Darkest before Dawn (The Kingdom of Mercia Book 2) Read Free Page A

lingering
upon Alchflaed, before it shifted to Oswiu.
    “Paeda,” Penda barked. “Come!”
    Alchflaed watched the Mercians stride from the hall, her
insides churning. Then, she glanced over at her father. He was staring after
Penda, hate etched onto every line of his lean face.
    With a sinking heart, she realized that despite years of
bloodshed, her people’s problems with Mercia were only just beginning.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    PART ONE
     
    THE PRINCESS
     
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Two years later…
     

Chapter One
The Eve of Battle
     
    River Winwaed, northern Britannia
    Late autumn, 655 A.D.
     
     
     
    The rain tore across the land in great, grey sheets,
flattening grass and churning earth to mud with its violence. Nature unleashed
its fury upon a windswept landscape of gorse-strewn moor and wild skies.
    Dusk was settling, turning the world bleaker still. A shadow
in the gloaming, Maric made his way down the slippery bank toward the Mercian
encampment. His gaze swept over the army as it bedded down for the night; a sea
of goatskin tents, hemmed in by the roaring River Winwaed to the south, and
high moorland to the north.
    Halfway down the bank, Maric paused, wiping water out of
his eyes. He surveyed the army, before his expression turned grim. Strategically,
they could not have been in a worse position. The rain felt as if it was coming
down harder than ever. By morning, the river would be a raging beast.
    Maric pulled his hood down over his face, continuing his
way down the hill. He reached the encampment and waded through ankle-deep mud
toward the King’s Tent.
    Pushing aside the tent flap, Maric stepped into another
world. He left behind mud, howling wind and slashing rain, and entered a luxurious
space warmed by braziers. Heavy tapestries kept the seeking wind at bay and
rushes covered the wet ground. However, despite that he was no longer braving
the elements, Maric had not found sanctuary here. Outside, the gods were
brawling, but inside a king was raging.
    Penda slammed his fist onto the table that dominated the
wide space.
    “Battle shirking son of a whore! When I am done here, I
will track that craven bastard down and feed him his own balls!”
    Maric paused just inside the entrance to the tent and
pushed back his hood, taken aback by his king’s outburst. It was rare for Penda
to show his temper so openly; his fury was usually cold, quiet, and lethal. The
king’s ealdormen and thegns surrounded him; their expressions pinched, their
faces pale.
    Penda’s gimlet stare shifted to Maric, barely registering
his presence, such was the depth of his fury.
    “Cynfeddw of Gwynedd has abandoned us,” he growled. “He’s
taken his army with him.”
    Osulf, who stood at his king’s right, met Maric’s gaze;
his friend’s expression was pained.
    “Aethelwald of Deira has also withdrawn,” Osulf added
quietly.
    This second piece of news did not come as any surprise to
Maric. Aethelwald was Oswiu of Bernicia’s nephew. Maric had long suspected the
young ruler of Deira lacked the stomach to meet his uncle in battle.
    “We still outnumber them,” Maric reported. “I’ve just come
from their outer perimeter. We have at least three times their number.”
    “We had ,” Osulf corrected him.
    In response, the king whirled away from the table,
flinging his cup of wine across the tent. Then he turned to Maric.
    “Tell me, what else did you see out there?”
    The malevolence in Penda’s voice caused some of his men
to draw back from him. He looked ready to draw his sword and cut down the next
man who said anything to displease him. Maric watched his lord with cool
detachment. He no longer feared Penda of Mercia’s rage, for the events of the
last two years had taught him that he was capable of the same killing fury. He too
had awoken the beast within and had been changed in the aftermath. Nonetheless,
he wisely let his king’s temper settle before he delivered his