by Griff Hosker
"I am no champion; I am one of her knights that is all."
"There are many stories about you, lord. You defeated the Welsh King and took all of his cattle. You fought the finest knights in Germany and defeated them all."
"I did none of those things."
"I am just repeating the stories that we heard. I am sorry."
He looked fearful as though I might punish him for telling me the truth. I smiled, "Well you are free now. What would you?"
"I would like to live amongst people who speak my language and where I am safe."
"You may return with us to Stockton and then choose your home. You will be safe in my land." The look of relief on his face was a sober lesson for me. His past would have been my people's fate had we failed.
We found that they had left the priest alive and he helped us to bury the dead of Gainford. The dead enemy were thrown on to a pyre and the smoke filled the air. Those who had survived went nervously back to the remains of their homes. They knew how close they had come to death. "I will have the men of Piercebridge keep watch over you and should you need aught then send to them." I looked at Gille and Hugh and they both nodded. They would not forget.
We rode wearily back to the Skerne as darkness was beginning to fall. Sir Richard had organised the burning of the enemy and our dead were laid out. There were fewer of them than I had expected but the losses were still grievous. None of our knights had been killed but all had wounds which would keep them within their halls for a month or so. It was the squires who had suffered the most. Only my three had survived and Gille had survived. Harold had lost his squire and was distraught. Sir Edward's wound was the least serious. A war hammer had caught him a glancing blow on the side of the head and he had been knock unconscious. Had it occurred earlier then he might have fallen to the advancing Norse but it had been in the last moments of the battle. Gille had ensured that he was still alive and then joined his cousin. Harold had a badly gashed arm and Tristan's foot had been speared. None of the wounds were life threatening but we knew we had been in a battle.
Sir Geoffrey took his men back to Piercebridge and promised to watch over Gainford. He spoke with both Gille and Hugh before he left. He and Sir Guy had been friends. I knew that the manor was in safe hands until the King appointed a new lord. We returned to Stockton for no one wished to stay at the charnel house on the Skerne. It was pitch black when we crossed our bridge into my castle. We were home. It was the first battle I had fought so close to my home that I could see my family at the end. It showed me how close we had come to disaster. I decided I would visit with the Bishop and ask him if his knights could keep a better watch on my borders.
I was stiff the next morning. I had fought longer than I had for some time. I prayed that my fighting was over for this year. Adela asked me about the battle; I had been in no mood when I had returned. I told her and she burst into tears when I told her of Sir Guy.
"Poor Hugh! He has no one save his brother?"
I shook my head, "I have said I will take him as my squire and train him to be a knight. It is what his father would have wished. He will live here with us."
She put her hand on mine. "That is the Christian thing to do. What of the manor?"
"That is up to the King but I will plead for the rights of Hugh. Perhaps he will hear me." I stood, "And now I will walk among my people and put their minds at rest. They will have worried when we left so swiftly and there will be gossip. I would have them know the truth and not the exaggeration."
I had told her what Oswald son of Harold had said. "How can men believe such nonsense?"
"There are some men who always believe that there is an easy route to riches and to power. They know not that you must work for it."
"Could I walk with you in the town as I once did? I have missed it."
"Of course."
As we left the keep she asked, "What of this Oswald? What will happen to him?"
"He wants a life amongst his own people and safety. I cannot blame him."
"I will see if I can find a place for him. It seems he was sent for a purpose."
It was only when I walked around my town that I realised we had security. Gainford had all but gone. It could be rebuilt but it would never match my town. I had achieved much. I began to wonder if I had now achieved all that I was born to achieve. My father's old nemesis, wyrd, came to prove me wrong. As we turned to return to the castle a rider hurtled to a halt next to me.
"My lord, Father Peter sent me. You must come quickly, Lord Athelstan is dying. He must speak with you."
I left Adela and ran to the stables. Leofric and John were there. "Saddle Scout, now!"
