Kingdom Come

II. Bastard Son

Yeah, I ain't tryna fix her I just wanna kiss her

Fuel a little fire in her soul

But we don't say forever, but when we're together

Swear that we ain't ever lettin' go

Hild had woken her the next morning and helped her dress. The nun knew how the girl despised bright colors, so they chose a dark blue dress for this morning. Her father wanted her in the room with him and the others for when the other lords and earls of Cumbraland arrived. He wanted her to learn, as well as Bjorn. Jaehaera finished braiding her hair, and Hild's as well now that she was a warrior. She did four small braids on the top of her head and bound them with small silver clasps.

She stood behind her father in the throne room of the turd king with Bjorn and Hild at her side. Bjorn's hand found hers like it always did. The lords and earls stood in front of Guthred that stood on the platform that held his throne. "Lords and Earls of Cumbraland," his terrible voice rang out in the room, "I thank you for showing this great unity. Cumbraland has, over the years, become a land for both Dane and Saxon. Together, with the power of the Christian God, we can achieve great things." Jaehaera looked down to hide her rolling eyes again. Not likely she thought. He sounded like a hopeful, ignorant child. Naive.

"Oh please," she mumbled quietly under her breath, as a chorus of 'Amen's rang out around her. Hild shot her a motherly glare, and her father gave her a warning look. Bjorn just quietly chuckled at her.

"As your king," Guthred began again, "I have decided that it's time for our army to march...to Eoferwic!" She looked up at her father, trying to gauge his reaction. There was murmuring around them.

"Lord," A Dane's voice rang out. A man with short, blond, curly hair came forward. "I'm Ulf."

"Ulf?" The king repeated. Her father looked at the man called Ulf. "My father spoke very well of you. Do you have something to say?"

"I say we have no enemies in Eoferwic," Ulf told the king. "Yet there are many foes who will attack our lands when we are gone." Jaehaera had to agree with him on that. "I gave you men to protect my land, and the land of my neighbors, not to abandon it."

A priest stepped forward, an evil-looking man who Jaehaera had distrusted from the moment she saw him. She didn't know his name and she didn't want to, evil floated around him, so much so she could feel it. "I have news brought to me from all over Northumbria," the priest began, "our enemies are otherwise occupied."

"Is this news or hearsay?" Ulf asked the man. Jaehaera looked at Ulf and then at the priest.

"The brothers are beyond the Tuede," the priest replied. "Kjartan the Cruel is locked within his fortress, and Aelfric, Lord of Bebbanburg, dare never attack an army that carries the blessed Saint Cuthbert before it." Bebbanburg, her father's home, the one he has told her stories of, and she wanted nothing more than to see it, and for him to return there again. Saint Cuthbert, an idol as she called it. She had learned from Hild that the Christians weren't supposed to have those, but then she wondered why then did they carry around a dead man like a lucky amulet or talisman? How was this not an example of idolatry?

"And what of the Irish?" Ulf asked. A man in his company agreed with an 'aye'. "What of the Scots? What of rogues and raiders? What of crops in the fields, and livestock in the hills?" She still couldn't tell if her father agreed with this man or the king. But she, at the moment, agreed with Ulf. Who would defend their home while the warriors were gone?