you,’ she murmured. ‘I’ll look after you.’
The baby was another daughter for Anna, christened Withberga.
Over the next few months Etheldreda and Heregyth were busy. They found a wet nurse for the baby, but Etheldreda insisted on doing almost everything for her infant sister apart from the actual feeding. She was also concerned with keeping her father from total despair, and helping him to rule his kingdom. Since his wife’s death he seemed to care about nothing and if it were not for Etheldreda’s insistence and constant inspiration he would have abandoned most of his responsibilities. The sharp words of the man she admired so greatly, Bishop Felix, had roused her to action. ‘Help – or leave.’
King Oswin had returned to his kingdom before she had a chance to see him again.
Chapter 6
The hostage
‘I will not let him go!’ Eanfleda almost shrieked. Tears were streaming from her eyes and she was clasping her infant son to her breast with such fury and despair that she all but stopped his breathing.
Prince Egfrid added his voice to hers and howled disconsolately. He had no idea of the negotiations that had gone on between King Penda and his father King Oswy, the negotiations which had been at last settled and sealed with the agreement that he, Prince Egfrid, second son of Oswy and Eanfleda, would be given as hostage to King Penda as sign of Oswy’s good faith, but he did know that he was extremely uncomfortable crushed so fiercely in his mother’s arms.
Oswy looked at his pale thin wife, her eyes full of outrage, and his own face flushed with anger.
‘Will not, lady? Will not?’ he roared.
Eanfleda was afraid of him but she held her ground.
‘I will kill him and myself rather than let him go to that barbarous monster!’ she screamed.
‘You do that lady and you will kill us all. We live only at Penda’s pleasure and Penda’s pleasure is to have the child. He will have him! And you will give him up!’
‘Never!’
King Oswy nodded at two of his men who were close behind the queen and before she realised what was happening she was roughly seized and the child ripped shrieking from her arms.
She tried to bite and kick and pull the child back, but the one man held him high above his head and stepped back out of reach as the other held her down. The men looked over her head for guidance from the king who nodded his approval and gestured for the man who held the child to hand it to Penda’s two thegns waiting in the shadows.
As soon as they had the prince in their grasp they left the chamber, the queen’s curses ringing in their ears.
The king let Eanfleda scream and cry and struggle for a while, but when he was sure that Penda’s men had mounted and ridden off, he commanded that she be released. Sobbing hopelessly she fell to the floor and beat her fists against it. The king stood looking at her, the angry flush dying down, his eyes showing for the first time something of his own suffering, his own pity.
Suddenly a young boy who had been watching the whole scene from the corner of the room came forward and knelt beside her.
‘My lady,’ he whispered. ‘Lady, do not weep. It’ll only be for a little while. My lord the king will soon have Penda’s head on a stake and your son will be restored to you.’
Tearfully she looked up at him, and allowed herself to be helped to her feet. Her face was ugly and red with weeping, but she knew that there was nothing she could now do to bring her son back. She was drained of all passion, numb with despair.
‘Spoken like a man, Wilfrid,’ said King Oswy with satisfaction. ‘And you will help me put it there.’
‘No,’ said the queen with one last flicker of strength. ‘I promised his dying mother that he would be a scholar and a priest, and I will not break that promise. He goes to Lindisfarne.’
The king shrugged. He felt it was a waste to send Wilfrid to a monastery and would have liked him for his shield bearer, but he did not
The baby was another daughter for Anna, christened Withberga.
Over the next few months Etheldreda and Heregyth were busy. They found a wet nurse for the baby, but Etheldreda insisted on doing almost everything for her infant sister apart from the actual feeding. She was also concerned with keeping her father from total despair, and helping him to rule his kingdom. Since his wife’s death he seemed to care about nothing and if it were not for Etheldreda’s insistence and constant inspiration he would have abandoned most of his responsibilities. The sharp words of the man she admired so greatly, Bishop Felix, had roused her to action. ‘Help – or leave.’
King Oswin had returned to his kingdom before she had a chance to see him again.
Chapter 6
The hostage
‘I will not let him go!’ Eanfleda almost shrieked. Tears were streaming from her eyes and she was clasping her infant son to her breast with such fury and despair that she all but stopped his breathing.
Prince Egfrid added his voice to hers and howled disconsolately. He had no idea of the negotiations that had gone on between King Penda and his father King Oswy, the negotiations which had been at last settled and sealed with the agreement that he, Prince Egfrid, second son of Oswy and Eanfleda, would be given as hostage to King Penda as sign of Oswy’s good faith, but he did know that he was extremely uncomfortable crushed so fiercely in his mother’s arms.
Oswy looked at his pale thin wife, her eyes full of outrage, and his own face flushed with anger.
‘Will not, lady? Will not?’ he roared.
Eanfleda was afraid of him but she held her ground.
‘I will kill him and myself rather than let him go to that barbarous monster!’ she screamed.
‘You do that lady and you will kill us all. We live only at Penda’s pleasure and Penda’s pleasure is to have the child. He will have him! And you will give him up!’
‘Never!’
King Oswy nodded at two of his men who were close behind the queen and before she realised what was happening she was roughly seized and the child ripped shrieking from her arms.
She tried to bite and kick and pull the child back, but the one man held him high above his head and stepped back out of reach as the other held her down. The men looked over her head for guidance from the king who nodded his approval and gestured for the man who held the child to hand it to Penda’s two thegns waiting in the shadows.
As soon as they had the prince in their grasp they left the chamber, the queen’s curses ringing in their ears.
The king let Eanfleda scream and cry and struggle for a while, but when he was sure that Penda’s men had mounted and ridden off, he commanded that she be released. Sobbing hopelessly she fell to the floor and beat her fists against it. The king stood looking at her, the angry flush dying down, his eyes showing for the first time something of his own suffering, his own pity.
Suddenly a young boy who had been watching the whole scene from the corner of the room came forward and knelt beside her.
‘My lady,’ he whispered. ‘Lady, do not weep. It’ll only be for a little while. My lord the king will soon have Penda’s head on a stake and your son will be restored to you.’
Tearfully she looked up at him, and allowed herself to be helped to her feet. Her face was ugly and red with weeping, but she knew that there was nothing she could now do to bring her son back. She was drained of all passion, numb with despair.
‘Spoken like a man, Wilfrid,’ said King Oswy with satisfaction. ‘And you will help me put it there.’
‘No,’ said the queen with one last flicker of strength. ‘I promised his dying mother that he would be a scholar and a priest, and I will not break that promise. He goes to Lindisfarne.’
The king shrugged. He felt it was a waste to send Wilfrid to a monastery and would have liked him for his shield bearer, but he did not
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