Athelbald died from his mysterious disease in July of 860 and the kingdom passed to his brother Athelberht of Kent. Once the way back to the capital was clear, Judith returned to Winchester, packed her bags, and went home to her father in West Francia. She was not about to be married again to yet another brother. Athelberht, like Athelbald had not married and had no children, so he was eligible to fall into Judith’s web, but Judith was done with that, and done with Wessex. In her mind, the whole kingdom was stupid and stubborn, and she would never be allowed to rule or gather all the power to herself. Even so, despite her bad attitude, she had matured over the years and now felt she could handle her father’s court and look for a more reasonable solution to meeting her desires.

Alfred was thirteen by then, and he corresponded with Elgar. Elgar got him books to read. Athelred was seventeen, so still too young to rule anywhere. The result was Athelberht moved to Winchester but took the throne of Kent with him. He integrated the nine shires for the first time and ruled the whole as the kingdom of Wessex. As it turned out, he had four years to rebuild Winchester and sew the pieces of the kingdom together.

 For Berkshire, he selected a thegan who carried his father’s name, Ethelwulf. The man had Mercian roots, but Berkshire had been under the Mercian thumb for a time so the rest of the king’s men in the shire raised no objections. Besides, since the army of Wessex helped Mercia keep the Welsh in line, Mercia had come to accept Wessex as something of an overlord, so a man of Mercian background seemed no problem.

For Hampshire, Athelberht looked to Osric in Dorset. Osric straddled the fence when Athelbald and his father Athelwulf argued about the Wessex throne, but Athelberht took it as his position. Athelberht refused to take sides. In truth, Osric kept switching sides based on what was most advantageous to him. In any case, Athelberht appointed Osric as ealdorman of Hampshire and let Osric’s son, Osweald take Dorset. Besides, Athelberht’s mother was Osric’s sister, so Athelberht imagined Uncle Osric would do right by him.

Elgar talked to Eanwulf and Bishop Ealhstan of Sherborne and asked them to support, encourage, and teach young Osweald to do a good job in Dorset. Eanwulf did nothing. Ealhstan figured Osweald was like Athelbald, easy to manipulate. Nothing Elgar could do about that. At least Osric did not abandon his son.

Athelberht succeeded in his tasks over the years he ruled. The eastern shires of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex were fully integrated into the larger kingdom of Wessex. Winchester and the whole land of Hampshire were rebuilt and strengthened against the Danes. Everything was settled by 864 when the east coast of Kent became ravaged by the Danes, almost a repeat of what happened fourteen years earlier in 850. Dover, Canterbury, Rochester, and London were raided, and everything east and north of Watling Street fell to Danish hands.  This was a year before the landing in East Anglia by what modern scholars call the Great Heathen Army. Some might suggest the actual invasion of England started in 864.

Two other things of note happened in 864. First, the Flesh Eater fighters and three person bombers strafed the major population centers in Wessex, from Kingston on Thames to Carhampton in Somerset. Some buildings burned, some collapsed, and some people died. It was not devastating, but like warning shots to not resist or fight back without suffering consequences. Second, Athelberht was wounded in one fly-over. He limped for a number of months, well into the new year, before he lost his leg. He seemed to do well enough after that for a one legged man, but six months or so down the road the leg got infected. Gangrene. He died sometime at the end of August, early September of 865, and was buried in Sherborne next to Athelbald. That left twenty-two-year-old Athelred to be king.

By the grace of God, as Elgar’s priest said, the Viking Great Army first turned north in 866 after they got settled and got their bearings. The death of Ragnar Lodbrok being thrown into a snake pit needed to be answered. The Danes devastated Northumbria and installed a puppet king in York. Then they turned on Mercia and ravaged eastern Mercia, wintering in 867-868 in Nottingham. In 869 they returned to conquer East Anglia and killed King Edmund who held the line against them when they first arrived. This left Wessex isolated with only western Mercia free and still in the hands of Athelred’s and Alfred’s sister whose husband, King Burgred of Mercia, still had some say over the land. With all that, the Danes were not ready to try Wessex again until late in 870. Thus far, the Danes had not been successful in Wessex. That gave Athelred time to reach out to his thegans and ealdormen and settle matters in the kingdom while gathering his forces. It also gave Elgar time to act.

