Dunnottar, Winter 914
Three men rode out of the western gate of Dunnottar fortress when they saw the small contingent of horses appear on the horizon, crackling into vision in the crisp December morning. Behind them, the household guard readied themselves. Norse were abroad, Norse, Danes, even Anglish and Saxons.
But there was only one Anglish in the group heading to Constantine's palace. Osthryth watched as the riders approached them.
"Come with me, Aeswi," she asked of her commander, and, "Stay with the Gaels," she asked of the mormaers. The three of them rode to meet the travellers and Osthryth sped up her horse when she saw who one of the riders was. It was Ceinid, and all the worry and angst she had been feeling, about leaving Mercia and losing Aelffrith, about Ninefingers and Finan melted away when he smiled, recognising her.
"We were not expecting you for some time," called the man on the second horse. "We were not expecting you until at least next year. The third man said nothing, just stared at Osthryth. Osthryth looked to the second man, who removed his helm.
"Ceinid, who is this?" she asked. And the head of Constantine's guard, Osthryth's betrothed, threw back his head and laughed.
"Don't tell me you don't recognise Cellach, Cailean?" he asked her. And Osthryth drew her eyes back sharply to Constantine's eldest son, and shook her head, smiling in wonder.
"Cellach?" she asked, the image of a willow-like youth at odds with the tall, broad man on the horse before her.
"Osthryth!" he smiled back. "I am all grown!" He was, and a mighty sight in his armour. "It was Domhnall's," he added, when Osthryth asked about it. Aeswi was calling over the warriors as Osthryth looked at the third rider.
"Who are with the mormaers?" Cellach asked her. Osthryth turned her head.
"I have warriors, who have come to pledge their swords to Constantine, loyal Ulaid warriors," Osthryth explained.
"We will see," the third man said, and Osthryth saw, to her amazement, that it was Domnall, son of Aed Findliath, and when he removed his own helmet, she swallowed when she saw how like his father he had become.
"They are welcome, nonetheless, subject to my father's approval," Cellach told the Gaelish warriors, dipping his head in deference to them. And the whole party rode back to Dunnottar, Osthryth's heart, so troubled on her return, soaring higher and higher as she got closer to home.
"Domnall!" Osthryth exclaimed, as she dismounted in the courtyard. And the Prince of the Ui Neill had not a second to object when Osthryth flung herself to him.
"Osrit!" he told her, close to her ear as she clapped him on the back. "It is so good to see yer! Still loyal to my cousin." Osthryth took a step back and smiled to Domnall.
"You too, for you are here," she said to him, and they gave one another a long embrace, before Domnall strode off towards the armoury.
"Should I be concerned, Cailean?" Ceinid asked, as he led their horses to the stables. Osthryth looked abashed. But she saw that her betrothed was laughing, and Ceinid shook his head. "I could not keep you apart from Prince Domnall when you were young; what chance do I have now?" And he said this, Osthryth knew, because her future husband knew that there never was nor ever could be anything between her and Domnall. If she had to choose a brother from any man in this life, she would choose the Ulaid prince, who had, when she had shown her loyalty, been a stalwart friend.
"Cellach is taking the mormaers and the new warriors to Constantine," Ceinid continued. "Owain wanted to stay behind in Caer Ligualid, I think?"
"No," Osthryth told him. "He wanted to come back to see the king; he has learned a lot being a warrior in Mercia and Northumbria." And then, she asked the question that her heart was longing to know. "Finan beag," she asked. "I need to see him!"
"He is well," Ceinid told her. "You will find he has grown." And all Osthryth wanted to do was race to her son, to be with him, so know he was safe and well. "Take me to him!" she demanded, and Ceinid laughed, holding out a hand.
"Of course, Cailean," he told her. "Of course."
It would give Constantine more time to examine the witness of Feilim and Oengus, Owain and the new warriors she had brought before she saw him, and she followed Ceinid up the steps to the tower, where she saw Finan beag poring over a large manuscript, a quill in hand.
"He is quite the scholar," he told Osthryth. "He can read Gaelish and Pictish, and is managing Anglish." He stopped, and watched Osthryth's face."
"Do you know that it is Christmas Day tomorrow?"
"No," Osthryth replied, "I did not. We were tracking the days, and spent several in Caer Ligualid, and - "
And then it hit her, the homesickness. If someone had asked Osthryth where home was, she would probably have said she did not have one. But sadness filled her, like a cup with iced water, and she thought of how much she had missed the castle, her life here, training the young nobles, being with Young Finan and watching him grow. Watching Aedre become older, and beoming a young woman. Being at Dunnottar was being at home, to her.
