"I am Uhtred, son of Uhtred." "I was born a Saxon Lord, but raised by Danes as a warrior." "I now serve Alfred, the Saxon king of Wessex, and protect his last kingdom of England from Guthrum and his Viking army." "But not all believe in the King." "I am my father's heir." "To some, I am seen as an enemy within." "With luck, he will fall in battle." "It is a court without justice, where I will always be seen a pagan, even through the eyes of my pious and now distant wife." "And so to pay off the debt on my land, I plundered as a Viking would." "And I found a Pagan Queen." "A Seer, whose gift is linked to her purity." "She's not to hump." "I am now called a traitor." "I, Brother Asser, swear these oaths." "Alfred's court decided I should be executed." "I request that he dies at my sword." "You will fight to the death." "Destiny is all." "Get out, you drunk bastard!" "Is he here?" "With a woman who's not his wife." "Your friend is here." "May I sit?" "Will I spoil the gift of a last night of freedom?" "Sit." "Do you believe I have betrayed you, Arseling?" " I don't." " Make no mistake." "Odda had 20 men or more ready to swear against you." "I am here to tell you that I am better than you right now." "I will kill you." "Warrior's death is all I can give." "Forgive me, but I'm trying to forget you're my friend." "As long as you understand." "If you have more to say, you should say it." "Leofric!" "Leofric!" "This isn't a fight I want." "I've been allowed my freedom tonight and if I could slip away," "I would, but I cannot do that." "Reputation is all." "I know it." "I have feuds to settle, promises to keep." "I must live." "Then you must kill me." "And you me." "I intend to." "I will have the advantage." "The king's wife is praying for me." "God loves her." "Someone's got to." "It's been good to have you as my friend." "I'll make your death quick and painless." " And then hump my queen?" " And your wife." "But you will be without your balls." "I will see you tomorrow morning." "You will." "What are you thinking?" "What goes on inside this head?" "I was thinking how I would like to lie with you..." "As a woman." "You were?" "I cannot." " Yes, you can." " I cannot." "You know I cannot." "I will lose my gift." "Who cares?" "The future is fate, it won't change." "And if today I die?" "I have not seen your death." "Uhtred." "Uhtred." "The King wishes to speak with you." "About what?" "He's unsure what to wear this morning, he needs your advice." "With me." "Are you going to eat all of this or shall we save half for Edward?" "He's a baby." "Oh, is he?" "Is he really?" "I had quite forgotten." "Ah." "Uhtred." "Lord." "Trust you slept well." "I did not." "My son is coughing and two of my best warriors will, today, try to kill each other." "Today is the Feast of Saint Cedd." "We have decorated the Great Hall." "Do you know of Saint Cedd?" "No, Lord." "Well, I like to think of him as a symbol." "He worked in East Anglia and Mercia and he died in Northumbria, your part of the country." "A man of all England." "Exactly, Uhtred." "Which is why I am loathe to shed Saxon blood on his day of days." "Resume your debt." "Dispatch your queen back to Cornwalum and there need be no bloodshed." "Those are my terms and they will not change." "If Iseult returns to Cornwalum, she'll be killed." "I'm prepared to resume my debt to save Leofric." "But Iseult must stay with me." "She is plunder." "And as such, she must be returned, regardless of her fate." "I can't abandon her." "The Queen stays with me." "You are a fool." "You are a sinner and a heathen, and I..." "I have lost my patience with you." "The fight will go ahead." "May your soul receive its just reward." "Lord." "Make way." "Make way." "Silence!" "Your Majesty, Lords, Ladies." "Great unwashed and stinking people of Winchester." "We are gathered to witness justice." "We are gathered to witness a fight to the end." "That end being death." "That end being the fires of hell." "We are here to witness a battle between Uhtred, the Godless and Leofric of Winchester!" "Take your shields." "Warriors." "Are you prepared?" "I am." "Yes." "It is to the death." "No matter how death occurs." "May God choose his victor." "Swords." "Begin!" "Brother Asser, I wish you well on your return to Cornwalum." " You do not wish to see the outcome?" " No, no, I do not." "My dear, will you ask the nurses to fetch the children?" "I wish to walk with them." "The Danes!" "The Danes are here!" "They've breached the city walls!" "Save yourselves!" "The fight is finished, Arseling!" "Come on, run!" "Stand to your man!" "They are not to pass!" "They are not to approach the palace!" "Father, they will hack the