Chapter 2

 

Harold's army had been protecting Winchester and Southampton and all along the southern coast. His ships had been waiting off the Isle of Wight all summer for the Normans when the surprise news came that the Norwegians, led by Hardrada, had invaded the Humber. Harold gathered his army and immediately marched north. He had left behind a small force of knights who owed him military duty, but who were not regular army. This force was to keep a watch and beat off any landing parties.

Athelstan and Wulfric and their knights were among these, but by the seventh day of September their supplies had completely run out. Even fodder for the horses was totally depleted, and they planned on returning home on the morrow.

William of Normandy was obviously not coming. It had just been a false alarm, and the harvest at home was a much more pressing matter. The men, bored with their long vigil, had taken to gambling every night, and there were always plenty of camp followers available.

Wulfric clapped Athelstan on the back in a familiar manner and said, "I've got two plump wenches for us tonight, our freedom will be over all too soon, eh?"

The older man looked surprised. "How did you manage that without money, Wulfric?"

"Easy! I just promised them a place at home. Protection and a regular place at board is very tempting in these times, and we'll be off tomorrow before they awake and find the birds have flown," he laughed.

Athelstan frowned, "I dislike giving my word and then breaking my bond. What harm would there be in acquiring two more serfs?"

"Perhaps our ladies would not take kindly to the idea," Wulfric pointed out.

"Alison would see through them at a glance. I think you have the right of it this time," Athelstan laughed.

 

Saturday noon saw the two companies of knights arrive at Godstone, and there was a great flurry of activity as all were reunited. Wulfric told his men they would stay the night and go home to Oxstead on the morrow. The horses were stabled, and all the armor and weapons were taken to the armory behind the communal sleeping quarters to be cleaned by the squires. Up on the wall went the chain mail and helmets, along with battle-axes, hatchets, swords, shields and spiked balls, commonly referred to as morning stars. The men were hot, dirty and saddle weary, and they all went down to the river to bathe. Lord Athelstan and Wulfric went to the bathhouse, where large wooden tubs were filled with hot water and the maids from the hall assisted.

As Lady Alison soaped her husband Athelstan's back, Wulfric said, "My bride did not greet me, nor does she help me bathe. I greatly desire her company, my lady. Why does she hide from me?"

"Lillyth is having a new gown fitted. She will sup with us this evening, Wulfric, have no fear. She wishes to appear at her best for you, my lord; you know how it is with young girls these days."

He grunted his disappointment and silently vowed to be alone with her later in the evening.

 

As soon as the meats were cooked, the feast got under way. Saxon fires were in a pit in the center of the hall and trestle tables were arranged around its perimeter. This evening extra tables were set up to accommodate the knights from Oxstead, and the ale flowed freely because the men had been on short rations for the past few weeks. The sultry weather, combined with the heat from the cooking fires that had been blazing all afternoon, made the hall stifling. This, however, did not seem to detract from the festive air.

Lillyth chose a pale blue silk kirtle and matching tunic, and she deliberately waited for her mother and father and descended to the hall with them.

Wulfric quickly detached himself from a group of his own men and came to the bottom of the steps to greet her with a hearty kiss.

His beard scratches me, thought Lillyth, and was immediately ashamed that she hadn't minded Aedward's beard. She looked into Wulfric's eyes and tried to be sincere. "Welcome, my lord. It is good to know we are safe from our enemies for another year."

She saw his eyes greedily stripping the thin silk robes from her body and almost recoiled from the hot, raw lust she saw in them. Instead of drawing back, she lowered her dark gold-tipped lashes to her cheeks and held out her hand for him to escort her to her rightful place at the head table. She was seated between her father and Wulfric, whose eyes never left her.

God damn the bitch, he thought, so cool, so remote, she always manages to make me feel like a clumsy oaf. Wait, just wait, he vowed silently and licked his lips.

The noise in the room was deafening. There were many attractive serving wenches; and some of Athelstan's wedded knights had their wives with them, but most of the men's eyes fell on Lillyth. One of Wulfric's men said to his fellows, "One night between her thighs, that's all I'd ask, just one night."

His fellows guffawed and winked at one another. One said, "You mean one minute, don't you? One minute with a fancy piece like that and you'd shoot your arrow and your string would hang limp for the rest of the night!" He roared laughing at his own wit, and the others joined in with coarse and ribald comments.

Lillyth nervously spoke the first thing to come into her head, as she wished to avoid the subject that so obviously thrust itself between them.

"The king has taken the army north, I hear?"

