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Thou canst not mate with Brighteyes, lest the wide wounds of Björn thy brother should take tongues and cry thy shame from sea to sea!" Gudruda made no answer, but sat as one carved in stone. Then Swanhild spoke again: "Let us away to the north, Gizur; there to gather strength to make an end of Eric. Say, wilt thou help us, Gudruda? The blood-feud for the death of Björn is thine."
"But a little, Eric. Yea, there is place for thee here on the rock." So he sat down by her on the stone, and Swanhild crept nearer; for now all weariness had left her. But still the snow fell thick. "It comes into my mind that we two shall die here," said Gudruda presently. "Thinkest thou so?" he answered. "Well, I will say this, that I ask no better end."
For now that the maid had passed from him the mind of Ospakar was set in winning her. Björn also, Asmund's son, spoke words of good comfort to him, for he envied Eric his great fame, and he thought the match with Blacktooth would be good. And so at length Ospakar rode away to Swinefell with all his company; but Gizur, his son, left his heart behind. For Swanhild had not been idle this while.
"This, that he shall safely pass the Firth, for the gale falls, and come safely to Fareys, and from Fareys isles to Gudruda's arms." "And what canst thou do, Goblin?" "This: I can lure Eric's ship to wreck, and give his comrades, all save Skallagrim, to Ran's net, and bring him to thy arms, Swanhild, witch-mother's witch-child!" She hearkened. Her breast heaved and her eyes flashed.
What! shall I mix my fire with his frost, my breathing youth with the creeping palsy of his age? Never! If Swanhild weds she weds not so, for it is better to go maiden to the grave than thus to shrink and wither at the touch of eld. Now is Atli's wooing sped, and there's an end."
Still, when they heard of those things that he had wrought on Horse-Head Heights, they welcomed him for his deed's sake. Eric sat two nights at Coldback, and on the second day Saevuna his mother and Unna rode thence with their servants to the wedding-feast of Swanhild the Fatherless.
I have loved thee, and for that love's sake I have borne thy wickedness, thy dark secret ways, and evil words; but I will be crossed no more by thee, Swanhild." "Thou wouldst drive me hence with Groa my mother, though perchance thou hast yet more reason to hold me dear, foster-father.
Atli gazed upwards into Eric's sad eyes and, while he gazed so, his rage left him, and of a sudden a light brake upon his mind, as even then the light of the setting sun brake through the driving mist. "Eric," he said, "draw near and speak with me ere I am sped. Methinks that I have been beguiled and that thou didst not do this thing that Swanhild said and Koll bore witness to."
"It is done, Blood-sister," piped the voice; "now I must away in thy form to be about thy tasks. Seat thee here before me so. Now lay thy brow upon my brow fear not, it was thy mother's life on death! curling locks on corpse hair! See, so we change we change. Now thou art the Death-toad and I am Swanhild, Atli's wife, who shall be Eric's love."
A fathom above, red in the red light of evening, lowered the pitiless face of Swanhild. Gudruda looked beneath her and saw. Pale with agony she looked up and saw, but she said naught. "Let go, my rival; let go!" cried Swanhild: "there is none to help thee, and none to tell thy tale. Let go, I say, and seek thy marriage-bed in Goldfoss!"
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