Hamnet Thyssen knew what that small imperial exhalation meant as far as he was concerned. It meant he would be—not happier, but less unhappy—the farther from Nidaros he went. He'd never dreamt of going beyond the Glacier, but if that didn't put enough distance between him and Gudrid, nothing could.

Odds were nothing could.

And what of Ulric Skakki? Why was he so willing to leave the Empire for parts unknown? Was he running away from someone? From something? Was he running toward something? In Hamnet Thyssen's experience, that was far less common, but it wasn't impossible.

Right now, Hamnet had no answers, only questions. On the journey, if they made the journey, maybe the answers would come out. Maybe they wouldn't do too much harm when they did. Hamnet could hope they wouldn't, as long as he remembered hopes were only shadows that too often vanished in the pitiless light of reality.

As he was looking at Ulric Skakki, so Trasamund the jarl was eyeing him and Ulric both. "Yes, they may do," the jarl said at last. "The name of Hamnet Thyssen is not unknown in the north, and this other fellow is a likely rogue—I have heard of him, too. But will they be enough? We Bizogots, we have likely rogues aplenty. We have warriors aplenty, too—good fighting men. I mean no disrespect to you, Count Hamnet."

Hamnet Thyssen bowed. "I take none. You do not insult me, or tell me anything I did not know, when you say I am not unique." One more thing Gudrid had taught him. If she'd found a more painful way to give him the lesson than any Bizogot jarl might, that only meant it would stick better.

As Trasamund eyed Hamnet and Ulric, so Sigvat II eyed him. "What would you, then, your Ferocity?" the Emperor asked.

"When we go through the Gap again, your Majesty, our band will have a shaman with it, the wisest Bizogot shaman I can talk into coming along," Trasamund said. "But there is wisdom, and then there is wisdom. The Empire has more of it than we do. You can afford it. You sit in towns, and what are towns but stores of things? Things like books, for instance. I said it before—your memories are longer than ours, firmer than ours. Give us a wizard, give us a—what word do you use?" His big head bobbed up and down as he found it. "Give us a scholar, by God!"