A Moment in Time

wound more fully and repair the damage done.

Eadwine Aethelhard drifted in and out of consciousness most of the night. Although he burned with fever, Wynne knew that it was just his body's way of fighting any infection attacking him. It was the loss of blood that was going to kill him. As the night ended, the thegn grew suddenly quite clearheaded for a brief time.

'Bring the family,' he commanded Wynne, and she hurried about the hall waking them, for none had left them during the dark hours.

When they all stood about him, Eadwine said, 'I am dying. I feel it. Caddaric, my son. You are my heir. Aelfdene is yours. I give you my blessing, but you must promise me this.'

'Anything, Father!' Caddaric said, unable to conceal his eagerness to inherit.

A small bitter smile touched the thegn's mouth, and he continued, visibly weaker now. 'Be good to Eadgyth. To your… women.'

'I will, Father.'

'Swear you will honor and protect your baby sister, Averel, my son.'

'I swear it, Father! I will guard my sister with my life, and see she is well wed one day,' Caddaric vowed, and in this he was quite sincere, for he had no malice toward the little girl.

'And Arvel too! I… have made him… mine.'

'The boy will not suffer at my hands, Father,' Caddaric said, perhaps a bit more evasively. No, Arvel would not suffer unless his mother proved uncooperative, which Caddaric knew she would not if the child's safety were in question. Wynne was above all else a good mother, and Arvel would be held hostage to his mother's behavior.

'Wynne!' Eadwine croaked, his voice beginning to grow weaker.

'I am here, my love,' she said, bending to make it easier for him.

'I never loved any but… you, my wild… Welsh… girl,' he told her. 'No other. '

'Eadwine,' she half moaned, 'I cannot bear that this should be! I have been trained my life long to save lives, but I have not the skills of a surgeon. Forgive me!'

He smiled and nodded weakly. 'I do.'

'I love you,' Wynne told him. 'In the beginning I could not, but I came to it. How could I not love you? You are the kindest, the best man I have ever known!'

'Better than the… other?' he asked softly.

'Aye!' she answered quickly, and he smiled again, knowing she lied, but the very lie assuring him that she did indeed love him at least as well as she loved her prince.

The thegn spoke again. 'Caddaric, my son!'

'Aye, Father?'

'Swear to me that you will honor, respect, and protect my wife and my widow. Swear you will watch over Wynne!' It took almost the last of his strength.

Caddaric Aethelmaere looked down at his dying father. The life was fading swiftly from his eyes. But a moment or two longer, he thought dispassionately.

A sudden and horrible realization sprang Onto the thegn's face. Reaching out with a surprisingly strong hand, he grasped his son by the arm. 'Swear!' he croaked, trying to keep the desperation from his voice as his very life ebbed to a close. 'Swear!'

'Caddaric, my husband, in the name of God, I beg you to swear,' Eadgyth Crookback pleaded.

'My lord! My lord!' His four lesser women were clustering about him, clutching at his sleeves with irritating fingers. He shook them off.

'Swear!' Eadwine Aethelhard's voice had sunk to a whisper, but still they all heard the word plainly said.

Caddaric Aethelmaere's cold eyes met those of Wynne's even as the death rattle sounded in Eadwine Aethelhard's throat.

Eadgyth and the others fell to their knees and began praying as the thegn's grip loosened on his son's arm and fell away. The coals in the fire pits crackled eerily. Old Ealdraed shuffled slowly across the hall, opening the door to the morning. A broad ray of sun splashed across the floor as the portal swung wide. Beyond, the clear song of the lark was heard, and then, his gaze never leaving Wynne's, the new thegn of Aelfdene manor said in a hard, harsh voice, 'Now, Welsh woman, you are mine!'

Chapter 17

Despite the bright December sunlight, the day was somber. Wynne moved away from Eadwine's body and over to Eadgyth.

'What are your customs for burying the dead?' she asked the kneeling woman. It was the day of the Winter Solstice, she thought. As good a day as any to die. Silent tears rolled down her beautiful face.

Drained, Eadgyth pulled herself to her feet. 'In the old days,' she began, 'the custom amongst our people was cremation, although those to the south of us interred their dead in the earth with as many grave goods as the deceased was worthy of and could afford. Since the coming of the priests, we merely bury our dead. The cemetery is next to the little church.'

'Will you help me prepare the body?' Wynne inquired. She was feeling tired, and she was shocked by Caddaric's words to her across poor Eadwine's fallen body. Her breasts ached terribly, and looking down, she could see the front of her tunic dress was stained with not only Eadwine's blood, but her milk as well.

'Of course I will help,' Eadgyth said quickly, seeing Wynne's predicament, and she put a comforting arm about Wynne, 'but first you should feed Averel.'

'Do not begin without me,' Wynne said grimly. 'I owe Eadwine every consideration due a good lord by his wife.' She moved away from Eadgyth's embrace and took her sleeping daughter from her nurse's lap. Wearily she climbed the stairs to the Great Chamber, where she changed Averel's napkin and then sat down, almost totally spent, to nurse her daughter. She cradled the baby protectively as the child suckled her vigorously. Slow, hot tears slid unchecked down Wynne's face as she considered her dangerous position at Aelfdene now.

Caddaric had made his position very clear, but she simply could not accept such a thing. Wynne knew she was in a far more difficult position than when she had first come to Aelfdene. Then she was simply carrying a child. Now she had two children born and dependent upon her for their very lives. If she fled, she could not possibly succeed with two children in tow. She therefore had no choice. She must remain at Aelfdene, but how she could remain and be safe from Caddaric's lust was another matter. She needed rest and time to think. Instinctively she knew that Eadgyth would help her.

She felt his eyes on her and looked up to see that Caddaric had entered the Great Chamber. How long he had been there she was not certain. He lounged arrogantly against the lintel of the door, and she longed to kill him where he stood. 'What do you want?' she demanded in an icy voice that did nothing to hide her loathing and distaste for him. 'It will distress your sister if you disturb her meal. Have you sent a messenger to your brother's hall yet?'

'If you are thinking of leaving Aelfdene,' he said in a blustering tone, ignoring her question, 'do not. It would displease me to have to brand you for a runaway slave.'

'I am no slave, and you know it well,' Wynne returned in angry but even tones. 'I am your father's widow and the mother of his daughter. I would hardly be so flighty as to remove Averel from her home and the security of her brother's care. Remember that you promised your father on his deathbed to care for your sister and her half brother. I will never leave my children, Caddaric. Therefore, I will be here to be certain that you keep that promise to your father.'