The Maiden Who Fell Through Time

CHAPTER 19: "The Boy King"

[AN: Again, apologies for the delay on this chapter folks. It's been a doozy of a life lately.

Anyways, this chapter is particularly long so I hope you all enjoy it! 

Once again, thank you all for your continual support. And just an fyi ;D comments and votes keep the hope alive and keep me more inspired to write (not that I'm fishing here lol) but yea...anyways if you feel like it let me know what you all think. 

I hope you enjoy this chapter! And thank you once again! <3 ]

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Winchester- 10th century- the next day

Before long we found ourselves in Winchester.

I hadn't travelled much since arriving here in medieval England; aside from what could be seen as merely traveling from point A (my village) to point B (Cookham- another virtual village); so, actually getting to see what was essentially considered to be the capital of this country at this time was a real source of excitement for me.

(That and we were going to meet a fucking King...a real life honest to God monarch; someone that I had literally read about in history class- okay, well...not so much read about but skimmed past his name in a book while doodling...in said book. Either way! This was a momentous occasion for a 21stcentury girl from L.A. I mean, sure he wasn't as famous as his father- but hell if Uhtred and this century taught me anything thus far it was that usually fame was misplaced, and recorded history was rarely accurate. And, again...I was going to meet a bloody King- an actual King...no fake crown wearing narcissist who signed my paychecks, but an actual blue-blooded anointed by God King.)

Now, slight monarch madness aside...Winchester itself wasn't much to look at- at least not by my modern-day privileged standards.

(But, let me tell you something folks about standards...when you get thrown backwards in time and are left trapped in the fucking dark ages- your standards go real low. REAL LOW. So, while Winchester certainly wasn't Sunset Boulevard or Hollywood; hell, it wasn't even the valley to be honest; it was by my now incredibly low standards...a goddamn metropolis.)

Okay, so once again bear with me and my low standards as I continue to regale you all with tales of this sprawling medieval mecca of civilization and my eventual audience with its king.

We made our way immediately from the stables to what could best be described as a large stone villa (disappointedly it was not a castle...and I was really perturbed by that to be honest, since it totally went against everything I had been expecting). We were soon greeted outside the main gates of the villa by a real bright fucking chipper man named Steapa.

(Okay, so let me pause and tell y'all a few things about this man Steapa. Firstly, I came to find out that this absolute Hench of a man with a sour attitude was essentially Edward's right hand- erm, well fist it would be more appropriate to call him to be honest...but basically, he was the muscle charged with protecting his Majesty. And secondly, he seemed to have a less than favorable attitude towards most people. In fact, at first, I was completely mistaken into believing he disliked Uhtred- and I was delighted when I later discovered that actually quite the opposite was true. The pair were essentially frenemies...which was a relationship dynamic that completely and utterly tickled me pink to be absolutely frank given the demeanors of both men. Also, Steapa in particular seemed to dislike Finan a great deal- but then again who didn't? It took a special human being to be able to put up with that Celts shit. However, with everyone else he either acted completely indifferent towards them or just outright ignored them. Basically, Steapa was one transparent cantankerous fuck.)

"Uhtred." Steapa said, regarding our leader.

"Steapa." Uhtred nods.

"Real ray of fucking sunshine that one is..." I whisper over to Sihtric who replies with a snicker.