Page 5 of Unconquered

As Eada stood in the great hall of her home, the first thing she was aware of was how thoroughly her mother had emptied the house of all that was of value.

She was certain the Normans would not have hidden away such treasures as the pewter goblets or the silver platter, but they were not anywhere to be seen.

Eada prayed that her mother had been successful in getting their valuables to a safe place.

There would be a real need for such things when England's fate was finally decided.

She just wished she had some way of discovering where that haven was.

"Ivo, go and collect our share of the bounty we found," Drogo ordered his servant.

Eada looked at the big, dark man Drogo spoke to and frowned when she saw the thin, dark-haired girl who huddled close by his side.

She moved quickly and caught the girl by the arm when she tried to leave with Ivo.

Ivo turned and stared at her, his look so fierce that Eada almost stepped back.

"Ivo," Drogo said, placing a gentle but restraining hand on his servant's shoulder.

"This woman is Saxon.

She will not hurt the girl.

I swear this.

I think it is also wise if the girl does not venture outside."

Ivo nodded, and after one last look Eada's way, he left.

Eada breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the faintly trembling girl.

"What is your name?"

"May."

"I am Eada.

Whom did you belong to, May? I see that you are a bond-slave."

"I was held by Eldrid, son of Hacon."

"You poor girl," she murmured in honest sympathy, for those men were well known as brutes.

"I can see that the swine beat you often." When the girl relaxed, her trembling fading away, Eada eased her hold on her.

"I was beaten because I wept when Eldrid raped me, and then his wife beat me because he kept lying down with me."

"May he rot in hell.

And he left you behind when he fled?"

"No.

He and his family tried to gather up all they owned when they saw the Normans, but they were too greedy and did not leave in time.

When the Normans began to take their things, Eldrid's wife stuck a knife in one of them, and then the Normans killed them all."

"But not you? Where were you?"

"I was hiding in the wagon, but they soon found me.

One man struck me, and then Ivo came.

There were four men there; but Ivo beat them, and then he claimed me."

"He was kind to save you, but do you wish to stay with Ivo?" Eada was not sure if she could do anything to help the girl, but she would try if May was desperately afraid or unhappy.

"I think Ivo is slow-witted, but he is a good man.

I think he is also a freeman, and that too is good.

He wants to keep me and he is gentle with me.

It might be foolish to push him away or try to leave." May shrugged, a faint wince marring her thin face as the gesture pained her back.

"In truth, I like him."

Eada smiled faintly and kissed May on the cheek, her smile widening when the girl stared at her in openmouthed shock.

"Then you must stay with him, May.

I fear we are all no more than loot or bounty at the moment, free for the taking.

If we are fortunate enough to be claimed by a good, gentle man—and I think we have been—then it would be best to try and make him want to hold fast to us." Eada wondered briefly if she would have the wisdom to heed the good advice she was giving May.

"You, women," called Drogo as he moved toward the table.

"Come and help me shed this armor." He sighed with frustration when both women stared blankly at him and then tried to signal his wishes to them.

"I fear I cannot understand their speech, mistress," May whispered, a meek, apologetic tone to her timid voice.

"The fool wishes us to help him take off his armor," Eada explained.

"You can speak their tongue?"

"Yes, but I do not feel like telling them so.

Not just yet." Laughter shook her voice as she watched Drogo struggle to let them know what he wanted by acting it out.

"I believe I have let the poor fool stumble about for long enough.

Come, May, let us help him ere he injures himself."

Drogo muttered his relief and gratitude as each piece of his armor was removed.

When Eada felt the weight of his mail, she was not surprised that he had been so eager to get it off.

She carefully set it down on one of the chests which lined the west wall of the great hall.

The armor he wore interested her less and less, however, as the man beneath became clear to see.

He was still big, even after she and May had helped him remove the thick, padded tunic he wore beneath his mail.

Even when he was finally seated on the bench at the head table wearing only his linen tunic, he still possessed the broadest shoulders Eada had ever seen.

He was lean, but his dark skin was stretched tautly over hard muscle.

Inwardly deciding that his body was the finest she had ever seen, Eada looked at his face and silently sighed.

For a man, he had almost-beautiful eyes; and she now understood why, every time he had looked her way, those eyes had caught and firmly held her attention.

