We head off early the next day after leaving instructions to Fåhraeus and mom. Skuli has lead his survivors in to Lappland, hoping to link up with additional forces from the Trondheim heartland. But those forces are far away and he's lost half his men, while we are in better position than ever. We begin the march.
At quick march follow by a quick battle. We stand victorious, with the ravens circling overhead. Skuli and Knud again managed to get away, fleeing through a small pass before we could surround them and bring about a hundred men with them.
Me, Töre and Jurva is sitting in a tent, contemplating our situation and making plans. Töre want to go back to Umeå and prepare the defence, while Jurva wants to advance into Norway's borderland and put pressure on the Christians. There a sound outside and two soldiers, both mine, by the name of Åke and Halder drags a man inside our tent.
-"We found him while we were gathering the dead. For burning. Says he's a nobleman and that he has rights."
-"Did you tell him what we do with all the "commoners"? His so-called subjects?"
-"Yeah, we told him we take their arms and weapons and any gold they're caring, and send them on their way"
-"So what do we do with nobles?"
-"I don't know. Never caught one before".
At this point the prisoner speaks. He's of medium built and height, with a broken nose and dark hair. His beard is scruffy and unkempt.
-"Bloody good show I'll say! My name is Ottar of Lom, son Øystein of Lom, count of that Saxon hellhole they Lincoln. I was called to serve my lord Harald the Conqueror and when he died I stayed on with my good friend Skule. But make no misstake, my loyalty falls is to good King Ottar, a hunchback weakling as he might be, not to any usurping queen. Now; with that said, how will it be? I would much prefer freedom to death, but if you feel that honour demands it I will gladly die. If not, I'm sure that my wife will find a suitable ransom."
Either he's really brave or he's good at faking it. But we don't need more corpses. We need gold. The Finns are only here for as long as we can pay them and without them we don't stand a chance against the Queen's armies.
-"First answer a question. If I stay here, the Bishop will surround me. If I go, the Queen will strike. What shall the Rook do?"
-"Well, bloody hell, war ain't like chess. In chess the Rook ain't worth shit, but in war a pitchfork in the right place can end the war, know what I'm saying. But the Bishop ain't a loyal servant of the Queen exactly. He'll be around as long as there's loot and honour to be gained but hit him again and he'll go back to his bloody monks and bloody books, know what I'm saying. The Queen will stick around though. Get you while you're weak. I say the Bishop is the opportune target. He'll go to Mjälleborgen in the south, in Jemtland, to replenish and wait. He ain't a fool. He know that more of the Queen's men will come and that you frankly are a bit outmatched, boy, but also knows that if you were to put pressure on the queen, she might do something stupid. My advice will be to disrupt any effort to garter any larger force and then retreat back to your' own land. Let's see if the Conquerors daughter won't loose heart soon enough. So... How about that ransom?"
-"Done. Send a message to your' wife. Enough silver to buy my a small army. Deal?"
-"Done, my boy. Hope I'll be seeing you again."
There's also another matter. While I was away, Maria turned sixteen.
She already has a suitor. His name is Riku of Vorgashor and the rich son of a disposed chieftain in the East. He seeks escape from the court that condemned his father. From what I can tell he's a good man. Maria seems to like him. I agree to the marriage.
I'm sad that there's not time to go to the marriage or meet the groom but war calls me. We begin our march to Mjälleborgen two days after the battle.
Päviä has as usual come with me to war, though she doesn't really seem to realize the gravity of the situation:
The argument goes kinda like this:
-"Päviä, hon, we can't spend the money we got Ottar's ransom on books. Not when there's a war going on."
-"Why not?"
-"Because mercenaries cost money. Besides, why do you need books? You spend more time in the garden or at court than reading."
-"Because I want something to do in the winter and when I'm in bed."
-"But hon, you don't sleep very much."
-"No, but I'll be bedridden soon enough."
-"Why?"
-"Because I'm pregnant again."
I still don't buy her any books.
In February we catch Skuli men. They basically dispersers without much of a fight. The bishop is finally out of the picture, allegedly leading his men back to England. But our scouts report a much greater threat:
In Naumdedal there's at least four thousand men, with an additional thousand in Herjedalen. The main army is under the command of Duke Finn the First of Herjedalen and Jämtland. He's a drunken sod but a competent leader of men. He's taking his men north to Hålogaland while about five hundred are marching south to help the regiment trapped in Herjedalen. The troops in Herjedalen however are already marching south, into Sweden, probably to escape our army.
I make a choice. Even with all our mercenaries, we still can't take on a five-thousand men. We will march south, hoping to catch the men in Herjedalen and secure some ransoms. Then we'll hire whatever men are left in Finland and march north, hoping to get back home before the Norweigians do. Before I give to order I take a moment to watch the dreary landscape of Jemtland. I go out of my tent. Our camp is surrounded with low mountains and high hills, with small streams and wind-ravaged trees everywhere. They don't grow high so high up, only a few meters or so. The sky is dark and grey, matching the coldness of the air. There's the distant sound of thunder in the west. Hopefully the rainstorm will trap the Norwegians and we'll make it home before they do. I can only hope.