I threw on my cloak and waited impatiently as they tightened Scout's girth. I jumped into the saddle and galloped as hard as I could. The journey was short but seemed to take forever. The gates of Norton were open and I galloped in and jerked Scout to a halt. A sentry said, "They are in the main hall, my lord, and you should hurry! Father Peter is administering the last rites."
I gave him the reins and ran into the dimly lit hall. Osric stood by Athelstan's bed while Father Peter held Athelstan's hand. He murmured something into his ear. I dropped to my knees next to his bed and the eyes of my father's oathsworn opened. He gave a wan smile, "You have come, my lord. I knew you would."
"It is Alfraed, my friend, and I would have come sooner had I known you were so ill."
He shook his head. "It is my time, Alfraed. I have seen the angel of death and I am not afraid but I wished to speak with you before I join your father and his oathsworn." He flicked a nervous look at Father Peter, "I will go to heaven Father?"
"You are a good man and I have absolved you of your sins. Soon you will be without pain. You will go to heaven." He looked at me. "You wished to say something to Baron Alfraed?"
He nodded and then coughed up some blood. "Your father and I buried something in the garden of our old home near to the palace in Constantinople. It is beneath his favourite lemon tree in an urn."
I glanced at Osric but he looked blank as though this was the first he had heard of it. "What is it Athelstan? Why did he leave it there?"
He closed his eyes and carried on. I wondered if he had heard me. "When King Harold fought at Stamford Bridge his sword was damaged and the pommel stone came loose. It was left with Aelfraed's uncle for safe keeping. He gave it to your father." He coughed up more blood and Father Peter dabbed it away. He looked at me and shook his head. "He did not want to bring it back to England in case we found ourselves outlaws. He told me he did not want Harold's enemies to have it. It is a symbol of life before the Normans came."
He was silent. I looked at Father Peter who leaned in and then nodded, "He lives still but not for long. You had best ask any questions quickly."
"What should I do, Athelstan?"
He opened his eyes, "That is for you to decide. You are now Baron and you are the keeper of the secret. He told me one night before he died for he felt his time was coming. My time is coming and the secret now is yours. I have done my duty and passed it on. I can tell your father, when I see him, that I was oathsworn until the end."
He smiled and looked totally at peace. His eyes closed and, with a soft sigh, he died.
I looked at Osric who shook his head. "I thought that I knew all there was to know about my friend Athelstan and yet I did not. He was truly oathsworn." He held Athelstan's dead hands in his and said, "Goodbye old friend. I shall see you ere long." Father Peter made the sign of the cross and we bowed our heads. The priest put his arms behind us and led us into the light.
I turned to Osric. "Did you know of this stone?"
"I knew not that it had survived but, in the Guard, we all heard the stories from the housecarls who had known King Harold that his sword had a blue stone in the pommel. That was the reason for the star on your father's standard. The blue star was for King Harold." I nodded. "You remember the lemon tree?"
"I do. It was where my father would sit and talk with me in the
evening when I was growing up." I shook my head. "It stopped when I grew and I miss those talks."
Father Peter smiled, "We can all look back and regret things we did when we were young. The trick is to not make those same mistakes when you are older."
I was silent as the secret filled my head.
"What will you do, Alfraed?"
I looked at Osric, "About the stone?" He nodded. "I know not. It should be safe enough, at least for a while. It would be a long journey to get it. And it is no secret now; three of us know it."
Osric and the priest looked at each other. Father Peter said, "It is a secret still. A man's last words are like the confessional."
"And I am oathsworn to you, Baron. The secret is safe. It dies with me."
I clasped both their arms. "Thank you both. I will send for Wulfstan and we will bury him by the church."
Osric pointed to a large elm. "While he was ill he liked to sit beneath that elm. It looks east and he liked to sit there."
