Free Amber Treasure, The by Richard Denning

her a while ago, but she had never worn it before, saving it, she
always said, for a special day. This, at last, was the day.
    The coming of a Prince, along
with such a large gathering of warriors, was worthy of such a dress, but what
really drew every man’s eyes to her was a fabulous set of jewellery. It was a
necklace, bangles and headdress of priceless amber, mounted in a setting of
exquisite silver. The set was given by King Aelle in recognition of my uncle’s
valour in battle against the Welsh of Eboracum. In gratitude for his victory,
the King gave it to the widow of the great hero. My aunt had died childless a
few years ago and the set then passed to my father, who gave it to my mother.
Of all the men at the feast, only Cuthwine, Father and I had seen it before.
    A hundred men and more sat, ate
and drank and as the cups were filled and refilled, they started to forget the
clouds of gloom that lay over the future and they laughed and sang. They
laughed and sang: but I did not. I was on one end of the high table and from
there, I could see Aidith pouring Hussa some more ale and laughing again at his
jokes.
    Every so often, I would see him
glance up at our table. He would look at me with a smug smile and lean closer
to Aidith. Or, he would stare with spite and loathing at my mother and father,
whose food and drink he now enjoyed. I once saw mother glare back at him, but
then look away. The gracious hostess could not deny him being there − the
champion of today’s games and so, nor could I. So, I sat alone, sulking and
sipping my ale.
    Lilla, of course, was present.
Once enough ale had been drunk, men called for the harpist to come and sing and
tell his tales and Lilla obliged. He told the tale of my uncle and his battles
against the Welsh, of Aelle and the conquest of Eboracum. Then, having seen the
firelight reflected in Mother’s amber jewellery, he told tales of the distant
Baltic Sea, from where the jewels came and wherein the sea serpents lived.
    He then told us that the tales
must go on and he was now waiting to sing songs about us; of our battles and
our glories so that, a thousand years from now, men would still talk about us
and remember what we had done. It’s what the men wanted to hear and they
hammered on the tables so hard that many jugs of ale fell over and Aedann had
to bring more, so the men could go on drinking long into the night and I
− miserable because I had lost both the sword and the girl − joined
in, until I remembered no more.
    The next morning, I felt sick and
my head was pounding when Eduard kicked me awake.
    “Go away, you bastard!” I yelled,
but he just laughed.
    “Come on, Cerdic, everyone else
is up and ready for the hunt!”
    The hunt! I had forgotten that
Aethelric had given permission for the company to go boar hunting in the royal
forests. These were west of the village and ran right up to the river, which
was the border with Elmet. Groaning, I dragged myself to my feet and was
promptly sick.
    Eduard watched me for a moment.
    “Better now?” he asked.
    I nodded.
    “Yes actually.”
    “Let’s go, then!” Eduard roared
and I groaned again, holding my throbbing head. Outside, the company was
assembling and I saw, from the number of green faces, that I was not the only
one to have had too much ale last night. I searched the crowd for Hussa
noticing with distress that he looked fresh and was now swaggering about,
wearing his new sword. Aethelric and Wallace soon arrived and we were off.
    It took us an hour to reach the
woods we were to hunt in. Once there, we separated into small groups, each man
taking a boar spear. This was shorter than a war spear and designed to be much
more mobile. A small cross piece, just below the point, is welded on to stop
the beast carrying on towards you if you manage to skewer it.
    Wild boar hunting is dangerous. A
fully grown adult can weight much the same as a man. The beast is armed with
fearsome tusks and is enormously strong and