"Tell me what it is you want." "Are you unhappy?" "Do you think the gods have cheated you?" "I want my old position back." "I was never meant to be a servant, a slave, a friend." "I am bitter and I am angry." "Everything I had, everything I possessed, everything that I was has been stripped away from me." "And my anger is like a stone..." "A stone that I carry inside me that..." "Weighs me down." "I cannot lift it." "In some ways, you are still fortunate." "Ragnar could have had you killed at the same time as your husband." "I am supposed to be eternally grateful to my husband's killer?" "I ask you once more why you have come here if you do not think I can offer you any comfort." "I want to know," "will the gods ever smile on me again?" "The gods will always smile on brave women, like the Valkyries, those furies who men fear and desire." "You'll have to forgive the poverty of the feast." "It has been a hard winter." "We had to burn our own grain stores to rid ourselves of Jarl Borg." "So I heard." "Tell us, Erlendur, what happened in England after we left?" "We were betrayed by King Ecbert." "We made contact and your Christian friend Athelstan arranged for further talks, or so he said." "In retrospect, I wonder who's side he was really on." "In any case, the trickster was at work." "Ecbert never meant to honor his promises to you." "We were betrayed, taken by surprise." "There was a great slaughter." "Erlendur and I barely escaped with our lives." "What about Athelstan?" "Where is he now?" "If he is fortunate, he died in battle." "In any case, let's not speak of him." "He was a worthless individual." "Poor Athelstan." "My sister and I grew to love him when we were children." "He fooled you, young Bjorn." "He never denounced his Christian God." "He was our enemy." "We should rejoice at his death." "So..." "What do you intend on doing now?" "What do you think, Ragnar?" "I intend on gaining revenge on King Ecbert." "We should plan a raid as soon as possible." "I would be very happy to take part in it." "King Ecbert should certainly be punished." "I agree." "We should return to Wessex." "But first, Jarl Borg must pay the price for what he did to my family and to our people." "Forgive me, master." "No, it doesn't matter." "I understand, completely, and if I were you, I would feel the same way." "But we must remember our agreement and what it was for." "We would sail west to raid and to colonize." "That was your dream, Ragnar, and I have come to share it." "But now we have neither the men nor the ships to realize our dreams." " What are you saying?" " I think we should go back to Jarl Borg." "He is licking his wounds." "He is no longer as strong as he was." "And, yet, we need him." "We cannot go west without his ships." "And so, once again, we should ask him to join our alliance." "Don't listen to him." "But who should go to Jarl Borg?" "I think it should be you, Rollo." "After all, you know him better than anyone." "What do you think?" "Farewell, my love." "I will pray to Thor that he grant you safe passage." "Throw that." "May you have success, Rollo, for the sake of all of us." " Man your stations." " Stores aboard." "All the men aboard!" "Rollo." "Try the sail then." "I, too, wish you well." "Those words mean a lot coming from you." "They were hard to say." "Now they are said." "Cast away!" "Ready the oars!" "It has an unusual taste, wine." "But then, you're an unusual woman, Siggy." "You don't like wine?" "It's horrible." "The finer things in life are an acquired taste." "I hope you do not mind I brought my son with me?" "I want him to start to understand the game." " The game?" " The game you and I play." "The game Ragnar tries to play." "Are you sure it is a game?" "Why do you invite me to your bed?" "Why do you tell me things about Ragnar?" "Everything I do, I do for Rollo." "And not for yourself?" "If Rollo rises, I rise also." "And you need my help." "Well, what do you think," "King Horik?" "And what would you do, Sissy, for my continued and active support?" "My son is ignorant of the game and strangely ignorant of other things as well." "He's only been with a few women, and they were nothing..." "Slaves, girls." "I want him to enjoy the attentions of an experienced, free woman." "Erlendur, come." "She sees a hall more fair than the sun, thatched with gold, at Gimle." "There shall the gods in innocence dwell, and live forever a life of bliss." "Why don't we have poets here anymore?" "Poets to entertain us." "Sing to us." "Make us laugh." "I remember when this great hall was always full of laughter." "Laughter and good fellowship." "You can see it in her eyes." "My wife has returned to me." "That's good." "She went without my permission." "But, as you can all see, she has come back, and I love her for it." "After all, what man wouldn't be pleased at the return of such a wife?" "Skal." "Skal!" "Skal, husband." "Unfortunately, you