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Malcolm sees his proof

He ran as he seldom ran even outside.

Malcolm had been taught not to run in the corridors, but that lesson was momentarily forgotten, and he ran as he seldom ran even outside. He only slowed after he reached the hall, and then only because his father was standing off to the right, and his twin brother off to the left, and he couldn’t decide which way to go first.

His brother solved the problem for him by reaching him before his father did, but his father solved the problem for everyone by throwing his arms around the two of them. “My sons!” he cried as she squeezed the breath out of them.

Brede makes a threat

Brede came into the dusky hall and looked around briefly.

Brede came into the dusky hall and looked around briefly before stepping into the bedchamber. When he came out again, he asked, “Synne, where’s Sigi?”

“I don’t know,” Synne mumbled and shrugged.

Sigrid kisses a brass dog

'Oh, you big silly stupid slobbering cat-dog!'

“Oh, you big silly stupid slobbering cat-dog!” Sigrid cooed as she grabbed Kottr’s floppy jowls in her hands and shook his big head playfully. This time and the last, she had chosen to fuss over the dog, who ran ahead of his master, rather than look up at Eirik as he arrived. Thus the dog saved her much embarrassment.

She had only seen Eirik once since the first time he had surprised her on the log, but it was not for lack of trying. The weather had been rainy for May, and kept her indoors much of the time; and on the sunny days she had come, and he had not. But of course, if he asked whether she had waited for him, she would say she hadn’t…

Eadgith and Matilda speak of it

'If there is a part of his body that hasn't a bruise, I'm not aware that he has it.'

“Oh, goodness,” Eadgith’s mother huffed, and she fumbled her knees out from under the edge of the counterpane the ladies were embroidering. “If there is a part of his body that hasn’t a bruise, I’m not aware that he has it.”

Edris laughed softly. “Haakon is as careless as Baldwin is careful.”

Sigrid meets two big, friendly fools

Sigrid hurriedly gathered up her yarn as the barking drew closer.

Sigrid hurriedly gathered up her yarn as the barking drew closer. It sounded like only one dog and not a pack, but she was nervous around dogs on the loose, and she was far enough from the house that she didn’t know whether a scream would bring help in time.

Someone was shouting now—at the dog, she thought. She dropped her bag and stood just as the enormous blond dog burst through the underbrush and bounded towards her, his tongue flopping and his tail waving like a flag. She was about to scream when an enormous blond man appeared behind him and stopped the dog in his tracks with a single shout.

Estrid softens and melts

'I didn't know you were here!'

“Brede!” Estrid’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t know you were here!” she gasped, as if to deny any apparent premeditation.

Brede gaped at her for a moment in confusion, and then he opened the door to Malcolm’s room and pulled her inside. The worst that could happen would be discovery by Malcolm, but there was nothing Malcolm didn’t know anyway.

Malcolm and Egelric watch

No doubt he had earned that look over the years.

Egelric saw the faint look of annoyance cross Malcolm’s face when he turned at the sound of feet tramping through the long grass. No doubt he had earned that look over the years.

Malcolm had long since turned his face away by the time Egelric came to stand beside him. Both were silent for a moment, and both stared at the back of the blonde head that shone in the sun some distance away.

Sigefrith asks Brede's opinion

'Sigefrith!'

“Sigefrith!” Synne called, and she ran up the hill to meet the King.

Brede rose, but he waited in the court alongside Sigrid, who sat weaving a strip for the rug she was making.

Matilda lies in a lonely bed

Matilda drew her knees up to her chest.

Matilda drew her knees up to her chest, hoping that would ease some of the pain in her heart, but it only drove the small of her back up against the the wall, and she squirmed in discomfort. After the first few nights of miserable loneliness in a giant, empty bed, she had begged Githa for a narrow bed meant for one. Now she regretted it.

The big bed had reminded her again and again of her solitude, every time she had rolled over and found that Alred was not there. She had even tried sleeping on his side of the bed, thinking that the disorientation would prevent her from looking for him—or at least prevent her from believing for a dreamy moment that he was there. It had not helped much.

Egelric makes a promise

His lord sometimes said that night did not fall in the valley.

His lord sometimes said that night did not fall in the valley, but came to it as a dark flood, rising up from the shadowy hollows until the valley floor was covered, and then the flanks of the hills, and finally overbrimming the hills themselves, and then it was night indeed, as far overhead as one could see.

Egelric had seen far more dusks than dawns with Alred, but he thought that his lord might find the metaphor apt at sunrise as well. The dawn was like a slow retreat of the waters, exposing first the highest peaks of the hills in the clear, red light, and then the foothills, and gradually revealing the farms and fields and forests of the valley until only the deepest hollows remained unlit, for those were never quite drained of their shadow, and they seemed to be the wellsprings of the dark.

Calendar

Latest Chapters

Malcolm sees his proof

Chapter

Brede makes a threat

Chapter

Storylines

Sigrid kisses a brass dog

Chapter

Storyline

Eadgith and Matilda speak of it

Chapter

Storylines

Sigrid meets two big, friendly fools

Chapter

Storyline

Estrid softens and melts

Chapter

Storyline

Malcolm and Egelric watch

Chapter

Storylines

Sigefrith asks Brede's opinion

Chapter

Storylines

Matilda lies in a lonely bed

Chapter

Storyline

Egelric makes a promise

Chapter

Storyline

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