Episode Title:
The King and the Sword
Episode Description:
Canute spars with Wulf, captain of his guard, and manages to defeat him, garnering the necessary respect among his men as a warrior. However, Canute is faced with a shortage of revenue to fund his domains of Denmark and England and considers a plan to requisition farmland from wealthy landowners to fund the military. Ketil arrives in Jelling with a generous tribute for Harald, but learns of his death from Thorgil, and offers it to Canute instead. Meanwhile in the street, Olmar picks a fight with "Bug-Eyes" Thorfinn who Leif Erikson adopted during his search for Thorfinn. Ketil and Leif resolve the incident and Leif becomes convinced that the Thorfinn he is searching for is a slave at Ketil's farm. Ketil is given an audience with Canute, but Olmar rudely interrupts by drawing his sword and asking if the new king will accept him into his guard. Canute asks him to demonstrate his skills by slicing through a roast pig, but Olmar is unable to do it, greatly embarrassing Ketil and Thorgil. Wulf is reluctant to accept the prideful and incompetent Olmar into his guard, but acknowledges that he may be a useful piece in the first step of Canute's financial plan, the requisition of Ketil's farm.
