A marriage-band glinted in the cold light of that winter’s day. Oswynn, in tears now, tried to snatch her hand away, but Haakon’s grip was firm and all her struggling was in vain.
My blood boiled and I set my teeth in anger, but somehow I held myself back. I didn’t believe for a heartbeat that she had become his wife out of choice, nor do I think he expected me to. All he wanted was to taunt me, but I refused to rise to the bait. Losing my temper would achieve nothing, and indeed could end up costing me everything. Haakon’s men were close; if I came within five paces of their lord, they would strike me down without hesitation.
‘I don’t want to see blood spilt upon my lands any more than you wish to lose good hearth-troops,’ the Dane said as he released Oswynn’s wrist at last. ‘Better men than you have tried to take Jarnborg from me, and all have died by my sword-edge. For that reason, and because I am a generous man, I will give you one piece of advice. Do yourselves and your followers a favour, and leave these shores.’
‘What happens if we don’t?’ asked Magnus.
‘You aren’t the only one who has friends,’ Haakon replied mildly. ‘I sent word to mine three days ago. They will be here within the week, if not sooner, at which point we will not hesitate in crushing you and making drinking cups of your skulls. So you have a simple choice. If you value your lives then you’ll leave. Otherwise I can promise you only death.’
‘You lie,’ Wace said. ‘You have no friends coming to lend their swords in your support.’
‘Believe what you will,’ Haakon said, ‘so long as you’re prepared to wager your life on it. I have given you my advice, for whatever it might be worth. I leave it to you to decide whether or not you heed it.’
With that once more he smiled that humourless smile, then turned and spurred his steed into a canter, followed by his retainers, and by Oswynn, who cast a desperate glance over her shoulder, holding my gaze for as long as she was able as they led her away, back across the bridge, across the valley, up towards the gates of the iron fortress.
‘I’ll come for you,’ I called after her, using the English tongue. ‘I swear it, Oswynn, I’ll come for you!’
I didn’t know whether, above the wind and the thudding of hooves upon turf, she managed to hear me, but I hoped she did.
‘He’s bluffing,’ Wace said later, when we had returned to the beach where the crews of both ships had set up camp, and spoken to the others. ‘He must be.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ Eudo asked as he tore off another hunk of bread and crammed it into his mouth. The sun was high and we hadn’t eaten since daybreak, but I couldn’t so much as think about food. Seeing Oswynn, only to have her taken away yet again, had left me feeling empty and despondent.
‘If Haakon knew he had help on the way, why would he care to warn us?’ Wace asked. ‘Why not let those allies of his come, and try to catch us by surprise?’
‘Because he has nothing to gain by attacking us,’ I said. ‘If he can make us leave without having to risk battle, so much the better as far as he’s concerned. He’s made it clear that whatever our quarrels with him, he has no interest in us. Unless we come assaulting Jarnborg’s walls, there’s no pressing reason why he or his friends need cross swords with us at all.’
Like his countryman Snorri, Haakon was proving to be a cautious one, far from the reckless adventurer that I had expected. Undoubtedly I could have learnt much from his example, were I not so intent on killing him. As it was, I was wondering only how we might take advantage of that caution to bring about his downfall.
‘I think he’d prefer to destroy us if he can, rather than risk the possibility that we might return in the spring with an even larger fleet,’ said Magnus. ‘For that reason I’m inclined to agree with Wace.’
That was the first he had said in a long while. No doubt he was still thinking about those crags and that palisade, and whether there was any way of scaling them, without any siege engines or ladders, that wouldn’t cost the lives of half our retinue. As too was I.
‘What I don’t understand’, Eudo said, ‘is why he should feel the need to bluff at all, assuming he has the strength in numbers that we think he has.’
I mulled over that for a few moments, and then it came to me, and I gave a laugh. ‘Of course,’ I said. ‘That’s it exactly.’
For Eudo had as good as answered his own question. Haakon must be worried to some extent about his ability to defend his stronghold, or else surely he would not resort to such ruses. Did that mean his defences were perhaps not quite as sound as we had supposed?
To begin with Eudo gave me a strange look, but then he too must have realised, since he began to smile, and Wace and Magnus and ?lfhelm as well.