjoern and Ospakar! That tale must yet be told,Gudruda. There shall be binding on of Hell-shoes at Middalhof, but Ibind them not. My task is still to come: for I will live to fasten theHell-shoes on the feet of Eric, and on thy feet, Gudruda! At the least,I have brought about this much, that thou canst scarcely wed Eric theoutlaw: for with his own hand he slew Bjoern our brother, and becauseof this I count all that death as nothing. Thou canst not mate withBrighteyes, lest the wide wounds of Bjoern thy brother should taketongues and cry thy shame from sea to sea!"
Gudruda made no answer, but sat as one carved in stone. Then Swanhildspoke again:
"Let us away to the north, Gizur; there to gather strength to make anend of Eric. Say, wilt thou help us, Gudruda? The blood-feud for thedeath of Bjoern is thine."
"Ye are enough to bring about the fall of one unfriended man," Gudrudasaid. "Go, and leave me with my sorrow and the dead. Nay! before thougoest, listen, Swanhild, for there is that in my heart which tells me Ishall never look again upon thy face. From evil to evil thou hast evergone, Swanhild, and from evil to evil thou wilt go. It may well chancethat thy wickedness will win. It may well chance that thou wilt crownthy crimes with my slaying and the slaying of the man who loves me. ButI tell thee this, traitress--murderess, as thou art--that here the taleends not. Not by death, Swanhild, shalt thou escape the deeds of life!_There_ they shall rise up against thee, and _there_ every shame thatthou hast worked, every sin that thou hast sinned, and every soul thatthou hast brought to Hela's halls, shall come to haunt thee and to drivethee on from age to age! That witchcraft which thou lovest shall meshthee. Shadows shall bewilder thee; from the bowl of empty longings thoushalt drink and drink, and not be satisfied. Yea! lusts shall mock andmadden thee. Thou shalt ride the winds, thou shalt sail the seas, butthou shalt find no harbour, and never shalt thou set foot upon a shoreof peace.
"Go on, Swanhild--dye those hands in blood--wade through the river ofshame! Seek thy desire, and finding, lose! Work thy evil, and winning,fail! I yet shall triumph--I yet shall trample thee; and, in a placeto come, with Eric at my side, I shall make a mock of Swanhild themurderess! Swanhild the liar, and the wanton, and the witch! Now getthee gone!"
Swanhild heard. She looked up at Gudruda's face and it was alightas with a fire. She strove to answer, but no words came. Then Groa'sdaughter turned and went, and with her went Gizur.
Now women and thralls came in and drew out the wounded and those whostill breathed from among the dead, taking them to the temple. They boreaway the body of Ospakar also, but they left the rest.
All night long Gudruda sat in the bride's seat. There she sat in thesilver summer midnight, looking on the slain who were strewn about thegreat hall. All night she sat alone in the bride's seat thinking--everthinking.
How, then, would it end? There her brother Bjoern lay a-cold--Bjoern thejustly slain of Brighteyes; yet how could she wed the man who slewher brother? From Ospakar she was divorced by death; from Eric she wasdivorced by the blood of Bjoern her brother! How might she unravel thistangled skein and float to weal upon this sea of death? All things wentamiss! The doom was on her! She had lived to an ill purpose--her lovehad wrought evil! What availed it to have been born to be fair amongwomen and to have desired that which might not be? And she herself hadbrought these things to pass--she had loosed the rock which crushed her!Why had she hearkened to that false tale?
Gudruda sat on high in the bride's seat, asking wisdom of the piled-updead, while the cold blue shadows of the nightless night gathered overher and them--gathered, and waned, and
grew at last to the glare of day.
XXVI
HOW ERIC VENTURED DOWN TO MIDDALHOF AND WHAT HE FOUND
Gizur went north to Swinefell, and Swanhild went with him. For now thatOspakar was dead at Eric's hand, Gizur ruled in his place at Swinefell,and was the greatest lord in all the north. He loved Swanhild, anddesired to make her his wife; but she played with him, talking darkly ofwhat might be. Swanhild was not minded to be the wife of any man, exceptof Eric; to all others she was cold as the winter earth. Still, shefooled Gizur as she had fooled Atli the Good, and he grew blind withlove of her. For still the beauty of Swanhild waxed as the moon waxes inthe sky, and her wicked eyes shone as the stars shine when the moon hasset.
