So I came back to Durness, where I was to meet with Einar; and
peace was made between him and the king, and he thought it well to
go and speak with him. Then he and I must part, and that was hard.

"Now must you go your own way, son Ranald, for Harald is too strong
for us. Maybe that is best for you, for here shall I bide in peace
in Orkney; and that is not a life for a king's son--to sit at a
jarl's table in idleness, or fight petty fights for scatt
withholden and the like. Better for you the wide seas and the lands
where you may make a name, and maybe a kingdom, for yourself. Yet I
shall miss you sorely."

So he said, and I knew that he was right. Maybe the spirit of the
sword I had won got hold of me, as they say will happen; for I had
waxed restless of late, and I had tried to keep it from Einar. Now
I hated myself for it, seeing at hand what I had longed for.

So he went north to meet Harald, and of our parting I will not say
more. I could not then tell that I should not see him again, and
that was well: but I know that when I saw the last flicker of his
sails against the sky, I felt more lonely even than at the
graveside in Southmere.

Yet I was in no worse case than were many nobly-born men at that
time; for whosoever would not bow to Harald and his new laws must
leave Norway, and her bravest were seeking new homes everywhere.
Some had gone to far-off Iceland, and some to East Anglia; some to
the Greek emperor, or Gardariki, and more yet to Ireland. But the
greatest viking of all, Rolf, the son of Rognvald, Einar's young
brother, had gone to France or England, with a mighty following;