“I would not be so churlish,” he replied innocently, pushing her toward the door.
Royce stood at the window often, watching the Vikings labor. It was an indication that he had yet to accept their presence at Wyndhurst that he felt unease except when he had them within his sight. He was not so in favor of using them to build his wall as Alden and Lyman were, for he would be meeting the Danes on the Wessex borders when the time came to fight them again, and he was doubtful they would ever push so far south as to do damage to Wyndhurst.
But since King Alfred wanted his lords to fortify their holdings, and since they had ample stone at the old Roman ruins near here, he had agreed a stone wall should be built, whether it would ever be needed or not. And already the Vikings had set the stones that had taken months for the serfs to bring here, and this done in only a week’s time.
“Meghan tells me this has become a new habit of yours, Cousin.”
Royce swung around to see Alden in the doorway. “Should you be up so soon?”
Alden groaned. “Not you, too. I get enough coddling from the women.”
Royce grinned at the younger man as Alden made his way slowly to the open window to stand next to him. “Your company is welcome, for I find I brood too much on the past in here alone. But, God’s truth, I cannot help but feel they will try something now that they are near all mended, so I find myself ever standing here watching them. Only two of them remain unable to carry the stone with ease.”
Alden leaned out the window, and then he whistled softly at what he saw across the yard. “’Tis true, then! We need more stone already.”
“Aye,” Royce admitted grudgingly. “Only two of them are needed to lift the largest stones that it took five of the serfs to carry. In the same amount of time, the serfs are still not finished with the shelter I set them to build for the Vikings next to the storehouse. It will be another few days before they can be locked in there at night. Then we will not need so many men to guard them, at least at night.”
“You worry too much, Royce. What can they do shackled as they are?”
“’Twould take only a strong axe to sever those chains, Cousin. One of them with his bare hands could crush two of my men before a third could draw his sword. And the fools still get close to them, even though I have warned them to keep their distance. If the Vikings are determined on their freedom, and I cannot doubt that they are, then they will make a bid for it eventually, and many will die when they do.”
“Burn their ship and let them know the sea is closed to them,” Alden suggested.
Royce grunted. “I am surprised no one has told you that has been done already.”
“Then what you need is an inducement to keep them tame,” Alden replied.
“Yea, but what?”
“You could take their leader away. If they think you will kill him at the first sign of revolt, that should—”
“Nay, Alden. I thought of that, but they say the one who led them here is dead. ’Twas his father’s ship I burned. They chose a new leader from among them, and would only do so again if I separate him from them.”
“They say he is dead?” Alden was frowning thoughtfully now. “What if he is not?”
“What!” Royce exclaimed.
“If he were down there among them, why should they tell you so and risk losing him for what I suggested.”
“God’s breath, I did not think of that.” But Royce frowned then. “Nay. The only one they rally round is the boy. They protect him as if he were a babe.”
At first he had thought that the lad was only Thorolf’s brother, and that was why the bigger man cosseted him. But once the prisoners began the wall, they all seemed to look after the lad, stopping the guards from prodding him, taking the heaviest stones from him and pushing him toward the lighter ones, two or more of them moving to help him up every time he fell. But damned if he wasn’t the filthiest among them, never making use of the water given them to wash. Still they pampered him.
“Could he be their leader?” Alden ventured, looking at the one in question sitting down on the low wall while the last few stones were moved in place at Lyman’s direction.
“Are you daft, Cousin? He is but a smooth-faced boy. Granted, they are all young men, but he is the youngest among them.”
“But if his father supplied the ship, then they are bound to follow whom he chooses to sail it.”
Royce scowled darkly. Could it be that simple? His own king was younger than he by a few years. But Alfred had been second in command since he was sixteen. This was an untried boy who still needed cosseting. Yet it was that untried boy who had wounded Alden, and Alden was as seasoned a warrior as Royce was. And now that he thought of it, every one of the Vikings stopped whatever he was doing every time attention was drawn to the boy, almost as if they waited, ready to come to his defense if necessary.
“I think ’tis time I had another talk with Thorolf,” Royce said tersely.
“Which one is he?”
Royce pointed out the window. “There, the one who just called the lad to him. He is the only one who understands our tongue, though not clearly.”
“Lyman is finished with them for this day, it seems,” Alden remarked.
