Nozbat

Only 20 cows for a bride... Kalfrik might buy some cows then... he is never going to be a silver tongue devil particularly when his Beastspeech is better than his Heortling... and that's barely comprehensible..unless he decides that his life partner is Lulla?

As loud as the New Years fireworks...

If they are marching on the ground, they are an army... or at least that's the collective noun for fleas.. so each baboon has a herd of armies which can be unleashed on unsuspecting victims

Don't they keep fleas?

Absolutely, mixing and matching keeps the excitement. Presenting people with uncertainty and the unknown makes for both good stories, roleplaying and those are the ones people look back on. The antagonist having something the PCs don't understand is good for creativity too. I like it when the players triumph by clever means rather than knowing what to do. My PCs never know how the baddies pulled things off, they just see the effects and make plans. And usually I have no idea how the baddies pull stuff off they act out what I want them to for the story. It's all about waugh! really. 100% don't understand it and it feels terrifying but we got through it. Then we waughed to the tavern and everyone bought us drinks when we told the story... WAUGH!

It would be WAHA in standard English but WAUGH! in Irish-Canadian ... (and it's important to have the exclamation mark too.. so don't leave it out) and for those that don't understand Bill .. I'm sure there's something that can translate him into machine code/ beast speech/ Heortling/ duck etc. Ask the Librarian if you get stuck. I also understand it's a useful verb.. Bill and I went waughing together but we came back later (maybe I understand why WindChild has problems understanding now..

Only if you’re a Librarian

The Shadow of Death. The Hrothgarsons returned to home to find growing tensions across all three villages. The war had been won and the peace was now being fought over. In Glawmæd the native Britons were resentful of the occupying Saxon forces. Their population had been decimated and their Chieftain killed, admittedly by other Britons, but they were now ruled by a Saxon Thane. There was grumbling that Lucnot was not made Thane. Wulfhere, who was presently in charge until Cerdic decided otherwise, had been away on an embassy to Kernow. There had been bickering in his absence and he had not been there to put a stop to it so it had continued to fester. Wulfhere had decided that he must do something in Glawmæd to bring the warring factions together. He talked with Lucnot and they agreed that they should use the feast of Beltaine to bring two sides together. Wulfhere had also noted that there were many widowed women in the village and many newly arrived warriors. He thought the difficulty might be limited communication and that both factions tended to remain within their own groups. He and Lucnot thought that celebrating Beltaine, the Festival of Fire, with a lot of alcohol might encourage both groups to come together. He thought the Festival of Eostre or Lughnasa would have been better as they both were fertility festivals and that would definitely encourage more mingling. Wulfhere said that he was prepared to spend some of his silver to make sure the celebration was successful. Wulfhere left Dunstan and Lucnot to make withy booths which he hoped would be useful for the celebration and said he would travel to Cædering with Uthric to discuss buying Ale and Mead from Eadstan, the most prominent merchant in the area. Dunstan had been thinking about Cwen and a possible marriage contract. He was however worried that she might be pregnant from her time with King Mark of Kernow. He was not keen for his life to become more complicated and if she was carrying Mark's bastard this could eventually involve him in dynastic struggles in Kernow. He was more than convinced that Kernow was one place to which he never wanted to return. Therefore, he bided his time and left Cwen in his mother’s household. Wulfhere and Uthric left the preparations in Lucnot’s capable hands and travelled to Cædering. They arrived to find the place in uproar. In Cælctun most of the population had moved to Cædering, the village that was once their rival and with whom they had recently fought a war. Modrig had been put in charge of Cælctun by Taethle while she spent time in Cædering because Oshehrt was still too ill still to dispense laws and justice. Modrig was a good War Leader and an excellent warrior but his skills did not extend to administration. The remaining Cælctun population were bitter and annoyed and their village was becoming less important. Moreover, the promised restoration had not happened. In Cædering there had been a murder of one of Taethle's men called Bredoc. He was one of her best Carls and he had been found dead with his own axe lodged in his head. Taethle blamed the warriors of Cædering. Bredoc was half British and she suspected that that had been the reason for his murder. Taethle was in a white fury. She was demanding blood feud and justice for Bredoc. Osberht was still too ill to attend to his duties and Eadstan was arguing with Taethle when they entered the Hall. Eadstan was the most prominent person in Cædering after the Thanes and certainly the richest. He had been a key person in Osberht’s idea of creating a trading network of the three villages and selling surpluses to the bigger towns in the South. His other advantage was that he was from Cædering and he had the ear of the Carls in Osberht’s absence whereas Taethle, despite her prowess, was still viewed as an outsider. Eadstan loudly expounded the idea that one of Taethle's own men killed Bredoc, a suggestion Taethle vehemently repudiated. Eadstan had the support of the local Carls and they murmured their agreement during Eadstan’s speech. They disliked Taethle's accusations and there was growing tension between the two groups of Carls. Wulfhere and Uthric were surprised by the argument. They had come to see Eadstan about buying mead and ale, not to get involved in an argument. Taethle barely acknowledged either brother as she left the Hall with a face that looked like thunder. Eadstan, on the other hand, looked pleased with himself as Taethle left and Wulfhere asked him for details of what had happened. Eadstan told them that Bredoc and another Carl, Sigebeorht had been on watch the previous night. Bredoc had been attacked by someone and even more strange had been killed with his own axe. Eadstan said that Sigebeorht had claimed to be asleep and reported that he had not witnessed anything. Eadstan said that in his opinion Sigebeorht had to be the prime suspect and Taethle needed to apologise to Cædering’s Carls for such blatant untruths. Wulfhere said he thought it was unlike Taethle to make groundless allegations. He had always found her to be calm and controlled. Wulfhere thought that the truth was likely to come out soon. He said that he had come to see Eadstan about some help in organising a celebration of Beltaine. Eadstan said he was unfamiliar with Beltaine but would do whatever he could to help. Wulfhere told him what he needed and they agreed a price and shook hands on the contract. Eadstan said that it was good things were returning to normal and planning celebrations after all the recent troubles. Uthric remarked that he was not that sure that normal had yet returned but he would like to be proved wrong. Uthric thought that it might be better to return to Glawmæd and stay out of the arguments in Cædering. He did not think it would serve any purpose to take sides in this argument. Wulfhere disagreed and reminded him they were still Huscarls of Cædering but they also had a debt of gratitude to Taethle. Moreover, he said she had been a good friend and a staunch ally. Uthric said he had to reluctantly agree but he worried that they would become involved in something they might ultimately regret. They found Taethle in the Hall she had been using for her warriors. She was brooding on events and not overly welcoming to Uthric and Wulfhere. She said she was considering going back to Cælctun but first she wanted justice for her man. Wulfhere suggested that as both sides would see him and Uthric as neutral, he thought it might be helpful if they tried to get the truth of the matter. Taethle reluctantly agreed. She said she needed justice both for her and her men and that would likely mean a blood feud. Uthric sent for Dunstan. He thought all three of the brothers needed to be in Cædering and in the meantime, they spoke with Sigebeorht. He repeated what he had already told others. He said that he had been drinking before going on watch and had fallen asleep almost immediately and could add nothing new as to how Bredoc met his death. Neither Uthric nor Wulfhere had believed Sigebeorht but they chose not to confront him at that time. When Dunstan arrived, they met him in the main Hall and told him of how things stood. They discussed what people were thinking. Wulfhere pointed out that it came down to not what people think, but more what the three brothers were going to do. They thought that they should talk to Winfrith the Smith who had been a good friend of Bredoc. Winfrith was saddened by the loss of his closest friend. They had often spent time together talking about the best way to forge a blade. Winfrith said that even as a friend he could see that Bredoc had strengths and flaws. Bredoc was brave, loyal and above all he had honour. But in his opinion people had found Bredoc too direct. He said that Bredoc was forever causing offence by being too quick to point out errors in others actions or behaviour. It was clear that not everyone took that well and Winfrith wondered if Bredoc had said something that might have led to his death. He was aware warriors could be very sensitive and react with violence to the smallest slight. Winfrith also recalled that Bredoc had recently argued several times with Sigebeorht about drinking too much and falling asleep on watch. While the Brothers mulled this over information, they were approached by Sunngyth. Sunngyth was a Shieldmaiden and was known for her ferocity in battle. Equally she was known to be extremely superstitious. She was known at times to not be able to stir herself became the omens were wrong. She told the Brothers that two mice had told her that Bredoc had not been murdered by anyone in Cædering. She had watched the skies and the flight of a heron flying north had suggested that a spirit from a cursed hill had been responsible. Uthric thanked her for her observations and they returned to talking about what to do next. Dunstan thought that as they were at a loss for a solution that it might be useful to investigate what Sunngyth had said. Wulfhere said he had no time for superstitions and could not believe Dunstan was even contemplating listening to what she said. He said that Sunngyth talks to mice and they really do not need to take any advice from vermin. He asked Dunstan if that maybe they should talk to spiders next and seek their views. Dunstan said that talking to spiders could maybe wait until they were really stuck. The Brothers thought it would be useful to go back to Sigebeorht and ask some more questions. They thought he was looking more like the suspect in the case and they thought it best to confront him. Uthric wondered if they should ask Taethle first and that perhaps she should join them. Sigebeorht after all was one of her men and she had been annoyed that any had been accused of the murder. Wulfhere thought this an excellent idea. When they found Taethle, she was busy arranging supplies for Cælctun but gave the Hrothgarsons permission to talk to Sigebeorht. They confronted Sigebeorht and told him that they did not believe his account of the death of Bredoc and he eventually and reluctantly revealed what he witnessed. He apologised for not telling the truth of the matter but what he had seen was unbelievable and he feared that people would think he had made it up. Sigebeorht described a shadow of roughly human shape but very much larger that was attempting to get into the Hall where the warriors were sleeping. Bredoc challenged Monster and both he and Sigebeorht attacked it but their axes but did little damage. When they hit the monster, it showed no injuries. The monster had focused attacks on Bredoc but even though it hit him, Sigebeorht had not seen any injuries on Bredoc even when he fell over. The monster then took Bredoc’s axe from his hand and killed him with it. The brothers went to Taethle and told her what Sigebeorht had said. Taethle said she found it hard to believe that a monster was attacking her men and she reminded them that Sigebeorht would often drink too much and he might have had a nightmare. Uthric said that it would be impossible to find the truth without more evidence and he would stand guard that night. He might then be able to help them find the information to help them decide on what had happened. That night Uthric helped Sigebeorht and Aldric with the watch. They saw nothing until just after midnight when a dark shape climbed over the palisade. Sigebeorht challenged it and when it turned on him and attacked, the others joined in. None of their weapons seem to cause any damage to the shadowy monster but its claws caused Sigebeorht to stumble after every hit, but neither Aldric nor Uthric could see any hurt on him. The creature took Sigebeorht’s axe from his limp hand having knocked him to the ground then killed him with a blow to the chest with his own axe. The shadow creature then leapt over the palisade and went off in a northly direction. Uthric threw his javelin at it but could not tell if he had done any damage. The noise of the fight brought other warriors from the Hall and they gathered around Sigebeorht’s body. Uthric described his experience of the shadow creature. He said that it was 1 ½ times the size of a tall man with huge claws and a gaping maw. Uthric said the worst thing was that it seemed to be surrounded by darkness. After all the warriors had heard Uthric’s tale they agreed to light torches and placed them around the palisade and put 20 men on guard in case the shadow monster returned but the night passed peacefully following the murder of Sigebeorht. In the morning the Brothers discussed with Taethle what they should do. They all felt that they needed help from a leæch because this was clearly a supernatural shadow creature, a Déaþscufa. If they were to defeat it they would need someone who understood these things better than they did. Taethle sent a man to Portus Cæster to ask for a help from a leæch as quickly as possible. She did not want more deaths while they just waited. For something to do they all went outside the palisade to see if they could find any tracks and at least understand where the creature went. Although they searched thoroughly there was nothing to be found. They returned to the Hall to try and think of a plan to defend Cædering. Eadstan and Taethle were still not on the best terms. Eadstan still insisted the Taethle apologise for believing the carls of Cædering had murdered one of her men. She still felt she was justified to make the accusations. The tension affected the discussion and Eadstan was not being helpful by making demands about what should be done. Dunstan wondered if they should go north and search for the Déaþscufa. He reminded them that Sunngyth had said that there was a darkness in the north on a hill but the only hill that he knew was Old Win Cæster Hill. He thought it might be useful to check with Osbeorn at Seaxeneat, a village at the foot of the hill, to see if he had noticed anything unusual. Wulfhere reminded them that last time they had tried to talk with Osbeorn it had not been a success and he had not been very forthcoming. Dunstan also recalled stories told by Hildegard that there was supposed to be in magic sword buried in one of the old peoples graves in the north. Everyone thought relying on Sunngyth and old stories would not solve their problem of a Déaþscufa that was killing their friends. While they were waiting for the leæch to arrive they agreed how they would defend Cædering by setting fires around the walls and posting more guards. But it didn’t help. The Déaþscufa climbed over the walls and killed Glædwine, one of the Cædering Carls, and no one who was there was able to prevent it. In the morning, they discussed why a Déaþscufa might have suddenly appeared and begun to kill people. They wondered if they had inadvertently annoyed something but no-one could remember anything out of the ordinary happening. Eadstan said that it would be his view that it must have been raised by wiććecræft and he recalled that a week ago he had been travelling from the north and had heard there was a leæch call Dunric had been seen by other travellers. Dunstan wanted to know if this could be the same leæch that served Coelfrith and what did it mean if it was. He had thought the troubles with Ealdorman Coelfrith were over but this was a clear sign that Coelfrith had not finished his revenge on Caedering. Just after mid-morning Hereweard, a leæch from Portus Cæster, arrived. He had come after a request from Taethle and he was interested in the details of the Déaþscufa. When he had been told the details he told them he was in no doubt that it had been summoned and when he was told it might have been Dunric he laughed and said that he would have guessed that anyway. Dunric was known among the other leæches to be overly interested in the darker areas of the spirit world. Taethle assigned ten warriors to the task of finding and destroying the Déaþscufa and they would accompany the Hrothgarsons and Hereweard to the north in search of an answer. Taethle told them that they needed to hurry or there might be no-one left when they returned. The group went up the old people’s road but saw nothing of significance until they approached Seaxeneat. They smelt blood and death on the wind before they saw anything and Hereweard began to shake as if he had a fever. He told them it was nothing and they should continue but Dunstan was not sure this was the best idea. They found that the village of Seaxeneat had met with horror. Everyone had been killed, even the animals had been slaughtered. Thirteen bodies hung from trees and the others lay where they had been killed. One of the younger Warriors vomited and two others refused to enter the village because they saw the deaths as omens of their own death. When Wulfhere tried to persuade them that they would be safe, they told him that they would happily face enemies in a Shield-wall but they did not want to have their souls destroyed by a Déaþscufa. Wulfhere said that if they would not enter the village then they could be of use and take the bodies down from the trees and guard the gates. He ordered the rest of the men to search the village thoroughly and they found a young girl who was alive hidden in the cellar of a house. She was terrified and when Wulfhere tried to talk with her she grew hysterical. Wulfhere spoke soothing words and managed to calm her down. She was able to tell them her name was Idris but for the moment she would say no more. In the meantime, Wulfhere told the men to collect the bodies and build pyres. It was a gruesome job as many of the bodies had been dismembered and some seemed to have been flayed alive. In the end they counted 29 people who had been killed. By the time they had completed the work it was getting towards dark and they needed to find a place to stay for the night. No one wanted to stay in Seaxeneat. They agreed they would not light the pyres until tomorrow when there was daylight. Uthric led them to the west where they found a dell in which a fire would not be seen from a distance. Dunstan was extremely uneasy. He was concerned that Dunric had directed an attack at Cædering and he felt they were all under threat. Uthric pointed out that they are no longer lived in Cædering but had moved to Glawmæd so if the curse was on Cædering then they were safe. Wulfhere and Hereweald were not too sure and both felt that they should not take chances. They set a fire and four men were told to be on watch at any one time. Despite their fear the night passed peacefully but they thought that it was likely that in Cædering another warrior had died at the hands of the Déaþscufa during the night. In the morning they returned to Seaxeneat and they lit the pyres that had begun yesterday putting the bodies on when the flames were hot enough. Wulfhere continued to try and talk to Idris who had become much calmer. Idris told them that a man with a sneer who wore dark robes and had a wolfs teeth necklace had come to the village three days ago. He had some warriors with him and they had killed Osbeorn, the Thane, and any who tried to resist them. The rest they sacrificed to a creature of darkness who drank the life from the people. She saw the man with the necklace laugh and when they had finished killing everyone they left. She thought they went north but she thought she might be wrong because she was sure no-one lived in the north in the ruins on the hill. Dunstan said he thought that Dunric was like a lot of people who annoy the Hrothgarsons in that afterwards they all run away and hide. Uthric was not sure Dunric was actually hiding, it was more likely that he was up to something else and they had just not found out what it was yet. Wulfhere asked Hereweald for his opinion because they wondered if Dunric had summoned the Déaþscufa by sacrificing all the people of the village. Hereweald said that sacrificing 29 people would make a very powerful summoning and it might be difficult to counter. They asked Hereweald how you might offset such a spell. Hereweald said a sure way would be to sacrifice a further 29 people. Dunstan was not keen on that idea. The others discussed possible ways of finding enough people to sacrifice but no one could think of where to find suitable sacrifices and they were not keen to sacrifice people to the dark spirits anyway. Hereweald said that it was possible that they might only need thirteen people for sacrifice and they might find that easier. Wulfhere said they needed to find another way other than sacrifice. He wondered why leæches were always so keen to kill people. Hereweald said that human sacrifice always meant that the magic was much more powerful and effective. The burning of the bodies took a good part of the day but Wulfhere was keen to try and find out how to counter the spell. He was also aware that another warrior would die tonight if something was not done. He left his men to finish the task of cremating the dead and took Dunstan, Uthric and Hereweald north. They thought that while they still had light they should investigate Old Wincen Cæster Hill. Dunstan said that it was always mystery to him how Osbeorn had survived in Seaxeneat so close to so many dangerous enemies and he was disappointed that now with his death they would never know. He worried that they had been cursed by Dunric and the curse would cause the deaths of all the people of the three villages. They made their way to north to the abandoned village on Win Cæster Hill. Nearly all of the buildings had been destroyed and only a few walls remained upright. They searched round the entire circumference of the hill and eventually found a place that could possibly be one of old peoples’ graves. It was too late to start digging into the grave so they returned to Seaxeneat to get food, rest and tools for digging. Dunstan took two Carls and Idris back to Glawmæd. He gave Idris to their mother to look after and she asked if they were collecting all the waifs and strays in the world on their wanderings. Dunstan did not reply to her provocation but gently told Idris that Hildegard was her new mother and would feed her honey cakes if she was good. Dunstan then went to see Taethle and told her what they had discovered. She felt the leæch with the sneer and the wolf’s teeth necklace could be none other than Dunric and she intended to send a messenger to Cerdic to tell him what had happened. She also told Dunstan that they needed to find a solution to the Déaþscufa as quickly as possible. She was losing a warrior every night and was contemplating leaving Cædering deserted until they either stopped Dunric or the Déaþscufa. Dunstan also found time to talk to Eadstan and discuss buying a present for Cwen, should he decide that he wanted to marry her. They agreed on an exquisite cloak broach which had garnets and a gold dragon of British workmanship. Dunstan took it to Glawmæd and hid it in his possessions. He then went back north but did not arrive until after dark. His appearance scared Leofdæg and Pæga who were on guard duty and they nearly threw their javelins at him. In the morning the Hrothgarsons and Hereweald took tools and went to dig up the old people’s grave. It took several hours of digging and Uthric wondered if they were digging in the right place because the earth here had not been disturbed. They eventually found the entrance passage still blocked by a large stone. When they removed it the darkness was almost solid. The torches they used to try and see into the passage guttered and went out. Hereweald was certain that there was drýcræft causing the torches to go out. They discussed what to do. Dunstan agreed that he would go in and see what was there. He thought he could get out quickly if there was something dangerous and was relying on his brothers to pull him out if he could not move or was injured by whatever lay in the darkness. He slowly made his way down the passage and unable to see, he used his spear to feel ahead. After crawling along the passage for a short bit he felt more than saw that the passage opened up into a larger space and heard a chink which he thought might be coins. He tried to see what he was doing but the darkness was absolute despite the fact he did not feel he had gone far enough for the light at the entrance to fade. He heard something stir in the darkness and tried to look to see what it was. Dunstan thought perhaps he was seeing things but slowly coalescing out of the darkness was a gigantic dragon like creature. Dunstan could not swear it was a dragon but it certainly looked like one and he backed out quickly and suddenly came into the morning light which momentarily blinded him. He told the others what he thought he had seen but could not tell if it was real or some kind of spirit. Hereweald thought it might be a spirit because of the darkness but perhaps one that looked like a dragon. He was uncertain how to deal with it. He said it was likely that Dunric was more powerful than him and had more experience in dealing with the dark spirits. He said that he was worried that they may not be able to overcome either the dragon or the Déaþscufa. Uthric wondered if the Dragon and the Déaþscufa might not be one in the same. Hereweald said he was uncertain if that was the case but what he was sure of was that most spirits could be bargained with. The difficulty was that the bargain generally was one that a living person would not want to make. They agreed that they would try and bargain with the spirit and see if they could gain an advantage that would help them defeat the Déaþscufa. They all thought that they should travel with the leæch into the spirit world and Hereweald said that they would therefore need to individually gather certain plants at midnight. The good news he said was that the moon was in the right phase but it would take until tomorrow to prepare the spirit tent and prepare the roots for the spirit journey which would mean another warrior would die that night. Hereweald said that it might have been quicker to sacrifice the warriors that had been killed but he thought there might be no volunteers. At midnight Hereweald showed them the plants and told them how to creep up on them safely and harvest them without harming the roots. It was a long and tedious job to harvest the plants and they were exhausted by morning but the leæch pushed them onwards with encouraging words. He set about preparing the leaves and roots while the Hrothgarsons built a spirit tent. Dunstan considered himself the leading expert in withies and he was critical of Uthric and Wulfhere’s choice of and placement of withies. They were becoming irritated by Dunstan’s constant directions and offered to let him build it by himself. They realised that they were tired and becoming difficult with each other and thought they should rest rather than argue. Dunstan agreed that they should not argue and said he would finish the spirit tent in order to make it right. He said he was keen to strike a bargain with the spirit and destroy the Déaþscufa before there was no one left alive in Cædering. By midmorning Dunstan and Hereweald had completed their preparations and were ready to start the journey to the spirit world. Hereweald made them all drink a foul-tasting liquid and threw herbs and leaves on the fire. The smoke produced by the fire was suffocating and the surroundings became vague. Hereweald beckoned them forward and they left the tent with him. The darkness in the grave was not quite so complete as before and they all followed Hereweald through the passageway. The dragon spirit welcomed them to its home and named itself Ætremód, the keeper of secrets. Hereweald named himself Spirit-traveller and Ætremód nodded in welcome. Hereweald told it they were seeking knowledge of the Déaþscufa and how to send it back to Neorxanwang. He asked Ætremód if it had the secret they were looking for and how they could bargain for the knowledge. Ætremód stretched its wings and settled on a hoard of treasure. The movement caused a brief landslide of treasure and revealed an old sword. Ætremód told them it would be a simple matter and the sword in the treasure would achieve what they wanted but the price would be the spirit of one of the ælfar. Hereweald said they would retire to consider Ætremód’s offer and would return shortly. Uthric said that he was adamant about not giving Meire to Ætremód and anyway he said she denied being an ælfar and he believed her. Dunstan pointed out she had that odd greenish tinge in her skin and Ætremód was likely to think she was an ælfar. Uthric was unmoved by Dunstan’s argument. Hereweald said they did not know where they could find an ælfar so they were at an impasse. Uthric asked Hereweald if they could defeat Ætremód in a spirit fight. He had no experience of how to fight the creature but thought that they might get the better of it if they all attacked. Hereweald said that he thought it was possible but that they were risking their spirit bodies. Dunstan said he was willing to do that for the sake of defeating the Déaþscufa. Hereweald was unsure and said that while he had no issue meeting his death he was not sure he wanted his spirit eaten by a darkness spirit. Wulfhere asked him what would persuade him to take the risk and he offered half the treasure in the mound. Hereweald still looked doubtful and Uthric increased the offer to include all of the treasure. Hereweald still said he thought this might turn out badly for all of them but finally agreed. Dunstan said he was not happy with this agreement. He thought they were all taking equal risks and the treasure should be split evenly. To settle it, he said he would act as bait for Ætremód by going into the passage first. Wulfhere thought that maybe bait was the wrong word and Dunstan should consider distraction as the appropriate endeavour. Dunstan thanked his brother for his advice and prepared himself for combat with Ætremód. Dunstan moved slowly up the passage and when he saw Ætremód raise its head from the bed of treasure he struck it with his spear and then turned and ran. Ætremód had not been expected the blow from the spear and fortunately for Dunstan it took a moment for it to realise what had happened. Dunstan was almost out of the passage way when Ætremód breathed a blackness that raced along the passage and engulfed the fleeing Dunstan. His body and mind felt numbed but he managed to stumble out of the passage. Ætremód flowed after him and with its presence the area outside the grave became as dark as it had been in the grave. Their spirit bodies could see better in the darkness and they saw Ætremód’s vast size as it reared up and prepared to bite Dunstan. He was saved by Hereweald who put himself in between Ætremód and Dunstan and then struck Ætremód on the head with his staff. There was a loud percussion that deafened everyone. Ætremód switched its attack to Hereweald and struck him on his leg with a claw. Hereweald fell heavily but was able to crawl backwards. Wulfhere and Uthric moved forward to attack, protecting the prone leæch and struck the creature with their spears. Ætremód retaliated by raking Wulfhere with a claw which he blocked with his shield but still caused bruising to his arm. Uthric thought his spear struck the soft underbelly of Ætremód but he could not see much damage. Dunstan had scrambled to his feet. He had blisters as if he had been burnt all over his body but he ignored the pain and picked up his warspear to attack. Hereweald again pointed his staff at Ætremód and the creature recoiled in obvious pain. However, it slashed with its claws at Wulfhere whose shield was almost broken and the claws raked his leg. Both Wulfhere and Uthric again hit it with their spears and Uthric parried the claw attack with his shield. Ætremód ignored Wulfhere and Uthric and tried to bite Hereweald. Hereweald shoved his staff into the open jaws and there was a loud explosion as his staff burst apart. Bits of wood hit both Uthric and Wulfhere but Ætremód recoiled allowing all three of the Hrothgarsons to attack with their spears. Ætremód again clawed at Wulfhere and split his shield and injured his chest. Dunstan attacked from behind which attracted the attention of Ætremód who tried to bite him. Dunstan managed to get his shield in the way but the force of the bite snapped his shield in two and injured his shield arm. Ætremód towered over Dunstan and prepared to bite him again but it allowed Wulfhere and Uthric to attack again and both spears went deep into its body. Ætremód let out a high-pitched cry and lashed Wulfhere with its tail breaking the shield and causing damage to his hip. Uthric stuck his spear into the creature’s head and suddenly the darkness was gone. The sudden increase in light left them all blinded and they felt themselves getting drawn back to their physical bodies that still lay in the spirit tent. Uthric was the only one unharmed. Dunstan had been hit by Ætremód’s breath and had suffered serious hurt all over his body. Wulfhere would likely limp for weeks and Hereweald would need help to walk even short distances. Uthric did what he could to make everyone comfortable and went to examine outside and the grave mound. Now that the darkness had gone he could use a torch to explore the inside of the mound. There was a vast array of silver and even some gold but the real prize was the sword that lay half buried in the mound of treasure. Uthric was disappointed when he looked closer at it, for the sword looked old and covered with verdigris. He thought that all their effort to kill the Ætremód had been for an old sword that in his opiniont would not cut soft butter. He lifted it up and was surprised when the mould and verdigris fell off and he was left with a shiny bronze sword. Uthric reported what he had found and showed the sword. Wulfhere said that only Uthric was in any state to take on the Déaþscufa but he was aware that Uthric was also not familiar in fighting with a sword. Uthric acknowledged that this was a problem but thought that unless Wulfhere had a better idea he would have to take his chances and fight the Déaþscufa. They took some treasure in their cloaks and sealed the mound again hoping to disguise its entrance. The others waited while Uthric went and got the rest of their men from Seaxeneat. They all carried Hereweald, Wulfhere and Dunstan back to Cædering as none of them could walk well. They met with Taethle in the hall and told her of events and how they believed they could defeat the Déaþscufa. She said that it was her duty as a Thane to fight the Déaþscufa and exact revenge for the death of so many of her men. She thanked Uthric for his offer to fight but she also pointed out that she had had training in the use of a sword and could at least use it competently. That night Taethle stood alone on the palisade awaiting the arrival of the Déaþscufa. The fight was long and dreadful but eventually she triumphed and dispelled the Déaþscufa but she had taken numerous grievous wounds. Her shout of victory brought others from the Hall and they saw her fall unconscious as they approached. Taethle was carried back to the Hall by her Carls but they were uncertain if she would live. Her armour was torn and ripped but there were no marks on her skin or indication where the wounds were. Hereweald was brought in on a stretcher from his sick bed and he was able to give direction as to where the healers should bandage. It took several weeks before the wounded had healed sufficiently and they are able to return to Old Wincen Cæster Hill to get the rest of the treasure. There was no longer any hope of dividing the treasure five ways. So many people had been injured or killed by the Déaþscufa that they needed to use the treasure to ease the suffering caused. Even Hereweald thought that this was the best idea. They gave Osberht a golden torque as he was their Thane and the rest they split between those that had suffered injury. Wulfhere kept enough silver so that he would be able to add extra provisions for the Feast of Beltaine and Lughnasa. He thought that there had been so much sorrow, death and destruction over the last number of years that everyone needed some distraction. Dunstan married Gwenith, a British woman who had been widowed by Anyon’s attack on Glawmæd. She brought three children with her from her previous marriage. Uthric thought that Dunstan had done well to marry at last and he wished him every success. Wulfhere and Lucnot took the credit for helping to heal the divisions in Glawmæd. For the rest of the year the Hrothgarsons helped to rebuild Glawmæd and to bring in the harvest. They made sure that they attended to both British and Saxon festivals and considered each of equal importance which brought the two peoples together. It also helped that many of the Saxon warriors had married British women. The Hrothgarsons spent their odd quiet moment plotting the downfall of Ealdorman Coelfrith, the fugitives Beorthric and Wilfrith and they also added Dunric to the list. They were unsure how they would deal with Dunric as he was a leæch and killing a leæch was likely to consign the killer’s soul to Neorxanwang and have it gnawed by the dragons, who live in the roots of the One tree, until the end of the world. Word arrived from Cerdic that he had complained to Coelfrith about his leæch’s actions and threatening war if there was no compensation and wergild for the men who died or were injured. Coelfrith had denied any involvement but acknowledged that it was likely to be Dunric who had caused the hurt. He had disowned the leæch and told Cerdic’s messengers that the leæch had gone too far and that he regretted any involvement with him. Coelfrith said that he was unaware where Dunric had gone. He had left with some followers and he believed him to be in Mierce. He did not offer to pay any wergild.

