“I have to stay here until the king comes.”

“Will you come to Dreng’s Ferry afterward? Our plan could still work. You could take refuge in the nunnery for as long as necessary. And we could talk at leisure about . . . our future.”

“I’d like that. But I can’t make any plans until I see the king. He is in charge of noble widows. I don’t know what he might do.”

Edgar nodded. “I’ll leave you for now. I have to buy iron. But will you invite me to dinner?”

“Of course.”

“I’m happy to sit around the table with the servants and children, you know that.”

“I know.”

“I have one more question.” He took her hands.

“Go ahead,” she said.

“Do you love me?”

“With all my heart.”

“Then I’m a happy man.”

He kissed her lips. She let her mouth linger on his for a long moment. Then he left.

CHAPTER 37

    August 1003

ing Ethelred held court in the marketplace outside Shiring Cathedral. Every citizen was there, plus hundreds from the surrounding villages, and most of the noblemen and senior clergy in the region. Ragna’s bodyguards made a path through the crowd so that she could get to the front, where Wynstan and Wigelm and all the other magnates stood, waiting for the king. She knew most of the thanes and made a point of speaking to each. She wanted everyone to know she was back.

In front of the crowd stood two cushioned four-legged stools under a temporary canopy put up to shade the royals from the August sun. To one side was a table with writing materials, and two priests sitting ready to pen documents at the king’s command. They also had a stilyard balance to weigh large sums of money if the king imposed fines.

The townspeople were excited. Kings traveled from town to town all the time, but even so an ordinary English person seldom got to see one in the flesh. Everyone was keen to see whether he seemed in good health, and what his new queen was wearing.

A king was a remote personage. In theory he was all-powerful but, in practice, edicts issued from a faraway royal court might not be enforced. The decisions of local overlords often had more effect on everyday life. But that changed when the king came to town. It was hard for tyrants such as Wynstan and Wigelm to defy a royal edict that had been pronounced in front of thousands of local people. Victims of injustice hoped for restitution when the king came to visit.

At last Ethelred appeared with Queen Emma. The townspeople knelt and the noblemen bowed. Everyone made way for the royal couple to walk to their seats.

Emma at eighteen was young and pretty, much the same as when Ragna last saw her six years ago, except that now she was pregnant. Ragna smiled, and Emma recognized her immediately. To Ragna’s delight the queen came straight to her and kissed her. Speaking Norman French, she said: “How wonderful to see a familiar face!”

Ragna was thrilled to be acknowledged as the queen’s friend in front of the men who had treated her so cruelly. She replied in the same language. “Congratulations on your marriage. I’m so happy that you’re England’s queen.”

“We’re going to be such friends.”

“I hope so—if they don’t imprison me again.”

“They won’t—not if I can help it.” Emma turned away and moved to her seat. She spoke a word of explanation to Ethelred, who nodded and smiled at Ragna.

That was a good start. Ragna was heartened by Emma’s friendliness, but recalled with trepidation the words not if I can help it. Clearly Emma was not sure she could control events. And she was young, perhaps too young to have learned the tricks Ragna knew.

Ethelred spoke in a loud voice, though even so he probably could not be heard by those on the outskirts of the crowd. “Our first and most important task is to choose a new ealdorman for Shiring.”

Aldred boldly interrupted. “My lord king, Ealdorman Wilwulf made a will.”

Bishop Wynstan called out: “Never ratified.”

Aldred said: “Wilwulf intended to show his will to you, my lord king, and to ask you to approve it—but before he could do so he was murdered in his bed right here in Shiring.”

Wynstan said scornfully: “Where is this will, then?”

“It was in the lady Ragna’s treasury, which was stolen minutes after Wilwulf died.”

“A nonexistent will, it seems.”

The crowd enjoyed this, a squabble between two men of God, right at the start of the court. But then Ragna spoke up. “On the contrary,” she said. “Several copies were made. Here is one, my lord king.” She took the folded parchment from the bosom of her dress and handed it to Ethelred.

