Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

and I thought it a wise precaution to sweep the forest from the south of the farmstead down to the Loch." He fixed Harald and Alex with a glare as he took his seat on the other side of Magnus. "With an enemy in our midst, even one who Harald has taken such a personal interest in, I don't think we can be too careful."
    "Of course," Siguard's tone was resigned. "You found nothing though?"
    "All is quiet," he confirmed, before adding acidly, "for now."
    "Good, in that case, let us eat." Siguard signalled to those seated lower down the table for the meal to begin.
    Roasted meat was served with a thick barley and vegetable stew. Alongside it was heavy dark bread smeared with a sharp white soft cheese. Harald carefully shared his meal with Alex, passing back to him pieces of meat and squares of bread. Ale and sweet honeyed mead was served in drinking horns, but where most of the men drank heavily Harald only sipped at his drink.
    As the meal wore on, the noise in the great room rose. Siguard talked with both Harald and Magnus about the farmstead and the seasonal work to be done. Occasionally he would try to involve Gunnar in the conversation, without success. Gunnar himself ate sparingly but drank deeply; throughout the meal he kept his eyes fixed grimly on Harald and Alex.
    When the tables were cleared, Astrid and the other women in the room excused themselves. Harald moved over on the bench to take her place, pulling Alex down into the now empty seat beside him. Around them the men amused themselves talking in small groups, issuing challenges for arm wrestling or playing a board game which to Alex appeared similar to drafts, moving carved bone or wood counters round a marked out chequerboard.
    At the head of the table Magnus, prompted by Siguard, began to recite a long, humorous poem detailing Siguard's voyage from Skara. Alex found himself pulled in by the cadence of the Skald's voice as he told of the difficulties of transporting cattle on a long ship across a storm tossed sea.
    "This is wrong." Gunnar interrupted Magnus' oration, rising to his feet and shouting at his father. "How can you tolerate it?"
    "Tolerate what?" Siguard answered coolly, though from the way his knuckles turned whilst as he gripped hold of his drinking horn he could at least guess what his younger son was talking about.
    "That!" Gunnar pointed at his brother and Alex. "We sit here listening to the saga not of a brave warrior but of a farmer. It's hardly a proud record of the achievements of a Jarl from one of the oldest houses of our Country is it? It's an insult to your ancestors and relatives that your Jarldom that will pass to an argr , a rassragr , a man not worthy of the title."
    The room had fallen silent at Gunnar's outburst. That there was no love lost between Siguard's two sons was common knowledge, but the allegations that Gunnar had levelled at his brother were serious insults. Insults for which, on occasion, blood had been spilt.
    Though Gunnar's words had not been directed at him personally the threat in his tone made Alex's heart rate accelerate, his hands curling into fists as his body prepared automatically for fight or flight. The words Gunnar had used were unfamiliar, but Alex got the feeling that had he been able to translate them they would have been cruelly homophobic. He would have pushed himself to his feet and responded had it not been for Harald's hand landing heavily on his thigh under the table.
    Catching Alex's eye, Harald shook his head gently "Don't," he mouthed silently. Alex studied Harald's face for a second then sighed, relaxing down onto the bench and uncurling his fingers.
    "Have a care Gunnar, you go too far." Unexpectedly, it was Magus who responded, his voice no longer in the lyrical tone with which he'd recited the Saga. Instead it was cold and harsh. "You not only insult your father and brother, but you insult both our gods and our heroes with this talk. Did not Loki take the female role in his encounter with Svaoilfar , the giant stallion, and later bore the foal Sleipnir , Odin's eight-legged steed? And what of Odin himself, taught by the Goddess Freyja in the art of seior , to enable him to predict events and the fates of man, though the practice was thought to be such a great ergi that men considered it shameful to practice it? In the Grettisfaersla is it not told the Grettir of Iceland, a national hero, was ragr , and enjoyed relationships with other men?"
    Gunnar had turned white at Magnus'