Plots and false agreements 970

Norway had been summoned to meet with Harald Gråfell. He had no idea why, but when the king demands something it is best to do as one is told. He had barely stayed in contact with the king after the battle of Fitjar. The man had turned out to become very much like his father had been before him to the grief of many, making him unpopular with a large portion of the people. He had a mind to be vicious and would not hesitate to kill anybody standing in his way.

Gråfell's income had increased greatly over the last few years and he was no longer as dependant on his uncle any more for money and support otherwise. That was also why he had found it perfectly acceptable to murder two of his own cousins that had worked for the Danish king and were responsible for taxes. Norway wondered if the alliance with his uncle was even in existence after that.

When Norway arrived to the king's house the man himself was seated on the throne, wearing that grey cloak that was the reason for his name. Norway had told him his real identity after he had been crowned king, but by the way the man was staring at him as he approached he knew that he still found it strange. Humans never found it easy how he never aged like they did.

"Lukas" the king greeted simply, "I'm glad you could make it." Norway didn't get the chance to respond before the king continued. "I have a favor to ask of you and I will not accept no as an answer." "I would not refuse you" Norway answered calmly "what is it you need of me?"

Harald rose up from his throne and started pacing back and forth in the room. "I will be leaving the country for a while. My uncle is in need of our help and according to our deal I cannot refuse him. I want you to stay here in my place and make sure the land is being ruled properly." "What?" Norway was surprised by the request put didn't make any signs that he would protest against it. "You are going out into battle and you are leaving me behind, even though you know who I am."

"Absolutely" the king said angrily all of a sudden. "Who you are is exactly the reason why I want you to stay behind. My uncle and I have not been on the best of terms the last few years and I would rather keep you as far away from the man as possible, because he knows who you are as well. There is no telling what that man has planned."

So Norway was left behind while the king and a large army sailed down to Denmark to aid Harald Blåtann. The thing Gråfell didn't know was that he was never meant to come back from the battle he was sailing towards. Arriving in Denmark he murdered in a carefully planned ambush. When the news reached the north Harald Gråfell's remaining brothers fled the land so that they would not be the next to fall.

Harald Blåtann had already pointed out a replacement for Gråfell. A Jarl with the name of Håkon Sigurdsson that had been staying in Denmark for a few years after Harald Gråfell had driven him away from the land. Norway received words of all the events from the south as he had been left in charge with Gråfells jarls and advisors. He got orders to greet the Jarl once he came from Denmark to act as king of Norðvegr in place of Harald Blåtann now that Gråfell was dead.

Norway of course sensed it once the ships from the south came into the waters belonging to his lands and he walked down to the shore to wait there for the ships to arrive. Several people walked passed him as he was standing there unmoving, waiting and hours passed. His dark blue cloak was flapping madly as the wind picked up but he showed no signs that it was bothering him the slightest.

He had received words that said Håkon, his men and a group of priest would be in the ships when they arrived. It made Norway angry to know that the Danish king though he could take a nation's religion and change it because he desired it so. Not that Norway had anything he could say against anything. Lately he could just stand by and watch as decisions were being made around him and he had no say in it at all.

He knew that Blåtann had sent a man he believed to be fully loyal to him, so he did not believe that anything would change with this new king arriving with the ships that could barely be spotted in the horizon now. Norway sighed as he saw the them; he was wondering why he was even standing there on the shores at all waiting, perhaps some sense of duty he could not rid himself of? Perhaps it was the need to greet his new 'king'.

Norway folded his arms and observed curiously as the ships finally arrived and the men onboard started working on securing them. A few of the villagers had come to greet them and pointed towards the house that had earlier belonged to Harald Gråfell. One of the men turned around to take in the surroundings and spotted Norway standing further away just looking at them.

The man spoke some words to his men and walked up to Norway with hasty steps. "Please tell me that your name is Lukas" the man panted slightly. Norway eyed the man suspiciously. "How do you know who I am?" he asked. The man broke out in a smile. "I am Håkon Sigurdsson the jarl sent to take over after Gråfell. Harald Gormsson told me about you, what you really are, and when I saw you I just knew it had to be you."

Norway gave an acknowledging nod of his head but didn't unfold his arms. "So what do you intent to do about the knowledge you now posses?" "Harald wasn't exactly clear on the details on what the purpose of your kind really is, but I figured I better learn more about you." The man did not at all seem bothered by the cold tone of voice and defensive pose Norway used against him.

"I thought you were supposed to bring a group of priests with you from Denmark" Norway changed the topic and he was curious to why he had not seen any of the religious men step of the ships. "Well to be perfectly honest I don't really have that much of a belief in that Christian god they try to make us believe in" Håkon's smile turned slightly smug as he spoke.

Now Norway did drop his arms down and looked at the man in surprise and Håkon smiled cheerfully. "As soon as we had sailed far enough away from Harald's village we kind of dumped the priest on land and left them behind." Now Norway smiled as well. "And what do you think the Danish king will think of that?" Norway asked.

"I don't really care" Håkon answered, and the careless attitude of his reminded Norway so much of how a certain Dane would usually behave. "I got what I needed from the man and I don't need his help anymore. I am here in Norðvegr, far away from his grasp and I intent to step on his fingers to make sure he lets us go for good."

Norway still held the surprised smile on his face and looked curiously at Håkon. "It is my honor to be in at your service my king" Norway said and then he went down on one knee and bowed his head in respect for the man.

AN: There is a lot of question of what actually happened between Harald Blåtann, Harald Gråfell and Håkon Sigurdsson. According to what I found out Blåtann was plotting to get Håkon in charge instead of Gråfell so he could restore his power in Norway, but Håkon sort of cheated him, he pretended to have accepted the Christian religion but when he came to Norway he turned to be a true believer in the Norse mythology and even claimed to be a son of Odin.

Yeah... Norway and Denmark have some issues they need to work out...