Death of Kings_ A Novel - Bernard Cornwell [11]
‘No, lord.’ The man was kneeling, shaking, unable to lift his eyes to meet my gaze.
‘What’s his name?’
‘Jarl Jorven, lord.’
I looked at Beortsig, who shrugged. ‘Jorven is one of Sigurd’s men,’ he said, ‘and not really a jarl. Maybe he leads thirty or forty warriors?’
‘Is his wife in the hall?’ I asked the kneeling man.
‘She’s there, lord, and some warriors, but not many. The rest have gone, lord.’
‘Gone where?’
‘I don’t know, lord.’
I tossed him a silver coin. I could scarcely afford it, but a lord is a lord.
‘Yule is coming,’ Beortsig said dismissively, ‘and Jorven has probably gone to Cytringan.’
‘Cytringan?’
‘We hear Sigurd and Cnut are celebrating Yule there,’ he said.
We rode away from the wood, back into a damp pasture. Clouds were hiding the sun now, and I thought it would begin to rain before long. ‘Tell me about Jorven,’ I said to Beortsig.
He shrugged. ‘A Dane, of course. He arrived two summers ago and Sigurd gave him this land.’
‘Is he kin to Sigurd?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘His age?’
Another shrug. ‘Young.’
And why would a man go to a feast without his wife? I almost asked the question aloud, then thought that Beortsig’s opinion would be worthless and so I kept silent. Instead I kicked my horse on until I reached a place where I could see Jorven’s hall. It was a fine enough building with a steep roof and a bull’s skull attached to the high gable. The thatch was new enough to have no moss. A palisade surrounded the hall and I could see two men watching us. ‘This would be a good time to attack Jorven,’ I said lightly.
‘They’ve left us in peace,’ Beortsig said.
‘And you think that will last?’
‘I think we should turn back,’ he said, and then, when I said nothing, he added, ‘if we want to make home by nightfall.’
Instead I headed farther north, ignoring Beortsig’s complaints. We left Jorven’s hall unmolested and crossed a low ridge to see a wide valley. Small smoke trails showed where villages or steadings stood, and glimmers of dull light betrayed a river. A fine place, I thought, fertile and well-watered, exactly the sort of land that the Danes craved. ‘You say Jorven has thirty or forty warriors?’ I asked Beortsig. ‘No more.’
‘One crew, then,’ I said. So Jorven and his followers had crossed the sea in a single ship and sworn loyalty to Sigurd, who in return had given him frontier land. If the Saxons attacked, Jorven would likely die, but that was the risk he ran, and the rewards could be much greater if Sigurd decided to attack southwards. ‘When Haesten was here, last summer,’ I asked Beortsig as I urged my horse forward, ‘did he give you trouble?’
‘He left us alone,’ he said. ‘He did his damage farther west.’
I nodded. Beortsig’s father, I thought, had become tired of fighting the Danes and he was paying tribute to Sigurd. There could be no other reason for the apparent peace that had prevailed on Beornnoth’s land, and Haesten, I assumed, had left Beornnoth alone on Sigurd’s orders. Haesten would never have dared to offend Sigurd, so doubtless he had avoided the lands of those Saxons who paid for peace. That had left him most of southern Mercia to ravage, and he had burned, raped and pillaged until I took away most of his strength at Beamfleot. Then, in fear, he had fled to Ceaster.
‘Something worries you?’ Finan asked me. We were riding down towards the distant river. A thin rain was blowing from our backs. Finan and I had spurred ahead, out of earshot of Beortsig and his men.
‘Why would a man go to the Yule feast without his wife?’ I asked Finan.
He shrugged. ‘Maybe she’s ugly. Maybe he keeps something younger and prettier for feast days?’
‘Maybe,’ I grunted.
‘Or maybe he’s been summoned,’ Finan said.
‘And why would Sigurd summon warriors in midwinter?’
‘Because he knows about Eohric?