095

I was a bit irritated, my firing on the city did not seem to have any effect ... after two hours of continuous fire, a small delegation left the city ... A few soldiers, a bishop and probably some nobleman ...

-I'm an emissary from King Offa, my name is ... (Ealdorman)

- No matter what your name is, do you pay or do we fight? It doesn't matter to me, I will get what I want anyway. (Ulf)

- We wanted to negotiate ... (Ealdorman)

- I did not come here to negotiate with the mindless animal ... King Aelle died by my hand, his wife is also dead. His children took refuge in Wessex, and the Kingdom of Mercia may face a similar fate. Pay or die. That is your choice. (Ulf)

- We don't have that much gold and silver. We need time. (Ealdorman)

- King Aella asked for time and we gave it to him, but instead of paying, he attacked us ... If you want to blame someone, you can blame King Aelle's corpse ... You may not have heard of it yet, but Canterbury, Lundenwick, Oxnaford and Lichfield. .. all these cities and settlements were conquered by us. (Ulf)

- But ... (Ealdorman)

I grabbed the hatchet and threw it at the buskup, the blade pierced his breast, I heard his ribs crack.

- Don't waste my time, I wait an hour for a reply ... then we attack. (Ulf)

The delegation left immediately ... By the time they reached the city gates and got inside, 10 minutes had passed from the given hour ... well another hour wasted waiting, I might as well take a nap ... maybe I had a pleasant dream.

- Ulf ... Ulf! ... Ulf !!! (Leif)

- What...??? Oh, it's you ... What's so urgent that you have to wake me up? (Ulf)

- The delegation is back, they want to talk to you. (Leif)

- How much time has passed? (Ulf)

- Less than an hour, they returned very quickly. (Leif)

- Bring them. (Ulf)

I got up, rubbed my eyes, and felt like I needed to pee. I walked away with a joke and started doing my thing ... when I heard a voice behind me. I turned quickly, it was Leif and the royal messenger ... whom I just pissed on ... and I wasn't going to be polite.

- What's your decision? (Ulf)

- King Offa accepts your offer, but he has his terms. You must leave Mercia's Kingdom immediately, free all prisoners, and you must swear that you will never return here. (Ealdorman)

- I expected the King to try to bargain ... but we agree to these terms. We don't have many prisoners, we killed most of them ... it was a pain to feed them, but we'll give those who live. You have two hours to deliver the gold and silver ... now get out of my sight. (Ulf)

We didn't have many prisoners, after the capture of London they were all sent to Jorvik. The ones we had now came from a few villages on the way to the King's seat and from Oxnaford ... there were no more than 400 captives. Taking the oath that we would never come back here was also not a problem ... I won't even have to break my word ... just one of my Jarls with another army will come here ... maybe it was a bit of a stretch of the oath, but definitely not breaking it.

When I dismissed the messenger, I decided to return to my interrupted nap ...

(King Offa / Ealdorman POV)

- Lord, there was no other option, their army is great ... even if all the inhabitants fight, there will be no more than a thousand people. (Ealdorman)

- I know, but five thousand pounds of gold and silver is almost the entire treasury ... I know we have to pay. The more important thing is Wessex, Ecbert will certainly grow in strength ... He may want to regain the former Kingdom of Kent. (King Offa)

- Lord, what are you going to do? (Ealdorman)

- What can I do? On the one hand, the pagans, on the other, Ecbert, perhaps the best solution would be to give him the Kingdom of Kent in exchange for an alliance and part of the territory of the Kingdom of Northumbria. (King Offa)

- My Lord, and maybe we'll drive these heathens to Wessex. We'll tell them about the rich kingdom, maybe they won't resist the temptation and attack the lands of King Ecbert. Whether the heathens win or lose does not matter. Both sides will suffer losses. (Ealdorman)

- This is not a stupid idea ... but will we succeed? ... Even if not, we lose nothing. (King Offa)

(End POV)

Two hours later, Leif woke me up again and said that several wagons had arrived. I told him that our people should check the contents, and if everything was correct, let him release the prisoners ... The case turned out to be more complicated.

- King Offa, he wishes you to leave his lands immediately, he does not care whether you go to the wilderness of the north or to the Kingdom of Wessex, you are to leave the Kingdom of Mercia. (Ealdorman)

- I gave my word and as soon as the number of treasures will match, we will move in our direction. (Ulf)

- In the far north you can meet bloodthirsty Scots, they are dangerous savages ... (Ealdorman)

- Thank you for the warning, but I do not know yet what direction we will take ... Maybe the Welsh Kingdoms, maybe somewhere else. (Ulf)

- They are poor and savages like the Scots, far from the glory of the Kingdom of Wessex or Mercia. (Ealdorman)

I guess only a fool would get what King Offa wanted ... The Scots and the Welsh are poor savages, but Wessex is rich ... it was such an obvious trick ... I had my plans and I wasn't going to be some fool's tool.

- I see that King Offa is very interested in the direction in which we will go, maybe he wants to set a trap for us? (Ulf)