Episode 20: Crown

At Gainsborough, Floki receives word that Canute approaches alongside Thorkell and dismisses it as a ploy, refusing to believe the prince survived. When the party actually arrives, with Thorkell and Askeladd now serving as his followers, a stunned Floki apologizes for readying his troops, and Canute coolly instructs him to tell the king he will attend the hall that evening. Floki is left unsettled, remarking that Canute seems an entirely different person.

Inside the city, Canute cautions his men against any move while his allies remain few, sending Thorkell to drink and forge connections among the leaders. He asks Askeladd how they might secure the future he envisions, and the mercenary names assassination as the surest short-term path, since with Harald far away Sweyn's death would pass command of the English army to Canute. The prince also lays out his conviction that God forever watches their killings, and his intent to raise a paradise on earth that renders heaven and its trials unnecessary.

Canute, Askeladd, and Thorfinn are received by King Sweyn, and when the king beckons his son closer, Askeladd halts them and asks Thorfinn to survey the room. The young warrior counts more than twenty concealed men and archers positioned above, confirming an ambush and that Sweyn has guessed their purpose. Canute warns that whoever draws a blade first will lose, and the three advance and kneel as commanded. Studying Canute at ten paces, Sweyn notes how much the boy now resembles himself in youth.

The king recounts driving his own father from the realm to seize the crown, believing it right, and warns that the crown carries its own will and uses the king rather than the reverse. He signals his men to surround Canute and offers him a quiet retirement in part of Cornwall or death on the spot. Askeladd intervenes with a calculated argument, contending that punishing the prince would be unreasonable since drawing Thorkell's army from London ensures the city's surrender and its wealth for Sweyn, and would trouble the generals dividing new territory.

Sweyn concedes the point and agrees to reward Canute at a banquet in York, but he first needles Askeladd about the name his father gave him. Learning the mercenary was left unnamed, the king guesses a slave's parentage, and Askeladd barely masters his rage, a flash Thorfinn notes as unlike anything he has seen. As Sweyn departs, he privately resolves to stay wary of Askeladd, while Canute judges that the king lacks sufficient grounds to kill him yet.

Later, over drink, Thorkell fails to recognize a beardless Willibald, astonished the priest is only twenty-three. Ragnar's brother Gunnar appears, and Canute redirects the exile plan they once discussed toward open defiance of Sweyn, asking Gunnar to watch the king and report. Slipping outside, Askeladd senses Gunnar's loyalty is thin, then bids farewell to Atli and Torgrim, who are heading home. He warns that Bjorn's wound is mortal and presses his bracelet on Atli, on the condition that he never lift a sword again and instead live out a peaceful life.