They were nicely spaced and set beneath finely drawn, slightly arced brows and encircled with thick lashes.

Of a brown so dark they were almost black, his eyes exerted an almost frightening pull on her.

She had to tear her gaze away to look closely at the rest of his face.

A strong, straight nose cut its way down through high, wide cheekbones to a firm yet slightly full mouth.

"If Edith saw this face upon the man she knew I was destined for, it is no wonder that she was certain I would accept him," Eada mused.

Her only complaint about him was his hair.

It was a rich, glossy black, thick and wavy.

It was also cut in a way that made her wince.

Eada decided it looked as if someone had stuck a bowl over his head, cut around the rim, then taken the bowl away and brutally shaved off the whole back of his head.

She much preferred the long, proudly displayed hair of Saxon men and wondered how long it would take Drogo's hair to grow back.

"He looks like a badly shorn lamb," Eada muttered, and May giggled.

Drogo looked at the two grinning women and knew he had been insulted again, but he decided to ignore it.

After a rough, dirty passage across the water and a long day spent in full armor, he had a need far more pressing than scolding Eada for her continued impertinence.

He repeated the word bath as he struggled to mime the act of washing.

"If I did not hear him call for a bath, I would think he suffered the curse of fleas," Eada said, and she grinned when May laughed.

"Ah, and that gives me an idea."

Eada smiled sweetly at Drogo and nodded, then hurried into the kitchen at the far end of the hall.

Her mother had not taken any of her herbs and potions, and Eada quickly found the medicine she sought.

She put some of the dark, strong-smelling paste in a small wooden bowl and, walking to where Drogo sat expectantly, solemnly placed it on the table in front of him.

Drogo scowled at the dark muck in the bowl, cautiously sniffed it, coughed, and then cursed softly.

"Merde! I know what this foul brew is for.

It is a cure for vermin.

I have never been afflicted by them.

I want a bath, woman, or, by God's merciful eyes, I might soon suffer that curse."

His obvious inclination toward cleanliness pleased Eada, but she played dumb for a little longer.

Finally, acting as if she suddenly understood his gestures, she motioned for him to follow her.

She led him to a lean-to off the kitchen, even more pleased when he showed great delight in the bathing room her family had been so proud of despite the gentle ridicule of their friends.

As he looked around the room, Drogo murmured his surprised pleasure.

The lean-to enclosed a well, and a long wooden tub stood to one side.

There was a drain in the masonary floor to aid in the emptying of the tub.

So, too, was there a brazier to warm the room.

Since it was next to the kitchen, filling the tub with heated water would not be difficult.

He touched the tub and nodded, a broad smile on his face.

By the time Eada brought in the first pot of hot water, Drogo's impatience was evident.

He had already put some water from the well into the tub and was clearly in a hurry to scrub away days of sweat and dirt.

Eada gasped when, as she poured the hot water into the tub, he flung off the last of his clothes.

Eada had seen men naked before, but she quickly decided that she had never seen quite so much naked man.

Drogo was dark all over, lean and finely honed.

A neat triangle of tight black curls adorned his broad chest, tapering into a thin line that went down his rippled stomach to his groin, where it thickened again.

A light coating of hair covered his long, well-formed legs.

When she realized that staring at him was clouding her mind with wanton thoughts, she glared at him.

She hurriedly emptied the last of the water into the tub, refilled her cauldron at the well, and stomped out of the room.

It was not easy, but Drogo swallowed the laughter trembling in his throat.

The way Eada had looked him over had pleased him, for the appreciation he had read on her face meant that his attentions might be welcomed.

It had also aroused him, and it had taken every drop of his willpower to subdue any blatant response by his body.

The way she had suddenly glared at him, however, as if her interest in him were all his fault, was highly amusing.

When Eada walked past May, who was taking the man even more hot water, she briefly thought about warning the girl, then shrugged away the thought.

May would not be shocked by the sight of a naked man.

Her confidence wavered badly when, a few minutes later, May dashed back into the kitchen looking very flustered.

Eada realized that she loathed the idea that Drogo might have acted lustfully toward the girl; and the fact that May was a young, timid, much-abused girl had little to do with it.

"Did Drogo touch you?" Eada demanded as May hung her refilled pot over the kitchen fire to heat the water.

"No, mistress.

