Free Sword Brothers by Jerry Autieri Page A

They settle wherever they wish, and take whatever they want. Your dear wife is a great Christian, is she not? So is Hrolf's beloved wife, and she comes from a royal line. How hard will it be to steer the church toward Ulfrik's lands when those lands are already so valuable? Trouble will follow, and we only need to goad both sides to increasing conflict. Hrolf will have to side with the Church in any dispute, and there is the seed of Ulfrik's undoing."
    "As if Ulfrik is fool enough to fight the church." Mord scowled at the vision of Ulfrik in his head, him presiding over his beautiful hall and bountiful lands.
    "Yet one more thing you have not considered. Ulfrik is a warrior. He has built a life of fighting and knows nothing else. He is a master of battle, but is he a master of peace? Give him a year or two of collecting taxes and settling petty arguments and he will be ripe for violence again. Peace will wear on him like rust on a knife, and he will break at the first push. We just watch for the right moment, then provide the push."
    "It's all too vague, Father. What if he deals better than we expect?"
    "Then we adjust our plans." Gunther smiled, his blind eye staring into the distance. "I will see him gone before I leave this world, and see you in his stead. Where you should have been all along."
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    It was after Sumarmál festivities that Gunnar learned Father Lambert was making trouble on his lands. He was standing outside of his hall, hands on hips, watching his son Leif run with the other boys as they played in the grass. The dozen of them were between two to four years old, and now piled upon each other with shouts of glee. Conversely, Gunnar frowned, listening to his hirdman describe the conflict with the priest.
    "So the priest has marked out the foundations of the church he intends to build, and it is in Hrothgar's pasture. The old man is trying to negotiate like you've asked, but the priest says it is the best spot for his church." The hirdman was named Bekan, and was one of the few original men to have sailed with Gunnar. Bekan had a craggy face and heavy brow. A jagged scar ran through his right brow, a horrid white line where a spear had nearly removed his eye. He stared after Leif while standing beside Gunnar, who ground his teeth and flared his nostrils.
    "He's deliberately provoking me. It's not enough that he had to insist we celebrate his Easter over our Sumarmál? Wasn't that one victory enough for him?"
    "Land is worth more than a festival day," Bekan said.
    "And the Christians have a festival day for a thousand of their saints. But it's never enough. They want more, and now they want my land."
    "Hrothgar is old and quick to anger. I think he might pull out his war gear and bring the fight to Father Lambert."
    "I might allow him the chance," Gunnar said.
    The children were again chasing each other in a circle, laughing without a care. A year and half had passed since the treaty of Saint Clair sur Epte has been made. Gunnar surveyed the prosperity he enjoyed since that time. His hall dominated a wide field, and around it were open homes and farms without walls. No longer did they fear Frankish attacks. Half the children running with his son were Franks, and they all spoke the same language. Farmers worked a field in the distance, and faint echoes of the blacksmith's hammering reached them. The parcel of land Ulfrik had cut from his territory and bestowed to him was every bit as rich as he had promised it would be. He and his people enjoyed success undreamed by any of them.
    Gunnar hated it. Certainly his wife, Morgan, loved the stability and the station of being a jarl's wife. All loved the taxes he collected and the wealth he now possessed. Peace brought trade and good harvests. Yet his belly grew softer by the day and his ships patrolled the Seine to encounter nothing more than boats of adventurous Danes who poked up from the