House-carles but few will follow.
He who the sword makes red
Will beguile us of our land
If Einar kisseth not
The thin mouth of the axe.’
¶ Some days that while tarried Einar in the town. ¤ Now it came to pass that one day a folk-mote was held, for it had befallen that a thief had been taken in the town, and it was at this mote that he was to be brought to trial, & the King himself was present. ¤ Aforetime had the man been in the service of Einar who had favoured him more than a little. Now of this matter was Einar told, and deemed he that the King would not be the more prone to liberate the man because he, Einar, set store by him, so accordingly bade he his men arm themselves and in force to proceed to the mote, and then took Einar the man away by dint of sheer strength. ¤ Thereafter mediated the friends of either in the matter, & the end thereof came that it was agreed that a tryst should be appointed and that the King & Einar should meet one another. There was a council-chamber in the King’s-House down by the river,[§] and into this chamber entered the King and with him therein were but few men; the others left he standing without in the courtyard. Now the King had had a shutter placed over the smoke-hole, & there was but a little opening. Then did Einar come into the courtyard with his men, and said he to his son Eindrid: ‘Remain thou out here with the men, and then will there be no danger for me.’ ¤ Wherefore did Eindrid take up his station without the door of the council-chamber. ¤ Now when Einar was entered into this room said he: ‘Dark is it in the King’s council-chamber,’ and even at that moment fell men upon him and some stabbed him & some hewed at him, and when Eindrid heard the tumult drew he his sword and rushed into the chamber whereon forthwith was he felled beside his father. ¤ Then did the King’s men run towards the chamber and before the door thereof, but the peasants were all at a loss because now to them pertained no leader; yet did they urge one another on saying that it were shame not to avenge their chief, but for all that did they naught, & made no essay to fight. Then went the King out to his men, set them in array, & caused his banner to be unfurled, but made he no onset & thereafter bade he all his men go out to his ship, then rowed they down the river and so out on the fjord. ¤ Now apace was brought the intelligence of the death of Eindrid to Bergliot his wife for she was in the lodging that she and Einar inhabited in the town. Thence went she up unto the King’s-House where was gathered the peasant host and them incited she to fight inasmuch as in her lay, but at that same moment rowed the King down the river, then quoth Bergliot: ‘Now lack we my kinsman Hakon Ivarson; ne’er would the murderers of Eindrid be rowing there adown the river were Hakon on its banks.’ ¤ Thereafter caused Bergliot the bodies of Einar & Eindrid be laid out, and they were buried in the church of Saint Olaf hard by the tomb of King Magnus Olafson. ¤ After the fall of Einar became King Harald so greatly hated for his share in that foul deed, that the feudatories and peasants only held back from fighting with him because to them pertained no leader to raise the banner for them.
¶ Now dwelling at Austrat in Iriar was Fin Arnison, feudatory of King Harald. ¤ Fin was married with Bergliot, the daughter of Halfdan the son of Sigurd Sow, & Halfdan was the brother of King Olaf and King Harald. ¤ Thora, wife to King Harald, was the daughter of the brother of Fin Arnison; sworn friends to the King were Fin and his brethren. Certain summers had Fin been in viking warfare westward and on those quests he & Guthorm Gunhildson[§] & Hakon Ivarson had sailed in company. So fared King Harald down the Throndhjem fjord and out to Austrat, where he was well received, and thereafter communed they together, Fin and he, & took counsel one with the other as to the outcome concerning what had but then befallen, to wit the slaying of Einar and his son, and then of that murmuring and turmoil the which the Throndhjem folk were raising over against the King. ¤ Fin answered hastily: ‘Wrong art thou on every count; whatsoever thou doest thou doest ill & thereafter art thou so afeared that thou knowest no whither to turn.’ ¤ The King rejoined laughing: ‘Kinsman-in-law, I will send thee in to town & thou shalt make it up betwixt the peasants and me; & if that business cometh to naught then shalt thou fare to the Uplands, & good feeling again cause with Ivar Hakonson & so bring it about that he goeth not to war against me.’ Fin answered: ‘What will be my reward an I go on this fool’s errand, for alike Throndhjem folk and Upland folk are so hostile to thee that no messenger of thine could fare to them save at his own risk.’ ¤ The King answered: ‘Go thou on this errand, kinsman-in-law, for well wot I an any man could bring us to a reconciliation it would be thee, & ask thyself of us what boon thou wilt have therefor.’ ¤ ‘Keep thou thy word, and I will choose the boon; I choose peace for my brother Calf and removal of his outlawry, and the restoring unto him of all his possessions; and furthermore I ask that he shall have all his appointments and all the power that he had or ever he left the land.’ ¤ And the King said yea to all whatever Fin asked of him, & they twain before witnesses took one another by the hand thereon. Thereafter said Fin: ‘But what am I to proffer Hakon so that he may promise thee peace, for he it is who hath the upper hand of those kinsmen’? The King said: ‘First shalt thou find out what Hakon is like to demand so that reconciliation may be brought about, and thereafter must thou forward my cause as best thou canst; but should the worst come to the worst, then deny him nothing save & except the kingship itself.’
¶ Then went King Harald southward to More where mustered he men, and a great number was gathered unto him.
¶ So Fin Arnison fared into the town & took with him his house-carles to the number of some eighty men, and being come to the town held he a Thing with the townsmen. Now Fin spoke long and wisely at this Thing, bidding townsman and peasant take any other course rather than live in hatred with his King or drive him away; & he reminded them how much ill they had been brought to suffer when they had acted in this wise aforetime, towards the sainted King Olaf. ¤ He said, moreover, that the King would atone for these murders in such manner as the best & wisest men might adjudge; and the outcome of the speech of Fin was that the men gave their word to let the matter rest until the return of the messengers despatched by Bergliot to Hakon Ivarson in the Uplands. Thereafter fared Fin out to Orkadal with the men who had accompanied him to town, and further up to the Dofrafjal and eastward (south) across those mountains; and firstly went he to see his kinsman-in-law Earl Orm (the Earl was wedded to Sigrid the daughter to Fin) & to him disclosed his errand.