I fear I was shocked, for I have never seen such a man.

My master and his friends never looked like that.

I swear, all the man did was touch this pot and say what I assume was more hot water.

I think he wants to be sure that we understand him."

When Eada carried yet another pot of water into Drogo, she was severely tempted to pour it over his head as he lolled in her tub.

He held out the soap and signaled that she should scrub his back.

She struggled against the urge to hit him over the head with the pot then sighed.

Courtesy demanded that she assist him.

He was not insulting her with his request.

Eada was very unsettled, however, to be caught washing his broad, smooth back by his fully armed comrades who suddenly appeared in the doorway.

She prayed that they had not seen the appreciation she felt as she touched Drogo reflected in her face.

"Here is comfort," Tancred drawled as he stepped into the room and looked around.

"Come and make use of it," Drogo called, waving his friends inside.

How generous of him, Eada thought crossly.

He does not have to heat all the water.

"I had best be the last to bathe, my friend," Serle said, and he smiled crookedly as he and the others began to remove their armor.

"I believe my companion on the boat has gifted me with a few of his livestock."

The way Serle scratched told Eada what he suffered from.

She knew she could act as if she understood his gestures and not reveal her understanding of what he had said.

As she hurried to fetch her mother's medicine, she decided she was willing to risk discovery if it kept such vermin away.

"Now, here you are, Serle," Drogo said with a hint of a laugh when Eada returned with the bowl she had presented to him earlier.

"The girl intends to physic you for that curse."

"It is a foul-smelling potion," Serle grumbled as Eada rubbed it into his hair.

Eada tugged off Serle's tunic and rubbed the thick medicine into the hair on his chest and beneath his arms.

There was one other place where fleas were sure to nest, but Eada decided that courtesy only went so far.

She ignored the men's laughter as she lightly tugged on Serle's braies and then set the bowl in his hands.

Forcing herself not to blush, she refilled her cauldron and left the room.

For what felt like hours, Eada and May heated water, added it to the tub, and scrubbed backs.

When Ivo returned, he was quick to come to their aid; but then he, too, succumbed to the temptation of a hot bath in a tub that was big enough to hold a man of his great stature.

By the time all the men were clean and their clothes scrubbed, Eada was exhausted.

She slumped on the rough bench in the corner of the room and smiled faintly at May, who was washing out the tub.

"Now it is your turn, mistress," May said.

"You must be heartily sick of fetching water." Eada desperately wanted a bath, but was reluctant to ask May to do any more work.

"Not so sick of it that I cannot do it for you.

And if I might use the water when you are done, I should like to bathe as well." When Eada nodded, May picked up the bowl of ill-smelling lotion Eada had smeared on Serle and asked softly, "Does this work?"

"It does.

Let me fetch you some clean clothes, and then I will help you rub it into your hair."

After her bath, Eada felt in a more charitable mood.

She sat with May near the kitchen fire.

They took turns brushing each other's hair as it dried and watched Ivo prepare the evening meal.

It had taken a lot of cajoling to get May to wear one of Averil's gowns, but Eada could easily see how pleased the girl was.

She just hoped she would be allowed to sit quietly with May and not have to deal with Drogo for a while.

There had been no time to think since she had been captured, and she sorely needed to do some hard, clear thinking.

Drogo frowned and glanced around as Ivo set the roasted lamb on the table.

"Has that woman finished her bath yet?"

"Yes," Ivo replied.

"She is done.

She and May are drying their hair."

"Well, tell her that she is to come here and eat with us."

"Er, Drogo?" Tancred said as Ivo strode away.

"Are you certain the girl is one who will know how to dine at a high table?"

"More certain with each moment," Drogo replied.

"In truth, I begin to think this is her home."

"What makes you think so?"

"She knows where everything is and she took clothes for herself as if it were her right.

I will not be surprised if those clothes fit her perfectly."

"She is too young to hold such a house," Serle said.

"There must be others in her family."

"I am certain there are," agreed Drogo.

"Somehow they fled without her." He looked toward the kitchen and murmured, "I also begin to think that you are right about her understanding French, the question now is—how can I be certain of it unless she tells me so? There is a puzzle."

When Ivo returned to the kitchen only to stand and stare at her, Eada realized he was trying to think of how to tell her something.