likes of us to pieces." "The King!" "Where is the King?" "The King will have to make his own arrangements." "And what of me?" "Odda?" "Odda!" "Leofric, this way." "Not me!" "Go, quickly." "There'll be nothing left in the stables but horse shit!" "Let's go this way." "We hide here, wait for nightfall." "Hurry!" "I want the King and I want him alive, crawling on his knees!" "Find me Alfred!" "Keep away." "Keep away." "Stand back, I'm warning you." "God will protect me." "God will..." "Only Guthrum can save you." "Guthrum is your God now." "Should I spare you?" "Please." "Go in peace." "Go." "Find Alfred." "You are Guthrum, the great warrior." "I am Aethelwold." "Son of King Aethelred and rightful king of Wessex." "Alfred stole my crown." "This crown." "As King..." "I am prepared to negotiate." "Enough negotiation." "You smell like you have shit yourself." "I have not been well." "I pledge to you my allegiance..." "No!" "Let go of me!" "No!" "Let go!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Iseult!" "Look out!" "It's over." "They're gone." "We need to be gone ourselves." "Put on a helmet." "We're Danes." "Again?" "You will not be leaving me." "We will not." "You are prisoners." "Uhtred the Saxon." "Brida." "What's this?" "You mean to do me harm?" "I haven't decided." "Good to see you again, Brida." "Leofric." "How did you manage to get such a big head into such a small helmet?" "It was necessary." "Why are you doing this?" "Where's Ragnar?" "Is he here?" "He's almost ready to travel north." "To kill Kjartan?" "What do you care?" "The guards at the gates will be drunk." "Your way is clear." "Brida..." "Tell Ragnar I'm still his brother." "I'll tell him you were here and that you left." "Arseling." "Brida is changed." "She was always angry." "Now she is nasty." "Either she has changed, or I have changed." "She once loved you." "Not any more." "Even I could see that much." "I hate the forest." "Where's your wife?" "I know you're married to Lady Mildrith." "She'll have sought refuge..." "With the church." "She used to come to the nunnery." "I would pray with her." "I watched her as she changed." "Why does a woman become a nun?" "Because of her love for God." "God will never abandon her." "You were being humped against your will." "Where was God?" "He sent you." "Is the King likely to have been killed?" "The King's not our concern." "If the King is dead, then Wessex is dead." "Where are you going?" "I need darkness." "She needs darkness for what?" "To see." "Leofric, where are we?" "We are at the marshlands of the Severn, the swamplands." "I have never seen lands like this before." "Hurry." "They've seen us!" "The boats won't wait." "Priests." " We need to leave." " Hurry." "In fear." "God preserve us." "Time to fight, Arseling." "Uhtred!" "Arseling..." "I have your sword." "We'll get you!" "I hope you are carrying silver, priest." "We've saved your life." "I'm saved by ghosts it seems." "Lord." "Thank God, you're unhurt." "I was blessed." " And your family?" " Are safe." "They are in the boat ahead." "Hoping to find sanctuary in these marshlands." "At the palace, Lord." "They came from nowhere." "They did." "They came because they were allowed to." "Where were your watchers?" "Your spies?" "On their knees, no doubt." "You should show respect." "Wessex allows its warriors to kill each other and spends too much time on its knees." "Too much money on its churches." "If Guthrum were Christian and not Pagan, there would be no war." "But, he's not." "You will do well to remember that I am King." "King of what?" "Look around you." "He's our King." "Like every kingdom before it, Wessex has fallen." "He is Alfred..." "A man." "King of nothing." "Lord God, allow your blessed oils to penetrate and take away any and all fever and sickness." "Restore health and strength to the child and to his ever watchful parents." "Amen." " Amen." " Amen." "Lord, I have prepared a tonic." "For the pain." "For the pain you suffer here." "You pass blood?" "From your arse?" "It's nothing more than what grows from the earth, Lord." "Drink it." "Is it good?" "Oh, not at all." " Thank you." " There will be more tomorrow." "He will become lost." "I guarantee it." "Were you worried that I would lose my way?" "One path looks like another." "You have explored?" "A little." "What do you notice about this place?" "It's wet." "There are no horizons." "No sense of something beyond." "My priests have visited here once or twice to preach." "The people are oblivious to God." "You look tired." "Sleep has been a rarity, yes." "My wife would like us to take a ship to Frankia." "To become another king in exile?" "So, you admit I am still a king?" "We