Six Sagas of Adventure (45 page)

Brynjolf saw that and attacked Stefnir, with a grim expression: he was tusked like a wild boar. He struck at Stefnir, and each struck at the other, but Brynjolf’s strike didn’t cut Vefreyja’s Gift, and Stefnir’s sword didn’t cut Brynjolf. They struck at each other for a long time, and Stefnir grew exhausted, until his sword shattered below the hilt. Stefnir ran in to grapple Brynjolf, but he countered powerfully. Brynjolf bit Stefnir’s shoulder and ripped the flesh away from the bones, as much as he could get in his maw, because his teeth couldn’t bite through the cloak. Stefnir defended himself manfully; he clutched Brynjolf’s mouth with his hands and ripped off his face all the way to the ears. This left him quite unkissable.
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They wrestled for so long that the bout went first one way and then another, until Brynjolf fell on his back next to Sval. He clasped Stefnir’s back with both hands, so hard that Stefnir couldn’t turn anywhere. He had to protect his face as best he could, so that Brynjolf wouldn’t bite him.

Now we must tell about Hrolf. He attacked the shield-castle with great ferocity. He took many blows and thrusts and powerful attacks, because all of King Eirek’s mightiest picked warriors were there. He would have suffered dreadful wounds and great hurt there, if the cloak and the armor had not protected him. Hrolf killed seventy knights single-handedly, and then he broke up the entire shield-castle. King Eirek defended himself well and skillfully, crying out to Grim Aegir in a loud voice and begging him to help him and spare no one. When Grim heard that, he hurried over. By then he had killed Torfi and Birgir, wounded one of the masked men, and wounded the other mortally. Sometimes he turned into a flying dragon, but sometimes a serpent, boar, or bull, or other harmful monstrosities that cause the most hurt to men.

When Hrolf saw him, he spoke. “You’ll sink down in the earth again, as you did when we met yesterday. Come here, Aegir, and fight me if you dare, until one or the other of us falls.”

Grim said, “You’ll find out that I’ve come here,” and he struck at Hrolf, and Hrolf struck in return. There one might see the mighty blows and fierce attacks that each gave the other, but they never struck so hard that any of them landed. Their attack was so fierce that everyone nearby jumped away. Such flames leaped from their clashing weapons that the land was ablaze on all sides.

The tall masked man encountered King Eirek, and their fight was quite fierce. King Eirek carried his shield on his wounded arm, but he struck with the other arm frequently and hard, because he was the greatest champion.
Their exchange ended when the masked man chopped away the king’s entire shield. After that he cut both feet out from under King Eirek and killed him. He laid down his life with great valor. The army took to its heels, and each man fled as best he could. Now the slaughter began anew, as the raiders boldly pursued the fleeing host.

Hrolf and Grim turned away from the ranks and fought with great boldness, until Hrolf split Grim’s sword down the middle with Hreggvid’s Gift. Grim made a mighty leap at Hrolf, who had to throw away his sword and grapple him. Grim raged so fiercely that he was wading through the earth up to his knees. Hrolf broke free, but had to save himself from falling. Sometimes Grim spewed venom at Hrolf, and sometimes flames. That would have meant death for him, if he hadn’t had the cloak in front of him, or the veil that Mondul gave him. Grim’s breath was so hot that it almost seemed to burn through Vefreyja’s Gift and the armor. Grim squeezed the flesh from Hrolf’s bones wherever he touched him. Hrolf thought that he had never been more sorely tested. He realized that he would die of exhaustion if they fought any longer. They stomped so hard that grass and turf were torn up wherever they went.

Hrolf saw Mondul come running. He seized a sword that lay on the field and swung at Grim’s leg with both hands, but it didn’t cut any more than if it had hit a stone. Mondul dashed back to the slain bodies and found Hreggvid’s Gift. He smeared his spittle on the edge and dragged the sword to where they were wrestling, because he couldn’t manage to carry or swing the sword on account of its weight. He managed to drag the sword onto Grim’s calves from behind, severing the tendons in his legs, and Grim fell. The dwarf said, “Hold him, Hrolf, so that he can’t get loose.”

