The Road To Jerusalem (46 page)

All at once they fell silent. They sat up and held each other for a long time without saying a word, as if there were no words possible just now, only the singing of the birds.

They sat there until their limbs began to ache from the uncomfortable position. She pulled away first and leaned back in the grass. He lay down next to her and caressed her face, struggling briefly with his shyness. He kissed her cautiously on the forehead first and then her cheeks and lips. Soon she returned his kisses and their shyness was as if blown away by the wind.

They came back late to the Husaby royal manor.

It was Cecilia’s goodness that plunged them both into the deepest unhappiness. As Arn so bitterly explained their misfortune, one had only to compare her for a moment with her sister Katarina to see it at once. Besides, it was between the two sisters that everything had been determined from the very beginning.

For Katarina, Cecilia’s happiness meant her own unhappiness. Since Cecilia was no longer going to return to Gudhem for any further studies in either the progress of the spirit or the hand, it meant as Katarina saw it that she would be trapped like a rat behind the odious cloister walls. That feeling was even stronger when she found out what a large dowry her father Algot had been forced to part with to marry one of his daughters into the Folkung clan. It was now no longer plausible that Algot would allow Katarina to marry too, and she feared that she would be confined to the convent forever and would dry up like an old maid.

Cecilia and Arn had not yet celebrated their betrothal ale, though this was not of their doing but because of the ongoing power struggle. It had been somewhat more difficult for Knut Eriksson to persuade the Swedes to elect him king at Mora Stones than he had first imagined. And when that matter was finally settled, his plan to come to the
landsting
in Western Gotaland was delayed still further by the fact that Boleslav sent an army against him. He had to convince the Swedes that the first thing they needed to do for their new king was to march off to war.

But Boleslav had not assembled a sufficiently large force and was defeated at once by Knut Eriksson and his Swedes, along with Birger Brosa and the Folkungs of Eastern Gotaland. All was now well, but it had taken time, and the summer was more than half gone.

Magnus Folkesson at Arnas, however, was bullheadedly determined to have a king at table when the wedding ale was drunk, so he wanted to wait until Knut managed to conclude his
landsting
in Western Gotaland, where he no doubt would be elected with great unanimity.

As a consequence Arn and Cecilia might well have been man and wife before God as they now rode toward Gudhem, but they were merely betrothed. Yet it would soon be evident that Cecilia was carrying Arn’s child under her heart.

With great concern Arn had inquired about this from Eskil, who was well acquainted with the worldly laws of the land. But Eskil had only laughed and said that what the law prescribed in this situation, if Cecilia’s father really wanted to make a case out of it and drag their shame all the way to the
ting
, was that Arn would be obligated to pay six marks in silver for damages. Eskil thus waved this matter aside by saying that Algot Palsson was hardly in a position to begin arguing over such paltry sums. Nothing worse than that would come of it.

Out of sisterly affection Cecilia wanted to meet with Katarina in order to offer her some solace if possible. For Cecilia it was not hard to imagine what torments Katarina must be suffering within the walls of Gudhem, since she believed she knew her sister well.

But she did not, as it turned out. If she had, she would never have set foot in Gudhem to try and console Katarina.

When the two sisters met in the cloister garden at Gudhem, Cecilia did her best to keep from bubbling over the whole time about her own happiness. She made an effort to console Katarina by saying that as soon as the wedding was over she would have a talk with their father, who would probably take her words more seriously after she had been accepted into the Folkung clan. They would find a way to make Algot listen to reason; perhaps something as simple as the fact that he was miserly and it cost much silver as well as oak forests to keep daughters locked up in a convent. Even more silver would be squandered, if it was a daughter who did not appreciate in the least this special form of fatherly love. At this truth they had a good giggle together.