"Ceinid, I need to see Constantine," she told him. "But, first, I need - "
She didn't get to finish. In the privacy of the tower room, Ceinid put his arms around Osthryth and held her close, pressing his lips to hers, holding her as if the world would end if she let go.
When he finally did, Osthryth began again, feeling the warmth, the tenderness, the love of the man for her. And she loved him too. Here, now, feeling the pull of a place that was hers, she knew she loved Ceinid. But she could not go to the farm at Berric until they were married. And despite what Aethelflaed had said, she did still owe Mercia her time.
But would it be enough for Constantine? It was he who had made the condition, he who had sworn a treaty - Osthryth had not even been there for that.
Osthryth took Ceinid's hand, and peered in at the door again. Aedre was making a mark on the paper, and pointing it out to Young Finan. She remembered herself teaching the princes and princesses at Doire in the same way, and teaching Aedre herself. Then, as she was about to interrupt the lesson, a shuffling came at the door.
"King Constantine wishes to see you," Domnall said, smiling at Osthryth. "He has spoken to the mormaers, and Owain has gone off on patrol with Cellach." Domnall glanced at Ceinid. "And he had accepted the service of the Gaelish warriors." But his face did not seem to match the approval Constantine must have given - indeed, he seemed altogether opposed to the plan.
They crossed the courtyard, Ceinid remaining at the tower and promising he would speak to her that evening, but Domnall paused at the gated doors and turned to Osthryth.
"I would not trust those men you returned with," he told her. "I know them; they did not have a good reputation with your father."
"Domnall," Osthryth told him, the weight of it on her chest. She never expected to feel so oppressed by the knowledge she had learned about Finan, and before she saw Constantine she needed to discuss it with someone who knew. "Domnall, can we walk for a few minutes?"
"Certainly do not trust him, Osrit," came Domnall's advice, when he heard what Osthryth had to say about Ninefingers and his brother. "He may well have been enslaved, you may well have developed affection for him, but - "
"Domnall," she told him, urgently, as they walked, like they always had done when they had important things to say to one another. "I fell in love with him; I promised myself to him! Young Finan, he - "
"Listen, listen to me, my dear, dear friend," he told her, putting firm hands one on each shoulder. "When I dragged you out of the sea, your body looked worse than if you had been in combat with a bear. You were cut, you were bruised. You were defiled. I covered you up, I carried you back to the palace - I thought you were dead!" His words were low and Domnall leaned on every one emphasise the seriousness of them. "We had our differences, but they were cruel, because they could be."
"I - " began Osthryth.
"No, no -dear-friend!" Domnall told her. "Those men you brought back with you, in your goodness, in your belief that you were doing right, they chose to be with Ragnall Ivarsson. Do you know why?" Osthryth shook her head. She seemed to be learning a lot of important things in a very short space of time, and she waited for Domnall to tell her.
"When Gormlaith was rejected by Finan ui Conchobar, Flann sent these men, these four men to find them. They did as foul a thing to that poor girl than ever Finan and Conall did to you." Domnall shook his head. "By God, they...they raped her, many many times. They made him watch. And then they killed her by hanging her from a tree." Domnall glanced around him, then saw Osthryth's face. "Finan was sent to the same slaver as Flann sent my dear sister."
"Ethne," Osthryth breathed. How ironic that Finan and Ethne should meet - and marry once the slaver they were on was liberated, with the help of Alfred, who had sent Ragnar Ragnarsson, her brother's adopted Danish brother, to find him.
"Donnchada tracked them down," Domnall went on, "And sent them out into the sea in a boat with no oars, to face the fate that awaited them. They were condemned for their crimes." He took Osthryth's shoulder again. "As should Finan Conchobar be, in your mind, in your heart."
"I am sorry, I am so sorry that I am the one who's just told you this."
"Did Constantine know? Did he know of Finan?" she asked Domnall, as urgently as he had had asked her.
"I don't know," Domnall told her. "He might have."
"But, Young Finan," Osthryth said, and this time, watched Domnall take a few steps away from her.
"My cousin believes him to be his son," Domnall told her. "One night, when I'd arrived, he told me that he looks forward to the day when you marry and give up being a warrior. He said, "She will take our son, and be a farmer." ".
"Our son." Osthryth repeated the words, thinking. Thinking about how attentive Constantine had been, how generous. He thought young Finan was his own child!
"Now, do you understand?"