Was it a Golden Goose? I was thinking when reading this thread about what strength the Glue spell was in the Brothers Grimm Fairy tale... must have been way more than Soltak's

Embassy to Kernow Wulfhere knew Glawmaed was in trouble. Although the harvest had been gathered it had been destroyed in the war and many of the livestock had been killed. He had been put in charge of Glawmaed until Cerdic made a decision about who should be Thane. It was therefore Wulfhere's responsibility to find enough food for the villagers and the extra warriors, who were now guarding the village. The destruction in Glawmaed, Caedering and Caelctun meant that usually self-sufficient villages that had produced surplus for trade had nothing to spare. Wulfhere sent messages to Stuf at Portus Caester and he obliged by sending five oxcarts of supplies north. Wulfhere was concerned that Coelfrith might still want to cause trouble for Caedering. Osberht's defection had set up a chain of events in which Coelfrith had lost considerable standing and honour. He had been humiliated by Aelle and Wulfhere wondered if he would react by targeting Caedering. Wulfhere decided that he was probably over-interpreting things and he hoped there would be peace for some years. Uthric asked Modrig the names of the Huscarls that had left Garm to die. He memorised them for the future as he thought they might seek revenge. He also asked about Beorthric and Wilfrith and if Modrig had any knowledge of them. He was disappointed to learn Modrig had no knowledge of either man. Dunstan, Wulfhere and Lucnot began to rebuild the houses. Dunstan spent his spare time training his brother Egfryd. He was still concerned that Hildegard was giving Egfryd too many honey-cakes. The situation with their mother had not got any better but equally it had not got worse. Dunstan was more critical of her than either Wulfhere or Uthric. He felt she was not honouring their father’s memory. He remarked that it was time she remembered that she was a grandmother and had responsibilities rather than her continual sulking just because he intended to kill her husband. Ealdorman Cerdic knew that his Yule celebrations would be critical for the coming year. This was the fifth year of Aelle's reign as Bretwalda and Cerdic had it in mind that he would be challenging Aelle for the title soon. The battles at Caelctun, Caedering, Glawmaed and Llys had changed the political landscape. Coelfrith's loss of Caedering and Caelctun had side-lined him as a force in the west and Cerdic was keen to take the land west of the Moen and north to the Tamyse for himself. It was rumoured that Coelfrith had been struck down by the plague and they hoped to hear news of his death soon. Cerdic's men had been to Friesland, Jutland and Saxony spreading news that there was more than enough land in Briton for any warriors who were strong enough to take it. He hoped that he would see the fruits of his message in spring when the weather allowed the boats to sail again. He was concerned about Octa. King Octa was the exiled king of Ceint and he was the one remaining son of Hengist. Octa was also a bad-tempered drunkard and his men were outlaws, murderers and traitors who he recruited in the hope of regaining his throne in Ceint. Cerdic knew that although he had an alliance with Octa that he would soon need to deal with him. Octa was in perpetual war with Aelle and his bloodthirsty warriors spent their time raiding Ceint or in piracy of Ceintish ships. Octa was also rumoured to have made an alliance with the Dumnonians. Cerdic knew that this would need to change but he was content to leave it for the moment. Octa kept Aelle occupied and stopped him expanding his realm along the Tamyse valley and into Mierce. The Leæces in Halig's isle had read the runes and told Cerdic he would be a king soon. Cerdic sat and watched his Thanes, Huscarls and Carls celebrate Yule at his Hall in Portus Caester. He sat at the top benches with his son, Cynic, nephew Stuf and a Thane, Frodda who had come from Froddington. The Yule feast was going well when suddenly it was interrupted by Stuf and Cynic who began attacking a man with their swords. Dunstan remarked that he must have stolen someone's Yule sausage and had really upset them. It turned out that the man had used a bucket of water to extinguish the Yule log. This was considered a very bad omen and try as he might to pass it off, Cerdic was worried. Rumours circulated that the man was one of Octa's Carls. Some even said he was Aelle's man. Cerdic called for the best Yule Ale to be served and a skald told the story of Cerdic's victories and the taking of Portus Caester. But the mood in the Hall was dampened and, on the benches, men wondered what bad luck was coming. On the third night of the Feast, the Brothers were invited to tell the tale of the Battles in the North. Dunstan spoke well and held the attention of the audience while he told of the treachery of Garm and his ignominious death. He spoke of the humbling of Coelfrith at Aelle's Moot and the battle at Caedering and how even the women and children of Caedering fooled the Britons by pretending to be warriors. Cerdic gave Dunstan, Uthric and Wulfhere arm rings and new clothes. Men said that it was well with the Hrothgarsons and their reputation was growing and they were going to be like their father. Cerdic asked the Brothers to come and see him privately. He praised their exploits and enquired if they could speak British as well as he had been told. He acknowledged this was a useful skill which would make them ideal for a delicate task. He told them of his plans to invade Dumnonia and capture land as far as the Itchen. He knew this would be a momentous task for the Dumnonians were fierce warriors and moreover they often fought from horseback. Cerdic thought that causing a distraction might help his cause and wanted to see if he could gain some allies for his cause. He told of a strong Kingdom beyond Dumnonia called Kernow, ruled by a king called Mark. He wanted to see if it was possible to forge an alliance with this Mark and get him to attack Dumnonia when Cerdic did. The Dumnonians would either have to split their army or leave one of the enemy armies to rampage through their lands. He wanted the Brothers to go on a diplomatic mission that would require both tact and delicacy. Mark was known to be a drunken king who preferred to spend his time playing with his many woman. But the warriors of Kernow were fierce and Mark may be tempted to take land and wealth from his rival, the Dumnonian King. It was well known that he hated this man, The Bear, but for what reason Cerdic had not been able to discover. Wulfhere thought that this task was not beyond their skills but he was concerned if they had to walk through Dumnonia that they would likely attract some attention and that attention would not always be friendly. Cerdic agreed that walking to Kernow was possibly not the best idea so he had engaged one of his trusted Frisian traders to take them there in a boat. Uthric said that he would be willing to go just for the experience of being in a boat although he had heard it could be dangerous. Dunstan said that he had become used to travelling and sometimes he found it hard not to be on the road. Cerdic was pleased with their response and said that the boat would be ready to leave a moon after Hretha's feast. He had been told that the storms were less by then and that it could even be a pleasant voyage. They were to take ten Carls with them in case of trouble and he also had gifts for Mark that might help sway the argument. He said that it was likely Mark would want silver and perhaps land that but he thought it well worth the effort if he gained an advantage in the coming war. After Yule the Brothers took their leave of Cerdic and promised to return a moon after the Feast of Cakes. They spent the intervening time arranging the defence of Glawmaed with Lucnot and Taethle. They also discussed the crops needed for the following year and what animals they should concentrate on breeding. Uthric and Wulfhere said goodbye to Meire and Bronwyn. Both women told them they were pregnant and hoped they would return for the birth. Wulfhere said they expected to be home long before harvest. Hildegard told both woman that from her own experience, her sons' timekeeping was not their strong point. Cerdic reminded them that they might be provoked while in Kernow and they were to do nothing to endanger a potential alliance. They went aboard the trading ship that was to take them to Caer Dore. Cerdic had also installed two young woman from minor noble families who thought that being Concubines to a rich king would improve their prospects. Cwen and Daira were both blonde and beautiful but understandably nervous now that they were about to leave their familiar surroundings for the unknown. The Ships Master was Durwin, an experienced sailor who looked at his human cargo of the Brothers and the ten Carls with some amusement. He was heard telling his sailors to lay bets who would be seasick first. A sailor called Wyre won 5 silver for predicting Dunstan would be the first to spend time leaning over the gunwale. It took five days to get to Caer Dore. None of the passengers were able to enjoy the passage and they were too ill to watch the coast of Dumnonia or the majestic cliffs of Kernow that protected the bleak Moors where the men of Kernow mined and smelted tin. The port of Caer Dore was a filthy, smelly village. The people were small and squat and seemed impoverished. They stood back and stared at the tall Carls with their bright cloaks and sharp spears. Durwin spoke with the Harbour master and agreed the price for the berth. He asked Wulfhere how many days he should pay for but Wulfhere had no answer. He was unsure of the task that lay ahead and could only advise that it might be several days. He agreed that two warriors should stay with the ship to help the sailors protect it. Durwin was concerned that there was no treaty about shipping between Cerdic and Kernow and he was keen to protect his ship and income. Wulfhere promised that he would send a message as soon as he could about the state of negotiations and possible time to return home. Caer Dore lies inland from its port. The track was muddy and full of ruts. After half a mornings March they approached King Mark's royal seat. Caer Dore is a vast sprawl of haphazard buildings, on the outskirts most of the buildings are shacks with narrow muddy paths leading to a central hill on which stood a large hall. The concentration of dwellings, byres, barns and corrals increased as they approached the centre. The people they passed were sullen and Uthric frequently heard the word 'Sais', the British word for Saxons. It was hard to estimate how many people lived in this town. Dunstan thought it might be more than a 1000 but probably less than 2000. It was certainly the biggest place they had ever seen but it seemed that every other person was a beggar, holding their hands out to the strangers. Most of the people looked poor and more ragged than their own lands. There were some warriors who watched them with open hostility. The Brothers were shown into Mark’s Hall. The Hall stank of discarded food and vomit. It looked as if the remnants of a feast had not been cleared away and hungover warriors snored on the benches set against the walls. Mark's steward Bannon greeted them and asked them if their journey had been good. Wulfhere responded politely and wondered if they might meet with King Mark. Bannon said unfortunately King Mark was indisposed after last night’s carousing, but he would have a feast to welcome the Sais to Kernow. Bannon offered the travellers food and watered ale. Dunstan found the pastry dumplings filled with meat and vegetables not very appetizing and wondered if Bannon could provide something different and perhaps some stronger alcohol. Bannon ignored Dunstan's request and advised them that there would be a feast tonight and Dunstan could have all manner of interesting foods but perhaps he suggested they needed to retire before then to rest after their arduous journey. Bannon showed them to a hut which would be their living quarters while in Kernow. He apologised that it had not been cleaned and there had been no fresh straw for the bedding nor any fresh reeds for the floor. He assigned them a serving woman who he said would see to their needs. Wulfhere thought he had never met a more surly woman in his life. She made his mother’s recent bad tempers seem like joyous song. She seemed to interpret every reasonable request as a personal insult. Daira and Cwen looked scared about what they had seen so far. It did not fill them with confidence that their lives would be improved. They asked Wulfhere to send them back to the ship. Wulfhere acknowledged that so far, their expectations had not been met but he was sure that after they were introduced to King Mark their opinions would change and they would see things differently. They should see their situation as the start of a new life and they would have many opportunities for advancement. It was a good speech but everyone's spirits were so low that it convinced no-one that things could improve. The woman went off to try to bathe and prepare themselves. They could be heard crying in the back of the room. The Brothers and the eight Carls discussed their situation. They agreed they were in a hostile town and there was danger everywhere. Wulfhere reminded them of Cerdic's instructions. They must do nothing to provoke their hosts and ruin the chance of an alliance. Wulfhere told the Carls that it would be best that they did not come to the feast. He did not think that any of the Brothers would be directly provoked but he worried that the Carls might not have the same level of hospitality. He reminded the Brothers that they should not drink more than was necessary and they should keep their wits about them. Uthric said that he was of the opinion that the only way to endure this country would be to pass out from drink and wake up again on the boat home. Dunstan agreed in principle with Uthric but said that it might be too long a time to remain drunk. They were introduced to various local dignitaries at the feast. Tristan, the King’s son, was civil and courteous but was very clear at declaring his support for Dumnonia and against the Sais. He said his father might have other ideas but he and his men would not fight against their friends, The Dumnonians. Mark's champion was Aud, a huge tattooed man. He had blue swirls over most of his body and wore warrior rings on each finger and in his beard which clinked when he moved. He did not speak much but drank huge quantities of ale. Wella was Mark's Leæch. He was an old man whose thinning white hair had been shaved at the front in the manner of the British. He performed a brief ceremony where he killed a hare and sprinkled the blood over the gathered warriors. Wulfhere touched his Thunor's hammer in the hope that whatever spell Wella had cast would be averted. They were introduced to Diarmuid, an lrish King. He was known as Bloody Shield but none of the Brothers wanted to hear why. Two other chieftains were present at the top bench called Rhan and Dubv. Both spent the night cramming food and drink into their mouths while sharing unsavoury jokes with Diarmuid. Wulfhere noticed that despite seeming to match Rhan and Dubv, Diarmuid actually drank very little. There was no sign of Mark. His throne remained empty while the feast went on. Dunstan was disappointed that the main food was more of the inedible pastries or dumplings. He eventually settled on some vegetable and pork broth. Diarmuid, the Irish King spoke with Wulfhere. Only he and Tristan were not drinking heavily. Dunstan asked him where Ireland was and Diarmuid told him that it was two days march directly north. Diarmuid was an interesting man but they felt that it would be difficult to trust him. Eventually Mark arrived. He was supported by several guards as he appeared unsteady on his feet. He was fat and bloated and covered like Aud in swirling blue tattoos over his face and arms. As he came closer they could smell that he had already been drinking. Wulfhere stood as was customary and getting Uthric to translate, introduced himself as an embassy from Cerdic. Mark waved a hand in acknowledgement as he almost fell off his throne. He mumbled something to Bannon who asked Wulfhere if he had any gifts for King Mark. Wulfhere thanked the king for his hospitality and said that indeed Cerdic had sent him two gifts which he had hoped would please him. He sent Dunstan to bring Cwen and Daira to the hall. They had spent the afternoon getting ready and when they arrived the warriors went silent as the two women made their way to the front of the hall. On their arrival Mark sat up and for the first time since coming to the Hall, looked interested. He again spoke to Bannon. Bannon in turn signalled for the two spearmen on either side of Mark to move forward. They ripped the Women’s dresses off and turned them around for Mark to see. Each woman screamed and shouted but the guards threatened to hit them and they quietened. Uthric had to stop Dunstan from objecting to the treatment of the women. Mark clapped his hands and through Bannon he thanked them for his presents which he said he would enjoy. Uthric noticed that Tristan averted his eyes and made a sign, touching his forehead and breast. Uthric assumed it was a sign against evil peculiar to Kernow The court skald, Yspaddon sang a triumphant song which Uthric translated for Wulfhere and Dunstan. Dunstan was still angry after witnessing the humiliation of Daira and Cwen. Fortunately, most people were too drunk to notice except for King Diarmuid who made some jokes at Dunstan's expense. After Yspaddon had finished a prisoner was brought in. Uthric was told by Rhan that he was a Chieftain who had rebelled against Mark and had been captured after his spearman had been slaughtered. The man was naked and his body was covered in bruises and wounds. Aud, the Kings Champion, drew his sword and began slowly cutting the Chieftain. Mark became very animated and leaned forward in his chair while his champion showed his skill with the sword by cutting the man but each cut was designed not to kill him but to cause pain. The Brothers were hardened warriors but this sickened them all. Prince Tristan stayed for the man's death but left soon afterwards. Wulfhere, through Uthric, attempted to engage King Mark but the King was barely coherent. Bannon said that this Feast was a celebration of their arrival and not the time to discuss policy. They should drink, eat and enjoy themselves. He said that Mark would talk to him tomorrow and he should show patience as befitted an emissary. Queen Iseult was brought into the Hall. There was silence as she approached the Kings dais. Dunstan, in particular, thought he had never seen such a beautiful woman. She was dark haired and fragile looking but equally had an inner strength and grace that he found it hard to look away. Diarmuid advised Dunstan to close his mouth and think of other things. Mark was an extremely jealous man and did not like other men looking at his Queen despite treating her badly and publicly humiliating her. As if to prove his point, Mark began shouting at her and attempted to get up. He grabbed a spear from his Guard and threw it at her. Fortunately, he was so incapacitated from drink that she easily avoided the throw. Diarmuid explained that Iseult’s beauty came from the Danu, an Irish goddess that was reputed to be her ancestor. Dunstan thought a two-day march north to Ireland might be worthwhile if Ireland had other women who looked like this. The Queen poured each of the guests some wine and gave a greeting and compliment to all. She then left. A short time later the king collapsed and was carried out by servants. The Brothers agreed that it was time to leave the feast now that the king had retired. They had become increasingly uneasy about being in such a strange place. It had begun to rain when they had left the feast and the paths back to their lodging were muddy and slippery. They also discovered that the roof of their house leaked and there was a large pool of water in the middle of the floor. Wulfhere thought that it would be an even more uncomfortable night as it was going to be difficult to find somewhere dry to sleep. They discussed their situation. All were appalled by the nights events and were beginning to wonder what they could achieve in Kernow. Wulfhere said that they needed to be careful and constantly on their guard. Mark was the kind of King that once offended, stays offended, even if he doesn't remember why. The next morning after a very uncomfortable night they made their way to Mark's Hall. Warriors were still asleep where they had collapsed. Prince Tristan was at the High Table on the dais and he waved for them to join him. He asked them if they had slept well and when Dunstan said that they had spent a rather uncomfortable night with a leaking roof and there was now a lake in the middle of the floor and in the fire pit that he had been able to wash in. Tristan said he was embarrassed by the poor hospitality and called Bannon to get new accommodation immediately. Bannon said that he would see to it right away. Tristan ordered food, the Brothers opted for a course ground porridge rather than meat dumplings, judging that losing a tooth to a piece of unseen stone from the grinding mill was a better risk than the pastries. Wulfhere enquired if they could meet King Mark today. He said that he was keen to return to Portus Caester because Cerdic would want to know King Mark's views as soon as possible. Tristan apologised and said he suspected his father might not be available until that night as he often slept all day after a feast. Wulfhere said he was disappointed but could wait until tonight if the king was indisposed. Tristan offered to take them hunting. Rhan, Dhuv and Diarmuid were all going Boar hunting and he said he would be delighted if they would accompany them. The Brothers reluctantly agreed. They saw Cwen and Daira in the hall and managed to talk to them. Both women were distressed and asked the Brothers to take them home with them. Wulfhere said that this was unlikely to happen. While it was not how they had hoped things would turn out, unfortunately they were part of a treaty settlement and that could not be undone without causing offence to Mark. Both women reminded him that they had come of their own choice and now chose to return. Wulfhere was conflicted but without Marks agreement he said he could do nothing. The Beaters sounded a horn to signify that prey had been found and that it was heading their way. Uthric had reminded them of the risks they were taking going boar hunting and that it might suit Tristan if they all died. He was very much against any alliance with the Saxon lords and this might be a simple and convenient way of solving his problem. Uthric said that in his opinion it would be a good solution for it was known that people died all the time in boar hunts. Tristan said that the honour of killing the boar would go to the person who saw it first. They agreed that this person would have first strike and the others would only join in if there was a risk to his life or the boar became too stubborn about dying. Diarmuid laughed and said that in his experience boars never wanted to give up their lives and indeed quite often managed to kill or severely injure the hunter even after they had taken enough hurt to have killed a normal beast. He for one was relishing the prospect of a life and death struggle with the boar and he hoped he would be first to see it. Besides he said to Wulfhere, he was sick of meat in pastry and would look forward to roast boar tonight. They made their way through dense undergrowth and listening intently they could hear the boars breathing. Dunstan spotted it first as it lay in a tangle of briars. It was an immense beast and had scars on its back from other fights with hunters. Wulfhere when he heard about the scars thought it did not bode well and observed that this boar probably had some tricks it used to escape from being speared. He urged that Dunstan to be careful. Dunstan moved forward while the others readied their spears. He poked his own spear into the undergrowth hoping to irritate the boar into a charge as he did not like the idea of trying to cut this way through the dense vegetation while guarding himself against the boar's attack. He heard a grunt and just had time to brace the spear as the boar charged head down. Dunstan's spear hit the boars' shoulder but it seemed to ignore the wound. The speed and mass of the creature was immense and it smashed into Dunstan's shield splitting it in two and colliding with his abdomen. Dunstan thought he might have some severe bruising if he managed to survive the next few heartbeats. His spear was still stuck in the boar’s shoulder and he tried to work the spear point deeper into its flesh and hit something vital. Under the boar’s weight, the spear snapped and Dunstan fell with the boar on top of him. The boar lowered its head to disembowel him but fortunately Dunstan managed to pull up his legs and force the boar’s tasks away from his chest and stomach. The tusks raked his leg leaving an impressive scar that he would carry until his death day. Dunstan was in real danger and Uthric, Wulfhere, Tristan and Diarmuid all plunged their spears into the boar, trying to push it off Dunstan. Dunstan tried to reach for his seax but it was pinned under him with the weight of the boar on top. The boar again tried to use his tusks to disembowel Dunstan but fortunately he got his legs in the way again and the boar raked his other leg. Dunstan punched the boar. The damage from his friends eventually told and the boar expired and in doing so released a stream of urine over Dunstan. Uthric, Wulfhere, Tristan and Diarmuid pushed the dead boar off of Dunstan. He looked a mess. Both legs suffered deep cuts and it was impossible to tell if the blood was his or the boars. Uthric closed and bound the wounds and Dunstan gingerly tested his legs. He was able to walk but was in pain. Tristan apologised for putting his life in danger. Diarmuid said that this story would keep Feasts amused for many days. Dunstan said that in his opinion that was easily the fiercest opponent he had ever fought. He had thought that Wulfhere would have to tell his mother he had met his death in Kernow. The beaters gralloched the boar and took the carcass back for that night’s feast. Tristan said that his step-mother was good at healing and she would attend to Dunstan when they got back. Diarmuid asked Tristan how many step-mothers he has had. Tristan laughed and said that he believed that Iseult was his sixth or seventh. Diarmuid grinned and said he had always found that King Mark tended to be careless and kept losing his wives. Tristan looked sad and Wulfhere wondered what Mark did to all these women. Dunstan was unsure that he wanted any attention from Iseult given Mark's temperament and evident jealousy but Tristan insisted and the Queen herself was keen to help. Dunstan found her to be gentle and skilled at healing. Iseult was about his age and Mark was over 50 years. It was clear from their conversation that Iseult was unhappy in her marriage. She told Dunstan she was from Ireland a land that was over the western sea. Dunstan was a bit confused. Diarmuid had told him that Ireland was two days march north but it was also over the western sea according to Iseult. He thought that it must be a big place. Iseult hinted that she would like to get away from Mark who she described as worse than a murderous pig with habits that would disgust the Demons of Hell. Dunstan was unsure what the Demons of Hell were but concluded that they were not people you would ask to a feast. He felt sorry for the Queen but he said that his loyalty to Cerdic and their mission took precedence to Iseult's sorrows and troubles. While the Queen talked to Dunstan and closed and bound his wounds, Uthric and Wulfhere talked to the Warlords, Dubv and Rhan. Uthric thought that both were suggesting that they would never get an answer from Mark. They suggested in low voices that another king might have a better answer to their inquiries. They said that if Cerdic would lend them 100 spearmen they might be able to be of help with Cerdic's plans. Wulfhere tried to change the subject, recognising that the two Warlords were proposing treason. He did not know what Cerdic's opinion of this would be and certainly did not want to be accused of helping to overthrow King Mark. He thought it best to give ambiguous answers and play for time. He was thankful that Tristan returned to the Hall and both Rhan and Dubv changed the talk to hunting stories. When they returned to their accommodation the Brothers shared their concerns. Dunstan advised that they needed to search their boat thoroughly before they left. He fully expected that they might have some unexpected passengers. It appeared to be that every woman in any way closely connected to Mark was very keen to escape hm and at present they were the surest way to leave the country. He had no wish to have to fight their way to the boat and fight a sea battle all the way to Portus Caester. He said that if they were not on a diplomatic mission he would have no problem rescuing all these women but he felt his allegiance to Cerdic outweighed other things. Uthric and Wulfhere discussed the treason that was hinted at by Dubv and Rhan. They noted that this country was riven by factions and Wulfhere thought it was a surprise it functioned at all. He was even more surprised that no-one had put a knife in Mark's black heart. Uthric supposed that the only reason it had not happened was because no-one could agree on who would replace Mark. If Mark was killed, Tristan would be obligated to revenge his father and that would be a hard task for potential rebels to overcome. Both Uthric and Wulfhere thought Tristan would make a fine king but it would not help Cerdic's plans. It was clear Tristan's sympathies lay with Dumnonia and he would never attack them. They agreed that their embassy was doomed and they should see Mark as soon as they could and take his answer to Cerdic. Cerdic would want their opinion of Mark and Kernow and they were clear that they had had enough of this country from its interminable meat pastries to its drunken mad and deadly King. Tristan sent a new set of clothes to Dunstan as his own set had been ruined in the fight with the boar. They attended the Feast hoping to be able to talk to Mark and leave in the morning. Similar to the previous night, Mark did not appear when the feast started. Dunstan had been looking forward to the roasted boar, but the cook had managed to overcook it and it was tough. At least, that is what Dunstan told herself when it stuck in his throat. Wulfhere said that this was a common reaction after a battle when a warrior recalls all the sword and axe strokes that nearly took his life. In the same way Dunstan was remembering his almost fatal duel with the boar and not only was he finding the memory tough but even the eating of it was tough. Mark eventually arrived and Wulfhere announced his intention of leaving the next day. Mark ignored him and said there was plenty of time to discuss matters of state. Tonight, he thought they would be better enjoying themselves. Mark was keen for his entertainment to begin. Two prisoners were brought in and both made to fight to the death. Mark was enthralled by the fight and clapped when one of the prisoners disembowelled the other. He laughed as the disembowelled man tried to pick up his guts and put them back inside before collapsing and being dispatched by Aud. The victor knelt before Mark's High seat expecting a reward but Aud came up behind him and decapitated him with a single sword stroke. The assembled warriors cheered. Mark laughed so much that he had a coughing fit in which it looked like he would expire. Wulfhere was hopeful that this might be the end of the King, but Marks coughing calmed down and he called for more drink. Iseult bought him a jug of ale. Mark was still coughing and just as Iseult poured, Mark moved his drinking horn and the ale went over his tunic. ln a rage he hit her with the back of his hand. Diarmuid restrained Dunstan and told him he should calm down if he did not want to end up as one of Mark’s entertainments at the next feast. The warriors in the Hall were a hard-bitten, lawless crew but they were silent after Mark had hit Iseult. Mark clearly sensed the mood of the Hall and attempted to change the atmosphere by ordering Cwen and Daira to dance. Diarmuid told Dunstan that Mark was a drunken bully but he needed to be aware that he was still a powerful drunkard who took petty joy at inconveniencing those who crossed him. It was usual, he continued, that those who came to Marks attention did not usually live long enough to have a second opportunity to cross him. Diarmuid said that Dunstan should also note the mood of the warriors when Mark hit Iseult. He was of the opinion that they were all in love with Iseult and one day Mark would go too far and then he would pay the price for his crimes. Dunstan would do well to focus on the future justice. Despite her swelling and bruised face, Iseult continued to serve the guests ale as was the duty of the Queen. As she filled Dunstan's drinking horn she whispered to him that he needed to take her away with him. Diarmuid stood on Dunstan's foot and he only nodded and smiled in response. The nights horrors had not finished yet. After they had danced, Cwen and Daira were called over to Marks High seat to serve him. Daira became incensed by some remark made by Mark and she slapped him, turned and walked away. Mark his face purple with anger grabbed the spear from one of his guardsmen and threw it at the retreating woman. She never saw it coming and the heavy spear took her life. The mood in the Hall changed immediately. Mark attempted to enliven the situation by getting Yspaddon to play the Marching long of Beli Mawr, one of the warriors’ favourites but it failed miserably. Mark left complaining that his warriors had gone soft. The Feast broke up with Prince Tristan again trying to apologise for his father's outrageous behaviour. Rhan whispered to Uthric that if Cerdic would support him there could be a reasonable king on the throne of Kernow who would be grateful for Saxon help. The Brothers ignored all discussions and bade goodnight to Tristan and Queen Iseult. They were stunned by events and wished to be as far away as possible from Kernow and in particular its mad King, Mark. The horror of what they had seen was possibly why they did not see the man hidden in the shadows who stabbed Dunstan in the leg and attempted to kill Uthric. They only had their seaxs with them, weapons being forbidden in the Hall but made short work of the assassin. Wulfhere's anger was such that he killed him outright. He regretted later that he did not take him alive but at the time he thought the man had killed his brother. Dunstan was still alive but badly hurt with another impressive scar to add to the growing number on his legs. He complained that it was perhaps he was too tall and assailants could not reach other parts of his body. He wondered if he had been smaller then it might have been that his scars would be more evenly spread over his body. Wulfhere and Uthric carried Dunstan back to the house and bound his new wounds. It was clear he would be unable to walk unaided for a number of weeks. To make matters worse it began to rain again and despite Bannon's promise the roof still leaked. In the morning they went to Marks Hall. Tristan was there as usual, giving the daily orders to the servants and hearing complaints from the people who petitioned Mark. He waved to the Brothers as they entered and continued to discuss a case of some stolen sheep. When he finished the judgement, he excused himself and came over to the Brothers as he had noted their scowling countenances. Wulfhere told him that someone had tried to kill them last night and he demanded to see Mark. Tristan apologised profusely and asked what he could do for recompense. He said that he was not happy that honoured guests had been attacked and nearly killed. Wulfhere said that the only thing that Tristan could do was to get his father out of bed so they could talk and then they could leave Kernow. Mark did not come to the Hall until after midday leaving the Brothers to fret if they would see him at all. Wulfhere complained to Mark about the assailant but Mark just laughed. He said that if they imagined he had tried to kill them they were wrong. They would already be dead if he wanted them killed and their bodies fed to the swine. Mark said that if Cerdic had been bothered to ask about them he would have told him the ship had left safe and sound and must have been attacked by pirates or foundered in a storm. Mark informed them it was not his fault if they flaunted their wealth and that was bound to attract thieves and robbers. Unfortunately, he continued there are still too many of those in the world. Wulfhere knew this was an argument that he would not win and he acknowledged Mark's twisted logic on the matter. Wulfhere then formerly asked Mark what it would take for an alliance with Kernow and ensure both armies attacked Dumnonia at the same time. Mark scratched at a louse in his beard and said that Dumnonia had a powerful army and he would not be keen to stick his finger in the beehive. He thought he might just continue raiding and stealing cows which would likely provoke a response. Wulfhere held firm.He said that Cerdic was most specific in his instructions and he wanted an invasion, not a raid. Dumnonia had to feel threatened from both sides and thus have to split their army. Mark said that if Cerdic sent 100 spearmen then the only further prize he wanted would be Isca. Wulfhere asked what or where or who Isca was. Mark told him it was a Roman City on the border with Kernow. Wulfhere had never heard of the tribe called Romans but he assumed they were client-kings of the Dumnonian King. Wulfhere said that he would convey the request to Cerdic and Mark would no doubt hear Cerdic's answer soon. He thanked Mark for his hospitality and bade him farewell. Dunstan said that Mark might want to fix the roof of the guest hall before someone else stays there. They were all happy to leave the Hall and went back to their lodgings. On the way back they met Queen Iseult. Uthric was aware of Dunstan's pity for her and he warned him against doing something gallant but stupid. He reminded her that she was Mark's Queen and he would not forgive this if they were to take her away. Dunstan bowed to the Queen and told her that they were leaving on the ebb tide before the evening meal. She shook her head sadly and said that she had been glad to meet him. She turned away and went back to the main Hall. When they arrived at their lodgings they found that the Carls had packed up their belongings. They also found Cwen who pleaded with them to take her back too. Wulfhere told her that Mark obviously couldn't look after gifts and in his opinion did not deserve to keep them. He did not go so far as to openly advertise that they had taken Cwen but disguised her as a Carl for the travel to the Port. They made their way back to the boat and were relieved to be leaving Kernow. Wulfhere said that he never wanted to return to this place again and if this was what British kingdoms were like then it should be no problem to conquer them. He reckoned that he could take Kernow with 100 spears. Dunstan watched the docks until they faded into the distance. He had hoped against hope but she did not come. The journey back was not as bad as the outward journey. They were only sick one of the days. It felt good to be back in the familiar sights of Portus Caester. Wulfhere reported back to Cerdic. His opinion was that Cerdic would be wasting time, effort, silver and spearmen on Kernow. Mark, he said was a drunken sot, without honour, without valour and of no use to anyone let alone his people. The Country seemed to be riven with factions and each would destroy the other. Wulfhere said that he was amazed that Mark remained king but he had seen many strange things in his life and Marks continued reign was one of the strangest. The only competent person in Kernow was the Edling, Prince Tristan. However, he unequivocally supported Dumnonia and would not support Cerdic's plan. Cerdic accepted their judgement and considered the matter closed for now. Cerdic asked why they had brought Cwen back. Wulfhere said that Mark had been careless with his gifts, he mislaid one and killed the other. He felt that he did not deserve them. Cerdic said that since her family were dead, Cwen would be his responsibility. He thanked the Brothers for their work and he released them to go back home

Bit too Dick Dastardly for me...lol

I could see three... and that was only the team..

How many Gudjonson's were in this video?

