drink before handing it on to him. “Hmmmm, ’tis good,” she said as he swilled away, some of the purple-red liquid drizzling down into his thick blond beard.
Bran-hard let the sweet, cool liquid run down his throat. It was the best drink he had ever tasted. Wulf Ironfist lived well. He handed her back the wineskin and began to fondle Aelfa’s big breasts. “You’ve the best pair I’ve ever seen, wench,” he said by way of a compliment, “and your cunt is the tightest of any I’ve ever reamed. I swear it! You really know how to give a man his pleasure, Aelfa. I can hardly believe it, but I’m ready to have at you again. On your back, my girl,” he said, as loosing his organ from his clothing once more, he pushed her down to the floor.
What he lacked in subtlety he more than made up for in endurance and brute strength, Aelfa thought, as she pretended to be overcome with passion. She had taken her own pleasure with him the first time, but now she could not allow herself the luxury. When his lust exploded again and he rolled away from her, she offered him the wineskin once more, smiling encouragingly as he gulped down the potent liquid. This time, within moments, Branhard fell into unconsciousness. Aelfa sighed with her relief. She was actually sore with his enthusiastic attentions. A third bout with him would have certainly rendered her raw.
She rose from the floor of the gatehouse, and after much effort, managed to drag Bran-hard’s limp, heavy body back onto his stool. His shaggy head lay upon his chest. He appeared to be dozing. She slipped from the building and ran quickly back across the courtyard to the hall. Letting herself in, she hurried to her bed space. The hall was quite silent, the contented snores of its inhabitants the only sounds she heard.
Aelfa put on her clothes and then returned to the gatehouse where Bran-hard sat, unconscious. Seating herself upon the floor, where she would not be seen, she waited for the predawn. When it finally came, Aelfa stood up, stretched, and then leaving the gatehouse went directly to the great gates of Cadda-wic. Slowly and with great difficulty, she pushed the heavy bar that lay across one of the gates to one side. Above her the sky was quickly lightening. Perspiration, half due to exertion, half to fear of discovery, rolled down her back as she struggled with the bar. When at last she succeeded, the single door swung open to reveal a large party of armed men.
“Uncle,” Aelfa said archly. “Welcome to Cadda-wic.”
“You have done well, niece,” Ragnar Strongspear said, and then led his men quietly through the gates into the courtyard. “Where is the mistress of the hall? And how long before Wulf Ironfist’s return?”
“Cailin sleeps in the solar with her children,” Aelfa replied. “As for her husband, he should return in a few days’ time, I expect.”
“Secure this place,” Ragnar said to his second-in-command, Harald, and then he turned back to Aelfa. “Fetch the lady Cailin to me, girl, and her children, too. I will want food also.”
“Yes, Uncle,” Aelfa said. She hurried off back into the hall to do his bidding, only realizing too late that Cailin always drew the ladder to the solar up each night. There was no other way into the room but through the trapdoor. As Ragnar strode into the hall, she ran back to him and explained the dilemma.
“No matter,” he said. “She must come down eventually, and I will be waiting for her. The lady Cailin is a most toothsome wench.”
“You desire her?” Aelfa was surprised. She thought Cailin far too prim and proper for her lusty uncle. She was also too old, being past twenty.
“Do not be fooled by her dignity and manners, girl,” he told her. “Beneath it all she is a woman, and a fiery woman, I will wager.”
The sleepy and surprised inhabitants of Cadda-wic were roused and brought before Ragnar Strongspear. Outside, the men-at-arms were rounded up, subdued, and marched into the hall, including the half-conscious Bran-hard.
“This place is now mine by right of conquest,” Ragnar said in a sonorous voice. “No harm will come to you if you obey my wishes. If you try to rebel, you will be killed. Now start your day as you normally would, and someone bring me some food. I am fair starved!”
For a moment they looked at him, still but half awake, and totally