Book 3: 'Arrow Odd'

3.0 THE PROPHECY

CHAPTER THREE

3.0  THE PROPHECY  (Circa 852 AD)

" Venom-filled snake                shall sting you

From below the                     skull of Faxi.

The adder will bite                from below your foot,

When you are terribly old,                my lord."

From The Saga of Arrow Odd

(852 AD) Over the years Oddi would progress from forging arrow heads to spear tips to seax knives and axes, then on to the famed Stavanger swords that Hraegunarstead was famous for. By the time he was twelve, Oddi could hammer together a Stavanger tri-steel blade with trident guard as fast as any man. Jarl Brak even taught Oddi how to make Indian steel, and how to hammer out the alloyed blooms into helmets and breastplates, ring-mail corselets and Roman plate-mail byrnies as well as chain mail coifs. Brak was primarily a weapons steel smith, but he also dabbled in defensive gear and was known for his shield bosses and perimeter rings.

There was a witch named Heid who knew how to predict the future. She was often invited to banquets to tell people their destinies. She had a troupe of fifteen boys and fifteen girls that would chant up spirits for her, and she was at a banquet not far away from Ingjald's farm. One morning Ingjald got up early and went to where Oddi and Asmund rested and said, "I will send you two on an errand today."

"Where will we go?" asked Oddi.

"You shall invite Heid, the seeress, over for your birthday naming feast," answered Ingjald.

"I will not invite that old witch," said Oddi, "and I will not like it if she comes here."

"You must go then, Asmund," said Ingjald, "and I expect you to do as you're told."

"Prince Erik is coming to the naming," said Oddi, "and he hates witchcraft more than I do."

But Asmund went and invited the seeress to the banquet anyway, and she promised to come. Ingjald went to meet her and invited her into his longhall. They had prepared preliminary auguries to be carried out the night before the naming feast and when some people started showing up early, the seeress went right to her night-time rituals with her followers chanting songs and spells to attract spirits. Ingjald went up to her and asked what the results of the auguries were. "I think," she said, "that I have already learned all that you wish to know. I was going to tell all tonight so I didn't have to stay for the naming feast, but Prince Erik shall be late for it, so I can stay for it."

"The Prince frightens you?" Ingjald asked her.

"The last time I told fortunes in Hraegunarstead," she explained, "Prince Erik didn't like my prophesy and threatened to strike me on the nose. I was warning him of what would happen to his son, but he thought I was talking of him and he flew into a rage and came towards me with malice in his eyes, but turned and left the hall instead. I never did get to complete the prophesy, but with him coming late, perhaps I can rectify that."

"How do you know The Prince will be late?" Ingjald asked.

"Why, the hall is full of spirits," she replied. "Can you not feel them?"

Ingjald gave a shiver. As evening approached, the last of the guests filed into the hall.

Prince Erik 'Bragi' and Jarl Grim 'Hairy-Cheek' were late coming down from Hrafnista, but King Roller was in early from The Vik. As he sat down at the guest high seat opposite Ingjald he saw Heid and had the feeling that he had seen this before.