King Hereafter Read Online Free PDF

Kalv, stretching comfortably. ‘You’d think, all things considered, that Thorfinn would be here, taking an interest.’
    Thorkel Amundason shrugged, saying nothing. For six years he had waited, his foster-son’s words in his head, watching him grow, and dreading the demand that was certain, surely, to come, but so far had not.
Thorkel Amundason, give me an army. I mean to drive Malcolm and Gillacomghain from Moray
.
    Dreading it, because such an attack would be doomed. Moray was part of the kingdom of Alba. And if the King of Alba, the other Malcolm, had taken no steps to punish Findlaech’s murderers, then it was not for Thorfinn his grandson to do so. The men of Caithness wouldn’t support him. The men of one-third of Orkney wouldn’t cross to fight for a child-Earl in Alba. And the sort of silver that would hire him an army was not within their resources.
    Whereas it might well be within the resources of Malcolm and Gillacomghain, who had paid homage to King Canute of England, with the approval, one supposed, of Malcolm of Alba.
    Stick to Olaf
, Kalv was advising; and there was no doubt that he was right. Olaf was the only bulwark against Canute and his dreams of an empire of the north. Thorkel was surprised, indeed, that Kalv had risked going about with this fellow, his wife’s nephew Siward. You heard of some district leaders in Norway who had already crossed to join Canute in England. He thought of asking Siward what his father was up to these days, and decided against it. In any case, Kalv was still pursuing something.
    Kalv said, ‘So you’d better look to your alliances, my friend, if you want to hold off King Canute and the Moray men. Thorfinn’s eighteen. It’s time you got him a wife. Only, if you’ll take my advice, not an Irish one. I know he’s got Ossory blood on both sides, but, believe me, you’d get nothing out of it.’
    Thorkel did not mind being steered. He wondered how much Kalv was being paid. He said thoughtfully, ‘You’re right. What about an heiress from Dublin?’
    Kalv’s face changed, as he expected. ‘Sitric’s family? Well, they’re Norse, and we trade with them, of course. But I ask you, who would marry the best town in Ireland to a lad with nothing more than a toe-hold in Orkney and the rights in a bit of the cold end of Alba? Unless he has attractions I haven’t seen yet?’
    ‘His father thought he was going to take over Dublin when he was killed at Clontarf,’ said Kalv’s nephew surprisingly. Kalv gave him a look, and turned back again.
    Thorkel said placidly, ‘It’s difficult, isn’t it? Who could Thorfinn suitably marry? You can’t suggest a girl in your quarter? What about Finn’s two little daughters?’
    Kalv said cheerfully, ‘Keep it in the family? If they weren’t already spoken for, I’d say you couldn’t do better. But there are a lot of other well-founded families in Trøndelagen who breed fast and might well be tempted. I’ll try one or two when I get back, if you like. Don’t marry him off till the autumn.’
    Thorkel promised, and their ale-horns were refreshed, and emptied, and filled again. Kalv had achieved, it would seem, what he hoped for. Only once Thorkel himself brought back the subject. ‘And so Finn’s daughters are spoken for. Already? Who is Ingibjorg contracted to marry?’
    Kalv did not shift in his seat, but by a small margin only. ‘Oh, you know what contracts are,’ he said. ‘She’s a child. Time enough to take it seriously when she’s twelve. Till then, we’re not making much of the news, although Finn, naturally, is pleased with the match. He’s signed to marry his daughter to Earl Brusi’s son Rognvald.’
    So his cousins the Arnasons were backing Brusi and Orkney, and not Thorfinn and the cold end of Alba. Well, good luck to them. Thorkel Amundason smiled, and congratulated Kalv on his niece’s prospects, and agreed yet again with Kalv’s conviction that the hope of the north was King Olaf.
    He believed