The Seventh Lost Tale of Mercia: Hildred the Maid (3 page)

“
I suppose you heard all
that,” he said at last. His voice was terribly faint, not much
stronger than a whisper, but it struck her like a slap. “Perhaps a
little indulgence would do us both some good. After all, you don’t
want to hang, do you?”

She didn’t know what to say. Why had Eadric
done this to her? Now she knew that he was even more vile and cruel
than people suspected him to be; he was completely evil. When he
let her share his saddle and eat his bread he must have been toying
with her, enjoying the extent of her humiliation and despair. She
felt as if she truly wanted to die now; and yet some cruel survival
instinct kept her from muttering a sound, kept her from saying,
“Yes, I’d rather hang.”

Aidan’s fingers fumbled with the door lock.
His voice fell even lower. “You must promise not to make a sound.
If you do, this doesn’t have to be so bad. After all, I’m sure
you’ve done things like this before, haven’t you? Why else did you
dress all pretty today? You like tempting men, don’t you? And you
deserve to be punished. But it’s true, I am merciful; merciful
enough to keep you from hanging, if you’ll do what I ask.”

The door creaked open and his shadow fell
over the hay. Just as quickly he closed the door behind him, though
now it was unlocked, and thicker shadows fell over his shape.
Hildred wondered if it was better that way. She could not see his
face as he moved closer, though she imagined his fierce green eyes,
now blazing with lust.

She knew she should scream. Doing so would
save herself from this foul violation, but she would condemn
herself to hang on the noose tomorrow. She thought of little
Coenred. She wondered if he had survived the day. She wondered if
there was any way yet she might save him, if she lived.

She flinched as his fingers found her knee.
He drew back again. She realized even he feared the repercussions
of his behavior.

“
Well?” he hissed. “Do you
want to do this or not?”

Something strange happened then. Behind the
monk’s looming form, another shadow filled the cracks of the stall
doorway. But she had never heard anyone approach.

“
Do ... do what?” She was
not sure how she found her voice, but there it was, wheezing out of
her throat.

“
You know full well, you
little witch.” She repressed a whimper as his hand found her
breast, bolder now, and squeezed. She felt a tremble go through his
grip.

She glanced at the doorway again, but Aidan
was too far-gone to notice. The shadow was still there, moving
slightly. Someone definitely stood outside. Spite filled her as she
imagined Eadric, listening in on her torment. Perhaps he had
encouraged the monk to do this so that he could enjoy the show. She
hated him with all her being.

“
I want you to say it,” she
managed at last. “I want you to swear to God that you’ll let me go
if I .. if I ...”

“
Give yourself to me?” His
other hand reached out, pulling at the fabric of the dress. “Yes,”
he said, more urgently now. “Yes, I swear I’ll let you go after
this, if you don’t make a sound ...”

The door behind him creaked open. His fingers
froze in place, his body going as tense as a yanked rope, as
torch-light spilled onto his figure. He turned slowly, his horror
only rising as he looked upon the intruder. For there behind him
stood none other than the reeve himself, Wuffa.

Next to the reeve stood Eadric, a somewhat
pained and disgusted look on his face.

“
What the devil is going on
here?” cried Wuffa.

Very belatedly, Aidan drew his hand from
Hildred’s chest. “I … I … I ...” He swallowed thickly.

“
I don’t know about you,
Wuffa,” said Eadric, “but I heard very clearly what was going on.”
His voice sounded strained. “The monk said it himself.”

Flinching with rage, Aidan straightened
somewhat and found his voice. He left Hildred’s dress gaping open,
and she burned with the shame. But the sight of her exposed chest
made Aidan look all the more guilty to Wuffa. “She stole from me,”
Aidan burst at last. “She’ll hang tomorrow, so I might as
well—”

“
Not anymore, she won’t,”
snapped Wuffa. Hope stirred within Hildred, but the sensation was
faint beneath her ongoing humiliation. “Eadric tells me he saw
nothing but the two of you wrestling, and suspected you had some
trick like this up your filthy sleeves. Get out of my sight before
I tattle to your abbot.”

