A/N: In honour of the fact I blurted out a ridiculous number of words for my dissertation and finished it, here's another chapter.
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I had given in in the end and allowed Uhtred and Finan to take the children from me. I could not walk quickly with both of them, and my dress weighed me down enough as it was. We were now in a field somewhere, with long grass and wildflowers that I let slide between my fingers.
"You never did answer me," Stiorra mused as she walked beside me.
"I'm sorry?" I breathed out, raising my hand to wipe the specks of sweat off my forehead.
"When you found us," Stiorra reminded me, "I asked how it was possible for someone to spend their whole life never having encountered a Dane."
"Oh," was my brilliant response to her perfectly valid question.
"Have you always been sheltered?" Stiorra, who had no regard for beating around the bush, continued her interrogation.
"Not particularly," I frowned slightly, shaking my head, "I heard plenty about the Danes and what they did, mostly from Aethelflaed and Aldhelm but whenever they attacked, I always seemed to be somewhere else." I shrugged slightly, my dress moving up as I did as I had the fabric bundled in my palms, "It is a blessing, I am told."
"Told by who?" Stiorra mimicked my frown, "Not all Danes are bad people."
"Priests," I snorted softly, "and they are bitter men, all of them, so I doubted their words often, but I never had the proof to support my doubts."
"You have it now," Stiorra countered, "you've met Danes now."
"Indeed," I agreed, "and from what I have seen so far, the Danes are no better and no worse than Mercians or Saxons."
"That is a bold statement," Stiorra's voice weakened, and she wrinkled her nose before sneezing softly.
Finan whipped around in an instant, his face laced with horror, "What's wrong with you?"
"I have a fever from the grasses," Stiorra protested swiftly, "I do not have it!"
"Of course not," I assured her as well, "and if you have it, then by now, I surely do too."
"Good God, do not say such things," Finan groaned, turning back around.
"Finan, the sickness would not strike this fast," Uhtred sighed, shaking his head at Finan and adjusting Aelfwynn in his hold.
Finan's face fell, "You've not seen what I have, Lord—Oh, hey!" He cut off to grab the boy's hands as they reached to cover his eyes while he held him on his shoulders, "How many times do I have to tell you? You can not do that!" He paused with a huff, "Who are you anyway?"
Silently, I admitted that I wanted to know, too.
"I am no one," the little boy muttered the same response he had given me when I had first asked him the same question.
"He's Aethelstan, Edward's firstborn son," Uhtred revealed calmly, falling back so we could all walk closer to one another.
"Hidden child of Edward!" Finan's face fell into a soft concern, "How did he survive this long?"
"He's driven by a mission to annoy me, aren't you, Aethelstan?" Stiorra joked lightly, pulling a face at the little boy.
"Better keep him safe, Finan," Osferth added on with a cheeky grin, "That's royal blood you're carrying." He stopped then, opening his arms wide, "Welcome to the bastard life, boy."
Sihtric laughed good-naturedly, throwing his arm over Osferth's shoulders as he did.
"You are a bastard, Osferth?" I dropped my dress, growing sick of the feeling of damp silk in my palms.
"Not just any bastard," Finan snorted, "Alfred's bastard."
I stopped short, my mouth falling open very slightly, "Alfred?! As in the king?"
"The one and only," Osferth laughed lightly.
"God," I scoffed quietly before shaking my head, "are all the bastards that join Lord Uhtred of royal birth?"
"Not me," Sihtric offered me a small smile, "I'm just common."
Osferth snorted, "Fathered by a Lord, he was."
"Lord Uhtred, is being a royal bastard a requirement to join you?" I turned my head sharply to the Lord that walked ahead.
Uhtred laughed softly, "Not always. I also allow the occasional noble or prince to join me."
I scanned the remainder of his men, my eyes landing on Finan, who was the only one who remained, "Surely you are not a prince?"
"My lips are sealed, Lady," Finan chortled, raising his hand to mime the action of locking his lips.
I did not know if he was being honest or not, but if he truly was a prince, then Uhtred might have had the strangest band of men serving under him. I let out a long breath before nodding, "Right then, I shall be sure to refer to you all as Lord from now on."
"There's no need for that," Osferth laughed easily.
"Oh, no, I insist, Lord," I emphasised the word, "I did not realise that Lord Uhtred had such high standards for the men who served him. Had I known, I would have sent Aldhelm so that he may suffer if he displeases any of you."
"I am glad you did not," Finan shuddered playfully, "I can not stand his rigidness."
"He is not always rigid," I denied, "he has his moments."
"Perhaps when he is sleepin'," Finan threw back just as easily, "close to him, are you?"
"I was to marry him at one point," I revealed simply, "but that idea was put to rest after a game of ale horseshoes."
"Ale horseshoes?" Finan frowned in confusion, "I've never heard of that."
"It's quite simple," I shrugged, "you get drunk off ale and then, toss horseshoes at a pin."
"Oh, so normal horseshoes then," he grinned, pausing briefly to raise Aethelstan off his shoulders and set him down on the ground.
"Precisely," I smiled back, taking one of Aethelstan's hands in mine as Finan took his other one.
"And you won the game?" Finan raised his brows in question.
"The opposite actually," I snorted, "I have terrible aim, and it just so happened that I hurled the horseshoe so badly, it nearly hit Aethelred's head. We cancelled the game after that, and I was put into jail for the night—"
"You've been to jail?" Young Uhtred blurted out, his disdain evident.
