ismenin | Aetheling Seven

Grrr! Evol, evol man, courtesy of the wonderful

primula_baggins Thank you, Primsie!

Hello! Well, I thought I'd post it early as dear

ladysunrope managed - despite being on holiday, bless her - to do this yesterday for me.

I was so excited to see Lij yesterday on tv. He is so lovely, and the giggle was to die for. Plus Dom got mentioned 3 yes THREE times, which was great. Now we all know what Lij sounds like when he says "penis" and "balls". *Clears throat* Yes, well....

So, anyway, my loves, here's this weeks chapter.

Thanks to the darlin'

ladysunrope for beta.

The Aetheling, Aethelighe - Elijah
Dominic of Amiens, Frankish prince - Dom

Cerdic the King, Lighe's father - Bernard Hill
Mirdred, Lighe's mother - Miranda Otto
Hilda, Lighe's sister - Hannah Wood
Thrydwulf, Lighe's younger brother - Hayden Christiansen
Ermyngarde, Mirdred's sister. Lighe's aunt - younger Judi Dench
Seaned, Lighe's uncle: Bro of Cerdic, father of Leofric - Sean Bean
Leofric, Lighe's cousin - Jason Isaacs (as Lucius Malfoy)

Siglandus, (Lando). The Bastard of Orleans. Dom's cousin - Orlando Bloom
Danwald, Lighe's squire - Dan Radcliffe.

Rufwald, Dan's friend - Rupert Grint
Swidwulf, Dan's father - PJ and Alex conflated!

Leofric and his men had been gone an hour before Dom and his group approached the watchtower. It was obvious as they approached the building that there had been horses stabled nearby.

Six of the guard moved forward to examine the building, but called out to Swidwulf, waiting at a short distance, sword drawn, that there was no-one there, at least downstairs. Then one of the men cried out for Dom to come, and he spurred his horse on then, leaping off, ran in the direction of the voice.

What he saw stopped him in his tracks. At the top of the staircase there was a room with a large bed in it. Lying on the bed, naked, in a welter of sheets, and covered in blood, was Lighe. Lying on top of Lighe was Lando, a knife sticking out of his back.

"No!" Dom cried as he rushed forward, Swidwulf puffing behind him with Dan at his heels.

"Oh, God keep them safe in his care!" Dom whispered as he knelt beside the bed, and took his cousin's hand in his. Then he rose and caressed Lando's face. He was still warm - and breathing.

Carefully the men lifted Lando off Lighe, and Dan, coming forward, could see his master still breathed. He did not know what to do, but heard Emm's voice behind him ordering someone to build up the fire and set pots boiling.

She looked at Lighe carefully, before nodding and moving to Lando, where Dom stood at his cousin's side stiff with shock.

"Do you move so that I can get at him! I have some knowledge of wounds," she ordered, and Dom moved aside and let her in. She seemed to know what she was about. Then one of the riders came forward, and said he knew something of knife wounds, too, having received one himself.

"It cannot have hit any vital part or there would be blood in his mouth. Wodan be praised! The knife must have been pushed into the only space that would not have killed him outright," the man said, in wonder.

Dom roused himself. "Should we draw it out?" He did not know what to do. This was Lando, and he was hurt. Helping unknown men on the battlefield was all well and good - but this was Lando.

Emm nodded. "Be sure to pull it in a straight line, or it might do more harm coming out than it did going in."

Dom put his hand to the hilt of the knife, but then said in a strangled voice, "I cannot!" This was his best friend - what if he pulled wrongly and cut...?

Emm shoved him aside with her hip, grasped the knife with both hands, and carefully pulled the blade free.

It bled, but not as much as Dom had feared. Emm ordered Lando to be pulled nearer the edge of the bed, and demanded the sheets be torn for bandages, but Dan had realised they would be needed and handed her several long strips and a large pad of folded linen. Emm, with the aid of the rider, lifted Lando, and Dom - now recovered from his stupefaction - passed the bandage beneath his cousin's body, so that the wounded man was soon left to lie in peace.

