The Flame Bearer - Saxon Tales, Book 10 - Bernard Cornwell

this is audible harper audio presents the flame bearer by bernard cornwell read by matt bates part one the king one it began with three ships now there were four the three ships had come to the northumbrian coast when i was a child and within days my elder brother was dead and within weeks my father had followed him to the grave my uncle had stolen my land and i had become an exile now so many years later i was on the same beach watching four ships come to the coast they came from the north and anything that comes from the north is bad news the north brings frost and ice norsemen and scots it brings enemies and i had enemies enough already because i had come to northumbria to recapture bevenburg i had come to kill my cousin who had usurped my place i had come to take my home back bevenburg lay to the south i could not see the ramparts from where our horses stood because the dunes were too high but i could see smoke from the fortresses halves being snatched westward by the wild wind the smoke was being blown inland melding with the low gray clouds that scudded towards northumbria's dark hills it was a sharp wind the sun flats that stretched towards lindisfarne were riotous with breaking waves that sieved whites and fast towards the shore further out the waves were foam capped their spume flying turbulent it was also bitterly cold summer might have just come to britain but winter still wielded a keen edge knife on the northumbrian coast and i was glad of my bare skin cloak a bad day for sailors bird called to me he was one of my younger men a norse who reveled in his skill as a swordsman he had grown his long hair even longer in the last year until it flared out like a great horsetail beneath the rim of his helmet i'd once seen a saxon the caesar man's long hair and drag him backwards from his saddle then spear him while he was still flailing on the turf you should cut your hair i told him in battle i tied up he called back then nodded sea woods they would be wrecked they're too close to shore before ships were following the shore but struggling to stay at sea the wind wanted to drive them ashore to strand them on the flats to tip them there and break them apart but the oarsmen were hauling on their looms as the steersman tried to force the bowers away from the breakers seas shattered on their vows and spewed white along their decks the beam wind was too strong to carry yards or sail cloth aloft and so their heavy sails were stowed on deck who are they my son asked spurring his horse alongside mine the wind lifted his cloak and whipped his horse's mane and tail how would i know i asked you've not seen them before i said i knew most of the ships that prowled the northumbrian coast but these four were strangers to me they were not trading vessels but had the high prows and low freeboard of fighting ships there were beast heads on their prowess marking them as pagans the ships were large each i reckoned held forty or fifty men who now rolled for their lives in spiteful seas and bitter wind the tide was rising which meant the current was running strongly northwards and the ships were battling their way south their dragon crested prows bursting into spray as the cross seas smashed into their hulls i watched the nearest ship rear to a wave and half vanish behind the cold seas that shattered about her cutwater did they know there was a shallow channel that curled behind linda's foreigner and offered shelter that channel was easily visible at low tide but now in a flooding sea that was being wind churned to frenzy the passage was hidden by scudding foam and seething waves and the four ships oblivious of the safety the channel offered rolled past its entrance to struggle on towards the next anchorage that would give them safety they were heading for bevenburg i turned my horse southwards and led my 60 men along the beach the wind was stinging sand against my face did not know who they were but i knew where the four ships were going they were heading for bevenburg and life i thought had suddenly become more difficult it took us only moments to reach the bevenburg channel the breaking waves pounded the beach and seethed into the harbour mouth filling the narrow entrance with a swirling gray foam that entrance was not wide as a child i'd often swim across it though never when an ebbing tide ran strong one of my earliest memories was of watching a boy drown as the tide swept him from the harbour channel his name had been eglof and he must have been six or seven years old when he died he was the son of a priest the only son strange how names and faces from the distant past come to mind he had been a small slight boy dark-haired and funny and i liked him my older brother had dared him to swim the channel and i remember my brother laughing as egloff vanished in the welter of dark sea and whipping white caps i had been crying my brother had slapped me around the head he was weak my brother said how we despise weakness only women and priests are allowed to be weak oh it's two perhaps poor eglerford died because he wanted to appear as fearless as the rest of us and in the end he had merely proved he was just as stupid egluff i said his name aloud as we cantered down the sunblown beach what my son shouted her glove i said again not bothering to explain but i think so long as we remember names so long those people live i'm not sure how they live whether they are spirits drifting like clouds or whether they live in an after world eglof could not have gone to valhalla because he did not die in battle but of course he was a christian too so he must have gone to their heaven which made me feel even more sorry for him christians tell me they spend the rest of time singing praises to their nailed god the rest of time eternity what kind of swollen headed god wants to hear himself being praised forever which put me in mind of barwolf a west saxon thane who had paid for harpists to chant songs of his battle deeds which were next to none barwolf had been a fat selfish greedy pig of a man just the sword who would want to hear himself being praised forever i imagined the christian god as a fat scowling thing brooding in his mead hall and listening to lackeys telling him how great he was they're turning my son called breaking my thoughts and i looked to my left and saw the first ship turning toward the channel it was a straightforward entrance though an inexperienced shipmaster could be fooled by the strong tidal currents close in shore but this man was experienced enough to anticipate the danger and he drove his long hull straight and true count the men on board i ordered berg we rained the horses on the channel's northern bank where the sand was heaped with dark bladder rack sea shells and bleached scraps of wood who are they rurik asked me he was a boy my new servant they're probably knows i said like you i had killed rorick's father and wounded rorick in a messy battle that had driven the pagans from murcia i had felt remorse at injuring a child he'd only been nine when i struck him with my sword wasp sting and my guilt had driven me to adopt the boy just as rania the elder had adopted me so long ago rorick's left arm had healed though it would never be as strong as his right but he could hold a shield and he seemed happy i liked him the nose he echoed happily i think so i said i was not certain but there was something about the ships that suggested they were norse rather than danish the great beasts on the prowl were more flamboyant and the short masks were raked further aft than on most danish ships don't go too deep i called the berg who had spurred his horse up to its fetlocks in the swirling shallows the tides surged through the channel the waves flicked white by the wind but i was staring at the further shore that lay just 50 or 60 yards away there was a small strip of sand on that far shore that would soon be covered by the flooding tide then dark rocks the climb to a high wall it was a stone wall which like so much else in bobenberg had been built since my father's time and in the center of that wall was the sea gate years before terrified that i would attack him my uncle had sealed both the low gate and the high gate which together formed the main entrance to the fortress and he had built the sea gate which could only be approached by ship or by a path along the beach that led beneath the sea wood rumparts in time his terror had subsided and because supplying blevenberg through the sea gate was both inconvenient and time-consuming he had reopened the two southern gates but the sea gate still existed behind it was a steep path climbing to a higher gate that pierced the wooden palisades surrounding the whole long summit of the rock on which bobenberg was built men were gathering on the fighting platform of the high palisade they waved not to us but to the arriving ships and i thought i heard a cheer from those high ramparts but perhaps that was my imagination i did not imagine the spear a man hold it from the palisade and i watched it fly dark against the dark clouds for a heartbeat it seemed to hang in the air and then like a stooping falcon it plummeted to thump hard into the shallow water just four or five places short of berg's horse get it i told rorick i could hear jeers from the ramparts now the spear might have fallen short but it had been a mighty throw all the same two more spears fell both splashing uselessly into the channel's center then rorick brought me the first spear hold the blade low i said low close to the sand i dismounted holed up the heavy mail coat pulled open the laces and took aim hold it still i ordered rorick and then when i was sure the men in the bowers of the leading ship were watching i pissed on the blade my son chuckled and rorick laughed now give it to me i ordered the boy and took the ash huffed from him i waited the leading ship was racing into the channel now the breaking wave seething along her hull as the oarsmen dragged on their blades a high prow a dragon with open mouth and glaring eyes reared above the white water i drew my arm back waited it would be a difficult throw made even more difficult by the force of the wind and by the weight of the base can cloak that tried to drag my arm down but i had no time to unclasp the heavy fur this i shouted at the ship is orange curse then i held the spear 20 paces and the piss soaked blade struck true just as i had aimed it it struck the dragon's eye and the shaft quivered there as the ship slid past us tide driven going into the calm inner waters of the wide shallow harbor that lay sheltered from the storm by the great rock on which the fortress stood my fortress babenberg babenberg from the day it was stolen from me i had dreamed of recapturing bobenberg my uncle had been the thief and now his son who dared call himself utrid held the great fort men said it could not be taken except by treachery or by starvation it was massive it was built on the great rock that was almost an island he could only be approached on land by a single narrow track and it was mine i had once come so close to recapturing the fort i had taken my men through the low gate but the high gate had been closed just in time and so my cousins still ruled in the great fort beside the turbulent sea his wolf's head banner flew there and his men jeered from the ramparts as we rode away and as the four ships course through the channel to find safe anchorage in the shallow harbour 150 men berg told me then added i think and some women and children my son said which means they've come to stay i said whoever they are we skirted the harbour's northern edge where the beach was hazy from the fires on which my cousin's tenants smoked herrings or made salt by boiling sea water those tenants now cowered in their small houses that edged the harbors inland shore they were frightened of us and of the newly arrived ships which were dropping anchor stones amidst the smaller fishing craft that rode out the vicious wind in bevenburg's safe water a dog barked in one of the turf-roofed cottages and was immediately silenced i spurred my horse between two of the houses and up onto the slope beyond goats fled our approach and the goat heard a small girl perhaps five or six years old whimpered and hid her head in her hands i turned at the low crest to see the crews of the four ships were wading ashore with heavy bundles on their shoulders we could slaughter them as they come ashore my son suggested we count now i said and pointed to the low gate which barred the narrow isthmus leading to the fort horsemen were appearing there emerging from the skull decorated arch and galloping towards the harbour berg chuckled and pointed to the nearest ship your spear is still there lord that was a lucky throw my son said it was not luck berg said reprievingly odin guided the weapon he was a pious young man the horsemen were directing the newly arrived sea warriors towards the hovels of the village rather than towards the great stronghold on its high rock the crews of the ships dumped their bundles on the shore and added sheaves of spears piles of shields and heaps of axes and swords women carried small children ashore the wind brought snatches of voices and of laughter the newcomers had plainly come to stay and as if to show that they now possessed the land a man planted a flag on the foreshore grinding its stuff into the shingle it was a grey flag snapping in the cold wind can you see what's on it i asked a dragon's head berg answered who flies the dragon's head my son asked i shrugged no one i know i would like to see a dragon berg said wistfully it might be the last thing you ever see my son remarked i do not know if there are dragons i've never seen one my father told me they lived in the high hills and fed on cattle and sheep but biaka who had been one of my father's mass priests and my childhood tutor was certain that all the dragons are sleeping deep in the earth they are satan's creatures he had told me and they hide deep underground waiting for the last days and when the horn of heaven sounds to announce christ's return they will burst from the ground like demons they will fight their wings will shadow the sun their breath will scorch the earth and their fire will consume the righteous so we all die no no no we fight them how do you fight a dragon i'd asked him with prayer boy with prayer so we do all die i'd said and he had hit me around the head now four ships had brought the dragon spawn to bevenberg my cousin knew he was under attack he had been safe for years protected by his impregnable fortress and by northumbria's kings those kings had been my enemies to attack bebenberg i would have had to fight through northumbria and defeat the armies of danes and norsemen who would gather to protect their land but now the king in yophowick was my son-in-law and my daughter was his queen the pagans of northumbria were my friends and i would ride on molested from the mercian frontier to the walls of bevenburg and for a whole month i had been using that new freedom to ride my cousin's pastures to harry his steadings to kill his sworn men to steal his cattle and to flaunt myself in sight of his walls my cousin had not ridden to confront me preferring to stay safe behind his formidable ramparts but now he was adding to his forces the men who carried their shields and weapons ashore must have been hired to defend bevenburg i had heard rumors that my cousin was prepared to pay gold for such men and we had been watching for their arrival now they were here we outnumber them my son said i had close to 200 men camped in the hills to the west so yes if it came to a fight we would outnumber the newcomers but not if my cousin added his garrison troops to their ranks he now commanded over 400 spears and life had indeed become more difficult we're going down to meet them i said down berg asked surprised there were only 60 of us that day fewer than half the enemy's number we should know who they are i said before we kill them that's just being polite i pointed towards a wind-bent tree rorick i called to my servant cut a branch off that hornbeam and hold it like a banner i raised my voice so all my men could hear turn your shields upside down i waited till rorick was brandishing a rugged branch as a symbol of truce and until my men had clumsily turned their shields so that their symbols of the wolf's head were upside down and then i walked tin trigg my dark stallion down the slope we did not go fast i wanted the newcomers to feel sure that we came in peace those newcomers came to meet us a dozen men escorted by a score of my cousin's horsemen struggled onto the patch of pastureland where the villagers goats grazed on thistles the horsemen were led by weld here who commanded bevenberg's household troops and whom i had met just two weeks before he'd come to my encampment in the western hills with a handful of troops a branch of truce and an impudent demand that we left my cousin's land before we were killed had scorned the offer and belittled world here but i knew him to be a dangerous and experienced warrior blooded many times in fights against marauding scots like me he wore a bare-skinned cloak and he had a heavy sword hanging at his side his flat face was framed by an iron helmet that was crested by an eagle's claw his short beard was grey his grey eyes grim and his mouth a wide slash that looked as if it had never smiled the symbol painted on his shield was the same as mine the grey wolf's head that was the badge of bevenburg and i'd never abandoned it wild here held up a gloved hand to halt the men who followed him and spurred his horse a few paces closer to me you've come to surrender he demanded i forget your name i said most people spew from their ass he retorted you manage it with your mouth your mother gave birth through her ass i said and you still wreck of her the insults were routine one cannot meet an enemy without reviling him we insult each other then we fight though i doubted we would need to draw swords today still we had to pretend two minutes well they're threatened then we attack you but i come in peace i indicated the branch i will count to 200 world here said but you only have 10 fingers my son put in making my men laugh 200 world here snarled and then i'll run your branch of truce up your and who are you i directed that question to a man who had walked up the slope to join weld here i assumed he was the leader of the newcomers he was a tall pale man with a shock of yellow hair that swept back from a high forehead and fell down his back he was dressed richly with a golden collar about his neck and golden arm rings the buckle of his belt was gold and the cross piece of his sword's hilt sean with more gold i guess he was about 30 years old he was broad shouldered with a long face very pale eyes and ink marks of dragon heads on his cheeks tell me your name i demanded dawn answer well here snarled he spoke english even though my question had been in danish berg i said still looking at the newcomer if that mouth bastard interrupts me one more time i will assume he has broken the truce and you may kill him yes lord world here scald but did not speak he was outnumbered but every moment we lingered on the pasture brought more of the newcomers and they came with shields and weapons it would not be long before they outnumbered us so who are you i asked again i am named aina eggleston he answered proudly men call me aina the white you are norse i am and i am otrid of bevenberg i told him and men call me by many names the one i'm most proud of is it means ultra the wicked i have heard man tell of you he said you have heard of me i said but i have not heard of you is that why you come do you suppose your name will become famous if you kill me it will he said and if i kill you eine egelson add to my renown i shook my head as an answer to my own question who will mourn you who will remember you i spat towards weld here these men have paid you gold to kill me you know why tell me aina said because since i was a little child they have tried to kill me and they have failed always failed do you know why they failed tell me he said again because they are cursed i said because they worship the nailed god of the christians and he will not protect them they despise our gods i could see a hammer carved from white bone at ein's throat but years ago aina eggleston i put the curse of odin on them i called thor's anger on them and you would take their soiled gold gold is gold einer said and i threw the same curse at your ship i said he nodded touched the white hammer but said nothing i will either kill you i told einer or you will come to join us i will not offer you gold to join me i will offer you something better your life fight for that man i spat towards world here and you will die fight for me and you will live einer said nothing but just stared at me solemnly i was not certain that world here understood the conversation but he hardly needed to understand it he knew our words were hostile to his master enough he snarled all of northumbria hates these men i ignored world here and still spoke to aina and you would die with them and if you choose to die with them we shall take the gold that is gold that will not be your gold it will be my gold i looked at weld here have you finished counting he did not answer he had hoped more men would join them enough men to overwhelm us but our numbers were about equal and he had no wish to start a fight he was not sure of winning say your prayers i told him because your death is near i bit my finger and flicked it at him he made the sign of the cross while aina just looked worried if you have the courage i told wild here i'll wait for you tomorrow with that catherine i flicked the finger again the sign of a curse being cast and then we rode westwards when a man cannot fight he should curse the gods like to feel needed we rode westwoods in the dusk the sky was dark with cloud and the ground sudden from days of rain we did not hurry well here would not follow us and i doubted my cousin would accept the offer of battle at edgar friend he would fight i thought now that he had einer's heart and warriors to add to his own but he would fight on ground of his choosing not of mine we followed a valley that climbed slowly to the higher hills this was sheep country rich country but the pastures were empty the few steadings that we passed were dark with no smoke coming from their roof holes we had ravaged this land i had brought a small army north and for a month we'd savage my cousin's tenants we had driven off their flocks stolen their cattle burned their storehouses and torched the fishing craft in the small harbours north and south of the fortress we had killed no folk except those who wore my cousin's badge and the few who had offered resistance and we had taken no slaves we had been merciful because these people would one day be my people so instead we had sent them to seek food from bevenburg where my cousin would have to feed them even as we took away the food that his land provided aina the white my son asked never heard of him i said dismissively i have a diviner bird put in he is a norseman who followed grimdall when he rode into the rivers of the whiteland the white land was the vast expanse that lays somewhere beyond the home of the danes and the norse a land of long winters of white trees white plains and dark skies giants were said to live there and folk who had fur instead of clothes and claws that could rip a man open from the belly button to the spine the white land my son said is that why he's called the white it is because he bleeds his enemies white berg said i scoffed at that but still touch the hammer at my neck is he good my son asked he's a norseman berg said proudly so of course he is a great fighter he paused but i have also heard them called something else something else i know the unfortunate why unfortunate i asked berg shrugged his ships go aground his wives die he touched the hammer hanging at his neck so that the misfortunes he described would not touch him but he is known to win battles too unfortunate or not i thought einer's 150 heartened norse warriors were a formidable addition to bevenberg's strength so formidable that my cousin was evidently refusing to let them into his fortress for fear they would turn on him and become the new owners of blevenberg he was quartering them in the village instead and i did not doubt that he would soon give them horses and send them to harry my forces aina's men were not there to defend bevenberg's walls but to drive my men far away from those ramparts they'll come soon i said they'll come bald here and aina i said i doubt they'll come tomorrow but they'll come soon my cousin would want to end this quickly he wanted me dead the gold at einar's neck and around his wrists was evidence of the money my cousin had paid to bring warriors to kill me and the longer they stayed the more gold they would cost him if not tomorrow i thought then within the week there lord berg called pointing northwards a horseman was on the northern hill the man was motionless he carried a spear its blade slanting downwards he watched us for a moment then turned and rolled beyond the distant crest that's the third today my son said two yesterday lord rorick said we should kill one or two of them berg said vengefully why i asked i want my cousin to know where we are i want him to come to our spears the horsemen were scouts and i assumed they had been sent by my cousin to watch us they were good at their business for days now they had formed a wide loose cordon around us according that was invisible for much of the time but i always knew it was there i caught a last glimpse of another horseman just as the sun sank behind the western hills the dying sun reflected blood red of his spear point then he was gone into the shadows as he rode towards bevenburg 26 head of cattle today finnen told me and four horses while i'd been taunting my cousin by taking men close to his fort finnen had been hunting for plunder south of victor friend he had sent the captured cattle on a drove road that would take them eventually to dunholm heirlig and four men took them he told me and there were scouts down south just a couple we saw them north and east i said and they're good i had it grudgingly and now he has 150 new warriors finn and us dubiously i nodded norsemen all of them hired spears under a man called aina the white another want kill then finnan said he was an irishman and my oldest friend my second in command and my companion of uncounted shield walls he had gray hair now and a deeply lined face but so i guessed did i i was getting old and i wanted to die peacefully in the fortress that was mine by right i had reckoned it would take me a year to capture babenberg first through the summer autumn and winter i would destroy the fortress's food supply by killing or capturing the cattle and sheep that lived on the wide lands and green hills i would break the granaries burn the haystacks and send ships to destroy my cousin's fishing boats i would drive his frightened tenants to seek shelter behind his high walls so that he would have many mouths and little food by spring they would be starving and starving men a week and by the time they were eating rats we would attack oh so i hoped we make plans but the gods and three gnomes at the foot of victor sil decide our fate my plan was to weaken starve and eventually kill my cousin and his men but we are the best full of i should have known fate is inexorable i had hoped to tempt my cousin into the valley east of edgar friend where we could make the two streams run red with their blood there was little shelter at edgar friend it was a hilltop fort one built by the ancient people who lived in britain before even the romans came the old forts earthen walls had long decayed but the shallow remnant of the ditch still ringed the high summit there was no settlement there no buildings no trees just the great hump of the high hill under the incessant wind it was an uncomfortable place to camp there was no firewood and the nearest water was a half mile away but it did have a view no one could approach unseen and if my cousin did dare send men then we would see them approaching and we would have the high ground he did not come instead three days after i had confronted wild here we saw a single rider approach from the south he was a small man riding a small horse and he was wearing a black robe that flapped in the wind which still blew strong and cold from the distant sea the man gazed up at us then kicked his diminutive beast towards the steep slope it's a priest finn and said sourly which means they want to talk instead of fight you think my cousin sent him i asked who else then why is he coming from the south he's a priest he couldn't find his own arse if you turn him around and kicked it for him i looked for any sight of a scout watching us but saw none we had seen none for two days that absence of scouts persuaded me that my cousin was brewing mischief and so we had ridden to bevenberg that day and gazed at the fortress where we saw the mischief for ourselves aina's men were making a new palisade across the isthmus of sand that led to bobenberg's rock that it seemed was the norseman's defense a new outer wall my cousin did not trust them inside his stronghold so they were making a new refuge that would have to be overcome before we could assault first the low gate and then the high the bastards gone to ground finland had growled at me he's not going to fight us in the country he wants us to die on his walls his three walls now i said we would have to cross the new palisade then the formidable ramparts of the low gate and there would still be the big wall pierced by the high gate but that new wall was not the worst news the two new ships in bevenburg's harbour were what made my heart sink one was a fighting ship smaller than the four we had watched arrive but like them flying einer's banner of the dragon's head and alongside her was a fat-bellied trading ship men were carrying barrels ashore wading through the shallow water to dump the supplies on the beach just outside the low gate einer's bringing him food i said bleakly finnen said nothing he knew what i was feeling despair my cousin now had more men and a fleet to bring his garrison food i can't starve them now i said not while those bastards are there now late in the afternoon and under a glowing sky a priest came to edgar friend and i assumed he had been sent by my cousin with a gloating message he was close enough now for me to see that he had long black hair that hung greasily either side of a pale anxious face that stared up at our earthen wall he waved probably wanting a return wave that would reassure him that he would be welcome but none of my men responded we just watched as his weary gelding finished the climb and carried him over the turf rampart the priest staggered slightly when he dismounted he looked around him and shuddered at what he saw my men men in mail and leather hard men men with swords none spoke to him we all just waited for him to explain his arrival he finally caught sight of me saw the gold at my throat and on my forearms and he walked to me and dropped to his knees your lord uttered i'm lord outright my name is edic father edig i've been looking for you lord i told walder where he could find me i said harshly he dig looked up at me puzzled world here lord you're from bobenburg he shook his head no lord we come from euphoric yo for wick i could not hide my surprise and we how many of you are there i looked southwards but saw no more riders five of us left here for wicklord but we were attacked and you alone lived finn and said accusingly the others drew the attackers away lord father edicts spoke to me rather than to finnen and they wanted me to reach you they knew it was important who sent you i demanded king sitriga lord i felt a cold pulse shiver around my heart for a moment i dared not speak frightened of what this young priest would say see trigger i finally said and wondered what crisis would provoke my son-in-law to send a messenger i feared for my daughter is still ill i asked urgently the children no lord the queen and her children are well then the king requests to return lord he dig blurted out and took a rolled parchment from inside his robe he held it out to me i took the crushed parchment but did not unroll it why the saxons have attacked lord northumbria is at war he was still on his knees gazing up at me the king wants your troops lord and he wants you i cursed so bevenberg must wait we would ride south two we rode next morning i led 194 men together with a score of boys who were servants and we rode south through rain and wind and beneath clouds as dark as father edic's robe did my son-in-law send a priest i asked him see trigger like me worship the old gods the real gods of asgard we do his clerical work lord we we priests lord there are six of us who serve king see trigger by writing his laws and charters most he hesitated it's because we can read and write and most pagans can't i asked yes lord he blushed he knew that those of us who worship the old gods disliked being called pagans which is why he had hesitated you can call me a pagan i said i'm proud of it yes lord he said uneasily and this pagan can read and write i told him i had the skills because i'd been raised as a christian and the christians value writing which is i suppose a useful thing king alfred had established schools throughout wessex where boys were molested by monks when they were not being forced to learn their letters see trigger curious about how the saxons ruled in southern britain had once asked me whether he should do the same but i'd told him to teach boys how to wield a sword hold a shield guide a plow ride a horse and butcher a carcass and you don't need skulls for that i told him and he sent me lord father redick went on because he knew you would have questions which you can answer as best i can lord see trigger's message on the parchment merely said that west saxon forces had invaded southern northumbria and that he needed my forces in yofowick as soon as i could reach that city the message had been signed with a scroll that might have belonged to my son-in-law but also bore his seal of the axe the christians claim that the one great advantage of reading and writing is that we can be sure a message is real that they fake documents all the time there is a monastery in wiltonshire that has the skill to produce charters that look as if they are two or three hundred years old they scrape old parchments but leave just enough of the original writing visible so that the new words written over the old and weak ink are hard to read and they carve copies of seals and the faked charters all claim that some ancient king granted the church valuable lands or the income from customs jews then the abbots and bishops who paid the monks for the forged documents take them to the royal court to have some family thrown out of its homestead so that the christians can get richer so i suppose reading and writing really are useful skills west saxon forces i asked father edict not mercians west saxons lord they have an army at home casterlord owncaster where's that east of lincoln lord on the riverbeaner and that's sea triggers land oh yes lord the front is not far away but the land is northumbrian i had not heard of horncaster which suggested it was not an important town the important towns were those built on the roman roads or those which had been fortified into burrs but the only explanation i could think of was that the town made a convenient place to assemble forces for an attack on lincoln i said as much to father edie who nodded eager agreement yes lord and if the king isn't in your forework then he requests that you join him in lincoln that made sense if the west saxons wanted to capture yofowick seed triggers capital city then they would advance north up the roman road and would need to storm the high walls of lincoln before they could approach euphoric but what did not make sense was why there was war at all it made no sense because there was a treaty of peace between the saxons and the danes see trigger my son-in-law and king of the octowick and of northumbria had made the treaty with ethelflede of mercier and he had surrendered land and burs as the price for that peace some man despised him for that but northumbria was a weak kingdom and the saxon realms of mercy and wessex were strong see trigger needed time men and money if he was to withstand the saxon onslaught he knew was coming it was coming because king alfred's dream was turning into reality i am old enough to remember a time when the danes ruled almost all of what is now england they captured northumbria took east anglia and occupied all of murcia guthrum the dane had then invaded wessex driving alfred and a handful of men into the marshes of somerset but alfred had won the unlikely victory at tithanden and ever since the saxons had inexorably worked their way northwards the old kingdom of mercia was in saxon hands now and edward of wessex alfred's son and the brother of ethel fled of mercia had reconquered east anglia alfred's dream his passion had been to unite all the lands where the saxon tongue was spoken and of those lands only northumbria was left there might be a peace treaty between northumbria and bursia but we all knew the saxon onslaught would come rurik the norse boy whose father i had killed had been listening as i talked to father edic lord he asked nervously whose side are we on i laughed i was born a saxon but raised by danes my daughter had married a norseman my dearest friend was irish my woman was a saxon the mother of my children had been danish my gods were pagan and my oath was sworn to ethelfled a christian whose side was i on all you need to know boy finn and growled is that lord eutroid's side is the one that wins the rain was slashing down now turning the drove path we followed into thick mud the rain fell so hard i had to raise my voice to edig you say the mercians haven't invaded not as far as we know lord just west saxons seems so lord and that was strange before sea trigger captured the throne in yofowick i had tried to persuade ethel fled to attack northumbria she had refused saying she would not start a war unless her brother's troops were fighting alongside her men and edward of wessex's brother had been adamant that she refused he insisted northumbria could only be conquered by the combined armies of wessex and mercia yet now he had marched alone i knew there was a faction in the west saxon court that insisted wessex could conquer northumbria without mercy and help but edward had always been more cautious he wanted his sister's army alongside his own i pressed edig but he was sure there had been no mercy in attack at least not when i left here for wicklord it's just rumors finnan said scornfully who knows what's happening we'll get there and find it's nothing but a goddamn cattle raid scouts rurik said i thought he meant that a handful of west saxon scouts had been mistaken for an invasion but instead he was pointing behind us and i turned to see two of the horsemen watching us from a ridge they were hard to see through the drenching rain but they were unmistakable the same small fast horses the same long spears we had seen no scouts for a couple of days but they were back now and following us i spat now my cousin knows we're leaving he'll be happy finn and said they look like the men who ambushed us father edict said staring at the distant scouts and making the sign of the cross there were six of them on fast horses and carrying spears see trigger had sent the priest with an armed escort who would sacrifice their lives so that edic alone could escape they're my cousins men i told father edic and if we catch any of them i'll let you kill them i couldn't do that i frowned at him you don't want revenge i am a priest lord i can't kill i'll teach you how if you like i said i doubt i shall ever understand christianity thou shalt not kill their priests teach then encourage warriors to give battle against the heathen or even against other christians if there is a half chance of gaining land slaves or silver father biaka had taught me the nailed god's ten commandments but i had long learned that the chief commandment of the christians was thou shalt make my priests wealthy for two more days the scouts followed us southwards until in a wet evening we reached the wall the wall there are many wonders in britain the ancient people left mysterious rings of stone while the romans built temples palaces and great halls yet of all those wonders it is the wall that amazes me the most the romans of course had made it they had made a wall across britain clear across northumbria a wall that stretched from the river tainan on northumbria's eastern coast to the cumbrian coast on the irish sea it ended close to cair ligwalid though much of the wall stone there had been pillaged to make steadings yet still most of the wall existed and not just a wall but a massive stone rumpart wide enough for men to walk to abreast on its top and in front of the wall was a ditch and an earthen bank and behind it was another ditch well every few miles was a fault like the one we called wheel by rig a string of forts i had never counted them though once i had ridden the wall from sea to sea and what amazing thoughts there were towers from which centuries could gaze into the northern hills systems to store water there were barracks stable storerooms all made of stone i remembered my father frowning at the wall as it twisted its way into a valley and up the further hill and he'd shaken his head in wonder how many slaves did they need to build this hundreds my older brother had said and six months later he was dead and my father had given me his name and i became the heir to bevenberg the wall marked the southern boundary of bevenburg's lands and my father had always left a score of warriors in will byrig to collect tolls from travellers using the main road that linked scotland to london those men were long gone of course driven out when the danes conquered northumbria during the invasion that had cost my father his life and left me an orphan with a noble name and no land no land because my uncle had stolen it you are lord of nothing king alfred had once snelled at me lord of nothing and lord of nowhere who tried the godless altered the landless who tread the hopeless he had been right of course but now i was utrade of dunholm i had taken that fort when we defeated raniel and kilbrida and it was a great fort almost as formidable as blabenberg and wilbirig marked the northern limit of dunham's lands just as it marked the southern edge of bevenburg's domain if the fort had another name i did not know it and we called it will byrig which just means the fort of the wall and it had been built where the great wall crossed a low hill the years and the rain had made the ditches shallow but the wall itself was still strong the buildings had lost their roofs but we had cleared the debris from three of them and brought rafters from the woods near dunham to make new roofs which we layered with turf and then we constructed a new shelter on top of the lookout tower so sentries were protected from wind and rain as they stared northwards always northwards i thought about that often i do not know how many years it is since the romans left britain father biaka my childhood tutor had told me it was over 500 years and perhaps he was right but even back then however long ago it was the sentries gazed north always north towards the scots who must have been as much trouble then as they are now i remember my father cursing them and his priests praying that the nailed god would humble them and that always puzzled me because the scots were christians too when i was just eight years old my father had allowed me to ride with his warriors on a punitive cattle raid into scotland and i remember a small town in a wide valley where the women and children had crowded into a church you don't touch them my father had commanded they have sanctuary they're the enemy i protested don't we want slaves they're christians my father explained currently and so we had taken their long-haired cattle burned most of their houses and ridden home with ladles spits and cooking pots indeed with anything that our smithy could melt down but we had not entered the church because they're christians my father had explained again don't you understand your stupid boy i did not understand and then of course the danes had come and they tore the churches apart to steal the silver from the altars i remember ranya laughing one day it is so kind of the christians they put their wealth in one building and market with a great cross it makes life so easy so i learned that the scots were christians but they were also the enemy just as they had been the enemy when thousands of roman slaves had dragged stones across northumbria's hills to make the wall in my childhood i was a christian too i knew no better and i remember asking father biaka how other christians could be our enemies they are indeed christians father biaker had explained to me but they are savages too he'd taken me to the monastery on linda's foreigner and he had begged the abba to was to be slaughtered by the danes within half a year to show me one of the monastery's six books it was a huge book with crackling pages and biaka turned them reverently tracing the lines of crabbed handwriting with a dirty fingernail ah he had said here it is he turned the book so i could see the writing no because it was in latin it meant nothing at all to me this is a book biaker told me written by saint gildus it's a very rare book sin killed us was a britain and his book tells of our coming the coming of the saxons he did not like us he had juggled when he said that for of course we were not christians then but i want you to see this because guiltless came from northumbria and he knew the scots well he turned the book and bent over the page here it is listen as soon as the romans returned home he translated as his finger scratched along the lines there eagerly emerged the foul hordes of scots like dark swarms of worms or wriggle out of cracks in the rocks they had agreed for bloodshed and were more ready to cover their villainous faces with hair than cover their private parts with clothes biaka had made the sign of the cross after he closed the book nothing changes they are thieves and robbers naked thieves and robbers i had asked the passage about private parts had interested me no no no they're christians now they covered their shameful parts now god be praised so they're christians i said but don't we raid their land too of course we do bjocker had said because they must be punished for what for raiding our land of course but we raid their land i insisted so aren't we thieves and robbers too i rather liked the idea that we were just as wild and lawless as the hated scots you will understand when you were grown up biaka had said as he always did when he did not know the answer and now that i was grown up i still did not understand biaka's argument that our war against the scots was righteous punishment king alfred who was nobody's fool often said that the war that raged across britain was a crusade of christianity against the pagans but whenever that war crossed into welsh or scottish territory it suddenly became something else then it became christian against christian and it was just as savage just as bloody and we were told by the priests that we did the nailed god's will while the priests in scotland said exactly the same thing to their warriors when they attacked us the truth of course was that it was a war about land there were four tribes in one island the welsh the scots the saxons and the northmen and all four of us wanted the same land the priests preached incessantly that we had to fight for the land because it had been given to us as a reward by the nailed god but when we saxons had first captured the land we'd all been pagans so presumably thor or odin gave us the land isn't that true i asked father e dig that night we were sheltering in one of wheelbyrig's fine stone buildings protected from the relentless wind and rain by roman walls and warmed by a great fire in the hearth he dig gave me a nervous smile it's true lord that god sent us to this land but it wasn't the old gods it was the one true god he sent us the saxons he sent the saxons yes lord but we weren't christians then i pointed out my man who had heard it all before grinned we weren't christians then edict agreed but the welsh who had this land before us were christians except they were bad christians so god sent the saxons as a punishment what have they done i asked the welsh i mean how were they bad i don't know lord but god wouldn't have sent us unless they deserved it so they were bad i said and god preferred to have bad pagans in britain instead of bad christians that's like killing a cow because it has a lame hoof and replacing it with a cow that has the staggers oh but god converted us to the true faith as a reward for punishing the welsh he said brightly we're a good cow now so why did god send the danes i asked him was he punishing us for being bad christians that is a possibility lord he said uncomfortably as if he was not quite sure of his answer so where does it end i asked end lord some danes are converting i said so who does your god send to punish them when they become bad christians the franks there's a fire my son interrupted us he had drawn aside a leather curtain and was staring north in this rain finn and asked i went to stand beside my son and sure enough somewhere in the far northern hills a great blaze made a glow in the sky fires mean trouble but i could not imagine any raiding party being loose in this night of rain and wind it's probably a studying that caught fire i suggested and it's a long way away finnan said god's punishing someone i said but which god father e dig made the sign of the cross we watched the distant blaze for a short while but no more fires showed then the rain damped the far flames and the sky darkened again we changed the sentries in the high tower then slept and in the morning the enemy came you lord ertred my enemy commanded will go south he had come with the morning rain and the first i knew of his arrival was when the sentries in the lookout tower clanged the iron bar that served as our alarm bell it was an hour or so after dawn though the only hint of the sun was a ghostly paleness in the eastern clouds there are people out there one of the sentries told me pointing north on foot i leaned on the parapet and stared into the patchy mist and rain as finnen climbed a ladder behind me what is it he asked maybe shepherds i suggested i could see nothing the rain was less violent now just a steady drenching they were running towards us lord the sentry said running stumbling anyway i stared but saw nothing there were horsemen too godric who was the second century said he was young and not too clever until a year before he had been my servant and he was liable to see enemies in any shadow i didn't see horseman lord the first century a reliable man called kenwolf said our horses were being saddled ready for the day's journey i wondered if it was worth taking scouts north to discover if there really were men out there and who they were and what they wanted how many men did you see i asked three kenwall said five godric said at the same time and two horsemen i gazed north and saw nothing except the rain falling unbracken drifts of rugged mist hid some of the further swells in the land probably shepherds i said there were horsemen lord godric said uncertainly i saw them no shepherd would ride a horse i gazed into the rain and mist godrick's eyes were younger than ken wolves but his imagination was also a lot more fanciful who in christ's name would be out there at this time in the morning fenian grumbled no one i said straightening up godric's imagining things again i'm not lord he said earnestly dairy maids i said he thinks of nothing else no lord he blushed how old are you now i asked him 14 15 that's all i ever thought about at your age tits you haven't changed much thin and muttered i did see them lord godric protested you were dreaming of tits again i said then stopped because there were men on the rain-soaked hills four men appeared from a fold in the ground they were running towards us running desperately and a moment later i saw why because six horsemen came out of the mist galloping to cut the fugitives off open the gate i shouted to the men at the tower's foot get out there bring those men here i scrambled down the ladder arriving just as rorick brought tintrig i had to wait as the girth was tightened then i hold myself into the saddle and followed a dozen mounted men out onto the hillside finnen was not far behind me lord rorick was shouting at me as he ran from the fort lord he was holding my heavy sword belt with the scabbarded serpent breath i turned lean from the saddle and just drew the sword leaving belt and scabbard in rory's hands go back to the fort boy but go back the dozen men who had been already mounted ready to leave the fort were well ahead of me all riding to cut off the horsemen who pursued the four men those horsemen seeing they were outnumbered sheered away and just then a fifth fugitive appeared he must have been hiding in the bracken beyond the skyline and now ran into view leaping down the slope the horseman saw him and turned again this time towards the fifth man who hearing their hooves twisted away but the leading rider slowed calmly level the spear then thrust its blade into the fugitive spine for a heartbeat the man arched his back staying on his feet then the second rider overtook him back swung an axe and i saw the bright sudden mist of blood the man collapsed instantly but his death had distracted and delayed his pursuers and so saved his four companions who were now guarded by my men why didn't that stupid fool stay hidden i asked nodding to where the six horsemen had surrounded the fallen man that's why finland answered and pointed towards the northern skyline where a crowd of horsemen was appearing from the mist god save us he said making the sign of the cross but it's a goddamned army behind me the sentries on the tower were clanging the iron bar to bring the rest of my men to the fort's rumparts a gust of rain blew heavy and sudden lifting the cloaks of the horsemen who lined the skyline there were dozens of them no banner i said your cousin i shook my head in the gray and rain-smeared light it was hard to see the distant men but i doubted my cousin would have had the courage to bring his garrison this far south to a dark night i know perhaps i asked but in that case who had they been chasing i spurred tintrig towards my men who guarded the four fugitives the norseman lord gabriel shouted as i approached the four was soaked through shaking with cold and terrified they were all young fair-haired and had inked faces when they saw my drawn sword they dropped their knees lord please one of them said i looked north and saw that the army of horsemen had not moved they just watched us 300 men i guessed 340. finn and said my name i said to the man who knelt in the wet heather is utrid of babenberg i saw the fear on their faces and let them feel it for a few heartbeats and who are you they muttered their names they were aina's men sent to scout for us they had ridden for much of the previous afternoon and not finding our trail had camped in a shepherd's hut in the western hills but just before dawn the horsemen to the north had disturbed their sleep and they had to run abandoning their own horses in their panic so who were they i nodded at the horsemen to the north we thought they were your men lord you don't know who's chasing you i asked enemies lord one of them said miserably and unhelpfully so tell me what happened the five men had been sent by aina to look for us but three of the mysterious mounted scouts discovered them in the wolf light just before the sun rose behind the thick eastern clouds the shepherd's shelter had been in a hollow and they had managed to drag one of the surprise scouts from his saddle and drive off the remaining two they had killed the one man but while they did that the surviving two scouts had driven off their horses so you killed the man i asked them but did you ask him who he was no lord the oldest of the four survivors confessed we didn't understand his language and he struggled lord he drew a knife who did you think he was the man hesitated then muttered that he thought their victim was my follower so you just killed him the man shrugged well yes lord they then hurried south only to discover they were being pursued by a whole army of horsemen you killed a man i said because you thought he served me so why shouldn't i kill you he was shouting lord we needed to silence him that was reason enough and i supposed i would have done the same so what do i do with you i asked give you to those men i nodded at the waiting horsemen or just kill you they had no answer to that but nor did i expect one be kindest just to kill the bastards finnen said lord please one of them whispered i ignored him because the half-dozen horsemen had left the far hilltop and were now riding towards us they came slowly as if to assure us they meant no harm take those four bastards back to the fort they ordered gibralt and don't kill them no lord the big frisian sounded disappointed not yet i said my son had come from the fort and he and finnen rode with me to meet the six men who are they my son asked it's not my cousin i said if my cousin had pursued us he would be flaunting his banner of the wolf's head and it's not einer so who my son asked a moment later i knew who it was as the six horsemen drew closer i recognized the man who led them he was mounted on a fine tall black stallion and wore a long blue cloak that was spread across the horse's rump he had a golden cross hanging from his neck he rode straight back his head high he knew who i was we had met and he smiled when he saw me staring at him it's trouble i told my companions it's damn trouble and so it was the man in the blue cloak was still smiling as he curbed his horse a few paces away a drawn sword lord eatrid he charted me is that how you greet an old friend i'm a poor man i said i can't afford a scabbard i pushed serpent breath into my left boot sliding her carefully till the blade was safely lodged beside my calf and the hilt was up in the air an elegant solution he said mocking me he himself was elegant his dark blue cloak was astonishingly clean his mail polished his boots scoured of mud and his beard close trimmed like his raven dark hair that was ringed with a golden circlet his bridle was decorated with gold a gold chain circled his neck and the pommel of his sword was bright gold he was cozantin makeda king of alba known to me as constantin and beside him on a slightly smaller stallion was his son kellak mccoy four men waited behind the father and son two warriors and two priests and all four glowed at me presumably because i had not addressed constantine as lord king lord prince i spoke to kellack it's good to see you again kellock glanced at his father as if seeking permission to answer you can talk to him king constantine said but speaks slowly and simply he's a saxon so he doesn't understand long words lord you should kill it said politely it's good to see you again too years before when he was just a boy kellock had been hostage in my household i had liked him then and i still liked him though i supposed one day i would have to kill him he was about 20 now just as handsome as his father with the same dark hair and very bright blue eyes but not surprisingly he lacked his father's calm confidence are you well boy i asked and his eyes widened slightly when i called him boy but he managed to nod in reply so lord king i looked back to constantine what brings you to my land you're a land constantin was amused by that this is scotland you must speak slowly and simply lord i told him because i don't understand nonsense words constantine laughed at that i wish i didn't like you lord hatred he said life would be so much simpler if i detested you most christians do i said looking at his dour priests i could learn to detest you constantine said but only if you choose to be my enemy why would i do that i asked why indeed the bastard smiled and he seemed to have all his teeth and i wondered how he'd managed to keep them witchcraft but you won't be my enemy lord outraged i won't of course not i've come to make peace i believed that i also believed that eagles laid golden eggs fairies danced in our shoes at midnight and that the moon was carved from good somerset cheese maybe i said peace would be better discussed by a half with some pots of ale you see constantine turned to his scowling priests i assured you lord utward would be hospitable i allowed constantine and his five companions to enter the fort but insisted the rest of his men waited a half mile away where they were watched by my warriors who lined will byrigg's northern rumpart constantine feigning innocence had asked that all his men be allowed through the gate and i just smiled at him for answer and he had the grace to smile back the scottish