TLV - 03 - The Sign of the Raven by Poul Anderson Read Free Book Online

"Perhaps that day will come again when I can dry myself on the middle of a towel," he said.
    Carl's children appeared, to lay out the trestle table and set it. Vandraadh placed himself between yeoman and goodwife, and ate with scant appetite. After he was finished, Carl gave him the horse and put his oldest son on another for guide. They rode briskly inland, bending southward, while Haakon's men returned to their ship.
     
     
    2
     
     
    Harald and his following came back toward evening, having given up the chase after the Danes; those had too long a head start. The king was still in good humor, though. His muscles ached, but he felt too happy to want sleep.
    As they entered Lofufjord, they saw that Haakon had taken charge and gotten the ships into some kind of order. Campfires smoked on the beach, the hale sat about them resting and the wounded lay under tents. Harald went boisterously ashore, and the host cheered him. Thora was by his side, flushed with joy, and Magnus was not far off.
    Styrkaar shambled forth. "I have a gift for you, my lord," he said. "The traitor Finn Arnason would not flee, so we took him and his crew prisoner, and here they are."
    He waved a hairy hand, and several warriors led out the jarl of Halland. Harald felt a little shocked at sight of the man. He had grown very old in eleven years. He shuffled along, bent over, trembling faintly with age; his hair and beard were white, the once massive face shrunken inward, the eyes rheumy and almost blind. They had tied his hands behind his back.
    He stopped before Harald and looked up. He could no longer make out faces, but only one man had that height. The king laughed and said:
    "Well, Finn, so we meet again, whose last meeting was in Norway. The Danes did not stand very firmly by you, did they? Now the Norse will have a troublesome task, dragging you about and keeping you alive, blind as you are."
    Finn's voice had become a near whisper, but he answered stoutly: "The Norse must put hands to many foul tasks; but worst of all are those you set them to."
    It seemed wrong to Harald that this proud man should stand with ropes on his arms. He asked more gently: "Will you accept mercy, little though you deserve it?"
    Finn spat. "Not from you, you dog!"
    The king had expected no other reply. It seemed to him he had wronged Finn's house enough, without putting a helpless captive to death. "Well," he asked, "will you take peace from your kinsman Magnus?"
    Finn peered around, as if trying to find the prince; he looked like a turtle. "Shall such a whelp yield peace to a man?" he snapped.
    H arald laughed. "But Thora, your niece," he said. "Will you take mercy from her?"
    Finn squinted and seemed to draw into himself. "Is she here?"
    "That she is," said Harald.
    Once more the jarl spat. He said shakily: "It's no wonder you bit so hard last night, if the mare was with you!"
    Thora stepped back, her face whitened and she raised a hand to strike him. Harald caught her wrist. "Let him live," he said. "Keep watch over him, but take those cords off."
    Styrkaar looked puzzled, but obeyed, and led Finn back to the tent he had raised. Thora swung furiously on Harald. She hissed: "Are you going to spare him after what he said about me?"
    He gave her a wondering glance. "Your own uncle," he replied at last, slowly. Turning his back on her, he went toward the tent where Haakon's banner flew.
    He thought his jarl had an uneasy air, but they got to work together at once. Much needed to be done. The chaplains of the fleet paid the Norse fallen the last honors; the Danish dead were brought ashore and the Halland yeomen told to bury them as best they could. There were many wounded to be cared for and prisoners to be guarded—held for ransom or sold as thralls. There was the booty to be divided, ships and weapons and whatever else of value could be found; this alone took a couple of days.
    Slain men had been heaped on the Danish flagship. Harald looked at each corpse himself, and was