"I have known younger men who would seem less brisk at bridals," said Asmund, and for that time they talked no more of the matter.
Now, Swanhild heard something of this speech, and she guessed more; and it came into her mind that it would be the best of sport to make this old man love her, and then to mock him and say him nay. So she set herself to the task, as it ever was her wont, and she found it easy. For all day long, with downcast eyes and gentle looks, she waited upon the Earl, and now, at his bidding, she sang to him in a voice soft and low, and now she talked so wisely well that Atli thought no such maid had trod the earth before. But he checked himself with many learned saws, and on a day when the weather had grown fair, and they sat alone, he told her that his ship was bound for Orkney Isles.
Then, as though by chance, Swanhild laid her white hand in his, and on a sudden looked deep into his eyes, and said with trembling lips, "Ah, go not yet, lord!--I pray thee, go not yet!"--and, turning, she fled away.
But Atli was much moved, and he said to himself: "Now a strange thing is come to pa.s.s: a fair maid loves an old man; and yet, methinks, he who looks into those eyes sees deep waters," and he beat his brow and thought.
But Swanhild in her chamber laughed till the tears ran from those same eyes, for she saw that the great fish was hooked and now the time had come to play him.
For she did not know that it was otherwise fated.
Gudruda, too, saw all these things and knew not how to read them, for she was of an honest mind, and could not understand how a woman may love a man as Swanhild loved Eric and yet make such play with other men, and that of her free will. For she guessed little of Swanhild"s guilefulness, nor of the coldness of her heart to all save Eric; nor of how this was the only joy left to her: to make a sport of men and put them to grief and shame. Atli said to himself that he would watch this maid well before he uttered a word to Asmund, and he deemed himself very cunning, for he was wondrous cautious after the fashion of those about to fall. So he set himself to watching, and Swanhild set herself to smiling, and he told her tales of warfare and of daring, and she clasped her hands and said:
"Was there ever such a man since Odin trod the earth?" And so it went on, till the serving-women laughed at the old man in love and the wit of her that mocked him.
Now upon a day, Eric having made an end of sowing his corn, bethought himself of his vow to go up alone against Skallagrim the Baresark in his den on Mosfell over by Hecla. Now, this was a heavy task: for Skallagrim was held so mighty among men that none went up against him any more; and at times Eric thought of Gudruda, and sighed, for it was likely that she would be a widow before she was made a wife. Still, his oath must be fulfilled, and, moreover, of late Skallagrim having heard that a youngling named Eric Brighteyes had vowed to slay him single-handed, had made of a mock of him in this fashion. For Skallagrim rode down to Coldback on Ran River and at night-time took a lamb from the fold.
Holding the lamb beneath his arm, he drew near to the house and smote thrice on the door with his battle-axe, and they were thundering knocks.
Then he leapt on to his horse and rode off a s.p.a.ce and waited. Presently Eric came out, but half clad, a shield in one hand and Whitefire in the other, and, looking, by the bright moonlight he saw a huge black-bearded man seated on a horse, having a great axe in one hand and the lamb beneath his arm.
"Who art thou?" roared Eric.
"I am called Skallagrim, youngling," answered the man on the horse.
"Many men have seen me once, none have wished to see me twice, and some few have never seen aught again. Now, it has been echoed in my ears that thou hast vowed a vow to go up Mosfell against Skallagrim the Baresark, and I am come hither to say that I will make thee right welcome. See,"
and with his axe he cut off the lamb"s tail on the pommel of his saddle: "of the flesh of this lamb of thine I will brew broth and of his skin I will make me a vest. Take thou this tail, and when thou fittest it on to the skin again, Skallagrim will own a lord," and he hurled the tail towards him.
"Bide thou there till I can come to thee," shouted Eric; "it will spare me a ride to Mosfell."
"Nay, nay. It is good for lads to take the mountain air," and Skallagrim turned his horse away, laughing.
Eric watched Skallagrim vanish over the knoll, and then, though he was very angry, laughed also and went in. But first he picked up the tail, and on the morrow he skinned it.
Now the time was come when the matter must be tried, and Eric bade farewell to Saevuna his mother, and Unna his cousin, and girt Whitefire round him and set upon his head a golden helm with wings on it. Then he found the byrnie which his father Thorgrimur had stripped, together with the helm, from that Baresark who cut off his leg--and this was a good piece, forged of the Welshmen--and he put it on his breast, and taking a stout shield of bull"s hide studded with nails, rode away with one thrall, the strong carle named Jon.
But the women mis...o...b..ed them much of this venture; nevertheless Eric might not be gainsayed.
Now, the road to Mosfell runs past Middalhof and thither he came. Atli, standing at the men"s door, saw him and cried aloud: "Ho! a mighty man comes here."
Swanhild looked out and saw Eric, and he was a goodly sight in his war-gear. For now, week by week, he seemed to grow more fair and great, as the full strength of his manhood rose in him, like sap in the spring gra.s.s, and Gudruda was very proud of her lover. That night Eric stayed at Middalhof, and sat hand in hand with Gudruda and talked with Earl Atli. Now the heart of the old viking went out to Eric, and he took great delight in him and in his strength and deeds, and he longed much that the G.o.ds had given him such a son.
"I prophesy this of thee, Brighteyes," he cried: "that it shall go ill with this Baresark thou seekest--yes, and with all men who come within sweep of that great sword of thine. But remember this, lad: guard thy head with thy buckler, cut low beneath his shield, if he carries one, and mow the legs from him: for ever a Baresark rushes on, shield up."
Eric thanked him for his good words and went to rest. But, before it was light, he rose, and Gudruda rose also and came into the hall, and buckled his harness on him with her own hands.
