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bonnie Saxon girl to take with us as your wife? There are many who would wish you as their husband.”
    “Mother, there’s only one woman I will consider marrying, and that’s Agneta.”
    “But she may have made her final vows already.”
    He shook his head. “She’s not old enough yet. Anyway, when we travel through Northumbria, I’m determined to try to change her mind about me.”
    “She may not be glad to see you.”
    “I have to try, if it’s only to say a last goodbye.”
    ~~~
    Caedmon and Leofric set about making clandestine arrangements for their departure. The three surviving members of the Brightmore family, Coventina and her mother and aunt, had decided to join the Woolgars in their flight. The three women had come to assist Ascha with packing.
    “The morrow will see a twelvemonth passed since Alnwick,” Leofric observed, as he and Caedmon were examining the latest charts they’d procured, planning a route. “Hard to believe a year has passed since that bloody day when life changed completely.”
    “Aye,” Caedmon agreed. “And isn’t it ironic the same thirteenth day of November is the feast day of Saint Brice?”
    He turned to his mother. “Why did you pick that as my middle name, mother?”
    Lady Ascha reddened, muttered something about having to finish packing, and left abruptly. The elder Brightmore women went with her.
    “It’s more than a fitting day for us to leave this cursed country, make a fresh start,” Enid, Lady Ascha’s maidservant said. “I’d better go help your mother.”
    Caedmon wondered exactly what Enid meant by her unusual outburst, but his thoughts were interrupted.
    “You have to admire Enid’s loyalty. She’s not a young woman and yet she’s been willing to follow your mother and serve her for many years.”
    Caedmon looked at the person who’d spoken. Coventina Brightmore was a shy, quiet girl, not beautiful, but pleasant, with a good figure, and what Leofric described as voluptuous tits . It was rare for her to offer an opinion. Caedmon nodded, and then happened to notice Leofric also stared at the girl, clenching his good fist nervously.
    I wonder.
    “Let’s go over the plan again, Leofric,” Caedmon suggested.
    “What? Oh—yes—the plan. Everyone who is assembled here at dawn will be making the journey. Each traveller has been told they must have their own healthy horse and sufficient provisions for a sennight, at least. There will be only one wagon, which has been generously provided by Edgar Beasant, and each family will be allotted a space in it. No furniture, chattels or the like. Warm winter clothing and boots. Sufficient funds to support your family—well concealed, of course.”
    “How many have committed?”
    “Fifteen.”
    Caedmon was about to reply when he was interrupted by a commotion, and Eivind Brede burst into the room. Lady Ascha, the Brightmores and Enid followed right behind. “They’ve butchered Duncan.”
    Lady Ascha’s hand flew to her mouth in shock. “The King?”
    “Aye. The treacherous Edmund has joined forces with his uncle, Donald the Fair. They’ve had Duncan murdered, and Donald the Fair is back on the throne. The old man has named Edmund his heir.”
    “Rufus won’t be happy about all this,” Leofric suggested.
    “Will we still leave on the morrow?” Lady Ascha asked worriedly.
    “We must,” Caedmon replied.
    I hope my little nun is praying for me.
    ~~~
    Agneta’s patient with the putrified sword slash proved to be an excellent source of information about the goings-on north of the border. He recovered after a fortnight in the Infirmary and she visited him and his family often in their cottage near Alnwick, on the pretext of making sure his wound had not reopened. She always took another novice with her. As she carefully examined the scar, she learned, one cold November morning, about the murder of King Duncan a sennight before.
    “Ironic it was on the eve of the twelvemonth anniversary of the battle