When the Flesh Eater fighter ship flew over Watchet, Elgar knew he had to do something. The fighter dive bombed the town several times but did little damage before it moved on down the coast. The fortress, which was Elgar’s home, and the church were untouched. That allowed him the opportunity to speak with the priest again before he acted foolishly. He found things changed a bit.

“I am having a hard time holding on to Mercy and Forgiveness,” the priest admitted. “Two of the church widows were caught in the open and burned. How these creatures can fly and rain fire from the sky is beyond my understanding, but with such great power there is supposed to be great responsibility.”

“People,” Elgar said. “They are not human people like us, but they are people, not creatures. And you make me afraid to act at all.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I am one of those great powers that must act with great responsibility,” Elgar said plainly.

“Yes, I understand that much,” the priest responded. “But you have given these strange people sufficient chances, have you not?” Elgar nodded, so the priest concluded. “In Christ we have forgiveness of sin and the promise of Heaven. He will not hold our actions against us in eternity. But in the here and now, that does not leave us off being responsible for our actions, and often we must suffer the consequences.”

Elgar nodded again. “The law says for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. To put it in Biblical terms, as you sew, so shall you reap.”

“I would think so,” the priest said.

As soon as the Vikings began to land in East Anglia where they cowed King Edmund and gathered horses and equipment for their invasion, Elgar moved. He asked Lady Alice of Avalon to reach out into space. She found three Ape ships in a patrol group not that many light years away. She fed them the coordinates and informed them of the Flesh Eater ship located on the Genesis moon where they did not belong. Those Ape ships started out right away, but it would be well over a year before they arrived.

In place of his brother Eanwulf, who was ill, Elgar went with King Athelred, and twenty-five hundred men of Wessex to help King Burgred of Mercia route the Danish army that wintered in Nottingham. They intended to drive the Danes from Mercia altogether and thus liberate the eastern half of the land. Sadly, Burgred was not a military man and Athelred knew nothing about how to lay a successful siege. The two king together could not force the Danes to budge. It seemed to Elgar that the Danes were laughing at them. Elgar was twice Athelred’s age, but somehow they were back to the days where they did not listen to anything Elgar had to say. Burgred’s wife, Athelswith, Athelred’s older sister painted Elgar as the baby of the family. That is how Burgred saw him, so Athelred agreed with his sister. In the end, King Burgred paid the Dane to leave and stay away. The Danes waited until the weather cleared before they pulled out and headed back to York.

Only one thing of note happened at that time. Ealhstan, Bishop of Sherborne died in a skirmish with the Danes. No one knew how he managed to be in the area when the Danes came out to forage for food. He was generally a person who ran away when the fighting started, but he got himself killed and a man named Heahmund, a bit of a militant bishop, so quite the opposite of the coward took over.

Just as well, Elgar thought. He had his hands full with what was happening in space. The three Ape ships arrived and immediately engaged with the Flesh Eater ship somewhere out toward Mars. The battle was not so swift. The ships maneuvered all over space to get a clean shot on their enemy. Two Ape ships prevented the Flesh Eater ship from escaping into the asteroid belt. one of the Ape ships was destroyed, but the Flesh Eater ship had its screens taken down. It tried to escape, but the third Ape ship caught it and it exploded, spreading dead Flesh Eaters all across that section of space. One Ape ship was gone. One Ape ship was seriously damaged, but the third ship survived well enough to where they could guide their damaged ship to a place where they could repair.

Unfortunately, the Apes did not see the Flesh Eater shuttle head for Earth, escorted by two fighter ships and a three person fighter-bomber. Double unfortunately, someone else did see that shuttle. At first it headed toward the coast of Norway, but at the last minute it skirted across the North Sea like flying under the radar and headed toward the Scottish highlands. The shuttle had all thirteen fertile females and several litters of infants. As promised, once they left earth their fertility was restored, even if they only went as far as the moon.

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MONDAY

The Kairos confronts Abraxas and cleans up the last of the Flesh Eater mess. After that, things with the Danish army begin to heat up. Until then, Happy Reading

 

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