THE PROLOGUE
THE PROLOGUE
Britain, Wessex, 1066
Teimar Castle.
Logs crackled softly in the fireplace, throwing sparks on the stone floor and illuminating Earl Tamar's sullen face. He was sitting in an armchair, staring blankly into the burning void. It seemed that mentally the owner of Teimar Castle was hundreds of kilometers away from the gray walls that were dear to his heart. It's no wonder. The last few months have been difficult for his family. Brand, his only heir, died defending the king from the treacherous dagger of the conspirators. Supporters of William of Normandy have infiltrated Huskarl with greedy tentacles*. Seizing the right moment, the traitors to the oath attacked Harold II, and if it hadn't been for the Earl's son, they would have lost the king before the Norman bastard's army invaded. Her daughter's hated fiance also jumped in with demands to marry them immediately. According to him, the battle with the Normans will be fierce and he would not like to be left without procreation.
- Ask*, you promised me your daughter, but you've been delaying our wedding for a year now! Wilfric almost roared, pushing against Earl, who was sitting in an armchair. – She has come of age long ago and is able to give birth to my son! I need an heir!
- And I need the truth! – without losing his composure, the owner of the castle said firmly, clenching the armrests until his knuckles turned blue.
- What, Aesk?! The groom shouted, his eyes bulging with anger. – What kind of truth do you need?! The one that your son whispered in his delirium? So I wasn't there! There wasn't! If I had been there, Brand would still be alive!
«That's a lie! – He couldn't stand it, he jumped up. – My son saw your silhouette in the dark!
«I wasn't there!»
«You betrayed us, Wilfric,» the Earl said through gritted teeth* Teimar-Castle stepped forward and announced his final decision. «I will not give up my daughter, and now my only heir, for a traitor!» Eilit will never be your wife!
- What? – the ex-fiance asked incredulously. «She's been mine since she was born, and I don't want anything else, Aesk.
«Your Eileen won't be here.
For the first time, the father's words became a balm for his daughter's soul. She didn't like Wilfric. And no matter how cruel it might sound, she prayed to the Lord for a speedy deliverance from this monster in the guise of a man. Earl Lasley-Kastal was fifteen years older than Eilit. But that wasn't why she thought he was a monster. Wilfric was a mad killer who loved hunting.
Once, when she was still a child, Eileen was walking in the woods on the disputed territory between our possessions and witnessed the wild entertainment of her fiance. He and his retinue were chasing a doe and a fawn. After driving them out onto the lawn and surrounding them, he began shooting arrows. The poor animal, studded with dozens of arrows, was dying in terrible agony, and her child was running pitifully nearby.
Unable to withstand the inhuman punishment, the girl jumped out of her hiding place and began to beg for the life of at least the baby, but Wilfric only grinned viciously. Throwing his square chin up contentedly, he dismounted and, approaching the unfortunate animal, killed it in front of the stunned bride.
Wilfric didn't care that she was a scared seven-year-old girl. The main thing for Earl Lasley was to saturate his worthless black soul with blood. He reveled in the pain and fear of his victims. It was also rumored that beautiful young girls disappeared without a trace on Wilfric's lands. Unfortunately, these were not fairy tales for naughty children. It was a terrible reality. The sad fate reserved for Earl's daughter from birth, if she became the wife of a monster…
«They're my prey and they belong to me,» the neighbor said with a predatory look and, wiping the knife with the edges of his shirt, added. «You'll find out soon enough, Eilit.
That day, an innocent child found out that the man who had scared her so much in the forest was her fiance, and it could not be changed. The old Earl had to consent to the marriage, because Earl Godwin himself had asked for Wilfric. He did not even ask, but gave an ultimatum: either the disputed lands between their possessions become his daughter's dowry, or Earl Aesk Taymar will lose everything. Not even life. And the unfortunate father, gritting his teeth, had to accept all the terms of the marriage contract.
«You old fool! You'll regret breaking the terms of the contract! When we defeat the Norman Bastard, I will burn down Taymar Castle, and I will take your daughter by force! Wilfric screamed like a wounded beast, leaving the castle.
Standing on the fortress wall, with a feeling of spiritual glee, Eilit saw off the rapidly retreating silhouette of her former fiance. He was furiously whipping his horse to leave the castle as quickly as possible, in which his name, which was so despicable throughout Wessex, was humiliated.
Earl* is a title in Anglo-Saxon Britain, corresponding to a count.
Huskarl * - the personal guard of the king in Anglo-Saxon Britain.
Aesk* is an ash tree in Saxon.
Wilfrik* - the power of the wolf in Saxon.
Eilit* is a seasoned warrior.
Earl Godwin* is the de facto ruler of Saxon Britain after the exile of Edward the Confessor, and the father of King Harold II.
