Wreath of Wyn: A Viking Era Adventure Continues (Wyn Series Book 2) by Matthews Demery

Author:Matthews, Demery
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: VRAX Productions
Published: 2024-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Right Action

The day comes when Barþr’s entire family fills Hrōlfr and Frøia’s hall. They stand beside many other villagers to wait for their jarl’s decision to bring justice. Llewelyn, imprisoned for the week since Barþr’s murder, will now pay for what he has done. He waits in the back, guarded by Þōrshjalmr.

Hrōlfr watches from his high seat as Cerdic steps through the front doors with the young Northumbrian warriors trailing behind him. They are here in a show of support for their friend—a man they all look up to and always try emulating. Having agreed that all the jarl’s men, even the foreign ones, should be here, Hallvarþ strides across the room to stand beside Cerdic. He locks his eyes with Hrōlfr and nods.

Llewelyn has the respect of several villagers, and Hrōlfr knows that while most want him to live, they also believe he will make a good sacrifice to the gods on this night as a means of preserving peace.

Hrōlfr eyes Frøia and signals for her to join him. She does so, sitting in the high-backed chair to the left of him. Stæin follows and stands to the matriarch’s side while Boden flanks Hrōlfr’s right side.

The rest of the women in Hrōlfr’s charge have Stæin’s other sons hovering near them, ready to protect the family in case their jarl passes an unfavorable judgment and causes an uproar. These women include Helga and Sassa who have come to know Llewelyn during his time at the training camp. Both attend this meeting despite Hrōlfr’s kind request that they keep a safe distance. He now challenges his daughter with a stern glare and Sassa glares right back at him. She has so much of her mother in her.

At least the grandchildren of Jarl Hrōlfr Magnūsson’s family are a safe distance away at Magnæ and Helga’s hall. Some of Hrōlfr’s best guards are stationed there, and, to avoid any conflict, the young Northumbrian warriors all agreed to return there immediately after the verdict. If necessary, these men will die protecting that hall and its inhabitants. Additionally, Hrōlfr asked Boden to counsel each of the warriors-in-training to accept the ruling, whatever it may be. He also prepared Llewelyn to accept his fate.

Hrōlfr thinks now about how he spoke with the huntsman just last night, saying “Should I decide it best for you to die, would you prefer to hang or have your throat slit?”

Llewelyn refused to answer, saying only that he had tried once to end his own life and now preferred not to think on it. “What will be will be,” he said.

“On the day we are born,” Hrōlfr then explained, “the Nornir choose the day we are to die. We cannot escape fate. We can, however, choose to embrace it when the time comes to do so.”

Llewelyn grinned, saying, “It is you, Jarl Hrōlfr, who will determine my fate. Not your Nornir.”

Looking out at the young faces of the men brought here tonight in support of the huntsman, Hrōlfr must give Cerdic credit for that idea.

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