Viking Myths & Sagas by Rosalind Kerven

Author:Rosalind Kerven
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Talking Stone
Published: 2015-06-14T16:00:00+00:00

Gudrun didn't need telling twice. Thord Ingunnarson's plan worked perfectly. Thorvald was compelled to give Gudrun her freedom, plus the full half of his estate which he had pledged to her. She was only seventeen years old – but already on the way to becoming a very wealthy woman.

Shortly afterwards, Thord Ingunnarson divorced his own obnoxious wife, and Gudrun married him. They got on splendidly and it seemed that her life was working out well, despite that unlucky start.

But then the sorcerers moved in.

Yes, that's right, sorcerers: a whole unsavoury family of them from the wild islands of the Hebrides. They built a house right next to the farm that belonged to Thord Ingunnarson's mother, and within days they were blighting her sheep and crops with evil spells.

Thord Ingunnarson was compelled to take action to save his mother. Gudrun begged him to be careful, pointing out the dangers of opposing supernatural powers. However, Thord reckoned that the law was mightier than any magic.

He gathered nine supporters and sailed round the coast to the sorcerers’ house. There he charged the sorcerers with witchcraft, and summonsed them to appear before the Law Chiefs at the next Althing. The sorcerers just guffawed and spat at him.

However, as soon as Thord and his men set sail for home, the sorcerers climbed onto a ricketty driftwood platform and started chanting incantations and making ear-splitting screeches. Almost at once, the sky darkened, a wind blew up and hailstones bucketed down.

Thord Ingunnarson's ship thrust against the tempest, lurching and teetering. Suddenly a freak wave rose alongside it, dark and huge as a whale, a solid wall of water. It spun the ship round – then smashed it hard against a ridge of rocks.

They didn't have a chance. The entire crew was drowned, including Thord Ingunnarson.

Gudrun’s dreams and hopes were all smashed too, for now she was a widow.

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