Now they came to Swinefell, and there Gizur buried Ospakar Blacktooth,his father, with much state. He set him in a chamber of rock and timberson a mountain-top, whence he might see all the lands that once were his,and built up a great mound of earth above him. To this day people tellthat here on Yule night black Ospakar bursts out, and golden Eric ridesdown the blast to meet him. Then come the clang of swords, and groans,and the sound of riven helms, till presently Brighteyes passes southwardon the wind, bearing in his hand the half of a cloven shield.
So Gizur bound the Hell-shoes on his father, and swore that he wouldneither rest nor stay till Eric Brighteyes was dead and dead wasSkallagrim Lambstail. Then he gathered a great force of men and rodesouth to Coldback, to the slaying of Eric, and with him went Swanhild.
Gudruda sat alone in the haunted hall of Middalhof and brooded on herlove and on her fate. Eric, too, sat in Mosfell cave and brooded on hisevil chance. His heart was sick with sorrow, and there was little thathe could do except think about the past. He would not go to foray, afterthe fashion of outlaws, and there was no need of this. For the talk ofhis mighty deeds spread through the land, so that the people spoke oflittle else. And the men of his quarter were so proud of these deeds ofEric's that, though some of their kind had fallen at his hands in thegreat fight of Middalhof and some at the hands of Skallagrim, yet theyspoke of him as men speak of a God. Moreover they brought him gifts offood and clothing and arms, as many as his people could carry away,and laid them in a booth that is on the plain near the foot of Mosfell,which thenceforth was named Ericsfell. Further, they bade his thrallstell him that, if he wished it, they would find him a good ship of warto take him from Iceland--ay, and man it with loyal men and true.
Eric thanked them through Jon his thrall, but answered that he wished todie here in Iceland.
Now, when Eric had sat two months and more in Mosfell cave and autumnwas coming, he learned that Gizur and Swanhild had moved down toColdback, and with them a great company of men who were sworn to slayhim. He asked if Gudruda the Fair had also gathered men for his slaying.They told him no; that Gudruda stayed with her thralls and women atMiddalhof, mourning for Bjoern her brother. From these tidings Eric tooksome heart of hope: at the least Gudruda laid no blood-feud against him.For he waited, thinking, if indeed she yet loved him, that Gudruda wouldsend him some word or token of her love. But no word came, since betweenthem ran the blood of Bjoern. On the morrow of these tidings Skallagrimspoke to Eric.
"This is my counsel, lord," he said, "that we ride out by night and fallon the folk of Gizur at Coldback, and burn the stead over them, puttingthem to the sword. I am weary of sitting here like an eagle in a cage."
"Such is no counsel of mine, Skallagrim," answered Brighteyes. "I amweary of sitting here, indeed; but I am yet more weary of bringing mento their death. I will shed no more blood, unless it is to save my ownhead. When the people of Gizur came to seek me on Mosfell, they shallfind me here; but I will not go to them."
"Thy heart is out of thee, lord," said Skallagrim; "thou wast not wontto speak thus."
"Ay, Skallagrim," said Eric, "the heart is out of me. Yet I ride fromMosfell to-day."
"Whither, lord?"
"To Middalhof, to have speech with Gudruda the Fair."
"Like enough, then, thou wilt be silent thereafter."
"It well may be," said Eric. "Yet I will ride. I can bear this doubt nolonger."
"Then I shall come with thee," said Skallagrim.
"As thou wilt," answered Eric.
So at midday Eric and Skallagrim rode away from Mosfell in a storm ofrain. The rain was so heavy that those of Gizur's spies who watched themountain did not see them. All that day they rode and all the night,till by morning they came to Middalhof. Eric told Skallagrim to staywith the horses and let them feed, while he went on foot to see if bychance he might get speech with Gudruda. This the Baresark did, thoughhe grumbled at the task, fearing lest Eric should be done to death, andhe not there to die with him.
Now Eric walked to within two bowshots of the house, then sat down in adell by the river, from the edge of which he could see those who passedin and out. Presently his heart gave a leap, for there came out from thewoman's door a lady tall and beautiful to see, and with golden hairthat flowed about her breast. It was Gudruda, and he saw that she bore anapkin in her hand. Then Eric knew, according to her custom on the warmmornings, that she came alone to bathe in the river, as she had alwaysdone from a child. It was her habit to bathe here in this place: for atthe bottom of the dell was a spot where reeds and bushes grew thick, andthe water lay in a basin of rock and was clear and still. For at thisspot a hot spring ran into the river.
