The Mad Stuff In MY Brain!

“I would like to see any of you arslings try!”  He growled to the amusement of the crowd, before he turned back to look at her with a smile.  Their hands were still bound, her right and his left, though that did not stop him sliding his right hand around her waist and pulling her hard against him.  She gasped, her lips parting and as if he had planned for that to happen his swooped in and kissed her.  His tongue slid into her mouth, plundering it as if he had never kissed her before, as if she held some treasure he was looking for, and as he pressed in more, she found herself leaning backwards, and he followed her down.  The cheer around them was unheard, the fact they stood before so many people of Coccham forgotten.  All that existed in this moment of time was him and her, and the way he was kissing her, like she was air he needed to breath, or water he needed to drink.  Her own hand had moved up to his head, and her fingers curled through the longer hair that sat at the nape of his neck.

Him and her.  Finan and Eadith.  Eadith and Fiana.

Of course air did soon become an issue, and when he pulled her upright and let his lips part from her own, she did not release the hold she had on his hair, stopping his head a inch from her own, as she looked into his eyes. Her pupils were large, hardly any of her blue showed, and the smile he gave her was purely devilish.  She laid a gentle kiss to his lips then before she let him go, and the women in the hall cheered at the display that she would not be some milksop wife, to bend to her husband’s wishes.  It was a small thing, but one that needed to be shown on this day.  And if Finan was displeased, he did not show it with the bright smile that was on his face.

“Now that this christian nonsense is over with,” Uhtred’s voice could be heard, “let us get to the feasting.”  Another cheer rang out from the crowds, and Finan too of course, though from where Eadith was standing she could see Hild smiling but she also did give Uhtred a small smack to the shoulder, and Eadith guessed that it was for the comment about ‘christian nonsense’. Not that anyone else there would mind, he had said the magic words to turn this from a christian wedding to a feast where all could come and part take. 

Eadith and Finan stayed bound together for an hour or so, while tables were moved, music was played and people came to wish them well. Uhtred came with a large horn of ale for Finan, which Eadith had taken off of him and drunk half of before he could stop her. They had both just watched her before laughing, until Finan had taken Uhtreds ale, and that had earned him a smack around the back of the head and her husband to be called an arsling. When Finan asked if she was going to stand up for him she had almost snorted into her drink, which had sent Uhtred off grinning as he sought out another cup. 

By the time the food was brought out, there were children running all over, along with some adults chasing them, many men were already into their cups, while their wives scowled at them from the side of the hall. Eadith promised herself she would never be one of those wives, she knew who Finan was, and did not wish to change him. She knew he lived for fighting (and her now) and he loved his ale and women. The women part was the only thing she had told him that she would not abide.  If he started to take lovers or whores, then so would she. That had sent him into a black mood, not being unable to bed another woman, but the thought of her taking another man to her bed. He had gone off to sulk, and after a night in the tavern, he had come back to Uhtreds Hall and banged on her bedroom door until she had answered it. He had told her what he would do to another man who touched her, and she had told him what she would do to him if he touched another woman. He had slept on the floor of her room that night, his drunken self so sure that she was going to head off to look for another man that second. 

By the time the feast was mostly finished, and most people were full and happily partaking of the extra barrels of ale that Uhtred had bought in. Eadith could not imagine a happier day in her life. She was full, tipsy, and her face ached from smiling too much but she couldn’t help it. Every time she looked Finans way, she smiled. And he smiled back to her, even from across the hall. They had wrapped two of the strands of cloth each around their wrists, vowing to never take them off. It would be a way for her to keep him close when he was called away to serve Wessex, or Mercia, or even in taking back Bebbanburg, which while Uhtred may not speak of, Finan had told her that he had sworn to God he would get it back for his brother. 

Needing a moment of air and calm, she had kissed Finans cheek and told him she was heading outside for a while to cool off, before heading down the main steps of the hall. It was a grand Hall, not like the long gone Romans had built, as it was wood, but it was more impressive than most. She had heard Uhtred talk late into the night about the Romans, of their work in Lundun or Winchester with stark admiration. He liked to build, it seemed, and Eadith could see that he had incorporated many new ideas in Coccham, though he would always say that it had been Gisla who had been the inventive one. She had seen the depth of pain he still felt at her loss, even after all this time and even despite his love for Æthelflead. That kind of love was the type to never die, and she hoped that she could have half as much lasting love with Finan. It would make her die happy, happy woman. 

“Gotcha!" 

