Tórrblóm Saga

[Lithu]

Chapter XLI​

December 873 – Akhershus, Norway

After its victory in Oppland, Sigurd’s army had marched south, towards Fairhair’s own lands. They had mostly escaped the hardship of war until now ; as despite the major battle which had happened so close to Aker, the invading army had not stayed long here.

Occupying the territories of Fairhair’s vassals was useful to weaken their support to him, but a more decisive blow was needed.

As his men were busy foraging the settlements in the east of the Oslofjord, Sigurd prepared his future movements.

We’ll keep going south until we reach the Glomma’s mouth… Then… We will follow the river upstream. A lot of settlements there to submit… And once we reach the northern part of the Oyeren… We can go west to Aker and Vestfold, reasoned the chief.

The Glomma was Norway’s biggest river.

A cavalier came trotting to Sigurd’s position. It was one of his scouts. They were extremely useful to quickly transmit orders and news when his troops were scattered. He dismounted.

“My lord !”, said the man. “A longship has landed in one of the foraged settlements, and it transported your wife along with…”

“My wife ? You’re sure ?”

“Yes, your lordship. She has been recognized, and she was guarded by men from Nidaros some foragers knew. She also held a baby in her arms.”

"She was alone ?"

"Of course not, my lord. Aside from the guards who also are the ship's crew, she had some thrall servant with her."

"I meant, it was only one of my wives ?"

"I… think so, yes."

In a hurry, Sigurd got on a horse and rode westwards, guided by the scout.

The chief’s mind was racing.

Has Ingibjörg already birthed ?… Is it Alfrid with Hysing ?…. Why is one here but not the other ?… Why take the risk of coming here ?

Soon, he knew, he would have an answer to his questions.

While a part of him was happy at the idea of seeing one of his wives, worry dominated as to the causes of that unexpected arrival.

After a dozen of minutes, he could see the tiny strip of land on which the settlement was built. Its inhabitants lived of fishing. Hurtling downhill towards, he soon reached it.

There, he saw Ingibjörg, waiting near the ship.

Alerted by the sound of the trotting horse, she turned her head and saw Sigurd.

Under the curious look of his foraging warriors and of the inhabitants they had extorted alike, he jumped off his horse and went to her.

Something is wrong, very wrong, he thought immediately, without at first grasping what wrong.

Ingibjörg’s face by itself showed anxiety. And then, it caught Sigurd’s eyes.

She holds a baby in her arms but she is still pregnant ! And that baby is too big for a newborn.

“Dear wife, I didn’t expect you”, he said.

“Good morning, husband. It was a long journey.”

He put his hands on her shoulders, drew her closer, and held her in his arms a second, before turning around and ordering warriors around him to requisition a house. Thankfully, the settlement had not been burned down.

“Come”, he said to her.

The owners were promptly evacuated, and the chief and his wife could discuss in a more private setting. By then, he had understood that she held in her arms his son, Hysing.

“Wife, can you explain me what this means ?”, said Sigurd, trying to keep his calm.

“I will, Sigurd, I will. Listen until the end, please.”

“What has happened to Alfrid ?”

“Let me speak and you will know.”

He grumphed, but remained silent.

“As you must know, Fairhair’s army has been pillaging Nidaros through the fall. We hoped you would arrive soon to drive them out, but…”

Sigurd felt guilt across his body, with his respiration accelerating and his muscles tensing, most noticeably in the belly up to the diaphragm. He knew of the risk of letting Fairhair roam in his homeland, but the threat he posed to his had not driven him back as hoped. And he had not prepared serious measures to keep his family safe.

“When it became clear they would soon try to attack, I devised an escape plan”, continued Ingibjörg, before describing the details of this plan.

“A sound plan, and a great initiative in those circumstances”, said the chief, “but…”

“Let me finish”, she said. “Alfrid became extremely ill. Some kind of very harsh flu, forcing her to stay in bed extremely weak, only conscious at some moments. She said she had a strong headache and pain everywhere.”

The chief bit the right of his bottom lip.

