complex came into view; large stables, the armoury building with its attached covered weapons-practice area, the granary, the barn where the hay was stored and the storehouses and workshops, including the shed where Alan whiled away hours in constructing ever more efficient siege weapons.
The servants hurried out of the Hall to welcome their lord home, although Alan was glad to see that Anne had not come outside. Alan waved a hand gloved in soggy leather and shouted, “Thank you all! Please get inside out of the rain, except for a couple of grooms to take the horses. The poor bastards are just about all in.” After stiffly dismounting and handing the reins to a stable boy, Alan turned in time to catch Leof as he collapsed with leg-cramps. “You’ve got to get used to riding a horse, boy! It’s a damn sight better than walking. Go and sit by the fire and I’ll get Otha to get you some dry clothes. When I’ve finished with the hot-tub, have a long soak and get one of the younger girls to massage your legs. I’ve noticed Inga has been making eyes at you, so I’m sure she’ll help out if you offer to share the tub. Which reminds me, we need to get you a room of your own in the barracks. You’re old enough that you can’t keep on sleeping in the Hall, with no damned privacy. I’ll mention it to Steward Faran.”
After giving Leof a hand to the door and then letting somebody else take him over- Alan gave a chuckle when he saw it was Inga- he shed his water-logged cloak and gloves and approached the fire gratefully. “Some mulled wine, for the love of God!” shouted Alan to Otha. “And dry clothes for Leof. And get the hot-tub ready. And I want some damned food!” Just then he saw the diminutive shape of his wife sitting in a high-backed armchair near the fire and could see why she hadn’t hurried outside. As she struggled to her feet, using the arms on the chair for leverage, Alan notice that not only had she a grossly swollen belly, but that the baby had dropped. “Sweet Jesu! It’s good to see you again!” he said after he helped her to rise and caught her in a hug, her head barely coming up to his chest. “It appears you’re carrying a giant and that he’s due any moment! How do you get up the stairs to the bedchamber?”
“With difficulty, my lord- slowly and with assistance. Using a chamber pot is an inconvenience, but better than a journey downstairs to the privy when I’m being kicked in the bladder! And I pray to God that it is a boy. Dear God, Alan! It’s good to see you again! Have you finished your work up north? Why ride in and not bring the ships home?”
Alan put a finger on her lips. “We’ll talk about that later,” he said. “For now, let me get warm, some dry clothes, have some hot food and drink and we can take a soak in the hot-tub. Me for my sore legs and you no doubt for a sore back.”
After a meal of herbed mutton stew and fresh bread which the hungry travelers wolfed down ravenously, Alan and Anne retired to the hot-tub to soak. The tub was an unusual creation and was comprised part of a tun barrel about three feet high and five feet across, sawn horizontally, with two small wooden benches of differing heights bolted to the inside to accommodate people of different sizes. The barrel was set slightly above the ground to allow periodic drainage and cleaning. There was a set of steps on the outside and a short ladder of four steps on the inside to assist people entering or leaving. The water, slightly less than the hundred gallon capacity of the part-barrel as it wasn’t filled to the brim, flowed through the water supply system Alan had created which drew water from a spring on a nearby low hill along pipes and into the New Hall complex. This also supplied the kitchen, stables, filled a cistern that would be able to be used in times of siege and also flushed out the latrines that Alan had built in the Roman style from plans he’d seen on an ancient scroll. The bath water was heated by passing through lead pipes above and behind the fire in the adjoining kitchen and furnace rooms and then flowed into one side of the tub in a steady but small stream. Excess water was extracted by a pipe on the other side of the barrel and flowed out as waste water, at about one gallon a minute.
Anne arrived shortly afterwards, wearing a thick robe and leather-soled slippers against the ten-pace journey along the paved path of the covered walkway between the Hall and the building that combined the kitchen, the bathing room and the furnace used to heat the air that passed through the hypocaust heating system used to warm the Hall. Anne had her gown and slippers removed by two of her maids, Synne and Esme, and stepped naked onto the large unbleached rug made of sheepskins that covered the floor near the bath steps. She was assisted up the outside steps by her maids and Alan rose to assist her down the steps on the inside, his nakedness emphasised by a giant erection that drew admiring glances from the two maids and a small smile from Anne, who reached to give the rampant member a squeeze as she turned and sat down on a ledge in the tub about six inches from the bottom.