army could wait in the rain there would be no fighting not so long as constantine was my guest but still they were scots and no one but a fool would invite over 300 scottish warriors into a fort a man might as well open a sheepfold to a pack of wolves peace i said to constantine after the ale had been served bread broken and a flitch of cold bacon carved into slices it says my christian duty to make peace constantine said piously if king alfred had said the same thing i would have known he was in earnest but constantine managed to mock the words subtly he knew i did not believe him any more than he believed himself i had ordered tables and benches fetched into the large chamber but the scottish king did not sit instead he wandered around the room which was lit by five windows it was still gloomy outside constantine seemed fascinated by the room he traced a finger up the small remaining patches of plaster then felt the almost imperceptible gap between the stone jams and lintel of the door the romans built well he said almost wistfully better than us i said they were a great people he said i nodded their legions marched across the world he went on but they were repelled from scotland from oh bye i asked he smiled they tried they failed and so they built these forts and this wall to keep us from ravaging their province he stroked a hand along the row of narrow bricks i would like to visit rome i'm told it's in ruins i said and haunted by wolves beggars and thieves you'd think yourself at home lord king the two scottish priests evidently spoke the english tongue because each of them muttered reproof at me while calic the king's son looked as if he was about to protest but constantine was quite unmoved by my insult but what ruins he said gesturing his son to silence what marvelous ruins their ruins are greater than our greatest halls he turned towards me with his irritating smile this morning he said my man cleared einer the white from bevenburg i said nothing indeed i was incapable of speech my first thought was that aina could no longer supply the fortress with food and that the vast problem of his ships was solved but then i plunged into renewed despair as i understood that constantine had not attacked aina on my behalf one problem was solved but only because a much greater obstacle now stood between me and bobenberg constantine must have sensed my gloom because he laughed cleared him out he said scared him from bourbon berg said him scurrying away or perhaps the wretched man is dead i'll know soon enough einer had fewer than 200 men and i sent over 400. he also had the rum parts of bebenberg i pointed out of course he didn't constantine said scornfully your cousin wouldn't let a pack of norsemen through his gates he knows they'd never leave if he had let einer's men into the fortress he'd have invited a knife in his back no einer's men were quartered in the village and the palace said they were building outside the fort was unfinished they'll be gone by now thank you i said sarcastically for doing your work he asked smiling then came to the table and at last sat down and helped himself to some ale and food indeed i did do your work he went on but you can't besiege bevenburg till einer is defeated and now he is he was hired to keep you away from the fortress and to supply your cousin with food now i hope he's dead or at least running for his miserable life so thank you i said again but his men have been replaced by my man constantin said in an even tone my men are occupying the steadings now just as they are occupying the village at berdenberg as of this morning lord itrid my men have taken all of beberg's land i looked into his very blue eyes i thought you'd come to make peace i have with seven eight hundred warriors oh more he said eerily many more and you have how many 200 men here and another 35 and done home 37 i said just to annoy him and led by a woman edith is fiercer than most men i said edith was my wife and i had left her in charge of the small garrison that guard had done home i had also left citric there in case she forgot which end of a sword did the damage i think you'll find she's not fiercer than my man constantine said smiling peace would be a very good idea for you i have a son-in-law i pointed out ah the formidable sea trigger who can put five six hundred men into the field maybe a thousand if the southern yarl support him which i doubt and see trigger must keep men on that southern frontier to keep the yarls on his side if indeed they are on his side who knows i said nothing constantine was right of course sitrago might be king in yophowick and call himself king of northumbria but many of the most powerful danes on the mercian frontier had yet to swear him loyalty they claimed he had surrendered too much land to make peace with ethel fled though i suspected they were willing to surrender themselves rather than fight in a losing war to preserve see trigger's kingdom and it's not just the yarls constantine went on rubbing salt into the wound i hear the west saxons are making rude noises there see triggers at peace with the saxons i said constantine smiled that smile was beginning to infuriate me one result of being a christian lord hatred is that i feel a sympathy even a fondness for my fellow christian kings we are the lord's anointed his humble servants whose duty it is to spread the gospel of jesus christ across all lands king edward of wessex would love to be remembered as the man who brought the pagan kingdom of northumbria under the shelter of christian wessex and your son-in-law's peace treaty is with mercia not with wessex and how many west saxons say the treaty should never have been concluded they say it's time northumbria was brought into the christian community did you not know that some west saxons want war i conceded but not king edward not yet your friend elderman athelhelm seeks to persuade him otherwise athelhelm that said vengefully is a stinking turd but he's a christian stinking turd constantine said so it's my religious duty surely to encourage him then you're a stinking turd too i said and the two scottish warriors who accompanied constantine heard my tone and stirred neither seemed to speak english they had their own barbarous tongue and one growled incomprehensibly constantine raised a hand to calm the two men am i right he asked me i nodded reluctantly alderman athelhelm my genial enemy was the most powerful noble in wessex and also king edward's father-in-law and it was no secret that he wanted a quick invasion of northumbria he wanted to be remembered as the man who forged engelland and whose grandson became the first king of all england but athelhelm i said does not lead the west saxon army king edward does and king edward is younger which means he can afford to wait perhaps constantine said perhaps he sounded amused as if i was being naive he leaned across the table to pour more ale into my cup let us talk of something else he said let us talk of the romans the romans i asked surprised the romans he said warmly and what a great people they were they brought the blessings of christianity to britain and we should love them for that and they had philosophers scholars historians and theologians and we would do well to learn from them the wisdom of the ancient slaughtered should be a light to guide our present don't you agree he waited for me to answer but i said nothing and those wise romans constantine went on decided that the frontier between scotland and the sacks and lands should be this wall he was looking into my eyes as he spoke and i could tell he was amused even though his face was solemn i hear there's a roman wall further north a ditch he said dismissively and it failed this wall he waved towards the rumparts that were visible through one of the windows succeeded i have thought about the matter i have prayed about it and it makes sense that this wall should be the dividing line between our peoples everything to the north will be scotland alba and everything to the south can belong to the saxons england there'll be no more argument about where the frontier lies every man will be able to see the border clearly marked across our island by this great stone wall and though it won't stop our people from cattle raiding it will make such raids more difficult so you see i am a peacemaker he smiled radiantly at me i have proposed all this to king edward edward doesn't rule in northumbria he will and bebenberg is mine i said it was never yours constantine said harshly it belonged to your father and now it belongs to your cousin he suddenly snapped his fingers as if he had remembered something did you poison his son of course not he smiled it was well done if you did i did not i said angrily we had captured my cousin's son a mere boy and i'd let ozfath one of my trusted men look after both him and his mother who had been taken captive with her son mother and son had both died of a plague the year before but inevitably men said that i had poisoned them he died of the sweating fever i said and so did thousands of others in wessex of course i believe you constantine said carelessly but your cousin is now in need of a wife i shrugged some poor woman will marry him i have a daughter constantine said musingly perhaps i should offer the girl she'll be a cheaper price than you'll pay trying to cross his ramparts you think i fear bevenberg's walls you should i said you planned to cross those ramparts constantin said and there was no amusement in his manner anymore and do you believe i am less willing and less able than you so your peace i said bitterly is conquest yes he said bluntly it is but we are merely moving the frontier back to where the romans so wisely placed it he paused enjoying my discomfiture bourbon berg lord hatred he went on and all its lands are mine not while i live is there a fly buzzing in here he asked i heard something or was it you speaking i looked into his eyes you see the priest over there i jerked my head towards father edic constantine was puzzled but nodded i'm surprised please that you have a priest for company a priest who spoiled your plans lord king i said my plans your men killed his escort but father he did got away if he hadn't reached me i'd still be a netgathering wherever that is constantine said lightly the hill your scouts have been watching this past week and more i said realizing at last who the mysterious and skillful watchers had been constantine gave a very slight nod acknowledging that his men had indeed been haunting us and you'd have attacked me there i went on why else would you be here instead of at bobenburg you wanted to destroy me but now you find me behind stone walls and killing me will be much more difficult that was all true if constantine had caught me in open country his forces would have chopped my men into pieces but he would pay a high price if he tried to assault wheel byrik's rumpards he seemed amused by the truth i'd spoken and why lord utrid would i want to kill you because he's the one enemy you fear finn answered for me i saw the momentary grimace on constantine's face then he stood and there were no more smiles this fort he said harshly is now my property all the land to the north is my kingdom i give you till sundown today to leave my fort and my frontier which means that you lord etrid will go south constantine had come to my land with an army my cousin had been reinforced by aina the white ships i had fewer than 200 men so what choice did i have i touched thor's hammer and made a silent vow i would take bobenberg despite my cousin despite eina and despite constantine it would take longer it would be hard but i would do it then i went south part two the trap three we arrived at joferwick or jorvik as the danes and norse call it on the next sunday and were greeted by the ringing of church bells breeder who had been my lover before she became my enemy had tried to eradicate christianity in euphoric she had murdered the old archbishop slaughtered many of his priests and burned the churches but he trigger the new ruler in the city did not care what god any man or woman worshipped so long as they paid their taxes and kept the peace and so the new christian shrines had sprung up like mushrooms after rain there was also a new archbishop crothweird a west saxon who was reputed to be a decent enough man we arrived around midday under a bright sun the first son we had seen since we had ridden from edgar friend we rode to the palace close by the rebuilt cathedral but there i was told that sitriga had gone to lincoln with his forces but the queen is here i asked the elderly doorkeeper as i dismounted she rode with her husband lord i grunted disapprovingly though my daughter's taste for danger did not surprise me indeed it would have astonished me if she had not ridden south with sea trigger and the children gone to lincoln too lord i flinched from the aches in my bones so who's in charge here boulder gunness and lord i knew boulder as a reliable experienced warrior i also thought of him as old though in truth he might have been a year or two younger than i was and like me he had been scarred by war he had been left with a limp thanks to a saxon spear that had torn up his right calf and he had lost an eye to a mercy and arrow and those wounds had taught him caution there's no news of the war he told me but of course it could be another week before we hear anything is there really war i asked him there are saxons on our territory lord he said carefully and i don't suppose they've come here to dance with us he had been left with a scanty garrison to defend the offerwick and if there really were a west saxon army rampaging in southern northumbria then he had best hope it never reached the city's roman ramparts just as he had best pray to the gods that constantine did not decide to cross the wall and march south will you be staying here lord he asked doubtless hoping my men would stiffen his diminished garrison i will leave in the morning i told him i would have gone sooner but our horses needed rest and i needed news boulder had no real idea what happened to the south so finnan suggested we talk to the new archbishop monks are always writing to each other he said monks and priests they know more about what's going on than most kings and they say archbishop rothweird's a good man i don't trust him you've never met him he's a christian i said and so are the west saxons so who would he rather have on the throne here a christian or see trigger no you go and talk to him wave your crucifix at him and try not to fart my son and i walked east leaving the city through one of the massive gates and following a lane to the riverbank where a row of buildings edged a long wharf used by trading ships that came from every port of the north sea here a man could buy a ship or timber cordage or pitch sail cloth or slaves there were three taverns the largest of which was the duck which sold ale food and horse and it was there that we sat at a table just outside the door nice to see the sun again ola the taverns owner greeted me be nicer to see some ale i said hola grind and it's good to see you lord just i'll have a pretty little thing just arrived from freesia just ale she won't know what she's missing he said then went to fetch the ale while we leaned against the tavern's outside wall the sun was warm its reflections sparkling on the river where swans paddled slowly upstream a big trading ship was tied up nearby and three naked slaves were cleaning her she's for sale all i said when he brought the ale looks heavy she's a pig of a boat you wanting to buy a load no sir maybe something leaner prices have gone up all i better to wait till the snow on the ground he sat on a stool at the table's end you want food the wives made a nice fish stew and the bread's fresh baked i'm hungry my son said for fish or frisians i asked both were fish first ola wrapped the table and waited until a pretty young girl came from the tavern three bowls of the stew darling he said and two of the new loaves and a jug of ale some butter and wipe your nose he waited till she had darted back indoors you got any lively young warriors that need a wife lord he asked plenty i said including this lump i gestured at my son she's my daughter he said nodding at the door where the girl had vanished and a handful i found her trying to sell her younger brother to harold yesterday harold was the slave driver three buildings upriver i hope she got a good price i said oh she'd have driven a hard bug in that one please don't grow old on her hannah he shouted hannah father the girl peered around the door how old are you twelve father see he looked at me ready for marriage he reached down and scratched a sleeping dog between the ears and you lord i'm already married allah grinned been a while since you drank my ale so what brings you here i was hoping you'd tell me he nodded on caster horncaster i confirmed i don't know the place nothing much there he said except an old fort roman i guess what else the west saxons rule up the gouache now he sounded gloomy for some reason they've sent men further north to horncaster they've planted themselves in the old fort and as far as i know they're still there how many enough maybe three hundred four that sounded like a formidable warband but even 400 men would have a hard time assaulting lincoln stonewalls i was told we were at war i said bitterly 400 men sitting in a fort might be a nuisance but it's hardly the end of northumbria my doubt they're there to pick daisies oh they said they're west saxons and they're on our lund king c trigger can't just leave them there true i poured myself more ale do you know who lays them brunoff never heard of him he's a west saxon other said he got his news from folk who drank in his tavern many of them sailors whose ships traded up and down the coast but he knew of brunoff because of a danish family who had been ejected from their steading just north of the old fort and who had sheltered in the duck for a night on their way north to lodge with relatives he didn't kill any of them lord brunoff didn't they said it was courteous but the whole village had to leave of course they lost their livestock and their homes and the homes lord but not one of them was so much as scratched not a child taken as a slave not a woman raped nothing gentle invaders i said so your son-in-law other went on took over 400 men south but i hear he wants to be gentle too he'd rather talk the bastards out of horn caster than start a war so he's become sensible your daughter is lord she's the one who insists we don't prod the wasp's nest and here's your daughter i said as hannah brought a tray laden with bowls and jugs put it there darling other said tapping the table top so how much did harold offer you for your brother i asked her three shillings lord she was bright-eyed brown-haired with an infectiously cheeky rin why did you want to sell him because he's a turd lord i laughed you should have taken the money then three shillings is a good price for a turd father wouldn't let me she pouted then pretended to have a bright idea maybe my brother could serve you lord she made a ghastly grimace then he'd die in a battle go away you horrible thing her father said anna i called her back your father says you're ready to be married another year maybe hold up put in quickly you want to marry this one i asked pointing to my son no lord why not he looks like you lord she said grinned and vanished i laughed but my son looked offended i do not look like you he said you do allah said god help me then and god help northumbria i thought brunoff i knew nothing of him but assumed he was competent enough to be given command of several hundred men but why had he been sent to honcaster was king edward trying to provoke a wall his sister ethel fled might have made peace with sea trigger but wessex had not signed the treaty and the eagerness of some west saxons to invade northumbria was no secret but sending a few hundred men a small distance into northumbria injecting the nearby danes without slaughter and then settling into an old fort did not sound like a savage invasion brunoff and his men i decided were in honcaster as a provocation designed to make us attack them and so start a war we would lose see trigger wants me to join him i told other if he can't talk them out of the thought then he's hoping you'll scare them out he said flatteringly now i tasted the fish stew and discovered i was ravenous so why is the price of ships going up i asked you won't believe this lord it's the archbishop rothweid all the shrugged he says it's time the monks went back to linda's foreign i stared at him he says what he wants to rebuild the monastery oliver said there had been no monks on linda's foreigner for half a lifetime not since marauding danes had killed the last of them in my father's time it had been the most important christian shrine in all britain surpassing even contwaraberg attracting hordes of pilgrims who came to pray besides saint cuthbert's grave my father had profited because the monastery was just north of the fortress on its own island and the pilgrims spent silver buying candles food lodging and in bevenburg's village i had no doubt that the christians wanted to rebuild the place but right now it was in scottish hands other jerked his head eastwards along the bank see that pile of timber it's all good seasoned oak from somerset that's what the archbishop wants to use that and some stone so he needs a dozen ships to carry it all king constantine might not approve i said grumley what's it got to do with him all that asked you hadn't heard dan scott's have invaded beberg's land sweet christ truly lord truly that bastard constantine claims linda's foreigner is part of scotland now he'll want his own monks they're not rothwaite saxons or the grimaced the archbishop won't lie that the dumb scots and lindersferena i had a sudden thought and frowned as i considered it you know who owns most of the island i asked allah your family lord he said which was a tactful answer the church owns the monastery ruins i said but the rest of the island belongs to bobenberg do you think the archbishop asked my cousin's permission to build there he doesn't need it but life would be easier if my cousin agreed although hesitated he knew how i felt about my cousin i think the suggestion came from your cousin lord which was exactly what i had suddenly suspected that weasel i said from the moment that sea trigger became king of northumbria my cousin must have known that i would attack him and he had doubtless made the suggestion to rothwood so that the church would support him he would turn the defense of babenberg into a christian crusade constantine had at least ended that hope i thought but before that although went on the mad bishop tried to build a church there or i wanted to i laughed any mention of the mad bishop always amused me he did so archbishop rothwear wants to stop that nonsense of course you never know what to believe about that crazy bastard but it was no secret that the fool wanted to build a new monastery on the island the mad bishop might have been mad but he was no bishop he was a danish yao named dagfinir who had declared himself the bishop of gairam and given himself a new name jeremias he and his men occupied the old fort at garam just south of bloomberg's land on the southern bank of the river tainan gairan was part of dunham's holdings which made jeremias my tenant and the only time i had met him was when he had dutifully come to the larger fortress to pay me rent he had arrived with a dozen men who he called his disciples all of them mounted on stallions except for guerramis himself who straddled an ass he wore a long grubby robe had greasy white hair hanging to his waist and a sly look of amusement on his thin clever face he laid 15 silver shillings on the grass then hitched up his robe behold he announced grandly then pissed on the coins in the name of the father the son and the other one he said as he pissed then grinned at me your rent lord a little dump but blessed by god himself see how they sparkle now a miracle yes wash them i told him and your feet too so the crazy jeremiah's wanted to build on linda's foreigner did he ask my cousin's permission i asked all that i wouldn't know lord i haven't seen jeremiah saw his horrible ship for months the horrible ship was called goods murder a dark untidy war vessel that the aramis used to patrol the coast just beyond jairum i shrugged yeremis is no threat i decided if he farts northwards then constantine will crush him perhaps although sounded dubious i stared at the river as it slid past the busy wharfs then watched a cat stalk along the rail of a moored ship before leaping down to hunt rats in the bilge hollow was telling my son about the horse races that had to be postponed because c trigger had led most of the offerwick's garrison south but i was not listening i was thinking plainly the permission to build the new monastery must have been given weeks ago before even constantin had led his invasion how else would the archbishop have his piles of wood and masonry ready to be shipped when did brunov occupy horncaster i asked interrupting ola's enthusiastic account of a gilding he reckoned was the fastest horse in northumbria let me think he frowned pausing a few heartbeats must be the last new moon yes it was and the moon's almost full i said so my son began then went silent so the scots invaded a few days ago i said angrily suppose see trigger hadn't been distracted by the west saxons what would he have done when he heard about constantine march north my son said but he can't because the west saxons are pissing all over his land to the south they're allied the scots and the west saxons my son sounded incredulous they made a secret treaty weeks ago the scots get bobenberg and the west saxon church gets linda's farina i said and i was sure i was right they get a new monastery relics pilgrims silver the scots get land and the church gets rich i was sure i was right though in fact i was wrong not that it mattered in the end oh lord and my son were silent until my son shrugged so what do we do we start killing i said vengefully and next day we rode south no killing my daughter said firmly i growled trigger was no longer in lincoln he'd left most of his army to defend the walls and had ridden with fifty men to leicester a burr he had seeded to mercier to plead with ethelfled he wanted her to influence her brother the king of wessex to withdraw his troops from horncaster the west saxons want us to start a war my daughter said she had been left in command of lincoln leading a garrison of almost 400 men she could have confronted brunoff with that army but she insisted on leaving the west saxons undisturbed you probably outnumber the bastards in honcaster i pointed out i probably don't she said patiently and there are hundreds more west saxons waiting across the border just looking for an excuse to invade us and that was true the saxons in southern britain wanted more than an excuse they wanted everything in my lifetime i had seen almost all of what is now called england in danish hands the long ships had rode up the rivers piercing the land and the warriors had conquered northumbria mercia and east anglia their armies had overrun wessex and it seemed inevitable that the country would be called daneland but fate had decreed otherwise and the west saxons and mercians had fought their way northwards fought bitterly and suffered mightily so that now only sea triggers northumbria stood in their way when northumbria fell and eventually it would then all the folk who spoke the english tongue would live in one kingdom england the irony of course was that i had fought on the side of the saxons all the way from the south coast to the edge of northumbria but now thanks to my daughter's marriage i was their enemy such is fate and fate now decreed that i was being told what to do by my daughter whatever you do father she said strictly don't stir them up we haven't confronted them talk to them or threaten them we don't want to provoke them i looked across at her brother who was playing with his nephew niece we were in a great roman house built at the very summit of lincoln's hill and from the eastern edge of its wide garden we could see for miles across a sunlit country bronolf and his men were out there somewhere my son i thought would like nothing better than to fight them he was blunt cheerful and headstrong well my daughter so dark compared to her brother's fair complexion was subtle and secretive she was clever too like her mother but that did not make her right you're frightened of the west saxons i said i respect their strength they're bluffing i said and hoped i was right bluffing this isn't an invasion i said angrily it's just a distraction they wanted your armies in the south while constantin attacks bebenberg brunoff isn't going to attack you here he doesn't have enough men he's just here to keep you looking south while constantine besieges bobenberg they're in league don't you see i slapped the garden stone parapet i shouldn't be here stuart knew i meant that i should be at bebenberg and touched my arm as if to soothe me you think you can fight your cousin and the scots i have to you can't father not without our army to help all my life i said bitterly i have dreamed of blevenberg dreamed of taking it back dreamed of dying there and what have i done instead help the saxons conquer the land help the christians and how do they repay me by allying themselves with my enemy i turned on her my voice savage you're wrong wrong the west saxons won't invade if we attack bronolf they're not ready there will be one day but not yet i had no idea if what i said was true i was just trying to persuade myself it was the truth they need to be hurt punished killed they need to be frightened no father she was pleading now wait to see what's he trigger agrees with the mercians please we're not at war with the mercians i said she turned and gazed across the cloud dappled hills you know she said quietly now that some west saxons say we should never have made the peace half their wittens say ethel fled betrayed the saxons because she loves you the other half say the peace must be kept until they're so strong that we'll never resist them so so the men who want war are just waiting for a cause they want us to attack they want to force king edward's hand and even your ethel fled won't be able to resist the call to fight we need time father please leave them alone they'll go away go to leicester help see trigger there ethelfled will listen to you i thought about what she had said and decided she was probably right the west saxons fresh from their triumph over east anglia were spoiling for a war and it was a war i did not want i wanted to drive the scots from bebermberg's land and to do that i needed northumbria's army and see trigger would only help me attack northwoods if he was certain that he had peace with the southern saxons he had gone to leicester to plead with ethelfled hoping her influence with her brother would secure that peace but despite my daughter's urgent pleading my instincts said that the road to bevenburg lay through horncaster not through leicester and i've always trusted instinct it might defy reason and sense but instinct is the prickle at the back of the neck that tells you danger is close so i trust instinct so next day despite all my daughter had said i rode to homecaster horn custer was a bleak place though the romans had valued it enough to build a stone walled four just south of the river beena they had built no roads so i assumed the fort had been made to guard against ships coming up river and those ships would have belonged to our ancestors the first saxons to cross the sea and take a new land and it was good land at least to the north where low hills provided rich pasture two danish families and their slaves had settled in nearby steadings though both had been told to leave as soon as the west saxons occupied the ancient force why weren't the danes living in the fort i asked eagle he was a sober middle-aged man with long plaited mustaches who had grown up not far from honcaster though now he served in lincoln's garrison as commander of the night watchman when the west saxons had first occupied holmcaster's fort he had been sent with a small force to watch them which he had done from a safe distance until sea triggers caution and caused him to be summoned back again to lincoln i had insisted that he return to horncaster with me if we assault the fort i told him it will help to have a man who knows it i don't you do a man called torstein lived there eccles said but he left why it floods lord torstein's two sons were drowned in a flood lord and he reckoned the saxons had put a curse on the place so he left there's a stream this side of the fort a big one and the river beyond and the walls on that far side are falling in places not on this side lord we were watching from the north but on the southern and eastern sides it looks formidable enough from here i said i was staring at the fort seeing its stone rum parts rearing gaunt above an expanse of rushes two banners hung on poles above the northern wall and a sullen wind occasionally lifted one to reveal the dragon of wessex the second banner must have been made from heavier cloth because the wind did not stir it what does the left-hand banner show i asked a gill we could never make it out lord i grunted suspecting that eggel had never tried to get close enough to see that second banner smoke coming from cooking fires drifted up from the ramparts and from the fields to the south where evidently a part of bruno's force was camped how many men are there i asked 203 eggel sounded vague all warriors they have some magicians with them lord he meant priests we're a long way off from the fort though doubtless the men on its walls had seen us watching from the low hilltop most of my men were hidden in the shallow valley behind is there anything there besides the fort a few houses eagle said dismissively and the saxons haven't tried to come further north not since the first week they were here lord now they're just sitting there he scratched his beard trying to pinch a louse mind you he went on they could have been roaming around but we wouldn't know we were ordered to stay away from them not to upset them that was probably wise i said reflecting that i was about to do the very opposite so what do they want eggless said in an annoyed tone they want us to attack them i said but if eggel was right and the west saxons could put two or three hundred men behind the stone walls then we would need at least four hundred men to storm the ramparts and for what to possess the ruins of an old fort that no longer guarded anything of value bruno for the west saxon commander would know that too so why did he stay how did they get here i asked by boat they rode lord and they're miles from the nearest west saxon forces i said speaking more to myself than egil the nearest are at stanford lord which is how far after his ride lord he said vaguely maybe i was riding tintreg that day and i spurred him down the long slope pushing through a hedge across a ditch and up the low rise beyond i took finnen and a dozen men with me leaving the rest hidden if the west saxons had a mind to chase us away then we would have no choice but to flee northwards but they seemed content to watch from their walls as we drew closer one of their priests joined the warriors on the ramparts and i saw him lift across and hold it in our direction he's cursing us i said amused edric a saxon scout touched the cross hanging about his neck but said nothing i was staring at a stretch of grassland just to the north of the fort look at the pasture on this side of the stream i said what do you see there edrick had eyes as good as finland's and he now stood in his stirrups shaded his face with a hand and stared graves he sounded puzzled they're digging something finnan said there seem to be several mounds of freshly turned earth you want me to look lord hedrick asked we all will i said we rode slowly towards the fort leaving our shields behind as a sign we did not want battle and for a time it seemed the west saxons were content just to watch as we explored the pasture on our side of the river where i could see the mysterious heaps of earth as we rolled closer i saw that the mounds had not been excavated from graves but from trenches are they building a new fort i asked puzzled they're building something finnan said lord edric said warningly but i had already seen the dozen horsemen leave the fort and drive to where a ford crossed the stream we numbered 14 men and bronolf if he was trying to avoid trouble would bring the same number and so he did but when the horsemen were in the center of the stream where the placid water almost reached up to their horse's bellies they all stopped they bunched there ignoring us and it seemed to me that they argued and then unexpectedly two men turned and rolled back to the fort we were at the pasture's edge by then the grass lost from the recent rain and as i spurred tintrug forward i saw it was no fault they were making nor graves but a church the trench had been dug in the form of a cross it was meant to be the building's foundation and it would eventually be half filled with stone to support the wall pillars it's big i said impressed big as the church in winter caster fenin said equally impressed the dozen remaining emissaries from the fort were now spurring from the river eight were warriors like us the rest were churchmen two priests in black robes and a pair of monks in brown the warriors wore no helmets carried no shields and apart from their sheathed swords no weapons their leader on an impressive grey stallion that stepped high through the long grass wore a dark robe edged with fur above a leather breastplate over which hung a silver cross he was a young man with a grave face a short beard and a high forehead beneath a woolen cap he reigned in his restless horse then looked at me in silence as if expecting me to speak first i did not i am brunov torkelson of wessex he finally said and who are you you're talking ronaldson's son i asked he looked surprised at the question then pleased he nodded i am lord your father fought beside me at ethandan i said and thought well he slew danes that day does he still live he does give him my warm greeting he hesitated and i sensed he wanted to thank me but there was a pretence that had to be spoken first and whose greeting is that he asked i half smiled looking along the line of his men you know who i am brunoff i said you called me lord so don't pretend you don't know me i pointed at the oldest of his warriors a grizzled man with a scar across his forehead you fought beside me at fear and hammer am i right the man grinned i dead lord you served steer ps yes lord so tell bruno who i am he's i do know who he is brunoff interrupted then gave me a slight nod of his head it is an honor to meet you lord those words spoken courteously caused the eldest of the two priests to spit on the grass brunoff ignored the insult and may i ask what brings utrade of babenberg to this poor place i was about to ask what brought you here i retorted you have no business here it was the spitting priest who spoke he was a strongly built man broadchested older than brunolf by perhaps 10 or 15 years with a fierce face short cropped black hair and an undeniable air of authority his black robe was made of finely woven wool and the cross on his chest was of gold the second priest was a much smaller man younger and plainly very nervous of our presence i looked at the older priest and who were you i demanded a man doing god's business you know my name i said mildly but do you know what they call me satan's ear sling he snarled perhaps they do i said but they also call me the priest killer but it's been many years since i last slit the belly of an arrogant priest i need the practice i smiled at him run off held up a hand to check whatever retort was about to be made further hereford fears you were trespassing lord bernoff plainly was not looking for a fight his tone was courteous how can a man trespass on his own king's land i asked this land runoff said belongs to edward of wessex i laughed at that it was a brazen statement as outrageous as constantine's claim that all the land north of the wall belonged to the scots this land i said is a half day's ride north of the frontier there is proof of our claim father herefrieth said his voice was a deep hostile growl and his gaze even more unfriendly i guessed he had been a warrior once he had scars on one cheek and his dark eyes betrayed no fear only challenge he was big but it was all muscle the kind of muscle a man develops from years of practicing sword skill i noticed that he stood his horse apart from the rest of bruno's followers even from his fellow priests as if he despised their company proof i said scornfully proof he spout back though we need prove nothing to you you're from the devil's arse and you trespass on king edward's land a father herefry bruno seemed disturbed by the older priests belligerence is a chaplain to king edward father herrera i said keeping my voice mild was born from a sows herefrith just stared at me i had been told once that there is a tribe of men far beyond the seas who can kill with a look and it seemed as if the big priest was trying to emulate them i looked away from him before it became a contest and saw that the second banner the one that had not stretched in the small wind had now been taken down from the fourth ramparts i wondered if a war party was assembling to follow that banner to our destruction your royal chaplin born of a sow i spoke to bruno though i was still watching the fort he says he has proof what proof father steppen runoff passed my question to the nervous younger priest in the year of our lord 875 the second priest answered in a high and steady voice king allah of northumbria seated this land in perpetuity to king oswald of east anglia king edward is now the ruler of east anglia and thus is the true and rightful inheritor of the gift i looked at ronald and had the impression that he was an honest man certainly a man who did not look convinced by the priest's statement in the year of thor 875 i said allah was under siege for a rival and oswald wasn't even the king of east anglia he was a puppet for uber nevertheless the older priest insisted but stopped when i interrupted him obu the horrible i said staring into his eyes who i killed beside the sea nevertheless he spoke loudly as if challenging me to interrupt him again the grant was made the charter written the seals impressed and the land so given he looked to father steppen is that not so it is so father step and squeaked herefrith glared at me trying to kill with his eyes you are trespassing on king edward's land airsling bruno flinched at the insult i did not care you can produce this so-called charter i asked for a moment no one answered then bernoff looked at the younger priest father steppen why prove anything to this sinner herefrith demanded angrily he spurred his horse forward a pace he is a priest killer hated by god married to his suction spewing the devil's filth i sensed my men stirring behind me and raised a hand to calm them i ignored father herefrith and looked at the younger priest instead charters are easy to forge i said so entertain me and tell me why the land was given father steppen glanced at father herefry as if looking for permission to speak but the older priest ignored him tell me i insisted in the year of our lord 632 father steppen said nervously sint erpenwald of the wolfengers came to this river it was in flood and could not be crossed but he prayed to the lord struck the river with his staff and the waters parted it was a miracle runoff explained a little shame-facedly strange i said that i never heard that tale before i grew up in northumbria you'd think a northern lad like me would have heard a marvelous story like that i know about the puffins that sang psalms and the holy toddler had cured his mother's lameness by spitting on a left hit but a man who didn't need a bridge to cross a river i never heard that tale six months ago father steppen continued as if i had not spoken sint open world stuff was discovered on the riverbed still there after 200 years much longer one of the monks put in and received a glare from father herrerth and it hadn't floated away i asked pretending to be amazed king edward wishes to make this a place of pilgrimage father steppen said again ignoring my mockery so he sends warriors i said menacingly when the church is built bernal said earnestly the troops will withdraw they are here only to protect the holy fathers and to help construct shrine true father steppen added eagerly they were telling lies i reckon their reason to be here was not to build some church but to distract see trigger while constantine stole the northern part of northumbria and perhaps to provoke a second war by goading sea trigger into an assault on the fort but why if that is what they wanted had they been so unprovocative true father hereford had been hostile but i suspected he was a bitter and angry priest who did not know how to be courteous bruno from the rest of his company had been meek trying to implicate me if they wanted to provoke a war they would have defied me and they had not so i decided to push them you claim this field is king edward's land i said but to reach it you must have traveled over king c triggers land we did of course bruno agreed hesitantly then you owe him customs jews i said i assume you brought tools i nodded at the cross-shaped trenches spades mattocks even timber to build your magic shrine perhaps for a heartbeat there was no answer bronolf i saw glanced at father herefrith who gave an almost imperceptible nod that's not unreasonable pronounced said nervously for a man planning a war or trying to provoke one it was an astonishing concession we will think on the matter father herefried said harshly and give you our answer in two days my immediate impulse was to argue to demand we meet the next day but there was something strange about for its sudden change of attitude till this moment he had been hostile and obstructive and now though still hostile he was cooperating with brunov it was herefrith who had given the signal that runoff should pretend to agree about paying customs dues and herefore who had insisted on waiting two days and so i resisted my urge to argue we will meet you here in two days i agreed instead and make sure you bring gold to that meeting not here father hereford said sharply no i responded mildly the stench of your presence fouls god's holy land he snarled then pointed northwards you see the woodland on the skyline just beyond it there's a stone a pagan stone he spat the last three words we shall meet you by the stone at mid morning on wednesday you can bring 12 men no more again i had to resist the urge to anger him instead i nodded agreement 12 of us i said at mid morning in two days time at the stone and make sure you bring your fake charter and plenty of gold i'll bring you an answer pagan hereford said then turned and spurred away we shall meet in two days lord ronald said plainly embarrassed by the priest's anger i just nodded and watched as they all rode back to the fort finn and watched too that's our priest will never pay he said he wouldn't pay for a morsel of bread if his own poor mother was starving he will pay i said but not in gold the payment i knew would be in blood in two days time four the stone where father herefrieth had insisted we meet was a rough pillar twice the height of a man standing gaunt above a gentle and fertile valley an hour's easy ride from the fort it was one of those strange stones that the old people had placed all across britain some stones stood in rings some made passages some looked like tables made for giants and many like the one on the valley southern crest were lonely markers we had ridden north from the fort following a cattle path and when i reached the stone i touched the hammer hanging at my neck and wondered what god had wanted the stone put beside the path and why fernan made the sign of the cross eggel who had grown up in the river valley said that his father had always called the pillar thor's stone but the saxons call it satan's download i prefer thor's stone i said there were saxons living here my son asked when my father arrived this lord what happened to them some died some fled and some stayed as slaves the saxons had now had their revenge because just north of the crest on which the stone stood and beside a forward of the was a burned out steading the fire had been recent and eggel confirmed that it had been one of the few places that ronald's men had destroyed they forced everyone to leave he said none was killed he shook his head the folk were told they had to go before sundown but that was all they even said the man who led the saxons was apologetic strange way to start a war my son remarked being apologetic they want us to draw the first blood i said my son kicked a half-burned beam then why burn this place to persuade us to attack them to provoke revenge i could think of no better explanation but why then had runoff been so meek when he had met me bruno's men had burned the hall barn and cattle buyers judging by the size of the blackened remnants the studying had been prosperous and the folk who lived there must have thought it a safe place because they had built no palisade the ruins lay just yards from the river where the ford had been trampled by the hooves of countless cattle while upstream of the steading an elaborate fish trap had been made clear across the river the trap had silted up becoming a crude dam which in turn had flooded the pastures to form a shallow lake a few cottages remained unharmed enough to offer us crowded shelter while lengths of charred timber made good fires on which we roasted mutton ribs i posted sentries in the woodland to our south and more in the stand of willows on the ford's further bank my son was apprehensive more than once he left the fire and walked to the studying southern edge to stare at the gaunt stone on the skyline he was imagining men there shapes in the darkness the glint of fire reflected from sword blades don't fret i told him after moonrise they won't be coming they want us to think that my son said but how do we know what they're thinking they're thinking that we are fools i told him and maybe they're right he muttered as he reluctantly sat and joined us he looked back into the southern darkness where a glow when the clouds showed where bruno's men had their fires in the fort and in the fields beyond are 300 of them more than that i said suppose they decide to attack our sentries will let us know that's why we have sentries if they come on horseback he said we won't have much time so what would you do i asked move he said go north a couple of miles the flames showed the concern on his face my son was no coward but even the bravest man must have known what danger we faced by lighting fires to show our position so close to an enemy who outnumbered us by at least two to one i looked at finnen should we move he half smiled you're running a risk sure enough so why am i doing that men leaned forward to listen redbud a frisian who was sworn to my son had been playing a soft tune on his pant pipes but he paused his face anxious watching me finn and grinned the fire light reflecting bright from his eyes why are you doing it he asked because you know what the enemy will do that's why i nodded and what will they do finn and frowned as he thought about my question the god forsaken bastards elaine a trap is that right i nodded again the god forsaken bastards think they're being clever and their god forsaken trap will catch us two days from now why two days because they need tomorrow to get it ready maybe i'm wrong maybe they'll close the trap tonight but i don't think they will that's the risk but we need to persuade them that we suspect nothing that we are lambs waiting for the slaughter's knife and that's why we're staying here so that we look like innocent little lambs one of my men said and then of course they all had to bleat until the steadying sounded like dunholm on market day and they all found it funny my son who did not join in the laughter waited for the noise to stop a trap he asked work it out i said then went to bed to work it out for myself i could have been wrong as i lay in a flea infested hovel listening to men's singing and other men snoring i decided i was wrong about the reason for the west saxon presence at horncaster they were not there to draw men away from constantine's invasion because edward was not such a fool as to exchange a slice of northumbria for a new monastery on linda's farena he hoped to be king of all the saxon lands one day and he would never yield mevenberg's rich hills and pastures to the scots and why grant bebenberg one of the great fortresses of britain to an enemy so i decided it was more likely an unfortunate coincidence constantin had marched south while the west saxons marched north and there was probably no connection between the two probably not that it mattered what mattered was bruno's presence in the old fort beside the river i thought about brunoff and father herefry which one had been in command i thought about men turning back rather than riding to meet us i wondered about a banner disappearing from the fort's wall and strangest of all i marveled at the cordial tone of the confrontation usually when enemies meet before fighting it offers an opportunity for insult that exchange of insults is almost a ritual but bernoff had been humble courteous and respectful if the purpose of his presence on northumbrian soil was to provoke an attack that would give wessex a reason to break the truce then why had he not been hostile father herrera it was true had been belligerent but he was the only one who had tried to gold me to fury it was almost as if the others had wanted to avoid a fight but if so why invade at all they had lied of course there was no ancient charter giving gland to east anglia and since open walled staff if the wretched man ever had one must have vanished years ago and they surely had no intention of paying gold as customs jews but none of those lies was a challenge the challenge was their presence their mild unthreatening presence and yet wessex wanted a fight why else be here and then i understood suddenly in the middle of that night watching through the hovel's door at the glow of fire touching the southern clouds i understood the idea had been there all day half formed nagging at me but suddenly it took shape i knew why they were here and i was fairly sure i knew when the fight would start in two days so i knew why and i thought i knew when but where that question kept me awake i was wrapped in an otterskin cloak lying by the door of one of the cottages and listening to the low murmur of voices around the dying fires the charred posts beams and rafters of the destroyed hall had provided us with convenient firewood and that thought made me wonder whether bruno really had brought logs to build a church if indeed he had any real intention of building anything but that was his ostensible reason for being here and he had gone to the trouble of digging a church's foundations so either he had brought logs with him or he planned to cut down trees for timber i had not seen much mature woodland in these gentle hills but there had been the stand of old growth oak and chestnut that had barred our paths as we had ridden northwards from honcaster i had been impressed by the fine trees wondering why they had not been fell to make more pasture or to sell his timber after leaving brunoff we had ridden north along the rough cattle path that led through the belt of woodland that lay like a barrier across the path on a slight almost imperceptible ridge that ridge stood about halfway between the ruined steading and the old fort so brunoff must ride through the trees if he was to meet us at the stone and that thought brought me fully awake and alert of course it was so simple i gave up trying to sleep i did not need to dress or pull on boots because we were all sleeping or trying to sleep fully clothed in case the west saxons did attempt to surprise assault on the steading i doubted it would come because i reckon they had other plans but i had ordered it because it did no harm to keep my men alert i buckled serpent breath around my waist and walked into the night taking the path southwards finnen must have seen me leave because he ran to catch up can sleep they're going to attack wednesday morning i said you know that not for certain but i'll wage a tin trigger against that spavin nag you call the horse that i'm right brunoff will come to talk with us sometime in mid morning and that's when they'll attack warden's day i smiled in the night and that's a good omen we had left the steading behind and we were walking up a long and very gentle slope of pastureland i could hear the sound of the river off to my right the moon was clouded but just enough light came through the thinner patches to show us the path and to reveal the woodland is a great dark barrier between us and the fort the fight they want will be there i said nodding at the trees in the wood on the far side i think i can't be sure but i think so finnan walked in silence for a few paces but if they want to fight beyond the trees why tell us to wait on this side because they want us to of course i said mysteriously a bigger question is how many men they'll bring every man they have finnan said no they won't you sound very sure he said dubiously have i ever been wrong sweet christ you want the whole list i laughed you met archbishop rothweird what's he like oh he's a nice fellow he spoke warmly really couldn't have been nicer he reminded me of father pew league except he isn't fat that was a recommendation peelig was a welsh priest and a man with whom it was good to drink or stand beside in a shield wall i would have trusted my life to be a league indeed he had saved it more than once what did you talk about the poor fellow was upset about constantine he asked about him upset it'll be hard to build linda's foreign without constantine's permission constantine might give permission i said he's a christian of sorts die that's what i said did he ask about bebenberg he asked if i thought constantine would capture it and you said not in my lifetime unless he starves them out which he will i said by spring we walked in silence for a while it's strange i broke the silence the brunoff is building a church and rothwood is rebuilding a monastery coincidence people bail all the time true i allowed but it's still strange you think they're really building a church here he asked i shook my head but they have to have a reason for being here and that's as good a reason as any what they really want is a war which you're going to give them am i if you fight fennan said suspiciously then yes i'll tell you what i planned i said on wednesday we rid ourselves of these bastards then we go south and smack king edward to stop any similar nonsense and after that we capture bibenberg that's simple yes i said that simple finn and laughed then saw my face in the moonlight christ he said if you're going to fight constantine and your cousin how in hell do we do that i don't know i said but i'm going back to bobenberg this year and i'm going to capture it i gripped my hammer and saw finn and put a finger on the cross he wore i had no idea how i would capture the fortress i just knew my enemies believed they had scared me away from my father's lands and i would let them believe that until my swords turned that land red we had reached the gaunt stone that stood tall beside the path i touched it wondering if it still possessed some dark power he was very specific i said the priest about meeting us here why not meet us by the woodland i asked or closer to the fort you tell me he wants us to be here i said still touching the great stone pillar so that we can't see what happens on the other side of the trees fernand still looked puzzled but i gave him no time to ask questions instead i walked on south towards the trees and whistled through my fingers i heard a brief answering whistle then edric appeared at the woodlands edge he was probably the best of my scouts an older man with a poacher's uncanny ability to move silently through tangled woods he carried a horn which he would blow if the west saxons came from the fort but he said all had been quiet since sundown they haven't even sent out scouts lord he said evidently disgusted by the enemy's lack of precautions if i'm right i began which she always is finn and put in there'll be men leaving the fort tomorrow i want you to watch for them edric scratched his beard the grimaced what if they leave from the far side they will i said confidently can you find a place to watch the southern walls he hesitated the land around the fort was mostly flat with few coppices or other hiding places there's about to be a ditch he finally allowed i need to know how many men leave i said and which direction they take you'll have to bring the news back after dark tomorrow i'll have to find a place tonight then he said cautiously meaning that he would be seen if he tried to