left my stepson behind." "It's time to leave." " Gerta, take my hand." " Come." "Come." "He wanted to stay with his father." "He's old enough to decide." "Is it not enough that I came back?" "No, it's not enough, my dear wife, it's..." "It's not enough." "Of course it's not enough." "It's an insult to me." "What else could I have done?" "His father is Ragnar Lothbrok." "Who is this Ragnar Lothbrok?" "Nothing but a windbag, an opportunist." "A man so bloated with self-importance he pretends to be descended from Odin!" "He doesn't need to pretend anything." "Now I know for sure why you went to defend him." "Not to repulse a foreign invader, as you lied to me, but because you're still in love with him." "You're still in love with Ragnar Lothbrok, aren't you, wife?" "You can sleep alone tonight." "I have made other arrangements." "Master, can I help you?" "I was going to ask you the same question." "Those buckets look very heavy." "I'm used to it." " What is your name?" " Porunn." " Sit a moment." " I have to finish my work." "It is all right." "Where do you sleep?" "In that barn with the other servants and animals." "Do you... have a boyfriend?" "Of course!" "I must finish my work." "She is remarkably good looking." "If you say so." "Why do you let Horik decide everything?" "Can you really forgive Jarl Borg?" "Do you know how much I suffered because of him?" "How much your son suffered?" "Yes, I know." "But you do nothing about it!" "By insulting and humiliating me, he insulted and humiliated you." "My father never would have allowed such a thing." "He would have been revenged." "Your father cannot do too much now, being dead." "What is wrong?" "You are quite safe." "Where is he?" "Sit down." "What is that?" "The skull of my first wife." "She continues to advise me." "Is that fair to her?" "So..." "Your brother wants me to come and fight for him?" "He wants to rebuild the original alliance between himself, King Horik, and you." "He believes that, in our small countries, cooperation is the only way forward." "So, he does not want revenge upon me?" "After all, I invaded his lands." "Men like you and I will always look for revenge." " Ragnar looks beyond." " Then he is a most extraordinary man indeed." "As forgiving as a Christian!" "He is also a practical man." "He and King Horik have lost a lot of men." "They need you to help them raid." "What do you say, my love?" "You think I should go?" "She thinks I should go." "Torvi, bring some mead." "Yes, Jarl Borg." "You and I must drink to this most unexpected but not unwelcome event." "My wife will join us." "Pour it in here." "Skal." "Skal." "You have a great gift, Athelstan." "I believe it is a..." "A divine gift." "Thank you, sire." "I thought I might have forgotten, but..." "I love these materials." "Brushes, the paints, the colors." "I had not appreciated how much I missed my work." " The pagans have nothing like it?" " No." "They have no art." "They can neither read nor write, except for their carved runes." "And their gods?" "Uh, Odin and Thor and Freyr." "How strange you must have found them." "In some ways, yes." "In other ways..." "In other ways?" "Their gods are very old." "And sometimes I could not help noticing some similarities with our own God, and his son." "For example, their god, Odin, whom they call the All-father, the god of gods, wanted to discover what it was like to die." "So, according to their stories and traditions," "Odin hung himself from a tree and a pagan servant stabbed him in his side with a spear, just like the Romans did to Christ." "Come with me." "Tell me honestly." "What do you think of these works?" "I find them indescribably beautiful." "But they are clearly pagan." "You are only a monk, Athelstan, and yet, somehow, I begin to trust you." "I feel you..." "You are a kindred spirit." "Who?" "Who painted these images?" "What race of man was ever so glorious that they filled our world with such, as you say, indescribable beauty?" "I have been told, sire, that you served at the court of the emperor Charlemagne, which I have also visited." "I cannot imagine, therefore, that you do not know what I know." "That these images were painted by the Romans." "They conquered these lands a long time ago." "They conquered the whole world." "But they were pagans." "They worshipped false gods." "Never speak of our conversation to any other man here." "Nobody else would understand it." "They would fear it." "They accept an interpretation that a race of giants once lived here." "And that we have nothing to do with them." "The fact is, Athelstan, we have lost more knowledge than we ever had!" "These Romans knew things that we will never know." "Their pagan gods allowed them to rule the world." "And what is the lesson that we can learn from that?" "What do you want, master?" "Forgive me." "I just came to listen." "You won't like our music." "It's rough." "I would still