Shield of Lies (40 page)

"Throst cut his life short, and when I find him I will cut the bloody eagle into his back and send him to Nifleheim."

"Halla never admitted it was Throst," Einar said.

"She didn't need to. Gunnar said that comb belonged to Astra." Ulfrik dropped his hands to his side and let out a long breath. "Throst left it with an arrow, a coward's way to admit he was Toki's killer. A gutless murderer, like his father."

The three men fell silent again. Halla's madness had turned all her words to curses, and since the day of Toki's death she alternated between raving and weeping. All Ulfrik had pried from her was that Runa should have died instead of Toki.

For her part, Runa had borne Halla's madness with surprising patience. Halla stopped caring for her children, not even recognizing them, and Runa adopted the girls once she realized they would get no love from their mother. Eventually Halla had grabbed a knife to attack Runa, and so ended her time in Ravndal. In a rare peaceful contact with the Franks, Ulfrik negotiated to have Frankish nuns care for Halla. She had been gone for a month, and finally healing had a chance in his home.

"All right, let's go," Ulfrik said, and the three men turned from the grave. Ulfrik looked south where Clovis's fortress hung in ruins. Unable to fill the place with their own men, Gunther and Ulfrik's people tore down the stronghold and burned it to ash. Ulfrik wondered how such a complete and total victory felt so miserable.

"Do you think Gunther One-Eye has stolen all the glory for himself by now?" Einar asked as they walked toward Ravndal. "I mean, he has Hrolf's ear and can tell the story however he likes. It wouldn't be fair to you."

"Gunther can take all the glory he wants," Ulfrik said. "I've had my fill of it, besides, without his men I couldn't have done what I did."

"But the plan was yours, and it was one for the songs."

"I'm done with creating lyrics for the skalds. All the tricks and feints, living my life behind a shield of lies, look what it earned me."

"Victory over your enemies, the pride of your people, and domination of the border," Snorri said, and Einar agreed.

"And the price was the death of my brother, the hand of my son, and the love of my wife. I've no heart for such victories again."

Moody silence enveloped them as their feet swished through the grass on the return to Ravndal. After a few more strides, Einar broke the quiet.

"Then what do you want?"

Ulfrik stopped and looked Einar in the eye. "I want back all I've lost, but more than anything I want revenge. And I swear to you that I will have it."

Author's Note

In 892, Frankia experienced a famine that encouraged many of the Norse invaders to seek fortunes elsewhere. Many of them decided to relocate to England during this period. The famine offered a brief respite to the beleaguered Franks, though ultimately the famine would prove to be inconsequential to the ongoing presence of the Northmen. They remained a problem, especially along the Seine River.

The king of the Western Franks, Odo, had been chosen as a replacement for Charles the Fat who had famously thrown away victory over the Northmen at Paris in 886. Odo proved to be a capable leader who dealt a hard blow to the Northmen in 888. Though this victory slowed the expansion of Viking power, it did not ultimately change the trajectory of their advance. Odo soon found himself embroiled in his own political concerns and unable to focus on eradicating the menace of the Northmen. The Franks found themselves on the defensive again, giving the Vikings a chance to consolidate.

The Northmen themselves did not have any single leader organizing their adventures. In fact, the Vikings in Eastern Frankia enjoyed many positive victories against the Franks under King Arnulf during the years immediately following the reign of Charles the Fat. However, in 891, they were decisively defeated in Lorraine and progress halted. Farther south in Brittany, the Northmen were organizing under numerous banners and pushing their own agendas. Their lack of organization made them ineffective as a group but also difficult to stop.

This is the background that Ulfrik finds himself against at the start of this tale. Many Northman leaders were holding onto their own parcels of territory and their own spoils. The Franks were distracted and fighting among themselves. Enterprising Northmen could exploit that weakness, while others more intent on blunt military force only succeeded in giving the Franks a common enemy to fight. Hrolf the Strider's history during this time is still not clearly understood. However, we do know that he enjoyed excellent relations with the people of Rouen and that he operated out of that area. By keeping himself along the Seine and in the graces of a powerful city, he was in a good position to challenge Paris. He never specifically carried out any more attacks on Paris, not after his "victory in defeat" in 886, but he would have remained a visible threat to the Western Franks.

Ulfrik himself now commands that border with the Franks. Clovis, his allies, and his fortress are all fiction, though doubtlessly the Franks held strong-points in strategic locations. Whether Hrolf can exploit the opening Ulfrik has created remains to be seen. The establishment of Normandy as a part of Frankia is still nearly two decades away. A lot of adventure is yet to be had, and many fortunes stand to be made or lost, or both.

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