Part 3: Turmoil
After a bit more prayer and reading that night, I came to the realization that the best way to deal with my current circumstances was to meet everything that was done or said to me with kindness, for if I showed them the love of Christ in all that I did, what would there be for them to find fault with in me? I knew that this also meant granting Bjorn's wish to be there when his parents returned from the raid.
Quietly I rose to my feet and made my way to the raised bunk that Bjorn occupied, I found him lying there fast asleep on a bed of straw, a contented, innocent look about him. For all his orneriness and displeasure with me, it was times like this that reminded me that he was still only a child like any other.
"Bjorn…" I whispered, giving his shoulder a gentle shake. "Bjorn, wake up…"
"Huh?" He replied sleepily, his eyes opening and the gentle innocence fading from his face. "What is it?"
"We will go to Kattegat, all of us. Tomorrow." I promised.
Upon hearing that, he smiled back at me despite himself before exhaustion carried him back to sleep.
Ragnar, Lagertha, and the rest of the raiding party returned early the very next day, we had only just arrived in Kattegat when we saw the ship pulling into the harbor. We stood amid the welcoming party that crowded the harbor and spilled into the streets, every man, woman, and child in Kattegat or the farms and cabins in the surrounding countryside had come to welcome the raiding party home. That included the Earl and his household, unfortunately. The warrior that the Earl had sent along with Ragnar and the others was a man named Kanute, and he was also one of the ones who did not return with the others.
I watched from a distance as Ragnar and the Earl had a conversation, and while it seemed to be about how the raid had gone and what had happened, I couldn't hear what was being said. Seemingly without warning, Ragnar was arrested, Lagertha and some of the others in the raiding party tried to help him, but Earl Haraldson had far too many warriors on his side. I watched at a safe distance and kept the children back with me as their father was led away. I wanted to do more, but what use was I against so many well-practiced warriors?
It wasn't long after that, that Lagertha found us.
"You saw what happened did you not?" She asked quickly as she hugged her children.
"Yes I saw, now what do we do?" I asked.
"There will be a trial for him tonight, just before sunset, we'll all be summoned to the Great Hall. That will be Ragnar's chance to defend himself and the chance for every other free person to testify either for or against him. There's nothing we can do until then." She explained, as she started down the street.
As I quickened my steps to keep pace with her, my mind reeled with more questions than I could give voice to. In the brief time since I'd arrived, I'd come to know Ragnar as a good, honorable, and intelligent man, albeit an ambitious one. The idea that he could be guilty of anything deserving of death seem inconceivable to me.
"Just what exactly do they think he did?" I asked.
"He admitted to killing Kanute, for trying to rape me. It's legal if you have a good reason; but Earl Haraldson doesn't believe him." She explained.
"So how then can he be freed?" I asked.
"There are those who can testify that the killing was just, even the Earl cannot defy our sacred laws, not with everyone watching." She told me.
Later on that day, as the sun was beginning to set, just as Lagertha had predicted, all of us were summoned to the Great Hall. I'd never seen the hall so crowded, it seemed that there were even more people at this trial as there had been in the harbor earlier. There was a tenseness in the air, no one seemed to know how this trial would turn out, and I don't think I was alone in wondering how on earth the Earl could think that Ragnar had just killed Kanute just for the sake of killing him.
"Bring in the accused!" The Earl commanded. At his words the crowd parted and Ragnar was brought in, clapped in heavy irons and surrounded by Haraldson's warriors.
"Look at him! He's in chains!" Bjorn exclaimed in alarm.
Ragnar turned his head and met his son's gaze. "It's alright boy…" He told him reassuringly.
This seemed to do very little to calm Bjorn's fears. I knew that for the children who now looked up to me, I had to maintain a facade of calm and confidence, still… seeing him in chains, seeing how thoroughly he was surrounded, the menacing way Earl Haraldson was eyeing him, fear rose within me nonetheless.
Lord, please let truth stand free from falsehood, and if it is in your will, do not allow this man to be wrongfully convicted. Amen. I prayed silently.
