On the Cold Coasts

the bishop of Holar will have to submit to my will.” He embraced her, tenderly and lovingly. “I know that you are on my side, dearest. Last winter you promised that you would never betray me. Do you recall our blood oath, my love?”
    Ragna assented quietly. How could she forget? Exhausted, she placed her head on Thorkell’s broad chest, longing for rest and safety, for peace in her heart. Could anything she did or said change that which would come? Could she do anything but trust him? Wasn’t everything planned a long, long time ago, without her involvement?
    “I was planning to go to Holar tomorrow to resign as housekeeper and collect my belongings,” she said, her voice half stifled. “What do you want me to do?”
    Thorkell was silent. “Stick to that plan,” he finally said. “I will be spending the night at Enni tomorrow with my men, and Father Jon will come the following day. I will fetch you in Hjaltadalur Valley tomorrow night. I’ll wait for you after nightfall, near the brook just below Kot. You can stay at Enni while we go out on the search. The magistrate will not mind.”
    “But what about Michael?”
    He frowned. “I cannot trust the boy to keep quiet about our plans. Our lives are at stake. No word must get to Holar.”
    “I go nowhere without my son,” she said impulsively. “I am the only person he can rely on in this world.”
    “He has good relatives, too,” Thorkell replied. “Why not send him to Holl tomorrow with your sister and her in-laws? He can stay with her at Hofdastrond those few days until you are meant to sail. You can have them transport the items that you plan to take with you, and when all is done we can fetch the boy, as well as your belongings. Your brother-in-law Helgi rides with us against the English, and he will hardly oppose this.”
    Ragna stroked one of the small cloths she had found in the chest and ran her index finger over the ornately embroidered T. “Michael would be safer with Kristin, not knowing what is to pass until the final day,” she said, more to herself than to Thorkell. “He is so reserved and has a quick temper. I can never know how he will react.”
    “And so, it will all end as it was originally meant to.” Thorkell picked up the tiara from the floor and placed it on Ragna’s head. She saw the glittering of the precious stones reflected in the depths of his eyes, and her face lit up in a smile. Surely she was dreaming; soon she would wake up in her own bed. He grasped her tightly and reached under her skirt with his hand; the tiara tumbled from her head and rolled to the middle of the floor. They lay down in each other’s arms on the bed-curtain, paying no attention to anything else; it had been so long, so very long, since they were one.
    Their lovemaking was intense, and the moment Ragna’s body trembled in orgasm she began to sob, deeply and painfully. Thorkell pulled back, astonished. What had upset her so much? But she could not answer, did not know the answer. She didn’t know why she was crying.

KISS ME, MY TRUE LOVE
    Michael was having trouble holding back tears as he rode down the lane from Akrar, among the last riders in a long line that was headed out of Blonduhlid. It was as though it had first dawned on him that he was leaving for good when his grandfather Thorsteinn said good-bye to him with a firm embrace and a kiss on each cheek. He would probably never see him or Akrar again, any more than his grandmother Sigridur, who was now lying in the earth below stone slabs in the church floor. Behind them the bells of Akrar church rang out a farewell, the heavy ringing resounding in his ears long after the farm had disappeared. They had all been to morning mass and received Father Pall’s blessing prior to leaving. The sound of the bells seemed filled with sadness now, even though in the past he had always found it beautiful, clear and joyful. The temperature had taken a dive in the early hours of this day of the Lord, bringing the first frost of the season, and the fields were covered in white rime. A wafer-thin, transparent sheet of ice covered the surface of the well. The stained glass in the church windows was adorned with frosted ferns in the dawn, glittering like tiny stars when the cold September sun shone on them through the arched glass.
    He took some comfort in the fact that he would be staying with Kristin at Holl until they sailed for Greenland. At the same time, his heart felt heavy, watching his tiny