XIX
“KING OF ALL NORRAWAY”
Thore Klakka watched the landing of Olaf, the planting of the cross, and the celebration of the mass with cynical thoughts. He noted the king’s exultation. “Let him live out his folly as long as he can. This little island is nothing. Wait till we touch the mainland, where I can find Jarl Haakon’s vassals. Let Olaf claim Norway for the Christ as long as he can. Let him call it the land of the cross. I wot the Jarl Haakon will wake up old Thor, and his hammer will smash the cross to atoms. It will be a right merry fight, Thor and Christ, the Hammer and the Cross, the Gauntlet and the Gospel.”
When all the ceremonies were over and they had breakfasted, Thore said to himself, “Now must I counsel Olaf to go further up to the Trondelag. At Nidaros we will meet the Tronders, and they were always Jarl Haakon’s vassals. So to the mouth of the Nid must we journey.”
Following Thore’s advice, and never dreaming of his treachery, Olaf left Moster Island and travelled to the Nidaros Fiord, or as it afterwards became, the Drontheim Fiord. The little, green, peaceful island of Moster, where King Olaf made his memorable
