Viking Sword by M J Porter

Author:M J Porter [Porter, M J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Endeavour Media
Published: 2017-06-07T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

997 - Part 2

The weeks that followed were a hubbub of activity and frenzy. Reports had to be sent to the king and men sent to monitor the scant coastline of his lands, and along the many rivers. Reports also filtered through of raids in the south-west and the lands across the disputed borders with Deheubarth and Gwynedd, and there was a feeling of quiet panic amongst everyone. The farmers hoped their crops would grow quicker, and the sheep fatten more quickly than normal so they could be harvested or slaughtered sooner, and stores could be laid in for the hopefully more peaceful winter. There were occasional scares when smoke marked the horizon and Wulfstan and his war band trained harder and longer and faster than ever before under the blazing sun of perfect summer weather.

Leofwine walked almost ghostlike through all the activity. His wound had soured and grown infected, and he'd been confined to his bed for some weeks, and even then his recovery had been tortuously slow. While he might give his assent to the actions Wulfstan was taking on his behalf, he could hardly have said he was instrumental in asking for scouting parties and in assuring his people. He reassured himself that his wound caused it all, but in his heart he knew that he fretted about Swein and that it was his fear that caused him to turn away from work he should be doing.

As his strength slowly returned, he took to training with his men for the same long hours, trying to rid himself totally of his weak spot. Somehow he hoped that a new technique would present itself to him. He went to his bed each night, exhausted having trained all day, and pleasured his wife in the hope that she would carry another son for him soon, and every night he had nightmare similar to those when he'd first been wounded in the Outer Isles. Sometimes he cried out in his sleep, and he always woke dripping with sweat. The frequency of his baths became something of a burden to his household used to only providing hot water for such need once a week but in the increased heat of the summer, he could not stand to be around himself unless he bathed. He also demanded his clothes washed more often; occasioning Æthelflaed to decry the amount of soap they were buying from the market.

He tried to take everything in good spirits but knew he was failing to fool Wulfstan, and his gaze became increasingly concerned when he watched Leofwine fighting or feasting or drinking. Leofwine found himself almost desperate to avoid spending time with the man even though it was a physical impossibility. He was his man by commendation oath as well as the leader of his household troop.

The matter came to a head when he received a summons to attend a Witan the king had convened to discuss the raiders and the planned response. Arranging to leave his newly

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