Silence Deep as the Snow » Sihtric || The Last Kingdom

The Bell Inn

It had been five months since I had ridden a horse. Three since I'd been allowed outside my quarters. My stepmother locked me away and kept the key in an embroidered purse on her hip. Glynnis only managed to sneak it away while Morgann was bathing to unlock my chamber before returning it without her knowing. 

Morgann convinced my father that I was seen coupling with stable boys when I went for my ride in the mornings. She spun the lie so cleverly, she even managed to convince one of them to stupidly declare it the truth before my father. The king, of course, had the boy put in the dungeon for laying a hand on me. My father would hear nothing as I stood before him, Morgann at his side with a hand resting on his forearm. 

Morgann was like a mummer pulling the strings of a puppet with my father. 

I wanted to resent my father for being so weak minded, but Glynnis told me her suspicions about Morgann and her evil origins. The king could not be blamed entirely for his lack of mind.

"These are beautiful animals," I commented as the rugged trio led me to where their horses were grazing at the edge of the forest.

"You'll not want to hear how we got them," Ivar commented snidely.

Tola dug through one of her saddle bags. "Here, put these on. We are similar in size."

She tossed me a pair of leather booties. Thankfully, she was right. They fit.

"You shall ride with my brother Ivar. His steed is the largest," Tola said as she mounted her own animal.

I stood up abruptly from lacing my shoes. The alarm must have been clear on my face. Ivar gave his distinct bark of a laugh and hoisted me onto the animal before I could protest.

"We shall be sharing close quarters, but don't worry. You aren't my type," he said, swinging himself up behind me. "Unless you're hiding a cock between those legs."

"Brother, let's try not to shock the princess any more than necessary. She's had a rough night," Tola chided. From her crooked grin, it was clear that she enjoyed my surprised expression. 

We rode hard from the coast. They were all skilled on horseback, especially Turgon. He handled his beige mare like a king. I dozed off at some point until we came to a stop at full noon. 

"Come on then," Ivar said, helping me off the horse as I rubbed my eyes and tried to rouse myself. "This place is clean enough."

It was an inn, the sign swinging from the lonely two story establishment in the forest called it "The Bell" in Saxon. I was numbly led towards the building, following Tola. She turned before entering.

"Leave this on," she instructed as she pulled my hood over my head. "Even shipwrecked, you stand out. You're too clean and healthy for these parts."

I obeyed without question. "Are the patrons here... unsavory characters?"

Turgon chuckled darkly. "No more than us, lass. Don't fear though. We won't let any harm come to you. When we take up a job, we see it through to the end."

I didn't look at any as we walked in and kept my head down. There were only a few other people present so we found a round table in the back easily. Ivar brought over trenchers of a greasy pottage, horse bread, and flagons of ale. I inhaled my food without thought to the taste.

"Careful there or you'll only throw it all back up," Tola said as she chewed on a bite of bread. "This stepmother of yours, she must be terrible to scare you into a place like this."

I had never drunk ale. The alcohol hummed in my blood and made me relax. I took a long draw from my cup. "She has bewitched my father."

"So you really do think that she's a witch?" Ivar asked as he pierced his bread with a knife.

"I know she is."

"How?"

I snorted. "My nursemaid told me so. Morgann doesn't come from a human mother."

Turgon cocked his dark head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now how is that possible?"

"Turgon is our cynic. Don't mind him," Tola explained with a wink in his direction.

"I didn't believe so at first. But then I saw how she controlled my father, how her enemies in court became numb in their minds or died. Glynnis - my nursemaid- she went into her chambers to steal the key to my chamber and she saw things-"

"Key to your chamber?"

I nodded fervently. I had never been able to to tell my story. It was freeing. "She locked me in my rooms. I wasn't allowed to see any except for her and the servants that were loyal to her. She tried to poison me. Glynnis found it in the food they prepared me. When I grew ill, Glynnis started to switch my plates for me. But before I left, my stepmother got wise to her trick. A few nights ago, she claimed to my father that I was trying to curse the child in her belly. She said I was a witch."

"Are you?" Ivar asked amiably.

"I know my plant lore, but that's expected of ladies in my position to care for our people," I insisted.

"How do you know that she's not fully... human?" Tola asked. There wasn't an ounce of irony in her voice and her gaze was steady. She believed me.

I leaned forward, my tongue loose with ale. "Glynnis spoke of a tale from a nearby village, close to where we believe Morgann came from. One of the farmers had an encounter with a fairy woman of the lakes at twilight. A babe was left on he and his wife's doorstep the next year. Morgann came from nothing. She just arrived one day, a month after my mother died. My father has been useless ever since. After what I've witnessed, there is no other explanation."

"So she's half... fairy?" Turgon asked incredulously.

I nodded, swirling what was left of my ale. "Can I have another of these?"

"No." Tola took the flagon from me. "And does she know where you are?"

"Unless she's discovered it by some dark art. It makes me leery of wandering the wild at night. Perhaps there are those of her kind in these parts as well." I shivered and pulled the edges of my cloak tighter about myself. "Another gwraig annwn of the lakes or even an old gwyll."

Ivar let out a low whistle. "Perhaps she needs another flagon, sister. I think the princess has been alone for too long."

I knew I sounded crazy. I would have said the same thing of anyone else before Morgann had arrived at the hill fort. But they had not seen what I had seen. They were not told of what the woman hid in her bed chamber according to Glynnis.

"We don't need her drunk and falling off the horse," Tola snapped at her brother. "Come, we've lingered too long. We're gaining attention. It's best we were on our way. Perhaps from now on you should not name your stepmother in public. Whether she is a fairy witch or not, she might have her spies. 

The blood drained from my face. The pleasant warmth that the liquor had built in me quickly faded. Tola was right. I had been foolish to make such declarations. Quickly, I followed her out into the courtyard with my eyes on the floor.

She stopped at the horses. "I believe your story."

Taken aback, I blinked up at her. "Really?"

"I've seen some things like what you describe. In my own childhood with my father and a woman that came to be his wife. She made him cast off his own son in favor of her own. Ivar and I were born of a slave woman and this other brother of ours, he was raised like a bastard. Even though he wasn't one." She cocked her head to the side with a sigh. "Though he never was able to regain his place as a legitimate son, he is happy now. We are riding to meet him at Coccham, he is one of the trusted warriors of the Lord Uhtred there."

"Who are you speaking of?" Ivar asked as he fed a heel of bread to his horse.

"Sihtric, our brother." Tola mounted her horse. "Come, we need to get some more miles in before we stop for the night. Don't want you to be carried off by the fairies now."