*You're drunk,' I said harshly, *and tomorrow you will grovel to me, and perhaps I will forgive you.'

*Lord aelfwold would be alive if you had a scrap of sense,' he yelled at me.

Some of my men tried to shout him down, but I shouted louder. *Come here, kneel to me!'

Instead, he spat towards me. The hall was in uproar now. Beornnoth's men were encouraging Sihtric, while my men were looking horrified. *Give them swords!' someone called.

Sihtric held out his hand. *Give me a blade!' he shouted.

I started towards him, but Beornnoth lunged and caught my sleeve in a feeble grip. *Not in my hall, Lord Uhtred,' he said, *not in my hall.' I stopped, and Beornnoth struggled to his feet. He had to grip the table's edge with one hand to stay upright, while his other hand pointed shakily towards Sihtric. *Take him away!' he ordered.

*And you stay away from me!' I shouted at him. *And that whore wife of yours!'

Sihtric tried to break away from the men holding him, but they had too tight a grip and he was too drunk. They dragged him from the hall to the jeers of Beornnoth's followers. Beortsig had enjoyed my discomfiture and was laughing. His father frowned at him, then sat heavily. *I am sorry,' he grunted.

*He'll be sorry,' I said vengefully.

There was no sign of Sihtric next morning and I did not ask where Beornnoth had him hidden. We readied ourselves to leave, and Beornnoth was helped out to the courtyard by two of his men. *I fear,' he said, *that I'll die before Alfred.'

*I hope you live many years,' I said dutifully.

*There'll be pain in Britain when Alfred goes,' he said. *All the certainties will die with him.' His voice faded. He was still embarrassed by the previous night's argument in his hall. He had watched one of my own men insult me, and he had prevented me from giving punishment, and the incident lay between us like a burning coal. Yet both of us pretended it had not happened.

*Alfred's son is a good man,' I said.

*Edward's young,' Beornnoth said scornfully, *and who knows what he'll be?' He sighed. *Life is a story without an end,' he said, *but I'd like to hear a few more verses before I die.' He shook his head. *Edward won't rule.'

I smiled. *He may have other ideas.'

*The prophecy has spoken, Lord Uhtred,' he said solemnly.

I was momentarily taken aback. *The prophecy?'

*There's a sorceress,' he said, *and she sees the future.'

*aelfadell?' I asked. *You saw her?'

*Beortsig did,' he said, looking at his son who, hearing aelfadell's name, made the sign of the cross.

*What did she say?' I asked the sullen Beortsig.

*Nothing good,' he said curtly, and would say no more.

I climbed into my saddle. I glanced around the yard for any evidence of Sihtric, but he was still concealed and so I left him there and we rode home. Finan was puzzled by Sihtric's behaviour. *He must have been drunk beyond drunkenness,' he said in wonder. I answered nothing. In many ways what Sihtric had said was right, aelfwold had died because of my carelessness, but that did not give Sihtric the right to accuse me in open hall. *He's always been a good man,' Finan went on, still puzzled, *but lately he's been surly. I don't understand it.'

*He's becoming like his father,' I said.

*Kjartan the Cruel?'

*I should never have saved Sihtric's life.'

Finan nodded. *You want me to arrange his death?'

*No,' I said firmly, *only one man kills him, and that's me. You understand? He's mine, and until I rip his guts open I never want to hear his name again.'

Once home I expelled Ealhswith, Sihtric's wife, and her two sons from my hall. There were tears and pleas from her friends, but I was unmoved. She went.

And next day I rode to lay my trap for Sigurd.

There was a tremulousness to those days. All Britain waited to hear of Alfred's death, in the certain knowledge that his passing would scatter the runesticks. A new pattern would foretell a new fortune for Britain, but what that fortune was, no one knew, unless the nightmare sorceress did have the answers. In Wessex they would want another strong king to protect them, in Mercia some would want the same, while other Mercians would want their own king back, while everywhere to the north, where the Danes held the land, they dreamed of conquering Wessex. Yet all that spring and summer Alfred lived and men waited and dreamed and the new crops grew and I took forty-six men east and north to where Haesten had found his lair.