Wulfric laughed sardonically. "Two fools!"

"Fools? Two, my lord?" she ventured.

"William, because he has missed the good weather for this year and won't chance the gales of October."

"And the other fool?" she inquired politely.

"Why, Harold of course," he pointed out. "While he looks to Normandy, it is Norway that attacks!"

After searching his mind for something polite to say to Lillyth in the presence of her parents, Wulfric began, "So next Saturday the chains of wedlock are to bind us together, my lady."

"Oh no, my lord, not next week. That is not possible." She was totally taken off guard, although she hid her turmoil well.

Always in complete control, the cool little bitch, he thought.

"Why not?" he demanded.

"The arrangements have been planned for after the harvest is in. There are so many preparations." She tried to smile apologetically.

"I will allow you two weeks from this night," and his brows drew together as he awaited her rebuff and further delaying tactics that he knew would come.

Lillyth turned quickly to her father and deftly drew him into the conversation. "Father, you know we always have a hunt after the harvest is in, and then you give a big feast for all, including the peasants?"

He nodded his agreement.

"Mother and I thought that would be a perfect time for the wedding. It would certainly prove less costly for you, my lord."

Her father looked at her affectionately. 'Whatever you wish, child."

Wulfric looked at her and said baldly, "When?"

Her mind raced ahead to the calendar, and she quickly assessed that the most time she could bargain for was three weeks.

"On the thirtieth day of September, my lord, and it please thee?" she said sweetly.

A slow grin crossed his face, now that he had at last pinned her down; "It pleases me," he whispered low, and his hand went down to her thigh under the table. She edged closer to her father, but he arose from the table and joined his men at the far end of the hall to make plans for the gathering of the crops. Her eyes searched desperately, and spotting Wulfric's squire, she bade him refill his lord's drinking horn. Surely this ploy would occupy his hands. As his squire poured the frothy ale, Wulfric's other hand came up and lightly patted the boy on the cheek. Lillyth thought in her innocence, He is kind to children, perhaps I blind myself to his good points deliberately.

He removed his hand from her thigh, and as he did so they both saw at the same time that he left a dirty, greasy handprint on the delicate blue silk. She glanced at the mark with unconcealed distaste, and he was embarrassed that he had not wiped the grease of the meat from his hands before touching her.

Untouchable— she acts as if I've defiled her, he thought wildly, and by Christ I will defile her, if it's the last thing I do.

As soon as opportunity permitted, Lillyth made her excuses and retired for the night. Wulfric's men all wanted to toast him, and the entire company became rowdy and drunk before the hour was too advanced. Wulfric slyly watched for his opportunity. Lady Alison retired finally, and he relaxed slightly at the thought that the fierce watchdog wasn't marking his every move.

He slipped up the stairs and entered Lillyth's chamber without knocking. She was seated on a low stool in her thin underdress, and. Edyth was brushing out her beautiful hair, which hung to the floor. He lowered a cruel glance at Edyth and jerked his head toward the chamber door. She dropped the brush immediately and flew, leaving Lillyth to face him alone.

"My lord, it is not seemly that you visit me thus!" she breathed.

"Are we allowed no time alone together? Am I not to woo thee as a lover is wont to do with his bride?" he demanded.

"My lord, forgive me, I have no experience of marriage as you have." She was contrite immediately, "Oh, forgive me, Wulfric, I did not mean to remind you of the pain you must have suffered at the loss of your wife in child-bed."

He waved his arm as he came closer. "Put them out of your mind, girl, I never think of them."

Poor lady, thought Lillyth sadly.

'Perhaps God will bless us with a son for the one snatched away so cruelly," she ventured nervously. She was contemplating whether she should retreat or attack if his advances became suggestive.

He took a handful of her hair and removed it from where it lay across her breast, and his eyes fastened greedily on her nipples protruding through the thin silk. His breath grated hoarsely with desire. "I can get brats aplenty, Lillyth. I want you for fancy."

The chamber door opened without ceremony, and Lady Alison simulated shocked modesty at the sight of him. Edyth had lost no time informing her mistress where Wulfric had ventured.

"My Lord Wulfric, I cannot believe my eyes that you would so dishonor my daughter's reputation," she gasped.

"Nay, madam. Lillyth, tell your mother that we desire only to speak together. It is your desire as well as mine that we should know each other better."

"Speak not to me of desire, sir, for I know where it leads. Nay, not another word. You will leave this chamber immediately and I will forget what I have seen." Lady Alison glared at him until he had no choice but to retreat or make a terrible scene, but silently he added to the score that Lillyth would be made to settle on the last day of September.

