The hall of Ivar Forkbeard is a type that is common
"Your hall," said I to the Forkbeard, "is scarcely what had expected."
I had learned, much to my instruction, that my conception of the northern
halls left much to be desired. Indeed the true hall, lofty, high-beamed,
built of logs and boards, with its benches and high-seat pillars, its
carvings and hangings, its long fires, its suspended kettles, was actually
quite rare, and, generally, only the richest of the Jarls possessed such.
The hall of Ivar Forkbeard, I learned, to my surprise, was of a type
much more common.
Marauders
Forkbeards hall is a longhouse - 120 feet long
Walls formed of turf and stone, curved and eight feet thick
The hall of Ivar Forkbeard was a longhouse. It was about one hundred and
twenty feet Gorean in length. Its walls formed of turf and stone, were
curved and thick, some eight feet or more in thickness.
Marauders
----------Non Gorean information for reference----------
The longhouse is oriented north and south to reduce exposure to north wind
It is oriented
north and south. This reduces its exposure to the north wind, which
is particularly important in the Torvaldsland winter.
Marauders
A rounded fire pit is in the center
The longhouse is a single long room
It serves for living, eating and sleeping of all men A fire, in a
rounded pit, was in its center. It consisted, for the most part, of a
single, long room, which served for living, and eating and sleeping.
Marauders
A man of Torvaldsland will choose using wood for his ship over using it for
his hall
It is with the goods he obtains by his ships that he can build a hall to
house his men In Torvaldsland, fine
timber is at a premium. Too, what fine lumber there is, is often
marked and hoarded for the use of shipwrights If a man of Torvaldsland
must choose between his hall and his ship, it is the ship which,
invariably, wins his choice. Further-more, of course, were it not for
goods won by his ship or ships, it would be unlikely that he would
have the means to build a hall and house within it his men.
Marauders
At one end is a cooking compartment, separated from rest of longhouse by
a partition of wood At
one end was a cooking compartment, separated from the rest of the house
by a partition of wood.
Marauders
Roof is about six feet in height
Long room is low and dark
Usually there is lingering smoke in it
Ventilation is supplied by narrow holes in roof The roof was about six feet in height, which
meant that most of those within, if male, were forced to bend over as
they moved about. The long room, besides being low, is dark. Too, there
is usually lingering smoke in it. Ventilation is supplied, as it is
generally in Torvaldsland, by narrow holes in the roof.
Marauders
Center of the hall is dug out about a foot below ground level
In the long center are two long rows of posts, seven feet apart, supporting
the roof The center of
the hall, down its length, is dug out about a foot below the ground
level. In the long center are set the tables and benches. Also, in the
center, down its length are two long rows of posts, each post separated
from the next by about seven feet, which support the roof.
Marauders
At the edges of the hall is a ground level dirt floor
Furs are spread in this area, stones mark sections off into sleeping
quarters At the edges
of the hall, at ground level, is a dirt floor, on which furs are spread.
Stones mark sections off into sleeping quarters. Thus, in a sense, the hall
proper is about a foot below ground level, and the sleeping level, on each
side, is at the ground level, where the walls begin.
Marauders
A mans gear is kept at his sleeping quarter on the dirt floor, an area
of about eight feet long The sleeping levels,
which also can accommodate a man’s gear, though some keep it at the foot
of the level, are about eight feet in length. The hall proper, the
center of the hall, is about twelve feet in width.
Marauders
Rounded logs lie along the foot of the sleeping level
Each log is fitted with iron bands, each band having a welded ring and
chain with fetters attached At the foot of the ground
level, which is the sleeping level, which lies about a foot above the
dug-out floor, the long center of the hall, on the floor, against the
raised dirt, here and there were rounded logs, laid lengthwise. Each
log is ten to fifteen feet long, and commonly about eight inches to a
foot thick. If one thinks of the sleeping level, on each side, as
constituting, in effect, a couch, almost the length of the hall, except
for the cooking area, the logs lie at the foot of these two couches,
and parallel to their foot. About each log fitting snugly into deep, wide,
circular grooves in the wood, were several iron bands. These each
wide, circular grooves in the wood, were several iron bands. These each
contained a welded ring, to which was attached a length of chain,
terminating in a black-iron fetter.
Marauders
Bond-maids have ankles locked in the fetters Gunnhild thrust out her left ankle; the Forkbeard fettered her; a moment
later Pudding, too, had thrust, forth her ankle, and her ankle, too,
was locked in a fetter of the north. The Forkbeard threw off his jacket.
There was a rustle of chain as the two bond-maids turned, Pudding on her
left side, Gunnhild on her right, waiting for the Forkbeard to lie between
them.
Marauders
Male thralls are chained for the night in the bosk sheds
Bond-maids are kept in the hall, passed from one man to another Male thralls are chained for the night in the bosk sheds. Bondmaids are
kept in the hall, for the pleasure of the free men. They are often handed
from one to the other. It is the responsibility of he who last sports with
them to secure them.
I heard screams of pleasure.
I looked down at Thyri, kneeling beside my bench. She looked up at me,
frightened. She was a beautiful girl, with a beautiful face. She was
delicate, sensitive. Her eyes were highly intelligent, beautiful and deep.
A collar of black iron was riveted on her throat.
"Run to the furs, Bondmaid," I said, harshly.
Thyri leaped to her feet and fled to my furs, weeping. I finished a horn
of mead, rose to my feet, and went to my sleeping area.
She lay there, her legs drawn up.
Marauders
Reeds strewn on the floor Men
laughed. Another of the new girls was thrown over one of the benches; she
lay on her back; her head was down, her dark hair, long wild, was in
the dirt and reeds, strewn on the floor of the hall; her head twisted
from side to side; her eyes were close her lips were parted; I saw her
teeth.
