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"I GET TO WINCHESTER AT LAST."
"Do not look on it. It is not the place I left" Aelswith stated, "Be under no illusion. They will murder us. So, I suggest you say your prayers, and thank the Lord for the lives you've led."
"I don't think God will help us with this one." Cirilla muttered as she stared at the fort. Aelswiths eyes widened suddenly, as if she had remembered something important. She reached over Aethelstan who sat next to her and removed his holy cross from around his neck, trying to hide the fact that the young boy was a Christian.
They watched as Danes roamed the streets of Winchester carrying swords and shields everywhere they went. This was not the Winchester she remembered.
The cart came to a halt just outside the castle, where Cirilla was brought up alongside her siblings. She didn't even recognise the place. It was darker and dirtier than she remembered from her childhood.
"Let's go!" One of the Danes yelled, urging them to get down from the cart before leading them into the building alongside two other prisoners and a young boy.
"Lady Aelswith." A female Dane said. She was heavily pregnant and sitting on a thrown that once belonged to her father.
Next to her was another Dane. His hair was long, finishing just after his shoulders, it was frizzy and untamed. He had a noticeable scar down his face, just under his eye. His electric blue eyes caught her gaze as she stared at him. Green met blue in a fight for dominance, each one daring the other to look away.
"I'm so happy to see you re-United with your family." The female Dane said, breaking Cirillas gaze from the man who continued to stare at her despite her adverted stare.
"I want to speak with whoever leads you." Lady Aelswith took a step forward.
"I lead here." She said pointedly.
"I mean, the man in charge of this." Cirilla rolled her eyes, it was so typical of her mother to feel that a woman could never run things on her own.
A chuckle fell past the woman's lips, as she stood, then spitting in Aelswith's face. "Do not insult me."
"I am not the one, using insults." Her mother bit back at the Dane who leaned over the table. "But I am giving you a warning." The woman nodded, telling her to explain. "This incision will not be tolerated. My son will burn us all to the ground before he conceded one square of Wessex lane." She told them, her voice firm as though she were scolding a child. "You are a pack of fools. Unknowingly, you have trapped yourselves within these walls. For once, the heathen are all in one place." She took a step towards the pregnant woman, just a table separating them. "And when the fire comes, as come it shall...we shall watch your sounds burn as we ascend." The pregnant woman scoffed. Making her way around the table, she picked up an axe, standing directly in front of Aelswith.
She turned her head over to Cirilla who stood, grasping Aethelstans hand in her own.
"Have her servant girl feed her shit." She said, Cirilla scoffed.
