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Rh of Hlade dragged me from my home, and has kept me a prisoner.”

Olaf looked kindly down on the woman. He turned to Earl Sigvalde. “I remember me of two young striplings who came to me in the Trondelag the day I landed. They gave me their promise of allegiance, and showed much skill with their bows. They told me of their father, Brynjulf, and of their desire to take vengeance on Jarl Haakon because he had stolen their mother. Bid these youths come to me now, and I will restore their mother to them, and I will release them from serving until they have taken her home to their father.”

In a short while Aasa’s two sons were found, and their mother restored to them. “We will serve thee unto death, my King, with all our strength,” Aasa told Olaf in the exuberance of her gratitude. “Thou canst not desire nor ask aught, even to the last drop of our blood, that shall not be thine.”

The king smiled—that wonderful light on his beautiful face, that gleam in his flashing eyes, that won all hearts to his will. He touched the crucifix upon his breast. “Thou and thine will serve me with all fealty as your earthly king, but there is a greater King, my Master and thy Master, and I would that thou and thine should serve the great King of the Christians’ Heaven.”

Aasa looked puzzled. “I will serve thee, my King—” but Olaf interrupted her: