Strom
and Quadri were in a canoe not far from their dragon boat where Rohib and their
men sat and rested. The two men in the
canoe waited quietly for the man that they were meeting. Off in the distant horizon another dragon boat approached. It drew closer and closer than stopped. Another canoe was lowered at its side and a
single man entered it and made his way to the two waiting men. The two boats met and the three men greeted
each other.
“I am Strom and this is Quadri, I take it that our
message has reached you, where is Gunnbjörn?”
“Gunnbjörn meets with no man alone. I am his man, Sven. Gunnbjörn trusts only me. I will speak for him. It was clever of you to leave a message in an
abandoned ship to request a meeting with the great man. Nobody has ever done that until now. What is it that you want?”
“We wish to form an alliance. With you help we can surely defeat
Ganesh. We will pay you. Who knows, maybe we can fight Harold Finehair
and even Björn the hairy. We can rid you
of all your enemies. Then Gunnbjörn can
know land again.”
Sven listened with interest to the proposal presented
to him. He analyzed the deal for a brief
moment, “I do not think so. We are doing
very well for ourselves, unless you can offer a more beneficial bargain,
Gunnbjörn cannot accept.”
Quadri flatly asked, “Well, what is it that you
want?”
“It is not for us to say what you will give.”
“What the hell does that mean? Tell me what you desire and perhaps we can
oblige!” Quadri shot back with a rather sharp inflection.
Strom offered to Sven, “Upon the conquering of Ganesh
and Harold Finehair, we will give you Greenland, the Western half of Ireland,
and one quarter of the lost booty of Ishmael the Terrible. That is all we are willing to offer.”
On Sven’s face grew a rather large grin, he clasped
the and of Strom and said, “You can keep Ireland, I do not wish to fool with
its inhabitants. Beginning on the next
moon, Ganesh’s fleet will be attacked mercilessly, and when you decide to invade
Norway, w will provide escorts to insure safe passage. Does this satisfy you?”
“Indeed it does,” said Strom. Sven made his way back to Gunnbjörn’s dragon
boat and they were off. Quadri asked
Strom, “How can we trust Gunnbjörn and this Sven fellow?”
“Sometimes you have to make deals with unsavory
people, Quadri. I assure you that
Gunnbjörn the Slayer is no man for Ganesh.
And Quadri,”
“Yes Strom?”
“Sven and Gunnbjörn are the same.”
“How is that?
“What I mean is that Sven is Gunnbjörn’s son, I see
it in his eyes. He is continuing his
father’s legacy. This whole ghost story
strikes fear in his foes. It is easier
to fight those who fear you than those who do not.”
“I hope you are right Strom, but what do you suppose
will happen when you fail to give him one quarter of Ishmael’s booty?”
“I guess I better not fail.”
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