Aetheling Fifteen

[ismenin]

I love this pic of Prim's. Thank you, my dear!


I give you God-den! :D The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I am 13 pounds thinner! Now, that IS a good day!

Dear ladysunrope is still having probs with her arm, but she did this for me today, despite it being very painful. So all give LSR a HUGE hug. xxx

So, without furthur ado, here it is. Dedicated this week to the Champion Muffin Maker of Olde England, tweedle_. I can only eat one a week, so they're lasting well, old sprout!!






Grateful thanks to the valiant LSR, bad arm and all, for beta. Hugs.

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 Christensen
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
Emgard, Leofric's sister - Emma Watson
Rufwald, Dan's friend - Rupert Grint
Swidwulf, Dan's father - PJ and Alex conflated!

Jean De Mornay - John Barrowman
Caspar d'Arminac - Scott Gill, John's RL spouse.

Viggo the Dane - Viggo the Dane
Buide, or Boyd the Celt - Boyd the Celt!!!
Badi the Afro/Saracen warrior - himself



Aetheling 15


Thrydwulf tried to shrug off suggestions that the infirmarer should bathe his head, but Lighe insisted, so before he had had a chance to tell his tale, the weary man was bathed, fed and tended.

He scorned a bed in the infirmary. "I will sleep with you, tonight, brother. It is long since I have seen you. But first we shall talk."

Lighe did not meet his brother's eye, but it was Dom who spoke. "We will be glad to share our bed with you - but it might prove a trifle...congested?"

Thrydwulf was no fool. He smiled at Dom and then Lighe. "Ah!" he said, examining Dom with careful eyes. It was noted by all that the man seemed to care much for his brother.

"I am Dominic of Amiens, Lord Thrydwulf..." Dom began, but the prince grinned and interrupted, saying, "I am Wulf to my friends, Dominic..."

"Dom," Lighe said, impatiently. "He is Dom. Wulf, I need to hear your story. Much has happened since last I saw you."

Wulf's eyes narrowed. "To us both, it seems."

They were sitting in Jean's closet, drinking mead, and allowing Wulf to rest after his long journey. His feet were being cosseted in a bowl of water, scented with thymon and other herbs, for they were blistered and bleeding, and Javier de Luce, the company's infirmarer, had insisted on this course, saying that no man should suffer so.

There was only Dom, Lighe and Jean present besides Wulf. Lighe had thought it would be easier for his brother to tell his tale if there were fewer listeners present. Wulf had been astonished to see Emgard there, and said he could hardly wait to hear the full sum of the story.

At Lighe's insistence, he began with his own. Bathed and fed, he looked better than he had at first meeting, and as he spoke, Lighe leaned against Dom's arm as his brother's adventures unfolded before them.

"Father had wished me to take a certain secret document to the Witan, Lighe. No-one was to know of it, not even you. That was all he said to me, at night, alone in my chamber. It was to do with the Frankish king, he told me, but abjured me not to open it, or ask more questions of him. It was tightly sewn into a vellum pouch; besides, I had no notion of looking - it did not concern me."

Lighe squeezed Dom's hand. "You must know that Dom is the French king's son, who was sent here as hostage in your place."

Wulf glanced sharplyup at Dom. "No, I did not know it. I am sorry to have brought you to such a pass, Dom. I did not understand..." He broke off and shook his head. It was plain he was finding it difficult to reveal what he knew.

"But I will tell my story as it unfolded to me. I was sent out with ten of the king's guard to accompany me. We had just reached the boats, when a messenger from Seaned rode up to tell us that we were first to detour to Bath.” He stopped, noticing Jean’s frown. “I think, my lord, that you might know the place as Aqua Sulis.”

“We were commanded to fetch some gifts the king was having prepared for a puissant lord who would be present at the Witan. This man, the messenger said, whom Cerdic wished to know better was a Lord Cynewulf, or Cynewald, I cannot remember."

He stared at his feet. "I do not think there was ever such a man. I was sent to Bath on a fool's errand - or a murderer's errand, I do not know."

"We reached Bath in good time, and I lodged with the eolderman, being the king's son, and right royally was I entertained, too."

"Then, two night's later, I could not sleep, and took a walk in the eolderman's gardens. I came across three cloaked men, whispering in the darkness, under the trees."

Here Wulf stopped, for a moment, and took some mead before continuing. "I hid behind a wall, and listened, because I had heard the words, "the king". What they were saying of him, I do not know. Then one of them whispered, so low, I could hardly hear him - "...better that we send Thrydwulf to France. We will draw up a missive for him to give to the king there, and one from..." I could not hear that part. Then - "He will be out of the way, and safe enough - and it may bring us a hostage, with whom we can barter, if needs arise. Thrydwulf is only a younger son, after all. It is not he that he has any value, except..."

