Conquest

They then travelled, via the Baltic port of Riga, to the Viking city of Novgorod, where Norse craftsmen were building a new cathedral, a project which captured Torfida’s imagination. She spent countless hours with the master carpenters, learning the many intricate joints they used in their magnificent timber structures.

Martin and Einar both found Viking wives during their extended stay in Novgorod. Martin’s spouse, Ingigerd, was short and slim with flaxen hair and bright blue eyes. Einar had married Maria, a buxom redhead, who treated Ingigerd like a younger sister. And so, the quartet that had left Scotland became a sextet.

They moved on, travelling down the mighty rivers of Russia to Kiev, the southern capital of the Viking Rus. Viking rule was firm in the Rus, a territory that extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea, and the native Slavs had long since given up their armed resistance against the colonizers from the north. Kiev was the seat of the kingdom; it was a bustling, lively city at a crossroads of routes that stretched from the ancient lands of the Mediterranean to the military powerhouse of Scandinavia.

The Rus was still enjoying the benefits of the benign rule of King Jaroslav the Wise, whose long reign had only just ended. Through astute alliances and marriages, as well as skilful military campaigns, Jaroslav had created a powerful empire across a vast tract of territory. Trade from there to the south, to Constantinople — the celebrated capital city of the Empire of Byzantium — was constant, and they saw furnishings, jewellery and clothes of breathtaking finery being carried by caravans of traders.

Torfida longed to continue to Constantinople and then into the Mediterranean to see the cities of the ancient world, especially Rome. There, she could learn more languages, refine her Greek and Latin and hear of new advances in medicine, astronomy and mathematics.

Hereward preferred to return to Scandinavia. In Goteborg, they had heard of the famous exploits of Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, a great warrior, said to be six and a half feet tall. Hereward had been intrigued to learn that while still in his early twenties, Hardrada had been Captain of the Varangian Guard of the Emperor of Constantinople. Hardrada was waging a long-term campaign for supremacy in Denmark against Svein Estrithson, King of the Danes. If ever there was a man worth fighting for, it was surely Hardrada. He might also be a man whose qualities of leadership were such that he would be a worthy recipient of the Talisman, fulfilling Hereward’s mission as a messenger.

Torfida tried to force a decision. ‘We must go south; our destiny leads us to the Mediterranean. I must see Constantinople.’

Hereward was rarely short-tempered with Torfida, but he had yet to come to terms with the death of Macbeth. ‘And what of the rest of us? What of our destinies?’

‘All our destinies are the same; we have already made that choice. My destiny is your destiny.’

‘I would rather fight with Hardrada. He is a Norseman, a man with the blood of my Danish ancestors.’

‘I sense that your quest lies to the south, not to the north. I have heard of a man like Harald Hardrada. He is a Norman called Robert Guiscard. He fights in the Mediterranean from a city called Melfi, in the south of Italy. He has just been proclaimed Count of Apulia following the death of his brother.’

‘Torfida, removing the burden of this Talisman is more important than the direction of our journey.’

‘We have to be patient until we find the man who should wear it. It is not yet time to part with it; your journey still has many twists and turns. A great battle is coming, Europe is in turmoil, I have been listening to all the accounts. Strong leaders are emerging and one of them will bring our mission to an end. One of them will be the right man; you will know.’

‘Macbeth was a great king and a brave man. What he did that day at Lumphanan, in saving all those lives, and accepting a challenge he had little chance of winning, was surely worthy of the Talisman.’

‘Yes, it was.’

‘I don’t understand; you said it wasn’t the right time.’

‘I’m not suggesting Macbeth didn’t have the right to wear the Talisman; I’m sure he did. But you gave it to him to help him win, and it couldn’t do that for him. His life had run its course; he had all the wisdom he needed and the courage to do the right thing.’

‘I should have given it to him earlier, when he paid off his men and began to act like a king again.’

‘It still wouldn’t have altered his destiny. You would still have been with him at the end to retrieve it from the battlefield. Its journey, and ours, goes on.’

Torfida smiled at him with a warmth he had not seen in a long time. He reflected on what she had said before getting to his feet.