Once again Cecilia was enticed to talk about her own happiness, about how they would first live at Arnas as long as there were times of strife, how they then would move to Forsvik by Lake Vattern, how they would travel with Eskil to meet the Norwegian kinsmen, and anything else she could think of to talk about concerning all that Katarina regarded as the free, happy life outside the cloister walls. Cecilia was much too full of her own happiness to see how Katarina’s eyes narrowed with hatred and envy. When Katarina almost furtively asked whether it was too much visiting recently that had made Cecilia’s waist thicker than before, Cecilia could no longer hold back her joy. And she revealed the secret that was certainly no more than a small sin to be absolved for the price of six marks in silver and some Pater Nosters and Ave Marias, perhaps a hair shirt and a week on bread and water and whatever other penance there might be. But it was true that she was already with child. And since she had come to that topic of conversation she couldn’t check herself for long, since she felt both so much dread and such great happiness at the prospect of bearing a child.

Katarina was no longer listening to her younger sister’s childish prattle. For she was already thinking of how this matter could turn out to be her own salvation.

When it was finally time to part, she embraced Cecilia tenderly and told her to take good care of her unborn child and to give her warmest congratulations to Arn.

But as soon as the cloister gate closed behind Cecilia, who angered Katarina further by heaving a sigh of relief as she stepped outside, Katarina hurried to her prioress full of cold resolve. She sought to bring about a dramatic change, the sooner the better.

Gudhem was a young convent that had recently been established with donations from King Karl Sverkersson, just as he had donated the land for Vreta convent in Eastern Gotaland. It was impossible to know for sure what the Erik clan thought of cloisters that had originated with Karl Sverkersson and his clan. But the prioress of Gudhem, Mother Rikissa, who was of the Sverker clan and close kin with the now murdered King Karl, had expressed her strong concern that Gudhem might either have to move or close. If Knut Eriksson became king, as everyone believed, it wouldn’t be worth much to belong to the Sverker clan in Western Gotaland, nor would it be wise to stay in a convent with Sverker origins. It was generally known how Erik Jedvardsson in his day had extended his greedy hands toward Varnhem.

Mother Rikissa was a grasping woman; some called her downright vicious, and it was sometimes difficult for young novices to deal with her. But as a close relation to the king, she also had a firm understanding of worldly power.

Katarina now came and unexpectedly confessed to an old sin that she had kept silent about in her earlier confession, recount ing the carnal relations that she’d had with young Arn Magnusson. Mother Rikissa should have been very strict with Katarina because of her long silence. But as Katarina explained with her eyes lowered as she seemed to wipe away a tear, her sin had now become even worse. That same Arn had seduced not only her, as he with a smooth tongue promised her a betrothal ale, but also her sister Cecilia, who was now with child.

Mother Rikissa saw at once a great possibility opening up. Katarina had clearly also seen it, since she demurely pointed out that the seducer Arn was Knut Eriksson’s close friend, and that much trouble could be stirred up for the enemy if Arn Magnusson were to be excommunicated.

Mother Rikissa prescribed a very mild punishment for Katarina’s inadequate confession and belated admission, and sent her away for a week of solitude, silence, bread and water, and the usual list of prayers. Katarina humbled herself and kissed Mother Rikissa’s hand in gratitude, thanking aloud the Holy Virgin for the kindness that had been vouchsafed her. Then she left with a little satisfied smile, which sharp-eyed Mother Rikissa did not fail to notice.

The prioress strode resolutely toward the scriptorum, ramming her heels hard on the floor, a sound that the novices at Gudhem feared more than anything else. There she wrote to Boleslav, insisting that he must appeal to the archbishop in Ostra Aros regarding this matter. She also wrote to Bishop Bengt in Skara, telling him that he must deal with this excommunication as soon as possible, before the crime was compounded by being blessed by any servant of the Lord in the diocese who married the two sinners. She harbored a great hope of winning Bishop Bengt to her side, since she knew that he shared her uneasiness that the time of generosity toward the church and its foremost servants might now be at an end. For Bishop Bengt owed a great debt of gratitude to the Sverker clan as well.

