𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑

10

( 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑 ! )
CHAPTER TEN
WINCHESTER
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Solvi stared coldly as she sat with Stiorra, the two girls looked at the gates of Winchester. Human heads were sticking out of pikes, and it definitely looked the part of a stronghold now held by Danes. Solvi read the runes on the red flags hanging from the lamparts. They were even putting together the proper defenses for a siege.

"I get to Winchester at last," Stiorra murmurs.

"Do not look on it," Aelswith commands the two girls, holding onto Aethelstan tightly, "It is not the place I left. Be under no illusion, they will murder us. So, I suggest you say your prayers and thanked the Lord for the lives you've lived."

"I will not. I am not a Christian."

"They may kill you," Solvi says boldly, albeit still quietly, "But I am a Dane. And Stiorra is a Dane. They will see it. And if Brida truly is here, I will make her spare Aethelstan. He is my friend."

. . .

They are led inside the palace, and joined by the Lord Aethelhelm and his daughter, Edward's second wife, the new Queen. A petulant girl with a pretty face. As well as her son, Aethelstan's younger brother Aelfweard.

As soon as the doors open, Solvi sees her mother. "Mother!" Solvi calls out, running out and to her mother, who sits with as much audacity as she remembers her holding. She is also much more heavily pregnant.

"My little house of strength," Brida hugs the girl close from where she sits, leaning back to examine her body. "You are well?"

Solvi smiles, "Yes, Mother."

"Good. Stay here." Brida commands, before turning to the prisoners.

Solvi moves to stand behind Brida's chair, in between her and the other chair, occupied by a man. Solvi looks around, but freezes at the sight of the man in the chair, the one from her visions. This was the man with the scar, who killed the Welsh with the lines of fire in the darkness. He had won the battle with little to no drops of Danish blood spilled. He was the man she saw Stiorra riding a horse beside.

"Lady Aelswith," Brida greets, "I'm so happy to see your family reunited."

"I want to speak to whoever leads you." Aelswith demands boldly.

"I lead here."

"I mean, the man in charge of this." Aelswith says, provoking the indignant fire in Brida.

Brida chuckles, smiling, as she gets up and spits in the woman's face. "Do not insult me."

Solvi watches on blankly, feeling conflicted.

"I am not the one using insults." Aelswith says. "But I am giving you a warning. This incursion will not be tolerated. My son will burn us all to the ground... before he concedes one square of Wessex land. You are a pack of fools. Unknowingly, you have trapped yourselves within these walls. For once, the heathens are all in one place. And when the fire comes," Aeslwith takes a step forward, and Solvi blinks, a little astonished by this woman's daring and threatening words. "As come it shall, we will watch your souls burn as we ascend."

Brida walks closer to the woman threateningly, holding her seax, and Solvi watches on tensely. She looks towards Stiorra and Aethelstan, "Have her servant girl feed her shit."

"Torture me by all means, but you must know that she and the boy are Danes." Aelswith speaks. "Your feral witch can confirm as such."

Brida narrows her eyes, "You do not speak of my daughter this way or anyway."

"They were taken, just as the witch was, as slaves, after our victory at Tettenhall. If you value your people, take them back."

Brida approaches them. "Who is Sjofn?"

"Handmaiden of Frigga."

"She's half Dane at most. The monk boy not at all."

"They are friends, Mother." Solvi speaks up, interrupting and interjecting into the conversation, something she hadn't done in the presence of her mother at all, but had grown used to doing so in Uhtred and his men's presence. "I like playing with them."

Sigtryggr glanced over towards Solvi for a moment, as did Brida, but she stood her ground and jutted out her chin defiantly, stubbornly.

"Half Dane is enough." Sigtryggr speaks for the first time. "Hold the young woman separately."

"She's Uhtred's daughter," Eardwulf speaks up, and Solvi's eyes widen, turning to the man she had forgotten about. "I recognize her. We met in Mercia when my sister betrayed me."

"I've never seen you before." Stiorra says, trying to retain her nerve, but it was clear she at least had the good conscience to be slightly fearful. Even if it was just instinctual.

"You are a pathetic little man," Solvi spits, "Who tried to hump a child no older than I for the power of a throne."

"Well, that is not wrong," Brida chuckles at her daughter's fierce words. "He is the Arse-Licker, after all." She turns back to examine Stiorra. "Of course, she has his look. And she is cunning like him."

"Find Uhtred. Send him her head. It will bring him, it will bring them all and the end will begin."

"No!" Solvi protests.

Brida and the rest turn to the child with the hair the color of the stars and the moon at night. "What was that?" Brida asks.

"I said no." Solvi says straightening out as she stared her mother in the eyes, as intimidating and scary as it was for her, tone firmer this time and less desperate. "She is my friend. She wants to be one of us. She is one of us. She is a Dane, and we do not kill other Danes."

"Put the Queen and the others back," Sigtryggr commands, getting up and moving through the room quietly. "Where they keep their dead king." He passed by Stiorra, "She comes with me."

Solvi's eyes widened, sharing a look with Stiorra, as they dragged her away. Before she knows it, they are all out of sight.

"Leave us." Brida commands, and the other men leave the room.

Solvi stares up at her mother, as she approaches. Now that they were alone, and after what had just transpired, Solvi was more unsure of her mother and felt her nerves fail now.

Brida places her hands at Solvi's cheeks, smiling down at her, which surprises Solvi a little. "How you have grown these last few months." Brida smiles fondly as she speaks softly.

"I missed you." Solvi says softly, her hands coming up over Brida's which held her face gently. "You are alright? And the babe?"

"The babe is strong, as am I." Brida confirms. "And you? What have you done since we parted?"

Solvi smiles, and then launches into her stories of what Brida had missed out on in the last several months, near year, since they had been torn apart. Brida was proud of the little warrior her girl was becoming, though she was concerned over the loyalty Solvi seemed to have built for Uhtred and his daughter Stiorra, as well as the affection she held for all of his men and women around him. Even the little monk boy, Stan, as she called him.

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