Viking Love Beyond Time (Time Travel Romance) (47 page)

             
“........but what has happened Edric?” she stammered.

             
“His Grace will tell you ma’am”

             
“Who will tell me?” interjected Alodie.

             
Edric glanced up at her, he could see lines of worry clouding her beautiful face.  “You stay here, my sweet” he said and kissed her hand.

             
Aehlswith pecked Alodie on the cheek and reaching for her cloak pulled it round her shoulders.  “I will be back soon Alodie” said Edric and offering Aehlswith his arm they left.

             
Alodie took advantage of the empty hut by heating up some water and having a thorough all over wash, including her hair,  before changing her linen, that done she walked over to the small horn covered window and tried to look out but the view was practically non existent, all she could see were black shapes blowing in the steadily increasing wind.

             
She felt a shiver of foreboding.  Something was happening, something out of her control, but then, she reasoned, everything had been out of her control since day one of this whole ridiculous adventure.

             
Taking a sip of water she sat down and stared into the fire and began to dry her hair before combing and braiding it, 
I wonder why I am here?
she thought
what am I doing in Anglo Saxon England, hundreds of years before I was born, adding to the population by two, having my heart broken by a Viking pirate, abetting in the cover up of the murder of my second navigator –then, to put the icing on the cake, becoming betrothed to a premier noble  - its absolute madness!

             
A cold draught of air made her look up, it was Edric returning.  She turned to face him. “Edric, what’s happening?” she asked.

             
He grinned and taking a wizened apple bit into it “Sorry I have been so long my love but I was called back into council - things are moving, Alodie, that is what is happening”

             
“You have been in conference all day, I thought it was supposed to be women who talked a lot” she replied, waspishly, taking a bite from his apple.

             
He laughed, “The situation is this.  Guthrum has set up court as if he is the king, which at the moment he is, in all but name.  He is not murdering anyone or allowing any great amount of pillage, apart from the monasteries.  He is acting as if the
West Saxons
are his vassals by right.  A lot of the nobility have fled the country, the lily livered bastards, but they have left their men behind, their musters” He took another bite of apple and threw the remnants into the fire.  “We are setting out tomorrow, at first light, by ‘we’ I mean as many of us as are left, to raise these musters and to get as many of the fyrd as are able and willing back to Athelney and the surrounding area.  We are then going to strike against Guthrum’s forces when he least expects it, night attacks and dawn raids - we will serve him as he has served us”

             
Alodie ran her fingers along Edric’s jawline.  There was a tiny scar near his chin, she kissed it.  “I - I want to come with you” she whispered.  Edric took her hand and kissed her palm.

             
“No, my love, you stay here where you will be safe.  The islanders are working night and day to fortify the place, and anyway the queen needs you”

             
“What about Alfred?” asked Alodie.

             
“He wanted to ride out with us but we forbade it.  He must stay safely here as a rallying point for the country”

             
He sat down on the chair and pulled her onto his knee, she buried her head in his neck then murmured  “It’s a good plan but I fear for you Edric, and I will miss you” and she meant it, Edric held a special place in her heart.  He did not set her on fire like Rorik but she almost loved him, as much as she could possibly love anyone.

             
Edric smiled as he glanced down at her head, its nimbus of golden hair subdued into braids.  He felt a great wave of love for this heart breakingly beautiful woman wash over him.  Lifting her chin he kissed her deeply, his tongue plundering the sweetness of her mouth.  Alodie felt his manhood harden underneath her and she wriggled, this inflamed him further and lifting her in his arms he carried her to the bed.  Alodie felt that she should object somehow, try to stop him, but was unable to do so.  She had a feeling, a foreboding about Edric.

             
He eased her back on the furs then looked at her.  “You are so beautiful Alodie, and I want you to be with me forever” he murmured and bent down with his mouth next to her ear, breathing in the honeysuckle of her hair and her woman scent, he slowly unfastened her still damp braids “shake your head my love” he whispered, she did so and he kissed her again -  as she felt his firm mouth on hers her body responded.

             
Later she did not recall him stripping the clothes from her body or undressing himself but suddenly they were both naked and Edric was rubbing her stomach, slowly moving his hand in a circular motion, pressing gently.

             
Soon he reached up and cupped a breast then lowering his head he took a hardened nipple in his mouth and sucked.  She moaned as the tingling shot down to her toes and she pushed her hips up toward him.  She felt him push himself against her in response, and felt his warm lean hardness on her thigh as he reached to take her other nipple in his mouth and draw it in.

             
He ran his warm hand down her hip and then across her leg, reaching for the inside of her thigh, finding her moist folds and touching gently inside her, as she felt his fingers exploring her warm depths she pushed down on them, he groaned aloud and moved himself on top of her whilst he suckled first one breast and then the other before nuzzling the valley in between.  She could feel the pressure of his mouth as he pulled on her engorged nipples, then his fingers found her clitoris and she cried out as he rubbed it gently but with determination.  Suddenly she felt her innards convulsing in a gigantic orgasm.  Pushing against him, she moved her hips, crying out and calling his name.

             
He moved between her legs and lifted them then, with a sigh of pleasure, she felt him enter her.  His body moved strongly back and forth as he moaned her name.  “Alodie, oh my love, I want you, I need you, never leave me” his words came out in ragged gasps as he moved faster and faster until he jerked convulsively, the sweat beading his brow, running down his cheeks and off his chin.