Marauders
Torches used during night for light after fire dies down "What is going on !" I heard cry.
Thyri, awakened, screamed.
I lay, stunned, at the foot of the wall, on the couch.
"Torches!" cried the Forkbeard. "Torches!"
Men cried out; bond-maids screamed.
I heard the sound of feeding.
Then in the light of a torch, lifted by the Forkbeard, lit from being thrust
beneath the ashes of the fire pit, we saw it.
Marauders
Evening dinner & entertainment in the hall
Two bond-maids carry a roasted tarsk on a spit down the length of the hall
The two bond-maids, stripped, too, like the others, for the feast, Pretty
Ankles and Pouting Lips, struggled down the length of the smoky, dark hall,
a spitted, roasted tarsk on their shoulders. They were slapped by the men,
hurrying them along. They laughed with pleasure. Their shoulders were
protected from the heat of the metal spit by rolls of leather.
Marauders
The roasted tarsk is flung on the table
Forkbeard cuts the meat with his belt knife and throws pieces down the
table to his men
Meanwhile not far away on the sleeping level a bond-maid is raped The
roasted tarsk was flung before us on the table. With his belt knife,
thrusting Pudding and Gunnhild back, Ivar Forkbeard addressed himself
to the cutting of the meat. He threw pieces down the length of the
table. I heard men laughing. Too, from the darkness behind me, and
more than forty feet away, on the raised level, I heard the screams
of a raped bond-maid. She was one of the new girls. I had seen her being
dragged by the hair to the raised platform. Her screams were screams
of pleasure.
Marauders
Bond-maids are fed meat from the table during the meal
He threw me a piece of meat. He cut two small pieces, and thrust them
in the mouths of Pudding and Gunnhild. They ate obediently, his pets.
"The palisade," he said, "is low, and the cracks are filled with daub."
I tore a piece of meat from what Ivar had thrown me and held it to Thyri.
She smiled at me. She was trying to learn how to please a man. "Thank
you, my Jarl," she said. She took the meat, delicately, in her teeth.
I grinned, and she looked down, frightened. She knew that soon she
might be taught, truly, how to please men.
Marauders
Mead is served in horns "Here, Jarl," said Thyri, again handing me the horn. It was filled with
the mead of Torvaldsland, brewed from fermented honey, thick and sweet.
Men cart slaves off to the open sleeping areas The bond-maid, Olga, laughing and kicking, thrown helplessly over the
shoulder of an oarsman, was carried past.
I saw several of the bond-maids in the arms of Ivar’s men. Among them,
too, some trying to resist, were the new girls. One, who had irritated
an oarsman, her hands held, was beaten, crying out, with his belt.
Released, she began to kiss him, weeping, trying to please him. Men
laughed.
Marauders
Or men take the slaves right there on the bench Another of the new girls was thrown over one of the benches; she
lay on her back; her head was down, her dark hair, long wild, was in
the dirt and reeds, strewn on the floor of the hall; her head twisted
from side to side; her eyes were close her lips were parted; I saw her
teeth.
"Do not stop, Jarl," she begged. "Your bond-maid begs you not to stop!
Marauders
Or, men toss a slave on the table in meat and mead I heard men, down the table laughing. One of the new girls, from Kassau,
had been thrown on her back, on the table. She lay in meat, and spilled
mead. She was kicking and laughing, trying to push back from her body
the pressing jackets of fur of the men of Torvaldsland. Another girl, I
saw, was seized and thrown to the darkness of the sleeping platform. I
saw her white body, briefly, trying to crawl away, but he who had thrown
her upon the furs, seized her ankle and drew her to him. She was thrown
mercilessly under him, her shoulders pressed back, her beauty his prize.
I saw her head lift, thrusting her lips to his, but it was then thrust
back, and she whimpered, her body squirming, held helpless, loot, his to
be done with as he pleased. When he lifted his mouth from hers, she put
her arrns about his neck, and thrust up her head again, lips parted. "My
Jarl!" she wept. "My Jarl!" Then he again thrust her back to the furs,
with such force that she cried out, and then he, with rudeness and
incredible force, used her for his pleasure. I saw her body struck
again and again, she clinging to him, helplessly. He gave her no
quarter. Bond-maids are treated without mercy. "I love you, my Jarl!"
she screamed.
Men at the tables, mead spilling, chewing on meat,
laughed at her. She wept, and cried out with pleasure.
When the oarsman had finished with her and would return to the table, she
tried to hold him. He struck her back on the furs. Weeping she held out her
arms to him. He returned to his mead.
I saw another oarsman then crawl to her and, by the hair, pull her into his
arms. In a moment I saw her collared body, desperately pressing and rubbing
against him, he in her small, white arms, her belly thrust against the great
buckle of the master belt. Then he, too, threw her to her back. "I love you
, my Jarls," she wept. "I love you, my Jarls!"
Marauders
Though the fields have crops, this feast seems to be meat and mead
He grinned. "Gunnhild," said he, "run for a horn of mead.
"Yes, my Jarl," said she, and sped from his side.
In a moment, through the dark, smoky hall, returned Gurmhild, bearing
a great horn of mead.
"My Jarls," said she.
The Forkbeard took from her the horn of mead and, together, we
drained it.
We then clasped hands.
"You are welcome to accompany me," said he. Then he rose to his feet
behind the table. "Drink!" called he to his men. ‘Drink mead to Hilda
the Haughty, daughter of Thor-gard of Scagnar!"
His men roared with laughter. Bond-maids, collared and naked, fled
about, filling horns with mead.
"Feast!" called Ivar Forkbeard. "Feast!"
Much meat was eaten; many horns were drained.
Marauders
Forkbeard's Hall