"Shush, the adults are talking," I dismissed him carelessly before turning my attention back to Finan, "anyway, Alfred had me be released and declared that Aldhelm wanted nothing more to do with me and so the betrothal was off." I shrugged calmly, "It's funny that he ended up being one of my closest friends instead. He never could be rid of me, not that he didn't try."
"I sense another great story," Finan reached out his free hand to ruffle Aethelstan's hair.
"After Aethelflaed was kidnapped by Danes," I recalled, "Aldhelm locked me in my room for two weeks so I could not tattle to Alfred about how Aethelred had stupidly taken Aethelflaed to battle with him."
"And you let him get away with it?" Stiorra demanded, "I would have struck him with an axe."
"I nearly did," I admitted sheepishly, smiling back at her, "but he begged so nicely, I decided to let him go with no further punishment."
"Truly?" Osferth threw me an amused stare.
"After I stole his clothes from beside the river whilst he was bathing," my smile grew, "it is very amusing to see a man of status run naked through Winchester."
Finan looked as though I had handed him a cart full of gold, "Remind me never to get onto your bad side."
"It is right at the end of this field," Uhtred called back suddenly, "we should be able to see the cross any moment."
"That was faster than I expected." I squeezed Aethelstan's hand gently, looking around the field and spotting the cross in the distance. It was tall and dark, overlooking the field. Though, no matter how hard I looked, I could not spot the figures of Aethelflaed or Aldhelm anywhere.
We reached the hill after a few more minutes of dragging our feet through the grass, and I was more than happy to throw myself down onto the soil once we arrived at the cross.
Uhtred disappeared to survey the surroundings, checking to see if Aethelflaed was anywhere nearby.
Osferth and Sihtric sat beside me, coaxing the children to themselves before they leaned back and relaxed in the warm grass.
I squinted against the sun, raising my hand to shield my eyes, "Where has Finan rushed off to?"
Sihtric motioned behind me with his head, and silently, all of us turned to look behind us to the overgrown grass that Finan was walking between, swishing his sword out at it.
"What on Earth is he doing?" I mused, pushing myself up on my elbows and watching the Irishman pace and mutter to himself.
"Panicking," Osferth decided, "or maybe, he has gone mad."
"I would not be too surprised," I grinned, "Aethelstan pulled out a lot of his hair, I wonder if with it, he pulled out his sanity too."
Osferth smiled widely before looking back to Finan, "What are you looking for, Finan?"
A strange, low mumble escaped Finan's throat that had us all looking to each other from some explanation.
"Eh?" Osferth tried again.
Finan removed the piece of cloth he'd been using to cover his nose and mouth, "Bodies! I know the sickness is close."
"I did not know Finan was a seer," I mumbled quietly.
"Why are you shitting yourself?" Sihtric called out to the Irish warrior.
Finan sighed so loudly we could hear it all the way across the field, "I've seen men as strong as bears at breakfast time," the warrior walked back over towards us, "gurglin' blood and pus by supper time!"
"Delightful," I pulled a face of disgust.
"You little runt!" Finished Finan with a low growl to his voice.
Uhtred walked back over to us, stepping away from Stiorra and Young Uhtred that sat closer to the cross than us. He pointed his finger out at Aelfwynn, who was draped out over my stomach, "We should get her out of the sun. It is not good for her."
"Aelfwynn, dear," I cooed softly, "be a good girl and hide under my skirt. I've not the strength to drag you into the shade."
Aelfwynn giggled quietly, pulling up one layer of my three layers of dresses and promptly sticking her head under it.
Finding this incredibly amusing, Aethelstan followed Aelfwynn's lead and stuck his head under my dress as well, both children laying on my knees.
"That should stop the sun fever from harming them," I grinned up at Uhtred.
"Room for one more under there?" Finan chirped, his voice coy as he returned from his frantic searches for bodies, collapsing beside us. "I fear the sun fever has already set in for me, my neck's all hot."
"Oh dear," I feigned concern, turning to Sihtric whose leather armour happened to extend past his knees. "Sihtric, I have run out of room under my frock. Perhaps you could save Finan?"
Sihtric played along, lifting the flap of his armour and wiggling his eyebrows at Finan, who promptly responded by throwing a handful of ripped grass at the Dane.
"Lady Aethelflaed is not coming," announced Uhtred with a small sigh, surveying the field again.
"Then, let's go," Finan chirped, his smile falling, "I would rather not wait for the foul air to catch us."
I sat up promptly, my smile falling as well, "Lord, I promised Lady Aethelflaed that I would bring you here."
"And you did that," Uhtred nodded slowly, "but on horseback, she must have been here first. She would have gone on to Ceaster as agreed. We must move."
I pulled on my dress, revealing the two children, "Lord, the children are tired as it is. We can not travel endlessly."
"We must leave here at least and go as far as we can," Uhtred countered, offering his hand to Aelfwynn so that she could stand, "we will go as far as we can and then rest."
Finan pushed himself up as well, offering me his hand, "They'll be alright, children are often more resilient than adults."
I accepted his hand, letting him pull me up, "I pray you are right, for I have never let down Aethelflaed, and I do not intend to start now."
"Aelfwynn will be fine," Finan pat my hand softly before motioning for me to follow Uhtred.
I huffed softly, doing as he asked, "She has to be."
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