Eric went down the dell, hid himself close in the bushes and waited, forhe feared to speak with Gudruda in the open field. A while passed, andpresently the shadow of the lady crept over the edge of the dell, thenshe came herself in that beauty which since her day has not been knownin Iceland. Her face was sad and sweet, her dark and lovely eyes weresad. On she came, till she stood within a spear's length of where Ericlay, crouched in the bush, and looking at her through the hedge ofreeds. Here a flat rock overhung the water, and Gudruda sat herselfon this rock, and, shaking off her shoes, dipped her white feet in thewater. Then suddenly she threw aside her cloak, baring her arms, and,gazing upon the shadow of her beauty in the mirror of the water, sighedand sighed again, while Eric looked at her with a bursting heart, for asyet he could find no words to say.
Now she spoke aloud. "Of what use to be so fair?" she said. "Oh,wherefore was I born so fair to bring death to many and sorrow on myselfand him I love?" And she shook her golden hair about her arms of snow,and, holding the napkin to her eyes, wept softly. But it seemed to Ericthat between her sobs she called upon his name.
Now Eric could no longer bear the sight of Gudruda weeping. While shewept, hiding her eyes, he rose from behind the screen of reeds and stoodbeside her in such fashion that his shadow fell upon her. She felt thesunlight pass and looked up. Lo! it was no cloud, but the shape of Eric,and the sun glittered on his golden helm and hair.
"Eric!" Gudruda cried; "Eric!" Then, remembering how she was attired,snatching her cloak, she threw it about her arms and thrust her wet feetinto her shoes. "Out upon thee!" she said; "is it not enough, then, thatthou shouldst break thy troth for Swanhild's sake, that thou shouldstslay my brother and turn my hall to shambles? Wouldst now steal upon methus!"
"Methought that thou didst weep and call upon my name, Gudruda," he saidhumbly.
"By what right art thou here to hearken to my words?" she answered."Is it, then, strange that I should speak the name of him who slew mybrother? Is it strange that I should weep over that brother whom thoudidst slay? Get thee gone, Brighteyes, before I call my folk to killthee!"
"Call on, Gudruda. I set little price upon my life. I laid it in thehands of chance when I came from Mosfell to speak with thee, and now Iwill pay it down if so it pleases thee. Fear not, thy thralls shall havean easy task: for I shall scarcely care to hold my own. Say, shall Icall for thee?"
"Hush! Speak not so loud! Folk may hear thee, Eric, and then thou wiltbe in danger--I would say that, then shall ill things be told of me,because I am found with him who slew my brother?"
"I slew Ospakar too, Gudruda. Surely the death of him by w
hose side thoudidst sit as wife is more to thee than the death of Bjoern?"
"The bride-cup was not yet drunk, Eric; therefore I have no blood-feudfor Ospakar."
"Is it, then, thy will that I should go, lady?"
"Yes, go!--go! Never let me see thy face again!"
Brighteyes turned without a word. He took three paces and Gudrudawatched him as he went.
"Eric!" she called. "Eric! thou mayest not go yet: for at this hour thethralls bring down the kine to milk, and they will see thee. Liest thouhid here. I--I will go. For though, indeed, thou dost deserve to die, Iam not willing to bring thee to thy end--because of old friendship I amnot willing!"
"If thou goest, I will go also," said Eric. "Thralls or no thralls, Iwill go, Gudruda."
"Thou art cruel to drive me to such a choice, and I have a mind to givethee to thy fate."
"As thou wilt," said Eric; but she made as though she did not hear hiswords.
"Now," she said, "if we must stay here, it is better that we hide wherethou didst hide, lest some come upon thee." And she passed through thescreen of rushes and sat down in a grassy place beyond, and spoke again.
"Nay, sit not near me; sit yonder. I would not touch thee, nor look uponthee, who wast Swanhild's love, and didst slay Bjoern my brother."
"Say, Gudruda," said Eric, "did I not tell thee of the magic arts ofSwanhild? Did I not tell thee before all men yonder in the hall, anddidst thou not say that thou didst believe my words? Speak."
"That is true," said Gudruda.
"Wherefore, then, dost thou taunt me with being Swanhild's love--withbeing the love of her whom of all alive I hate the most--and whosewicked guile has brought these sorrows on us?"