Katarina and Mother Rikissa soon got what they both wanted, although they had very different reasons for wishing it to be so. Two weeks later Bishop Bengt announced at the mass in Skara cathedral that Cecilia Algotsdotter and Arn Magnusson had been excommunicated. No clergyman in all of Western Gotaland could have anything to do with either of them. The only sanctuary they would be able to seek was within a cloister.

For the second time Arn and Cecilia traveled together to Gudhem cloister, but this time their journey was lamentable. Magnus had sent an escort to accompany them on the road, and all the retainers were strictly enjoined to bear the Folkung colors and pennants. Magnus did not want his son to ride in shame and neglect to his penance and sanctuary.

They had not much to say to each other on the way, since everything had already been said before. Cecilia had found it difficult to forgive Arn, no matter how many times he explained that he was so drunk on ale when Katarina came to him that he hardly knew what was happening. But Cecilia objected to the fact that he had kept it from her anyway, so that she was unknowingly dragged into a sin that could have been avoided. He feebly tried to defend himself by saying that he hadn’t found it easy to tell the one person in the world he loved above all others that he had sinned with her sister. And he hadn’t known of the law that declared it an abomination. She believed him on the latter point, although she found it odd that he of all people wouldn’t know the Christian law. After they had hashed this over again and again until it was more than enough, they started to think about the road ahead. As Arn understood the situation, it might take a long time before the sin was confessed to Rome and absolved, perhaps a year or even longer. She had a gloomier view of the future.

When they parted outside the walls of Gudhem he swore before God that he would come back one day to take her out of there. He swore on his sword to convince her even further, though she merely found that childish. But he stubbornly repeated that she had to believe him, and never waiver in that belief. For as long as he breathed he would always look forward to the day when they could be reunited, and he beseeched her not to take the three cloister vows, because such vows could not be taken back. Better to live as a novice, although novices, like lay brothers, had a worse time of it in the cloister than those who took the vows. She nodded silently at his words, tore herself away from him, and ran toward the gate where Mother Rikissa, scornful and stern, awaited her. When the iron-mounted oak gate slammed shut behind Cecilia, Arn felt such great sorrow that he thought he would breathe no more. He fell to his knees and prayed for a long time. In silence the retainers waited patiently some distance away. They too were filled with sorrow for his sake, for the sake of the Folkungs, and for all the joy that had been stolen from them and their Erik kinsmen. They felt hatred toward the Sverker clan because everyone knew that they were behind what had happened.

Arn rode only a short way together with his men from Arnas. Then he stopped and changed into the Folkung battle garb, the simple gray homespun garment with a red border that he had worn as his first worldly clothing on that day less than a year ago when he had ridden out from Varnhem. At that time it was expected that he would learn something about the base world. He had indeed learned much in the past year, but right now he found that most of it was evil.

He decided abruptly that he would ride alone toward Varn hem along the eastern shore of Hornborga Lake and through the forest of the mountain Billingen. The retainers certainly tried to dissuade him from this, for the times were uncertain and no one could know for sure what lurked in the forests. Arn replied coldly that in truth he had no intention of relinquishing his sword and may the Lord preserve any highwaymen or other rabble who attacked him in his present state of mind. With that he wheeled Shimal around and rode off without another word. All the retainers in his escort knew that none of them would be able to follow his stallion at the pace it had set, and they could do nothing but begin the dismal return to Arnas without the one whose life they had sworn to protect, with their own if necessary.

Arn rode a long time across fens and bogs where there was no human dwelling. It had already grown dark by the time he reached the slopes of Billingen. He knew that he needed only to continue north and he would soon come upon the fields of Varnhem, where he would either recognize the way or be able to ask directions. But it was risky to ride in the hills at night, and the sky was overcast, with neither moon nor stars lighting his way. He continued on listlessly for as long as he could see where he was steering Shimal, but he soon had to prepare to stop for the night. It was going to be cold, since he had no sheepskins with him and only a thin cloak, but he took this as only the beginning of the tests and the penance that he knew lay before him. He wanted to suffer much, if only it shortened the time of punishment, so that with God’s help he would be able to fulfill his holy vow to fetch Cecilia from Gudhem.