Sigefrith gets the news
“Here you boys are!” a jaunty voice called out from the doorway of the empty building in which Alred was attempting to teach Dunstan a few things about swords.
“Why, Sigefrith!” Alred laughed in surprise. “What, no kilt?”
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Egelric gets the news
“They’re just sitting down to supper,” Egelric whispered to Bertie as they came up the stairs. It was dreadful of him to be peeking in the window, but it was a lovely picture.
However, all was not quite what he had expected: Alwy sat in a clean white shirt such as a gentleman would wear and had his beard neatly trimmed, although his hair was as unruly as ever. Little Wynna was wearing a pretty yellow dress, and her dark hair hung as straight and as smooth as Iylaine’s, instead of being twisted up into uneven braids. It seemed that the magic of Gunnilda’s transformation had spread throughout the household.
Alred comes with an offering
“Oh, Bedwig!” Gunnilda groaned. “How come every time someone comes to my door, you just got to be running around naked? Your Grace will have to excuse this pagan boy. I just can’t keep his shirt on him.”
“Ah, to be a boy again!” Alred sighed.
Alred finds another
“Who? What?” Alred stammered, waking from a strange dream.
“Your Grace must come quickly.” It was his valet with a candle—and with his sword.
Colburga tells Matilda a few things
“Good morning, dear,” Matilda said as she pulled a chair up next to Colburga’s bed. “I just had the funniest little conversation with Alfric. He was asking me—”
“How does he look to you?” Colburga asked anxiously.
Maud runs after Egelric
“Egelric! Squire!”
Egelric groaned inwardly. It was the Queen. He stopped and waited for her to catch up with him.
Egelric asks for Bertie
Gunnilda sat sewing by her kitchen window in the slanting light of a late summer afternoon. Outside the wind blew, and, except for an occasional shout from Bertie, who played in the yard behind the house, its rushing over the grass was the only sound she heard. It was a strange thing to live so far from others after living for years right at the crossroads. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful for the peace or to be lonely.
She heard Bertie come walking down the hall from the back door, and she called out without looking around, “Bertie, would you go see whether your Da left some wood out for supper?”
Colban sees his godson
Colban was thankful that Maud did not seem terribly talkative as she took him up the stairs and to her son’s room. He had been afraid she would make a scene—particularly when he had announced Malcolm’s marriage. But considering the state in which he had found Sigefrith, it wasn’t at all certain that Sigefrith would even have noticed.
“Mama!” a small voice called out from behind the door as they drew near.
Sigefrith sees the one man who could cheer him up
Sigefrith sat before the fire in his hall, alone. Theobald had returned home, Cenwulf was with Colburga, and Alred was no doubt enjoying the unalloyed bliss of his family life. There was only young Malcolm sitting behind him beneath the torch, where the light was better, studying his Latin. His own children were already in bed and Maud was… he knew not where.
He hadn’t had enough to drink to make him forget, only enough to make him too lazy to get up and pour himself another. It was a bother—where were the servants when they were needed? Perhaps he could ask young Malcolm to go for him.
Theobald tells all he knows
Alred found the men already gathered in the hall when he arrived at the castle.
He was surprised at how pale and thin Theobald had become in the past months. The lack of physical labor hardly seemed enough to account for it.
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Chapters“This is Magog we’re talking here. Mr. Flighty McFlight-Flight, can’t-stay-in-one-place-any-longer-than-he-can-keep-his-pants-on, Magog.”
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