Ivar scowled. “However that may be, lord,” he said, “folk mutter that somehow the king has angered the high ones. They say more loudly that he has no right to squander them for the sake of one willful girl. When I left, things were looking hopeless. Everywhere I was hearing that the king ought to yield her up and be done. Else they’d overthrow him and send her off to the giant. Thus far that was only talk. But let their grief grow much greater, and I think we will have an uprising.”

Hadding stroked his beard. “Hm,” he answered after a silence in which the fire crackled loud. “What has the woman said to all this?“

“I’ve heard different things about that as time went by,” Ivar told him. “It’s understandable. There must be a storm in her, blowing now this way, now that. At first she was as haughty as her father. Never would they crawl before a stinking huge hog. Later, when the landwasting had run for months, she swore she’d kill herself rather than lie with him. But—I know not from my own ears, but they say that lately she thinks if she went to hell instead of to him, Jarnskegg’s rage would be the worse. I wonder if she hasn’t begun to hope she can find a way to kill him in his sleep, once they are together.”

“I doubt she could,” said Hadding grimly. “I know his breed.”

“But why would he lust after her?” blurted the housecarle Svein. “A giant and she—” He broke off, flushing. He was young.

“He may split her in twain the first time, do you mean?” said Gunnar. “Maybe he hasn’t thought of that, or maybe he doesn’t care after hundreds of years with nothing better than elk cows, or maybe he’d enjoy it.”

Arnulf snickered. “Or maybe he’s not so well hung for his size.”

“Or he might make her please him in other ways,” said old Egil. He spat. “Yes, she’s better off dead.”

Hadding lifted a hand. “Be still,” he bade them. “This is a grave matter. More than kingly honor is at stake. Kingship itself may be. We cannot let the harm done to a goodly folk like the Niderings go unavenged. Otherwise lawlessness will spread like wildfire, along with trollery and everything else unhuman. Could this be why the gods hold back their help?”

He leaned forward. “Ivar” he asked, “how much longer do you think Haakon will hold out?”

“I know not, lord,” said the Norseman. “He’s a brave and proud one, him. And then there’s his love for the daughter She’s very fair and winsome. But I fear I’ve seen her for the last time.”

“Maybe not,” said Hadding low. “Maybe not. Stay a few days while we speak further.”

“We need to reach Gotland in time for the mart, lord.”