She was just deciding that she would not play the game of not understanding French for too long, at least not with him, when he picked her up, tucking her under one big arm like a sack.

He strode out to the hall, set her down on the bench next to Drogo, and pushed a wooden plate in front of her.

"Eat," Ivo ordered as he filled a wooden goblet with wine.

"Ivo," Drogo said, his deep voice choked with laughter.

"I told you to tell her to come, not to fetch her here."

"I do not speak Saxon." Ivo shrugged and returned to the kitchen.

Eada briefly wished she had four goblets of wine within reach so that she could pour one over the head of each guffawing male.

Instead, she decided to ignore them and helped herself to some of the lamb, bread, and carrots.

Her snubbing of the men lasted only until a fifth man suddenly appeared in the doorway that led to the sleeping quarters.

Eada wondered crossly just how many Normans had invaded her home.

"Garnier," Drogo called out in welcome.

"Have you recovered then? I can see that you have bathed."

As he smoothed his hand over the clean grey tunic he wore, Garnier approached the table and smiled sheepishly.

"Ivo and some female scrubbed me while I lay abed as weak as a babe." He nodded toward Eada, a question lighting his dark hazel eyes.

"It was not that one, for I would remember."

"It was Ivo's woman, May," replied Drogo, and then he patted Eada on the head.

"I found this pretty little piece myself."

Beneath his hand, Drogo felt Eada tense, and he wondered if he had found the way to force her to reveal her knowledge of French.

She had already revealed that she had a temper and an ample amount of pride.

If he goaded her hard enough, she would break.

As he invited Garnier to join them, Drogo decided he would keep prodding her temper and pride until she lost control.

It would be enjoyable to return a few of the insults he knew she had hurled at his head, and if she truly did not understand French, no harm would be done.

"She is most fair," Garnier agreed as he sat down across the table from Drogo.

"I had not realized that Saxons could breed such beauty."

"Hair like warm, sweet honey," Drogo said, stroking her hair.

When she hissed and slapped his hand away, he added, "And a temper like soured wine."

"What is her name?"

"Now that you ask, Garnier, I realize that I have not yet discovered it." He looked at Eada, saw the anger glittering in her eyes, and felt certain that his plan was working.

"What is your name?" Pointing to each man, starting with himself, he said, "Drogo, Garnier, Unwin, Tancred, Serle-and you are?"

"Eada," she replied, struggling and failing to keep all her anger out of her voice.

"Eada, hmmm?" He frowned and shook his head as he pushed his empty plate aside and sipped his wine.

"One of those strange Saxon names.

Saxons do not know how to properly name their women." He sighed and saw by the sudden widening of Serle's eyes that the older man had guessed his game.

"I suppose one can expect no better from such a harsh tongue."

Eada was concentrating on her food, and Drogo winked at his friends.

Their swiftly hidden smiles told him that they understood as well.

There was only one thing Drogo regretted about what he was doing.

If Eada did understand him, his little game would undoubtedly make his wait for her a very long one unless he was extremely clever in his explanations and suitably contrite in his apologies.

"You do not think William shall make us learn the language, do you?" asked Tancred, his expression one of well-feigned horror.

"God's teeth, I pray not," Drogo replied.

"It sounds too much like grunting or a heavy clearing of the throat.

Most unpleasant to the ear."

As they continued to malign the Saxon tongue, Eada fought valiantly to control her temper.

She thought nastily that her speech was better than theirs, for they all sounded as if they spoke through their noses.

It would also prove difficult for them to rule England if they scorned the language of its people; and that, she decided, would be justice.

As the wine continued to flow, the talk turned to her; and Eada wished she had not lingered in the hall but had fled to her room the moment she had finished her meal.

So personal were their remarks, Eada was not sure she could control the fury building inside her.

"We shall be well served if England holds more such beauties," Tancred said.

"Just pray that their tongues and temper are sweeter than this one's," Drogo replied.

"I am not concerned with what they say."

Drogo laughed.

"Nor I, when the candle is snuffed.

Although with a piece as fine as this, I would miss much if I but rutted in the dark."

"I thought prisoners were supposed to be made to tell you the secrets of the enemy," Unwin said, a wide grin brightening his beardless face.

"Well, boy, mayhap if I pump hard enough at one end, words will pop out the other." Drogo laughed heartily with his friends, his amusement growing when he heard Eada grinding her teeth.