Dom and Emm moved around the bed to see how Lighe fared. Emm gasped, for written across Lighe's chest and belly in Lando's blood was the word, "MINE".

Dom left Lighe to Emm and Dan, and as Rufe came upstairs with hot water, the friends washed the blood off him and made their prince as comfortable as they could.

Dom spared a smile for Emm's forthright ways. No maidenly swooning at being confronted by two naked men! No, she buckled down the task in hand, and gave no thoughts to the behaviour expected of well-born virgins, most of whom would at the least pretend not to know a prick when they saw one.

Lando was stirring, so one of the men raced downstairs to fetch something to drink, and soon Dom was holding a flask to his cousin's lips, allowing him to drink a few mouthfuls at a time so that he would not be sick.

"Dom, is the... Aetheling..?" he whispered, as soon as he has finished. Dom kissed his cousin's forehead, and brushed the hair out of his eyes. "He lives."

"Thank the...good Lord ...for that. I was afraid...he was...dead. Leofric is...capable...of many excesses, as I have...found lately, to my cost...he had me bound, Dom, downstairs...he dragged...me...up..." he coughed, and began to pant for breath as he attempted to tell his tale, and Dom placed a finger over his cousin's lips. "Rest now. Do not speak further. It will keep, Lando. You may tell me when you feel better. Do not fret."

Lando nodded, and closed his eyes. "It hurts," he said, barely audible, and Dom wished he had the Lady Ermyngarde and her poppy juice nearby.

He turned to Swidwulf whose voice he had heard barking orders downstairs, and who had entered with a man carrying clean bedding. "Is there any home or estate nearby where there is poppy juice to be had?"

Swidwulf thought carefully, pursing his lips. "I have some..." he began, but glancing at his son, refrained from finishing the sentence.
However, before he could speak again, Dan said, without looking up from his task, "the prince told me that he had taken some from the lady Ermyngarde to old Goody Eadyth when she broke her leg not a sennight ago. It may be she had not taken it all before she died..."

Dan's father nodded. "That would be about four hours from here. A good rider could be back before dark."

"I'll go, my lord. I know where she lived," Rufe said as he entered with more water and clean nightrobes. Swidwulf weighed up the odds. It was obvious that Rufe, a lighter rider - and a good one - would get there faster. But the benefits of this would be outweighed if Swidwulf had to tell his best friend, Rufe's father, that he had sent a callow youth out on a man's work, and he had not returned.

"Let me go, my lord," the man who had helped with Lando stepped forward. "As you know, I ride well, and I can protect myself. It may be I can bring other comforts back with me. If the goodwife had a broken wound there may be other unguents there, if her dim-witted son had the sense to hold on to them."

The man was soon gone, and Rufe and Emm went to the kitchen to see what food could be had. Dan sat beside Lighe, and Dom beside Lando, and there was silence in the room as each man thought his own thoughts.

A search of the tower showed that this was the only bed to be found. The men had slept downstairs on the floor in a long room, well provided with blankets and comforts. It had been obvious to Dom that this exercise had not been carried out in haste. Plans had been made - careful plans - and provisions had been brought here well ahead of time, for there were cooking pots, and dishes and all the things needful for a fairly comfortable life.

In a small room next to the one Lighe and Lando now occupied, there was a chest containing fine clothing, nightrobes and linens, and even a couple of women's gowns. Dom snorted. So Leofric saw Lighe and Lando dressed in women's garb, did he? He could hardly see his cousin consenting to that - no, nor Lighe either. But there, neither man would have been given much choice in the matter. Had they both been kept here all along? Had...

Dan's voice, small and scared broke in on his thoughts.

"Dom, should my prince not have woken by now? He seems to me paler than he was when we came. I am afraid for him. He looks so...small..."

