Sailing to Borgarsandr, day 7

Two obvious warriors arrive early the next morning, with weapons, packs and horses, and they make themselves comfortable in the small vacant cabin beside us. Danr got a couple of more passengers on the next stage, and these ones are paying. It feels weird seeing horses on a ships deck. I am grateful to Dufansdalr when we set sail again, and we have a day or so until the next stop. Dufansdalr has been a good experience.

We'll have plenty of time to our next destination so start to carry out my plan for a life preserver. Iselin tries to help me and Eira watches with interest as I explain what I want to achieve from the coarse fabric. Simply a chest rig for the front, and looks like an oversized Chinese vietcong vest, but instead of 3-4 pockets for AK47 mags and a couple of hand grenades, this one has 12 long pockets/tubes over a larger area. At the back, it will also be an H model instead of the X model where the middle of the H will be its own wide tube with birch bark that will hopefully help keep the head above the surface. Iselin and soon Eira help to sew the fabric and the long pocket/tubes and the straps. A waist strap with double rings to fasten and adjust it on one side, and a strap between the legs from the back to front. Each shoulder strap also has the double rings at the front so it's possible to adjust the size. It's a prototype, so adjustments are good. Before the vest is sewn together at the bottom, the pockets are filled with bark, properly stacked, forced in and shaped a little roundish. Then they sew the pockets together and the vest is ready. Looks about right and I'm pretty happy with it.

Iselin carefully asks what it is that she and Eira have sewn. It's bad protection against weapons. Bark may be able to stop a blow or an arrow, but it is a bit stiff and impractical to fight in and only protects from the front and a little on the sides. I can only smile.

"This isn't armor for protection in combat. This is a life preserver. Hopefully it will be something that sailors benefit from and will be on boats for fishermen etc. Can you swim?"

Iselin nods but Eira shakes her head.

"Eira, if you want to learn, remind me or Iselin at some point in the future to try to teach you how to do it. Knowing how to swim is a good skill to have."

I put on the vest and show how it's strapped on, and when I pull up the strap between my legs and tie it at the front, the two women have to hold in laughter. I know. I just smile and say:

"Laugh if you want, I know just how silly this looks."

I shorten the straps to reasonably long pieces that hang out, because the prototype needs to be flexible in size and their ends are sew shut.

"The purpose of this vest is to prevent drowning. How many sailors can't swim, or wear too much clothing and have difficulty swimming, especially in the colder parts of the year? Just as a boat floats on water, these pockets with bark help the body to float. I need to test if it works, but it won't be today."

Iselin looks at the vest in amazement. It sounds like it should work, and if it really helps someone float, it can be really valuable to many, because who hasn't heard of someone who fell of a boat and drowned? But it's so easy and cheap to make that it can't be sold for very much, but she believes that Robert will give away this creation too, just like the hammocks. He just seems to like making the world better for everyone around him. Especially her and Eira. He treat them so well.

She's so proud to serve such a powerful Sejdmann, and the other maids at Steinnes congratulated her both for leaving Steinnes, and were jealous of her new master. If they only knew! She would have loved to brag to her old friends, but she is so happy to have left Kambsnes far behind and hopes to never see it again. It felt so good to get a little revenge on Jarl Steinnes by telling and showing Robert what a man he really is.

She just so desperately wish that Robert would let her show just how much she likes being his, and loved the sex, and she knows she is starting to fall in love with him. A slave in love with her Master. It would never happened to such a nasty man as Jarl Steinnes, but Robert's no longer just a Master to serve, and she wants to be so much more than just Robert's maid. He is so generous, that it won't be more than a few years before she can try to buy her freedom, and then she can accompany him in bed again as a free woman.

Iselin hopes to eventually have made herself valuable and appreciated enough, that Robert can take her as one of his concubines even though she's a born slave, and she will do her absolute best so that Robert will never have to be ashamed of her, and so she's worthy of it. Then she will be able to lie down with him often and wake up with him. To be able to press her body against his, and let her hand caress the hair on his chest. Feel his warmth and hands on her body, and feel loved again. Just like that morning. To once again feel each other's pleasure, for sex that night with Miss Disa was beyond her wildest dreams.

It's probably only a Sejdmann who would use his mouth and hands in that way. She's certainly never heard of it before and neither had Miss Disa, and Robert seemed to like using his mouth on them. Like only a woman would. And she absolutely loved his enthusiasm. It makes her so warm and happy when she sees how Robert sometimes sneak a peek at her, and quickly looks away when she discovers it. Roberts concubine. Now that is a good dream, although it will be so difficult when other women open their eyes to Robert. She must prove herself worthy!

During the journey she has seen how many in the crew look at her and Eira. But she doesn't shy away as Eira does, because she's also heard a couple of sailors say that if she was willing, she might be worth the fine it would cost them to sleep with someone slave, but they would never dare touch the slave of the man who can call down lightning, make sejdish north arrows, and make rocks shine like a sun - just for entertainment - no matter how beautiful or willing they are. Such a man wouldn't let the law stop him or be content with just torturing them to death in this life.