"Domnall, I do," she told him, truthfully. "I really do." And she lowered her head and rested her hand to her forehead. After a moment, Domnall put a hand to her head as well, and she took it, and stood upright, face set, determined.
"Let us go to see the king," she told Domnall. And then, in a lower, softer tone, "You cannot know what means to me that you have told me this."
"I can," Domnall told her, gripping her hand, affectionately. "I have many misdeeds to atone for yet, you know that."
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"I cannot praise you enough!" Constantine, who seemed to have grown more statesman-like, with his long hair combed and his circlet polished, sat on his throne - Domhnall's throne - with his cousin's long, blue cloak falling over his shoulders.
"You bring me wealth, and a shored-up treaty. My men are safe and Northumbria is secure."
"I didn't do this alone," Osthryth told him. "My men - "
"Your men tell me that everything you did in my name was with courage and bravery that some men could never have managed," he concluded, and got to his feet. "And I am sorry about the Mercian warrior. He gave, as I understand it, his life for yours, while you were fighting to free your warriors."
"Yes, your grace," Osthryth told him. All this was true - it was accurate. Oengus and Feilim, standing beside Uunst and the other mormaers, stood firm. They had clearly detailed everything to Constantine. "You arrive back at Christmas with vast wealth for my treasury, which keeps every person in Alba safe, you arrive in time for the ending of the Advent fast. What, what then will be your reward for this?"
"King Constantine," Osthryth said, gravely. "I need no reward. I am home, I am with my family."
"This is your home," Constantine told her, "And it does my heart good to hear you say that. Alba gu braith!" He raised his hand in a salute, and his mormaers followed, "Alba gu braith!"
"There will be no need for you to fulfil the remainder of your time in Mercia," he added, stepping close to Osthryth, and said, close to her ear, "From what I hear, you did more in four months than some warriors do in a lifetime."
"But - !" Osthryth began to protest. She owed that time, didn't she?
"You will work here, you will train the mormaers' sons. There is no need for you to go into battle again." His eyes were bright, a generous Constantine because he was happy. "You can now marry, freely, and live at Berric. You can farm, and live a contented life." He turned to address his warriors, and Osthryth noticed that Ceinid was one of them. He smiled at Osthryth, and she smiled at him.
...Ceinid, yes, but...but not be a warrior? Not command, and fight? Not live a life she had known for nearly all her life...?
...but there would be need to defend her land, a part of her mind told her. and she would be able to train young Finan...
"Your grace," Osthryth heard herself saying. "You give me a great honour." She bowed her head. "I am ready to marry, as you see fit, and live the life you choose. And - "
And it might have stayed like that - Osthryth's life may well have changed from that day. She might have married Ceinid the day after, Christmas Day was a day popular with the Gaels.
Except, her elder brother might just say this: the Fates weave their webs, and we fall into their traps. The Norns at the foot of Yggrasil change the loops and patterns of the yarns they weave.
Wyrd bith ful araed: for at that moment, without warning, strode in a figure, covered in blood, hair tangled, face defiant.
"Lord King!" declared Wihtgar, chest out, chin held high. "I have most humbly come to beg your support at my home, Bebbanburg. We are under attack."
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Dunnottar, Summer 917
Domnall watched Osthryth of Alba dress in her warrior clothes one summer morning three years later, pulling in the cloth she felt she needed to subdue the lumps that were her breasts, pull skin-tight breeches over her legs. Fasten her sword to her belt.
He had seen her tits on more than one occasion in real life, and had wanked over the image of them in his mind more times than he could count in his youth, dreaming that they lay together, dreaming that they were husband and wife, that she had stayed in Eireann, that he was holding those tits of hers, rubbing thumbs over them to turn her on, sucking on them, hearing her moan in pleasure. Pushing himself inside her so he could come in her, and she could come because of him. He had tried to take her, Domnall knew, and while he would have enjoyed her body, he was glad, now, that the angry young man who had been his former self, had not done managed to, and that she had fought him off.
That had been once. When they had all left, and gone to Alba, all that faded from Domnall's mind, all desires had diminished and she had become a friend, a true friend, who needed him again if she was determined to stay in Alba. In fact, it had been sooner than that, it had been in Eireann, when he had gone to his cousin, to beg he accept him come with him, before he suffered his sister's fate. His respect for her had grown after the battle with the Norse.
Now, Osthryth needed to be reminded of Constantine's monstrous ambition, and prevent her from getting caught up in his schemes, and be sacrificed to them, as she had almost been at Caer Ligualid when Constantine had thought up the scheme to marry her to Guthred in order to claim Cumbraland, and therefore Strathclyde.
