Legends Never Die: Deals with the Devil (ch. 87) (Patreon)

Out of everyone that could have arrived on the ship, the very last people I expected it to be were Otto and Astolfo. I hadn't seen Otto since the revenge killings in Francia where I had helped him and some prisoners escape the coming slaughter. We didn't part on great terms, even if he was thankful for helping some Franks escape. The last I heard, he was part of King Charlemagne's court but I never heard specifics.

Astolfo was a bit different. We’d parted ways after the war ended, when I ransomed her back to Charlemagne. We had left each other on amicable terms, but I never expected to see her again unless it was on opposite sides of the battlefield. She was too loyal to King Charlemagne, and I knew eventually the Frankish king would want to avenge his defeat in Saxony.

So, I was rather surprised that of all the people that Charlemagne could have sent, he chose two that I knew personally. I couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not.

“Lord Siegfried,” Otto greeted me with a tentative, uncertain smile. It seemed that he was as uncertain as to where we stood with one another as I was. “It is good to see you again. Especially under these circumstances -- neither a raid, nor am I a slave,” he jested and I found myself grinning at the joke.

Astolfo waved at me, taking off her helmet to cast an annoyed expression in my direction. “What happened to you being itty-bitty? You're not a little kid anymore!” She complained and my grin grew a fraction, becoming outright smug because now I was taller than her. The others, everyone else in the Longhouse -- Jill, Astrid, Morrigan, and Jasmine all watched. We were speaking in Germanic and only Morrigan could speak the language. Though, Jill seemed to recognize Otto.

“I grew up,” I replied, lounging in my throne before looking at Otto. “It is good to see you again, Otto. Truly. I'm glad to see that you have been well,” I said, gesturing to the hat he now wore.

At that, Otto began to relax. “I have been blessed with the attention of King Charlemagne and for my labors, I have been made a bishop of the faith. It is a high honor,” he added, not entirely sure if I knew what it signified. Unfortunately for me, I was far more knowledgeable of the Christian faith than I had ever wanted to be. “But I am not the only one that has been well. Norland is becoming a beautiful town, and you have grown into a man. I hear you even have a son?”

“Ragnar,” I confirmed. It was strange, meeting Otto like this. He wasn't wrong about how we usually met -- both times we’d encountered each other before, I was sacking a church. After that, he was first a slave, and the second time he was under my protection. This was the first time we met as equals.

I respected him greatly. In my experience so far, Christians were usually a frustrating bunch. The same for Muslims, though to a lesser extent if only because the Abbasids were actively courting me away from the Romans. But l didn't respect Otto because he was a good Christian. I respected him because he was a good man who was a Christian.

At the mention of his name, Ragnar perked up in Astrid's arms and started to squirm. Astolfo's face lit up at the sight of my son, “Aw! He looks just like you! Grumpy scowl and everything!” She gushed, and under different circumstances, I'm certain that she would have skipped over to get a better look at my son. But, as it was, she was here as an official envoy from Francia, so even her casualness extended only so far.

“So I have been told. While it is good to see both of you again, I doubt King Charlemagne sent you here merely for a reunion,” I ventured and, to that, it was Otto who nodded.

“We come bearing several messages from King Charlemagne, Lord Siegfried. Some of which are… sensitive in nature. If we could speak in private?” Otto requested and I mulled it over for only a moment before nodding. I was curious what exactly the Frankish King wanted to say to me. Or wanted from me. For my part, I wasn't entirely sure what I felt for Charlemagne. Part of me couldn't help but admire him for being one of the greatest kings of our age. To the point that I was certain his name would follow the greats, such as Caesar or Octavian.

But he was also undeniably my enemy. And given the defeats I had handed him during the rebellion, I'm fairly certain that he considered me much the same.

We relocated to my study, with Jill, Astrid, and Alim to act as a translator. Morrigan didn't say it, but I knew she was inspecting the envoys for plots. Otto took a seat across from me while Astolfo very pointedly left her spear by the door. A declaration of intent.

