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Author's Chapter Notes:
my thanks to those who are kind enough to review. I hope you are still interested. The next update may be a while as I have visitors coming.

My thanks to Ariadne for the banner
William lifted himself high in the saddle to ease the stiffness in his legs and rolled his shoulders to ease the muscles across his back: he was trying to get used to the chain mail the King had given him as a gift. It was heavy and awkward, constricting his ability to breathe. It moved and flexed with his arms and trunk but his lungs were definitely having problems. He would have to take off his thick undershirt at the next halt and put a thinner one on. That would help, but he was proud of his present. He thought back to the night he had been presented with it. The King had called him over and Godwin had been grinning fit to burst.

‘With brothers like yours you will need something to protect your back,’ the King had said with a smile as he gave William the valuable gift. That had raised laughter right round the hall. There wasn’t a man among them who thought well of William’s brothers and their behaviour at court. William grinned as well. He was now as well armed as any man. He had mail, a helm, and a beautiful sword at his hip, he looked every inch the warrior.

Athelflaed had been kind enough to offer him and Lady Anne a place with the troops she was sending down to Wessex for the autumn Witan. It had been suggested that the Lady Anne accompany them to see her new grandchild and her sons, an offer which was speedily accepted, if with a little trepidation. Not for the journey but for the welcome she would find in Harold’s Hall.

Anne had accepted the offer as she had not seen Stephen for nearly a year, and Egbert was due to accompany the Bishop to Winchester for Christmas. She would have all her sons together for the first time since they were children.

Her palfrey was in the centre of the troops as they rode along, and some hearth-man or other talked to her most of the time. William kept his eyes and ears open for danger, but there few who were stupid enough to attack such a heavily armed train.

The autumn colours stayed late on the leaves that year and the weather was mild enough to make the journey a treat rather than a torment. They stayed overnight in Inns and travellers’ lodges in the various monasteries that catered to travellers along the great road south.

The City of Winchester was dominated by the Priory of St Swithun and the palace of Edward, both standing proud on the skyline. William and the men were delighted to see the walls as the day darkened with rain and storm. The lady Anne was tired after such a long journey and she too was grateful to see the welcoming lights. They were a bedraggled group that made their way past guards and peddlers heading straight to the High King’s Hall and warmth.

Edward was pleased to receive the visitors from his beloved sister’s court and made them most welcome. William delivered the letters and missives he had been carrying directly into the hands of the King himself and was permitted to present his mother. Godwin ensured that the men and horses would be cared for before sitting at the table and filling the King in on all the gossip from his brother-in law; there were messages from both his sister and son as well as friends who lived in Shrewsbury. Edward was polite and Kingly, listening carefully to William’s words before dismissing him to the comforts of the hall that had been set aside for Harold’s family.

It was cold comfort they found with their family. Druscilla was waiting outside by the door and she had that bad tempered look on her face that always meant trouble and when Anne approached she turned her back on the woman and walked back into the hall. William was fuming: it was a studied insult against his mother. She should have curtseyed at the very least but she hadn’t even greeted her mother-in-law before showing that good woman her back. Darla was no better. She didn’t rise from her bench and barely made eye contact with Anne before pointing at a seat far below the salt for both mother and son.

William bit his tongue and kept his silence for that night. Next morning he hadn’t even seen his two older brothers. Stephen and Egbert were regaling their mother with the tales of their lives. Egbert it seemed was expected to do great things in the church. Of all the boys he was the most like William and Anne, and the gentle lady was delighted that her second youngest had found a place for himself in life. Egbert excused himself early and returned to the Bishop’s hall. He had been given leave to see his mother but was expected back to help with the services that were to take place all day.

Stephen talked quietly with Anne and they shared a game of chess. She was overjoyed to hear that he had met and married a ‘sweet maid’ as he put it, one that he wouldn’t bring near either of his elder brothers, fearing for her virtue.

‘She stays in her father’s hall as do I and expects a child in the late spring. She prefers it there, it is far more peaceful than living under Harold’s roof and at least there I have a position. She has no brothers and is her father’s only surviving daughter, so the hall will be ours,’ he told his mother. There were tears in her eyes as she listened to Stephen recount his life to her.

Anne looked through her jewellery box. She had not brought her best, and was grateful for the forethought when she saw things had already gone missing, again. She pulled a ring off of her own finger, it was gold and set with sapphire.

