The church had an extension, and the monastery had a stone building for the school, library, and scriptorium. Halfway up the hill, opposite Edgar’s house, a site was slowly being cleared for the new, larger church that would be built there one day, if Aldred’s dreams came true.

Aldred’s optimism and ambition were infectious, and most of the village now looked to the future with eager hope; but Edgar was an exception. Everything that he and Aldred had achieved in the last six years tasted sour in his mouth. He could think of nothing but Ragna, languishing in some place of captivity all this time while he was powerless to help her.

He was about to restart his work when Aldred came down from the monastery. Rebuilding the bridge was quicker than the original construction, but not much, and Aldred was desperately impatient. “When will it be finished?” he asked Edgar.

Edgar surveyed the site. He had used his Viking ax to chop away the charred remains. He had let the useless ashes float downstream, and had stacked half-burned timbers by the riverside to be recycled as firewood. He had renewed the stout abutments on both banks, then had rapidly built a series of simple flat-bottomed boats to be fixed together and moored to the abutments to form the pontoons. He was now fashioning the framework that would rest on the boats and support the roadbed.

“How long?” said Aldred.

“I’m not dawdling,” Edgar said irritably.

“I didn’t say you were dawdling, I asked you how long. The priory needs the money!”

Edgar hardly cared about the priory and he resented Aldred’s tone. Lately he had found that several of his friends were becoming uncongenial. Everyone seemed to want something from him, and he found their demands annoying. “I’m on my own!” he said.

“I can give you more monks to use as laborers.”

“I don’t need laborers. Most of the work is skilled.”

“Perhaps we can get other builders to help you.”

“I’m probably the only craftsman in England willing to work in exchange for reading lessons.”

Aldred sighed. “I know we’re lucky to have you, and I’m sorry to badger you, but we really are eager to get this finished.”

“I hope the bridge might be ready to use by the autumn.”

“Could you make it sooner, if I could find the money for another skilled man to work with you?”

“Good luck finding one. Too many builders round here have gone to Normandy for higher wages. Our neighbors across the Channel have long been ahead of us in building castles and now, apparently, the young Duke Richard is turning his attention to churches.”

“I know.”

Edgar was impatient about something else. “I saw that a traveling monk spent last night at the monastery. Did he have news of King Ethelred?” After all his months of searching, Edgar now believed that the king represented the only hope of finding Ragna and freeing her.

“Yes,” said Aldred. “We learned that Swein Forkbeard sacked Wilton and left. Ethelred got there too late. The Vikings, meanwhile, had sailed for Exeter, so our king and his army headed there.”