The Cleansing of the North Osberht's wound was healing slowly. It pleased him that he now managed to walk to his high seat most days without much pain. He sat with the Taethle and Brothers to hear of their travels to Anderida. He has interested in what had happened at Aelle's Assembly and had asked them several times to go over the story about things he wanted more details on. It was clear that some part of the story concerned him but he would not talk about it. Now that he was a KingsThane, Osberht told them he needed to make arrangements for the provisioning and defence of the three settlements of Caedering, Caelctun and Glawmaed. They had agreed the twenty warriors sent by Cerdic would go to Glawmaed to protect it from attack. Taethle also agreed she would be Thane of Caelctun and she and her warriors would go there. Osberht would remain in Caedering which would become the centre of an area that would co-operate and support each other. Osberht thought it was a good idea to ask Connal to join them in a ruling council to cooperate in growing crops and raising animals for trade. Cissa Cæster and Pontus Cæster had big populations which demanded constant food and they could all grow wealthy on trading food and raw materials. The Brothers listened to Osbert's plans but pointed out that the major obstacle to this happening would be the British Burgh in the Forest of Moen. They needed to think about how to deal with that. Wulfhere was also keen to visit Bronwyn and discuss a marriage contract with Connal. He wasn't sure if Connal would agree to it but he wanted to ask as soon as possible. He had the fine enamelled cloak broach that he had bought at great expense in Anderida. Osberht gave them permission to go since they were now his Huscarls and he wished Wulfhere luck with his discussions. It was almost harvest time so they felt that they should hurry to get to Glawmaed. No-one has any time to discuss anything while the harvest is being brought in. Uthric suggested to Osberht the need to build more homes in Caedering. He was particularly keen to have a home for Meire and Hrothgar away from his mother. Osberht agreed that the building would go ahead when they returned from Glawmaed. The population of Caedering had increased and it was likely the Caelctun might only become a fortified outpost so that people from there might come to Caedering. The Brothers travelled to Glawmaed and were greeted by Connal. He had heard from some of the merchants how they had dealt with Garm and was pleased that the threat was now over. He still was concerned that Anyon had not been dealt with and no-one was clear what his intentions were. The Brothers were of the same opinion and had discussed it with Cerdic when they had met. Wulfhere said that he had asked that Glawmaed be protected and was keen that any warriors sent north by Cerdic would be stationed here. Connal thanked him. He was certain that Anyon was aware he had sworn allegiance to Cerdic and he was equally sure that Anyon would see him as a traitor. Connal said that he worried about his people who would suffer if Anyon attacked. They discussed various options over a meal and agreed they would press Osberht and Taethle to take action after the harvest. Wulfhere said that he had come on other business too. Uthric and Dunstan had never really seen Wulfhere tongue-tied and they were amused at his reticence to speak. Uthric offered to help but Wulfhere said that as he still had a tongue, he could speak for himself. He told Connal that he would be keen to make a marriage contract with Bronwyn. Connal said that in his opinion this was the worst kept secret in Glawmaed. All of the village appeared to know about his interest but as Connal had not yet discussed it with Bronwyn and she would still need to agree. Connal said he was aware of Wulfhere's qualities and he would be happy to have him as a son-in-law. However, Wulfhere needed to be aware that although Bronwyn was intelligent, good at household management and rather beautiful he often found she had a sharp tongue when things did not go her way. Connal wanted to be sure Wulfhere was aware of her deficits as well as the strengths of his daughter. Wulfhere said he was of the opinion that the benefits far outweighed the disadvantages. Bronwyn was brought in and asked her opinion. She was agreeable to the match and Wulfhere gave her the enamelled Broach he had bought in Anderida. They agreed the marriage contract and would meet again to arrange the dowry with the wedding feast to be held in Spring. The Brothers promised to come back soon to discuss the dowry. Harvest is a difficult time for all the villages and it requires backbreaking work from dawn until dusk. Everyone in the village is involved in bringing in the harvest except those too young to walk or too old to work. Afterwards the village comes together to hold the Harvest feast. The last bit of grain harvested is beaten to kill or chase away the evil spirits and then it is planted where the next years grain will grow to ensure a good harvest. The feast is always a joyful affair and despite all the uncertainty over the last year the harvest was good. The Brothers were asked to tell the tale of their fight with the Bannucmann and their most recent dealings with the Bretwalda Aelle and how they humbled Ealdorman Coelfrith. It was noted that in Dunstan's telling of the tale of the Bannucmann, Offa now played a less prominent part than before. No-one seemed to mind and the Brothers’ reputation in Caedering increased. In the days following the Harvest feast, 0sberht, Taethle and the Brothers discussed the British threat. They were aware that Cerdic was expecting them to attack and they laid plans for the battle now that Caelctun was at peace. Their discussions were interrupted by Drefon the Smith from Glawmaed. He was bloodied and wearied. He told that he had escaped the attack by the British Warband on Glawmaed. Connal had asked him to come to get help from Osberht. When he left the villagers were still defending the wall and he hoped that somehow, they had managed to hold off the attackers. He feared that Glawmaed would be sacked and destroyed. Osberht ordered an immediate gathering of the warriors and the call up of the Fyrd. To get some information he asked the Brothers if they would scout out the situation and meet the army in the woods to the east of Glawmaed where they could plan the attack. They could smell the burning long before they could see anything. They lay in the undergrowth and watched as the victorious British Warband were putting severed heads on top of stakes which they had arranged in a semi-circle facing the path to Caedering. Dunstan thought they were making a ghost fence and he was worried that it might cause some difficulty to their army because they didn't have a leæce to counteract the hagorún. Wulfhere and Uthric said that they thought Dunstan was being over-dramatic and it was only to scare them. However, when they saw the British Drýicge putting the heads on stakes and Wulfhere acknowledged that perhaps Dunstan was right. The Drýicge was tall and dark haired. She wore a long loose robe embroidered with hares and gibbous moons. Even from a distance they could tell she had power in the way she walked and gestured. They met Taethle and Osberht in the forest that shielded them from hostile eyes and told what they had seen. They agreed that they needed to attack and make the best of things in the hope that they could save their friends in Glawmaed. Dunstan and Uthric were pessimistic about Connal’s chance of survival. They expected that he might be among the heads on the stakes. Wulfhere was concerned about Bronwyn. He was worried that if she was still alive she was likely to be caught up in the new fighting if they had to assault the palisade. They moved out of the trees and advanced in two shield walls. Taethle had her seasoned warriors and Osberht took charge of the Fyrd. The Fyrd were nervous but Osberht steadied them with encouraging words. They advanced toward two British Shield walls which had formed up to counter their advance. When Dunstan counted the enemy both Shield Walls had many more men. He thought that this might turn into a difficult fight. The Shield Walls stopped 50 paces apart and two men walked out from the British line, they were followed by the dark-haired Drýicge. Osberht and Taethle went forward and Osberht asked Uthric to come as a translator. The tall man introduced himself as Anyon the War Leader of the Britons. Osberht introduced himself as the KingsThane of Caedering and asked Anyon to withdraw. He told Anyon that Glawmaed was under the protection of Cerdic and Osberht and that he would resist any attempt by the Britons to remain here. Anyon replied that all this land had belonged to his ancestors and therefore he had no intention of leaving. Osberht said that he had hoped to resolve this dispute reasonably but if Anyon would not agree then the matter would be settled by fighting. Osberht said he thought this was a pity because too many more good men would have to die on both sides. However, he felt sure that the Saxons would prevail. Anyon just laughed and said that when they told the tale of his victory, Osberht would be remembered for his sense of humour. Uthric noticed that Anyon's translator was wearing the enamelled cloak broach that Wulfhere had given to Bronwyn on the day of their wedding contract. He worried that something untoward had happened to Bronwyn but decided that now was not the time to tell Wulfhere. Both parties returned to their men and both gave encouragement to prepare their warriors for the upcoming battle. The Drýicge began hoping around on one leg, leaning on her staff for balance, making faces at the Saxon war bands and screaming how the demons of the underworld would feast on their souls. Some of the men of the Fyrd asked Uthric what she said but he refused to translate. After a while she stopped and brought out two young Saxon prisoners. Wulfhere thought they were some of the men that Cerdic had sent to Glawmaed. The Drýicge held a black stone knife and in a quick motion slit one man’s throat along the blood to pool on the ground. She then used a hazel branch to sprinkle the blood on the British warriors. Dunstan did not like this hagorún. Two warriors lifted the body of the young Saxon and tossed it into one of the burning outbuildings and Drýicge danced around the blaze. The other prisoner had been left alone by his guards and although hobbled by ropes that secured his hands and legs, he took the opportunity to try and run to the safety of his own friends. The Drýicge stopped dancing and screamed. A long spout of fire from the bonfire shot upwards into the air and arced towards the escaping prisoner engulfing him in flame. He writhed briefly before lying still, flames still burning him. Osberht could see the terror on the faces of the Fyrd and they began to move backwards. He left the front rank and beseeched them to stand and fight. He had his back to the Britons and did not see the arc of fire that shot towards him, engulfing him in bright flame. The Fyrd turned and ran. For the Fyrd, facing a Shield wall was difficult enough, they were mostly farmers or hunters but facing scinncræft was too much and they fled. The Brothers were with the Fyrd and although terrified ran to Osberht and tried to put out the fires. They wrapped him in a cloak and rolled him on the ground. Taethle made the decision to retreat too. She was now outnumbered at least three to one and although her warriors would probably have fought and died for her, she thought living to fight another day was a better option at this point. She ordered the warriors to retreat slowly to provide cover for the Hrothgarsons as they carried Osberht wrapped in a cloak towards the trees. The British moved forward but Anyon could not convince them to charge and they were content to hurl javelins and abuse at their retreating foes. Fortunately, no further flame engulfed Taethle or her men but the advancing Britons were getting closer. Eventually when she saw the Brothers had made it to the trees, Taethle gave the order to run and the Shield Wall broke. The Britons followed. Some of the Saxons were caught but most escaped into the forest to regroup at Caedering. Taethle knew that she did not have much time before the Britons arrived. She sent scouts into the woods in all directions. She ordered the woman and children to go to the safety of Caelctun and sent a guard of ten men of the Fyrd. The rest she organised to defend Caedering. Osberht still lived but he was badly burnt over his body. She sent him to Caelctun with Eadgyd to look after him. Eadgyd gathered as much butter and animal fat as she could and covered the burns. Meire helped her and gave Osberht a sleeping draught that allowed him some peace. His groans were causing the children to cry. Meire also prepared some water that she had in a crystal phial collected from her pool far in the north and gave it to him as he slept. It was not long before the scouts returned and hard on their heels were the British warriors. The Britons formed up in four Shield walls and Anyon could be seen exhorting them to attack. Taethle had her warriors behind the palisade on the fighting platform and encouraged them to defend their village. The British attacked along the length of the wall hoping that the defenders had not enough warriors to defend it and would be disheartened by the burning of their Thane. Their first attack was easily repulsed with some loss on both sides. The Britons took some time to regroup and Anyon led them in another charge. Taethle had learnt from the first attack and had stiffened the Fyrd with her own warriors where the fighting was fiercest. The Britons suffered severe losses and the Saxons held firm. The Britons regrouped and contented themselves with burning and looting the buildings outside the palisade. Dunstan was annoyed that their new house had been burnt but consoled himself that things could have been worse. Wulfhere noticed that 20-30 Britons left the main group and went through the forest to Caelctun. He told Taethle and they were concerned that although they could hold against the enemy in Caedering, Caelctun only had ten of the Fyrd and all their women and children. Taethle reckoned they were still outnumbered at least three to one, but she admitted it was hard to count through the smoke of burning buildings. She knew that they were trapped. They could hold here for weeks as they had enough food and water but they could not get out. She discussed what needed to be done with the Brothers. Caedering was likely to hold, however Caelctun was weak and could easily be overwhelmed. It was agreed that Wulfhere would lead three men and try to get to Caelctun to help organise the defence. Taethle thought only 20-30 lightly armed troops had gone towards Caelctun and they were likely to be the British Fyrd. The Fyrd were good to make up numbers but could not be relied upon to attack fortified positions. Uthric volunteered to try and get to Cerdic in Portus Caester and get reinforcements. He was the best woodsman in Caedering and thought he could get past the enemy or outrun them if he was seen. Now that Garm was dead he thought he was the fastest runner in the three villages. Wulfhere was worried about getting into Caelctun. His plan was to climb the cliff face that did not have a pallisade and he expected that one or two of them would fall to their deaths but thought the risk was worth it. Dunstan agreed that he would stay in Caedering and help lead the Warriors. With Osberht badly injured it would allow Taethle to provide a steadying influence for the Fyrd and to organise them into defensive groups. Uthric used the second attack as cover to slip over the walls and into the forest. He was seen by some scouts but used his knowledge of the game trails to outdistance them. He went south hoping to get to the old people’s road to the east of the north-south junction. If the road was clear he hoped to run to Pontus Caester and arrive after nightfall. If the road was blocked by British warriors, he could go through the southern forest. It would be safer but longer. When he got to the road he travelled west but near the junction he saw 30-50 British warriors over 1000 paces away. He ran south and disappeared into the forest. They saw him but only made a half-hearted attempt to chase him. Wulfhere used the same attack to slip out through the woods. Fortunately, the scouts didn't chase him but followed Uthric. He and his three companions made their way north going down the rock face near Caedering by an old and twisting path and turning east to follow the cliff face towards Caelctun. There was smoke rising above them when they got to Caelctun but they could not see what was happening above. They cautiously climbed the cliff face. The defenders heard them climbing but recognised them and threw down ropes to help climbing over the more difficult parts. The British outside had not attempted to attack. Taethle had probably been right, they were lightly armed Fyrd. Most lacked a helmet or armour and some had no shield. There were even one or two who had scythes or mattocks instead of spears. They had contented themselves with burning buildings outside the palisade and watching the defenders. Wulfhere decided that he would arm everyone in Caelctun to pretend they had more warriors than they had. He asked the women to put on helmets and to wear men’s clothing. He told them the idea would be to fool the enemy until help came. He hoped that they would not need to defend the walls as he doubted they could resist an attack. Wulfhere found that his situation was more complicated by the fact his mother had gone into labour and was likely to give birth soon. He therefore ordered every woman who was not giving birth unto the walls and the men he organised into a small mobile group to go to wherever there was an attack. He tried to count the enemy but was not sure of the numbers because of the smoke. He had to be content to wait and see what happened. He thought that as a last resort if the walls were breached he should try to get as many as possible to escape down the cliff face. He ordered ropes to be found and attached to allow women and children to escape while he and the warriors made a last stand. Meanwhile in Caedering, Dunstan was discussing if they should try to make a sally if the conditions were right. In three attacks on the wall the defenders had killed or injured over 30 enemy for the loss of three injured on their side. Dunstan and Taethle thought the odds might be more even now. They hoped that if they could keep the majority of the enemy here then Caelctun would be safe. Dunstan worried what would happen if Anyon attacked Caelctun and captured the woman and children. and how that might impact on the husbands and fathers in Caedering. At sundown a tired Uthric approached the guards at Stuf's Hall and demanded urgent admittance. The guards refused him but fortunately Stuf heard the commotion and come out, sword in hand, to find out what was happening. Uthric named himself and said that he had travelled from Caedering in the north for most of the day and had important information to give. Stuf recognised him and told the guards to let him through. Uthric told him of the events in Glawmaed and the retreat to Caedering and Caelctun. Stuf was quick to assess the situation. He agreed that Uthric could take forty warriors north to help at Caedering. He asked about the location of the British Burgh and its defences. He said that he would move against that as it was likely to be denuded of troops if so many were in Glawmaed, Caedering and Caelctun. Uthric tried to explain were the British Burgh was but became confused about distances and locations. In the end Stuf grew impatient and said he would follow the Moen and he was sure that he would eventually come across it. At Caelctun Wulfhere saw that the Britons were massing for an attack. He brought forward the men of the Fyrd and placed them opposite the British forces. The War Leader was marshalling his troops, talking, cajoling and intimidating the men to get them to attack. It looked to Wulfhere that the Britons were reluctant and he thought that a good thing. He knew that the defenders could be easily overwhelmed if the enemy attacked at different points. If they managed to get over the palisade it was likely that all the defenders would die. Fortunately, their general reluctance to fight meant he knew where they would attack and could reinforce that with his Fyrd. After several hours of cajoling the Britons moved forward to attack. It was a rather half-hearted attempt and they were easily repulsed after a few were killed or injured for no loss to the defenders. Wulfhere was heartened by the defence and was of the opinion the War Leader was unlikely to get his men to attack again. Uthric was travelling north and was occupied by the thought of how he might deal with the troops at the road junction. He was concerned that even with his forty Warriors he knew that he was likely to be outnumbered. Therefore, his plan was that they should attack with surprise. Unfortunately, there was no way he could sneak up on the enemy without being seen therefore he thought that he needed to set an ambush in the forest and get the Britons to come to him. He arranged his warriors inside the forest and together with two volunteers went towards the road junction but could find no trace of the enemy. Uthric wondered if they had gone to Hamafunta and he thought it might be a good thing to keep Coelfrith on his toes. He thought briefly about going up the road to Glawmaed but decided that it would be best to go to Caedering to help with the defence. In Caedering, Dunstan found his opportunity to counter-attack. Some of the enemy troops had left and there seemed to be less outside the palisade. He agreed with Taethle that he would take the warriors outside and form a Shield wall. Taethle would use the Fyrd to guard the gate and act as a rear-guard should Dunstan’s troops be forced to retreat or be defeated. The enemy formed an opposing Shield Wall and to stall for time Dunstan left the front rank and offered a challenge of individual combat to anyone who would accept it. He was not disappointed when Anyon stepped out to take up the challenge. Dunstan watched him approach and wondered if he had done the right thing. Anyon seemed confident and capable. He handled his weapons well and wore better armour than Dunstan. He thought if he received a death blow here he would miss out on a lot of things he planned to do. He was somewhat discouraged by his thoughts. No words passed between them as they traded blows. Anyon was quickest and he hit Dunstan twice as often as Dunstan hit him. Dunstan knew he was in trouble. Anyon’s blows came in faster and although Dunstan parried his shield was slowly falling apart. Anyon thrust hard with his spear at Dunstan's head. Anyon had used the same killing stroke hundreds of times but to his astonishment his spear missed. Dunstan had stumbled on a tussock and the stumble had saved his life. Anyon had put all his strength behind the thrust expecting the resistance as the spear entered Dunstan's eye and into the brain but instead he overextended and pulled a muscle in his arm. Dunstan's riposte should have been parried but Anyon was blinded by his helmet and the spear tip cut open his arm to the elbow. Anyon fell and the chin strap of his helmet broke blinding him. Dunstan accepting his luck speared Anyon in the chest. He had barely time to celebrate his victory. Rather than be dismayed the Britons were incensed by Anyon's death and charged forward to protect the body of their fallen leader. Dunstan's comrades pulled him back to the safety of the Shield Wall and the Saxons counter-changed the British. Both Shield-Walls met with a sickening clash. Dunstan thought later that the British had not kept their discipline as they charged. Their shields must not have been overlapping for the Saxons penetrated deeply into the British formation causing twice as many casualties. The British held but were pushed back and the Saxons moved forward. There was a wall of dead and dying men and the ground was slippery with blood which made it treacherous to maintain balance and fight. Almost by mutual consent both walls drew apart. Dunstan took the pause in fighting as an opportunity to move back towards the gate thinking that he had achieved his aim. The British leader was dead and they had made the Britons less confident of victory by pushing their Shield-Wall back. Dunstan noticed the Drýicge was beginning to light a fire and he remembered what had happened to Osberht at Glawmaed. He feared that the battle would be lost through scinncræft. He shouted at Taethle that she should charge the Britons with the Fyrd as he exhorted his own warriors to change formation into the Swine's head. Dunstan said later that he was glad that the warriors had not seen the Drýicge at her work or else they may not have charged. Dunstan’s Swineshead smashed into the British Shield wall seconds before Taethle’s Fyrd hit them in the flank. The Britons disintegrated under the impact and their cohesion feel apart. Most turned and fled while screaming Saxons hunted and killed them as they ran through the forest. When Dunstan had time to look for the Drýicge, she had disappeared. He let his men hunt the scattered Britons through the forest before recalling them with a horn blast. They had been frustrated at hiding behind the palisade and vented their anger on the panicking Britons. Taethle congratulated Dunstan. He had won a famous victory by quick thinking and resolute action. She said she doubted if she could have done better herself. She thought that Dunstan was on his way to be a great War Leader despite being so young. She did think however that he might need to work on encouraging his men to attack the enemy Shield-wall. Dunstan had attempted to give a rousing speech to inspire the men. He admitted that perhaps he had been trying too hard and it had been over the heads of most of the men. Taethle suggested that simple messages are often best as the men can repeat them. She suggested that something like ‘killing the enemy’ or perhaps ‘defending your families’ are generally good. She thought that invoking the need to protect the cows was generally not a moral boosting topic and the average warrior did not care if the withies would be destroyed. But she felt it was important to try these things out and she had no doubt with more practice he would improve. The warriors were tired after their fight and glad to be alive. They were dismayed when another War Band appeared out of the forest. Dunstan rallied the men and pushed them into the Shield-wall to face their new foe. They relaxed when they realised the new Warband were Saxons led by Uthric. Dunstan went to greet his brother, who he thought did not look pleased about something. Uthric said that he thought it would have been polite of Dunstan to wait until he arrived and let him join in the fun of the battle. He complained that he had run all the way to Portus Caester and had come back only to find out he wasn't needed. He had encouraged the warriors to move faster with stories of silver and fame to be won. He now had to tell them the fight was over and he was not sure he could find the right words to be able to help them with their disappointment. Dunstan said that they were unlikely to be disappointed for long because they could soon have another opportunity to fight. He told Uthric of the War band that he believed to be at Caelctun and noted that smoke was now rising ominously from the direction of the village. He said he had a bad feeling about events there which might mar their victory in Caedering. Uthric was concerned that Meire, his son and mother were all in Caelctun and he hoped he would not be too late. He told his men to wait under the trees and went forward alone to see what lay ahead. The scene that met him was one of devastation. Buildings were burning and there was a line of dead men set out in a row. Uthric was relieved to see defenders still on the walls and was surprised to see so many having been told by Dunstan that there were less than ten of the Fyrd defending Caelctun. He estimated that he was facing a Warband of about 50 men but only some were formed up in a line facing Caelctun. Over half were sitting on the grass resting. He suspected that he could bring his own warriors through the forest under the cover of the smoke and charge the enemy, catching them before they had a chance to react. Uthric had the Warband form up in a rough shield wall on the edge of the forest. He knew that in charging over the intervening ground to engage the enemy, they would not hold their shape but he was banking that he could catch the enemy by surprise. He was helped by the fact that the defenders started banging their spears on their shields which distracted the enemy. The enemy had still not seen Uthric's War band but they were beginning to form a Shield wall in reaction to the noise from the palisade and whatever threat the defenders of Caelctun were planning. Uthric drove his warriors forward only screaming their war cries in the final seconds before the War bands crashed together. Uthric had told the men nearest him to target the big man who was organising the enemy War band. He thought that if they could kill the leader the rest would lose heart and flee. The Britons barely reacted to the charging Saxons and those that turned only saw death. Uthric’s men howled as they killed and they cut down the War Leader. The British lines disintegrated and the Saxons killed those that were too slow to run away. Uther and Wulfhere greeted when the battle had finished. Wulfhere told of the defence of Caelctun and how he had been unsure if they would survive. Uthric embraced Meire and their son Hrothgar. He discovered that Hildegard had given him another new brother who she had named Beorthric. Wulfhere thought that Dunstan might have something to say about this situation. Wulfhere appointed Modig War leader and returned with Uthric and his Warband to Caedering. They met with Taethle and she informed them that she was keen that they keep the momentum and press their advantage with an attack on Glawmaed. None of them were sure how many of the British force remained. They thought they could account for over 120 men dead or defeated and they still worried that the Drýicge had not been found. She could yet turn a victory into a horrible defeat. Uthric thought that now they were safe from attack he should tell Wulfhere that he had seen a man wearing the enamelled broach Wulfhere had bought for Bronwyn. Wulfhere was silent and admitted he was worried that Bronwyn may have met her death. He thought that a second such loss of a woman he was betrothed to did not bode well. He wondered if the gods were perhaps trying to tell him something. Uthric said that she was probably well and had just been imprisoned. The Britons did not generally kill women and children. Wulfhere reminded him that Anyon would have been perfectly aware that she was Connal's daughter and he might have made an exception for her. He also pointed out that the Drýicge had no such compunction about killing people. He hoped that Bronwyn's head was not on a stake. Uthric said he hoped that it would be the same for Connal and Lucnot but he had little hope for either of them. Taethle gathered all the warriors and the Fyrd together and told them they had one more battle to defeat the Britons and free Glawmaed. She promised that after that they would have peace for a while and their families would be safe. The warriors cheered and even the Fyrd seemed to be keen to go into battle. Dunstan thought that he could learn for Taethle's speech. Taethle divided the men into three separate groups. Uthric kept the men Stuf had lent him. Dunstan and Wulfhere commanded Taethle's warriors and Taethle commanded the Fyrd. She told the brothers that she would keep the Fyrd as a back-up should either Warband get in trouble and need reinforcements. They approached Glawmaed as quickly as possible. They were concerned that if their approach was too slow it would give time for the Drýicge to use her magic on them. They had remembered how devastating it had been for Osberht and were not at all keen that one of them would be her next target. Taethle had difficulty in getting the Fyrd to advance as they also remembered the Drýicge’s fire magic and they lagged behind the two Warbands of warriors. In the event it did not matter. Although there were over 50 Britons present at Glawmaed they ran as soon as they saw the Saxon Warbands. They liberated the Glawmaed captives who had been held in the Chieftain's Hall. Bronwyn was among the released prisoners and she was glad to see Wulfhere. Her father had been killed by Anyon along with other village leaders. She was not sure where Lucnot was. He had escaped the original assault and she hoped that he was in the forest with some of the other men. After a brief conference, Taethle sent the Brothers and 50 warriors towards the Burgh on the Moen River. She suspected that Stuf may have already attacked it but she thought that he may need help. As was usual for strangers in the forest of Moen, the Warband quickly became lost and after a quarter of a day’s march they found themselves at the strange pool with the wildflowers and butterflies. Dunstan suggested that they all put some hack silver in the pond and be careful not to trample the flowers. He warned the warriors that they should not attempt to take any of the treasure from the pool. He and Uthric stood guard to make sure no-one attempted it. After they gave the silver, the way became easier and they made good time. They began to come across bodies of dead Britons as they got closer to the Burgh. Eventually they ran into some of Stuf’s warriors who took them to him. Stuf was glad to see them and asked for their news. They told him of the battles they had fought, the death of Anyon and the escape of the Drýicge. Stuf told them he had found the Burgh which the Britons had called Llys to be lightly guarded. He was of the opinion that Anyon had too high a view of his own abilities and little tactical or strategic sense. He had risked everything in an all-out attack and had failed. Stuf said that they now had now an opportunity to expand to the north which they would accept with open arms. First though they needed to deal with Dumnonia They all looked across the Moen. Dumnonia was a rich, plump land and they were all keen to re-distribute those riches to the poor Saxons who were not so fortunate. Stuf told them that he would leave warriors at Llys under the command of a Thane called Arnod and that they were to send the warriors he had lent Uthric to Arnod as soon as possible. Wulfhere said that there was still a considerable threat from the Britons and perhaps it would be useful to keep 20 in case of further raids. Stuf agreed. He said that Wulfhere could act as Thane of Glawmaed until Cerdic made a decision. The Brothers should come to see him for Yule feast.

