Aeldreth was not at all what Robyn thought she would be. He had imagined a perfect but boring lady. She was neither of those things. She was an adventurous sort of woman who did well in the company of animals. She was fearless on horseback and had experience with the training of hounds and managing a rookery. And she met his sharp with wit of her own every time. After a month of marriage to her he realized that he actually did want to go home sometimes. After two months he found that he didn't want to return to the daily service of his liege. The days standing guard seemed longer than ever when he knew that Aeldreth was waiting for him at home.

Aeldreth was heavy with child when they got word that the Danes were gathering a great army. Everyone knew that this could only mean that they meant to conquer their lands rather than just raid them. There had been more and more Danes setting in the area in recent years and they apparently wanted to set up settlements and colonies. Robyn was heavily involved in planning the defense for his king. This was their home. They would cast out the Danes and keep their lands.

It was late in the night when the cry was sounded. The Danes had arrived in Nottingham. Robyn left the bed of his pregnant wife, took up his bow and his sword and went out to join the rest of the men at the fence because a fence surrounded by a water filled trench was all their small village had for defences.

"They'll be here within the hour. What do we do Robyn?" the lad he knew as Will asked him at the place where all the men had begun to gather.

Robyn was at a loss. They didn't have the means to defend this place. He didn't answer Will right away.

"Got any ideas Robyn on how to fend them off?" Tuck asked, joining them just then.

Why was everyone expecting him to know what to do? He had defended castles before or met soldiers in the field but never before had it been on him to meet an enemy with so few defenses and with the lives of his own friends and family on the line.

"Look, those are their torches in the distance!" Will called out.

Robyn tried to count the torches in the distance. They numbered in the hundreds. They had no chance. It would be simpler if they had castle walls as a vantage point for the archers to pick off the Danes. If they had walls and gates they might have a chance but they way things were looked grim. Hopeless.

An idea hit Robyn and he turned to Tuck almost desperately. "Is the ale for your trip tomorrow already loaded on the cart?"

"It's is but Robyn this is no time for ale," Tuck replied in confusion.

"Bring it here at once! Trust me!" He told Tuck them turned to Will. "How high can you climb Will?" He pointed to the trees near the trenches. "I want all the archers in the trees!"

The men who had gathered scrambled to obey him whilst Tuck arrived with the cart. "What am I to do with this?" Tuck asked anxiously.

"Unload it at the gate. I'll help," Robyn told him and the two made haste to unload the barrels of ale at the place where the flimsy wooden gates needed reinforcements.

There were some thirty or forty archers in the trees and another thirty men on the ground. It wasn't enough to defeat so many but they had to try. They had to.

It was yet another night of feasting with the Danes and Guy was doing his best to tolerate and participate as usual. Maerinn sat at his side wearing a purple dress that had once belonged to Gisela and keeping quiet as usual. She had been quiet for weeks and had only spoken to him when absolutely necessary. He understood why. It was because of the pillows he kept in the bed between them. It was because of the fact that he had not kissed her again since that one morning when he'd made the mistake of letting her get close.

It had been a mistake to kiss her. At least that's what he kept telling himself. Instead he had focused his energy on the harvest and the repairs to the walls and had given over Maerinn to the training of Ida the Nun. The Christian woman was able to teach Maerinn both English and the art of being a lady. He had no idea how well Maerinn's education was even coming along simply because she barely spoke to him. She did still look at him though. Sometimes she looked at him like she hated him, like he had murdered all her hopes and broken her heart. Other times she looked at him like Gisela used to, like she adored him. He couldn't have her look at him like that. He couldn't. Hence the pillows that he had placed in the center of the bed.

The meal ended and Guy left the table to head to bed with Maerinn at his side. As was their routine, she entered the room first and changed while he sat on a chair outside the door and removed his boots. By the time he entered the room she was curled up under the blankets with her head covered and he would change his own clothing and climb into bed. Except on this night when he entered the room she was changed into a night gown but she wasn't under the covers. Instead she stood next to the bed waiting.

"Is something amiss?" he asked when she made no move to get into bed. He was afraid she would try again to gain his affections and he would be forced to reject her in earnest this time. The truth was simple but harsh. He was a prisoner as much as she was. He did not have the means to protect her and he could not risk having to protect both her and a child. He would simply have to tell her the truth.

"I heard something today," she told him in english. "I heard one of them say that they are gathering a great army and it is almost ready."

That wasn't what he had expected her to say. "I know," he told her, having heard the Danes speak of it himself. "That was the reason Ivar left months ago. To lead this army. They have taken many villages already. There is nothing we can do about it."

"There's something else," She said as if she were steeling herself to tell him terrible news. "Ragnar is leaving in the morning to join his brother. He says they will gather for the winter at a place called Nottingham. He says that you are to go with him."

"What?" Guy stumbled back at this news. "For what purpose? Surely they have enough hostages already…"

She shook her head. "They are saying that the young men there fled like cowards and are hiding in the forest somewhere. The hostages are old men and women and children. Ragnar says that he will be too busy helping Ivan plan an invasion to be bothered with ruling a bunch Saxon peasants. He says you are good at ruling Saxon peasants he is giving you that job."

"He wants me to be his puppet ruler," Guy said. "I won't do it."

Maerinn looked rather worried at his declaration. "What will they do you if you refuse?" she asked.

Guy let out a breath, crestfallen. "They won't do it to me. They'll do it to someone else. We need to leave this place tonight."

She nodded her agreement and set to work gathering what supplies she could for their journey.