Eadith looked to the sound of the voice and saw a pair of angry dark eyes glaring back at her. She felt the pain in her wrist at the same time she recognised the guardsman of Wessex, whose arm Finan had broken the week before. She had learned that his name was Hudlam since, from Cocchlam’s Healer who had seen to his arm.

"Let go of me, I’m warning you.”. She told him, not panicking, after all this was her home and there was a hall of her people not twenty paces away. Her free hand moved to the long dagger that Finan had given her as a wedding gift, along with some lessons in how to use it, though he claimed if she killed all men as she had killed the Dane in the woods the day Haeston had strung them up, then she would be just fine. 

“Oh look boys, the little woman wants to play with knives."  He sneered at her, his breath stinking and his body not being much nicer either. He was dressed in a tattered robe, his tunic a plain blue and his face filthy. He looked like he had been sleeping in the wilderness for the past week, if not longer. He was addressing two large men behind him, neither looked familiar or were stressed as guards.  They were two of the largest men that she had ever seen before, dressed simply, but both having swords and seax’s at their waists.  They looked enough alike that she guessed that they were siblings, and she was sure they could crush her head in their large hands if they wished to.

"Ask the last man I pulled a knife on if I’m playing.” She found herself snarling at him, though his grip around her wrist tightened which made her wince visibly. 

“I don’t care what bedroom antics you and the Irishman get up to, you are coming with me. I’m going to take you to Winchester, then on to your new husband.”

Eadith began to laugh, which did not do anything to improve the man’s mood, and with a shake of her arm, he stopped her quickly. “You are too late, I’m already married.” she held her first up, still holding the dagger to show him the ring on her finger. She could not hide the smug look from her face as his eyes roamed over the golden ring, a twin to the spiral one that Finan wore, a sneer came over his face. 

“Er, Hudlam, I thought you said we were rescuing a woman who had been kidnapped here.”  It was one of the two large men who had spoken, the one on the right of the Guardsman.  

“She was, she is just all confused.”  Hudlam said quickly, before looking back at her.  “But you haven’t consummated yet, have you.” Eadith felt her cheeks growing darker with embarrassment and her eyes looked away before she had a chance to try and lie. She had never been good at lying, and really had kept it to a minimum her whole life. Edawulf was the one who had been better at it, and after perfecting the skill, he had just never stopped. “Don’t be fooled by the blush boys, this here is one of the biggest whores in Mercia, but it seems she hasn’t yet let her husband sample the goods. Scared he will lose interest when he feels how used up you are?" 

The words should not have stung so, but they did, and she raised her dagger without thinking. It was in her off hand, and she had no training with that but she still managed to make contact with his face. Hudlam’s angry cry made her smile, a soft balm against his bitter words, but it was too little.  She would always be known as a whore, she knew it. And she knew that Finan would be tarnished by that name.

"You stupid whore. Edwin, take hold of her.” it was then that she noticed Hudlam still had his arm bandaged up, the arm he had kept hidden in his cloak. She could see that her blade had caught his cheek, it wasn’t deep, but it would need stitching and would no doubt scar. The trail of red on his dirty face looked bright to her, and she stared at his face, not noticing as one of the large me, Edwin, moved around behind her.

When two large, meaty hands came from behind her and took hold of her arms, it was the first she realised that one of the large men had moved. She struggled but it was no use. At least being held meant that Hudlam had let go of her wrist, which was throbbing painfully. Eadith didn’t see the blow coming that caught her face, it made her head ring, and she knew that it was a good thing that the man behind her was holding her up. She couldn’t focus for a moment, and tasted blood at the corner of her mouth, but she fixed him a smile nonetheless, even if she was seeing two of him.  She would not show Hudlam how much it had hurt, nor how scared she was.

“I may be a whore, but I still said no to you.” She heard a chuckle in the large chest she was held against, and she saw a snarl on the guard man’s face as he raised his good hand to strike her once again. 

“You have a short memory, it seems.”

Eadith looked up to the hall, and saw Uhtred standing there, his hand on Finan’s shoulder as Sihtric and Osferth seemed to be struggling in holding Finan back from rushing to them. 

“By the time I’m finished with you, you bastard, there won’t even be enough pieces to bury!” Finan’s voice was loud and angry, and for a moment it seemed his friends would lose their hold of him, but Uhtred seemed to clamp down harder on his friends shoulder, helping to hold him in place. 

“Save it, Irishman, I’m taking her back to the King, so he can send her off to be properly handled. Then I’ll get what i deserve.” The guard man’s voice held a sneer, but also a note of triumph, like he had really thought he had won. Eadith tried to wiggle free again, but the hands of the man behind her were like iron, and while he was not hurting her, she couldn’t wriggle free. Though she looked back up to Finan who was once again trying to get through his friends to get to her. Or the guardsmen, she wasn’t sure right then. 