             
Alodie sighed deeply, running her fingers through his thick dark hair.  Whatever feelings she did or did not have for Edric, Aehlswith was right, he certainly did know how to please a lady.  Alodie sighed again, and pulling his dark head down she kissed his forehead.  He smiled and rolled onto his back.  “Thank you” he murmured simply, and taking a strand of hair, kissed it.

             
Alodie felt her usual stab of guilt, lovemaking with Edric was wonderful but there was something missing, she could only give him fifty percent of herself and he deserved better.  “When do you have to leave, Edric?” she asked, her voice beginning to break with the emotion which was almost overwhelming her.

             
“Dawn, tomorrow” he replied.

             
“Is it so urgent?”

             
“It is, my love”

             
“....and Alfred is staying here?” she asked.

             
“He is”

             
She pushed herself into a half sitting position on one elbow and looked at him, her eyes narrowing with suspicion.  “So what was the rush for Aehlswith to go over and see him?”

             
Edric began to laugh.  For a pious young man living in a very godly time  he had a filthy laugh.  “Alfred decided that if his soldiers had to go off to risk their lives they should do so in a happy frame of mind”

             
“Ooh you!” said Alodie and climbing on top of him she perched on his stomach.

             
He cupped her chin in his hand.  “You are my wife in all but name Alodie and when this nightmare is over the first thing I will do is marry you.  I have spoken to both the king and my father and should a child result from this lovemaking and I am killed.....................”

             
Alodie clamped her hand over his mouth.  “Edric, no, don’t speak of it!”

             
He pulled her hand away.  “I have to speak of it my love, I could be killed, very easily.  If you find yourself with child I want no one pointing the finger at you and calling my child a nameless bastard, if you are carrying my baby due to this evening’s pleasure Alfred has assured me that it will be treated as a legitimate heir and my father has sworn that it will inherit Lamporth after he dies”

             
Alodie kissed him gently.  “You are not going back to your quarters tonight are you?” she asked.

             
Edric laughed again and kissed her nose.  “That, my darling, is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard you say”

             
Alodie grinned and cuddling closer to him ran her fingers through the hair on his chest.  “Good, I think this bed, uncomfortable though it is, is probably softer than yours and you’ll be able to get a better night’s sleep, which you’ll need if you are starting out early tomorrow”

             
Edric turned and grinned back at her.  “I retract my earlier statement -
that
was the most ridiculous thing you have ever said!  Any sleep I have to get I will get tomorrow night - in camp!”  He took her hand and gently guided it to his smooth hard shaft.  “Neither of us, my love, will get much rest tonight!”

*****************************

             
Alodie awoke with a start, the wind had dropped somewhat during the night and the hut was curiously silent.  The bright winter sun was poking its early morning rays through the gaps in the roof thatch and the dust motes danced in the beams.  She turned, the other side of the bed was empty and cold, Edric had obviously been gone quite some time.  “Don’t be a hero Edric” she said aloud,  then, biting her lip and sighing, she leaned back on the pillow, feeling a black emptiness fill her heart.

             
At length she shook her head, climbed off the bed and walking over to the chipped ewer splashed water in her face.  She was glad she and Edric had made love, not for herself, although she had enjoyed it, but for him, he loved her so deeply.  She wished she could love him even half as much as he obviously loved her.  She walked over to the door and opening it, looked out at the bare trees, the wind had begun to pick up again and was blowing through them, singing its mournful song.  She had a foreboding that something was about to change, and that Edric was part of her past and had nothing whatsoever to do with her future.  Unbidden, she felt the hot salt tears begin to run down her cheeks and fall, unstemmed, onto her hands.

************************

             
The queen came back later that morning, entering the hut as Alodie was thoughtfully combing her hair.  Aehlswith looked at the shining mass with the sunlight glinting on it and wished, not for the first time, that she had Alodie’s hair, or her eyes, lips, teeth, nose, skin, bosom or backside if she was going to be honest.  Her friend turned to face her and the queen saw Alodie’s tear streaked cheeks.  “Oh my dear” she muttered, and threw her arms around Alodie’s neck.

             
“Aehlswith, I have a terrible feeling that I am not going to see him again” she sobbed.

             
“Stuff and nonsense” replied the queen briskly “why, Edric is one of the finest warriors Alfred has.  Listen, I have an apology, I discovered when I reached the king that getting me out of the house was a ruse, I trust it did not put you in any er position you did not er want to be in”

             
“Wh-what?” Alodie looked up.  Her friend had gone a bright shade of pink, feeling a rush of affection for the queen she smiled, putting her arm round Aehlswith’s shoulders.  “Your Grace, the positions I found myself in last night no one in their right mind would want to be in!”

             
Aehlswith gasped and then began to laugh.  “Alodie, you are incorrigible.  I mean you did not mind Edric - er you know - you have not had the blessing of a priest - the king thinks it’s good for morale”

             
Alodie began to plait her hair “the king is right, whose morale - ours or that of the men?”

             
Aehlswith shook her finger.  “Alodie you are impossible I swear, anyway I have come to ask you to dine with Alfred and me, there will only be three of us.  The hunters were lucky this morning, I think there is a roast duck or two and some pork”

             
Alodie sighed and fastened her plaits.  “I’m not really hungry Aehlswith” she said.

             
The queen shook her head and waved an admonitory finger.  “Rubbish, starving yourself will not help matters and getting out of this hut will do you good.  Now get your cloak”