“Probably,” Æthelstan agreed mildly.

I shivered, and it was not the cold. I shivered because in those words I sensed the trap. I still did not know why I had been lured across Britain, but I suspected I knew who had baited the trap. “I’m an old fool,” I said.

“And the sun will rise tomorrow.”

“Lord Prince! Lord Prince!” an excited voice interrupted us. A small warrior was running along the ramparts to greet us; a warrior small as a child, but dressed in mail, carrying a spear, and wearing a helmet decorated with red and white ribbons.

“Sister Sunngifu,” Æthelstan said fondly as the small figure dropped to her knees in front of him. He touched a gloved hand to her helmet and she smiled up at him adoringly. “This is the Lord Uhtred of Bebbanburg,” he introduced me, “and Sister Sunngifu,” he was talking to me now, “raised a band of fifty women who stand guard on the ramparts to give my warriors a chance to rest and to deceive the enemy of our numbers. The deception worked well!”

Sunngifu moved her gaze to me, offering a dazzling smile. “I know the Lord Uhtred, lord Prince,” she said.

“Of course you do,” Æthelstan said, “I remember now, you told me.”

Sunngifu was smiling as if she had waited half her life to greet me. I saw she was wearing a nun’s gray habit beneath the mail coat and thick cloak. I reached down and gently lifted the ribbon-decked helmet just enough to see her forehead, and there was the small reddish birthmark, shaped like an apple, the only disfigurement on one of the most beautiful women I have ever known. She was looking up at me with amusement. “It’s good to see you again, lord,” she said humbly.

“Hello, Mus,” I said.

The little warrior was Mus, Sunngifu, Sister Gomer, bishop’s widow, whore, and troublemaker.

And damn the trap, I was suddenly happy to be in Ceaster.

CHAPTER TWO

“So, you remember Sister Sunngifu?” Æthelstan asked me. We had left the ramparts and were leaving the city through the eastern gate, going to inspect the sentries who guarded the enemy trapped in the arena. It was cold, snow made the ground treacherous, and Æthelstan must have been tempted to stay in the great hall’s warmth, but he was doing what he knew should be done; sharing his men’s discomfort.

“Sunngifu is difficult to forget,” I said. A dozen of Æthelstan’s guards now followed us. Within a quarter mile there were hundreds of defeated enemy, though I expected no trouble from them. They had been cowed, and now sheltered in their makeshift hovels waiting to see what the morning brought. “I’m surprised she became a nun,” I added.

“She’s not a nun,” Æthelstan said, “she’s a novice when she’s not pretending to be a soldier.”

“I always thought she’d marry again,” I went on.

“Not if she’s called to God’s service.”

I laughed at that. “Her beauty is wasted on your god.”