Misdeed
By: Rickie O. Pauley (a.k.a. @Lymmerik)
Svedsen stood nose to nose with Håbjørn. “Baldvin gave us explicit orders, you fool. Not one tree is to be felled. Not one! There is nary an excuse to justify your actions. Excuses are the tools of the incompetent. I find you guilty. You shall be caned.”
“I am merely of the House of þræll, I make no excuses. I will speak no more.” Håbjørn removed his tunic, folded it carefully over his arm, shivered, and turned around for his caning.
Svedsen was stunned by his willingness and retrieved the cane and proclaimed to Håbjørn and the circle of villagers, “I, Svedsen, of the house of Karls, which stands above the House of þræll, deem fitting that you, Håbjørn, of the House of þræll, be punished with thirty strikes of the Cane of Baldvin, of the House of Jarls, which stands above the House of my Father. This misdeed of felling a tree shall be redressed immediately, without trial!”
Håbjørn turned around and addressed Svedsen, “I would that you allow me to defend my actions, my lord. If my contrition is not befitting of your satisfaction, then I shall receive your punishment for the misdeed of felling a tree, my lord.” Håbjørn pulled the tunic from his arm and pulled it back over his head.
“How dare you speak! You waggled your own tongue, ‘I will speak no more.’ Was your prattling’s another misdeed? You may speak on your own behalf.” Svedsen lowered the cane to the ground and listened.
“Yea, my lord Svedsen, my prattling was indeed a misdeed. Winter has come and gone and come again. We have not had a shipment of wood from our Viking brothers in over a year, we have exhausted our stores, and we are indeed freezing and dying. Yet, you will not allow us to fell trees to heat our homes. ”
Håbjørn looked around the village at the empty turf houses. His tongue would not be held. He pointed at the circle of villagers. “These Norsemen here are the last of the original settlers. I, and they believed Baldvin’s words of support. We came here to discover lands in the west, but we have been abandoned by the House of Jarls.”
Svedsen felt the eyes of the crowd fall upon him. “You are a fool, Håbjørn. You speak as if...a nobleman. Your distance from the homeland has not dismissed your stature as a peasant, nor a slave of the House of Jarls. You, and they are submissive to my rule and shall follow the statutes of Baldvin. Are you forgetting that I am the lord of this god-forsaken land?”
“Nay, my lord.” Håbjørn straightened his back and expelled the air from his lungs. He immediately took a deep breath and shouted, “are ye peasants unto one Norseman, or are ye noblemen of a new land?” He looked to the circle of villagers, half expecting silence.
Håbjørn could not believe his ears as the crowd began to chant, “we are noblemen of a new land, we are no longer peasants of one man!”
Svedsen disregarded the uprising. “Seize him!” He pointed his long finger directly at Håbjørn. “I will not allow your callous disregard for the House of Jarls to stain this settlement. You shall be banished from this place forever.”
Håbjørn called to his fellow countrymen encircling him, “we are here because we were sent by a tyrant, we will not be ruled by a tyrant here in our land. This land was hidden from us by the seas! Still, we sailed. We found and settled this land!” He turned to Svedsen, “we need you not!”
Svedsen stepped back to gather his guardsmen. He looked around him, but considered that he was outnumbered. “If you will plead guilty to the felling of the tree, I will stay your caning.”
“Svedsen, I am afraid that I cannot do as you advise. We are cold. We are dying. The fire is hidden in the wood of the tree, just as this land was hidden in the sea. We had to sail the sea to find this land of plenty. We must fell the tree to find the fire to keep us warm in the winter. We are noblemen of a new land, not peasants of a forgotten land. I, and we shall not be moved.
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