Aidan’s lips blubbered helplessly a moment.
“But … you wouldn’t!”

“
I will, unless you hurry
along, pig!”

The monk let out a very fitting snort, then
stormed away per Wuffa’s advice. When passing Eadric, he paused,
but the young thegn did not look at him.

“
You—you!” cried Aidan, as
if he could not even think of an insult. Then he rushed
out.

Wuffa, long wearied of the entire affair,
turned to follow the monk’s footsteps. On his way, his shoulder
knocked forcefully against Eadric’s, as if on accident, but he did
not bother to apologize. Eadric did not acknowledge this. He stood
still with his head bowed, saying nothing and staring into the
floor until only he and Hildred remained.

At last, Eadric looked at her. “I’m sorry
about that,” he said weakly. “I wouldn’t have let it go much
further … but of course you didn’t know that. Good move on your
part, making him state his … intentions.” He grew quiet again, and
she realized he was staring at her breasts.

She flushed, drawing her knees up to cover
herself. The slight movement made her realize how violently she was
shaking.

“
Sorry again,” said Eadric.
“Perhaps you should turn around?”

Feeling faint, Hildred lifted herself to her
knees and turned as she suggested. The hay rustled as he moved
towards her, causing a fresh onslaught of tremors to wrack her
body. His touch was so gentle on her wrists that she thought she
imagined it at first, and when his grip tightened she did not
flinch; then with a sharp tug, he sliced a dirk through her
bindings.

She scurried away, using awkward fingers to
shut her dress and tie it back together. Now that she was freed, a
feeling of urgency overcame her. “My brother,” she gasped. “He’s
only a baby. He’s dying.”

“
Of starvation, I suppose?
And that’s why you stole the milk?”

She glared at him, tears of rage and sorrow
flooding her vision. “What would you know of it? You, whose tenants
and livestock are the fattest in the land! Did you achieve that
with lying and deceit as well?”

“
How could you say that?” He
actually looked hurt, his blue gaze crinkling. “I helped you,
didn’t I? I saved you from the noose!”

“
You really did arrange all
that on purpose?” She couldn’t help but be impressed.

He shrugged. “I know Aidan well. I knew what
he would do.”

Her anger returned to her. “In that case you
tempted a monk into sin,” she said, “like the devil himself.”

“
Oh really?” He crossed his
arms over his chest and cocked his clean-shaven chin. “And was it
the devil who made you steal?”

“
I … I ...” She wiped her
tears from her cheeks. “I suppose so.”

“
No it wasn’t,” snapped
Eadric. “It was you who stole, and you did it to save your brother,
which sounds to me like a noble cause. And if you’re still feeling
proactive, perhaps we should go and check on him.”

“
We?”

“
Unless you’d like to walk
home in the dark, while you’re still half-starving?” His tone was
sharp now, reprimanding her. Feeling duly humbled and grateful for
his help, Hildred bowed her head and followed him out.

This time, when they rode together, she sat
behind him. She tried at first not to grip him, but sometimes she
had little option but to wrap her arms around his stomach so she
didn’t fall off. He offered no reaction, nor said a word for a long
time. The sun fell behind them, and the fields took on gradient
hues of green and gold. In this light, they did not seem so
withered and rotten as they truly were.

It occurred to her to wonder why Eadric had
bothered to help her. After all, he had benefited from his
underhanded dealings with the monk; why turn on him now? Was it
because he had truly run out of ale and thus would get no more
business from Aidan anyway? Was it because he wanted something from
her? Or perhaps he had never made a plan to help her at all, and
simply played along with the events as they unfolded? She could not
figure it out, but she did not think Eadric was the sort to do
something without reason.

Eventually her small home peeked out from
behind a slope of shrubs, its thatched roof glowing with the warm
colors of the sunset. But the sight did not comfort her, for
sitting outside was her father, his head clasped in his hands.

