Page 44 of Summer of the Viking

‘I don’t see the point,’ Cleofirth said with a curl of his lip. ‘My word should be good enough. They are my sheep. Like I said, you might not understand our marking system, being a foreigner and all. Here, my lady, you tell him I was a good tenant to your late husband. He never had any trouble from me. I paid what I owed on time.’

‘Will you allow my lady to inspect your barn?’ Valdar asked in a silken tone. ‘You can have no objection to my lady viewing the sheep with her own eyes.’

‘In the late lord’s day, my word was good enough.’ Cleofirth held out his hands and screwed up his eyes. ‘My lady, why would I try to hide anything from you? Owain is always losing his sheep. You know that as well as me. Every year, he complains someone has stolen his sheep and that is why he needs more time to pay his rent. To have your new steward brand me as a sheep stealer is insulting.’

‘But that still doesn’t explain why those sheep were hidden and why you swore to me that all your sheep were out on the fields,’ Valdar said, his accent becoming stronger with each word he spoke.

‘Maybe your steward’s grasp of our language isn’t good. Him being foreign and all.’

A muscle flickered in Valdar’s cheek. ‘I understand well enough.’

Alwynn pasted on a placating smile. ‘My steward has my full support. If he asks for a credible explanation for hidden sheep, then I see no reason for you not to give it.’

‘He is a foreigner. He could be a Northman for all I know. Set to murder us all in our beds. A spy! He could be selling the information for gold.’

There was an inward take of breath and all eyes turned towards Valdar. With his height and flowing hair, she could see why he might be taken for a Northman. But being from this place called Raumerike didn’t make him a Northman barbarian. She felt sure of it.

‘Cleofirth! Remember to whom you are speaking. Are you questioning my judgement?’

‘A thousand apologies, my lady.’ Cleofirth wrung his hat between his hands. ‘In your husband’s day, proper stewards were hired. Not strangers from a strange land.’

Alwynn pressed her lips together and counted to ten. In her husband’s day, the steward had been crooked, but she could sympathise with Cleofirth. Since the Northmen’s attack, there was a natural wariness of strangers. She wanted her tenants to see her as a fair mistress, to respect her and her judgement. But they also had to know that her steward, despite being a foreigner, had her support and that they needed to obey him.

She glanced up at Valdar and had the strange suspicion that he had manipulated this so that she would have to go out. She wished she knew why he was doing this, but she had to trust him.

She stood and pressed her hands together. Silently she cursed the dream for putting ideas in her head. Valdar was not interested in her as a woman. ‘Perhaps it would be best if I went to inspect the sheep. It is bound to be a simple misunderstanding. Then when Lord Edwin returns, a full account of the matter can be put before him with me as an expert witness. Surely you are not going to accuse me...’

Cleofirth gulped twice. ‘No, my lady. I merely didn’t want you to have to make an unnecessary journey. Urien tells me how hard you are working these days.’

Alwynn frowned. He made it seem as if she had seen Urien recently, but it had been months. ‘It has been a long time since I saw your wife. How does she fare?’

‘She is doing well. As you know, the loss of the bairn in the new year hit her hard.’ Cleofirth’s face crumpled slightly. ‘Hit us both actually.’

Alwynn’s heart squeezed. She should have gone to offer comfort to Urien, but she had not known what words to say, and besides, they were no longer her tenants. ‘I hope she will visit my hall one of these days.’

‘When she feels up to it. It is a struggle to get her to go to church, to be honest with you.’

‘Then you should have allowed my new steward to investigate and determine whose sheep they are to get this matter over and done with. I would hardly want to have a dispute between my steward and someone as important as you, Cleofirth the Plough.’

Cleofirth gave a self-satisfied smile. ‘I want no more than justice.’

Valdar met her gaze. It was obvious that he wanted her to go to the farm. She gave a mental sigh. She had hoped to hide in the hall and forget that the kiss had happened, but she would have to get this problem sorted. She would have to go out and spend some time alone with Valdar.

* * *

When they arrived at the farm, Cleofirth took them directly to the barn. Alwynn was surprised that Urien did not come out to greet her, but Cleofirth had informed her that Urien was having one of her bad days and wanted to be alone.

---