and I am ready to pay the price.”
Björn smiled cynically. “I thought that was all you had. With those men robbing you blind, I knew there could not be much left.”
He pulled out the pouch he had removed from the body of the priest. “This is more than you promised me; we can consider ourselves even. There is much more left, and I would advise you to get the villagers together and collect it. Who knows, perhaps you will reclaim even more than they took from you.”
“We can never reclaim as much as they took from us.”
Björn looked at him for a long moment. “I am sorry. That was stupid of me. Nothing, not even death, can ever make up for the evil men like that do. But perhaps it will be some solace to you to know that most of them died in fear.”
“That was still too easy for them,” Thane said. “But I am complaining when I should be thanking you. I thank you, Northlander. If you will wait, the others will come and add their thanks.”
“That will not be necessary.”
After looking at Thane intently for a time, Björn bounced the pouch in his hand. “This is more than we agreed upon. I still owe you. If you ever have need of me again, and I hope you do not, please send for me. I will come.”
“Thank you. I hope we never need you, but you will always be welcome here.”
The cynical smile returned to Björn’s lips. “I know you mean that honestly. But I have learned the hard way that after I have completed my task, those I have worked for are glad to see me go and hope never to see me again.”
Raising his hand in salute, he turned and left the tavern. He and Jago left the way they had come, dust rising from their footsteps and following them down the road.
CHAPTER TWO
THE PRINCESS
“So,” the fat man laughed as he continued to wipe the already spotless bar. “Did you create a lot of mischief?”
Björn responded somewhat wearily. “Gibbons, why do I tolerate you? How about I just put a sword through you and make Wudo owner of this decrepit tavern?” While speaking, he gestured toward a slow-moving young man sweeping the worn wood floor.
Gibbons colored a bit, showing he was at least a little taken aback, but pressed on, “I guess it is because you find me so lovable, Northlander. Or perhaps it is because everyone passes here at some time and I know all of them.”
The tavern keeper reached behind him and brought forth a sheaf of papers. Some were full sheets of clean, quality paper; some where on dirty and wrinkled scraps. “What would you do without me, Northlander? I am the only person you know who enjoys your company!”
Gibbons handed the papers to Björn, who dropped a gold piece into his waiting palm. “You must be popular. So many messages and so many people wanting you. You must be more likable than I realized.” He laughed loudly at his own humor. “Or is it that you have friends other than me and Wudo?”
Wudo looked up from his sweeping and grinned broadly.
Björn weaved his way through the tables crowded into the room until he came to a bench at a far table. Sitting with his back to the wall, he began reading his messages.
Gibbons, knowing that Björn never drank alcohol, shouted across the room with pseudo generosity, “Can I get you a drink?” Being ignored did not faze him. “The fancy leather pouch is from a king. He wants you to guard his daughter! You have never worked for a princess before. Choose that one and I will give you instructions on how to behave around royalty.” He stepped from behind the bar and skipping nimbly gave a sweeping swing of his arms. “This way, your Björn-ess.” Gibbons guffawed at his own joke.
“Perhaps someone should teach you not to open other people’s messages,” scowled Björn, pulling a long letter from the already opened, ornately adorned leather pouch. Before looking at the message, he examined the pouch.
“Never saw anything so fancy, have you?” Gibbons exclaimed. “He should be able to pay a lot if he can spend that much on the message pouch. Maybe there will be enough gold for the two of us. Anyone who works for a princess must have a manservant, and I will happily be your manservant if the price is right.”
The Northlander tried without success to suppress a grin. “You had best bring along that big club you stash behind the bar for quieting rowdies. Since I am to be a gentlemen mingling with royalty, I will leave it to you to fight the warlocks, ogres, wild beasts and monsters. It would be unbecoming for a dandy like me to engage in such mundane activities.”
Gibbons flexed his muscles jokingly as he straightened his big frame. “So long as those warlocks, ogres, wild beasts and monsters are small and weak, and the pay is right, I think I can handle the job. So, is that the job you are going to take?”
“I will have to look at the rest of these messages before I decide.” Björn sighed. “Perhaps I should stay here for awhile and keep Wudo entertained.”
The young man gave Björn a broad, vacant smile and replied, “Wudo be glad to play with you, Mr. Northlander.”
Giving a visible shudder at the thought, Gibbons said sarcastically, “With you sitting around here with your happy face, I would not have a single customer left within a week. Pick one of those jobs and go somewhere—wreck the countryside!”
Ignoring Gibbons, Björn continued reading through the messages. One was from a wealthy merchant wanting his protection during a long and dangerous trading journey. In another, a baron was requesting him to serve as his bodyguard. There was a plea from a mother asking him to bring back her only son who had been conscripted into an army. A rich landowner wanted him to evict unlawful homesteaders from his land. Some monks were desperate to retrieve the gold, silver and jeweled religious icons stolen by brigands who had stormed and plundered their monastery.
Björn glanced away from the messages, picking up the pouch from the king. It jingled, and he turned the pouch upside down, dropping five gold pieces onto the table. Looking up at Gibbons with his eyes twinkling, he said, “I wonder where the rest of them are.”
“I knew you would say that so I added three to the pouch,” Gibbons said.
Björn laughed at the thought of the barkeeper giving money away, but he also knew Gibbons would not steal from him.
Reading the message, Björn was even more intrigued. King Brewster reigned over the kingdom of Kallthom. He had promised his daughter’s hand in marriage to the elderly king of Carigo. Carigo was a far distance across the plains from Kallthom, and between Kallthom and Carigo was the kingdom of Delph, a kingdom Kallthom had been at war with for centuries. The marriage of King Brewster’s daughter to Carigo’s king would form an alliance between the two kingdoms that would give Kallthom the upper hand so Kallthom could finally defeat the Delphs. King Brewster proposed to send his army to surround the princess and Björn, keeping the Delphs away from them all through the journey. He needed Björn to act as the princess’ personal protector.
While not sympathetic to the purpose
