Shield Maiden by Stuart Hill

Author:Stuart Hill
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2016-03-25T04:00:00+00:00

VIII

Guthrum and his bodyguard of housecarles got away, and a good few thousand of the Viking army escaped too. They fled back to Chippenham, where my father and his Saxons besieged them for two weeks before they finally surrendered and asked for terms.

Father was generous and the Peace of Wedmore only sent the Danes into exile and forced Guthrum to accept Christian baptism with the new name of Athelstan. Father even stood as godfather to the old pirate. But here I learnt something more about the art of rule: always make an ally of your old enemy if you possibly can. As it turned out it was impossible to make an ally of Guthrum, but it had to be tried.

After this great victory the rule of the Cerdingas was re-established in Wessex. Eventually Athelney was abandoned by our court in exile and also by the people and warriors who had shared this time. But Father had already laid his plans for a church and a monastery to be built on the island in thanks for his victory over the Danes. Ara looked darkly on the men who immediately started digging the foundations for this religious complex, but she said nothing.

We departed on a bright April morning and already our changed circumstances were made obvious by the fact that we had a glittering escort of housecarles drawn from the survivors of the thousand who had stood with Father against Guthrum. When we finally left the wetlands behind, Mother gave a small chest of gold to the marsh people who had guided us back to the Roman road that led directly to Chippenham. Father also sent word that more would be sent to the marshes just as soon as the treasury had been replenished.

The journey back through Somerset was a relaxed and happy experience, in direct contrast to the night we fled from the Danes, with warm sunshine and gentle wildflower-scented breezes instead of the freezing cold and the scent of snow on the air.

The day arrived when we finally rode into sight of Chippenham’s walls. The Danes had already left to go into exile in East Anglia, or to the continent to continue their raiding and pillaging. We were told that when they marched out, still carrying their weapons as agreed by the peace treaty, the Saxons watched them go in complete silence, the whole town agreeing to show them that they weren’t worthy of the effort needed to throw insults. In fact the only thing that was thrown was a single clod of earth that hit Guthrum himself in the middle of his back. But the old pirate at least had a sense of his own dignity and didn’t even turn to look to see who was responsible.

The town itself was in quite good repair. It isn’t true that the Danes always destroyed and despoiled the settlements they invaded. In fact the gates they’d smashed through on the night Chippenham was taken had been repaired and even the houses that had been burned down had been rebuilt or were in the process of being so.

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