“It was impossible for her to come. But she asked me to take your children with me, so that they didn’t risk falling in Haraldr Fairhair’s hands. And I took them with me… Here is your son”, she said, while giving him the boy to hold.

“Where is Ingfrid ?”, he asked.

“That’s… complicated.”

“Speak, woman !”

Sigurd didn’t suspect anything nefarious. He trusted her by default, and her bringing him his son extinguished any beginning of doubt. But he dreaded to hear what may follow.

“I… We were walking towards the second ship. Ingfrid had not wanted to come with me, she wanted to stay with her mother, but we took her anyway to the ship. But then, she escaped…”

“Escaped ? Nobody was holding her hand ?”

“No…”

Sigurd’s fury began to build up.

“How can that be ? You didn’t catch her again soon ?”

“We didn’t notice immediately, and she was gone in the forest shadows. We tried calling her and searching for her at first, but we found nothing and had to resume our march.”

“You lost my daughter ?”, he asked. “To wild animals, in a cold night, in a forest ?”

The chief was still holding his son in his arms at this moment, and it was the only thing preventing his anger from exploding.

“She… I think she’s still alive.”

“How would you know this ?”

“Our second ship took us to Berghenhus first, then to Telemark. We stayed there at first, but a few days ago, we got news. We learned that your army was marching south. We didn’t try to join you while we would have to travel on land in hostile territories, but it became to go through the fjord. And we also heard news from Nidaros. They were… not good. The territory of our tribe has been captured by Fairhair, including our village, which have been looted. Including our home. The rumour was that Fairhair boasted to his troops having captured your wife – which must have meant Alfrid – and your daughter. I assume this means that Ingfrid survived long enough to be caught by a band of Fairhair.”

“Hearsay ! How would these brutes have even known it was my daughter ?”

“I don’t know, Sigurd. I don’t know… Maybe she said something about you coming to punish them if they dared to touch her…”

“That would fit her character… I hope, I really hope, wife, that she’s still alive.”

Afterwards, he gave her his son back, and asked her to go outside. Without witnesses, he punched the floor of clay, to evacuate his anger, mortified of having allowed this disaster to happen.

 

[Lithu]

Chapter XLII​

January 874 – Akhershus, Norway

After having received the terrible news of the capture of Alfrid, and of the capture or death of his daughter Ingfrid, Sigurd had not let his sorrow take over.

I have been held as a prisoner myself in a war. I have been in the midst of deadly fights. I managed to keep thinking straight then, I can now too, he had thought.

Instead of giving up, he had channelled his anger and frustration as an energy to fight his foes with even more determination.

If I want to see them again, I must win this war.

He had intensified the pillaging operations in Akhershus, progressing more methodically and faster, to the Glomma and following the river as he had planned.

More news came of the devastation caused in Nidaros by Haraldr Fairhair’s troops, and he intended to respond in kind. He also hoped that if Fairhair ran out of gold, he wouldn’t be able to keep sustaining his army, as the pillaged territories would be unable to provide for their chief.

Olafr of Oppland wasn’t with his liege. As Fairhair’s steward, he was in Akhershus. This made easy for Sigurd to contact him to negotiate the payment of his sons ransoms. Sigurd asked to be paid, in gold or silver, more than his own release had costed himself.

Olafr didn’t try to stall discussions or to wait for the war’s end. It was his entire legacy which was at stake. In less than a month, he had sent over 400 marks of gold and 2000 marks of silver, and his two younger sons were liberated. The chief claimed to not have enough for the ransom asked for his eldest son.

Sigurd wondered if, as Fairhair’s steward, Olafr had stolen some of his rival’s gold to pay the ransoms.

He had not asked. It was not his concern.

Meanwhile, Ingibjörg had stayed with him, moving with his army camp. Not without help : her pregnancy was now in its final stage, and birth was expected in a week or two. It was comforting for Sigurd to have her close, though it was hard to get over what happened to his daughter.

Then, something entirely unexpected happened.

In the morning, soon before dawn, his commander Thorolfr rushed in his chief’s tent.

“My lord ! An enemy force will soon be upon us !”