Once we were seated, Otto began to explain. “Officially speaking, we are here to inspect Norland to ensure that the needs of Christians are being met -- physically and spiritually. There has been some concern in Francia when people learned of your presence in Crete. They feared a pagan settlement led by you to the South.”

That, I fully expected. It was very much in line with the same complaints that I got from the Romans. And the Abbasids, when they thought I wasn't listening. I didn't really begrudge them for it. Christians wanted to be ruled by Christians, Muslims wanted to be ruled by Muslims, and Jews wanted to be ruled by Jews. Likewise, as a Pagan, I would wish to be ruled by a Pagan.

“Those fears have been abated when we learned you built a church. Even if it caused a great deal of confusion,” Otto admitted, and Astolfo snorted.

“He's underplaying it. After your rampage in Francia, when people learned you were building a church and not sacrificing Christians to your gods, they were convinced it was the end of days.” That seemed a little excessive, but I would take it.

“Quite so,” Otto admitted easily. “Though, may I ask… why have you decided to build a church?” He asked, seemingly interested.

I knew what he wanted to hear, but he would be disappointed. “To stop the complaining, mostly,” I replied. “They were already building their own in private. I don't begrudge anyone their right to worship, so long as they don't begrudge me my right to worship my own gods.” That was the summary of my thoughts so far. I found Christians to be annoying, mostly because they discriminated so freely, but I didn't particularly dislike the Christian God. I couldn't say I understood him very well, but I bore neither him nor his worshipers any particular ill will.

Otto did seem a bit disappointed that I hadn't converted, but he wasn't surprised either. “I understand. Then the tales of you building temples and mosques are also true?”

“They will be. I'm still working out the logistics of it,” I admitted. “Part of me wants to build them all close together and out of the way. The rest of me recognizes that's a terrible idea.”

“Depends on what you consider terrible. Bunch ‘em all up, and only that part of the town would burn itself down,” Astolfo gave her endorsement. Which was my concern.

My library came first, but I was looking at establishing a district for religious matters. There, a temple for my gods would openly be displayed alongside a church, a mosque, and a temple for the Jews. Perhaps even a temple for this Buddhism religion the Monk Gyatso was a member of. We hadn't spoken at any great length yet because, as it so happened, he only spoke a language that I didn't. And I was currently learning how to write Arabic in addition to my other projects so I wouldn't be learning his language any time soon.

“I'm considering building aqueducts to make putting out the fires easier,” I said with a small sigh. It was worth a try, just to explore the option of coexistence, but I fully expected the district would burn itself down the moment I left. “But, as far as the official reason for your visit -- you can inspect the town yourself to decide your own findings.”

“What of the secondary reasons for your visit?” Jill questioned, using Alim as a translator. I was fairly surprised to find that he was still with us six months later. I was almost certain that Zafir would ransom him, but the offer never came. The reason why was something of a guess that was half confirmed by Morrigan -- Alim was being left to keep an eye on Princess Jasmine. And, when the time came, to serve as a helper when the Abbasids tried to rescue her.

“There are two offers. The one I think you would find most appealing is an offer to raid the Umayyad Caliphate,” Astolfo spoke up, and that caught my attention. Charlemagne wanted to use me as a mercenary? That was… surprising. “Don't look so shocked, Sieg. You gave him plenty of reasons to respect what you can do on the battlefield, and we've heard about Ravenfeast.”

Fair enough. Charlemagne did strike me as a practical sort of man, for all of his religious zeal. “What exactly would he have me do?” I asked, wanting to get an idea what exactly I was in for. I had little interest in another long term contract.

Astolfo replied, sounding like she was reciting something. “King Charlemagne intends to make a substantial push into the Umayyad Caliphate. For the past couple of years, it's been a give and take -- we take a city, we lose a city, we take it back, and so on. A big part of it is the fact that the army has to return each year, which leaves the area vulnerable.”

“He doesn't intend to leave this time?” I ventured, and Astolfo nodded.