A Violent Death and The Bretwaldamoot There was a silence in Caedering as the villagers waited to see if Osberht would die from his wounds. He was still wracked by a fever and Taethle had sent to Portus Caester for a leæce as she believed that curing Osberht was now beyond Eadgyd’s skills. Taethle sat with the Brothers in the Thanes Hall. They discussed their current problems. To the west lay a British Warband which they had already estimated to be over 100 warriors. They were in agreement that this force would be difficult to defeat with their current strength of. To the east was Caelctun and Thane Garm. They thought it probable that Garm had around 40 warriors if Coelfrith had already sent the promised reinforcements. Caedering had Taethle's 36 seasoned warriors and 46 men of the Fyrd who could fight but might not do well against seasoned warriors. All four considered Garm the biggest threat. They would be unable to deal with the Britons if Garm remained active for fear that he would take advantage of the situation if they left few people to defend Caedering. Cerdic had more or less told them to deal with Garm and then sort out the legal and political issues with Aelle afterwards. Wulfhere thought that Garm's men might not be too interested in fighting for him. Garm had shown himself to be a coward and had not joined in fights with his men, running away and leaving his men to die. Uthric said that it might also be useful to remind his men about the rumours Garm had killed his brother and blamed another Carl. They agreed that they could not leave Caedering undefended but needed to send a big enough force to look like they were serious about attacking Caelctun and force Garm’s hand. Taethle wanted to keep 20 warriors in Caedering which meant they had 61 to try and intimidate Caelctun. Wulfhere hoped they would not have to fight. He was keen to solve the problem of Garm but not create long-term enemies of the people of Caelctun by killing the warriors unnecessarily. They thought that there was no use in delaying things and gathered the warriors to allow Taethle to tell them what was expected. She told them they needed to look intimidating and as be ready to fight if required. She hoped that it would not come to fighting as they needed every man to deal with the Britons. The warriors led by the Brothers arrayed themselves in a Shield wall outside Caelctun and waited for a reaction. Garm’s men did not respond but continued to watch from the fighting platform. The gates remained firmly shut. Wulfhere set fire to a barn and watched it spread to another dwelling outside the walls. Dunstan and Uthric discussed setting a fire in the forest in the hope that it would provoke a response. However, they decided against it as they worried they might not be able to control any resulting blaze and it might be more dangerous to them than Caelctun. Eventually a man came out of the gate holding his shield upside down. Taethle and the Brothers went to meet him and he introduced himself as Modig, a Carl of Caelctun. He asked why they had come armed as for war, why they had burned buildings and were threatening the peace of Caelctun. Wulfhere replied that their mission was peaceful as far as the people of Caelctun were concerned. But it was his opinion that neither Caelctun nor Caedering would have peace if Garm was allowed to continue to prosper. He said that Garm had needlessly provoked an illegal fight with Thane Osberht, gave him a wound that was likely to bring about his death and then tried to kill both him and his brothers on several occasions. Unfortunately for Garm, both Osberht and the Hrothgarsons had proved harder to kill than Garm had imagined and that was why he was now standing before the gates of Caelctun armed and ready for war. But his war was only with Thane Garm and Wulfhere said he would be grateful if Modig would ask the Thane to come and fight him now. Wulfhere said that Modig should consider how badly Garm led his men and on several occasions had left them to fight while he saved his own life. It therefore seemed to him that Garm was only good at two things. Firstly, he seemed good at allowing his own men to be killed and secondly, he appeared to be good at running away. Uthric told Modig that amongst other things he considered himself an expert in running and that up to this point he had met very few men that could outrun him. He said he had been amazed that Garm had been able to outdistance him so easily and wondered if this was a skill that Garm frequently practised. Wulfhere asked Modig why Garm, as a Thane, was not conducting his own negotiations. Modig had not responded to the accusations and Dunstan thought that he might be seeing the truth in Wulfhere’s words. Modig said that Garm was in his Hall with his Huscarls and he said he would only be too happy to tell him the Hrothgarsons had come to discuss resolving their current conflict. Modig left and the gate closed again. Both sets of warriors watched each other and Dunstan felt the tension rise but nothing of importance happened. Just after midday Modig came out of the gate again. He said that Garm had not been seen since going into his Hall and had not given any instructions when he banged on the Hall door. The men had decided that they were no longer willing to fight for Garm. There had been, he said, a few dissenting voices but they had been won over by argument or else they were no longer in a position to help Garm. The Brothers waved their followers forward and entered through the gates behind Modig. Two men lay dead near the gate. The rest of Garm’s men watched sullenly as the Brothers ran to the Thane's Hall. The Hall was barred or locked from the inside and Taethle called for Halig who had a Great Axe. Halig was known for his strength and made short work of the door and the warriors went into the Hall. There was no one visible in the main hall and they thought Garm may be hiding in his private chambers at the back. When they tried to open the door, it was again barred but Halig broke through it with one stroke of his axe. Dunstan belatedly wondered if there was a rear door in the Hall and sent three men racing around the back to prevent or delay any escape. They searched the two bedchambers. In the first was a woman and two young children who they ignored. In the second, the room was empty but they discovered that a hole had been cut through the wall. Torht’s head suddenly appeared through the hole from the outside. He was one of the Caedering farmers and reported that they had found the hole in the back of the hall and had decided they should investigate it. They had so far not located Garm. Uthric advised Torht that in future he should consider where he put his head because he had only just stopped himself from putting a spear in his eye. Torht said that he considered himself lucky because he had seen what Uthric could do with a spear. Dunstan asked the woman where Garm had gone and she replied that she did not care. Dunstan found this reply strange but continued to press her for an answer. She eventually told him she believed Garm and six Huscarls had cut their way out of the Hall but she was unaware where they had gone. Taethle ordered a search of the village and Odel, one of the Carls, found a rope going down the cliff face. Taethle and the Brothers thought Garm would be trying to get to Coelfrith in Hamafunta and they agreed the Brothers would follow Garm while Taethle and 20 warriors would go south on the forest path to Hamafunta. They hoped to trap Garm between them and kill him before he reached safety with Coelfrith. Uthric, Dunstan and Wulfhere went down the rope. They took along another 10 warriors. Uthric found tracks heading north which surprised them but they suspected that Garm was very familiar with the woods and knew some quicker route to Hamafunta. They estimated that Garm had a good head start but all thought they would still catch him, despite his expertise in running. The tracks continued to go north and after a time they came into a glade. They found Garm lying against a tree trunk bleeding from a wound in his side. He was still alive and attempting to grasp the sword that just lay just beyond his reach. Uthric kicked the sword out of the way and all three brothers regarded him. They thought it was likely Garm would die if they left him but equally he might live if they gave him aid. Garm opened his eyes and asked for his sword to hold before he died. Dunstan laughed and Uthric was unmoved. He bent down and looked into Garm’s face and told him he was not worthy to go to Neorxanwang. His place of death would be in Hellewíte with the other damned souls. Uthric worked himself into a rage that Garm could even consider that he should go to Neorxanwang after all his treachery and was determined to make sure he died dishonourably. He attached a rope to Garm and hung him from an ash tree. They all watched in silence until Garm died leaving the body for the crows and wild animals. They sent a runner to Taethle to tell her the news and get her to return to Caelctun. They were worried that if Garm did not come as expected she might go nearer to Hamafunta and come into conflict with Coelfrith’s men. They returned to Caelctun and Uthric announced what had happened as proscribed by the Law and that he had killed Garm. The Caelctun warriors were unhappy and asked Wulfhere what would happen now. Wulfhere said that he would discuss it with Taethle when she returned but that he was certain that they would be left in peace now that Garm was dead. The woman they had found in the bedchamber was Garm's wife, Aethelind. She and her children were unaware of what had happened and were waiting in the Thane’s Hall for news. She was obviously a woman of high birth and she held herself well while she waited only responding to and comforting her children. Wulfhere agreed that he would tell her of Garm's death and all three Brothers went to the Hall. Wulfhere started to tell Aethelind gently but Dunstan grew impatient and told her she was now a widow. For the first time Aethelind looked scared and asked what they intended to do with her children. She said that she was worried that they might take revenge on the children because of Garm’s injuries to Osberht. Wulfhere said that none of the Brothers made war on children and she too would be free to go wherever she wished. She thanked him and said that she would consider the matter and inform him of her decision later. When Taethle returned they appointed Modig as temporary leader in Caelctun until Coelfrith appointed a new Thane. With that all the warriors returned to Caedering. Aethelind came with them. She said that she did not want to spend another day in Caelctun if at all necessary. They agreed that they should hold a feast to celebrate the end of the conflict and decided to also ask the Caelctun warriors to join the feast. They were keen to make amends with the warriors so there would be peace between Caelctun and Caedering and they sent a runner to Modig. Modig was a pragmatic man and saw sense in the proposal and agreed that he would come with as many warriors as wanted to go. The Brothers thought that they should declare Garm’s death to Coelfrith as he was Garm’s Ealdorman but Taethle thought they should seek Cerdic's counsel first. She did not feel that Coelfrith would take Garm's death lightly and that such a venture might be dangerous. And so, two days after the feast they stood before Cerdic at Portus Cæster and explained their actions. Cerdic counselled against seeing Coelfrith, who he said would have them murdered without compunction. He said that men like Coelfrith were small-minded and petty. His advice was to present the case to Aelle at the Kings Assembly at the next full moon. Cerdic said he would support them in whatever way he could but could not acknowledge that they were acting on his advice. The Brothers were unhappy when they returned to Caedering They complained to Taethle that Cerdic had asked them to go to Aelle's Assembly at the next moon to present their case and ask for forgiveness. It was their opinion that the death of Garm was necessary for the safety of both Caedering and Glawmaed and they had acted in a way that preserved lives and kept the peace in all three villages. Taethle sympathised with them but acknowledged the Law must be followed. Aelle would listen and make judgement which was the only way to proceed to end the bloodletting. Besides she had another task for them if they were going to Anderida. They could escort Aethelind and her children as she had expressed a wish to return to her father's home in Aelle's capital. Dunstan worried that they might spend their lives apologising to Lords for things that weren’t their fault and he wondered that they might get a reputation for it. The Brothers spent the next half a moon preparing for the journey. Osberht was slowly recovering and while still weak he could now sit up and eat by himself. Wulfhere spoke with Taethle and Osberht discussing how he should argue the case in front of Aelle. They were of the opinion that the major difficulty was that no-one knew the King other than by reputation so were unsure how to proceed. Dunstan spoke with Aethelind on the journey to Anderida. The brothers had thought that Aethelind would have been angry with them for the death of Garm. However, she seemed almost relieved to be free of him. Dunstan discussed her life with Garm and Wulfhere decided that her insights might be useful in the upcoming case. They had a week of travel and Wulfhere used it well to glean useful information. When they arrived in Anderida they took Aethelind to her father, Aelfnoth’s house. Aelfnoth was one of Aelle's counsellors and an Ealdorman. He was grateful that the Brothers had brought his daughter home. He had told them he had never liked Garm and had only agreed to the marriage because Coelfrith had recommended it. Coelfrith said that Garm would be playing a prominent part in the Saxon expansion into British lands. He offered the Brothers rooms to stay while in Anderida because he was aware that accommodation was scarce. It would also be a way to thank them for their kindness to his daughter. Dunstan was only too happy to accept as he did not have to pay for any accommodation. Anderida is a fortress built by the old people. It was said that it was originally built to prevent Saxon raids but no-one knew for sure. It had an excellent harbour and the air was good despite being surrounded by marshes. The Brothers were amazed by the market. There were traders from all the Saxon kingdoms of Briton and others from Frankonia, Friesland, Jutland with any type of goods available. Both Uthric and Wulfhere bought gifts for Meire and Bronwyn. Wulfhere and Uthric asked Dunstan if he did not have a good opinion of Aethelind because both felt it might be a good match and Aelfnoth seemed well disposed to the Brothers. She was not only beautiful and rich but she was intelligent and had a good temperament. She never once complained about the journey from Caedering to Anderida. Dunstan said that while he found her attractive and interesting company, he was waiting for someone special. The Brothers laughed and said that he might be too fussy and that he could do much worse than Aethelind. During the week of the Assembly, Aelle held lavish feasts. The Brothers thought about attending but did not want to let Coelfrith know they were in Anderida. They remembered Cerdic's words that he was likely to be the real enemy whereas Garm was only the outward face of the conflict. They had already annoyed Coelfrith once at his own Assembly last moon and they knew that no matter what the outcome of the Kings Assembly he was likely to be even more annoyed. The food at Aelfnoth's house was both rich and good and went some way to make up for missing the King’s feasts. They also had an opportunity to explore the town to their great amusement. Aelle's Hall was massive. The Hall was a new construction and unlike many other of the Saxon Lords who lived in British cities, it was built in the traditional Saxon way. Aelle was reputed to be the richest of the Saxon kings and the decoration of the Hall showed it. On the second day of the Assembly after the midday meal, Coelfrith stood up and announced his Lawsuit against Osberht and Caedering. He demanded Osberht’s death and the destruction of Caedering for the death of Thane Garm. Aelle called for Osberht to come forward and defend himself but Cerdic rose and said that Osberht was currently indisposed. Thane Garm had presented him with a spear in his chest and he was too ill to travel. Aelle asked Cerdic if he was defending the case but Cerdic advised that while he was aware there was a dispute between the Thanes he had not been aware of the escalation of violence and death. He said he had therefore no knowledge of events but would of course take responsibility for his Thane's and Carls' actions, as he was their Ealdorman. Aelle said that he was disappointed and had hoped for an interesting story and a good argument. Cerdic said that he might not remain disappointed as he understood the Hrothgarsons were at the Assembly to provide both legal argument and tell an interesting tale. Aelle said he disliked being disappointed and others had often noted that people suffered if he was dissatisfied with things. He sat down to listen and called for his horn of ale to be refilled. He said he would be interested to find out why these events occurred. In his haste to present the case, Coelfrith made two serious errors. His first mistake was to forget to refer to Aelle as Bretwalda, a point which was duly noted by Wulfhere. Secondly, he attempted to paint Osberht as a deranged and maddened man who inexplicably decided to launch an attack on Thane Garm, his neighbour. Most people in the Hall found this incredulous. They knew Osberht as a calm and placid man who only ever got excited about breeding cows and sheep. Coelfrith spoke of Garm as an ideal of a Saxon lord, loyal and trustworthy, fierce in battle and a leader who led his men from the front. He had been set upon by the miscreant Osberht and hounded to death by his equally deranged Carls. He asked that not only should Osberht suffer death but the Hrothgarsons should also be killed because they had caused the death of Garm. Wulfhere stood up to respond to Coelfrith’s accusations. He told of the Feast in Caedering where Garm had provoked Osberht. He spoke of the men who were sent to kill the Hrothgarsons to prevent them from reporting on the strength and location of the British forces who had been raiding Saxon steadings. He insinuated that Garm may have had an understanding with the Britons. He told of the illegal declaration of a Blood feud and the ambush in which Osberht had got a spear in his chest. He then told how they had tried to calm the situation by attending Coelfrith’s Assembly which despite making good arguments and asking for a settlement, Coelfrith had ignored. He spoke of the treacherous attack by Garm’s Carls as they went home. He painted a picture of Caedering faced by two hostile forces, the Britons in the west and Garm in the east. Both he said had been intent on the destruction of Caedering. He asked the Assembly if they too would not want to defend both their Lord and their family. He said that all had agreed that their actions had been just and proportionate. He pointed out that although Caedering had sent a force to attack Caelctun, they had had no intention of fighting the Carls or the Fyrd. Their dispute had been solely with Garm. They had discussed it with his warriors before the walls of Caelctun and the Carls had agreed that Garm was not the sort of Thane that anyone would willingly follow and to prove it they had opened the gates of Caelctun and had stood aside. The Brothers had then sought out Garm but he had again run away with some of his Huscarls leaving his warriors leaderless and at the mercy of a potentially hostile force. He had even left his wife and children behind. They had tracked him into the woods and found him with a knife wound in his belly, presumably caused by his own Huscarls who had abandoned him. Wulfhere said that they had been overcome by youthful exuberance and they had acted without thinking. He said he was aware that this was a shortcoming in the Brothers character and they were working hard to rectify their impetuous behaviours. When Wulfhere finished, the people in the Assembly said he had spoken well. Aelle seemed pleased with the tale but asked if there were any witnesses to either argument. Neither Wulfhere nor Coelfrith had any witnesses which rather disappointed the Assembly as everyone had been enjoying the tale. However, Aelfnoth stood and addressing Aelle told that his daughter, Garm’s widow, could be called as a witness. She had confirmed Wulfhere's version of events and was ashamed that she had been married to such a man. Aelle thanked Aelfnoth for his opinion and said he did not think it necessary for his daughter to attend. Aelle then made his judgment. Aelle is unique in the Saxon lands. It would be normal for the Thanes, Carls and Ealdormen to vote on legal matters by clashing their swords or spears on shields to signal approval to cases. Thus, judgement is given by the people. Aelle, however, would always give his judgement and then expected the Assembly to ratify it. He said that this was because he was the Bretwalda and not a mere king. And of course, the Assembly always ratified his judgment. Aelle admonished Coelfrith. He said that Garm was the instigator of his own downfall. He not only provoked Osberht, he illegally tried to have him killed, a fact Coelfrith ignored in his own Assembly. Garm was a coward and refused to lead his own men, allowing them to die. He fled rather than face combat with a champion of Caedering, leaving his wife and children behind. He therefore deserved a dishonourable death. If Garm had been at this Assembly, Aelle said he would have had him hung without delay. Aelle said that his judgement would be the following. As punishment the village of Caelctun would become part of the Thane of Caedering’s lands and Osberht, if he lived, would now become a Kingsthane. Coelfrith was forbidden to act against Caedering or Osberht or the Hrothgarsons. With that he sat down and called for more ale. Aelle later spoke to the Brothers privately and thanked them for their actions. As befits a Bretwalda he gave them each a costly arm ring and a sword. Cerdic also rewarded the Brothers by giving arm rings. He was pleased that now he was in a position to expand northwards. He told the Hrothgarsons to return to Caedering and prepare for war against the Britons.

- I am your King - How'd you get to be King then? By exploiting the workers! By 'angin' on to outdated imperialist dogma which perpetuates the economic and social differences in our society. - The Lady of the Lake-- her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite, held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king! - Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government! Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some... farcical aquatic ceremony!

Nice write up... I've just reached 497 in my campaign too, though its from the Saxon side and not Pendragon Look forward to reading more

