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Author's Chapter Notes:
many many thanks to cordykitten, jenn, dusty, pyro, my perfect muse, ariadne and midnight girl for taking the time and trouble to review. They make my day.
hope you enjoy the new chapter. i will update when I can RL permitting.
Buffy looked out at the darkening night. The weather was doing as it always did in Snow-moon: as the name suggested the ground was thick with a blanket of heavy snow. The end of the month had been as cold and snowy as the beginning and they were beginning to feel cramped in the hall.

If it was clear tomorrow they could all go skating and skiing, have a day outside playing. The hall would all benefit from just a day playing. It would lighten everyone’s mood. They could build a snowman, snowball fights could be fun and they could come back into spiced ale, and hot cakes.

She was preparing to go inside, to pull close the doors and bar them against the night when she noticed movement on the path outside the pale. Looking closely she wondered if some hungry wolf or boar was chancing itself close to the hall. The high wooden fence, with its platform allowing the occupants to see over, was made of thick, heavy logs. They were buried deep in the soil and secure against any that would think to attack.

‘Connor, Xander: we have visitors.’ she called quietly as she picked up a spear, preparing to defend her hall.

Xander and Connor dropped their bowls from where they had been lining up to get their stew and reached for the weapons, axe and spear, that they could reach. It was not something that Buffy would joke about. They came out into the darkness, thankful for the bright moon shining in the sky, lighting up the snow as though it were day. Buffy passed the key to the weapons chest to Anya who had approached the door. The woman nodded at her lady and went back and opened up the chest handing, Connor his sword as the others took their own short arms.

William could sense the change in atmosphere, and this was no time of day or season of year for visitors. He was surprised when Connor handed him a spear and scram.

‘We all defend the hall.’ William was touched that they would trust him to help. They had very different ways, there was no way that a Northman in a Saxon Hall would be trusted with a weapon.

‘Buffy!’ came a woman’s voice from out of the dark. ‘Hello the hall,’ it called again as Buffy shouted, ‘Faith!’ and ran towards the great gates. She was struggling to lift the bar blocking the way and to open the huge gates that protected their compound; William, Connor, Xander and Olaf followed. The men pulled the gates, allowing them to swing open to reveal a most unexpected site. In a sleigh pulled by a horse was a woman and a couple of children. The children were wrapped in furs and blankets. The woman was dark haired, but even in the light of the torches that followed them William could see not only that she was a beauty but she was bruised and battered. Her lip was cut and one eye was barely open.

‘Faith,’ Buffy whispered as she hurried through the gate to the woman. Her arms went around but the woman whimpered and cried out in pain.

‘There was nowhere else I could get to,’ she said into Buffy’s hair. One of the children woke, afraid at her mother’s cries.

‘Hush baby,’ Faith muttered, trying to sooth the little one. ‘Can we have shelter here please?’ she asked, looking towards both Connor and Buffy.

‘There is always room in my hall for the Aunt of my heart.’

‘I beg protection for me and my children.’

‘My sword arm is yours. You have the protection of my hall.’
The woman nodded and toppled out of the sleigh into Xander’s arms. Connor grabbed the reins of the horse and led them towards the door of the hall. There they unloaded the children and woman into the warmth, Buffy calling for Jon to take the horse to the shed where the animals stayed over winter.

They carried the two scared, crying children into the main house, followed by their mother. William could see the bruises on the little girl’s face that matched her mother’s; the boy look scared of everybody. He flinched as Olaf reached for him. Willow and Tara looked at each other. Tara went up to the little boy.

‘Hello, I’m Tara, what’s your name?’

‘Earic,’ the whispered reply came.

‘And your sister? What’s her name?’

‘Inga: she’s hurt again. She was crying and mama said we had to leave. Will mama be all right?’

‘Yes, I’m sure she will be. Willow’s a very good healer, she’ll see what’s wrong and fix it.’