Dom went around the bed and studied Lighe carefully. He had not given much attention to Lighe since it was his cousin who had been wounded, but now he came to look at him, it seemed that the Aetheling was in as bad a case as Lando, if not worse.

He was pale, but his face had a bluish tint, as had his lips, and that struck Dom as a blow in the belly. This was not good. The injured man's chest barely moved. It was as if Lighe's breathing had been arrested in some way. He had seen men like this, and it did not augur well. Dom made a decision.

"I think we should attempt to wake him, Dan."

Dan sat holding his master's hand in his own. He looked up at Dom. "What should I do?"

"Talk to him. Remind him of the things he likes - his dogs, horses, anything that gave him pleasure," Dom said, thinking of what he would like to hear if he was in so bad a case as was Lighe.

Lando woke just then, and called to him, and Dom went to his cousin. As he helped Lando, he could not help hearing what Dan was saying to Lighe. His heart went out to the unconscious man - it seems his pleasures were simple, and very few.

Dan spoke of the horses, and the dogs. Of the time he accompanied the Aetheling to his own home, and what he had said to his mother, who was ailing even then. He thanked Lighe for being so kind to her, and for the poppy he had brought from Lady Ermyngarde to relieve her pain.

His voice faltered at this, and the lad moved on to remind the sleeping man of how, as they were leaving, Lighe had tripped over a piglet and landed in a dungheap. And how hard Dan had tried not to laugh because he knew Lighe would not like the affront to his dignity.

Dom smiled. Poor Lighe - his dignity was the one thing he truly possessed, and he clutched it to his chest like a shield.

Dan's father called up the stairs for his son to come down to him, and as Lando had drifted back to sleep, Dom took Dan's place, and picking up the cool, still hand, began to talk.

He reminded Lighe how cold he had been when first they had met. It was a pity, he said, because they both knew they had to live together in the same place, so it was meet that they became - if not friends - companions, at least.

"So you see, Lighe, I count that rabbit hole as a gift from heaven. For how else would we have become so well acquainted in so short a time?" Dom stopped and removed the bedding from Lighe's leg to examine the foot. It was still swollen and bruised, but was not as bad as it had seemed to Dom the day after he had broken it.

He told Lighe that the rest would do it good. Then he mentioned the wrestling, and then Rufe and Emm as well as Dan, and their determination to help to find their prince. "You are well-loved by these younglings, Lighe. You should be proud to be counted amongst their friends, for they have the strength and will of far older folks, when it comes to defending those they love."

Lighe's hand twitched slightly within Dom's but he gave no sign that he was waking.

Emm came up with some food for Dom but he shook his head. "Leave it, Emm. It may be I shall eat it later. What is it?"

"Pieces of chicken," she said, smiling at him, "cooked quickly in some sort of fat. We have made a good, warming broth for ...for Lighe and Lando when they wake. Well, one of the riders made it. It is a good thing someone here can cook, for I have not the remotest clue. He put vegetables in it, but said they can be drained out before we feed them."

She stood with the tray in her hand surveying the two recumbent men. "It is a good thing the bed is so big, they would not be comfortable pressed against each other. It is well that there is a fair space between them."

She went to the table, moved something out of the way, and put the tray on it. She had paled perceptibly and Dom saw why. She held in her hand the knife she had withdrawn from Lando's back.

"This is Leofric's knife," she said, putting it down with a shudder. "I recognise the coiled serpents on the hilt. My father gave it to him."

Lando woke again, a while later, and Emm asked if he'd like to try the broth. She ran downstairs and brought up a bowlful. She waved Dom down, as he was just getting up to feed Lando.

"Stay where you are and talk to Lighe. It seems a good idea. I shall take a turn later, and Rufe, too. There are some things about which he will like to hear. His life has not been wholly happy, but there have been shining places within it."

