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Page 25
[Footnote A: Straps wound round the sheath and fastened to a ring in the
hilt.]
_Haf_.--I shall arrange all as you command. (_Departs_.)
_Kolbein_ (_to the_ BISHOP, _who is about to leave_).--Bide an instant,
bishop! Remain here at my side! If it appears that Broddi's men show any
hostilities towards me, I shall behead you here before the high altar.
_Botolf_ (_to himself_).--Broddi's men! Are they so wise, I wonder?
(_Aloud_.) You will permit me to speak with Kolbein Kaldajos, in order
that he may adjust our difficulties.
_Kolbein_.--Are you thinking perhaps that he should come here with his
men to take care of us?
_Botolf_.--Far from it. (_About to leave_.)
_Kolbein_ (_grasping the_ BISHOP _by the wrist_).--You will not go
hence alive, sir bishop; if you stir the church will have another saint
(_points to Bishop Gudmund's tomb_).
_Botolf_.--It would be a fair death for the servant of God. But unlikely
it is that you will accomplish this deed of violence, because God's
angels follow me wherever I go.
_Kolbein_.--I, too, have attendant wraiths; my victory at Orlygsstad,
my pursuits of Thord Kakali, my raid to Reykholar, and my journey over
Tvid�gra Heath with thirty men.
_Botolf_.--Angels with black wings all, Kolbein!
_Kolbein_.--Whatever the hue of their wings, yet they cause me to come
out of every fray unscathed and more powerful than other men.
_Botolf_.--God has hardened your heart, Kolbein!
_Kolbein_.--And you, cease to aid my cousin Brand and Broddi, and never
release them from the interdict!
_Botolf_.--I have released them.
_Kolbein_.--That is an act of open hostility against me.
_Botolf_.--Whilst I am bishop I have the power of the keys, and not you.
_Kolbein_.--I have undone the gates of death for more men than I wished,
and _that_ power of the keys, I know, is not lies and wonders.
_Botolf_.--You have but one key, Kolbein, and that leads to hell. You
will have need for it to open its gates when you arrive there; in case
the Holy Church has not already opened them up for you.
_Kolbein_.--You threaten me with excommunication, bishop! Do not stir!
Now I have decided what I shall do with you. Next summer I shall put
you bodily in a sack and bring it on a ship and send you thus to the
archbishop.[A] (_Laughs heartily_.)
[Footnote A: The archbishop of Nidaros (Throndhjem), then primate of
Norway.]
_Botolf_.--God is my castle.
_Kolbein_.--And you shall have both food and your power of the keys on
top of you in your bag. That would teach Kakon and the archbishop to
appoint fewer bishops from Norway who are chiefly busy plotting to
betray Iceland. (_Laughs_.)
(KOLBEIN KALDALJOS _enters. The_ BISHOP _breathes relieved_.)
_Botolf_.--You are an enemy of God, Kolbein the Young!
_Kolbein_.--No friend of the king, you meant to say.
_Kolbein Kaldaljos_.--Broddi has taken a stand at Vidiness with two
hundred men. It seems he will order his troop there in battle array.
_Botolf_ (_to_ KOLBEIN THE YOUNG).--Your father's brother, Kolbein, fell
at Vidiness, the same perchance may betide you.
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