Grim struggled hard and forced his way down into the earth, but Hrolf used his strength and held him back. Then Grim said, “You’ve got great luck, Hrolf, and you’ll become famous for killing me and for the mighty deeds that you’ve accomplished in Russia. A mound must be raised after me and set facing the sea, and all who dock there when they reach land will find certain death. I’ve set many deadly traps for you, because my heart warned me for a long time about what has happened now. I sent Vilhjalm to you to betray you, but you were destined to live longer. You wouldn’t have beaten me if that wicked dwarf hadn’t been there to guide you.”

Mondul rushed up and stuck a thick stick into Grim’s mouth so that it stuck fast. Then Mondul said, “If Grim had been able to talk longer, he would have cursed you and most of the others so badly that you would have rotted into pieces and become nothing but dust.
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You must kill him quickly and run your sword through his chest. But don’t dismember him, because everything that is cut from him will turn into poison. And no one must come before his eyes as he dies, because that’s deadly.”

Hrolf took Hreggvid’s Gift and ran Grim through the chest, so that the sword stuck out from his back. The dwarf took a shield and laid it in front of Grim’s face. And as unlikely as it might seem, it’s said that the shield crumbled and melted like snow in a fire and turned completely to dust. Thus Grim laid down his life, with savage death-struggles and wild thrashings of his arms, and Hrolf lay on top of him until he was dead. Hrolf was on the brink of fainting from his struggles with Grim Aegir.

The tall masked man turned back to the battlefield once he had chased the fleeing host for a while. He came to where Stefnir and Brynjolf were lying, as we mentioned before. He wanted to help Stefnir, and he loosened Brynjolf’s hand from him, but he wasn’t able to do that until he had broken every one of his fingers. Then they bashed him into Hel with clubs. Stefnir had become so stiff from his grappling bout that he could hardly walk by himself with the other men.

Now this huge battle was over, and there had been such a huge slaughter that men had scarcely heard of the like. Headless bodies lay so thickly all over the field that it wasn’t possible to walk on the ground, on account of the great slaughter. Most of King Eirek’s men had fallen. Hrolf and Stefnir had lost all their men except for eight hundred survivors, most of them wounded. There was no shortage of weapons or treasures which the dead had owned. Hrolf and Stefnir went to their tents. Mondul the dwarf bandaged men’s wounds, and they all praised his wisdom and helpfulness. Mondul said that if Grim had caught him when he plunged down into the earth, that would have been the death of him. “I benefited from the fact that my friends were more numerous than his,” he said. The masked man went to his ships in the evening with his men, and they pitched their tents. Both sides now rested, and most felt it was high time to rest. King Eirek’s men who had escaped fled to the fort and stayed there.

CHAPTER XXXIV

That night, as the men were sleeping, Hrolf and Stefnir went to the camp of the men from the ships. They were all asleep in their own armor. Hrolf took the knife and the belt that Hreggvid had given him, and tied them to the masked man’s spear shaft. He said, “I give this treasure to the leader of this host, and with it I thank him for his brave service and assistance. I think I am obliged to do him all the good that I can offer him and that he will accept from me.”

No one answered. They went to their own tents and slept through the night.

Early in the morning, Hrolf went to the fortress with his men. The masked man also came there with his own men. Hrolf held a parley with the men in the fortress and agreed to grant them a truce, if they would surrender the fortress. They accepted his offer. Hrolf and all his men entered the fort and summoned the household. Hrolf announced that they had come on behalf of Princess Ingigerd, to win back her kingdom from her enemies, and that she was in Denmark, safe and ready to travel. The people of the land were overjoyed at this news and felt willing to serve under her authority.

Now Hrolf went to the hall and sat down to feasting with great cheer. The unknown man then took off his mask. Hrolf and Stefnir recognized that it was Hrafn, who had once stayed in Jutland, and to whom Hrolf had given the clothing. He told them about events in Denmark, the fall of Jarl Thorgnyr and what he had accomplished there. Hrolf and Stefnir were saddened at this news, and they thanked him very much for his aid.

Hrafn said that he had thought they must have been too late, reaching them only the day before. “My help was a fitting exchange for the gift of life and the clothes that you gave me a long time ago. But my brother Krak fell yesterday before Grim Aegir, and I feel that is the worst loss, though I have to accept it for now.”

Now they ended their conversation. They stayed there that night and were well treated.

