Those watching from the rail called out for us not to carry off all the treasure, but to save some plunder for them. Orm answered by blowing his nose at them, and Hnefi told them their time would be better spent looking to their weapons than worrying about us.
Gunnar settled himself beside me against the curved side of the boat. "Why did you choose me?" he asked.
"I thought it might be helpful to have someone I could trust beside me." As he made no reply, I asked, "Why? Would you rather have stayed behind, Gunnar?"
"Nay," he answered with a shrug, "that is no concern of mine." He looked out at the city for a moment, and then glanced at me sideways. "I thought you might have a different reason."
"Quiet!" snarled Orm. He kicked me with the toe of his boot.
"Orm," said Hnefi, "I am the leader here. If you cannot remember that, I will leave you in the boat while we go and find the treasure."
Orm grumbled and took out his knife and began polishing the blade on his breecs. To me, Hnefi said, "Keep your mouth shut. When I want you to speak, I will tell you."
I turned my attention to the city, bobbing nearer with every dip and stroke of Didimus's oar. From the water, very little of Constantinople could be seen-only where the hills raised their heads did I mark any of the city behind the walls. These walls, however, were most impressive. Brick and stone in alternating courses had been used to create an enclosure both high and stout, and bearing a distinctive red-and-white banding, making it like no other wall I had ever seen. Along the top of the wall, people were moving-city guards perhaps, though I was too far away to be certain. Here and there, I could see the tops of trees-a few pines, and the bare branches of others which had lost their leaves.
The sea came up to the very foundations of the wall, allowing only a very narrow causeway which served a varied collection of stone and timber quays, large and small, new and old; around each of these, ships clustered like feeding piglets crowding one another at the sow.
And such ships! I saw vessels with two and three masts, and some with more than one deck. There were so many different coloured sails, I quickly lost count-and the cargoes of the ships were even more varied. I saw bags and chests, casks and jars and baskets beyond number. Sure, if a boat could carry it over the sea, it would be found in Constantine's city.
Didimus steered a snaky course through the clotted harbour; we passed along the unending quayside, dodging the larger boats and searching for a place to make our landing. As we drew nearer the quays, I became aware of the stink. The water grew foul with garbage and excrement, and refuse of all sorts, for the slops were continually tossed overboard into the bay. This fulsome effluent made for a ready stench as potent as any I had encountered.
Our boatman seemed not to mind, however; he worked the oar with his arms, smiling and singing the while, pointing out any of several landmarks when it occurred to him to do so. Orm and Hnefi watched him with low suspicion and ill-founded contempt, and kept their mouths firmly shut as if they feared revealing the king's loathsome plan.
When at last we bumped against a tier of stone steps fronting the quayside before an enormous gate, I was glad to put the stink of the bay behind me. I turned to thank the boatman, but remembered Hnefi's warning and dutifully held my tongue. Orm stepped from the boat, and Gunnar followed, both seemingly oblivious to Didimus, who was calling to us and holding out his hand for payment.
Hnefi, ignoring the boatman, said, "Come, Shaven One, you will go before us. I do not want you wandering from sight."
"Forgive me, jarl," I replied, "but we must pay him."
The barbarian regarded the boatman impassively, and said, "Nay." Hnefi turned his back and stepped from the boat without further word, leaving me no choice but to scurry after him.
"Please! Please, my friends," bleated Didimus. "I have given you faithful service. You must pay me now! My friends! Please! Listen to me, you must pay now! Ten nomismi! Only ten!"
I paused on the steps long enough to say, "I am sorry, Didimus. I would pay you, but I have nothing."
Seeing that he would not be paid, Didimus began crying curses at us, and calling for the harbour guards to come and beat us. I ran up the steps with his shouts of "Thieves! Thieves!" burning in my ears.
The three Danemen were waiting for me at the top of the steps. "That was wrong," I complained to Hnefi. "We should have paid him."
Hnefi merely turned away.
"He might have helped us," I insisted. "Now he is calling for the guards to come and beat us. We should give him something."
I felt the sting of Orm's blow against my teeth before I knew he had lifted a hand. "Do what you are told, slave," he told me, shoving me hard. I fell on the stone steps and would have tumbled into the water, but Gunnar grabbed me by the arm and kept me from rolling over the edge.
