Sigefrith asks for Malcolm's advice
“Enter!” Malcolm called from his bed, and he snapped his book shut. A visitor! Were it Lady Hilda herself, he thought he would be grateful for the distraction.
“Hail, young potlicker!” the King called as he entered.
“Oh, you!” Malcolm grinned.
“Only I,” Sigefrith agreed. “I hope I may at least have a chair, since you are so impudent as to recline before a king.”
“I suppose you may, since I can’t stop you.”
“How’s the ankle?”
“Twice the size of the other and six shades of purple.”
“Hurts?”
“I would never admit it.”
“What are you reading?”
“The life of Saint Columba.”
“Oh! Sounds edifying. Isn’t that what your name means?”
“It means ‘servant of Columba.’”
“Well, I’m pleased to know you’ve humility in your name if not in your heart.”
“Did you come up here only to insult me?”
“Not only. I’m a busy man, Malcolm. I haven’t time to come see you only to insult you.”
“Very efficient of Your Majesty to combine it with other activities.”
“I thank you for the compliment. Now, will you permit me to intersperse my insults throughout a request for your advice? I should like to have your opinion of my squire.”
“Brede?” Malcolm’s eyes narrowed. “I like Brede.”
“Oh! That almost sounds like a threat.”
“Only a commendation.”
“I see. But why do you like Brede?”
“He’s a better man than most, that’s why. He can’t fight, but he’s rather more clever than most of the people around.”
“But not as clever as… you, say.”
“I should like to know who is, in my opinion?” Malcolm grinned.
“Your cousin for example?”
“Who, Egelric?” Malcolm grunted. “He’s clever, all right – insofar as the devil is a clever gentleman.”
“Oh, you’re calling him the devil these days?”
“He and I don’t see eye to eye on certain matters.”
“Namely?”
“His daughter, for one. I think he’s rather too hard on her. That might be all right for a boy, or even for a girl if she has a mother to be soft with her, but Baby only has him. Which means she has no one, most of the time.”
“She has Alred and Matilda and their family.”
“Aye, but this winter everyone has been so occupied with their own children that no one has spared a thought for Baby.”
“You did.”
“If I count.”
“I suppose you count for her.”
Malcolm shrugged. He did not care to discuss his unhappy little cousin with anyone, not even Sigefrith. “I thought this was about Brede.”
“Thank you for reminding me, but I hadn’t forgotten. I like to have your opinion on other matters, such as your cousin Egelric. But as for Brede… you think he’s clever, do you?”
“Aye. He already speaks your barbarian language as if he were born here. And I believe he has a good eye for the value of a man. He has picked all the right friends and enemies.”
“And the value of a woman?”
“Oh, women!” Malcolm rolled his eyes.
Sigefrith laughed. “Jealous, a little?”
“Who, I? I think he’s a fool, but all men are at that age, are they not? I’m wise enough to know that even I shall be, though not yet, God be thanked!”
“You suppose he’s as foolish as young Sigefrith where women are concerned?”
“If you mean what I think you mean, I do. But if you mean whom I think you mean, she’s not the fool my Lady Hilda was. Not that I think foolishness had anything to do with her situation,” Malcolm sneered.
“By God!” Sigefrith laughed. “So young, so innocent, and such a cynic!”
“Only canny.”
“God bless you, Malcolm. You’re better than a second pair of eyes.”
“That’s because there’s a second mind behind them.”
“There is indeed, and I shudder to think what it will be in a few years. You will be my match.”
“Fortunately I shall not be your enemy.”
“God be thanked! Well, potlicker, if you think Brede a good man, I shall out and ask you what you think of my plan. Do you remember the house out of which they were selling the venison?”
“Do I remember?” Malcolm scoffed. “As if I should forget, when it was I who found where they were.”
“Only a manner of speaking, Malcolm. I know you never forget anything.”
“Then you are forgiven. So what about the house?”
“I was wondering what I could do with it now that it’s empty. And then I thought… there are the cherry orchards behind, all up to the top of the hill, and then there are four or five good farms between it and the river.”
“Aye. And?”
“I suppose it could serve as the start of an excellent manor house, don’t you think?”
Malcolm dropped his head back on his pillow and thought. “There’s a good view to the south, straight up the valley to Thorhold. You haven’t that now. And I believe it’s the best view east you will have until Sigefrith builds his tower a bit higher.”
“You have a military mind, Malcolm.”
“You were thinking I would talk about the soil or the drainage?” Malcolm grinned. “There’s also the brook there – if one were clever, one could get a moat out of it, though there’s a bit of a slope… Wait – were you thinking of giving that house to Brede?”
“I was.”
“Oh! Let me think, then…” Malcolm reconsidered the question of such a house in the hands of Brede.
“I must decide what to do with his family,” Sigefrith continued. “I expect they will arrive in the spring, God willing. I might keep them here – but then I would have to appoint guards for Sigrid and Synne, against the day when you will be transformed into a fool for the women. I believe Synne is twelve… just your age,” he winked. “Or I might simply knight Brede and be done with it, and give him the house and the orchards and the farms between Sigefrith’s lands and the river.”
“Knight Brede?” Malcolm asked, sitting up in his excitement. “An excellent idea.”
“But he can’t fight!” Sigefrith protested.
“Oh can’t he? Not as well as you, but he’s good enough to be a shoddy knight.”
“But you just said yourself he can’t!”
“Do you need him to fight right away?”
“No…”
“So! He has time to learn.”
“Why the hell are you so excited about Brede becoming a knight?”
“Because he will need a squire!”
“Oh!” Sigefrith laughed. “And you had someone in mind.”
“My own self!”
“Didn’t I just remind you that you are twelve years old?”
“Brede is only sixteen!”
“He will be seventeen by the spring.”
“That’s still young.”
“So is my kingdom! I could use a view to the east and another up the valley to Thorhold. And a man with a moat, by God! But I believe that fourteen is the customary age for becoming a squire.”
“But it’s a young kingdom, as you said! And I can fight as if I were fourteen!”
“Perhaps. If I didn’t think you too vain already I would say better than fourteen. But I have never in my life heard of a squire who was not a fool where women were concerned, and so I am afraid that disqualifies you. Besides, potlicker, I have other plans for you.”
“What plans?”
“Oh, no! It is so rare that I have a secret that you do not guess, I can’t bear to tell you yet.”
“Oh!” Malcolm whined.
“Sorry, Malcolm. I’m still more than a match for you. Now,” he said as he rose, “I am profoundly grateful for your advice and shall keep it in consideration. But I believe that my beloved will have finished putting the children to bed meanwhile, and so I must go back down to her.”
“Oh, indeed!” Malcolm scoffed and picked up his book again. “Perhaps you should be Brede’s squire. You’re certainly qualified!”
