Mistress Ulrika let herself be satisfied with all these glad tidings and also recognized that she had interrupted the young people by forcing Arn to talk of such concerns that of course were more important than their giddy and heated feelings and yet concerned them little right now. So she surprised them by remarking in a knowing tone that the weather was beautiful and that there was no harm in taking a horseback ride up Kinnekulle. At these words Cecilia jumped up and embraced her grandmother, who was otherwise so somber and strict.

   Soon Cecilia had a good-natured mare saddled and bridled and was dressed for a ride in a loose and warm green cloak that reached from her throat to her feet. With a practiced hand she swept her cloak over one arm and was in the saddle before Arn or the thralls had time to help her. Arn accepted a leather bag containing bread and bacon and wooden cups which a house thrall kindly brought in case the ride should be a long one, as she added with a shameless laugh. In the meantime Cecilia urged on her mare and went galloping off. Some distance away she turned in the saddle and shouted to Arn to try and catch her. He cast his head back and laughed with heartfelt joy, patted Shimal lovingly on the neck, and joked that now they both had a hunt before them that must not fail. Then he leaped into the saddle with a single bound that made those who were standing around murmur in astonishment, and set off. At first he held Shimal back to a canter so that he wouldn't catch up too soon with the fluttering green cloak and the red hair far ahead of him, and yet only a few breaths away.

   When they were out of sight of the Husaby royal manor he set Shimal into a full gallop. Like the wind he caught up with and passed Cecilia, wheeled Shimal around and stormed back toward her, veering off at the last second. Then he rode circles around her, enjoying her bright laughter that made him bold and soon reckless. He stood up in the saddle and balanced with his arms in the air as he again rode past her at full speed so that she had to rein in her horse. When he turned to her with a laugh, holding his hands arrogantly on his hips, he didn't see the thick oak limb that swept him like a glove to the ground.

   It looked like a nasty fall, and he lay completely still. Beside herself with worry, Cecilia pulled up her horse, jumped off, and dashed over to Arn. She began caressing his lifeless face in despair. But then he opened first one eye and then the other, and laughing, took her in his arms, rolling around with her among the wood anemones as she feigned anger and chided him for scaring her so.

   All at once they fell silent. They sat up and held each other for a long time without saying a word, as if there were no words possible just now, only the singing of the birds.

   They sat there until their limbs began to ache from the uncomfortable position. She pulled away first and leaned back in the grass. He lay down next to her and caressed her face, struggling briefly with his shyness. He kissed her cautiously on the forehead first and then her cheeks and lips. Soon she returned his kisses and their shyness was as if blown away by the wind.

   They came back late to the Husaby royal manor.

Chapter 12

It was Cecilia's goodness that plunged them both into the deepest unhappiness. As Arn so bitterly explained their misfortune, one had only to compare her for a moment with her sister Katarina to see it at once. Besides, it was between the two sisters that everything had been determined from the very beginning.

   For Katarina, Cecilia's happiness meant her own unhappiness. Since Cecilia was no longer going to return to Gudhem for any further studies in either the progress of the spirit or the hand, it meant as Katarina saw it that she would be trapped like a rat behind the odious cloister walls. That feeling was even stronger when she found out what a large dowry her father Algot had been forced to part with to marry one of his daughters into the Folkung clan. It was now no longer plausible that Algot would allow Katarina to marry too, and she feared that she would be confined to the convent forever and would dry up like an old maid.

   Cecilia and Arn had not yet celebrated their betrothal ale, though this was not of their doing but because of the ongoing power struggle. It had been somewhat more difficult for Knut Eriksson to persuade the Swedes to elect him king at Mora Stones than he had first imagined. And when that matter was finally settled, his plan to come to the landstingin Western Götaland was delayed still further by the fact that Boleslav sent an army against him. He had to convince the Swedes that the first thing they needed to do for their new king was to march off to war.

   But Boleslav had not assembled a sufficiently large force and was defeated at once by Knut Eriksson and his Swedes, along with Birger Brosa and the Folkungs of Eastern Götaland. All was now well, but it had taken time, and the summer was more than half gone.

   Magnus Folkesson at Arnäs, however, was bullheadedly determined to have a king at table when the wedding ale was drunk, so he wanted to wait until Knut managed to conclude his landstingin Western Götaland, where he no doubt would be elected with great unanimity.

   As a consequence Arn and Cecilia might well have been man and wife before God as they now rode toward Gudhem, but they were merely betrothed. Yet it would soon be evident that Cecilia was carrying Arn's child under her heart.

   With great concern Arn had inquired about this from Eskil, who was well acquainted with the worldly laws of the land. But Eskil had only laughed and said that what the law prescribed in this situation, if Cecilia's father really wanted to make a case out of it and drag their shame all the way to the ting, was that Arn would be obligated to pay six marks in silver for damages. Eskil thus waved this matter aside by saying that Algot Pålsson was hardly in a position to begin arguing over such paltry sums. Nothing worse than that would come of it.

   Out of sisterly affection Cecilia wanted to meet with Katarina in order to offer her some solace if possible. For Cecilia it was not hard to imagine what torments Katarina must be suffering within the walls of Gudhem, since she believed she knew her sister well.

   But she did not, as it turned out. If she had, she would never have set foot in Gudhem to try and console Katarina.

   When the two sisters met in the cloister garden at Gudhem, Cecilia did her best to keep from bubbling over the whole time about her own happiness. She made an effort to console Katarina by saying that as soon as the wedding was over she would have a talk with their father, who would probably take her words more seriously after she had been accepted into the Folkung clan. They would find a way to make Algot listen to reason; perhaps something as simple as the fact that he was miserly and it cost much silver as well as oak forests to keep daughters locked up in a convent. Even more silver would be squandered, if it was a daughter who did not appreciate in the least this special form of fatherly love. At this truth they had a good giggle together.