Sword Brothers by Jerry Autieri

they want is your land, your people, and your gold."
    "You know I've no love of the Christian priests."
    "Hrolf is on their side now. I've seen it. How much blood have our people spilled to make a home here, only to give it to some soft-bellied priest? Promise me you won't let it happen to you. And help my son keep what he has."
    "You have my word." Snorri nodded and closed his eyes again. Ulfrik glanced at Runa and his sons, who returned a grave stare. Snorri rested in silence, and when Ulfrik prepared to allow his friend rest, Snorri again opened his eyes.
    His spotted, blue-veined hand grabbed the sword lying over his body. "I am seventy years old?"
    A smile came to Ulfrik's face. "So I have counted. You're the oldest person I've ever known."
    Snorri stared at something only his eyes could discern and smiled. "It was all good. I only wish it hadn't been so short."
    Ulfrik's throat seized up and tears stung his eyes. Snorri no longer saw him, and his breathing grew more shallow. Runa began to sob quietly at his back. He firmly pressed both of Snorri's hands on the hilt of the sword laid across his body.
    "It was too short, old friend. You were as a father to me." The lump in his throat made his voice break and he could speak no more. He did not want to mar Snorri's final moments with unmanly tears.
    "And you were as a son. My last wish for you, lad, is don't die like me. I was a warrior." He paused to wheeze and cough. His eyes still looked at another world. "I should not die in bed. Neither should you. Die on the battlefield with a sword in hand and a foeman's blood on your face. That is how a great warrior dies. Not coughing his final breaths on a bed."
    "A sword is in your grip now," Ulfrik said, patting Snorri's burning hands. "You will join the heroes in Odin's feasting hall. I shall see you there."
    "No, I am too old for Odin to take me. I will go to Freya's hall, and see my wife. Dear Gerdie, she has waited so long. Odin will want you at his table. We shall not meet again."
    Snorri lapsed into silence and his breathing grew more strained. Ulfrik watched his face twitch and twist as he dreamed. Time stretched on as Ulfrik and his family kept a tense vigil.
    Then his lips moved in his final whisper. "Tell Einar his mother and I are so proud of him."
    His breathing stopped and Ulfrik put his ear to Snorri's chest. When he heard nothing, tears filled his eyes and he sat up with his fists clenched.
    "Good-bye, Snorri. You were the last of the old breed, a great warrior, and greater friend. Your name shall not be forgotten."
    The tears streamed freely, and he was glad no one but his family witnessed his shame. Runa's hands embraced him from behind and he folded his arm over hers. She had loved Snorri as much as he did, perhaps even more. His passing made a hole in Ulfrik's heart from which the tears flowed. In time he would fix the hole, but with Snorri's shrunken, pale body lying on his bed, he could not imagine when that would be.
    A knock on the door shook him. Immediately his stomach burned and his teeth clenched. "Whatever it is, go away."
    Rather than hearing the intruder leave, the door opened. Ulfrik was ready to explode with anger, but Finn poked his head inside. His freckled face turned red as he quickly surveyed the scene.
    "I am so sorry, but there is a bishop in the hall and he is like a mad dog."
    The words made no sense to Ulfrik. He hadn't invited any of the Church, and a bishop was too important a visitor to not have been announced earlier. "What is a bishop doing in my hall?"
    "It's about Gunnar. The bishop says he attacked a priest and cut off his leg. He can't find Gunnar and says you're hiding him. I think the bishop wants his head."

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER THIRTEEN
     
    Bishop Burchard was taller than Ulfrik expected. He was also younger, with his close-cropped black hair only streaked with gray. Ulfrik did not believe a bishop could be anyone other than the