Sigurd was already awoken, but it took him some time to process this information. Already clothed, he stood up and went towards his commander.

“How large of a force ?”, asked the chief. “With the bulk of his forces around Nidaros, Fairhair can’t have many men here.”

“I don’t know. The scouts reported a large force, but with the obscurity, they can’t tell more precisely.”

“Understandable”, said Sigurd. “Immediately mobilize our warriors for battle. There may not be time for them to have a breakfast, but we need to react.”

They probably try to defend Aker once again, thought the chief.

Half-an-hour later, his army was in position for battle, ready to defend itself and its camp. Its defence was especially important, as it contained the army’s supplies. Losing them in the middle of winter could lead to the direst consequences.

The battlefield is good enough. At least, it is flat.

Other army commanders may not have called it flat, but compared to the rest of Norway, the land of the large valley joining the northern tip of the Oyren lake and the northern tip of the Oslofjord was.

Sigurd’s troops were concentrated in the middle of the valley. The surrounding hills were not very high, and far enough that taking advantage of them with archers was entirely impossible. Behind them was the camp, and then the Nitja river and its rich and fertile surrounding lands which they had foraged.

The chief was confident.

They probably have a few hundred men and tried to take us by surprise… which may have worked had I not increased my scouting efforts.

When the enemy army passed the valley curve and became visible from his position, he soon had to revise this opinion.

They are more than a thousand… No, more, maybe two thousands…

Their numbers gave Fairhair’s men confidence, and despite having lost the advantage of surprise, they pushed forward to the battle they had chosen.

Sigurd summoned his commandants, Thorolfr and Ofeig, as the enemy approached.

“Ofeig, you will command the centre”, said the chief.

“Me ? Why ?”

“You will have one task, and one task only. Hold the centre. Do not retreat, do not yield.”

This apparent honour was in fact a mark of the lower opinion he had of his new commandant abilities for manoeuvre.

“I will take a few hundreds men with me as a left flank”, added the chief. “And you will do the same, with the right, Thorolfr. We will wait. Once the enemy’s men are engaged with our centre, and only then, we will push forward, flank them, and kill as many as possible.”

There was no discussion, only orders to obey. It took him a few minutes to take position, walking. There was no point rushing. It took time for his own warriors to organize – strong discipline was not the hallmark of tribal warriors ; and it was better to take his time to not exhaust himself.

Advancing rapidly, the light troops of Fairhair were already at bow range, and kept advancing.

Organized in shield walls, the two armies entered in contact. Warriors in the first line protected each other the best they could, while those behind them pushed forwards.

The light snow cover on the soil soon let place to a slippery mud-and-ice compound, but neither force was able to break its foe’s line.

This was the moment Sigurd had waited for, and he began advancing forward with his men. Thorolfr did the same soon after on the right flank, launching a double-envelopment.

Sensing that they had the advantage in battle, the warriors of Nidaros began disorderly attacks on the enemy’s flanks.

The morale of the enemy troops began to drop as a rock, as they became aware that defeat awaited them. But they were able to curve their line to face the flanking attacks, offering more resistance than expected. The envelopment attempt had not succeeded in reaching the rear of Fairhair’s troops.

Not having the time to eat has made my warriors fight worse, speculated Sigurd, in the middle of his men. This thought led him to another. But I feel well… No headache or weakness. The mysterious sickness seems gone.

The warriors in the centre of the army of Nidaros were less enthusiastic than at the beginning. The cries of pain of wounded comrades and foes in the mud-and-ice, slowly evacuated to the behind if at all, were as tiring for the mind than the fighting itself was for the body.

It wasn’t easier for their opponents. Around one hour after the battle had begun, the enemy finally began retreating. Its shield wall then broke under the pressure, and many men of its first line were cut into pieces as they turned their back in a desperate attempt to flee.

Pursuit began, with Sigurd’s small force of horsemen joining in, but the bulk of the enemy’s army was able to escape, running faster with their weapons abandoned than their armed and tired pursuers.

In the afternoon, the pursuing troops had pulled back, and the chief and his commandants were again together to discuss its outcome.

