Saga - Final Chapter, Part 1
Content - Saga is a Brokeback Au!Au fic taking place in the Viking era (Scandinavia, ca AD 850). This chapter is rated PG-13, and is ca 5,800 words long.
Disclaimer - The original Ennis and Jack who inspired this fic do not belong to me, but to Annie Proulx, Diana Ossana, Larry McMurtry and Focus Features. I intend no disrespect and make no profit.
A/Ns - Well, here it is at last, the final chapter and the end of the search for a sweet life for Einnis and Eoin! Thank you to each and every one of you who’ve been reading along. The enthusiasm, encouragement and inspiration I’ve found in your comments have been invaluable to me.
Thank you also to my diligent, supportive and thorough beta, Soulan.
Links to previous chapters follow after the cut. Explanations of names and terms follow after each chapter.
Links to all previous chapters are available here: http://gilli-ann.livejournal.com/43336.html
Saga - Chapter 30 (final chapter)
Eoin was up on the roof of the guest hall, helping Gunnar affix one of the large carved and proudly gaping dragon-heads, when he saw Torgeirr returning. The master of the farm rode up the track to his home accompanied by several of his free-men. Torgeirr had gained dignity, confidence and stature with every passing year, and he truly looked like a man to be reckoned with. His costly green cloak was sewn with gold-twined ribbons along every edge, and a golden brooch glittered on his right shoulder. He rode a fine brown charger, and his helmet and sword hilt as well as the horse’s tack glinted with elaborate silver ornaments.
Gunnar saw him too, and looked over at Eoin. “I suppose you want to go down there, Irishman, learn the news?” Not even waiting for an answer, he immediately signaled to the thrall who was helping them, making him take Eoin’s place. Eoin gratefully slid downwards, carefully holding onto the rope tied to the roof’s ridge, and climbed the ladder down to the ground.
He hurried around the corner and stopped, studying the scene in front of him. Early fall sunlight slanted down in brief glints through fast-moving clouds, shadows and light chasing each other above the farm. A chill wind gusted across the yard. Sigrid was standing outside the main door, her coif and long trailing skirt flapping in the errant wind. She was smiling as she stood ready to greet Torgeirr and wish her husband and the farm’s master welcome back, a full horn of mead in her hands the way custom demanded. Sverri appeared beside her, so eager to see his father that he could barely stand still.
Eoin’s glance moved searchingly across the yard, soon enough finding Einnis, who was walking over from the stables where he now frequently spent his time. Eoin knew how Einnis had feared that everyone would stare at him wherever he went, and was happy that those misgivings had largely been unwarranted. There was some talk and speculation among the guards, servants and thralls, and crude jokes whispered along the benches, but Torgeirr’s people respected their master and mistress too much to risk open scorn and ridicule of a close kinsman whom Torgeirr and Sigrid themselves obviously continued to value and care for. Now haying was coming to an end, and harvest was commencing. Everyone was going about their many duties hurriedly, with no time left over for gawking or gossiping. On the large and busy farm life continued as always, and Eoin was pleased to note how Einnis increasingly felt at ease walking about outside, though he spoke little and kept to himself.
Einnis looked up, searching for Eoin in his turn. Their eyes met, and Eoin sent him a brief flash of teeth, a bright smile that lit up his own face and sent a faint blush of heat to Einnis’s ears and cheekbones. They both thought of the same thing, Eoin would wager, - the ride they’d taken into the woods on the afternoon when Einnis finally pledged himself to Eoin, body and soul.
Eoin’s grin widened as he dropped his eyes.
Torgeirr’s horse was being led away, and he beckoned to Einnis with one hand even as he ruffled Sverri’s hair with the other. Eoin hurried across the yard, quietly followed the others through the hall door, and walked across the floor to the bench near the High Seat. He sat down behind one of the roof-bearing poles unobtrusively, half lost in its shadow. He was near enough now to hear what was being said, without actually taking part in the master’s conversation with his kin. Torgeirr and Sigrid had to be aware of his presence, but did not acknowledge it in any way. Torgeirr instead shed his cloak, sat down and stretched his long legs while looking back and forth between his wife and her brother.
