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by ariadne


Author's Chapter Notes:
21 reviews. you guys really have made my day. this is the last bit I have hidden on my comp so the next update will be about a week. enjoy. don't forget reviews really do make the fingers go faster.
and don't forget to vote on the stories you like. It is something very special for he authors to know how much you are enjoying their work
It was well into the evening when William finally managed to slip away from Harold. Liam had already passed out in the corner of the hall. His brothers had tried his patience all night with their teasing and arguing - all in the name of good fellowship, of course. Never anything he could call them on, but there was always that edge to it. Lady Anne saw him slide carefully through the second door of the hall and, grabbing her cloak, she followed him outside.

‘Are you alright William?’ she asked. She knew how much his brother’s words must have hurt him, but William had kept his temper. A sure sign that her boy was truly a man now.

‘I’m fine mother, I was just going for a walk, that’s all.’ William smiled down at his mother, she looked ethereal in the light from the torches.

‘Please don’t think I am stupid William, and anyway, Athelflaed told me.’ Anne laughed gently at her youngest son.

‘Told you what?’ He asked. He could guess, but his promise had been to be quiet.

Anne gave him a pointed look. ‘I’m not four years old, William,’ she said.

‘You know its Buffy over there?’ he blurted out.

‘Yes William, I do. Were you going across to see her?’ Anne had wondered how long he would have waited to make the trip across the river and to his beloved Lady.

‘I was, but…’ William didn’t want to drag his mother out into the cold night air.

‘Then I’m coming too.’ Anne had made up her mind.

‘Mother, it’s not safe, wandering around at night.’

‘I will be perfectly well. I have you to protect me,’ she answered with a grin as she straightened her full skirt and pulled her cloak around her shoulders. William laughed and undid the peace-knot on his blade: he knew better than to argue with his mother when she was in that sort of mood. He picked up an unlit torch from the pile left inside the porch and lighting it, led his mother through the town to the small gate in the wall they were using.

The guard saluted his lord and whispered, ‘It’s all men who know you on duty tonight my lord. The password is ‘Bachelor’s hall’.’

‘Thank you, Steven. I don’t know whether or not I’ll be back tonight but I will be back before Lauds in the morning.’

‘Very well my lord.’

The wicket gate was opened and William helped Anne over the rough ground outside, headed for the ford that was lit by torches all the way across.

Before Anne could step into the water, he swung her up in his arms and carried her across the river. It reminded her just how strong her son had become: she could feel the pure muscle and sinew beneath his clothes. Buffy is a lucky girl, she thought to herself as she wrapped her arm around his neck.

‘William, you can’t defend me if we are attacked.’ She was beginning to regret her decision to accompany her son.

‘No chance of that: Liam is already drunk and Harold has both Darla and Dru in bed.’ He blushed when he realised he had spoken without thinking. ‘Sorry mother, I shouldn’t have said..’

‘It’s alright my son, I’m neither blind nor stupid.’

The rest of the conversation was cut short by a yell from the far bank. ‘Who goes there?’ was shouted out in poor Saxon.

William answered in the Norse tongue. ‘William of Wessex, to visit the lady Buffy of Trondheim.’

‘You took your time, boy!’ a familiar voice answered. It was Olaf, laughing and holding a torch up high to light William’s face. ‘We expected you an age ago, and it looks like you have a load there.’

‘One that’s easily carried,’ William answered with a smile.

He continued through the fast running water to the shore and gently let his mother find her footing at the bottom of the steps that had been cut into the bank. A great paw of a hand was thrust at her to help her up the steep embankment and William followed closely, gratefully accepting the pull up the bank that had been offered.

Anne looked up into the face of a giant of a man, who let go her hand as soon as she was stable at the top and attacked her son. Anne yelped. Then realised the man was hugging William, and William was returning the embrace. The men were laughing and thumping each other on the back. William turned to his mother.

‘Mother, may I present Olaf, the shipmaster for Connor’s hall,’ then in Norse, ‘Olaf: my mother, lady Anne.’

The giant bowed low and took her hand. ‘My lady,’ he said as he kissed her ring.

‘You run ahead boy, she’s waiting for you; I will escort your mother at a more sedate and graceful pace.’

Anne watched William’s face. Whatever the man had said was tearing him in two.

Olaf looked at Anne and said in her own tongue, ‘The Lady Buffy waits for him: I will escort you.’

‘Don’t worry William, I’m sure… Olaf?’ she questioned her memory of his name He nodded. ‘Olaf will see me safe.’

The two of them laughed as William took off as though the hounds of hell were at his heels. ‘Ah, to be young again,’ Anne smiled.

‘You are lady, compared to me: you are still a child.’

