WARRIORS OF THE NORTH by H A CULLEY

Author:H A CULLEY [CULLEY, H A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orchard House Publishing
Published: 2016-11-11T23:00:00+00:00

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Oswald licked his lips nervously. Apart from the noticeable absence of Cewalh, the baptism had gone well and Birinus was making progress with the conversion of the nobility. He seemed to feel, as Paulinus had done in Northumbria, that the common people would follow the lead set by their betters. Oswald was not so sure. Aidan was, he knew, convinced that you needed to convert the country vill by vill, nobles and the people together.

But he had other matters on his mind today. He was about to marry Cyneburga and he still hadn’t told her about Keeva. He was ready to do so but they hadn’t been alone together since their marriage had been agreed.

He took a deep breath and walked over towards the new stone built church in Wintan-ceastre. The snow crunched under foot as he walked, accompanied by his steersman and the three shipmasters from the pontos. The sky overhead was now blue but there were clouds of steel grey moving in from the west and he fully expected it to be snowing again by the time the ceremony was over. At least the frozen ground, after last night’s hard frost, was preferable to the normal mixture of mud, faeces and rubbish that one had to wade through to get from one place in the town to another.

Bishop Birinus conducted the brief wedding service and then celebrated the Roman mass. It was not something that Oswald was comfortable with as it was quite different to the Celtic Church’s. However, the interminable sermon was depressingly similar. He was aware that his new wife kept giving him sidelong glances throughout the prayers that followed. He couldn’t work out whether she was flirting with him or was just anxious about how he’d treat her. Oswald began to wish he could get up off his knees as they were beginning to ache after long contact with the stone paving. At least in the Celtic Church prayers were said standing up.

As he had expected, it was snowing hard as they left the church and an extra inch or so had fallen. This had been trodden into slush by the feet of the hundreds of well-wishers who had come to gawp at the happy couple, so he was glad that there were two horses waiting to convey them back to the king’s hall for the feast that was to follow.

‘Thank goodness that’s over,’ Cyneburga whispered to him once they were seated together next to Cynegils at the high table. ‘I thought that Birinus was never going to shut up.’

Oswald had to stifle a laugh. Perhaps marriage to Cyneburga would be enjoyable after all.

After they had been conducted to their bedchamber by a crowd of drunken men and giggling women, they lay naked beside each other. She had become very quiet and nervous and he was equally reticent. He kept thinking of the last time had made love to Keeva and he had absolutely no desire to do the same to this plain virgin with hardly any breasts as yet.

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