Guthredd Sleeve-Heart's Tale Pt. 02

This is part 2 of a tale published in 3 parts and is not meant to be a stand-alone story.

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Guthredd Sleeve-heart's tale (or the Circle of Hearts): Part 2

Now we must tell of the childhood of Guthredd.

Jofrid took the role of Mother to Guthredd and taught her the secret meaning in things that Guthredd might have a father in all of nature.

So Guthredd grew strong and healthy on the middle islet of the Sound and grew to love the enchantress Jofrid who nursed her in a cavern, and grew to love the linnets singing and the warble of the thrush as though they were her father's voice.

Of the deal betwixt Fox and Thorarna, Jofrid spoke not a word, telling Guthredd only that Guthredd's life had already been sung.

The child Guthredd smiled at this and likened the drawing of spirits by enchanted song to a song of her life.

Jofrid did not tell Guthredd that she had not drawn the singing spirit, but the spirit had been drawn to Guthredd's birth.

Guthredd knew no other person than Jofrid throughout her childhood and loved her much. She heard of the passing of the farmer called Sigfrid and Jofrid took her to the burial.

And she heard of the old whore who kept her farm with saucy coinage to the King's fee-taker.

Her days were spent amongst the wild things of the heath or learning of housekeeping and playing. As she grew older, Jofrid passed on the ways of song to draw the spirits and many other secrets of enchantment.

And always would Guthredd ask to hear again the tale of the broken iron sword that was kept wrapped in calf-skin within the cavern and Jofrid would tell her that the sword was called 'fail-sword' because love had failed once and so a man had taken his life with the sword. But also that 'fail-sword' would be re-forged and Guthredd would take vengeance for that very need for 'fail sword'.

Guthredd's heart would sing at hearing the story and she would spend hours amongst the bracken and the peat, brandishing some small stick and imagining her destiny.

Guthredd was not lonely for she had no other child to compare and Guthredd was not lonely for she had all the wild creatures as her friends.

And it is said Guthredd was also not lonely for the comfort of the tattooed face upon her arm that betimes would talk to her, and that the tattooed face upon her arm writhed and slipped about her flesh when it whispered to Guthredd and that the tattoo tutored Guthredd in great swordplay.

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Nothing is reported for the full turning of nineteen seasons until one day the young woman Guthredd, grown strong and beautiful as an elk, walked along the shore and espied a forty-oar boat coming across the Sound.

When Guthredd saw the boat have to in the haven of the middle islet of the sound, it is said that the tattooed face whispered to Guthredd of her real kin and of the pact with Fox.

Guthredd followed the fee-taker Fox and his armed men up the winding cliff path, and making from tree, to bush, to wall, did creep unseen to Antler's farm.

Thorarna gave the men good welcome, offering milk and bowls of curds and apologising for having no wine to offer.

"It is not wine we come for." Fox said.

His courtly apparel, brightly coloured and gilded with gold, and the bright helms of the soldiers seemed asquint and off kilter amidst the dearth and squalor of the farmstead. The home-field lay abandoned to weeds and both land and chattels were bared waste so that the King's men could nowise find fee.

"It seems, whore, that thou art as your land and chattel; barren and cheap. There is no saucy coinage left in our pact. You must pay the King's fee."

Thorarna knelt before Fox, her aged knees striking hard on the mud floor, and kissed the brocaded hem of Fox's tunic. She begged that Fox might uphold the pact and when she saw that Fox would not be persuaded, said;

'My clothes are poor and it does not worry me if I do not wear them out'

Quaffing curds and milk at the farmstead table, Fox kicked Thorarna away and bid the men take fee of what they could find. Then finishing his meal, Fox wiped his wormy lip upon his sleeve and ran Thorarna through with a spear.

From Thorarna's limp arm, Fox helped himself to the gold upper arm ring that Sigfrid had gifted to Thorarna on her wedding day.

Guthredd's peepers espied the death of Thorarna through a hole of Steiner's crafty making and she fled across the heath to her home in the cavern.

She found the cavern aglow from the pool of brackish water and a shrewish voice singing out:

"Guthredd harkens to her heart

And well she hears; and it is hers."

