Sigefrith returns with news for Estrid

Sigefrith jogged down the long corridor of the castle in search of his wife, but the first ladies he encountered were his cousin Synne and her sister-​​in-​​law.

“Ladies!” he bowed.

Synne burst out laughing. “Look at you, with your beard!”

“What is it about my beard that always makes women laugh? Come here, you graceless wretch, and give me a hug. You’re no more lady than runt than you were when I left three months ago!”

Estrid stood silently beside her, waiting. She was always a pale young woman, but she was white to the lips now, and Sigefrith was frightened she would faint.

“And as for you, fair cousin, I see no reason why you should be on your feet for my unworthy self. Let’s get you in here and sit you down, and we shall chat a moment.”

He took her hand and found it colder even than the room. Synne went to the other side of her and took her arm, and they both led her into the sitting room and to a chair.

“Estrid has not been well, Sigefrith,” Synne explained in the hushed voice one used when discussing the gravely ill in their own presence. “She had a scare back when you left…”

“A scare?”

“Brede? Brede?” Estrid was whispering.

Had she gone mad, like Maud? Sigefrith felt a chill run over him, and he absently rubbed his hand on his tunic, as if he had picked up the cold from touching hers.

Synne blinked at him, hesitating. Of course, she too was wondering about Brede.

“Oh! I nearly forgot,” Sigefrith said. “This is for you,” he said and kissed Synne, “and what that unworthy runt wanted to send you,” he said to Estrid, “I am too shy to deliver personally. But he wanted me to assure you that he would be here in plenty of time to see his own runt into the world. And judging by the size of you, my dear, that will be soon.”

“Where is he?” Synne cried. “Isn’t he home with you? Where is everyone? Is everyone – ”

“Everyone is well, Synn. We scarcely lost a man, and none whom you know. But, as it happens, only Cenwulf and I – and your dear friend Leofwine – are home today. So we shall be having plenty of grand homecoming dinners over the next few weeks. I hope you’re ready for a bit of feasting.”

“Oh, yes!” Synne laughed. “It’s been so dull here since you left.”

“I would be flattered if I didn’t think ‘you’ meant ‘Malcolm, Leofwine, and company.’”

“But Brede?” Estrid whispered.

“Ah, yes. I shan’t hazard a guess as to where he is at this moment – on a ship, very likely – but your husband and my feckless godson left for more exciting adventures as soon as we reached the Tyne.”

“What?” she gasped.

“That is to say, they went to see your sister and brother in Nidaros.”

“What?”

“Oh!” Synne squealed. “Then they will see Sigi’s baby! It’s a boy named Olaf!”

“Well, apparently you too have been on some interesting adventures,” Sigefrith said.

“No,” she laughed. “Eirik sent a letter. And he was born in March, so he must be so big now! Oh, I wish I were a boy so I could go see him! And Sigi!”

“What?” Estrid repeated.

“My dear,” Sigefrith said gently, and he took her hand again despite its chill. “Your husband seems to feel a bit guilty about the way he treated his sister at the last, and I think he wants to make it up to her in some way. He wanted to see her again, first, and also to take her some money for herself and her children, as he did not know how such matters are arranged in your country, and he did not think the dowry he gave her at her marriage worthy of her.”

“When?” she whispered.

“This was in mid-​​June that he left us. He and Sigefrith, I mean. You needn’t worry, dear. I would trust Sigefrith to take him to the ends of the earth, at least so long as they are in a Norse ship.”

“You have had no word from him since June?” Estrid again looked as if she would faint.

“No, dear, but you may be certain he is well. He wanted to see Sigi, your uncle, and his own mother’s family. And you know how young men like to travel and see new things. I assure you he has not forgotten you. And I assure you he would have made you proud. He is a fine knight.”

“But you don’t know whether he is well now?”

“Estrid, I’m certain he’s well,” Synne soothed, stroking her arm and speaking again as if Estrid were an invalid, or perhaps a child. Sigefrith thought he heard his own self, as he had once spoken to Maud.

“Synn,” Sigefrith began, but he hesitated, wondering whether it was wise to speak of Estrid’s state of mind before Estrid herself.

“Oh, Sigefrith,” Synne sighed, and she spoke as if Estrid were not there at all. “I forgot to tell you. Estrid had a scare right after you left. She got up one night when we were still at home, and my uncle was in his room with the door open, and he was… he had cut up his wrists somehow, and he was bleeding all over. And Estrid saw him – ”

“What happened to him?” Sigefrith interrupted.

“I don’t know,” she said uneasily. “Father Brandt says that priests and monks will hurt themselves badly sometimes, as penance or to help them pray. But then Uncle saw that Estrid had fainted and he came to help her, but our steward had heard her scream before she fainted, and he came in and saw my uncle kneeling over her with blood all over his arms, and blood all over her cloak, and he thought that my uncle had murdered her, so he took the poker and hit him on the back of his head and knocked him out. And then Estrid woke up and saw Uncle lying next to her on the floor with his eyes closed, and she thought it was Brede, dead, and so she started screaming again.”

Sigefrith was, exceptionally, speechless.

“But she understands now, don’t you, dear?” Synne cooed.

“But you can’t be certain he’s well,” Estrid murmured.

“I can be,” Sigefrith said. “I wouldn’t have let him go if I had thought he was in more danger there than with us. And since nothing much happened to us…”

“Estrid thought it was an omen of his death, but you see, Estrid? He was perfectly well when you saw Uncle, and he has been perfectly well all this time that you thought he was dead.”

“How have you all been?” Sigefrith asked abruptly, hoping to get Estrid’s mind off the matter. “Besides dull?”

“Oh, only dull! If anything else had happened, we would not have been. Iylaine ran away on Midsummer Eve but they found her after a few hours. And they had a piglet race instead of a horse race this year, since all of the men and horses were gone, and one of our piglets won.”

“That was as exciting as it got?” Sigefrith laughed.

“That was the best of it!” Synne said regretfully. “And the poor piglet will become a ham before too long, so you see, it was not a profitable summer for anyone, nor even very much fun. Unless it was for you?”

“Profitable, perhaps,” Sigefrith sighed. “But not fun.”