The procession wended its way across the open plain, a great snake stretching behind the lead ponies, Olaf astride the lead one, swathed in a thick blanket, huddled against the cold. His retinue behind consisted of his personal guard, servants, grooms, cooks and maids. Queen Asta sat inside a covered wagon, kitted out with soft cushions and fine drapes in an effort to make it as courtly and as comfortable as possible. The journey to Haugar, the seat for the Haugathing, the establishing and proclamation of a new king, was not a long one. But in this intense cold, with the wind howling across the fields to pinch and bite at exposed flesh, it seemed farther than any of Olaf"s Viking raids. He squeezed his lips tight together, pulled his blanket closer, and tried to empty his mind of any thoug