In the evening, Iselin and Eira sit and discuss their leather packs and just generally chat when I return to the cabin, sit down at the table and tell them I have finished thinking. I ask to speak to only Iselin, and if Eira could go out to the deck; one of us will fetch her later, because I want to talk to her too. When Eira has gone and closed the door, I start talking, but lower than I would prefer. This is hard.

"Iselin, should any of what I say be unclear, ask me to repeat it, but let me finish speaking as much as possible, because this is difficult for me. The last few days I have been thinking about our situation. I am in a situation I don't like, and you don't know how unusual it is. Maybe in the future. So I had to make decisions I never thought I would have to make, and it's just something I have to accept. It's the way it is, and I must make the best of life."

Iselin just sits there and gives me her full attention, but seems a little puzzled.

"I have many secrets that need to be protected, and it's inevitable that you will learn a lot from these secrets. I would want to teach you a lot about everything, if you want to learn it, and if you have questions I will try to answer them. In the future, you will probably be considered a valuable knowledgeable woman if I know myself, which will make your future prospects brighter.

But I need to be able to trust that you can protect my secrets, and that is why I have a proposal. Some secrets can never be revealed, and I will avoid revealing them to you to protect you. Other secrets will only be very valuable or dangerous. Should someone try to bribe or force you to reveal something by threatening with violence or worse, you need to make an assessment of whether you can get out of the situation alive and well by revealing the secret, because then you can do it. Take their silver, pretend to betray your duty of secrecy to me etc, but try to reveal as little as possible and feel free to distort the secret if it's safe for you to do so. Then come and tell me. I may be annoyed, but it won't affect you, but instead those who forced you to do so. If, on the other hand, I find out that you betrayed my trust and revealed secrets or sold them and ran away... then we're enemies, and that is something neither you nor I, wants to happen.

As you know, I don't like the idea of slaves. That a person can be the property of other person and completely outside the law. I would rather have a confidant, and rather a trusted worker than a slave. I know that you as a slave have no real rights and can't really protect yourself from most people, or fulfill the above because of that. Therefore, I want us to enter into an agreement. It will be in writing and you will receive a copy I want you to hide or give to someone you trust, so I don't know where it is. It's your security, so you know I'm forced to abide by the agreement. I can't write or read the runes you have, and the contract must be in a language you can read. It must be clear.

The agreement is as follows: I want you to faithfully and well serve as my maid for five years. After this time, you are a free woman to do what you want, take employment for whoever you want or, for example, marry whomever you want. Your life is then your own for all future, and I think that future will be really bright. You're a young, intelligent, creative and beautiful woman.

But for the next 5 years, I want you to make an effort to serve me and do it well. To protect my secrets and help me avoid making really stupid mistakes. You can't lie to me. You must not steal. You must not betray me to others, no matter who they are. You are not allowed to have company or sex with men without my permission, just because it's likely to lead to complications for me and you. In order to protect you, and in order for you to fulfill this, I will free you from slavery. You will be a free woman with the protection of the law while you serve me, and the law will also protect you from me.

You will eventually get more things and silver that are your very own. You can, for example, save or buy land and goods, but you may not own slaves while you work for me. You can't buy slaves for your own money and should someone give you a slave, the ownership of the slave will immediately pass to me.

I have the right to say that the agreement is fulfilled before 5 years, but I can't break it. Even after 5 years, there may be secrets you need to protect for the rest of your life and can never reveal. But if you break this agreement before it is fulfilled, the punishment is that you once again becomes my slave and all your possessions becomes mine.

Given your eyes and facial expressions, it's not hard to guess what you will answer but I want you to really think this through before you answer. It's important to me, and is partly for you to understand how I look at things. I really don't like trying to force you into this agreement, and would have preferred to make you a completely free woman, but I don't have much choice. You can talk about it with Eira because it might help her to see opportunities in her own future, but she won't get an agreement like this. At least not yet. I want your answer tomorrow; not earlier, not later. Do you have any questions?"

During the speech, I have seen Iselin go through a plethora of facial expressions, and she has several times been about to interrupt with a happy smile and nodded and wanted to say yes, but I've stopped her with my hand. At the end, she seems to bubble with happiness and find it difficult to sit still and keep quiet. When I stop talking, Iselin doesn't seem to really know what to say or do, but after many seconds of a rather interesting decision-making process, Iselin throws herself around the table, and hugs me hard while she kisses me intensely and eagerly. After half a minute when Iselin takes air, I thankfully manage to stop it escalating, even if I quietly curse my self-control.

"Iselin, stop! Calm down! Take a few minutes and gather yourself. I'll go out to Eira and send her in. After a while I'm come back to talk to her. The language is still a problem and we may need you. Don't build Eira's hopes too high, she won't get an agreement, just a little encouragement."

