The second was doing something useful by copying a land grant, though in all probability it was a forgery.
One, a slack-faced youth with fat lips and a fatter goiter on his neck, was transcribing a life of Saint Ciaran, which told how a wolf, a badger, and a fox had helped build a church in Ireland, and if the young monk believed that nonsense then he was as big a fool as he looked. So the older monk went quiet and I looked over the shoulders of the ink-stained copyists. The latrines haven’t been licked clean, I told him, and you look idle. He sat on a stool beside a brazier, the warmth of which did not reach the three scribblers. They should not be disturbed, lord, he dared to chide me. He wore a fur stole over his habit, and had a leather quirt with which he doubtless encouraged the industry of the three copyists.
An older monk, white-haired, sour-faced and resentful, supervised them. I roamed the monastery and eventually found myself in a dank corridor where three miserable-looking monks were copying manuscripts. Next morning it was raining like the world was ending and so I waited until the wind and weather had done their worst. I just want bread, I finally made them understand, cheese if you have it, and some ale. Uhtred of Bebbanburg was within their walls and such is my reputation that they expected me to start slaughtering them. I was traveling home with a dozen men, it was a wet winter’s day, and all we needed was shelter, food, and warmth, but the monks behaved as though a band of Norsemen had arrived at their gate. I forget where except that it was in the lands that were once Mercia. A thorn in the side of the priests and nobles who shape his fate, this Saxon raised by Vikings is torn between the life he loves and those he has sworn to serve.Not long ago I was in some monastery. Uhtred of Bebbanburg's mind is as sharp as his sword. A killer, a schemer with a dark power over men's hearts: Skade. In so doing he meets a woman more dangerous than any warlord. Now Uthred will once again defend the Christian kingdom - in a battle which could smash the growing power of the deadly Danes. The ailing Alfred presses Uhtred to swear loyalty to his son and heir Edward, preventing the warrior lord from taking vengeance on those who stole his home at Bebbanburg. But Uhtred is dogged by betrayal and tragedy. He has gained riches, loyal men and a beloved wife.
To King Alfred he is the 'lord of battles'. BBC2's major Autumn 2015 TV show THE LAST KINGDOM is based on the first two books in the series. The fifth novel in Bernard Cornwell's epic and bestselling series on the making of England and the fate of his great hero, Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
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