Thrydwulf swallowed hard. "…then another man joined them, and they walked away, together, and I heard no more."

There was silence in the room. "I pretended all was well, for I did not know who was in this plot. The next day, a man came to me - whether he was one of those from the garden I do not know - and gave me a letter purporting to be from my father. You know the king's way, Lighe - if I had not known better, I would have thought it had come from him. No word of greeting, just "I command you to go to France, to the king, and take this packet with you. Give the letter I entrusted to you into the charge of the bearer of this letter. Do not fail me - there may be war between the two peoples, else."

"I gave him the king's letter, what else could I do? I wish I had read it before I handed it over. But I am an obedient son. Cerdic said not to look, so I did not. I do not understand what is happening, Lighe, but I am afraid. "

Wulf fell silent. Lighe rose from his seat and put a comforting arm about his brother's shoulders. "I, too, do not know what is happening. I do not know if my story, when you hear it, will make things clearer, or not. But at least we know what comes next. Nevertheless, do you tell us about Aldfrith, Wulf."

Wulf's eyes were damp with tears. "I needed someone to die - or be killed - in my place, for I thought this would be my fate at the hands of the French. I am ashamed to own it - it was a deed born of desperation. I went to the baths - I pretended to my host that I had an ague - and asked discreet questions. I found Aldfrith. He was sick, and suffering from the dampness in the air. It seems it is often damp in Bath. If you know the story, you know what I did. I gave him coin, and the letter, hired men to assist him, and sent him on his way before nightfall."

"I returned to the eolderman's house and sent for the captain of my guard. I told him I was heading for Witanceaster the next morning, and sent him off to prepare the men."

"He said nothing about me altering the king's orders, which I suppose was wise, as he was not supposed to know of them. We left just after dawn, and during that night, we slept in a wood, where the captain, and six of his men - traitors! - " Wulf spat, clenching his fists tightly in his lap, - "killed the other four men, and bound me and sat me on a horse, laughing and saying that they had orders concerning me, and I'd find out what they were soon enough."

"Luckily for me, two nights later we were robbed by a large gang of cut-throats, and they, liking mischief, I expect, slew the guards, and cut me free. They were going to use me for their sport, when I had sense enough to tell them I had been caught in robbery myself and was being taken to the shire-moot to be hanged."

"That amused them, so they let me go - but without my boots or cloak. Then I walked until I came to this place, begging a meal here and there, working for a day's food in other places, not certain where I was going, for I dared not retrace my steps. I needed to gain the sea, it was all I knew. I kept to the countryside, not knowing who was friend and who was not, but hoping to reach the shore where a fishing boat might take me home..."

His eyes met Lighe's, a plea within them. "But would I have been safe at home, Lighe? I do not know. I do not know..."

He reached out his hand in the direction of his brother and Lighe, moved closer beside him and put his arms around him. Wulf leaned against him with a sorrowful sigh whilst his brother whispered comfort.

Caspar came in a little later and told Wulf that a room had been prepared for him. "The abbot does not know what has come to his small house, with four princes under his roof together," he grinned, breaking the tension somewhat with his cheerful smile. "Come! The rest will do you good, and you may hear your brother's tale later. You will better appreciate it after sleep."

Lighe could see plainly the weariness apparent in his brother's face. To sleep in a bed, guarded and safe from harm, was rest in itself, and he was certain Wulf would benefit much from it.

After Wulf had left them, Dom turned to Lighe and gripped his hand. "He will be better prepared to hear what you have to tell him, Lighe, after he sleeps. Will you tell him all?"

Lighe sighed. "Yes, I will tell him all. He has a right to know. What did you make of what he said, Dom - Jean? I must say that I am no wiser. Someone means us ill. We know a few of them - but do we know all? I am certain we will be in danger when we return to Ynys Gwith - Vectis -" he said for Jean's benefit - "but return we must. There are people there who need our help, Dan, Rufe and Swidwulf not the least of them."

Whilst Wulf slept, the men pitted their intellects against the problem that lay before them, working out tactics against their arrival on the island.

"We cannot wait any longer," Lighe told Jean, his face pale and set. "Too much time has been wasted already, but now we are set to go, I can see no obstacle in our path. When Wulf wakes, I will tell him my story and what we are about to do. He will be saddened, of course. We have so few members of our family left to us. Now, I think, we have less than half a dozen there, whom we can trust."

