Too Many Traitors: The Adventures of Wulfbertie, #5

By Amanita Peridot Festoon

Even the environment is against Wulfbertie.  Storms!  Earthquakes!  And plots!  They aren't part of the environment but they are definitely going on.  Power plays and treachery.  Murderous intentions and usurpation.  Its all very naughty.  But at least Wulfbertie has been summoned to the royal palace at Wincaster to save the king and the princess and get dressed up.  There are dastardly plans to foil and Bertie's just the postulant to do it. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tilebury Books
• Release date: Apr 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223348788

Amanita Peridot Festoon

Amanita is a seventeen-hundred year old Geo-architectural Fungiphile and harpsichordist.   Throughout her long life Amanita travelled widely in all the known lands of the globe (and some unknown ones). Along the way she recorded the interesting stories of people she met. One of those people was Wulfbertie.  Amanita met Wulfbertie when he was an old man living in the Palace at King's Holm, Glewcaster. He remembered all the events of his youth with crystal clarity and Amanita wrote them down for posterity.

Book preview

CHAPTER  I  -  STORM

Wulfbert of Dene had murder in his heart.

He perched amongst the branches of the old apple tree and looked beyond the farmyard to the corn field where his mother, Froody, was scything the grain.  E-Thor, the Viking boy, stood nearby, looking helpless and pathetic.

Come down, son, called Wulfbeard.  Bertie looked down on his father from above and was again struck by how much he had aged and how frail he looked.  The old man stooping and leaning on his stick was not the reliable and powerful father that Wulfbertie remembered from the days before he went to the Abbey.

All the more reason why the family needed to rely upon everyone to help.  And that included his cousin E-Thor.

E-Thor was staying at the Wulf-Man Homestead while May's Moor was being renovated.  Wulfbertie's brother, Batty, was at May's Moor, helping rebuild Uncle Eddlinbert's house, and teasing the Viking girls.

Time and again Bertie had tried to make friends with his Danish cousin, E-Thor.  He had taken him on foraging trips into the forest to find the best berries.  They had gone fishing in the coracle.  They had hunted wild boar.  E-Thor was scornful of everything Bertie tried to do for him.

Storm coming, Bertie, Wulfbeard peered into the tree. 

E-Thor had shown some interest when Bertie showed him the entrance to a Roman iron mine.  He had grabbed Bertie's lantern and crawled into the tunnels, leaving Bertie frantic for his return.  He was angry when he emerged into the daylight with nothing more exciting than a rusty iron pick-axe.

He had also been fascinated by Bertie's sling, and 'borrowed' it so many times, that Wulfbertie eventually made him one of his own.  But there was no return gift, no offer to pin on E-Thor's silver hammer cloak-pin or try out his dagger.

Wulf-Bert!  I need help, now.

Yes, Father.

He took one last look at E-Thor, and his blood boiled.  Until a few moments ago Bertie, too, had been helping his mother in the field.  When E-Thor deliberately knocked over a stack of sheaves, Bertie had pushed him out of the way.  His mother had seen the push and shouted at Bertie.

It would have been childish to shout back, or to bash E-Thor in the teeth, as he wanted to do.  Instead, he threw down his rake and stomped off the field.

Bertie carried wood, nails and a mallet to the old chicken coop attached to the house.  It had not been used since the disaster when poor Grandfather Werwulf... Well, no point in remembering that!

How do you know a storm is coming, Tad?

Wulfbeard looked up at the skies.  Change in the wind.  Air smells different.  Sky feels sparky.

It seemed no different to Wulfbertie.

When six crates of chicks arrived unexpectedly at The Homestead last spring Froody was overjoyed.  Bertie had asked the king for the chicks when offered a boon, and Aunt Egglinbig, the Lady-in-Waiting, had personally ordered them to be delivered to her sister's farm.

Wulfbeard and Eddlinwulf had hastily fixed up the old chicken coop to receive the chicks.  Now, it was looking very wobbly.  It would certainly not stand up to a heavy rain or strong wind.

Wulfbeard was leaning on his stick beside the coop when Bertie dumped the wood and tools at his feet.  Wulfbeard had become weak this summer, and shrunken in stature, while Bertie himself had grown muscular and tall.  Wulfbertie could look his father directly in the eyes now.  Wulfbeard was eyeing the mallet doubtfully but both he and his son knew that he would not have the strength to lift it.  Wulfbertie would have to take over.  It was the normal progression of life, but Bertie thought it was happening too fast.

Shall I ask Eddy to help, Tad?

They looked across the field to where Eddlinwulf was struggling all by himself to erect his new house.  He was building it for his betrothed, Lucy-Ellen ap Flewellyn.