Synne and Esme retired to the adjoining kitchen to await a call for their assistance and Alan settled back into the hot-tub, sitting on the carefully sanded floor next to Anne, so that his face was nearly level with Anne’s breasts, the nipples of which were bobbing on the surface as the breasts were supported by the water. Anne gave a sigh and rubbed her back, before returning one hand to stroke the underside of Alan’s member. “It appears you’ve been a long time without feminine company, which is just as well!” she commented.
“The mermaids are all well and good,” he replied, “but being fish from the waist down…” After several minutes of ministrations he gave a sigh of relief.
“And how was the north?” asked Anne, now that one job was out of the way.
“It was a strange existence, really. We found a cave that’s nice and dry and cosy and set up quarters there. The cave keeps the weather off and hides us. We’ve set it up with pots and pans for the cooking fire, straw mattresses and the like. The previous occupants had carved sleeping places and chairs out of the soft chalk. It’s a pirate’s cave. There’s fresh water from where a nearby spring runs down the cliff face. The food’s good. We catch some fish and have lobster pots in the sea outside the cave, and bring in fresh and preserved meat, vegetables, fruit and bread every time we voyage to Hartlepool or York. And ale by the barrel- everybody knows that drinking water is bad for you.
“Each ship takes it in turn to venture out, which usually means one day of sailing or two days of rowing either going or coming. There’s two days a week fairly intensive work manning the ship, and an anxious day ashore meeting the spies. The remainder of the week are pretty boring sitting in the cave in semi-darkness. I get the men to work on the boats, mainly to have something to do. We do some weapons training for the swordsmen- the bowmen can’t practice. The men sit around playing dice, knucklebones, eating and sleeping. Sometimes they go fishing in the sea or the sky- they use nets to catch birds in flight. It’s probably not that much different to acting as garrison of some remote village, but all the work is compressed into two or three days a week. The main problem is boredom, but it’s a lot less dangerous and a lot more comfortable than being on campaign.”
Anne gave a sigh as she sank a little lower in the warm water. “I’ve nearly lived in here in the hot-tub for the past month. The hot water is good for my back and floating in the water makes me feel less heavy and fat. How progresses the campaign? You haven’t mentioned anything about seeing the king or what he’s doing about the situation in Northumbria.”
With a start Alan realised that word of the current political and military situation hadn’t reached this remote part of East Anglia. “That’s because the king and his army aren’t there. York remains in the hands of the Aetheling’s men. There’s been a series of revolts in the south. Exeter was attacked and the last I heard Montacute was under siege with Count Robert of Mortain’s family trapped inside. More importantly the Mercians and Welsh have joined forces again and sacked Shrewsbury, although Roger de Montgomerie and his family were safe in the castle. The king and William fitzOsbern are busy in the west trying to catch the Welsh and drive them back over the border, which will be no easy task. Once that’s all attended to he can shift his attention north. At the moment Count Robert of Mortain and Count Robert of Eu are at Lincoln and holding the Danes and Northumbrians in place. When the king has overcome those problems he’ll march north. Other than the Welsh and the Danes, what’s been happening is mainly local squabbles that have been going on for years, shire against shire, and the fact that the English hate castles and want to tear them down. It’s not by chance that what I’ve built here is a fort, not a castle. It’s very similar to the traditional Saxon fortified
After an hour’s soak Alan called for Synne and Esme to assist their mistress out of the tub and then stepped out himself, drying himself with a rough towel before dressing in clean clothing. On entering the Hall he beckoned Leof over and said, “The hot-tub is all yours. Soak the pain out of your legs. I’ll arrange with Faran for your things to be put in a private room upstairs in the barracks, along with a mattress and some blankets.” Seeing Inga standing close by and listening closely Alan continued, “You! I have a pot of goose-grease with oil of wintergreen, which will need to be rubbed into the lad’s sore muscles after he’s soaked. You attend to it,” he instructed, with a wink to Leof.
Two days later Alan was surprised to receive a visit from Bishop William’s men Geoffrey of Rouen and the Frenchman Bernard of Nantes, the latter having replaced the Fleming Albyn of Bruges after his death fighting the
