Part 35 (1/2)
She gazed up through her falling hair; her face ild and white, and her eyes glowed in it as live elow in the ashes of burnt wood
”We are not so easily parted, Eric,” she said ”Not for this came I to witchcraft and to sin Thou fool! hast thou never heard that, of all the foes a man may have, none is so terrible as the woman he has scorned?
Thou shalt learn this lesson, Eric Brighteyes, Thorgri of the tale For its end, I rite it in runes of blood”
”Write on,” said Eric ”Thou canst do no worse than thou hast done,” and he passed thence
For a while Swanhild crouched upon the ground, brooding in silence Then she rose, and, throwing up her arms, wept aloud
”Is it for this that I have sold ?” she cried
”Is it for this that I have becoht--to be scorned, to be hated, to be betrayed? Now Eric will go to Atli and tell this tale Nay, there I will be beforehand with him, and with another story--an ancient wile of women truly, but one that never yet has failed theeance! I will see thee dead, Eric, and dead will I see Gudruda at thy side! Afterwards let darkness coh the horror rides it! Swift!--I must be swift!”
Eric passed into Swanhild's bower, and, finding Whitefire, bore it thence On the table was food He took it Then, going to the place where he ont to sleep, he arolden hel shi+eld and spear in his hand Then he passed out By thefish in the sun Eric greeted the that when the Earl ca, he would find hih to where the Gudruda sank This he begged of them to tell Atli, for he desired speech with hio forth thus and fully ar that he had so
Eric ca on the sea, and grieving so bitterly that he thought his heart would burst within him For of all the days of Eric's life this was the heaviest, except one other only
But Swanhild, going to her bower, caused Koll the Half-witted to be su and earnestly, and they ether Then she bade Koll watch for Atli's co and, when he saw the Earl leave his boats, to run to him and say that she would speak with him
After this Swanhild sent a man across the firth to the stead where Hall of Lithdale sat, bidding hireards the evening, Koll, watching, saw the boats of Atli draw to the landing-place Then he went down, and, going to the Earl, bowed before him:
”What wouldst thou, fellow, and who art thou?” asked Atli
”I am a man from Iceland; perchance, lord, thou sawest me in Asmund's hall at Middalhof I am sent here by the Lady Swanhild to say that she desires speech with thee, and that at once” Then, seeing Skallagriri, he hurried up to the hall, and through it into Swanhild's bower
There she sat on a couch, her eyes red eeping, and her curling hair unbound
”What noanhild?” he asked ”Why lookest thou thus?”
”Why look I thus, my lord?” she answered heavily ”Because I have to tell thee that which I cannot find words to fit,” and she ceased
”Speak on,” he said ”Is aught wrong with Eric?”
Then Swanhild drew near and told him a false tale
When it was done for a rehite beneath his ruddy skin, white as his beard Then he staggered back against the wainscoting of the bower
”Woman, thou liest!” he said ”Never will I believe so vile a thing of Eric Brighteyes, whom I have loved”