Taethle bade farewell to the seven men who were travelling to Hamafunta in the early dawn. The Hrothgarson Brothers, the carls Aedweard and Eadmund and finally the two witnesses, Dreng and Eorlstan all stood and listened to her final bits of advice. Eorlstan had asked if Osberht had recovered or if he was likely to die. He said he had been thinking about the jewelled arm ring and that if Osberht was going to die then someone should at least benefit from it. He was sure that everyone would see it this way and he felt that since he was down on his luck at present it might as well be him. Taethle said that Osberht remained ill but she promised, rather ominously, that if he did die, Eorlstan would be one of the first to know and feel the consequences. Eorlstan thanked her for her thoughtfulness. Wulfhere wondered what it would be like to live in the Eorlstan's world and be blithely unaware of how actions and consequences were interlinked. He considered putting a gag on Eorlstan for the journey to Hamafunta for two reasons. Firstly, to protect Eorlstan’s life. He was not sure that Eorlstan might not say or do something that would encourage one of his travelling companions to put a knife in his kidneys and he needed him alive as a witness. Secondly, he did not want to have to listen for a whole day to Eorlstan’s constant inane opinions on everything that happened. The man was an idiot and he was not even aware that his idiocy could be detrimental to his well-being. In fact, as Wulfhere later told his brothers when they complained about Eorlstan, it was a great surprise to him that Eorlstan had actually made it so far in life without someone doing him serious harm. Maybe that Helrýnegu in Cissa Caester had been right. The Brothers were concerned what sort of reception they might receive Hamafunta. They agreed that they would not disclose their business until the day of the Assembly nor would they discuss that they had two witnesses as their lives may be in danger if their existence became known. The case would be considerably weakened if either witness were dead or incapacitated. They could trust all their party except Eorlstan. It would be likely that he would tell someone accidently. Neither Uthric nor Dunstan expressed any concern for what might happen to Eorlstan following the Assembly and only regretted that they would not be the ones to send him to Hellewíte. However, they had given their word that they would release him unharmed and that was an agreement they would keep. When they arrived at Hamafunta late in the afternoon they found the town crowded with people who had come to attend Coelfrith's Assembly and to celebrate the Midsummer festival. It proved impossible to find somewhere to stay within the walls. They felt this suited their purpose and it would not therefore seem so strange to set up a camp outside the walls. Dunstan was charged with the task to make bothies but had to compete with crowds of children and other travellers for wood to make them. The children were collecting wood and bones for the traditional Midsummer Eve bone fires and the young warriors were weaving withies into hollow wheel shapes to roll the embers through the fields to chase off the evil spirits. Dunstan now considered himself an expert in withies and could not help giving his advice on how to improve the old design and by doing so, irritated the locals who preferred the traditional method of making the hollow-wheels. Uthric and Wulfhere had gone into Hamafunta to gather news. They discovered that Coelfrith was to hold a grand feast that night to celebrate Midsummer and to mark the opening of the Assembly. They had been told that the two main items of business were Garm's request for warriors and his proposal for permission for a Blood feud with Osberht. Wulfhere thought it might be useful to attend the feast that night to check out how things stood but did not think it would be a good idea to bring either Dreng or Eorlstan. He also warned Uthric and Dunstan that they should not drink much and be on their guard. They should be especially careful not to react to provocation. The feast was a very lavish affair. Coelfrith liked to boast of his wealth to his Thanes and Carls and there was plenty of food and drink. Uthric however found it was a drab affair. None of the Brothers had ever met Coelfrith before and they watched him closely throughout the feast. At his left, in the place of honour, sat Garm. Wulfhere was sure that Garm had noticed them but gave no sign of acknowledgement. He did whisper something to a tall man, dressed as a skald, who later approached them. The man introduced himself as Swithgar, Garm's War leader, and he told them he had heard that Osberht had died whimpering in his bed after being skewered like a pig. He was keen to find out the Brother's views of their late Thane and thought perhaps they had taken the opportunity to join a real Thane like Garm. Uthric said they were here on other business and had not thought of calling to see Garm. However, he acknowledged that Garm might be in need of good warriors as he was aware that quite a lot had died recently. He also said he had noted that Garm never appeared in battle himself and had wondered if he overly worried about getting scars on his pretty face. The situation might have got dangerous but Wulfhere calmed everyone down. Swithgar spat at them but eventually left when he thought he could not get them to react. The men they shared the bench with were curious why Garm's War leader was trying to provoke them and Wulfhere insinuated that Swithgar was jealous of a woman. That seemed to satisfy the men and they made ribald comments about the size of Swithgar's manhood. The Brothers took this as an omen that they should leave. Garm might not be paying them personal attention but he had plenty of men that might pick a fight with them and they were unwilling to give him further opportunities. When they returned to their bothies, they sat and watched the bone fires and the wheels of fire being dragged through the fields. Uthric thought that they might be better dragging the wheels through Coelfrith’s Feast Hall as it was obvious that all the evil spirits had gathered there. Dunstan said that he had been reflecting on something Dreng had said. It had bothered him at the time and he now thought he might have come to a different conclusion. Dreng had told them that Garm had wanted to make sure that they did not return to the village. They had assumed that Garm had a personal vendetta against them but Dunstan wondered that perhaps they had not thought this through properly. He wondered if it was possible that Garm and Anyon were working together. Garm’s plan to kill the Brothers was therefore not a personal vendetta but to stop information about the British base getting back to Osberht. The others admitted that they had not thought of this but maybe they should check Dreng's opinion. Both Dreng and Eorlstan were asleep. Dunstan woke Dreng and he was not pleased. He reckoned that he had not many days left alive and was keen to experience as much of life between now and his imminent and untimely death. This was now his time to experience as much sleep as possible and the Brothers were now depriving him of it. However, he listened carefully to Dunstan's words but said that he was unsure if he could confirm his theory. He said Garm had merely asked them to kill the Brothers on their return to Caedering. He could not say what Garm's motivation was because he was not the sort of Thane that took Carls into his confidence. Wulfhere thought that it might just be good enough to insinuate that Garm was in an alliance with the Britons and sow enough doubt in the minds of the Assembly. In his opinion, it did not really matter what the Brothers thought, it mattered how the Assembly voted and it was useful to show Garm in a bad light. He asked Dreng if he would be willing to help him insinuate Garm had an alliance with the hostile Britons. Dreng said that he didn't care one way or the other, but if it assisted the Brothers case he had no objection to helping out. The Brothers were pleased and thought now they had three bits of evidence against Garm, all of which would be harmful to his case and reputation. They clapped Dreng on the back and prepared to go to sleep. However, Dreng said they had not allowed him to finish and he would like to continue this discussion. In his opinion it was clear that the new witness statement was not part of the original agreement and that they might want to negotiate an extra cost with him. He said that they might recall, the agreement was that he would bear witness that Garm had planned to incite Osberht to violence at the Feast. He was also to witness that Garm had wanted the Brothers dead out of spite. He was to be granted his freedom for that. Dreng said that he expected that Garm would order his death afterwards so his prospects were really not good for the future. Dreng thought that insinuating Garm was allied to hostile Britons might be worth an extra reward. He said he had thought about this at length and that maybe Wulfhere's silver arm ring would be a suitable payment to ease the pain of his subsequent shortened life. He felt that the arm ring would be sufficient to have more experience in food, ale and woman, which at this moment he was lacking. After re-experiencing such pleasures, he might feel more content to die. Dunstan tried to bargain with him but Dreng was adamant and they eventually agreed the price of the new agreement was to be the arm ring. The Brothers, Dreng and Eorlstan arrived early at the Assembly. The Hall was full of people who wanted the Ealdorman to hear their cases having either been referred by the Thane's Assemblies or wanting to appeal directly to the Ealdorman due to the difficulty of the case. The leæce, Dunric opened the Assembly, chasing away evil spirits and invoking the gods for the proceedings. Various cases were dealt with by the Ealdorman. Wulfhere thought that Coelfrith already looked bored and disinterested. Some cases he barely listened to, talking and laughing with the warriors around him, while people presented their case. He thought there was such a contrast with Osberht who tried to be fair to his people and make a good judgement. Around midday, Garm rose and stated his intention to ask for a Blood feud against Thane Osbert of Caedering. He depicted Osberht as a dangerous and deranged criminal who killed visitors to his hall after giving them guest rights. The Brothers had agreed that Wulfhere would present the evidence of their counter case against Garm and that Dunstan would give the final speech to sum up their case. Wulfhere stood and interrupted Garm and laid out his own claim. For the first time at the Assembly, Coelfrith looked interested and he was seen to smile. The attending Carls also seemed pleased that they could hear some interesting cases. Land boundary issues and stolen cows did not fire their imagination. Wulfhere spoke well. He told of Garm's treachery in coming as a guest to a feast with the purpose of provoking Osberht into an act of violence. He bought forward Dreng who confirmed that Garm had told him of his intentions beforehand and his pleasure in succeeding in making Osberht to attack Garm and kill his Carl. Dreng told that afterwards Garm returned to Caelctun but he left the three remaining Carls to kill the brothers. Wulfhere said that Garm's purpose was to prevent the Brothers reporting to Osberht about their mission. Wulfhere suggested that Garm was allied to the Britons and his motivation in killing the Brothers was to prevent his friends, the Britons, from being discovered and killed. Wulfhere told the Assembly that Garm had illegally invoked a Blood feud by declaring it at his own feast and offered a jewelled arm ring as reward for the person who killed Osberht. The consequence of this illegal action was that Osberht was ambushed by Eorlstan and his men and he brought forward Eorlstan to confirm his statement. Eorlstan for once was tongue-tied and Wulfhere had to lead him through the evidence. Wulfhere closed his submission by telling the Assembly that Garm had attacked Osberht with no legal mandate and his case should therefore be dismissed. Dunstan then summed up their case by saying that Garm had acted without due process and had prosecuted an illegal act by sneaking around, ambushing and attempted murder. He suggested that Garm was not supporting his Ealdorman but was allied for some unknown reason to the Britons. Dunstan thought that in all his actions, Garm had acted outside the law and had caused injury to Osberht and had sent his own warriors to their deaths needlessly. The Carls murmured and Dunstan thought he might have got them on his side. Garm rose to respond and repeated that Osberht was a criminal. He denied provoking Osberht and said that it was hardly his fault that Osberht was drunk at his own feast and chose to misinterpret some innocent riddles. Osberht could not be trusted with drink and maybe could not be trusted sober. He killed Broge, a Carl who had been trying to calm things down. As for Eorlstan, everyone knew that there were cleverer sheep on the hills. Garm said he had idly mentioned that he was going to declare a blood feud at the Ealdorman’s Assembly. It was not his fault that Eorlstan chose to interpret it as legally operative. Garm said that a Thane could not be responsible for impetuous acts of his Carls. He was following legal procedure by asking for Blood feud now. As for making an alliance with the Britons, he had been involved in more fights in recent years with Britons than anyone else in the Hall. The Brothers assertion was therefore false and vindictive. He would therefore also ask for permission for a Blood feud against them too because by their own admission they had killed his Carls and had spread malicious rumours about him. Coelfrith rose and told the Carls that they had heard the evidence from the Thane and from the Hrothgarsons, including some dubious witnesses. He asked the assembled Carls to make a decision on whether Garm could prosecute a Blood feud against Osberht. Eorlstan’s actions were reprehensible but could be seen as actions of a man who has little ability other than with weapons and even then, that was questionable, given the Hrothgarsons had managed to defeat him when he was in full war gear and they were only armed with long knives. The claim that Garm is allied with the Britons is unfounded and evidence would suggest that Garm spends a lot of time fighting Britons. Osberht on the other hand has an understanding with the British village, Glawmaed. And, he continued, an understanding may be viewed as another word for an alliance. He asked for a vote by a clashing of spears on shields and there was a clear majority for Garm to be allowed to prosecute a Blood feud against Thane Osberht. Coelfrith then asked for a vote on Garm’s request for a blood feud against the Hrothgarsons. Most of the warriors in the room refused the request and the vote was not passed. The warriors around the Brothers slapped their backs and congratulated them. Garm rose and thanked Coelfrith. It was clear that Garm was annoyed but did his best to control his anger. Coelfrith also looked irritated but it was hard for those in the room to discern his views as he was always looking annoyed. Garm then asked if he could make a further request. He said he was facing unprecedented hostility from the West and asked if he could be sent further warriors to protect his and the Ealdorman Coelfrith's lands. Coelfrith agreed that he would give another 20 or 30 warriors to protect Caelctun from the hostile forces. Dunstan did not like the phrase hostile forces to the West as it was clear both the Thane and the Ealdorman were referring to Caedering. He whispered to his brothers that Garm was likely to always need men as he was very careless of them and lost at least six recently. This caused some mirth from men around him who overheard him. Dunstan was not as quiet at speaking as he liked to believe he was. The Brothers decided that it was in there best interests to leave because they were in a hostile hall and were heavily outnumbered. They took Dreng and Eorlstan with them. Eorlstan remarked that he thought that things had gone very well at the Assembly. For once the Brothers were lost for words and thought that Coelfrith’s assessment of Eorlstan was maybe been an underestimate and there were likely to be many sheep on the hills that could outwit Eorlstan. They said farewell to both men. Dreng said he was going to try and head east and maybe north in search of new places. Eorlstan was not sure what he would do. They were glad to leave Eorlstan because his inability to think before he spoke or acted was likely to bring bad luck on those around him. They had grown fond of Dreng who was a decent man although he was a bit pessimistic about his prospects. They went back to the bothie to meet with Aedweard and Eadmund and gather their belongings. They thought that they should leave as soon as possible as they could not be sure that Garm would not attack them. They also felt it was important to tell Osberht that there had been a Blood feud declared against him as soon as possible. That was of course if Osberht still lived. They had not gone too far along the old people’s road when they saw six warriors ahead of them. As they got closer they recognised Swithgar, Garm's War leader, and five carls. They had a quick discussion and felt that it was likely that some of them would die in this exchange. Uthric and Dunstan said that they thought that as long as they made a good account of themselves that they could be satisfied with their deaths. The enemy threw four spears at Aelfweard but he easily parried the one that would have hit him. The others missed. Uthric came up against Swithgar. He was faster than Uthric but his swing with the battle-axe was clumsy and Uthric deflected it and Swithgar hit his own leg with considerable force. He fell over having caused a serious wound to his leg. Uthric was laughing so much that his spear thrust was parried easily. Despite his injury and lying on the ground, Swithgar swung his battle-axe two handed which Uthric easily side-stepped. As the swinging axe went by Uthric kicked Swithgar’s arms and the spike on the butt end of the bearded axe went into his eye. Swithgar was silent after this. Dunstan exchanged blows with his opponent before ripping open the man’s thigh with his spear point. Wulfhere's opponent was nervous and barely parried his thrusts without doing any harm in return, Wulfhere’s third attack went through the man's arm and he dropped his axe. Aelfweard was fighting two opponents and he had only time to parry without getting a chance to hit back. Eadmund parried a blow of the axe and put his spear through the man's chest. He could not get it out as it stuck in the man's ribs. Uthric and Dunstan moved to help Aelfweard who had been wounded in the leg but was still able to stand. Dunstan killed one of Aelfweard’s opponents and both Uthric and Aelfweard hit the other man in the arm and back and he collapsed. Wulfhere was the only one left fighting and they stood and watched him dispatch his foe wounding him badly in an arm and in the thigh. Not for the first time the fighting was swift and deadly. Only Aelfweard had a wound and it was not serious. Five out of their opponents were dead or would die shortly. One was wounded in the leg and he would live if they let him. Uthric said that once again Garm's men were over-rated and he would also be needing a new War leader now. Swithgar was obviously lacking in skills to meet that challenge and had paid the cost with his life. While they were discussing what to do and Aelfweard tied a bandage around his leg, they saw a man running away. He had not taken part in the fight but had stayed in the forest watching. They recognised the man as Garm and although he was already far ahead they gave chase. Wulfhere said that Garm was obviously very accomplished at running as he outdistanced both him and Dunstan and had escaped. When they returned Uthric had stripped the dead bodies and was discussing with Aelfweard and Eadmund the best way to humiliate Garm. They had agreed to hang the bodies at the side of the road. Their prisoner they agreed to let go but stripped him of his armour and weapons. Wulfhere said that he would like two different messages relayed. The first one was for Garm. He was to tell his Thane that he had been acting illegally and they would soon be seeking redress for that. They were also to tell him that he would not be able to run forever. The second message was to tell the other warriors about what had happened here. Wulfhere wanted the man to say that Garm did not even join the fight and he was prepared to let his men die while he ran away. He was to say that they were badly led by a cowardly Thane and the only reward for that would be death and dishonour. The man agreed to convey the messages and they watched him hobble off. The rest of the bodies they hung from the trees as a warning for others. They returned to Caedering towards evening and ate a meal with Taethle to tell her the news. Osberht still had a fever and did not often wake and when he did he said nothing that was sensible. In the main he spoke to his dead wife and Eadgyd said that it was an omen for his death. If he was seeing spirits of the dead then he was nearly in the land of dead. Taethle had sent for a leæce to help with Osberht as she felt it was beyond Eadgyd's skills Taethle discussed the need for support for the Blood feud from Cerdic . If Caelctun was being reinforced then there would likely be an attack on Caedering. It was her duty as a Thane to stay here and help in the defence. The Brothers would have to be her messengers to Cerdic. Wulfhere felt happy about that as he wanted to secure support for Connal and Glawmaed from Cerdic also. Dunstan said that he wasn't too worried about reinforcements in Caelctun. He had been counting and they had already killed or wounded 12 warriors. Wulfhere thought that Garm’s phrase' threat from the west' was ambiguous and sinister. It could be seen as a threat from either the Britons or Caedering. If Garm is allied to the Britons then they might have a combined force of 120-150 Warriors which it was unlikely that anyone except Aelle could match. Cerdic had easily that number of men but they were spread out and couldn't be withdrawn from their fortifications without endangering the conquered lands. They all agreed that Garm would need to be dealt with. Uthric thought that if the rumours were true that he had killed his own brother to become Thane, he was capable of anything. He acknowledged that he too thought of killing his brothers occasionally but they should be happy to know that the mood usually passed quickly and he did not expect that he would ever have to act on his thoughts. Taethle was keen to find out Cerdic's views and to get his counsel. After they had all talked themselves out, Wulfhere and Dunstan decided to sleep in the Thane's Hall to avoid Hildegard. Uthric thought it best to go home and brave his mother’s wrath to spend the night with Meire. In the morning after further words with Taethle they went to Portus Caester where Cerdic was spending time planning his upcoming campaigns. After several hours wait they were admitted to Cerdic's presence. Cerdic was a big man with short grey hair which his unusual for a Saxon. His eyes were very bright blue and they made the Brothers nervous. He did not speak at first, letting his nephew, Stuf speak. Stuf was a taller man than Cerdic and had trouble sitting still. He had been recently given more responsibility by his uncle and was the ruler of Portus Caester. He was obviously still adjusting to this role and they had the distinct impression he looked like he would prefer to be killing someone rather than sitting in counsel. The Brothers told Stuf and Cerdic the events as they knew them and that they had come to seek advice, help and wisdom from Cerdic at Taethle’s request. Cerdic smiled when he heard the story. He said that he had not many men to spare at present but could probably release 20 warriors for Taethle. He confirmed her as Thane until Osberht recovered or died. If Osberht died then she would remain Thane. He asked questions about Garm and said that in his opinion his men would not be overly fond of him. He had shown himself to be weak and cowardly and did not fight with them. It may be possible to overawe them and gain a submission or at the very least they might then not fight for Garm. He accepted Connal‘s offer and asked that they convey a message to him to come to Portus Caester to swear loyalty. Cerdic could only give 20 extra warriors at the moment so Taethle would have to decide if they were to protect Glawmaed or Caedering. Cerdic asked about Coelfrith and what his part was in this tale. The Brothers said they were not sure. He had supported Garm and had promised him more warriors but they were sure that this was no more than a good Ealdorman would do. Cerdic said that they should beware of Coelfrith. He is likely to be their true enemy even if the enemy they see is Garm. They asked about what they thought they should do about Garm. Cerdic agreed that this issue needed to be settled. Caedering was in danger and would not be able to deal with the hostile Britons until there was a resolution with Garm and Caelctun. Cerdic said that he knew that Aelle would not be pleased if Coelfrith's Thane was killed as that would lessen Aelle’s direct power in the west. But Cerdic said that with Aelle it was always easier to ask forgiveness afterwards rather than to seek permission first. He said that they must tell Taethle that he would support her and Osberht, if he survives, but he could not go openly against another Ealdorman so she must not put him in that situation. Cerdic thanked them for their help and gave each a heavy silver arm ring before they left.