She sat beside Lando and carefully spooned the broth into his mouth, dabbing his chin after each mouthful. "It is not easy feeding a man lying on his belly," she observed dryly. "But it must be easier for me than it is for you to take it, my lord."

Dom heard Lando make a quiet reply. "Lando," he said.

"Lando," Emm had a smile in her voice. It warmed the room, and Dom was thankful for her presence. She might be young, but she knew how to behave around sick men, for she did not tire Lando by speaking further, but fed him the remainder of the broth and told him to rest.

Dom continued, speaking quietly to Lighe so as not to disturb the other sleeping man. He did not know what to say so he told Lighe about his childhood in the warm countryside of France, and later, of his travels with his father around the Frankish empire.

He told him outrageous stories about escapades he had had with Lando, and it was only when his cousin snorted with laughter that he knew he had woken, and left Lighe to tend to him.

"No, go back. Emm... is looking...after me, and I am enjoying your... ramblings. We had such... fun did we not?" Lando still found it hard to speak, and Emm gave him more watered mead and sent for a little more broth because she said he needed strengthening.

He had begun to sweat which Emm seemed to think was a good thing, and when, presently, Dan and Rufe appeared, looking decidedly limp, and declaring that the slaughtering of sheep should only be conducted on an empty stomach, she had them wipe Lando down with warm water.

Dom kept on talking, and now and then the youngsters would laugh and Lando would smile and remember.

*

Lighe was riding on a fine white horse beside someone through a field of wheat. His companion was talking to him, and Lighe, for some reason, could not quite hear what he was saying. Nor could he see who the rider was, which he thought odd, as they were very close together.

It was a beautiful sunny day, and Lighe's heart lifted. There was a scent of freshness in the air, and he moved his horse closer to the other man's, determined to hear.

He grew annoyed that although the sound of the man's voice was clear, he could not make out a word that he was saying. He reached out his hand to touch, and found it was grasped...

*

Lighe opened his eyes. "Dom?" he said hoarsely. "Is it you? What were you saying about a sheep?"

Dom loomed over him, a look of relief on his face, and Lighe smiled. Then he remembered. His body trembled and the hand in Dom's gripped convulsively.

"Is he dead? Tell me he is not...dead!"

Dom knew that Lighe did not mean Leofric. "Lando is alive, and lying beside you. All is as it should be now that help is at hand."

At that Lando managed to speak loudly enough for Lighe to hear. "I am well. Do not...concern yourself."

"Water," Lighe murmured, and hardly was the word out of his mouth when Dan came running up with a cup, and Dom sat on the edge of the bed and held the sick man's shoulders, lifting him slightly so that he could drink.

Lighe's head was spinning, and he could see nothing, so he closed his eyes and rested his head against the top of Dom's arm for a moment.

Swidwulf chose that moment to enter the room, his strident voice cutting through the air but stopped speaking as Dom waved him to silence.

Carefully he laid Lighe back down, and taking Swidwulf's shoulder, they left the room.

Dan could only be grateful. His father was a good, kind man, but his presence in a sick-room could only disturb. Either he spoke too loudly and the patient winced with the force of it; or he whispered, so that the unfortunate sick knew that they were a-dying. That had happened to his mother, and the two daughters on duty at her bedside that night had ushered their father from the room, so that her son had been the only one by her when she died.

Lighe spoke quietly. "Do they...have him held safe, Dan?"

Dan would like to have held his master's hand, but thought it would not be appropriate now that he was awake. "No, my lord prince," he muttered, darkly, "he got away - this time."

Lighe sighed, but said nothing, and soon he fell into a natural sleep from which Emm did not think to rouse him to take broth. "Likely he would only be sick," she confided to Dan in an undervoice. "I remember well when Swefred fell from the wall of the keep, and hit his head. Do you?" She smiled at Swefred's young brother, Rufe, who had just come in with a message for Emm from Dom to join him downstairs.

"You go, too, Dan," he said, grinning at his friend. I think I can manage two sleeping men for an hour. Go!"