“He's committing to a long campaign now that we’ve crushed the rebels. His goal is to secure a large swath of Iberia- or, rather, the silver mines the area,” Astolfo admitted. I wasn't sure that she was supposed to tell me that much, but I doubted that it was an accident by Charlemagne. He wanted me to know his plans.

I leaned into my seat while Alim translated the words-

… Alim knew Frankish?

The thought caught me by surprise and I glanced at him, hearing him translate Frankish with some effort. His Frankish wasn't as good as his Norse or Arabic, but it was perfectly serviceable. I just had no idea when or where he’d managed to learn it.

The distraction only lasted a moment before I refocused on the issue at hand rather than Alim's strangeness. “By that, you mean he will be too occupied to go after Saxony,” I pointed out and Astolfo nodded happily.

“He said you'd figure it out!” Astolfo praised me and I hummed in thought. Even Charlemagne couldn't afford to launch two large scale wars on two separate ends of his country. The longer he was in Iberia taking bites out of the Caliphate there, the longer he wasn't preparing to attack Saxony again. He’d made an oath to not invade during his lifetime, but I don't think anyone truly expected for him to uphold it. “He also said…” Astolfo trailed off before she frowned. “That he'd say no to King Horrik's offer.”

Jill stiffened the moment she heard her father's name, and I clenched my jaw hard enough my teeth ached. Astolfo saw the reaction but she continued all the same. “You left Denmark surrounded by your allies, and that's got him scared. He's offering to become a Christian and make Denmark a Christian nation in exchange for an alliance.”

That… honorless dog. I was curious what kind of reaction my departure would inspire in Horrik, but he had managed to surpass even my lowest expectations of him. He was willing to betray the gods themselves for his own power. “Not making an alliance with my sworn enemy is what he shall pay me with?” I echoed, gripping my anger and swallowing it down. Likely with no small amount of help from Jill’s Blessing. I respected both Otto and Astolfo, but I knew whatever reaction I gave would get back to Charlemagne.

Should Horrik’s offer be accepted… the situation would become rather dire for King Widukind. King Charlemagne would use the opportunity to invade Saxony once more under the pretense of helping Denmark. Worse, Saxony would face an invasion on two fronts and I can't imagine that it had recovered from the rebellion.

Charlemagne was as good as saying, ‘Help me or I undo your work in Saxony and strengthen your enemy.’ It was a cunning move. I could respect it. But I was reminded just why I disliked Charlemagne.

“More or less, yeah,” Astolfo admitted with some reluctance. She knew it was true, but found it distasteful. “Of course, that's not counting whatever you loot during your raids. King Charlemagne can tell you exactly what he wants done if you agree, but for the most part, you're going to be giving the Caliph some other places to be while we launch the invasion. Basically, we want you to do to the Umayyads what you did to us -- cause a huge ruckus in their territory and make us look like the lesser problem.”

I watched Jill out of the corner of my eye, and saw she was hiding her emotions well. If I didn't know her as I did, I wouldn't have been able to tell how distressed she was about what her father was doing. I would have to speak to her about it later.

I disliked being used like this, but as annoying as I found it, I could recognize the opportunity. “When will the invasion happen? I have recruits coming that I intend on training here in Norland,” I asked, thinking that Gerald should be due to arrive any day now. He, thankfully, didn't sail down during the winter, so he was likely somewhere down the Dnieper River at this point. Hopefully with a few thousand Norse warriors.

“It'll be around this time next year,” Astolfo answered and that took care of my worst concern. I expected the war would resume between the Abbasids and Romans in a few short months, and I couldn't serve as a mercenary for two empires. “There will probably be some coordination between our army and yours, but for the most part, you're going to have free reign to rampage through the countryside.” I doubted that it would be as simple as that.

Sacking cities was a tried and tested way to finance an army. At Rome's height, when Octavian was fighting to assume the throne of what would become the Empire of Rome, he had been beggared by the war against Anthony. Maintaining legions was simply too expensive, especially while constructing entire fleets. Towards the end of the war, capturing Alexandria for the treasure held there was every bit as important to Octavian's cause as defeating Anthony was.

