CHAPTER THIRTY — FOUR
‘Confront Tostig and he will have you killed,’ Alric protested, throwing his arms around Hereward to hold him back.
‘Listen to the monk,’ Vadir boomed. A wall of muscle and bone, he stepped in front of the younger man. ‘Normally he speaks with an ale-tongue, but this time he’s right.’
Hereward’s anger burned. He threw Alric to one side with a ferocious sweep of his arm and drew his sword, pressing the tip against Vadir’s chest. ‘Out of my way, old man. I have waited too long for this moment.’
With his good eye, the big Mercian peered down his nose at his younger companion and then stepped aside. Hereward pushed by him towards the hall.
‘What are you doing?’ the monk shouted at Vadir. ‘Stop him.’
‘He is his own man. He lives or dies by his choices alone.’
Behind them, the horses stamped the wet turf and snorted hot, clouding breath into the cold air. The bishop had offered them double their wage to stay on in Cambrai, but Hereward rebuffed all his pleas. Only one thing now mattered. The ride from the monastery had been hard and fast, with Hereward just managing to stay ahead of his two pursuing companions. Saint-Omer had been abuzz with talk of Tostig and his wife’s arrival, and it had been easy to locate the hall Count Baldwin had already presented to his English son. Partly constructed long ago from stone and now extended with a timber frame and roof to emphasize its status, the building stood in its own estate with views across the town and the green, and the gold and brown Flemish countryside beyond.
Hereward seethed that Tostig should be so rewarded even in his time of failure. Bursting through the door, he found the former earl and his wife in conversation with three loyal Northumbrian followers. Recognizing Hereward, the men stepped back, hands falling to their sword hilts, but the Mercian could see they were afraid.
When he marched across the hall, Judith gathered her dress and stepped to meet him. The warrior kept his gaze firmly on Tostig. ‘You would hide behind your wife now?’
‘Hereward, there is no need for threats,’ Judith urged, concerned. ‘You risk only your own life. Things are not as they were-’
‘Who here is going to stop me gaining my revenge for the plot that took the life of my love?’ His eyes glittered.
‘They are,’ Tostig replied with a faint sneer. He waved a lazy hand towards the door.
Glancing back, Hereward saw Alric and Vadir forced in at spear-point, followed by a stream of soldiers in mail and helmets. The force flowed around the edge of the hall. Men caught his arms and knocked his sword from his hand. These were not inexperienced men torn from the land to support Tostig, but well-trained, professional troops, part of Saint-Omer’s standing defence.
‘Count Baldwin has saved your neck,’ Hereward said, ‘for now.’
‘More than that. The count has made me a trusted ally,’ Tostig replied.
A man with long black hair streaked with silver and a drooping moustache and pointed beard pushed his way past the soldiers. Hereward saw from his gold amulet and rings and his fine ochre tunic that the new arrival was a man of standing.
‘This is Wulfric Rabe, castellan of Saint-Omer,’ Tostig said.
Turfrida’s father. Hereward recalled the gentle time he had spent with Turfrida and wished it could have been longer.
‘Count Baldwin has made me the deputy commander here,’ the former earl continued, ‘and working alongside my new friend I will ensure peace and stability in Flanders.’
‘As you did in Northumbria?’
Judith cautioned Hereward with her eyes.
Tostig looked as though he was about to fly into a rage. But then his shoulders sagged and exhaustion crumpled his face. ‘Set him free,’ he muttered, waving the back of his hand towards the soldiers. ‘You were unfairly treated in Eoferwic, I see that now. We were both victims of my brother’s plotting.’ His right fist bunched. ‘Though we are blood, Harold and I, we are brothers no more.’
‘He betrayed you.’
‘Harold betrays everyone sooner or later,’ Tostig snapped. ‘He has made one of your own Earl of Northumbria. A Mercian.’ He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Kin of his greatest, most hated rivals, but now they serve a purpose — to unite England and thereby keep William the Bastard in Normandy. And I… I am sent into exile like some murdering criminal.’
‘Like me,’ Hereward said.
‘Work with me against our common enemy. I need good fighting men. I have lost my huscarls, and though I have these Flemings under my command-’
‘You cannot take them to England and risk starting a war.’
Tostig nodded.
Hereward spat. ‘And you believe I could raise my sword in your defence?’
‘Listen to my husband,’ Judith said. He turned to look at her and saw deep lines etched in her face, the mark of the toll taken upon her by the flight from England. ‘You are more alike than you might think,’ she continued. ‘Listen to your heart. Listen to God. Find forgiveness.’
‘We do not need to fight any longer,’ Tostig said. He beckoned to a slave for a cup of mead and downed it in one go. ‘I was misled by my brother. And now, see, we are two Englishmen in a strange land, far from the fields we know, both exiles, both cut adrift. We can find common purpose.’
‘Listen to him,’ Vadir urged. When Hereward glanced back, the elder Mercian gave a knowing wink.
Three years earlier, Hereward knew he would have ignored all entreaties, ignored even his own safety, and carved a path to kill the man with his bare hands if necessary. Yet now he could see his one-time enemy was right. Tostig was just as much a victim of his brother’s plotting as was Hereward.
Steadying himself, he said, ‘My sword, and the employ of my friends, comes at a high price.’
‘Done.’ Tostig broke into a triumphant grin, as if he had already struck a blow at his brother. ‘Count Baldwin has not only put his forces at my disposal, but also granted me the taxes collected in Saint-Omer. I will pay you well. And with the fleet he has promised me, we shall see who eventually sits upon the throne of England.’ He hurled the mead-cup across the hall in an explosion of defiance.
Out in the thin sunshine, Hereward pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. ‘For nigh on two years I have dreamed of closing my hands around Tostig’s throat and in the blink of an eye he is my ally. I feel as if I am moving through yesterday’s fog.’
‘This is the business of leaders, little man,’ Vadir laughed, slapping his friend on the back. ‘It’s all fog and smoke, as murky as hell. You cannot trust any of the bastards, but if you keep your eye on an advantage you’ll come out of it with gold at the least.’
‘All I want is Harold dead and Tidhild avenged.’
Vadir smiled. ‘Do not turn your nose up at gold.’
Hereward still felt unsure he had done the right thing. He allowed himself to be led into the crowded streets of Saint-Omer to find a tavern. When they had eaten their fill of bread and blood pudding, and Vadir was preparing to settle in for a day’s drinking to celebrate the confirmation of their winter employment, Hereward took his leave. He felt as adrift as he had during the days of his youth when he had drunk and fought and robbed and tormented the good people around Barholme. Would killing Tostig have satisfied him? Would killing Harold?
He found Wulfric Rabe’s house easily, a newly built timber hall with two floors set in a sprawling estate, grand enough for a military leader and the defender of the people. Turfrida stood in the doorway, smiling.
‘When did you return?’ Hereward asked, shocked.
‘Three days ago. I knew I would meet you here.’
He laughed. ‘ I did not know I would be here until last night.’
Turfrida’s eyes sparkled. ‘Come. Let me show you the streets of my home. Which is your home now.’
She took his hand and led him back among the houses and workshops, amid the scent of woodsmoke and the apples stored in the barns, and she whispered the stories of her childhood that made the town and the past come alive for him.
By the time the frosts whitened the fields and bejewelled the cobwebs hanging from the thatch, they had