Froody had refused to hear about their marriage and welcome his bride into her house.  She could not forgive Lucy for preventing Eddlin from coming straight home when he returned from the Battle of Edington.  She did not know the truth:  that Eddy was suffering from 'Sword Shock' and that Lucy had nursed him back to health.

In response, Eddlin had decided to build his own house, in the next field.  That had just made Froody feel hurt and angry.  She had instead focussed her attention on her long-lost cousin E-Ric the Red, or Eddlinric, as she remembered him.  She invited his son, E-Thor, to come and stay at the Homestead.

Bertie was caught in the middle, overlooked or blamed.  It seemed that the whole Wulf household was out of kilter.

No, let Eddy be, said Wulfbeard.  He will not come in until he gets the stones in a circle.  He wants to do it all by himself.  He is in love.

He looked like he was in agony!  Eddy had assembled large piles of rocks and timber around the 'Wulf-Man', a large standing stone, set very deeply into the ground.

The Wulf-Man had once been surrounded by seventeen smaller stones, which formed an ancient stone circle.  Here their ancient ancestors had danced at midsummer entreating the gods to safeguard their crops.

And here, with the Wulf-Man as the centre and the ring of stones as the supports for the roof, the Wulf family had built their first roundhouse, and called it 'The Homestead'.

Lying flat and wide in front of the Wulf-Man was their hearthstone, a thick granite rock, blackened by generations of Wulf family fires.

Wulfbeard, Werwulf and their ancestors had all been born in that house, on land given to them by an ancient king of Mercia.  It was said to mark their birthright.  Every Wulf child learned the song:

The Wulf-Man's foot is deep - rooted in the soil;

Ancient his hearthstone, bold deeds to inspire.

Twixt Fforest and Sseverne,

His Virtues rise to Heaven:

Head strong, hand fast, heart pure and house loyal;

His birthright forever safe - guarded by fire.

Eddy and Batty had been born there too, but when Wulfbertie was born, the family had moved into a new house.  Bertie felt he had missed his inheritance.

Eddy had found most of the seventeen other stones and arranged them in a circle around the Wulf-Man, just as in ancient times.  He was filling in the spaces with other rocks and logs.  It was hard work.  As they watched, Eddy pushed another large rock into position.

When Wulfbertie and Wulfbeard finished strengthening the chicken coop, Bertie drove the hens out of Feather Field with its new grape vines, and into the coop.  He fastened the gate.

I am sorry about the chickens, Tad.  I did not realise they would cause so much work.  I should have asked for an ox.

You were offered a boon, and you chose to ask for something for your family.  If times are hard this winter, we will have chickens and eggs.  I am very proud of you, son.  You have done a good thing.

Bertie helped his father put the new cow, Flora, and the pig and six sheep into the barn, which was attached to the other side of the house.  Then he ran back to the corn field and helped his mother gather up the remaining bundles of grain.  Half of the wheat in the field was still not cut.

Had E-Thor co-operated, they would have finished the whole field.  He needed to learn about being 'house-loyal'.

+  +  +

The temperature dropped.  Bertie sniffed the air.  Now he too could smell the difference and feel the sparks.

Within minutes, the wind picked up and roared over the hills from the north.  The rain came down in hard pellets.  It turned to sleet and then to small balls of ice which turned the ground white.

Such a storm was disastrous for harvest time.  Their remaining crops would be ruined.

In the adjoining field, Eddy was struggling to keep a pile of rocky rubble from collapsing.

While the storm was gathering its forces, E-Thor had been gazing up at the sky.  Now he raised his arms and called out in Norse-talk.

Bertie had a sinking feeling that E-Thor was planning something evil.  It had happened before, at Cranham estate, when E-Thor had appealed to his gods.  Immediately a bolt had come from the sky and a tree had split in two and crashed down onto the pig pen.

There was a crack of thunder.

E-Thor ran to Eddlin's rockpile and clambered to the top.  He stretched tall and raised his hammer-brooch to the heavens.  He screeched like a demented druid, calling upon his gods.

Eddy shouted, Get down, E-Thor.  The rocks are too slippery.  You will fall.

The rocks began to slide, and E-Thor struggled to stay upright.  Loose rocks slammed against the standing stone and trapped Eddlinwulf's feet.  The Wulf-Man, though rooted deep in the soil, began to tilt.

E-Thor scampered down, jumping off and landing on Eddy just before the rockpile collapsed.

Wulfbeard shouted, Eddy!  Look out!

Eddlinwulf tried to leap back, but his feet were stuck.

Froody said quietly, Oh God, please, no!

Wulfbertie watched in horror, as the massive standing stone sloped further and further, toppling in slow motion towards Eddy.  As it moved there was a terrible