find a hiding place in the daylight and if they find me tomorrow he left the sentence unfinished say you're a deserter show them your cross and tell them you're tired of serving a pagan bastard well that's true enough he said making finn and laugh the three of us followed the track through the wood till i could see the fort's rumparts outlined by the glow of the fires burning in its courtyard the cattle path led gently downhill for over a mile running straight as a roman road across the pasture land two mornings from now runoff would follow that path bringing 11 men and doubtless an apologetic refusal to pay any gold to see trigger if runoff has any sense i said and i suspect he does he'll send scouts to make sure we're not ambushing the path into the wood the woodland was the key it was a massive tract of old trees a fallen trunks of tangling ivy and thorny undergrowth i wondered why it was not being tended why no foresters had thinned out the brush or pollarded the trees and why no charcoal was being made here all great oaks turned into valuable timber probably i thought because there was a dispute about ownership and until a law court gave a judgment no one could claim rights over the wood and if we do set an ambush here i went on and ronald sends scouts first he'll find it so no ambush finnen said it's the only place i said so it has to be here sweet jesus finn and swore in frustration edric grunted if you asked me to scout it lord i wouldn't search the whole wood it's too big i'll just search maybe a bow shot either side of the path and if i was brown off fennan added i wouldn't fear an ambush here at all no i asked why not because it's in full view of the fort when he's riding to the place where he knows we're meeting him if we wanted to kill him why wouldn't we wait till he reaches the stone why kill him in view of the fort you're probably right i said and that thought gave me a little comfort even as it mystified finnen even further but tomorrow he'll probably send scouts here i was talking to edric now just to look at the land before warden's day so tell your men to get out of here before dawn i sounded certain but of course the doubts hurried me on waden's day would run off search the wood before riding through it edrick was right it was a large wood but a horseman could gallop along the edges quickly enough even if searching the thick undergrowth would take time but i could see nowhere else that would serve as well for an ambush and why finnen asked me again do you want to ambush him here at all you'll just attract 300 angry saxons from the fort if you wait till he's at the stone he jerked his head backwards toward the setting we can slaughter a lot of them and no one in the fort will know a thing they won't see it that's true i said that's very true so why he asked i grinned at him i'm thinking like my enemy you should always plan your battles from the enemy's point of view but i host him not so loud you might wake 300 angry saxons there was no chance of waking men so far away but i was enjoying mystifying finnen let's go this way i said and led my companions westwards walking on the open ground beside the tree line by daylight we would have been seen from the fort's walls but i doubted our dark clothing would show against the black gloom of the dense wood the ground sloped towards the river and it was a deceptive slope steeper than it appeared if one of brunel's scouts rode this way he would soon lose sight of the track and would surely conclude that no one planning an ambush against men on the road would wait in this lower wood simply because they could not see their prey that gave me some hope we won't need more than fifty men i said all of them mounted we'll conceal them in these lower trees and have some scouts higher up the slope to tell us when runoff is almost at the wood but fennen began again 50 should be enough i interrupted him but that really depends on how many men leave the fort tomorrow fifty men finn and protested and the west saxons have over three hundred he jerked his head southwards three hundred and only a mile away poor innocent bastards i said and they have no idea what's about to happen to them i turned back towards the track let's try and sleep instead i lay awake worrying i might be wrong because if i was northumbria was doomed i grew angry the next day the lady ethelfled ruler of mercier had made peace with sea trigger and sea trigger had yielded valuable land and formidable burrs to secure that peace that surrender of land had offended some of the powerful danish yarls in southern northumbria and those men were now refusing to serve him though whether that meant they would refuse to fight when the invasion came was something we did not yet know what i did know was that west saxon envoys had witnessed the treaty they had traveled to leicester's church to see the olds taken and they had brought written approval from king edward for the peace his sister had negotiated no one was fooled of course see trigger might have purchased peace but only for a while the west saxons had conquered east anglia making that once proud country part of wessex while ethel fled had restored the frontier of mercia to where it had been before the danes came to ravage britain yet the years of war had left the armies of wessex murcia and northumbria bloodbattered and so the peace treaty had been largely welcomed because it gave all three counties a chance to train new young warriors to repair walls to forge spear blades and to bind the willow shields with iron and it gave mercia and wessex the time to create new and bigger armies that would eventually surge northwards and so unite the saxon people into one new land called england now wessex wanted to break the peace and that made me angry or rather a faction in the west saxon court wanted the peace broken i knew because my people in winton caster kept me informed two priests a tavern keeper one of the household warriors king edward's wine steward and a dozen other folks sent messages that were carried north by merchants some of the messages were written others were whispered quietly and retold to me weeks later but in the last year all confirmed that athelhelm edward's chief advisor and father-in-law was pushing for a swift invasion of northumbria fritherstein the bishop of winton caster and her fierce supporter of ethel helm had preached a vacuous christmas sermon complaining that the north still lay under pagan power and demanding to know why wessex's christian warriors were not doing the nailed god's will by destroying sea trigger and every other dane or norse south of the scottish border edward's wife elfled had rewarded the bishop's christmas sermon by giving him an elaborately embroidered stole a mana pool hemmed with garnets and two tail feathers from the cockrell that had crowed three times when someone said something that the nailed god did not like edward gave the bishop nothing which confirmed rumors that edward and his wife disagreed not only about the desirability of invading northumbria but just about everything else edward was no coward he had led his armies well in east anglia but he wanted time to impose his authority on the lands he had conquered there were bishops to appoint churches to build land to be given to his followers and walls to be strengthened around his newly captured towns in time he had promised his council in time we will take the north but not yet except athelhelm did not want to wait i could not blame him for that before my son-in-law became king in jofferwick i had urged the same thing on ethelfled telling her time after time that the northern danes were disorganized vulnerable and ripe for conquest but she like edward wanted more time and she wanted the security of larger armies and so we had been patient now i was the vulnerable one constantine was stealing much of the north and ethel helm the most powerful elder man in wessex wanted an excuse to invade the south in one way he was right northumbria was ripe for conquest but athelhelm wanted a victory over sea trigger for one reason only to make certain that his grandson would be king of a united england edward king of wessex and ethel helm's son-in-law had secretly married a kentish girl long before he became king they had a son ethelstone whose mother had died at birth edward then married athelham's daughter elf led the feather giver and had more children one of whom elf weird was widely regarded as the atheling the crown prince of wessex except in my view he was not ethelstone was older he was a legitimate son despite the rumors of bastardy and he was a stalwart brave and impressive young man edward's sister ethelfled like me supported ethelstone's claim to be the heir but we were opposed by the richest most powerful elder man in wessex and i had no doubt that brunoff and his men were in northumbria to provoke the war that athelhelm wanted which meant that the peace party in wessex would be proved wrong and athelhelm right and he would gain the renown of being the man who united the saxons into one nation and that renown would make him unassailable his grandson would be the next king an ethelstone like northumbria would be doomed so i had to stop runoff and defeat tethelhelm with fifty men hidden in a wood at dawn we were among the lower trees long before the first light leaked into the east birds flapped among the leaves in panic when we arrived and i feared the west sacks and scouts would realize we'd caused the disturbance but if bronoff had scouts in the wood they raised no alarm he had sent horsemen to explore the trees before nightfall a task they had done in a dazzly way and because i had withdrawn my scouts they found nothing but i worried he might have left centuries to watch the woods all night it seemed he had not and as far as i could tell only the panicked birds and the beasts of the dark were aware of our arrival we dismounted forced our way through a thick undergrowth and once we were close to the southern edge of the trees we waited as the wood settled i knew it would be a long wait because bronolf would not leave the fort till full daylight but i had not wanted to reach the wood after dawn in case the sight of birds fleeing the trees alerted the west saxons finnen still puzzled as to what i had planned had given up pressing me and now sat with his back against the moss-covered trunk of a fallen oak and stroked a stone down a sword already as sharp as the shears wielded by the three fates my son played dice with two of his men and i took berg aside i need to talk i told him i've done something bad he asked anxiously no i have a job for you i led him to a place where he would not be overheard i liked berg sculler grimson and trusted him totally he was a young norseman strong loyal and skilled i had saved his life which gave him reason to be grateful to me but his loyalty went far beyond gratitude he was proud to be one of my men so proud that he had tried to ink my wolf's head badge on his cheek and was always offended when folk asked him why he was wearing pigs heads on his face and that had given me pause before speaking to him but he was thorough dependable and despite his slow manner clever when we finished today i told him i'll have to go south south lord if it all goes well yes but if it goes badly i shrugged and touched my hammer ever since we had left the steadying i'd been watching and listening for omens but nothing had suggested the will of the gods yet except this was woden's day and that was surely a good sign we will fight yes he looked anxious as if he feared he might not have a chance to use his sword we will i said hoping that was true but i'm only expecting around 30 enemies only 30. berg sounded disappointed maybe a few more i said edric had returned the previous evening bringing the news i'd expected a party of horsemen edric reckoned there were 25 to 30 of them had left the fort and ridden south edric had been concealed in a ditch not far from the west saxons so had been unable to follow the horsemen and thus discover whether they turned east or west once they were out of sight of the rumparts my guess was east but only daylight would reveal that truth but those thirty i went on will fight like bastards it's good berg said happily and i want prisoners yes lord he said dutifully prisoners are repeated i don't want you happily slaughtering every man you see i will not i promise he tucks the hammer hanging about his neck and when it's over i said i will go south and you will go north and i will give you gold a lot of gold he said nothing but just stared at me with wide solemn eyes i'll send eight men with you i said all norse or danes and you were to find your way back to jaffa wick yo for wick he repeated the name certainly jorvik i used the norse name and he brightened and in your vic i went on you will buy three ships ships you sounded surprised you know big wooden things that float i know what the ship is lord he assured me earnestly good then you buy three of them each for a crew of about 30 to 40 men fighting ships lord he asked or trading vessels fighting ships i said and i need them soon maybe in two weeks i don't know maybe longer and when you are in eurowick i went on you're not to go into the city buy your food at the duck tavern you remember where that is he nodded i remember lord it is just outside the city yes but we're not to go into euphoric you might be recognized wait at the duck you'll have plenty of work to do patching up the ships you bought but if you go into the city someone will recognize you will know you serve me plenty of folk in that city had seen my men passing through and someone could easily remember the tall good-looking and long-haired norseman with the smudged wolf heads on his cheeks indeed i hoped they would remember him berg was a splendid young man but a young man who had no guile none he could no more tell a convincing lie than jump over the moon and if he did lie he blushed shuffled his feet and looked pained his honesty was blazingly apparent as plain as the pigs on his face he was in a word trustworthy if i told berg to keep his mission secret then he would but he would still be recognized and that was what i wanted can you keep a secret i asked him yes lord he touched the hammer at his neck on my armor i lowered my voice forcing him to lean closer we can't capture bebenberg i said no lord he sounded disappointed the scots are there i said and though i'm willing to fight battles i can't fight a whole nation and the scots are vicious bastards i have heard that he said i lowered my voice even more so we are going to freesia freesia he sounded surprised i hushed him though no one could have overheard us the saxons will invade northumbria i told him and the scots will hold the north and there's nowhere left for us to live so we must cross the sea we'll find new land we'll make a new home in freesia but no one must know he touched the hammer again i will say nothing lord i promise the only people you can tell i said are the men who sell you the ships because they have to know we need ships sound enough to cross the sea and you can tell ola who owns the duck but no one else no one lord i swear it by telling those few people i was certain the rumor would reach all of euphoric and half of northumbria before the sun went down and within a week or so my cousin would hear the story that i was abandoning britain and sailing to freesia my cousin might be under siege but he would somehow be smuggling messengers in and out of the fortress there was a sally port on the sea wood rumparts a small hole in the wooden wall that led to the cliff top it was no use as a way of attacking bevenburg because it was impossible to approach the whole unseen to reach it a man must walk along the bear beach and clamber up a precipitous slope immediately beneath the high ramparts a man might reach it unseen at night time but my father had always insisted that night the sally port was firmly blocked from the inside and my cousin i was sure would do the same i suspected he had managed to get men away through the sally port perhaps picked up from the beach beneath by a fishing vessel in the fog and i did not doubt that the news that i had purchased ships would eventually reach him he might not believe the frisian story but berg did and berg was so transparently honest that his tale would be utterly convincing at worst the news would cause my cousin to doubt what i intended remember i said only tell the men who sell you the ships and you can tell ola although i knew would not be able to resist spreading the rumor you can trust allah ola berg repeated the name and his tavern has everything you need i said decent ale good food and pretty oh lord girls who yes lord i also know what a is he said sounding disapproving and ola has a daughter i told him looking for a husband he brightened at that she is pretty lord her name is hannah i said and she is as gentle as a dove soft as butter obedient like a dog and as pretty as the dawn at least the last claim was true i looked eastwards and saw that the sky was touched with the first faint light of day now i went on most important holla knows you're my man but no one else must know no one if anyone asks say you've come from southern northumbria that you're leaving your land before the saxons invade you're going home across the sea you're leaving britain running away he frowned i do understand lord but he paused plainly unhappy at the thought of running from enemies he was a brave young man you'll like it in freesia i said earnestly before i could say anymore rorick my servant came running through the trees dodging thorns lord lord quietly i told him quietly lord he crouched beside me can wolf sent me the horsemen coming from the fort how many three lord scouts i thought rorick had been posted with kenwolf and two other centuries further up the slope in a place from where they could see the fort to the south we'll talk later i told berg then returned to where my fifty men waited and cautioned them to silence the three scouts followed the path into the wood but they made no effort to explore east or west they seemed to linger a long time ken wolfe who was watching them told me they went to the woods northern edge from where they could see a dozen of my men with their riderless horses clustered about the distant stone and that sight seemed to reassure them because they turned and rolled back south they went slowly evidently satisfied that no danger looked among the trees by now the sun was well up dazzling in the east and touching a few wispy clouds with bright edges of glowing gold it promised to be a fine day at least for us if i was right if i sent rorick back to join the hidden centuries and then nothing happened a deer wandered onto the pasture from the upper wood to sniff the air then she heard something that turned her back into the trees i was tempted to join the sentries to see the fort myself but resisted the urge my watching the rumparts would not make anything happen any sooner and the less movement we made the better the gold at the cloud edges faded to a vaporous white i was sweating beneath my war gear i wore a leather jerk in under a male coat and woolen trees tucked into boots that were made heavy by iron strips sewn into the leather my forearms were ringed with silver and gold the marks of a warlord i wore a gold chain at my neck with a common bone hammer suspended from a link serpent breath was belted at my waist while my shield helmets and spear were lodged against a tree maybe he's not coming fed and grumbled at mid morning runoff will come he's not going to pay us anything so why should he because if he doesn't come i said there can't be a war finnen looked at me as though i was moon touched mad he was about to speak when rorick appeared again breathless lord he began they've left the fort i interrupted him yes lord told you i said to finnen then to rauric how many twelve lord are they carrying a banner yes lord with a worm on it he meant the dragon banner of wessex which is what i had expected i patted rorick on the head told him to stay with me then called for my men to ready themselves like them i pulled on my helmets with its greasy stinking leather liner it was my finest helmet the one with a silver wolf crouching on its crest i dragged it down over my ears then closed the cheek pieces and let rorick fasten the laces over my chin he gave me a dark cloak that he tied at my neck handed me my gloves then held my horse while i used a fallen log as a mounting block i settled into tintrix saddle then took the heavy iron bound shield from rorick i pushed my left arm through the loop and gripped the handle spear i said and rorick lord stay at the back stay out of trouble yes lord he said too quickly i mean it you horrible boy you're my standard bearer not a warrior not yet i had dressed in war finally most days i did not trouble with a cloak i left the arm rings behind and wore a plane helmet but in the next few minutes i would be deciding the fate of three nations and that surely deserved some show i gave tin trigger friendly slap on the neck and nodded to finin who like me was glittering with silver and gold i glanced behind and saw my fifty men were all mounted quietly now i told them walk out slow there's no need for haste we walked the horses out of the wood onto the pastureland two hares raced away towards the river we were still on the lower ground invisible to both the fort and bronoff who was leading his unsuspecting men north along the cattle path that led to the stone beyond the woodland i was relying on kenwolf and experienced an older man to give me the signal we just wait now i called we just wait why don't you wait till we're out of sight of the fort finnen asked sauli because i'm not the man who picked this place for a fight i said mystifying him still further and then i raised my voice so that all my men could hear the explanation when we move i said confident that my voice would not carry beyond the grassy bowl that hit us you'll see a dozen horsemen riding under the banner of wessex our job is to protect them those 12 must live they're going to be attacked by between 25 and 30 men i want those men taken prisoner kill some if you must but i must have prisoners especially their leaders look for the richest male and helmets and make sure you capture those bastards oh sweet jesus finnen said now i understand i want prisoners i stressed rorick climbed into a saddle and hoisted the flag of the wolf's head and just then kenwolf appeared at the woods margin and waved both arms above his head i touched the hammer hanging from the gold chain let's go i called let's go tinder must have been bored by waiting because one touch of the spurs sent him leaping ahead i clung to him then all of us were climbing the short slope and our spear points were lowered as we neared the crest when did you realize finland shouted at me two nights ago you could have told me i thought it was obvious huge trixie bastard he said admiringly then we were over the crest and i saw that the gods were with me nearest us on the path not a quarter mile away was brunoff with his horsemen they had stopped astonished because other horsemen had appeared to their east the far riders were carrying shields and had drawn swords i saw runoff turn back southwards he was accompanied by two black robed priests and one panicked spurring towards the trees and bronoff shouted at him to turn back i saw him point towards the fort but it was already too late too late because the fire horsemen were galloping to cut off their retreat i could see about 30 of them and when they had left the fort the previous day they had doubtless written under the banner of the west saxon dragon but now they rode beneath the flag of the red axe the flag was far off but it was huge its red axe clearly visible and i had no doubt that the same badge was painted on the rider's shields it was see triggers badge but these were not c triggers men they were west saxons who were pretending to be danes west saxons under orders to slaughter their fellow west saxons and so provoke a war brunoff and his delegation were to die watched by their comrades in the fort who would send word back to ethel helm and to edward that the treacherous northumbrians had agreed to a truce and then attacked and killed the envoys it was a clever scheme doubtless devised by ethel helm himself he wanted to provoke a war but he had learned that sea trigger was capable of restraint that see trigger indeed would do almost anything to avoid a confrontation so if sea trigger would not attack edward's men then athol helms warriors would wear the badge of the red axe and do the killing themselves except we were there and i was in a vengeful mood my cousin was still in bevenburg athelhelm was trying to destroy my daughter and her husband constantine had humiliated me by driving me from my ancestral land i had not seen edith my wife in a month so someone had to suffer five neither bronolf nor any of his men saw us at first they could not take their eyes from the horsemen coming from their east horsemen carrying northumbrian shields and bright bladed swords horsemen intent on killing brunel's first instinct had been to turn back towards the fort but half the approaching riders swerved southwards to cut off that retreat then one of his men looked west and saw us coming he shouted a warning brunoff turned and i was close enough to see the look of panic on his face he had thought he was riding to a talk of peace and instead death was closing in on him from two sides he wore mail but no helmet nor did he carry a shield the two priests with him had no protection at all bruno path drew his sword then hesitated perhaps hoping that if he offered no resistance he would be given a chance to surrender we're on your side i shouted at him he seemed either too dazed or too scared to understand brunoth i bellowed his name we're on your side berg and my son had spurred to join me one on either side and i knew they had agreed to protect me i launched tinterick to my right driving berg's horse away don't crowd me i snelled take care lord he called your he was probably about to say old but wisely thought better of it the men carrying see triggers banner had seen us now and they slowed uncertain half a dozen turned towards bruno's party and i heard one shout that they should attack and another man yelled that they should retreat and that confusion was their doom we crossed the tracks south of brunolf and his men we're on your side i shouted at him again and i saw him nod then we were past him we carried spears and were galloping while the enemy few were in number were armed with swords and were uncertain what they should do some seemed frozen in indecision while others managed to turn their horses and spur away eastwards but one man plainly lost in terror and confusion urged his horse towards us and all i needed to do was level the spear and lean into the blow there was anger in me and i nudged intrigue to the right and thrust the spear's thick ash shaft forward with the weight of horse and man behind the blade that glanced off the rim of his shield pierced his mail broke through leather skin and muscle and ripped into his belly i let go of the shaft and just grabbed his helmet and pulled him out of the saddle blood welling around the spearhead his left foot was trapped in a stirrup and he was dragged screaming leaving a smear of blood on the morning turf i'm not that old i called to berg then pulled serpent breath from her scabbard prisoners finnen shouted and i suspected he was shouting at me because i had so blatantly ignored my own insistence that we take men captive i cut at a man who managed to bring up his shield in time to block the blow i saw that the red axe was bright newly painted over an old badge that had been half scraped from the shield's willow boards the man lunged at me and missed his blade wasted on my saddle's candle his bearded face framed by a close fitting helmet was a grimace of desperate savagery that suddenly changed to horror eyes widening as birds spear thrust into his back the blow was so savage that i saw the spearhead push the male outwards at the man's chest he opened his mouth i had a glimpse of missing teeth and then bright blood bubbled and spilled from his lips sorry lord not the prisoner berg said drawing his sword i do better lord finnan shouted and i saw him point his sword east a half dozen men were galloping away those are the ones i want i called to berg the six men were well mounted one had a fine helmet plumed in black horsehair another rode a horse whose trappings were of gold but what really betrayed them as the leaders was the presence of the standard bearer who glanced behind saw a pursuit and desperately hurled away the huge flag with its cumbersome staff and false badge behind me men were throwing down shields and raising their arms to show they no longer wanted to fight bruno's followers seemed safe huddled around their banner while my son was hurting prisoners shouting at them to dismount and yield their swords so we did have prisoners but not the ones i wanted and i touched the spurs to tintrix flanks it was a horse race now and the six men had a fair start on us but three of my men were mounted on the smaller lighter stallions we use for scouting stallions that were much faster than big beasts like tintrig and two of those riders still had spears they raced alongside the fugitives then one of them swithen swerved in fast and thrust with his spear not at a rider but at the legs of the leading horse there was a brief howl of pain then a tumble of flailing legs the horse rolling falling screaming pathetically now and the throne rider was pinned beneath the stallion's body as it slid along the grass then a second horse plowed into the thrashing beast and also went down the other riders were desperately yanking reigns to avoid the chaos and my men closed on them the man with the black horsehair plume leapt his horse over one of the fallen beasts and looked to be getting away but berg reached out and seized the plume pulled and the rider was jerked backwards in the saddle and almost fell berg seized the man's arm pulled again and this time he did topple the helmet loosened by berg's first tug came off and rolled away as the man sprawled on the turf he still had his sword and he stood snarling and slashed the long blade at berg's horse but the young norseman was out of reach so the man turned to face the next rider me and i understood why two days before the two men had left bruno's envoys and returned to the fort rather than come to meet us they must have recognized me and known i would recognize them and not just recognize them but smell the rancid reek of treachery because facing me ready to gut tintrig with his heavy blade was bryce i had a warrior called bryce once a mean little bastard who had finally died beneath the danish blade when we captured chester maybe the name made men mean because the brice who faced me was just such another malevolent creature he was red-haired and grey-bearded a warrior who had fought a score of battles for his master athelhelm and a man whom athelhelm chose whenever there was filthy work needed it was bryce who had been sent to capture ethelstone in syrincester and ethelstone would doubtless have died if we had not fought at the attempt now bryce had been trusted to start a war and he had been thwarted again he roared in anger as he lunged his sword at tintrug's belly i had turned the stallion deliberately taking my sword arm away from bryce and he saw the opening and lunged hoping to disembowel the stallion but i parried the hard stroke with my left stirrup the blade piercing the leather to strike against one of the iron strips in my boots it still hurt but not half as much as the iron rim of my shield that i slammed down onto bryce's skull the blow felled him instantly i hoped i had not killed the bastard because that was a pleasure which must wait want me to kill him kettle one of my danes must have seen bryce stir no he's a prisoner kill that instead appointed to the horse that had been brought down by swithen spear and was now struggling with a broken leg kettle dismounted exchanged his sword for football's axe and did the necessary all six fugitives had been subdued all six were now prisoners folk bold one of my enormous phrygian warriors was holding a tall prisoner by the scruff of his neck or rather by the man's male coat half hoisting him off the turf that was suddenly splashed by the blood of the horse kettle killed this one says he's a priest football told me cheerfully he dropped the man and i saw it was father herefrith who was wearing a male coat over his priestly robe he glared at me but said nothing i smiled and dismounted i gave tintrix reigns to rurik who had rescued the vast flag of the red ax i sheathed serpent breath and dropped my shield onto the turf so i spoke to father herrerth you're one of king edward's chaplains he still said nothing or are you alderman athelhelm's pet sorcerer i asked that fool there i pointed to bryce who was still prone on the grass is ethel helms man he's stupid too a brute good for killing and wounding very talented at hitting people and skewering them but he has the brains of a slug lord athelhelm always sends a clever person along to tell bryce who to hit and who not to hit that's why he sent you father here frith just gave me his flat stare the one that tried to kill by sheer force i smiled again and lord athelhelm told you to provoke a war he needs to hear that king citric as men attacked you that's why you insulted me two days ago you wanted me to hit you one blow of mine would have been enough then you could have ridden home and bleated to lord athelhelm that i had broken a truce by striking you that i attacked you isn't that what you wanted his face betrayed nothing he stayed silent flies settled on the dead horse's head that failed i went on so you were forced to pretend to be king seetrigger's men you always did intend to do that of course which is why you brought the shields painted with the red axe but perhaps you hope the deception wouldn't be necessary but it was and now that has failed too i raised my right hand and touched a gloved finger to the scar on his cheek he flinched you didn't get that scar by preaching a sermon i said did one of your choir boys fight back he stepped back to avoid my gloved hand he still said nothing he had an empty scabbard hanging at his waist which told me he had broken the church's rules by carrying a sword are you a priest i asked him or just pretending to be one i am a priest he crawled but not always you were a warrior once and still am he spattered me one of athohelm's men i asked genuinely interested in his answer i served lord athelhelm he said until god convinced me i would achieve more as a servant of the church your god did tell you a pack of lies didn't he i pointed to a sword a fine weapon lying in the grass you were a warrior i said so i'll give you that sword and you can fight me he did not respond to that did not even blink isn't that what your god wants i asked my death i'm from the devil's arse the devil's earsling isn't that what you called me oh and priest killer i'm proud of that one he just stared at me with loathing as i stepped a pace closer and you said that i was married to a saxon and for that priest i'm gonna give you what you want i'm gonna give you provocation this is for my saxon wife and then i hit him on the cheek i had touched and he more than flinched he fell sideways blood showing on his face only the provocation comes too late for you i said aren't you going to fight back it's the only war you'll get he stood and moved towards me but i hit him again this time in the mouth and hard enough to hurt my knuckles and i felt the crunch of teeth breaking he went down a second time and i kicked him in the jaw that's for edith i told him finnan had been watching from horseback and now made a pretend noise as if the kick had hurt him and not father herowith that wasn't nice of you he said then grimaced the second time as the priest spat out a tooth and a mouthful of blood he might have had to preach a sermon this sunday i never thought of that and we have company fenin said nodding southwards a stream of horsemen was coming from the fort brunolf i saw was writing to intercept them and so i left for the herewith under football's care hold myself back into tin triggs subtle and went to meet them there was a moment's confusion as eager young men from the fort looked for enemies to attack but brunoff shouted at them to sheed their weapons then turned his horse towards me he looked anxious confused and appalled i checked tintrig waited for brunoff to join me then looked up at the sky i'm glad the rain held off i said as he came close lord ootrad he began and seemed not to know what to say i never minded rain when i was young i went on but as i get older you're too young to know i said the last few words to father steppen the young priest who had been accompanying brunoff when suddenly a peaceful stretch of pastureland was turned into a channel house i suppose i was still talking to steppen the you were on your way to tell me that you refused to pay customs views to king c trigger father steppen looked at bryce who had staggered to his feet blood had run from his scalp to paint his gaunt cheeks and gray beard red school wounds always bleed profusely steppen crossed himself then managed to nod to me we were lord i never expected you to pay i said i looked back to bruno you owe me thanks i know lord he said i know he looked pale he was just beginning to understand how close he had come to death that day he looked past me and i twisted in the saddle to see that father herefrith was being marched towards us the priest's mouth was a mess of blood whose man are you i demanded of runoff king edwards he said still staring at father hedefrith and edward sent you he began and then seemed not to know what to say look at me i snarled startling him did king edward send you yes lord he sent you to start a war he said we were to do whatever alderman attlehelm commanded us he told me that himself bernoff shook his head the order was brought from winton caster by father herefrieth i guessed yes lord was the order written he nodded you have it still for the herethrooth he began destroyed it i suggested brunov looked to father steppen for help but found none i don't know lord he showed it to me and then he shrugged and then he destroyed it i said and yesterday herefry bryce and their men left to go south what did they tell you that they were writing to bring reinforcements lord but they said you could trust me to keep the truth to meet you at the stone yes lord but they said once you heard we wouldn't retreat he'd beseech the fort so they went south to bring reinforcements there were now at least 200 of bruno's men on the pasture most of them mounted and all of them puzzled they had gathered behind brunoff and some were staring at the fallen shields with the red axes while others recognized my wolf's head badge we were the enemy and i could hear the west saxons murmuring i silenced them you were sent here i shouted to be killed someone wanted an excuse to start a war and you were that excuse these men were to betray you i pointed at bryce and father hereford is he a priest i asked father steppen yes lord they were sent to kill your commander to kill him and as many other west saxons as they could then i would have been blamed but i paused and looked at the anxious faces and realized that many of them must have fought under my command at some time but i went on there is a peace treaty between northumbria and mercier and your king edward does not wish to break that truce you have done nothing wrong you were led here and you were lied to some of you have fought for me in the past and you know i do not lie to you that was not true we always lie to men before battle telling them that victory is certain even when we fear defeat but by telling them i could be trusted i was telling bruno's men what they wanted to hear and there were murmurs of agreement one man even shouted that he would willingly fight for me again so now i went on you will go back south you will not be attacked you will take your weapons and you will go in peace and you will go today i look to bruno who nodded agreement i took brunoff aside tell your men to go south to the gowash i told him and to stay there for three days you know where it is i do lord i'd thought about taking their horses to slow their journey but they outnumbered us by more than three to one and if any had decided to resist i would lose the subsequent argument you're coming with me i told brunoff i saw he was about to protest you owe me your life i told him harshly so you can give me three or four days of that life as thanks you and father steppen both he half smiled in rueful acknowledgement as you say lord he agreed you have a second in command header he nodded towards an older man he used to keep those men prisoner i pointed towards the survivors of bryce's troops and go to the gowash tell him you'll join him in a week or two why the gowash because it's far from leicester i said and i don't want lord athelhelm to know what happened here not until i tell him you think lord affilhom is at leicester he sounded nervous the last i heard i said was that king c trigger was meeting the lady ethel fled at leicester athol helm won't be far away he wants to make certain their negotiations fail so we would ride to leicester and afterwards i would go home to bevenberg header led bruno's chastened men southwards and we rode east to lincoln where i snatched a few moments with my daughter you can go back to your week i told her because there won't be a war not this year no what did you do killed some saxons i said and then before she could tear me limb from limb explained what had happened so they won't invade this year i finished next year stirrer asked probably i said bleakly we stood on the high roman built terrace and watched storm clouds move north across the countryside great grey swathes of rain showed in the far distance i must go i told her i have to reach ethel helm before he does more damage what will he do with this war she asked meaning how would i resolve my love for her with my oath to ethel fled fight i said shortly and hope to live long enough to settle in freesia freesia bobenberg's lost i said i did not know if she believed me but it would do no harm for stuart to spread that rumor too we rode south on the great roman road that led to leicester but a few miles down that road a merchant traveling north told me that the great lords of the saxon lands were all met at godmonster instead the merchant was a dane a gloomy man called arvid who traded in iron ore there's going to be war lord he told me when is there not the saxons have an army at hunt and and their king is there edward is that his name his sister too and king see trigger arvid sneered what can he do he has not enough men all he can do is fall to his knees and ask for mercy he is a fighter i said a fight sir harvard was scornful he made peace with the woman now he has to make peace with a brother and yelp their forth has already made peace he gave up huntingdon and took the cross yal thurforth was one of the danish lords who would refuse to swear loyalty to see trigger he owned vast tracts of farmland on what was now the border between danish and saxon territories and if the west saxon armies marched north then their first estates would be among the first to fall and if arvid was right then third firth had preserved that property by yielding his bur at huntingdon by being baptized and by swearing allegiance to edward herfurth had never been a great warrior but nevertheless his surrender to edward surely meant that other danish yells in southern northumbria would follow his lead and so expose c trigger to attack all that preserved sea trigger was his fragile peace treaty with ethel fled a treaty that alderman aphilhelm was determined to shatter so we hurried on south no longer on our way to leicester but following the wider roman road that eventually led to london the bear at hunterdon guarded a crossing of the ooze and it had always been a bastion protecting northumbria's southern frontier now it was gone surrendered to edward's forces i touched the hammer at my neck and wondered why the old gods surrendered so cravenly to the nailed god did they not care the saxons and their intolerant religion crept ever nearer to euphoric and to capturing northumbria and one day i thought the old religion would vanish and the nailed god's priest would pull down the pagan shrines in my lifetime i have seen the saxons beaten back to a husk clinging for existence in a stinking bog and then fighting back until now the great dream of a single country called engler land was temptingly close so sea triggers truce would eventually end and wessex would attack and then what your foot could not be held the walls were stout and well maintained but if a besieging army was willing to accept the casualties then they could attack in a half dozen places and they would eventually cross the ramparts and carry their swords into a terrified city the christians would rejoice well those of us who love the more ancient gods would be driven away if we wanted to survive the christian onslaught then the price for their victory had to be too high that was why i wanted bebenberg because the cost of capturing that fortress was exorbitant constantine would not have succeeded yet his best hope was still to starve my cousin out but that might take months if he tried an assault then his scottish warriors had only one narrow approach and they would die on that path their bodies would pile beneath the ramparts the ditch would stink of their blood ravens would feast on their guts widows would weep in constantin's hills and the white bones of alba's warriors would be left as a warning to the next attacker and frieza i wondered as we hurried southwards how far the nailed god had captured that land i had heard that some folks still worshiped thor and odin across the sea and there were times when i was genuinely tempted to go there and establish my own realm to be a sea lord beside the gray sea but to lose bevenberg to abandon a dream never before we left lincoln i had sent berg and his companions north towards the offerwick i gave the young norseman a purse of gold and told him again all that i wanted i made the men scrape the wolf's heads from their shields so that no one would think they were my followers but my cheeks burger said worried i wear your badge on my face lord i don't think it matters i said not wanting to tease him that the inked patches look more like drunken pigs than savage wolves will run that risk if you say so lord he had said still worried let your hair hang over your face i suggested good idea but he had suddenly looked aghast but the girl ola's daughter she might think it's strange my hair not nearly as strange as pigs on his cheeks i thought but again i spared him girls don't worry about things like that i assured him just so long as you don't smell too bad they're oddly fussy about that now go i said just go buy me three ships and wait in yo for which till you hear from me he rode north and we were riding south taking brunoff father herefry and bryce with us bryce and the priest had their hands tied and wore ropes about their necks the ropes bitter ends held by my men bryce just glowed for most of the journey but father herefrieth realizing how many of my men were christians promised that the fury of the nailed god would be unleashed on them if they did not release him your children will be born dead he shouted on the first day of our journey and your wives will rot like spoiled meat almighty god will curse you your skin will be perilant with boils your bowels will leak watery filth your will shrivel he went on shouting such threats until i dropped back to ride beside him he ignored me just glaring at the road ahead gabrut a good christian was holding the rope that led to the priest's neck he has a mouth lord gabriel said i envy him i said envy him lord most of us have to lower our truths to gabruts laughed herefrith just looked even angrier how many teeth do you have left i asked him and as i expected he did not answer gabrut you have pincers of course lord he patted a saddlebag many of my men carried pincers in case a horse half-cast a shoe needle i asked him fred not me lord gabriele said but gundrick always has a needle and thread so does katu good i looked at herefrith if you don't keep your filthy mouth shut i told him i'll borrow gabriel's pincers and pull out every tooth you have left then i'll sew your mouth shut i smiled at him he shouted no more threats father steppen looked distressed i assumed at my harshness but then when he was out of earshot of the scowling father herifrith he surprised me saint apollonia had her mouth sewn shut lord he said you're saying i'm making the bastard a saint i don't know if the story is true he went on some say she just lost all her teeth but if you have toothache lord you should pray to her i'll remember that but she did not preach like father herod fifth and no i do not think he is a saint he crossed himself our god is not cruel lord he seems so to me i said bleakly some of his preachers are cruel it is not the same thing i had no taste for a theological discussion tell me father i said is herefrith really a chaplain to king edward no lord he is chaplain to queen elfled but the young priest shrugged it is perhaps the same thing i snorted at that the west saxons had never honored the king's wife by calling her queen i do not know why but evidently afflhem's daughter had taken the title no doubt at her father's urging it's not the same thing i said if the rumor about edward and alphalet is true rumor lord that there are bad terms that they don't speak to each other i wouldn't no lord he said reddening he meant he did not want to gossip but all marriages have their tribulations is that not so lord they have their pleasures too i said praise god i smiled at his warm tone so you're married i was lord but only for a few weeks she died of the sweat but she was a sweet woman we halted the days march north of huntingdon where i summoned two of my saxon men edrick and kenwolf and sent them ahead equipped with shields we'd taken from bryce's men they were not the shields they had used to ambush bronolf but two that had been left in the fort and each showed a leaping stag the standard that had been removed from the rampart on the day i first went to horn custer had shown the same badge ethel helms badge bryce had recognized me that day which is why he and a companion had turned back from the meeting and taken down the flag he might be dumb as an ox but he had the sense to know i would have smelled trouble if i had seen athol helms emblem find the biggest tavern in huntingdon i told edric and drink there i gave him coins he grinned just drink lord if you have trouble entering the town i said say your athel helms men and if they question us i gave him my own gold chain though i took the hammer from it first tell them to mine their own damned business the chain would mark him as a man of authority far outranking any guards on huntingdon's gates and once we're there we just drink lord hedrick asked again not quite i said then told him what i wanted and edric who was nobody's fool laughed and next day we followed him south we never reached huntingdon nor needed to some few miles north of the town we saw a mass of horses grazing in pastureland to the east of the road and beyond them the dirty white roofs of tents above which gordy's standards flapped in a fitful wind the dragon of wessex flew there as did ethelfled's weird goose flag and athelhelm's banner of the leaping stag there were flags showing saints and flags flaunting crosses and flags showing both saints and crosses and hidden among them was she triggers banner of the red axe this was where the lords were meeting not in the newly surrendered hunt and but in tents erected around a solid looking farmstead a harried looking steward saw us approach and waved us towards a pasture who are you he called see triggers men i answered we were not flying my banner but carrying the red axe flag that bryce and herefry had used in their attempt to deceive brunoff the stewards spat we weren't expecting any more dames he said an apparent disgust you never expect us i said that's why we usually beat the out of you he blinked at me and i gave him a smile he took a pace back and pointed to a nearby pasture leave your horses there he sounded nervous now no one is to carry weapons no one not even saxons i asked only the gods of the royal household he said no one else i left most of my men guarding our horses along with our discarded swords spears axes and sea axes then led finnen brunoff my son and our two captives towards the farmstead smoke rose thick from cooking fires that burned between the tents a whole ox was being spit-roasted on one fire the smith's handle turned by two half-naked slaves while small boys fed the roaring blaze with newly split logs a huge man the size of gabriel rolled a barrel towards a nearby tent hell he shouted mate we're frail he saw the barrel was rolling straight towards me and tried to stop it oh he shouted sorry lord sorry i skipped safely aside then saw edrick and kenwolf waiting close to the farmstead's huge barn edric grinned evidently relieved to see me and held out my gold chain as i approached they've strapped king sea trigger to a saw horse lord he said and now they're chopping his bits off bit by bit that badly i hung the chain around my neck again so it worked he grinned it worked well lord maybe too well too well they want to march north tomorrow they just can't decide who gets the pleasure of killing you and how i laughed they're going to be disappointed then i had sent edric and kenwolf to spread a rumor in huntingdon that atholheum's treachery had worked they had told a tale of my betrayal how i had attacked brunolf and his followers how i had ignored a flag of truce and slaughtered priests and warriors the rumor had evidently done its work though doubtless athelham was wondering where it came from and why he had heard nothing from any of the men he would still be content he was getting what he wanted for the moment the meeting was being held in the vast barn an impressive building larger than most mead halls who owns the barn i asked a guard standing at one of the big doors he wore the badge of wessex carried a spear was evidently one of edward's household troops yell thurfirth he said after glancing at us to make sure none of us carried weapons and now we own in the guard made no attempt to stop us i had spoken to him in his own language and though my cloak was a poor and threadbare thing beneath it he could see i wore a golden chain of nobility besides i was older and grey-haired and so he just assumed both my rank and my right to be present though he did frown slightly when he saw bryce and herefrith with their hands tied thieves i explained currently who deserve royal justice i looked at gabrut if either of the bastards speak i told him you can bite their balls off he bared his dirty teeth a pleasure lord we slid into the back of the barn as i entered i pulled the hood of the shabby cloak over my head to shadow my face there were at least 150 men inside the barn which after the day's sunlight seemed dim the only light coming through the two great doorways we stood behind the crowd looking towards a crude platform that had been constructed at the barn's further end four banners were hung on the high wall behind the platform the dragon of wessex ethel fled's goose a white banner with a red cross and much smaller than the others see triggers flag with its red axe beneath them six chairs were set on the platform each draped with a cloth to add dignity see triggers sat in the chair furthest left his one eye downcast and his face suffused with gloom another northman i assumed he was a northman because he wore his hair long and had inked patterns on his cheeks sat furthest to the right and that had to be yell thurforth who had supinely surrendered his lands to the west saxons he was fidgeting king edward of wessex was in one of the three chairs that had been elevated above the others by a short stack of planks he had a thin face and to my surprise i saw his hair was going grey at the temples to his left and on a slightly lower chair was his sister ethelfled and her appearance shocked me her once beautiful face was drawn a skin pale as parchment and her lips were clumped together as if she tried to subdue pain she like see trigger had her eyes lowered the third raised chair on edward's right hand was occupied by a sullen looking boy who had a moon face indignant eyes and wore a golden circlet about his unkempt brown hair he could not have been more than 13 or 14 and he sprawled in his seat looking disdainfully at the crowd beneath him i had never seen the lad before but assumed he was elf weird edward's son and elderman athelhelm's grandson athelhelm sat next to the boy big bluff genial though right now he wore a stern expression he was gripping an arm of his chair and leaning slightly forward as he listened to a speech that was being delivered by bishop wolford no it was a sermon not a speech and the bishop's words were being applauded by a row of priests and a handful of male warriors who stood in the deep shadows behind the six thrones of the throne's occupants only athol helm was applauding he wrapped a hand on the chair's arm and occasionally nodded though always with a look of regret as though he was saddened by what he was hearing in truth he could not have been happier every kingdom divided shall be brought to ruin the bishop yelped those are the words of christ and who here doubts that the lands north of here are sacks and lands purchased by saxon blood he's been talking the best part of an hour i should think maybe longer edric grumbled to me he's just begun then i said a man standing in front of us tried to hush me but i growled at him and he quickly turned away i looked back to wolfherd who was an old enemy of mine he was bishop of herriford but spent his time wherever the king of wessex might be in residence because though wolfhard might preach about heavenly powers the only power he craved was earthly he wanted money land and influence and he largely succeeded because his ambition was well served by a mind that was subtle clever and ruthless he was impressive to look at tall stern with a hook of a nose and deep set dark eyes beneath thick brows that had turned gray with age he was formidable but his weakness was a fondness for i could not blame him for that i like hoes myself but wolford unlike me pretended to be a man of impeccable rectitude the bishop had paused to drink ale or wine and the six occupants of the chairs all stirred as if stretching tired limbs edward leaned over to whisper something to his sister who nodded wearily while her nephew elf weird the sullen looking boy yawned i do not doubt the bishop startled the boy by beginning again that the lady ethel fled made her peace with king setrago with nothing but christian motives with charitable motives and in the fervent hope that the light of christ would illuminate his dark pagan soul and bring him to a knowledge of our savior's grace true ethel ham said so true slimy bastard i growled but how could she know the bishop asked how could any of us know of the treachery which lurks in lord utrid's soul of the hatred he nurtures for us the children of god the bishop paused and it seemed he gave a great sob runoff he shouted that great warrior for christ dead the priests behind him wailed and applehelm shook his head father herefry the bishop shouted even louder that martyred man of god dead the guards might have thought we were disarmed but i had kept a knife and i slid it through hereford's clothes to prick his ass one word i whispered one word and you're dead he shivered our good men the bishops still spoke with a sob were killed by a pagan slaughtered by a savage and it is time he raised his voice it is past time that we scourge this pagan savage from our land amen athol holm said nodding amen praise god one of the priests called hearken the bishop shouted hearken to the words of the prophet ezekiel must we finn and muttered and i will make them one nation the bishop thundered and one king shall be king to them and they shall be no more two nations you hear that god has promised to make us one nation not two with one king not two he turned his fierce gaze on to see trigger you lord king he snarled and managed to infuse the last two words with utter scorn will leave us today tomorrow this truth expires and tomorrow king edward's forces will march north an army of god will march an army of faith an army of truth an army dedicated to revenge the deaths of bronolf and father hereth an army led by the risen christ and by our king and by lord attlehelm king edward frowned slightly offended i suspected by the suggestion that athelhelm was his equal in leading the west saxon army but he did not contradict the bishop and with that mighty force fulfilled went on will march the men of mercier warriors led by prince etholston it was my turn to frown ethelstone had been given command of mercy as