To Love Again - Bertrice Small [197]
“I thank you for the advice,” Harald replied. “It might not be such a bad idea. Ragnar always said she was bad-tempered, but the best fuck he had ever had in his life. Under the circumstances I must either wed her or kill her. I’ll think on it.”
“Best to marry her,” Wulf said. “She and Aelfa will battle each other constantly, and consequently keep out of your business.”
Harald laughed. “Perhaps you are right,” he said slowly. “Yes! I know you are!”
When they were gone, and the morning was beginning to take on a more normal tone, Wulf took his wife by the hand and led her out into the summer sunlight. They strolled together amid the ripening grain.
“This incident has made me realize that we cannot remain at Cadda-wic,” he told her. “It is too prone to attack here in its narrow valley. The hills press too closely about us. We cannot see our enemy until they are almost upon us. I have ordered a new hall to be built at Brand-dun for us. It sits upon a hill, and we cannot be taken unawares by an enemy. We will continue to farm these fields and tend to the orchards that once belonged to your family, but we will no longer live here, lambkin. Will you mind very much?”
Cailin shook her head. “No,” she told him. “Though I have many happy memories of the house in which I grew up, it is gone. The earth is drenched with my family’s blood, and now the blood of Ragnar Strongspear as well. I do not think I could remain here even if you wanted me to, my lord.”
He nodded with understanding, and she continued, “In my childhood the roads that the Romans built to connect the towns they erected in Britain became unsafe. There was a time, not in my memory, but surely in my father’s memory, when those roads were safe; but then the legions left, and with them the way of life we had known for centuries departed as well. No one would have dared to attack the estate of Gaius Drusus Corinium or Anthony Porcius in that faded past. Times are different now, Wulf, and your people are a different people. To survive we must change, and I think we can do so without sacrificing the values that we hold dear. You are not like Ragnar Strongspear or Harald Swiftsword. You are a different kind of Saxon. Your feet, like mine, are not mired in the intractable past. You, too, dream of a future that cannot even be imagined by most. I will gladly go with you to Brand-dun! There is nothing left for us here at Cadda-wic but memories. I will discard the bad ones and leave them behind. The good ones I will carry in my heart always. Ohh, Wulf! We almost lost each other once, but the gods ruled that we should be reunited to love again. I am so happy!”
“Mama! Mama!” Aurora came running through the fields toward them, her silky golden hair flying, her little legs pumping for all they were worth. “Mama!” Behind her Nellwyn came, carrying Royse.
Cailin swept her daughter up into her arms and covered the child’s face with kisses. “I missed you, my darling,” she told her daughter. “Did you miss Mama?”
“Are the bad men gone, Mama?” Aurora asked nervously.
“They are gone forever, and will never come back, I promise you, my daughter,” Cailin answered the child, hugging her.
“When shall we leave for Brand-dun?” Wulf asked his wife, his heart full with his love for this brave woman who was his mate.
“Today!” Cailin said. “Have our men take our things from the hall. We will burn what we can of it, and tear down what is left. It is finished.”
“Where are we going?” Nellwyn asked as she came abreast of them.
Cailin took Royse from her servant, praising her bravery. Then as she sat down upon the ground and put her son to her aching breasts, Wulf explained to Nellwyn what had been decided. When