and she had to contend with the consequences of his actions. Silently she thanked God that most of the stores were stowed safely and the land showed its usual before-the-spring barrenness, nothing to alert the Norsemen to its true worth and productivity.
‘What will we do, cousin? The Norsemen are here! There is no one left to defend us. We’re doomed,’ Hilda asked, jumping up and spilling wool and spinning whorls all over the stone floor. ‘Doomed, I say!’
‘We must hope the Norsemen go as quickly as they came with the minimal amount of fuss.’ Edith carefully placed her spindle down on the wooden trunk. She gathered up the wool and the three spinning whorls that she could find. One, she noticed with a sigh, now had a crack running through it. Hilda didn’t bother to help, but instead stood wringing her hands and repeating her words. There was little point in panicking when her distant cousin did it well enough for the both of them.
‘Will they go?’ Hilda asked when Edith had picked up the final whorl.
‘Always.’ Edith tightened her fingers about the whorl. ‘The Norsemen never settle. They take what they can grab and go.’
The one thing she was certain of despite their conquest of Eoferwic, which the Norsemen now called Jorvik, ten years ago—the Norsemen did not settle inland. Instead they used the land for raiding, their own private larder of cattle, sheep and women, one of the main reasons why Egbert found so many recruits for his rebellion.
Edith wrinkled her nose in distaste. The Norsemen were barbarians with no thought for the lives they destroyed.
Against her husband’s direct order, she had made sure all the essential stores were carefully hidden, including moving all the silver and her mother’s jewels into the hidden cavity in the lord’s bedchamber. Unlike Egbert, she had been in Eoferwic the day the Norsemen first took that city and had seen how well they could fight. Despite Egbert’s words and posturing, she’d doubted that he could retake it with his ragtag army when so many others had failed. When they were first married, Egbert had won a few bouts with his sword, but he’d long since run to fat.
Her people would make it through until the late spring when food became plentiful again. She refused to allow any Norseman to starve them simply to increase his own bloated belly.
‘What will you do? They are bound to know about Eg...Lord Egbert and his part in the struggle. We will all be punished for it, just like you warned him!’
‘It gives me no pleasure to be right, cousin. You must believe that.’
‘But you know what they will do. They’ll burn, rape and pillage.’ Hilda’s eyes bulged with fear and her body shook.
Edith pressed her lips together. If she didn’t do something, her cousin would collapse in a heap on the floor, insensible to reason, one more problem to be sorted before the Norsemen arrived. Edith concentrated and searched for a soothing phrase, rather than screaming at Hilda to pull herself together.
She could never stoop so low as to scream at Hilda. She knew whose bed her husband had shared the last time he was here. Everyone knew it. The whispers had flown around the hall until she thought everyone had looked at her with pity. Edith despised pity. It did not mean she approved of her cousin’s affair with her husband. Far from it, but she knew what Egbert was like underneath the good humour he showed to visitors and people who might have been able to assist him. If Hilda had objected to his advances, he’d have raped her. Sending her away hadn’t been an option while Egbert was alive. And now there were the Norsemen at the door.
‘I will mouth the words of fealty if it comes down to it,’ Edith said in her firmest voice. ‘You will see, Hilda. All will be well once I do.’
‘You?’ Hilda put her hand to her throat and the hysterics instantly stopped. ‘But will this Norseman jaarl accept your word?’
Edith clenched her fists. Hilda should trust her. Hadn’t she looked after the estate, making certain it prospered while Egbert indulged his passion for hunting and whoring? ‘He will have to. This land has belonged to our family since time began. And I will not be the one to lose it.’
‘You mean you expect him to marry you.’ Hilda tapped her nose. ‘Clever. I wish I’d a dowry like that instead of my looks. You’ll be dressed in silks and ribbons and forget about us.’
‘I’ve no expectations,’ Edith said carefully. Marriage to a Norseman was the logical solution, even if she hated the thought of being married again. An unmarried widow with a large estate was too great of a prize. ‘But you’re wrong if you think I could ever forget this estate and its inhabitants. They are my people. Every single one of them.’
‘Your husband will be turning in his grave, cousin, to think that you of all people should swear allegiance to the Norse king.’
‘My father swore fealty to Halfdan in Eoferwic, ten years ago. Egbert broke that promise, not me.’
Hilda shook her carefully coiffured head and her bee-stung lips gave a little pout. ‘I expected more somehow. You were his wife for seven years. Are you sure the king won’t worry about that? You must have shared some of the same views.’
Edith raised her chin. How dare Hilda question her as if she was a common servant? Her entire being trembled with anger and she longed to tell a few home truths to Hilda. Instead Edith gulped air and concentrated on controlling her temper.
‘When did Egbert and I ever agree on anything?’ she said as steadily as she dared. ‘Lord Egbert is no longer the master here. He ceased to be when he breathed his last. The hall and its land were never fully his. We shared responsibility. I know the marriage terms my father negotiated. The hall and its lands were to be returned to me should anything happen to Egbert. And I intend to keep them safe.’
‘Cousin, this is no time for jesting.’ Hilda widened her pale blue eyes. ‘You know little of the art of war. Egbert always used to say—’
‘It’s the people of this land I must consider.’ Edith glared at Hilda. The last thing she wanted to hear was her late husband’s opinion on her many failings. ‘The Norsemen should accept my assurance and my gift. They should move on to the next estate, hopefully without burning our hall or forcing a marriage. We survive whatever happens. Survival is important.’
Edith wasn’t sure who she wanted to convince more—her cousin or herself.
‘They will take everything that is not nailed down, even if you don’t have to marry.’ Hilda turned pale. ‘You know what the Norsemen are like! Two years ago in the south before I journeyed to you, all the farms were ablaze and the women... Promise me that you won’t allow that to happen to me. I saw unspeakable things. You must protect me. Lord Egbert would expect it.’
‘I have taken precautions. My parents taught me well. The Norsemen have been a danger for years.’ Edith gave Hilda a hard look. ‘We survived before. My parents even entertained Halfdan in the early years.’
‘What should I do?’ Hilda wrung her hands. ‘Lord Egbert always made sure I had a special task in times of emergency. On second thought, I should be the one to speak first. Soften their hearts with a gentle word. You can be abrupt, cousin. Allow me to win their regard with a smile.’
Edith stared at Hilda in disbelief. Was she serious in her offer? Her entire being recoiled at the thought of Hilda greeting the Norsemen in her stead. And she’d been the one to think of employing Hilda in some task to save her from Egbert’s ire. Egbert could only