Dom was found sitting at the long table with Swidwulf and two riders. Emm and Dan joined them, pulling up stools.

"We must have a plan for night duties," Dom said, looking at the two newcomers. "I have settled it that I will take first watch over my cousin. Which of you wishes to stay with Lighe first?"

A slight squabble broke out, but it was eventually settled, and the two sent out to get a breath of air before the evening drew in.

Before it grew dark, the rider was back with the poppy juice and other medicaments that the late Goody Eadyth's much maligned son had put away against any future need.

"Here is unguent and bandages and other soft cloths that the Lady Ermyngarde sent them," the man said, proudly displaying his acquisitions on the kitchen table. "And a bottle of some herb concoction that the Lady said was very good for weak constitutions. The man parted gladly with them, knowing it was for the Aetheling. The people would begrudge him nothing, my lord," Swidwulf's servant grinned at his master.

With a bluff word of thanks, the man was sent to join the other servants in the common-room, bearing with him a large plate of cooked meats and bread, and Dan and Dom went upstairs to care for their charges.

There was one beeswax candle burning in the bedroom when Dan settled on the floor beside Lighe, and Dom gave both men a dose of the poppy juice, and made a nest for himself beside Lando. He was just about to settle down when his cousin whispered, "come to bed. I need your arms about me, if nothing else."

He slipped in beside the wounded man, and careful not to touch his bandaged back and shoulder, put an arm around him and fell into a grateful sleep.

Dom woke before dawn, but did not rise. He lay there for some time, thinking. The evening before he had discussed with Swidwulf the absolute necessity of getting Lighe away from this place as soon as it could be contrived, and the man had sent riders to bring wagons to transport the sick men to safety - wherever that might be found.

Dom was at a loss. He knew nothing about the island on which they were effectually stranded. Nothing of the mainland. He was a man used to command, and his helplessness in these circumstances was frustrating.

How can I help him - either of them - if I do not know where I am, or where to find shelter or succour? Dom thought, turning the problem over in his mind. He would have to rely on the others for help, and this he was not used to doing.

Where is Leofric now? Is he gathering more forces to take Lighe away? Does he think he killed Lando? Or is he hoping he did?

He was not a man used to thinking about himself, and in this he did not alter. He was concerned for Lando, and for Lighe, at the mercy of cunning and evil men. He thought it better if they escaped the island, for surely they would all be safer elsewhere? But how could this be accomplished with two sick men and nowhere to go? He hoped Swidwulf - a sensible, forthright man - knew what he was doing.

He rose before dawn, and dressing quickly hurried outside to scan the horizons for attackers. He was glad to see several men on guard and they appeared to be vigilant. No sleeping at their posts for these men.

He was not used to feeling so helpless. He had come to this land because his father had wished it. "There is no point in angering this king of a tiny land," the Frankish king had said, after viewing the captured prince in his confinement, well supplied with servants and provided with every luxury. "See if you can find why they sent so sick a man on an enterprise such as this. I see no point in it. Talk to the king - discover his reasons."

But talking with Cerdic had proved impossible. The man was not used to discussing things, only in issuing orders.

Dom sat on a broken wall, in the dark just before dawn, and sighed. What did it matter to him what happened to the heir of a king who was not the least interested in the fate of either of his sons? For it seemed to Dom that Cerdic did not care overmuch for his younger son, Thrydwulf, either, or he would have tried harder to secure his freedom. Dom was puzzled even more by his own interest in Lighe. He had only known him a short while, but...

He was aware of someone standing beside him. It was Emm, still dressed in her boy's clothes. She sat beside him on the wall, just as the sun peeked over the horizon.

He assured her that the two invalids were still sleeping soundly. "The poppy juice saw to that. I do not think it will harm them. They need healing sleep." He looked at her profile, barely visible in the dim greyness. "How is it you know so much about wounds and sickness, being a girl?"

