Probably as should have been expected, the pope decided that he couldn’t have the Danes overwhelming England too quickly, so he threatened excommunication if they didn’t stop attacking, so Magnus had to lift the siege, pack up, and return to London, now converted to a castle.
However, Magnus didn’t mind that too much, as when he returned to London, there were plenty of English ladies around, who didn’t mind his presence at all, despite the war between their peoples.
* * *
Back home, Niels planned to make use of
Christian Budle af Tuse to inspect the border with the “independent” castle of Kalmar. What he saw was not a happy sight.
Niels would have sent him in to get a better look at either the army or the city, but King Erik didn’t want to risk his new best friend, so he issued another royal decree, this time that Budle wouldn’t be allowed to actually try to infiltrate anything.
Two months later Niels called a conference with Erik to discuss this, to see if he could persuade him to allow a little more advanced reconnaissance. However Erik was reluctant, which he demonstrated by hiding behind the manger in the life-sized Nativity scene that occupied the Dais left of the throne. This odd decoration was the main reason that Niels normally preferred to take foreign dignitaries and guests himself at his hall in Roskilde.
Eventually Niels gave up, suggesting that perhaps he was just reluctant to lose another friend as he had so recently lost his son. Suddenly Erik looked up, with (almost) all trace of madness gone, his gaze almost as piercing as it had been in his youth.
“I killed him.” He said. “I killed my son.”
“No, I think you’re mistaken, I promised one of his bodyguards the power of a lord if he could ensure his death. It was Frode Folkesen.”
“Really?” Erik asked, “Because I promised to take Asger af Daal as my new son if he could remove Knut.”
“Aye,” was the reply, “I was worried by that new title, “Protector of Scandinavia” it seemed a little high and mighty to me, and I was worried about what other ideas he might have.”
“And you wanted to take succession for your half of the line.” Erik said matter-of factly. “I ordered Knut killed because I was worried he would get to me first to try and gain more authority by hurrying up his rise to the kingship.”
As he began to speak, a recently knighted knight entered the chamber. He was just old enough to have been serving as a 15 year old Karl during the “good old days” of Knut’s rapid campaign against the Norwegians. He went into a berserker rage upon hearing this and rushed forward, snapping of one of the wisemen’s wooden staves and running it through King Erik’s heart.
Niels whipped out his dagger and ran it quickly across the knight’s neck. Blood sprinkled across the oak floor of the great hall, and another body quickly followed, leaving Niels standing alone in the hall, the new king of the Danes. A new king with a bit of a mess to clean up.
Normally it would be beneath a monarch of any nation to do any kind of cleaning, but this particular mess was one that Niels was willing to take care of. He could delegate it, but then he would probably have to kill whoever he had clean it, because this was one mess that the fewer people who knew about it, the better.
Niels contemplated what he could do for a while, then finally came to a solid conclusion. As soon as Erik’s wound stopped bleeding, he heaved the corpse up, which was by no means an easy task as not only was Niels well into his 60
th year, but the former King had been as fond of filling his stomach as he had been of filling his soul.
After heaving the body up to the royal chamber, Niels went into the wardrobe and pulled out a deep purple satin robe. He substituted it for the ripped and bloodstained garment he had been wearing. He tossed the damaged tunic into the fireplace, where he proceeded to light a merry blaze.
He returned downstairs to carry the young knight’s body up to a balcony and toss it into the moat. It was a commonly accepted part of Viking politics that bodies would turn up in the moat, and no questions should be asked. After scrubbing the floor clean, he had word spread that the king was deathly ill.
For the next few days he stayed tirelessly beside the corpse, appearing to keep vigil for his “sick” brother, as well as making sure there was a constant supply of ice to keep the body from rotting. He ensured that no one would ever see the injury that was hidden by the robe.
Two days later, news was spread throughout the kingdom that Erik had died quietly in his sleep.
The whole kingdom mourned the passing of the man who they believed had ushered in this golden age, with none of them realizing that it was actually the military skill of Knut and his captains (and to a far lesser extent, Magnus) and the political savvy and cunning of Niels that had caused the recent successes.
Niels understood the necessity of this charade, but it still pained him, as he was a very prideful man. Oddly enough, the deaths of the two men that had opened his path to the crown, Knud and the King, also deprived him of the only two men who knew who was the true brain behind the kingdom.
The next morning, King Niels was crowned. A week later, a crusade was called, and the Pope sent messengers out to all the catholic Kingdoms requesting their participation.
Niels was irritated at first, then, suddenly he heard the messenger say “Vilinius.” The capitol of pagan Lithuania was just across the water. Niels sent a man to fetch his grandson by adoption, Frode, to him. He immediately gave him leave to commission the training of whatever troops he needed to join the crusade. There were plenty of youths willing to volunteer. As the saying goes, “There are two things that make boys men, American Football, and the military,” and, as American football wasn’t around back then, it would have to be the military for them.
Perhaps things were looking up once more, if the Danes could capture Vilinius, they would surely be back in the pope’s good graces.
[SS 6.3] Raiders across the Sea: A Denmark AAR
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I wonder how many things will go wrong with their invasion of England
Originally Posted by Strengelicher
