They were deep inside the forest before Kristin managed to stop Ingebj?rg on a small pathway which seemed to lead down toward the road to Tr?laborg. They paused for a moment to catch their breath. Ingebj?rg was sniffling and crying, and she said she didn’t dare go back alone through the town and all the way out to the convent.
Kristin didn’t think it a good idea either, with so much commotion in the streets; she thought they should find a house where they might hire a boy to accompany them home. Ingebj?rg recalled a bridle path to Tr?laborg farther down near the shore, and she was certain that along the path were several houses. So they followed the path downhill.
Distressed as they both were, it seemed to them that they walked for a long time before they finally saw a farm in the middle of a field. In the courtyard they found a group of men sitting at a table beneath some ash trees, drinking. A woman went back and forth, bringing pitchers out to them. She gave the two maidens in convent attire a surprised and annoyed look, and none of the men seemed to want to accompany them when Kristin explained their need. But finally two young fellows stood up and said they would escort the girls to Nonneseter if Kristin would pay them an ?rtug.2
She could tell from their speech that they weren’t Norwegian, but they seemed to be decent men. She thought their demand shamefully exorbitant, but Ingebj?rg was scared out of her wits and she didn’t think they should walk home alone so late in the day, so she agreed.
No sooner had they come out onto the forest path than the men drew aside and began talking to each other. Kristin was upset by this, but she didn’t want to show her apprehension, so she spoke to them calmly, told them about the leopards, and asked them where they were from. She also looked around, pretending that at any minute she expected to meet the servants who had been es corting them; she talked about them as if they were a large group. Gradually the men said less and less, and she understood very little of their language anyway.
After a while Kristin noticed that they were not headed the way she had come with Ingebj?rg; the path led in a different direction, more to the north, and she thought they had already gone much too far. Deep inside her, terror was smoldering, but she dared not let it slip into her thoughts. She felt oddly strengthened having Ingebj?rg along; the girl was so foolish that Kristin realized she would have to handle things for both of them. Under her cloak she pulled out the reliquary cross that her father had given her, clasped her hand around it, and prayed with all her heart that they might meet up with someone soon, as she tried to gather her courage and pretend that nothing was wrong.
A moment later she saw that the path led out onto a road, and at that spot there was a clearing. The bay and the town lay far below them. The men had led them astray, either willfully or because they were not familiar with the paths. They were high up on the slope and far north of Gjeita Bridge, which Kristin could see. The road they had reached seemed to lead in that direction.
Then she stopped, took out her purse, and began to count out the ten penninger into her hand.
“Now, good sirs,” she said, “we no longer need your escort. We know the way from here. We give you thanks for your trouble, and here is your payment, as we agreed. God be with you, good friends.”
The men looked at each other for a moment, quite foolishly, so that Kristin was almost about to smile. But then one of them said with an ugly leer that the road down to the bridge was a desolate one; it would not be advisable for them to go alone.
“No one would be so malicious or so stupid as to want to stop two maidens, especially two dressed in convent attire,” replied Kristin. “We prefer to go alone,” and then she handed them the money.
The man grabbed hold of her wrist, stuck his face close to hers, and said something about a “Kuss” and a “Beutel.” Kristin understood that they would be allowed to go unharmed if she would give him a kiss and her purse.
She remembered Bentein’s face close to hers, just like this, and for a moment fear seized her; she felt nauseated and sick. But she pressed her lips together, calling upon God and the Virgin Mary in her heart—and at that moment she heard hoofbeats on the path coming from the north.
Then she struck the man in the face with her coin purse so that he stumbled, and she shoved him in the chest so that he toppled off the path and tumbled down into the woods. The other German grabbed her from behind, tore the purse out of her hand, and tugged at the chain around her neck, breaking it. She was just about to fall, but she seized hold of the man, attempting to get her cross back. He tried to pull away; the robber had now heard someone approaching too. Ingebj?rg screamed loudly, and the horsemen on the path came racing as fast as they could. They emerged from the thickets; there were three of them. Ingebj?rg ran toward them, shrieking, and they jumped down from their horses. Kristin recognized the gentleman from Didrek’s loft; he drew his sword, grabbed the German she was struggling with by the scruff of his neck, and struck him with the flat of the blade. His men ran after the other one, seized him, and beat him with all their might.