Nowhere could Guthredd find Jofrid but of the blade 'fail-sword' did she find whole again but damascening. Now was Guthredd for taking vengeance, but the tattooed face slipped across the flesh of her arm and gave rede:

"The fox is in the hole and will not be leaving before he can take fee of each farmstead. Wait until night and make a burning of the farmstead that your deed be of great renown, for many are the King's men you would have to overcome ere you run through the wily fox."

Guthredd saw that the rede was good and prepared kindling for the burning of the King's men in Antler's farm and also sat a carving.

And in the cloak of darkness, Guthredd and Jofrid made use of the path along the cliffs to carry their bundles of kindling over the heath to Antler's farmstead.

The farmstead was quiet and all inside asleep as the two women laid the kindling where it would take to beams and doorframes the quickest.

At the back door Jofrid sang that the spirits might make a barring of the threshold so that none may pass over and into the home-field, but of the front door Guthredd would not have this for she wanted 'fail-sword' to screech in Fox's wound.

The fires were lit and took quickly to the old wood of the farmstead, burning bright and bold and red so that people on the mainland wandered at the happenings on the middle islet of the sound that night.

And now the King's men were roused by the crackling of wood and the burning heat, and some made for the back door and stood frozen saying;

"There is a barring of the threshold that none may pass over" and made turn for the front door.

Now at the front door had Guthredd placed a shame pole and the shame carving upon the pole told of all Fox's secret doings upon the middle islet of the Sound that the king's men night know why they die.

Inside the farmstead fire took well to the wood, collapsing beams so that the Kings men made for the front door and, reading their last boon upon the shame pole, met their death wound from Guthredd, taken as she was, with the berserk.

Last, because most a-feared, did Fox come to the door with his wormy lip suppliant in it's grovelling for a pardon and seeing again the tattooed face upon the bare arm of the woman, he was again assayed with the creeping willies.

Fox knelt and kissed the hem of Guthredd's tunic, but with slight of hand removed his patch from his evil eye so that Guthredd was accursed ere she could cover Fox's hideous eye with a calf-skin bag.

Guthredd bound Fox to his shame pole and brandishing 'fail-sword' double handed, span full round just as the maple samaras spins in autumn, and sent the severed head of Fox flying into the home-field.

And Guthredd spoke this stave:

"I make food for ravens;

With 'fail-sword' I sliced

through neck and bone

and hewd your evil eye.

Your body twitches as this land

is reddened from your bleeding

and I gain all the honour."

Then Guthredd took back the gold upper arm ring that Sigfrid had gifted to Thorarna on her wedding day and then went and retrieved the bag with Fox's severed head from amidst the home-field, that she take for a trophy but one tooth.

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When word reached king Onund in his stronghold of the great burning on the middle islet of the Sound, was the King mickle wrath and declared Guthredd an outlaw across the kingdom and declared that any that harbour Guthredd be hanged for treason, but that any man who brought Guthredd to him; he would become a man of great wealth.

And the King's men spread the King's rede across the kingdom but when they have to in the haven on the middle islet of the Sound, were they greeted with strange stories of a woman berserk, wild and beautiful and an enchantress to boot.

The farmers took the King's men up the winding cliff path to the burnt remains of Antler's farm and made show of the shame pole and the shame carvings thereon that the King's men might show sympathy with the deeds undertaken that night by Guthredd and Jofrid.

But the King's men blocked up their ears to the farmers pleas and beat them for the whereabouts of Guthredd the berserk who was wild and beautiful and an enchantress to boot.

By the time the King's men had beaten naught but lies and trickery from the farmers and returned by the winding cliff path their boats were all aflame. Much ado and pitching of water was made until the flames were subdued and it was as they sat resting amidst their charred boats that their peepers espied the shame pole, freshly carved with the beating of the farmers.

The King's men set sail across the deep sea in their charred boats and made poor passage because of the damage, losing two at sea, so that but one boat returned to tell of the burning of the boats and the placing of the shame pole.

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Now came the time of the Spring Assembly for the islets of the Sound and all the landowners of the islets travelled to the law rock to hear the cases being put forward.

Each landowner assembled his booth that he and his band may take shelter for the duration of the Assembly, but of one booth, did no-one recognise.

Set apart, up by the law rock it stood made afresh of stone and turf, roofed with cloth and fenced apart, all unwelcoming.