"Then we shall do it. We shall bury him there." Wulfstan arrived and dismounted stiffly from his horse. The wound from the hunt still bothered him. It was another sign of the age of my father's men. Their time was coming to an end and soon I would be the last of the band that had left Constantinople.
Under the light of the moon we buried Athelstan beneath his favourite tree. We buried him in a stone lined grave with his sword, shield and armour upon him. We laid stones on the top and I told Father Peter that I would have a special stone made by William the Mason. Athelstan and his fidelity would be remembered. I took my leave of Osric who suddenly felt frail as I held him tightly to my chest. There were tears in the old man's eyes as I mounted Scout. I rode back to Stockton with Wulfstan. I chose to tell him Athelstan's words. He too was one of my father's oathsworn. He seemed happy that he had not been told the secret. "We were all oathsworn. I think there may have been secrets your father confided in me and not the others."
"Should I know them?"
"You know all that I know. I have no secrets to tell you on my deathbed." He looked at me searchingly, "When will you fetch it?"
"How do you know that I shall?"
He laughed, "Because of all of your father's oathsworn, I know you the best. That is the last true secret I hold, Alfraed; I know your heart and you will travel east and bring back this stone. You will do it even though you do not know what to do with it once it returns. It will gnaw away inside you until you travel back to the lemon tree. The only thing I do not know is when."
"Perhaps I do not know when either."
He nodded, "That I can believe. Then leave it to wyrd. That will decide when." We rode in silence and then he said, "The Vikings you defeated believe that there are three witches called the Norns and they sit in a cave spinning webs. They are complicated webs and our lives run through them. The Norse believe that they are the ones who decide what we will do. Perhaps the Norse are right. It may be that they decide what you will do. I know it is not Christian to believe such things but I have seen strange things in my life and some cannot be explained away by a priest." He shook his head, "Do not worry about this stone. If you are meant to fetch it then you will. The decision will not be yours."
And he was right. Wulfstan was incredibly wise. In the end it was not my decision.
Epilogue
It was September when I was summoned to London with Sir Edward and our squires, now augmented by Hugh of Gainford. I knew not the reason save that the letter, from the Earl of Gloucester, spoke of fulfilling our oath to the Empress. As we made our way south I wondered what it would entail.
"Perhaps we are to guard her now that she is to become the next Queen of England."
"I would not relish that prospect, Edward. I have a young family. If we have to guard the Empress then it will take us many miles from my home. The Empress would not relish the north. I suspect it will be another journey back to Normandy. I know that she has many enemies there."
Not least the brothers Blois, eh Baron?"
"Exactly." The two brothers, Stephen and Theobald, were now like a thorn in my side or, more appropriately, a nagging ache in my tooth which came and went but the threat was always there. A thorn I could remove but not this nagging spectre of Norman enemies.
The journey south was swifter than the one north had been and this time we were to be accommodated close to the royal apartments in the Tower. Our star, it seemed, was on the rise. Perhaps this was the influence of the Empress. I had no doubt that there would be a chilly reception from the Earl of Gloucester.
The Earl greeted me stiffly when we met. He had still to forgive me for my outburst in Chester. Some men did not enjoy the truth. I preferred honesty. I had learned that, while the best of the earls, Robert Fitzroy was still acutely aware of his position. He might be the illegitimate son of Henry but he was the most powerful man in England. I had questioned his judgement. "It is good to see you Alfraed. You did well to defeat those raiders."
I nodded, "And Hugh here is the last of his family. His father and brothers fell."
He looked at my new squire. "I am sorry for your loss."
I took the bull by the horns. "I have made him my ward until he comes of an age and can take over the manor of Gainford."
The Earl's eyes narrowed, "That would be a decision for the King."
I smiled, "Then I shall broach the matter when we meet. I take it I am to see him this visit. If not why was I summoned?"
I could see that he still rankled with my attitude after the battle in Wales. "You are right; he does wish to speak with you. We will go and see him now for he has a task for you to perform." He looked at the squires. "You four stay here. This is for your masters only."
