So they would go, for the wish of a king is, as it were, a command,
even had not both my father and Lodbrok loved to be with him,
whether in hall or field. And I thought that I should surely go
also.

However, my father had other plans for me, and they were none other
than that I should take the ship round to London with some goods we
had, and with some of the new barley, just harvested, which would
ever find ready sale in London, seeing that no land grows better
for ale brewing than ours of East Anglia.

Now that was the first time I had been trusted to command the ship
unaided by my father's presence, though of late he would say that
he was owner, not captain, and but a passenger of mine; so, though
I was sorry not to go to Thetford, I was more proud of myself than
I would show; and maybe I would rather have taken to the sea had
there been choice.

I was to go to my godfather, Ingild the merchant, who would, as
ever, see to business for me; and then, because the season was
late, and wind and weather might keep me long in the river, my
father bade me stay with him, if I would, and if need were lay up
the ship in Thames for the winter, coming home by the great Roman
street that runs through Colchester town to our shores; or if
Ingild would keep me, staying in London with him even till spring
came again.

"If I must leave the ship," I said, "I shall surely come back to
hunt with the jarl and you."