I would have liked three hundred men. I had been told many years before that one day I would lead armies across Britain, but to have an army a man must have land and the land I held was only large enough to keep a single crew of men fed and armed. I collected food-rents and I took customs dues from the merchants who used the Roman road that passed aethelflaed's estate, but that was scarcely a sufficient income and I could only lead forty-six men to Ceaster.

That was a bleak place. To the west were the Welsh, while to the east and north were Danish lords who recognised no man as king unless it were themselves. The Romans had built a fort at Ceaster, and it was in the remnants of that stronghold that Haesten had taken refuge. There had been a time when Haesten's name struck fear into every Saxon, but he was a shadow now, reduced to fewer than two hundred men, and even they were of dubious loyalty. He had begun the winter with over three hundred followers, but men expect their lord to provide more than food and ale. They want silver, they want gold, they want slaves, and so Haesten's men had trickled away in search of other lords. They went to Sigurd or to Cnut, to the men who were gold-givers.

Ceaster lay on the wild edge of Mercia and I found aethelred's troops some three miles to the south of Haesten's fort. There were just over one hundred and fifty men whose job was to watch Haesten and keep him weak by harassing his foragers. They were commanded by a youngster called Merewalh, who seemed pleased by my arrival. *Have you come to kill the sorry bastard, lord?' he asked me.

*Only to look at him,' I said.

In truth I was there to be looked at, though I dared not tell anyone my whole purpose. I wanted the Danes to know I was at Ceaster, and so I paraded my men south of the old Roman fort and flaunted my wolf's head banner. I rode in my best mail, polished to a high shine by my servant Oswi, and I went close enough to the old walls for one of Haesten's men to try his luck with a hunting arrow. I saw the feather flickering in the air and watched as the small shaft thumped into the turf a few paces from my horse's hooves.

*He can't defend all those walls,' Merewalh said wistfully.

He was right. The Roman fort at Ceaster was a vast place, almost a town in itself, and Haesten's few men could never garrison the whole stretch of its decrepit ramparts. Merewalh and I might have combined our forces and attacked at night and maybe we would have found an undefended stretch of wall and then fought a bitter battle in the streets, but our numbers were too equal with Haesten's to risk such an assault. We would have lost men in defeating an enemy who was already defeated, and so I contented myself with letting Haesten know I had come to taunt him. He had to hate me. Just a year before he had been the greatest power among all the Northmen, now he was cowering like a beaten fox in his den and I had reduced him to that plight. But he was a cunning fox and I knew he would be thinking how he might regain his power.

The old fort was built inside a great curve of the River Dee. Immediately outside its southern walls were the ruins of an immense stone building that had once been an arena where, so Merewalh's priest told me, Christians had been fed to wild beasts. Some things are just too good to be true and so I was not sure I believed him. The remnants of the arena would have made a splendid stronghold for a force as small as Haesten's, but instead he had chosen to concentrate his men at the northern end of the fort where the river lay closest to the walls. He had two small ships there, nothing more than old trading boats, which, because they were obviously leaky, were half pulled onto the bank. If he were attacked and cut off from the bridge then those ships were his escape across the Dee and into the wild lands beyond.

Merewalh was puzzled by my behaviour. *Are you trying to tempt him into a fight?' he asked me the third day that I rode close to the old ramparts.

*He won't want a fight,' I said, *but I want him to come out and meet us. And he will, he won't be able to resist.' I had paused on the Roman road that ran straight as a spear shaft to the double-arched gate that led into the fort. That gate was now blocked with vast baulks of timber. *You know I saved his life once?'

*I didn't know.'

*There are times,' I said, *when I think I'm a fool. I should have killed him the first time I saw him.'

*Kill him now, lord,' Merewalh suggested, because Haesten had just appeared from the fort's western gate and now came slowly towards us. He had three men with him, all mounted. They paused at the fort's south-western corner, between the walls and the ruined arena, then Haesten held out both hands to show he only wanted to talk. I turned my horse and spurred towards him, but took care to stop well out of bowshot of the ramparts. I took only Merewalh with me, leaving the rest of our troops to watch from a distance.

