the wench is taken with you already and would remain at Aelf-dene.'
Eadwine Aethelhard's deep laughter boomed through his hall. 'The girl would rather be anywhere but where she is at this moment, you old robber!' Chuckling, he delved into his purse which hung from the wide leather belt girding his tunic and drew out two silver coins. 'Here, and you are welcome to stay the night, Ruari Ban. Tell me, does my new slave speak our tongue?'
'She does, my lord,' replied the slaver, hefting the coins within his palm to ascertain their weight.
'The weight is true.' Eadwine Aethelhard chuckled, and turning to Wynne, said gently, 'Reclothe yourself, lass, and tell me your name.'
'My name is Wynne, my lord.' She bent and drew her gown back up, fastening it neatly at the neckline, retying the rope belt about her waist.
'Are you hungry?' he asked.
'Aye, my lord. I have not eaten since morning,' Wynne said quietly, and then she looked him full in the face.
'You won't go hungry here, Wynne,' he told her. Then he looked about the hall and, finding what he sought, he called, 'Ealdraed, to me.'
An elderly woman hobbled across the hall. 'Aye, my lord?'
'This is Wynne. Take her and feed her. Then bring her to the Great Chamber,' Eadwine directed.
The old lady nodded and, smiling a toothless smile at Wynne, said, 'Come girl. From the look of you I can see you need feeding up.'
Ruari Ban took himself below the salt, accepting a plate of hot food and a goblet of ale from a servant. Eadwine Aethelhard was a hospitable man, and he'd sleep warm in his hall this night. His host rejoined his family at the high board and the conversation that followed was a heated one. The last thing Ruari Ban had expected when he had brought Wynne to Aelf-dene was that the thegn himself would desire the wench. He shrugged and patted at the new weight in his purse. It was a fine profit! Brys of Cai had certainly done him a very good turn.
At the high board Caddaric Aethelmaere was working himself into a fine rage. He wanted to have the Welsh slave, and as it was rare that he had been denied anything in his life; he was not accepting his father's decision in the matter with ease or good grace. 'You took her because you knew I wanted her,' he grumbled half to himself.
'I took her because she is the first woman since your mother to genuinely stir my loins,' the thegn told his eldest son. 'I am not so old that a woman cannot arouse me. This one did it with a look. It is rare I want anything for myself, Caddaric. Something I cannot say for you or your women. I do not need to explain myself to you or to your brother. My will is law at Aelfdene, and it will be until I am dead. I expect to live a very long time, my sons, particularly now that I have such a toothsome playmate to amuse me.'
Baldhere Armstrang burst out laughing. 'You have surprised me, Father,' he said. 'I shall never again consider you predictable in your habits.'
Eadwine chuckled. 'You are wiser than your brother,' he said.
'I know,' came the reply.
'You may jest if you choose,' Caddaric snarled, 'but what if Father gets this slave with child? What then, Baldhere the Wise?'
'Why then, my dear Caddaric, we shall have a little sister or brother to amuse us. I find the prospect most delightful,' Baldhere mocked his elder.
Caddaric arose from the high board and stamped angrily from the hall, his wife, Eadgyth Crookback, scurrying in his wake.
'Poor Eadgyth,' said Baldhere. 'She will have a hard night of it.'
'Not Eadgyth,' said Aeldra Swanneck in superior tones. 'He will abuse the others in her stead. For reasons I do not understand, he respects Eadgyth. I am glad, nonetheless, Father, that you have given us each our own small hall. Haesel is particularly noisy when Caddaric beats her. At least the children will not be awakened.'
'You have given your sons their own halls?' the slaver asked, surprised. 'That is very generous of you, my lord.'
'Generosity be damned, my friend,' the thegn said, laughing. 'Caddaric has a wife and four contentious lesser women. Baldhere has a wife, two lesser women, and six noisy little children, only one of them a boy. One of his women is pregnant with another child. They are welcome in my house during the day, but when the night falls, Ruari Ban, I have reached an age when I want my quiet. My grandchildren run about the hall shrieking. They are small, and so they fall frequently and then set up a howling that would wake the heroes in Valhalla. They poke at the dogs and pull at their ears and tails. When they are bitten for their pains, their mothers come whining to me about my hounds. I gave my sons and their families each a small hall of their own because it suited me to do so. There are some who call me foolish for it, and others who think I do not love my family, but I do. I simply want some peace and quiet of an evening.'
'Yours is not a problem I have ever had to face, my lord, being that I have no real home and family. I am not sure if I envy you or not,' the slaver replied.
'Get yourself a house, Ruari Ban, and find a good young woman to keep you content in your old age,' Eadwine Aethelhard advised. 'It is not such a bad life. And now I shall bid you good night.' He arose from the high board and, walking across the hall, climbed up the stairs to the Great Chamber of the manor house.
The Great Chamber was the place where the family could retire from the hall for privacy in the manor house. Eadwine Aethelhard's home was somewhat more luxurious than many of his neighbors in that it was constructed entirely of stone but for its thatched roof. The Great Chamber extended over only about half of the hall below. It had once contained the sleeping spaces for the thegn, his late wife Mildraed, their sons, and later their sons' wives. The sleeping spaces were set into the stone walls, leaving the floor space free for table, chests, and benches.
Mildraed had even kept her loom here. He had given it to Eadgyth Crookback when she had died. By that time he had moved his sons out of his manor house and into their own halls. His desire for privacy was considered quite odd by most of his neighbors.
Ealdraed was waiting for him as he entered the chamber. 'I put the girl in your sleeping space, my lord. You did not say to do otherwise.'
He nodded, and she began to help him undress. 'I want you to look after Wynne,' he told the old woman. 'She is not, I think, slaveborn. Put her to simple tasks during the day.'
'Aye, my lord.'
'Did she eat well?'
'Aye, my lord. Poor girl was very hungry, and her with child too. Most ladylike she was too, my lord, despite her hunger. Dainty with her food, unlike those women of your sons.'
'Aye, you nosy old witch,' he told her in response to her sly unasked question. 'I'm taking this girl for my woman. Does that tell you what you want to know?' He chuckled.
'And about time too, my lord,' she snapped pertly back at him, and then she eyed his naked figure boldly. 'Yer still a young man, my lord. You should have your own woman and not have to go about tumbling serfs beneath the hedges.'
'Is there nothing that goes on at Aelfdene that you do not know about, Ealdraed?' he demanded in mock outrage.
The elderly lady cackled merrily. 'I do not think so, my lord. I do not think so,' she told him. 'What else is there for a woman of my many years to do but put her nose in everyone else's business?' She gathered up his clothes and began to fold them. 'There is water in the basin, my lord.'
He quickly washed his hands and splashed the water upon his face, brushing the droplets from his beard. 'Good night, Ealdraed,' he called, hearing her footsteps as she hobbled down the stairs. Then, turning, he walked across the room and climbed into his bed space.
Wynne lay as far away from him as she could, her back to him, next to the wall. He could tell from her breathing that she was not asleep though she attempted to feign it. He held the coverlet back admiring the graceful line of her back as it moved downward into her prettily rounded buttocks. She shivered suddenly and, softly chiding himself for his thoughtlessness, he drew the coverlet over them both.
'You are not asleep,' he said.
'No, I am not,' she answered honestly.
He moved himself next to her, rolling onto his side, reaching out to draw her into the curve of his body. His big
