Magnus_A Time Travel Romance by Joanna Bell

Author:Joanna Bell [Bell, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-11T18:30:00+00:00

That night, at sundown, we walked together into the lord's hall, where the business of the estate took place, and found it set with tables. A trio of musicians sat close to the fire, playing instruments I did not recognize and sending their raucous, buzzing tunes out beyond the stone walls.

Magnus and I were led to one of the tables close to the lord's table, where we could watch other guests entering and being taken to their seats. We were both completely drained, our hearts spent and our bellies empty. If someone had told me, back in my old life, that there were people who saw fit to invite a man to a feast less than a day after watching him kill his own brother, I would not have thought it at all appropriate. But there, in Lord Eldred's hall with our bellies growling and Magnus' heart aching, it felt right.

Roasted meat – venison – was served, along with a stew of sneeps, smoked pork and greens, and cup after cup of ale. The musicians played and the Angles sang songs which they kept stopping in the middle of to teach us the lyrics to, and it was just what we – what he – needed.

When we had eaten so much our stomachs ached with it, Lord Eldred stood and held his hands in the air, quieting the hall and casting his eyes over his guests.

"It's not many an estate in the Kingdom that can say they defended against a raiding party of Northmen," he said, after a hush had fallen. "Two winters ago the King's own party was attacked and the King barely escaped with his life. I fear we would be burying more of our own today if it were not for the Northman here, Magnus. He woke me in the night to warn of what was coming, and told us of their tactics. Without him, this would be a funeral feast."

Under the table, I sought Magnus' hand and took it in my own. Beside me, he sat in silence, his eyes focused on the empty wooden bowl on the table in front of him.

Lord Eldred continued. "Do not hang your head, Northman. I witnessed with my own eyes the events of last night. I saw him swing at you three times, I saw him slice open your arm. We all saw these things – and we saw your restraint, too. But what man would think it wrong to kill those who vow to kill our loved ones? What man would see fit to let him go, he who threatened the life of our woman, or our child? No man at all, Magnus. No man at all."

The Angles began to beat their wooden cups against the tables then, just lightly, as Eldred spoke. And when the lord of Haesting told Magnus that he had done them such an act of benevolence that he would be welcome to stay on with them for the winter – and longer – as one of them, the banging of the cups became deafening.

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