When King Inge and his men heard of the journey of the royal child and of the hardships which the party had suffered, they all thanked God for having saved the child. The king and his whole court set out to meet the party at the blockhouse, and, on their arrival, he took the little boy in his arms and kissed him. The boy and his mother were given the best of care in Nidaros. The child became very popular with the old Birchlegs who had served under his father and his grandfather. They came often to see how he was getting along, and would sometimes playfully take him between them and stretch his arms and legs in order, as they said, to make him grow faster. In the spring of 1206 Erling Steinvegg collected a fleet and proceeded north to Throndhjem, in order to attack King Inge in his stronghold in Nidaros. On Saturday, April 22, there were great festivities in Nidaros, for King Inge was celebrating the wedding of his sister Sigrid, daughter of Baard of Rein, to the liegeman, Thorgrim of Ljaanes. All the prominent men in the surrounding country had come to the wedding. There was much drinking during the night, and the king, as well as his chiefs and warriors, went to bed intoxicated. Toward morning the Baglers suddenly attacked the sleeping town and effected a general massacre. Many of the prominent Birchlegs, who had been with King Sverre in many of his battles, were killed by the Baglers on this occasion. King Inge, who was not at the royal residence, but was sleeping in the house of his mistress, was with some difficulty awakened by the latter's servants. He escaped to a neighboring roof, where he lay until the Baglers had passed the house; then he ran down to the docks and threw himself in the icy river in order to swim across. The strong current made this a very difficult task. Out in the stream he caught hold of the anchor cable of a ship, to which he clung for a while, but a man, who was keeping guard on board, pushed him off with a pole, and he was obliged to swim further. He finally reached the other shore, but was then so exhausted from cold and exertion that he would probably have succumbed, if one of his faithful men, Reidulf Baardsbrother, had not happened to come to his assistance. Reidulf took off his cloak and wrapped the king in it, and carried him on his back to Skyaas, where they obtained a horse and sled and escaped to Klæbu. In the meanwhile the Baglers continued their dreadful work in Nidaros. They searched all the churches and killed those who had taken refuge there, and committed numerous acts of plunder and depredation. King Inge's half-brother, the seventeen year old Skule Baardson, escaped as by a miracle. He crept along the house walls and reached the river, where the chief, Jon Usle, and forty Birchlegs were just going across in some boats they had secured. They crossed in safety, and later proceeded to Klæbu, where Skule found the king with a hundred Birchlegs and peasants, who had gathered about him.