“Well, I won’t pretend that was a pleasure - I’m glad that it’s out of the way! Rarely before have I visited anyone anywhere where I walked continually on eggshells from the moment I rode in through the gate until I said my goodbyes.” He stopped to sip his mead, leaned back against the seat’s tall carved back, and closed his eyes for a moment. “Puh!”
Einnis, sitting on the bench next to him, moved restlessly, but he did not speak.
Torgeirr opened his eyes, his glance sharp. “Well, let’s have at it. I was greeted politely. Both Arna and Mjod welcomed me with fair words and their best mead. I let them know at once there would be no dispute about the divorce brought forward at the ting, and told them of your plans to break new land across the seas, Einnis. They didn’t have much to say to that, but Mjod did call it “very wise”. It’s obvious he was not much minded to have a feud with us on his hands, especially one that would lead to…….. disrespectful talk… about both sides, since the reason for the divorce has never been proclaimed.”
Einnis once more moved on his seat. He clenched his jaws and held his eyes determinedly downcast, bit his lip and said nothing. Torgeirr continued. “I also told them how your farm will be managed. I said plainly that we wanted them to know about it and as far as possible to agree with us, since it is little-Arna’s inheritance and ancestral home, after all. They know well enough that we needn’t even have informed them, so they were pleased, I think, and they readily agreed we’d found a good solution. Of course, I also told them Sigrid and I will be fostering Freidis. Arna seemed happy about that.” Torgeirr smiled at his wife. “She has always admired and liked you, you know.”
He took another sip of mead and looked pensively at Einnis over the drinking horn’s rim. “I forged right ahead while the going was good. I told them that if ever they thought it advisable, we would stand more than ready to foster Arna Einnisdottir too.”
Torgeirr shrugged. “A long shot, surely, but you never know. Word has it that Arna already has had several suitors calling, and she did look good. Her dress and jewels would not have been much out of place if worn by the queen herself. They say she’s managing her property completely on her own, and she’s handling the matter of her next marriage independently too, as is her right. She won’t be staying long at Mjod’s, I think. In fact…. I heard it said that one of her suitors is Magni Farmann. He’s one of the shrewdest tradesmen in Kaupang. He’s wealthy, owns a number of good ships, and travels far and wide. Can sell just about anything to anybody, and get a good price. He’s quite a catch.”
Sigrid nudged Torgeirr fondly, snapping him out of his impressed description of a fellow tradesman. Torgeirr nodded. “He’s a good man, is all I’m saying. Well, Arna told me that she’ll keep our offer of fostering both her daughters in mind. Never say never. If she marries soon, and has other children… then maybe, one day…. At any rate she will surely not want the child to grow up too far away from her inheritance. And she assured me that she did not want the sisters to grow up to be strangers, so once Einnis has left the country -“Torgeirr glanced at Einnis apologetically - “she’d be happy to let her older daughter visit with us.”
Torgeirr sighed. “I asked to be allowed to see my little kinswoman, and told her I was asking on behalf of her aunt Sigrid. Arna smiled a little at that. No doubt she saw right through my ruse, but she nevertheless had one of her women fetch the child. The girl looked well, as far as I could tell. Quiet and somewhat bashful, not at all eager to greet a stranger like myself, but she looked healthy enough and well cared for.”
“Bashful?” Einnis muttered hoarsely, surprised out of silence. “That’s the last word I ever would have used….”
The three of them sat in silence for a moment. Finally Torgeirr resumed his tale.
