"Ido not ask you to lie," Eada replied. "We shall clean her and wrapher in this blanket for burial, and we shall tell the priest that she died ofgrief. I do not condone what she has done, only understand it, and now I wishto protect her children." She nodded when Godwin's eyes widened withsudden understanding. "We are in the midst of a war; no one needs to knowhowshe died. The children do not need to bear the burden of her sin, one I feelcertain she committed in blind despair. For the children's sake, I am willingto carry this secret to the grave."
"Asam I," said May. "I will fetch what is needed to clean her and leaveAlwyn with Ivo. Do you want me to ask him to dig a grave? I think I can makemyself understood about that."
"Yes,May, if he is willing. We can do it if we must." As soon as May left, Eadaturned to Godwin. "We need to clean away this blood-soaked earth."She grimaced. "Anyone who sees this will easily guess what hashappened."
"Eada?"Godwin lightly bit his bottom lip as he hesitated, then asked, "If one ofus still knows or cares for her children as they age and one day they ask abouttheir mother, are we to lie to them?"
"Thatis a question I cannot answer. It must be decided when and if the time comesand then one will have to consider if the children really want to know thetruth or can accept it. They may never even ask. My concern is for now, andnowthose children have suffered enough, as has poor Hilde."
"Agreed.Having the priest tend to her may not help though. God knows what Hilde hasdone."
"True,so let us leave the forgiveness or punishment of her sins in His hands."
"Onemore question before we begin this work. What if Sir Guy decides that he neednot feed or tend the children now that their mother is gone?"
"Shedid not tend to them while she was alive, not since Sir Guy took her captive.You have cared for them."
"Iknow, but I think he took little notice. Now he may think that there is no oneto care for them."
"IfSir Guy casts them out, put them into our camp. May and I will tend to them.May will probably gather them to her as abruptly and as tightly as she didAlwyn. Her man Ivo also appears most happy about that and so reveals that heholds a great love for children."
"AndSir Drogo will not mind?"
Eadagrimaced. "I do not think he will be happy, for he is a poor knight, buthe will not cast them aside. Come, let us get to work before someone elsestumbles by and this dark secret is out before we even have a chance to keepit."
Itproved to be hard work to clear the dirt floor of all sign of the tragedy.Godwin had to sneak buckets of bloodied dirt out of the tent and dump them inthe surrounding wood then bring in clean dirt to replace it. May had returned,cleaned Hilde, and dressed her for her burial before Eada and Godwin hadrepaired the floor. Godwin then hurried away to find one of the many priestswho had filled the camp at dawn, giving each Norman knight the church'sblessings, taking confessions, and insuring that no knight would die unshrivenupon the battlefield.
Whenthe priest arrived, Eada found the grief she felt for the forlorn Hilde pushedaside by anger. The priest was young and filled with self-importance. Dutyforced him to tend to Hilde, but he made it very clear that he felt suchservice to a Saxon was demeaning to him. What guilt Eada felt over lying to himabout how the woman had died faded quickly. She had to bite her tongue to stopherself from reminding the young man that pride and vanity were sins.
Ivoappeared just as the priest was leaving and Eada smiled at the younger, smallerman's obvious fear. The priest lost all of his arrogance as he warily edgedaround Ivo and fled the tent. A dosing of fear and humility could only do thepriest some good, Eada decided as Ivo picked up Hilde's body and they allfollowed him out of the tent. She and Godwin paused only long enough to collectHilde's two sad-eyed children.
Theburial was at the far western edge of the huge camp in a spot beneath sometrees that was already marked by several graves. It was not until Eada helpedthe others pile some rocks on the grave that Eada realized that the soundsfilling the air around them had changed. The battle had begun. Blindly, shetook a step toward the harsh noises only to be stopped by a big hand claspingher by the arm. She looked at Ivo in surprise for she had not heard himapproach.
"Youmust stay here with me," Ivo said, frowning down at her.
"Yes,I know." She sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. "I was notthinking. I just heard the battle and moved toward it."
"Ifyou draw too near, you will be killed," said Godwin as he brushed off hishands and took little Welcome into his arms.
"Iknow that, too." She smiled at young Eric, who clung tightly to the hem ofGodwin's jupon. "I do not think the children understand what hashappened."
"No,but I will try to explain it to them. It may be a blessing that their motherhas shunned them for so long, too sick in her mind and her heart to tend tothem. They have turned to me."
Ivobriefly placed one of his big hands on Eric's fair head. "If Sir Guy wantsthem to leave, May and I will take them. We like children."
AfterEada translated Ivo's words, Godwin smiled and nodded his gratitude, but saidto Eada, "That eases my mind, yet I pray that Sir Guy will continue to beblind to them. I have grown fond of them." He winced, briefly lookingtoward the battle which poisoned the air around them with the sounds of weaponsand death. "May we abide with you for a while? I think this day will behard to endure and I would prefer not to be alone."
Eadahooked her arm through his as May took a shy Eric by the hand. "Yes, staywith us. If nothing else, you will be one more to help keep me from doing somethingfoolish."
"Yourman will return," Godwin said as they all walked back to Drogo's camp.
"Ipray you are right. I always dreaded Old Edith'ssendings, but now, Ideeply wish for your words to be a prophecy"
Drogocursed, ripped off his helmet, and wiped the sweat from his face with theblood-spattered sleeve of his tabard. There was a pause in the fierce fightingand he sorely needed the brief respite. Eada had spoken a wise and sad truthwhen she had said that the Saxons would fight. The battle was hard and bloody,the dead too numerous to count. His men had survived the long hours of battle,bloodied and exhausted but unhurt, but too many other Normans had not.
Whattroubled Drogo was how the Norman knights had retreated again and again beforethe solid line of Saxons on the small rise. The Saxons stood like a human wallthat William's army hurled itself against, failing to climb it or knock itdown. Norman arrows had taken a heavy toll upon the Saxons, but the men did notwaver. Soon it would be night and the fighting would have to stop. If somethingdid not change soon, the day would end in neither victory nor defeat. Haroldcould gather more men, but William could not. Although Drogo knew he wouldwelcome an end to the fighting, he dreaded the thought that all the dying andthe killing done this day would lead to nothing.
"Doyou think we will lose?" Tancred asked as he stepped up beside Drogo.