“A great victory, my lord”, said Ofeig. “This will certainly push Fairhair to surrender.”

“Today is a great day. We’ve won a clear victory”, said Sigurd. “But let’s not fool ourselves. That this very battle even happened is proof that Haraldr Fairhair is not done yet, not as long as he can recruit and field new troops. But whatever he may do, I will not yield. We will not yield.”

I will get you back, he thought, as if his mind could speak to Alfrid and Ingfrid.

 

[Lithu]

Chapter XLIII​

February 874 – Akhershus, Norway

After his victory in the valley linking the Oyren and the Oslofjord, Sigurd had moved his army west and laid siege to Fairhair’s capital.

Once again, he adopted a slow but prudent approach, refusing a direct assault in a ground where the enemy had the time to prepare itself.

However, waiting for the enemy’s stockpile to run out was out of question. Norse had since immemorial time made reserves for the winter, and while it sometimes happened that bad harvests led to insufficient food – Sigurd was well aware of it, as such a situation had led to his own story –, it remained the exception.

Instead, while surrounding the village to entrap its defenders and cut their links with the outside, he had ordered the construction of a tunnel towards the village. This proved harder than expected. He had tried to use some of his warriors, but had quickly renounced faced with their rejection of such a work. Instead, the prisoners previously captured were used as a forced labour. An early trial had to be abandoned after water infiltration issues proved greater than expected. And finally, shovelling from a patch of woods in the north-east to behind the enemy’s fences, to get a wood-reinforced tunnel large enough for an effective surprise attack, was slow. Progressing several meters a day, it would be more than a month before its eventual completion.

At this moment, however, the chief didn’t care.

“I feel that our baby will soon come out”, said Ingibjörg, laying on her side.

Sigurd was embarrassed. A siege camp was not a great place for a woman to be, and even less for a pregnant woman. His wife only had her thrall servant, who by her admission had never helped to deliver a baby.

If I went out to find a midwife, the first capable woman I’d find in this camp would be some prostitute selling her body to my warriors, thought the chief, frowning.

“You’re not happy of it ?”, asked his wife in a surprised voice.

“Of course I’m happy”, answered Sigurd, before kissing her round belly. “But this is not a proper place to give birth… I want you to give birth as safely as possible, with an experienced midwife to assist you and help you.”

“You still care a little about me.”

“Dear wife… I always cared about you.”

“You have been colder than before lately.”

“Think of what you’d feel if I lost your soon-to-be-born baby to Faihair. This is not easy to overcome. But hopefully, we will put it right back.”

She didn’t dare to answer.

“I’ll go outside, I’ll be back later.”

He went out of his tent, and went to find Thorolfr, who was overseeing the siege. He had experience in taking over new territories and making sure that besieged settlements were indeed cut out of the outside world, so Sigurd didn’t feel the need to personally manage every detail.

“Nothing has happened, my lord”, said the commandant when he saw Sigurd approaching.

“Good. That means we can send our mounted troops on a mission.”

“A mission ?”

“I need them to search the land around, to find a midwife and a suitable place for my wife to give birth.”

Thorolfr raised his brow in surprise.

“Maybe we should storm the town. This would put an end to this tunnelling and your wife could give birth in Fairhair’s house.”

Sigurd smiled.

“I think we’ll stick to the plan.”

A good chunk of horsemen were involved in scouting and foraging operations, but some were resting at the camp. They were sent away.

Two hours later, by the middle of the afternoon, one group of cavaliers came back, its leader holding against him, on his horse, a visibly afraid woman, who had long brown hair and was maybe thirty years-old.

“We have found your midwife, chief”, he said while approaching Sigurd’s position.

“I hope you didn’t damage her.”

“Don’t worry, chief, she’s very fresh”, answered the cavalier. “Aren’t you ?”, he asked her with a sly grin, and talking in her ear : “When you’re finished with the chief, you know where to find us.”

“Enough.”

The woman was put on the ground, and Sigurd indicated her to follow him with a hand gesture. Afraid, she obeyed.

