So it proved to be, though, as it chanced, that warrant was neverexecuted. I made my report to Byzantium, and in course of time theanswer came in a letter from the Emperor. This letter coldly approvedof my act in set and formal phrases. It added that the truth had beenconveyed publicly to those slanderers of the Emperor who announced thathe had caused Irene to be first blinded and then put to death in Lesbos,whereby their evil tongues had been silenced.
Then came this pregnant sentence:
"We command you, with your wife and children and your lieutenant, theCaptain Jodd, with his wife and children, to lay down your offices andreport yourselves with all speed to Us at our Court of Byzantium, thatwe may confer with you on certain matters. If it is not convenient toyou, or you can find no fitting ship in which to sail at once, know thatwithin a month of your receipt of this letter our fleet will call atLesbos and bring you and the others herein mentioned to our Presence."
"That is a death sentence," said Martina, when she had finished readingout this passage. "I have seen several such sent in my day, when I wasIrene's confidential lady. It is the common form. We shall never reachByzantium, Olaf, or, if we do, we shall never leave it more."
I nodded, for I knew that this was so. Then, at some whispered word fromMartina, Heliodore spoke.
"Husband," she said, "foreseeing this issue, Martina, Jodd, and most ofthe Northmen and I have made a plan which we now submit to you, prayingthat for our sakes, if not for yours, you will not thrust it aside.We have bought two good ships, armed them and furnished them with allthings needful. Moreover, during the past two months we have sold muchof our property, turning it into gold. This is our plan--that we pretendto obey the order of the Emperor, but instead of heading for Byzantium,sail away north to the land in which you were born, where, having rankand possessions, you may still become a mighty chief. If we go at oncewe shall miss the Imperial fleet, and I think that none will follow us."
Now I bowed my head for a while and thought. Then I lifted it and said,
"So let it be. No other road is open."
For my own sake I would not have stirred an inch. I would have gone tothe Court of the Emperor at Byzantium and there argued out the thing ina gambler's spirit, prepared to win or prepared to lose. There at leastI should have had all the image-worshippers who adored Irene, that is,the full half of the Empire, upon my side, and if I perished, I shouldperish as a saint. But a wife and children are the most terrible giftsof God, if the most blessed, for they turn our hearts to water. So, forthe first time in my life, I grew afraid, and, for their sakes, fled.
As might be expected, having Martina's brains, Heliodore's love, and theNorthmen's loyalty at the back of it, our plan went well. A letter wassent to the Emperor saying that we would await the arrival of the fleetto obey his commands, having some private matters to arrange before weleft Lesbos. Then, on a certain evening, we embarked on two great ships,about four hundred souls in all.
Before we went I bade farewell to Irene. She was seated outside thehouse that had been given to her, employed in spinning, for it was herfancy to earn the bread she ate by the labour of her hands. Roundher were playing Jodd's children and my own, whom, in order to escapesuspicion, we had sent thither till the time came for us to embark,since the people of Lesbos only knew of our scheme by rumour.
"Whither do you go, Olaf?" she asked.
"Back to the North, whence I came, Madam," I answered, "to save thelives of these," and I waved my hand towards the children. "If I bidehere all must die. We have been sent for to Byzantium, as I think _you_were wont to send for officers who had ceased to please you."
"I understand, Olaf; moreover, I know it is I who have brought thistrouble upon you because you spared me, whom it was meant that youshould kill. Also I know, through friends of mine, that henceforth, forreasons of policy, my little end of life is safe, and perhaps with it mysight. All this I owe to you, though now at times I regret that I askedthe boon. From the lot of an Empress to that of a spinning-wife is agreat change, and one which I find it heard to bear. Still, I have mypeace to make with God, and towards that peace I strive. Yet will younot take me with you, Olaf? I should like to found a nunnery in thatcold North of yours."
"No, Augusta. I have done my best by you, and now you must guardyourself. We part for ever. I go hence to finish where I began. Mybirthplace calls me."
"For ever is a long word, Olaf. Are you sure that we part for ever?Perchance we shall meet again in death or in other lives. Such, atleast, was the belief of some of the wisest of my people before webecame Christian, and mayhap the Christians do not know everything,since the world had learnt much before they came. I hope that it maybe so, Olaf, for I owe you a great debt and would repay it to you fullmeasure, pressed down and running over. Farewell. Take with you theblessing of a sinful and a broken heart," and, rising, she kissed me onthe brow.
Here ends the story of this life of mine as Olaf Red-Sword, since ofit I can recover no more. The darkness drops. Of what befell me andthe others after my parting with Irene I know nothing or very little.Doubtless we sailed away north, and, I think, came safely to Aar, sinceI have faint visions of Iduna the Fair grown old, but still unwed, forthe stain of Steinar's blood, as it were, still marked her brow in allmen's eyes; and even of Freydisa, white-haired and noble-looking. Howdid we meet and how did we separate at last, I wonder? And what were thefates of Heliodore and of our children; of Martina and of Jodd? Also,was the prophecy of Odin, spoken through the lips of Freydisa in thetemple at Aar, that he and his fellow gods, or demons, would prevailagainst my flesh and that of those who clung to me, fulfilled at last inthe fires of martyrdom for the Faith, as his promise of my happiness wasfulfilled?
I cannot tell. I cannot tell. Darkness entombs us all and history isdumb.
At Aar there are many graves! Standing among them, not so long ago, muchof this history came back to me.
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