Saga of Halfred the Sigskald Part 4

"Yes," said Halfred, and knitted his brows.

"And is it true, as Vandrad the Skald has sworn, that here, in this hall, at the Yule feast, after many horns of mead, thou didst vow, as a wanton wager, that before the midsummer tide, thou would break in the breaker of men's wits like a stubborn horse, and that to make good these boasting words thou camest to Tiunderland, and remained, as thou didst lament, unwounded at sight of me."

"Speak the truth--lie not again--a thousand listeners hear thee--thou lordly son of Oski--Is it so?"

Then Halfred raged in his inmost heart, but he constrained himself, and replied firmly and distinctly--

"It is as thou hast said."

Then Harthild drew herself up yet higher, and like two serpents flashed, glances of fearful hatred from her eyes, as she spoke--

"So be thou accursed, from the crown of thy head to the sole of thy foot, thou who hast deceived and disgraced a hapless woman; Cursed be thy proud thoughts--Madness shall strike them; Cursed be thy false eyes--Blindness shall smite them; Cursed be thy lying Ups--They shall wither and smile no more; Cursed be thy flattering voice--It shall be dumb; Thy house and thy hall shall perish in flames--The Singing Swan shall burn; Thy hand shall be crippled--thy hammer not strike--thy harp shall shatter; Victory shall be denied thee in battle and in song; Nothing shall any more delight thee, in which of yore thou hast rejoiced; The sun of spring--the flowers of the forest--the fire of wine--the blackbird's song--the greeting of the evening star--Sleepless shall roll thy groaning head, and if slumber draws near to thee it shall be with stifling dreams.

Yet a twofold curse shall rend ye both, if thou winnest again a woman's love.

In madness and disease shall she perish whom thou lovest more than thy soul.

But the son whom I, wretched one, must bear, shall be his mother's avenger upon his father.

Liar's son, Scoundrel's son, Harthild's Vengeance shall his name be.

And one day, villain, shall he smite thee, as here, to shame thee before all men, my hand now strikes thee in the face."

And she lifted high her outspread right hand, and aimed a blow over the table at Halfred's head.

Halfred sprang up, and to avert such a disgrace threw up his left arm.

Then he struck the heavy seven flaming candalabrum; with a crash the metal fell with all its flaming arms upon Dame Harthild's breast and body, and then upon the ground.

As though struck by lightning stood the woman all in flames--mantle and hair blazed up. At once the fire caught the straw thickly strewn upon the floor.

"King Hartstein, avenge thy unhappy child," shrieked Harthild, in agony. She believed that in rage Halfred had hurled the candalabrum upon her.

The king believed the same, and whilst Halfred grasped at the blazing woman to rescue her, Kling Hartstein with a cry of "Down thou scoundrel," struck him a sharp sword stroke on the forehead, so that he fell stunned.

And with a second blow he would have slain him, had not Eigil and Hartvik sprung up and quickly borne away their blood brother.

Thus it came to pa.s.s that from the very outset Halfred could neither avert nor control this catastrophe--He alone could have done it.

Now, however, the burning woman and the flaming straw filled everyone with sudden frenzy.

The people from Tiunderland rose up in fury when they saw their king's daughter fall flaming on the crackling straw; and Halfred's comrades drew their swords when they saw their lord fall bleeding. And flame and smoke, shrieks of women, and avenging shouts of men filled the hall.

Then broke loose a fighting and devastation in the hall so gigantic, say the heathen people, that the like shall never be seen again until the twilight of the G.o.ds, when all demons and giants, goblins and elves, gnomes, menkind, and pigmies, shall slay each other, and heaven, earth and h.e.l.l shall perish in flames.

Harthild in her burning clothes, was carried out by her shrieking women. One only was missing. Sudha sprang through flames and arms to where Halfred lay on his blood-brethren's knees.

"Dead," she cried; "Slain by Sudha. Then share we death, if not life."

And she drew Halfred's dagger from his belt, and plunged it in her own breast.

"Slain Halfred! by my babbling tongue. Sudha slain!" cried Vandrad the Skald. "I will avenge thee, Halfred."

