{"product_id":"2940013787889","title":"King Alfred's Viking","description":"Chapter I. The Seeking of Sword Helmbiter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMen call me \"King Alfred's Viking,\" and I think that I may be proud\u003cbr\u003eof that name; for surely to be trusted by such a king is honour\u003cbr\u003eenough for any man, whether freeman or thrall, noble or churl.\u003cbr\u003eMaybe I had rather be called by that name than by that which was\u003cbr\u003emine when I came to England, though it was a good title enough that\u003cbr\u003emen gave me, if it meant less than it seemed. For being the son of\u003cbr\u003eVemund, king of Southmereland in Norway, I was hailed as king when\u003cbr\u003efirst I took command of a ship of my own. Sea king, therefore, was\u003cbr\u003eI, Ranald Vemundsson, but my kingdom was but over ship and men, the\u003cbr\u003ecircle of wide sea round me was nought that I could rule over, if I\u003cbr\u003emight seem to conquer the waves by the kingship of good seaman's\u003cbr\u003ecraft.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne may ask how I came to lose my father's kingdom, which should\u003cbr\u003ehave been mine, and at last to be content with a simple English\u003cbr\u003eearldom; or how it was that a viking could be useful to Alfred, the\u003cbr\u003ewise king. So I will tell the first at once, and the rest may be\u003cbr\u003elearned from what comes after.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf one speaks to me of Norway, straightway into my mind comes the\u003cbr\u003eremembrance of the glare of a burning hall, of the shouts of savage\u003cbr\u003ewarriors, and of the cries of the womenfolk, among whom I, a\u003cbr\u003eten-year-old boy, was when Harald Fairhair sent the great Jarl\u003cbr\u003eRognvald and his men to make an end of Vemund, my father. For\u003cbr\u003eHarald had sworn a great oath to subdue all the lesser kings in the\u003cbr\u003eland and rule there alone, like Gorm in Denmark and Eirik in\u003cbr\u003eSweden. So my father's turn came, and as he feasted with his ninety\u003cbr\u003estout courtmen, the jarl landed under cover of the dark and fell on\u003cbr\u003ehim, surrounding the house and firing it. Then was fierce fighting\u003cbr\u003eas my father and his men sallied again and again from the doors and\u003cbr\u003ewere driven back, until the high roof fell in and there was a\u003cbr\u003esudden silence, and an end.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen in the silence came my mother's voice from where she stood on\u003cbr\u003ethe balcony of the living house across the garth {i}. I mind\u003cbr\u003ethat she neither wept nor shrieked as did the women round her, and\u003cbr\u003eher voice was clear and strong over the roaring of the flames. I\u003cbr\u003emind, too, the flash of helms and armour as every man turned to\u003cbr\u003elook on her who spoke.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Coward and nidring art thou, Rognvald, who dared not meet Vemund,\u003cbr\u003emy husband, in open field, but must slay him thus. Ill may all\u003cbr\u003ethings go with thee, till thou knowest what a burning hall is like\u003cbr\u003efor thyself. I rede thee to the open hillside ever, rather than\u003cbr\u003ecome beneath a roof; for as thou hast wrought this night, so shall\u003cbr\u003eothers do to thee.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen rose a growl of wrath from Rognvald's men, but the great Jarl\u003cbr\u003ebade them cease, and harm none in all the place. So he went down to\u003cbr\u003ehis ships with no more words and men said that he was ill at ease\u003cbr\u003eand little content, for he had lost as many men as he had slain, so\u003cbr\u003estoutly fought my father and our courtmen, and had earned a curse,\u003cbr\u003emoreover, which would make his nights uneasy for long enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen as he went my mother bade me look well at him, that in days to\u003cbr\u003ecome I might know on whom to avenge my father's death. After that\u003cbr\u003eshe went to her own lands in the south, for she was a jarl's\u003cbr\u003edaughter, and very rich.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot long thereafter Harald Fairhair won all the land, and then\u003cbr\u003ebegan the trouble of ruling it; and men began to leave Norway\u003cbr\u003ebecause of the new laws, which seemed hard on them, though they\u003cbr\u003ewere good enough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow two of Jarl Rognvald's sons had been good friends of my father\u003cbr\u003ebefore these troubles began, and one, Sigurd, had been lord over\u003cbr\u003ethe Orkney Islands, and had died there. The other, Jarl Einar, fell\u003cbr\u003eout with Rognvald, his father, and we heard that he would take to\u003cbr\u003ethe viking path, and go to the Orkneys, to win back the jarldom\u003cbr\u003ethat Sigurd's death had left as a prey to masterless men and\u003cbr\u003epirates of all sorts. So my mother took me to him, and asked him\u003cbr\u003efor the sake of old friendship to give me a place in his ship; for\u003cbr\u003eI was fourteen now, and well able to handle weapons, being strong\u003cbr\u003eand tall for my age, as were many of the sons of the old kingly\u003cbr\u003estocks.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47152694231280,"sku":"2940013787889","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013787889_p0.jpg?v=1763590232","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013787889","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}