‘Flattery, sir,’ Anne laughed up at the huge man. She should be scared, but William wouldn’t have left her if there had been any danger.

‘My Lady,’ the man offered her his arm and called for one of the warriors on duty to light the way ahead for her. He was as careful of her as if he’d been her own brother and the Lady Anne found herself relaxing in his company as she made her way through the tented encampment towards the hall that had been built. Men called out welcome to her, there were a couple of dogs arguing over a bone, and small campfires dotted here and there. Life was going on all around them, and she felt safer than she had in her own son’s hall.

‘You are a shipmaster?’

‘Aye my lady, that I am. But you’ll be wanting to know about Buffy and your boy, not about me and mine.’

‘I do a bit, but I am fascinated. I know what is in this marriage for us, but for you: what benefit is there for your people?’

Olaf looked at her hard and Anne blushed, she’d lived so long in Mercia that she’d forgotten women weren’t supposed to be interested in politics.

‘I’m sorry: I shouldn’t have asked about men’s business.’

‘It wasn’t that, lady, I was just thinking I now know where William got his brains from, ‘cause his brothers certainly didn’t inherit them from what I’ve heard.’

Anne laughed at that. ‘That’s true,’ she admitted, not wanting to belittle her older sons but having to admit their lack of thought.

‘Well, we get a safe market for our best goods, and a good place to overwinter. They are valuable to us, and for our family; and mostly we get William back where he belongs.’

He opened the door of the hall and escorted the lady into a bustling maelstrom. There were people everywhere. Olaf gave her a minute to fix her wimple that had blown around in the breeze and then shouted across the din.

‘Make way for the Lady Anne of Wessex!’ announcing to all inside that William’s mother was with them. The crowd separated like the red sea, leaving a clear path to the head table. Ingimund sat there with his wife. The Jarl stood as Anne was escorted through the bowing horde.

There was no sign of her son, but Anne didn’t expect that if she thought about it. The Jarl made his way around the table and bowed his head, Lady Anne performed a curtsey and Olaf relinquished his hold on her hand. Anne was taken to the Jarl’s table and sat next to the Jarl himself, his wife on his other hand and Ingimund signalled for the entertainment to continue. Although she didn’t understand the words, Anne loved the music. The man on her left put a bowl and mug in front of her and ensured that she had anything she wanted. She had eaten in the King’s hall but the sweetmeats were delicious: boiled honey and nuts, dried fruits and apricots from the continent. It was then that she realised she was sitting next to Eirik, her son’s friend. She smiled at him in greeting and was about to ask where William was when the servant asked her a question, but she didn’t understand.

The man, Eirik, smiled, ‘Do you want ale, mead or cider, my lady?’ he asked in perfect Saxon.

‘Apple ale if you have it.’ Eirik translated and her cup was filled, the jug left in front of her. She turned to Eirik.

‘Do you know where my son is?’ she asked quietly, not wishing to disturb the musician.

Eirik started laughing. ‘I don’t think I should be telling his mother,’ he laughed again, ‘there again it might be the only way to separate them!’

‘Pardon?’

‘He came in a short time ago, nearly took the hinges off the door and ran to her. They didn’t even touch one another, just stood there drinking in the other’s face, as though it was food for a starving man, never said a word to each other. Then he reached out, grinned around the room and threw her over his shoulder and carried her outside. We haven’t seen them since!’

‘I have,’ a voice came from down the table, ‘and unless we want the wedding early someone had better go out there. William threatened me if I separated them…’

There was laughter around the table again and Anne blushed.

Ingimund signalled to one of his guards. ‘Would you please go and separate the lovers? -And use a bucket of cold water if you have to.’

There was more laughter around the hall and the guard returned after a few moments with the two miscreants, both of whom were blushing beautifully.

Buffy looked around the hall highly embarrassed when she was brought back in. She had waited so long to see William again and hadn’t been able to stop herself. She had been walking over towards Faith when the door to the hall had burst open and William had tumbled in. She couldn’t move at all: she felt as though she had been frozen to the spot by a spell. His beautiful face hadn’t changed, his eyes searched the room till they locked onto her. William drank in her face, the face that had haunted his dreams for nearly two whole years. He tried to talk but his throat had closed up completely. He looked around the room at the friends he had made, grinned and just picked Buffy up and carried her outside.

