"Here is Halfden's friend," said Ingvar to him, "and he, forsooth, would have us go in peace."
And the Danish king laughed harshly.
"Why, so we will, if they make it worth our while," said Guthrum, nodding to me.
"What ransom will you take from us?" I asked them.
"The keeping of Eadmund, your king," answered Ingvar; "nothing more nor less."
"It seems to me that you will have to fight before you take him," I said plainly; for no man in all the Anglian ranks would have listened to that.
"That is too much," said Guthrum. "Tell him to own you as overlord and pay scatt {[xxi]} to us, holding the kingdom from you, and that will save fighting--and surely the whole land will be weregild enough for Jarl Lodbrok."
Then Ingvar thought for a moment, and said to me, still frowning:
"Go and tell your king those terms, and bring word again."
So I went back and told Eadmund, knowing full well what his answer would be. And it was as I thought.