Eira stands by the railing and looks out over the coast. A couple of sailors eat dry food and play some kind of board game. The ship slowly rocks over the waves and the wind fills the sail. I faintly whistle so she hears me coming, and I stand an arm's length away from her. We look out over the coast softly illuminated by the sunlight that's reflected in the waves. It seems to be several hours to sunset. After a few minutes I tell Eira to return to the cabin and Iselin. I'll accompany them in a little while to talk to her. Eira casts a couple of anxious glances at me but nods and quietly walks away. It would have been a bit interesting to hear what they're talking about, and it would be so easy to leave the MP3 player on record in there, but it would be to spy on them and just feel so wrong.

After a quarter of an hour to gather myself, I return to the cabin and find Iselin and Eira talking to each other where they sit next to each other. I sit down on my side of the table and turn towards Eira.

"Eira. I didn't expect to have a slave right now and I have two, but I need to adapt to reality and unfortunately Iselin's situation is different from yours. The world is as it is, and I need someone who skilfully serves me well of her own will and that I can trust. So I have tried to find a solution so Iselin can fill that position. It's up to her to make the best of it so I don't have to find someone else. I don't need two maids, and I would have preferred to not have any. I don't have jobs that require more servants, but at the same time I don't just want to make you a free woman and throw you out on the street.

It would be unfair to Iselin and it wouldn't make your life much better, because you lack choice and skills. The world is hard and unpleasant. Be honest with yourself, and think about this: What is the chance that you would be forced into the same life that Jarl Steinnes tried to force you to? And then you will know you came away from that life once due to luck, and have put yourself in exactly the same situation all by yourself in order to survive."

Eira's face and body language are a mixture of insight, fear, anxiety and despair. Argh! I just want to hold her and say everything will be fine! But I can't. Breathe. Play the role of Sejdmann Arnesson, and be a manipulative bastard.

"Unfortunately, your history so far is against you, but you have a chance and if you make an effort to serve me well, there's a chance you will get an agreement like Iselin, but you have to earn it. I won't yell at you, hit you, kick you, throw things at you, humiliate you or rape you. I will just be disappointed in you, and if you seem completely hopeless, I will give up and then I will sell you or just make you free and leave and forget about you. I don't know if you have thought of this, so I say it clearly. You have so far not cost me much silver or things in relation to what I have, only time and some food."

I point to Iselin.

"You've cost Iselin silver. All the silver she had. When she bought you from Jarl Steinnes, she did it with the silver I gave her to buy something she wanted, as a gift to her. It was her very own silver, and she could have saved it for her future. The dress you use I bought new for Iselin. Iselin have so little and sacrificed her gifts to take a chance on you, and was clever enough to make that amount enough to buy you, because she fooled Jarl Steinnes. He sold you cheaply to me because he thought I would torture you to death."

I just want to hold and comfort Eira as she freeze and stare at Iselin. Yep, she probably didn't think about it that way. Only the sound of the waves against the hull and the creaking wood can be heard in the silence.

"Eira. Serve me well. Be faithful to me. Don't lie. Don't steal. Be grateful to Iselin and you're stupid if you're jealous of her; she is a good person who deserves life to be brighter. Learn the language, learn to write and read. Me and Iselin will help you. Make yourself someone who's worth feeding, dressing and sheltering from rain, wind and cold. Someone who's not a waste of time. I'm trying be a good man, and you've done nothing wrong so far - nothing - but know I don't like to be exploited. Intent is important to me."

I take a deep breath and turn to Iselin.

"Iselin, what does it take for me to free you?"

"It's best to say it in front of a Ting, especially if the Master want the slaves descendants for a generation to be obliged to follow Master's directive, but it is enough that Master removes the slaves neckring and declare the slave free in front of many free men as witnesses, even if presentation of the slave without neckring as free before a Jarl is more powerful."

"Thank you."

I take my pillow and leave the two women and go out on the deck to enjoy the nice weather. I lie on my back on the fore castle and stare up at the sunlit red shimmering clouds. My life has been one big thing after an other for a week. I might as well realise I'm probably in some kind of permanent shock, and I would probably need to ventilate and talk to someone, but there is no one here I can make it too, because who can even begin to understand? My life now includes two slave maids, who are far too beautiful. It certainly wouldn't have made any difference if they were blondes or brunettes. Not to mention their beautiful eyes. Argh! I'm definitely attract by Iselin's smarts and creativity.

The transition to my new life here would have been so much easier if I'd been an asshole and chauvinist pig, but it's a dangerous path to start walking and I refuse on principle. I must try to hold on and secure what makes me, me. Even if it's a misconception about myself. There will be more tough compromises, and I will have to harden myself for more tough choices in the future, and realise that I will surely slowly change. This world is harsh, violent, and I can't count on much help through the law - there isn't even a neutral police force. But right now I just need to look at the clouds and feel the wind slowly sweeping over my face.

First unconsciously, and then with a smile on my face and with my foot wiggling, I start humming. I'm a little annoyed that it would be a really stupid idea to used the cell phone and play the real song, but in the solitude of my brain Eric Idle's positive voice is heard as he sing through the lyrics. Eventually and without thinking about, I start whistling. 'Always look on the bright side of life'.