He could hear the cheering as the door closed behind them but it didn’t matter, all that mattered was that Buffy was here, really here, and in his arms. He pulled her around the side of the building and shoved her against the wall. They still hadn’t spoken but words were unnecessary. He leant down and went to kiss her, then pulled back, just to look into her eyes. Buffy licked her lips, moistening them from the dryness that had seemed to manifest itself when she’d seen him again. The next thing she knew was that his mouth was smashed into hers and he was devouring her. His tongue fought for entrance, demanding that she return his ardour with the same fervour that he was displaying.
She could feel his hands skimming over her breasts. William thought that he had remembered every curve perfectly, but her breasts felt fuller, more rounded. He could feel her hands brushing over his chest; clawing at his shirt she pulled it loose from his trews and she was pulling him into her body. He could feel every curve, every muscle, he could feel that softness of her skin that he thought he would never feel again. He thought he was in heaven, then Buffy freed his cock. He was harder than he had ever been, he felt that he was going to explode: her hand was rubbing him gently up and down, her finger tracing the shape of the slit and collecting the precum that was leaking from there. William whimpered. Her fingers were working him and making him desperate. He lifted her skirt and pushed her further up the wall. Buffy could feel the roughness of the wattle behind her, she could feel the night breeze caressing the inside of her legs, followed by William’s hand. She positioned his cock at the entrance to her womanhood and allowed herself to slip down onto him, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist. Someone called them and William growled towards the noise and threatened whoever it was to go away. He felt that he was home, the warmth of her body welcoming him in and the soft channel holding him like a fist. He pushed in hard, feeling the tip of his cock brush her womb. He could feel the flutter of her climax starting and her whimpers and cries pulled him over the edge with her. He pumped his cum into her welcoming body for what seemed like hours. He had never come so hard in his life, and they still hadn’t said a word to each other.

They had been kissing heavily, leaning against the wall outside, William with his hands inside her dress and she was riding his cock hard when they had been found. She had felt him fill her with his seed and she had screamed her completion into his mouth when they had been separated and brought back into the hall. Everyone knew what they’d been up to but for once in her life she didn’t care. The blushes on their faces matched beautifully.

Buffy saw a lady sitting in her normal seat and her face broke into a beaming smile. The lady was wearing the brooch she had sent to William’s mother. She made her way to the top table and swept down into a deep curtsey.

‘My Lady,’ she spoke quietly and looked up into a pair of sparkling blue eyes that reminded her so much of William’s.

‘Lady Elizabeth,’ Anne answered with a smile playing on her lips. Ingimund made a sign to Eirik, who shifted up the bench and made room for William to join his mother. Buffy pulled back a little.

‘You go, my love,’ she said and held his hand until the last minute as he walked to his place near the fire. They were the first words Buffy and William had shared.

William took his place by his mother, but his eyes never left Buffy as she made her way over to the benches and pulled out a sleeping child. She came through the crowded hall and stopped before the high table.

‘William,’ she started, ‘I have born a child, a girl: I claim her as yours. Do you accept the claim?’

William looked up at the waking child in Buffy’s arms: a child, his child. Eirik dug him in the ribs. ‘Say something, man…’

‘Wha’?’

‘Say something!’

William looked around the hall. Every face was staring at him and all he could see through teared-up eyes was Buffy biting her bottom lip as she did when she was worried.

‘I’m a father?’ he whispered, not realising he said it in Saxon.

His mother looked sharply at him. She hadn’t followed the conversation at all, and had been surprised when Buffy presented a child to her son.

Buffy nodded. ‘You’re a father, if you accept the claim.’

‘I’m a father!’ he yelled and jumped up and over the table kissing Buffy soundly on the lips in front of everyone.

‘Do you accept?’ Buffy asked again. She needed to hear the words.

‘I accept.’ He took the child from her arms and lifted her up high. ‘I have a daughter!’ he cried. The little girl started to fret and he quickly brought her down and hugged her to his chest. He then he carried the child around to the Lady Anne; Ingimund had been whispering to her, explaining what was happening.

‘This is your granddaughter, Mother.’ He looked at Buffy, seeking a name.

‘I called her Nordlys Anne,’ Buffy said, ‘after the dancers we saw that first night and after you, great lady.’

Anne took the child from her son and looked into eyes that seemed so familiar. She was beautiful, chewing on a wooden rattle that was held in one small, perfect, delightful fist.
William tried to get her back but Anne held tight onto her newest grandchild.

‘You cuddle your lady, I’ve got the baby,’ she said determined not to let go of the child.
The little family sat together through the night, listening to the music and talk that was going on around them.

It was well after midnight that William and his mother were escorted back to the river, Olaf picking up the lady and wading through the ankle deep water over the ford. Putting her safely down on the Saxon side before William and Buffy had even broken from their kiss.

‘I will see you tomorrow for the feast and then we have the wedding.’ William kissed her again.

‘Tomorrow,’ Buffy whispered and she watched him go through the gate and into the city.


Chapter End Notes:
well? was it worth the wait?



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