For three days the Assembly heard and made rulings on the strife between man and neighbour until all was due to close.

A final announcement was made that any with a case to raise should do so now and the law keeper was about to end the Assembly when a figure called from the booth that seemed all unwelcoming.

Shocked were the landowners to see this figure, and at that a woman, stride powerfully amongst them to stand before the law keeper.

Never had a woman been allowed to take part of the Assembly, but now all sat muggy-brained and with the razzle-dazzles upon them at her beauty.

The assembly knew her for Guthredd by the tattooed face upon the bared naked flesh of her upper arm.

Small of stature, but lithe and strong stood Guthredd, in shining iron cuirass and faulds, the gold ring upon her upper arm, and her eyes silencing any murmur that arose.

In silence did the jury gaze as though enchanted on Guthredd's naked arms and neck and on the naked flesh of her thighs seen under the faulds.

And all agreed that Guthredd outshone even her mother Thorarna in beauty, but some said after that there lay something terrible in that beauty and that the tooth set in gold at her left ear made people afraid.

Taking to the law rock, Guthredd spoke this stave:

"The King took shame as fee;

I took my families honour back.

Now outlaw, I witness

the robbing of your chattel."

"Thorarna hearkened not her heart

But I do hearken mine,

and well I hear the betrayal

of the tyrant king."

"I made food for ravens with 'fail-sword'

and blinded the evil eye.

I baked the meat of King's men,

And flamed their sea-chargers."

"A boon I ask; to tie our might

As a bundle of sticks,

So that any one, not break alone

For being stronger in a pack"

Guthredd returned to her booth and sat upon the dais with sword drawn a hands breath from the scabbard, wary of betrayal.

The jury took rede and ruled that Guthredd spoke true and from her heart. They ruled that this be treason and open rebellion, albeit just, and that the great might of King Onund could only be smitten with the joining of the other assemblies.

Runners were sent across the Sound to every mainland assembly that the ruling of the assembly of the islets of the sound might be considered.

And it was agreed that those assemblies that bound themselves to this uprising light a burning beacon at midnight so that those awaiting on the middle islet of the Sound might know of their following.

It was a calm night upon the cliff top and Guthredd talked with Jofrid in the darkness that the trepidation of being alone in their fight might not close too tight about them.

"Jofrid, tell me of 'fail-sword' once again."

Once again did Jofrid tell of the broken iron sword that was kept wrapped in calf-skin within the cavern and Jofrid told her that the sword was called 'fail-sword' because love had failed once and so a man had taken his life with the sword. But also that 'fail-sword' had been re-forged that Guthredd might take vengeance for that very need for 'fail sword'.

Guthredd smiled, albeit bitterly, at Jofrid's telling and wrapped her woollen cloak about her that she might keep out the cold. They sat alone together and silent, looking out upon the moonlit ripples of the dark sea of the Sound, and upon the darker cliffs of the mainland.

"Look there!" Jofrid said of a sudden, pointing across the sound to the mainland for a beacon danced aflame.

"And there!"

"There too."

And Guthredd's heart sang mightily as beacon after beacon flared alight, casting shimmering reflections across the deep sea of the sound and signalling the people's answer to the boon requested by the middle islet of the Sound.

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For seven years King Onund raised fee and arms that he might send his boats across the dark sea to quell the uprising of the sound that was signalled that night.

Old and frail was King Onund and increasingly leant upon the counsel of his son, Prince Ketil, but all counsel came to nought but defeat throughout the seven years.

It was to King Onund as though the middle islet of the Sound was a great plug hole a-sucking men and coffers alike to oblivion.

The king's men were ambushed where they thought no ambush was possible, harried and slain wherever they laid to in the Sound. It was though nature itself fought against the King's men. In winter were the wheels of their carts sunken in mud and in summer were the tracks of their enemies hidden.

Farmsteads built wily defences of pit-traps and spikes that waylaid the King's men and search as they might, the outlawed berserk woman, said to be wild and beautiful and an enchantress to boot could not be found.

Hordes of supplies became scattered at secret places that the outlaws would not go without and the King's men would be thwarted by secret canoes or a sudden vanishing of trail.

