Gods Concubine (81 page)

He began to speak, in a broken, stumbling voice, and he told Ecub everything that had happened in the crypt. Everything that had been said, and everyone who had been present.

“And so you killed her,” Ecub said as he faltered to a close.

“It was what she wanted.”

Ecub did not reply, not verbally, but her face set into hard, judgemental angles, and Matilda hissed in disbelief.

“Mother Ecub—” he began, then whipped about, shocked, as a new voice spoke.

“Well, well, Brutus of Troy, William of Normandy,” said the Sidlesaghe, walking slowly forwards from where he stood within the chapel doorway. “Grimly met, I fear.”

“Who are you?” William said, one hand at his sword.

“William—” Ecub began, fearful, but the Sidlesaghe waved her to silence.

“I am Long Tom,” he said. “I am a Sidlesaghe. I keep company, I sing, I watch over her.” He nodded at Caela’s corpse.

William addressed the Sidlesaghe again.
“What are you?”

“What I am does not concern you at this moment. Tell me, William of Normandy, Kingman of the Troy Game, are you going to retrieve the bands of Trojan kingship now that you are here?”

“What is the point?” William said. “Asterion will only haunt me if I try to find them, and as for Swanne, she is so corrupted that—”

“Swanne is dead,” said Long Tom.

William just stared at the Sidlesaghe, shocked.

“Harold came to her before he came to you,” Long Tom finished.

“Well, the night has some joy in it, at least,” said Matilda, speaking for the first time.

William shook his head, as if trying to shake some understanding into it. “Gods,” he said. “What am I going to do?”

Ecub and the Sidlesaghe shrugged simultaneously. What William did, as long as he let the bands be, was of no concern to them.

“Go now,” Ecub said finally. “There is nothing more you can do here.”

William looked at her, then walked forward until he stood by the altar. He laid a hand on Caela’s face and then, as Ecub had done, smoothed the hair back from her brow. “Next time,” he whispered.

And then, without word or look to either Ecub or the Sidlesaghe, he turned and strode from the chapel.

Matilda hesitated a moment, looked at Ecub, then hurried after William.

As the door slammed closed behind them, the Sidlesaghe smiled at Ecub. “Do not fear, Mother. All is not lost. Asterion does not know about Eaving. He does not know about me. And he does not know…” He raised his eyebrows at the Mother.

She nodded, understanding. “He does not know about Harold.”

“Yes.” The Sidlesaghe’s smile broadened. Then he sobered, and looked again on Caela’s corpse. “Will you care for her?”

“Aye. We will wash her, and stitch her wound, and clothe her in fine array, and then we will bring her to you atop Pen Hill.”

“And there,” the Sidlesaghe whispered, “we will watch over her.”

Epilogue

Christmas Day, 1066

A
ldred, Archbishop of York, crowned William of Normandy and his wife Matilda as King and Queen of England on Christmas Day in a lavish ceremony held in Westminster Abbey.

It was a celebration day in London, although there was little in the way of feasting or joy, or even mild cheer. Most craftsmen stayed home, their workshops closed, while the markets were empty of all save children playing hopscotch on the pavements.

Don’t jump on the cracks, or the monster will snatch!

The ceremony in the abbey went well enough, apart from a peculiar episode when Aldred lowered the crown on to William’s head.

“I find this most amusing,” Aldred whispered. “Crowning you, most witless of fools, as King of England. Enjoy it while you can, William, for when I return—Caela and Swanne chained to my hand—I will take the Game and
bury
you. The bands shall be mine, the Mistress
is
mine, and you shall be irrelevant.
Are
irrelevant.”

The eyes of the entire abbey were on the king, sitting on his throne, and Aldred, standing with his hands on the crown as it rested on William’s head. Aldred had murmured something, but most believed it to be a blessing.

They were astounded when William reached up his hands and seized Aldred’s wrists.

“She promised to Silvius, fool, not to you.”

Aldred gave a small laugh. “Her verbal promise meant nothing. It was a ruse to upset you only. Don’t you know how I shall control her? It is what I planted in her womb, as what I planted in Swanne’s womb, that binds her to me. She may not be a willing tool, but she
will
be a tool.”

Aldred stepped back, wrenching his wrists from William’s grasp.

“All hail the King of England,” Aldred intoned. “Mighty among men.”

And then he turned his back and walked slowly away down the centre of the nave between the ranks of Normans who cheered both their new king and their new realm.

Only their king, sitting on his throne, knew how empty his kingdom truly was.

The stone hall stood empty.

Empty, that is, except for the black imp that sat in the shadowy recesses of one aisle, playing with a red woollen ball to while away the time.

Waiting.

It grinned suddenly, and its teeth were white and sharp.

Waiting.

Its jaws snapped closed, then chewed as if they had bitten off something delectable.

The black imp sat.

Waiting.

G
LOSSARY

ALAN
: Second son of
HAROLD
and
SWANNE
.

ALDITHA
: widow of a Welsh lord, sister to
EDWIN
and
MORCAR
, wife to
HAROLD
.