 

The men, women, and children of the fief of Godstone were all in the fields next morning in a majestically interwoven pattern to gather the harvest. It was a strong system, close-knit, based on the land. Each peasant was entitled to eight pounds of corn, a sester of beans, and one sheep, so the harvest was a considerable size. The crab apples had been picked from the orchard, and Lady Alison was supervising the making of jelly, which was placed in casks and sealed with beeswax. Men scythed the cornfields and the hayfields and the women and children gathered the crops into bundles and bound and stacked them against one another, until the men collected the bundles on great wagons pulled by oxen. There were many different crops. Rye and wheat for the bread. Oats and barley for the animal fodder and beer making. The washhouse was a busy spot this morning also. The knights had brought back all their chainses, or shirts, and their chausses, or woolen tights. Strings of wash were strung out past the kitchen gardens and into the orchards. Linen kirtles and head scarves and fine linen sheets were all washed while the weather stayed warm and sunny.

 

Saxon England at this harvesttime was filled with earthly riches and delights. It was a kingdom whose generous earth produced bountiful harvests of grains and fruits. On every side it luxuriated in fruitful fields, verdant meadows, wide plains, fertile pastures, milky herds and strong horses. It was watered by bubbling springs, rising streams and majestic rivers, and its watercourses teemed with fish and fowl. Abundant groves and forests covered the hills and there were chestnut woods abounding in game. England was like a jewel glittering in the sea, and it was a jewel ripe for plucking.

 

Lillyth called Edyth into her chamber. "Why don't we go out into the fields today, Edyth. I love this time of the year when everything is most beautiful. All the peasants sing in the fields and the young people have so much fun laughing and teasing. I know they are working, but they enjoy it so much it seems more like playing," she said. "Lend me a plain gown so I may go about without attracting attention, and I'll ask mother what herbs and plants we can gather for her medicines. Hurry!"

She had such a sense of urgency that if she didn't grab the short time that seemed left to her and wring the utmost pleasure from it, it would be gone forever.

The girls set out with large baskets. They had plaited their hair and wore plain white head coverings and serviceable brown linen tunics. The grass glowed with diamond droplets of moisture from the heavy dew as they ran over tussocks of rough grass and wild thyme to the brook where Lillyth gathered dove's-foot for her mother.

"Isn't dove's-foot a quaint name?" she asked Edyth.

"There's oxeyes blooming over there, that's another odd name," answered Edyth.

"Flowers do have funny names, when you think about it. There's goats-beard and mouse-ear," laughed Lillyth.

"I know one funnier than any of them. The serfs call these dandelions piss-a-beds, I wonder why?" The girls went off in gales of laughter.

"They are supposed to bring down water from the bladder when it has stopped, that's where it gets its vulgar name," laughed Lillyth.

They came to a cornfield that had still to be harvested. The corn was bowed down before the wind, and the sun-drenched mellow light of autumn made the lines of earth and sky softer, almost melting into each other. Edyth gathered blue cornflowers, and Lillyth started on the poppies. She caught small wafts of perfume as the wind touched their petals, and the disturbed butterflies flitted away. They sat to rest for a moment under the hedge at the side of the field, in the lovely deep grass, and Lillyth thought, The beauty of the earth removes the shadow from my dark spirits.

They heard voices through the hedge, and Lillyth quickly put her finger to her lips to silence Edyth. They listened and heard a youth talking to a maid.

"Faith, we won't need to meet in the fields much longer; our hut is almost built."

"Morgan, I love you so much!" she replied. "But shouldn't you be tending the swine?"

"I traded jobs today because I knew you would be harvesting. Edmund said he was too old to break his back scything corn. He offered to tend the swine in the forest, but I had to promise to relieve him before dusk falls. It's funny how most are afraid of the forest. I'm so used to it, I love it. The floor is rich with pannage from acorns and beech mast."

"You're so brave," Faith sighed.

The compliment encouraged Morgan to take her into his arms. He smoothed her wild golden-brown hair and kissed her full upon her red mouth. Morgan did not even try to conceal his passion. Her touch had aroused him instantly, and he pressed her back under the hedgerow, until she opened to him naturally and willingly.

Lillyth and Edyth both held their breath. Each girl was extremely interested in the goings-on through the hedge. In a remarkably short time the youth lay spent upon the grass. When he made a move to leave, Faith stayed with him. "Nay, Morgan, stop with me a while. I enjoy this time afterward."

