Circling around, I knelt before her. “If it was you,” I whispered, “please don’t tell.”
And then before Bjorn or Steinunn could return and force me to acknowledge them, I crawled into my bedroll and squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to sleep.
Though our absence had surely been noticed, no one said anything about it as we continued our progress up the Rimstrom at dawn the next morning. Yet neither was I left to my own devices, for Steinunn joined me an hour into our journey. Together, we watched the banks of the river slip past, nothing beyond the rocky shore but endless trees and dense foliage.
“You followed me last night,” she asked, “didn’t you?”
“What of it?”
Steinunn’s lips pursed, and she appeared ready to retreat to the other end of the ship, but instead said, “I do not owe you an explanation but I will give you one so that you will understand that my actions against you in Skaland were just. That village was my home. I was wed to the love of my life, and together we had a son. I lost both in a raid.” Her voice shook ever so slightly. “A raid led by Snorri and his warriors.”
I said nothing, part of me having known this must have been the motivation for all she’d done.
“In Snorri’s pursuit of his destiny as king of Skaland, he believed he needed Bjorn’s magic to reveal the shield maiden and was willing tostop at nothing to take him back from Harald. His raid on my village was one of many that occurred as he fought his way up the Rimstrom to Hrafnheim.” Her chin trembled. “I was away when it occurred but those who survived told me how Snorri killed my husband, who was jarl, with his own hand. My young son as well.”
My stomach tightened. Logically I’d known that Snorri had pursued Bjorn using violence but had never once considered what that had cost the people of Nordeland. In truth, even if I had considered it, I might not have cared, for they were the faceless enemy. Yet faceless no longer.
“I wanted to die,” Steinunn whispered. “Wanted to stab my seax into my broken heart, because I had no reason left to live. But Harald arrived in time to stop me. Told me everything, including the plan for Bjorn to return to Skaland to change the future Saga had foreseen so that Snorri would never wear a crown. He asked me to seek vengeance by aiding in the plan, and, in doing so, gave me a reason to live.”
“I wish it had been any other way,” Harald said, having come to the fore of the vessel without me noticing, so caught up had I been in Steinunn’s story. “A good man, Jarl Dag. A loyal jarl. It is Odin’s good fortune to have him in Valhalla.”
“But my son is not with him,” Steinunn answered. “Not only was he robbed of life, he was robbed of the chance to join the Allfather. I will not rest until he is avenged, and then I will join him in Helheim.”
Harald rested a hand on her shoulder. “You will have your vengeance, Steinunn. Yet I hope you will reconsider leaving us and instead compose a ballad of our victory, including your family’s part in it, so that their legacy might live.”
“I cannot sing of their loss.” She wiped away tears. “Because to sing it would mean witnessing their end. My broken heart cannot bear that pain.”
“Perhaps if you did, then you’d understand how the rest of us feel when you sing our horrors for entertainment,” I said. “You told me once that no one cares to hear your stories, but the truth is that you are too much of a coward to sing of them.”
Steinunn’s face darkened with anger. “You hateful bitch!”
“Perhaps. But I have done nothing to you, skald. Whereas your actions cost the lives of those I cared for deeply. Be glad that all I give to you is contempt because I assure you, I am capable of far worse.”
Steinunn hissed a stream of curses as I turned my back on her, but stuck on the drakkar as we were, there was nowhere to go. We were all trapped together, enemies who had caused harm to each other. Who would continue to cause harm, and I wished desperately to be away from them. Bjorn most of all.
From the corner of my eye, I watched him at the rear of the ship staring at the passing trees. Silent, though he’d surely heard much of our conversation. I wondered how he felt learning that it wasn’t only his desire for revenge against Snorri that had driven Harald, but Steinunn’s as well.
“Vengeance is a circle without end.” Harald rested his hands to either side of one of the shields mounted on the vessel’s rail. “But Steinunn is a good woman, Freya.”
“No one on this ship is good.” I thought of Guthrum’s words, though I’d not seen any sign of him since the prior night. “Did she and Bjorn know they both served you?”
“Neither of themserved me.It was their own vengeance they sought.”
I snorted. “Just answer the question, Harald.”
“Steinunn knew Bjorn’s goal.” He sighed. “Bjorn was unaware that Steinunn sought her own vengeance or even that she was Nordeland born.”
Surprise filled me. “Why? You didn’t trust him?”
“Bjorn was under a great deal of scrutiny.” Harald toyed with the rim of the shield. “If he’d known Steinunn was like-minded in goal, a connection would have formed between them that might have caused the same scrutiny to fall upon her. And she was our best source of information on everything that was happening.”
So I couldn’t hold Bjorn culpable for Steinunn’s actions. That didn’t mean he was absolved. Far from it. Changing the subject, I asked, “How much longer must we travel?”
“We near the Skjoldfjell.” Harald gestured upstream. “So not much longer now.” My eyes traveled to the twin peaks of a mountain that reared higher than any other in the range. Between them rested a glacier that formed the Rimstrom, and at the base of the mighty mountain was Harald’s stronghold of Hrafnheim. The seat of his power, and the next step on the journey toward the answers I sought.
True to Harald’s word, within a few hours I had my first look at the center of Nordeland’s rule. The rushing water of Rimstrom divided into two around a large island, which held the fabled fortress. Rising out of the water were walls I guessed to be at least fifty feet tall, made of blocks of stone covered with runes. Towers were equally spaced around the wall, and bridges jutted out over both branches of the river. It seemed to me that the bridges could be raised, for thick chains stretched between them and the walls. I wondered what sorts of giants of men were required to lift them.
The downstream end of the island had a gap in the wall flanked by towers, a thick chain stretched between them to block passage. As Harald’s banner was spotted by those on the watchtower, a horn bellowed and the chain began to rise. We drew closer, and my heart thundered in my chest, because the fortress of Grindill seemed a hovel by comparison. It made me wonder if what I’d seen of Nordelander strength in the raids was but the tip of the iceberg of the force Harald could muster.
