1.

I had to keep reminding myself that I was Lady Mildrith Rhys of Capel-le-Ferne, heiress to one of the most strategic fiefs in England. And I was married to Burke Hollis, eldest son and heir of Ealdorman Walter Hollis of Tunbridge, one of the richest English nobles, a close advisor to the king.

But just a few hours after my unconsummated marriage, Danish longships had been sighted from my ancient seat of Hill Fort in Newhaven. My new husband abandoned me and ran away with his men back to the safety of his father’s castle in Tunbridge.

With only my local lads to defend my Hill Fort, the Danes were able to take it after a short battle.

The next weeks at Hill Fort in Newhaven passed in a whirl. One crew of Danes rebuilt the gates that they had battered in and repaired the damage the fort had sustained during the battle. Another crew took cordage, wood, and pitch from our stores in the fort and the fishing harbor. They set to work repairing the storm-battered longships. By day they worked hard, and by night they played hard, drinking and carousing with our women. Most were willing, for Danish steel ensured that Danish flesh got what it wanted.

Grier was untiring. Supervising work all day, he still kept me busy much of the night. At first, he remained suspicious of me and continued to tie me down with silk ribbons. He mounted me repeatedly in a variety of positions. He always contrived to kiss me during sex, even when he fucked me doggie style. He was pleased that each night my rage and threats declined in volume, while my orgasms grew ever harder and more frequent.

Grier had given my pretty maid Edwina Batten to his shipmaster, Denhaf, who had promised to make her ‘forget her husband’ Frank Batten. Ever since their first night together, I noted the spring in her step and the smug look on her face. She looked like the cat that had drunk the cream.

“Denhaf is such a manly brute, m’lady,” she said to me. “I have scarce given my husband a single thought since we’ve been together. He fucks me like a Danish battering ram, makes me cum so hard, I think I faint dead away!”

“But you are wed in holy matrimony, Edwina,” I said. “As am I. We are both sinners.”

“If this is sin, then I will gladly go to hell rather than heaven,” said Edwina.

 By the second week, I was surprised to find myself beginning to look forward to my nights with Grier. I remained ashamed of the sinfulness of my lust and the depravity of my sexual frolics with Grier. I was sure that all the sexual positions he put me in were immoral.

But the heights of physical pleasure that I achieved with Grier made me rationalize my situation. There is nothing I can do, I said to myself. He is forcing himself on me and even though I resist him, I cannot stop him from taking what he wants. Surely God will forgive me.

Gradually, Grier began to see my acquiescence and stopped tying me down. My freed body widened the range of sexual positions he could explore with me, and I gave in to my passions. I even began guiding Grier toward acts that particularly stimulated me.

At the end of five weeks, I sat with Edwina as we were plying needle and thread. Edwina was mending netting, while I was crocheting. Edwina seemed particularly preoccupied and stuck her finger with a needle several times, clicking her tongue with irritation each time.

“You seem quite out of sorts today, Edwina,” I said. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing, my lady,” said Edwina, coloring almost as red as her dark red hair.

“Obviously, it is something,” I persisted. “Forget that I am your mistress for the moment. I will swear to secrecy.”

Edwina looked down at her feet and then out into the distance. She drew her kerchief out of her waistband and twisted it in her hands.

“I don’t know what to do, m’lady,” she said at length. “I have been due for my monthly for two weeks now. But there is no sign of it, not a drop of blood. I went to Agnes the midwife down in the village yesterday. She told me that I am pregnant.”

“Have you told your husband, Frank?” I asked.

“How can I do that, my lady?” cried Edwina. “I have not been in Frank’s bed since the Danes came.”

“So the baby you are carrying –” I began.

“It is Denhaf’s! There can be no doubt!”

“By all the saints!” I exclaimed. “My monthly has been due as well, but I have not had any signs yet. I thought nothing of it –”

“My lady, the way Grier is fucking you, he is like a wild satyr in one of those folktales. He pumps a pint of semen into you every night. It would be impossible for you to not get pregnant.”

“Don’t talk like a slut, Edwina!” I snapped. “I’m a God-fearing woman. The Lord would never allow this pagan beast to impregnate me.”

I threw down my crocheting and went for a walk down to the seashore. Grier was working on the beach with some of his men, stepping a mast on one of the longships. He waved to me cheerily as I walked by, but I ignored him. I went into the small fishermen’s church by the harbor and knelt in front of the cross. I prayed as hard as I could. Then I went to the cottage of Agnes, the village midwife.

Half an hour later, Agnes washed her hands in a basin and turned to me with a serious mien.

“It is still very early, my lady,” she said. “But I am fairly certain that you are with child.”

“Thank you,” I said, handing her a copper coin.