The Brothers took their prisoner to Osberht’s hall. He was rather deflated and all they could discover immediately that he was called Dreng Betlieson and was one of Garm's Carls. They thought that he might have been present at Osberht’s feast with Garm, but they weren't sure. Dunstan said that he thought he should be nicknamed Dreng the Sorry as he was sure to be contrite for trying to fight the Hrothgarsons. Uthric thought that he may not be as sorry as his companions, who were lying dead, but how sorry he was would remain to be seen when he was well enough to talk. In the meantime, they discussed matters with Osberht and Taethle. They told Osberht about the Horse soldiers in the forest. Osberht was worried they could be British scouts or worse they could be Dumnonian Cavalry. He said neither would be a cause for celebration and he left momentarily to order double guards on the fighting platforms. Horse soldiers were not good at fighting against walls so he felt there was little danger but thought it was still better to be safe rather than sorry. He also gave orders that the farmers and animal herds should be brought inside the walls. He did not want more avoidable deaths. Wulfhere was keen to remind Osberht of Connal and his willingness to accept Cerdic as Ealdorman and his need for urgent protection. They agreed that either Osberht or Taethle should tell Cerdic of the proposal and the need for more warriors. All thought it likely that if Connal's decision was to become known to Anyon, then Glawmaed would be in danger. Connal would require significant warriors to be stationed at Glawmaed which may not please his people. Saxons occupying their village might lead to resentment or could cause trouble. Wulfhere thought that having a small amount of trouble was worth it to protect the villagers. They also discussed what they had found out about the British settlement, the strong defences and the large Warband gathered there. Dunstan also mentioned the Sacred Pool and his opinion that it could be magical. None of Brothers could say for sure what the pool did or did not do. Taethle thought that it was likely to be just a votive pool despite the butterflies, as there were many of these in Briton. However, all agreed that it would be unwise to annoy the Landvættir unnecessarily. Both Taethle and Osberht thought that they did not have the forces to attack the Britons without more reinforcements form Cerdic. Taethle said that attacking a fortification was always wasteful of men and if it was up to her she would rather face the Britons in the open where they could choose the battleground. She thought that perhaps they could use the British numbers against them hoping that they would be overconfident and make mistakes. She asked specifically about Anyon's character and if he might be thought of as impetuous and hot-headed. All the Brothers agreed that from what they had seen of him, this was likely to be the case. Taethle hoped that this could be used as an advantage. The Brothers asked Osberht his opinion on the prisoner. Osberht said that he had no strong opinion on what they should do. He deserved a dishonourable death by hanging but equally they could make him a thrall. They brought Dreng before them and asked him to explain what had happened. Dreng said that he had been one of the four Carls that had come with Garm to the feast. Afterwards Garm had told them to wait in ambush for the Brothers and to make sure they were dead. The three men had initially tried to track the Brothers but were afraid to enter the forest, as it had an evil reputation. They were also annoyed that Garm had left them alone to complete the task and had gone back to Caelctun. They all felt his actions showed he did not hold them in a high esteem and seemed to care little if they lived or died. Dreng said his comrades had not fought well because they were feeling in low spirits. On another day it was likely that they would have killed the brothers. Wulfhere said it was always easy to boast about great deeds if you were alive. The Brothers left him alone and went off a short distance to discuss Dreng's fate. They purposefully spoke loudly so that Dreng would hear them. Uthric argued that he should die for his actions and in as dishonourable a way as possible. He favoured hanging from a tree and letting the ravens have him. Wulfhere thought that they should be lenient and make him a thrall. He was after all being led by a cowardly Thane. Dunstan had the deciding vote and argued for both cases. It was obvious Dreng was becoming very worried by the discussions. It was not that he minded dying, it was the manner of death that was important. He had a rather pessimistic view of his Wyrd since Garm had left them alone and had suggested to his two dead comrades that they should leave Garm’s service and find a more courageous Lord. He had been overruled and now they were dead and he was going to be hanged. In the end, Dunstan decided that they should make Dreng a thrall. His decision was mostly based on the fact that he thought their mother might be less angry with them if they give her a thrall to do some of the hard labour in her house. He also was concerned that somehow Beorthric and Wilfrith were mixed up in the plot to kill the Brothers and he wanted time to question Dreng more closely on the matter. Dreng was relieved by the decision but it did not improve his mood. He tried to console himself that he was still alive but he recognised that his prospects were not that good. Dunstan asked him about Beorthric and Wilfrith and was surprised that Dreng had no idea about either man. Nonetheless, Dunstan was convinced that both had some part to play in the events and he discussed it with his brothers. They agreed that even if Dreng was not aware of the men, it was likely that Beothric, Wilfrith and Garm were working together. They returned home to tell Hildegard of her new thrall but found that she was still sulking about their decision to kill her husband. They thought her sulking had gone on for an unreasonable amount of time. They asked Uthric if Meire would ask her to stop grumping, as the two seemed to get on well together. Meire refused and said all three might perhaps want to reflect on their own behaviour. It appeared to Uthric that Meire was also somewhat grumpy and he thought that this might not bode well for any hair stroking that night. There was too much tension in the house so they agreed that they should leave and let the women calm down. It seemed that they might be better employed at present in investigating what had happened to the horse soldiers. Dunstan felt that facing a whole squadron of Dumnonian Cavalry was better than facing the two grumpy woman. They went down the path to the place where they had fought the three Carls. Dunstan was still exercised about the sacred pool in the forest. He wondered if they had overpaid the amount that needed to be given. He felt that the more money they got the more other people demanded it. He told the others that he felt that he was overcharged for everything - by armourers, boot makers, cheese sellers, Waystations. All of these people were just trying to relieve the Brothers of their hard-earned silver. He really was unsure how anyone ever managed to get rich when there was always someone wanting their money. The others were tired of Dunstan's constant complaints about silver and the cost of buying things and asked him to be quiet. They went through the forest to the place Uthric had seen the horse soldiers. There was no sign of anyone and they could not find any tracks or horse droppings that suggested there had ever been horses in the area. They both looked at Uthric. He just shrugged and said that to be a good Scout, you had to leave no trace or tracks after you left. In his opinion it was very obvious that the horse soldiers were excellent scouts. They were startled by a sudden flock of birds that had risen from the forest about a league to the South. They were sure something had scared them but could not see what. Uthric was confident it was the horse soldiers but Wulfhere said they were not that excellent scouts if they gave away their position by scaring birds. They agreed that there was no point going to investigate and that the extra guards in the village were sufficient to keep everyone safe. They went back to the village and Dunstan busied himself by teaching Egfryd how to use a spear and shield. Wulfhere dreamed a bit of Bronwyn and Uthric played with Hrothgar trying to improve Meire’s mood. All three stayed out of Hildegard’s way. The next morning, Osberht invited them to help fix some of the withies for the pigpens. In truth, he wanted to be away from Taethle as they were still arguing about his killing of the Carl. He said he was conflicted about what to do and did not want to appear indecisive in front of her. He had come to the decision that they might be best to go to Caelctun to confront Garm. His difficulty, at present, was that he did not see how this could be achieved without leaving Caedering undefended. Uthric said that the Brothers had been discussing why Beorthric and Wilfrith had not returned to Caedering and they thought that, even with Dreng's denial, they were somehow involved with the attempt to kill them. Osberht agreed that it might be possible but that he could not quite yet see the pattern of how it all fitted. Wulfhere spoke more about their trip to Glawmaed and was concerned that Anyon might hear of Connal's decision to swear loyalty to Cerdic. He was keen to get help for Connal as soon as possible. Osberht agreed but he still could not leave Caedering undefended. There were horse soldiers in the area and they were facing hostility from a British Burgh with a large Warband. There was also the uncertainty of Garm and Caelctun. The danger required that a Thane and most of the warriors would have to remain in Caedering to provide defence. In the meantime, Connal and his villagers would need to continue to protect themselves. They were interrupted in their deliberations by one of the village farmers, Taled, who shouted to Osberht that one of his cows, Clufwyrt escaped. Osberht laughed and said that the Clufwyrt had a habit of escaping and excused himself to help Taled. As Osberht walked towards one of the low buildings three armed men came around the corner. One of them shouted something and threw a spear at Osberht. It caught him in the chest and he was thrown backwards by the impact. The Brothers were surprised by the suddenness of events but nevertheless reacted swiftly. They had no weapons other than seaxs but thought they needed to defend their Lord. They ran forward and stood over the body of Osberht. The three men formed a shield wall but seeing the Brothers were armed only with their long knives they grew overconfident and split apart. Uthric saw an opening and stepped inside an extended spear to slash the approaching man in the abdomen, opening a deep cut. The man fell over, using both hands to try to keep his guts from falling out. Dunstan similarly stabbed his foe in the stomach, twisting the seax before withdrawing it upwards. The man had been too slow to parry and dropped both spear and shield to try and staunch the flow of blood. Wulfhere dodged a spear thrust and as the man overextended and fell forward he stabbed the seax into his chest. All three attackers were on the ground. Dunstan went to help Osberht and put strips of cloth over his wound to staunch the flow of blood. Osberht was barely conscious and Dunstan feared he might die. Uthric checked the men who were moaning on the ground. The one he had slashed with the seax had died. Dunstan's foe looked like he might live if someone helped him stop the bleeding but Uthric did not feel in the mood to offer. Wulfhere's opponent was in pain and bleeding but still conscious and was asking for mercy. Wulfhere allowed him to stop the bleeding while keeping a careful watch over him. The man named himself as Eorlstan Addison and he seemed genuinely bemused that he had just lost a fight to a man armed with only a seax when he had his full war gear on. Other people were arriving and they helped take Osberht back to his hall. No-one knew if he would live or die as the wound looked serious and he was pale and unmoving. Some carried the wounded man back the hall and others helped Eorlstan to stand and walk. Eorlstan could be heard telling people that he had been unaware that such great warriors lived in Caedering and if he had known it beforehand, he might have thought twice about coming. Wulfhere had initially thought Eorlstan was trying to save his life by flattery but concluded he was just likely to have over-estimated his own skills. Eadgyd was called and both she and Uthric worked on Osberht. Wulfhere and Dunstan stood over their prisoners and asked them why they had tried to kill Osberht. Eorlstan was the only one able to answer, the other man being barely conscious. Eorlstan said that he had already announced the reason for his attack before he had thrown the spear. If Wulfhere had not heard it, he was more than happy to recap for him. Wulfhere denied hearing either a challenge or a reason and said Eorlstan was not telling the truth in the matter, trying to cover up an evil deed by giving it some legitimacy. Eorlstan said he was happy to tell the whole tale but if he could have a drink of water beforehand it might make his speech easier as he always got thirsty after a fight. Wulfhere agreed to his request but he was beginning to seriously dislike this man. Eorlstan told how Garm had held a feast the previous night and had declared a blood feud against Osberht with a reward of a jewelled arm ring for the person to kill him. Eorlstan had become enamoured by the arm ring which he described as magnificent and the most spectacular arm ring that he had ever seen. He was also keen to get the glory for killing Osberht before anyone else did. He and two friends had waited in some of the outbuildings with the hope that they could strike at Osberht. They thought their luck was good when they saw him talking to three people who were all unarmed. He had shouted as prescribed by law, My Lord Garm declares a blood feud. He claims justice for the wrongs you have done. He threw the javelin and it flew true hitting Osbert in the chest. He did not expect to be a captive afterward and described his position as unfortunate. Wulfhere was taken aback by Eorlstan's frankness. He wondered that along with a rather overinflated view of his own abilities, he also lacked any sense. He appeared to have no realisation of the current threat to his life. Wulfhere’s thoughts were confirmed when Eorlstan asked that if they had finished asking him stupid questions then he would like to go and claim his reward from Garm. Wulfhere wondered what sort of people lived in Caelctun as they seemed to have no firm grasp of reality. He informed Eorlstan that if Osberht lived he would decide his fate and if he died, then he, Wulfhere, would personally hang him from a tree. Eorlstan said he was in a quandary. He desired to live but equally he desired the jewelled arm ring. He had always seen his future as dying in an heroic battle. Last year, he had even paid silver to a Helrýnegu in Cissa Caester to cast runes sticks to discover his wyrd. She had confirmed he would die in battle and he thought that the witch could not have been wrong. Wulfhere said that he might be better asking for his silver back but was unlikely now to get that opportunity. Eorlstan said that he found that unfortunate. Wulfhere checked Eorlstan’s head because he thought he might have a head wound. He found no sign of an injury. Taethle came to stand beside Wulfhere and told him that Osberht was conscious and wishing to speak to him and his brothers. Taethle took all three into Osberht’s private chamber at the back of the hall. On the way in they passed Eadgyd who shook her head and whispered it was unlikely Osberht would live until the morning. They found him propped up in bed and his breath came in wheezes. He spoke with great effort and they did not stay long not wanting to tire him. He signified that Taethle should command the Village. When asked what they should do with their prisoners he told them to hang them. Uthric was keen to carry out Osberht's directions immediately but Taethle thought they should discuss matters first. She was of the opinion that Garm's blood feud was not legal. It had been declared the previous night and not at the Ealdorman’s Assembly which would not happen for four more days. If Garm had waited it was unlikely that Coelfrith would have denied him permission for a blood feud, but he had made a mistake. There might be a chance to argue this at Coelfrith’s Assembly in front of his Carls. At the very least they would embarrass Garm and possibly Coelfrith. The brothers agreed that it might be a good plan. If they could persuade witnesses to testify and invalidate Garm's claims then they thought that they might have a better chance of success. Dreng was a witness to Garm's plan to kill the Brothers and Eorlstan was a witness to an illegal blood feud. Taethle wondered if both men could be convinced to act as a witness against Garm in exchange for their freedom. Otherwise she said both could hang. Wulfhere said he thought that might be possible but his only worry was having to tell Hildegard that her thrall had been freed. She was already angry with him and this was only going to make matters worse. Dunstan said that he did not think it would be such a great deal. Wulfhere was so good at telling bad news that he would make it sound that they were doing Hildegard a favour by taking Dreng off her hands. Taethle said that she had no interest in their domestic squabbles. Uthric said that all this talk was frivolous and that they should at least hang the near dead one as a warning for Garm and his men. The Brothers were concerned that Dreng and Eorlstan would return to Garm and they might have to fight them again but Taethle said that was unlikely. Neither would return to Garm because they would be in fear for their lives. Eorlstan was only too happy to be a witness and told Wulfhere that he had faith in the Helrýnegu’s prophecy and could therefore not be downhearted when things seemed to go wrong. Uthric wondered what the Helrýnegu would make of it if he stuck his seax into Eorlstan's throat. However, he thought better of it for the sake of Osberht. Wulfhere was unsure if he could cope with much more of Eorlstan and worried he might have to kill him before the Assembly to get some peace. Dreng said that he would agree to be a witness for least he would be free even though he did not think he would have long to live afterwards if Garm had his way. And so, it was agreed that the Brothers and two Carls, Aelfweard and Eadmund would travel to Hamafunta to Ealdorman Coelfrith’s Assembly to bring a Law case against Thane Garm. They would take Deng and Eorlstan as witnesses. Taethle would guard Caedering in their absence and they would all hope Osberht would survive. While they were gathering their things to go, Uthric and Wulfhere took the four dead bodies of Garm’s Carls and hung them in the trees close to Caelctun. They hoped they would be found and Garm would see the insult and the threat that they intended. Dunstan had been admonishing his mother for feeding Egfryd too many honey cakes. Egfryd had put on weight since arriving with his new mother and Dunstan was concerned that this would have an impact on his training. Hildegard ignored Dunstan and told him that he was not going to tell her what to do, and how to feed her son. Dunstan was both concerned and happy. He was concerned enough to put Egfryd on a strict training regime while he was away and happy that at least Hildegard was talking to him again.

