Chapter 30

1.8K 85 1
                                    

I had found a small hill to sit on. It allowed me to see all the way to the marsh. It was dark then; the channel was a black scar running through the land. The water separated the heathen from us. But it hadn't worked. I could see fires lighting in the distance. Small glowing spots spreading on our side of the channel. At first it was one, but now they are vast in number. Invading the peaceful darkness there once was.

"Aeleva, what happened to you? You left the council." Ealdorman Edward said as he walked up the slope.

"I had to go." I said, my voice faint.

"They have crossed now," he said as he sat down. "They have camped by the shore line." He stared where I was looking, at the heathen lights.

"What was decided? What will happen now?"

"We will fight them tomorrow." He sighed and paused. "You and I will burn the jetties."

"Lord?" I asked, and turned to face him.

"You are disposable and it was my idea, I'm not going to send any of my men to their deaths." He did not look at me but kept captivated by the Danes. I bit my lip and looked to my feet.

"But we will be trapped?"

"Alwin will attack them at dawn, hopefully it will draw them away from us." He answered as if it was a simple task.

"Why burn the jetty?"

"So, they are trapped. They cannot run through a marshland."

We stayed still for a moment. I thought about how, in the Lords name, we were going to run through a Danish camp and burn the jetties, let alone get back alive.

"It's a bright night," Edward said after a while.

I looked up to the sky. The moon was bursting through the inky night, and the stars pinpricks in the darkness.

"The Danish believe the moon is a god called Maní and is brother to the goddess Sol who is the sun. They are chased across the sky every night by hounds, and only when the chaos comes will the hounds catch them." I turned to face Edward and he smiled at me. 

"They think you a heathen," the Ealdorman said quietly.

"I know."

I looked back up to the stars, I tried to find pattern in them. I tried to find the meaning that some people saw.

"I know you are not."

"Thank you, Lord."

"You belong here, Aeleva. You are not a simple farm girl." I laughed at him statement.

"What?" He asked, turning to me. His face was smiling but his eyebrows were screwed together.

"You're not the first to say that to me." I explained.

And we fell into a comfortable silence again. Something about being far away from the Danish camp and them not being able to touch me, soothed me. I could see where they were. I tracked as much movement as possible.

"You know him don't you, Hagen?"

I thought for a moment. "I'm not sure I do." 

"I will leave you. Get some rest. Goodnight Aeleva." The Ealdorman said after a moment.

"Goodnight Lord."

I could see the Dane camp from the hill. I could see the tents and the fires glowing. I thought of what they were doing, I knew all too well what they do before battles and raids. Perhaps they were killing the livestock like they had done in Kolding. Perhaps they had a feast to please the Gods. I stayed on that slope, waiting for tiredness to come. But it did not. When I did put myself to bed, I only managed to get two hours of sleep before my mind woke me again.

Aeleva; The Viking SaxonWhere stories live. Discover now