“I helped your mother when you were born, Lady Mildrith,” she said, maternally holding my hand. “And it grieves me deeply that the Lord took her a week later, despite my best efforts to save her.” She had to pause to clear her throat before she could go on and her eyes were moist. “I promised her that I would care for you when your time came. The child you are carrying –”

But I rose and fled before Agnes could go on. I went back to the fort and locked myself in my bedchamber. I refused to see Edwina when she knocked. I did not go down for the evening meal and only reluctantly opened the door to Grier when he came later in the night. The only reason I did not refuse him was that I was sure he would break down the door if I did.

Grier took me in his arms and carried me to the bed. He hiked up my skirts and petticoats and stripped down my panties, running his lips along my pussy. As his tongue began stimulating my sensitive clitoris, the pleasurable physical sensations made me forget my anxiety. After Grier’s persistent tongue drove me to my first orgasm, I did not protest when he rolled me onto my back, pushed his enormous cockhead into me, and began to fuck me.

But later that night, lying naked in Grier’s arms, the thought of the child growing in my womb returned to torment me. I will give birth to a Danish bastard, I thought. How could this happen to me?

I thought of Grier’s weapons, lying on the floor by the bed. I slowly slid out of his arms, worrying about how he would react. But he just muttered, “Oh, my darling,” in slow, clear, Danish. I reached down and drew his dagger from his belt on the floor.

The moon came out from behind some clouds and the white light shone on his naked body, turning it silver-white. Despite the dark markings of countless cuts and scars, his powerful musculature and handsome face made him a very attractive sight. He was completely unsuspecting, and it would be so easy to kill him now. I raised the dagger and hesitated. He is the father of my baby, I thought. How will I be able to tell my child that I murdered its father?

“Come back into my arms, darling Mildrith,” Grier mumbled, his eyes closed, still half asleep.

I silently lowered the dagger and returned it to its sheath on the floor. When I returned to his arms, he tightened his hold on my naked body and kissed me. I opened my mouth, his tongue entered, and I kissed him back fiercely, angrily. When I opened my eyes after the kiss, I saw that he was wide awake, a playful expression in his blue eyes.

“Thank you for not killing me,” he whispered.

I rolled him over on his back and straddled him. He reached up and cupped my firm breasts. I reached down and found his organ, now rampantly erect. I raised myself, wiggled my bottom till I was in position, and sank, impaling myself on him. He reciprocated and arched his back. This position allowed him to penetrate even more deeply into me.

“Oh, my Lord!” I cried. “Oh! Oooh!! Aah! Aaaah!!”

My panting grew louder with my rising excitement. Eventually, it gave way to full-throated cries as I gave voice to my passion.

“OMIGOD! You’re in so deep! SO VERY DEEP!! FUCK!!”

I was so loud that I woke Edwina, sleeping with Denhaf in her small chamber next door.

The next morning she told me she heard me say “FUCK!” for the first time in her life.

“I crept in, m’lady,” she said, unabashedly. “You were riding Grier, grinding your hips, holding his face between your breasts, while he bucked you. He was true to his nickname, he fucked you like a ramrod.”

“And what of your night with Denhaf,” I responded with a note of irritation.

“Oh, m’lady! He was magnificent. He was so happy when I told him I’m carrying his babe that he fucked me like a man possessed. You would have heard my screams for sure, but with Grier fucking your brains out, you were probably deaf to the world.”

*

2.

Once the work on repairing the fort and the long ships was done, Grier had more time on his hands. He began taking rides with me on the beach in the mornings. He used the horse that had been my father’s personal mount when he was alive. Grier enjoyed riding and spoke of his experience with English horses. I enjoyed riding as well but was still tense with him in public. A typical male, he did not notice these subtleties.

One morning, we returned from our ride to find a great deal of commotion by the gate of the fort. The Danes were all gathered around Denhaf and there was a general hubbub. Grier touched his spurs to his horse and galloped up the rise to the fort and I rode hard in his wake.

“What is the matter?” asked Grier as he leaped off his horse.

“The English!” cried Denhaf, looking relieved to see Grier. “Our scouts report a huge force, hundreds of yeomen and men-at-arms. The leading knights are less than an hour’s ride away.”

“How could they have come so close before our scouts saw them?” asked Grier, clearly angry. “Well, there is no use bemoaning that now. Get the men ready and on to the ships. We must be out to sea before they get here.”

“Yes, Grier,” said Denhaf. He turned to the Danes milling about. “You heard him! Get down to the beach immediately, we must get the ships in the water. Don’t waste time gathering anything other than your weapons. We’ll take more plunder in our next raid.”

I listened to their conversation but could not understand them. While I understood standard Danish, Denhaf and Grier were speaking very rapidly in the colloquial dialect they used among themselves.

He saw me and beckoned me over.

“Lady Mildrith, I am sorry to tell you that we are leaving forthwith. My scouts report that your father-in-law is less than an hour’s ride away and leads a large party of knights and hundreds of yeomen. Our ships are ready, so we will sail as soon as we can get the men aboard.”

“Afraid to face real fighting men?” I asked acidly.

