A Whisper to the North

Chapter XXVI ✠ The Departure

Gareth helped walk Una down the hall. Her condition has improved considerably over the few hours of sleep Una had. She could put more pressure on her leg, and the swelling has gone down some. Her neck still aches, but now she can turn her head better without pain. Una had slept well, despite thinking it would prove fruitless to try. She knew she had a huge journey ahead of her.

She would travel with Gareth deep into Wessex to see his coronation. After the coronation, she would head northeast into Essex and finally East Anglia, where she hoped to find a boat to take her to Northumbria. She had to pick an alias now. She couldn't be Una, queen of Snowdon, of the northern mountains, in the formidable land of Gwynedd. Perhaps a noblewoman from Wessex would suffice.

The way the servants dressed Una would definitely suggest that she was not a queen. The garb she wears now was quite different than what she rode into this land with. Una asked that her clothes be thrown out, the ones covered in Frey's blood. The only thing that returned to her was her undergarments and boots. Now she wears indigo peplos. A long wool gown fastened at her shoulders with beautiful silver pins. At her waist was a cinched belt with a silver clasp engraved with ornate designs. She was offered to wear a thin white veil, but it would be too much for Una's taste. She wanted to blend in, but not having a veil made her even more of a commoner.

"That's a beautiful necklace," Gareth said as they made their way down the hall.

The necklace Frey had given Una in his last moments was placed around her neck. It was a rather dainty piece of jewelry, with the long delicate gold chain. At the bottom, a gold base held a Carnelian pendant. It was as dark and red as dragon's blood but shone in the morning light like burning embers. It contrasted beautifully against the indigo of her dress. The servants had washed Una today and braided her hair into a long braid beginning at the nape of her neck. In the end, it was tied with a silver clasp.

"I wonder why Frey kept it hidden all this time?" Una asked Gareth.

"Perhaps he had been robbed before."

Una suddenly remembered how Fray had been subdued by brigands before. Perhaps that is why he hid it away, so those men and women would not steal it along with the rest of his things he gave to them.

"May I see him?" Una asked softly as they passed the door.

"Of course," Gareth answered as he led Una back to the door.

"Thank you, Gareth," Una said as he opened the door and led Una in.

Una didn't want to step in too far, but she couldn't resist getting closer.

"You did good, Gareth." Una gulped as she staggered toward the bed.

She gasped and found herself falling fast toward the ground. She hadn't eaten anything for three days.

"Una!" Gareth said, reaching out for her arm.

"It's okay," Una said, collapsing down to her knees and gently crawling over to the bedside.

Una could see that Gareth had changed Frey out of his bloody clothes and had whipped the blood away from his skin and out of his hair. His bruises had been covered over in a layer of chalk, and Gareth had applied the coats of a plum around his skin so that he had some flesh color. Una could smell the sweet scent of frankincense rubbed into his skin. His delicate hands were clasped at his belly. One of them held a small gold cross. This was the same cross that was in Frey's saddlebag. This was a stolen cross, but Una said nothing.

"You may keep what was Frey's. I do not need his things any longer." Una said as she gazed at Frey in his permanent rest.

"I do not need for it either," Gareth said.