The Path of the King | Page 8

Gundbiorn's Reef and it is beyond the world."
All this befell in Biorn's eleventh summer. The winter which followed
brought ill luck to Hightown and notably to Ironbeard the King. For in
the autumn the Queen, that gentle lady, fell sick, and, though leeches
were sought for far and near, and spells and runes were prepared by all
who had skill of them, her life ebbed fast and ere Yule she was laid in
the Howe of the Dead. The loss of her made Thorwald grimmer and
more silent than before, and there was no feasting at the Yule high-tide
and but little at the spring merry-making. As for Biorn he sorrowed
bitterly for a week, and then, boylike, forgot his grief in the wonder of
living.
But that winter brought death in another form. Storms never ceased,
and in the New Year the land lay in the stricture of a black frost which
froze the beasts in the byres and made Biorn shiver all the night
through, though in ordinary winter weather he was hardy enough to
dive in the ice-holes. The stock of meal fell low, and when spring

tarried famine drew very near. Such a spring no man living
remembered. The snow lay deep on the shore till far into May. And
when the winds broke they were cold sunless gales which nipped the
young life in the earth. The ploughing was backward, and the seed-time
was a month too late. The new-born lambs died on the fells and there
fell a wasting sickness among the cattle. Few salmon ran up the streams,
and the sea-fish seemed to have gone on a journey. Even in summer,
the pleasant time, food was scarce, for the grass in the pastures was
poor and the cows gave little milk, and the children died. It foreboded a
black harvest-time and a blacker winter.
With these misfortunes a fever rose in the blood of the men of
Hightown. Such things had happened before for the Norland was never
more than one stage distant from famine; and in the old days there had
been but a single remedy. Food and wealth must be won from a foray
overseas. It was years since Ironbeard had ridden Egir's road to the rich
lowlands, and the Bearsarks were growing soft from idleness. Ironbeard
himself was willing, for his hall was hateful to him since the Queen's
death. Moreover, there was no other way. Food must be found for the
winter or the folk would perish.
So a hosting was decreed at harvest-tide, for few men would be needed
to win the blasted crops; and there began a jointing of shields and a
burnishing of weapons, and the getting ready of the big ships. Also
there was a great sortilege-making. Whither to steer, that was the
question. There were the rich coasts of England, but they were well
guarded, and many of the Norland race were along the wardens. The
isles of the Gael were in like case, and, though they were the easier
prey, there was less to be had from them. There were soon two parties
in the hall, one urging Ironbeard to follow the old track of his kin
westward, another looking south to the Frankish shore. The King
himself, after the sacrifice of a black heifer, cast the sacred twigs, and
they seemed to point to Frankland. Old Arnwulf was deputed on a
certain day to hallow three ravens and take their guidance, but, though
he said three times the Ravens' spell, he got no clear counsel from the
wise birds. Last of all, the weird-wife Katla came from Sigg, and for
the space of three days sat in the hall with her head shrouded, taking no
meat or drink. When at last she spoke she prophesied ill. She saw a red
cloud and it descended on the heads of the warriors, yea of the King

himself. As for Hightown she saw it frozen deep in snow like
Jotunheim, and rime lay on it like a place long dead. But she bade
Ironbeard go to Frankland, for it was so written. "A great kingdom
waits," she said--"not for you, but for the seed of your loins." And
Biorn shuddered, for they were the words spoken in her hut on that
unforgotten midsummer night.
The boy was in an agony lest he should be left behind. But his father
decreed that he should go. "These are times when manhood must come
fast," he said. "He can bide within the Shield-ring when blows are
going. He will be safe enough if it holds. If it breaks, he will sup like
the rest of us with Odin."
Then came days of bustle and preparation. Biorn was agog with
excitement and yet solemnised, for there was strange work afoot