army i approved of that but i knew athelhelm wanted nothing more than to kill ethelstone and so ease his grandson's path to the throne and now ethelstone was being sent into northumbria with a man who wanted him dead i wondered why ethelstone was not seated on a throne like his half-brother health weird then i saw him among the warriors standing with the priests behind the six chairs and that was significant i thought ethelstone was the elder son yet he was not given the same honors as the sullen plump health weird it will be a united saxon army wolf heard exalted the army of england an army of christ the bishop's voice grew louder an army to avenge our martyred dead and to bring everlasting glory to our church an army to make one saxon nation under one saxon king ready i asked finnen he just grinned the pagan utrecht has brought the wrath of god upon himself the bishop was almost screaming now spittle spraying from his mouth as his hands stretched towards the barn's rafters the peace is over broken by utrid's cruel deception by his insatiable hunger for blood by his betrayal of all that we treasure by his vicious attack upon our honor upon our piety upon our devotion to god and upon our yearning for peace it is not our doing it is his and we must give him the war he so fervently desires men cheered see trigger and detail fled looked distraught edward was frowning while athelhelm was shaking his head as if overcome by misery at getting exactly what he wanted the bishop waited until the crowd was silent and what does god desire of us he belonged what does he want of you he wants you to stop spewing filthy whoremonger i shouted breaking the silence that followed his two questions then i pushed my way through the crowd six i had peeled back the hood and thrown the shabby cloak from my shoulders before i forced a path through the crowd with finnen following close behind me there were gasps as i was recognized then murmurs and finally angry protests not all the crowd was irate some men grinned anticipating entertainment and a handful called a greeting to me bishop wolfhard stared in shock opened his mouth to speak found he had nothing to say and so looked desperately at king edward in the hope that the king would exercise his authority but edward seemed similarly astonished to see me and said nothing ethelfled was wide-eyed and almost smiling the protests grew as men bellowed that i should be ejected from the barn and one young man decided to be a hero and stepped into my path he wore a dark red cloak that was clasped at his throat by a silver badge of the leaping stag all atholheum's household warriors wore the dark red cloaks and a group of them muscled their way through the crowd to reinforce the young man who held out a hand to stop me you he began he never finished whatever he wanted to say because i just hit him i did not mean to hit him so hard but the anger was in me and he folded over my fist suddenly breathless and i pushed him away so that he staggered and fell onto the dirty straw then just before we reached the makeshift platform one of edwards guards confronted us with a leveled spear but finnon came past me and stood in front of the blade try it lad he said quietly please please just try it stand back edward found his voice and the guard backed away take him away athelhelm shouted he was talking to his household warriors and meant them to drag me away but two of edwards guards who alone were permitted to carry weapons in the king's presence mistook him and pulled away the red cloaked young man instead the voices of edward and ethel helm had silenced the barn though murmuring began again as i clambered awkwardly onto the dais finnen stayed below the deus facing the crowd and daring any man to interfere with me see trigger like every other person in the barn stared at me in surprise i winked at him then went on to one knee before ethel fled she looked so ill so pale so thin my lady i said she had reached out a hand a thin hand and i kissed it and when i looked up after the kiss i saw tears in her eyes but she was smiling she said my name softly nothing else your oath man still my lady i said and turned to her brother to whom i bowed my head respectfully lord king i said edward who wore the emerald crown of his father lifted a hand to silence the crowd i am surprised to see you lord outfit he said stiffly i bring you news lord king news is always welcome good news especially i think you'll discover that this is very good news lord king i said as i stood up let us hear it the king commanded the crowd was utterly silent now some men who had fled wolfherd's tedious sermon had flocked back to the barn's open doors and were jostling to get inside i am not a man of words lord king i said as i walked slowly towards wolfherd i'm not like bishop woolford the at the wheat chief in wintoncaster tell me he doesn't stop talking even when he's humping them you foul wolford began though they say i interrupted him fiercely that he's so quick with them that it's never a long sermon more like a gabbled blessing in the name of the father the son and the ho-ho-ho hall a few men laughed but stopped when they saw the anger on edward's face he had not been particularly religious as a youngster but now that he was at the age when men begin to contemplate their deaths he lived in fear of the nailed god but ethelfled who was older and deeply pious did laugh though her laughter turned into a cough edward was about to protest my words but i forestalled him so i was talking to the whole assembly now my back to an outraged wolf heard brunoff is dead you killed him you bastard a man braver than the rest called i looked at him if you think i'm a bastard then you step up here now the king will give us swords and you can prove it i waited but it did not move and so i just nodded to my son who stepped aside so bruno could walk through the crowd he had to elbow his way through the press of men but gradually as some recognized him a passage was made for him so i said again brunoff is dead did anyone here see him die did anyone here see his corpse no one answered though there were gasps and whispers as men realized he was approaching the platform he reached it and i stretched down a hand to help him up onto the planks lord king i turned to edward may i present your man brunoff no one spoke edward looked at atl helm who had suddenly found the rafters of the barnes roof intensely interesting then back to bronoff who would knelt to him does he smell dead to you lord king i asked edward's face twitched in what might have been a smile he does not i turned on the crowd he's not a corpse it seems i didn't kill him brunoff are you dead no lord the barn was so silent you could have heard a flea cough were you attacked in northumbria i asked bronoff i was lord edward gestured for brunoff to stand and i beckoned him closer to me who attacked you i demanded he paused for a heartbeat then men carrying king c trigger's badge that badge i asked pointing to see trigger's banner with its red axe that hung hyb of the platform yes lord there were growls from the hall but they were silenced by those men who wanted to hear bruno's words see trigger frowned when he heard that the men who had attacked bruno ford carried his badge but he made no protest athelhelm cleared his throat shifted uncomfortably in his chair then went back to staring at the rafters and you successfully fought these men off i asked you did lord and how many of your men died none lord none i asked louder not one lord not one of your west saxons died none lord were any injured he shook his head no lord and of the men carrying the badge of the red axe how many of those died 14 lord and the rest you captured you captured them lord ethel helm was now staring at me apparently unable to speak or even move and were they king setrager's men i asked no lord then whose men were they runoff paused again this time to look directly at ethelhelm they were lord athelhelm's men louder i insisted they were lord ethel helmsman and then there was uproar some men many of them wearing the dark red cloak and the silver stag badge of ethel helm's household were bellowing that brave lied but others were shouting to silence or demanding that bruno be allowed to tell more of his tale i let the commotion continue as i walked to ethel helms chair and leaned close to him his grandson prince elf weird strained to hear what i said but i spoke too softly i have bryce here i told athelhelm and i have father herefrith they're both scared shitless of me so they won't lie to save your miserable hide do you understand me lord he gave an almost imperceptible nod but said nothing the men in the hall were clamoring to know more but i ignored them so lord i went on still whispering you'll say they disobeyed you and then you'll agree with everything i propose everything do we have an agreement lord you bastard he muttered do we have an agreement i insisted and after a slight pause he gave a small nod i patted his cheek and then we did agree we agreed that bryce had exceeded his orders that he'd tried to provoke a war on his own initiative and that the decision to attack bruno for being taken by him and by father herefried alone in contradiction of alderman ethel helm's strict orders all athelhelm helmet wanted he declared was to build a church to the glory of sinterpren world of the wolfingest and he had never not for a moment thought that pious act might provoke violence and it was agreed that bryce would be handed over to edward's men to receive the king's justice while father herefrieth would be disciplined by the church we agreed that the truce already in place between ethelfled and c trigger would be extended until all saints day the following year i wanted three years but edward insisted on the shorter period and i had no sway over him as i did over athelhelm and so i accepted the condition all saints day came late in the campaigning season too close to winter for comfort and i reckoned it gave c trigger almost two years of peace and lastly i insisted on taking hostages to ensure the good behavior of northumbria's enemies that was not popular some men shouted that if wessex or mercia were to yield hostages then northumbria should do the same but ethel helm prompted by a glance from me supported the proposal northumbria he said grudgingly did not break the truce it was our men who did that you could almost see the pain on his face as he spoke the transgressor he said flinching must pay the price and who king edward demanded of me are to be your hostages i only want one lord king i said just one i want the heir to your throne i paused and saw the fear on atholham's face he thought i meant his grandson elf weird who also looked horrified but then i slid the hook out of their frightened guts i want prince ethelston who i loved like a son and for over a year he would be mine and so would see trigger's army bryce died that same day i'd never liked him he was a dull brutal unthinking man or he was until the afternoon of his death when he was brought with tied hands to the space in front of edward's tent and at that moment he impressed me he made no attempt to blame athelhelm even though he was being executed for obeying athelham's commands he could have called out the truth but he had sworn his oath to the elderly and he kept that oath to the end he knelt in front of a priest and made his confession he received absolution and he was given the last rights he did not protest neither did he weep he stood when the priest was finished and turned towards the king's tent and only then did he flinch he had expected a guard from the king's household troops to kill him a man experienced in war who would do the job swiftly and indeed a great hulking brute of a man had been waiting for him at the place of execution the brute's name was walbund and walmund was a giant of a man who could kill an ox with one blow of a sword he was a man to put at the center of a shield wall to terrify an enemy but while bryce was being shriven wildman's place had been taken by elf weird the king's son and seeing the youngster bryce shuddered he went to his knees again lord prince he said i beg you to let me die with my hands free you'll die as i choose elf weird said he had a high voice not quite broken and i choose to leave your hands tied free his hands i called i was one of two hundred or more men who were watching the execution and most of them supported me my murmuring agreement you will be silent elf weird commanded me i walked to him he was plump like his mother with a petulant face he had curling brown hair ruddy cheeks blue eyes and an expression of disdain he carried a sword that looked too big for him and he twitched the blade as i came close but one look into my eyes persuaded him to leave the weapon low he wanted to be defiant but i could see the fear in his slightly protrudent eyes roman he commanded tell the lord who tried to mind his business woman lumbered towards me he really was a giant a whole head taller than me with a flat grim face slashed from his right eyebrow to his lower left jaw by a scar he had her bristling brown beard eyes dead as stone and a thin lipped mouth that seemed set in a permanent grimace let prince elf weird do his duty he growled at me when the prisoner's hands are freed i said make him go away elf weird whined you heard while one began you don't serve me i interrupted him but i am a lord and you are not and you owe me respect and obedience and if you fail to give me either then i shall fill it you i've killed bigger fools than you i doubted that was true but it did no harm for wildman to hear it but none more stupid now both of you will wait while i free bryce's hands you can't wellman began and i slapped him i slapped him hard across the face and he was so astonished that he just stood there like a stunned heifer don't tell me what i can or cannot do chill i snapped at him i told you to wait so you will wait i walked away from him going to bryce and i gave finnan a tiny nod as i went then i stepped behind bryce drew the knife i was not supposed to be carrying and cut through the hide rope that had bound him i looked past him and saw the scarlet curtain hanging in the entrance of the king's tent move slightly thank you lord bryce said he massaged his freed wrists a man should die with his hands free so he can pray because i don't deserve to die like a common thief lord i'm a warrior yes i said you are i was facing him now my back to wildmond and to prince elf weird while finnen had stepped behind bryce and you're a warrior who kept his oath i added bryce glanced around the circle of men who watched us he didn't come to see this he meant athelhelm he's ashamed of himself i said but he made sure i'd die this way lord and not my being hanged and then look after my wife and children i'll make sure he does but he lets the boy kill me bryce said in disgust and that boy will butcher me he likes hurting people you did too he nodded i've repented my sins lord he looked past me gazing up into the cloudless sky and for a heartbeat there was a hint of tears in his eyes you think there's a heaven lord i think there's a mead hall called valhalla where brave warriors go after death a mead hall filled with friends and feasts bryce nodded but to kept her lord a man must die with a weapon in his hand is that why you wanted your hands untied he did not answer but just looked at me and i saw the confusion in him he had been raised a christian at least i assumed he had but the stories of the old gods were still whispered about the nighttime fires and the fear of the corpse ripper who feeds on the dead in niflheim was not forgotten despite all that the priests preached i still carried the knife and now i reversed it and held the hilt towards bryce it's not a sword i said but it is a weapon hold it tight i kept my fingers closed firmly around bryce's knuckles so that he could not release the blade nor for that matter lunged at my belly he did not try thank you lord he said and finnan struck he had hidden the sea axe under his tunic and while i spoke to bryce he slid the weapon free and as soon as he saw that bryce had good hold of the knife he slashed the short blade across the nape of bryce's neck bryce died instantly with no time even to know he was dying and the knife was still in his grasp as he fell i kept my grip on his hand as his body collapsed and only when i was certain that he was dead did i praise his fingers from the hilt you elf weird began to protest in a shrill voice but went silent as finn and whirled the sea axe's bloodied blade and a series of air whistling cuts and slashes too fast for the eye to follow so bryce died and stupid as he was he will have his place on the benches in valhalla's hall we shall meet again i walked away but a touch on my elbow turned me back fast i thought for a heartbeat that wildman or elf weird was attacking me but it was a servant who bowed low and told me i was summoned to the king's tent now if it please you lord it did not matter whether i was pleased or displeased a king summons could hardly be ignored and so i followed the servant past the guards and pushed through the scarlet curtain it was cool inside the tent smelling of crushed grass there were tables chairs chests and a large bed on which a dark-haired girl with large eyes sat watching us the king dismissed the servant but ignored the girl instead going to a table littered with broken loaves a block of cheese documents a book quills horn cups and two silver jugs the crown of wessex with its emeralds lay discarded in the model edward poured himself a beaker of wine and looked at me questioningly please lord i said he poured another beaker and brought it to me himself then sat nodding to a second smaller chair so bryce was a pagan a pagan and a christian i suspect and he did not deserve to die it was not a question but a statement no lord but it was a necessary death he said i did not respond edward sipped his wine and brushed a scrap of dirt from his blue robe i didn't know he went on that my son had been given the job of killing him i am glad you intervened bryce deserved a quick end i said he did he agreed yes he did i had not seen edward for some years and thought he looked old now though he was much younger than me he was i suppose in his early forties then but his hair had gone gray at the temples his short beard was gray and his face was lined i could see his father in that face i remembered edward as a young and uncertain prince since when i had heard rumors of too much wine and too many women though the gods know the same rumors could be spread of any lord but i had also heard that he cared deeply about his country was pious and i knew he had proved a notable warrior in his conquest of east anglia it had been difficult for him if not impossible to live up to his father's reputation but as alfred's death receded in time so edward had grown in authority and achievement you do know he said suddenly that we shall attack northumbria of course lord the truth will be kept in truth it's convenient for me we need time to impose law on the lands we've taken he meant the next year would be spent rewarding his followers with the states and making sure they had trained warriors who could march north under the dragon banner of wessex frowned as a priest came into the tent clutching an arm full of documents not now not now the king said irritably waving the man off later who has your oath lord utward your sister he seemed surprised by that still indeed lord he frowned yet you would fight for c trigger your sister hasn't demanded otherwise lord and if she did i tried to avoid the question you have nothing to fear from me lord king i'm an old man with aching joints edward offered me a grim smile my father tried to control you and said it couldn't be done he also advised me never to underestimate you he said you look stupid but act clever i thought it was the other way around lord he smiled dutifully at that then returned to the question i had tried to avoid so what happens if my sister demands your service lord i said all i want is to retake webenberg i knew that would not satisfy him so added but that is probably impossible now that constantine is there so i am planning to retire to freesia he frowned i asked he said precisely and in a voice that was just like his father's what would you do if my sister demanded your oath service i would never draw my sword against your sister lord never it was not the full answer he wanted but he did not press me any further you know what is happening up at bogenberg i know constantine is besieging the fortress i said but nothing more he's trying to starve your cousin edward said he's left over 400 men there under a leader called domino and domino's a very capable commander i did not ask how he knew edward would have inherited his father's vast number of spies and informants and no king in britain was better supplied with news much of it sent by churchmen who were incessantly writing letters and i did not doubt that edward had plenty of informants in both scotland and northumbria there's a sea gate i said and the fortress can be supplied by ship no longer edward said confidently the coast is guarded by a norseman and his ships a man originally hired by your cousin einer the white he nodded constantin has purchased his loyalty that surprised me constantine told me he'd attack einer why fight when you can buy einer's ships patrol the coast now edward side constantin is no fool though i'm not sure how useful aina will be he calls himself aina the white but is also known as aina the unfortunate he gave a mirthless smile what did you like to tell me years ago that fate is inexorable weird i said maybe aina's fate is to be unfortunate he must hope so why unfortunate lord i'm told he's wrecked three ships then maybe he's fortunate to be alive maybe he smiled thinly but i am told the nickname is deserved i hoped he was right i touched the hammer hanging around my neck and said a silent prayer that aina proved to be the unlucky one edward saw the gesture and frowned but with or without einar's ships i said bevenburg is almost impossible to capture that's why i'm thinking of freesia freeze here edward said contemptuously his disbelief plain and i feared my cousin's reaction might be the same babenberg he went on is surely difficult to assault but it can be starved and your cousin has over 200 men inside bevenburg well over 200 they need a lot of food he could have held the fortress with half that number but he's a cautious man and he's going to starve sooner rather than later and one of his granaries burned did you know that i didn't lord i felt a surge of pleasure at my cousin's own fortune then a pang of fear as i thought how such a fire would help constantine your cousin evicted the useless mouths from the fortress edward went on but he's kept too many fighting men inside they will starve and a starved garrison will prove easy to conquer i touch the hammer again risking his displeasure but it does not suit me edward sounded bitter suddenly for constantine to rule bebenberg's land he had the impudence to demand all the land north of the wall he sent an envoy a bishop to propose a new frontier but babenberg is saxon land it always has been and it should be and it will be a part of england you might be old feeble and have aching joints lord utrid but you will drive constantin out of your ancestral land i shrugged i want bebenberg more than you lord king but i also know the fortress if i had a thousand men i shrugged again i hold dunholm and dunham was almost as formidable as bevenberg i had thought to dream of bemberg and diane dunholm but when your army invades northumbria lord freesia will be a safer place for me i said that loudly not for edward's benefit but for the wide-eyed girl who listened from the bed the king might not believe my story of freesia but let girl spread the rumor that i was not going to bebenberg if you do not take bevenberg edward said savagely then i will and my man will rule there instead of you is that what you want better you than the scots lord he grunted then stood to show we were finished and so i stood too you asked to take ethelstone as your hostage he said as we walk towards the tenth doorway why because he's like a sons of me i said and because i would preserve his life edward well knew what i implied he knew who threatened ethelstone he nodded good he said softly my sister has protected him these many years now you will do it for a year you could preserve his life yourself lord i said he paused and lowered his voice alderman ethel helm is my most powerful lord he leads too many men and has too many followers who owe him their lands and their fortunes to oppose him openly is to risk civil war but he'll start just such a war i said to keep ethelston from succeeding then that will be ethelstone's problem the king said bleakly so teach him well lord teach him well because my sister can no longer protect him she can't my sister he said is dying and my heart seemed to stop and just then an indignant elf we had pushed aside the skull at curtin that man utred father he began then stopped abruptly he had evidently not known i was in the tent that man it's heard what edward asked elf weird offered his father a perfunctory bow i was told to kill the prisoner he interfered so edward demanded he should be punished elf we had protested then punish him edward said and turned away elf we had frowned looked from me to his father then back to me if he had possessed any sense he would have stepped aside but his pride was hurt do you not bow to royalty lord atrid he demanded in his high voice about to those i respect i said you call me lord insisted no boy i don't he was shocked he mouthed the word boy but said nothing just stared indignantly at me i took a pace forward forcing him back i called your father boy i said until the day he accompanied me across the walls of benflord we killed danes that day spear danes sword danes fierce warriors we fought boy and we made a great slaughter and on that day your father deserved to be called lord and deserved all the respect i still give him but you're still reeking of your mother's tit boy until you prove to me that you're a man then you stay a boy now get out of my way boy he did and his father said nothing and i left he's not a bad boy ethelfled told me he's pampered rude insufferable people say that about you i growled at that making her smile and you i asked her your brother says your ill she hesitated i could see she wanted to deny the fact but then she relented inside i'm dying she said no i protested but i could see the truth in her eyes her beauty was overlaid by age and pain her skin looked somehow fragile as if it had thinned her eyes were darker yet she still could smile and still had grace i had found her in her tent behind her flag which showed a white goose holding a cross in its beak and a sword and a webbed foot i had mocked that badge often enough the goose was the symbol of saint werber a mercian nun who had miraculously evicted a flock of geese from a wheat field though why that counted as a miracle was beyond my understanding any child of ten could do the same thing but i knew where burr was precious to ethel fled and she was precious to me i pulled a chair beside hers and sat taking one of her thin hands in mine i know a healer i began i have had healers she said tiredly so many healers but elthrith sent me a clever man and he's helped elthriff was her younger sister who had married the ruler of flanders father casper makes a potion that takes away much of the pain but he had to go back to flanders because elsewhere is sick too she sighed and made the sign of the cross someday his eye feel better what are you suffering from pain here she touched a breast deep inside father casper taught sisters how to make his potion and that helps prayer helps too then pray more i said two nuns presumably the sisters who nursed ethel fled sat in the shadows at the back of the tent both watched me suspiciously though neither could hear a word we spoke i pray day and night ethel fled said with a one smile and i pray for you too thank you you'll need prayer she said with awful helmets your enemy i just pulled his teeth i said you were there he'll want revenge i shrugged so what will he do attack me and dunholm now wish him luck with that she patted my hand don't be arrogant yes my lady i said smiling so why doesn't your brother just smack ethel helm down because it would mean war she said bleakly avalhelm is popular he's generous there isn't a bishop or abbott in wessex who doesn't take his money he's friends with half the nobles he gives feasts and he doesn't want the throne for himself just for his grandson that piece of puke it's all he cares about athlete said that elf weird becomes king and my brother knows that the west saxon whitten will vote that way they've been bought and ethelstone i asked though i knew the answer you did well to demand him as a hostage he'd be safer with you than he is here which is why i asked for him i said then frowned would apple helm really dare to kill him he'd dare to arrange his death but no one would know do you ever read the scriptures every day i said enthusiastically not a moment passes that i don't have a quick read of jeremiah's or dip into ezekiel she smiled amused what a barbarian you are have a priest tell you the story of urias urias just remember the name she said uriahs heteus talking of priests i said who is throthwared the archbishop of york she said as you well know a west saxon i said he is and he's a good man did the good man take ethel helms gold i asked oh no he's a good pious man she said briskly then hesitated and frowned he was an abbot she went on more tentatively and i remember his house receiving a generous grant of land 20 hides in wiltonshire it was a long way from his abbey he got land instead of gold she still frowned men give land to the church all the time and athelhelm is alderman of wilton sure she finished the sentence for me then sighed athel helm is buying lands in mercier now showering them with gold he wants the mercy and witten to appoint elfweird as my successor no i was shocked by the suggestion that sullen keller boy to be king of mercia he proposed a marriage between elf weird and elfin she said elfwin was her daughter she was a frivolous girl pretty and irresponsible i liked her probably more than her mother did which is why ethel fled's next word surprised me i said no she went on because i think elfwind should succeed me you think what i blurted out she's a princess of mercier ethelfled said firmly and if i can rule mercier why can't she why must the man always be the next ruler i adore elfwin i said but she doesn't have your good sense then she can marry kinlof harrelson ethelfled said and he'll advise her he's a strong young man i said nothing kinlov harrelson was a young handsome west saxon warrior but of no great birth which meant he did not bring elf when the power of a big noble house and he was of no great achievement either which meant he did not have the reputation to attract men to follow him i thought him shallow but there was no point in saying so to ethel fled who had always been charmed by his looks manners and courtesy can laugh will protect her ethel fled said and so will you you know i'm fond of her i said and that was an evasion what she wanted to hear was that i would support elfwin as i had supported her that elfwin would have my oath i was saved from having to say more by roarick my servant who slapped a hand on the tent flap and came nervously out of the sunlight lord he said then remembered to bow to ethel fled what is it king's sea trigger is leaving lord you wanted me to tell you i'm riding north with him i told her full fled then go she said i stood and bowed to her i will protect elfwinn i said and that would have to satisfy her saying that much did not commit my oath to elfwin and ethelfled knew it but she smiled anyway and held out her hand thank you she said i bent and kissed her hand then held on to it the best fate i said is for you to get well become healthy you're the best ruler mercer has ever had so be well and go on ruling i shall do my best then i shocked the two nuns by bending further and kissing ethel fled on the mouth she did not resist we had been lovers i still loved her and i love her to this day i sensed a slight sob as we kissed i shall come again i promised her after i've taken bebenberg not freesia she asked mischievously so the rumor was spreading i lowered my voice i'm going to bebenberg next tell no one dear lord utrid she said softly everyone knows you're going to bevenberg perhaps i'll visit you there you must my lady you must you'll be treated like the queen you are i kissed her hand again till we meet in the north my lady i said then reluctantly released her fingers and followed rorick out of the tent i never saw her again my men and see triggers men rode together going north the sun shone it was warm and the summer air was filled with the sound of hooves and the jingle of harnesses i hate sexes see trigger said i did not answer to my right was a field thick with growing wheat a reminder of how rich this land was dust drifted from our passing you've bought me at least a year see trigger said thank you i saw a falcon high in the warm air hovering its wings motionless except for a slight quiver as it stared intensely at the ground where some creature was doomed i watched it hoping to see the bird stoop but it just stayed there effortlessly riding the high wind an omen may be an omen of peace except i did not want peace i was carrying my sword towards blevenberg they smelled different see trigger said vengefully they reek of the saxon stink rotted turnips that's what they smell like rotted turnips smug self-satisfied turnips i twisted in my saddle and looked at ethelstone who was riding next to my son a few paces behind us and who thankfully was out of earshot of seed trigger's spleen prince ethelstone i called the danes and norseman smell the danes stink of curdled cheese lord he called back cheerfully well the norse reek of bad fish see trigger snorted i hope the saxons do break the truce prince ethelstone he said loudly then i will have the pleasure of killing you he knew i would never allow it but he enjoyed making the threat he looked older i remembered the gleeful young battle warrior who had left up the rumparts of chester as he tried to kill me a lord of war i had taken one of his eyes and he had taken my daughter and now we were friends but a few months of kingship had put lines on his face and taken the joy from his soul he sput he's no better he calls himself a dane and lifts his ass for the christians i'd nailed the treacherous bastard to a cross his anger was justified the danish lords who ruled northumbria's southern bears had the power to give sea trigger a formidable army but their fear was proving stronger than their loyalty i suspected most would follow third earth and give their allegiance to both the west saxons and the nailed god they'll even march with the saxons see trigger said bitterly probably and what do i do then it was not a real question more a cry of despair you come to live in bevenburg i said mildly we rode in silence for a half mile as the road dropped to a shallow forward where the horses paused to drink i rode ahead a few paces and checked tintreg in the roads dusty center just listening to the day's silence see trigger followed me i can't fight the scots and the saxons he said he sounded grudging not wanting me to think him a coward not at the same time the saxons will keep the truce i assured him and i was sure i was right next year he said or maybe the year after the armies of mercy and wessex will come north i can hold them i have just enough men at the very least i can make them wish they'd never heard of northumbria and with your men we can darken the earth with their filthy blood i won't fight against ethel fled i told him she has my oath then you can kill the bastard west saxons he said vengefully and i'll kill the mercians but i can't fight if i don't have enough men true and to throw constantine back to his hovels i can do it but at what price a high price i said the scots fight like angry pole cats so he began i know i interrupted him you can't throw away the best part of your army fighting the scots at least not till you've beaten back the saxons you understand of course i understand i said and he was right see trigger commanded a small army if he led it north to evict the scots from bevenberg's land he would be inviting a war with constantine who would welcome a chance to weaken northumbria's army seatrigger might well win the first battles driving domino's 400 men northwards but after that the howling devils of niflheim would emerge from the scottish hills and the battles would become grimmer see trigger even if he won would lose the men he needed to stave off the saxon assault he gazed north to where the day's heat shimmered above low hills and thick woods so you'll wait to attack babenberg he asked you'll wait till we've driven off the sections i can't wait see trigger looked pained without those bust and thurfoot stroops he said and the rest of those slimy toads in the south i can't assemble more than 800 men i can't lose a hundred to constantine i'll want 150 from you i said maybe 200 and if i'm right not one of those men will be scratched i can't wait because by next spring constantine will starve the bastard out and he'll be sitting inside bebenberg so i'm going there now and i'm going to capture it i touch the hammer and i need your help but he said and i interrupted him again by telling him how we would conquer the unconquerable and how his men would suffer no casualties in the conquest also i hoped the mad bishop seven we're going to freesia i told edith she just stared at me in astonishment i had ridden north to joffawik where i spent one night feasting with sitriga my daughter and of all people the new archbishop rothweid he was indeed a decent man or seen so to me he flinched when i told him what had happened in honcaster it seems god was on your side lordo he said gently he was snatched peace from the jaws of war which god i asked him he laughed then asked me what i thought would happen at bebenberg and i gave him the same answer that finnon had given him that constantine would find an assault too costly but that he hardly needed to expend troops on the fortress walls when hunger would do the job for him rothwood shook his head sadly so saint cuthbert's monastery if it is rebuilt will host scottish monks and that worries you i asked him he thought about his answer it shouldn't he finally said they will be godly men i'm sure but you will lose the money that pilgrims bring i said he liked that retort and his long face lit up with delight as he pointed a goose leg at me you like to think the worst of us lordran but it's true wasn't it he shook his head lindisfarin is a holy place an island of prayer i would like to appoint its new abbot if god wills it only to be certain that he is worthy of the island and will not bring god's church into disrepute the worthy man lord ford would not be a greedy man whatever you might think i think bishop jeremias has dreams of being the next abbot i said mischievously rothwood laughed poor man what do men call him the mad bishop he chuckled there are those who urge me to excommunicate him but what good would that do he is sorely mistaken i'm sure but unlike some i can think of he looked at me with humor in his eyes he worships the one god he is i think harmless in grievous error of course but harmless i liked the man like father peelig he wore his faith lightly but his piety kindness and honesty were obvious i shall pray for you he said i'm parting whether you like it or not i made no attempt to see berg on that brief visit though my daughter told me he had purchased three ships and was now repairing them on the wharves close to the duck tavern now back in dunholm i told edith of those ships and of my plans to cross the sea to freesia it was night time and we talked in the house i had built above the main gate in daylight the house gave us a fine view southwards but now all that could be seen with a glow of fires from the small town below the fortress and the sparks of uncountable stars spread across the heavens the house had been an extravagance it had meant building a gatehouse tunnel to support it and two chambers flanking the tunnel one to house our servants and the other for the gates guards a set of stairs led from our servants quarters into our private rooms and i was inordinately proud of those stairs they were rare of course every roman town that had kept its walls had steps leading to the ramparts but i had rarely seen stairs in the buildings we made many halls had an upper floor but those platforms which we usually use for sleeping were reached by ladders and sometimes by a ramp but i'd always admired how the romans had made stairs inside their houses and so i had ordered some built though admittedly the dunham stair was made from wood and not from finely cut stone building our house above the entrance tunnel meant thrusting a new rampart out over the approach road and because there were centuries on that rumparts high platform i kept my voice low though not quite low enough to prevent our conversation from being overheard friesia edith exclaimed there are islands i said off the freezing coast we'll take one build a fortress and make it home i could see a mixture of disbelief and disappointment on her face frieza is christian i said reassuring her because she was a christian and despite all my persuasion had never reverted to the worship of my older gods well it's mostly christian i went on and you won't find it a strange place their language is so close to ours that you can understand everything but she began and gestured around our chamber that was lit by small rush lights that glowed on the woven wall hangings on the big woolen rug and the heap of furs that was our bed i've made too many enemies i said bleakly ethel fled is dying so she can't protect me the west saxons have never loved me and ethel helm hates me my cousin sits in babenberg like a great toad and constantine would like nothing more than to squash me like a louse she began is doomed i said firmly the saxons will attack next year or the year after and he might hold them off for a couple of months but after that they'll keep coming and constantine will see his opportunity and start taking more land in the north of northumbria but sea triggers looking to you for help she protested and that's what i'm giving him i said we're making a new land in freesia he'll be welcome sea trigger knows about this of course he does i said i heard a scraping noise beneath the window that looked onto the approach road it was probably the sound of a spear but dragging on the gates fighting platform and it suggested someone was listening to our conversation edith looked about the room with its comforts i've grown fond of dunholm she said plaintively i'm giving it to cedric he knows dunholm he was born here he grew up here and his father was the lord here cetric was the bastard son of yao kyot and the cruel a man who had been my dreadful enemy as a child cedric had none of his father's viciousness but he was just as capable a warrior and starting as my servant he become one of my most trusted war leaders a few men can stay with him i said mostly the older men and he can recruit and train new men they'll all be christians of course once the saxons rule here there'll be no room for pagans what about bevenberg edith asked a year ago i said bleakly i thought i had a chance of taking it now my cousin holds it and constantine wants it i might defeat my cousin but i can't defeat the scots as well i'm old my love i can't fight forever i paused and half turned towards the ramparts but don't tell anyone not yet and next day of course everyone in dunham knew of my plans we were going to freesha i trusted edith some men thought that stupid of me because she had once been my enemy but now she was my friend as well as my wife and how can there be love without trust so later that night when i was certain we could not be overheard i told the truth the earlier conversation had been solely for the benefit of whoever might have been listening on the rampart outside our chamber and i knew the conversation would eventually reach my cousin his first reaction i'm sure would be disbelief but the story would be persistent and the evidence for its truth overwhelming it would not make him drop his guard but it would so doubt and doubt would be enough and if i was wrong and edith could not be trusted then i had just removed that doubt he would know i was coming edith did not betray me but i never discovered all those who did i found a few and hanged them from the nearest tree but only after i had fed the misleading information they could pass on to my enemies still i am certain there were many others i never discovered i looked of course i looked for men who suddenly had more gold or silver than they should or whose wives flaunted fine linen dresses with elegant embroidery or men who would not meet my eyes or who stood too close as i talked to finnen or with my son i watched for men who paid too much attention to edith or whose servants made efforts to be over friendly with rorick my own servant but i never discovered all who betrayed me nor did my enemies ever discover all who betrayed them i spent good money on my own spies just as my enemies spent gold to spy on me i had all those men who served edward and winton kester and i had a wine steward a clerk and a blacksmith who were in athel helms employment i had no one in my cousin's service i had tried to find a man or woman who could tell me what happened inside bebenberg but my efforts were never successful though i did hear a great deal of my cousin's doings from folks scattered up and down the east coast and even from across the sea and freesia the same harbour taverns brought me news from scotland because again i had no spies in constantine's court my cousin i was sure had someone watching me perhaps it was one of my own men or a priest in europe or a merchant in dunham i did not know who but i knew such men existed and he had folk listening to rumors as i did christians had the strange habit of confessing their worst behavior to their sorceries and many of those priests sold what they learned and my cousin took care to donate money to churches and churchmen i doubted that cuthbert my blind priest took my cousin's money cuthbert was loyal and took a relish in passing me scraps he heard from such confessions would you believe it lord swithen and veda's wife i'm told she's ugly not truly ugly but spiteful poor boy he must be desperate not every man or woman who sent me news was a spy priests monks and nuns constantly exchanged letters and many were happy to share what they had learned from some far away abbey and merchants were always keen to pass on gossip though inevitably much of that information was wrong and almost always it was long out of date by the time it made its way to northumbria but now in the days following the meetings at horncaster i also had ethelstone's spies on my side they did not know that they probably thought they were keeping the young prince supplied with news while he suffered the ordeal of being my hostage but evelston promised to pass on much of what they told him he was a christian of course and was accompanied by three priests as well as six servants four of whom were plainly warriors just pretending to be servants do you trust them i asked him as we hunted for deer in the hills north of dunham it was a week since i had arrived back from joffrewick and to bolster the rumor that i was leaving for freesia i had ordered my servants to start packing our goods i trust them with my life ethelstone said they're all mercy and warriors given to me by the lady ethelfled and the priests i don't trust switzerland but the other two he shrugged they're young and full of noble ideals i asked them to be my priests they weren't imposed on me i smiled at that ethelstone was about 22 or 23 in that year no older than the two young priests and father swithrid was imposed on you i asked by my father maybe he just sends news to him and any letters he sends i said will be read by the king's clerks who might be in ethel helms pay so i assume he said swithwood was an older man maybe 40 or even 50 with a scalp as bald as an egg sharp dark eyes and a perpetual frown he resented being among pagans and let the resentment show have you noticed i had asked him as we journeyed north that at least half my men are christians no christian can serve a heathen lord he had answered gruffly then reluctantly added lord you mean by serving me they cease to be christians i mean that they place themselves in dire need of redemption they have their own church in dunham i told him and a priest would you provide the same for pagans in wessex or mercia of course not he had said he had been riding a tall grey horse a fine beast and he wrote it well might i ask he had said then seemed to think better of his question ask i had said what arrangements will be made for prince ethelston's comfort he meant what arrangements would be made for his own comfort but i pretended to believe that his concern was solely for the prince he's a hostage i told him so we'll probably keep him in a cattle buyer or maybe in a pig shed fasten his ankles with chains and feed him slops and water ethelstone who had been listening laughed don't believe him father and if even one west saxon crosses the frontier i'd continued i'll cut his throat and yours too this is not amusing lord father swithrid had said sternly he will be treated as the prince that he is i had assured him with honor with comfort and with respect and so he was ethelstone feasted with us hunted with us and worshipped in the small church inside dunham's walls he had become more pious as he grew into manhood he still had his fierce joy in life a hunger for activity and an appetite for laughter but now much like his grandfather alfred he prayed every day he read christian texts guided by the two young priests he had brought with him to dunholm what changed you i asked as we waited on the edge of some woodland we were armed with hunting bows i was never a good archer but ethelstone had already killed two fine beasts with an arrow apiece you changed me he said me you persuaded me i could be king and if i'm to be king lord then i must have god's blessing i raised the bow and notched an arrow as leaves sounded loud in the wood but no beast appeared and the noise subsided what's wrong with having thor and waden on your side he smiled at that i'm a christian lord and i try to be a good one i made a grumbling noise but said nothing god won't reward me he said if i do evil the gods have looked after me i said truculently by sending you to freeze you nothing wrong with freesia it isn't babenberg when you become king i said watching the trees as i spoke you'll discover that some ambitions can be fulfilled and some cannot the important thing is to recognize which is which so you won't go north to bevenburg he asked i told you i'm going to freeze you and when you reach he paused then stressed the next word freesia will there be fighting there's always fighting lord prince and this fighting in again this light pause will be fierce fighting always is then you will allow me to fight alongside you no i spoke more vehemently than i'd intended the fight will be none of your concern the enemies i fight will not be your enemies enjoy my hostage so i have a duty to keep you alive he was gazing at the tree line waiting for prey his bow half drawn though the arrow was still pointing to the ground i owe you a lot lord he said you have protected me i know that and the one way to repay you is to help you in your battles and if you die in battles i said brutally then i've just done ethel helm a favor he nodded accepting that truth the lord atholhelm he said wanted me to command the troops he sent to horncaster he asked my father to appoint me but father sent bronolf instead urias hetius i said he laughed at that you were well educated by lady ethelfled my clever aunt he said approvingly then took his hand off the bose cord to make the sign of the cross doubtless saying a silent prayer for her recovery at the same time yes athelhelm thought he could arrange my death in battle uriah sethius was a soldier who served king david who in turn was a hero to christians i had asked father cuthbert my blind priest and good friend who urias was and he had chuckled uriah that's how he pronounced his name lord uriah the hittite he was an unlucky man unlucky he was married to a beautiful woman cuthbert had told me wistfully one of those girls you look at and you can't look away i've known a few i'd said and you married them lord cuthbert had said with a grin well david wanted to bounce on the bed with uriah's wife so he sent a message to uriah's commander and told him to put the poor man in the front frank of the shield wall and he died oh he did lord poor bastard was cut to pieces and david i'd be gone bounce the pretty wife lord probably from dawn to dusk and back to dawn again lucky man and athelhelm had wished that fate on ethelston he had wanted him isolated deep in northumbria in the hope that we would slaughter him so if you think i'm going to risk your life in battle at all littlestone you're dreaming you'll stay well away from any fighting in freesia ethelstone said pointedly in freesia i repeated so when do you leave he asked but that i could not answer i was waiting for news i wanted my spies or ethelstone's informants to tell me what my enemies planned some folk wondered why i did not march straight to bevenburg or if they believed the rumors sailed directly to freesia instead i lingered at dunholm hunting practicing swordcraft and feasting what are you waiting for edith asked me one day the two of us were riding in the hills west of dunholm hawks on our wrists trailed by a dozen men who guarded me whenever i left the fortress none of those men were in earshot i can take fewer than 200 warriors to bevenberg i told her and my cousin has at least that many behind his ramparts but you're utred she said loyally i smiled at that and utrid knows the rum parts of bevenberg i said and i don't want to die under those walls so what will change my cousin is getting hungry one of his gruner is burned so he'll be negotiating for someone to help him someone to bring him food but the coast is guided by aina's ships so whoever takes the food north will need a fleet because they'll have to fight their way to the sea gate for a time i had suspected hroth weird but my daughter assured me that the archbishop was neither collecting food nor recruiting shipmasters and my own meeting with the man had convinced me that she spoke the truth and when that fleet sails edith began then paused as she saw what i intended oh she said i see your cousin will be expecting ships he will and one ship looks much like another she was a clever woman as clever as she was beautiful but i can't put to see i said until i know where that fleet is and who commands it and when it will sail it was a time of waiting for news i knew much of what happened on bevenberg's land because i sent scouts to watch constantine's men and they reported that domino constantine's commander was still content to starve the fortress into submission scottish troops had garrisoned two of the forts on the roman wall both garrisons were small because constantine had other worries there were aggressive norsemen in the far north of his country and the ever troublesome kingdom of strathclotter to the west both needed troops to contain them so his men on the wall were simply there to enforce his claim to bobenberg's land and of course to warn him if we brought an army north he would be alarmed when he heard that the truce between the saxons and see trigger had been renewed for over a year and my fear was that he would order an assault on bebermberg's ramparts to forestall any attempt by sea trigger and myself to drive him away but his spies would be reassuring him that see trigger was strengthening the walls of lincoln and eufauwick readying himself for the inevitable attack that would come when the truce ended there would be no hint of any preparations to attack constantine's men and common sense would convince him that c trigger would not want to lose men in a war against scotland when he was about to face a larger war against the southern saxons constantine was willing to wait knowing that the fortress would eventually starve and perhaps constantine even believed my tale of going to freesia he had to be contemplating an assault on bevenberg's walls but he knew how slaughterous that attack would be and the news he received from the south suggested he did not need to sacrifice scores of his men to gain a prize that would eventually be given to him by hunger so all of us in britain were waiting for news it was a time of rumors of whispered tales that were designed to mislead and that sometimes were true a merchant selling fine leather promised me that the town reeve of maldensburg athelhelm's hometown in wiltonshire had told him the eldermen planned to invade northumbria with or without king edward's help a priest in far-off contwaraburg wrote that edward was making an alliance with constantine whereby both men would invade northumbria and divide the land between them i swear this the priest wrote on the holy blood of christ himself and assure you that the battles will begin on the feast day of saint guntheon saint guntheon's feast was already passed when the letter reached archbishop hrothward and joffuwick but still one of his clerks copied the words and gave them to my daughter who in turn sent them to me in the end the news i wanted came from mirwala who commanded ethelfled's household warriors merhuala was an old friend and a loyal supporter of ethel fled who he wrote had commanded him to tell me that supplies were being sent to the east anglian port of domnick where a fleet was being assembled she has this on the authority of father cuthwolf who is mass priest to lord athelhelm and she prays you will not reveal his name and father cuthwolf moreover tells her that if god wills it then the lord ethel helms fleet will put to sea after the feast of sentinsweda and that made sense sentine's insweder's feast day was at the end of the harvest a time when food was plentiful and if a man wanted to supply a besieged fortress with the food that would enable it to hold out for another year then the late summer was the time to act and of all the men in britain who hated me who wanted revenge on me athelhelm was the most dangerous i had always thought him the likeliest man to help my cousin but i could not be sure until mercury's letter arrived and so leaving citric and eighteen men to hold done home i moved the rest of my followers with all their wives children servants and slaves to joffawik we were going to freesia i told them and then i took three men and went to domnick instead i chose three saxon christians as my companions because i suspected that domnick an east anglian town that was newly conquered by the west saxons might be in a vengeful mood against both northmen and pagans i took kurdic one of my older men who was slow of wit but loyal to a fault oswie was much younger and had served me since he was a boy now he was a lithe and eager fighter the third was swiven a west saxon who looked angelic had a quick smile and a ready laugh but also had the sly instincts and nimble fingers of a thief the four of us took passage on a west saxon ship that had birthed in joffawik with a cargo of frankish glassware and was now returning to london with her belly full of northumbrian hides and silver bars the shipmaster renwald was glad of the gold we paid him and for our long knives though he doubted i would be of much use in a fight but you other three look useful he said swithen grinned at him grandpa can fight he said i know he don't look much but he's a scoundrel in a scrap aren't you grandpa he sheltered at me you were right old bastard in a bundle since i'd received the news about domnick i had stopped shaving i no longer bothered to comb my hair i wore the oldest dirtiest clothes i could find and on arriving in yofowick i had practiced walking with a stoop finnen and my son had both told me i was a fool that i had no need to go to domnick and that either of them would gladly go in my place but my life's ambition depended upon what i would find in the east anglian port and i trusted no one but myself to travel there and discover what mischief was brewing mind you randwald went on if we're attacked by anything larger than a fishing boat then your knives won't make much difference none of us carried swords or sea axes only knives because i did not want to announce to the men in domnick that we were warriors other pirates i mumbled what did he say speak up grandpa swithen shouted are the pirates a half shouted back making sure i dribbled into the white stubble on my chin he wants to know if there are pirates swiven told renwald there are always pirates renewal said but they're mostly small craft these days i haven't seen any danish longships since king edward captured