I watched it...very interesting and worthwhile watching.. half drama...half documentary... I recommend it definitely

In Caedering, there was a strange quietness the morning after the Feast and Assembly. The quietness was not replicated in the Brothers’ heads. Each felt that Thunor was banging the inside of their skulls with his hammer. They were due to meet Osberht at midday to discuss their mission and to agree what was to be done. Dunstan, in particular, wanted to remain under his cloak complaining that the light hurt his eyes. When they reached the Thane's Hall there was a very tense atmosphere between Osberht and Taethle who seemed to having an argument. Both stopped as the Brothers approached the High Table, but all could feel that the situation had been very heated. Osberht welcomed them and offered them cold remnants of last night’s feast with newly baked bread. Dunstan was never one to forgo food was happy to ask for more, having quickly finished his first helping. Wulfhere wondered about the cause of the disagreement between Osbert and Taethle. He suspected that they were still arguing over Osbert's killing of the Carl who had been given guest rights. Wulfhere was of the opinion that it had been Garm's fault because of his goading and insults which had been designed to provoke Osberht. He would support his Thane if it came to violence. The Brothers had discussed the situation earlier and all had the same opinion. They conceded that they were not experts in the Law and it might not go well with Osberht because Garm was clever and likely to deny that any insult had been intended. When they had finished their food, Osbert told them that he and Taethle agreed that they needed good information to carry out Cerdic's request. They had discussed the position of Glawmaed and its Thane, Connal. Both he and Taethle wanted to know what Connal's position was on the ongoing conflicts and his likely future actions. If he was hostile, then Glawmaed would need to be attacked and likely destroyed. The Brothers would need to show guile, intelligence and diplomacy in dealing with Connal and Osberht felt the Brothers had the right skills to complete the task. Uthric noticed that Taethle’s face looked neutral on this point and she was perhaps trying not to say anything. The second part of their mission would be to scout out where the Briton's base lay. They had discussed this at length and were of the opinion that the Britons were operating from east of the Itchen but had no knowledge of the exact location. Taethle wanted to know how many warriors there were, if there were defences and how they could be overcome. She was impatient to get the task completed and Dunstan wondered if she was not overly keen to prove to Cerdic that she merited her recent elevation to Thane. The Brothers left the two Thanes and discussed if they should disguise themselves as Britons but decided against it as none of them could speak Brythonic to any degree. They agreed that they should first see how things lay in Glawmaed and then to go to the small Steading at Seaxnahine near Win Caester Hill, the ruined Burgh on the hill. They thought that it would be useful to observe Glawmaed for a while, for if it was the source of the raids, then they did not want to walk unprepared into danger. Uthric said that now he was a father he would be quite keen to see his son learn to walk and wouldn’t be pleased if they got into trouble without knowing about it first. They approached Glawmaed from the South by walking through the forest and finding a comfortable place to watch the village. After several hours of watching they made up their minds that everything was as it should be in Glawmaed. The farmers and thralls worked in the fields tending crops and animals. The Brothers then convinced themselves that this was rather odd. They felt there should have been more scouts or guards in the area. They could only see two spearmen at the gate to the Village and they weren't being particularly observant. Dunstan thought that perhaps trouble had not come to Glawmaed yet. Uthric thought that maybe they didn't need to be on guard became this was the source of the raids. So, they waited another hour before they decided that nothing was out of place and retraced their steps through the forest, to join the road several leagues below Glawmaed. Wulfhere said that it would be best to approach the village along the road rather than arouse suspicion by appearing out of the forest. Uthric, who spoke some Brythonic, asked the gate guards if they could speak to the Thane. Either Uthric misspoke or the guards were hard of hearing for they remained unmoving and shrugged their shoulders. Uthric tried again and this time they were taken to the large dwelling in the centre of the village. Wulfhere said that perhaps Uthric needed more practice in speaking Brythonic but Uthric said he thought both guards came from another part of Briton and probably just did not understand his accent. As they approached the central building, they saw a short dark-haired man arguing with a tall red-haired man. The taller man was obviously a warrior and the shorter man looked like a farmer. The tall man spat at the short man’s feet and began to walk off but paused momentarily when he saw the Brothers approach. He walked on again after pausing, staring hard at them and then pointedly ignoring them. Much to their surprise, the smaller man, who they had taken for the farmer, introduced himself as Connal, the Chieftain of the Village. He invited them in and gave them some beer before asking for their news. His Saxon was not great but between Uthric and Connal they managed to have a conversation. Wulfhere told him of the British raids on Caedering and the death of Osberht’s wife Mildgyth. Connal asked the brothers to convey condolences to Osberht. He said that they only met infrequently to discuss trade and make sure the peace was kept. They were not that close but Connal knew Osberht to be a decent, fair man. Wulfhere asked if Connal had any knowledge of where the raiders came from. Connal said he was reluctant to say as it might cost him and his village dearly, particularly if it became known that he had given information to Saxons. Connal said that his only motivation at present was to protect his people from harm and that he did not want to be caught between two quarrelling Warlords. In his experience, the people that suffered most in such conflicts were the farmers and the people of villages. Warriors always seemed to benefit from war. Connal asked them more about Osberht’s intentions and about the Ealdorman Cerdic and Coelfrith, who he had appeared to have some knowledge of. Wulfhere let Dunstan and Uthric discuss these matters with Connal as he was more than a little distracted by Connal's daughter, Bronwyn. He had difficultly in trying to attract her attention as neither could communicate in the others language. Despite this Wulfhere thought she was a fine woman and she in turn showed every courtesy to the Wulfhere as a guest. It was perhaps fortunate for Dunstan and Uthric that the proceedings were interrupted by shouting form outside. They had been at a loss about what to say about the intentions of Coelfrith or Cerdic and Connal's shrewd questioning had them telling him more information than they wished. Connal excused himself as the shouting grew louder and the Brothers thought it a good idea to see what was happening too and followed Connal outside. They could see the tall red-haired man arguing with several villagers. Uthric could not catch all that they said but he caught phrases that many Britons have used on battlefields before attacking Saxon Shield walls. There was shoving and pushing between some villagers and supporters of the red-haired man. Connal interupted the man and from his gestures the Brothers understood that Connal was asking him to leave. There was a further sharp exchange of words and the man turned to leave but paused and turned to the Brothers. He said something loudly in Brythonic that Uthric later translated for his brothers to be that the foreigners had come to steal the land of their ancestors but would only get to keep whatever it took to bury them. Wulfhere said afterwards that it was well that the Brothers had a good opinion of themselves because it seemed that every Thane in the area was intent on insulting them. If they were to accept what Thanes said, then they would end up believing they were people of little worth. Dunstan and Uthric agreed and wondered if maybe Connal was right. All the local Thanes seemed to be more interested in causing trouble rather than keeping the peace and looking after their people’s welfare. They asked Connal who the ill-tempered red-haired man was and why he was so angry. Connal told them he was named Anyon of the Regneses. The Regneses were a sub-tribe of the Cantii and had been displaced some years ago by their King Aelle. Anyon is particularly unpleasant and angry said Connal being descended from the last kings of the Regneses. He considers himself to be better than most. Connal admitted to not having any proof that he was involved in raids but he was good at stirring up hatred and inciting hotheads to leave the village. Uthric agreed that this is what most kings seem to do and lamented about the quality of kings in these times. He said that in the stories the skalds the Kings always acted in more noble ways. The others nodded thoughtfully in agreement. Connal was quiet after the altercation as he watched Anyon and his followers leave the village and head west into the forest. The Brothers asked if they could help him in some way. Connal said that he knew his position was precarious and his only interest was to protect his people as his fathers and grandfathers had done. He asked the Brothers to convey to Osberht what terms would there be for Glawmaed if he submitted to Saxon rule. Wulfhere did not think they had the authority to make any agreement but he said that they would be happy to deliver such sentiments to Osberht and no doubt Connal would have a favourable answer. The Brothers made their farewells to Connal and Wulfhere paid special attention to Bronwyn, which made her friends who were watching the proceedings, giggle. However, he said nothing of his thoughts to Uthric or Dunstan which could have had serious consequences later had he not been quick with his kicking foot. Uthric had a childhood friend from Glawmaed called Lucnot, a son of Connal, who he had not seen for many years. They had met by accident when they were boys and had played in the forest building shelters, fishing and hunting together. Uthric sought out Lucnot and asked to meet with him, thinking perhaps Lucnot would be more open with information. Lucnot was pleased to see Uthric but thought it better to meet in the forest rather than to be seen talking openly to Saxons. It was a different matter for Connal as Chieftain to meet Saxon envoys but Lucnot thought some might think ill of him if he was too friendly. Lucnot met Uthric at the agreed time and the two renewed their acquaintance. They talked about olden times and of adventures they had had. Uthric wanted to know if Anyon was the leader of the Warbands that were attacking Caedering but Lucnot could not say. He knew that they lived somewhere to the West in the Forest of Moen but had never seen the place. Anyon was of a different tribe of Britons and he did not have a good opinion of anyone but himself. Lucnot advised against inciting Anyon as he was known for his vicious temper. The two parted in friendship and thought that they might renew their acquaintance if the tension in the land eased. The Forest of Moen had an evil repetition in Saxon lore. It was known to be full of hostile British landvættir and they did think well of Saxons, who they saw as invaders. There were stories about people going into the forest and never returning. The Brothers discussed what to do next. They were of the opinion that their next steps were dangerous and that going into the forest might lead to their deaths. They were concerned that Osberht needed to know the information about Connal’s offer for Glawmaed. They thought that Taethle might want an easy victory and attack Glawmaed and that Osberht might agree because he was compromised by the breaking of the guest rights. They agreed that Glawmaed should be protected first and then they would risk their lives by trying to complete the rest of their mission. And so, they went back to Caedering. Osberht was surprised at their appearance. He thought his speech about them taking time to travel to places had stung them to complete their mission quickly. His initial disappointment was tempered by their news that Connal was considering swearing loyalty to the Saxon Lords. Dunstan began to say that the agreement could be sealed if Osberht considered marrying Connal's daughter, Bronwyn, but was interupted by Wulfhere who kicked him on the shins halfway through the sentence. Fortunately, Osberht was too distracted to notice but Taethle gave them both a strange look. The Brothers left and went to see their mother intending to stay the night before going north and then west through the Forest of Moen. Their mother was still angry with them about Beorthric and had not much to say to them other than to place their evening meals on the table a little too forcibly. Dunstan wanted to know why Wulfhere had kicked him when they had been talking with Osberht. He believed that his idea of Bronwyn’s marriage to Osberht to be one of his better ideas. Osberht needed a new wife to calm him down and make him happy and Connal would he reassured that the agreement would stand having Osberht as a son-in-law. Wulfhere acknowledged that Dunstan's thinking had a sound base but he told them he had been thinking about Bronwyn himself. Uthric and Dunstan laughed at the news for Wulfhere had not shown interest in women for some time. Fortunately for Wulfhere it was dark and they did not see him blush. Connal's information suggested the British base lay in the west and probably within the Forest of Moen, however the Brothers thought it prudent to make sure that there was no activity in the north. There was a small Saxon hamlet, Seaxnahine, on the lower slopes of the ruined fortification at Win Caester Hill. The Thane was called Osbeorn, known for his ill-temper and being not easy to get on with. Aelle had made him a Thane but he refused to co-operate with anyone, made a nuisance of himself and took his family north founding Seaxnahine in an out of the way place. Most were glad to see him go. The Brothers reckoned that if Osbeorn had been left in peace, it was likely that no British raiders had been in the area. On the journey north, much to Wulfhere's discomfort, they discussed his sudden interest in Bronwyn. Dunstan wondered how they would communicate if they couldn't speak each other’s language and what Uthric and he could do to possibly aid communication. Uthric offered to translate for Wulfhere and thought perhaps he could lie in bed between them to ensure clear lines of communication. Dunstan thought that Uthric would be better clearing this with Meire first. She might not agree to such an arrangement. She might even insist on joining Uthric in the bed too and he worried that it could collapse under the combined weight of four people. He thought that the constant cost of replacing beds might outweigh the benefits of marriage altogether. He continued to reflect that not being able to communicate might however be an advantage in marriage. He conceded that he had never been married so he might not know just how important it was in a relationship. But he wondered if talking was not over-rated. He had heard that British women were much more independent that Saxon women and they had sharper tongues. He brought up the example of the farmer, Snell, who had a British wife and it was definitely her that made the decisions. Uthric thought this maybe would not be a bad thing. It was well known that while Wulfhere was excellent at telling people bad news, his decision making had not really been tested yet. Wulfhere said he thought Dunstan should take his own advice and stop talking. Their discussion was interrupted when they saw Win Caester Hill and they tried to approach Seaxnahine by staying out of sight. They could see smoke from cooking fires rising and, as they lay in a hollow and watched, an old man with a double-handed axe over his shoulder advanced towards them. He stopped twenty paces away and stared silently. Wulfhere rose and gave him a greeting and explained why they were hiding in the grass. The older man named himself as Osbeorn, the Thane, and impolitely asked them to leave. He was suspicious of foreigners he said whether they were Saxon or British and he took the opinion that if they disregarded his requests that they were signalling hostility and they ultimately would then end up as food for the ravens. Wulfhere thanked him for his honesty in stating his intentions plainly and without ambiguity and wished him luck. The Brother’s thought that Osbeorn’s reputation had been deserved. He was a thoroughly unpleasant man with no sense of hospitality. The Brothers agreed that they would go back down the Old People's Road and enter the Forest of Moen from the north and travel in a south-west direction until they met the ltichen River. The forest is old, dense and mostly of large oak trees, criss-crossed with streams and pools. Despite all being accomplished at woodcraft, the Brothers soon became hopelessly lost. They decided to follow a game trail which judging by the sun led south and after five hours found themselves in a glade with a forest pool. The pool was surrounded by forest woodland flowers and butterflies floated lazily in the still air. The bottom of the pool was littered with coins and other treasure and Dunstan thought that this was some kind of shrine and wondered if they should also make an offering. They debated what might be appropriate but could gain no agreement. Wulfhere thought that perhaps they should have brought Meire with them to be able to communicate with the pool and then they would be sure to know what was right. Uthric admitted that Meire had many talents but he was not sure that communicating with pools was one of them. Leastways he said she had never yet shown any desire or interest in talking with pools when he was with her but he accepted that she did used to live beside one and might have done so in the past and without his knowledge. There was a hazy, dreamy quality about the pool and they began to worry that time would pass more slowly here than in the world outside. Wulfhere said as far as he knew most people never met one such pool in a whole lifetime and they would have to be very unlucky to meet two such pools. The thought of delayed time made them make a quick decision and Dunstan threw three pieces of hacksilver into the pool. The butterflies rose up and fluttered around them which made them even more uneasy and they hurried along a path that as far as they could tell went straight west. Dunstan thought that if they were with a Warband coming through the forest then it would probably be safe to loot the pool. He was sure there must be a great treasure there. His new cloak snagged on a thorn bush and he took that as a sign that maybe looting wasn't a good idea no matter how big a Warband was with him. By late afternoon they had made their way along the westerly path and they had begun to smell wood smoke. They crawled cautiously through the undergrowth until they came to the edge of the forest. Set in the eaves lay a large settlement with the land behind it sloping gently down to the river. The settlement was one of the old people's dwellings. It was surrounded by a wall made out of the strange square clay stones of the old people and was over the height of a tall man. They could not see the gate from where they lay but there were guards walking on a fighting platform inside the wall. They could see a taller building made of stone on the inside and a lot of thatched round houses. From their position they could not see how many people lived there but it looked like a lot. They were definitely not keen for a closer look. Uthric was of the opinion that they had completed their mission and thought they should leave in case they were discovered. Wulfhere reminded them of the questions Taethle had asked at the feast and he had a feeling she might want much more information than they had been able to get from lying on their bellies in the undergrowth. Uthric said that to be truthful he had not much memory of that night and Dunstan agreed. He said, that as they might recall, he had had difficulty standing upright, so they should realise that listening had been completely out of the question. However, the Brothers agreed that having come so far that it was probably better to try and find out more about the place and how many warriors there were but to do it in such a way so as not to increase the risk of being discovered. They crawled through the undergrowth to where they could see both the angle of the wall and also the side facing the River. There was much coming and going in and out of a guarded gate. They watched as three warriors got out of a small boat and made their way up from the river carrying their belongings. It looked as though the Burgh had got three new warriors. Wulfhere suggested that one of them climb a tree to see over the walls and into the Burgh. That way he thought they could count warriors. There was a silence in which no-one volunteered and each looked at the other. Uthric was the first to give in and offered to climb one of the trees as long as the others caught him if he fell. He did not think he would have much luck in surviving in this forest if he broke his leg. Wulfhere reassured him that today was a lucky day and he was certain Uthric would not suffer any injury. As it turned out, Uthric did not have to climb that high as he could see over the walls from some of the lower, larger branches. He estimated that there were dwellings for about 500 people. He could see woman and children inside the Burgh so he reckoned there might be 100 or so warriors. As he was coming down one of the guards on the wall seemed to take an interest in the tree he was in, pointing with his spear in his direction. He jumped the last bit and told his brothers that perhaps it would now be good to see if they could outrun some Britons who had possibly seen them. They set off through the trees heading in an easterly direction. They could now hear sounds of pursuit from behind and the barking of dogs. They ran as fast as they could, sometimes running along streams to try and put the pursuit, and particularly the dogs, off the scent. They had quickly become lost but at least they did not hear anyone following. They thought they might be travelling south but after a few hours they ended up back at the treasure pool. They approached cautiously but did not see anyone around the pool. Dunstan was relieved for he had been beginning to worry that maybe every pool in the centre of forests had a red-hatted and iron-booted Bannucmann. They were tired and thought perhaps they should rest as it would soon be too dark to travel safely and this seemed a better place to stay rather than face hostile landvættir at night. The sound of barking dogs and men shouting in British changed their minds and they took a path from the pool that looked like it went east. The sound of pursuit came closer but they were able to outdistance it and eventually they came to the eaves of the forest near Glawmaed. They found a place that they could easily defend and spent the night crouched down and on high alert as they waited for the first light of the false dawn. They passed by Glawmaed which was coming to life for the new day. Wulfhere thought he saw Bronwyn and waved. He was sure she waved back which cheered him up after a miserable night in the forest. Caedering is built on a ridge in the forest. It can be approached from two ways. First, there is a steep path that cuts through rocks of a cliff face and is the quickest way to get to the old people's road running north to Glawmaed or south to Portus Cæster or Hamafunta. The second way is a circuitous route that joins the old people's road north of Hamafunta before approaching Caedering from the east through the forest and latterly through the cleared land where the villagers grow crops. The Brothers were walking towards the steep path when Dunstan noticed the glint of spears amongst the rocks. He pointed this out to his brothers and they stopped to decide that it might be better to take the longer route home to avoid trouble. They were unsure what the hidden spears meant but none of them were that keen to find out. They began to move south but stopped again when Uthric saw horse-soldiers attempting to hide in the eaves of the wood. He pointed out that they would have walked straight into them if he wasn't so eagle-eyed. They felt their safer option was to take their chance with the hidden spearmen at the cliff face. While they stood for a moment in indecision, the spearmen came towards them. They were relieved that they were Saxon warriors and although they didn't recognise them they were likely to be Taethle's men. Six warriors could defend themselves against horse soldiers. But the three warriors took up aggressive positions and advanced towards them. When it became obvious that they were going to be attacked they felt they had no option but to carry the fight to these men. The fight was brief and bloody. Uthric was first to attack. He feinted low with his spear and when his opponent moved his shield to parry the thrust, Uthric moved the point high and lodged the spear in his throat. The man looked surprised and fell to the ground. Dunstan also thrust at his opponent’s head. The man was too slow to respond and the spear caught him in the cheek and on into the brain. It was likely he was dead before he hit the ground. Two were down almost immediately. The third man was hesitant having seen his comrades killed swiftly and efficiently. Wulfhere thrust his spear round the shield and into the man's side. He grunted but did not fall. Instead of trying to hit back he threw his spear down and asked for mercy. The fight was quick and violent and over almost before it had begun. Wulfhere bundled the man forward to the rocky path while Dunstan checked the other two warriors. Uthric guarded against attack from horsemen to the rear. Both men were dying or dead and Dunstan left them, keen to get to the safety of the steep path and trees in case they were attacked by horse soldiers This mystery of this attack could be solved. They had a prisoner and Wulfhere thought that with some gentle, or perhaps not so gentle, persuasion, the man would provide some answers.

