'He's on Guthrum's side,' I said harshly.
He just stared at me. 'No,' he mouthed the word, rather than said it. 'And ?thelwold?' he asked.
'He's a prisoner,' I said.
'A prisoner!' he asked the question sharply, and no wonder, for ?thelwold had no value to the Danes as a prisoner unless he had agreed to become their token king on the West Saxon throne.
'A prisoner,' I said. It was not true, of course, but I liked ?thelwold and I owed him a favour. 'He's a prisoner,' I went on, 'and there's nothing we can do about it, so let's get away from here.' I pulled him towards the town, but too late, for the church door opened and Brida came out with Nihtgenga.
She told the dog to stay at her heels as she walked towards me. Like me she was not drunk, though she must have been very cold for she wore no cloak over her plain blue woollen dress. The night was brittle with frost, but she did not shiver. 'You're going?' She spoke in English. 'You're not staying with us?'
'I have a wife and child,' I said.
She smiled at that. 'Whose names you have not mentioned all evening, Uhtred. So what happened?'
I gave no answer and she just stared at me, and there was something very unsettling in her gaze. 'So what woman is with you now?' she asked.
'Someone who looks like you,' I admitted.
She laughed at that. 'And she would have you fight for Alfred?'
'She sees the future,' I said, evading the question. 'She dreams.’
Brida stared at me. Nihtgenga whined softly and she put down a hand to calm him. 'And she sees Alfred surviving?'
'More than surviving,' I said. 'She sees him winning.' Beside me Alfred stirred and I hoped he had the sense to keep his head lowered.
'Winning?'
'She sees a green hill of dead men,' I said, 'a white horse, and Wessex living again.'
'Your woman has strange dreams,' Brida said, 'but you never answered my first question, Uhtred. If you thought Ragnar was dead, why did you come here?'
I had no ready answer so made none.
'Who did you expect to find here?' she asked.
'You?' I suggested glibly.
She shook her head, knowing I lied. 'Why did you come?' I still had no answer and Brida smiled sadly. 'If I were Alfred,' she said, 'I would send a man who spoke Danish to Cippanhamm, and that man would go back to the swamp and tell all he had seen.'
'If you think that,' I said, 'then why don't you tell them?' I nodded towards Guthrum's black-cloaked men guarding the hall door.
'Because Guthrum is a nervous fool,' she said savagely. 'Why help Guthrum? And when Guthrum fails, Ragnar will take command.'
'Why doesn't he command now?'
'Because he is like his father. He's decent. He gave his word to Guthrum and he won't break his word. And tonight he wanted you to give him an oath, but you didn't.'
'I do not want Bebbanburg to be a gift of the Danes,' I answered. She thought about that, and understood it. 'But do you think,' she asked scornfully, 'that the West Saxons will give you Bebbanburg? It's at the other end of Britain, Uhtred, and the last Saxon king is rotting in a swamp.'
'This will give it to me,' I said, pulling back my cloak to show Serpent-Breath's hilt.
'You and Ragnar can rule the north,' she said.
'Maybe we will,' I said. 'So tell Ragnar that when this is all finished, when all is decided, I shall go north with him. I shall fight Kjartan. But in my own time.'
'I hope you live to keep that promise,' she said, then leaned forward and kissed my cheek. Then, without another word, she turned and walked back to the church.
Alfred let out a breath. 'Who is Kjartan?'
'An enemy,' I said shortly. I tried to lead him away, but he stopped me.
He was staring at Brida who was nearing the church. 'That is the girl who was with you at Wintanceaster?'
'Yes.' He was talking of the time when I had first come to Wessex and Brida had been with me.
'And does Iseult truly see the future?'
'She has not been wrong yet.'
He made the sign of the cross, then let me lead him back through the town. It was quieter now, but he would not go with me to the western gate, insisting we return to the nunnery where, for a moment, we both crouched near one of the dying fires in the courtyard to get what warmth we could from the embers. Men slept in the nunnery church, but the courtyard was now deserted and quiet, and Alfred took a piece of half-burning wood and, using it as a torch, went to the row of small doors that led to the nuns' sleeping cells. One door had been fastened with two hasps and a short length of thick chain and Alfred paused there.
'Draw your sword,' he ordered me.
