Chapter 9

Gunnar sailed to Vidafjord, and sent a messenger to their kinsman Grim that they had returned to Iceland. Grim was a powerful chieftain in the area, and he was married to Katya, who was Hakon and Gunnar's aunt. He lived at Grimsted, a few miles from Vidafjord, and when he heard Gunnar and Hakon had landed, he had his horse saddled and went in person to meet them.

"Welcome back to Iceland, dear kinsmen!" Grim said. They all embraced, and then Grim continued: "You must unload your boat and come with all your men and goods and stay at my house! You are welcome to stay as long as you want, and I shall hold many great feasts in your honor, for you are both famous men, and all men of quality in Iceland will want to hear about your adventures!"

Gunnar and Hakon thought this was a generous invitation that did their kinsman much honor, and they did not hesitate to follow him home with all their men and gear. Grim showed them to spacious apartments and had water heated for them and said he would ask after their adventures that evening at dinner.

The returning Icelanders told their ladies and all their men to open the chests and put on their finest clothing. They took out their best ornaments and most costly jewels and adorned themselves all in a rich fashion, so that everyone remarked how splendid they looked when they entered Grim's hall.

Grim had Hakon and Gunnar seated on either side of him on the high seat, and then Hakon and Gunnar gave Grim many fine presents. Hakon presented his kinsman with a cloak of Syrian silk, embroidered all over with gold threads. Gunnar gave Grim a bracelet of gold so heavy it was said a man could not wear it and lift a sword at the same time, and a splendid helmet bossed with red gold that had once been worn by King Thidrek of Verona.

"In addition to these gifts," Gunnar then said, "my ship is loaded down with flour and dried fish and other provisions, and I want you to take all you think your household will need as long as we are your guests!"

And then Gunnar brought out a gown of the finest Russian furs, all sewn together so that not a single seam was showing, so that it looked like a solid field of snowy ermine, flecked with black. This exquisite gift was presented to Grim's lady Katya, and everyone present said that no single garment of such value had ever been seen in Iceland before.

Gunnar and Hakon gained much honor through these rich gifts, and many others besides which they gave to Grim and his household, including enough gold coins to enrich the pockets of all of Grim's men.

Then at last Hakon and Gunnar brought Astrid and Ingrid forward and introduced them as their wives. The girls were such splendid beauties, and were so richly dressed, that all those there stood in awe at their perfection, and soon everyone was whispering, trying to imagine what kinds of marriage bargains Gunnar and Hakon must have made to secure such brides as these.

"Bold Gunnar and brave Hakon, I can see you have returned to Iceland even richer and more covered with glory than you left!" Grim greeted his kinsmen. "You do my house much honor by staying with us, and I hope you and your glorious brides will enjoy yourselves while you are my guests.

Then Grim ordered food to be brought, and ale to be poured, and the feast began. Gunnar and Hakon sat down on either side of Grim on his high seat, and Astrid and Ingrid made their way to the dais where the women sat.

Now Grim's wife Katya was as proud as she was beautiful, and she was surprised when Gunnar and Hakon had not introduced their wives by relating who their fathers were and how the marriage contract was arranged.

"No doubt Gunnar and Hakon think they can walk in here with two slave girls and dress them up in fine clothes, and we will kowtow to them just as if they were royalty!" Katya said to herself, watching the way Ingrid and Astrid approached with calm assurance. "Well, we shall see what kind of ladies these are that Grim's kinsmen have brought back with them!"

The women on the dais were all arranged according to social rank, and Astrid and Ingrid walked to the front of the board, where Grim's wife Katya was sitting with her beautiful daughter Gretta, who was fourteen years old.

"Where are we to sit?" Ingrid asked Katya.

"There is plenty of room on the back end of the board," Katya said spitefully. "Gunnar and Hakon may be famous warriors and high-born kinsmen of my husband, but I have yet to hear who your father was, or how your marriage was arranged. My husband's kinsmen do you the honor of calling you 'wife', but I am the one who decides the seating among the women here, and as far as I'm concerned you can sit down at the lower end of the bench, among the other women who exist to service the needs of well-born men!"

When proud Ingrid heard this, her temper flared, and her dark eyes flashed as her words lashed out as Katya.

"I see before me a woman who is the daughter of one Icelandic peasant, and the wife of another, and she asks me to name my father! Listen well to me, farmer's wife, for you may well learn with great sorrow who my father is, since he commands enough men to sail an army up your little fjord and burn your grubby little farm to the ground!"

But Katya only laughed at Ingrid's outburst.

Sensing that the whole hall had grown silent to watch them, Katya raised her voice until it reached every corner of the room.

"You threaten me with a father you dare not name, and still edge around the subject of your marriage settlement! I suspect this is because your father was a nameless bastard like yourselves, and you do not care to reveal your marriage contract because Gunnar and Hakon bought you out of the gutter for a few silver coins!"

When these words reached Ingrid's ears her wrath knew no bounds, and she screamed her reply at the haughty Katya.

"If you want to know my father's name, I will tell you! He is King Brian of the Orkneys, son of King Harald, son of Earl Erik, who established the Orkney kingdom! And the reason you have not heard my bride-price is because none was ever paid! These two Icelandic adventurers who are your husband's kinsmen came to Orkney and took us from our father with no marriage settlement ever having been made, except that they left more than three-score of my father's brave men lying dead behind them when they abducted my sister Astrid and myself!"

When the company heard these words there was a moment of shocked silence, and then everyone began talking at once. Grim demanded of Hakon and Gunnar to know if Ingrid's words were true, and the two brave warriors affirmed that they were speaking correctly.

Then Grim commanded silence, and he ordered that a table be brought in and set up at the upper end of the women's table, so that Astrid and Ingrid might be seated without making any other woman yield her chair to them. Then he asked Hakon and Gunnar to tell the full story of their adventures over in the Orkney Islands.

So Gunnar and Hakon sat down and filled their ale-horns, and they started at the beginning and told the whole story, leaving out nothing of importance, and when they were finished everyone agreed it was one of the most splendid adventures they had ever heard.

All the people turned and looked at Ingrid and Astrid, and all agreed the two girls had the beauty and bearing to be the daughters of a king.

Then Grim once again commanded silence, and this is what he said. "My kinsmen Gunnar and Hakon have done glorious deeds that do all of our family great honor, and they have placed themselves in great peril! I have two farmsteads within a day's ride from here, and I intend to settle one of them on each. I shall provide everything they need to set up housekeeping, and among the three of us our households will retain as many men as we can afford! This way, if King Brian or his liegeman Helgi come here looking for our kinsmen, we can all join together and protect them!"

Gunnar and Hakon agreed this was a generous offer, and it would do them honor to accept. And so the matter was settled.

Gunnar was moved into a farm called Sandheath, and he settled his men on small holdings in the neighborhood. Astrid took over the management of the household, and she was frugal with Gunnar's substance, but generous to his guests, and soon she had a reputation for being a splendid housekeeper, and a fitting wife to such a valiant warrior.

Hakon took possession of a farm called Mork, and moved in with Ingrid and twenty men provided by Grim. Hakon turned the management of the household over to Ingrid, but she was profligate with his supplies and did not get along well with the others, since she considered them all to be beneath her.

As the weeks passed Ingrid grew ever more spiteful in her attitude. She suffered from lusts her husband Hakon could not satisfy, and in the end these passions were the destruction of them all.