***** WARNING SPOILERS - some of this part of the Chronicle contains elements of Mythras' Logres. If you intend to play it as a Player it's probably best not to read it because your enjoyment will be seriously diminished **** The Brothers left Dunasted a moon after the Feast of Sol-monath. Uthric and Meire’s child was now two moons old and both felt he would be able to travel safely. Uthric had named the child Hrothgar after his father which all the Brother’s felt was a good omen. Not only had they found their father Hrothgar but they were bringing home his grandson, also named Hrothgar. They travelled through Grim’s Dyke Burgh and on to Lundenwic. Uthric was worried that people might be afraid of Meire and he asked Offa for a hooded cloak so that people could not see the green tinge in her hair or skin. At Lundenwic they rested for a while and asked at the local market if anyone had heard of Beorthric or Wilfred but no one could tell them any news about either man. That night in the Waystation, Uthric told the story of Offa and the and people who listened to the tale said that he spoke well. The Brothers were not short of ale that night but things then turned for the worse. One of their new friends insisted on trying to show that he also could throw an anvil. He felt that in reality it was not such a great feat of strength but he could not gainsay it as an excellent stratagem and he would prove it at that particular moment. Perhaps the man had drunk too much and perhaps he had an over-inflated view of his own strength but he dropped the anvil on another man's arm. As a fight broke out the Brothers thought it prudent to leave. Uthric had to be dragged out by Wulfhere as he was insisting on trying to get the man to understand that Offa had required his help both to lift and steady himself for the throw. So, in future, if the man was of the opinion to throw an anvil it was necessary to have an equally strong person to assist him in the task. Uthric grew grumpy with his brothers as he felt that he was only offering the man some advice that might be useful in the future. Dunstan wondered if he hadn't been spending too much time with Offa and grumpiness might be as contagious as the plague. The man, on the other hand, was not paying attention to Uthric and missed his sage advice due to being beaten unconscious by the crushed-arm-man’s friends. In the morning they bought food for the journey and left Lundenwic arriving at Cissa Cæster without incident five days later. They stayed at the Waystation by the Eastgate as they had on their outward journey. Uthric again told the story of Offa's Anvil to acclaim and disbelief by his listeners. As before in Lundenwic, the Brothers asked for news of Beorthric or Wilfrith but no-one knew who they were. People did remember their father, Hrothgar, and they were treated with respect because of him. In the morning they decided to replace their worn shoes with new boots to create a good impression when they returned home. Dunstan bargained with the merchants and got a good deal. It took another day to travel to Caedering and when they arrived after the first stars had come out. They presented themselves to the two Housecarls who were guarding the Thane's Hall but were told Osberht had gone to Portus Caester and would be back either tomorrow or the day after. They were confused by the Housecarls’ demeanour and thought something important had occurred but neither Housecarl would give them the news, saying that Osberht would no doubt tell them in good time. They thought the situation was strange but decided against further discussion until they were aware of the facts. As Osberht was not there they agreed that they should give their greetings to Hildegard, their mother. It was obvious something of importance had happened as Hildegard was heavily pregnant. Dunstan said that in his experience there was always a man involved in making children and perhaps she had some interesting news that might be important for them to hear. Hildegard said that this could wait until they had eaten and told their story of their journey and deeds. She told them she was glad to see them and greeted them warmly as she had been of the opinion that they must have been dead because they had been gone for so long. The Brothers told the story of Hrothgar, his travels and his death. They told of their own travels, how they found out the truth of what had happened, of the betrayal of Beorthric and Wilfrith and finally their desperate fight and final revenge on the Bannucmann. At appropriate times they introduced their new companions, Hildegard’s new son Egfryd, her daughter-in-law Meire and her grandchild, Hrothgar. Hildegard took all these new events calmly but the Brothers were worried that Hildegard had barely reacted to all this good news and they wondered if she was ill. A tear rolled down her face and she thanked her sons for what they had done for Hrothgar, their father. She told them, at first after they had left, she and the two children had been well. The harvest had not been as good as they had hoped last year and the family was short of food. They did not have the Brothers to provide food from the hunt and Hildegard was too proud to ask her neighbours for help, knowing they also had little extra to give. Every day that passed she thought her three sons would return but each day she was disappointed in her hope and their plight became desperate. Hildegard told how Beorthric and Wilfrith had returned to Caedering shortly after the brothers had left and it was Beorthric that had noticed her situation and had been kind to her, bringing food. He had asked her to marry him as he had a desire to support her and he thought a marriage might be a good arrangement, but she had refused. Winter is a hard time for everyone she told them and no-one has much to spare but Beorthric always brought food and as time went on she had relied more on him, just to be able to survive. When he asked again if she would marry him, this time she agreed to protect her two remaining children. She had been of the opinion that none of eldest sons would ever now return and she needed to protect and feed Hrothgar’s remaining two younger children. For once the Brothers were unsure how to proceed. It had all seemed very simple on their return journey. Tell Osberht what had happened, agree a blood feud and kill the two cowards. Now one of the men they wished to kill was married to their mother and he had saved her life and that of their younger siblings. There was an awkward silence as the Brother’s tried to digest the news. For something to do, Hildegard ruffled Egfryd's hair and took him to get some honey cakes. Egfryd was relieved. He had been close to tears when the story was being told and was unsure if his new mother would accept him as her son. Hildegard also welcomed Meire and nursed Hrothgar who seemed to be aware of the tension and had begun to cry. Hildegard made pleasant chat with Meire, politely ignoring the greenish tinges. She was after all descended from Thunor and her ancestors had probably found such small oddities as green tinged skin rather common place, so she too, decided to ignore it. The Brothers left Egfryd happily eating honey cakes and Meire and Hildegard talking about babies and went out to discuss how things stood. Dunstan said he was shocked at how fickle Hildegard was, his father had just been laid to rest and she had already forgotten him and then married the man that had caused his death. Uthric, who was using the time to sharpen his axe, thought that at least they would not have to travel far to find Beorthric, all they would have to do was wait until he came home and then kill him. Wulfhere urged caution. He was unsure what they should do and thought it best to ask advice from Osberht when he returned. It was obvious that if they killed Beorthric they risked upsetting their mother. He felt that in the case of Beorthric they could perhaps be magnanimous and for the sake of their mother they would only ask for a wergild and outlawry. Wilfrith, on the other hand, they had already agreed that they wanted his death. Dunstan said that Beorthric was known previously for his meanness and if they asked for a wergild he would probably want to offset it against the food he had provided. Uthric laughed and said it was likely that Beorthric must have had a premonition and that he had therefore been paying the wergild in small instalments of food. They were all in better form after their discussion and told their mother they would seek Osberht’s advice and judgement before taking any action. This sufficed for now as Hildegard thought that Osberht would talk sense into her sons. Osberht returned towards evening of the next day. He had a company of 36 warriors with him who were all strangers to the Brothers. They were shocked by Osbert's appearance. He was gaunt and hollow- eyed and fidgeted with a strip of embroidered cloth. He delivered short curt orders and lost his temper when the servants were slow in bringing ale. Yet he was pleasant to the Brothers and asked them the tale of their journey and if they had been able to give Hrothgar’s unrestful spirit peace. Uthric again told the story of their journey into the north. He did not embellish it but spoke plainly. Osberht listened and then asked questions while looking at Meire. He asked her directly if she was an Ælfar and if so did she bring luck or evil to the village. Meire smiled and said she was not an Ælfar but merely Uthric's wife and Hrothgar's mother. Osberht stared for a time at her but said nothing further. The Brothers asked Osberht for his news as they said that they could see from his demeanour and bearing that some momentous events had occurred in their absence. Osberht told of increased tensions between the Saxon peoples and the British. Ealdorman Coelfrith had been attacking the British to the West and Ealdorman Cerdic had been raiding by sea along the coasts of Dumnonia. The British had struck back and Caedering, being the farthest western settlement, bore the brunt of the attacks. Osberht reminded them that he was to many Mildgyth last Midsummer, which they had celebrated with great joy, despite the Brothers absence. Three days ago, the British struck and Mildgyth was outside the palisade arranging the new pens for the sheep shearing and lambing. She didn't see the raiders until it was too late to seek shelter or safety. She was killed by a chance spear. Osberht had buried her and told the Brothers that his anger had grown. He did not blame the British, for they just did what our people do, raid and defend their homes. Osberht laid the blame on Ealdorman Coelfrith who he had asked many times for aid and support. Coelfrith had always denied help, making up plausible excuses as to why he could not lend warriors and Osberht said that he was left with the view that in Coelfrith’s opinion, Caedering was expendable. Therefore, two days ago, Osberht went to Cerdic and told him of about his problem. Cerdic had immediately offered warriors for the defence of Caedering. Osberht acknowledged that the price had been high because he had to repudiate Coelfrith as lord and to swear allegiance to Cerdic. Also, Caedering would now have to combine forces with Cerdic to eliminate the growing threat of British raids. The Brothers offered their condolences to Osberht and recalled fond memories of Mildgyth and thought she would have been a good influence on the village had she lived. Osberht thanked them for their words and said there would be a feast held for their return at which everyone would hear their tale of victory which would, without doubt, cheer and enhearten the men after so much sorrow. He also felt it would serve two further purposes that he had in mind. It would be a formal welcome to Cerdic's warriors and their Thane, the Shieldmaiden Taethle. Secondly, it would be an opportunity for the warriors to hear how Caedering will prosecute this war against the British. The Brothers brought up their concerns about their legal issues and the unforeseen complication now that Beorthric was their new step-father . Osberht said that he was now in no mood for mercy and he would support their call for a blood feud against Beorthric and Wilfrid. He would call an Assembly to ensure its legality and allow them to seek vengeance. The Brothers thanked Osberht and asked what they could do in return for this favour. Osberht said that he would no doubt think of something that would suit their skills by tonight and he could probably be able to announce it at the feast so they would not have to wait too long to repay him. Wulfhere was not sure they might be pleased with Osberht’s plan as he seemed to have suddenly become over reckless and had lost his ability to take a slow and steady route through problems. The Brothers knew that they had a difficulty about how to tell their news to Hildegard. Both Dunstan and Uthric thought that Wulfhere should tell her as he was the eldest and they felt that he had gained wisdom beyond his years when it came to telling other people bad news. Wulfhere did not concur with his brothers and complained that they often volunteered to tell others good news but somehow, he was always chosen to bring evil tidings. He worried that he might get a name for it. It was not hard to predict that Hildegard was upset by the news and even when Wulfhere offered to mitigate Beorthric's judgement to outlawry if he would lay down his spear, she was not pleased and took to her bed. Wulfhere left her alone as he said to his brothers afterwards that he could not change what had now been decided and no words would make it easier for her. Uthric observed that it was likely that Hildegard would become a widow again for the second time in two years and some people would consider this unfortunate. Dunstan thought that perhaps next time Hildegard should consider all the facts before she agreed to marry her next husband. He also hoped that she would choose wisely as to have a third husband die would probably ruin her chances of getting a forth. Neither Beorthric and Wilfrid had returned with Osberht. They had stayed behind to consult a leæce on Wilfrid’s indigestion. Wulfhere said that it was a pity Wilfrid had not asked him. as he had always found his spear point usually sorted out all sorts of pains to make them of negligible importance in the future. The Brothers left Hildegard’s house as they did not want another confrontation with their mother so as to be in a good cheer for the feast later. That night the brothers sat at the Thane's table opposite Osberht. In the place of honour, at Osbert's left, sat Thane Taethle and on his right sat Garm, Thane of Cælctun who had arrived unannounced earlier that evening. Osberht did not like Garm, who he thought was arrogant and too fond of himself. It had not helped that Garm had previously accused one of Osberht’s Carls of murdering Garm's older brother. Osberht found such a story unlikely having known the Carl well. Garm had done well out of his brother’s death and had been elected Thane in his brother's place. While Garm was an unwelcome guest, the others were not and for a while Osberht forgot his troubles. After everyone had had enough to eat, Uthric was called to tell the tale of their travels, the dramatic ending of the Bannucmann and Offa's heroic feat of strength. The gathered warriors applauded the story, stamping the ground and banging their benches and all agreed Uthric had told it well. Osberht stood and called an Assembly to decide the fate of Beorthric and Wilfrith. Wulfhere, as eldest brother, stood forward and called for a blood feud to be agreed by acclamation of the Assembly. He acknowledged that while these men had not actually caused the death of Hrothgar they had not aided him to defeat the Bannucmann. Their own experience of fighting the Bannucmann was that pinning him down was a sure way to stop him killing others and ultimately led to his own timely death. Wulfhere contended that if Beorthric and Wilfrith had aided Hrothgar when Hrothgar had him pinned, then it was likely that Hrothgar would be standing at the feast telling of his exploits in killing the Bannucmann. The-assembled warriors cheered their acclaim and the blood feud was agreed. Any dissenting voices were ignored. Garm suggested that if only Hrothgar had had an anvil, things would have been different, but only Dunstan heard his remark because of the clamour in the Hall. Dunstan gave the Thane a hard look which Garm ignored. More ale was brought in and the warriors made the best use they could of it by drinking it quickly. The Brothers met old acquaintances and heard their news from their friends. Much mirth was had with Sunngyth one of the Caedering Shieldmaidens who said she saw two ghosts in the shape of mice talking about 0sberht's death. As usual the other warriors made fun of her. She was well known for seeing omens everywhere and everyone was of the view that none of the portents came true. But the general consideration was that if she kept seeing signs, the odds of one coming true would reduce and one day to everyone’s amazement she would be right. Despite the constant fun made of Sunngyth’s predictions, most of the warriors showed concern for Osberht. He had become bitter and angry since Mildgyth’s death and they thought he should take a new wife. Some even suggested Thane Taethle as a match but others considered it unlikely. Wulfhere and Dunstan were asked about Uthric’s new wife and if she was actually an Ælfar. They were keen to know if she would bring luck to Caedering or would she curse the village. They all thought her beautiful but uncanny in skin tone. Osberht called for attention and the rowdiness died down. He invited the Brothers back to the top table and told the Assembly that now they had shown some ability in walking places, he was going to ask them to walk a bit more. Maybe he said they could get the task done a bit quicker this time as he was not going to get them to walk the length of Briton. Cerdic had asked that Osberht secure the area of hostile Britons but as yet no-one knew where they had their base. He was going to send the Brothers to find this out as they had proved their ability to do difficult things by putting their father's spirit to rest. The Hall erupted in cheers and shouts. Osberht again quietened the crowd and brought presents for the Brothers, a silver-chased knife for Wulfhere, a jewelled broach for Uthric and a new cloak for Dunstan. When the crowd stopped cheering, Thane Garm rose and asked the Brothers some questions. He wondered how they would succeed in finding the British base if they had to go around asking for help from this Offa, who was a mere Angle, and it was he that they had to get to kill the Bannucmann. Wulfhere said that perhaps the Thane had misheard Uthric but they all had a hand in killing the Bannucmann. Dunstan said quietly to Uthric that surely it wasn't anyone’s fault that Garm was deaf, but it was definitely tedious if after every speech, Garm was going to ask stupid questions in clarification. Garm laughed at Wulfhere's explanation and suggested that far from being experienced travellers that they had merely walked a lot following the Old People's roads. Even cows can walk that far if they have a farmer to lead them, so perhaps they should engage one of the local farmers to aid them this time. Taethle stood and interrupted Garm. It was clear that Garm was trying to goad the Brothers and she asked some slightly more pointed questions. She wondered if the Brothers could tell her of Wiglaf’s troops, their quality and number. Uthric knew he was being tested and was able to tell her a description of what she had asked for, although he admitted later he had guessed. She seemed satisfied with the account and asked Wulfhere about the troops in Lundenwic. Wulfhere truthfully had only noticed the Angles wore their hair braided to one side and so he admitted that he had not counted the warriors as they were spread out over a wide area and the Brothers had mostly stayed in a Waystation with merchants. Taethle did not seem so satisfied with this answer and was noted to scowl slightly in response. Finally, she asked Dunstan how the Angles had fought in a shield wall and if the used different tactics to the South Saxons. Dunstan who at this point could barely stand managed to only say no before being helped onto his bench by a supporting warrior. Taethle would have likely made another comment but Garm said that he had not finished asking questions and he was annoyed that Taethle had interrupted him. Some had noticed his annoyance and remarked on it afterwards in the light of events to come. Garm moved over to Wulfhere and in a loud voice challenged him to a riddling contest. Wulfhere knew that the Thane was trying to mock him and looked for support from Osberht. Unfortunately, at that particular moment Osberht was not available to support anyone. He was staring into his cups and those around him had left him to his thoughts. The Warriors in the Hall took up the shout encouraging Wulfhere to show Garm that Caedering Carls could out-riddle anyone. They had possibly not thought the contest through as Wulfhere was only thought of as competent in riddle making. Garm’s first riddle was not particularly difficult but most understood it to be a thinly veiled reference to Osbert's desire to find peaceful means of living rather than the glory of fighting. After some thought Wulfhere gave an answer, which while not the answer that Garm wanted was adjudged by the assembled warriors to be equally correct. Wulfhere then asked a standard riddle in return which Garm easily answered to loud boos from the back of the Hall. Garm moved closer to Wulfhere and the Thane delivered his second riddle in Wulfhere’s face. About three years ago, Wulfhere had been betrothed to marry a local woman, Daira, but she had died from the plague and Wulfhere had not shown much interest in getting married since then. He knew that Garm’s riddle was referring to his betrothal and his subsequent lack of a woman in his life since. He answered correctly but refused to be goaded by Garm's unpleasant manner. Wulfhere could not think of a difficult riddle and Garm easily answered his next question. Garm's third riddle was a thinly disguised reference to Osberht’s deceased wife and his inability to protect her. The Hall fell silent and Osberht, whose head had been in his cups, looked up. His face charged and a black rage descended on him. Osberht leapt up and taking a spear from a wall, advanced on Garm. Afterwards men said they had never seen Osberht so angry, not even when he buried Mildgyth. He would have struck at Garm had not one of his Carls interceded, taking up a battle-axe and threatening Osberht. Without so much as blinking Osbert struck the man in the throat and he fell face first on the reed floor, his life blood flowing and staining the ground. The Hall was silent and everyone stood still. All except Garm. The Thane rapidly made his way to the door of the Hall, paused before he went out and shouted with a loud voice how Osberht had broken the guest rights by killing a visitor in his own Hall after offering food and protection. With that Garm left and no-one tried to stop him. Osberht stood still and men remarked that while a black rage had only recently been visible on his face, it was now looked as drained of blood and as pale as the dead man on the floor.

Isn't that an oxymoron?

I’m worrying about Tamerian’s dodgy 70’s moustache and slippers!!!! Otherwise unlike Bill I enjoyed the Zorak Zoran Moomintroll ... I also failed my SAN roll but rolled over my INT x5

That would really worry me... and even to be culturally polite... I think I'd invent an allergy to or religious proscription to any fermented products