the rest of east anglia god be praised god be praised i echoed piously and made the sign of the cross for this journey and for this cause i was pretending to be a christian and even wore a crucifix instead of a hammer i was also pretending that sweden was my grandson a pretence he had taken up with indecent enthusiasm renwald naturally wanted to know where we had come from and why we were traveling and swithin spun a story about being driven from our land north of the wall it was the scots he said spitting over the side of the ship i heard those scavenging bastards have come south renwald said so you were bobenberg's tenants grandpa rented from the old lord utrid swiven said meaning my father he's been on that land a lifetime but his wife's father had land in east anglia so we're hoping it's still there renwald doubted that any saxon had held on to east anglia land in the last years of danish rule but you never know he said if you did i don't want to be buried i mumbled what did he say he wants to be buried with his family swithen explained then added silly old fool i understand that renwald insisted better to rise with your family on the day of judgment than with strangers oh man i growled the story satisfied renwald not that he was suspicious merely curious we were journeying down the ooze letting the current carry us with just the occasional touch of an ore to keep the boat on course she was named rinse snail because she's slow as a snail renwald explained cheerfully she's not quick but she's sturdy he had a crew of six men a large crew for a trading ship but he often carried valuable cargo and he reckoned the extra hands were a worthwhile precaution against the small boats that preyed on passing vessels he leaned on the steering ore to take ren snail into the river's center where the current was strongest and they'll be rich picking soon he said balefully rich pickings sirdacast folk are leaving he glanced up at the sky judging the wind the days of the pagan in britain are numbered he said god be praised and muttered even ootrader bobenberg renbolt sounded surprised no one thought he'd leave but he's got ships in yofowick and he's brought his families there i already bought the ships to go to bevenburg swithan offered no man takes his families to war renwald said scornfully no he's off and away go into freesia right here he pointed ahead that's where we joined the humber he said be a quick voyage down to the sea now it was my abandonment of done home and the decision to move the women and children much of the livestock and all our goods that had given substance to the rumor that we were going to freesia my men had arrived in yofowick with 15 oxtron wagons loaded with beds and spits cauldrons and rakes scythes and grindstones indeed with anything we could carry renwald was right of course when he said that no man went to war with ships filled with women and children let alone with all their household goods and i was certain my cousin would soon hear that i had left the safety of done home with everything i possessed he needed to hear more though he needed to hear we had enough ships to carry all the people animals and belongings we would take to freesia so before leaving eufauwick i had given my son more of my diminishing stock of gold coins and told him to buy or hire as many large trading ships as he needed put wooden stalls in the ships i told him enough for 200 horses and do the work at grimsby grimsby my son was surprised grimsby was a fishing poor to the mouth of the humber down river from joffawik it was a gaunt windswept place far less comfortable than euphoric but also much closer to the sea i still did not know how i was to recapture bebenberg but the only thing i could be certain of was that my cousin was negotiating for a fleet to sail to his relief and if mirwala's message was true then that fleet was assembling at domnic i now needed to know when it would sail and how many ships would make the passage the priest who had betrayed ethel helm had said the fleet would not put to sea till after saintin's weda's day and that was still some weeks away so i had time to explore the east anglian port and plan how i would replace athelhelm ships with my own and those ships my ships would be at grimsby close to the sea ready to sail to make my cousins nightmares real i did not doubt that my cousin would hear of our new ships and of the presence of our families and by now i suspected he was beginning to believe the freezing story he must have reckoned that even i would not fight a war against both babenberg and constantine that i had abandoned my dream he would still want to know where i was and might be puzzled when i did not travel to grimsby with the rest of my men but sea trigger and my daughter had announced that i was ill and lying in a sick bed in their palace when rumors fly when false tales are being told be the storyteller i was going to dominate i had been to dumlook before long ago and had been trapped in its largest tavern the goose and the only way to escape had been to start a fire that had caused panic in the town and it scattered the enemies who had surrounded the building the fire had spread eventually consuming most of the town all that had been left was a few houses at the town's edge and the tall rickety platform from which folk had kept a lookout for enemy ships creeping through the treacherous sandbanks of the river's mouth i had expected renwell to be cautious as we approach these notorious shoals but he did not hesitate aiming ren snail between the outermost witties that mark the channel they've taken away the false marks he said false marks kurdicast for years they had with ease which were meant to mislead you now they mark the real channel row boys his men were hauling hard on the oars to bring bren snail safe through the outer shallows and to escape the freshening weather the wind was gusting high to send white crested waves scudding across the shoals clouds darkened the western sky hiding the sun and promising foul weather my father renwald went on saw a 50-odd dragon boat high and dry in that bank he jerked his head south to where the white caps fretted across a bulge of hidden sand bastards have gone aground at high tide spring tied at that they followed the false marks and were rowing as if the devil himself was up there our bastard spent a fortnight trying to get that thing to vote again but it never did they either drowned or starved and the townsfolk just watched them die nine or ten of them managed to swim ashore and the reeve let the womenfolk kill them he leaned on the steering ore and redsnail veered up the main channel of course that was the old days before the danes took the place now it's saxon again i said what did he say renwald asked speak up grandpa swift and bellowed your mother in now it's saxon again i shouted and pray god it stays that way renwald said the oarsmen pulled hard the tide was ebbing and the sharp southwest wind buffeted red snails bow the small waves were spiteful and i did not envy men who were further out to sea in this rising wind it would be a cold rough night renwald must have thought the same because he cocked an eye at the high scoring clouds that streamed from the darker clouds in the west greg and i might lay up for a day or two he said let this weather pass but that's not a bad place to be stranded the town looked much the same as it had before i burned it it was still dominated by a church with a tower crowned by a cross guthrum had been king of east anglia back then and though he was danish he had converted to christianity smoke drifted from a score of fires on the muddy beach either smoking tall racks of herrings or boiling wide shallow salt bands the nearest houses were built on sturdy wooden pillars and green slime on the thick trunks showed that the highest tides almost reached the lower floors the rivers bank was hidden by a long wharf and two piers which in turn were crowded with ships looks like london renwald said in astonishment all sheltering from the weather i suggested most of them were here two months ago he said they brought supplies for king edward's army but i'd have thought they'd have long ago returned to wessex ah this last exclamation was because he had seen an empty gap on the long wharf that stretched along the river's southern bank he pushed the loom of the steering ore and the red snail turned slowly towards the space but just then a man shouted from one of the two piers not there he shouted not there shear off damn you sheriff in the end we tied outboard of a phrygian trader moored along the western pier and the man who had chased us away from the inviting space on the wharf clambered aboard to demand a birthing fee goals screamed overhead soaring and wheeling in the stiffening wind that gaps for the king's ship the man explained counting the silver that renwald had given him the king is coming renwild asked we're ordered to leave that war free in case he does come he hasn't yet but he might an angel might come and wipe my wife's bum too but that hasn't happened yet either no you've paid your warfridge so let's work out the customs jews shall we watch your cargo i left renwald haggling and led my three men ashore the goose was still the largest building on the harbour front and it looked much the same as it did before i had burned the old tavern but the new one had been built to the same design and its timbers had been bleached by sun and salt to the same silvery sheen the tavern sign which showed an indignant goose swung and creaked in the wind we pushed through the door into a crowded room but found two benches with a barrel for a table by a window that had its shutters open to the wharf it was still two hours till sundown but the tavern was noisy with half drunken men who are they kurdicast lord athelhelm's men i said i had recognized the couple while others in the room wore the distinctive dark red cloak of athelhelms household warriors they would recognize me too except i had taken care to pull the scruffy hood over my head to struggle hair across my face and to walk with a stoop and a limp i also sat in the shadow of a window shutter i had closed and latched the shutters when we first sat down but men bellowed at us to open them again the room was smoky from a hearth and the breeze through the window helped sweep the smoke away why are they all here kurdikast they finished the conquest of east anglia i said and they're waiting for the ships to take them home that i suspected was not true but it was doubtless the story being spread in the small town and it satisfied kurdic you have money a truculent voice demanded swithen tips and silver onto the barrel table you have ale he asked the man who had confronted us i kept my head lowered ale food and boys what's your pleasure the worked in the attic that was reached by a ladder in the room center a table of rowdy men was just beneath the ladder and every time a girl climbed or descended they banged the tabletop and roared appreciation listen i hissed to my three men these bastards will be looking for a fight don't let them provoke you and if they ask who we are mosby was nervous we're servants to the archbishop of eureka i said and we're traveling to london to buy silk i had decided the tale i'd told renwald would not work ashore men would ask who my wife's family were and i had no convincing answer it was better to pose as strangers and was right to be nervous the men in the goose had the confidence of warriors who knew each other who loved to show off to each other and who despised strangers they were also drunk or well on the way to being drunk fights would start soon enough but i reckoned men might be cautious before challenging servants of the church a huge cheer greeted a man descending the ladder he was a big man broad-shouldered with fair hair cropped short he jumped from the ladder onto the nearest table and bowed to the company first in one direction then to the other his name i said is rothad you know him lord kurdix seemed impressed don't call me lord i snarled yes i know him he's one of atholhelm's dogs i had been surprised that rothard was not with bryce at honcaster i knew him because he had been bryce's second in command when they attempted to kill the young ethelstone in syrincester an attempt i had thwarted rothard was very like bryce a brutal fighter who did his lord's bidding without pity or remorse rather had now grinned at his comrades i wore out two of the beauties boys but there's a ripe little danish plum just waiting for you another cheer filled the room when things calmed down i said to swithen then paused as a harried girl brought pots and a jug of ale to the table i waited till she was gone threading her way through benches and groping hands when it's quieter i told him you'll go up the ladder he grinned but said nothing find out what the girls know be clever about it don't let them think you're interested just let them talk that was why we were here to learn what was brewing in this remote harbour town on the eastern edge of britain i doubted any of the tavern's would know much but every little scrap of information was useful i had already learned much just by coming here the town was filled with warriors who should have returned home by now the marker with ease in the treacherous entrance had been aligned with the real channel rather than left to tempt enemy boats onto a wrecking show and that meant that the new rulers of this town were expecting more ships and did not want to lose them and the real ruler of this town i had no doubt was athelhelm and athelhelm wanted his revenge on me and i knew just what that revenge would be i just did not know exactly how he would do it jesus kurdix said look at that he was gazing through the window and whatever he had seen had also attracted the attention of other men who pushed through the door to gaze at the river where a ship had appeared i had never seen a ship like her she was white her timbers had been bleached pale by the sun or more likely had been given a soaking with lime wash the white faded to sour dark green at the waterline suggesting the lime wash had been scoured by the rough seas she was long and handsome a danish vessel i thought by the look of her but she was plainly in saxon hands for her high prow was topped with a cross that glinted silver her sail was full on the yard but even that looked as if it was made from white sailcloth a banner had wrapped itself around a shroud so that it flapped impotently but just as her steersman turned her towards the empty space on the wharf the flag freed itself and streamed proudly out to the east the banner showed a white stag leaping against a black background lord athol helm swithen murmured silence now rothard had gone to the door seen the ship and now bellowed at the half drunken men who had crowded out of the tavern to welcome the white ship show respect i was standing on the bench to see above the heads of the men who had gone to the wharf to watch the ship's arrival some a few wore hats that they pulled off as the vessel slowed she was i thought beautiful she left hardly a ripple as she ghosted into the sheltered water between the peers her lines were perfect the timbers curved by craftsmen so that she seemed to rest on the water rather than plow through it the oars gave a last pull and then were thrust out of the ore holes in the ship's side and brought in board as the steersman expertly brought her into the waiting gap lines were thrown men hauled and she nestled gently into the wharf the elf swan a man said admiringly the bright swan a good name i thought the row was slumped on the benches they must have pulled hard to bring the bright swan through the rising wind and against the spiteful waves heaping at the harbour mouth behind them at the stern of the ship i saw a group of helmeted warriors their mail covered by dark red cloaks they leaped onto the wharf and other men threw them their shields there were six of them was athol helm here two wharf slaves put a wooden walkway across the narrow gap between the ship and the pier there was a pile of crates and barrels amidships that half hid the people waiting to come ashore but then two priests appeared across the planks and after them came a group of women all of them hooded the women and the priests stood on the wharf waiting a tall man his helmet crested with black horse hair and wearing a black cloak strode over the walkway it was not athelhelm this man was taller i saw a glint of gold at his neck as he turned to wait for the last passenger to a light it was a girl she was dressed in white and was bare-headed so that her long fair hair streamed in the rising wind she was slender tall and evidently nervous because as she reached the walkway center she seemed to lose her balance for a heartbeat i thought she would fall into the water but then the tall man in the horse hair helmet reached out took her arm and guided her to safety the men outside the tavern began to applaud by clapping their hands and stumping their feet the girl seemed surprised by the noise and turned towards us and the clear sight of her face made the breath catch in my throat she was young blue eyed pale unscarred wide-mouthed beautiful and utterly miserable i guess she was 13 or 14 and she was plainly still unmarried or else she would have bound her hair two of the women wrapped a fur trimmed cloak about a thin frame and one of them pulled the cloaks hood over the girl's long hair the tall man then took her elbow and led her away from the wharf the women and priests following all of them protected by the six spear-carrying warriors the girl hurried by the tavern with her head bowed who in christ's name is she swithan asked elseworth of course one of the men outside the window had overheard the question the tall man in the black-tailed helmet walked beside elsewhere towering over her by at least a head he glanced towards us and i instinctively shrank back into the shadows he did not see me but i recognized him and who's else with swithenast still gazing at the hooded figure he like every man on the waterfront was transfixed by her where are you from the man demanded northumbria that's lord avalhelm's youngest daughter new northern rats had better get used to her i could get used to that swithen said reverently because she's going to live in your stinking country poor lass and the man escorting elsewhere was weld here my cousin's war leader and my cousin lacked a wife athelhelm had planned his exquisite revenge he was going to bebenberg eight we slept on a pile of filthy straw in an empty stall of the goose's stables sharing the stinking space with six other men a sliver of hack silver bought the four of us a breakfast of rock hard bread sour cheese and watery ale the noise of thunder made me look at the sky brother the wind still blew hard and the clouds were gray and low there was no rain and no sign of a storm then i realized the thunder was the sound of empty barrels being rolled along the street beyond the tavern yard i went to the gate and saw men pushing half a dozen vast tons inland another man led a string of pack mules laden with panniers heaped with salt i called swithen to me and gave him silver spend the day here i told him meaning the goose don't get in a fight don't get drunk don't boast and keep your ears open yes look he managed to stop before saying lord he took great delight in calling me grandpa when any stranger was in earshot but when we were alone he found it almost impossible not to say lord we were alone now but there was a score of men in the yard some splashing water on their faces from a wooden horse trough others using latrine along the eastern wall the latrine was just a deep ditch topped with a wooden bench and supposedly flushed by a stream it stank just let the girls talk and listen to them i will though and he hesitated then looked down at the silver shillings he seemed surprised by my generosity is it all right if i he hesitated again they're not going to talk to you unless you pay them i said and you're not paying them for words are you no look then do your duty i doubted any of the girls would be awake yet but swithen headed eagerly into the tavern's great room as we looked aggrieved i could have done this afternoon i interrupted him it will be your turn this afternoon sweden will be worn out by then now let's get out of this stench i was curious to discover where the barrels were going but it took hardly a moment to find the answer because before we had gone 30 paces from the back gate of the tavern yard the squealing began a gang of men was butchering pigs in a wide street that led east into the countryside two men wielded axes the rest had knives and saws the animals screamed knowing their fate the axes swung and jets of blood spattered on house walls and puddled in the streets roots dogs yapped at the edge of the slaughter ravens lodged on the roofs and women used jugs bowls and pails as they tried to collect the fresh blood to mix with oats the butchers were crudely cutting away shoulders bellies loins and hams that were tossed to men packing the great barrels with layers of meat and salt the trotters were packed as well along with the kidneys but much of the animals was being tossed aside heads guts hearts and lungs were being discarded and the dogs fought over the offal and women snatched up scraps as yet more screaming beasts were driven forward and had their skulls split open by the blunt blades the waist of heads and hearts was proof that these men were in a hurry it ain't right kurdic muttered wasting their heads like that i asked pigs are clever lord he flinched sorry my father kept pigs he always said they were clever pigs no you have to surprise a pig when you kill him it's only fair they're only pigs as we said scornfully it ain't right they know what's happening i let them argue i was remembering that father who spied for ethel fled had said that the fleet would put to sea after the feast of sentence wieder and we were still weeks away from that day but just as i spread tales to mislead my enemies so might ethel ethelhelm if this frantic butchery meant anything it surely meant that the fleet would sail much sooner than saint-enzweder's day maybe within the next few days maybe even today why else would elsworth be here her father would not expect the girl to wait for weeks in this bleak east anglian town nobody want his troops idle for so long we're going to the harbour i told roswein kurdick i had found a rough stick in the tavern's piles of firewood and i leaned on it as i limped past the goose i kept my back bent it made for slow progress of course but i hope that no one seeing a shabby old man limping broken back would suspect it was utrid the warlord i let kurdic support one elbow as we cross the uneven gap between land and wharf the stick thumped on the planks and when kurdic released me i staggered slightly the wind was stronger here still whistling in the moored ships rigging and whipping the river into hustling white caps the one long wharf ran along the river's bank and the two peers jutted from it the rickety structures so crowded with ships that most were moored side by side sometimes three ships were lush together the outer two depending on the inside craft to hold them safe to the pier or what the elf swan lay halfway down the long wharf manned by a dozen men who i suspected had slept aboard there was no more room in the town every tavern was crowded and if athelhelm or whoever commanded these troops did not move them soon there would be trouble idle men make mischief especially idle men supplied with ale and weapons most of the ships i reckoned were trading craft they had wider bellies and lower prows than the fighting ships a few looked abandoned one ship was half full of water her timbers blackened by neglect she had no sail bent on her yard while one severed shroud lifted in the brisk wind but she still had another ship moored outboard of her other ships were laden with barrels and crates the cargo carefully stored amid ships and all those ships had three or four men aboard i counted 14 such trading boats that looked ready for sea then there were the fighting ships which were leaner longer and more menacing most like the elf swan had a cross on their prow there were eight of them including the elf one and all eight had men aboard and most had clean water lines i stopped beside one and peered down into the scummy water and saw how the ship had recently been beached so that the weed could be scraped from a hole a clean hole adds speed to a ship and speed wins battles at sea what are you looking at a man demanded god bless you i called god bless you this often die the man growled then made the sign of the cross a meant bad luck no sailor would willingly go to sea with a aboard and even a close to a ship might bring a malevolent spirit i obeyed the first of his commands by limping further up the pier i had counted 16 pairs of benches on the ship which meant 32 oarsmen the elf swan and the two ships moored for and after her were even bigger say 50 men aboard each and that meant atholhelm's eight fighting ships could carry 400 warriors with still more on the cargo vessels he had an army and i had no doubt where that army was going to bebenberg my cousin was a widower so athelhelm would provide him with a bride my cousin was being starved into surrender so athelhelm would take him food my cousin had men enough to defend babenberg's ramparts but not enough to retake his lands and so athelhelm would bring him warriors and what did aphelholm receive in return he became master of northern northumbria and celebrated as the man who drove the scots from saxon land he would have a secure fortress from which to launch an invasion of sea triggers kingdom from the north an attack that would split my son-in-law's forces when edward invaded from the south and he would take a fortress so formidable that he could openly defy edward of wessex he could insist that ethelston be disinherited or else all northern england would become the enemies of wessex and sweetest of all perhaps athelhelm would gain his revenge on me good morrow a friendly voice shouted and i saw renwald taking a piss off the pier's edge still nasty weather he and his crew would plainly slept aboard the ren snail that lay out board of the phrygian trading ship they had rigged a sailcloth awning across snail stern to give them shelter from the wind you'll lay up for a couple of days i asked you're limping he said frowning just an ache in the hip he looked up at the low clouds we'll lay up till this passes there'll be some rain and wind and then we'll leave did you find your family i'm not sure they're here any longer i pray they are he said generously if i have to go back north asked will you take us i'll pay you he chuckled at that i'm for london but you'll find plenty of ships going off he looked up at the clouds again this will probably clear today so we'll leave tomorrow give the weather time to settle a then sail on tomorrow's app i'll pay you well i said i was beginning to fear i needed to return to the humber sooner than i had expected and i had learned to trust renworld he did not respond to my offer because he was gazing fixedly seawards good god almighty he said and i turned to see a ship coming into the river poor bastard must have had a rough night of it renwald added making the sign of the cross the approaching ship looked dark under the dark sky she was a fighting ship long and low with her sail brailled tight to her yard and banks of oars pulling her upstream she looked ragged with torn scraps of sailcloth and broken rigging flying loose in the wind her prowl reared high and was capped by a cross from which streamed a long black pennant she turned towards the piers the small waves fretting white at her boughs and her tired oarsmen fighting against wind current and tide a steersman pointed the dark ship towards the elf swan and i waited for the elf swans crew to shout at her to veer off but to my surprise they were waiting with mooring lines the lines were thrown the oars shipped and the newcomer was hauled in to settle beside the longer white hole vessel he is privileged renwald said enviously then shook his head i'm sorry i'm going to london but you'll find a ship going north i hope so i responded then walked back down the pier to see who or what the dark ship had brought may god bless you all a shrill voice called loud enough to be heard above the winds howling and the crying of the girls in the name of the father and of the son and of the other one my blessing on you jeremias had come to domnick jeremias the mad bishop who was no bishop at all and who might not even have been mad was my tenant paying rent to the lord of dun home this was the man who had brought me fifteen silver shillings and then pissed on them his real name was doug fanier gunderson but jarl dagfini the dane had turned himself into bishop jeremias of jairum and today as his dirty looking ship was birthed alongside the pristine el swan he appeared in the bright robes of a bishop and carrying a crozier a bishop's staff that was nothing more than a shepherd's crook though jeremiah says crozier had a hook of silver god bring your health he shouted his long white hair lifting to the wind and god to bring you healthy sons and fertile women god bring you good crops and plump fruit may god multiply your flocks and increase your herds he lifted his arms to the dole heavens i pray this god i pray that thou bless these people and by their great mercy piss mightily upon all their enemies it began to rain i was surprised the rain had held off for so long but suddenly it began hard spitting at first but growing quickly into a vicious downpour jeremiah's cackled then he must have seen me he could not recognize me of course i wore the hood of my cloak of my head and he was looking through drenching rain from the wharf to where we stood on a pier but he saw a bent-backed and immediately pointed his crozier towards me heal him lord show her thy mercy upon that broken man his voice pierced through the sound of the rainstorm straighten him lord lift your curse from him i ask this in the name of the father the son and of the other one good smoder i muttered lord kurdicast that's the name of his ship i said god's mother and don't call me lord sorry lord i had been told that the goods motor was a shambles a half wrecked ship with gaping seams and frayed rigging that would sink if it so much as struck a ripple but she would never have survived this weather if she had not been in good repair jeremiah's just wanted her to look dirty and uncared for loose lines blew ragged from the mast but i could see that beneath that raggedness was a taut and seaworthy ship a fighting ship jeremiah's had turned away from me and now crossed over the elf swans deck followed by four of his men all in mail and wearing helmets he kept praying or preaching as he crossed the wharf though i could no longer hear him we followed the rain was malevolent streaming off the town's thatched roofs and flooding the alleys jeremias did not care he preached as he walked two of athol helms warriors had met him and now led him past the goose where he insisted on stopping to shout through the open door and wine guzzlers he bellowed the scriptures forbid both repent you miserable sons of piazzip of ale and toppers of tarts repent men stared in astonishment from the goose's door at the gaunt rain-drenched bishop in his embroidered vestments who harangued them who hath woe he demanded who hath babbling they that guzzle wine that is the word of god you bastard bibling bubblers thine eyes shall behold strange women the scriptures say that believe me i have beheld strange women but by the grace of god i am redeemed i am sanctified i am saved from strange women boston's mad kurdik said i was not so sure somehow the mad bastard had outlived breda's rule in northumbria she hated christians with a malevolence but jeremias had survived her slaughterous campaign against his god he possessed a fort at jairum but he never needed it perhaps i thought breeder had recognized someone as moon touched as herself or else she had smelt that jeremiah's religion was a joke one of ethel helms guards plucked at jeremias elbow plainly wanting to persuade the ranting prophet out of the rain and into a fire-warmed hall and jeremiah's let himself be led on we followed passing the street where the pig blood was being washed from the walls by rain then to the edge of the town where a substantial hall had been built on a slight rise of ground it was a fine hole steep roofed and thickly hatched and big enough i estimated to feast two hundred men beside it were stables storehouses and a barn the buildings surrounding a courtyard where two spearmen wearing atherhomes dark red cloaks were guarding the hall's door jeremias was led inside i doubted we could follow nor did i want to risk an attempt to enter the hall in case i was recognized but a group of beggars was huddled beneath a fat shelter at one end of the barn and i joined them there i sent oswe back to the goose but kept kurdic with me we waited we sat hunched crammed with legless blind jibbering beggars one of the women her face a mess of weeping ulcers crawled towards the whole door and was kicked back by one of the guards you would sold to white over there the spearman snarled and be grateful his lordship allows it his lordship was ethel helm here if so i thought then coming to domnick had been a terrible mistake not because i feared he would recognize me but if he was in the town then surely his fleet was ready to sail and i had no chance of joining my ships and men before he arrived at bobenberg i sat shivering worrying and waiting it was past midday when the rain finally ended the wind still gusted but it had lost much of its spite two hounds came from the hall wandered around in the mud and puddles for a while then lifted their legs against a post a girl brought the two guards at the whole door pots of ale then stood chatting and laughing with them i could just see over the rain duck and thatch of the town to where a fishing boat was heading for sea her sail bellying taut in the chill wind a watery sun glinted on the fire waves the weather was improving and that meant atholham's fleet could go to sea on your knees you slings a guard suddenly shouted at us if you've got knees that is if you haven't just grovel best you can and make a line a large group was coming from the hall there were helmeted guards in their red cloaks two priests and then i saw athelhelm bluff fanginal his arm around his daughter who tried to lift the hem of her pale dress out of the mud she still looked miserable though her misery could not mask her delicate beauty she was pale her face flawless and her slender frame making her appear fragile despite her height weld here my cousin's warrior was on her other side his broad shoulders were draped by a black cloak beneath which he wore mail he had no helmet behind him was atholhelms brute rothard grinning at something the elderman had just said and last of all came jeremias resplendent in his damp bishop's robes i took a handful of mud and smeared it on my face then made sure the hood was covering my eyes charity is our duty i heard aphilhelm say as he approached us if we want god's favor then in turn we must favor his most unfortunate children when you are mistress of the north my dear you must be charitable i will father elswith answered doley i dared not look up i could see athelhelm's soft leather boots that were trimmed with silver and smeared with mud and i could see his daughters tapestry slippers their fine embroidery clogged with dirt god bless you athel helm said and dropped a silver shilling into my neighbor's hand i held out both my hands and kept my head bowed what i owes you athel he was standing directly in front of me i said nothing answer his lordship rothard growled he's he's he's kurdix stuttered next to me he's what rather demanded i need idiot lord a shilling dropped into my hands then another into kurdistan and you apple helm asked him what else you and it's it too god bless both you idiots athelhelm said and walked on touch this jeremiah's was coming behind the father and daughter and he dangled the grubby strip of gray cloth in front of our eyes this was a gift to me from lord athelhelm and it has power my children great power touch it this is the very girdle the mother of christ was wearing when her son was crucified look you can see his blessed blood upon it touch it my children and be healed he was right in front of me touch it you half-brained fool he nudes me with a boot touch the cloth of goods mode and your wits will return like birds to the nest touch it and be healed this cloth rested on the blessed womb that held our lord i raised the hand holding the shilling and brushed the strip of cloth with my knuckles and as i did so jeremiah's leaned down and yanked my rugged bearded chin to force my head up he stooped over me and stared into my eyes you will be healed you fool he said passionately the devils that possess you will flee from my touch believe and be healed and as he spoke i saw a sudden puzzlement cross his gaunt features he had wide mad brown eyes scarred cheeks a hawk nose and wild white hair he frowned thank you lord i muttered and dropped my head there was a pause that seemed to last forever then he stepped on touch it jeremiah's commanded kurdic and i felt relief washed through me i had only met jeremiah once and on that first occasion i had been dressed in a warlord's finery but somehow he had seen something familiar in the muddy mad beggar whose face he had tilted towards his own now go limb away crawl wiggle off just go the guard shouted at us as the notables went back to the hall don't hurry i whispered to kurdic i used my stick i bent my back and i walked slowly down the gentle slope towards the nearest houses and i have never felt so vulnerable in all my life i was remembering the night i went to sipping him because alfred had disguised himself as a harpist to spy on guthrum's danes who had captured the town that had been a night of heart stopping fear of shia terror and i felt the same now as i limped back through dumbledore to the goose swithen was drinking at a table and seeing us at the door he joined us to tell me that ozwy was in the loft he went out that ladder like a squirrel chasing nuts then get him down the ladder now i said because we're leaving now get him i don't care what he's doing just pull him off the poor girl and get him down here my haste was not just because i feared i had been recognized but also because everything i had seen in domnick suggested that apple helm's fleet was about to set sail my son and finnen should have moved our people and ships to grimsby by now and i needed to get back to that port fast and that meant finding a ship going north i used athelham shilling to buy a pot of ale that kurdic and i shared as we waited for swithen but as soon as he and as we joined us i hurried them out of the tavern and led them towards the westernmost pier where reynolds ship was moored i could see men readying their boats for sea the storm had passed the wind had settled into a brisk southwesterly the white caps were smaller and there were even patches of sunlight on the far green countryside lewd swithen sounded scared i turned and saw ethel helm's red cloaked household warriors coming down the street from the hall rothard led them and he was pointing at buildings sending men into shops into taverns and even into the big church three men ran to the door of the goose and stood there barring it in here i said desperately there was a row of huts on the wharf and i forced open one of the doors to find a space crammed with coiled lines bolts of sailcloth heaps of folded nets a barrel of corking pitch and sacks of the sea coal used to melt the pitch we have to hide i said and fast we tore the chandler supplies apart making a den at the very back of the hut and then piling nets and sail cloth to conceal the hole we had made the last thing i did before crawling over the messy heap and taking cover was to kick over the barrel of pitch so that the thick liquid broke through its crust and slowly seeped across the floor just inside the door i had tried to bar or wedge the door but found nothing to use so just wrestled another barrel to block the entrance then we crouched in our hiding place pulled a bolt of sailcloth over our heads and were almost suffocated by the smell of pitch and coal the wall of the hut was flimsy with great chinks between the weathered planks i could see through one such gap and watched as men spread along the wharf to search the ships two of them stood very close they'll never find them one said he's not here the other said scornfully that's silly bastard dana's just dreaming he's mad anyway he's no more a bishop than i am he's a sorcerer people are scared of him i'm not you are grothord shouted at the two demanding to know if they'd searched the huts we'd better look one said wearily a moment later i heard the door thump open one of the men cursed i'm not going in there he's not here the other man shouted he's miles away you stupid bastard he added in a low voice sweet jesus swithen breathed in my ear i could see men with leashed hounds that were sniffing uselessly at doorways and alleys the dogs sniffed at the huts too but the stink of the pitch was overwhelming and the dogs passed on we crouched scarce daring to breathe but as the afternoon wore on the excitement died and the search was evidently abandoned more cargo was brought to the wolves and loaded onto ships and then there was another commotion as jeremiah's left and lord athelhelm walked down to the harbour to bid him farewell i did not hear any of their conversation but i crawled up onto the mess of nets and used my knife to lever a gap between two planks and saw goods motor being rode down river towards the sea the sun was setting it was about high tide and small waves were slapping against the underside of the wharf's planking i went back to our hiding place and peered through another to see lord athol helm and six of his guards walking back into town they're not leaving today i said tomorrow then swithen asked probably i said i knew i was too late even if fate was with me and i found a ship that would leave for the north at dawn i would never make grimsby in time ethel helm's fleet would sail past the mouth of the humber and make landfall at bevenburg long before i could rouse my men man the ships and set sail in pursuit i felt the gloom of failure and instinctively reached for my hammer and found myself clutching a cross instead i cursed fate and needed a miracle i did not know what to do and so did nothing we stayed in the hut the human cry had long died away i doubt athelhelm truly believed i was in dominic but jeremiah's suspicion had forced him to make the search which had found nothing though doubtless it had allowed his men to plunder the houses they had searched swithen meanwhile told me about his talkative she said there are almost 400 warriors in the town lord how did she know one of them told her he said as if the answer was obvious which i suppose it was what else their horses were driven back to wilton sherlock that was useful to know and made sense too if athelhelm had wanted to take all his horses to bevenburg he would need at least another six or seven ships and the time to make stalls in the ship's bellies and he had no need of horses at bobenberg it was enough to land his troops lead them through the sea gate and then flaunt his presence by flying his leaping stag banner from the fortress walls constantine was already reluctant to lose men by assaulting the ramparts and the knowledge that food and new warriors had reinforced my cousin's garrison would surely persuade him to abandon the siege and i could do nothing to stop athelhelm i remember my father growling advice my brother had still been alive and we were having a rare meal when just the three of us were at the halls high table my father had never much liked me but then there were very few folk he did like and he had directed the advice towards my brother ignoring me you'll have to make choices he had said and from time to time you'll make the wrong choices we all do he'd frowned into the gloom of the nighttime hall where a harpist was picking at his strings stop tinkling he had shouted the harpist had stopped playing a hound had wind under the table and was lucky to avoid a kicking were it's better to make the wrong choice my father had continued did he make no choice at all yes father my brother had replied dutifully he had made a choice a few weeks later and it would have been better if he had made known because he had lost his head and i had become the heir to bevenberg now i remembered my father's advice and wondered what choices i had none as far as i could see i suspected athelholm's fleet would sail the next day and after that i would have to go back to grimsby and wait for the news that my cousin had found a new bride and had become stronger than ever so i needed a miracle swithen oswie and kurtic slept whenever one of them snored i would kick them awake though no guards were nearby i put a bolt of sailcloth over the sticky pitch and opened the hot door to gaze into the darkness why had jeremias left he was plainly allied with athel helms so why not sail to bevenberg with him the question nagged me but i could find no answer i sat in the hut's doorway and listened to the wind's noise the rattle of rigging the slap of water on holes and the creek of boats moving to the wind small rush lights showed on a couple of ships i could not stay in the hut when dawn came i knew the harbour would become busy men would be boarding boats and more cargo would be loaded we needed to leave but despair made me indecisive i finally thought of runwald he would doubtless leave domnick on the tide and sail for london but perhaps gold could persuade him to go north to the humber instead then i would head home for dunholm my pretence to have abandoned it over and my dreams of bevenburg ended two men walked up the wharf i sat very still but neither looked in my direction one of them farted and they both laughed i could hear birdsong so new the dawn must be close and a few moments later i saw the first faint sword blade's edge of gray light in the eastern sky i had to move if i stayed in the hut we would be discovered the first men had already come to the wharf and more would soon follow but something else came first the miracle the miracle came at daybreak it came from the cold gray sea five ships their menacing shapes dark against the dawn they came on the flooding tide their ore banks rising and falling like wings their sails dark fold at the tops of their masts they came with dragon heads beast brows and the first glimpse of dawn's glory glinted from helmets spearheads and axes they came fast and they came with flames fire and ships do not go well together i fear fire at sea more than i fear the storm-filled anger of ran the sea goddess but these ships dared to carry lighted torches that flared bright and left wavering trails of smoke above their wakes the fifth ship last in line was not carrying a beast head instead her high prior was topped by a cross and for a moment i thought she must be the good motor jeremiah's ship but then i saw that this craft was longer and heavier and that her mast was more raked even as i watched her the flames burst in her bows as men lit flaming torches wake up i bellowed at my man and come hurry i had moments only moments maybe i did not have enough time but i had no choice now but to escape and so i led my three men along the wharf and up the westernmost pier the few men already on the wharf ignored us staring instead at the approaching fleet while the sentry on the gaunt lookout tower must have been asleep but he was awake now and he had seen the five ships and began clanging a bell it was too late the whole purpose of the lookout was to see ships when they were still at sea not when they were just yards away from delivering fire havoc and death to domnick i jumped on the empty ship crossed its deck and leapt onto red snail wake up i bellowed at renwald who was already awake but confused he and his crew had been sleeping at the red snail stern under a sailcloth awning he just stared at the four of us you have to get underway i snelled at him sweet christ he said staring past me to the pier's far end where one of the five ships had rammed a moored vessel splintering her planks the first flaming torches were thrown two of the attacking ships were rowing into the center of the harbour into the wide space between the two piers and each slammed into the moored boats the land would end where the peers joined the wharf and i saw mailed men armed with spears and shields clumbering ashore to make two shield walls each barring access to appear dogs were howling in the town the church bell began to toll and still the sentry on the lookout tower rang his alarm what in god's name renwald asked he's called ina the white i told him and he's come to burn athelhelm's fleet i know renwald seemed dazed he's a norseman i said in the pay of king constantine of scotland i could not be sure of that but edward of wessex had told me that einer had changed sides seduced by scottish gold and i could not think who else might have come to dominic to destroy the fleet gathered to relieve beppenberg now cast off i ordered renwald he turned to stare at the norsemen who had made a shield wall across the pier there might have been 30 men in that wall more than enough to defend its narrow width the light was growing making the world gray and black give me your sword i called renwald we can't fight them he said appalled i wanted the sword to cut his mooring lines einer's men were already doing that for us a group was running along the pier severing or casting off the mooring lines of smaller boats they wanted to cause chaos they would burn or break the larger ships destined to relieve bobenberg but they would also scatter domnick's trading and fishing fleets when they saw men aboard a moored boat or saw cargo heaped in a belly they were boarding to look for plunder and i wanted to cut run snail free before they saw us i don't want to fight them i snarled and ran back to the stern where i knew renwald kept his weapons i ducked under the awning pushed two of his crewmen aside and snatched up a long sword i ripped it out of its leather scabbard lord swithen shouted i turned to see that two norsemen had already spied that the ren snail was crude and they could see too that she had cargo in her belly they must have smelt plunder because they jumped onto the next ship and were about to leap onto ours no renwald tried to bar my way i pushed him hard so that he tripped and fell into the cargo then i turned as a mailed warrior jumped onto our deck he carried no shields just a naked sword and his bearded face was framed by a helmet with cheek pieces so that all i could see of him were his eyes eager and wide he thought us easy prey he saw the sword in my hand but reckoned i was some elderly saxon sailor no match for a norse warrior and he simply lunged his blade at me thinking to pierce my belly and then ripped the sword aside to spill my guts on the red snail's deck it was simple to parry the lunge renwald's sword was old rusty and probably blunt but she was heavy too and my parry threw his lunge wide to my left and before he could recover the blade i punched him in the face with the sword's pommel it struck the edge of his helmet but with enough force to stagger him backwards he was still trying to bring his sword back to face me when i plunged ronald's blade deep into his guts the sword was blunt but still the point pierced his mail ripped through the leather jerking beneath and gouged into his bladder he gave a strangled cry and threw himself at me his free hand flailing to claw my face and pry out my eyes but i snatched his beard with my free hand and pulled him hard towards me using his lunge against him and i stepped aside kept pulling and he stumbled past me his momentum pulling the sword from his belly and then his legs struck the red snails up a straight and he went overboard there was a splash a yelp then he was gone dragged down by his mail the second man had been content to watch his companions slaughter a crew of miserable saxons but the death of his companion had been so swift that he had been given no chance to help now he wanted revenge but he did not think to attack swithen oswie or kurdik who stood unarmed at the bows of rensnail instead he leaped snarling onto the pile of cargo and faced me he saw a shabby grey-haired man with an ancient rusty sword and he must have thought i had merely been lucky to survive the first attack and he leaped again this time aiming to sever my head with a sweeping cut of his sword he was young angry fair-haired and had ravens inked onto his cheeks he was also a fool a hot-headed young fool there were ten of us aboard the red snail and he had watched me kill his companion with the skill of a trained warrior but he only saw a crew of saxons well he was a norse warrior a wolf from the north and he would teach us how norseman treated impudent saxons he swung his sword as he leaked at me the sword cut was massive wild a killing blow that should have sliced through my neck but it was also as obvious as the first man's opening lunge i saw it coming from the corner of my eye as i turned towards him and i felt the battle joy surge the knowledge that the enemy has made a mistake and the certainty that another brave man was about to join the benches i had crowded in valhalla's mead hall time seemed to slow as the sword flashed towards me i saw the youngster grimace with the effort of putting all his strength into that blade and then i just ducked i ducked straight down the sword whipped above my head and i stood again with my rusty blade pointing skywards and the norseman still coming forward impaled himself on renwald's old sword the point slid into his chin through his mouth up behind his nose into his brain and then jarred against the top of his skull he seemed frozen suddenly head pierced and his hand suddenly lost its force and his sword cluttered onto the red snail's deck i let go of my blade pushed him away from me and snatched up his good weapon i slashed at the stern mooring line cutting it with three blows then toss the sharp blade to kurdik cut the bow line i shouted then the spring quick kurdic picked up the sword and used his huge strength to cut the two lines with two strokes thus freeing red snail and the tide immediately drifted us away from the pier a third norseman had seen what had happened he could see one of his comrades lying on our cargo his body and spasms and the sword still jammed in his skull the man jumped onto the boat we had been lashed against and he shouted angrily at us but the flooding tide was running strong and we were already out of his reach we were also in danger of running aground swithen had seen that the dying norseman was wearing a fine scabbard plated with silver and was now trying to unbuckle the belt leave it i snelled get an ore kurdic an ore hurry kurdic usually so slow was quick to seize an ore and used it to thrust the red snail off the glistening mud bank that loomed to our left i dragged the rusty sword free of the dying man's head and used it to cut at the lines holding the awning that was suspended above the ship's stern and which obstructed the helmsman's platform get a steering or i called to renwald and put your men at the oars and get the sail up i put the rusty sword onto the dying man's hand he was making choking noises his eyes flicking left and right but he seemed incapable of moving his arms or legs i retrieved the good sword from the red snail's bows checked that the poor youngster still had the old sword lying on his palm then put him out of his misery blood welled and spilled across the cargo of hides and just then a flare of light erupted to my right one of ethel helm's ships had caught fire and the flames leaked up the tarred shrouds and spread along the yard renwald's crew who had seemed too stunned to move when the norsemen attacked us now scrambled to push ores through the halls and the red snail side streaks row renwell shouted he may have been confused by the dawn's panic and slaughter but he was seeming enough to grasp the danger of running aground i dropped the sword and unhanked the halyard that was secured to the mast base then dropped the yard until it was just above the deck where auswie standing on the dead man's belly used a knife to cut the lashings that were holding the full sail tight the dark brown canvas dropped and i hauled the yard back up as one of renwald's crewman seized the steerboard sheet and pulled it taut another man tightened the backboard sheet and i felt the boat steady herself the wind was behind us coming from the southwest but the tide was running strongly against us and we needed both oars and sail to make headway renwald had managed to slide the steering or into place and pulled its loom so that the red snail slowly turned and slowly gathered way and slowly drew away from the gleaming mud towards the river's center and in dumbness harbour there was slaughter nine the red snail lived up to her name by creeping with painful slowness against the river her bluff boughs slapping irritably against the incoming tide that flood tide would end soon and there would be slack water and then the river's current would help carry us to sea but till then it was hard work to make even small progress on shore there was killing while on the two piers ships were burning some of those ships had been cut loose and were drifting upstream the sun was above the horizon now and i could see men forming a shield wall in the open space in front of the goose they would soon charge the smaller norse walls barring the piers but it was already too late to save most of the ships only the few tethered to the wharf built along the riverbank had been spared among them ethel helm's own craft the elf one i could see men crowded aboard her some holding long oars ready to fend off any burning ship that threatened to drift onto the white ship's flank we'd do better by sailing upstream when world called to me we'd be well away from those bastards then he meant that by riding the tide inland to the shallower river reach we would be safe from any pursuit by the raiding vessels all of which had to draw twice as much water as the red snail he was right of course but i shook my head we're going to see i told him and then you're taking us north to grimsby we're sailing to london renwald said i picked up the young norseman's good sword and pointed the blade's reddened tip towards renworld you will take us i said slowly and clearly to grimsby he stared at me till now he had thought me a decrepit old man who would sail to east anglia to find a family grave but i was stooped no longer i stood straight i spoke harshly instead of mumbling and he had just watched me kill two men the time it would have taken him to cut a herring who are you he asked my name i told him is utrade of beberg for a moment he seemed unable to speak then he looked at his crewmen who would check their rowing and were gazing open mouthed at me lads renwald said then needed to clear his throat before he could speak again we're going to grimsby now row you'll be paid i promised him and generously you can keep this sword for a start i cleaned the blade's tongue on the cargo of hides then pushed the sword under the low steering platform the ren snail had managed to cross the river to the northern bank where the tidal current was weaker but still the heavy ship made pitiful progress despite her six oars and the big sail we were inching our way towards the sea while on the other bank aina the white was demonstrating why he was also called the unfortunate it must have seemed a good idea to put men ashore to bar the way onto the two piers while the rest of his force destroyed athelhelm's fleet but those two outnumbered shield walls were under savage attack from enraged west saxons who had poured out of the town's alleys and streets to make their own shield walls the norsemen i thought had to be tired they had arrived at dawn and must be wearied by a night of rowing against the wind the eastern shield wall seemed to be holding but i watched as the other gave way and its surviving men fled across moored boats to regain the safety of the nearest of aina's ships but that ship was not safe at all the tide was pinning it against the pier and furious saxons followed the fugitives and leaped onto the trapped ship's boughs i could see blades rising and falling see men leaping overboard into the shallows see men dying that ship was lost but so was much of athol helm's fleet at the end of the piers the smoke was thickening to darken the dawn sky as ships caught fire some of the smaller trading craft had been manned by norsemen and were being sailed out of the turmoil following us down river while behind them at least three of athelham's warships were ablaze his own vessel the alps one appeared to have survived as had two other big west saxon warcraft that shared the long wharf but much of the rest of his fleet was burning sinking or captured the crew of aina's largest ship the dark hulled boat with the cross