‘Kill you, father,’ Finan said.

A flicker of a smile touched the priest’s face. ‘My lord Uhtred is known as the priest-killer, not Lord Æthelhelm.’

‘What will they do to you?’ I asked.

He shrugged. ‘Either ignore me or, more likely, send me to Lord Æthelhelm. He is angry with me.’

‘You! Why?’

‘Because I served him once,’ Father Oda said calmly. ‘I was one of his confessors. But I left his service.’

I stared at him in surprise. When I had first met Father Oda he had been in the company of Osferth, an ally of Æthelstan’s, and now I discovered he had been in Æthelhelm’s service.

‘Why did you leave?’ Finan asked.

‘He demanded we all give an oath to Prince Ælfweard, and in conscience I could not do so. Ælfweard is a cruel, unnatural boy.’

‘And King of Wessex now,’ Finan added.

‘Which is why Lord Uhtred is here,’ Oda went on, still calm. ‘Soon the priest-killer will be a killer of kings too.’ He looked away from me to Oswi. ‘You will come with us, but no mail coat, no weapons. I am a priest, the lady Benedetta will say she is my wife, and you are our servant, and we go to buy food and ale for the brethren of Saint Erkenwald.’ I knew there was a monastery dedicated to Saint Erkenwald in the east of the city. ‘You, boy,’ Father Oda pointed at Aldwyn, ‘will follow us as far as the city gate and come back here if you see we are in trouble with the guards. And you, lord,’ he smiled at me, ‘will give us money.’

I always carried a pouch of coins, a heavy pouch, though I suspected it would lighten fast unless I could devise a way of escaping the city. I gave Father Oda a handful of silver shillings. I was hesitant to allow Benedetta to go with him, but as Oda pointed out the presence of a woman and a priest would allay suspicions. ‘They are looking for warriors, lord,’ Oda said, ‘not for married couples.’

‘It’s still dangerous for a woman,’ I insisted.

‘And only men may face danger?’ Benedetta challenged me.

‘She will come to no harm,’ Oda said firmly. ‘If any man offends her I will threaten him with the eternal furnaces of hell and the endless torments of Satan.’

I had been raised with those threats hanging over me and, despite my belief in the older gods, I still felt a shiver of fear. I touched the hammer. ‘Go, then,’ I said, and so they did and returned safely three hours later with three sacks of food and two small barrels of ale.

‘No one followed them, lord,’ Aldwyn told us.

‘There was no trouble,’ Oda reported with his usual calm. ‘I talked to the commander of the gate and he tells me there are now four hundred men in the city and more are coming.’

‘By sea?’ I asked, fearing for Spearhafoc.

‘He did not say. Lord Æthelhelm is not here, nor is King Ælfweard. Those two remain in Wintanceaster as far as he knows. The new garrison is commanded by Lord Varin.’