“At the evening meal, I took the bull by the horns and mentioned to Arna that my clan affairs had been disrupted when one of my men was attacked by a group of warriors in Kaupang. Said I didn’t know whether it was intended as an attack on me and my clan or not. Told her that the man had defended himself well, killing several of the attackers, but since he is under my clan’s protection, working for us as a wood-carver, the events lost me both silver and time. Arna asked the man’s name and I told her. She pondered my tale in silence for quite some time, and then she said - “Torgeirr shook his head, bemused “- she said that such an attack could certainly be unsettling, and that she trusted and hoped no more disturbances like that would bother my clan or my men. She looked me in the eye then. If you’re right that she’s really behind the attack on Jaran in the first place, she won’t try anything more, I think. The news that Einnis is leaving the country took the sting out of any remaining grudge she’s still carrying. Though why she should be so riled over a close friendship between two men is beyond me…..”
Einnis cleared his throat and lowered his head. Sigrid meticulously adjusted one of her large brooches and the strings of beads attached to it, and said nothing. Once more silence descended.
Eventually Torgeirr rose to his feet. “Well, there you have it, brother-in-law. We’ll get no further where Arna is concerned, and now I really need to go down to Kaupang as soon as possible. Tor alone knows what a wretched mess my men have made of the trading!”
Eoin waited till the others had left before quietly exiting the hall and returning to work on the roof. He had much to think about, and to talk through with Einnis. The two of them had met a few times at night out beyond the sheep fields. They still needed to be careful about not being seen together, perhaps even more so now that curiosity was strong and dark rumors about Einnis’s divorce were floating around. But tonight each of them would need the other desperately, of that he felt very sure. They would crave the connection of bodies and minds, reassurance and release - would want to reaffirm their commitment, to tighten the bonds of joy, love and desire that held them together and made them both strong.
He knew in his heart that he would be holding Einnis in his arms once darkness had fallen.
---
When Torgeirr left for Kaupang, Einnis accompanied him south. The brothers-in-law and their company rode between yellowing fields where harvest laborers were bending their backs, past hillocks where sheep and their grown lambs were flocking together to graze on the last remaining leaves of grass, and onwards. Einnis was steady in his resolve and did not look back, though he did not plan on ever seeing his younger daughter’s new home again. He would be staying at Torgeirr’s clan house in town over the winter, making ready for next spring’s leap of faith across the vast northern seas.
The two of them had made a deal: Einnis would take over Torgeirr’s largest knarr come springtime, and such men among his crew as were willing and interested in hazarding their lives for a possible new future in a new land. Torgeirr had also paid Einnis a weight of silver, sufficient for him to buy the wood, the sheep, horses and cattle, the grain and foodstuffs, the various equipment and supplies needed in the foreign land and on the new farm to be built. In exchange Torgeirr had become the owner of another sizable part of Einstad, adding it to the part of the farm that Sigrid already owned. Little Freidis would one day inherit the rest. Proving as ever a shrewd trader, Torgeirr had requested as part of his payment that he be given a share in any new landholdings and riches that Einnis might win himself overseas.
Eoin remained at Torgeirr’s farm, continuing his work on the gable carvings. He did not leave for Kaupang till the time came for Gunnar and Muirenn to return to their home in town. By then all the gables of the main halls and houses had been fitted with large and finely carved snarling dragons’ heads, and Torgeirr’s farm looked significantly more imposing as a consequence.
It was hard for Muirenn to part from Sverri, but she bore it bravely and carried her grief in silence, saying little to the men as they traveled homewards through the late-autumnal gray and rainy landscapes. They rode at a slow pace to accommodate Muirenn, who was now in the seventh month of her pregnancy. In Kaupang they moved at once into Gunnar’s house, and took up their old life. Eoin and Gunnar worked on easier wood-carvings, Muirenn kept the house.
Now that his two companions were aware that Eoin would soon be leaving them, probably never to return, they both of them took care to show in many little ways how much they appreciated his companionship.
