Scramasax Read Free Page B

up above her head and smacked her hands.
    The hall heard her. It echoed her. Her cry and her hand-clap. Then, without warning, a piece of the high cornice – a lump of plaster as big as a human head – fell from the ceiling. It smashed on to the marble floor beside them. A thousand shards and splinters skidded across the shining tiles.
    For a moment no one said anything.
    Harald sucked his cheeks and glared at the cornice accusingly.
    â€˜It’s an omen,’ Snorri said. ‘A sign of some kind.’
    Solveig turned to her father. ‘You’re not,’ she said, and her voice broke. ‘You’re not leaving me again.’ Several times she swallowed. And then, in a low voice, ‘I summoned all my strength to find you. For month after month I’ve crossed the mountains and sailed the seas and followed the rivers to find you. To be with you.’
    For a while no one said a word.
    Harald Sigurdsson sat down in the massive dark chair, the only chair in the room. Snorri and Skarp made their way to the centre of the hall, now and then glancing suspiciously at the ceiling, the cornices, and her father slowly padded along the length of the room.
    â€˜So, fair one!’ Harald called across to Solveig. ‘Come over here.’
    As Solveig walked up to him, she saw that even when he was sitting down Harald was almost as tall as his companions.
    â€˜What’s the real reason?’ Harald asked her. ‘Why have you made this journey to Miklagard?’
    â€˜I asked myself that many times on my way here.’
    â€˜What was your answer?’
    â€˜When my father left home, he took away my grounding. I didn’t belong any more. Not to my stepmother, my stepbrothers, not even to the fjord and the mountains. My home was no longer my home.’
    â€˜Go on,’ said Harald.
    â€˜Then I began to imagine my father’s journey, and the more I imagined it, the more I wanted to follow him. I grew curious. Out-eager!’
    â€˜That’s how we Norwegians are,’ declared Harald. ‘Out-eager.’
    â€˜We want to find out,’ Solveig agreed.
    â€˜Not like your two brothers, then,’ remarked Harald. ‘Two lumps, if I remember them rightly.’
    â€˜Blubba’s all right,’ said Solveig.
    â€˜It’s better to live, isn’t it?’ Harald demanded. He opened his arms wide and looked round at Snorri and Skarp. ‘Better to live than lie at home, stiff as a corpse. Well, Solveig, your answers are good ones. Very good. You’re your father’s daughter.’ Harald turned to Halfdan and nodded.
    â€˜I know,’ said Halfdan, and he sighed.
    â€˜Don’t be so rueful, man. Problems need answers. And there’s no problem that doesn’t have an answer.’
    â€˜If you let me come with you,’ Solveig said, ‘you’ll be glad of it.’
    Harald Sigurdsson shook his head. ‘What are wegoing to do with you? Here and now, today?’
    â€˜Tomorrow,’ Snorri declared, ‘today is yesterday.’
    â€˜What kind of consolation is that?’ Harald barked.
    â€˜Piss!’ exclaimed Skarp. ‘The piss of giantesses.’
    â€˜No,’ said Snorri, unperturbed, ‘that’s what comes out of your mouth, Skarp.’
    â€˜Get things wrong today and we wreck tomorrow,’ Harald continued. ‘I know that. Well, I do have one idea.’
    Solveig looked at Harald with a mixture of trepidation and longing.
    â€˜Our beloved Empress,’ Harald explained, ‘has a sister. Theodora. These two women hate each other.’
    â€˜Why?’ asked Solveig.
    Harald held up his right hand. ‘I’ll do the talking. All you need to know for now is that Empress Zoe has exiled Theodora to a nunnery …’
    â€˜I don’t want to be a nun,’ Solveig said fiercely.
    â€˜. . . a nunnery,’ Harald continued, ‘but she allows Maria, Theodora’s