(no subject)

[athelstanthescribe]

It's almost time to leave their little hunting cabin and go back to the town, much as Athelstan and Ragnar might wish they could stay... but Athelstan's dog is nowhere to be seen.

Athelstan stands in the doorway, looking and calling for him, and finally he reappears, carrying something in his mouth.

"Fiachra? What have you got there?"

He crouches for a better look, frowning as it strikes him that doesn't look like a deer bone...

Comments

[athelstanthescribe]

"It is", he says with absolute certainty. "And that means only Earl Haraldsson could have put it here."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"So your gut feeling must be right, as that boy is the one child that vanished around the time when he must have hidden this," Ragnar says. "Others were killed in our village, or lost in the woods, or drowned, but they are accounted for. But they took this boy, and he was never seen again."

[athelstanthescribe]

"All the others' bodies were found?" Athelstan asks. "And here Fiachra has led us to this poor boy, buried here with this treasure. You said a hoard-keeper?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Yes," Ragnar says. "If they bury a hoard, people sometimes take somebody along to help, and then kill them to watch over the secret from beyond life. But it seems the boy, who used to play with Björn and Gyda when they were all mostly toddlers, wants us to have the gold, rather than keep it in the cold ground, for a treacherous master who will never be back."

[athelstanthescribe]

"He could never have wanted to die for such a thing in the first place", Athelstan says quietly. "No surprise that he might have no loyalty to Haraldsson in death. Will he be freed, if we take it?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I hope so," Ragnar says. "Let us dig him up first, shall we?"

He stands and looks around, then takes his axe, hacks a bit off a tree, then splits that to make something like triangular boards, rough and makeshift.

"This will help with digging."

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan nods.

"We'll need something to carry him home in, but there are spare clothes back at the cabin that would do."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar wordlessly unties his belt and takes off the leather jerkin with the raven on that he is wearing over his shirt, and lays it flat on the ground.

"What is that golden thing you recognised?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"A chalice", Athelstan tells him. "It was used for the wine at communion - though a plain and simple cup would have done, this was gifted to us, so it was used."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar is digging very carefully, unearthing small bones.

There is a skeletal hand, impossibly and pathetically narrow wrist bones encircled by a bronze arm ring.

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan reaches out and rests his hand over the little bones for a long silent moment.

"He was a man at the end, then."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Yes," Ragnar says. "Haraldson made him one to put him on this watch. If we relieve him of his post, he will have a chance of Valhalla."

[athelstanthescribe]

"Then let's do it as soon as possible", Athelstan says quietly. "He's suffered here long enough."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"We need to do something about the hoard he was set to watch, too," Ragnar says.

[athelstanthescribe]

"It belongs to you, by all rights." Athelstan looks up at him. "What do you want to do with it?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"It belonged to you and your fellow monks," Ragnar points out.

[athelstanthescribe]

"I don't want it." He drops the chalice he's holding back into the pit, with a small definitive clink. "If anyone, it belonged to God... let good be done with it."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"If it belongs to your god, then we should give it to your god when we can so we can be sure the boy is free from the watch Haraldsson charged him with," Ragnar says.

Pause.

"When we get our door back to the magic place, we can give the nicest pieces to the church there, and the rest can go to pay for that thing Gyda and her little friends are doing. Would that work for you?"

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan nods, looking up at him with a grateful smile.

"It would. Perhaps you could keep a piece or two for the relief of the poor here."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I don't let anybody starve in my earldom, anyway," Ragnar says. "But yes, there are always people who have less than they need to survive with their honour intact."

[athelstanthescribe]

"And having this would make seeing to that easier."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar looks at Athelstan, and smiles. "As my steward, you are free to feed whatever is left over to those that need it; in fact, I'm sure you're doing that very thing all the time. Any lord makes sure that happens, unless you have some miserly, greedy loser like Earl Haraldsson. But sometimes, food is not enough."

Pause.

"And it might be good to have a coffer for that, so it's not a bounty poor people must humbly ask of the lord in the hall, but know help will be their's for the asking, and from the hand of the steward."

Everybody knows everybody, so it will be very obvious if somebody is lying out of greed, and not asking out of need.

[athelstanthescribe]

"I'd be glad of it", Athelstan says with a nod. "And in some cases, perhaps I'll make sure it gets to them whether they ask or not."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"People know where it's needed," Ragnar nods. "So do you."

It would be good for the earl's reputation, and for Athelstan's standing among the Norsemen, too. And it would definitely be a way of relieving the spirit of this poor child from his watch.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Is there anywhere", Athelstan asks, "perhaps inland, where the harvest is always good and plentiful? In case ours fails, it would be good to have a source to buy from."