Ebba shook her head in denial.
“Ebba?”
“Naught else, m’lady.” The woman’s voice was weak.
“Leave me.” Della didn’t believe her, but it didn’t matter. Whatever else there was, it wouldn’t compare to a pagan wedding.
Ebba took a deep breath as she hurried down the hall, away from her angry mistress. Lady Della looked fit to kill at the news of a pagan wedding. All in the manor were well aware of her ladyship’s abhorrence of the Viking people. It was no great secret.
Ebba ran faster, eager to get away before she could be called back. She’d lied to her lady, but what else could she do? She wasn’t going to be the one to inform Lady Della that Lord Blackwell demanded her maidenhead checked.
Chapter Two
“Gunther, I’m pleased you have agreed to stay on with me,” Brant said in their native speech. It was early in the day and they were alone in the main hall. He grabbed a wooden goblet from the high table and took a long drink of mead. Smiling secretly to himself, he let visions of Della storming up the stairs brighten his mood. She had a chilly disposition, even more so than rumored, but there was fire hidden there as well, just waiting for the right tinder.
He looked around the quiet room, knowing it would all be his. Someday soon, if Lord Strathfeld was to be believed. The old ealdorman sensed his time was near. It was always sad when a good soldier and leader passed on.
Strathfeld’s hall was made of stone and not wood like so many manors were. It once had been a Roman fortress, plundered and then refortified by the Anglo-Saxons, and was now sitting on Norse land. Many of the walls still reflected the old stronghold, making Strathfeld a strange blend of old and new. By all standards, it was impressive.
“Yea, where else was I to go?” Gunther answered in the same language. He too took a drink. “But with my rich and noble friend.”
Brant studied the main hall. The room showed the large extent of the wealth he was to inherit along with the title. The nobles’ table sat high before the rest of the long hall, with the other tables and benches lower for the servants, soldiers, and freemen of the keep. On the far end, separated by curtains, were the sleeping pallets for the soldiers. True to Viking style, a large stone fireplace had been built into the middle of the hall, excellent for producing heat, but it did little in the way of light. To compensate, candles made from animal fat and beeswax were placed along spikes in the stone walls. Next to the main hall was the kitchen with a fireplace of its own for cooking.
He’d already explored much of the home. Abovestairs there was a separate chamber for the lord and lady of the keep, with narrow slits in the floor so one could peek down onto the guests to make sure everything was in order. Lord Strathfeld had informed him that the chamber had never been used and that it was where he wished Brant to stay. There were smaller sleeping chambers—one for Lady Della, one for the ealdorman, and a few for honored guests. There was even a small room for sewing set up with looms and cutting tables. Many homes didn’t have such fine accommodations and often the lord and lady slept in the hall with everyone else. Brant looked forward to the silence of sleeping away from the men.
Directly outside the kitchen were the castle gardens and a small fruit orchard, and beyond that were the pens for animals to be slaughtered in the fall. The old fortress itself set high atop a motte of earth and rock. It towered a good fifty feet above the bailey. In front of the castle was the bailey yard, which was surrounded by a large wall made of both stone and timber, and in turn was surrounded by a large ditch and wooden palisades for reinforced security. By some ingenious plan, the servants’ chambers were built into the bailey wall to utilize space and to better keep watch in times of conflict. The only way out of the keep was through the front gate and over a stone path that was surrounded by water on both sides. Contained within the inner bailey were the exercise yard, a small chapel, the stables, a couple barns, a few workshops, and a small brewery.
Brant knew from his travels that the castle was one of the most innovative of their modern age, both in discipline and in design. Lord Strathfeld had taken great care in the planning, utilizing many of the ideas from the southern kingdoms. Brant had been in awe of it since he had first detected its magnificent fortress walls from the distance.
Setting the goblet back down with a thud, Brant wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his dirty tunic. He was still amazed by how quickly this change in his life had been brought about. One day he fought a war, the next he was inheriting land so vast he could hardly imagine it. He knew the reason Lord Strathfeld sought him out as a suitor for his daughter was because his Viking blood was pure, he had a valiant war record, and he lorded over a small piece of land next to Strathfeld.