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Uhtred sat on the bench in his cell with Gene; her feet were propped up in his lap as they sat silently.

"I'm pregnant." She said, filling the silence. Uhtred turned to her in worry as he glanced at her stomach. She laughed at his face and curled up against his arm.

"It is too soon for me to begin showing, Uhtred." The Dane laid his head on her own as he began to regret his decisions.

"Gene, if anything happens to your child...." He trailed off, not being able to finish the thought.

"Uhtred, nothing will happen to me or my child. I swear it. And if something were to happen, I would never blame you." Uhtred kissed her forehead softly as they once more sat in silence when Aethelflaed walked in.

"Is there to be a trial or a simple execution?" He asked with a smirk as he stood.

"Uhtred, my mother intended to cut your throat, but she has been persuaded to revert to banishment. You are to leave Winchester and Wessex and never return." Aethelflaed pleaded as she held Uhtred's hand. She looked at Gene in concern, and she waved the brunette off.

"And what of Edward? What of the king's letter, his pardon? Does that count for nothing?" Uhtred asked in annoyance and confusion.

"Uhtred, you must leave, or she will have you killed. The same goes for you, Gene." Gene rolls her eyes at the claim. She wasn't scared of a widow.

"Find Beocca, I must speak to Beocca. Fetch him, please." She gives him a look of sympathy as she hesitates. Gene straightened up at that and walked to her friend.

"I cannot fetch him. He has trials enough."

"What trials?" Uhtred asked.

"I am here. I have heard what the lady said, and I am here to beg you, Uhtred, to stay." Beocca says from the entryway. Gene placed a hand on Uhtred's back in dread.

"Father Beocca, he cannot stay." Aethelflæd claims, and Beocca ignores her.

"There will be a hearing?"

"Perhaps." She says quietly.

"And we shall be heard, we must." Beocca said determinedly.

"What has happened?" Beocca ignores him.

"Accept a trial and speak out. If you do not, the devil will have won." Beocca satiated in anger.

"Beocca?"

"Do not go against what you helped to build." Beocca continued.

"There is a change in you." Beocca walked to Uhtred with watery eyes.

"Thyra is with God...the Gods, even." Beocca whispered sadly; Gene frowned at the news and hugged Uhtred from behind.

"How?" Uhtred asked with sadness. He was glad he had Gene with him for comfort, and he gripped her arms around his torso.

"Fire. Set by good Christian men, no doubt." He says with bitterness.

"Which men?"

"She is with Gisela now. She is with her mother. We cannot allow ourselves to be consumed by her death. All that Alfred stood for us was crumbling. You, Uhtred, cannot be dragged into the shadows. You must become the light." Uhtred and Beocca place their foreheads against one another and cry.

Not long after, the door opens again, and Steapa shows himself.

"It's time," They walk through the halls when he speaks again. "I am to take you to the frontier of Mercia to witness you leaving Wessex." Steapa explained to them.

"Lord? What is this, a hunting party?" Finan asked when he saw Uhtred. Sihtric quickly checks her for injuries and fails to hold back Erik, who rushes to her side. Sihtric and Osferth held back Eithne and Fintan; Gene kissed her son's head as she walked with Uhtred.

"I am an outlaw once again, to be banished or executed." He says with amusement.

"Do no fret, husband. It will be over soon enough." She said it with a playful smile, and Sihtric relaxed immediately.

"Should we follow you, lord? Leave Winchester for the Danes?" Uhtred stops when he hears what Sihtric said and turns to Gene and Erik.

"Lord? Lady? Walk," Steapa motioned to the horse as Uhtred turned to Edward. "Uhtred, you will get up onto your horse." Uhtred sighed, slowly held his hands, and showed off the letter.

"I am a free man; I have a letter of pardon. It bears the king's seal, written in the king's hand. Does the word of Alfred count for nothing in Winchester now that he is gone?" Uhtred shouts as he turns.

"And you are a man who once held a knight to the king's throat!" Ælswith shouts in anger. Gene rolled her eyes as she stoked her son's blonde hair; her son held her close as she listened.