"Ragnar Lothbrok, you stand accused of the willful murder of Kanute. What have you to say for yourself?" The Earl asked.
"I admit that I killed him, but I did so with good reason, I found him trying to rape my wife, Lagertha…" Ragnar explained. Then he turned to address the crowd directly. "I ask all of you, freemen… would you have not done the same if you were in my place? I think you would."
"I don't believe you." The earl snapped. "Some of you know that Kanute was the bastard son of my father. I loved him like a brother. Ragnar Lothbrok killed him in cold blood. Now, one could come up with a variety of explanations as to why a man like this would do such a thing. This is an ambitious man, this is a man who doesn't care to share his spoils, and he resents that he owes me loyalty as chieftain. This is a man who does not believe in our traditions, this is a man who has no respect for our laws!" The Earl Shouted.
As I peered around the hall, many of those around me looked pensive, surely they knew that defying the Earl could create trouble for themselves, but it was clear that the Earl had gone too far in his accusations, attacking Ragnar's character it ways they all knew weren't the case.
"Unless you have a witness who can confirm your story…" The Earl went on.
Suddenly Lagertha stepped forward. "Ragnar didn't kill Kanute, I did. I caught him trying to rape a Saxon woman and then he tried to rape me." She told him.
I was bewildered, surely Lagertha was employing some kind of strategy here, but what it was, was beyond me. What did she hope to gain by confessing to the same crime?
"So there has been a murder, and the only witnesses are a man and his wife…" scoffed one of the Earl's warriors, he was a short, stout, balding man, with small beady eyes, who seemed every bit as corrupt as the Earl himself. At his words, some of the others in the crowd began to laugh nervously.
"We however, have a credible witness of what has transpired." The Earl replied.
"Rollo, Ragnar Lothbrok's brother, is a witness to the killing."
I watched as Rollo stepped forward to give his testimony but my eyes kept watching Ragnar and Lagertha. The looks of surprise on their faces made me wonder if Rollo had truly witnessed the events he was about to testify to. Fortunately the Earl didn't seem to pick up on this, or if he did, he probably thought it was the idea of Rollo testifying against them that they were so surprised at. Honestly that caught me off guard myself, until I heard what he had to say.
As Rollo stepped forward, the Earl flashed a confident smile, obviously expecting Rollo's testimony to support his brother's guilt.
Everyone including Rollo waited for the hall to fall silent.
"So, Rollo, were you present at the death of Kanute?"
"Yes my Lord, I was there, I saw everything."
"So, who killed my brother?" The Earl asked.
"Ragnar Lothbrok killed him." Rollo replied.
My heart sank…
"Did he do this in cold blood?"
"No. For a good reason. What Ragnar has sworn is true. Kanute was caught in the act of trying to rape Ragnar's lawful wife, Lagertha. So, unfortunately, you cannot punish him." Rollo said with a smile.
Given Rollo's testimony, the Earl had no choice but to release Ragnar and, for putting him through a trial based upon false accusations, give him half the hoard from this latest raid.
The longer I stayed in and around Kattegat and its people, the more and more aware I became of the sense of order, honor, and justice that underpinned life here. Yes, the laws were different, the morality was different, but that did not mean that those things didn't exist. In truth, the longer I stayed, the more something about this world and its people, especially Ragnar, fascinated me.
To celebrate Ragnar's freedom, his friends and household gathered for an evening of merry making, which in this world meant a lot of ale… One thing most people here seemed to have in common was that they had no trouble at all, tolerating large amounts of alcohol.
As a slave, I kept myself in the background of the celebration, Ragnar however sat down beside me after a while, and offered me a horn full of ale. Then he did something that shocked me, he thanked me for watching over his children in his absence. He said it as though I was a friend who'd just done him a favor, not as a slave who had simply obeyed his master's orders.
Soon afterward though, the celebration was shattered when Earl Haraldson's men came to kill Ragnar as retribution for Kanute's death, Lagertha and I got the children out of the way while the rest of the warriors who were there rose to Ragnar's defense. I wish I could say that this was the end of our problems, but it wasn't. It was just the beginning.
