Excerpt-
“Come on!” urged Saehild, hopping from one foot to
the other to
keep warm. “The quicker we get there the quicker
we’ll come back.”
Aelfwyn, being shorter and thinner than her younger
sister,
found it harder to wield the pails. The long, stone
wall edged path to
the well led downhill, and she hated carrying the
heavy pails back
up again.
“I’m looking forward to the wedding feast of Eappa
and
Geatfleda next week, aren’t you? It’ll be a change
from daily tasks.
When I’m married I’ll have slaves and they’ll do all
the work while I
enjoy myself.”
“You’ve got to find a rich husband first.”
Aelfwyn imagined it wouldn’t be difficult. Fair of
face and
curvaceous of body, men couldn’t resist Saehild.
Their parents
insisted she should not get married until her
fifteenth birthday
however, and as that loomed, soon Aelfwyn would lose
her
annoying but amusing companion.
Leafless, icy trees eerily overhung the sunken path
through the
wood.
As they turned the last corner, they saw two figures
by the well,
wearing the red woollen cloaks of Jarl Thorvald’s
men, stout leather
boots, and trousers with garters. Complaining to
each other, their
breath clouded around them as they chipped at the
frozen water
with their spears.
The girls hesitated a few yards away.
“Will they attack us?” whispered Saehild
dramatically, clutching
at her sister.
Aelfwyn sighed. “Probably not, but we’d better wait
until they’ve
gone.”
The taller Dane abruptly looked up and smiled. His
dark red hair
was wavy but tied back in a plat over his shoulders
and he wore a
fur cap instead of a helmet, as he wasn’t in battle.
With skin rather
darker than most Danes, he looked pleasant, not
handsome but
inscrutable, especially as his well groomed beard
and moustache
covered most of his lower face.
“Come,” he said. “Do not be frightened.”
The other turned too, and smiled. Now, he really was
good
looking. Straight golden hair, his eyes big and
blue, his lips an
attractive shape. His moustache and beard were
fortunately less full
than the other’s, as this revealed his beauty. The
sisters gasped. He
held his hand out in a welcoming motion so they
stepped forward as
one.
“We break ice,” said the handsome one, bending over
his task
while the other kept watch.
The girls watched, fascinated. Saehild pretended to
re arrange
her head-rail, letting her It was flaxen blond, soft
fine hair slip out.
She took great care of it, unlike many girls, and
owned three combs.
“Saehild!” Aelfwyn glared at her, shocked at her
inappropriate
behaviour.
“We’ve all got hair, it’s not something to be
hidden,” she
retorted.
“There!” The handsome Dane pulled up the bucket from
the
well, and gestured for them to come forward. He then
tipped water
into their pails, smiling at both of them until they
blushed.
Aelfwyn thought, however, that he smiled more at her
sister. The
same as every other man. Men were so weak and easily
understood.
They saw a pretty face and were instantly besotted.
It amused her to
see so many of them pursuing her sister, who often
didn’t notice.
Saehild was tall and well formed, obviously healthy
and a promising
prospect for bearing children.
Being born underweight meant Aelfwyn had always
struggled to
grow and throw off illnesses. As a result she had
remained short and
thin, despite eating as much as she could.
Grateful that her mother had kept her rather than
abandoning
such a weak sister. Everyone always thought she was
the younger one, and even
by eighteen, men hadn’t shown an interest. They no
doubt thought
of her as unpromising breeding stock.
As she and her sister stepped back, feebly mumbling
“Thank
you”, the taller Dane began filling his own pails.
He seemed to be
instructing his reluctant companion, who turned back
to the girls.
“Bjarni.” He pointed to himself, bowing his head
politely and then
pointed to his taller companion. “Ragnar.”
“Saehild,” she gushed in delight. “My sister,
Aelfwyn.”
Ragnar did not seem pleased however, and said
something sharp
to Bjarni in their own language. Bjarni rolled his
eyes and Saehild
giggled.
“We should go now,” said Aelfwyn, realising their
vulnerable
position alone in the wood with two unfamiliar
Danes.
“Goodbye. See you again,” said Saehild, before
Aelfwyn could
drag her away.
Bjarni looked after them with interest.
“What d’you think, then?” he asked Ragnar as the
girls rounded
the corner and disappeared from view. “Would you
fuck them?”
“Yes, probably,” his friend said unthinkingly. “I
mean, no! We
shouldn’t be associating with the locals. We have
our jobs to do, we
should-“baby, even so she wished to be as attractive
as her
“By the gods, you’re so boring! You wouldn’t fuck
either of them
just because of your job?”
“The Jarl said we must be honourable if we’re
training to be
Huskarlr. At your age, you’re supposed to have grown
out of fucking
around.” Ragnar’s job meant everything to him, he
had no family
and Jarl Thorvald was the only father he had ever
known.
“I’m not nineteen yet. I hope by twenty I won’t be
like you and
have forgotten how to do it.” Bjarni pretended to
doze off against
the wall so Ragnar prodded his leg with his spear.
“Get off! I’ll have the tall, pretty one. Those
breasts, you could
get lost in them. I bet she’s a dragon in the sack-“
“Calm down or I’ll throw this ice over you. Come
on.” Ragnar set
off with two pails, Bjarni following cheerfully with
the others.
“Think they come here every day?”
“I expect so. But we’re only on water duty for the
fortnight, so
don’t get too excited. There are loads of local
girls for you to harass.”
“Water duty! It should be the women doing such
tasks, not us.”
“It’s to teach us humility. You need to learn it.”
Bjarni kicked at him- no easy task while carrying
pails of waterbut
Ragnar managed to fight back. Continuing to bicker,
they
rounded the corner in the opposite direction to the
Anglisc, heading
back to Hallfridby.
Ragnar the Murderer
Lily Byrne
Publisher: Taylor Street Books
ISBN: 13: 978-1463698379
ASIN: B005BENNW2
Number of pages: 210
Word Count: 40,000
A tale of love and treachery.
It is a time of uneasy truce, of two races living side-by-side, inter-marrying even, but forever on the look out for treachery among their neighbors.
They meet, they bathe together and they consort. Life is short, fun is likely to be brief, and opportunity has to be seized wherever it can be found without unleashing long-held rivalries and carnage.
Then the youthful Dane, Ragnar, falls in love with Aelfwyn the Angle who is already promised by duty to one of her own village.
Ragnar and Aelfwyn's passionate love affair is a secret which will never be hidden for long, but theirs is not the
only secret around.
When Ragnar finds himself charged with murder, he and Aelfwyn are forcibly parted. But is Ragnar really a cold-blooded, cynical killer or is there a more sinister plot being played out?
Lily Byrne
I faffed around at writing for many
years until I had my daughter, but becoming a mum seemed to kick start
something in me: I realised that I now had a purpose and time was limited, so I
must get on with it.
The winter of 2009 was severe and
as I and my family live in a small village, we were house bound
by unusually deep snow for southern England. So I settled down in my office
(i.e. the corner of our bedroom) and began my first book, which was published
in 2010.
I haven’t stopped writing since. I go
through phases of planning my story, writing furiously, or editing it. It is
much easier now my daughter is at school and I get a few hours of work done
each day.
My daughter has truly been an
inspiration to me: she has had severe health problems in her short life but is
always smiling and laughing, planning for the future, full of ideas. Working at
home writing and editing has been ideal, I love my life.
Twitter pages: https://twitter.com/LilyByrneWrites
