Swords From the Sea by Harold Lamb Read Free Book Online

Show me the road."
    Although Thord galloped headlong, following the tracks along the road, the Viking kept beside him. The horse plunged down slopes, slipping and pulling itself together. The Viking whirled from side to side to break the speed of the descent. Over fallen trees the horse leaped, and the man leaped beside him.
    Night had fallen, but the snow had ceased and the air grew clear. Thord could no longer make out the tracks of the riders. Karli, however, went on without faltering. The forest thinned out around them, and they saw ahead of them at one side two red eyes of light.
    Cautiously they went ahead. They saw that the lights were fires. Valgard and his men had turned off the road to halt for the night. They did not look for pursuit so far from the sea, and they had gone down a steep slope, across clear ground to a cluster of pine trees. So they were a hundred paces from the road-some of the men cutting up a dead tree, others taking the saddles from the horses. Valgard's servants were rigging up a shelter out of boughs and tent cloths, between the two great fires.
    Valgard was sitting on a log. He still had on his steel cap and mail and he held a wine cup on his knee, while he gave orders to his men. Within the shelter beside him the girl Astrid crouched upon a mantle. Her face was white but she did not weep.
    All this Thord and Karli saw clearly, in the red glow of the fires.
    "Men say," Thord whispered to the Viking, "that you have the gift of foresight. Can you see what will come out of this?"
    "Faith, no," Karli laughed, leaning on his spear.
    Anxiously Thord peered at him. After all, this seafarer was young and heedless. He had only human strength in him.
    "Hail them, Sir Thord," he said, "and summon this Valgard to give up Astrid, if he will not have manslaughter at this place."
    Throwing back his head, the old lord shouted: "Ho, Valgard! I am Thord and now I call upon you to release my daughter to come to me. 'Tis an ill deed you have done, to lay hand upon the maid of the house that sheltered you."
    In the moment of surprised silence Valgard stood up, his hand on his sword, peering up into the night. But he could not see the two of them. Yet in that moment-for he was a shrewd man-he had guessed that Thord, escaping from the Vikings, must have followed alone on the solitary charger of the manor.
    "Good or ill," he shouted back, 'Ais not for you to say, old man. You are the messmate of the Red Elf and his outlaws-aye, you have given them food and shelter, despite me-and now must I hold your maid a hostage."
    Some of the men-at-arms laughed, and Thord ground his teeth.
    "That is a black lie, Valgard. Will you give up the girl?"
    "She is here. Come you down, and take her."
    Suddenly Astrid's clear voice rang out: "Nay, Father-for they-"
    Turning swiftly, Valgard dealt her a heavy blow on the mouth, and she fell back. Thord saw then that her ankles were bound together, so that she could not move upon her feet. "May God requite you for that blow," he roared, and jerked at the rein of his horse.
    But Karli's hand held the rein and forced the beast back to the road. "Bide here, old man. Sure it is weary of life you are this day." Then his deep voice bailed the camp: "You need not shout so loud, Valgard, for the Red Elf hears. Now you must make ready and take your weapons and summon your men, for the Red Elf will be coming down with his arms."
    Valgard's manner changed on the instant. He called his men from the horses; they snatched up weapons, and at his bidding ranged themselves in a long half-circle before the fires-two or three paces between the men. A half-dozen archers advanced steadily beyond the half-circle toward the slope. Valgard fitted his shield on his arm, drew his sword, and stood beside the shelter.
    All this Karli watched attentively. Except for his eyes he did not move at all, until he began to clear the snow from his skis by sliding them back and forth.
    Then he leaned forward a little, half