And he tore a casting spear from the trophies hanging on the flame-wreathed wooden pillars, and hurled it whistling at the temples of King Hartstein, so that he fell dead.

Wildly shouted the people of Tiunderland, and their near kindred from West Gothaland, for vengeance for Harthild and King Hartstein.

And the Jarl Ambiorn, from West Gothaland, seized in both hands a heavy brazen double-handled tankard, and dashed it down on Vandrad's forehead, so that he fell.

But when the Princes from East Gothaland saw this, that their mortal foes aided the men from Upsala, then they fell, Helgi and Helgrimr, with furious blows upon both their old enemies, and the guests from Upsala.

And now could none any longer give a thought to extinguishing the blazing straw upon the floor, or the quickly burning silken and woollen hangings on the walls or the wooden pillars, up which tongues of flame were creeping.

For blindly now flew spears and axes, and golden and silver drinking horns; and many who would have striven for peace, or trodden out the flames, had fallen, struck down by both sides.

"Must we alone stand idle among the strange guests at this b.l.o.o.d.y midsummer feast?" said the Danish Jarl Hako, to the Irish King Konal, "so that the Skalds shall taunt us as drink valiant but battle shy. We have an old strife about stolen horses. Let us fight it out here, thou Irish Greenpeak!"

"Thou drunkard of Zealand," was the answer, "I will quench for ever thy thirst and thy reviling;" and he struck his broad short Irish knife through his teeth into his throat.

Then Sveno, his brother, fell furiously upon the Irish king, and their followers, Danes and Irish, fought by themselves their own battle in the forefront of the hall, and thus blocked up the door, so that no one could escape from the hall into the open air.

And those who had no weapons tore down the trophies from the pillars, or hurled about the heavy drinking horns, and even the flaming beams and blocks which already fell from the ceiling, and instead of shields they defended themselves with the tables.

And all wildly mingled fought the people of Tiunderland and Iceland, of Westgothaland and Eastgothaland, of Zealand and Ireland. And hardly did anyone know who was friend or foe; and many, many men sank down, wounded or burnt.

And at last the flames had burst through the roof, and shot blazing up towards heaven.

And as the wind from above blew down upon the swelling hangings on the walls, they flashed up suddenly in a brighter blaze.

And now the highest beam fell with a crash; and thereupon rang out a sound as though forty harp strings had all at once uttered their dying wail. And it was even so, for the beam had severed in twain Halfred's silver harp, which lay close by his head.

At this wailing harp cry Halfred opened his eyes, and looked around him, and all the truth broke upon him. He sprang up and shouted threateningly through slaughter and flames--Hartvik and Eigil protected him with shield and sword--

"Hold! Peace, peace in the hall! Magic has frenzied us all! Quench, quench the fire which devours us all!"

And so great was his power over friends and foes that for a moment all paused.

Then hark! From without there thundered on the hindmost door of the hall heavy axe strokes, and the cry--

"Halfred, Halfred, save thy house! Save the Singing Swan!"

With a crash the door fell inwards, and new devastation was seen, which kindled afresh the momentarily smothered battle fury in the hall.

Halfred looked through the doorway. The house of his forefathers, and the ships in the harbour, and the Singing Swan were all wrapped in flames.

The followers of the princes of Westgothaland, who were lodged in the pine huts, had first heard the din of battle, and seen the flames in the hall. "To the rescue--to the rescue of our lords," they shouted, tore down the wooden wall that divided them from the Mead hall, and hurried to their aid.

But then there threw themselves upon them, to hinder them, their hostile neighbours, the followers of the princes of Eastgothaland, who being too weak to hold the open field, retreated partly into Halfred's dwelling house, partly to their ships in the Fjord.

With shouts of triumph the victors followed, crowded with the fugitives into Halfred's dwelling house, and stormed the ships in the bay; and dwelling house and ships were suddenly wrapped in flames, either set on fire by the combatants, or ignited by sparks and burning splinters, borne by the strong south wind from the roof of the Mead hall.

Halfred threw one glance at his shattered harp, and the burning house of his fathers; then he grasped his hammer firmer, and cried--