like to stay." "That is, if you allow it." "Monk, my father desires to see you." "Father's waiting for you behind this door." "Come and see." "Look around." "You thought those paintings were all that there was." "But of all Roman things, these are the most precious." "Tales of the Caesars." "The fall and ruin of Roman Britain." "Tales of emperors and empires..." "It's the stuff of dreams, Athelstan." "It's the very fabric of dreams." "You can read them, of course." "Yes." "Yes, I can read them." "Good." "That is why I've chosen you." "What do you mean?" "Well, I've chosen you to be the guardian of these books and their secrets." "I want you to copy them." "You speak Latin, not many do." "Your job will be to preserve these works and these..." "Fragments, for all eternity." "But if you ever tell anyone about them," "I will let them crucify you." "I hope you were telling me the truth, Rollo." "Why don't you ask her?" "Jarl Borg." "Please." "Earl Ragnar Lothbrok, can I say, in all honesty," "you're a greater man than I am." "I know I don't deserve the chance you have given me to raid and work with you, but I swear on my ring, from henceforth, you've no reason to doubt my loyalty, or my commitment to our common cause." "If we are being honest," "I can tell you that it was King Horik who argued for a renewal of our alliance." "As you can imagine," "I was not, at first, enthusiastic." "But then..." "Then I realized what could be gained by inviting you." "We have much to gain if we work together, and a lot to lose if we don't." "Even I can see that now." "Torstein." "Yes, My Lord." "Put Jarl Borg's men in the barn which the servants use." "And treat them with respect." "Of course, My Lord." "Thank you." "Siggy." "I never once for a moment imagined Ragnar would take my advice and invite Jarl Borg to rejoin our alliance." "As I told you, Ragnar is different." "Whatever you think he will do, he will always do the opposite." "And I wanted to thank you for what you did for my son." "You made him a man." "Do not ask me to do it for your other sons." " I am not a whore." " No." "Just for me." " Can you keep a secret?" " No." "What's the matter with you, my love?" "You don't talk, you don't smile." "My love, you must do better than this." "You know something?" "My wife has got the most beautiful breasts." "I keep telling her, but she doesn't believe me." "She has the most beautiful breasts in the world." "They're like Freya's breasts." "The breasts of a goddess." "Let me show you." "The giant king's servants carried a trencher into the hall and set it down before the throne." "They heaped it with hunks of chopped meat, and it reminded Thor that rather too long had gone by since they had last eaten." "Thor was so hungry!" "A chair was provided for Loki at one end of the trencher, and for Logi at the other." "At the word from the giant king, they both began to eat." "They gobbled and consumed and..." "Each of them ate as fast as they could, edging their chair forward, and they met at the middle of the trencher." "Loki had eaten every scrap of meat and left nothing but the bones." "Where are you going?" "But Logi had not only eaten the meat, he had eaten the bones and the trencher as well." "I think Logi won." "Who is it?" "Yes, I can see, and I see an eagle." "I see that an eagle hovers over you." "But I also see that you yourself are the eagle." ""I would say," proclaimed the giant king," ""that Loki is the loser."" "Hush, Ubbe." "Hvitserk is nearly asleep." " Now you go to sleep." " I don't want to." " Why not?" " Because whenever you dream, you never know what is going to happen." "What's happening?" "What?" "All you folk in the barn." "If you want to live, stay silent." "Nothing will happen to you." " No!" "No!" " Fire!" " Let us out!" " Let us out!" " Where have you been?" " Here and there." "Up and down." "Where is Bjorn?" "He is supposed to be with you." "I don't know, Rollo." "Let's go." "It is fine, come." "You can sleep here." "No, I can't." "Of course you can." "Why not?" "This is your place." "I cannot sleep here." "Well, don't you want to?" "What does it matter what I want to do?" "Well, what if I ordered you to stay here?" "Then I would have to heed your command." "I don't want to order you." "I want you to choose to stay here." "Is this what you want?" "Master?" "Good evening, Jarl Borg." "I told you..." "I always look for revenge." "**" "No!" "Not necessary." "What is all the commotion?" "I am sorry, that the ambiance of Kattegat has awoken you." "What is the cause of this?" "In here!" " Is he dead?" " No, no, no." "He's not dead..." "Yet." "Why have you done this?" "Did you really think that I could ever forgive this man for threatening to kill my family?" "So, what will you do now?" "Since you consort with eagles," "I will draw a blood eagle on your back." "No." "And your ribcage will spring apart." "No." "Yes." "Like wings."