while all about the walls were platforms where, in normal times, folk slept or ate to be out of the fierce draughts. This day, though, the platforms were crammed with the followers of the thegns and noblemen of the Witan and among them, of course, were a lot of priests and monks, for Alfred's court was more like a monastery than a royal hall. Beocca gestured that Iseult and Haesten should join those spectators, then he drew me towards the half circle of privileged advisers.
No one noticed my arrival. It was dark in the hall, for little of the wintry sunshine penetrated the small high windows. Braziers tried to give some warmth, but failed, succeeding only in thickening the smoke in the high rafters. There was a large central hearth, but the fire had been taken away to make room for the witanegemot's circle of stools, chairs and benches. A tall man in a blue cloak was on his feet as I approached. He was talking of the necessity of repairing bridges, and how local thegns were skimping the duty, and he suggested that the king appoint an official to survey the kingdom's roads.
Another man interrupted to complain that such an appointment would encroach on the privileges of the shire ealdormen, and that started a chorus of voices, some for the proposal, most against, arid two priests, seated at a small table beside Alfred's dais, tried to write down all the comments. I recognised Wulfhere, the Ealdorman of Wiltunscir, who yawned prodigiously. Close to him was Alewold, the Bishop of Exanceaster, who was swathed in furs. Still no one noticed me. Beocca had held me back, as if waiting for a lull in the proceedings before finding me a seat. Two servants brought in baskets of logs to feed the braziers, and it was then that, ?lswith saw me and she leaned across and whispered in Alfred's ear. He had been paying close attention to the discussion, but now looked past his council to stare at me.
And a silence fell on that great hall. There had been a murmur of voices when men saw the king being distracted from the argument about bridges and they had all turned to look at me and then there was the silence that was broken by a priest's sneeze and a sudden odd scramble as the men closest to me, those sitting beside the cold stones of the hearth, moved to one side. They were not making way for me, but avoiding me.
?lswith was smiling and I knew I was in trouble then. My hand instinctively went to my left side, but of course I had no sword so could not touch her hilt for luck. 'We shall talk of bridges later,' Alfred said. He stood. He wore a bronze circlet as a crown and had a fur-trimmed blue robe, matching the gown worn by his wife.
'What is happening?' I asked Beocca.
'You will be silent!' it was Odda the Younger who spoke. He was dressed in his war-glory, in shining mail covered by a black cloak, in high boots and with a red-leather sword belt from which hung his weapons, for Odda, as commander of the king's troops, was permitted to go armed in the royal hall. I looked into his eyes and saw triumph there, the same triumph that was on the Lady ?lswith's pinched face, and I knew I had not been brought to receive the king's favour, but summoned to face my enemies.
I was right. A priest was called from the dark gaggle beside the door. He was a young man with a pouchy, scowling face. He moved briskly, as if the day did not have enough hours to complete his work.
He bowed to the king, then took a parchment from the table where the two clerks sat and came to stand in the centre of the Witan's circle.
'There is an urgent matter,' Alfred said, 'which, with the Witan's permission, we shall deal witch now.' No one there was likely to disagree, so a low murmur offered approval of interrupting the more mundane discussions. Alfred nodded. 'Father Erkenwald will read the charges,' the king said, and took his throne again.
Charges? I was confused like a boar trapped between hounds and spears, and I seemed incapable of movement so I just stood there as Father Erkenwald unrolled the parchment and cleared his throat.
'Uhtred of Oxton,' he said, speaking in a high and precise voice, ‘you are this day charged with the crime of taking a king's ship without our king's consent, and with taking that ship to the country of Cornwalum and there making war against the Britons, again without our king's consent, and this we can prove by oaths,’
There was a small murmur in the hall, a murmur that was stilled when Alfred raised a thin hand.
'You are further charged,' Erkenwald went on, 'with making an alliance with the pagan called Svein, and with his help you murdered Christian folk in Cornwalum, despite those folk living in peace with our king, and this also we can prove by oaths.'
He paused, and now there was complete silence in the hall.
'And you are charged,' Erkenwald's voice was lower now, as though he could scarce believe what he was reading, 'with joining the pagan Svein in an attack on our blessed king's realm by committing vile murder and impious church-robbery at Cynuit.'
This time there was no murmur, but a loud outburst of indignation and Alfred made no move to check it, so Erkenwald had to raise his voice to finish the indictment.
'And this also,' he was shouting now, and men hushed to listen, 'we shall prove by oaths.' He lowered the parchment, gave me a look of pure loathing, then walked back to the edge of the dais.
'He's lying,' I snarled.
'You will have a chance to speak,' a fierce-looking churchman sitting beside Alfred said. He was in monk's robes, but over them he wore a priest's half cape richly embroidered with crosses. He had a full head of white hair and a deep, stern voice.
'Who's that?' I asked Beocca.
'The most holy ?thelred,' Beocca said softly and, seeing I did not recognise the name, 'Archbishop of Contwaraburg, of course.'
The archbishop leaned over to speak with Erkenwald. ?lswith was staring at me. She had never liked me, and now she was watching my destruction and taking a great pleasure from it. Alfred, meanwhile, was studying the roof beams as though he had never noticed them before, and I realised he intended to take no part in this trial, for trial it was. He would let other men prove my guilt, but doubtless he would pronounce sentence, and not just on me, it seemed, because the archbishop scowled. 'Is the second prisoner here?'
'He is held in the stables,' Odda the Younger said.
'He should be here,' the archbishop said indignantly. 'A man has a right to hear his accusers.'
'What other man?' I demanded.
It was Leofric, who was brought into the hall in chains, and there was no outcry against him because men perceived him as my follower. The crime was mine, Leofric had been snared by it, and now he would suffer for it, but he plainly had the sympathy of the men in the hall as he was brought to stand beside me. They knew him, he
