“Alright.” Ealdgyð drew a knife and cut the rope around my hands. “I’m going to go down there to see what this is all about. See if I can buy everyone a bit more time to get clear. The Dark Stone, you hear me? That’s where everyone needs to get to. There are enough old timers who’ll know what to do from there.”
I was a bit taken aback by this. There was absolutely no need for her to show herself to these raiders. The people in the village were free and away from the threat they posed. I couldn't see many circumstances where an army would bother scouring the forest for a few women and children. Particularly if all they found was an abandoned village. “There’s no need to go back. We can still slip away.”
For the first time in our short acquaintance, Ealdgyð smiled at me. I didn't like the sadness behind it. I much preferred her scowling. “That's not my path, Celt. Life is for living, not mourning." She tapped my hand, and it was like I was transported back to my grandmother's house. Me, sitting on her knee. Her smoking her fiftieth fag of the day and dispensing life advice. Although, I imagine Ealdgyð might be less casually racist about her next-door neighbours.
"Hrothgar always made a point of greeting visitors to the village personally. Kind of feels like the best way I can honour him is to do that in his stead. This isn't on you. You’ve given us more of a chance than we would have had otherwise. There’s those that will be waking up tomorrow that have you to thank for it. That’s not a small thing, and we haven't rightly given you thanks for it."
I waved her words away. "It's fine. But you're not making any sense. There's no point in going down there! Your people are going to need you after this. Especially with all the men wiped out. You can't just give up on them now."
Ealdgyð's smile didn't budge. "Don't think I don't recognise a kindred spirit when I see one, Celt. You understand me when I say my tale's all told. I haven't got any more verses in me after today. And that's okay. There's nothing left for me now. But at least I get to go out on my own terms." The smile vanished. "But that's where we're different, you hear me? You still have something to live for. You make amends with your sister. Your story has yet more in it."
Memories shuffled, and I was thrown from my grandmother's knee to shouting terrible things outside a window at 3am in the rain.
I heard what Ealdgyð was saying, but she was just the latest in a long line of people giving the same advice. But that was the problem, wasn't it? I was always more comfortable with burning bridges than building them.
And now I wasn't even in the same timeline.
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. I don't really think there was anything more for us to say to each other.
Ealdgyð gave me a wink, turned and walked back towards the village.
I stood, frozen, on the dirt track leading into the trees. Every instinct told me to run as fast as possible into the trees and ensure I was well out of sight before anyone noticed me. But another part, and I’d like to think it was me, rather than any residual Wulfnoð or pressure from Merlin, needed to witness the woman’s end.
Because I was sure that was what was going to happen. I watched as she Butch Cassidy'd her way down the hill.
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And then the Sundance in me won out, and I crept downwards towards the village.
It took me longer than I'd have liked to get there. It sounds silly, but I still wasn't quite at home in my new body. Trying to achieve a degree of stealth with legs that are slightly longer than your brain remembers is harder than you'd think. More than once I nearly went arse over tit as I crept towards the huts.
By the time I got there, the scene that greeted me was pretty much as I had feared. Three horsemen, their mounts exhausted by the hard riding, were towering over the small woman. Two of them were in heavy armour, and one, well, let us say if he wasn’t a wizard, I wanted my geek membership revoked. He had a long beard, was wearing flowing grey robes and gave off every impression that if I yelled 'oy, Gandalf,' he'd turn around. There were three or four blue-painted spearmen around them – scouts, I presume, as there was no sight or sound of the rest of the force.
From the expression on the invaders’ faces, I did not think Ealdgyð was winning them over with her light and breezy personality.
“I'm rapidly losing patience with this conversation. I will ask you one final time. Where are the rest of the women, bitch?” The first of the horsemen growled out, his voice gravelly. I chose to designate him Dick #1.
“Bless your heart," Ealdgyð replied. "I'm sure I will be more than enough for the likes of you. From what I hear, those of you from over the river have cocks so small your women choose to lie with goats.” She gestured towards one of the spearmen. “You have the look of someone whose mum liked a good goating. Bet you have to shave thrice a day.”
The second horseman, Dick #2, snorted at that, earning himself a withering look from the wizard. I did not feel pseudo-Gandalf was particularly comfortable in this company.
“My army will be here before sun-up, and they have been promised a reward for their recent victory. Your menfolk lie rotting in a field, and we would not be human should we not want to bring comfort to the widows they have left behind. So, I ask you again. Where are the rest of the women?” Dick #1 was really leaning into his role of Lord High Wanker.
Ealdgyð stuck her chin up and did not answer.
“Why are we wasting our time?” Dick #2 chimed up. “The village is empty; they’ve obviously fled. Let’s move on. These people breed like cockroaches; we can stop at the next village to … release some pressure.”
Dick #1 was holding Ealdgyð’s eyes. He kept licking his lips in a way that I'm sure he felt was intimidating. For me, it just looked like he lacked good chapstick.
After a few moments of silence, he shrugged. “If we must. But I don’t want us getting too far away from the others. Make sure you share news of our disposition with your fellows.” The last was directed to the wizard, who paused, then nodded his agreement.
The horsemen wheeled their mounts around to leave. “Oh, and Melehan, kill the bitch.”
The wizard sighed as Dicks #1 and #2 rode away and then looked at Ealdgyð with pity. “I'm sorry. These are very petty men. You must have expected this would be the outcome once you put yourself in their way.”
Ealdgyð lifted her chin and shrugged right back. The woman had balls the size of watermelons.
"If it helps to know, it was a much harder battle than they'd anticipated. Your men fought well. They're so jumpy because we've fallen behind the rest of the invasion."
Ealdgyð didn't answer.
"It will be quick. You may want to close your eyes?"
In response, Ealdgyð smiled and made a hand gesture that I was interested to note appears to be pretty universal across timelines.
Melehan’s hand glowed momentarily, the way mine had when I fought the wolf. However, rather than stay within his body, the light suddenly lashed out in a beam of energy. It crossed the gap between the two and, quite simply, blew Ealdgyð’s head clear from her body.
The wizard waited for a moment until the headless corpse hit the ground. He appeared to say a few words under his breath, and then he turned his own horse around to follow the Dicks.
However, he then paused and turned in his saddle to look straight back at my hiding place. “I have no orders concerning you, so you get to walk away. A word of advice, though, a child could hide their Qi better. If you want to skulk around in the dark, get that bloody light under control.”
And he kicked his horse to ride out of the village.