1 7 AFTER Rark's escape, would any of our friends be safe? I had made an agreement with Harold the Bowbender that should I think it necessary to call upon him and the other men who were willing to fight for my cause before the dark of the moon (the night we had planned for the attack), I would build a bonfire on the northern slope of the Mountain of the Sun, at a point where it would be visible to the wholeisland. The day after Rark's escape we collected wood for the bonfire, and as soon as the sun was low in the horizon , we set it ablaze. The wood was summer-dry, and soon the flames rose thrice a man's height into the sky. Quickly we returned to the cave to await Harold the Bowbender. A sheep I had stolen that very morning was being roasted over a fire. As I stared into theflames, I asked myself how many would come? Would there be enough warriors to win a battle, or only just enough for a heroic defeat? A few minutes after midnight the first arrivalscame: Erik Longbeard and Erik the Poet, and a young man only two years older than myself, Hakon the Black, whose hair was the color of a raven's wing. These men were from my uncle's hall. Erik Longbeard noticed 108 that I was disappointed, and assured me that two others were coming: Thor the Lame and Magnus One-Ear, who were out with the sheep. Both of these men were old warriors, but if their age made them of less value in battle, their wisdom in counsel made up for it. Erik Longbeard offered to go and look for them. While Erik the Poet and Hakon the Black each carved himself a hunk of roasted lamb and started to eat, I wr alked outside. The night was clear. A gentle breeze blew from the southwest. I decided to attend my bonfire. I didn't want its message to die down like a cry for help, strangled by fear. I wanted the flames to shout defiance at my uncle and Eirik the Fox. Soon it would be decided who was to be master of Rogen. When I was a child, I drank the tales of valor as a babe suckles its mother's milk, but those tales had neither fear, nor pain, nor death in them. They resembled reality in the same way that the boats we — as children — made of bark, resembled the big fiftyoar ships that can brave the northern storms. The fire had burned down. Low flames flittered across the blackened wood. I collected several dry branches and threw them on the embers. It crackled like a thousand twigs being snapped at once, and I felt the heat of the flames as they leaped skyward. I did not think that any of the enemy could be near; still it was not wise to stand too close to the flames and make a target of one's self. Each time I put another piece of wood on the fire, I dived quickly back into the shadows. When the fire again was burning brightly, I decided to return to the cave. 109 [44.200.210.43] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 14:56 GMT) I did not see the man coming up the mountain before he was quite near. It was lucky for me that it was a friend, for he approached so close to me, that he could have killed me before I had a glimpse of him. "Shall we call you Hakon the Fearless or Hakon the Fool?" The speaker was Magnus the Fair, a tall blond man, with a sharp tongue, who had often irritated my father. "An ill-fitting name, Magnus, is as bothersome as an ill-fitting cloak. Have you come to swear allegiance tome?" "I have come to unswear my allegiance to your uncle. Will that do?" Whenever Magnus spoke he smiled, in this way making certain that no one ever knew his opinion. Magnus the Fair was a good warrior, and honored for his strength as much as he was feared for his tongue. "The man who swims with the tide is of little use to me." This was not really true, but my feelings were hurt because he had not said that he would swear his allegiance to me. "And those who swim only against the currents are fools and...