"The bed is a nest of lice anyway. I'm better off on the floor." Thunder cracked close enough for the table to vibrate under Thrand's arms; the sheep panicked again but had nowhere to run but in a circle. "We sail for Frankia next week. What do you think of that?"
"I hear it's warmer, and filled with beautiful women. We'll get to kill and loot the bastards until we're rich. Sounds great."
"Sounds great until you consider we've heard this from Ulfrik before." He raised his head to regard Kolbyr. Confused lines drew over his face, and Thrand continued. "A few weeks ago, you were sitting on that stool and complaining about your poor share of spoils. Now you've got another one of Ulfrik's stories, and you're feeling great. Does that make sense?"
"Don't it?" Thrand shrugged. "That one-eyed giant sailed into the fjord with an army and promised us riches if we followed him."
"No! He promised Ulfrik riches, and he gifted Ulfrik with a bag of gold. I saw it myself!"
"Which eye saw it?"
"I'll pull your fucking eyes out, you turd, and teach you some manners!" Thrand squelched the impulse to fight by draining his horn and throwing it aside. "Now think again. Whatever you and I take in loot, he'll be sure to claim a share as his own, and whatever his lord awards him won't pass to our hands. But we'll be in the shield walls, our lives at risk just as his, even more so since no one will defend us if we stumble. Does that sound fair?"
"It's that way everywhere," Kolbyr spread his hands wide. "It's a rare jarl who splits evenly with all. Never heard of one, actually."
Thrand covered his face with both hands, the scent of dirt and sour ale trapped over his nose. Had he misunderstood Kolbyr's intentions, or was he being cautious? He let his hands fall to the table, the air cool and refreshing where he had covered himself. Rain continued to pelt the house, and the constant splash of water running out of the smoke hole made him feel like urinating.
"Listen to me, Kolbyr; I've got a secret to share with you." Lightning flashed white through the cracks in the walls and openings, but thunder did not follow. "There's more happening during this adventure than you know. Ulfrik has a secret plan."
Thunder finally pealed; a warm and distant growl of a retreating storm. Kolbyr sat straighter and leaned across the table. "I'll keep your secret, friend. You know I am trustworthy."
Thrand smiled, but wondered at the self-proclaimed trustworthiness. Yet he had no one else. "You know that Frankish slave we captured, the priest? He claims to know of treasure hidden in Paris, and if we help him take revenge on his enemies then he'll lead us to it."
"Why not cut off one finger at a time until he reveals the treasure and skip helping him?"
"And it may come to that, but it's not the important part. The treasure is a huge cross of ancient gold, hidden in one of the Frank's holy places. Ulfrik plans to follow the slave into Paris, using secret paths, and to steal that cross without his lord knowing." Thrand held his breath, ensuring Kolbyr looked him in the eye. "Nor anyone else."
Kolbyr leaned back, shadow flowing about his face like black water. The oil lamp guttered and the room twisted in long shadows. Dripping rain water filled the silence until Kolbyr spoke.
"You're drunk, as usual. Just a moment ago you told me Ulfrik's plans were a waste of time and now you talk about a plot to steal treasure from Paris."
"I thought the same as you, but Ander cast his rune sticks. The gods have shown us the truth. The slave's story is genuine and the gods favor us with its secret. Ulfrik swore ten of us to secrecy, his closest men. He only did that because he couldn't get the gold alone. Otherwise, he'd tell no one, not for all that treasure."
"And you're betraying his secret to me for the same reason."
Thrand stiffened, blinking at Kolbyr who sneered at him. His ale-loosened tongue gave a ready reply. "I underestimated you. You know what I'm asking of you?"
Kolbyr nodded with a smirk. "But why don't you tell me, in case I'm mistaken. You're in Lord Ulfrik's inner circle, after all, and not me."
"It's not a test," he said with more anger than intended, though it only made Kolbyr smile wider. "I'm offering you a chance at a treasure that your lord planned to hide from you. He won't even allow you to participate. Splitting it ten ways is hard enough for him, never mind among everyone."
"And how will you get me into Lord Ulfrik's circle so that I can get a share?"
"Let me be clearer. Ulfrik has failed me. On every count, total failure. My home collapses over my head. I call five sheep a flock. My brother gave his life so that Ulfrik and Toki could have everything they desired, while I got nothing but a share of pitiful treasure. Now he plans to enrich himself, and spend that treasure on building ships and weapons. And if I even live through this, I'll get an armband and a share not worthy of all I've done for the man.
"You and I are going to relieve Ulfrik of that treasure. We will split the gold, and each of us will be free to go our own ways. No more will I follow a stingy and short-sighted lord. No more will I have to endure life in a barren land without women or people to call friends. That treasure, we will have it."
His head throbbed from his anger, and Thrand's vision filled with images of Ulfrik laughing and drinking with his friends while he sat unwelcome in a corner. Swimming throughout were other thoughts, where Ulfrik wept for his brother and promised to honor him. Yet the memory vanished and he saw Ulfrik scowling and calling him a drunk. He shook his head. Once cleared, he again saw Kolbyr with arms folded across his chest.
"Do you have a plan to get away with this? Before I agree, I want to know what I'm getting into."
"Of course, the details aren't clear, but I have an idea. The two of us cannot do this alone, but no one will aid us from this place. There will be other jarls with their men at Paris. If we can cause trouble between one of them and Ulfrik, we will have a distraction. Then we either get the slave to take us to the treasure or use the distraction to steal off with it."
"That's another way to tell me you're relying on luck."
"Not at all! I cannot plan until I see the landscape. Right now I need to know you are with me on this." Thrand waited, his hand sliding beneath the table to grasp the cool, sharkskin-covered handle of the short sword he had laid against the table leg. The rough sharkskin bit into his grip, and he watched Kolbyr's eyes follow his hand down. If he declined, Thrand decided, he could not live.
Thunder boomed in the distance, and the rain had decreased to a patter. Kolbyr held still, and Thrand's pulse throbbed in his grip. He tasted salty sweat rolling off his lip into his mouth.
"Put your hand back on the table. I'm in."
Thrand exhaled with a smile, letting go of his sword and reaching out to shake Kolbyr's hand. "Then we've decided. I knew I had not misjudged you."
They shook, Thrand impressed at the strong grasp of his young partner. The relief was exuberant, though in his heart he knew Kolbyr would eventually try to kill him for a chance at all the gold. It was the way of such alliances, and Thrand expected he also understood it. For now, they were unified in purpose.
"There's one final thing we should be clear about," Thrand said. "To be successful, we might have to kill Ulfrik."
"If he fights, he will die."
"No, I mean that our plans may be best served if we kill him in his sleep or at another time. You won't have trouble with that, will you?"
"Not if we are getting all that gold for ourselves. I'll slit his throat myself."
Both men laughed, and thunder rolled in the distance to seal their pact.
CHAPTER NINE
November, 885 CE
"Finding Gunther among so many people will take all night." Ulfrik and his eighty warriors had waded ashore and now stood on a sandy beach at the meeting place designated a month ago. Locating the fjord had been simple, since Ulfrik guessed every longship in the circle of the world headed to the same place. He had only to follow the others.