We stayed a long time in the church, greeting men who came to mourn, and at midday the new king arrived with a group of nobles. Edward was tall, long-faced, thin-lipped and had very black hair that he wore brushed back. He looked so young to me. He wore a blue robe that was belted with a gold-panelled strip of leather, and over it a black cape that hung to the floor. He wore no crown, for he was not yet crowned, but had a bronze circlet about his skull.

I recognised most of the ealdormen who accompanied him, aethelnoth, Wilfrith and, of course, Edward's future father-in-law, aethelhelm, who walked beside Father Coenwulf who was Edward's confessor and guardian. There was a half-dozen younger men I did not know, and then I saw my cousin, aethelred, and he saw me at the same moment and checked. Edward, walking towards his father's coffin, beckoned him on. Steapa and I both went down on one knee and stayed there as Edward knelt at the foot of his father's coffin and put his hands together in prayer. His guard all knelt. No one spoke. The choir was chanting interminably as incense smoke drifted in the sun-shafted air.

aethelred's eyes were closed in pretend prayer. The look on his face was bitter and strangely aged, perhaps because he had been ill and was, as Alfred his father-in-law had been, prone to bouts of sickness. I watched him, wondering. He must have hoped that Alfred's death would loosen the leash that tied Mercia to Wessex. He must have been hoping that there would be two coronations, one in Wessex and another in Mercia, and he must have known that Edward knew all that. What stood in his way was his wife, who was beloved in Mercia, and who he had tried to make powerless by immuring her in Saint Hedda's convent, and the other obstacle was his wife's lover.

*Lord Uhtred,' Edward had opened his eyes, though his hands were still clasped in prayer.

*Lord?' I asked.

*You will stay for the burial?'

*If you wish, lord.'

*I do wish,' he said.

*And then you must go to your estate in Fagranforda,' he went on. *I am sure you have much to do there.'

*Yes, lord.'

*The Lord aethelred,' Edward spoke firmly and loudly, *will stay to counsel me for a few weeks. I have need of wise counsel and I can think of none more able to deliver it.'

That was a lie. A spavined idiot could give better counsel than aethelred, but of course Edward did not want my cousin's advice. He wanted aethelred where he could see him, where it would be difficult for aethelred to foment unrest, and he was sending me to Mercia because he trusted me to keep Mercia on the West Saxon leash. And because he knew that if I went to Mercia so would his sister. I kept a very straight face.

A sparrow flew in the high church roof and its dropping, wet and white, fell on Alfred's dead face, spattering messily from his nose to his left cheek.

An omen so bad, so terrible, that every man about the coffin held his breath.

And just then one of Steapa's guards came into the church and hurried up the long nave, but did not kneel. Instead he looked from Edward to aethelred, and from aethelred to me, and he seemed not to know what to say until Steapa growled at him to speak.

*The Lady aethelflaed,' the man said.

*What of her?' Edward asked.

*The Lord aethelwold took her by force, lord, from the convent. Took her, lord. And they've gone.'

So the struggle for Wessex had begun.

Seven.

aethelred laughed. Perhaps it was a nervous reaction, but in that old church the sound echoed mockingly from the lower walls that were made of stone. When the sound died away all I could hear was water dripping onto the floor from the rain-soaked thatch.

Edward looked at me, then at aethelred, finally at aethelhelm. He appeared confused.

*Where did Lord aethelwold go?' Steapa asked usefully.

*The nuns said he was going to Tweoxnam,' the messenger said.

*But he gave me his oath!' Edward protested.

*He was always a lying bastard,' I said. I looked at the man who had brought the news. *He told the nuns he was going to Tweoxnam?'

*Yes, lord.'

*He said the same to me,' I said.

Edward gathered himself. *I want every man armed and mounted,' he told Steapa, *and ready to ride to Tweoxnam.'

*Is that his only estate, lord King?' I asked.

*He owns Wimburnan,' Edward said, *why?'

*Isn't his father buried at Wimburnan?'

*Yes.'

*Then that's where he's gone,' I said. *He told us Tweoxnam because he wants to confuse us. If you abduct someone you don't tell your pursuers where you're taking them.'

*Why abduct aethelflaed?' Edward was looking lost again.