at its prow was still hurling flaming torches into ethelhelm's smaller boats but she began to pull away as the surviving shield wall retreated another of ina's ships went close to that eastern pier and i saw a norseman leaping aboard her then she backed her oars to carry them safely away from saxon vengeance the big ship the one with the cross was the last to leave the burning chaos and as she came from a roiling bank of smoke i saw a flag unfold at her masthead for a moment the flag seemed reluctant to fly then the wind caught the fabric and it streamed out to show a red hand holding across whose badge is that i asked she's a scottish ship greenwald answered and that's domino's flag constantine's man and a happy man too renwald said looking back at the chaos of broken ships and burning holes five ships had come to damnuck in the dawn but only four left though they were accompanied by a dozen captured cargo vessels i know if he lived must have assumed that the ren snail was one of those captured vessels because as the larger warships overtook us at the river's mouth not one made an attempt to stop us instead the man waved from the steersman's platform of domino's dark ship and we waved back and then the red snails bows met the larger seas of the open water and we ship the oars and let the big sail carry us north along the coast she's called the trion aide renwald said nodding at the scottish ship trioneed i asked means the trinity he said i usually see her in the fourth i never seen her this far south before i thought constantin's ships were all fighting norsemen up in the islands most are but he keeps the tree and aid closer to home he keeps her at bebenburg now i said bitterly he does lord so he does the only consolation was knowing that the triange like einer's fleet would be having an uncomfortable time at webenberg they could not use the fort's own harbour which could only be reached by the narrow channel that ran directly beneath the northern ramparts and passed the heavily defended sea gate any ship using that channel would be assailed by spears and rocks which meant that einer's ships must shelter in the shallow anchorage between lindisfarne and the mainland it was a difficult and cramped refuge and in a gale it was downright dangerous when i was a child a scottish trader had taken refuge there and during the night the storm worsened and we woke to discover that the ship had been driven ashore and i remember my father's delight when he realized that the vessel and its cargo were now his property he had let me ride with the warriors who galloped over the suns at low tide to surround the stranded ship the five crewmen had promptly surrendered of course but my older brother had ordered them killed anyway the scots he told me vermin and you know what you do with vermin they're christians i had protested in those days when i was about seven or eight years old i was still trying to be a good little christian and so avoid father biaka's feeble beatings they're scots you fool my brother had said you get rid of the bastards do you want to kill one of them no you're a pathetic weakling he had said scornfully then had drawn his sword to rid the world of vermin in the end the stranded ship proved to hold nothing more valuable than sheepskins one of which became my bed cover for the next two years i was remembering that tale as renwald gave the steering all to one of his crew then pulled the young norseman's sword from beneath the stern platform he turned the hilt admiring the silver wire twisted around the cross piece it's a valuable weapon lord he said probably frankish i said and you'll find it more useful than that piece of rusty iron you call a sword he smiled i can keep it keep it sell it do what you like with it but keep the blade greased it's a pity to let a good sword turn to rust he pushed it back into the narrow space so you're going to babenburg lord i shook my head we're going to freesia which is why you went to dumnak first yes truly i had business in dumnock i said harshly and now we're leaving for freesia yes lord he said plainly disbelieving me we ran before the wind though in truth the red snail never ran she lumbered heavily as einar's fleet steadily drew ahead of us i watched his ships sail through a sparkling sea lit by a sun shining between rugged clouds that scattered to the north and east i instinctively tried to touch my hammer as a way of thanking thor for the miracle and my fingers found the cross and i wondered if that symbol had brought me good fortune that was one of christianity's strongest arguments that fate smiled on christians a christian king their sorceress argued won more battles received higher rents and spawned more sons than a pagan ruler i hoped that was not true but i took care in that moment to mutter a prayer of thanks to the christian god who had arranged for fate to smile on me in the last few hours hathel helm won't be sailing today i said he'll need more than a day or two to recover from that morning surprise renwald agreed he lost some good ships he won't be happy i said happily my miracle had come aina had given me what i so desperately needed time athelhelm had planned to take food and reinforcements to bebenberg but most of the food and many of his ships were now destroyed then fate smiled on me again just north of domnick the river waving he empties to the sea a few fishing families lived in driftwood hovels built at the river's mouth which was marked by a wide stretch of fretting waves a hint to a sailor that the anchorage beyond though inviting was dangerous to approach inland bright under the sun was a great lake and beyond that i knew was a tangle of lakes rivers creeks mud banks reeds and marshland that was home to birds heels fish frogs and mud-covered folk i had never sailed into the waverny though i had heard of shipmasters who had risked the entrance shoals and lived but now as einar's fleet drew level with the river's mouth a ship came from the anchorage i had heard that jeremias the mad bishop was a brilliant seaman and so he must have been because he had left dumbness late in the afternoon and had surely entered the wave and he in the encroaching darkness and now the goods mode came from the river sailing through the shoals with a confident assurance a sail bellying away from us was decorated with a cross she came fast sliding into the open sea with her tattered rigging flying ragged to the wind i could just see jeremiah's white hair lifting to that same wind he was the helmsman i had wondered why jeremias had left dunlop early instead of waiting for ethelhelm's fleet to sail and now i had the answer i had assumed he was allied to athelhelm a natural supposition after i had seen the warm greeting that athorhelm had given him i had also heard jeremiah's boast of atollhelm's gift the stained girdle that had supposedly belonged to christ's mother and was most probably a strip of dirty cloth torn from a kitchen slave's tunic and an alliance between athelhelm and jeremias made sense jeremias might be mad but he still possessed an anchorage and a fort at the mouth of the river tynan and so long as constantine claimed bebenberg's land then so long did jeremias own the northernmost fort of northumbria he also had ships and men and best of all he knew the northumbrian coast as well as any man alive i doubted the west saxon shipmasters knew where the shoals and rocks looked but jeremiah did and if athelhelm planned a voyage to the fortress he would do well to have jeremias as his guide i had not questioned my assumption that he was atholhelm's ally until now when i saw his darkhold ship come from the river waving here to join aina's fleet i saw him wave to the trion aid then the goods motor turned north to sail in company with athol helm's enemies he scouted domnick for them i said i thought he was lord athelhelm's ally renwald was as surprised as i was so did i i admitted and now it seemed jeremias was allied with the scots i gazed at his ship and reflected that it did not really matter whose ally he was he was certainly my enemy the scots were my enemies the west saxons were my enemies blabenberg's garrison was my enemy jeremias was my enemy einer the white was my enemy so fate had better be my friend we sailed on northwoods grimsby was smaller than domnick but had the same weather beaten houses the same homely smells of salt wood fires and fish and the same sea hardened folks struggling to haul a living from the long cold waves there were wars piers and a shallow anchorage while beyond the town's ditch lay a bleak marsh grimsby though was northumbrian which in that year meant that the reeve was a dane a hard-faced strong-fisted man called eric who treated me with a weary civility so you're leaving lord he asked me for freesia i said that's what i heard he said then paused to pick something out of his broad nose he flicked whatever he discovered onto the tavern floor i'm supposed to levy a charge on everything you take out to the port he went on horses household goods trade goods everything except your vittles and your people and you pay that levy to king c trigger i do he said cautiously because he knew that i knew that he only paid a part of what he owed to the king and that's probably a criminally small part i pay that and the warfight fees to jorvik of course you do i said and laid a gold coin on the table i think seed trigger would forgive me if i didn't pay don't you his eyes widened the last time i laid up in grimsby the war fee had been a penny a day and the coin on the table would pay for a fleet to stay a whole year i reckon he would forgive you lord eric said the coin vanished i laid a silver coin where the gold had been i'm taking three of my ships to see i told him and i'll be gone for a fortnight maybe longer but i'm not taking my women and children with me they'll stay here women bring you look at sea lord he said eyeing the coin and waiting to discover what it was meant to buy the women need to be protected i said i could leave warriors here but i need all my men we're sailing for freesia to take land he nodded to show that he believed me which maybe he did or maybe he didn't i don't need women and children aboard i went on not if i'm fighting some friesian lord for a patch of defensible land of course not lord but the women must be safe i insisted i have a dozen good men to keep order he said so when i return i said or when i send for the families they'll all be safe and unmolested i swear it lord see trigger is sending men to guard them i said i had sent a message to see trigger and i was sure he would send some warriors but those men won't arrive for a day or two he reached for the coin but i placed a hand over it if my women are molested i said i will come back here i swear their safety lord he said i moved my hand and the second coin vanished we each spat on a palm and shook on the agreement my son had brought six ships to grimsby which was now crowded by my people the women children and heavy cargo had traveled down river on the ships while my men had ridden their horses from eufauwick every town was full and some families were living aboard the three warships that were tied to the town's longest wharf nearby on a pier were three big trading ships that my son had purchased there's not enough room for 200 horses he told me gloomily we'll be lucky to ship 60 but they were the only ships for sale they'll do i said berg was now equipping the three ships to carry horses lots of folk have asked why lord he told me and i tell them what you told me to say that i don't know but they all seem to know we're going to freesia that's good i said that's very good and you don't need to keep that a secret any longer berg was building stalls in the ship's bellies a necessary precaution to keep frightened horses still while they were at sea and because berg was in charge the work was being done well and i did not have the heart to tell him that the ships would probably never be needed they were just a part of the deception an attempt to persuade folk that i really had abandoned and he thought of recapturing bobenberg and instead planned to take my people and their livestock to a new land doubtless i thought morosely i could eventually sell the three ships but almost certainly for less than i had paid for them a dozen men were working in the nearest boat their hammers and saws loud as they rigged the stout stalls the but stopped the work now i told berg and take the beast heads off the three warships take them off lord he sounded shocked two of the war boats had fine dragon heads newly carved while the third and largest ship had a magnificent wolf's head berg had made them to please me and now i was demanding that he left them off the brows take them off i said and put christian crosses in their place crosses now he really was shocked big ones i said and the folk living on those three boats they have to leave today they can camp in the trading ships instead we're setting sail at dawn tomorrow tomorrow he echoed me excitedly and one last thing i said the horses are here stabled all through the town lord you have a grey don't you russler he's a good horse dock his tail i said and bring me the hair he stared at me as if i was mad you want russell's tail do that first i said then make the crosses my son will provision the boats my son already had men bringing supplies to the wharf i had told him he needed to buy two weeks supply of food and ale enough to feed 169 men because that was the number i was taking northwards warriors to fight against my cousin against the forces of athelhelm and against the king of scotland they were good men almost all of them battle hardened with just a smattering of young ones who had yet to stand in a shield wall and learn the terror of fighting an enemy who was close enough for you to smell the ale on his breath i had paid renwald handsomely i had few coins left so i had given him one of my arm rings a fine piece of silver carved with runes i took that one i said in a fight just north of london that's the name of the man i killed appointed to the runes haggar he shouldn't have died not that day anyway he shouldn't they were just scouting six of them and eight of us we were hawking haggar chose to fight i remembered haggar he had been a young man well-mounted with a fine helmet that was too big for him the helmet had cheek pieces and was decorated with a snarling face etched onto its crown i suppose he had thought we would be easy prey because none of us was in mail and two of our hunting party were women and he had screamed insults challenged us and we had given him the fight he wanted though it was soon over i had hit the helmet hard with serpent breath and because it was too big for him it had turned and half blinded him he had screamed pathetically as he died i had looked over at the red snail moored against one of grimsby's peers buy yourself a faster ship i told renwald he had shaken his head she serves me well lord she's like me slow but sure dependable i said and when all this is over i went on you can depend on me as a friend in freesia lord he asked smiling in freesia i said returning the smile you'll go with my prayers lord for that i said warmly and for all you did thank you at sunset i walked with finnen following a path that led beside a drainage ditch outside the town i had told him much of what had happened in domnick but he was eager to know more though first i asked him about ethelstone and was assured that the young prince was safe in seatrigger's hall he wanted to come with us finn and of course he did but i told him it was impossible christ can you imagine the trouble if he died while he was a hostage god save us he knows he can't come i said he still wanted to and get himself killed then i'd be blamed for that and the truce would be over and we'd all be up to our next in you mean we're not maybe up to our armpits i allowed that eh we walked in silence for a few paces so he asked lord ethel helm was in domnick giving away silver i said and then told finnen more of the tale and ended by describing how i planned to capture bibenberg he listened saying nothing till i had finished and then king edward told you there were 400 scots at babenberg led by a man called domino he's said to be a beast in a fight so are you he smiled at that so 400 scots that's what edward said but that might include the garrison's constantin left on the wall forts so i reckon he has at least 250 men at blebenberg and how many men does your cousin have i'm not sure but he can muster at least 300 edward reckoned he had 200 in the fort and einer he lost his ship and men dumbnik but he still has four crews left say another 120 at least that i said and athelhelm will take how many even if he goes now i said he'll take as many as he can 300 maybe more jeremiah's 50 maybe 60 but he won't be at bobenburg he won't finnen sounded dubious he frowned then picked up a stone and skimmed it across a green scummed pond how do you know jeremiah isn't on his way to bedenberg with einer right now i don't so you're just guessing jeremiah is betraying everyone i said so he won't want to appear as if he's chosen sides if he sails to bebenberg he has to either anchor with einar's ships in which case my cousin knows he's been betrayed or he puts into bobenberg harbour in which case constantine learns the same neremias wants to be on the winning side so he's on everyone's side he might be mad but he's not stupid i tell you he'll have gone on to jair him to wait things out he nodded accepting the argument but still he said if we get inside we'll probably be fighting 300 men nearer 200 and fighting uphill part of the time and we could have another four or five hundred outside trying to stab us in the back yes not to mention the bastard scots who won't be happy they never are well that's true he said he skimmed another stone and watched it sink through the pond's dark scum and see trigger won't help you he'll help me i said but he won't join an assault on the ramparts he needs all his men for when the true sense finnan walked a few paces to where a dead tree stood gaunt and black at the pond's margin no other trees grew nearby and this one had been dead so long that the trunk was split open fungus grew thick in the gaping rift and the only brunches left were a pair of thick and drooping stumps dozens of cloth scraps were nailed or tied to those following branches a prayer tree finnen said did a saint live here a god lived here he looked at me amused a god you're telling me a god chose to live in this forsaken place odin built a hole here sweet jesus but you have strange gods or maybe your fellow odin just likes swamps he drew a knife from his belt you think the gods listen to prayers i wouldn't if i were a god can you imagine it all those moaning women whining children of miserable men you're a rare warrior he said but let's be grateful you're not a god he cut a strip from his jerking then found a crack in one of the branches and wedged the cloth into place i saw him close his eyes and mutter a prayer though whether he prayed to odin or to the christian god i did not ask the thing is lord he said staring at the strip of cloth i can't think of a better way to capture the place nor can i short of raising a thousand men and i can't afford that i'm running out of money he laughed hi you've been pissing it away like bishop wolford and a brothel he reached up and touched the rugged cloth so let's do it lord let's just do it i found edith in grimsby's small church the town might have been danish and most of its inhabitants pagans but it depended on ships and sailors for its prosperity and no harbor town became rich by turning away trade christian seamen could see the cross atop the church's roof from a mile away and know they would be welcome besides as i have never tired of telling my christian followers we pagans rarely persecute christians we believe there are many gods so we accept another man's religion as his own affair while christians who perversely insist that there is only one god think it their duty to kill maim enslave or revile anyone who disagrees they tell me this is for our own good edith had not gone to the church to pray but rather to use its floor which unencumbered by any furniture was a wide empty space on which she had spread a bolt of linen the cloth was light blue i'm sorry about the color he just told me she was on her hands and knees crawling across the material with two other women it must have been dyed with woad she said i asked for a darker color but he only had dark clothing wool wool would be too heavy i said but this linen was expensive she looked worried and the white won't show well against it anthony finnen's wife said then use black we have no black cloth he just said he does i said looking at the priest who stood frowning by his altar he does he defused he's wearing it i said cut his robe up lord no the priest backed into a corner he was a small man bald with a pinched face and anxious eyes painted on finland suggested use pitch he nodded at the priest that miserable robe won't make two stacks and you need one on each side there'll be plenty of pitch down at the harbour good idea the priest said hardly use pitch it won't dry in time as we said one side might but we might have to turn it over to paint the second side charcoal the priest suggested nervously pitch i said on one side only then sew it to the hana's sail the hana was one of the three ships berg had purchased she had been called the saint cuthbert but berg hating the christian name had changed it to hannah i'd asked him yes lord he blushed ola's daughter yes lord the one who wanted to sell her brother into slavery that one lord yes i had stared at him deepening his blush you do know i'd asked him that it's unlucky to change a ship's name i know lord but if a virgin pisses in the bilge then it is all right yes my father always said you find a virgin and you ask her to pee in his voice had faded away and he had gestured at the renamed hannah then it is good yes the gods will not mind you found a virgin in euphoric i asked astounded he had blushed again i did lord yes hannah he had gazed at me with pathetic puppy eyes afraid that i disapproved she is so lovely lord he had blurted out and perhaps when this is finished he was too nervous to finish the question when this is finished i said and we've won then you can go back to joffrewick and if we don't win he had asked anxiously if we don't win berg i had said then we'll all be dead ah he had beamed at me then we must win lord yes and to win we needed the tail hairs from berg's horse a bolt of pale blue linen some pitch and the favor of the gods it has to be enough i said to eat it that night i had found it hard to sleep and so walked down to the harbour and watched a crescent moon shudder its reflection on the estuary beyond the anchorage while on the wharf my three warships shivered to the night wind the hannah the edith and the stiora berg had named the ships for women choosing two for me and one for himself i suppose if i had chosen the names i would have picked gizla the mother of my children and ethel fled who had received my oath which i had never broken but berg's choices were good too i smiled at the memory of berg's nervousness and at the thought of a 12 or 13 year old girl reducing a warrior like him to quivers what was he i wondered 18 19 he had stood in the shield wall he'd face swordsmen and spear warriors he had killed and known the battle joy but a pretty face and a tangle of brown hair had him shaking like a 15 year old in his first fight what are you thinking edith asked as she came to join me she slipped her arm through mine and leaned her head on my shoulder of the power of women i said she squeezed my arm but said nothing i was looking for omens and finding none no birds flew even the dogs in the town were silent i knew my sleeplessness came from the anticipation of battle from the fear that i had miscalculated is it past midnight i asked edith i don't know i don't think so maybe i should sleep you leave at dawn before if i can and how long is the voyage i smiled if i get wind two days without it three so in two or three days she began then her voice faltered we fight the first battle i finished the sentence for her dear god she said and i think it was a prayer and the second maybe two days later you'll win she said you're utred you always win we must win i said neither of us spoke for a while but just listened to the creek of boats and the sigh of the wind and the small slap of the waves if i don't come back i began and she tried to hush me if i don't come back i insisted then take our people to joferwick see trigger will look after you won't he have much north he should have left by now but if i don't survive then he'll be back in eurowick very soon you'll survive she said very firmly i gave the emerald ring to the church and said a prayer you did what i asked astonished i gave the emerald to the church she said she had possessed a rich emerald set in a gold ring that had been given to her by ethelred who had been my enemy and her lover she never wore it and i knew she kept it not out of any sentimentality but because its value offered her some security in a dangerous world thank you i said i did not tell the priest why she said but i asked him to pray for us he'll build himself a new house instead i said amused so long as he prays he can build himself a mead hall she shivered as she gazed at the moon's long reflection the flag is finished and the horse hair thank you you'll come back she said fiercely i thought how i had always wanted to die at mebenberg but not yet not yet more likely i'll send for you i said look for the ships in two maybe three weeks from now i won't stop praying turned and drew her away from the harbour i needed sleep to bed and tomorrow we would sail towards battle the estuary was calm in the summer's dawn the water was the colors of silver and slate and they moved slowly as if the sea goddess was breathing in her sleep on the wharf it was all confusion as men tossed shields male coats and weapons onto the three ships that were already heavy with supplies there were barrels of ale barrels of salted herrings barrels of twice baked bread barrels of salt pork and dozens of empty barrels there were heaps of sacks stuffed with straw and all lashed down in the ship's shallow bellies all three ships had crosses on their prows gaunt high crosses made of newly split wood my son commanded the steerer finnen was master of the hannah and i would board the edith say your goodbyes i shouted along the wharf the day is wasting the sun was almost above the horizon touching the silver and slate with shivers of gold finnen was no seaman so i had given him berg who like all norsemen knew how to steer a ship and weather a storm i'd rather finnen had been on the edith with me we've been together ever since we met but in these next days we would fight in three groups and it was better that he stayed with his men throughout i hope it stays calm he said i want a fear southern wind i answered so say your prayers he touched the cross hanging at his breast jesus he said we've been dreaming of this moment for years i impulsively embraced him thank you for staying i said staying you could have returned to ireland he grinned and not see the story's end sweet jesus of course i stayed it's not the end of the story i said i gave ethel fled a promise to look after her daughter god you're a fool he left and ethel's done his unfinished business so life won't be dull after this he said i was getting worried go i told him we're leaving now i held edith in my arms she was crying softly other men were saying similar farewells to their women or to their children i stroked edith red hair i'll send for you i promised her then it was time to board and the mooring lines were cast off and men thrust with oars to push the ships away from the wharf there was a clatter as the oars were threaded through holes in the hull or on my ship dropped between the foals i pointed to the men on the three forward backboard benches and shouted at them to give a couple of strokes to swing the edith's bows towards the open water i saw renwald watching from lorenz nail and wave to him and he waved back edith called a farewell her voice almost lost among the cries of the goals and the ship named for her rocked slightly as the hole turned i touched the hammer at my breast and prayed to the gods that they would be good to us then i took hold of the steering or together now i called and all the all blades swung forward and waited poised above the harbour's calm water row and so our three ships headed into the estuary their high boughs breaking the still waters we rolled with long strokes not hurrying just driving the holes down the channel between the with ease then curving east towards the rising sun there were no other ships in sight we passed the raven's beak that long treacherous spit of sand that guards the humber's mouth and there we turned north and a whisper of southwestern wind gave me hope that we could soon raise a sail men tired by rowing do not fight as well as unwearied men we were three ships in a summer's dawn and we were going to war 10. the voyage took longer than i had anticipated and much longer than i hoped we had left grimsby in a calm but by midday the whisper of southwest wind had veered to the northwest and risen to half a gale that was a bad omen then sometime that afternoon we rode through a patch of white top waves littered with ores and shattered timbers they were the remnants of a broken ship and as plain a warning as any i've ever received from the gods had the crosses on our bows angered ron the sea goddess i had no beast to sacrifice so while gabriel steered the edith i opened a vein in my right arm my sword arm and dripped blood into the sea and told round that the crosses were only on the ship's prows so that i could win a victory that would bring the gods pleasure i thought her anger had not been assuaged because we had difficulty finding shelter that night we rode close to the land near enough to hear the seed of angry waves assaulting the shore and as the light faded i feared we must head east into open water and weather the heavy seas through the darkness but in the very last light run showed us a creek and our three boats nosed carefully into a wind-threatened anchorage there were no lights ashore no fires no smell of wood smoke just endless reeds and mud flats at low tide during that restless night the edith's keel bumped on sand or mud the air was cold brought by the malevolent north wind which also gave us rain the second day was almost as bad except in the afternoon the wind backed as suddenly as it had veered the day before it still blew hard churning the seas but at least it blew in a direction that helped us and we could raise the sails and run before the new wind the three prows shattered the waves and my men resting from their oars had to bail the ships constantly by evening we were sailing in a more westerly direction following northumbria's coast but all day we had stood well offshore so that anyone glimpsing our sails through the squalls would think we were heading for scotland or even further north towards the lands of the norsemen we saw a few ships just some fishing craft working close to land i'd hoped to reach my destination on the third day but the weather had slowed us and on that third evening by which time i thought to have fought our first skirmish we found shelter in the mouth of the river weir on the river's northern bank stood a fine stone building that had been an abbey church before the danes came and i could remember the day that ragnar's fierce warriors had slaughtered the monks ransacked the treasury and burned the monastery the church being stone resisted the fire though the roof had fallen in to leave scorched walls and the stump of a bell tower as we rode into the river's mouth i saw that a new roof had been made for the church and that smoke was coming from the hole at its ridge more smoke blew in the gusting wind from the straggle of small houses that crouched around the old church while eight small fishing craft were either moored in the river or else had been hauled onto the shingle where still more smoke rose from the fires that dried herrings on the foreshore two small children whose job was to keep the goals away from the herring racks fled when we arrived but were beaten back to their work by a man who then stood and stared at us other folk watched from the small settlement the crosses on our prowes would persuade them we were neither danes nor norse but even so they must have been nervous i waved to them but none responded then just before the sun disappeared behind the westin hills a small boat pushed off from the beach two men rode and a third sat at the stern the edith was closest to the shore and so the boat headed for us i had ordered all my pagans to hide their hammers and told those who had inked their faces to pretend to be sleeping beneath the benches i wore a cross but feared i would be recognized and so i crouched in the cramped space beneath the helmsman's platform at the stern and pulled a cloak's hood over my head while swithen who had proved himself a clever young man during the visit to dominic waited to receive the visitors i had given swiven my gold chain to wear and a fine woolen cloak trimmed with otifer the peace of god be upon this ship the boat's passenger hailed us he was dressed as a priest though i doubted he had been ordained by the church i'm coming aboard he called as his small craft came alongside and then without any invitation he clambered over the edith's side and who in christ's name are you he demanded the river we are marked the southernmost boundary of jeremiah's land and any priest here was liable to have been appointed by the mad bishop who claimed his authority came directly from the nailed god rather than from contwaraburg or rome this priest was a short man with a mass of brown curls a beard in which a heron could have nested and a wide grin which showed he had three teeth left he did not wait for anyone to answer his question but went on to demand payment if you're staying through delton you must pay the fee sorry about that it isn't our rules but god's law the priest spoke in danish and swithen who could struggle by in that language pretended he did not understand you want something he asked in english speaking very slowly and a little too loudly money coin silver the priest used a grubby finger to mime counting coins into his palm how much swithen asked still speaking very slowly you haven't told me who you are the priest protested and i muttered a translation from the shadows does the fade depend on the answer swithen demanded and again i offered a translation the priest grinned of course it does if you're some piss-poor east anglian hailing from a fly-ridden riverbog with a cargo of dog turds and ghost then it's cheaper than if you're a goddamn west saxon who's carrying frankish mail and nustrian wine are you west saxon he is i provided the answer and you are father ingvilled and your lord owes me a shilling a ship three shillings for a night shelter he smirked knowing it was an absurd demand three pennies swithen who was following the conversation well enough offered i translated and invil frowned at me who is that he asked swithen he could not see me because i was in shadow and well cloaked my harpist swithen said letting me translate and he's ugly so he must stay out of sight three pennies is not enough inkville said evidently satisfied with sweden's explanation make it six three swifton insisted five three don ingrilled grinned again because he had bargained in english and evidently believed he had tricked us in some way now who are you he demanded swithen straightened and looked stern i am prince ethelston he announced grandly son of edward of wessex atling of the west saxons and sent here by my father and by his sister ethelfled lady of mercia ingrid stared at him with an expression of pure awe he opened his mouth to speak but just stammered helplessly i had told swiven to tell the lie confidently and he had and now he stood tall and commanding gazing the shorter priest in the eye you are invilled at last managed to say something you call me lord swithen snapped you call him lord i growled menacingly involved glanced about the ship but saw nothing except tied warriors wearing crosses in truth no prince of wessex would have sailed this far north without counsellors priests and a fearsome guard of household warriors but in vilde of the weir had no experience of princes and i had long learned that the most outrageous lies were often the most readily believed yes lord he said god we travel to the land of the scots sweden said loftily where we are commanded to consult with king constantin in an attempt to bring peace to the island of britain do you serve constantine no lord so we're not in scotland yet no lord you must keep going north then who is your lord the bishop jeremiah's lord ah swithen sounded delighted the lady ethel fled said we might meet him is he here can we greet him he's not here lord he's invil jested north he's a gyrum lord i felt a surge of relief and hope tingville told the truth i had feared that jeremias might have gone to bevenberg unlikely though that was if he was to conceal his treachery he would send greetings i'm sure invilled added hastily is he close sweden asked we have a gift for him a gift involved sounded greedy the lady ethel fled is generous swithen said and has sent your lord bishop a gift but we must hurry north i can take it english said eagley the gift must be given to bishop jeremias swithen said sternly jarom lies not far north lord kingville said hastily a short voyage lord very short it lies in the next river mouth we may visit the place swithen said carefully if we can spare the time but do tell the lord bishop jeremias that we are grateful for safe passage through his waters and ask him to pray for the success of our mission boy he snapped his fingers and rory hurried to his side give me three pennies boy swithen took the coins and handed them to inkville adding a silver shilling that bore the image of king edward a reward for your graciousness father he said condescendingly and a payment for your prayers involved bowed deeply as he backed across the deck he remembered at the last moment to sketch the sign of the cross and to mutter a blessing on our ship then he fled to shore in his small boat but i knew that in the morning as soon as it was light a messenger would hurry across the hills to jairum it was no distance by land though we faced a journey of some hours so jeremias would have plenty of warning that three strange ships were off his coast jeremiah smith or might not believe that we were west saxon envoys on our way to scotland but he would be assured that we were christians and that i hope should be enough his worst fear of course would be that we were survivors of aina's attack on domnick who would somehow divined that jeremiah's had scouted the harbour on the norseman's behalf and had come for revenge but why would we put into the weir and thus give him warning that was not the only reason i had risked talking to ingvilled we could easily have told him to shear off and mind his own business but i'd taken the opportunity to discover whether jeremiah's really was at jairum i had carefully instructed swither not to ask any obvious questions such as how many men jeremiah's commanded there or whether there were any fortifications at the time in his mouth jeremias would certainly want to know if we had asked such questions and he would be reassured when he heard we had shown no curiosity he would still be wary but he would also be intrigued by the thought of a gift from distant mercy and perhaps i said to finnon and my son who both joined me on the edith after sunset i'm thinking too much being too clever he's clever though isn't he my son asked jeremias i mean he is i said he's cunning clever like a rat and mad mad cunning sly and dangerous i said sounds like ethni in a bad mood finnen put in what would he do if three strange ships just sailed into the tainan my son asked if he had any sense i said he'd retreat to his fort he still might do that tomorrow my son said gloomily all that matters i said is that he's there and invil says he is it's better if he isn't in his damned vote tomorrow but if he is so be it we still get what we want tomorrow jairum's old roman fort lay on the headland south of the turning's mouth from the sea the fort hardly looked formidable merely a bank of green grass on the headlands summit but i had ridden that height and seen the ditch and bank both much smoothed by rain and time yet still dangerous to any attacker as far as i could see jeremiah's had not added a palisade though i could only see the sea would face and any attacker would almost certainly assault from the landwood side it was mid-morning as we rounded the headland we had left the weir in the early dawn rowing into a calm sea and windless air and i had glimpsed a horseman riding north from the settlement and knew jeremiah's would soon learn of our coming he would also have centuries up on that high fort screen rampart watching to discover whether our three ships would keep going northwards or instead turn into the tynan we turned there was a fitful wind now unable to decide whether it blew from the north or the west but just enough to fret the sea we rode we did not hurry if we had been coming to attack jeremiah's settlement then we would be heaving on the oars dragging the holes through the sea as fast as we could we would be wearing helmets and mail and the bows of our ships would be crammed with men ready to leap ashore but instead we came slowly no one wore a helmet and our three ships bore crosses instead of dragons on their prows i kept looking up at the fort and as far as i could tell it was not manned no spears showed above the green bank there were a couple of men up there but only a couple then we rounded the promontory into the river and i could see the southern bank and i felt a surge of relief because there in front of me tied to a newly built wolf that jutted across the marshland into the river was jeremiah's ragged ship the goods murder a dozen smaller ships all fishing craft were tied to the pier while two others also fishing boats were anchored offshore nearer was the beach where years before i had been freed from slavery when the red ships slammed into the shingle and my rescuers had leaked from the boughs it had been my uncle my cousin's father who had sold me into slavery fully expecting me to die but somehow i had lived and i had met finnon another slave there on that shingle beach our long road to revenge had begun now i prayed that road was almost over jeremias had been alerted of our arrival by his lookouts and some 40 or 50 men and women were waiting on the beach while still more were coming downhill from the old monastery that was jeremiah's hall swiven wearing the fur trimmed cloak again and with my gold chain bright at his neck stood in the edith's bows and waved a lordly greeting i was at her stern where i turned and cupped my hands to call to my son who was steering the skewer you know what to do i do he sounded cheerful do it slowly he just grinned for answer then gave an order that prompted his oarsmen to take the stuart slowly upstream they did not row hard just dipped the blades to pull their ship gently away from the edith and the hana which were heading towards the shingle using the oars to steady their holes against the river's current in the ebbing tide the stiora drifted back towards us for a moment then the rowers pulled her upstream again but still very lazily as if she had no intention of putting men ashore but was simply holding her position in the river until it was time for us all to go back to sea we were lingering off the beach because i was looking for yeremias and could not see him among the men and women waiting on the shingle but then an extraordinary procession appeared on the low hill where the monastery stood twelve men i knew jeremiah's called him his disciples led the group but these disciples were clad in mail wore helmets and carried spears and shields six small children followed all robed in white and all holding leafy branches which they waved from side to side as they sang jeremias followed them the mad bishop was astride a diminutive ass a beast so small that the mad bishop's feet dragged on the ground he was again dressed in richly embroidered robes carried his silver-hooked bishops crozier and wore a mitre crammed over his long white hair three women all dressed as nuns in grey robes in grey cows followed the six children's voices sounded clear and sweet above the sigh of the wind and the beat of the river's small waves breaking on the shingle beach i gave gabriel the steering oh hold her just offshore i told him he was a good ship handler and i trusted him to keep the edith a few paces from the beach while i crouched in the belly of the boat where 30 of my men were also staying low all of them in mail but none of us had yet put on our helmets shields swords axes and spears lay ready on the deck the folk waiting ashore could see us but would not see that we were ready for battle i buckled serpent breath around my waist rorick grinning was holding my helmet the fine helmet with the silver wolf crouching on the crown who are you a voice shouted from the shingle bank the man used the saxon tongue presumably because invil's messenger had told jeremias who we were that message had evidently not caused any alarm because though many of the men on the beach wore swords only the twelve disciples were in mail am ethelstone of wessex swithen called from the prowl and i bring you friendly greetings from my father king edward of wessex and from his sister ethelfled of mercier no closer the man called the lady ethel fled has sent your bishop a gift swithen shouted and held up a stinking jerk in we had wrapped in a piece of clean linen they are the swaddling clothes worn by the infant john the baptist they are still stained with his holy piss rorick crouching beside me started to laugh i hushed him you can throw it to me the man called from the beach he was being properly cautious wait wait it was jeremiah's high-pitched voice that interrupted he had abandoned the tiny ass and was striding down the beach and shouting in his native danish do not be so rude to our guests gift it must be given properly lord esselstyn i ducked out of sight as the bishop came near the water's edge lord bishop swithen responded come ashore jeremiah use the english tongue now you want me to jump into the water i want you to walk on it like our lord did can you walk on water swithen taken aback by the question hesitated of course not he finally shouted you should practice jeremiah's called reprovingly you should practice it just takes faith nothing else just faith so come a little closer just a little and you may bring six men ashore only six for now do it clumsily i hissed at gabrut the edith had drifted a little downstream which is what i had wanted and now gabriel called on the steerboard side osman to pull which was the last thing he should have ordered if he was really trying to bring the edith gently into the shore because instead of nosing slowly onto the shingle the ship turned her head downstream and was carried seawards by the tide gebruts appeared to panic by shouting at all the oarsmen to pull together no hard pull then as the edith surged he dragged the steering all hard towards himself and i felt her turning towards the beach pull he bellowed hard now pull he had done it beautifully at the same time finnen or at least berg who was finnen's helmsman had let the hannah go gently upstream using nothing but lazy slow or strokes just enough to carry her 50 or 60 paces away from us and now he suddenly turned the long ship and also headed for the beach row i heard berg shout ro one more stroke gabriel bellowed now the long oars bent with that final effort and edith's prowl scraped on shingle the boat jarred to a sudden stop and male clad men erupted from her belly scrambled past the oarsmen and leaked to shore finnen's men were jumping from the hannah's bows what we had achieved by our apparently clumsy seamanship was to trap jeremias and his men between our two forces while my son seeing us assault the beach was suddenly rowing hard as he took the stiora fast towards the pier which lay a good half mile upstream i want the bishop alive i shouted at my men alive i was one of the last men of the boat i stumbled in the shallow water and almost fell but vera liefson one of my norse warriors caught and studied me rorick gave me the helmet i carried no shield i drew serpent breath as i waded the last few feet but i doubted i would need her she would have her moment and soon but at this moment on this beach my men had done exactly what i had asked of them finnen's men were upstream of jeremiah's warriors and mine were downstream and together we outnumbered him jeremias if he had any sense should have run the moment he saw what was happening most of his men had never shield nor mail and there were women and children among them who added to the panic by screaming but jeremiah's just gaped at us then shrieked as he shook his crozier towards the clouds smite them lord smite them three of his disciples mistook the prayer for an order and run towards us but my men were ready for battle indeed were eager for it they were starved of it and there was a sudden clash on the shingle a clanger of sword blades and each of jeremiah's men was facing at least two of mine and i watched the sword blades deflect the spear thrusts saw the sword blades pierce bellies or hack into necks and i heard the vicious roar of my men as they ruthlessly cut the three down and heard the shrieking from the women who saw their men dying on the beach a few folk more sensible than those who had died turned and fled towards the old monastery on the hill but finnon's men simply scrambled up the grassy bank to block the inland path it was all over in moments three men sprawled bloody on the beach while the rest were being shepherded back to where jeremias had dropped to his knees and was screaming to his god send thy holy angels lord he pleaded defend thy servants rip out the tongues of thine enemies and blind their eyes avenge us so lord avenge and save us meanwhile his men were dropping their weapons some like jeremias knelt not in prayer as he was but in submission i looked upstream and saw that my son had captured good's murder i suspected that the capture of that ship was even more important than seizing jeremiah's who knowing that he had been tricked now called for heavenly reinforcements let worms consume their bowels oh lord he screeched and maggots feast on their bladders they are loathsome in thy sight o lord so smite them with thy mighty power send thy bright angels to avenge us rot their flesh and shutter their bones lord have mercy lord have mercy i walked up to him my boots scrunching on the shingle none of his men tried to stop me consume them with unquenchable fire lord drown them in the devil stinking excrement his eyes were tight closed turned up to the sky let satan vomit down their throats lord and feed their vile flesh to his dogs scourge them lord smite them all of this i ask in the name of the father and of the son and and of the other one i finished for him tapping serpent breath's blade against his shoulder greetings jeremiah he opened his blue eyes looked up at me paused for a heartbeat and then offered me a smile as sweet as any child's greetings lord how kind of you to visit me i came to have words with you you did he sounded delighted i love words lord i love them do you love words lord i do i said and touched the sword blade against his gaunt's cheek and my favorite word today is banahog it meant to deathstroke and i reinforced it by nudging his face with serpent breath that's a fine norse word lord he said earnestly a very fine word indeed but of all the norse words i think i preferred till skipper do you think we might come to atilskipan that is why i'm here i told him to come to an arrangement with you now on your feet would have words no lord no no no uremias was crying the tears ran from those very blue eyes and trickled down the deep furrows of his cheeks to disappear into his short beard no please no the last snow was a scream of despair he was on his knees hands clasped in supplication gazing up at me sobbing fire flared bright in the nighttime church the flames leaped up burned for a moment then subsided what did you say that was i asked jacob's spoon lord it's ashes now i said happily jacob stirred he saw spottage with that spoon lord jeremiah said between sobs the spoon crudely carved from beechwood was now white ash on the sea coal fire that warmed and lit jeremias cathedral more lights came from candles on the altar but beyond the windows it was dark deep night the building he insisted on calling it a cathedral was a stone church built years ago long before my grandfather's time and it had once been an important place for christians but then the danes had come the monks had been killed and the church and its monastery had fallen into ruin until jeremias was given the place he had been named dagfinia then and had been a house warrior to ragnar younger but one morning he had appeared naked in dunham's great hall and announced that he was now the son of the christian god and had adopted the name jeremias he demanded that ragnar a pagan should worship him breeder ragnar's woman and a hater of christians insisted that doug fenir should be put to death but ragna pitying the man and mindful of his long service had sent him and his family to the monastery ruins instead doubtless thinking that the crazed fool would not live long but dagfaneer had survived and landless men outlaws men without lords found him and swore him filthy so that he was now the ruler of jairum and its lands rumor said that he had dug a well soon after arriving at the ruined monastery but that instead of finding water he had discovered a horde of silver buried by the old monks at jairum i did not know whether that tale was true or not but certainly he had prospered enough to buy goods murder and a fleet of smaller ships that trolled the sea beyond the river for herring cod haddock salmon ling and whiting which were smoked or salted on the foreshore before being traded up and down the coast breeder when she became the effective ruler of northumbria after ragnar's death had left jeremias alone perhaps recognizing in him an echo of her own madness or more likely amused that the real christians were so outraged by jeremiah's absurd claims the old church now repaired with a crude thatched roof was crammed with small wooden boxes each of which contained one of jeremiah's treasures so far i had burned jacob's spoon a lock of hair from elisha's beard a piece of straw from the baby jesus's crib the fig leaf eve used to cover her left tit and a forked stick with which saint patrick had caught the last snake in ireland and what's this i asked opening another box no lord not that anything but that i peered into the box and saw a shriveled pig's ear what is it i asked the ear of the high priest servant lord jeremiah's muttered between sobs sin peter cut it off in the garden of gethsemane it's a pig's ear you fool no it's the ear our lord healed christ touched that ear he put it back on the servant's head how did it end up here then in this box it fell off again lord i held the dried ear close the glowing brazier you've lied to me aramis no he wailed you've lied to me i said lie after lie after lie i saw you in domnick the sobbing stopped suddenly and a wicked grin crossed jeremiah's face he was capable of sudden changes in mood maybe because he was mad i knew it was you lord he said slyly you said nothing when you saw me i saw your face and at that moment i was not certain and so i prayed lord and god took his time to answer me but he did after a while and when i told lord i will helm what god had said to me he thought i was moon touched he still sent men to search for me i said angrily he did jeremiah asked with apparent ignorance because you told him i was there i said angry now i'm your lord and you betrayed me i prayed to god to protect you you lying maggot god is my fault he listens to me i prayed i should slit your throat now i said and he just made a whining noise you told athelhelm your suspicions i said to gain favor with him true you're a pagan lord i thought i was doing my father's will by betraying me yes lord he whispered he frowned at me you're a pagan lord i was just doing my father's will and next day i said i saw a good motor with einer's ships so whose side are you on i told you the hood i am doing god's work by making peace blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be named the children of god the archbishop told me that lord the archbishop himself rothweird told me no the last despairing word came as i dropped the dried ear into the brazier's flames there was a burst of fire the smell of bacon and jeremiah sobbed again the archbishop said i must make peace just kill the bastard finn and growled from the shadows no jeremiah's shuffled back towards the altar no no no lord athelhelm i said who welcomed you in damnak is allied with my cousin but y'all aina who welcomed you and your ship when he sailed north from domnuk now serves constantine both think you were on their side blessed the other peacemakers jeremiah smutted i don't have much time i said just this one night but that's enough time to burn everything here no lord let me talk to him finn and growled jeremias glanced at finnin and shuddered i don't like that man lord he's a christian i said you should like him bless you my son jeremias made the sign of the cross towards finnen i still don't like him lord horrible man he is horrible i said but perhaps he can get the truth from you i've told you lord blessed are the peacemakers i paused watching him was he truly mad half the time he made perfect sense and half the time his mind wandered off into some airy place where only he and his god existed his distress when i burned his bauble seemed real enough and his fear was no pretense yet he still lied stubbornly finnen wanted to beat the truth from him but i suspected jeremias would welcome some sort of martyrdom and if you beat the truth out of a man you can never trust that it is the truth because a terrified man says what he thinks his tormentor wants to hear i wanted to hear the truth but what i suddenly wondered did jeremias want and why had he mentioned the archbishop i remembered being told that he had traveled to joffawik and had talked with rothweird the new archbishop so perhaps there was some truth in his wild shrieks of peace i walked towards him and he instinctively shrunk away and began gulping air i want he began but the words were overcome by a great sob he won't what i asked tell you he said savagely you're not the maker of peace you're a pagan you are utradar it meant utrid the wicked a name christians like to give me you worship idols and brazen images you are an abomination to my father in heaven i would rather die than tell you he closed his eyes and raised his face to the roof where the brazier's smoke writhed slow about the rafters take me o lord he cried take thy suffering servant into thy loving arms thank me take me take me i crouched opposite him leaned forward and whispered in his ear well done he stopped his prayers abruptly opened his eyes and looked at me for a moment he seemed almost more scared than one outspoken harshly well done he repeated in a very small voice i still whispered the archbishop wanted me to find out if you could keep a secret you spoke to he began then went silent when i put a finger in front of my lips finland mustn't hear i whispered he can't be trusted jeremiah's nodded vigorously he looks treacherous lord you can't trust small men and he's irish i said oh well yes lord he must believe that i hate you i said but i'm here for the archbishop he promised he would replace everything i burned he promised but he said frowning then looked down at the hammer that hung on its chain around my neck you're not a christian lord hush i said holding my finger before my lips again i stole the glance at finnen then lowered my voice even more look i lifted serpent breaths hilt and there in the pommel was a silver cross it had been given to me years before by hild whom i had loved and still did though she lived now in a convent in winton caster yet for a time we had been lovers i had placed the cross into the sword's hilt out of sentimentality but now it served me well as jeremiah stared at it the silver caught and reflected the brazies fire but jeremiah began again sometimes christ's work must be done in secret i whispered tell me jeremiah are the christians winning the wars in britain yes lord he said enthusiastically god be thanked the kingdom of god comes north year by year the pagans are confounded god's armies cleansed the land and who led those christian armies he gave for a second then in a very low but surprised voice you did lord i did i said and that was true though i had led those armies only because of my oath to ethel fled i hesitated a moment my pretence was working it was reassuring and comforting