“A wise man only fights when he has to,” Grier said. “We are outnumbered more than three to one, but even so we could probably hold the fort. But then they would burn our ships and we would be trapped here.”

The Danes left Hill Fort very quickly and in good order. They hurried down from the heights of the fort to the shore by the village, where their longships were beached. Edwina and I, along with all of those remaining in the fort clambered up onto the walls to look. Even as the Danes struggled to launch their longships into the waves, the van of the English force came into sight, riding hard. Ealdorman Walter Hollis and Leofric led over fifty battle-ready knights and their supporting retinues, all with weapons drawn. They bypassed the fort and galloped down the slope at the Danes.

All of us on the stockade walls saw Grier argue briefly with Denhaf before the blond giant reluctantly took over marshalling the bulk of the Danes in getting the long ships afloat. Grier and a group of twenty warriors fanned out and formed a defensive rearguard behind a rough perimeter of rocks, protecting the longships from the onrushing horsemen.

“My lady, there are so few Danes facing the knights!” cried Edwina. “And Grier leads them! He will sacrifice himself to save his comrades!”

Tears started from her eyes.

“Good!” I responded, unsympathetically. “I hope the Tunbridge men kill him. It will be even better if they wound him and bring him here for me to kill!”

“Oh, my lady, how can you speak thus?” said Edwina. “Don’t you recall the bliss he gave you ….”

“Hush, you foolish girl!” I snapped, my face reddening, as I glanced at the others within earshot on the wall. I could not bear the thought of my people knowing of my sinful behavior. “I fought the beast with all my might and will rejoice at his death.”

We continued to watch in silence. As the lead horsemen neared the Danish line, Grier rose from cover and flung a spear at Leofric, who led the charge. But the English bailiff was a seasoned campaigner and bent low in the saddle. The spear passed over his shoulder and struck the man just behind him, knocking him from his saddle to be trampled by the following horsemen. Leofric swung at Grier from the saddle, but the Dane managed to get his shield up in time to deflect the blow. However, there was enough weight in the swing to knock him to his knees.

Seeing him thus disadvantaged, a following knight charged in on Grier. As he lunged with his sword, Grier swung at the forelegs of the horse with his own blade. The horse screamed and fell forward, throwing the armored knight, who landed heavily. As he strained to rise, Grier ran him through.

However, with superior numbers and horsemen against infantry without cover, the Danish rearguard was rapidly liquidated. Soon there were only three Danes left standing, and Grier was one of them. All of them were injured.

“Finish these three and get to the shore!” shouted Hollis to Leofric. “Then we can use fire arrows to set their ships alight.”

The bailiff selected six of his men and galloped in to finish off the last three Danes. Grier threw his weapons down and ran for the water, stripping off his mail and leather as he did so. He called to his two surviving men to follow him. They imitated their leader, but both fell under the swords of the onrushing English. Grier managed to get into waist-deep water before beginning to swim strongly after the longships. Grier’s rearguard had bought them enough time to get afloat and a dozen meters out. Even as they rowed frantically, all the ships were hoisting sails to hasten their departure.

Denhaf stood at the stern of one of the longships, exhorting Grier. His stentorian voice carried even up the rise to Newhaven Fort.

“Come on, Grier! You can make it! We’ll back the oars till you get to us!”

Meanwhile, Leofric had dismounted, and a few of his men had strung their bows.

“Kill that murdering Dane!” roared the bailiff. “And get the pitch up here to light the fire arrows!”

The bowmen needed no encouragement. Several arrows splashed into the water around Grier, who continued to swim desperately. Then one struck him and he disappeared below the water’s surface. A cheer went up from the English lines and echoed from the watchers on the fort’s walls. However, Edwina was conspicuously silent, and my cheers were half-hearted. There was a contrasting groan from the decks of the longships.

Then Grier’s head reappeared above the water surface again, prompting a cheer from the Danes. Denhaf threw out a rope, unmindful of the fresh volley of arrows that came from the beach. Edwina put her hands on her mouth and whispered, “Mother Mary, save him!”. She whispered low enough that only I heard her. As soon as Grier grasped the rope, Denhaf bellowed at the crew at the sail, who released the restraining sheets. The sail billowed out immediately, and the longship rapidly gained way. It put a sharp jerk on the rope, but Grier hung on with all his remaining strength.

By the time Leofric’s men got the buckets of pitch to the beach, the Danish longships were safely out of bowshot. Denhaf pulled the rope in and hauled Grier aboard. The Danish chieftain stood for a brief moment and waved at the fort before collapsing into his shipmaster’s arms.

As the Danish longships sailed toward the horizon, I felt a curious sense of emptiness. I descended from the fort wall, followed by Edwina. Once in the courtyard, I commanded the few surviving tenant farmers and laborers in the fort to open the gates to Ealdorman Hollis, Leofric, and my husband.

*

3.

My wedding gown had been cleaned and mended: I...