"Ah, but usually all that the women cry is More, Drogo, more."

"How he boasts!" Tancred hooted with laughter.

"This one will no doubt scream less, less."

"I think not, my friend." Drogo patted Eada's leg.

"Once I spread these pretty thighs and fill her, she will grow sweeter."

Eada's control snapped and she flung herself at Drogo, yelling in French, "Norman swine, I will break your fat head!"

"Look out, Drogo!" Tancred cried, but his warning came too late.

When Eada slammed into him, Drogo tumbled back off the bench onto the hard floor.

He knew what she would do next, but was a breath too late to stop her.

As her small hands painfully gripped his hair and she began to bang his head against the floor, he cursed and grabbed her wrists.

Careful not to press so hard he would break her delicate bones, he started to exert enough strength to break her hold on him.

When the force of his hold caused her to loosen her grip, Eada was angered more.

A big, strong arm suddenly encircled her waist and she was yanked off Drogo.

She hurled curses at Drogo as a frowning Ivo carried her to her bedchamber, a wide eyed May hurrying ahead of them to show him the way.

Eada's curses only stopped when Ivo dropped her on her bed so abruptly the breath was pushed from her body.

By the time she caught her breath, Ivo was gone and only a wary May remained.

"I should have broken that Norman dog's head," Eada hissed.

"You spoke to him in his own tongue," May said.

"I know it," Eada snapped, and she indulged in a brief tantrum, pounding her fists and heels on the bed.

"That bastard tricked me." She sighed as she gained control of her wild emotions and sat up.

"Those men spoke of me as if I were some baseless whore.

I see now that it was all a game.

Drogo meant to enrage me and make me reveal that I could understand him.

I fell into that snare like a blind hare."

"So now you must speak to him."

"I think I shall not speak to that oaf for at least a week."

"M'lady, he intends to bed down here with you.

See, there sits his chest."

"How did he know where to put it?"

"I believe he but chose the best chamber for himself." May frowned as she looked around the room.

"Did your parents not use this chamber?"

"Mother did not like to sleep in this big bed when Father was away, so we would change rooms until he returned.

Well, I think I will ready myself for bed," she said, as she stood up and May hurried to help her.

"Mayhap I should just sleep in one of the other rooms."

"All the beds have been claimed, m'lady.

That youth Unwin was offered the last one just before the meal was served."

"So, my home is full to bursting with cursed Normans, and if the weather turns poor, there will undoubtedly be more to come." Eada shook her head.

"These men are careful, but others might not be; and Mother worked so hard to make her home a fine one.

Ah, well, there are more important matters to worry about, such as staying alive.

It will not be this peaceful for long."

"M'lady?" May asked as Eada slid into her thin night rail and crawled into bed.

"Do you know what that man Drogo will want from you?"

"I am not that ignorant, May," Eada replied. "I know."

"If you wish, I could take your place in this bed.

With the candle snuffed, he would never know the difference.

My maidenhead was torn from me but days after my first flux, so it would matter little to me."

It was a clever idea and would probably have gained her at least one night's respite, but Eada found that she could not agree to it.

What troubled her was that her refusal was not fully born of a distaste for using May in such a way.

She simply loathed the thought of Drogo bedding down with the comely brunette.

Although she dreaded the idea of being no more than the man's leman, she did not want another woman to take her place.

"No, May.

I wish I could say I refuse your gallant offer all for your sake, but I fear do not." She looked at the small box she had earlier had May set on the table by her bed, then reached out to cautiously touch Old Edith's gift.

"I also refuse because, although I do not wish to be used by any man, I do not wish this man to use another.

The woman who gave me this told me that Drogo was the mate I have waited for, and even though I tried to fight that truth, I fear she was right." She smiled at May.

"I also think that your very large protector would not like it either."

"No, I do not think so either.

M'lady, what is in that chest? If it holds valuable things, mayhap I should hide it away."

"I do not know what rests inside.

Strange, but I feel most wary of looking.

Old Edith told me it held the truth, but I think I am too weary of her truths to face another at this time." Eada snuggled down beneath the covers.

"I believe I will go to sleep now.

Let that big fool find only a limp body at his side.

And who can say? Mayhap I have made his head throb so badly it will kill his lusts."