Jean raised a questioning eyebrow, and Lighe said, curtly, to cover his sorrow, "my mother, my sister, Wulf, Emm, Aunt Ermyngarde - of course, we have friends too - Swidwulf, Dan, Rufe, Horsa, even though he be crippled..."

Dom noticed that there was only one hale man listed in that group, for Lighe had not included his father, and the other two, besides Horsa, were lads.

Dom and Lighe had retired to their room when Thrydwulf woke. Dom had left word that he be sent to them if the night was not too far advanced, and Lighe had barely poured two cups of wine when he knocked at the door.

He was stunned into silence by Lighe's tale, and sat for a few moments, his head in his hands.

When he spoke it was almost a whisper, but such a whisper had rarely been heard in the land. "I shall tear his throat out with my teeth! How dare Leofric lay his filthy hands upon the Aetheling! It is not to be borne!" Wulf said, his voice no less dangerous for being quiet. "Our uncle, our cousin, and maybe our..." He could not bring himself to say the word.

Dom supplied it for him. "...Father. We do not know. It seems likely that he was involved in the plot against Lighe, but nothing is certain."

He passed Wulf another cup of wine - he had need of it. "In all fairness, it must be said that Lighe told us that it was Leofric who incriminated both Cerdic and Seaned. It may be he was lying about one of them - or both. Who knows? He has an evil heart."

Lighe was sitting on the bed, his arms folded across his chest, his eyes downcast.

"I do not wish to think evil of my father," he said, at last. "It is true that he has never shown me, in the least degree, that he cared for me. He always preferred Wulf. ‘He is my sort of a man," he used to say, ‘Tall, well-built and proud.’”

Lighe smiled, but it was a sad smile, and Dom thought how blessed to be in the love and fair regard of a good father, and his family.

"But you never held it against me, my brother," Wulf remarked, breaking in upon Dom's thoughts. "We have always been good friends despite...anything that might have, had we allowed it, come between us." He finished his wine, then raised his eyes to look steadily at his brother. "And I must tell you, it is in no wise an honour to be singled out above the true heir. It shows...bad judgement. You are, in every way, fit to be king."

Dom nodded. "So he is, Wulf. Now, if you will forgive us, the hour grows late. If we are to leave just after dawn, we all must rest. You, also, although you have barely left your bed. Take your ease, and ride beside us in the morning. Four princes side by side..."

"...with Emm riding with Lando, and watching him like a mother hen."

Wulf rose to leave. "It will be good to speak with her again. I am sure there will be time enough on the journey. Ferthu hal!"

"Health to your spirit also - and to your body," Dom said, as Wulf opened the door. He smiled sweetly at both men, and left.

"Your brother is a handsome man, "Dom observed, pulling off his clothing as Lighe was doing.

"He is," came a small voice from under the tunic Lighe was tugging over his head. "I have often - to my shame - when I was younger, envied him. I make such a poor figure beside him."

Lighe came out of the garment, to see Dom staring at him in astonishment. "What, Dom? Speak, man."

Dom shook his head. "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever been privileged to see. Poor figure indeed! In man or woman you have no equal. You have no need to envy Wulf, my love. You are perfect, in my eyes."

Lighe smiled as he pulled Dom to him. "It is the eyes of love that speak. You would think me nothing if you did not love me."

Dom rose from a breathless kiss. "I did not know you when first I saw you, proud Aetheling - but I saw what a beautiful creature you were, even then."

Dom ran his finger down Lighe's nose. "Every feature perfect in its proportion. Hair like a raven's wing. Body, compact and skillfully formed. Le bon Dieu must have taken your pattern from the angels."

"And this he said, reaching down and grasping the hardness which now sprang into life within his hand, "I have found, is most fearfully and wonderfully made to fit my body exact..."

Lighe groaned. "My love. My alder-liefest - come to me!" And Lighe's most-beloved surrendered to his lover's embrace, and there was no more talk, but only the muted sounds of love.

*******

The next morning, before they rose, Dom turned to Lighe, and kissed him gently on the lips.

"I must speak with Lando, my love. I must make things clear to him, for there can be no going back to the way things were between us."

Lighe snuggled into the warmth of Dom's neck. "Do you think he will expect things to remain the same? After all, he has Emm, now."

Dom took Lighe's hand in his. "Whether he expects it or not, I must tell him there will be no more...congress...between us. I have sworn my fidelity, and my love, to you, and there will be no other for me until the day I die."

Lighe did not comment that it might be that he would be the first to die. It was too near a possibility. So instead, he kissed Dom again.

Dom said he would go to Lando after they had bathed and eaten, and thus it was that Dom found himself beside Lando's chair in the small courtyard outside the infirmary.