It was obvious that they were very much in love. Their coming together was generous and beautiful, and they were so eager to please each other that the mating didn't offend the two young women in any way. In fact, Lillyth felt easier in her mind about this part of marriage now.

"1 can't wait until I'm wed, Lillyth," Edyth sighed. "The peasants don't know how lucky they are. They can make love without having to be wed first."

"lt's true that we are watched very carefully to make sure our virtue is preserved, but I for one am glad. It's easier to follow rules that are laid-down for us," said Lillyth.

"It wasn't so easy for me the night Walter returned. Do you know what it is like to have a man beg you to be with him, and all the while he is kissing you and touching you in ways that make you vulnerable?" whispered Edyth.

Lillyth blushed deeply as she thought of Aedward. She knew the words Edyth spoke were true from her own experience. "My father speaks highly of Walter. He is one of his most trusted knights. Has he asked you to marry him, Edyth?"

"Yes. Your lady mother suggested we exchange vows the same day as you and Wulfric. The church will be nicely decorated and I have been stitching a new gown for your wedding. It is a deep rose-pink with a pale, shell-pink underdress. Walter spoke to the priest, so it is all arranged."

"That's wonderful, Edyth, l'm so happy for you both."

"I was so vexed with you when you chose a day three weeks from now. It will seem an eternity," complained Edyth.

"Nay, Edyth, the time will melt like snow in summer," said Lillyth sadly.

 

Lady Adela awoke very early in the small chamber she and her husband had behind the solarium. She held her breath for fear of awakening Luke and lay still as death while her mind relived the events of the night just passed. He had demanded his marital rights upon retiring and had awakened her after midnight to slake the hunger that her body always seemed to arouse in him. The trouble was, she received no enjoyment from these over-frequent unions. She almost wished Luke would find diversion elsewhere. She had decided to visit Morag. The thought of revealing these intimacies to another made her go pale, but she had reached the end of her tether. Moving with the lightness of a butterfly, she lifted the cover and slipped from the bed before he could wake and have her beneath him once again. She racked her brain to think what she could spare to pay the old crone, then decided to take her some lamp oil. Morag must do many of her secret rituals after dark. Wasn't the witching hour midnight? She would be glad to receive lamp oil. Adela was relieved that no one was about to see her at this early hour. When she got to Morag's hut, it was empty. She was about to leave in frustration when Morag arrived, her arms filled with herbs and purple fox-glove and prickly thistles.

The magpie Greediguts flew from the old woman's shoulder to a low-hanging branch, scolding Lady Adela with his rasping voice.

"Enter!" Morag commanded as if their stations in life were reversed.

Adela quickly went inside before she could be seen, but once there became suddenly tongue-tied.

"You have come about your man," said. Morag wisely.

"No— yes— that is— his needs are so great. I mean, it seems to me that he wants it too frequently." The blood came into her face in her agitation, then drained out leaving her deathly pale.

"Wants what?" demanded Morag, making it as difficult as possible for the gentlewoman.

"My body," answered Adela, low.

"You want a potion that will provoke your lust to match his?" asked Morag. "I will give you aloes, dill and cloves."

Adela was horrified. "Ah no, no! You mistake me. I need a potion that will stop his lust."

"Hemlock," said Morag in ominous tones. "If you give too much it can kill," she warned.

"Ah, there must be another way," begged. Adela. "Perhaps a spell?"

"Impotence by use of ligature," proclaimed Morag.

"Yes, yes, tell me how!"

"Take a cord or length of wool. Red is best. Tie knots in the cord and hide it about the bedchamber. A good trick is to stitch it inside the mattress on his side of the bed. He will be impotent until he finds it. Now what is your offering?" asked Morag. She took the lamp oil silently, making sure to offer no thanks.

 

At Oxstead Wulfric and Aedward were in the brew-house, filling barrels with ale. Aedward was determined to try to dissuade his brother from wedding Lillyth. He knew things about Wulfric that were almost unspeakable, and he trembled at her fate.

"Wulfric, why are you in such a hurry to saddle yourself with another wife? Surely you want to enjoy your freedom a while longer?" he asked.

"That was the shrewdest bargain I ever made, boy. Athelstan gets older, and very soon Godstone will be mine," said Wulfric, hammering another bung into a barrel.

Aedward felt outraged. "You wed Lillyth for her father's wealth?"

"I wed Lillyth because that's the only way I can get her. I would wed her even were she a peasant. I want her— l will have her. It's as simple as that!"

Aedward's hopes died in his breast.