jeremiah's but now i had to make a guess and if i was wrong then i could lose his trust the archbishop i whispered told me about linda's foreigner he did jeremiah was excited and i was relieved the guest had been right he wants it to be an island of prayer i said recalling rothwood's words that's what he told me jeremiah said so he wants you to restore the monastery to its true glory i said it must be done jeremiah said fiercely it is a place of power lord far greater than jairum a prayer said in lindisferen is heard by god not by the saints lord but by god himself with lindisfarne i can work miracles i hushed him again it was time for the second guess but this one was easier my cousin i said promised you the island he did lord i knew that archbishop rothweid who was a man of sense and duty had never promised linda's foreigner to jeremiah's the island and its ruined monastery were sacred to christians because it was there that saint cuthbert had lived and preached my cousin had never restored the monastery even though it lay within sight of bevenberg's walls probably because he feared that a new abbey and its buildings would attract norse or danish raiders yet now that he was under siege he needed ships to bring his beleaguered garrison food and jeremiah's small fleet was harbored just south of bevenberg's land so making a promise about lindisfarena would have been an easy way to recruit the mad bishop's help what did my cousin promise you i asked that he would help you rebuild the monastery yes lord jeremiah said excitedly he promised we shall make clintus foreigner more glorious than ever i shook my head sadly the archbishop has learned i whispered that my cousin has also promised lindisfarene to the black monks to the benedictines jeremias was horrified because they brought christianity to the saxons i explained and he doesn't trust you because you're a dane we're neither dane nor saxon in god's sight jeremiah's protested i know that i said and you know that but my cousin hates the danes he's using you he wants you to bring him food but then he will betray you the black monks are waiting at contourberg and they will come north when the scots are gone god won't allow that to happen jeremiah's protested which is why he sent me i said he looked into my eyes and i looked back not blinking and i saw the doubt in his gaze but lord darth he began has promised gold to the black monks i interrupted i thought you knew that i thought that was why you helped einar attack him he shook his head the lord utrad he meant my cousin wanted food lord because there was a fire in his granaries but he feared because lord ethel helm is bringing so many men he thinks lord athelhelm means to keep the fortress i thought my cousin was going to marry atholheum's daughter oh yes lord he chuckled and his eyes opened wider very young and ripe that one a consolation for your cousin consolation for what i wondered for losing control of babenberg to ethelhelm's men so atul helm i said would let my cousin keep bobenberg but will insist on garrisoning it with his own men with a whole army lord ready to smite the heathen and that made sense with bobenberg in ethel helm's grasp see trigger would find saxon armies to his south and to his north my cousin had cannily avoided becoming entangled in any of the wars between saxons and danes but ethel helm's price for his rescue was that bevenburg was to be part of the crushing of northumbria and my cousin didn't want athelhelm's army in his fortress i asked he doesn't want that some men yes army no so you said you'd weaken lord avalon's fleet he hesitated i sensed he wanted to lie so i growled slightly and he jerked as if surprised the scots were already planning to do that lord he admitted hurriedly you knew that i asked and he just nodded so what does god think of you talking to king constantin i asked lord he protested i didn't speak to him you did i accused him how else could you arrange to guide their fleet to domnick you've been talking to both sides to my cousin and to constantine look to king constantine lord i swear it on the blessed virgin's womb he spoke to the lord domino then he paused then nodded i did he admitted in a low voice you came to an arrangement i said attilskypan yes lord you wanted reassurance i said speaking gently again my cousin promised to let you have the monastery if you helped him but what if he lost that must have worried you it did lord i prayed and god told you to talk to the scots yes lord and they promised to give you the monastery if you helped them yes lord and you scouted dumlook for them he nodded again yes lord but why didn't you join that attack why didn't you fight alongside einer's men he looked at me with wide eyes i am a peacemaker lord blessed are the peacemakers i told lord domino i could not carry a sword i'm a bishop i would help the scots lord but not kill for them god forbid and if you had fought alongside einar's ships i suggested then lord athelhelm would know you had betrayed my cousin that is true lord he said if jeremias was mad i thought then he was subtle mad clever mad sinuous as a serpent he had convinced both the scots and my cousin that he was on their side all so he could build his new monastery on linda's ferena regardless of which side do you really believe i asked him that my cousin will keep his promise or that the scots will let you build a monastery on their land neither can be trusted he looked at me with tears in his eyes god wants me to build it lord he talks to me he demands it he expects it of me then you must build it i said feelingly and the archbishop understands that which is why he sent you a message a message he asked eagerly he sends you his blessings and assures you he will be praying daily for your success he promises he will support your work on lindisfaren and send you treasures such treasures but only if you help me i took his hand and laid it on the silver cross in serpent breath hilt i swear by my soul that this is true and i swear that when i am lord of beberg you will be the abbot the bishop and the ruler of lindisfarena i pressed his hand against the pommel i swear that in the name of the father my father he interrupted hurriedly in the name of your father and of your brother and of and of the other one he interrupted again you mustn't name the other one he told me anxiously because it makes god jealous he told me that jealous he nodded vigorously you see it's the holy other one he said stressing the word holy well my father and my brother should be holy even holier but then not and that's very wrong it is wrong i said soothingly so father asked me not to name the other one ever and your father will also tell you to trust me i said i thought for a heartbeat that i had taken the pretense a step too far because jeremiah did not respond but just frowned at me then he closed his eyes tight and muttered something under his breath he paused apparently listening nodded muttered again and then opened his eyes and looked at me with unfeigned happiness i just asked him lord and he says i can trust you praise him praise him indeed i said still holding his hand so now tell me everything i need to know and in jarham's old church in the smoke haunted night he did part four the return to bevenburg eleven you should have slit his goddamn throat finn and growled next morning or rather later that night because i had woken my men in the depths of darkness the fires that smoked the fish flared up on the foreshore as my men fed them with driftwood and by the light of the sudden flames they waded into the shallows and heaved armor and weapons into our ships more fires showed on the hill above surrounding the feast hall where i had imprisoned all of jeremias's men women and children seven of my guards watched the hall while two others stood watch over jeremias who had begged to be allowed to spend the night in his relic-filled cathedral i would pray lord he had pleaded i would pray for your success pray finn and scuffed you should have let me slit his goddamn throat he's mad not evil he's cunning and sly he said so yourself he believes in miracles i said somehow dagfinia the dane had heard about christian miracles and had convinced himself that the nailed god would give him the power to work them if only he collected enough relics and so jeremias had been born he blamed his failure to turn water into mulberry ale or to cure blindness on the sad fact that he had been denied ownership of lindisfarena it's a place of power he had told me earnestly heaven touches the earth on that island it is a holy place so i now told finnen he wants to build a new cathedral on lindisfarene and then he's going to rule all britain king geramias fenin said scornfully not king jeremias i said but pope jeremias and he's going to call his realm the kingdom of heaven everyone will live in peace there'll be no sickness no poverty and the harvest will never fail jeremiah's trusting me had poured out his ambitions his words running together in his excitement there'll be no lords i went on and no fortresses the lion will lie down with the lamb swords will be forged into plowshares there'll be no more stinging nettles and a man can take as many wives as he wants sweet christ is that all and god told him that the miracles will all start at linda's foreign so that's where he'll build his new jerusalem he wants to rename the island it's going to be the blessed isle bless my buttocks finn and said and i'm to be most holy high protector of the blessed isle why does he need a protector if everyone will live in peace because he says the devil will be roaming about like a roaring lion looking to devour folk i thought the lion was sleeping with a lamb and anyway what is a lion the devil in disguise finland laughed and shook his head as you promised to give this idiot the monastery ruins i can't they belong to the church but i can give him land on the island and if he takes the church land too i won't stop him the church won't like that i don't give a rat's turd what the church likes or dislikes i said tartly and jeremias is harmless he'll betray you finnon said like he's betrayed everyone else for some reason finnen had taken against jeremias a dislike that was mutual i wondered if it was because finnan a christian was offended by the mad bishops delusions i could imagine some christians thinking that jeremiah's mocked them but i was not so sure i thought he was sincere even if he was mad while finnen just wanted to cut his throat but i would not cut his throat nor any other part of him i had liked jeremias he was earnestly mad and he was passionately mistaken and he was also cunning as he had proved by his dealings with athol helm with the scots and with my cousin but all those lies and deceptions had been meant to bring about his miraculous kingdom he believed the nailed god was on his side and i was not willing to offend that god nor any other not on this day which would bring the battle i had dreamed of all my life so i had promised him land on lindisfarina then allowed him to offer me his blessing his scrawny hands had pressed on my skull as he harangued the nailed god with a plea for my victory he'd even offered to come with us i can't summon my father's angels to fight on your side he had promised me but i had persuaded him his prayers would be just as effective if they were made in his own cathedral you might let him live finnan said grudgingly but just don't leave him here what can he do you'll just sail away and let him be what else i don't trust the bastard what can he do i asked again he can't warn bebenberg that we're coming he'd need a fast ship to do that and he doesn't have any ships he's a miracle worker perhaps he'll fly he's a poor innocent idiot i said then sent swithen to recall all the guards who watched jeremias and his folk in the old monastery it was time to leave jeremias was indeed a poor innocent idiot but wasn't i just as foolish i was taking a small band of men to capture the impregnable fortress where my cousin's men waited where einer the white waited and where the scots waited we sailed north four ships the edith the hana the stura and the goods motor left jairum in the darkness i was in the goods murder now leaving ge brut to helm the edith we rode down river towards the sea and the sound of our all blades striking the water was the loudest noise in that still night every dip of the oars stirred the black river to a myriad of twinkling lights and each time the blades lifted they sprinkled a glitter of those lights that were the jewels of ran the sea goddess and i took their sparkling to be a sign of her blessing small patches of mist clung to the river but there was enough moonlight seeping through the thin clouds to show us the tynan's dark banks we left on the slack water of low tide but the flood began as we headed towards the sea for the moment the current was against us but once past the headlands we would turn north and the tide would help us later in the day we would fight the sea's currents but i hope by then a wind would be filling our sails but there was no wind as we left the river there was just the silence of the night through which the four ships ghosted slow under their orbeez and as the clouds moved west beneath the sky drenched with stars there were stars above us and runs jewels below us and the sea was calm she is never still of course a calm lake can look as smooth as ice but the sea always moves you see her breathing see the slow rise and fall of the great waters but i have rarely seen a sea as calm as on that starlit silent night it was as if the gods held their breath and even my men were silent crews usually chant or sing as they row or at the least they grumble but that night no one spoke and no one sang and the good's murder seemed to glide through a dark void like skid blanier the ship of the gods sailing noiselessly between the stars i looked back as the sea's hidden current carried us northwards i was watching the headland of the tynan for fire i suspected constantine or at least domino had posted men on the river's northern bank to watch jeremiah's ships if there were scottish scouts on that bank they could not ride to bevenberg faster than our ships could sail there but they might light a warning beacon i watched but saw none i hoped that any scots who had occupied the southern parts of bevenberg's land would already have retreated because he triggers forces should have crossed the wall by now he had promised to lead at least 150 men north though he had warned me he was not willing to fight a pitched battle against domino such a battle would invite a slaughter and see trigger needed every sword for the saxon onslaught he knew was coming there was no warning fire on the headland the whole coast was dark the four ships were alone forging north with goods murder in the lead she was the smallest and thus the slowest ship and so the others matched our speed it was not until the eastern horizon was edged with a sword blade of grey light that the rowers began to sing it began on the stura the oarsmen singing the lay of ida a song i knew my son had chosen because it's told how our ancestor ida the flame bearer had come across the cold sea to capture the fortress on the high rock the song claimed that ida and his men were hungry they were desperate and how they had flung themselves up the rock to be beaten back by a savage enemy they were hurled back three times the song claimed and their dead lay thick on the slope as they huddled on the beach taunted by their enemies night was falling and a storm was brewing offshore and ida and his men were trapped between the fortress and the churning breakers facing death by blade or by sea until ida shouted it would be death by fire he had burned his ships making flames by the water and had seized a fiery length of wood and charged alone he was wreathed in flame sparks flew behind him and he flung himself on the wall and thrust flame into his enemies faces and they ran fearing this fire warrior who had come from a far land my father had mocked the song saying that one spear thrust or a pail of water would have been enough to stop ida but it was undeniable that he had taken the fortress the singing grew stronger as the crews of the other three ships joined in chanting the song of burning triumph in time to their awe strokes as we beat our way northwards along the northumbrian coast and as the sun touched the world's edge with the day's new fire a small wind ruffled the water rippling it from the east i would have liked a southern wind even a gale or at least a blustery hard southern blow that might have penned aina's ships in their narrow anchorage behind lindisfarne but the gods sent me a gentle east wind instead and i touched my hammer and meekly thanked them that the wind was not northerly jeremias had confirmed that aina the white's vessels were moored in the shallow anchorage behind the island and a hard southern wind would have given them a long tiring passage to the harbour mouth at mebenburg the east wind would still try to blow them back down the anchorage's entrance channel but once beyond the shoals they could hoist their sails and race southerly with the wind on their backboard beam and there's one scottish ship there too lord jeremiah said added the trionaid she's a lump of a boat lord he had said the scots like to build their ships heavy so be careful she doesn't ram you she's slow but she can crush your streaks like a hammer falling on an eggshell how many crew 50 at least lord she's a big brute i had remembered seeing wald here the commander of my cousin's household troops at domnick did you bring him out of bemberg i had asked jeremias i did lord he confessed and two others before him how if the scots had seen any of jeremiah's ships at the fortress then they would have known he was betraying them fog lord he'd told me i took one of our smaller ships and laid up in the bay by coquidis till there was a deep fog cocky's was a small island just off the coast to the south of bevenburg who were the other two both priests lord he had sounded disapproving presumably because the priests had not recognized his authority as a bishop i picked them up a month ago and took them to jairum and they found their own way south to negotiate with lord atholhelm under my nose i thought bitterly they were sent to arrange the marriage jeremiah said nodded she brings a rich dowry i hear gold lord and she's a sweet little thing he'd sighed wistfully she's got tits like ripe little apples i'd like to give her a thorough blessing you'd like what i asked surprised to lay my hands on her lord he said in apparent innocence he was not entirely mad in mid-morning as the sun burnished a sea that was breaking into small waves the wind freshened we hoisted jeremias's ragged sail that was decorated with a dark cross and when it was sheated home goods motor bent to the quickening breeze we shipped the oars and let the wind take us northwards the trailing ships did the same loosing their great sails and athelhelm's stag was there pitch black against the pale wood blue linen blazoned across the hana's bellying sail we were not yet halfway but the wind was on our beam the foam flecked seas were breaking white at our prows our wakes spread bright in the sun and we were going to bevenberg when we are young we yearn for battle in the fire lid halls we listen to the songs of heroes how they broke the fomen splintered the shield wall and soaked their swords in the blood of enemies as youngsters we listen to the boasts of warriors hear their laughter as they recall battle and their bellows of pride when their lord reminds them of some hard-won victory and those youngsters who have not fought who have yet to hold their shield against the neighbors shield and the wall are despised and disparaged so we practice day after day we practice with spear sword and shield we begin as children learning bladecraft with wooden weapons and hour after hour we hit and are hit we fight against men who hurt us in order to teach us we learn not to cry when the blood from a split skull sheets across our eyes and slowly the skill of swordcraft builds then the day comes when we are ordered to march with the men not as children to hold the horses into scavenged weapons after the battle but as men if we are lucky we have a battered old helmet and a leather jerking maybe even a coat of mail that hangs like a sack we have a sword with a dented edge and a shield that is scored by enemy blades we are almost men not quite warriors and on some fateful day we meet an enemy for the first time and we hear the chance of battle the threatening clash of blades on shields and we begin to learn that the poets are wrong and that the proud songs lie even before the shield walls meet some men themselves they shiver with fear they drink mead and ale some boast but most are quiet unless they join a chunt of hate some men tell jokes and the laughter is nervous others vomit our battle leaders harangus tell us of the deeds of our ancestors of the filth that is the enemy of the fate our women and children face unless we win and between the shield walls the heroes strut challenging us to single combat and you look at the enemies champions and they seem invincible they are big men grim faced gold hung shining in male confident scornful savage shield wall reeks of and all the man wants is to be home to be anywhere but on this field that prepares for battle but none of us will turn and run or else we will be despised forever we pretend we want to be there and when the wall at last advances step by step and the heart is thumping fast as a bird's wing beating the world seems unreal thought flies fear rules and then the order to quicken the charge is shouted and you run or stumble but stay in your rank because this is the moment you have spent a lifetime preparing for and then for the first time you hear the thunder of shield walls meeting the clanger of battle swords and the screaming begins it will never end till the world ends in the chaos of ragnarok we will fight for our women for our land and for our homes some christians speak of peace of the evil of war and who does not want peace but then some crazed warrior comes screaming his god's filthy name into your face and his only ambitions are to kill you to rape your wife to enslave your daughters and take your home and so you must fight then you will see men die with their guts coiled in the mud with their skulls opened with their eyes missing you will hear them choking gasping weeping screaming you will see your friends die you will lose your balance as your foot slips and an enemy's spilt bowels you will look into a man's face as you slide your blade into his belly and if the three fates at the foot of yggdrasil favor you then you will know the ecstasy of battle the joy of victory and the relief of living then you will go home and the poets will compose a song of the battle and perhaps your name will be chanted and you will boast of your prowess and the youngsters will listen in envious or and you will not tell them of the horror you will not say how you are haunted by the faces of the men you killed how in their last gasp of life they sought your pity and you had none you will not speak of the boys who died screaming for their mothers while you twisted a blade in their guts and snarled your scorn into their ears you will not confess that you wake in the night covered in sweat heart hammering shrinking from the memories you will not talk of that because that is the horror and the horror is held in the hearts hoard a secret and to admit it is to admit fear and we are warriors we do not fear we strut we go to battle like heroes we stink of but we endure the horror because we must protect our women keep our children safe from slavery and guard our homes so the screaming will never end not till time itself ends lord swithen was forced to touch my arm to break my reverie and i jumped startled to discover the wind blowing across our hull the sail pulling well my hand on the steering ore and our ship coursing straight and true dude swithen sounded anxious he must have thought i was in a trance i was thinking of those blood puddings that finnan's wife makes i said but he still gazed at me with a worried expression what is it i asked look loot swithen pointed over our stern i turned and there on the southern horizon faint against the heap of clouds that edged the world were four ships i could only see their sails dirty and dark against the white clouds but i would have wagered serpent breath against a kitchen knife that i knew who they were they were the remnants of athol helm's fleet the larger ships that had been moored on the wharf at domnick and which had escaped dina's ravaging and being big they would be faster than our four vessels not just faster but with larger crews and i did not doubt that athelhelm had at least 250 men crammed into the long holes that pursued us for the moment the four ships were a long way behind but we still had a long way to go it would be close my son hardened his sail so that the steward quickened he brought her close to our steerboard side and loose the sheets so that he matched our speed is that athel helm he shouted through cupped hands who else he looked as if he was about to shout another question then thought better of it there was nothing we could do unless we wanted to abandon our voyage by turning into one of the few harbours on this coast and my son knew i would not do that he let the stiora fall back by early afternoon i could see the holes of the pursuing vessels among which the pale timbers of the elf swan showed clearly the four ships were catching us though i reckoned we would still reach beberberg first but beating them to the fortress would not be enough i needed time before ettelhelm interfered then the gods showed that they loved us because the wind must have dropped to our south and i saw their big sails sag phil then sag again after a moment the sun reflected from all blades then the long banks began to dip and rise but no crew could row as fast as our ships were reaching on that friendly east wind for a while the four west's action ships lost ground but the patch of karma wind did not last and their sails filled once more the oars were taken in board and they again began to close relentlessly by now ethel helm would have recognized jeremiah's rugged ship and he would guess the other three were mine he would know i was ahead of him by mid afternoon i could see the farn islands breaking the horizon and not long after the shape of babenberg high on its rock we were sailing fast the wind was gusting high the sails pulling us and our cut waters breaking the seas to send spray flying down our decks my men pulled on mailcoats belted swords into place touched their hammers or their crosses and muttered prayers behind us the four west saxon ships were near enough that i could see men aboard could see the crosses on their prows and see the crisscross of ropes that stiffened their sails but they had not quite closed enough i would have a little time enough time i hoped i had pulled on a male coat my finest its hems edged with gold and serpent breath now hungered my side a glint of reflected sunlight showed where a man held a spear on bobenberg's ramparts i could see the scots too a small group of horsemen was galloping north along the beach they had seen our ships and like the sentinels on bebenberg's high walls would have recognized the goods motor and the riders were now hurrying the news to domino so four of us were making ready my small fleet was closing on the fortress the seas hissing down our wind-driven hulls my cousin could see us coming and his men would be going to the ramparts to watch our arrival domino would be ordering aina to take his ships to sea while athelhelm was in desperate pursuit the chaos was about to be unleashed but for the chaos to give me victory i needed everyone to believe that what they saw was what they expected to see my cousin expected a relief fleet led by jeremias he had been worried that athelhelm who was providing the men and most of the food would bring too large a force and so usurp ownership of the fortress but he would see four smaller ships one of them goods motor with the dark cross on her sail and with a distinctive tangle of dishevelled rigging and he would see the crudely painted leaping stag on the hana's main sail and he would surely believe that jeremias was bringing the promised relief and he would reckon from the size of the ships that the force coming to his aid numbered fewer than 200 men a large force certainly but not sufficient to overpower his garrison behind us and still some distance from the foam-fretted fan islands were athelhelms larger ships and so far as i could see not one was flying a banner my cousin might be puzzled by them but he would surely have learned that i had purchased chips and the easiest explanation for the trailing vessels was that they were mine and that i was displaying crosses on their prows to mislead him i had not reckoned on athelhelm taking any part in this day's confusion but now i realized his presence could be of help if my cousin assumed his ships were mine the scots and their allies led by aina expected something wholly different they too had been told that a relief fleet was sailing but jeremias had persuaded them that he would make ethel helm's fleet approach very slowly under oars to give einer ships time to intercept them i'd ask jeremiah in jairum yes lord but how would you have persuaded athelhelm to slow down i told him off the dangers he had said what dangers i had asked roxlord there are rocks between the foreigns and the mainland you know that they're easily avoided i'd said you know that and i know that he had answered but do the west saxons how many southerners have sailed that coast he had grinned i've told them how many ships have been lost there told them there are hidden rocks by the harbour entrance told them they have to follow me very cautiously that caution and the creeping pace would have given aina's ships and the scottish vessel time to block the relief fleet's approach ethel helm would then have had a decision to make either to fight his way through the enemy or to refuse the offered sea battle and sail back down the coast he still might have to make that decision because as we sail between the islands and the fortress i could see linda's foreigners spreading across our boughs and i could see aina's ships rowing out of the anchorage they were having a hard time of it fighting against a blustering east wind but if i had slowed if i had dropped the sail and used the oars to creep cautiously as though i feared shoals and rocks then aina would still have had time to intercept me but i did not slow the water was seething and breaking at our bow and the wind was driving us hard towards the harbour's narrow channel soon very soon domino would know he had been deceived and what did i expect i touched the hammer at my neck and then the cross on serpent breath's pommel i expected to be the lord of bevenburg by nightfall or dead but the whole madness depended on one thing just one thing that my cousin would open the gates of his fortress to me i touched the hammer again and called to swithen now i said now swithen was wearing robes we had taken from jeremias hall which in turn jeremiah's had looted from some church back when he was called dagfanir and had served ragna the younger they're all so pretty lord jeremiah said told me lovingly fingering the embroidered hem of a chargeable this one is woven from the finest lamps will try it lord i had not tried it instead we chose the gordiest of the vestments and swithen was now draped in a white cassock that fell to his ankles and was hemmed with golden crosses in the shorter chasible that was edged with scarlet cloth and decorated with red and yellow flames that jeremias claimed were the fires of hell and over it all a pallium which was a broad scarf embroidered with black crosses when i am pope of the north jeremiah said confided in me i shall wear nothing but golden robes i shall shine lord like the sun swithen did not quite shine but he certainly looked flamboyant and now he pulled on a helmet that had a lining of wool edith had taken the long grey horse hairs of the tail we had docked from berg's stallion and sewn them to the linings trim once swiven had pulled the helmet down over his skull he looked like a wild thing with his long white hair catching the gusting wind he went to the boughs of the goods murder and waved his arms frantically towards the fortress and the men waiting in berbenberg saw jeremias coming to their aid just as he had promised and just as they expected they saw athelhelm's banner vast on the hannah's sail they saw the crosses on our ship's prowls they saw relief coming fast on the strong east wind we were now sailing straight towards the entrance the sun was low in the west dazzling me but i could see men waving from the high ramparts and i ordered my men to wave back i could see scotsman standing on the dunes north of the channel just watching us because there was nothing they could do to stop us behind them i could see aina's ships had reached the open sea and were loosing their sails ready to turn south and intercept athelhelm's fleet they were too late to stop us but athol helms four ships were just reaching the islands i prayed that they would strike the sunken rocks but the east wind pushed them out of danger i could see now that the elf swan was flying athelhelm's banner but the east winds streamed the banner directly towards the fortress meaning the men on the walls could not make out the stag that leaped upwards on the flag the crews of athelhelms ships were also waving to the fortress if athelhelm had thought for a moment he would surely have realized that his best course was to run one of his ships aground on the beach beneath pepenberg's high drum parts and shout up at the defenders to warn them of what was happening but instead he kept pursuing us though he could not catch us now we were running land woods in front of that east wind our prows were splitting the seas and our sails were strained taut i could almost smell the land i could see my cousin's banner flying at bebenberg's summit the sea floor shelved towards the beach shortening the waves and we drove into a patch of tumbling waters where wind and tide fought across the shallows and still we ran spray flying and now bebermberg's ramparts were high above us close enough that a man could throw a spear onto our deck and i steered the ship into the channel's center and the gulls wheeled in the wind and screamed about our mast and i thrust the steering all's loom hard away from me and good's murder drove herself onto the sand just paces from the rock cut steps that led up to bevenburg seagate which was closed the stiora came next grounding herself beside the good's murder then came the hannah and edith and all four ships were on the sand blocking the harbour channel and men were leaping from the boughs with seal-hide ropes to hold the ships in place other men were hoisting empty barrels or sacks stuffed with straw pretending to bring the promised supplies to replenish bevenburg storerooms the men carrying those burdens wore helmets and mail and had swords at their sides but none carried a shield to the defenders on the high ramparts it must not appear as if we came for battle half my men were still on the ships oars in their hands as if we were readying to row into the safer waters of the harbour sweden was capering on the sand and screaming up at the ramparts i was still on board goods mode standing in her prayer when watching the seagate if it had stayed closed we were doomed over a hundred of my men were now ashore carrying the barrels crates and sacks towards the stone archway berg climbed the steps to the gate and hammered on the solid wood with his sword hilt while finnen came to the goods motor and looked up at me questioningly no one has thrown a spear yet i said looking up at the ramparts where i saw men gazing down at us they were not throwing spears but nor were they opening the gate and i prayed that i had not utterly misjudged this day open the gates swithen bellowed berg hammered again a surge of waves crashed the stranded ships together in the name of the living god swithen shouted in the name of the father the son and the other one open the gate i jumped overboard splashing into the shallows and looked eastwards and saw all the pursuing ships both athel helms and einers surging towards us through the tangled breakers of the offshore shallows two of them collided and i saw men thrusting spears at each other but though they fought each other we were the real enemy of both and in a few minutes we would be trapped against bobenberg's wall we would be outnumbered and we would be slaughtered the gate swithen shouted up at the ramparts i command you in the name of god to open the gate gerbroot picked up a massive stone and climbed the steps he evidently planned to batter the gates solid timbers into splinters but even with his great strength we had no chance of entering the fortress before the enemy ships reached us my son joined him and like berg beat on the closed gate with his sword's heavy pommel swithen was on his knees now the long white horse there whipping about his face have pity christ he wailed by thy great mercy make these men open their gate for christ's sake my sunscreen desperately open the goddamn gate i was about to order my men to return to the ships to retrieve their shields and so make a shield wall if we were to die then we would die in a way that would make the poets marvel and forge a song that would be chanted in valhalla's mead hall but then the gate opened 12. berg and my son were first through the sea gate they did not rush my son sheathed ravenbeak and helped the defender drag one of the heavy doors fully open before walking calmly into the gates tunnel berg kept his drawn sword low there was a risk in sending a norseman through the gate first but berg had borrowed a cross to wear over his mail and presumably the guards merely thought he was a christian who liked to wear his hair long like a northman i watched him vanish into the tunnel closely followed by a group of men carrying sacks on their shoulders therein finn and muttered wait i said not to him but to reassure myself we had rehearsed this moment we had to capture the sea gate without raising suspicion because beyond it and approachable only by a steep flight of rock cut steps was a higher gate that pierced the wooden palisade guarding the northern edge of the high rock that higher gate was far less formidable than the big gate below and it stood open now but if the enemy shut that gate we would have a desperate struggle to capture it a struggle that would probably fail i could see three men standing in the entrance watching what happened beneath them none of them seemed alarmed they slouched one leaning against the gatepost the temptation was to rush that higher gate and hope that my leading man would reach it before the enemy understood what was happening but the steps were high and steep and deception had seemed the better tactic except now i could see just how close our pursuers were to trapping us the elf swan was closing on the harbor entrance i could see red cloaked spearmen in her bows water suddenly hiding them as a wave shattered on the pale ship's prow a mass of ships followed all of them our enemies i looked back to the high steps but none of my men was in sight yet where are you i asked no one christ help us finnen prayed under his breath then a man wearing a dark blue cloak and an expensive silver helmet appeared on the far steps he was climbing but was in no hurry that's not one of our men is it i asked finnen i could usually recognize any of my men by their clothes or armor but i had never seen the long blue cloak before he's one of the stiora's crew finnen said kettle i think been spending his money hasn't he i asked sourly kettle was a young dane with a love of flamboyant clothes he was fastidious almost dainty at times and easily underestimated he stopped now turned and spoke to someone behind him then my son and berg caught up with him and the three climbed to the upper gate together quick i urged them and as if he had heard me kettle suddenly drew his sea axe and leaped up the last three steps i saw the short sword ram into the belly of the man leaning against the gatepost saw kettle seize the man and haul him backwards before hurling him down the rocky slope my son and berg were through the gate swords drawn now and the men following them abandoned their straw filled sacks and surged after them go i shouted to the men waiting outside the sea gate go go go i'd ran up the beach i was alarmed by a man suddenly appearing on the stone run part above the sea gates arch but then saw it was fault bold one of my doubty friesians there had been no defenders on the fighting platform above that arch and why should there have been my cousin believed we were bringing food and reinforcements and though he had sent men to this northern end of bevenberg's long rock most of them had crowded at the sea wood corner of the ramparts to watch the running fight between aina's and ethel helms ships those ships were almost in the harbour channel and one of my cousin's men on the ramparts must have recognized the leaping stag banner flying from the elf swans masthead because i saw him cup his hands and shout towards the guards on the higher gate but those guards were already dead i was asking them where they wanted the supplies my son told me later and by the time they realized we weren't friendly we were killing them the rest of my men were streaming through the seagate's arch and pounding up the steps beyond we had done it we had captured a path through the outer ramparts up the steep steps through the inner palisade and so into the heart of the fortress that makes it sound easy but babenberg is vast and we were few my son standing just inside the newly captured upper gate could see a long open space rising in front of him to a tangle of small halls and storehouses built in the shadow of the high crag with a great hole and a church dominated the fortress to his left on the ramparts that faced the sea there were scores of men and a few women who had been watching the ships racing towards the harbour and among them was one group who were distinctive because of the brilliance of their male and that finery made him think the group contained my cousin a priest from among them was the first to run towards the captured gate then he saw the sprawled corpses and the blood spilled on stone and thought better of his impulse and turned back to the bright mailed warriors he was shouting a warning more men were joining my son making a line to defend the captured gate bring our shields my son called down to the sea gate we need shields on the beach men were throwing down the empty barrels and straw filled sacks and jostling through the seagate's arch the men who had stayed on board the ships pretending to be ready to road to safety in the harbour now came ashore carrying shields for the men already inside the fortress rorick struggled up the beach carrying our banner my heavy shield a thick cloak hedged in bare fur a horn and my fine wolf crested helmet i would fight in my war glory blabenberg deserved that but before i could pull on the helmet or clasp the cloak at my throat i needed to be inside the walls because the enemy's ships were now dangerously close i glanced back and saw el swan's pale hull just entering the channel while the big scottish ship trionaid was not far behind her gabruz ran past me going back to the ships and i seized his arm get inside now we need more shields lord take them from the enemy now inside i raised my voice all of you inside the last of my men ran through the gate the elf swan was close i saw her sail fly crazily as the sheets were loosened and her proud turned towards the beach armed and mailed warriors were crowded at her bows staring at me as i kicked an empty barrel out of the archway i shouted at my men to shut the gate and a dozen willing men dragged the ponderous doors closed the weight of those doors was testimony to my cousin's fears each was a hand's breath thick with the inner face braced by long squared timbers and both hung from massive hinges that squealed as the two gates were hauled shut gabruts lifted the vast locking bar and dropped it into the brackets with a thunderous crash beyond the gate i heard the violent scrape of keel wood on sand heard the elf swans bow splinter into the abandoned edith and knew athol helms warriors were leaping onto the beach but athelhelm's crew like the three men who had guarded the higher gate were too late i left gabriel and a dozen men to defend the seagate stay up high i told them pointing to where fogpold stood alone on the fighting platform above the masonry arch and drop rocks on any bastard trying to get in big rocks gabriel responded with relish he shouted at his men to start collecting stones of which there were plenty and to carry them up the steps we turned their brain into pottage lord he promised me then turned as a second an even louder splintering noise sounded beyond the gates i heard men shouting in anger heard a blade hit another and reckoned the heavy scottish ship had rammed the elf swan let the bastards fight it out i thought and climbed the steep steps into bevenburg into bevenburg into my home for a moment i was overwhelmed i had dreamed of coming home for my whole life and now standing inside babenberg's rumparts it did seem like a dream the sound of the fighting below the cry of the goals the voices of my men faded i just stared scarcely daring to believe that i was home again it had changed i knew that of course because i had seen the fortress from the hills but it was still a surprise to see the unfamiliar buildings at the fort summit was a new great hall twice the size of the one my father had inherited while just this side of the hall was a church built of stone its western gable surmounted by a tall wooden cross there was a squat tower at the church's eastern end and i could see a bell hanging in the roofed wooden frame on the tower summit lower on a rock ledge between the hall and the seaward ramparts there was a burned out all that was left were ashes and a few scorched pillars and i suppose that must have been the granary that had caught fire other granaries storehouses and barracks many of them knew and all made of timber filled the rest of the space between the great hall's high crag and the fortress's eastern walls i heard more crashes as the boats piled up in the harbour channel and glanced behind to see that two more of atholhelms ships had joined the vicious fight that had broken out on the beach aina's ships were coming fast to support the scots who would overrun the elf swan but who now faced west saxon reinforcements that fight was none of my business so long as gabriel and his men held the sea gate safe my business was to deal with my cousin's men inside the fortress and to my surprise there were none to be seen they ran away my son's head scornfully he pointed to the huddle of storehouses built beneath the crag on which the church and the great hall stood they went to those buildings they were on the ramparts i asked about 60 of them he said but only about a dozen were in mail so they were not ready and that was no surprise defending a fortress during a siege is a tedious business mostly spent watching the encircling enemy who if they are attempting to starve the defending garrison will do little except stare back i had no doubt that my cousin had a large force all in mail and all heavily armed guarding the low gate and a similar smaller group at the highgate both of which were at the fortress's southern end but what did he have to fear from the sea gate it could only be approached from the ocean or by men taking a long walk along the beach beneath the sea with ramparts and the sentinels high above would have plenty of time to give warning if an enemy tried either approach those sentinels had thought we were friends now the first of them were dead father my son sounded anxious i was gazing at the great hall marveling at its size and amazed to find myself standing inside bebermberg's ramparts shouldn't we move my son prompted me he was right of course we had surprised the enemy who had withdrawn to leave all the northern part of bobenberg undefended yet all i was doing was lingering at the gate to the hall i said i had decided we should take the fortress's highest point and so force my cousin's men to fight uphill in an attempt to dislodge us i had put on my helmet closing the cheek pieces so that all an enemy would see were my shadowed eyes in the wolf crested metal i let rorick tie the laces that held the cheek pieces shut then pulled the heavy cloak over my shoulders and clasped it with a gold brooch i wore my arm rings gold and silver the trophies of battles passed i carried my heavy shield painted with the wolf's head of bevenberg and i drew serpent breath to the hall i said again louder my men were carrying their shields now they looked fierce and wild their faces framed by helmets they were my hard and savage worries to the hall they raced past me led by my son young legs i said to finnon and just then the bell in the church tower began to sound i could see the huge instrument swinging and see that the bell rope was being pulled frantically because the bell was jerking wildly as it swung the sound was harsh loud and panicked now they're awake finnen said dryly the bell had woken the scots too at least those who had not already crowded onto the dunes to watch the ships approach i could see men and women coming from the cottages on the harbour's far side to gather on the shore domino would be wondering what caused the alarm he would also be considering whether this was the moment to assault the low gate my cousin would be wondering the same thing and his fear of a scottish attack would convince him to leave a strong force to guard the southern ramparts constantine i thought with grim amusement would not be happy if he knew how his men were making things easier for us hoist the banner i told rorick it was the same banner that flew above the great hall the wolf's head banner of babenberg i had taken a swift glance behind before following the younger men towards the great hall the harbour channel was now blocked by my four ships by attle helms four by the triange and by einer's vessels some of athelhelm's men had fled onto the northern beach and were being pursued by norsemen while others were waging a bitter battle on the ship's decks but most of the fighting seemed to be on the beach immediately below the sea gate which hid my view i could see that gabrut and his men were merely watching the struggle which told me that neither the west saxons nor so far the scots or norsemen were attacking the gate so my enemies fought each other and the thought of that made me laugh aloud what's funny fairness i love it when our enemies fight each other finn and chuckled i almost feel sorry for athel helms boys to come all this way to have a crew of furious scotsman up their asses welcome to northumbria ahead of us was a rising stretch of bare rock where in my father's time men had practiced their battle skills and on sunny days women had laid clothing to dry at the far end of the rocky stretch were store houses barracks and stables and on the right reared the crag of steeper rock where the hall and church were built those buildings were also approached by a crude stone ramp that followed the curve of the landwood ramparts and my son was leading our men up that ramp which in places had been cut into steps they went fast i watched as the first of my warriors ran past the church and threw a side door into the great hall almost immediately some women and children fled the hall through the bigger doors that faced the sea and overlooked the storehouses they ran down the steep stairs joined by some of my cousin's warriors who it seemed were not inclined to fight for the crags flat summit finnen and i hurried climbing a steep flight of wide stone stairs that led from the ramp to the church the bell was still tolling and a half thought of going into the stone building finding whoever hauled on the bell rope and silencing the noise but then decided the frantic sound was spreading panic and panic was my friend in this late afternoon a woman screamed from the church door when she saw us i ignored her following my warriors into the gloom of the hall utred i bellowed in search of my son father the front of the hall form a shield wall in front he shouted orders and men followed him into the sunlight there were four bodies among the tables on the whole stone floor the corpses of men caught inside and foolish enough to have offered a fight a fire smoldered in the big central hearth and old cakes were baking on the ring of stones that boarded the fire i climbed onto the dais and pushed open a door that led to a windowless chamber there was no one in the room which i guess was where my cousin slept there was a bed covered in furs a tapestry on one wall and three wooden chests their contents must wait i went back into the hall jumped from the dais and turned fast when i heard a snarl from my right but it was only a hound under a table she was protecting her puppies my puppies now i thought and remembered days hunting in the hills behind the harbour and suddenly it seemed as if the past unraveled and i could hear my father's voice echoing in the hall it did not matter that the heavy rafters were twice as far overhead as they had been in his day nor that the hall was longer and wider this was bebenberg it was home get a proper spear you louse my father had snarled on the last day we had hunted boar together github his new wife and my stepmother had protested that a man's spear was too heavy for a nine-year-old then let him be gooded by a boar my father had said it will do the world a favor and rid us of a laos my uncle had laughed i should have heard the envy and hatred in that laugh but now a lifetime later i had come to undo the wrong that my uncle had done i went through the big sea facing door to find my men arrayed on the flat space beyond we had captured bevenberg's summit but that did not mean we had won the fortress we still had to scour the rock of enemies and they were gathering beneath us immediately below us and reached by the steps down which the women and children had fled was the wide patch of scorched stone shadowed now by the great hall's gable and littered with charred beams which i suppose had been the granary that had burned beyond that were other storehouses or barracks some with scorched walls and my cousins men now properly armed with mail and shields were filling the alleys between them and i realized i had made a mistake i had thought that by capturing the great hall the highest point of bevenburg i would force my cousin's men to attack us and men attacking up steep steps would die under our blades but the men gathering in the alleys showed no sign of wanting to be killed they waited expecting us to attack and i suddenly realized that if my cousin had the sense of a flea he would leave us on the summit while he recaptured the sea gate and admitted ethel helms men we had to dislodge my cousins gathering forces defeat them and drive them out of bevenburg before he understood the opportunity and the only way to do that was to go down into the tangle of smaller buildings and hunt them down and i still did not know how many men my cousin led though i did know that the sooner we started killing them then the sooner i could again call bebenberg home i shouted for my son you'll stay here with 20 men watch our backs the rest of you follow me i run down the steps which were the great hall's main approach and which led to the burned-out grunery make a wall i shouted when i reached the foot of the stairs a wall thinning go left two alleyways faced us both filling with enemies those enemies were still confused they had not been expecting a fight on this summer's afternoon and a man needs time to ready himself for the prospect of death i could see they were nervous they were not shouting insults nor moving threateningly forward but waiting behind their shields i would not give them time now forward and what did my cousin's men see they saw confident warriors by now they knew we were the dreaded enemy the threat that had loomed over bevenburg for so many years they saw warriors who came to the fight eagerly and they knew what my men had achieved across the years in all britain there were few bands of warriors as experienced as my men who had a reputation as feral as my men who were feared as much as my men i sometimes called them my wolf back and the defenders who waited in the alleys feared they were about to be ripped apart with the savagery of wolves yet in one way those fearful men were wrong we were not confident we were desperate my men knew as well as i did that speed would be everything this day the fight must be finished quickly or we would be overwhelmed by enemies who at this moment were still too confused to understand what was happening we would live if we were fast and die if we were slow and so my men charged with an eagerness that looked like confidence i led men into the right-hand alley three men could have made a shield wall to block that narrow passage but instead of standing firm the enemy retreated swithen still wearing his gordy bishop's robes and the horsetail hung helmet was on my right and he carried a long heavy spear that he thrust hard into the men who were backing away one of those men tried to block the spear thrust with his shield but instead of taking the blade in the shield center he used the edge and the shield swung to one side with the violence of swithen's blow an eye lunged serpent breath into the space he left twisted her as the blade was buried in his guts and then as he bent over the sword in agony i slammed my shield's iron rim onto the nape of his neck and down he went swithen was already attacking the man beyond as i kicked my man onto his back and tugged serpent breath free of the clinging flesh a blow struck my shield hard enough to drive the top rim back onto the iron strip that protected my nose i thrust the shield away and saw a spear coming from my eyes swayed to avoid it ran serpent breath at the spearman who was spitting insults and glimpsed a movement to my left the spearman knocked my thrust away with his shield as i saw a huge man in a dented helmet swinging an axe at my head it had to be the same axe that had struck my shield so hard and the big bastard was wielding it two-handed and i was forced to raise my shield to cover my skull knowing that i invited a low thrust from the spear but the spearman was also holding a shield he was off balance and i reckoned my mail could stop his one-handed lunge i instinctively stepped under the axe blow using my shoulder to push the big man back against the ali's left hand wall and at the same time i rammed serpent breath of the spearmen i should have been using wasp sting there was no space for a long blade in this struggle the spearmen had stepped back the axe blow was wasted on my shield but the brute let go of the weapon and tried to rest my shield away instead kill him he was bellowing kill him i had brought serpent breath back and managed to find the space to put her tip against his lower belly and heave i felt her sharpen point break through mail and puncture leather slide into flesh and grate on bone the bellow turned to a gasp of pain but still he kept hold of my shield knowing that as long as he held it i was vulnerable to his comrades the spearman had stabbed at my thigh it hurt but the pain vanished as swithen skewered the man bellowing curses as he drove the man backwards with his spear impaled in the man's chest i pushed and twisted serpent breath then suddenly the big man's resistance ended as vidar and bianoff a norseman and a saxon who always fought side by side pushed past me with veda shrieking of thor and beonath calling on christ and both turned on him with their swords i felt blood spray on me and the whole alley seemed to be flooding with blood as the huge man collapsed the spearman was gasping against the other wall and screaming for mercy as others of my wolf pack turned on him they had no mercy the rest of the enemy had fled are you hurt lord be enough ask me no keep going the huge axeman had been wounded at least three times but he still struggled to stand again his face tight with pain or hate bianoff finished him by sawing his sword across the man's throat and more blood spattered me ulfur a dane had broken his sword and stooped to pick up the axe keep going i bellowed keep going don't let them stand the alley ended in an open space that boarded the stables beneath the sea facing ramparts those ramparts were high with a wide fighting platform of solid oak on which a dozen of my cousins men stood they seemed unsure what to do though three carried spears that they hurled down at us but we could see the flight of the weapons and so avoided them easily the spears cluttered uselessly on the stone the men who had filled the right hand alley had fled southwards running to join the defenders of the high gate that lay behind a cluster of more stall