“Kilda helped Eidunn,” says one woman as she nods.
“None of us could, but Kilda did.”
“I didn’t do anythi?—”
“Yes, you did, Kilda,” says Sifrid. “Or at least, you tried. We know what you tried.”
“Please, sit, my dear,” I say, gesturing with my hand for Sifrid to sit.
She obeys. I speak.
“I wanted to help. It was a mistake. I caused trouble and sent a man to an early grave. It was a mista?—”
“Mistake, we know,” says Sifrid. “Njord wasn’t the one hurting Eidunn. I would have told you that, had you asked me.”
“Eidunn asked me not to speak of it.”
Ausveig shuffles her legs, clearly ruffled after being cut off by Sifrid.
“And yet here we are, speaking of it.”
“But that’s just it,” says Sifrid, turning to Ausveig defiantly. “Victims want their honor spared. As if that’s worth a pile of shit. If none of us speak up, the ones being abused suffer in silence.”
“True!” says a young girl as Sifrid continues.
Ausveig flinches at the young girl’s reaction, as if she knows the cost of such talk. Sifrid doesn’t stop.
“All of us have been bothered by someone sometime. Alone, we are easy prey. Together, we stand strong. That’s why?—”
Sifrid points right at me. My jaw drops in surprise.
“Kilda showed them. A strong man died. The wrong man, maybe, but it was punishment for bothering a slave. They will be careful. Kilda helped us all.”
Many girls nod. Others sit with their eyes lowered. Some probably fear saying the wrong thing and sufferingrepercussions. Look at the mess I have caused. I straighten my back.
“A man died, it wasn’t the right?—”
“Just shut up,” says Sifrid. “It was right. Njord challenged Ari. Odin decided. End of story. Men will be careful now, when they want to bother us. Bother us like Eidunn.”
Sifrid is dead serious. A dangerous woman. My protection of Eidunn has clearly kindled a flame in her chest that has grown to a forest fire. I thought convincing the girls would be easy, but Sifrid is doing the opposite. She is putting my life in danger.
Should I say it to her? Say that I have given up? Remind her that we are but slaves? That we have no laws to protect us from our owners? No laws to protect Eidunn?
Fuck that. Fuck Sifrid. But fuck that.
“Where… Where is Eidunn anyway?”
I can’t believe I don’t know. Is she even alive?
“We haven’t seen her for days,” says Ausveig.
“Me neither,” I reply.
“She’s obviously at her master’s. The one who owns her flesh,” says Sifrid.
I’m puzzled by her claim.
“At Sigurd’s? I was there today. She was nowhere to be seen.”
