(He falls.)
HIORDIS (jubilant, rushes up to him). Sigurd, my brother,—now art
thou mine at last!
SIGURD. Now less than ever. Here our ways part; for I am a
Christian man.
HIORDIS (appalled). Thou——! Ha, no, no!
SIGURD. The White God is mine; King AEthelstan taught me to know him; it is to him I go.
HIORDIS (in despair). And I——! (Drops her bow.) Woe! woe!
SIGURD. Heavy has my life been from the hour I tore thee out of my own heart and gave thee to Gunnar. Thanks, Hiordis;—now am I so light and free.
(Dies.)
HIORDIS (quietly). Dead! Then truly have I brought my soul to wreck! (The storm increases; she breaks forth wildly.) They come! I have bewitched them hither! No, no! I will not go with you! I will not ride without Sigurd! It avails not—they see me; they laugh and beckon to me; they spur their horses! (Rushes out to the edge of the cliff at the back.) They are upon me;—and no shelter no hiding- place! Ay, mayhap at the bottom of the sea!
(She casts herself over.)
(ORNULF, DAGNY, GUNNAR, with EGIL, followed by SIGURD'S and
ORNULF'S men, gradually enter from the right.)