Aeleva; The Viking Saxon

Chapter 27

~The following chapter may contain scenes that some readers might find triggering~

The feast was over and the rest of the guests left when Offa went to bed. It was several hours past midnight and I was very near being awake for a whole day and night. I was dismissed and began the long walk through the empty corridors of the Abbey. Most the men and woman had gone to their rooms, stuffed and drunk. As I passed through the courtyard I could see a man whispering into a ladies ear. They were too close for a friendly conversation. And I couldn't help but notice the man's wondering hands. I kept my eyes down and walked past, it was not my business. But, unfortunately the man noticed me. 

I was startled when I realised that The Ealdorman of Rochester was looking back at me. He smiled and began walking over. His charming smile added to the silly nerves his glance gave me. I looked around to see if he had caught the attention of someone else. But I was alone on the courtyard.

"Aeleva," he shouted. I gave a small bow as he approached.

"The infamous Aeleva," Rochester said when he had joined me. "I have been listening to your story all night."

"My Lord."

"You may call me Edward if it pleases you," he said and gave me a kind smile. But I was not comfortable with the informality.

"Why did you not eat with us?" He asked.

"I am not of nobility, My Lord."

"Your brother ate with us, did he not?"

"He is a monk of the Abbey Lord," I told him politely.

"Hmm. He sits above his station. You could have giggled into the other ear of The Prince," he said flatly. I stared at him. I could feel the familiar hotness in my cheeks. Did he only call me over to humiliate my brother?

"My Lord, The Prince and my brother are close friends." I excused the behaviour of my drunk brother. The Ealdorman seemed to not care either way.

"I am told you are to join us in Reculver," he said. "I will be joining Ealdorman Alwin there. Offa will go back to the west to settle the Britons. Are you aware of this?"

I shook my head in response. I knew I was to go with The Ealdorman of Canterbury to Reculver but I did not know of anywhere other than Kent. The King movements did not make it to me in the Abbey kitchen.

"I am fascinated by you Aeleva," he told me. I knew he was considering me  by the intense gaze I was under. Rochester was strange, he was not menacing, neither was he spiteful. "You are either a liar, or you are extraordinary."

I went to bed so late that I missed morning prayers and breakfast the next day. I stayed in my room for most of the day, only to go out for food. Dinner passed and the Abbey fell quiet. I had wished my brother a good night and put my self to bed. I struggled with sleep at the abbey. The first night was bliss. I was so exhausted I was asleep before I closed my eyes. But every night after was a torturous struggle to claim sleep. It was perhaps a few hours into the night when I heard quickened bare footsteps on the floor outside in the corridor. It was a jittery slapping on the cold stone.

"Osric!" Cried a voice. The panic in the voice made my heart plummet. I sat up in bed to listen. I could hear them hyperventilating from my room. Barely able to take a gasp in. I couldn't identify the voice, it was too covered in hysteria.

"Osric I can smell it! I can smell the smoke!" 

Smoke. 

My heart raced. There could not be a fire in the Abbey, I said to my self. Trying to soothe the familiar tightness around my chest. I could feel my breathing quicken and cold clasp of panic work its way around my heart. I sprang from bed to listen at the door. The man darting around the corridor muttering in a frenzy.