Emm, seeing that Dom was labouring under some stress, wisely kissed the top of her man's head, and left them alone.

Dom hooked a stool towards himself with his foot, and sat beside the chair looking carefully at Lando. He seemed much stronger, and there was a healthy flush on his cheeks, where before there had been only the heat of fever.

Dom took Lando's hand in his. "Lando..."

Lando raised his free hand and pressed two fingers to his cousin's lips. "I know what you have come to say, Dom, and I would be envious of him, had I not gained Emm's love."

Dom kissed the fingers before Lando withdrew them. "I have plighted myself to him, coz. I am his man, body and soul - and there is no room in me for any other. Forgive me!"

Lando smiled. "Love falls where it will. I have loved you since we were sixteen, under that tree together in the orchard at Blois."

Dom shook his head, smiling up at his cousin and one-time lover. "I remember. Your hair was full of mashed pears, afterwards, and I had to wash it for you before we could return to the house. Those were good days."

Lando sighed. "They were - and I pray le bon Dieu that there will be more good times to come. But not, I own, of the sort we enjoyed under the pear trees. I do not think either Emm or Lighe would like it."

Dom laughed at that. "No, I am sure they would not. You do understand, my dear. It is as it is."

Lando was still clasping Dom's hand, and he raised it now to his lips. "You love him as I love you - but I know that we can be no more together. We shall ever be friends - more than friends - brothers. But we will keep to our spouses from henceforth, and have our joys in them alone."

Dom rested his head on Lando's arm. "He will not begrudge me your friendship, Lando, and I will not answer this generosity by betraying his trust - or Emm's. Friends and brothers we shall be."

Lando's voice was soft, but still Dom heard it. "I would ask one last kiss before we part for ever from each other's bed. Something to remember. Do not refuse me this thing..."

...Dom reached up his arm, and pulled Lando's head towards him, and their lips met for one last time in a gentle embrace. The taste was as familiar as his own hand was to him, and Lando's mouth was always sweet, but now Dom found that he yearned for the spicy taste of another tongue, and for other lips to beguile him.

Lando's sigh, as they parted, was mixed with tears, but so was Dom's, for he would not have distressed thus the companion of his youth, except that his newest - and last - lover was Lighe. For Lighe was now the centre of his world, and he wished for no other to love.

Dom walked out of the courtyard without looking back, and straight into Lighe's arms, waiting anxiously for him, where Dom had asked him to be. Lighe kissed the lips that, as he had seen, had so recently embraced Lando.

And where Lando's lips were familiar and comforting, Lighe's mouth was eager and demanding. Dom felt himself rise against Lighe's urgent, slim body, as he has not under Lando's gentler caresses, and Lighe, feeling this need, smiled into his lover's neck, and was satisfied.

*****

Later, whilst the company assembled in the largest courtyard, getting ready to leave, Wulf and Dom were sent to choose weapons from the armoury, whilst to Lighe was assigned the task of selecting the horses. No-one, Dom had said proudly to Jean, was a better judge of horse flesh than the Aetheling.

Lighe, running his hand over the flank of a spirited dun-coloured mare, heard a cough at his shoulder, and when he turned, he was both astonished and amazed to behold the person who stood before him.

Lighe could tell it was a man - but it was such a man as he had never before seen. Dressed in long flowing robes of gold, red and black, with a black cloth wound artfully about his head, the man was taller even than was Wulf. Lighe closed his mouth, which he was sure had been gaping open, for the man's skin was black, as black as soot, and his teeth and eyes shone bright in the darkness of his countenance.

The man bowed. Lighe, ever polite, bowed back. "My name is Badi, prince, for I am the tenth-born child of my mother," the man said, in a deep, heavily accented voice.

Lighe opened his mouth, swallowed, and tried again. "I am Aethelighe. I give you god-den," he managed, grateful that any sound issued from his throat, suddenly dry.

Badi put out his hand, palm upwards, and Lighe examined it with amazement and wonder. The soft, pink pads of his fingers and palm, and the blackness of the skin on the back of the hand was astonishing to his eyes. He did not know that there could be men of different colours, and the beauty of the man held him speechless.

Then he saw what the other hand held out to him. Badi laid the item across the palms of both hands, bowed his head and offered it up to Lighe.

It was a sword. A beautiful, curved-bladed sword, set with jewels in the handle.

"It is not fitting," the deep voice boomed, holding Lighe in thrall, "that the Aetheling should ride forward to protect his kingdom, unarmed. I bring you my sword, I beg you will accept it."

