‘Over five hundred.’

I swore, briefly and uselessly. ‘And how many did he leave here?’

‘Two hundred.’

Which was not nearly enough to defend Lundene. ‘And most of those,’ I said bitterly, ‘are probably the oldest and weakest men.’ I gazed up, seeing a star wink between two hurrying clouds. ‘And Waormund?’ I asked.

‘The devil only knows where that bastard is. I saw no sight or sound of him.’

‘Waormund?’ Benedetta asked with alarm in her voice.

‘He was in the house when we arrived,’ I explained.

‘He is a devil,’ she said angrily and made the sign of the cross. ‘He is vile!’

I could guess why she spoke so fiercely, but did not ask her. ‘He’s gone,’ I reassured her instead.

‘He’s disappeared,’ Finan corrected me grimly, ‘but the bastard must be lurking somewhere.’

And Waormund only had five men, which surely meant we were safe from him. And he had evidently taken the women ser-vants from the house, which suggested he had other plans for the night rather than attacking us. But why, I wondered, was Waormund even in the city? And why had Merewalh taken most of the garrison north? ‘Has the war started?’ I asked.

‘Probably,’ Finan said, then drained the wine. ‘God, that’s swill.’

‘Where is this place?’ Benedetta asked, then tried to pronounce it, ‘Werla …’

‘Werlameceaster?’

‘Where is that?’

‘A day’s march north of here,’ I said. ‘It’s an old Roman town.’

‘A Mercian town?’ Benedetta asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Maybe they attack it?’ she suggested.

‘Maybe,’ I said, but I thought it far more likely that Merewalh had taken men to garrison Werlameceaster, because the town, with its strong Roman walls, lay across one of the main roads from East Anglia, and the lords of that kingdom were now firmly allied with Wessex.

Finan must have thought the same. ‘So maybe he’s stopping an East Anglian army from reinforcing Æthelhelm?’ he suggested.

‘I’d guess as much. But I have to find out.’ I stood.

‘How?’ Benedetta asked.

‘By asking Bedwin,’ I said, ‘whoever he is. He’ll be at the palace, I suppose, so I’ll start there.’

‘Don’t forget Waormund is here,’ Finan warned me.

‘I won’t go alone. You’re coming. It’s a mess,’ I said angrily. But in truth it was a mess of my own making. Because I had sworn an oath. ‘Let’s go.’

‘I’m coming!’ Benedetta said, standing.

‘You’re coming!’ I turned to her startled.

My surprise had made me speak too harshly and she looked frightened for a heartbeat. ‘The queen wants me to go,’ she said uncertainly, and then, like a mare going from a stumbling walk into a smart trot, she went on more confidently, ‘she wishes me to fetch some robes she left in the palace. And some slippers.’ Finan and I still just stared at her. ‘Queen Eadgifu,’ Benedetta went on with dignity now, ‘keeps clothing in each royal house. She has need of some. When those pigs took her from Fæfresham they would not let us carry clothes.’ She paused, looking at us. ‘We need clothes!’