She lowered her head before answering. "Cerdic thinks every dispute can be settled with a sword. He is always sending the young men out to harry the neighbouring tribes. Instead of talking, he kills. He does not see it cannot work. It is therefore left to the women-folk to patch up their men when they return - if they return."

There was silence for a few moments, then she continued. "Every woman in the keep has had one of her family killed or injured in battle. We learn healing skills because we must, or lose our fathers, brothers and friends. It was I who stitched up Lighe's arm when it got sliced to the bone, as Ermyngarde was trying to save the life of a man whose leg had been shattered. Soon, Dan and Rufe will be eighteen, and liable for service in war. I...do not think either of them are warriors, Dom. Not like Lighe. He is cunning and nimble, and has a strong head, and a stomach for bloodshed. He is also an excellent horseman. Although they ride well, Rufe and Dan are not warriors."

She stood and smiled wearily at him. "I said I'd sit with Lando from dawn. It is my watch; I must go."

He took her hand. "Thank you for your care of him, Emm. He means much to me. We have been companions since baby-hood. I would not wish to lose him."

She squeezed his hand and walked away. Dom went into the kitchens to find the men all awake, meat sizzling on the spits, and Swidwulf issuing orders.

"The wagons will arrive soon, my lord...Dom. Your cousin and the Aetheling will soon be in a safer place than is this."

Dom climbed the stairs to find Dan helping Lando whilst Emm delicately stood apart staring out of the window.

"I see the wagons, Dom," she said quietly, as Lighe was still asleep.
Dom patted his cousin's leg and went to Lighe's side, looking down at the sleeping man.

His hair was dark against his face, and spilled in a tangled skein down his chest. His pale face was bruised, and swollen on one side, a red mark indicating he had been struck there by an object, not a hand.

Dom smoothed the damp hair out of the Aetheling's closed eyes, and stood another moment, gazing at him. Emm turned at that moment, and looked quizzically across at him.

"How does he seem to you this morning?" she asked, softly.

"He is less pale than yesterday, and his breathing is better. He'll do!" he answered, smiling at her.

Emm glanced at him again, the corners of her mouth lifting in an enigmatic smile. Then Lando spoke and Dom gave his attention to his cousin.

They would soon be gone from here, he told Lando. Swidwulf knew somewhere safe where, he hoped, Leofric and his cohorts would not find them.

Lando asked for mead and Dan went to fetch some, just as Lighe stirred. Dom's eyes immediately travelled across the bed to the waking man, and Emm went to Lighe at once.

Dom was very glad to see Lighe wake. He had been concerned that he had given him too much poppy juice. But as Lighe turned his head and smiled at him, Dom's heart lifted - and if he chose to think that this was because Lighe was feeling better, that was entirely his prerogative.

Emm, examining Dom's expression across the bed, knew better, and called Dom to him, saying Lighe needed him upon a delicate matter unfit for a maiden's eyes.

Lighe, although still sleepy, smiled to himself, wondered what this delicate matter could be, as he knew Emm to be capable of any duty that involved a sickbed. But he smiled up at Dom as he approached him, and Emm grinning, went off to fetch something for Lando.

"Thank you!" Lighe whispered, and Dom's hand rested a moment upon Lighe's arm. "You are very welcome," Dom replied softly.

The sun shone through the window, and Swidwulf came heavily into the room, saying that the wagons had come. Soon they would be leaving this place, and Lighe could not wait to be from it. The menace of Leofric and his armed bandits still loomed large.

Within an hour they were loaded into the two carts and on their way. Whether they would be safer elsewhere remained to be seen.

Current Mood: calm

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

anjelmati.livejournal.com

So far,so good.Phew!You had me worried for a wee while there.As usual,I love your supporting characters,and Emm especially.
Glad to hear you were able to see E.Wood last night;it looked like he enjoyed himself,I heard his dirty laugh on a few occasions!

From:

Aetheling Seven

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