Haesten came grinning as though this meeting was a rare delight. He had not changed much, except he now had a beard that was grey, though his thick hair was still fair. His face was misleadingly open, full of charm, with amused bright eyes. He wore a dozen arm rings and, though the spring day was warm, a cloak of seal-skin. Haesten always liked to look prosperous. Men will not follow a poor lord, let alone an ungenerous one, and so long as he had hopes of recovering his wealth he had to appear confident. He also appeared overjoyed to meet me. *Lord Uhtred!' he exclaimed.

*Jarl Haesten,' I said, making the title as sour as I could, *weren't you supposed to be King of Wessex by now?'

*The pleasure of that throne is delayed,' he said, *but for now let me welcome you to my present kingdom.'

I laughed at that, as he had meant me to. *Your kingdom?'

He swept an arm around the bleak low valley of the Dee. *No other man calls himself king here, so why not me?'

*This is Lord aethelred's land,' I said.

*And Lord aethelred is so generous with his possessions,' Haesten said, *even, I hear, with his wife's favours.'

Merewalh stirred beside me and I held up a cautionary hand. *The Jarl Haesten jests,' I said.

*Of course I jest,' Haesten said, not smiling.

*This is Merewalh,' I said, introducing my one companion, *and he serves the Lord aethelred. He might find favour with my cousin by killing you.'

*He'd gain a great deal more favour by killing you,' Haesten said shrewdly.

*True,' I allowed, and looked at Merewalh. *You want to kill me?'

*Lord!' he said, shocked.

*My Lord aethelred,' I said to Haesten, *wishes you to leave his land. He has enough dung without you.'

*Lord aethelred,' Haesten said, *is most welcome to come and drive me away.'

This was all as meaningless as it was expected. Haesten had not left the fort to listen to a string of threats, but because he wanted to know what my presence meant. *Perhaps,' I said, *the Lord aethelred has sent me to drive you away?'

*And when did you last do his bidding?' Haesten asked.

*Perhaps his wife wants you driven away,' I said.

*She'd rather I were dead, I think.'

*Also true,' I said.

Haesten smiled. *You came, Lord Uhtred, with one crew of men. We fear you, of course, because who doesn't fear Uhtred of Bebbanburg?' He bowed in his saddle as he uttered that piece of flattery. *But one crew of men is not sufficient to give the Lady aethelflaed her wish.' He waited for my response, but I said nothing. *Shall I tell you what mystifies me?' he asked.

*Tell me,' I said.

*For years now, Lord Uhtred, you have done Alfred's work. You have killed his enemies, led his armies, made his kingdom safe, yet in return for all that service you have only one crew of warriors. Other men have land, they have great halls, they have treasure piled in strongrooms, their women's necks are ringed with gold and they can lead hundreds of oath-men into battle, yet the man who made them safe goes unrewarded. Why do you stay loyal to such an ungenerous lord?'

*I saved your life,' I said, *and you are mystified by ingratitude?'

He laughed delightedly at that. *He starves you because he fears you. Have they made a Christian of you yet?'

*No.'

*Then join me. You and I, Lord Uhtred. We'll tip aethelred out of his hall and divide Mercia between us.'

*I'll offer you land in Mercia,' I said.

He smiled. *An estate two paces long and one pace wide?' he asked.

*And all of two paces deep,' I said.

*I am a hard man to kill,' he said. *The gods apparently love me, as they love you. I hear Sigurd has cursed you since Yule.'

*What else do you hear?'

*That the sun rises and sets.'

*Watch it well,' I said, *because you may not see many more such risings and settings.' I suddenly kicked my horse hard forward, forcing Haesten's stallion to back away. *Listen,' I said, making my voice harsh, *you have two weeks to leave this place. Do you understand me, you ungrateful dog-turd? If you're still here in fourteen days I'll do to you what I did to your men at Beamfleot.' I looked at his two companions, then back to Haesten. *Two weeks,' I said, *and then the West Saxon troops come and I'll turn your skull into a drinking pot.'

I lied of course, at least about the West Saxon troops coming, but Haesten knew it had been those troops who gave me the numbers to gain the victory at Beamfleot and so the lie was believable. He began to say something, but I turned and spurred away, beckoning Merewalh to follow me. *I'm leaving you Finan and twenty men,' I told the Mercian when we were well out of Haesten's earshot, *and before the two weeks are up you must expect an attack.'