The next morning, Hrolf had the battlefield cleared and divided the plunder with his men. Three huge burial mounds were raised there. Hrolf laid his father Sturlaug in one, along with Hrafn’s brother Krak, and all the greatest champions who had fallen in their ranks. King Eirek, Brynjolf and Thord and their best men were laid in the second mound. In the third, where it seemed least likely that a ship would land, Grim Aegir was laid facing the sea, and the fallen commoners were buried there.

Hrolf appointed governors over all the kingdom until the princess could come. The dwarf took his leave of Hrolf, and he thanked him for his help and gave him whatever he wanted. King Eirek’s sister Gyda vanished from Russia, and some people think that Mondul must have carried her off.
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After that, Hrolf and his men prepared to return home. They set out from Russia and didn’t stop until they came to Denmark, landing at Aarhus. Thorgnyr had fortified that place the most. Bjorn and all the inhabitants came to meet them with a great welcome. The maidens were glad that they had come back. Ingigerd thanked them for their exploits. Bjorn had protected the ladies in an underground house ever since the jarl fell. Ingigerd now said firmly that she would marry no man but Hrolf Sturlaugsson, because he had paid the greatest price to avenge her father—“now he has lost his own father and brother and other friends and kinsmen, and placed himself in the greatest dangers.”

No one spoke out against it. Bjorn prepared a worthy feast for them, and they drank the inheritance-ale for Jarl Thorgnyr.

CHAPTER XXXV

One day at the feast, Hrafn stood up and asked for a hearing and said, “I want to thank you, Hrolf and Stefnir, for the honor and the good turns that you have done me, both now and when I was here before. I want to reveal my name and my lineage to you. There was a king named Edgar who ruled over a kingdom in England and who had his royal seat in the town named Winchester. He had two sons and one daughter. His older son was named Harald, and the younger was named Sigurd. Alfhild was the name of his daughter. I am that same Harald, but my brother Sigurd fell in Russia, as you saw. Our mother’s kin live here in Denmark. But when I was fifteen years old and my brother was thirteen, my father was betrayed by his kinsman Heinrek, a great champion and an unruly man. He had himself raised to the kingship and has held the kingdom ever since, and we two brothers escaped with difficulty. We got Alfhild to safety in the fortress called Brentford,
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and she has been there ever since. We two brothers traveled in disguise through various lands, giving our names as Krak and Hrafn. We have gotten these men and ships by serving alongside various chieftains, along with the support of our kinfolk. Heinrek has much support from Scotland, because he married the daughter of Jarl Melans of Moray, and he is a great friend of the High King, who is named Duncan. Duncansby is named for him because he had that place fortified.
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Now I want to ask you, Hrolf and Stefnir, to grant me aid and support in avenging my father and winning back my inheritance.”

Hrolf said, “I shall grant you all the strength and support that I can. I shall not part from you until you have won back your kingdom and driven away your sorrow—or else I shall lay down my life.”

Stefnir said the same. Harald thanked them for their words and their goodwill.

After the feast, they prepared themselves for the journey and chose all the bravest men that they could get. They left Bjorn the Counsellor and other mighty men to look after the land. Before they left, Harald put forth his suit and asked for the hand of Stefnir’s sister Thora. Hrolf supported his case, as did many other honored men. In the end, Harald was betrothed to her, and she had to stay there betrothed until they came back.

After that, they sailed from Jutland in thirty ships, all well equipped. They didn’t break their journey until they had sailed westward to England, to the island called Lindsey.
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They laid up there in an anchorage and stayed there for several days and waited for a favorable wind, because they didn’t want to raid there.

CHAPTER XXXVI

It’s said that a man named Annis was with King Heinrek. He was old, but he knew both the newest and the most ancient wickedness and sorcery. He had fostered Heinrek and had always been his adviser.

A month in advance, Annis had told the king that Harald and Hrolf would arrive with a great host, and what they meant to do. Annis spoke of the great valor of Hrolf and Stefnir and said that Heinrek would need some counsel. “My advice is to send word to Scotland for your father-in-law Jarl Melans to come to aid you. You should also send a message to King Duncan asking him to send you help. As soon as Hrolf comes to this land, you should send a man to him to mark out the battlefield with hazel stakes
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and summon them to battle. Under the provisions of Viking law, they cannot raid.
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You must set the battlefield by Ashingdon, north of the Danes’ forest.
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The lay of the land there is worst for a fleeing host. Leave half of your forces in the forest until they can attack from behind and take them on the flank. Then we shall surround them and let none escape alive.”