The Pale Horseman
Excerpt from the book:
'On your knees,' Wulfhere said to
me. 'You have to go on your knees,' he insisted tonelessly, 'and
crawl up to the altar. Kiss the altar cloth, then lie flat.'
'Then what?'
'Then God and the king forgave you,' he said, and waited. 'Just do
it,' he snarled.
So I did it. I went down on my knees and I shuffled through the
mud, and the silent lines of men watched me, and then Æthelwold,
close beside me, began to wail that he was a sinner. He threw his
arms in the air, fell flat on his face, howled he was penitent,
shrieked that he was a sinner, and at first men were embarassed and
then they were amused. 'I've known women!' Æthelwold shouted at the
rain, 'and they were bad women! Forgive me!'
Alfred was furious, but he could not stop a man making a fool of
himself before God. Perhaps he thought Æthelwold's remorse was
genuine? 'I've lost count of the women!' Æthelwold shouted, then
beat his fists in the mud. 'Oh God, I love tits! God, I love naked
women, God, forgive me for that!' The laughter spread, and every
man must have remembered that Alfred, before piety caught him in
clammy grip, had been notorious for the women he had pursued. 'You
must help me, God!' Æthelwold cried as we shuffled a few feet
farther. 'Send me an angel!'
'So you can hump her?' a voice called from the crowd and the
laughter became a roar.
Ælswith was hurried away, lest she hear something unseemly. The
priests whispered together, but Æthelwold's penitence, though
extravagant, seemed real enough. He was weeping. I knew he was
really laughing, but he howled as though his soul was in agony. 'No
more tits, God!' he called, 'no more tits!' He made a fool of
himself, but, as men already thought him a fool, he did not mind.
'Keep me from tits, God!' he shouted , and now Alfred left, knowing
that the solemnity of the day was ruined, and most of the priests
left with him, so that Æthelwold and I crawled to an abandoned
altar where Æthelwold turned in his mud-splattered robe and leaned
against the table. 'I hate him,' he went on, 'and now you owe me a
favour, Uthred.'
Interesting read, and this book ends with the Vikings' dominance in
England. A nice ending to the prequel, the Last Kingdom.
Strongly suggested for adult readers.
