ladyanglaise

Wych (open and accepting!)

@bloonewb
"Can't you see me?" Mildemaer questioned as she pushed through the door, comspicuously holding her left hand behind her back as she held the door with her right. She frowned. "I heard what you told Winoc; you're Sigrid the Norse, playing the part of an Angle merchant woman. I suppose your boat should have given it away; we don't use ships like that in this land."

Wych (open and accepting!)

@bloonewb
"Then, you should have nothing to worry about." His small, light smile hid his worry. Winoc then left the room and could be heard traipsing around the house, before the heavy front door groaned against its hinges, for a brief time the leaving the house silent.
It was only a short while before the deluge lightened into a gentle but steady spring rain, tapping steadily against the roof and walls all around the far-flung Norsewoman. The bedroom door creaked against heavy iron hinges, not opening fully but becoming ajar just enough to reveal a ragged Angle girl in the hallway, looking in at her guest as if she were a stranger.

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@Leo Khan
Hwithryth furrowed her brow and frowned at the disobedient prisoner. "Look again at that charm, Kjalr; Tiw is no god of truth, but a patron of doing what is absolutely right. Do you think I've gotten where I am by being defiant and righteous? Do you think that Woden only calls hardened barbarians to do his will?" The lady was exasperated that she was being disobeyed, but knew there was no shaking the Norseman from his convictions. As she stared at fire at him for his indignation, she was struck with sudden inspiration. She checked again up and down the corridor; he was lucky that she was so desperate for an ally. "I'll do as you request, but you must listen well. The eastern corridor will lead you into the guards' quarters of the Manor, and the western corridor will lead you to the stables. Go there and steal a horse to take you into the forest beyond the river. I'll meet you there just as soon as I can."

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Like I expected, vacation has been a lot. Unlike I expected, my laptop broke on day one. Again. AUGH. I'm never buying another MacBook Air as long as I'm alive on this earth.
SO I'll try and get some responses up tonight, asap. Hopefully after this IC 'day' y'all will be able to interact with each other, too :)

@burnski
no rush, friend :)

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@Grimmdreamer13 yeah that's fine! Just find a place to hop in. There's going to be a timeskip to evening pretty soon so you may find it easier to wait for that.

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Winoc waved his hand dismissively at the minor spills and splashes. "I'm sure Mildemaer will bring one of the hounds in here before you get a chance to." he joked lightly. He seemed unimpressed, however, with Sigrid's reason for coming to England.
"For adventure, truly? I've never seen a far-flung voyager with such an expensive-looking dress." he said, standing from his chair. "You sound like the weather got the best of you. Come, I'll show you where the rooms are."

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@Leo Khan
That's alright :) like I said in the rules, a good post doesn't have to be a novel, it just has to give the next poster something to work with. Quality over quantity, and all that good stuff.

and sorry my response to you was unbelievably dense and overflowing with semicolons. It was either put all of Hwithryth's plan into the one ultra-thicc post or tediously split it into two posts. I hope I went with the lesser evil, lol.

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@Leo Khan
"You're mistaken, Norseman; that was made by my father, not a mile from where I stand. My kin called him Tiw, the god of justice and war. My father put that charm around my neck the day I was born, and I've never been apart from it." Hwithryth paused to check again up and down the corridor, but found it clear. "I have a plan that will free you, Kjalr of Skaggerak, but it will take some careful working, so pay close attention. The church has sent a new Justiciar to Cirencester, and today he's to meet with the commander of the guard. I've reason to believe that he'll convince him to treat unrepentant heretics more harshly, so tonight the guards will come to your cell to torture you.
"What you must do is claim to have seen God and repented; you'll tell them that you had a vision of Jesus on a cross of lilies, and that He brought you to this land so that you might serve 'a good woman, pale and strong.'" She smirked just slightly for but a moment, before again becoming solemn. "It's very important that you don't budge from these convictions; not once, not for anything, no matter what they do to you. Refuse food and drink, cry out for God, rebuke your gods and ancestors until they're convinced. When they bring you to me, you're as good as free. Do you understand?"

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@burnski
The good judge nodded. "Lead the way, commander."
When they reached the barracks, Alexius dismounted his steed and carelessly dropped the reins, entering without so much as a look to his thrall, but Wilmot picked up the reins and led the horse to wait out the rain under a nearby tree as if she'd been expressly ordered to do so.
"Forgive me for not introducing myself in turn, commander; my name is Alexius, Justiciar of the cross and the crown." the judge said, removing his outermost cloak that had become saturated in the rain. "When I set out from London, a courier told me the strangest tale. A cathedral in Gloucestershire was attacked by Vikings, but before it could be plundered utterly, your men came to fight them off. I heard in quite vivid detail, commander, how the barbaric Norsemen were flayed apart into a raven's feast and their ship set alight so that they could not retreat."
Alexius folded his cloak over his forearm, tone oddly light. "Quite a victory, if it's not just a rumor."

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@burnski
A gaunt man in dark robes strode through the militia training field on his horse as the rain went from a gentle shower to a steady downpour. He seemed unbothered by the rain, while the slave behind him tightened her cowl. He stopped his horse in front of the commander and his second.
"Alfred, I presume?" he said, more a statement than a query. He glanced briefly back at the militia men before returning his gaze down to the commander. "Your men seem battle ready."

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@bloonewb
Winoc brought his guest a small bowl of soup; a watery concoction of cabbage, potatoes, and hunks of pork. Perhaps not the most appetizing, but certainly warm and filling. "In time, Sigrid, in time. You're not the first of your people to find yourself here." he said, taking a seat nearby. Mildemaer seemed to have disappeared elsewhere into the home. "For now I'd just like to know what brought you to this land."

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@Leo Khan
The woman shook her head at his answer. "Did passively following fate lead you to the abbey in Gloucestershire? Did you learn to swing your sword through iron and flesh as if calmly floating down a stream? Wyrd nurtures no man, Kjalr of Skaggerak; you must conquer it and rip your destiny from it's jaws." She withdrew a simplistic bronze charm from the sleeve of her cloak and tossed it at his feet. "My name is Hwithryth. I'm the lady of this land, and the only person you can trust within these walls."

Wych (open and accepting!)

It's okay! :)

Wych (open and accepting!)

“Your father was a plunderer of Iona?” Mildemaer interjected as she took the second quilt from Winoc, eyes wide with surprise. The rain pelted against the wooden walls of the estate as Winoc locked the door.
"The raid at Lindisfarne was the first anyone heard of the Norsemen ransacking cathedrals. That was during Offa's time." Winoc said. He took a moment to mull over Sigrid's question. "There's much that you don't know about this land, daughter of Þunor; would a man of the cross open his home to you?"