always hobbled their horses by tying a foreleg to a back leg, which prevented the animals from moving faster than a walk, but he knew well that a horse might object — and noisily — to being saddled by a strange rider.
He made his way down the slope as quietly as he could. There was no cover and the glaring moon caught him in its bare light, so he had to rely on the men remaining asleep.
Vali recognised the other sleeper when he got closer — Orri, one of his father’s retainers, who he had seen on his rare visits to Authun’s court. His mind was emerging from the effects of the tiredness and the smoke he had inhaled, and he wondered why the men were travelling by land during summer. Merchants seeking to avoid pirates made the journey overland sometimes, and so did herders and those who needed to travel but couldn’t afford a boat, but nearly everyone who had the choice went by sea. Only when the rivers and lakes froze did the land offer a quicker journey than the water. You’d have to be mad, or enchanted, to walk if you could sail.
Vali crept past the the smouldering campfire and found a saddle and bridle. He had never quite considered just how much metal was on these items before, or the row they made when they moved. They made such a clinking and creaking that they seemed less like horse tack and more like musical instruments. If he was a real thief he would have found it easier just to kill the men in their sleep, he thought. With great care, he withdrew to where the horses were grazing.
The animals were well trained and he had no difficulty approaching one of them, a squat and sturdy beast that looked up to a long ride. He saddled it up as quickly as he could, with half an eye on the sleeping men. The horse made no sound beyond a brief cough of complaint as he tightened the girth on its out breath. Then he bent to undo the rope that connected the horse’s left legs. It was when he stood that he felt the hand on his shoulder.
‘You’ll be mistaken for a wolfman, prowling around like that, prince.’
He span round to see the face of Hogni grinning into his.
For a moment he didn’t know what to say.
The man broke the silence with a laugh and called out, ‘Orri, fetch Prince Vali a drink; he must be parched after his long walk.’
By the fire, which he was stirring to life, Orri waved and picked up a wineskin. Nausea swept over Vali, the taste of Disa’s smoke herbs returning to his throat. He wanted to be away, desperately, but it was more than a natural desire to get on with his mission. It was all he could do not to run northwards. He was certain he was under some spell.
‘A drink isn’t necessary; I’ll just take the horse,’ said Vali.
‘Relax, prince. I have good news for you: your father doesn’t require you to kill any wolfmen.’
‘That wasn’t what you said at Forkbeard’s hall.’
‘No. But what is said in a hall is not always matched by what happens outside it.’
‘I don’t understand you.’
‘It was a deception.’
‘Call it by its name, a lie. It is not manly to lie.’ Vali’s head was swimming. The desire to leave was becoming overwhelming.
‘I was delivering a message, and the message was not sent by your father; it was sent by your mother, Queen Yrsa, so indeed it wasn’t manly, being of a woman.’
Vali focused his eyes on Hogni’s face, trying to make his thoughts do the same. ‘Since when does my mother handle my father’s affairs?’
‘For about four years now,’ said Hogni. He shifted from foot to foot and said, as if afraid the grass would hear him and carry the secret out down the valley, ‘Your father is sick.’
‘In what way?’ Vali’s heart leaped. Was he about to inherit his kingdom? If so, he would send these men back to Forkbeard with a message that he should release Adisla immediately or see Horda longships on his shores before winter.
Hogni didn’t reply.
‘Likely to die?’ The taste of the herbs was strong in his mouth, the tickle in his throat vile.
‘Unlikely to die.’
Vali guessed at the meaning behind the man’s brief reply.
‘Madness?’
Again, no answer. So, it was madness. Vali had heard rumours but he had taken them for just that — things said by the men of Rogaland to make them feel more comfortable with their warlike neighbour. You could hear stories like that about any king, should you bother to enquire.
Vali thought for a moment and then said, ‘So what is required of me? What would my mother have me do?’
‘Simply come home to the court.’
‘She only had to send for me.’
‘This way raises the least suspicion,’ said Hogni.
‘Suspicion of what?’
‘Things are under way that I have no right to discuss. It’s for the queen to speak to you. We meet a ship half a day west of here, and on that we will bring you home.’
Vali nodded. He still wanted the horse but knew that there was no way of getting it other than by deception.
‘Good,’ he said. ‘I’ll be glad to come. Here, let me sit by your fire and share a drink for a while.’
He moved to the fire, sat down and the men offered him the remains of a cooked hare with thick bread. He still had that horrid feeling of sickness in him but he forced himself to eat and to suppress the ‘Thank you’ that Disa had drummed into him. Gratitude was fine for farmers, not for princes. He would rule these men one day and he knew very well that kings took such things as a right.
They ate and the men’s manners and customs seemed faintly strange to Vali. He had been raised among the Rygir, and to him the way Hogni and Orri spoke was slightly odd. He had known, for instance, that the Horda called a cooking pot a hot cup, but it still felt strange to hear it described that way, as if it could never have been called anything else. When the men had finished their meal, they took a tiny pinch of salt, spat, and threw it to the ground, saying, ‘For Loki’s eyes.’
The words struck him as strange. Of all the gods, thought Vali, Loki was the most interesting. He was the sly god, the one who fooled the others, and Vali still loved to hear tales of his cunning. It even struck him as funny that he had killed the beautiful god Baldur for no other reason, it seemed to Vali, than that the perfect one had bored him. When Vali had been a young child, Bragi had beaten him when he laughed at how Loki had contrived to make Baldur stay in the underworld after death by refusing to mourn for him.
‘You like that naughty fellow so much perhaps you would like to share his torments. They lashed him to a rock for his crimes. Shall I so lash you?’ he had said.
Disa had taken Vali in and consoled him. ‘Not everything funny is to be laughed at,’ she said. ‘Well, not out loud anyway. ’
He wondered how Disa was. He couldn’t believe that he hadn’t stayed to help her and hoped she was all right. Had the ritual been worth it? The question seemed to crumble in his mind as he felt the need to look behind him, to the north. That was the direction he had been travelling and where he instinctively felt that he wanted to go. He had to get there. But first he needed to concentrate on his deceit, make these men confident of him.
‘How did you find me here?’ Vali asked Orri.
Orri laughed. ‘There is only one road north in the summer and it’s hardly used, as the merchants prefer the sea. In the winter, when the rivers freeze, then there are a hundred quick paths this way, and your wolfman would be harder to find. In summer, one road, one opportunity for ambush, few travellers. You’d have more difficulty avoiding them than digging them out.’
‘If wolfmen are so easy to find it’s a wonder Lord Authun hasn’t done so yet,’ said Vali.
Hogni waved his hand. ‘The king has other concerns,’ he said.
Vali said nothing more. He knew that the summer would be an easy time to draw down the wolfmen. The reindeer were well fed and energetic, as were all the animals, and their tracks were not so easy to follow. Hunting without a bow or snares — as the wolfmen were said to do — would be very difficult. It was well known the peril they offered was greatest to summer travellers, and this was one of the reasons they had remained unmolested for so long. Kings went by boat in fine weather. Only the poor, the foolish and outlaws suffered from their attacks.
Nausea suddenly took him, as if the toad he had imagined in his throat was alive and kicking to get out. He
