‘Truly,’ I snarled.

‘He is Lord Uhtred,’ an older man said brusquely. He had walked his horse close behind Awyrgan’s stallion and now looked down at me with an evident dislike. He, like Awyrgan, wore fine mail, was well-horsed, and carried a drawn sword, which, I could see, had a well-worn edge. His close-cut beard was grey and his hard face crossed with two scars, and I assumed he was an old and experienced soldier entrusted to give advice to the younger man. ‘I fought alongside you in East Anglia, lord,’ he said to me. He spoke curtly.

‘And you are?’

‘Swithun Swithunson,’ he said, still in a distinctly unfriendly tone, ‘and you, lord, are a long way from home.’ He had said ‘lord’ with a marked reluctance.

‘I was invited here,’ I said.

‘By?’ Awyrgan asked.

‘The Lady Eadgifu.’

‘The queen invited you?’ Awyrgan sounded astonished.

‘I just said so.’

There was an awkward silence, then Awyrgan pushed his sword into its long scabbard. ‘You are indeed welcome, lord,’ he said. He might be arrogant, but he was no fool. His horse tossed its head and skittered sideways and he calmed it with a gloved hand on its neck. ‘Any news of the king?’

‘None.’

‘And of the lady?’

‘So far as I know,’ I said, ‘she’s still in the convent and kept there by Æthelhelm’s men who now number well over a hundred. What are you hoping to do?’

‘Rescue her, of course.’

‘With thirty-six men?’

Awyrgan smiled. ‘Ealdorman Sigulf has another hundred and fifty horsemen to the east.’

So Eadgifu’s brother had answered his sister’s call. I had sailed south with the thought of allying myself with the men of Cent to free Wessex of Ælfweard’s kingship, but now that I was face to face with two of Cent’s leaders my doubts increased. Awyrgan was an arrogant youth and Swithun plainly hated me. Finan had come to join me, standing just a pace behind and to my right. I heard him growl, a signal that he wanted me to abandon this madness, to go back to Spearhafoc and so home.

‘What happened to Dreogan?’ I asked.

‘Dreogan?’ Awyrgan responded, puzzled.

‘One of Lord Æthelhelm’s men,’ I explained, ‘he led men to Contwaraburg to persuade Ealdorman Sigulf to stay in his bed.’

Awyrgan smiled. ‘Those men! We have their mail, we have their weapons, and we have their horses. I assume Lord Sigulf will have their lives too if they make trouble.’

‘And Ealdorman Sigulf,’ I went on, ‘sent you to do what?’

Awyrgan gestured to the west. ‘Stop the bastards escaping, lord. We’re to block the road to Lundene.’ He made it sound easy. Perhaps it was.

‘Do that then,’ I said.

Awyrgan was taken aback by my tone, which had been harsh, but he nodded to me and beckoned to his horsemen. ‘Will you come with us?’ he asked.

‘You don’t need me,’ I said.

‘True, we don’t,’ Swithun growled, then spurred his horse away. The Centish horsemen were keeping to the lower ground, trying to stay hidden from the town, though I suspected they must have been seen already because there was little cover in this low, damp land.