King Alfreds Viking | Page 2

Alfred, beyond that he was a close
kinsman, is very doubtful. He has been identified with a brother,
Athelstan of East Anglia, who is known to have retired to Glastonbury;
but there is no more than conjecture, and I have been content with
"cousinship."

C. W. Whistler
Stockland, 1898.
Chapter I.
The Seeking of Sword Helmbiter.
Men call me "King Alfred's Viking," and I think that I may be proud of
that name; for surely to be trusted by such a king is honour enough for
any man, whether freeman or thrall, noble or churl. Maybe I had rather
be called by that name than by that which was mine when I came to
England, though it was a good title enough that men gave me, if it
meant less than it seemed. For being the son of Vemund, king of
Southmereland in Norway, I was hailed as king when first I took
command of a ship of my own. Sea king, therefore, was I, Ranald
Vemundsson, but my kingdom was but over ship and men, the circle of
wide sea round me was nought that I could rule over, if I might seem to
conquer the waves by the kingship of good seaman's craft.
One may ask how I came to lose my father's kingdom, which should
have been mine, and at last to be content with a simple English earldom;
or how it was that a viking could be useful to Alfred, the wise king. So
I will tell the first at once, and the rest may be learned from what comes
after.
If one speaks to me of Norway, straightway into my mind comes the
remembrance of the glare of a burning hall, of the shouts of savage
warriors, and of the cries of the womenfolk, among whom I, a
ten-year-old boy, was when Harald Fairhair sent the great Jarl
Rognvald and his men to make an end of Vemund, my father. For
Harald had sworn a great oath to subdue all the lesser kings in the land
and rule there alone, like Gorm in Denmark and Eirik in Sweden. So
my father's turn came, and as he feasted with his ninety stout courtmen,
the jarl landed under cover of the dark and fell on him, surrounding the
house and firing it. Then was fierce fighting as my father and his men
sallied again and again from the doors and were driven back, until the
high roof fell in and there was a sudden silence, and an end.

Then in the silence came my mother's voice from where she stood on
the balcony of the living house across the garth {i}. I mind that she
neither wept nor shrieked as did the women round her, and her voice
was clear and strong over the roaring of the flames. I mind, too, the
flash of helms and armour as every man turned to look on her who
spoke.
"Coward and nidring art thou, Rognvald, who dared not meet Vemund,
my husband, in open field, but must slay him thus. Ill may all things go
with thee, till thou knowest what a burning hall is like for thyself. I rede
thee to the open hillside ever, rather than come beneath a roof; for as
thou hast wrought this night, so shall others do to thee."
Then rose a growl of wrath from Rognvald's men, but the great Jarl
bade them cease, and harm none in all the place. So he went down to
his ships with no more words and men said that he was ill at ease and
little content, for he had lost as many men as he had slain, so stoutly
fought my father and our courtmen, and had earned a curse, moreover,
which would make his nights uneasy for long enough.
Then as he went my mother bade me look well at him, that in days to
come I might know on whom to avenge my father's death. After that
she went to her own lands in the south, for she was a jarl's daughter,
and very rich.
Not long thereafter Harald Fairhair won all the land, and then began the
trouble of ruling it; and men began to leave Norway because of the new
laws, which seemed hard on them, though they were good enough.
Now two of Jarl Rognvald's sons had been good friends of my father
before these troubles began, and one, Sigurd, had been lord over the
Orkney Islands, and had died there. The other, Jarl Einar, fell out with
Rognvald, his father, and we heard that he would take to the viking
path, and go to the Orkneys, to win back the jarldom that Sigurd's death
had left as a prey to masterless men and pirates of all sorts. So my
mother