dare not travel." "My son would never survive it." "You should send out word that you are alive." "Asking men to join you, to follow you." "And then what?" "Fight?" "Is that what you would do?" "It's what a king would do." "I have given it thought, of course I have." "And this much I know." "If I am to fight, it would have to be a single battle, and soon before yet more Danes arrive." "Before Wessex crumbles skirmish by skirmish, raid by raid, piece by piece." "Therefore..." "Your first task would be to..." "Somehow..." "Convince the Danes to hold one great and deciding moment." "A single defining battle?" "Yes." "Who should I send out into the country with the news I'm here?" "It would have to be your priests, all of them." "Each in a separate direction." "Their prayers are needed here." "Your son grows weaker despite their prayers." "For that I'm sorry." "Every breath is an effort for him." "I don't know whether to make him warm or keep him cool." "Well, we will..." "We will remain here until he is well." "Father." "Shh." "Will the child die?" "Can you save him?" "There is a way." "Though, it is not a good way." "If it is the only way, then you must." "You are feeling a little better, Lord?" "I am." "Iseult is a healer." "She could help your son." "Thank you." "If you help, then you better succeed." "If the child dies, you'll be blamed." "We cannot do nothing." "That is not what I'm saying." "Iseult is a Pagan and a woman." "She will be blamed, regardless of her meaning well." "If it's true that Alfred is in the swampland, how long do we wait for him to come out?" "If he is hiding in the swampland, we would be fools to go searching." "Have you seen anything like this?" " The monasteries keep words like this." " No, no, no." "Not like this." "What does it all mean?" "What does all this speak of?" "I cannot say I care." "Whatever Alfred found out about his enemies, he'd write." "Yeah." "It's magic." "Yeah, it is." "You are laughing." "It's a weak kind of magic." "No, no, no, you're wrong." "This is..." "It is words without sound." "This is voices without people." "I am going to learn how to use this magic." "And if we took Alfred, he could teach you." "Only a fool would march an army into a swampland." "Are you that fool?" "Are you that fool?" " Ragnar?" " No, I'm not." "Then we wait." "We need to be closer." "Uhtred." "The water is rising." "Lord, you had one task." "Oh, no." "I am sorry." "Well, I have never cooked before and never again, I fear." "Are they burned?" "They are done well, Lord." "A challenge for your teeth and stomach." "I have seen a fleet on the Severn." "They carry Skorpa's colours." "How many ships?" "Twenty or more." "That's over 1,000 men." "Guthrum will have the same." "More." "God save us." "We can save ourselves." "We must believe it." "Will the lady be joining us, Lord?" "Um, no, she will not." "She is angry with me still for sending away the priests." "Sending out the priests was the right thing, Lord." "Let us pray you are correct." "If you will excuse me." "If the child dies, it will take the fight from Alfred's bones." "And we will never save ourselves." "Aelswith." "You must end this silence." "The priests will fetch men." "Without men, safe passage to the south into Frankia would be impossible." "At best our children would be taken as slaves." "You are eating meat." "Why?" "These last few days the pains have abated." "Meat does not agree." "I could not cope with further sickness." "In the mind of Brother Asser, she is a witch." "And yet you gladly drink her potion." "It is a tonic." "I can read you." "You wish to put our child in the hands of the devil." "Our prayers are not being answered." "Is it any wonder, we find ourselves living in a muddy puddle?" "Father, please." "Come, warm yourself by the fire." "I bring word." "From the king." "He lives." "Wessex lives and breathes, Wulfhere." "Thank God." "Oh, my goodness." "She has the nerve to approach." "She has helped me." "Thank you." "I, for one, do not wish to hear your voice." "Do not speak a word." "Is there something you wish to say, Iseult?" "If you wish, Lord," "I will try and help your child." "We do not wish." "Tonight is a good night." "We do not wish." "Tomorrow, it will be too late." "What kind of talk is that?" "What kind of talk is "too late"?" "Are you saying that my child will die?" "Aelswith, Aelswith, please." "Get her away from me." "Get her away from me." " Get her out of my sight!" " Please, stop." " Get her out of my sight!" " Lord?" "She's offering help." "My priest told me that you are a witch." " And they are correct." " She's no witch!" "Aelswith, please, no more." "No more, no more." "You are