The landowners fought with secret passages, with short-cuts and with desperation. And if a passage was stumbled upon, the enchantments of Guthredd lead the king's men astray in circles, or else to mire.

Wherever battle was fiercest would Guthredd be found, her naked flesh clasped in iron cuirass and faulds, wearing the gold upper arm band of Sigfrid and the tooth dangling from her left ear. Tales of her beauty and of her berserk were whispered over the campfires of the King's men, until they knew not whether to be afraid or in love with Guthredd.

King's men, wounded from battle would tell how no sword could bite the tender flesh of Guthredd, or how her naked thighs had crushed a man's neck, or how she had pattern-welded her cuirass and faulds: Forging, twisting and welding strips of iron so that it was a thing of great beauty and much accentuating her charms. Cut low was her cuirass now, and many a King's man told of the cost of being charmed by Guthredd's breasts, partly revealed as they were, in that pattern-welded cuirass.

Guthredd's beauty became a thing of fear to the King's men, weak as they knew themselves to be, to the beauty of Guthredd. They talked of enchantment as an excuse for their weaknesses that had led to the loss of limbs at the hands of Guthredd.

But secretly did some of the King's men believe that if they must die on this miserable islet amidst heath and mud and hardship, that death would have a most beautiful face should Guthredd deal them their death blow.

And always was Guthredd leading the council of the rebellion and would take rede of the landowners, but take secret council with the tattooed face that slithered on the flesh of her arm. The tattoo always told Guthredd to listen to her heart and so did the people call her 'Guthredd Sleeve-heart'.

Throughout the seven years Jofrid lived still at the cavern for through singing to the spirits could she be transformed into chair, table or rock to the eyes of any who might search the cavern.

It was Guthredd's only luxury throughout the seven years to visit the cavern and bring Jofrid supplies, for she missed her step-mother.

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When the King saw his men all yellow-bellied by their own lusts and superstitions; saw them standing broken in line, their minds a filled with tales of Guthredd and her terrible beauty, he saw that he could not win the war and took urgent council with Prince Ketil.

That they be not overheard, King Onund and his son descended the sunken stairwell behind the tapestry wall-hanging of King Midas and sought the hidden chamber.

"My men are but milk-sops and butter-maids all aquiver at stories made to frighten little children. What is this Guthredd but the daughter of a whore and an upstart?"

"There is more than one way to make a whore, father. Allow me to use the arts; for in the taking of this name she now wears, perchance may lay her destruction. Allow me to consult the astro-orbs and return presently."

Prince Ketil said, sitting at the table, his fingers swirling an old, dusty glass conical.

Now the use of the arts was much frowned upon and shameful, but no wise could King Onund see to winning otherwise and so did bid Ketil to consult the arts.

And so days later was a decree sent from the royal stronghold for men most well-built and most fair to look upon to make themselves present for the honour of serving the King.

The long-fires were lit in the great hall and an oaken table laden with fruits that the jury make not hasty decisions on an empty stomach. And Prince Ketil called his concubines to sit and eat at the table and to judge for him the man most worthy.

For the waning and waxing of two moons Prince Ketil bid the men most well built and most fair to look upon compete before his concubines that a champion might be found.

Great feats of strength were displayed with oiled muscles wresting sinewy thigh and iron blade clashing with axe-head and still no decision was made.

Each day was the table filled anew with dainties and goblets of wine, and each day the best of men battled to win the prize of champion.

Chambermaids told of men who had satiated three concubines at once being eliminated for being too quickly spent and of men, albeit of great strength, being eliminated for lack of charm.

Those with black thoughts and dandies all awash with self-loving were discarded alike until no-one was sure for what the Prince Ketil searched, and then at last a champion was named.

His name was Arinbiorn and he stood triumphant before the jury of concubines, alone in the vast hall and naked and oiled, broad shouldered and muscular, his phallus erect and his head bowed.

For yet the waxing and waning of a further two moons did Prince Ketil hide Arinbiorn away, feeding him the best of foods and training Arinbiorn in the secret arts of fighting, known only to the King's personal guard.

Every night were women sent to Arinbiorn that he might study the differences in their arousal, their yearnings and needs that he be able to turn his play to satisfy any woman. Deep in the learnings of ancient manuscripts concerning the arts of seduction and love-making was Arinbiorn initiated.