Caspar appeared at Badi's shoulder and indicated to Lighe that he should take the gift. He seemed anxious that Lighe should do so, and when Lighe reached out his hand to take the weapon, he saw Caspar sigh, as if with relief.

"It is a great honour," Caspar said, putting his hand on Badi's arm, "that Badi should offer you his sword. I have never known it to happen before. Why have you done this, my friend?"

Badi turned to Caspar with a wide grin, and Lighe saw his excellent white teeth gleam in the darkness of his face. "Because I am a chief's son, son of a chief's son from generations without end. I know what it is like to rule a nation, for before I came to you I ruled a country near as large as this one."

"And I have seen that a chief who ride to battle without his own sword is shamed in the eyes of his people. I give this to the little prince because I am told he is a valiant warrior. It is not seemly for him to ride unarmed." Badi folded his heavily muscled arms and frowned upon Caspar.

Caspar nodded. "Yes, I see. It is a most beautiful sword."

"It is," affirmed Lighe - ignoring the fact that this tall man had called him little - turning the weapon over in his hands. "Heavy, but sharp as a razor. I am honoured to accept this on behalf of my people. I will take care of it, I promise you."

Badi bowed. "See that you do," he said, but he was smiling as he strode off.

"He seems to have taken a liking to you, Lighe," Caspar observed, watching Lighe wield the sword in an arc in front of him, to get its feel. "I have never known anyone who has even been allowed to hold the famous sword before today. I certainly have not. Well, well, a day of miracles, indeed! Have you chosen horses for your group? If so, let us mount up and be gone. We are wasting time."

Lighe had many questions about Badi that he would liked to have asked, but this was not the time for it. The ostlers led out the chosen horses, and within minutes, the company was on the road.

*******

Lighe headed the riders, as was his right, and with Thrydwulf on one side of him, and Dom on the other, they rode fast out into the morning. It was a pleasant, sunny day, and it was not long before they could smell the sea.

Instead of riding down to the beach, Viggo came up, and pointed out to Lighe the direction to the boats, as they lay berthed in a hidden bay, a promontory hiding them from view, and they rode to them along the grass-covered strand. Within another hour they had reached them.

Lighe and Wulf were amazed. Never had they seen such large ships, nor any with sails - as they found the things were named - so they stood there for a few minutes admiring the construction.

"They are Viking war-ships," said Viggo, proudly. He came to Lighe's side, and pointing, explained the many new things that Lighe and Wulf could see from the shore. Then the soldiers went aboard, in order, and the two princes could see how well-trained were all the Company.

The group had split in half, for Viggo had informed them that each ship could hold upwards of two hundred men, besides the horses, and the sailors.

"It is wonderful!" Lighe breathed, gazing at the nearest vessel, stunned by its magnificence. "What is it called?"

Viggo stood straight, his bearded chin lifted high and proud. "This drakkar is called Thor's Hammer for it is a force to be reckoned with. The other is Odin's Spear. Lighter in weight, she flies through the water. Thirty hefty rowers apiece, and sails made of the strongest wool. Sewing the little diamond-shaped patches together makes the sail stronger than if it was a single sheet. You can see..."

Dom stood a little way off, watching his lover, a smile gracing his lips. He was grateful to see that the joy of the moment had wiped the care from Lighe's face, even if only for a short time.

He was aware of a presence beside him. It was the Saracen warrior Badi, who had presented Lighe with the sword. Dom began to thank him, but the man cut him off abruptly.

"No need for thanks between princes, man. I have known you as long as I have known Jean and Caspar, and you know me. I gave my sword to a man who needs it to fulfil his destiny."

Dom looked up at his companion, a frown marking his brow.

"Did you?..." he began, then faltered, and failed to continue.

Badi nodded. "I did, prince. I cast the runes. The Aetheling and his brother have a thorny road to travel before this tale is ended." He left abruptly, without another word, and Dom knew it was useless to ask the man to reveal things that he had divined. He would keep his own counsel until he chose to do otherwise.

Dom watched the tall man board the ship, and, joining Lighe and Wolf, he climbed aboard, too, his heart pounding as he thought of the peril awaiting them only a few miles away.


Lighe was staring up at the sail as the rowers got into their stride. Dom carefully examined his lover's face, from the side of the ship. If Lighe felt any anxiety about returning to the island, none of it showed on his face.

This, however, did not allay Dom's fears. Lighe, he knew, was used to hiding his innermost feelings from others, and Dom had no doubt that he was doing that, now.

With a heavy heart, he moved towards Lando and Emm, who had joined Wulf and Lighe by the mast, and smiled a smile just as false as he believed the one on Lighe's lips to be.

It would not be easy - for any of them.