"This is a sad task for me, Eric!" she sighed, "for how do I know that Baresark"s hands shall not loose this helm of thine?"
"That is as it may be, sweet," he said; "but I fear not the Baresark or any man. How goes it with Swanhild now?"
"I know not. She makes herself sweet to that old Earl and he is fain of her, and that is beyond my sight."
"I have seen as much," said Eric. "It will be well for us if he should wed her."
"Ay, and ill for him; but it is to be doubted if that is in her mind."
Now Eric kissed her soft and sweet, and went away, bidding her look for his return on the day after the morrow.
Gudruda bore up bravely against her fears till he was gone, but then she wept a little.
Now it is to be told that Eric and his thrall Jon rode hard up Stonefell and across the mountains and over the black sand, till, two hours before sunset, they came to the foot of Mosfell, having Hecla on their right.
It is a grim mountain, grey with moss, standing alone in the desert plain; but between it and Hecla there is good gra.s.sland.
"Here is the fox"s earth. Now to start him," said Eric.
He knows something of the path by which this fortress can be climbed from the south, and horses may be ridden up it for a s.p.a.ce. So on they go, till at length they come to a flat place where water runs down the black rocks, and here Eric drank of the water, ate food, and washed his face and hands. This done, he bid Jon tend the horses--for hereabouts there is a little gra.s.s--and be watchful till he returned, since he must go up against Skallagrim alone. And there with a doubtful heart Jon stayed all that night. For of all that came to pa.s.s he saw but one thing, and that was the light of Whitefire as it flashed out high above him on the brow of the mountain when first Brighteyes smote at foe.
Eric went warily up the Baresark path, for he would keep his breath in him, and the light shone redly on his golden helm. High he went, till at length he came to a pa.s.s narrow and dark and hedged on either side with sheer cliffs, such as two armed men might hold against a score.
He peered down this path, but he saw no Baresark, though it was worn by Baresark feet. He crept along its length, moving like a sunbeam through the darkness of the pa.s.s, for the light gathered on his helm and sword, till suddenly the path turned and he was on the brink of a gulf that seemed to have no bottom, and, looking across and down, he could see Jon and the horses more than a hundred fathoms beneath. Now Eric must stop, for this path leads but into the black gulf. Also he was perplexed to know where Skallagrim had his lair. He crept to the brink and gazed.
Then he saw that a point of rock jutted from the sheer face of the cliff and that the point was worn with the mark of feet.
"Where Baresark pa.s.ses, there may yeoman follow," said Eric and, sheathing Whitefire, without more ado, though he liked the task little, he grasped the overhanging rock and stepped down on to the point below.
Now he was perched like an eagle over the dizzy gulf and his brain swam. Backward he feared to go, and forward he might not, for there was nothing but air. Beside him, growing from the face of the cliff, was a birch-bush. He grasped it to steady himself. It bent beneath his clutch, and then he saw, behind it, a hole in the rock through which a man could creep, and down this hole ran footmarks.
"First through air like a bird; now through earth like a fox," said Eric and entered the hole. Doubling his body till his helm almost touched his knee he took three paces and lo! he stood on a great platform of rock, so large that a hall might be built on it, which, curving inwards, cannot be seen from the narrow pa.s.s. This platform, that is backed by the sheer cliff, looks straight to the south, and from it he could search the plain and the path that he had travelled, and there once more he saw Jon and the horses far below him.
"A strong place, truly, and well chosen," said Eric and looked around.
On the floor of the rock and some paces from him a turf fire still smouldered, and by it were sheep"s bones, and beyond, in the face of the overhanging precipice, was the mouth of a cave.
"The wolf is at home, or was but lately," said Eric; "now for his lair;"
and with that he walked warily to the mouth of the cave and peered in. He could see nothing yet a while, but surely he heard a sound of snoring?
Then he crept in, and, presently, by the red light of the burning embers, he saw a great black-bearded man stretched at length upon a rug of sheepskins, and by his side an axe.
"Now it would be easy to make an end of this cave-dweller," thought Eric; "but that is a deed I will not do--no, not even to a Baresark--to slay him in his sleep," and therewith he stepped lightly to the side of Skallagrim, and was about to p.r.i.c.k him with the point of Whitefire, when! as he did so, another man sat up behind Skallagrim.
"By Thor! for two I did not bargain," said Eric, and sprang from the cave.
Then, with a grunt of rage, that Baresark who was behind Skallagrim came out like a she-bear robbed of her whelps, and ran straight at Eric, sword aloft. Eric gives before him right to the edge of the cliff.
Then the Baresark smites at him and Brighteyes catches the blow on his shield, and smites at him in turn so well and truly, that the head of the Baresark flies from his shoulders and spins along the ground, but his body, with outstretched arms yet gripping at the air, falls over the edge of the gulf sheer into the water, a hundred fathoms down. It was the flash that Whitefire made as it circled ere it smote that Jon saw while he waited in the dell upon the mountain side. But of the Baresark he saw nothing, for he pa.s.sed down into the great fire-riven cleft and was never seen more, save once only, in a strange fashion that shall be told. This was the first man whom Brighteyes slew.
Now the old tale tells that Eric cried aloud: "Little chance had this one," and that then a wonderful thing came to pa.s.s. For the head on the rock opened its eyes and answered:
"Little chance indeed against thee, Eric Brighteyes. Still, I tell thee this: that where my body fell there thou shalt fall, and where it lies there thou shalt lie also."
Now Eric was afraid, for he thought it a strange thing that a severed head should speak to him.
"Here it seems I have to deal with trolls," he said; "but at the least, though he speak, this one shall strike no more," and he looked at the head, but it answered nothing.