ALDRED
: Archbishop of York.

ALEXANDER II
: Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, 1061–1073.

ANSGAR
: a member of the
WITAN
.

ARIADNE
: Mistress of the Labyrinth of Crete, sister to
ASTERION
, foremother of
SWANNE
.

ASTERION
: the Minotaur.

BEORN
: eldest son of
HAROLD
and
SWANNE
.

BOLLASON
,
ÖRN:
one of
HARDRADA’S
men.

BOWERTHEGN
: the senior chamberlain of the bower, or bedchamber.

BRUTUS
: Kingman and leader of the Trojans. Instigator, with
GENVISSA
, of the Troy Game on the banks of the
THAMES.
Now reborn as
WILLIAM
, Duke of Normandy.

CAELA
(
EADYTH
): wife of
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR
, sister to
HAROLD
.

CHENESITUN
: a small village to the west of Westminster. Now known by its modern form of Kensington.

CLOPEHAM
: a small village some six miles south-west of the City of London. Now known as Clapham.

CNUT
: a Dane, and former King of England; he was also
EDWARD’S
stepfather and his hatred of his stepson was the primary reason that
EDWARD
spent so much of his earlier life in exile.

COERL
: a free landholder.

DAMSON
: the middle-aged widow of a stonemason, living in Westminster.

EADWINE
: Abbot of Westminster Abbey.

ECUB
: Prioress of
ST MARGARET THE MARTYR
, a priory established in a convent close to Pen Hill north of London.

EDWARD
: King of England, known as the Confessor for his piety. Husband to
CAELA
.

EDWIN
: a northern Saxon earl and brother to
ALDITHA
and
MORCAR
.

GENVISSA
: former MagaLlan, Mistress of the Labyrinth, instigator, with
BRUTUS
, of the Troy Game in England. Now reborn as
SWANNE
.

GERBERGA
: a midwife.

GLAMOUR
: an enchantment which swaps souls from one body to another.

GODWINE
: Earl of Wessex, father of
HAROLD
and
CAELA
.

HARDRADA, HAROLD
: King of Norway.

HAROLD
: Earl of Wessex at the death of his father,
GODWINE
; brother to
CAELA
and
TOSTIG
, husband to 1)
SWANNE
and 2)
ALDITHA
.

HAWISE
: attending lady to
SWANNE
.

JUDITH
: a noblewoman attending Queen
CAELA
.

KINGSHIP BANDS
: the six golden limb bands of Troy’s Kingman. Possession of them enables the Kingman to control the Troy Game.

LONDON
: an ancient city in England. Formerly known as Troia Nova. Established in the late Bronze Age by
BRUTUS
.

LONG TOM
: one of the more talkative among the
SIDLESAGHES
.

MARTEL, GUY
: an envoy of
WILLIAM
of Normandy.

MATILDA
: daughter of the Duke of Flanders and wife to
WILLIAM
, Duke of Normandy.

MORCAR
: a northern earl, brother to
ALDITHA
and
EDWIN
.

OLAFSON, HALLDORR
: one of
HARDRADA’S
men.

POITERAN
: a Bronze Age kingdom in the west of France.

RANULD
: Duke
WILLIAM’S
huntsman.

REGENBALD
: a member of the
WITAN
and
EDWARD’S
Chancellor.

ROUSSEL, ALAIN
: Master of the Horse to
WILLIAM
of Normandy.

SAEWEALD
: a physician.

SIDLESAGHE
: a name meaning “sad songster”. A member of the ancient race of Britain.

SILVIUS
: father of
BRUTUS
.

SOUTHWARK
: a small community on the southern bank of the
THAMES
near
LONDON
. It is largely grouped about the southern approaches to London Bridge.

SPEARHAFOC
: Bishop of London.

ST MARGARET THE MARTYR
’s: a priory at the base of Pen Hill. It is run by Prioress
ECUB
.

STIGAND
: the Archbishop of Canterbury.

SWANNE
: Danelaw wife of Earl
HAROLD
of Wessex.

THAMES, RIVER
: the major waterway which runs through
LONDON
. In ancient Britain it was named the Llan River.

THEGN
: a Saxon noble.

THESEUS
: son and heir of the Athenian king, he was sent as tribute and sacrifice to
CRETE
where he was to be fed to the Minotaur
ASTERION
. But Theseus, aided by his lover
ARIADNE
, managed to defeat the Minotaur and escape from Crete. Later in life he was the first lover of Helen, whose abduction precipitated the eventual destruction of
TROY
.

TOSTIG
: Earl of Northumbria, brother to
HAROLD
and
CAELA
.

TROY
: the fabulous city of Troy sat on the western shores of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Paris, son of the Trojan king, Priam, stole away Helen from her husband, Menelaus, King of Sparta, precipitating the Trojan war in which the city-states of Greece united against Troy. Although it survived a long Greek siege, Troy was eventually destroyed due to a combination of hubris, the betrayal of the gods, and Greek cunning. Those Trojans who survived the destruction scattered about the lands of the Mediterranean, either as refugees or slaves.