That was a counsel of perfection. “I’d need to be backed up by force.”

“Aldred might go with us. A monk has moral authority.”

“I’m not sure the abbot would let him. Osmund is timid. He doesn’t want a quarrel.”

“Let me talk to Aldred. He likes me.”

“It’s worth a try. But moral authority may not be enough. I need men-at-arms. All I’ve got is Bern.”

“What about Sheriff Den? He has men. If he backed you he would be doing no more than enforcing the king’s laws—which is his duty.”

This was a possibility, Ragna thought. As she had belatedly discovered, Wilf and Wynstan had defied the king over the Cherbourg treaty and her marriage. The sheriff might well be smarting from that. “Den would probably relish an opportunity to restrain Bishop Wynstan.”

“I’m sure of it.”

Ragna felt she was beginning to see a way forward. “You talk to Aldred. I’ll go and see Den.”

“We should leave separately, so that it doesn’t look like a conspiracy.”

“Good point. I’ll go first.”

Ragna strode out of the house and across the compound. She spoke to no one: let them guess, fearfully, what her rage might bring about.

She went down the hill and turned toward the edge of town where Den lived.

She was deeply disappointed that Wynstan had been able to turn Wignoth against her. She had worked hard to win the loyalty of the servants in the compound, and she had imagined that she had succeeded. Gilda had been the first to adhere to Ragna, and the kitchen maids had followed her lead. The men-at-arms liked Garulf—they grinned and said he was a hell of a boy—and there was nothing she could do about that. But she had gone out of her way to befriend the stable hands, and now it seemed she had failed. People liked her better than Wynstan, she reflected, but they feared him more.

Now she needed all the support she could get. Would Den come to her aid? She thought there was a chance. He had no reason to fear Wynstan. And Aldred? He would help if he could. But if they failed her, she would be alone.

The sheriff’s domestic establishment looked as formidable as the ealdorman’s, an impression that was surely intentional. He had a stockaded compound with barracks, stables, a great hall, and several smaller buildings.

Den had refused to join Wilf’s army, saying that his responsibility was to maintain the king’s peace within the district of Shiring, and he was needed all the more while the ealdorman was away—a view that was proved right by Wynstan’s behavior.

Ragna found Den in the great hall. He was pleased to see her, as men generally were. His wife and daughter were with him, and so was the grandson of whom he was so proud. Ragna spent a few minutes cooing over the baby, who smiled and babbled back at her. Then she got down to business.

“Wynstan is trying to rob me of my rents from the Vale of Outhen,” she said.