*From Haesten?' Merewalh asked, sounding dubious.

*No, from Sigurd. He'll bring at least three hundred men. Haesten needs help, and he's going to look for favour with Sigurd by sending a message that I'm here, and Sigurd will come because he wants me dead.' Of course I could not be certain that any of that would happen, but I did not think Sigurd could resist the bait I was dangling. *When he comes,' I went on, *you're going to retreat. Go into the woods, keep ahead of him, and trust Finan. Let Sigurd waste his men on empty land. Don't even try to fight him, just stay ahead of him.'

Merewalh did not argue. Instead, after a few moments' thought, he looked at me quizzically. *Lord,' he asked, *why hasn't Alfred rewarded you?'

*Because he doesn't trust me,' I said, and my honesty shocked Merewalh, who stared at me wide-eyed, *and if you have any loyalty to your lord,' I went on, *you will tell him that Haesten offered me an alliance.'

*And I shall tell him you refused it.'

*You can tell him I was tempted,' I said, shocking him again. I spurred on.

Sigurd and Eohric had laid an elaborate trap for me, one that had very nearly worked, and now I would lay a trap for Sigurd. I could not hope to kill him, not yet, but I wanted him to regret his attempt to kill me. But first I wanted to discover the future. It was time to go north.

I gave Cerdic my good mail, my helmet, my cloak and my horse. Cerdic was not as tall as I was, but he was big enough, and, dressed in my finery and with the cheek-plates of my helmet hiding his face, he would resemble me. I gave him my shield, painted with the wolf's head, and told him to show himself every day. *Don't go too close to his walls,' I said, *just let him think I'm watching him.'

I left my wolf's head banner with Finan and next day, with twenty-six men, I rode east.

We rode before dawn so that none of Haesten's scouts would see us depart, and we rode into the rising sun. Once there was light in the sky we kept to wooded places, but always going east. Ludda was still with us. He was a trickster, a rogue, and I liked him. Best of all he had an extraordinary knowledge of Britain. *I'm always moving, lord,' he explained to me, *that's why I know my way.'

*Always moving?'

*If you sell a man two rusted iron nails for a lump of silver, then you don't want to be in arm's reach of him next morning, lord, do you? You move on, lord.'

I laughed. Ludda was our guide and he led us east on a Roman road until we saw a settlement where smoke rose into the sky and then we made a wide loop southwards to avoid being seen. There was no road beyond the settlement, only cattle paths that led up into the hills.

*Where's he taking us?' Osferth asked me.

*Buchestanes,' I said. *What's there?'

*The land belongs to Jarl Cnut,' I said, *and you won't like what's there so I'm not going to tell you.' I would rather have had Finan for company, but I trusted the Irishman to keep Cerdic and Merewalh out of trouble. I liked Osferth well enough, but there were times when his caution was a hindrance rather than an asset. If I had left Osferth at Ceaster he would have retreated from Sigurd's approach too hastily. He would have kept Merewalh far from trouble by withdrawing deep into the border forests between Mercia and Wales, and Sigurd might well have abandoned the hunt. I needed Sigurd to be taunted and tempted, and I trusted Finan to do that well.

It began to rain. Not a gentle summer rain, but a torrential downpour that was carried on a sharp east wind. It made our journey slow, miserable and safer. Safer because few men wanted to be out in such weather. When we did meet strangers I claimed to be a lord of Cumbraland travelling to pay my respects to the Jarl Sigurd. Cumbraland was a wild place where little lords squabbled. I had spent time there once and knew enough to answer any questions, but no one we met cared enough to ask them.

So we climbed into the hills and after three days came to Buchestanes. It lay in a hollow of the hills and was a town of some size built about a cluster of Roman buildings that retained their stone walls, though their roofs had long been replaced by thatch. There was no defensive palisade, but we were met at the town's edge by three men in mail who came from a hovel to confront us. *You must pay to enter the town,' one said.

*Who are you?' a second asked.

*Kjartan,' I said. That was the name I was using in Buchestanes, the name of Sihtric's evil father, a name from my past.

*Where are you from?' the man asked. He carried a long spear with a rusted head.