Prologue
The Burh of Wōdenléah ⚔︎ Kingdom of Wessex ⚔︎ 879 AD
It wasn’t until Cenric had nearly caught the horse that he finally saw it.
Blood.
It soaked into the saddle and streaked down the horse’s flank, all the way to its knee. The saddle had slid askew, and the stirrup leather was torn and dangled low on one side, striking the animal in the flank with each nervous movement.
Leofwynn!
That morning, he had saddled the chestnut gelding for Leofwynn, beloved wife of Osric, the newly appointed thegn.
He caught the reins with trembling hands and shouted.
“Alaric! Godwin! Everyone—leave your work—quickly! It’s Leofwynn’s horse!”
Billhooks and spades were instantly abandoned as soon as Cenric raised the alarm. Many of them knew well the paths the thegn’s wife favored for her morning rides, so those who had been working at the far end of the field near the creek had arrived quickly.
By the time Cenric reached the creekside, a crowd was already gathering. Leofwynn’s lifeless body lay beneath a tangle of snapped branches and disturbed earth, her riding cloak tangled in the brambles where the brittle undergrowth had claimed her.
She was already gone.
Ceorls and servants, friends and neighbors alike, stood in stunned silence, their hearts breaking as one was sent running to the hall, all of them dreading the moment her husband, Osric, the thegn of Wōdenléah, would arrive.
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