"...what is it, guard?" Leofric asked.
The guard swallowed hard, looking slightly confused. "A highly unusual merchant ship just dropped anchor at the primary pier... It isn't Frankish, and it definitely isn't Norse."
"Who does it belong to?" Ragnar asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"A wealthy trader from Persia, my King," the guard reported. "He sailed past the southern blockades and ignored the harbor taxes. His guards are heavily armed with curved swords. He refuses to speak to the dockmaster. He is demanding to see the King or the Lord Commander right now."
Persia? The Abbasid Caliphate and the Persian merchant networks were wealthy, but they almost never sailed this far north into the waters of England.
"A Persian merchant sailed all the way to City Titan just to demand an audience?" Louis whispered, looking entirely bewildered.
"Unless he is selling something we desperately need," Ragnar muttered, his curiosity piqued. "Or he knows something we don't."