“You are a midwife, I am told. Is that correct ?”

She kept following but didn’t answer.

“Are you unable to speak ?”

“No…”, she said with a weak voice.

“Then answer my question.”

“I don’t know how I should call you.”

“Whatever. Answer.”

“I… I have helped mothers to give birth…”

“Good. And don’t be afraid, I won’t harm you.”

This was hardly a relief for her considering the others who might hurt her.

“What… What do you want me for ?”, she dared to ask.

“Helping a woman to give birth, of course. Why else do you think I’d ask you about this ?”

They had reached the chief’s tent, and the woman was spared from having to answer this question.

“Come in”, said Sigurd.

Once she was in, he showed her Ingibjörg, who was laying on her side, her huge round belly obvious at first glance.

“She is the one you’ve to take care of”, he added.

Ingibjörg turned her head towards her husband and the unknown woman.

“Who is she ?”, asked the chief’s wife.

“A midwife to help you birth”, he said.

“What’s her name ?”

“I don’t know.”

Sigurd turned himself towards the woman, his visage’s expression showing interrogation. But she said nothing.

“What’s your name ?”, he asked

“Hulda”, said the midwife.

“Great. Now go take care of my wife.”

She approached of Ingibjörg.

“Have you had a baby before, lady ?”, asked the midwife, while a glance allowed her to see the young Hysing who was playing with some wood pices in the corner.

“No”, answered Ingibjörg.

“It will take longer. We all go through it, keep your calm, it should go well.”

The midwife gathered further information about the pregnancy, and asked for water to be brought. The idea of seizing some farmer’s house for the birthing was dropped, as it was impractical for Ingibjörg to move much and it would not have benefited her.

Labour only began two days later in the morning. In the meantime, the midwife had been kept close, fed and well-treated, but guarded against escape.

As for Alfrid’s childbirths, Sigurd stayed all along to be witness to the birth of his new child.

It took a few hours for the cervix to dilate and for the baby to slowly go out, but they went without a hitch – though not without pain.

“It is a girl”, announced Hulda.

While he would have liked a son, Sigurd didn’t mind it much. He had one already, and knowing that this little thing was from him filled him with joy.

He decided to name his newborn daughter Alfhildr.

Once again, while he let others suggest names, he ignored the suggestions to stick to the idea he had from the beginning.

Despite the striking similarity in sonority, this name was entirely unrelated to Alfrid in meaning. The name of his wife detained prisoner by Fairhair meant approximately “beautiful rock”, while the name he decided to give to his daughter referenced battle and elves.

It felt extremely appropriate to him. She had been conceived just as this war had begun, and was now born in the midst of his war manoeuvre. And among Norse, elves were thought to be beautiful and powerful supernatural beings. As a child’s name was thought to influence how he would become growing, Sigurd wished something pushing his daughter towards feminine greatness.

And so, when he recognized the child as his a few days later, Alfhildr it was.

 

[Lithu]

Chapter XLIV​

April 874 – Akhershus, Norway

“We must move west to Vestfold”, said Thorolfr. “We lack time.”

“The situation is tense”, said Sigurd, “but we are about to capture Bergheim too. We can wait a few days more before moving, our troops will move faster than Fairhair’s and escape if he tries to force us to battle.”

“What’s the point of capturing it when our enemy will soon after be able to retrieve it ?”

“The loot, of course. That means more resources for us and less for them, even if we can’t hold the land after that.”

The prudent siege strategy chosen by Sigurd had given time to Haraldr Fairhair, and turned out to not be as safe as anticipated. The enemy’s men had marched from Nidaros to Oppland, where they were busy taking the territory back and, more importantly, organizing for a direct attack against Sigurd.

The army defeated in January had retreated north, but it had yet to merge with Fairhair’s main army.

“But they will keep harrying us”, said the commandant. “Foraging has become more difficult lately, and they will certainly send even more skirmishers to wear us down before their final attack.”

“That’s why it will only be a few days.”

“You know, my lord, I’m not one to refuse fighting. I’d gladly assault Bergheim now. But waiting here is like putting ourselves between an anvil and a hammer.”