I had thoroughly proven my ability to sack cities. Charlemagne had experienced that first hand. If Charlemagne intended to conquer the area he would want to see a more immediate pay off, and he wouldn't get it if I cleared out every major city before he got there.

This didn't feel like a trap. Not in so many words, but I had the feeling that I wasn't being told something important.

“I am amenable to the idea,” I decided, and Astolfo looked visibly relieved. I wasn't sure how to take that. “I would need to discuss the specifics with King Charlemagne, and it cannot interfere with my current contract with Empress Irene.” It was a dangerous opportunity, but it was still an opportunity. I would have more recruits coming and they would need to be blooded and given an opportunity to provide the metal for their weapons and armor.

Otto seemed pleased with my answer before picking up where Astolfo left off. “That would lead us to our second request. This is on my behalf, rather than King Charlemagne’s. I have been given a quest on behalf of the Church, penned by Pope Adrian the First himself.”

“A quest?” I asked, finding myself curious and Otto nodded seriously.

“There has been a growing division between the Church of the West and the Church of the East. The most obvious example is the Roman Empire's iconoclasm, which has Pope Adrian worried about a potential schism. There are other examples, deviations in grace or even in the Church hierarchy.” Otto explained and I nodded, not entirely sure that I understood the issue. “We have been told that Emperor Constantine is an… iconophile?”

I tilted my head at that. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get involved in this. The Church didn't like me and I couldn't say I liked the Church very much either. However, it didn't sit right with me to deny Otto's request for aid either. “The boy doesn't have a thought in his head that his mother hasn't given him,” I replied and Otto didn't seem particularly surprised, but he did seem saddened. “Empress Irene, however, is an iconophile so she will likely be amenable to any aid given to mending that… schism, as you called it.”

“Then the rumors are true, then? She rules the empire?” Astolfo prompted and in response to that, I reached into my coin purse and fetched out a golden coin. Flicking it over to her, Astolfo caught it and inspected the surface. “Oh. Wow,” she muttered under her breath.

That had been more or less my own reaction. “They're the newest coins from the mints,” I said, which was why Astolfo wasn't aware. “For the last couple of months, Empress Irene has stopped bothering to hide behind her son. She's minting coins in her image and taking her son's place in ceremonies.” As I spoke, Astolfo held up the coin which has a side profile of Irene, complete with a crown on her head.

There were mutterings of course. Resistance. But precious little was done to stop her.

“She's getting away with it because, as far as the Romans are concerned, they've just won a short war against the Abbasids,” I said with a small shake of my head. I could understand why people thought it, however. To the common people, a massive army had invaded Anatolia and was rebuffed. Another army had been slaughtered in Crete by me. Then I sacked a number of Abbasid cities. It only took a small twist of the truth to make it sound like the Abbasids had been the ones to sue for a truce. “That, and she has been directing the nobility's ire at me so that they forget about her.”

Which was why I was dealing with near constant sabotage and a steady stream of spies coming to Norland. The Romans only had room for so much anger and with it all directed at me, most of Irene's oversteps went unnoticed. The few that weren't tended to be forgotten about rather quickly, usually when ‘The Pagan’ did something.

It was annoying. And it was more annoying that Morrigan approved of the cunning gambit wholeheartedly.

Otto offered a gentle smile, “I imagine that she did not have to try very hard to manage that.” I answered with a shrug, neither confirming or denying it. “In any case, I would be thankful for any aid you could give in this venture. Even if it's only a recommendation to… Empress Irene.”

I knew I should probably refuse. The past six months had only been so idyllic because I had so little to do with the politics of the empire. I was content to work on my projects and make Norland prosper.

But I didn't want to refuse.

“If it's only a recommendation…” I figured with a small shrug of my shoulders. I would stay out of the religious matters and let the Christians sort themselves out. Otto was pleased, offering a thankful nod of his head.

It would be decades before I realized the magnitude of the decision I had so thoughtlessly made at that moment.

And I would come to regret it for decades more.