Heroes of the Valley (33 page)

Not long afterwards, birds began singing among the cairns.

L
ISTEN THEN, GIRL, AND
I'll tell you again of Halli Sveinsson, hall-burner, Trow-tamer, great Halli Short-leg, who won the Battle of Svein's House in your grandmother's time, and so made us the richest people of the valley.

Here's how his story ended.

When the fighting was at its hardest, Halli and Aud, she-wolf of Arne's House, lured the enemy away under cover of mist and led them beyond the cairns. No living person saw what happened then, but awful screams echoed from on high. Some people thought that Halli had summoned the Trows to kill the Hakonssons; others that great Svein himself had come to help Halli in his hour of need . . . Only one thing's sure. Not one of the Hakonssons came back down the hill.

Neither Halli nor Aud spoke of that night, except perhaps to Arnkel Sveinsson, whom they visited on their return to the House. He died a day later, and afterwards Halli helped bury his father in a cairn atop the ridge. Then Leif, the new Arbiter, together with his mother, Astrid the Lawgiver, went down-valley to the great Gathering at Orm's House, where the Council awarded them the lands that make us so powerful today. But Halli and Aud stayed quietly here, and spoke little to anyone.

And it was not long after that, with the first green flush upon the trees, and the days grown newly warm, that Halli and Aud vanished from the House. It's said they left Svein's silver belt lying on the Law Seat, together with an ancient helmet and a rusted sword, which hang upon the wall of treasures to this day. Only Halli's old nurse spied them go: she came hobbling after, and they embraced beyond the wall, down where Halli's Gate is now. Then she watched them as they went across Long Meadow and straight up the ridge, past Svein's Mound and away over the hill, and that was the last anyone ever saw of Halli Sveinsson.

Now, some say they crossed the mountains and came to another valley and are living there still, but I say the Trows got them. That's much more likely.

No – of course no one else went over the hill. Who would want to, when we have so many fields to work and cows to milk and crying mouths to feed? We've more than enough to keep us busy here.

So. Take that dreamy look off your face and snuggle down. You pay too much attention to these silly tales. If you need to go, the pot's below the bed, but hop back sharp or the Trows will get you. Till morning then, my dear, Svein keep you safe.

Sleep tight.