Edward and I followed the Earl as he hurried through the castle to reach the King. He was with the Empress and she looked tearful. There were others in the room and, when we entered, they were peremptorily dismissed; all except for a priest whose hand was poised over a wax tablet. King Henry looked much older since the last time I had seen him but he looked genuinely pleased to see me. Perhaps his son had not told him of my words. That would make sense for he would not want his father to know of a rift between us.
"Baron! My strong right arm from the Northern Marches returns. Bishop Flambard speaks well of you and I have heard that you destroyed a large warband which would have laid waste to the north. That was nobly done!"
"Sir Guy of Gainford and all of his family, save his son, Hugh and nephew Gille, died. I took it upon myself to watch over Hugh until he becomes old enough to manage the manor himself."
Unlike his son King Henry did not dismiss the idea out of hand. "How old is he?"
"He has seen sixteen summers."
I saw a pained look come over the face of Empress Matilda and King Henry said, "What do you think of him?"
"He has a good heart and a strong arm. He will make a good lord of the manor and the people there love him still. I have my steward watching over the manor for taxes and for their well being."
"Good! Then I shall confirm this." He nodded to the priest. "Father Abelard, make a note of that. And now, gentlemen," he smiled, "I have a task for you. Tomorrow week we travel back to Normandy." He leaned forward, "This news is for your ears only, "My daughter and heir, the Empress Matilda, is to be betrothed to Geoffrey the eldest son of Count Fulk of Anjou."
Once more my heart fell but I had known, all along, that the Empress could never be mine. However this was just confirmation that the King had made a decision. "Congratulations, my lady." She nodded and dabbed her eyes.
"She is a woman, Baron, ignore her tears. They mean nothing. As you and Sir Edward here are Knights of the Empress you will act as her bodyguards until the announcement is made. There are those who plot and plan still to prevent a safe succession. King Louis still puts forward William Clito whom the French King has had made Count of Flanders." He rubbed his hands. "This alliance will protect our southern borders and make us more powerful. Now we can take on France and Flander
s."
I saw a thin smile on the Earl's face. He could only gain from this. A thought came to me, "Your majesty, what of Count Fulk?"
He smiled, "The Count, it seems, sees his future in the Holy land. Once the marriage has taken place and his son established he will leave for his lands in Outremer." He lowered his voice. "He has ambitions to be king and there he can achieve those ambitions."
I could now see why there was urgency and why the marriage had been arranged. King Henry could not afford to have enemies to the south and the north of Normandy as well as the French in the east. I nodded, "I will need to send a message to my family to tell them I will be absent for a while."
He waved an absentminded hand, "Just so long as you keep the secret from your wife. Now you may escort the Empress to her quarters. All this sniffling and weeping is annoying!"
Once we left the hall the Empress said to Sir Edward, "I would speak with the Baron alone Sir Edward."
He smiled, "I understand and cheer up, my lady. It cannot be as bad as you seem to think. At least it is not his father to whom you have been betrothed!"
I know that Edward meant well with his joke but it set her off to weeping again. He shrugged and fled down the empty corridor. Matilda threw herself upon my shoulder and began to weep. This was not the place for such a display of emotion. "Where are your rooms?" She pointed to a door at the far end of the walkway. I took her and led her inside. Her ladies, Judith and Margaret, looked up as we entered. The Empress waved a hand and they left.
She looked up at me with red rimmed eyes. "You do not understand. This is far worse than you can possibly imagine."
I smiled, "I know you do not wish to be married again to someone chosen by your father but surely you expected this. What is wrong with this Geoffrey of Anjou? Is he so ugly that you cannot bear to look upon him?"
She stepped back, "Alfraed, this Geoffrey of Anjou has seen thirteen summers, I am twenty five. I am almost old enough to be his mother! He is a child and he behaves like one. At least the Emperor was a man. I am now to look after a child all so that my father's lands may be protected."