Fires of Winter by Roberta Gellis Read Free Book Online

not jealous by nature and she did not begrudge me my sister’s share of Donald’s love. But mayhap it is as well I never learned, for I discovered Mildred was not a Christian; although she went to Mass to save trouble, she worshipped the old horned god. The priest said it was that devil worship which brought our final catastrophe upon us, but I do not believe it. Most of the common folk worshipped as Mildred did and no ill befell them. Besides, I loved Mildred and love her still.
    The first years of Donald’s marriage were good years. Day by day the pain I hid and thought would never ease grew less. I learned to laugh again, and Mildred brought new life into our family. She and Donald lived in Thirl, not Ulle manor, but it was no great distance and we were together often. And at first when Papa saw how Donald was changing and casting aside his wild ways, he was delighted with Mildred’s power; so was I, and I never came to think differently for Donald was a very happy man. However, Mildred did not get with child, and as the years passed and no seed quickened in her womb, my father grew dissatisfied. I will say for Papa that he tried everything to get an heir for Ulle before he said one word against Mildred. As soon as Magnus was knighted, my father found a wife for him.
    I have been telling my tale as if the outside world did not touch me or Ulle, and in a way that is true. The country around Ulle is wild and mountainous and has little to attract those not bred to the place. Strangers fear the steep, rough tracks that climb from our narrow valleys over the high passes through the hills and creep around the edges of our deep tarns, but the valleys are sheltered and fertile and the tarns are full of fish. So, though we are not rich in gold and gems, there is food in plenty for the few people who live here. And, though we are few, the people are not weak or slavish. Every man must use bow and spear and long knife to protect himself and his family and beasts against the bear and wolf that roam the mountains, and our people do not fear to turn the same weapons against human enemies.
    Still, we are not wholly free of affairs outside our own shire. I have told already how King Henry, as one small part of tightening his grip on England, summoned my father and arranged his marriage. Some years later, when King Edgar of Scotland died, King Henry helped Alexander, Edgar’s half brother, succeed peacefully to the Scottish throne. Since Papa agreed that Alexander had the right to rule, it caused no change in our lives—except for having to listen to Papa grumble that it was not Henry’s business to interfere, even if what he did was right. Papa felt the Scots should settle their own affairs, even if it meant they would fight and murder each other for years. Now, I do not know that I agree with him, although then I was too young to have any opinion.
    Far more important to my family was that Prince David, Alexander’s younger brother, became overlord of Cumbria. Papa went to his investiture and did homage to him and came back full of praise for the prince. I do not remember that, for I was only six when King Alexander died and David became king of Scotland. King Henry insisted that David relinquish the rule of Cumbria when he took the throne. I know this because Papa constantly bewailed the loss of David as overlord. To me it was never entirely clear why he bewailed it, but a hint here and there implied that David had favored a fellow Scot, whereas an English overlord would be prejudiced against him.
    For many years I thought that rather funny. I am of Ulle, not Scottish nor Norman nor English, and I could not understand why my father, who had lived at Ulle all except a few years at the very beginning of his life, did not feel the same. Moreover, after my mother’s death I was responsible for tallying the dues that came in from our tenants and the smaller manors that Papa had bought or established on