Willow | The Wayfarer Series

Chapter 7

Aldred was next to me, poking my arm to wake me up. We had not spoken one on one since the day I arrived here, so I was immediately alarmed just by his presence. He was the leader of the group, and though he definitely cared about the people, he was more often than not busy with, well with leading. Whether that was in the form of building, organising or encouraging, he rarely ever spoke to the women. 

"Follow me." He whispered, careful not to wake anyone else up. Judging by the light that came pouring in through the open door, it was still pretty early. Everyone around us was still asleep, did he wake me up to take over guard duty? None of the women had ever been allowed to do it. 

I was careful not to accidentally step on someones toes as we headed towards the door. Once we were outside, he walked to the top of the hill with me trailing just behind him. Aldred was the leader because he was by far the smartest, but it also seemed like it was in his blood. You could not help but respect the guy. He spoke as though every word was pre-planned, like he had everything figured out. 

At the top of the hill, you could see the ocean. It was now fall with the winds picking up even worse and it raining pretty much every day. The ocean looked positively ravenous, the high waves were mercilessly crashing onto the shore line. 

Aldred was looking at the ocean, while I was looking at him. He had the tiny scar underneath his eye, but that was not the only one. Alodie had told me little pieces of information about their previous town during our fishing expeditions. Aldred, as well as Alodie's husband Kipp and Faran, were the best warriors their town had. 

"I have been meaning to speak to you." He finally said. His hand rested on top of his sword, though I had gotten over the fear that they were going to kill me. I definitely struggled in the beginning with simple tasks, but I had now proven myself to be a worthy member of the group. 

I did not know how to respond to him. Sometimes it seemed like even talking to a man was insulting to them, other times they thought I was odd for not speaking. Luckily for me, he continued on his own.

"The town is coming along nicely." He said, to which we both glanced back at it. One stone house already stood fully functional, with a half finished one next to it. Behind that was a small pen for the animals, and they had even started making a field for crops. "Though the future will be determined by the people who live in it. Not the stones with which we built."

Was he kicking me out? "And you don't feel I should live here?" I asked him. To my relief he immediately shook his head. I let out a relieved sigh.

"I wanted to ask your hand in marriage." He said as though it was nothing. "It is not safe for a woman to be alone. Some of the men in the group have been looking for wives too, you have caught many eyes."

So it had not been in my head then. They did look to me more often than they did to Jetta or Alodie. I had been right to lay near Gareth. He was the only one I could trust out of all of them. 

"So, what say you?" He pressed on when I did not answer. This was normal here. Girls did not just stay single and fall in love with whoever they wanted. They married the best man they could find and relied on them for everything.

I had not spoken to Aldred often, but out of all of them he did seem like the best match. He was the leader, which down the road might get me some benefits, and did not seem like a cruel man either. 

I liked Gareth, but I knew Gareth would never like me back. It was the 900s, and homosexuality was not even a word they had invented yet. To me, the way Gareth acted, the way his eyes lingered to Kipps chest after a hard day of work, it was clear. I could hope to love Aldred once, that would never be the way with Gareth.

"Yes." I answered. "I'll marry you."

Aldred was not a man of many words or emotions, but he did manage a small smile when I accepted his offer. He dropped his hand from his sword to hold mine. I don't think he really knew what to do either. He just held it and traced the back of my hand as we looked back at the house.

"I will tell them." He said, when we saw movement behind one of the shutters. He let my hand fall and walked back to the house. I was still frozen on the spot and only really managed to turn away and look at the ocean instead.

I was getting married. I knew it was the right thing to do, but that did not make me any less nervous. Their views were incredibly different from the ones I grew with in the twenty first century. Here being the wife of the leader was about as far to the top as I could make it.