“The hammer”, said Sigurd while grabbing the small hammer he wore around his neck, “his on our side. Your concerns have been heard, Thorolfr. If our scouts report movements of the main enemy army sooner or faster than anticipated, we’ll pull out.”

Torrblom was much more worried than he let on. Ever since he became chief, the responsibility over his shoulders had burdened him, and in a decisive war, every choice became momentous.

The siege efforts in Aker had been perturbed by skirmish parties trying to relieve the besieged by disturbing Sigurd’s army supply.

Twice over, Sigurd’s forces had intercepted and annihilated such enemy forces.

The first time occurred at the end of February, when Fairhair began employing this strategy of slowly tiring out the army of Nidaros. A trap was set up by moving forces stealthily to a foraging area, and over two hundred enemies were surrounded and massacred.

Soon after, Fairhair’s capital was forced to surrender, a night assault through the finally dug tunnel allowing to easily overwhelm Aker’s defenders.

<i>My house may have been pillaged by your minions, Fairhair, but I’m now pillaging yours !</i>, had thought a grinning Sigurd as his men were busy looting.

It couldn’t avenge the capture of Alfrid and Ingfrid, however, as his rival had moved his family and his precious possessions at the time of his flight.

The second time was more recent : it was only a few days earlier, at the end of March. A surprise attack tried to break the line of the besieging forces and to join forces with the garrison. But the relief force was too small to succeed, and got crushed.

These small victories bolstered the confidence of Sigurd’s warriors and weakened the enemy, but Haraldr’s sheer ability to find more and more men to enlist bewildered Torrblom.

<i>Our scouts are confident these are not a subset of his main army</i>, he reminded himself. He went to his tent.

“Hysing, come.”

The two years-old was now able to speak a little. The child turned his head towards Sigurd, stood up and went to the tent’s entrance, a wooden horse still in his right hand.

The chief led his son to the outside, to the cold air of his army’s camp.

“You miss your mom, don’t you ?”

“Yes… father.”

“I miss her too.”

The child had to walk with a lot of quick steps in the mud-and-ice soil to keep up with Sigurd, as they advanced between the tents.

Hysing was still too young to understand what had been going on. As he walked behind his father, he could see warriors patrolling the camp and paying their respect to Sigurd when they saw him, but he wouldn’t have been able to tell why they were here or what a war is.

Sigurd took his son in his arms, lifting him up to his height.

“You see these wooden fences ?”, he asked, pointing towards Bergheim.

“Yes”, mumbled the small child.

“Behind them is a village. We are here to take it.”

The child felt at the voice of his father that this was important, but he was nonetheless confused.

“You will understand when you are older”, added the chief.

Without trying to explain more, he stayed there silently. He had to win this war.

A week later, with no sign of Fairhair’s main army arriving, the defenders of Bergheim surrendered. The earlier defeat of the reinforcing party and the threat of a wholesale slaughter tipped the scales.

This was a temporary relief.

 

[Lithu]

Chapter XLV​

June 874 – Vestfold, Norway

Spring brought the melting of the winterly snows, but as life took over the landscapes of Norway once again, the war situation remained frozen.

Sigurd and Haraldr continued manoeuvring their armies, sending scouts and spies towards each other, probing for weaknesses to exploit. It was now more than a year since the start of the great Norwegian War, and hopes of a quick and decisive victory had all but faded away. Remained a positional struggle.

“Our situation is becoming difficult, my lord”, said Thorolfr.

The commandant was, along with Ofeig and two scouts, in Torrblom’s tent for a war council.

“Waf, waf”, barked Sigurd’s dog.

The chief sighed, annoyed by this overly aggressive animal who had trouble differentiating friends from foes. With a loud order, he got it to back down.

“Please continue”, said Sigurd to his second.

“Scout, repeat to our chief what you told me”, added Thorolfr while gesturing towards a lean and small man with dark hair.

“Three days ago, the main army of Ostlandet I was watching from afar began marching south, after having entered Hedmark’s capital.”