*Because he wants Mercia on his side,' I said. *Is she friendly to him?'

*Friendly? We all tried to be,' Edward said. *He's our cousin.'

*He thinks he can persuade her to bring Mercia to his cause,' I suggested, and did not add that it would not just be Mercia. If aethelflaed declared for her cousin then many in Wessex would be persuaded to support him.'

*We go to Tweoxnam?' Steapa asked uncertainly.

Edward hesitated, then shook his head and looked to me. *The two places are very close,' he said, still hesitant, but then remembered he was a king and made up his mind. *We ride to Wimburnan,' he said.

*And I go with you, lord King,' I said.

*Why?' aethelred blurted the question before he had the sense or time to think what he was asking. The king and the ealdormen looked embarrassed.

I let the question hang till its echo had faded, then smiled. *To protect the honour of the king's sister, of course,' I said, and I was still laughing when we rode out.

It took time, it always takes time. Horses had to be saddled, mail donned and banners fetched, and while the royal housecarls readied themselves I went with Osferth to Saint Hedda's where Abbess Hildegyth was in tears. *He said she was wanted at the church,' she explained to me, *that the family was praying together for her father's soul.'

*You did nothing wrong,' I told her.

*But he's taken her!'

*He won't hurt her,' I reassured her.

*But...' her voice faded, and I knew she was remembering the shame of being raped by the Danes so many years before.

*She's Alfred's daughter,' I said, *and he wants her help, not her enmity. Her support gives him legitimacy.'

*She's still a hostage,' Hild said.

*Yes, but we'll get her back.'

*How?'

I touched Serpent-Breath's hilt, showing Hild the silver cross embedded in the pommel, a cross she had given me so long ago. *With this,' I said, meaning the sword, not the cross.

*You shouldn't wear a sword in a nunnery,' she said with mock sternness.

*There are many things I shouldn't do in a nunnery,' I told her, *but I did most of them anyway.'

She sighed. *What does aethelwold hope to gain?'

Osferth answered. *He hopes to persuade her that he should be the king. And he hopes she will persuade Lord Uhtred to support him.' He glanced at me and, at that moment, looked astonishingly like his father. *I've no doubt,' he went on drily, *he'll offer to make it possible for the Lord Uhtred and the Lady aethelflaed to marry, and will probably hold out the throne of Mercia as an enticement. He doesn't just want the Lady aethelflaed's support, he wants Lord Uhtred's too.'

I had not thought of that and it took me by surprise. There had been a time when aethelwold and I had been friends, but that was long ago when we were both young and a shared resentment of Alfred had brought us together. aethelwold's resentment had soured into hatred, while mine had turned into reluctant admiration, and so we were friends no longer. *He's a fool,' I said, *and he always was a fool.'

*A desperate fool,' Osferth added, *but a fool who knows this is his last chance to gain the throne.'

*He'll not have my help,' I promised Hild.

*Just bring her back,' Hild said, and we rode to do just that.

A small army went westwards. At its heart was Steapa and the king's bodyguard, and every warrior in Wintanceaster who possessed a horse joined in. It was a bright day, the sky clearing of the clouds that had brought so much rain. Our route took us across the wild lands of southern Wessex where the deer and wild ponies ranged across forest and moor and where the hoof-prints of aethelwold's band were easy to follow because the ground was so damp. Edward rode a little behind the vanguard, and with him was a standard-bearer flying the white dragon banner. Edward's priest, Father Coenwulf, his black skirts draped on his horse's rump, kept pace with the king, as did two ealdormen, aethelnoth and aethelhelm. aethelred came too, he could hardly avoid an expedition to rescue his wife, but he and his followers stayed with the rearguard, well away from where Edward and I rode, and I remember thinking that we were too many, that a half-dozen men were enough to cope with a fool like aethelwold.

Other men joined us, leaving their halls to follow the king's standard, and by the time we left the moorland we must have numbered over three hundred horsemen. Steapa had sent scouts ahead, but they sent no news back, which suggested aethelwold was waiting behind his hall's palisade. At one point I spurred my horse off the road and up a low hill to look ahead and Edward pointedly joined me, leaving his guard behind. *My father,' he said, *told me I can trust you.'