Eoin for the most part kept himself close to the house, though he did on occasion borrow a horse and ride to meet Einnis in the woods. Their passionate and intense though infrequent joinings tided them over the long dark months till the hour would come when they would be leaving the town together in Torgeirr’s newly overhauled and tarred knarr. Einnis had wanted to name their ship for one of Odin’s ravens that fly across all worlds, but when Eoin first saw the knarr he immediately said it looked much more like a goose to him. And the Gander became the vessel’s name.
Ragnvald had left town by the time Eoin returned and this grieved Eoin, for he would have liked to tell his friend a proper good-bye, and to thank him once more for helping to save his life. He could do little more now than to leave word with one of Ragnvald’s drinking companions, a guard at the local lord’s manor. The man promised to relay the message once Ragnvald returned to town.
The field behind the old ale hall stood empty, the sad little decrepit shack looking ready to collapse. Eoin walked out there only once. The trampled grass had long since grown back. Rainfalls had washed away the blood that had been spilt on the ground, and in that peaceful clearing no sign remained of any fight to the death. Eoin soon turned back, a slight shiver traveling down his spine. He was on guard whenever he walked about alone, but Arna held true to her tacit promise to Torgeirr. There were no more attacks, and no threats or overt hostility.
The question of thralls had been a bone of contention between Eoin and Einnis, and the source of their first heated disagreement. Einnis insisted that they would need thralls in Iceland. Clearing a farm, building houses, tending the animals and the fields were all of it hard and labor-intensive tasks which would require many hands. He also pointed out that spinning, weaving and sewing as well as milking, churning and cheese-making were necessary skills that the men did not know the first thing about. Such women’s work was crucial to any self-sufficient farmstead. As yet they could find very few free men and women who were willing to risk their lives at such an uncertain venture overseas. But thralls would have no choice. And the two of them having women about their own house and farmstead would serve to safeguard their secret. They had to think ahead to the time when other people might come to settle in Iceland.
Eoin was equally adamant that he could never build his longed-for life and happiness on the misery and sorrow of slaves. He’d rather do all the work himself, if it’d take him a lifetime and all the strength left in his body.
At last they reached a truce and a solution that both could live with. They would offer thralls to buy them and to immediately grant them liberation, promising them that they would be treated as equals from the first, on condition that they worked three years on the farm in Iceland as repayment. After that time, if the Norns still let them have life and health, they would be completely free to go where they wanted and to do as they pleased, though both Eoin and Einnis hoped that they’d decide to stay and to build their futures in the new land - if it could be located at all.
And so over the late fall months Einnis became the master of a number of new thralls, several of them Irish, who would be coming with them to Iceland. Some were skilled in fishing and hunting, some in ploughing and herding, some in taking care of ships and houses. During the last few trading days of the year, when the markets were winding down and many traders had already left, Einnis and Eoin only lacked one more thrall woman or two who’d be traveling north with them.
For the first time Eoin entered the thrall market by the wharfs on his own, re-treading old ground, his heart clenching in sorrow as he looked at pinched and worried faces in this place where he himself once had come so close to being offered for sale.
He was looking for Irish thralls, he told the market keeper, - especially women. The man gave him a leery and skeptical look, trying to make sense of an Irish buyer. Such a thing had never happened before. But Eoin was well dressed, carried himself proudly and sported a fine sword, and the keeper knew better than to argue when money and strength presented itself in the shape of a prospective customer.
Eoin walked slowly among the thralls for sale. This late in the season the best had long since been sold; the strong and skilled laborers and the young, good-looking and fertile women. He shuddered as he looked into the faces of the remaining ones. Hardships, humiliation, lost hopes and horrors witnessed had left their tell-tale marks.
His eyes met those of a gaunt and sickly-looking elderly woman, roved on, then moved back to study her more closely. He recognized her with a gasp of surprise. “Dame Bronagh!” he cried in Gaelic, stepping over to her in a hurry, taking her bony hands in his. “To think we would meet again! Do you recognize me? I’m brother Eoin! How have you fared since last we met?”
Continued in Chapter 30, Part 2: http://gilli-ann.livejournal.com/49870.html