The days that followed were relatively calm, business on the farm seemed to return to normal, and yet there was a tension, a frustration in the way Ragnar was acting that unnerved us all, at times he would vent that frustration by throwing things or cutting firewood using more force than was needed. Other times, he'd go into the woods and up onto the hillside overlooking the sea, and just sit there by himself for hours. It was as though he were preparing himself for something, though what that something was, was beyond me.
A few days later, after we'd returned from a fishing trip down river earlier that morning, I was gutting and cleaning fish for our evening meal, Ragnar was lying lazily on a wicker lounger, he seemed calm, so I thought that this might be my chance to discuss something with him that had weighed upon my mind for awhile by then.
"May I ask you something?"
His only answer was to meet his gaze with mine as though asking me what this was about.
"Am I still your slave?" I asked tentatively.
"Does it matter?" he replied, I didn't notice it then, but looking back there was a darkness in his voice.
"It matters because I've noticed that in your world, slaves are often treated worse than dogs…" I explained.
"Do I treat you like a dog?" He asked.
I shook my head. "That's not my point, legally you could beat me to death and there'd be nothing considered wrong about it, while everyone else in your world is subject to the law."
"That's just the way it is." He replied.
He still seemed calmer than he had in days, so I kept pushing. "A man can rape his female slave but not a free woman." Despite myself there was an edge to my voice as I spoke. I hadn't meant to put how much the realities of slave life here, most of which I'd been blessed to avoid, had begun to anger me when I saw them happening to others.
"It is true that we differentiate between those captured in battle and our own free men and women. In any case, why do you keep saying 'your world'? You live here now, this is your world, and I've never seen you try to escape." He told me pointedly.
In truth, I'd realized very quickly following my arrival, that escape was impossible, and it wasn't as if I had anywhere else to go. Even if I did manage to escape and steal a boat, without being caught and killed for trying it, even if I did make it back to England, what was left for me there? The monastery that had been my home for twenty long years had burned to the ground, Father Cuthbert and all the rest of my brothers were dead, even among the captured, I alone had escaped the fatal mistake of displeasing my master. With my home and the closest thing I'd ever known to family gone, what was the point?
"I find myself less and less interested in escaping now, even if it were possible…" I told him. Only then did I look up from my work. "But I would like to be a free man."
"If it matters that much to you." He told me.
I was shocked.
"It is custom that those captured are eventually allowed to live freely among us. If that is your wish, you can have your freedom. The only problem is, it's up the Earl to grant it, not me; and I don't think he's likely to do anything I ask him to right now." He told me. This was the first time since the trial that Ragnar had acknowledged the tension that was building, between himself and Earl Haraldson.
"About that… what are you preparing for? I see you going up into the hills to think, you're getting yourself ready for something, making yourself stronger." I asked him.
"Perhaps not strong enough…" He replied wistfully.
"What do the gods say?"
Once those words left my lips, I knew that I'd finally overstepped my bounds He sneered angrily up and me and ordered me to finish the fish in silence.
A few days later, while Ragnar was out in the woods hunting, and the rest of us were tending to various chores around the house and the farm, we heard screams and pounding of hooves. Lagertha peered outside and I saw her eyes grow as wide and large as melons, first panic, then determination in the space of an instant.
"We're under attack!" She exclaimed, handing Gyda a large, long-bladed knife. "Get Bjorn!"
I immediately ran outside to the barn and brought Bjorn back inside and immediately went to grab the bible. I had just enough time to put it in a bag and put that bag over my shoulder before I was called by Lagertha to rejoin the others.
Lagertha was in full battle mode, with a shield in one hand, and a sword in the other, Bjorn had a somewhat smaller sword and Gyda was still clutching her mother's dagger as though her life depended on it. This left me as the only one still unarmed, but Lagertha quickly remedied this by handing me an ax.
"Should we leave?" Bjorn asked.
