Scramasax by Kevin Crossley-Holland Read Free Book Online Page B

agreed.
    â€˜We do,’ said Solveig. ‘Before the world grows green again. I can mend sails.’
    Harald nodded. ‘Talk to one of our boatmen.’
    â€˜And weapons. I think I could.’
    Skarp leered at Solveig. ‘You can mend mine,’ he told her. ‘It’s a bit rusty.’
    â€˜Oh, Harald!’ cried Solveig, and she flung her arms wide. ‘I’m so glad. So glad.’
    â€˜Hmm!’ grunted Harald. ‘Sing me the same song in a year’s time.’
    â€˜If I had to stay in this palace,’ Solveig told him, ‘I’d be imprisoned, like a songbird in a golden cage.’
    â€˜Pretty words,’ said Harald. ‘But now, Solveig, you must prove your worth.’
    â€˜I will.’
    Harald wagged his right forefinger. ‘When you go back to your quarters … you mustn’t breathe a word of this to Maria.’
    â€˜Of course not.’
    â€˜Not even in your manner.’
    â€˜Sometimes,’ observed Snorri, ‘what we do not say tells no less than what we do say.’
    â€˜When will we sail?’ Solveig asked Harald.
    Harald Sigurdsson shrugged. ‘Soon. Very soon.’
    Solveig looked at him warmly and expectantly.
    â€˜Before an army sets sail …’ Harald said, and he spread his big hands. ‘All the clothing, the weapons, all the provisions, all the horses.’
    Solveig nodded.
    â€˜And then we’ll have to wait until the Empress, the divine Empress, gives us permission.’
    â€˜And asks her bishops to bless us,’ Snorri added in a cutting voice.
    â€˜There’s nothing wrong with that,’ argued Halfdan. ‘Better to have more gods on our side than too few.’
    â€˜Wait until I send you word,’ Harald told Solveig. ‘And when I do, you must come at once.’
    â€˜At once,’ repeated Solveig.
    â€˜In the meantime, arouse no suspicion. None. Understand, Solveig, if anyone finds out, not only will it endanger your life, it might endanger mine.’
    *
    No sooner had Solveig returned to her quarters than Maria came to see her.
    â€˜What’s happened?’ asked Solveig.
    Maria quickened across the receiving room, smiling, and embraced Solveig.
    â€˜What is it?’
    â€˜I have permission to take you with me to see my father.’
    â€˜Me?’ Solveig stiffened. ‘When?’
    â€˜You do not want?’
    â€˜Yes, yes, of course I do. But …’
    Maria looked at Solveig, perplexed. ‘What has changed?’ she asked.
    Solveig shook her head and gave Maria a wooden smile. ‘Nothing,’ she protested. ‘When do we go?’
    â€˜Tomorrow. We must be back before sundown.’
    I’ll be glad to be out of this palace, thought Solveig. I’m a farm girl, not a princess. And I know Maria’s servants are watching me.
    As they left the palace together, Maria said, ‘First we go to the almond-seller. My father likes fresh almonds. Almonds and oranges. Oranges make him stronger in his blood.’
    In the Hippodrome, the girls met seven Varangian guards running towards the palace, scarlet cloaks flying, and seeing them in such a hurry made Solveig nervous that the fleet might be about to set sail.
    No, she thought. That’s impossible. Not already.
    â€˜Men,’ said Maria gaily. ‘Varangians are men. Harald is the most man.’
    â€˜And my father,’ Solveig declared.
    Is it possible, she wondered, that Maria and Harald could make a marriage? After all, she’s the niece of the Empress, and Harald’s the half-brother of King Olaf. Sheworships him, but Harald … What about him? What are his feelings?
    I can’t ask Maria. Not yet. She wouldn’t open all her heart. But before I sail for Sicily, I’ll try to find out.
    In the same market where Solveig’s father grew so anxious that he had lost his daughter, the two girls bought almonds and oranges, and Solveig