upsetting yourself." "You are upsetting the children." "No more." "Come here." "No, no, no, no, no." "Please!" "No, no!" "Go, go, please." "Iseult, you must prepare." "Lord?" "It can only be tonight." "She'll be ready." "The child will pass from one chamber to the other." "From near death to life." "What is it?" "If this child is to live, then another, somewhere, must die." "I will be taking a life." "A stranger, an innocent." "Iseult." "This must be done." "Lady Aelswith." "Leave me." "I cannot." "Leave me." "Lady..." "You need comfort." "When a child suffers, the mother suffers." "I know this." "I know the pain you feel." "It's almost unbearable." "Even for a queen." "I'll stay only for as long as you need me." "For a moment, a year." "He's dying." "She is a Pagan." "And yet she has helped the king." "I am to trust a stranger with my child?" "There is good in Iseult." "I don't know what is worse." "When he cries, or when he's still." "When he's still, I feel the need to prod him awake." "It is retribution." "God is punishing me." "For what?" "For Aethelwold, for taking his crown." "Aethelwold is a fool." "He could never be king." "Your God is testing you." "Lord, give Edward to Iseult." "If God will not cure Edward, what makes you think that he would allow a Pagan to succeed?" "Who is to say that God is not working through us all?" "Did he not make the Pagans, too?" "Beocca would tell me that..." "God's ways are known only to himself." "You have been brought to the marshes for a reason." "You have this one chance to save your son." "And you will have one chance to save your kingdom." "The two are bound together." "Edward is your heir." "If he lives," "I would say it's a sign." "Wessex will live." "There is barely a heartbeat." "Let me give the child to Iseult." "Oh, may God have mercy on each of us." "Where is he taking him?" "Am I allowed to know?" "To Iseult." "God is watching." "Lord?" "Lord?" "Good morning, Lord." "We received your message." "We came as quickly as we could." "Father Beocca, is that you?" "Yes, Lord." "You are here?" "I am, Lord." "And you brought men." " Wulfhere." " Lord." "Well, how warming it is to see you all." "It's good to see you again, Lord." "And many more are nearby." "Guards, men." "Even the Brother Asser is here." "We've all been saying prayers for your health and safety." "Praying, yes." "And for Edward, of course." "Every priest in the land has been instructed to hold service for his recovery." "For Edward, I am blessed." "How is the boy, Lord?" "Edward." "Lord?" "What is it, Lord?" "Oh, please." "Oh, please." "God, no." "Say he has not been taken from me." "No, Lord, this is not his grave." " He is well, Lord." " What?" "And he is healed." "Healed?" "Lord, what is this?" "It's good news, Father." " Rejoice." " He is well." "Oh..." "He is well." "It is true, he is..." "He is well." "He is cool." "He is well, Beocca." "I can..." "I can feel his heart beating strongly." "God has not forsaken you, Lord." "Fetch Aelswith!" "Fetch his mother." "The prayers of the whole of Wessex have been answered." "Indeed." "Every mass, Lord, every mass said by 100 priests or more has been heard." "Look at him." "Look at him, he is well." "God is good, praise him!" "Yes, praise him, Father Beocca." "You did well." "Why the tears?" "They are for the stranger's child." "You are wet, Arseling." "I am." "Wet, tired, but I have a plan." "Lord, the ships are guarded by no more than 60 men." "The rest of the army will be inland, looking for food." "We kill the men, we burn the ships." "You really believe Skorpa will then go to Guthrum?" "I do." "One army, one battle." "It's the only way, Lord." "It begins here, in these waters." "You were brought here for this reason, Lord." "They need to give chase and they need to believe they can reach us." "We stand our ground until the very last moment." "Then we stay on the safe path." "And let the land half kill them before we attack." "And if they do reach us?" "Ready?" "Remember, don't kill them." "Just make them mad." "Another." "Are you wishing to die?" "Another." "Who are you, you piece of weasel shit?" "You want me to spill your guts?" "Hera I am, I'm waiting!" "We'll send each of you to corpse hall." "Hit the big bastard." "Come and fight!" "Or are you afraid?" "My axes!" "We stand our ground." "We stand our ground." "Run!" "Run, run, run!" "Now, for the ships!" "A new horizon, Lord." "A beacon of hope." "God has tested you, Lord." "He's put you into the fire as a smith would his steel." "And like the steel you have emerged stronger." "Praise him." "Praise him, Lord." "You're right, Beocca." "God works in the strangest of ways, known only to himself."