Larn:

I'd heard the exchange between Arno and the watchman more clearly than they had. And seen more clearly, too; to our scanner, the moonlit night might as well have been day.

I'd also seen Gilbert helped up the outside stairs to the top of the wall, followed by four knights or sergeants; their hauberks were longer than foot soldiers wore. Two had bows, while the others had pistols in their hands, and Gilbert gripped a stunner.

They lined up along the parapet, all but Gilbert keeping out of sight. I didn't waste any time settling downward to about a hundred feet from them, above and to the side. Then I slid the door open a couple of feet, while Arno and Gilbert had their friendly conversation. I did these about as fast as if I hadn't been stunned; all it took was light motions of the control rod in front of me, and a touch on the door control.

"Jenoor," I said quietly, "set your stunner on high, medium-wide beam, and take out the guys on top of the wall."

"Right, Larn."

As she knelt by the door, I saw Arno go down. "Quick!" I told her, and the men on the wall fell without another move. Without hesitating, I moved to just above the parapet. "Dad," I said, "the guys on the wall have got pistols and stunners. Will you pick them up? I'd rather not leave things like that with that crew."

"Right," he said, and moving to the widening door, jumped the forty inches or so down to the wall-top. He was back in maybe a minute, a pistol in each hand. An extra stunner was clipped to his belt and another pistol was shoved under it. "That's it," he said, and I lifted.

A minute later we were on the ground, and dad was outside helping Arno to his feet. Together they got aboard and I closed the door behind them for security, swiveling my seat to face them.

"Are you all right?" I asked Arno.

He looked around, saw Gunnlag and the rest of us. "Well enough," he said. "At that distance, Gilbert's stunner only numbed me a bit. And the horse, apparently."

"Good. I have an offer for you. Can you catch the horse again?"

"Probably. If your skyboat has not frightened him too badly." He looked around. "Where is your sister?"

"With our other skyboat," I said, and got him back to the subject. "Here is my proposal. Take the Varangians to Palermo, where they can get jobs as mercenaries if they want, and we'll take you with us to one of our worlds. They need warriors there who learn quickly and can lead."

Dad had been standing behind Arno, relaxed but with his hand on his stunner; he remembered what Arno had tried the last time he'd been aboard our cutter, nearly three years before. Now, as I made my offer to Arno, dad's eyebrows went halfway up his forehead. His Norman French was rusty, but he'd understood.

Meanwhile, Moise and Gunnlag were carrying on a murmured conversation in Greek. I hoped we weren't going to have any trouble from them. It didn't seem likely.

"Otherwise," I went on, still talking to Arno, "you have your rifle, your pistol, and your stunner. We'll leave some recharges with you, and our best wishes."

I could almost see him thinking. His wealth-his horse herd-had been lost. And while he could always start over… "I will take the Varangians to Palermo," he said, "and go with you. But I have already promised the Varangians that I will go back with them and pick up their wounded where we left them. And there are people here who would gladly see us dead. Did you kill Gilbert?"

"He's alive, but he'll be out of action for hours. We've got all his blasters and one of his stunners."

Arno nodded. "If I go to Palermo, how will you pick me up?"

"We can find you. Our wolves know how."

I turned to Gunnlag and Moise then. "Moise, tell Gunnlag to go with Arno. He will take the Varangians to Palermo, where there are jobs as mercenaries if they want them."

It was me Moise spoke to instead of to Gunnlag. "I already told him your offer to Arno. He said he wants the same offer. He will go to Palermo with them, but then he wants to go with you to your land. He thinks it must be very different from any land where he has been before. He would like to see it, and fight there. He will swear himself to you if you'd like."

I could see dad looking doubtful at that, and I could understand why. But I knew these men, and I felt some loyalty to them after all we'd gone through together.

"Tell Gunnlag I'll be glad to receive his oath. And after he and Arno have gotten their wounded and gone to Palermo, I will take him with us."

Moise turned to Gunnlag and talked to him in Greek. Gunnlag grinned through his beard, then sobered as he turned and spoke Greek at me.

"He wants to know how you swear a pledge in your land," Moise said.

"Tell him to repeat after me," I said, "and we'll shake hands on it afterward."

Again Moise spoke to Gunnlag in Greek. The Varangian nodded, and looked at me expectantly.

I, Gunnlag Snorrason…" I began in Norman.

Moise said it in Greek, and Gunnlag repeated after him.

"… being under no duress… do pledge by my God and the blessed Jesu…"

Gunnlag looked especially sober when he repeated the last of that.

"… to serve Larn kel Deroop faithfully until my death… or until we agree to cancel this pledge… And in the event of the death of Larn kel Deroop… to serve such member of his family as is present with us then… on the same basis."

When we'd said it all, we shook hands. In the background, dad blew quietly through pursed lips. I'd taken on a big responsibility. Gunnlag knew nothing about the kind of place we were going, or how to live or get along there. But from the little I knew of him, he'd changed lands and careers several times before, and things new and different were like food and drink to him.

Moise broke my thoughts. "Sire," he said to me, and I turned to him. "I, too, would like to go with you."

"Moise, you might not like the world we're going to."

"I believe I would, sire. Tarel has told me something of the worlds among the stars, and of your quest to free them. Here my family is dead, and I have no place, I would like to help you."

Somehow it was a lot harder for me to agree to take Moise than Gunnlag, the seasoned Norse mercenary and occasional pirate. Moise was really a different case, and besides, he made it seem so idealistic. And I guess it is idealistic, but we knew what we were getting into, more or less.

But who was I to decide what he should do with his life? Besides, I'd come here to recruit, among other things.

"Tarel," I said, "you're the one who talked to him about it. If he's willing to pledge himself to you, and you're willing to accept it, he can come along."

Tarel looked flustered. Behind Gunnlag and Moise, I could see dad start to grin. He saw me watching, grinned wider, and winked at me.

Tarel nodded and talked it over with Moise. They shook hands on it; the pledge had been made.

Ten minutes later, with the destrier finally having let himself be caught, Arno was in the saddle, with Gunnlag up behind him, and they started down the road to the Varangians.