Beyond the Gap by Harry Turtledove

or Jesper. He took no notice of Gudrid, either, but Bizogots were less likely to take women seriously (or, at least, less likely to show they took women seriously) than Raumsdalians were.
    â€œYour Ferocity, we are explorers, come to learn what we may of your excellent country,” Eyvind Torfinn said, as smoothly as he could in the Bizogots’ language. “I am a scholar of days gone by. We have a wizard with us as well … .” He nodded to Audun Gilli, who looked surprised—even atarmed—at being singled out.
    Leovigild also nodded. “Our shamans will have somewhat to say to this fellow. One or two of them speak Raumsdalian.”He plainly did not expect Audun to know his language. By the look he gave the wizard, he might not have expected Audun to know anything. His attention swung back to Earl Eyvind. “What of the others, then?”
    â€œSoldiers help guard and help hunt,” Eyvind said. Leovigild accepted that with a wave. Eyvind Torfinn continued, “Count Hamnet here is an excellent man of his hands, and has traveled the cold plains before, while Ulric Skakki …” He ran down. How was he supposed to explain why Ulric Skakki had come north?
    â€œI know all sorts of strange things, your Ferocity.” Ulric had no trouble speaking for himself. “You never can tell when one of them will come in handy, and you never can tell which one it will be.”
    â€œHuh.” Leovigild eyed him. “Strange things about slitting throats and knocking heads together and setting traps and stealing pouches, or I miss my guess.” Leovigild waited. When Ulric Skakki didn’t deny it, the jarl grunted. “ Thought so .” He swung back toward Earl Eyvind. “And what about the woman?”
    â€œGudrid is my wife, your Ferocity,” Eyvind Torfinn said, a touch of sternness in his voice.
    â€œCan’t fault your taste—she looks tastable enough, in fact.” Leovigild roared laughter at the look on Eyvind’s face. He went on, “But what is she doing here ?”
    â€œI suggest you ask her yourself,” Earl Eyvind replied.
    â€œNever mind.” Leovigild threw back his head and laughed again. “You just told me everything I need to know.” Eyvind Torfinn looked bewildered, which only made the Bizogot laugh harder. Hamnet Thyssen had no trouble
following Leovigild. He meant that Eyvind couldn’t tell Gudrid what to do. The mammoth-herder wasn’t wrong, either. Count Hamnet wondered whether anyone had ever been able to tell Gudrid what to do. He doubted it. He knew too well he hadn’t.
    â€œShe is well able to take care of herself,” Eyvind Torfinn said. That was true enough; it might well have been truer than he knew.
    True or not, it made Leovigild laugh even more. But then the Bizogot jarl sobered. “Something you should know,” he said, aiming a scarred forefinger at Eyvind’s chest. “Something you need to know, by God. Need to know, yes. The Empire is rich. The Empire has a great plenty of everything. Is it not so?”
    â€œWell …” Eyvind Torfinn hesitated. Anyone who’d lived his whole life in the Raumsdalian Empire knew things weren’t as simple as Leovigild made them out to be. But anyone who’d spent even a little while on the frozen plains of the north knew that, from the Bizogot point of view, the jarl was right and more than right. The Empire was rich. It did have a great plenty of everything.
    â€œIt is so,” Leovigild said solemnly. “And because it is so, in the Empire you can say, ‘This one can take care of himself,’ or even, ‘This one can take care of herself.’ There is so much down in the south, one person can have enough. It is not like that here. One person alone here is one person dead here. Only the clans can go on. Do you understand this, Eyvind Torfinn? Does your tastable Gudrid understand it?”
    â€œI