“Finan, Eadith is going nowhere, except to your bed if you are lucky.” Uhtred sound e amused, though that drained from his face when he looked down to the four of them. “But you three may well make peace with your god, or gods as you have stolen onto my land, and not only attempting to kidnap my guest, but also have struck her in my presence.” his accent was getting louder, the one that wasn’t quite Dane or Saxon, but some mixture of the two that made his voice unique. 

“You are Finan? The mad bastard Irishman?” the large man behind the guard asked, pointing a meaty finger at the struggling figure, before his hand moved to Uhtred. “That makes you lord Uhtred.” he surmised, looking like someone who had seen a ghost. She thought he looked at her but it took her a moment to realise that he was looking above her head and at the man holding her arms. 

“Yes, I bastard well am, and that’s my wife you’re holding.”

“She’s not your wife, not yet. She’s admitted that she hasn’t let you between those lilly white thighs of hers yet. Shame as…” the guards words seemed to just cut off, and a look of shock appeared in e his face. She followed his eyes down to his chest where the tip of a seax protruded, red with blood.   She gasped, as surprised to see the bright blood as to suddenly feel the hands holding her let go.  She almost stumbled to the side, but caught herself before she landed on the floor, her eyes never leaving Hudlam as he fell to his knees once the seax was drawn out of his back from one of the large men who he had brought with him.  All watched as as with a final gurgle he fell onto his front, and did not move again.

When arms appeared around her she reached up to push them away before she saw they belonged to her Husband.  Her Finan.  One of his large hands came up to cradle her cheek, this thumb touching the corner of her mouth where it had hurt after Hudlam had backhanded her.  She winched slightly, but tried to give Finan a brave smile as she watched his anger war with his worry and love for her.  “I am sorry, a stór, I am sorry he got close enough to you to do this.”  He whispered, still holding her face, his other hand was stroking her back gently, as they touched foreheads for a moment together.  In that moment she could forget what had happened, forget the violence and blood of her wedding day.  But he was drawing away from her too soon, and she let him turn her in his arms so his right hand could hold up his own seax, and his left could settle around her waist.

“I’m sorry, we’re sorry…”  The said Edwin, the one who had held her, a look of fear on his face.  “Me and my Brother did not know it was your wife.”

“It’s true, Hudlam said a woman was being forced into marriage. We didn’t know it was your wife, or this was your land, Lord.”  The other one said, in a rushed voice that showed he knew how precarious his situation was.  “We had been helping with the harvest for the next lord over, and Hudlam offered us a reward if we helped him. We wouldn’t have done so if we had known, I swear it on The Book.”

“The Good Book.”  Edwin added in, and it was only then that she noticed that Sihtric and Osferth had come around them, Sihtric with his axe in hand and Osferth armed with a seax.  She hated those knives, they only had one purpose, and she had just seen it demonstrated before her.  To kill.

Uhtred made a noise in the back of his throat at the mention of the Good Book, but she felt a little tension ease from Finan’s arm around her, and he lowered the seax, so while it was not pointing at the floor, it was not pointing at one of their hearts now either.  “And now?”  Finan asked, the snarl gone from his voice, but it still sounded harsh to her ears.  “What you going to do now? If we let you go?”

“They did not hurt me, and one even tried to question what was going on.”  Eadith said softly, she did not want to forgive those men, but if they had been lied to then she could hardly hold them accountable either.  “Let them go.”  She said, not a demand, more a request, as she looked to Uhtred though it seemed it was passing the decisions about this to her husband, as he looked to Finan and nodded his head.

“The fact my good lady wife here says you did not harm her is the only reason you are both still breathing.”  He told the men, who both nodded their heads and mumbled a thanks to her.  “So, now you are going to go dump him in the river, about a mile upstream should do it, and then you are going to come back here and enjoy the feast with us.”  They looked a little confused by the last, but nodded their head to him, with mumbled words of thanks before bending to pick up the lifeless body of Hudlam at their feet.

“Osferth, go with them, make sure they come back here to enjoy our hospitality.”  That was Uhtred’s voice, and Eadith realised they were doing it to keep the men close for the night, in case there were more of them out there.

“Why am I always the one to do this at celebrations?”  Osferth groaned, before Sihtric clapped him on the shoulder as he passed, offering his axe if he wished to use it instead of his seax.