*Do you doubt his word, lord King?' I asked.

*While my mother says you can't be trusted.'

I laughed at that. aelswith, Alfred's wife, had always hated me, and it was a mutual feeling. *Your mother has never approved of me,' I said mildly.

*And Beocca tells me you want to kill my children,' he spoke resentfully.

*That isn't my decision, lord King,' I said, and he looked surprised. *Your father,' I explained, *should have slit aethelwold's throat twenty years ago, but he didn't. Your worst enemies, lord King, aren't the Danes. They're the men closest to you who want your crown. Your illegitimate children will be a problem for your legitimate sons, but it isn't my problem. It's yours.'

He shook his head. This was our first moment alone together since his father's death. I knew he liked me, but he was also nervous of me. He had only ever known me as a warrior and, unlike his sister, he had never been close to me as a child. He said nothing for a while, but watched the small army file westwards beneath us, its banners bright in the sun. The land gleamed from all the rain. *They're not illegitimate,' he finally spoke softly. *I married Ecgwynn. I married her in a church, before God.'

*Your father disagreed,' I said.

Edward shuddered, *He was angry. So was my mother.'

*And Ealdorman aethelhelm, lord King?' I asked. *He can't be happy that his daughter's children won't be the eldest.'

His jaw tightened. *He was assured I didn't marry,' he said distantly.

So Edward had surrendered to his parents' anger. He had agreed to the fiction that his children by Lady Ecgwynn were bastards, but it was apparent that he was unhappy with that surrender. *Lord,' I said, *you're king now. You can raise the twins as your legitimate children. You're king.'

*I offend aethelhelm,' he asked plaintively, *and how long do I stay king?' aethelhelm was the wealthiest of Wessex's nobles, the most powerful voice in the Witan, and a man much liked in the kingdom. *My father always insisted that the Witan could make or unmake a king,' Edward said, *and my mother insists I listen to their advice.'

*You're the eldest son,' I said, *so you're king.'

*Not if aethelhelm and Plegmund refuse to support me,' Edward said.

*True,' I agreed grudgingly.

*So the twins must be treated as though they're illegitimate,' he said, still unhappy, *and stay bastards until I have the power to decree otherwise. And till then they must be kept safe, so they're going to my sister's care.'

*To my care,' I said flatly.

*Yes,' he said. He looked at me searchingly. *So long as you promise not to kill them.'

I laughed. *I don't kill babies, lord King. I wait till they grow up.'

*They must grow up,' he said, then frowned. *You don't condemn me for sin, do you?'

*Me! I'm your pagan, lord,' I said, *what do I care about sin?'

*Then care for my children,' he said.

*I will, lord King,' I promised.

*And tell me what I do about aethelred,' he said.

I stared down at my cousin's troops, who rode together as the rearguard. *He wants to be King of Mercia,' I said, *but he knows he needs Wessex's support if he's to survive, so he won't take the throne without your permission, and you won't give that.'

*I won't,' Edward said. *But my mother insists I need his support too.'

That wretched woman, I thought. She had always liked aethelred and disapproved of her daughter. Yet what she said was partly true. aethelred could bring at least a thousand men to a battlefield, and if Wessex were ever to strike against the powerful Danish lords to the north, then those men would be invaluable, but as I had told Alfred a hundred times, it was always best to reckon that aethelred would find a thousand excuses to keep his warriors at home. *So what is aethelred asking of you?'

Edward did not answer directly. Instead he looked up at the sky, then westwards again. *He hates you.'

*And your sister,' I said flatly.

He nodded. *He wants aethelflaed returned to...' he began, but then stopped speaking because a horn sounded.

*He wants aethelflaed in his hall or else locked away in a convent,' I said.

*Yes,' Edward said, *that's what he wants.' He stared down at the road from where the horn had sounded a second time. *But they want me,' he said, looking to where Father Coenwulf waved towards us. I could see a couple of Steapa's men galloping towards the vanguard. Edward dug in his spurs and we cantered to the head of the column where we discovered the two scouts had brought in a priest who half fell from his saddle to kneel before the king.

*Lord, lord King!' the priest gasped. He was out of breath.