This marriage to Ceinid seemed like one of them, but they seemed happy, and she seemed resigned to her future. It was more than most women might expect, and Domnall was happy for her.
Life had indeed changed for Alba. While it could defend its borders, Constantine's appetite for the land to the wall was unquenchable, and the weak spot in his strategy was Bebbanburg.
In other circumstances, Constantine would have left the Anglish fortress to her fate. But, with the indifferent Wihtgar, who just wanted his family home and no other political interest, Bebbanburg had become both a place to defend and a location from which Constantine could plan his inexorable march south.
This included Osthryth being married to Constantine's cousin Ceinid and taking up residence at Berric, thus putting that land under his control
"Can I come with you, Mama?" Domnall heard young Finan ask her. "On your patrols? Father said I would be a warrior someday." Father, as the young boy had said, meant the priest Cadwalladr, a Briton from Elmet whose family converted under Edwin at Yeavering and had gone to Melrose monastery to train, before moving to Culdees. He was a superb scholar and Constantine had chosen him to teach Finan.
Domnall shook his head, wondering for heaven knew how many times it was that Osthryth hadn't guessed that Constantine believed young Finan to be his own son.
"Not today, Finan beag," Osthryth told him, kindly. "The army marches today. Stay and read with Aedre."
Did he see the boy give a start of joy? Not everyone was meant to be a warrior. Perhaps Constantine's alleged son was going to be a scholar. Domnall sighed, then saw that Osthryth was coming, and leaned against the wall by the door. He missed Ildubh, that was certain, and would miss Aedre when he eventually agreed a deal between himself and Anlaf Guthfrithsson - the intended themselves were more than delighted with the arrangement.
"We are needed on the approach road today," Osthryth told Domnall. "Ceinid is taking the troops over the Forth down to Bebbanburg today.
"Good," Domnall told her. "And better still if they meet your brother's men, dead Uhtredsmen are the best kind." He saw a wrinkle in her brow but said nothing. They had patrolled nearly every day for over three years; he knew there was history, bad blood between her and Uhtred, especially considering what he had done to her - he could not believe his ears when Ceinid recounted it to him one evening on perimeter duty.
"I just want our lives to be simple; I want Bebbanburg settled so that Constantine can continue to march southward. I want to be wed to Ceinid and have a simple life as a farmer." Domnall gave her a doubtful look.
"Osrit," he said, frowning in jest, his tone of voice light and teasing. "I do not believe what I am hearing! You wish to give up being a warrior? You are so good at it!" Osthryth smiled at the complement as they trod the flagstones over the courtyard, to the south-eastern gate, where a mixed army of Gaels, Pictrs and Strathclydians were assembling, including the four who had been exiled by Donnchada. They seemed to have given no reason to doubt them and had, to all extent and purposes, become loyal Gaelish warriors with their king .
"I am getting old, Domnall," Osthryth told him. "I can feel my age. I can feel the weight of Buaidh in my hand. I need to turn her into a ploughshare."
And all Domnall could do in reply to this was to clap her on the shoulder, and stroll with her to the column of men who were standing beside the gate, ready for it to open.
She sought Ceinid with her eyes and, when she found him, Osthryth left Domnall's side, and went to her betrothed.
"We have gone, season after season," Ceinid told her, which was true. "They have never managed it, nor will they." He kissed her forehead. "So we will go, and support Wihtgar, and come back."
"This time, I want us to be wed," Osthryth said, softly. "Otherwise, you will be spending your whole life warding off Uhtred and his men, and we can never make a life at your family's land, and I will be left patrolling Dunnottar's walls for the rest of my life!." Ceinid smiled the impish smile of his at her words, and took her hands.
"I will speak to Constantine when I return, Cailean" he promised, and Osthryth stepped back, pushing the desire to join them back into her stomach. Then, she found Aeswi, Feilim and Oengus, and wished them well, before walking beside her friend at the back of the column, slowing when they got to the fork that would lead them to the boats from the monastery that would take them to the southern bank of the Forth.
"They have gone completely against my expectations," Domnall told her, speaking of the four Gaelish warriors. "Maybe people can change, after all."
And it was with this in mind, Osthryth read the letter that was placed into her hand in haste by a young Briton boy who had come from the village a week later, when she was on boundary patrol. One quick look, and then a dart away.
Osthryth opened it, and read it. Twice. It was from Finan. He wanted to meet her at St. Cuthbert's Cove. At Bebbanburg.