Tara started to take off the heavy clothes the children were wrapped in, carefully since it seemed that there were bruises on the children as well. They seemed fresh, unlike some of the marks on the woman. They varied in age between well healed and newly made.

Willow called Tara over quietly, not wanting to disturb the children, who were tucking into some food prepared for them by Helga. Tara was amazed how quickly the hall dealt with any problem that came to its doors, a sign of a well run and well disciplined home.

‘Tell Buffy I’m going to need a couple of stout sticks and a couple of strong men as well. She has a broken arm, and broken ribs. I don’t think they have pierced her lung, but we are going to need to keep her still and quiet. Tell Connor as well that we really could do with his bed, it will be the best place for her.’

‘She can have it,’ he called, having overheard that part of the conversation.

William tried to hand back the scram and spear, but Connor shook his head.

‘We need to stay armed tonight until we know what happened. It wouldn’t do to be caught unaware.’ William nodded and put the weaponry close at hand, as did the other men in the hall.

Helga and Anya seemed to be doing well with the two children. William thought they looked pale and hungry. They were eating everything and anything that was put in front of them, shoving food into their mouths as though they hadn’t seen food in a while.
Helga gave them a big cup of milk each; she had been warming it by the fire. The children, now well fed and warm, soon started to fall asleep. The poor little mites looked like they hadn’t even seen five summers each yet. William wondered what on earth could have happened to force a mother and two young children out into the snow. For his people a woman wouldn’t be allowed to leave her home. She belonged to it. Few owned their own property and none controlled it. William assumed that she was either thrown out or the place had been over-run and she had escaped.

Willow looked at the break in the arm of the raven-haired beauty in front of her. It was swollen and inflamed. The arm had been broken for at least three days. How Faith had managed to handle the horse and sleigh she had no idea, but there again Frigga would give a mother strength when she needed it.

Willow started to mix up herbs to help with the pain. Hemp for later, but while she set the arm she would dose Faith up with a huge dose of poppy juice. That would knock her out for at least a quarter of a day, giving Willow more than enough time to set the arm, bandage the ribs and see to any other injuries.

She looked around her supplies. Olaf and Xander had set up a table for her use and Buffy was building the fire up so it roared high and bright. Birch wood burnt fast, pine caught quickly and the flames shot up. When Buffy had the fire blazing she ordered Andrew to light a dozen tallow candles and twice that many rush lights. There were three of the good beeswax candles ready for Willow if she should need them.

Willow and Tara managed to get the poor woman sat up enough to drink the poppy juice down and they allowed her to settle with it, using the time to start undressing her. The light from the candles showed bruises and marks all over her body. There was a particularly nasty foot-shaped one over her ribs and it was clear that the ribs underneath were broken. Willow wrapped strong linen around the breaks to support them, and doctored the bruises with burdock. Dragon-wort and knit-bone were prepared for her arm.

Willow signalled to Connor and Xander who held poor Faith steady as Willow pulled on the broken arm to ensure that the bones were straight. She heard and felt the awful grinding noise as the bone went back into place. The arm was quickly wrapped in wool and supported by the straight sticks that had been prepared. The bandages had been soaked in madder as it seemed to aid the healing, the red colour of the herb pulling out the infection.

Good clean honey dressings went on the cuts and they slipped her into Connor’s shut bed, leaving the side open so as to be able to tend her. Her arms were supported on cushions and she slept on through everything, the poppy juice having done its job well.

The hall settled down well out of the healer’s way. The children had been put to their bed and were sleeping well, holding onto one another. Baby Alec was with them, making it easier for Anya to see to them in the night if it should be needed.

William sat quietly, away from the scenes of activity. He would help if he could but he felt useless. He had no idea what to do. Tara at least seemed to be able to help. He would help if he could in the morning. William slipped into his own bed, not wanting to pressure Buffy, but was beyond contented when he felt her slide in beside him later. He wrapped his arms around her and felt her fall asleep before she even had time to kiss him. It felt more like home than ever.





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