‘For your lady from her husband’s mother,’ she told Stephen as she hid the ring in his hand, frightened that Dru or Darla would see it and demand that as they took everything else. She had been very careful to keep the brooch that Buffy had sent her hidden in the folds of her wimple; she was frightened of losing it to her thieving daughters in law…


The morning saw Anne meet her new grandchild, Edward, named for the king. He was a handsome little chap and Anne said all that was necessary before his wet nurse came and removed him from his mother’s arms. Druscilla was delighted at the fact that she had given Harold an heir, but from the gossip in the hall it was clear that neither Dru, nor Darla who was also carrying a child, were quite sure if the father was Harold or Liam. The elder brothers shared everything - including their wives it seemed. Anne was horrified: this was not the way she had raised them at all.


The Lady Anne had blossomed under the care of Athelflaed; before they arrived in Winchester she had had bloom in her cheeks and laughed more readily than she had for years. But since returning to her son’s hall she was already looking pale and drawn. She was looking more ill every day. William thought it just lack of sleep, or the excitement of seeing her grandchild. It never occurred to him that his brothers and their wives would be abusing his precious mother.

She had never told her youngest son of the hardship she had endured in Harold’s Hall. The cruelty Druscilla had subjected her to, the blows and the hunger she had had to tolerate, but it came to a head one night when William saw the meagre offering in his mother’s bowl. He had spent most evenings in the King’s own hall amongst the warriors and elders of Wessex. For the first time in a week he sat at his own brother’s table and looked in horror as he and his mother were served from the dregs of the stew pot. The bread was coarse and doughy, burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. The sort of stuff Buffy gave to the pigs. Even her thralls were better fed than this. He was disgusted at the treatment his mother was receiving. William signalled a serving maid to bring better food for Anne, it might not be his hall but surely his mother, his brother’s mother, deserved more than this? Anne put a restraining hand on his arm and shook her head.

‘Don’t William, it’s not worth it,’ she said quietly, casting a meaningful glance at the head of the table where Dru and Darla were laughing openly at the look on his face.

‘Have mine.’ He handed her the food he had received to supplement the greasy piece of gristle that had been her portion. ‘I will eat at the King’s table again. He said I was more than welcome.’

Anne smiled gratefully and took the food her son had given her. She bent her head to her food, not looking as William left the hall. She finished her meagre portion in silence and went towards her sleeping area, hoping to avoid any confrontation. But it was not to be.
Both Darla and Dru cornered her in the shadows.

‘What did you say to little Willie, mother?’ Darla nearly spat in her face.

‘Nothing, I swear.’ Anne was frightened, terrified and her fear showed in her voice as it trembled her reply. She didn’t know if she could take any more of their cruelty. Dru grabbed her arm, scratching at her with the long claw like nails she cultivated. Anne could feel them bite into her skin and tried not to cry out in pain.

‘You had better not either. We wouldn’t want Harold to send you to a convent now would we? He is your eldest son and in charge of your future, just you remember that.’

She backhanded Anne into the wattle and daub wall and the pair of them stalked off.



Next morning when he returned from Edward’s Own Hall, William noticed that his mother had a black eye. ‘I walked into a door,’ was all she said, but he knew it wasn’t true. Druscilla was looking far too pleased with herself.

William thought about the visit. It was supposed to have been a nice time for his mother, being with her five sons at the same time: but Egbert had been dutiful yet busy with church business whilst Stephen couldn’t wait to get back to his own hall and his lady. Not that William blamed him. Harold seemed unaware of anything that was going on around him except the woman in his bed and Liam had been drunk most of the time, whoring his way through any and all females that came within his reach. William had found him assaulting a girl child of no more than fourteen summers and that had resulted in another lesson for his brothers in how good his fighting skills had become. Liam’s bruised and bloodied face bore testament to the argument that the men had had over Liam’s behaviour.

‘I think the man is stupid, Mother, he just won’t let me alone. I know you wanted to see everyone, but if I am totally honest all I want to do is finish this visit and head back to Shrewsbury. Athelred’s court has a far warmer welcome for the pair of us than this place.’

Anne had to agree. She had been avoiding Darla and Dru and it had been a nightmare. Anne fingered the brooch she wore everyday. She wondered what Buffy would be like to a mother, and would bet good silver that she wouldn’t starve her or raise her hand to an older woman, as Darla had done before William returned.

William was grateful when the disastrous visit was finally over. The king had given him letters to take with him to his liege lord. William and Anne turned their backs on Winchester and headed north for Shrewsbury and the winter in the Mercian court. They rode slowly, allowing Anne to regain strength and colour before arriving back from their mission.





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