On the Cold Coasts

was accompanied by all her in-laws. The heaviness in Sigridur’s chest had increased, her breathing was crackly, and it was clear that her days on this earth would soon come to an end. Kristin, who had barely known illness in all of her nineteen winters, was repulsed by sickness and suffering. Consequently, she had been keeping her distance, and anyway, she had a newborn to look after.
    Michael sat on the women’s bench, on Kristin’s left. He could barely keep his eyes off the cheerful infant in her lap, amazed that something so small and delicate could actually breathe and exist in the world. No less astonishing was the fact that his aunt Kristin, who was only a few winters his senior, was now a mother, having given birth to this chubby little imp. Ragna sat on her sister’s right and listened indifferently to her descriptions of the suffering she’d endured during the birth, relayed in such detail that Michael alternately blushed and went pale, counting his blessings to be of the male gender. A notch above, at the high table, sat Thorsteinn the lawman with his son-in-law Helgi to one side, along with his parents, Gudni and Thorbjorg of Holl. On Thorsteinn’s other side was Bjorn Eyjolfsson, the king’s magistrate, and next to him Hallur of Thorleiksstadir, Thorsteinn’s brother, and Father Thorkell Gudbjartsson of Grenjadarstadur.
    Ragna and Thorkell had not yet spoken, and he paid her no particular attention, appearing deep in conversation with his fellow diners. This aroused Ragna’s interest a great deal more than Kristin’s account of her painful childbirth. From what she could discern, it sounded like sailors from the balinger Bartholomew had continued their marauding through the nearby districts. Thorkell had been injured in the side but not badly, thanks be to God and the mail shirt that he had borrowed. It had happened after he and his band of men had set off in pursuit of the villains. They had received word that the English were raiding farms in Reykjahverfi district, stealing fish and livestock.
    Bjorn the magistrate, a slightly stooped man with a long face and red nose, groaned and grunted and repeatedly affirmed that he would have done the very same thing if he had known. Unfortunately, he had been off in Eyjafjord on business along with both of his prosecutors, since an infamous horse trader north of Sletta had been found guilty of stealing sheep and horses and had subsequently been sentenced to death by hanging.
    “Those villains stole four hundred fish, three holds of stockfish, and seven horses. The women were home all alone with no idea of those offenses being committed under the cloak of darkness,” he said and shook his head in consternation, his shoulders drooping even further. “Mongrels.”
    “If we don’t gather our forces soon to bring these men to justice, we can expect them to reach the Reynistadur abbey before too long,” said Thorkell. His voice was impassioned, and there was fire in his eyes. “Those English dogs have proven that they hold nothing sacred and care nothing for law and order. Seven years hence, mobs from King’s Lynn and York laid Olafsfjardarherad district and Hrisey Island to waste. They stripped Grimsey church of all its treasures, including chalices and clocks, and burned the Husavik church to the ground. And what came from those charges we sent to the king? Nothing, I tell you! None of the villains were apprehended.” He leaned forward, passionate and intense; the room had grown silent, and all eyes were on him. “And now, again, we have gangs marauding through the district. Let us not think for a moment that we shall have help from Norway, especially since most of the fleet in Bergen harbor has been burned by pirates. In the south the English have taken both the Westman Islands and Hafnarfjord, and ended all fishing from local stations by demolishing boats and maiming, even killing, fishermen. And now we have reports of children and adolescents being sold into slavery to England, even though a handful of perpetrators were sentenced there last year. They take both our fish and our children. How can we live with any sort of dignity when such deeds go unpunished? Are we not men to put an end to these assaults?!”
    He looked sharply over the benches and met the severe looks of men and women at each glance. The people were outraged along with him. Yes, the English had most certainly gone too far. It was high time for it to end. The lawman raised his