Free The Pale Horseman by Bernard Cornwell Page A

me, but

somehow, despite her youth, she managed to scare Peredur's courtiers who backed away from

her. The king looked nervous, while Asser, standing beside me, made the sign of the cross,

then spat to ward off evil.
    I just stared at her, entranced. There was pain on her face, as if she found life

unbearable, and there was fear on her husband's face when he spoke to her in a quiet,

respectful voice. She shuddered when he talked and I thought that perhaps she was mad, for

the grimace on her face was awful, disfiguring her beauty, but then she calmed and looked

at me and the king spoke to Asser.
    'You will tell the queen who you are and what you will do for King Peredur,' Asser told me

in a distant, disapproving voice.
    'She speaks Danish?' I asked.
    'Of course not,' he snapped. 'Just tell her and get this farce over.'
    I looked into her eyes, those big, dark eyes, and had the uncanny suspicion that she

could see right through my gaze and decipher my innermost thoughts. But at least she did not

grimace when she saw me as she had when her husband spoke.
    'My name is Uhtred Ragnarson,' I said, 'and I am here to fight for your husband if he pays

what I am worth. And if he doesn't pay, we go.'
    I thought Asser would translate, but the monk stayed silent.
    Iseult still stared at me and I stared back. She had a flawless skin, untouched by illness,

and a strong face, but sad. Sad and beautiful. Fierce and beautiful. She reminded me of

Brida, the East Anglian who had been my lover and who was now with Ragnar, my friend. Brida

was as full of fury as a scabbard is filled with blade, and I sensed the same in this queen who

was so young and strange and dark and lovely.
    'I am Uhtred Ragnarson1' I heard myself speaking again, though I had scarcely been aware

of any urge to talk, 'and I work miracles.'
    Why I said that I do not know. I later learned that she had no idea what I had said, for at

that time the only tongue she spoke was that of the Britons, but nevertheless she seemed to

understand me and she smiled.
    Asser caught his breath. 'Be careful, Dane,' he hissed, 'she is a queen.'
    'A queen?' I asked, still staring at her, 'or the queen?'
    'The king is blessed with three wives,' the monk said disapprovingly.
    Iseult turned away and spoke to the king. He nodded, then gestured respectfully towards

the door through which Iseult had come. She was evidently dismissed and she obediently went

to the door, but paused there and gave me a last, speculative look.
    Then she was gone.
    And suddenly it was easy. Peredur agreed to pay us a hoard of silver. He showed us the

hoard that had been hidden in a back room. There were coins, broken jewellery, battered cups

and three candleholders which had been taken from the church, and when I weighed the silver,

using a balance fetched from the market place, I discovered there was three hundred and

sixteen shillings' worth, which was not negligible. Asser divided it into two piles, one

only half the size of the other.
    'We shall give you the smaller portion tonight,' the monk said, 'and the rest you will get

when Dreyndynas is recovered.'
    'You think I am a fool?' I asked, knowing that after the fight it would be hard to get the

rest of the silver.
    'You take me for one?' he retorted, knowing that if he gave us all the silver then

Fyrdraca would vanish in the dawn.
    We agreed in the end that we would take the one third now and that the other two thirds would

be carried to the battlefield so that it was easily accessible. Peredur had hoped I would

leave that larger portion in his hall, and then I would have faced an uphill fight through his

dung-spattered streets, and that was a fight I would have lost, and it was probably the

prospect of such a battle that had stopped Callyn's men attacking Peredur's hall. They hoped

to starve him, or at least Asser believed that.
    'Tell me about Iseult,' I demanded of the monk when the bargaining was