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- After you kil ... my husband died ... (Queen)

- You wanted to say after I saved your life ... I'm not interrupting you anymore. I just didn't want my heroic act of saving the woman to be forgotten, My Lady. (Ulf)

- Yes ... after his death, there was peace for several months, I had the support of the nobility, the church and the commoners. Three or four months ago things started to change. The nobility divided into three camps, one supporting my son's right to the throne and mine as regent. The second group supports relatives of Æthelwald Moll, as he once sat on the throne. The third group is the nobility who have been bribed by Wessex. Northumbria has not known much peace since you came to this land. (Queen)

- My Lady, this pitiful tone does not suit you ... More smile, you are queen, you are beautiful, you are rich and you have me as your ally ... many people would change places with you ... And what does the church say to all this? (Ulf)

- Nothing, they are grateful for the recovery of the remains of the saints, but they do not want to get involved in secular matters ... (Queen)

- Since when? But It doesn't matter, they just wait for someone to come out victorious and join his camp. Where are the rebels? (Ulf)

- Their main forces are in Edinburgh, Carlisle and Eoforwic ... (Queen)

- So the problem is solved, but everything comes at a price, especially my help ... I will defeat your enemies, but not for free. (Ulf)

- You want my body ... (Queen)

- Are you going to pay my army that way too? Our price is Eoforwic, you give us this town. It is in the hands of your enemies anyway, so the price is not high. (Ulf)

The queen turned red in her face, hearing about sex with 4,500 soldiers ... but she also understood that if she wanted to keep the throne, she had to pay for it ... the city wasn't in her hands anyway, so she didn't lose anything. Eventually she agreed to my offer ... the feast was slowly coming to an end.

- My Lady, if you are tired I will escort you to your private quarters ... we must somehow celebrate this alliance ... (Ulf)

The queen was petrified, she did not know how to behave or what to say.

- Lord ... (Queen)

- I'm just teasing you ... You don't have to be nervous, today you'll sleep alone ... I have to go back to the camp. (Ulf)

Once in the camp, I called Leif and Rollo to my tent.

- I have a task for you, each of you will take 800 people. Leif You set off for Edinburgh. Rollo Your task will be to get Carlisle. Try to take as many prisoners as possible, we will need them. You can burn the cities. When you come back together we will go to Eoforwic ... oh, half of your people, they will be warriors of those who voted against me in Norway, so you don't have to worry about loss of people. (Ulf)

- Why do we need Eoforwic? Wasn't it better to demand gold and silver in exchange for our swords? This city is worth that much? (Rollo)

- We need a place that will be ours, it will be our fortress and a place to rest. From this city we're going to launch attacks on other kingdoms ... The name of this place is weird, so we'll call it Jorvík. (Ulf)

I marked them the places to be attacked on a wooden map, Rollo had to travel about 120 km by land, Leif 130 km by sea or 110 km by land, I let him decide which route he would prefer to take. Although the land route was shorter, people would be more rested when traveling by boat, and the difference of 20 kilometers is not that significant.

The next day, Leif and Rollo set off towards their goals and I was going to devote my full attention to Jorvik, historically it was the largest Viking city in England, at the peak of its power, it was inhabited by 10,000 people and was one of the most important centers of commerce. With this city in my hand, I was able to attack the other Kingdoms on the island with ease... I will definitely have to fortify the Jorvik and leave a permanent garrison here during the winter ... supplies and food will also be needed.

Four days later Leif and his men returned ... Edinburgh was captured. I called Leif over to tell me about the battle.

- We hit in the late evening from the sea. Most of the city's defenses were directed towards the land, they were not prepared to attack from the water. The fights lasted several hours, the people you talked about were sent to where the fights were the most difficult, over a hundred of them died. We have acquired a lot of treasures, gold, silver, jewels and many other things, we also have over 600 prisoners. (Leif)

- Are there nobles among the prisoners? (Ulf)

- Just a few. We didn't manage to catch the rest alive ... the city was thoroughly checked before we set it on fire. (Leif)

I had the treasures gathered in one place, and the slaves divided into nobility, craftsmen and working mules ... the appearance of women in the camp definitely improved the mood of the people.

The group that Rollo led returned two weeks after Leif's return. While this goal was won, loot and slaves were numerous. The losses in Rolla's group were much greater ... nearly 300 fighters were killed and 100 were wounded. Fortunately, many who died were the people of my opponents ... once again the treasures were gathered in one place and the slaves divided.

I ordered all the captured nobles to be brought to me ... a few minutes later ten men and their families were kneeling in front of my tent.

- When King Aella was alive, you all kissed his ass so that he would look at you kindly, after his death you decided to betray his wife and son for your own benefit ... I understand, and I would probably do the same ... but this is not what I wanted to talk about. Recently, I miss entertainment ... We will pair you up and give you weapons, you will fight with each other, those who survive will not be killed. Whoever refuses to fight will die after a long torture. To make it more interesting, relatives will fight among themselves. (Ulf)