With that information, Gaetan understood that he could have had a very quick submission of Westerham if he wanted to, confiscating the lands and riches for himself, but he thought better of it. Better to be allied with the Saxon lord than to steal from him at this point, especially if he wanted the man’s cooperation with other Saxon lords.
Therefore, in the interest of being a polite guest, he only had his knights and the provision wagons come into the bailey to be protected during the night while the rest of his army camped outside the walls. They were permitted to hunt in the forest or fish in the river for their food but they were not permitted to raid the village, which was quite unprotected. It would have been like lions hunting lambs.
God’s Bones, when did he become such a polite guest?
He wasn’t going to admit it. Under no circumstances would he admit it. But… perhaps, there was a chance that Ghislaine’s words had some impact on him. Had he truly become so soft and foolish that he was actually listening to a woman? Or was it the fact that he had no choice but to trust her advice in this strange new world?
Or, perhaps, he simply wanted to please her.
He was an idiot….
As night fell and black clouds gathered for a storm that soon unleashed its ferocity, Gaetan’s army settled in for the night courtesy of Lady Gunnora. Westerham was actually quite vast and comfortable as far as homes went; there were two longhouses, or what looked like longhouses, with one of them being made from waddle and daub with a heavily-thatched roof, and the other was made from stone until about midway up the wall when it abruptly turned into another kind of stone, very rough-hewn and jagged. This structure, too, had the heavily-thatched roof and it was into this building that Gaetan and his men were ushered.
It was a busy place, crowded with servants and tables that were oddly low to the ground. The benches looked like they were meant for children. It was also incredibly smoky and Gaetan and his men realized that it was because the cooking fire was at the far end of the hall, spitting thick smoke into the roof where it would struggle to escape through holes in the walls. There were several people cooking over this very large fire, a pit dug into the ground. A cauldron sat upon one side of it, steaming heavily, while an entire pig was roasting over the center of it, turned on a spit.
In all, it was a bustling place. Chaotic, even. Gunnora and a man the presumed to be her majordomo indicated for the knights to sit at a table near the door and they did. As the knights settled down, they were followed by their squires who removed weaponry and anything else that made it difficult to sit. From that moment forward, it was a meal unlike anything Ghislaine had ever seen before.
The men were weary; she knew that. They were all weary from battles and travel. Gunnora and her servants brought out drinking vessels which were, in some cases, hollowed-out horns from cattle. Those went to most of the men while Gaetan and Téo received glass bowls to drink from, evidently quite an honor. Gaetan thanked Lady Gunnora in her own tongue as she and her servants filled their cups to the rim with sweet beer, literally beer sweetened with honey. It was fermented for quite a long time and had quite a bite to it, but the knights drank it gratefully as food was brought to the table.
It was simple fare for the most part but it was plentiful – cabbage potage flavored with garlic, onions, white carrots, butter, and copious amounts of bread. The knights dug in to the food as Gunnora and her servants catered to them, delivering the first of the roast pig before anyone else was served. There was an entire leg on the table that the knights began cutting from with their daggers, pulling off big slabs of roasted pork. It was a feast fit for a king.
Only when they had sliced off their fill did Ghislaine even try to take any food. She was on the end of the table where Jathan was, both of them seated far down the table from the knights. For Jathan, that was where he usually ate and for Ghislaine, she didn’t want to put herself in the middle of feasting knights who only days before had been her enemy. Perhaps the still were. She assumed they would want to sup without her seated amongst them. In any case, she sat at the opposite end of the table with Gunnora and enjoyed her meal.
In fact, she was enjoying it immensely. It was more food than she’d had in several days but Camulos had followed her into the hall and she found herself sharing her meal with the dog because she couldn’t avoid his pathetic doggy stare. As she stuffed herself with the succulent pork, Gunnora seemed to be paying more attention to the Norman knights.
“My dear, they are quite attractive, aren’t they?” Gunnora hissed at her giddily. “Are they all married?”
Ghislaine glanced down the table at the group. “I would not know,” she said. “I do not know that much about them.”
“Then why are you with them? Are you a liaison on behalf of Edwin?”
Ghislaine shook her head. “Nay,” she said, not wanting to tell Gunnora about their missing man because the woman, as kind as she was, had a big mouth. Ghislaine didn’t think that was the type of thing Gaetan would want spread around. “I… I am their guide. They do not know Mercia as I do, so I am helping them find their way.”
“But where are they going?”
“North.”
Gunnora’s curiosity wasn’t satisfied but she could sense that Ghislaine didn’t wish to speak of why she was accompanying the Normans. She leaned into the woman and whispered.
“Are you their prisoner?” she asked. “Are they forcing you to do this?”
They were, in fact, but Ghislaine didn’t tell her so. Gunnora wouldn’t understand why, exactly, she was being forced, so it wouldn’t do to upset the woman. Therefore, Ghislaine simply shook her head.
“Of course not,” she said. “Have you been well, Gunnora? I have not seen you in a very long time.”
She was deliberately trying to change the subject but Gunnora, who didn’t have much female company, was glad to tell her of her life since the two last saw one another.
“I have been well,” she said. “Papa has a man he wishes for me to marry but nothing can come of it until he returns from the north. I believe he said that he was going to fight with Edwin. They were to hold off the Danes.”
Ghislaine nodded. “That is true,” she said. “But that was some time ago. Your father should be returning very soon.”
Gunnora shrugged, turning to her food. “I wish it would be soon. Why did you not go north with Edwin, Ghislaine? You always fight with your brother.”