houses barns and barracks i was about to order my men to attack those buildings and so drive the defenders back to the high gate knowing that we could assault that formidable fortification along the rumpard's wide fighting platform but before i could give the orders finnan shouted a warning and i saw that many of the survivors of the brief fight in the alleyways perhaps 30 or 40 men in all were running north towards the sea gate they were the men who had defended the wider alley that finnen had cleared and their route south had been blocked by my warriors so now they fled for the safety of the seagate's strong ramparts the men who had been watching us from the high fighting platform also run that way after them i bellowed finnen after them he must have heard the despair in my voice because he immediately shouted at his men to run and led them south and i was in despair i was cursing myself for a fool i had left gabrut and a small force to defend the sea gate but i should have left more gabriel's dozen men could stave off any attack from the harbour channel by staying on the high fighting platform above the arch but now they would be assaulted from within the fortress by men who could unbar and open the gates to let a flood of enemies into babenberg gabrut was a formidable warrior and his men were experienced but they would have to leave the high platform and fight to defend the archway against three or four times their number and i had no faith that gabrut would realize what needed to be done i snatched at swiven's arm tell my son to go to the seagate fast swithen ran back through the alley and up the steps while i set off after finning still cursing myself and i was puzzled too there was something unreal about this day as if it were a waking dream instead of the fight i'd anticipated my entire life my men were running through the fortress like a pack of aimless hounds first chasing one stag then another without any huntsman to guide them and that was my fault i realized that i had spent hours planning how to get into bevenburg but i had not thought what i should do once i was inside now the enemy was dictating the battle and we had been forced to give up the high ground to protect our rear i was in a daze and making a mess of the day and then the mess grew worse because i had forgotten about weld here weld here was the commander of my cousin's household troops the man who had confronted me on the day inaudible i knew him to be a dangerous enemy a warrior almost as experienced as i was myself he had not fought in the great shield wall battles that had driven the danes out of wessex and harried them across murcia but he had spent years confronting the savage scottish raiders who thought babenberg's land was their larder it takes a hard man to fight the scots for so long and to survive and there was many a widow in constantin's country who cursed walder's name i had last seen him at domnick where carried south by jeremias he had gone to escort apple helm and athelham's daughter elswith back to bevenburg they had traveled north on the elf swan the largest of the eldermen's ships and the first of the west saxon vessels to run ashore in bermenberg's harbour channel where she had been rammed and attacked by the scottish trinade moments later more ships had piled up in the narrow channel provoking a three-sided fight between scots norseman and west saxons it had been chaos and i had thought that chaos could only assist me but i had forgotten about weld here and forgotten that he knew bevenburg much better than i did i had only spent the first nine years of my childhood in the fortress but while here had lived here much longer his life dedicated to keeping babinberg safe from enemies safe from me as wilder approached the harbour he had seen what was about to happen that the elf swan would be attacked by the big trion aid which in turn would be assaulted by the ships that crowded behind and intent on avoiding that chaotic bloodletting he had assembled athelhelm elswith and her maids with the best part of ethelhelm's red cloaked household troops on the elf one's prow the trionaid had rammed the el swan stoving in one side and crushing warriors beneath the heavy scottish prowl then the struggle began as the scots leaped onto the half wrecked el swan and the savagery spread as more ships piled into the tangle and as the fighting extended onto both shores of the harbour channel weld here ignored the whole struggle instead leaping from the el swan's boughs and leading his group first westwards then southwards taking them along the rocky beach under bevenberg's landward ramparts gabriel saw them go i thought they were running away he was to tell me but wild here knew babenberg and he knew that no attack was ever likely on those landwood ramparts that were built on the slope of the crag where it rose from the harbour's water even if attackers landed from ships they would find the climb dauntingly steep but all the same there was an entrance there it was not a gate there were no steps just two massive oak trunks that looked exactly like the rest of the wooden palisade that palisade was built on rock and was not buried in the ground like most ramparts but instead the massive oak trunks rested directly on the cragstone the wall was old and needed constant repair those repairs were expensive because the great trunks had to be brought from deep inland or else shipped from the south and it was a week's work to replace even one of them one day my father had said we'll make the wall of stone the whole wall all the way around my cousin had started that work but never finished it and the west facing rum parts above the harbour which was the least likely place to be attacked was where the two trunks stood they were not pegged to the rest of the wall nor strengthen bilateral beams which stiffen the rest of the ramparts instead they were held in place by massive iron nails that were driven into the high fighting platform but by seizing their lower parts the two trunks could be pulled outwards to make a small hole through which a man could crawl the approach to the two oak trunks was steep and made even less inviting because the fortress's latrines were on the ramparts above when the wind came from the west the stench was dreadful but that same stench kept folk away from the secret entrance a besieging enemy would watch beber's gates not knowing that the garrison had another place from which men could sally or as on that day infiltrate the fortress i knew of the old sally port beneath the sea facing ramparts my father had made it and i had considered the chances of sneaking into the fortress by climbing from the beach to that secret opening that was how i had captured dunham by ignoring the massive defenses at the fort's entrance and slipping men through a small gate that gave the garrison access to a spring a gate the defenders had thought too difficult to approach but my father's old sally port truly was too difficult reaching its meant a long and steep climb from the beach almost impossible for a man in mail carrying a shield and weapons besides once the fortress was under attack it was a simple job to block the sally port from the inside and so i dismissed the idea of even trying to use it but i did not know of the new entrance on the western side i had no men spying for me inside bebenberg no one to tell me of the new sally port or to tell me that the new one was even more dangerous than the old because once through the gap a man was hidden by the rock that climbed sharply inside the wall so now unknown to me while here dragged the trunks outwards and apple helm and his red cloaked warriors filed through they gathered in the shadowed space beneath the fighting platform close to the great hall and we did not see them smell them hear them or know they were there because we were trying to clear up the first mess i had made we were fighting to regain the sea gate gabrut had never impressed me as a clever man he was huge he was strong he was loyal and he was cheerful and there were very few men i would rather have beside me in a shield wall but he was not a quick thinker like finnen nor decisive like my son i had left him to guard the seagate because i'd thought it a straightforward task well suited to gabriel's stubborn slow nature and i'd never anticipated that he would have to make a swift and crucial decision but he made it and he made the right decision neither athelhelm's men nor the scots with their norse allies had attempted to storm the sea gate it would have been a massive task though not impossible if they had used the ship's masts as makeshift ladders that would have taken the rest of the day to organize and they had no time they were too busy fighting each other and the few who would strayed up the rock steps had been met by more rocks hurled down by gabruz and his men high above now suddenly gabriel saw my cousin's men streaming down from the higher gate and he understood the danger immediately the panicked man could unbar the lower gate and let in a horde of enemy and so gabrut abandoned his high platform and took his men down to make a shield wall in the archway my cousin's man had been bloodied in the alleyways where they had been torn apart by the sheer savagery of our assault and now they were looking for refuge they could not reach the great hall i had barred their route to the southern gates where i suspected my cousin was gathering his forces and so they had fled northwards the great stone fortifications of the sea gate promised them safety and so they headed that way and then they saw gabriel's wall forming it was a small shield wall but it filled the width of the gates archway and it offered death to the first men brave enough to make an assault the fugitives hesitated no one led them no one told them what to do the church bell was still ringing its panic there were sounds of fighting beyond the sea gate and so leaderless and scared they paused and finnen struck them from behind finnen knowing better than anyone what slaughter would follow if the sea gate was opened did not wait to form his men into a wall instead he just fell on the enemy with his irish fury keening his crazed battle song he had the advantage of the high ground he sensed the enemy's fear and he gave them no time to understand the advantage they possessed they had allies in athel helms hard pressed survivors beyond the gate and all they needed to do was overcome gabriel's dozen men unbow the doors and push them outwards but instead they died finnon's men with the cruelty of warriors finding a terrified enemy at their mercy showed none they turned the rock steps into a flight of blood and gabriel seeing the slaughter led his men out of the arch and attacked up hill by the time i reached the upper gate my cousin's men were all either dead or captive do we want prisoners finnen shouted up to me there were about thirty men kneeling most holding out their hands to show they had no weapons about half that many were dead or dying cut down by fenin's ferocious attack not one of his men so far as i could see had even been wounded i did not want prisoners but nor did i want to kill these men some of whom were scarcely more than boys many were doubtless the sons of bebenberg's tenants or the grandsons of folk i'd known as a child if i won this day then they would be my people my tenants even my warriors but before i could shout an answer to finnon there was a hammering on the gate gabriel i shouted get your men back on the fighting platform yes lord and well done a voice shouted from beyond the sea gate for pity's sake let us in the man beat on the gate again i suspected that he was a survivor from among those of ethel helms men who had stayed to defend the ships and who had been cut down by the scots and by aina's norsemen i shared finland's pity for them they had been brought to this raw coast only to find themselves thrown into a merciless battle against savage northerners it would have been a mercy to open the gate and let the last survivors inside and some of those west saxons might even have fought for me but that was a risk i dared not take the sea gate had to stay closed and that meant athelhelms men trapped outside the wall must die and that our prisoners had to remain inside the fortress then i called stripped the prisoners naked throw their weapons over the wall i would have preferred to send the captives out of the fortress but that would have condemned them stripping and disarming them would be enough it would leave them helpless the hammering on the gate had stopped and i heard a bellow of rage as gabriel turled a stone from the rumparts a man sheltered a curse in norse which told me that only aina's men and the scots both of them my cousin's enemy were now outside the sea gate got it well i shouted to gabriel though not get inside lord he called back i believed him father my son had pushed through the men crowded at the upper gate and touched my mailed arm you'd better come i followed him back through the upper gate to see that a shield wall had formed across the center of the fortress the wall began just beneath the high crag on which the church and the great hall were built and stretched all the way to the sea-facing ramparts a banner flew at the line center my banner of the wolf's head and beneath it was my cousin who had at last assemble his forces his men were clashing their swords against their shields and stumping their feet there were still more men making a smaller shield wall by the church and both walls were uphill of us how many i asked 180 on the lower rock my son said and thirty up by the church just about equal numbers then i said it's a good thing you can't count my son said sounding more amused than he had any right to be and there's more of the bastards he added is a large group of men pushed into the center of my cousin's shield wall which spread apart to make room for them i guess those men had been garrisoning the high gate and my cousin had summoned them trusting the guards at the low gate to deter any assault by the scots i could see my cousin more clearly now he had mounted a horse and was joined by three other riders all of them behind the banner at the center of the larger shield wall on the lower rock he's become fat i said fat my cousin he looked heavy on his big horse he was too far away for me to see his face framed by his helmet but i could see he was just staring at us as his men clash their blades against their shields we'll take him first i said vengefully we'll kill the bastard and see if his men have any fight left in them my son said nothing for a heartbeat then i saw he was staring at bebenberg's summit oh sweet galloping christ he said because the leaping stag had come to bebenberg how in god's name did they get inside my son asked no amusement in his voice now only astonishment because apple helms red cloaked men were appearing on the fortress's high crag they were in mail they made a new shield wall and they cheered when they saw how few we were finnen's men were still out of their sight down the steps by the sea gate and ethel helms troops must have believed we numbered fewer than a hundred men howing god's name did they get inside my son asked again i had no answer so said nothing instead i counted the red cloaked warriors and saw there at least sixty men and still more men were coming from the fortress's southern end to join my cousin's shield wall my cousin heartened by the arrival of his ally was shouting at his men as were two priests who harangued the thickening wall doubtless telling them it was the nailed god's wish that we should all die above him on the heights of the fortress ethel helms stood tall in a dark cloak and bright male he too had a priest who walked along the growing shield wall offering his god's blessing on the household warriors who were readying to kill us there were vengeful norsemen waiting outside the gate and death making two shield walls inside i had fought badly so far leading my men in wasteful attacks and then been forced into a panicked retreat worse i had given my enemy time to recover from his surprise and form his troops but suddenly as i saw that enemy ready and waiting i felt alive i had been wounded in the right thigh stabbed by the spearmen who had died screaming in the alley and i touched my fingers to the wound and they came away bloody i touched the blood to my cheek pieces and then held the fingers to the sky for you thor for you you're wounded my son said it's nothing i said then laughed i remember laughing at that moment and i remember my son frowning at me in puzzlement what i remember best of all though was the sudden certainty that the gods were with me that they would fight for me that my sword would be their sword we're going to win i told my son i felt as if odin or thor had touched me i had never felt more alive and never felt more certain i knew there would be no more mistakes and that this was no dream i had come to bevenberg and bebenberg would be mine rorick i called have you your horn yes lord i pushed through my men going back through the upper gate finnen had taken 50 men down the steps to rescue gabriel's small group and those 50 were still there hurling the prisoner's weapons male coats and clothing across the high stone wall and i realized that men often see what they want to see my cousin could see about a hundred of us huddled by the northern gate and it must have seemed to him that we had retreated and were now caught between his overpowering force and the vicious norseman outside he saw victory atholhelm saw the same he could count and he could see that we were outnumbered and on the lower ground he could see we were trapped and as the sun sank towards the western hills he must have known the elation of imminent revenge except i had woken from my unreal days suddenly i knew how my wolves would fight for the rest of this day finn i called keep your men out of sight till you hear the horn then leave six men to help gabriel and bring the rest to join us you'll be a rear guard there was no need to explain further finland when he led his men up out of the shadows would see what i wanted him to do he nodded and just at that moment the church bell which had been tolling ever since we broke into the fortress stopped and my cousin's men gave a loud cheer what's happening finn and asked athel helm got in somehow with maybe 60 or 70 men we're outnumbered badly badly enough vernon must have sensed my mood because he offered me a wide grin or maybe he was just trying to encourage his men who were all listening so that bastard ethel helm is here he called up to me we're outnumbered and they have the high ground does that mean we're attacking of course it does i shouted back wait for two blasts of the horn then come we'll be there he called then turned away to hurry his men who were shepherding naked prisoners into the gully between the rock and the outer wall a horn sounded not mine but coming from the center of the fortress it sounded a long and mournful note and i thought my cousin must be advancing his wall but when i went back through the upper gate i saw that it heralded a single horseman who approached us the hooves of his big stallion sounded loud on the rock he was still some distance away walking the horse slowly and his face was hidden by cheek pieces for a moment i hoped it was my cousin but he was still with his shield wall and i could see athelhelm among the dark red cloaks on the high ground so the approaching warrior had to be a champion sent to tauntos i turned my back on him and looked for my son how many of our men have spears i asked him maybe ten not too many i chided myself for not thinking of spears sooner because doubtless finnan's men had just held a few over the outer wall but ten should be enough when we attack i told my son put those spearmen in the second rank they won't need shields i did not wait for his response but walked to meet the horsemen it was weld here who had arrived with athelhelm but who must have joined my cousin as soon as he could he curbed the horse some twenty paces from my shield wall and opened his cheek pieces so that i could see his face he wore the same bare-skinned cloak he had worn on the day of aina's arrival the heavy garment must have been hot but it made him look huge especially on horseback his hard face was framed by his battle scarred helmet that was crowned with an eagle's clawed foot while his male clad forearms like mine were ringed with gold he was a warrior in his glory and he watched as i approached then picked something from his yellow teeth and flicked whatever he found towards me lord oatrad he said meaning my cousin offers you the chance to surrender now he didn't dare come and tell me that himself i asked lord ultra doesn't talk to earslings he talks to you for some reason that mild insult made him angry i saw the grimace and heard the suppressed fury in his voice yohan made a kelio now he growled yes i said please he sneered at that and shook his head i would kill you with pleasure he said but lord oatrad and lord athelhelm want you kept alive your death will be their entertainment in the hall tonight get off your horse and fight me i responded because your death will entertain my men if you surrender now he went on ignoring my challenge your death will be quick i laughed at him too frightened to face me walled here he just spat at me for answer i turned my back on him this is old here i shouted at my man and he's too frightened to fight me i've offered and he's refused he's a coward then fight me instead my son walked out of the shield wall in truth i did not want any of us to fight world here not because i feared his skill but because i wanted to attack the enemy before they found their courage the men who faced us who clashed their swords against their shields were not cowards but men must summon the resolve to advance into death's embrace we all feel the shield wall only a fool would say otherwise but my men were ready for the horror and my cousin's men were only just recovering from the shock of realizing they must fight for their lives in this late afternoon the church bell had jarred them into panic they had expected another dull evening instead they faced death but it takes a man time to ready himself for that meeting besides they knew who i was they knew my reputation their priests and leaders were telling them they would win but their fears were telling them that i did not lose and i wanted to attack while those fears gnawed at their courage and fighting waldhere delayed that attack which was why he had written to us of course his demand that we surrender a demand he knew i would reject was to give the defenders time to summon their resolve and his riding alone to confront me showed those defenders he did not fear us it was all a part of the dance of death that always precedes battle and he asked my son are you otrad of bebenberg my son answered i don't fat puppies he sneered his horse a fine gray suddenly tossed his head and skitted sideways on the rock weld here calmed the stallion if you surrender he spoke to me now but loudly enough for my men to hear then your warriors will live he raised his voice to make absolutely certain that all of my men could hear the offer repeated lay your weapons down lay your shields down and you will live you will be given safe passage south lay down your shields and live there was a clutter behind me as a shield hit the rock i turned appalled to see the tall man wearing the dark blue cloak and the fine silver helmet stride from the shield wall he had his cheek pieces closed obscuring his face he had thrown down his shield and now walked towards world here finnen had told me that this was kettle the young and fastidious dane kettel i snarled yes lord kettle answered from behind me i turned frowning to see kettle in an iron helmet and wearing no cloak lord he asked puzzled i looked back to the tall man his helmet i could see now was chased with a pattern of interlocking christian crosses while another cross forged from gold hung at his breast kettle was a pagan and would never wear such things i was about to demand that the coward pick up his damn shield and take his place back in the wall but before i could speak he drew his long sword and pointed it at weld here this puppy the young man said would fight you he had not thrown down his shield as a sign of surrender but because wildhare carried no shield and he would offer the horsemen a fair fight if you have the courage to face me he went on which i doubt no i shouted world here glanced at me puzzled and intrigued by my response to the tall man's offered a fight are you frightened i'll kill you poppy well he sneered at me fight me i almost begged him fight me not him he laughed at me he did not know why i was so suddenly agitated but he had understood that i did not want him to fight the tall man who would defied him and so of course he accepted the challenge he said then swung down from his saddle he unhooked the cloak's clasp and let it fall so that its weight did not obstruct his sword arm i seized the tall man's arm no i forbid it the dark eyes and the helmet's shadow looked at me calmly i am your prince he said you do not command me what are you doing here i demanded i'm killing this impudent man ethelstone said of course i heard the hiss as well here drew his sword from its cupboard and i tightened my grip on effelson's arm you can't do this i said he gently removed my hand you command men lord utrecht he said and you command armies but you do not command princes i obey god and i obey my father and i no longer obey you you should obey me so now let me do my duty you're in a hurry to win this battle aren't you so why waste time he pushed me gently away then walked towards world here i am ethelstone he said prince of wessex and you can lay down your sword and swear me loyalty i can gut you like the scrawny puppy you are weld here snarled and because ethelstone was holding his sword low waldhere attacked first striking high wanting the fight to be over in a heartbeat world here was a big man tall broad-chested solid and muscled ethelstone matched his opponent's height but he was thin like his grandfather alfred he looked frail beside wild here though i knew that frailty was deceptive he was sinewy and quick while his opening stroke was a lunge at ethelstone's throat and it was fast to those of us watching it seemed destined to slit apples and gullet but he just swayed aside almost contemptuously and did not even bother to lift his blade as well his sword slid past his neck it touched but did not break his male coif are you ready to begin yet he taunted world here while his answer was a second attack he wanted to use his weight to beat ethelstone down he had brought his blade back fast and still ethelstone did not raise his sword and weld here bellowed like a bull in heat and used both hands to round the sword at ethelstone's belly charging at the same time reckoning to skewer the prince and drive him to the ground where he could rip bethelston's guts to bloody shreds he must have weighed twice what the younger man weighed and he saw his blade going where he aimed it and the bellow turned into a shout of victory then suddenly the blade was deflected as ethelstone used his left hand to parry the lunge that parry should have torn his hands bloody even severed his fingers but he wore a glove that had iron strips sewn into the leather a trick he was to tell me that steeper taught me and as while his sword slid uselessly into air ethelstone punched his sword hilt into walt his face a trick he later said that you taught me he hit hard i heard the blow and saw the blood from waltie's broken nose i saw a world here stagger away not because he had been beaten off balance but because he could not see the pommel of ethelstone's sword had struck his left eye destroying it and the pain was confusing what was left of his vision he turned bringing his sword back but the blow was weak and ethelton swatted it aside and then shouted his own cry of victory as he made his one stroke of the fight it was a backhanded swing and it crunched into weld his neck and i saw ethelstone grimace with the effort of dragging the blade back sawing it as it broke through the male coiff as it broke skin and muscle as it severed the big blood vessels and so sliced to the big man's spine there was a spray of blood that soaked ethelstone's fine helmet a red mist that the men watching the fight from the heart of the fortress could see plainly and they could see their champion fall the sound of blades beating on shields had faltered then stopped altogether as waldhere staggered away from ethelston the big man dropped his sword put both hands to his neck then collapsed to his knees for a heartbeat he looked at ethelstone with a puzzled expression then fell forward and twitched his lust beside his discarded cloak my men were cheering as ethelstone walked to the dead man's horse and hold himself into the saddle he rode a few paces towards the enemy flaunting his victory then cleaned his sword blade on the grey stallion's main now i shouted spearman in the second rank and follow me we had wasted enough time now we had a battle to fight and a fortress to win and i knew just how to win it so we attacked there were two ways i could attack one was to advance into the face of my cousin's shield wall while the other was to use the long rugged ramp that led to the great hall the route we had taken when we first entered the fortress once at the top of that ramp we would have to assault attle helms household warriors who waited at the head of the steep rock stairs that would be a nasty business attacking uphill is always grim and the steeper the climb the nastier it is the alternative was to charge my cousin's long wall most of that wall was two ranks in places three and a shield wall of two or three ranks is broken far more easily than a wall of four five or even six ranks i wanted to advance with at least four ranks so my wall would have no great width and though i was confident my fierce wolves would smash their bloody way through the center of my cousin's thinner wall the sight of my short wall advancing would bring athelhelm's battle-hardened household warriors down from the fortresses summit and while we were cutting through the center the wings of the enemy would wrap around us all of the enemies forces would be in the same place surrounding us and though that did not mean we would be defeated it would be a bloody and prolonged fight and the casualties would be higher than in a short and savage attack so there really was no choice we had to do it the hard way we would attack ethel helms men at the top of the ramp and face the prospect of fighting men who held the high ground and who could beat axes and swords down on our heads my cousin seeing us use the ramp could not readily reinforce ethel helms troops because there simply was not enough room on the rock ledges outside the great hall in the church what he could do i reckoned was follow me up the ramp he would hurry his men to where we now stood and then assault our rear and that is what i wanted because then i would have divided my enemy into two and i would have two shield walls one facing uphill to attack athol elm and my rear most ranks facing downhill to beat off my cousin and those ranks would fill the width of the ramp we could not be out flanked the enemy had begun beating their swords against their shields again though at first the sound was half-hearted and i heard men shouting at the troops to beat harder dogs were howling deeper in the fortress the sun was almost touching the western skyline i hefted my shield then took serpent breath hilt to my closed cheek pieces be with me i prayed to thor we're attacking ethel helm first i told my man then we'll finish off the other bastards are you ready they roared their ascent they were good so good like hounds desperate to be unleashed and now i led them to my right to the ramp keep your ranks tight i shouted though i had no need to give that command because they already knew we had nine ranks moving steadily up the ramp a tight mass of men sheathed in mail helmeted men nervous excited confident frightened eager men there was little i could teach them about the shield wall we had been in too many no one that evening we would do one thing differently i turned to the second rank who normally would have used their shields to protect the front rank but this second rank had no shields instead they carried the long and heavy spears keep your spears low i told them keep them hidden if you can i saw that ethelstone was still on horseback riding just behind my rear most rank i suppose you brought him i accused my son who was on my right i knew that he and ethelston were friends he grinned he insisted and you hid him not exactly you just didn't look for him you're an idiot men often tell me i'm like you father we climbed a short flight of three rock steps atholhan's men were chanting and beating blades i could see a priest holding his hands high calling on the nailed god to destroy us you're an idiot i told my son again but keep him alive and i'll forgive you i turn back again rorick lord sound the now two blasts the sound of the first blast echoed back from the craggar head as the second note sounded fine must have been waiting poised because his men appeared immediately streaming from the upper gate towards the base of the ramp by now we were a hundred pesos perhaps slightly more from the steep steps where athelhelm's men waited his front rank was fifteen men their shields overlapping their faces masks of metal that front rank was no longer beating swords against shields though the men behind were the priest turned and spat towards us and i saw it was father herefrieth my enemy from horncaster his scarred face was twisted with anger and i could see a male coat showing beneath the neckline of his priestly robe he was brandishing a sword so the church had not disciplined him and he was here as one of atholhelms sorcerers he was shouting but i could not hear what insults or curses he heard but nor did i care because the older gods were with me and herefrith was doomed i looked to my right and saw in the shadow of the hills a crowd mostly women and children watching from the harbour's far shore almost all were gazing towards us which told me that domino had not made a move against the low gate a few very few had walked northwards to see what happened at the seagate but even those folk were now staring to see what happened at the fortress's summit so gabriel and his men were still secure and the battle would be here on the stony ramp that led to bebenberg's summit athelhelms men held that summit they appeared formidable a wall of iron-rimmed willow and sharpened steel but wildhear's swift death must have shaken them yet athelhelm would have reason for confidence we were attacking uphill and the final stretch was a stairway of stone as steep as the earthen bank of any fortress athelhelm would be convinced i had made a mistake that i was leading my warriors into a place of death and he also knew that my cousin seeing how few we were was bringing his men to our rear we would be fighting up a steep slope assailed from the front and the back and i glanced left and saw my cousin still on horseback urging his long shield wall forward finnen's men were hurrying to catch us now by leaving the seagate he opened it to my cousin's attack but by now only my cousin's enemies waited outside that gate and to open it would be to invite a flood of scots and norsemen into the fortress my cousin would not want the sea gate open not until he had finished with me and felt confident enough to attack the men outside so he would finish me first and wanted to finish me fast he must have thought the battle would be over quickly because men see what they want to see and my cousin had seen how small my force was and that had encouraged him to advance his wall but suddenly finnen and his men had appeared and the sight of those reinforcements had made his shield wall hesitate finnen was bellowing at his men to form ranks behind mine and i heard my cousin shouted his men keep going keep going god will give us victory his voice was shrill close to 200 men were now hurrying to enter the ramp behind us force and oswald and for babenberg my cousin shouted i noticed he was not in the front rank but far behind towards the rear he was still mounted the only horsemen now among the troops who came to assault our rear so i had the battle i wanted instead of hunting the garrison through the maze of bevenburg's buildings i had them concentrated in front of me and gathering behind me all we had to do now was kill them i turned to make certain that the spearmen were carrying their spears low they were listen i called to them but not nearly loud enough for the enemy waiting ahead to hear me men fighting downhill don't hold their shields low they'll fight as they always fight they'll hold their shields to cover their bellies and balls and that means you'll have a clear path to their legs thrust as high as you can go for their thighs and the bastards you them and we'll kill them goddess and oswald a man shouted from my cousin's ranks they were all behind us now though a handful of my cousin's men had been sent to thicken athelhelm's ranks i reckon there were close to 150 men at the top of the steps forming a shield wall some five or six ranks deep in front of the church there were more men than that behind us but neither they nor the enemy above could outflank us and now with finland's men added to mine we had 15 ranks we were formidable the enemy had seen their champion die and they knew they were fighting neutral of babenberg many of the men in ethelhelm's ranks had fought in armies that i led those men knew me and the last thing they wanted was to fight my wolf pack on a summer's evening athol helms red cloaked warriors waited their shields overlapping and as i had foreseen they were holding those shields high i could see their faces clearly now could see them watching their death march closer these men were experienced like us they had fought in the long war to drive the danes from mercia and east anglia but we had fought more often than for longer we were the wolfpack we were the killers of britain we had fought from the south coast of wessex to the northern wilds from the ocean to the sea and we had never been beaten and these men knew it they saw our war axes reflecting the lowering sun saw the swords saw how steadily we advanced we were approaching that final flight of steps keeping our shields overlapped our blades low and our pace slow but relentless a man in ethel helm's front rank vomited and his shield wavered now i roared kill them we charged even in a nervous enemy there are always some men who welcome battle who have no fear who come alive in the horror it was one of those who killed swithen who like all of us in the leading rank held his shield high and crouched beneath its shelter to receive the blow we knew was coming perhaps swiven tripped on the steps or else bent too far forward because an axeman buried his blade in the base of swithen's spine i did not see it though i heard swithen whale i was crouching holding my shield above my head and keeping wasp sting ready serpent breath was in her scabbard and would stay there until the shield wall ahead was broken in the close business of killing men whose last breath you can smell there is no weapon as good as a sea axe a short sword we had taken the steps at a run raised our shields and the enemy had hammered those shields with a shout of rage and victory swithen died as did alpha adayne and poor edrick who had once been my servant a ringing blow struck my shield boss but not hard enough to drive me down to my knees and i reckoned it had to have been a sword that hit me if world here had lived or if athelham had known his business he would have packed the front rank with heavy brutal war axes that would beat us down like cattle being slaughtered before the winter cold instead they mostly use swords and a sword is not a beating weapon it can slash or pierce but to batter an enemy into a mess of broken bone of blood and butchered flesh there is nothing to rival the lead-weighted axe whoever struck at me had dented the iron boss of my willow shield but it was the last stroke he gave on this earth i was already pushing upwards and bringing wasp sting up feeling her pierced male feeling her break through the tough layer of muscle to reach the softness inside i kept pushing with the shield and twisting the blade so that it did not stick in the enemy's guts and a spear came from behind me lancing between me and my son to grind its blade into an enemy's upper thigh and i saw the blood run from the wound and that man staggered the man i was gouging with wasp sting fell and the ranks behind me were heaving forward and i suppose though i do not remember it that we were roaring our battle shout i reached the top step there were bodies obstructing me step over them another blow hit my shield hard enough to tilt it to one side but berg was on my left and his shield steadied mine i rammed wasp's thing forward felt i hit wood brought her back and thrust her lower this time feeling male and flesh a bearded man was screaming at me over the rim of my shield and his scream turned to open mouth agony as berg's seax found his ribs on my right my son was shrieking as he stabbed his seahawks between two enemy shields the man berg had wounded went down and i stepped over him the spearman behind me killed him then thrust the spear past me again driving the blade into an enemy's groin that man screamed horribly dropped his shield bent over the blood splashing on the stone and i rammed wasps thing down his back raking his spine and he fell i stumped on his head stepped over him two maybe three ranks of the enemy were down step forward again hold the shield steady peer over the top fear is screaming somewhere deep ignore it you can smell the now and blood the stench of glory the enemy is more frightened kill them keep the shields steady kill a young man with a wispy beard swung at me with a sword thank you i thought because to swing he had to move his shield aside and he died with wasp sting in his chest she drove through his mail like an orga piercing butter hours of practice went into that young man's death my men were roaring a sword struck my helmet another hammered into my shield berg killed the man who had swung at my helmet you do not swing in a shield wall you stab may the gods ever send me enemies who swing their blades the man who stabbed at my shield was going backwards his eyes huge with fear i tripped on a body went down to one knee and parried a spear thrust from my right it was a feeble thrust because the man was stepping backwards as he lunged i stood and rammed wasp sting towards the man who had struck my shield then suddenly flicked her right to slice her blade across the spearman's eyes brought her back and drove her at the first man who was shaking with terror wasp sting found his throat drenched me with blood i was shouting myself horse hurling curses at an enemy who were discovering what it was to fight my wolves i lowered my shield slightly and saw athelhelm wide-eyed against the wall of the church with his daughter pale and frail at his side he had his arm around her kurdik thrust me aside he had dropped his spear and found a war axe he carried no shield he just ran at the enemy a big man filled with the battle rage and the axe split a shield in two and he shook it off and thrust the blade into the face of the man behind the blunt blow was so strong that the man's face was turned into a mess of blood we stepped up to protect kerdic the breaking my son said kurdic was screaming with anger swinging the massive axe to beat men aside one of his blows even hit my shield but he was unstoppable that day a red cloak man lunged at kurdic with a sword but wasp sting slid into his open mouth and i twisted as i thrust it deeper i was still screaming at the enemy promising them death i was thor i was odin i was the lord of battle ethelstone had brought his horse to the foot of the corpse littered steps he had opened his cheek pieces and stood in his stirrups with his bloodstained sword held high i am your prince he shouted go into the church and you live atholhelm gaped at him i am your prince edelston shouted again and again his grey horse was dappled red with blood go into the church and you live drop your weapons go into the church he was bellowing like me his sword was reddened his shield splinted with a sheet of blood spattered across the leaping stag he's mine i shouted but my son shouldered me aside and ran at the tall man who rammed his shield forward and lunged his sword under the shield to strike my son's legs but utred lowered his shield fast deflecting the blow and slashed at hrothard who parried it and the clash of swords was like a bell sounding rothard was spitting curses my son was smiling the swords clashed again men were watching red cloaked men had dropped their weapons were holding their hands out to show they yielded and they watched as the blades moved so fast it was impossible to count each stroke two craftsmen at their work then my son staggered raphael saw the opening and lunged and utred turned inside the lunge the stagger of faint and he was behind trafford now and his sword was at throthod's throat and it sliced the air misted with blood and flothard fell further hereforth was shouting at athoham's men to fight on god is with you you cannot lose kill them kill the pagan christ is with you kill the pagan he meant me athelhelm and his daughter were gone i did not see them run a man made a feeble thrust at me with a spear and i swept it aside with my shield stepped close and drove wasp sting deep he gasped into my face sobbed and i cursed him as i ripped the blade upwards gutting him and he made a mewing noise as he fell and herefry seeing my sea axe trapped in the dying man's guts charged me my son stopped him using his shield to throw the priest back against the church wall my son was a christian also he claimed and to kill a priest would condemn his soul to eternal flames so he was content just to thrust the big priest away but i had no fear of the christian hell i let go of wasp-sting and picked up the spear that the dying man had thrust so feebly her everth i shouted make your god and i ran at him spear-leveled and his swords parry did not deflect the blade by a hand's width and the spear went through his robe through his mail and into his belly and through his spine until the spears point jarred and bent against the church's stone wall that was smeared streaked and running with his blood i left him with the spear still inside him left him there to die they've broken my son was at my side the broken father they're not beaten yet i snarled i tugged wasp sting from the corpse and looked back down the ramp to see my cousin was watching not fighting he saw finnon's shield wall waiting for his attack and he saw his allies men broken and running his men were halfway up the ramp and they had seen our savagery and the fear was beating in them like the wings of a captured bird lord prince i said to ethelstone who was still at the foot of the steps behind finnen's men lord utrid keep twenty men my voice was hoarse my throat saw from shouting guard this place and stay alive damia stay alive and the battle rage was in me i had so nearly lost this fight i had been careless at the opening almost losing the sea gate and i had been lucky i gripped wasp sting's hilt and thanked the gods for their favor and now i would do what i had sworn to do so many years ago i would kill the usurper fennel lord we're going to slaughter those bastards i strode to the top of the ramp to the top step that was red with blood just as the western sky was drenched with the scarlet of day's end i was shouting so that my cousin's men could hear me we are going to soak this rock with blood i am utrid i am the lord here this is my rock i went down the steps pushing through fennan's tight ranks this is my rock i thrust wasp's thing at rorick and drew serpent breath i reckon this last and bigger shield wall would not stand for now it would be a slaughter and serpent breath was thirsty i stood beside finnen in what had been our rear rank and was now our front rank my cousin was on horseback some six or seven ranks behind his own leading men and those men saw me smile i had unlaced my cheek pieces let them see the blood on my face see the blood on my mail the blood on my hands i was a man of gold and of blood i was a lord of war and i was filled with the rage of battle the enemy were ten paces away and i walked five of those paces so that i stood alone facing them this i snelled at them is my rock none moved i could see the fear in them smell it steady i heard finn and call steady his men were edging forward yearning to kill i am utrid i told my enemy utrid of bevenburg they knew who i was my cousin had scorned me for years but these men had heard the whispered stories of far away battles now i was in their face and i lifted serpent breath to point her blade at my cousin you and me i shouted he did not answer you and me i called again no one else needs die just you and me he just stared at me his helmet i saw had a wolf's tail hanging from the crown there was gold at his neck and gold on his bridle he was plump the male coat stretched tight over his belly he might dress as a lord of war but he was frightened now he could not even open his mouth to order his men to attack so i ordered mine kill them i shouted and we charged i tell my grandchildren that confidence wins battles i do not wish them to fight i would rather make jeremiah's world a reality and so live in harmony but there is always some man and it is usually a man who looks with envy on our fields who wants our home who thinks his rancid god is better than ours who will come with flame and sword and steel to take what we have built and make it his and if we are not ready to fight if we have not spent those tedious hours learning the craft of sword and shield and spear and sex then that man will win and we will die our children will be slaves our wives and our cattle slaughtered so we must fight and the man who fights with confidence wins a man called ida had come to this shore almost 400 years before he'd landed from the sea leading ships full of cruel men and he had taken the crude fortress built on this rock he had slaughtered the defenders used their wives for his pleasure and made their children his slaves i was ida's descendant his enemies who were now the welsh called him flamedwin the flame bearer did he really burn his enemies off this rock perhaps but whether the song of ida tells true or not one truth is certain that eid of the flame bearer came to this crag and had the confidence to make a new kingdom on an old island now i trod in the flame bearers footsteps to drench the rock with blood again i had been right my cousin's men did not stand they had no confidence some dropped their shields and swords and those men stood a chance of living but any who tried to fight was given his wish i too had dropped my shield not needing it because the enemy was giving way retreating some fleeing down the ramp the bravest of my cousin's men formed a shield wall around his horse and we attacked it i hacked its shields forgetting that a sword will not beat down an enemy in a well-made shield wall but rage will serpent breath cut the iron rim of a shield and split the helmet of the man holding it he sank to his knees a man rammed a spear at me it tore my mail pierced my side and serpent breath took one of his eyes and my sons stepped past me to kill the man finnen was coldly efficient berg was screaming in his native norse kurdic was breaking shields with his axe the rock steps were slippery with blood my men were shrieking howling killing carving their way through defeated men and my cousin tried to push his horse back through his rear ranks and kurdic shattered one of the horse's back legs with the axe and the screaming animal went on to its haunches and kurdik sliced the axe into its neck and dragged my cousin out of his fleece-lined saddle men were surrendering or trying to surrender a priest was screaming at me to stop women were screaming my son grabbed a helmetless man by the hair and pulled him onto his sacks and twisted the blade in his gut tossed him aside and rammed the sword into another man's belly then the horn sounded one long clear note the sun had set but the sky was still bright it was red in the west purpling in the east and no stars showed yet the horn sounded again to harold ethelston who walked his horse down the long stone ramp he had ordered rorick to sound the horn demanding an end to the killing it's over lord ertred he called when he reached us you've won there were men on their knees men who would piss themselves men who watched us in terror men weeping because they had met the horror and it was us we were the wolf pack of bevenberg and we had taken back what ida the flame bearer had first won it's over ethelstone said again quieter now ravens were flying from the hills on the summit behind us there were dogs lapping blood it was over not quite over i said my cousin still lived he stood shaking slightly guarded by kurdic his sword had fallen on the rock and i picked it up from beside the corpse of his horse and gave it to him hilt first you and me i said he shook his head his plump face was red his eyes scared you and me i said again and again he shook his head so i killed him i hacked him down with serpent breath and went on hacking and no one tried to stop me and i only stopped hacking when his body was a mess of blood cloth splintered bone broken mail and butchered flesh i cleaned serpent breath on his cloak cut off his head i ordered rorick and the dogs can eat the rest of him i had come home epilogue aina proved to be unfortunate along with the crew of the trion aide his men defeated what was left of athelhelm's force in front of the sea gate but einer took a spear in the belly and died that night the scots had wanted to assault the gate but a few rocks hulled down by gerbrut's men had dissuaded them and aina's men after their lord was wounded had no stomach for another fight they plundered aphilhelm's ships took the golden dowry that had accompanied elswith north and that was victory enough for them the scots did not attack the low gate my cousin had left 30 men to hold that formidable bastion and with 30 men i could hold that gate until chaos ends the world in the morning i opened the gate and rolled out with my son with finnen and with ethelstone the four of us waited on the narrow path where einer had started to build a palisade and finally domino came to meet us he was an impressive man dark-eyed black-haired broad in his shoulders and elegant in the saddle of an impressive black stallion he said nothing just nodded a kurt greeting he came alone tell your master i said that utrade of babenberg is lord here now and that the borders of my land are as they were in my father's time he looked past me at the low gate that was decorated with skulls my cousin had put there as a warning to invaders i had added two heads the shattered and bloody remnants of my cousin's skull and the head of world here it doesn't matter who rules here domino spoke surprisingly mildly but then he was a warlord who did not need insults to instill fear well still besiege the place looked back to me no i said you won't i shifted in the saddle to relieve the ache in my side i had been wounded there but the cut was not deep nor was the slash in my thigh i am not my cousin i told domino i won't just sit behind these walls you terrify me he said dryly so give king constant in my greetings i went on and tell him to be content with the lands of his father as i am content with my father's land and you may tell him something more ethelstone had pushed his horse forward to stand beside mine he said prince of wessex and this land is under my father's protection that was a bold claim and one i doubted king edward would have agreed with but domino did not argue besides he knew that see trigger was less than a half days march away with a large force of horseman i did not know that yet but domino did and he was no fool he knew bevenberg had been reinforced and knew that he would be badly outnumbered once sea trigger reached us so the scots were gone by nightfall taking their share of ethel homes gold all of bebenberg's cattle and anything else they could carry with them in two days time i told my son we'll take sixty horsemen north and ride our boundary if we find any scottish warriors on our land we will kill them i would let domino and his master know that utrade of babenberg was now lord here see trigger kept his promise just as i had kept mine i had promised he would lose no man because all had asked of him was to bring an army into bebenberg's land that would threaten the scots domino had been forced to send men to watch that army thus weakening the force that besieged beberg i doubted he would have ordered an assault but sea triggers threats had made such an assault even less likely and that afternoon my son-in-law led more than 150 men across the narrow isthmus through the gate of skulls and up into bobenberg athelhelm lived he like many of his men had taken shelter in the church where they laid down their weapons and sent a priest to negotiate their surrender i had wanted to kill him but ethelstone forbade it he had spent a long time talking with the elder man then came to me and decreed that athelhelm would live you're a fool lord prince i told him your father would kill him he will support my father ethelstone said he promised that what makes you believe he'll keep the promise because you're keeping his daughter as a hostage that surprised me i'm keeping elsewhere you are ethelson said then smiled and your son will thank me for that damn what my son wants i said thinking what a sordid mess that relationship would cause do you really think aphilheim wouldn't exchange a daughter for a kingdom ethelstone acknowledged the point by nodding he's a powerful man he said with powerful followers yes he'll sacrifice elsewhere for his ambitions but if he dies then his eldest son will want revenge you just exchange an ageing enemy for a younger one this way athelhelm owes me how's you scoffed you think he's grateful he'll just hate you the more probably but you'll keep him here until he pays a ransom he smiled to you he's a rich man and you my friend have spent much gold to take this rock by the time he's paid the ransom he won't be a rich man any longer that way we weaken him i growled to hide my pleasure in that thought one day i'll kill him i said reluctantly conceding the argument probably you will lord but not today and not till he has refilled your coffers with gold and that night we had a feast it was a poor feast mostly fish bread and cheese but there was plenty of ale and that made it a feast and those few of my cousins men who we trusted mostly the young ones feasted with us the rest we had pushed out to be masterless men in the hills the survivors of athol helms red cloaked guards were in the lower courtyard between the low and high gates i would send them south in the morning letting one man in three carry a weapon to defend themselves on their long walk home athelhelm himself sat at the high table as his rank deserved he was genial as ever though his eyes looked haunted i saw my son pouring ale for his daughter so pretty and pale and she laughed when my son leaned close and whispered in her ear atholhelm heard the laughter and caught my eye we stared at each other for a moment enemies still then a gust of cheering from the lower tables give us both an excuse to look away i missed edith but one of atholhelm's ships was still seaworthy and in the morning i would send berg and a small crew south to bring our women and families to their new home my cousin's harpist played the song of ida my men sung they danced they boasted of their prowess they told stories of their fight and they did not confess to the horror there were too many wounded men lying in a smaller hall we had collected cobwebs and moss torn up my cousin's banners to make bandages and tried to staunch their wounds but i saw one of my cousins priests a young man giving the christians his church's last rites others lay gripping a sword hill touristy axe some had the weapon tied to a hand determined to meet me one day in valhalla and that night i stood with finnen on the rock ledge outside the hall the moon was long on the water its reflection made a shimmering path the same path that ida the flame bearer had followed to make his new home on a strange coast and there were tears in my eyes to blur that long bright path because i was home that was the flame bearer by bernard cornwell read by matt bates this program was produced by id audio for harper audio text copyright bernard cornwell 2016 production copyright 2016 by harpercollins publishers all rights reserved bernard cornwell asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work thank you for listening audible hopes you have enjoyed this program

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Id: 5cE9yUCQL5Q

Length: 619min 36sec (37176 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 10 2021