New Shores ➳ The Last Kingdom | Finan the Agile (The Northman's Daughter 1)

THE MEETING

"We will rest here. Osferth set a fire. Sihtric, take care of the horses." One of the men instructed the other men.

The men followed the orders of the men without questioning. While the man with brown braided hair led the horses a bit away and fed them. The other man wearing something that looked like a cowl started a fire. No one noticed the woman sitting in the branches of a nearby tree. Well, one might have argued that she wasn't easy to spot, so who would blame them. Autumn was approaching with big steps, but the oak tree still bore quite a lot of leaves, and they hid her well even from trained eyes.

The woman's name was Shaylee, and she had been hiding in the leaves of the tree for quite a while now. Since she had discovered the group a couple of miles back, she had followed them, never letting them out of her sight. She was not used to visitors. Usually, not many men travelled through this valley. And the ones that did pass by did that as quickly as possible. Shaylee did not blame them. It was not a particularly beautiful valley; she had chosen to settle down this winter. It was a meagre valley, it might be prettier when spring came, but it was grey and unpaved right now. Only a narrow street, barely more than a path following the cold river on the bottom of the valley.

But the beauty of her temporary home had not really been a factor in her evaluation. If it had been anything, then it would have been a disadvantage. Lovely landscapes attracted more people, and the more people were passing through, the more on guard she had to be. It had been more important for her that a lot of game was roaming around in the forest on both hillsides. And on the bottom of the valley, there was a river, slowly making his way to the sea. So as long as she had her bow and was able to walk down to the river, food and water were secured. That was all she really cared about.

Furthermore, this area was avoided by people from Mercia. This was the first group that stayed the night. They camped in a swale not far away from the road but still in a big enough distance to not get discovered too quickly. It was probably the best place to stay within a couple of miles. They knew what they were doing; Shaylee was sure of that.

Meanwhile, the smell of stew wafted up to her. Shaylee's stomach was rumbling, too. When she saw the men, she had been on her way back from hunting. She had been looking forward to something warm to drink and something to eat. But then she had discovered the group of warriors and decided that she would better keep an eye on them. And so, she was sitting on a tree now, still hungry and a bit pissed at herself. The next time she would go hunting. She would make sure that she had something to eat and drink in her bag. But tonight, she would stay hungry. Because she would not leave the oak, she was sitting on before the men would ride back to the road and leave the valley. Till then, she would not let men out of her sight. So, for better or for worse, she would be spending the night in the branches of this oak.

To distract herself from the feeling of hunger, she eyed the men down in the clearing more closely. The chain of command was undisputed. The tall man with long brown hair was unquestioned, the leader of the group. However, Shaylee had difficulty assigning the group to the Danes or the Saxons. Some men looked like Danes, and some were undeniable Saxons. There even seemed to be monks among the men—a weird mixture of men, especially these times.

One of the men, in particular, caught Shaylee's eye. He was a little smaller than the leader and seemed to be his second-in-command. Unlike his leader, he had short brown hair and looked more like a Saxon. She couldn't see any details from a distance, but he had broad shoulders and radiated confidence that could have made him a leader. He and the Dane-looking leader were sitting by the fire together, and the laughter of the men reached Shaylee in the upper branches of the oak tree. The men did not seem to be too worried that someone could attack them. But Shaylee did not miss that they glanced over the surrounding trees every once in a while. They might not seem like it, but they were ready for battle at any moment.