"Svein had offered to talk. The Danes, quite suddenly, had stopped raiding. Instead they had settled in Cridianton and sent an embassy to Exanceaster, and Svein and Odda had made their private peace. "We sell them horses," Harald said, "and they pay well for them. Twenty shillings a stallion, fifteen a mare." "You sell them horses," I said flatly. "So they will go away," Harald explained. Servants threw a big birch log onto the fire. Sparks exploded outward, scattering the hounds who lay just beyond the ring of hearth stones. "How many men does Svein lead?" I asked. "Many," Harald said. "Eight hundred?" I asked. "Nine?" Harald shrugged. "They came in twenty-four ships," I went"