“It should start at the waterfront just beyond Leaf’s brewhouse.”

“Then your brothers’ farm would be outside.”

Edgar cared about his brothers more than they cared about him, but they were not in serious danger. “The Vikings don’t raid isolated farms—there’s not enough to steal.”

“True.”

“The wall would run uphill at the back of the houses: Bebbe’s place, then Cerdic and Ebba, then Hadwine and Elfburg, then Regenbald Roper, Bucca Fish, and me. Past my place it would turn right and go all the way to the river, to enclose the site of the new church, just in case we ever get to build it.”

“Oh, we’ll build it,” said Aldred.

“I hope so.”

“Have faith,” said Aldred.

Ragna watched as Hildi the midwife examined Wilf carefully. She made him sit upright on a stool, then brought a candle close to look at his head wound.

“Take that away,” he said. “It hurts my eyes.”

She moved it behind him so that it did not shine in his face. She touched the wound with her fingertips and nodded with satisfaction. “Are you eating well?” she said. “What did you have for breakfast?”

“Porridge with salt,” he replied glumly. “And a flagon of weak ale. A poor meal for a nobleman.”

Hildi met Ragna’s eye. “He had smoked ham and wine,” said Ragna quietly.

“Don’t contradict me,” Wilf said irritably. “I know what I had for breakfast.”

Hildi said: “How are you feeling?”

“I get headaches,” he replied. “Otherwise I’m fine—never better.”

“Good,” she said. “I think you’re ready to resume normal life. Well done.” She stood up. “Step outside with me for a moment, Ragna,” she said.

The bell was ringing for the midday meal as Ragna followed her out. “He has recovered physically,” Hildi said. “The wound has healed and he no longer needs to stay in bed. Let him have dinner in the great hall today. He can ride again as soon as he wants to.”

Ragna nodded.

“Sex, too,” Hildi said.

Ragna said nothing. She had lost all desire for sex with Wilf, but if he wanted it she would of course permit it. She had had a lot of time to think about it, and she was reconciled to a future of intimacy with a man she no longer loved.

Hildi went on: “But you must have noticed that his mind is not what it was.”

Ragna nodded. Of course she had.

“He can’t bear bright light, he’s bad-tempered and downhearted, and his memory is poor. I have seen several men with head injuries since the renewal of Viking raids, and his condition is typical.”

Ragna knew all that.

Hildi looked apologetic, as if she might be to blame for what she was reporting. “It’s been five months, and there are no signs of improvement.”

Ragna sighed. “Will there ever be?”

“No one can tell. It’s in God’s hands.”

Ragna took that as a no. She gave Hildi two silver pennies. “Thank you for being gentle with him.”