Erlend then went to Norway to get it confirmed. Meantime Sweyn seized
a ship of Harold's; but, to help Erlend, tried to reconcile Harold to
him, as King Eystein (said Erlend) had given him half of Orkney. And
the half given to him was, he added, Harold's half.[29]
Sweyn and Erlend then force Harold, who had then just come of age, to
agree to give up this half, under duress, in order to secure his own
liberty, and the Orkney folk agree that Erlend shall have this half,
Ragnvald having the other. This, Sweyn knew, Harold would not stand,
and, as he drank at a feast with his house-carles in his castle in
Gairsay,[30] the wily Viking said, slily rubbing his nose, "I think
Harold is now on his voyage to the isles," a shrewd surmise which
proved correct in spite of the midwinter storm then prevailing.
Harold's expedition, however, failed, and he went back to Caithness to
raise a force to kill a man called Erlend the Young who had seized his
mother Margret and taken her by force to Shetland, where he fortified
Mousa Broch[31] and held her prisoner there. After a siege, Harold,
who had followed them, at last allowed their marriage, Erlend the
Young becoming his ally, and going that summer with his wife and
Harold to Norway.
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