Eadric reined his horse to a stop. Hildred
slid to the ground and rushed to her father’s sobbing form. She
held him, and together they wept until the moon appeared in the
pale sky, taunting them like a freshly-minted coin beyond their
reach.

*

By nightfall the tiny, stiff bundle that was
once Hildred’s baby brother lay buried underground alongside the
mother who died bearing him. Hildred and her father knelt at the
freshly churned earth a long while, crying until their eyes ran dry
and muttering nonsensical prayers.

When Hildred heard someone approaching, for a
moment she panicked. She had forgotten Eadric’s presence, or
assumed he left some time ago. But there he stood, and he had been
watching them from afar all the while.

“
How do your make your
living?” he asked Hildred’s father.

The man looked up with no expression at all,
his eyes vacant, as if his soul had long since fled his body. “I’m
a free man,” he said, “but for a long while I made my living
reaping Thegn Sigbert’s crops. He dismissed me a few months ago,
saying he could no longer afford me.”

“
So this is your
land?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then it will be mine now.”
The confidence in his voice shocked Hildred, but her father did not
react at all. “In exchange your daughter will come work for me on
my estate, and I’ll supply her enough food to feed you both. I will
also give you seeds to plant here.”

“
It’s too late to plant,”
her father said.

“
I speak of the future.”
Irritation grated on Eadric’s voice. “In a year I’ll expect you to
pay me my dues as your lord, and such charities to you will cease.
Do you agree to this or not?”

Her father hesitated.

“
Yes!” cried Hildred. Such
elation filled her that her soul seemed to peer down on her body
from afar. She could hardly believe this was happening. Only hours
ago she had looked upon Eadric as the most vile man on earth, but
now she wondered if he was an angel sent from heaven. Enough food
to feed her and her father for a year? Seeds for next year? A
chance for his father to get back on his feet? She had never heard
of such a proposal from any other lord before, but that didn’t
matter. The alternative was poverty and destitution.

Even so her father looked upon the land with
sadness; he did not want to lose it. But he must have realized,
too, that there was no better option left to him. At last, he bowed
his head in assent.

“
Yes.”

“
Very good.” Eadric exhaled,
and Hildred realized he had been holding his breath. Perhaps he was
newer to all this than he seemed. She must have been glowing with
excitement, for when his gaze fell upon her, it narrowed. “As for
you, er … what is your name?”

She lowered her gaze. “Hildred.”

“
Well, Hildred ...” He
tilted his head to a ridiculous angle until she could not help but
look at him. Then he gave her a playful smirk. “If you ever steal
from
me
, bear in
mind I will not be so forgiving as when you steal from someone
else.”

Despite everything that had happened, despite
the old and fresh graves in the ground next to her feet, Hildred
felt a grin winding up her face. “Yes, of course, my lord.”

“
Dear God!” said
Eadric.

Fear coursed through her veins, and a frown
returned to her face. “What? What’s wrong?”

“
Nothing. Please smile
again.”

Though now she was fidgeting with
nervousness, she forced herself to smile.

“
There.” She tensed as he
reached up with one hand, but his touch was gentle as he brushed
his knuckles across her cheek. “When you smile, you have dimples.
Did you even know that?”

“
I … I …” Hildred wanted to
laugh at this ridiculous observation. But sobs welled unexpectedly
into her ribcage.
I
forgot
, she might have said. Instead, she
turned aside, away from his touch, tears flooding her eyes. She
found it difficult to speak at all. “I’ll start work on your estate
tomorrow,” she managed, just barely.

“
Very well.” She could not
bear to look at him as he returned to his horse; she wondered if he
thought her silly and foolish for crying again so suddenly. But how
could she explain that she did not remember the last time she
smiled?

As Eadric rode away, her father held her, and
they stood together until her sobs faded once more to silence. She
drew a deep breath, and exhaled as the wind stirred the dark world.
She harbored the brief hope that from now on, she would find reason
to smile more often.

**