“When you say main army, you speak about the result of the merger of Fairhair’s first army and the one that was defeated this January ?”, asked the chief.

“Yes.”

“How many were they ?”

“I’d estimate at least three thousands, at most five.”

“That’s a large range.”

“Their troops were not concentrated in a single spot and I had to be cautious to not get caught, I couldn’t get close.”

Sigurd mumbled a few indistinct words.

“And you”, he said while looking at the second scout, “what news are you here to bring ?”

“My lord, I was in Bergheim this morning and have been sent to report on enemy movements. A small group of Ostlandet warriors coming from the South have been spotted marching northwards.”

“Is that all ?”

“Yes.”

“Then, please leave us”, he said, motioning to the scouts.

As they left, the dog barked once more, immediately silenced by Sigurd’s glance.

“Ofeig, you have been silent so far. Tell me what you think.”

“All this besieging is bad for the men. They are softening and… and… hum. They don’t like it… and me neither. I’d rather march towards Fairhair to settle this on the battlefield. With good omen, we shall have fate on our side.”

“I see.”

“I think we should start negotiating towards a peace settlement, my lord”, said Thorolfr. “We lost Oppland last month, and now Hedmark.”

“We still have not been defeated in battle and have been plundering their lands for months, they would certainly be amenable to reasonable peace terms where you would keep the territories you conquered, my lord.”

“Indeed, I could see Fairhair happily accepting a white peace… To keep the lesser chiefs from abandoning the war with their men, he had to focus on retaking their holdings. While the advantage of surprise is gone for us, our attack while he was ill from his wound and unprepared leaves us in control of his capital. However, such a peace is an unacceptable outcome.”

“Why, my lord ? We had high hopes for this war, but it was a risky bet.”

“Such a peace would be akin to a defeat for us. How… Today, the troops fighting under the banner of Nidaros are as numerous as they may get. Veterans from our earlier campaigns were joined by hundreds of new recruits hoping for glory and loot, enthused by our previous successes. But the Yngling’s territories are richer and more populous than ours. In the next war… You know very well there has to be a next war. Haraldr wants to be king and won’t relax until either he conquers us or we surrender to him.”

“Certainly, but…”

“So, in the next war, he’ll have once again more troops than us. But he will be better prepared. He would have had nothing else to focus on, we won’t be able to surprise him. This very war was rushed because time plays against us against Fairhair. If we can’t manage to weaken him now, this whole war was a waste of time and lives. Or do you think I’m missing something here ?”

“Well… If we keep fighting, we’ll either win or lose. Our men are worried about what may have happened in their homes, but we didn’t lose on the battlefield, so they remain reliable. A loss would be seen as a terrible omen, and it would become impossible to then get Fairhair to agree on peace without giving him too much. Our prospects of winning aren’t so great that I’d want to bet on them.”

“Much of what you said here is true. But why do you think our prospects would be better in a few years than they are now, while we still occupy Haraldr’s capital and are about to submit Vestfold as well ?”

“We could try and get allies. The king of Uppland wouldn’t want to see Fairhair get this powerful. With peace now, we might persuade him to ally us.”

“Fair enough. I’m wary of putting ourselves at Ironside’s mercy, he wouldn’t want us defeating Haraldr anymore than Haraldr defeating us. Of course this would even the odds…”

“So is it decided, then ?”

“No. Obviously I had been considering alliances that could help us, but there are some other issues with Ironside.”

“What issues ?”

“He’s getting old, and his named hair is still a child. It’s Björn Ragnarsson grandson, as his son Eirikr died three years ago, and his only other son is a baby he got from some saxon christian woman he enthralled in Britain and impregnated afterwards. Rumour says he killed the woman’s first child and she’s still a zealous christian that’ll poison the mind of her new son.”

“That younger son wouldn’t make a suitable heir.”

“Definitely not. Ironside’s grandsson is much better but too young. Would Ragnarsson die in the next few years, before we can wage a new war on Fairhair, the alliance would fall apart while fighting would erupt with ambitious jarls trying to overthrow Björn Eirikrsson. Fairhair would immediately be at our throat.”

