The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell Read Free Book Online

And

does Alfred pay anything?'
    'Tell him you're building a monastery,' I suggested.
    He looked at me as if 1 were mad, then saw the jest and laughed. 'True enough, he'd pay me

then, wouldn't he? Have you heard about the monastery they're building at Cynuit?'
    'I hear it's to have an altar of gold.'
    He laughed again. 'That's what I hear. I don't believe it, but I hear it.' He watched one of

the tavern girls cross the floor. 'It's not my permission you need to see the hostages,' he

said, 'but Alfred's, and he won't give it to you.'
    'Alfred's permission?' I asked.
    'They're not just hostages,' he said, 'but prisoners. I have to wall them in and watch them

day and night. Alfred's orders. He might think God brought us peace, but he's made damn sure

he's got highborn hostages. Six earls! You know how many retainers they have? How many women?

How many mouths to feed?'
    'If I go to Wiltunscir,' I said, 'can I see Earl Ragnar?'
    Wulfhere frowned at me. 'Earl Ragnar? The noisy one? I like him. No, lad, you can't, because

no one's allowed to see them except a damned priest who talks their language. Alfred sent him

and he's trying to make them into Christians, and if you go without my permission then

Alfred will hear you've been there and he'll want an explanation from me. No one can see the

poor bastards.' He paused to scratch at a louse under his collar. 'I have to feed the priest

too, and Alfred doesn't pay for that either. He doesn't even pay me to feed that lout

Æthelwold!'
    'When I was a hostage in Werham,' I explained, 'Earl Ragnar saved my life. Guthrum killed

the others, but Ragnar guarded me. He said they'd have to kill him before they killed

me.'
    'And he looks like a hard man to kill,' Wulfhere said, 'but if Guthrum attacks Wessex that's

what I'm supposed to do. Kill the lot of them. Maybe not the women.' He stared gloomily into

the tavern's yard where a group of his men were playing dice in the moonlight. 'And Guthrum

will attack,' he added in a low voice.
    'That's not what I hear.'
    He looked at me suspiciously' And what do you hear, young man?'
    'That God has sent us peace.'
    Wulfhere laughed at my mockery. 'Guthrum's in Gleawecestre,' he said, 'and that's just a

half day's march from our frontier. And they say more Danish ships arrive every day. They're

in Lundene, they're in the Humber, they're in the Gewxsc.' He scowled. 'More ships, more men,

and Alfred's building churches) And there's this fellow Svein.'
    'Svein?'
    'Brought his ships from Ireland. Bastard's in Wales now, but he won't stay there, will he?

He'll come to Wessex. And they say more Danes are joining him from Ireland.' He brooded on

this bad news. I did not know whether it was true, for such rumours were ever current, but

Wulfhere plainly believed it. 'We should march on Gleawecestre,' he said, 'and slaughter the

lot of them before they slaughter us, but we've got a kingdom ruled by priests.'
    That was true, I thought, just as it was certain that Wulfhere would not make it easy for me

to see Ragnar. 'Will you give a message to Ragnar?' I asked.
    'How? I don't speak Danish. I could ask the priest, but he'll tell Alfred.'
    'Does Ragnar have a woman with him?' I asked. 'They all do.'
    'A thin girl,' I said, 'black hair. Face like a hawk.'
    He nodded cautiously. 'Sounds right. Has a dog, yes?'
    'She has a dog,' I said, 'and its name is Nihtgenga.'
    He shrugged as if he did not care what the dog was called, then he understood the

significance of the name. 'An English name?' he asked. 'A Danish girl calls her dog

Goblin?'
    'She isn't Danish,' I said. 'Her name is Brida, and she's a Saxon.'
    He stared at me, then laughed. 'The cunning little bitch. She's been listening to us,

hasn't she?'
    Brida was indeed cunning. She had been my first lover, an East Anglian girl who had been

raised by Ragnar's father and who now slept with Ragnar. 'Talk to her,' I said, 'and give her

my greetings, and say that if