The War on Wessex by Lake Martin

Author:Lake, Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

ACCUSATIONS

June 876

Leif had been back in Grantabridge for only a month when the news arrived. Oscetel wasted no time in calling a meeting of the kings and jarls.

‘I have been told that the Cornish rebellion has failed,’ he declaimed. ‘Not only that, but our friend the mighty King of Cornwall has been murdered by order of Alfred the Gutless.’

Anundr and most of the jarls shrugged; the ill-fate of a minor princeling or his army mattered little to them. Guthrum, however, looked downcast at the failure of his plan. Leif composed his face to give nothing away.

‘So,’ Oscetel continued, ‘when we invade we will have to do it alone, without the stab in Alfred’s back which Guthrum promised the Cornishmen would provide.’

‘All the better for us,’ Anundr said. ‘We won’t have to give the Cornish anything for reward. And we can conquer their lands as well.’

‘Those are wise words, my friend,’ Oscetel said, ‘except for the fact that the gutless Saxon pup is now forewarned.’

‘He was always forewarned,’ Kolga said. ‘This will make little difference.’

Oscetel gave her a look of contempt. ‘Yet this may.’ He paused for several heartbeats before continuing. ‘We know that Leif Slime-tongue led his fleet to near destruction. What I have found out today is that the ship which he claims was destroyed was not. It was captured and the courageous Jarl Sven is now Alfred’s captive.’

‘We do not know Sven’s fate,’ Kolga said. ‘We saw only that his ship was captured by the Saxons.’

‘While you fled for your lives.’

Kolga’s fingers twitched as if she were minded to unsheathe her sword.

Oscetel paced slowly towards Leif. ‘I have heard more,’ he said softly, gesturing to the back of the hall. ‘And from your own brother, Guthrum.’

Eohric pushed his way to the front. By rights he should not have been there but he had sidled in as the doors were closed.

‘I was on Sven’s ship when it was captured. I too was taken captive and while I was there I found out several things.’ He paused and licked his lips, relishing the attention given by the army’s leaders.

‘I found out that King Donyarth led a large army into the westernmost part of Wessex, the homeland of his forebears. And that this force was ambushed by the Saxons, ambushed and annihilated.’

‘They must have been feeble warriors,’ Anundr said.

‘Not so,’ Eohric said. ‘They are a mighty people and Donyarth had assembled the largest army for generations, filled with warriors determined to fight their ancestral foe. They would not have been defeated save by treachery.’

‘Whose treachery?’ Oscetel asked as if intrigued.

‘Who else but Leif Slime-tongue,’ Eohric said. ‘He sent message to Alfred that the Cornish were coming and they were surprised at night as they slept. It was a massacre.’

It was a lie, of course. Yet lies sometimes have authority which truth does not possess. Eohric needed no proof but now Leif might well do.

‘Tell me, Eohric,’ he asked, ‘how did I get a message to Alfred?’

‘You sent one of your men.’

‘Which man?’

‘Your Saxon servant, Higbald.

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