The Carnyx (High King Book 3) by Davies S. M

Author:Davies, S. M.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sylfa Press
Published: 2024-11-17T00:00:00+00:00

27

The oil lamp cast only a dim light, but the fire was cheerful and the stew in the pot smelt delicious to a man who hadn’t eaten properly in days. Outside a thick drizzle was falling, but the roof didn’t leak. It seemed as if Berget had got a few things done while her men were away in the North. Her father Malan leaned forward and warmed his hands over the flames, his wrinkled face creasing into a grin.

‘You’re off your head, boy,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t have gone anywhere near Glevum.’ He cackled and spat into the fire. ‘And after pinching Bertil’s daughter from the bishop’s house, by God. Off your head.’

‘Ignore him, Lord Kerin,’ Berget said, passing a bowl of stew. ‘That’s what I try to do.’ Her eyes were troubled. She looked tired, Kerin thought, and thinner than when he first met her at Malan’s makeshift camp outside the walls of Londinium. How long ago was that? The best part of a year. A year since this spindly old man with the voice of a roaring bull had helped him take Londinium and secure Vortigern’s crown, without a drop of blood being spilt. ‘You should have gone straight home, all the same,’ Berget said. ‘Not that it isn’t good to see you, but if Bertil caught you – ’

‘I know,’ Kerin said, spreading the folds of his habit out to dry. ‘That’s why I’m riding around on a pony, looking like Brother Idiot. But I had to go to Glevum. And I had to come here, too. Do you remember what I told you last time? About what you should do, if things got dangerous?’

Berget put down her ladle. ‘You said we should leave here and cross the river.’

‘Yes. You should prepare yourselves. There’s going to be trouble before long.’

Berget’s husband, Runo, put aside the scythe he was mending and came to the fireside. ‘What sort of trouble? We heard that some of them set the son up as king, and you had to go to Kent to fight them.’

‘Yes, we did,’ Kerin said. ‘And we gave them a beating. But it’s not over. The son is here, staying in the bishop’s house. When he’s got enough men, he’ll want to fight it out with his father. We don’t know when or where. Vortigern receives messengers from the praetor of Londinium every two weeks, but so far there’s no sign of armies mustering.’

‘We’ll know if they do,’ Berget said. ‘I’ve got a woman in every village between here and Corinium. Good girls who can ride. If it’s an army, it’ll come down the Roman road. And if it does, I’ll send word. We’ve got one good horse, haven’t we, Runo.’

Runo folded his long, gangling legs under him and sat down beside his wife. For a man who had spent a lifetime avoiding fights, he had done a solid turn in the North with his axe and butcher’s knife. Someone’s sword had sliced across the top of his

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