"Do you not know that it is an offence to molest a ship in the emperor's harbour?" demanded the quaestor.

I conveyed the man's words, and Harald replied: "And is it an offence in the emperor's harbour to steal a man's silver?"

"Of course it is," replied the guard. "Do you claim that they tried to steal your silver?"

"Nay," confessed Harald, "they are not the thieves-it is you who have stolen my silver." The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the entire company of barbarians rose up with a terrible shout and threw themselves upon the guardsmen. The struggle was brief, and the Sea Wolves were able to disarm their outmanned opponents with little effort and no bloodshed.

Then, seizing the quaestor, Harald hurled the thief onto the deck, and placed his foot on the man's neck. The guardsmen squirmed to see their master treated so, but they were disarmed and held in the iron grip of Danes inflamed with righteous anger, and there was nothing they could do.

The quaestor shouted and thrashed around, demanding to be released. Jarl Harald, his bare foot well placed to crush the official's neck, ignored the commotion and called for his sword. The blade appeared and was placed into his outstretched hand.

"What is this?" the quaestor croaked from the ship's deck. "What…?" Appealing to me, the captive shrieked pitifully, "Tell him, agh!…must release us at once…wrath of the emperor! Tell him!"

The king indicated that I should relay the prisoner's words; I convinced Harald to free the man's throat sufficiently to allow the wretch to speak, then repeated the quaestor's threat. Harald laughed. "Good! I have not killed a thief in a long time. I will enjoy telling his master why I have done this." With that, he raised the sword.

"Wait!" cried the writhing captive.

"Tell him to hold still," Harald instructed, "or it will not be a clean chop."

"What? What?" gasped the quaestor.

"He says you'd better lie still or the blow will not be clean."

"Tell him it was a mistake," shouted the quaestor. "Tell him I will give it all back."

"It is too late," I told him. "King Harald has determined to take revenge on you for the way you cheated him yesterday. He no longer cares about the money."

"Then what does he want?"

"He wants to nail your head to the mast of this ship," I answered. "And I believe he will do that very thing."

Harald removed his foot from the quaestor's neck, and placed the edge of the sharpened sword against the soft flesh; the tender skin parted and a few large drops of blood trailed down the doomed man's neck and splashed onto the deck.

"Does he know who I am?" the captive shrieked.

"He believes you to be the man who made him a fool before his men and stole his silver," I replied.

"You are making a mistake!" wailed the captive.

Harald put his foot on the man's back and raised the sword above his head, preparing to strike.

"No! No!" shrieked the quaestor. "Wait! Listen to me! I am an important man, a wealthy man. You can ransom me!"

"What does he say now?" wondered Harald, squinting his eye as he judged where the blade would fall.

"He is saying he is a man of some importance and that you might consider holding him for ransom."

Harald cocked an eyebrow at this. "Who would pay?"

I relayed the king's question to the captive, who said, "The emperor! I am the emperor's man, and he would pay for my release." Tears fell from the wretch's bloated, red face and the smell of fear wafted from him like a rank perfume.

King Harald listened intently while I translated the tax collector's words, and considered the new possibility presented to him. "How much?"

"The king wants to know how much he might expect in ransom," I told the quaestor, who was now sweating so much that the rivulets formed a puddle beneath his head.

"Twice as much as I took from him," the captive said.

King Harald shook his head firmly as I gave him the harbour master's words. "Tell this ignorant fellow that I have slaves worth more than that. Besides, I will get all the silver I can carry when I plunder the city. Nay," he said dismissing the opportunity, "I will have his head on my mast, and this will be a warning to all who think to plunder Harald Bull-Roar's silver."

This I told the Quaestor of Hormisdas Harbour, who sputtered with rage and frustration. "It is impossible! Do you understand what I am saying? No barbarian has ever plundered this city. You will all be killed before you set foot inside the gate. Release us at once, and I will plead clemency before the emperor."

"Plead mercy for your men instead," I told him. "For unless this Daneman hears a better reason than you have given, you and all your men will be dead before the emperor's fleet can stir an oar." The quaestor's men shifted uneasily and muttered imprecations to their superior. Still I could see that my speech fell somewhat short of persuasion, so I added, "Trust me; I speak the truth. I am a slave, and I shall die in this city anyway. My life is in God's hands; I am content. But you-you have it in your power to save yourself and the lives of your men."

The harbour master squeezed shut his eyes. "The emperor will pay, I tell you! He will grant you whatever you ask. Spare me!"

I told Harald what the desperate man had said, and added, "Think of it, jarl, the emperor himself paying tribute to Harald, King of the Danes-that would be a wonder, would it not?"

A smile appeared on the king's face and he agreed that, yes, it would be a wonderful thing to have the emperor bowing to him with the ransom in his hands. He made up his mind at once. "I will do it."

Taking his foot from the man's neck, he yanked the quaestor to his feet and stripped him of his belt and boots, and took the ring off his finger; he then gathered his horse-tail helmet and bronze-knobbed rod of office. All these items were tied up together in the quaestor's red cloak, whereupon the king gave orders that if he did not return before the sun had set, the captives were to have their throats slit, their heads nailed to the mast, and their corpses thrown into the harbour. He then chose twelve men to accompany him ashore-Hnefi, Orm, and Gunnar, who had been ashore the previous day, and myself as interpreter, were foremost in the landing party. As the king made ready his departure, I turned to the quaestor. "Is it true that you answer to the emperor?"

"That is true," he muttered sullenly.

"Then pray the emperor considers your life worth saving."

Harald exulted in his triumph. The very thought of obligating the emperor delighted him; it appealed equally to Harald's sense of fairness and to his vanity, for he imagined catching one of the emperor's minions in theft granted him a hold over the great ruler, who would be honour-bound to redress the injustice.

That Harald and his Sea Wolves had come to Constantinople with the sole purpose of robbing the emperor and as many of his subjects as possible was a detail which failed to impose itself on the barbarian mind. Even so, the Danes possessed a powerful, if peculiar, sense of honour; I had seen it amply demonstrated before. In truth, I had no idea what would flow from this action, but considered that if it prevented bloodshed, it would be no bad thing.

The Sea King commanded his three other vessels to come alongside and shield the dragonship in case anyone should try to interfere; he brought men from the other ships to help keep watch over the hostages, and charged his Sea Wolves to arm themselves for battle and await his return with utmost vigilance.

"I go to collect the honour-debt," Harald proclaimed as he prepared to depart. "Thus will I be the first king of the Danefolk to receive tribute from the emperor of Miklagard." Truly, the man was drunk with arrogance.