"No. We stay. Your father will be back for us." Lagertha replied.
"But there are too many of them!" He protested.
"Stay strong and be ready." She told us.
We waited there in silence for several minutes, until finally, an injured Ragnar stumbled in. There was a wound on his leg and it looked as though his shoulder had been shot clean through with an arrow. The sight of him, clearly weakened and covered in blood and sweat had us all taken aback, Lagertha most of all.
"Get to the boat… you have to get to the boat…"
At that he pushed his way passed us and tore up several floorboards to reveal a tunnel under the house.
Lagertha put Gyda through the tunnel entrance first, then pulled me in after her.
"Father! I'm not going without you!" I heard Bjorn exclaim above me.
"Don't argue! You have to get to the boat! I'll be right behind you." Ragnar commanded him, pushing his son into the hole after us.
The Tunnel led out to the side of the farm closest to the river, and close to where the small boat the family used for fishing was tied off. Wanting to make as little noise as possible, we pulled it ashore, Lagertha and the children climbed in, then I pushed the boat into the water and climbed in myself. We all laid down in the hull so that we could not be seen, and kept absolutely silent as we floated down river on the current, lest Earl Haraldson's warriors find us. All the while we wondered what had become of Ragnar, and prayed to our respective gods for his safety and return to us.
Finally, we saw him on the cliffs overlooking the river at the edge of the woods, looking even more battered than before; then without warning he jumped off the cliff into the river.
After a few seconds, we saw no sign of him. Without thinking, I dove in after him. The river was dark and cold beneath the surface, but I soon saw him, slowly sinking to the bottom. I put my arms around him and furiously kicked our way to the surface, where Lagertha, Bjorn, and Gyda were there to help us into the boat.
We rowed further down river the the home of Ragnar's friend Floki, a warrior and boat builder. He and his companion, Helga, used their knowledge of herbal medicine to treat Ragnar's wounds, first cleaning them by pressing a red hot blade on them, then dressing them with a paste made of onion and sage.
Seeing Ragnar like that, badly injured and on the edge of death, that was when I realized the real reason why I had no intentions of leaving the area, even after I gained my freedom. For the first time in my life, I had a family. I couldn't remember my own parents and siblings, I hadn't seen them since I was barely more than an infant, true, I'd had my fellow monks, but this was something different. This family truly loved each other, they lived, thrived, worked, laughed, cried, celebrated, and grieved as one unit. The more I became part of it, the more I wanted to stay. They'd become my friends, Ragnar especially, and the thought of his death filled my heart with sorrow.
With Ragnar so weak, and having no home to return to, we were forced to stay with Helga and Floki through the winter. Those months are a blur to me now, mostly spent keeping the fire burning constantly for warmth, and telling stories around it. This was when I became acquainted with many of the stories of the Pagan gods of the Northmen and what they meant to the people living here.
When spring came, Ragnar, having recovered much of his strength, though it was obvious that his wounds had yet to heal completely, challenged Earl Haraldson to a personal dual. It was Ragnar's chance to take revenge on him for what he had done.
All of Kattegat gathered to watch these two warriors, evenly matched in skill and strength, go at it. It seemed to go on endlessly, blow after blow, until each man was down to a single weapon. Finally, it was Earl Haraldson who was the first to fall to the ground, unable to continue. I watched as Ragnar slit the dying man's wrists to finish him off. Haraldson's wife tried to stop her husband's death but it was too late. She was the first to kneel.
"All hail, Earl Ragnar!' She exclaimed. The crowd responded by immediately sinking to their knees, everyone together. "ALl Hail Earl Ragnar!" we replied. It was a wonderful and strange feeling to shout those words, to bear witness to honor's triumph over corruption, I suppose you would call it pride.
Once he was Earl, Ragnar did three things in very short succession, first, he took his rightful place in the Great Hall, second, he officially granted me my freedom, and third, and this is the one that I didn't understand at the time, he ordered that preparations be made to give Haraldson a funeral worthy of an Earl.