The Northlander. John E. Elias

up his hand. He asked Rathe to bring over the blindfold. “You know what to do.”

      Again Rathe placed the blindfold over his eyes. Björn stepped away from everyone, faced the bowman and shouted, “Now, Strom, do your very best!”

      Strom bent the bow, aimed and released the arrow in one expert motion. The arrow flew true, directly at Björn’s heart. Björn caught the arrow in flight just before it reached him. He removed the blindfold and handed the arrow to Brewster.

      With no emotion showing on his face, Björn said slowly, “Now, Sir Brewster, King of Kallthom, am I fit to do your job?”

      The king nodded with a loud guffaw and wrapped his long arm around Björn’s shoulder. “You will do, I suppose,” he said.

      At his father’s direction, Rathe gave Björn a tour of the castle. The Northlander noted that it was old but well maintained. Its dual purpose was to provide living quarters for the royal family and their court, and to defend them while they were in residence.

      The castle sat in the middle of a village. It was square and surrounded by a towering rock wall as tall as six men. The wall was about one-half as wide at the base as it was tall. At the top was a walkway wide enough for four men to walk abreast. The walkway had a wall on the outside slightly taller than a man and about the width of two men. Along the wall were broken intervals, or ports, for guards to observe anyone approaching. Two towers with open windows rose from the corners and in the center of each side. Sloping staircases of stone, wide enough for at least twenty soldiers marching abreast, reached from the courtyard to the center of the adjacent wall. Björn found it quite impressive.

      Later, they ate in a small intimate dining room. Björn was pleased that Brewster saw no need to impress him by dining in one of the great halls he had seen earlier. He thought it showed the down-to-earth attitude of the man.

      Dinner was very informal. Brewster sat at the head of the elegant table in a high-backed chair that would have dwarfed an ordinary man. As their guest, Björn sat at the opposite end of the table in a chair of equal magnitude. Prince Rathe, Princess Aleanna and three of the king’s advisors were at the table.

      Princess Aleanna had been briefly introduced to Björn prior to dinner. Björn thought her to be very mature for her age. Having no previous experience with royalty, he had expected a spoiled and pampered child. What he met was a tall, slender, attractive self-confident young woman. His original feelings were that she might be too much of a handicap on the trip and had that been the case, he would have rejected the job. He idly wondered what Brewster’s reaction would have been if he had.

      Among the meats served from heavy, finely hewn wooden bowls were beef, pork, mutton, and wild game, along with a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits. Dining was a boisterous affair; the guests all talked at once, but Brewster was the loudest. Björn, quiet by nature, observed that Rathe joined in some of the revelry, but the princess did not.

      Princess Aleanna demurely studied Björn. Very perceptive, she was perplexed by the affinity she felt for this man. He was like no one she had ever met. Even while he ate, she noticed that he had not a wasted motion. He did not initiate any conversation and spoke only briefly when spoken to. At the same time, she noticed that he seemed to be aware of everything around him.

      She decided he was not a handsome man. His hawk-like features precluded that, but she found him oddly attractive. Part of it, she thought, was the contrast between his gray hair and his youthful face. While not young, he certainly wasn’t old; in fact, he seemed to be in the prime of life.

      Occasionally he returned her gaze, and she found herself blushing and looking away. But when she thought his attention had moved on, she continued to stare at him, fascinated by his dark, penetrating eyes and the way they changed color. They changed from charcoal to blue to green and back to dark gray. She didn’t know if it was the light, his mood or if he did it on purpose. Whatever the reason, she felt captivated by them. Fleetingly, she was afraid she was making a fool of herself by staring, but she couldn’t help it. She was also afraid of what she must be communicating to this stranger.

      While the king roared, even with food in his mouth, Björn noticed that the prince and princess showed better manners. He wondered if that was from the influence of their mother, whom he learned had died when they were young; it was certainly not from the king. The kitchen maids brought in more filled bowls as the food disappeared. As was his custom, Björn ate sparingly, sampling the meat dishes and consuming some of each of the vegetables and fruits offered.

      At the conclusion of the meal, the king ordered the servants to clear the table. Björn noticed that while they acted quickly to remove the remnants of the meal, they did not seem to be at all intimidated by the bark of their king. It was apparent that there was great rapport between the royalty and the servants. Shortly, the kitchen maids returned with mugs of ale and a plate of cheeses.

      “Well, Northlander,” Brewster began, “we should be ready to leave in a few days, as it will take some time to assemble our army again.” With a scowling voice, he berated his guest, “We tried to be ready for your arrival, but had to send our men home to work their farms when you took so long to get here.”

      Björn gave no indication that he noticed the implied criticism. He watched wordlessly as the King arose and picked up some clean ale mugs from the sideboard.

      “Here we are,” he said, placing a mug in front of him, “and this is Carigo.” He indicated its location with another mug. “And here is Delph.” He placed a mug between the other two. “We will have to fight our way through Delph’s army to get to Carigo. Your job is to stay with Aleanna at all times. We will have our best men close to her also, but you will be responsible for her safety.” He frowned. “I do not like taking our army into the plains against the Delphs, but we do not have a choice. We will group soldiers into an arrow formation with Aleanna and you in the center. When you have a chance to get through, you will go on. When we see you are safe, we will withdraw.”

      Brewster looked expectantly at Björn, who sat quietly, his hands clasped in front of him and his eyes staring down at the table in front of him.

      The king couldn’t take the silence. “Well, what do you think of our plan? Can you protect Aleanna? Of course, we will have to choose a horse for you. That pony of yours cannot keep up.”

      Björn ignored the comment about Jago, and finally looked up at Brewster. “I can see that you have given this a great deal of thought. Have you also considered how many men you will lose in the battle? Do you realize how much this will weaken your defenses, leaving the Kallthom castle vulnerable to the Delphs if they defeat you on the plains?”

      Hitting the table and bouncing the mugs, Brewster bellowed, “They will not defeat us!”

      “Perhaps not,” replied Björn, “but you will suffer severe losses. That will leave your army weakened if the Delphs decide to attack your castle.”

      Brewster responded quickly. “We have thought of that. Of course we do not like the possibility of that happening, but uniting with Carigo will enable us to easily defeat the Delphs. It is worth the risk. Anyway, that is not your concern. Your job is to escort my daughter safely to Carigo, not to protect our castle.”

      The two men glared at one another, measuring each other’s resolve. It was painfully quiet for several moments.

      When Björn spoke again, shoulders forward and eyes probing into Brewster’s, it was with disapproval. “The reason I took longer than you expected to get to Kallthom was because I was exploring the safest and best options for getting Aleanna to Carigo,” he said. “I will not take the risk of trying to guard your daughter in the midst of a battle because too many things can happen—we cannot be sure she and I would not get separated. I cannot accept the responsibility for her safety when events along the way are out of my control.”

      The king stared open-mouthed at the Northlander, and Rathe seemed puzzled. Aleanna surprisingly looked disappointed, and Brewster’s advisors all began shouting accusations.

      “Why did you bother to come here if you were not going to take the job we