“So…”

“For now, we’ll continue this war. I have talked with Ingibjörg about this yesterday, and she also agreed it’s the best path forward as long as the Gods send us promising omens.”

A few weeks later, while Faihair was still busy organizing and moving his unified army, Vestfold had been widely looted.

 

[Lithu]

Chapter XLVI​

September 874 – Nidaros, Norway

Many months had elapsed since Ingibjörg’s escape in face of Fairhair’s army, over a year since Sigurd had left his capital to wage war on his rival. The familiar sight of the majestic Thrond from the hill’s height made Torrblom feel some nostalgia for simpler times, before he became chief. Ingibjörg was by his side, holding their daughter and talking to her in that peculiar way mothers notice arouses the baby’s curiosity and interest. Sigurd held his wife against him, remaining silent.

The army had made camp for the night. All along the travel across western Norway, there had been warriors who had relatives living nearby. They weren’t given leave to go see them, as discipline would have plummeted, but their loved ones could come. The joy of seeing a mother, father, wife, sister, child… not seen for months was rife with concern as Ostlandet’s army was on the pursuit and threatened to ravage as of yet untouched lands.

Telemark had not contributed any warrior to Sigurd’s army, except for some volunteers. Sigurd had been tempted to call upon the tribe to provide warriors, but decided against it. He had given his word, and didn’t want to risk a revolt. Telemark’s passivity in the war hadn’t prevented, however, Fairhair’s forces from plundering, pillaging, rifling, and looting settlements in the region.

“What are you thinking about, husband ?”, asked Ingibjörg.

“I wonder where Ingfrid is, now.”

Sigurd could feel his wife tensing at those words, reminded of her failure to bring with her the chief’s first daughter.

“I also wonder what’s left of our home after Fairhair’s men looted it.”

“So do I”, said Ingibjörg.

She said some tender words to her baby daughter, who had never been yet in Nidaros and had become accustomed to the army’s travelling. Sigurd remained silent, staring ahead.

“Soon we will see with our eyes”, said his wife.

“No”, answered the chief.

“What ?”, said the gydja, surprised.

“We’re not going to take back our village. I mean… not now. Later, we will.”

“We have three thousands warriors with us, why not now ? How will you explain it to our men ?”

“Good questions, my dear”, he said, stroking her cheek. “I don’t want to fight Fairhair around here. The latest reports from our spies indicate there is discontent among his troops because he’s only left with promises to pay his men. Warriors from his own tribe can live with it, but volunteers from other tribes that hoped for quick glory are disgruntled. This would also explain why their army is prioritising looting over pursuing us.”

“If I understand, you hope that delaying the next battle will hurt them more than us ?”

“Yes, I hope so.”

“Our warriors may not like your plan.”

“If we were to stop and try and force a battle quickly, we should have done it months ago.”

“And you could have used the fjords to our advantage.”

“Not so much. Fairhair may not have close to enough warships to cross fjords at once or do a quick coastal travel without splitting his forces, but it’s impossible to use these natural barriers for anything more than delaying and harassing. To really prevent crossing by not letting unprotected areas, we’d need a huge fleet, or tens of thousands of warriors.”

He laughed at this ridiculously huge number. The current war was the biggest ever in living memory, and yet this number dwarfed that of all the fighters together, foes or allies. His scouts had reported Fairhair having assembled a force of five thousand warriors, followed by hundreds of non-fighting men and women. His enemy's feat in assembling such a large force had weighted in his decision. Ingibjörg only let a small smile, while she cradled the small Alfhildr.

“We could wait here”, said Sigurd. “But I don’t want a battle on the gentle farming hills around our home village. I want to dare him to fight in winter, on more rugged terrain. So, back to your first question, taking the village back would only be an invitation for it to be taken again. We could easily take it, but I hope to spare it from another round of destruction. May the Norns make it so.”

Ingibjörg was thoughtful.

“I will have to look for omens. If they support your plan, men will go along. A sacrifice would also help to get favour from Gods.”

Sigurd answered with a kiss.