TLV - 02 - The Road of the Sea Horse by Poul Anderson

could never live under one roof. Each will ever have her own way of doing things. And it rasps me the way she must put on airs because she's a Russian princess. My folk were kings when hers were landless Swedish Vikings."
    "No more of that," said Harald. "I've too much to do already, without being plagued by women's fits."
    "Oh, well, let Ellisif mope about with her heathenish icons and those priests you got for her. I have you." Thora's arms stole about his neck.
    He felt a dim guilt, almost as if he were letting a murdered friend lie unavenged; but the urgent warmth of her, pressing against him, drove it from his mind.
     
    2
     
    Between harvest and the first snowfall, Harald summoned a Thing of the Throndheim men to lay before them his proposals. This proved to be a great assembly, swarming over the field: a racket of voices, a whirlpool of faces, a little town of gaily decked booths, the shaggy presence of many horses. It was held with both old and new ceremonies; Mass was heard and the lawmen recited the laws; a full day passed before business could start.
    Harald mounted the platform when they were ready and addressed the gathering. He wished to announce the honors he had given Ulf Uspaksson and the submission of the Orkneys; he meant to go back to Denmark next year with a force as large as he had had this time; he planned a stone minster in Nidharos, dedicated to Our Lady, as a new shrine for Olaf's holy remains; a town was needed on the Oslofjord; to do all this, and much more, he wanted increased taxes, but every sensible man could see it was for the good of the whole country.
    Einar Thambaskelfir trod weightily forth. As the mightiest of the Throndlaw sheriffs and the chosen spokesman of the people, he was a man to listen to with respect, and Harald noticed more silence for him than there had been before. Gray and strong, his seamed face bitten into angry lines, he took the word:
    "My lord, you bring fine news about the islands, though no surprise to most of us. Some might say that a lucky turn of Western affairs brought this about, but I shall not dispute your statecraft in the matter. As for the power given your henchman Ulf Uspaksson, this is your right and we have many other chiefs of no small power. The Lady Church is doubtless a holy work, even if some feel that Nidharos has enough churches already. However, my lord, when the Throndheim folk must pay scot to benefit the Southerners, with this town of yours, and when again our land must be emptied to make war in a foreign country, it is well to stop for thought.
    "There is no threat to us from outside which we cannot meet with a levy when needed, and indeed many folk mislike paying to support your standing forces at their present size. There are no few suits to be brought at this Thing against royal guardsmen who stayed behind this year. Most of them are from other shires, and they have proved an overbearing lot. Some feel that the king has already too much power, and goes too recklessly forward. Eirik Blood-ax was driven from the land, Haakon the Good was forced to acknowledge our old laws and freehold rights, the Eirikssons had scant help in their time of need because they had been too haughty, and Haakon Jarl was abandoned for Olaf Tryggvason because he also found power a heady drink.
    "Rather than that the realm again suffer such troubles, I feel it wiser that we abide by ancient usage. Let not the king claim more than is lawfully his; let him not keep a guard so large that folk groan to support it; let him not engage in adventures which may increase his own domains but cost his people blood and gold. Let him ride the land like a good horseman, not so furiously that the steed must either throw him or burst its heart.
    "It is the will of the chiefs and, I think, all sound men, that the king abide by the laws and give himself more to building up his own realm than tearing down someone else's. I thank you, my Lord."
    Those who were nearby saw Harald pale and