“Because you are the one who is least likely to know the touch of a woman tonight.”  Uhtred replied, before he looked to Finan and Eadith, and smiled.  “It is never a good wedding unless someone dies, it is a sign of good luck.”  He grinned, “Now Irishman, take your bride to your house, before I decide to invite her up to my bed.”  He laughed out and the string to irish curses that sprang from Finan’s mouth, and before Eadith could say a word he lifted her up into his arms, and began to carry her off.

She waited until they had rounded the hall, before she had found her breath.  “Finan, I can walk, I am not hurt.”  She had looped her arms around his shoulders, and leaned her head in close to his.  Truthfully she did not mind him wanting to carry her anywhere, but she did not want him to think he had to.  She was not hurt like the day of the Winchester battle, and she did not want him to always think of her made of glass.  She was from a fallen house, that version of herself had been glass, then she had changed.  She had no idea what she was made of now, but it did not matter because she was no longer alone.

“Can a man not carry his wife on their wedding day?”  He asked her, before leaning in to plant a kiss to her forehead, and then continue to look at where they were going.  She did not think either of them had thought they would be retiring this early, with the sky still light, but she was in no mood to go back to the feast.  She wanted to be with him, and she wanted it to be just the two of them.

As they arrived at their house, she smiled to see the weaved celtic symbol hanging there, made out of lengths of barley, and with flowers and herbs woven into the mix.  It was said such things brought the couple good luck and fertility, and it made her blush with a smile.  Finan grunted at the sight, but she was sure he was secretly pleased by the sight.  It meant the people of Coccham approved of their union.  And it made her eyes water with joy to know it.

Once inside, Finan kicked the door closed before gently putting her down onto her feet.  She smoothed out her dress as he looked back to the door to pull the heavy bar down and settle it in place.  They were alone, and no one could come and interrupt them now.  And while the thought made her skin almost heat in pleasure, she felt a mix of emotions going on inside of her.  She was excited, eager even, but nervous and worried.  Finan knew that she had been with Aethelred once, so she was neither virginal or experienced like the woman he was more used to.  What if she disappointed him?

“What is going on in that head of yours?”

His voice knocked the thoughts away, and she focused back on him.  He was still standing by the door, and simply watching her.  His fingers were playing with his rings, mainly twisting his celtic swirl around, a match to her own, his large fingers.  She licked her lips and looked back up to his eyes, so intense with the way they were taking her in.

“I was worrying that I will disappoint you in some way.”  She decided to be honest with him, it not being the moment to start lying, the day of their wedding and all.  She watched as his eyebrows rose up, his eyes becoming large before he took a step towards her.

“You disappointing me? I almost lost you the day I swore to always protect you.”  He told her, and again she saw a hint of anger here, not directed at her, but she had a feeling he was angry he had not gotten to kill Hadlum himself.  “You could never disappoint me. You are my Sun, my North Star, Eadith, my love.”  He moved to her then, pulling her hand in against him, as if once more making sure she was there, well and unharmed.  She held him to her as hard, needing that moment to simply get over what had almost happened outside.  And while she had no idea how long he had held her, when she felt his lips on her neck she shivered in pleasure.

“I just worry–”

Her words were cut off by his lips that pressed against her own.  

Finan seemed intent of showering her with the type of attention she had never known before, his mouth exploring every inch of her body until she was damp with sweat and need.  And then they had come together, their bodies fitting against each other in a way she had never felt before.  And either had had, if the way he cried out to God and Christ was anything to go by.  If anyone came to cheer outside their door in the late hours, Eadith truly had no idea.  She was lost in a haze of desire, pleasure, lust, love and fulfillment.  And once they were both truly spent, they had lain in one another’s arms, whispering of things that only two people in love would say to one another.

By the time the sun was rising outside, along with the sounds of those early chores that can never be put off, Eadith sat up in bed, sure that Finan was asleep.  She crossed their bedroom to a small table that had been set up with a jug of ale, one of wine and some food.  She knew it was a gift from the women of the settlement and she was truly touched by it.  Her legs were a little wobbly, she felt they hardly had any strength left in them after the night, but she managed to pour herself a cup of mead.

“And where do you think you are going?”

His voice in the sudden silence of the room made her jump, and she looked around at him laying on the bed, not even with his eyes open, but obviously awake.  “I was getting a drink you oaf.”  She told him, and watched as his brown eyes opened slowly and focused on her.  The look he gave her almost made her heart stop, so full of love and desire, and she swallowed down a mouthful of the warm ale.

“Get ye back to this bed, wife!”  He demanded, but she could see the way he smiled at the end of the word wife.

Eadith simply smiled back, and began to make her way slowly back to him.  “With pleasure, Husband.”