The Lost Tales of Mercia Read Online Free PDF

great it must feel to be a king!
    He shook his head of these thoughts,
remembering Alfryth. Sometimes, Ethelred’s own mother frightened
him, and he preferred Edward’s temper tantrums to her mysterious
ways. Why had she insisted that Ethelred stay home today? Did she
simply not want the two boys to feel like brothers? Or did she
place so little faith in Ethelred she assumed he would humiliate
himself?
    Or was something else going on
altogether?
    He felt a strong sense of foreboding like
cold water in his belly; but at the same time, he felt hunger. Had
the time not already passed for the night meal? He realized with
surprise that the light was waning outside, and yet no one had
summoned him to the dining hall. What was going on?
    He donned a soft fur-trimmed cloak, which
always made him feel regal. He walked to the door and took a deep
breath. Perhaps it went against his mother’s wishes to leave now,
but so what? As Edward had said, what did a woman like her
understand? Feeling emboldened, he pulled open the door and strode
into the halls.
    Something strange seemed to be amiss in the
Corfe-Gate stronghold, something he could not fully describe. The
servants dared to meet his eyes, then looked away with darting
glances. They shuffled about on their feet and did not gossip to
each other as usual. Something else was strange, as well. Normally
the stronghold was surrounded with royal soldiers, reeves, and
hearth companions of all the noblemen and women. But he noticed
that many familiar faces, especially those of his mother’s
retainers, were missing from their usual posts.
    Briefly he wandered out to the stables,
curious whether Edward and his men had returned yet from the hunt,
for the sun was sinking behind the hills. Edward and his men had
not yet returned, he found; but even more surprisingly, a great
many more horses were gone than Edward had taken with him. A large
number of soldiers had gone somewhere. But where?
    Puzzled and distraught, Ethelred remembered
the ache in his belly, and decided this needed fixing first of all.
He headed for the dining hall, hoping to find some manner of food
there. A cloud of smoke wafting through the hall doors assured him
that he must have the right idea. But to his astonishment, his
mother and several lords sat at the table, huddled closely in
heated conversation, and not a single plate of food could be found
amongst them. The smoke came only from a blazing hearth-fire.
    Alfryth spotted him from afar, and motioned
to the men to cease speaking.“Ethelred,” she hissed.“I told you to
stay in your room!”
    He tried to think of something clever and
bold to say, but as he stared at the intimidating faces of the
war-leaders and clergymen sitting at the table, he found his words
lacking.“But I am hungry!”
    Alfryth put on a smile, though it was so
forced and fake that in a way it was worse than a scowl.“That’s
true, my boy, a growing man certainly needs his food.”
    It amazed Ethelred how differently his
mother treated him when in the company of other people than when he
and she were alone together. He realized that this had always been
the case, but it was more noticeable today than ever. He wondered
whether something had changed, or whether he was simply growing
more perceptive.
    Soon his mother was upon him, her sharp
nails digging into his arm as she led him outside. The wind
battered against them, cool with the coming night.“Ethelred, you
are such a little child!” She hissed this to him as soon as they
were out of the noblemen’s hearing range.
    He felt as if he was on the verge of
understanding something now that he never had before, and this
feeling gave him confidence. He stared back at his mother with all
the defiance he could muster.“If you want me to act like more than
a child, then you should tell me what’s going on!”
    She leaned back, the knots of her face
untwisting as her eyebrows lifted with surprise. She was silent a
moment. Then, exasperated, she