Gemini Thunder by Chris Page Page A

place far from here. Bell was just letting me know that they have arrived. So long as the twins don’t find out where they are, we are rid of them.’
    ‘Why didn’t you kill them?’
    ‘Because I’m a fool who will not take life unless it is necessary.’
    ‘But they are Viking! Look around you, the place is littered with bodies. How necessary does it have to be?’
    ‘I know, I know,’ sighed the young astounder. ‘But I’ll guarantee you one thing. Now they have landed I’ll destroy their long boats. They will not be able to leave the place I have put them because there are no trees to build new boats with, only scrub. Viking society places a premium upon the maintenance of personal honour among males. They do not have any women to maintain a balance and will therefore begin to fight amongst themselves within a matter of days. They are a race devoid of grace or delicacy. As long as their precious honour is being satisfied, the self- destruction will not be apparent to them. Within a matter of weeks they will have all but destroyed each other. Now, my young entertainer, let’s go and see King Alfred.’
    ‘I was hoping that I’d see you again,’ said Alfred. ‘I even prayed that it would be so.’ He looked tired; his pale complexion had dark rings under the eyes. He was sitting in the same room as before with the same companions . . . with one priestly exception.
    ‘Have you heard what happened today?’
    ‘I have, my lord.’
    ‘I should have listened to you, veneficus, but I didn’t. I allowed Septimus to blind us to your reasoning with his prophecies of divine intervention. We have lost nearly one-fifth of our soldiers today, and the town has been reduced to ashes in front of our eyes.’
    ‘Not to mention the plight of those poor women and children,’ sniffed his wife, Elswith. Both she and her companion Hild had red eyes from crying.
    Alfred placed a gentle hand on her arm. ‘What of the third force of Viking?’ de Gaini leaned forward as he asked the question. Their very survival and that of the monarchy could depend on the answer.
    ‘I have taken care of them,’ answered Twilight quietly.
    There was an audible sigh in the room.
    ‘Do you have any suggestions as to how we can get out of this mess?’ asked Alfred.
    Twilight pursed his lips thoughtfully.
    ‘You have eight thousand men crammed into a castle built for fifteen hundred. You’re under siege from five and a half thousand blood-crazy Viking who have outfought you and sacked your town. Your food is running out, morale among your men is low, and your weapons are pretty puny against theirs. It’s only a matter of time before some evil form of pestilence sets in, which may even be preferable to facing these messianic lowlanders. As I see it you have two choices . . .’
    ‘And they are?’
    ‘Surrender or escape to fight another day.’
    Hugh Easton snorted. ‘This Guthrum would never accept surrender. He would slaughter every defenceless solider on the spot. We saw how he reacted to parley with poor Septimus. Chopped him down with an axe, then had a bear chew his head off, all under a white flag.’
    Both the women shuddered.
    King Alfred looked at him for a long moment.
    ‘Can you show us how to escape, veneficus of Wessex? Can you get us out of here to fight another day?’
    Desmond yawned loudly. ‘It’s all very well for you, hic nunquam dormio , he who never sleeps, but being a mere mortal of sixteen winters requires that I close my eyes for a few hours every day.’
    They were again perched on the highest part of the Winchester castle roof, looking out at the embers of the slumbering Viking camp, their sentries prominent against the dawn, which was beginning to creep over the rolling hills of the Plain of Salisbury in the distance.
    ‘I am surrounded by speakers of the Latin tongue, ubique vir doctus, everywhere there are scholars,’ Twilight said with a smile.
    ‘I’m a quick learner. Get me down from here so I can