He took it, but did not unroll it.

Wynstan said: “It doesn’t matter if a hundred copies were made—the will is invalid.”

Ragna said: “As you can see from the document, my lord king, it was my husband’s wish that you should make our eldest son, Osbert, ealdorman—”

“A child four years of age!” Wynstan jeered.

“—with me to rule as his representative until he comes of age.”

Ethelred said: “Enough!” He paused, and they all remained silent for a moment. Having asserted his power he went on: “In times such as these, the ealdorman must have the ability to muster an army and lead men into battle.”

The assembled noblemen nodded and murmured their agreement. Ragna realized that, much as they liked her, they did not believe in her as a military leader. She was not really surprised.

Wynstan said: “My brother, Wigelm, has recently proved his ability in this regard, by assembling an army to fight alongside you, my lord king, at Exeter.”

“He has,” said Ethelred.

The battle of Exeter had been lost, and the Vikings had looted the city and then gone home; but Ragna decided not to say that. She saw that she was going to lose this argument. Immediately after a Viking victory the king was not going to appoint a woman ealdorman to lead the men of Shiring. But that had always been a faint hope.

She had lost the first round. But she might yet gain from this decision, she told herself; perhaps Ethelred might now wish to balance the concession to Wigelm with one to her.

She had regained her ability to strategize, she realized. The torpor of prison was wearing off rapidly. She felt enlivened.

Aldred said: “My lord king, Wigelm and Wynstan have imprisoned the lady Ragna for almost a year, taken over her lands in the Vale of Outhen and stolen her income, and refused to return her dowry, to which she is entitled. I now ask you to protect this noble widow from her predatory in-laws.”

Ragna realized that Aldred was coming as close as he could to accusing Ethelred of failing in his duty to care for widows.

Ethelred looked at Wigelm. There was an undertone of anger in his voice as he said: “Is this true?”

But it was Wynstan who answered. “The lady Ragna sought solitude in which to mourn. We merely provided her with protection.”

“Nonsense!” said Ragna indignantly. “My door was barred on the outside! I was a prisoner.”

Wynstan said smoothly: “The door was barred so that the children could not wander out and get lost in the forest.”

It was a feeble excuse, but would Ethelred accept it?

The king did not hesitate. “Locking a woman in is not protection.”

He was not so easily fooled, Ragna saw.

Ethelred went on: “Before I confirm Wigelm as ealdorman, I will require both Wigelm and Wynstan to swear an oath not to imprison the lady Ragna.”

Ragna allowed herself a moment of sheer relief. She was free—for now, at least: oaths could be broken, of course.

Ethelred went on: “Now, what’s this about Outhen? I thought she had received that land as part of her marriage contract.”

“True,” said Wynstan. But my brother Wilwulf had no right to give it to her.”

Ragna said indignantly: “You negotiated the marriage contract with my father! How can you repudiate it now?”

Wynstan said smoothly: “It has belonged to my family since time immemorial.”

“No, it hasn’t,” said the king.

Everyone stared at him. This was a surprise intervention.

Ethelred went on: “My father gave it to your grandfather.”

Wynstan said: “There may be legends—”

“No legends,” said the king. “It was the first deed I witnessed.”

That was an unexpected piece of luck for Ragna.

Ethelred went on: “I was nine years old when I witnessed it. That’s not time immemorial, I’m only thirty-six now.” The noblemen laughed.

Wynstan looked sick—clearly he had not known the history of the land.

Ethelred said firmly: “The lady Ragna is to have the Vale of Outhen and all the income from it.”

Ragna said gratefully: “Thank you. And my dowry?”

Ethelred said: “A widow is entitled to the return of her dowry. How much was it?”

“Twenty pounds of silver.”

“Wigelm shall pay Ragna twenty pounds.”

Wigelm looked furious and said nothing.

Ethelred said: “Do it now, Wigelm. Go and fetch twenty pounds.”

Wigelm said: “I don’t think I have that much.”

“Then you’re not a very good ealdorman. Perhaps I should reconsider.”