Show us one witness who can say this letter was written willingly. One witness." The bishop says smugly, and Uhtred looks away.

"There was no witness."

"We are gifting you your life! You shall be grateful and leave this land in peace!" Ælswith says.

"There will be no peace, lady. War is coming! There is a Dane army marching this moment, and I will abandon the people of Wessex—" He is quickly interrupted by the Ælswith.

"Who do you think you are? Steapa!" The man in question unsheathed his sword as two men grabbed Uhtred.

"Lady Ælswith, I cannot let this injustice go unchallenged. If Uhtred of Bebbanburg claims to have been made a free man by King Alfred, we cannot dismiss it so lightly. Only a king can deny a king." Beocca defends the man.

"Wessex has no king." Aethelwold says in bitterness.

"We have Edward Rex."

"The Witan decides who is king." Aethelwold hissed out.

"Edward is the aetheling." Uhtred adds.

"He has no authority. He is Alfred's son and no more. I'm sure the monasteries are full of Alfred's bastard sons. Do all bastards have a claim to the crown?" Aethelwold claims with a smirk.

"The people would vote in a bastard than you any day, rat." Gene said with a smirk and felt Steapa pat her back in amusement.

"Bishop Erkenwald, you will end this display."

"King or not, if Edward believes the letter of pardon to be untrue, then I will leave Wessex." Uhtred offers as he looks directly at Edward.

"Steapa, you will return the prisoners to the palace. This is no place for such decisions." The bishop orders as the two Danes are grabbed.

"This is precisely the place. Justice must be seen, to be done." Beocca replied with a glare.

"Steapa! Unhand the prisoners. Though he remains a prisoner, I will allow lord Uhtred to speak. He has earned that right." Edward ordered instead with a determined look and then looked at her. "Lady Genevieve, you are free to join your husband and children." Ælswith snarled at that, and Gene looked at the widow smugly. Sihtric pulled her into his arms. When she was close enough, her other two children hugged her, too. She kissed Sihtric briefly and stayed cuddled into his chest.

"Though you have not, lord, not yet. You have no authority."

"Do you object to the people bearing witness to justice, lord Aethelwold?" Edward says, shutting the boy up.

"I do not."

"Uhtred, the king swore that you were to die. Why the change in his heart?" Edward questioned, and Uhtred sighed.

"Because he believed that I deserved his forgiveness."

"Is that a boast?" Ælswith questioned.

"Look at his chronicle. I am there on every page."

"That is a lie! You are not named, even once." Ælswith screamed in anger.

"But I am there, unwritten lady, but I am there. The Warriors of Wessex and the Danes know it, which is what the king told me. I am with him from the Somerset marshes to Ethandun, and with all the battles that have followed, we have bonded him and me.  He was the man that I could never be, nor did I wish to be. He was the man that I loved and despised, but it was never less than an honor to serve him. He was my king, and he did not wish to go to his God without granting me what I have earned many times over, my freedom." The crowd begins to murmur about when he finishes.

"But the question remains: why did he choose not to announce it?"

"You will remember my great friend, Leofric, a warrior and a Saxon to the bone. He told me once that I could never better Alfred because 'the bastard thinks,' he said." The crowd chuckles. "Perhaps your father chose not to announce my freedom for this reason so that people could witness their new king, Edward, dispensing justice. Fairly, I hope."

"Will you accept the decision of Edward Rex?" Beocca asked.

"I will give you my word."

"Lord?" Beocca questioned.

"Again, I say, and with respect, the boy does not have the power to make such a statement. He is an aetheling and nothing more. He is no more an heir to the crown than myself." Aethelwold snapped in envy and hatred.

"Lord, the decision is yours to make." Beocca glares at Aethelwold.

"My father, King Alfred, demanded loyalty, unity. He believed in his God and doubted those who did not," Edward begins to walk to Uhtred, and Finan readied himself to unsheathe his sword if necessary. "A heathen would not be trusted completely until he has embraced Alfred's god as his own. And yet, it was a heathen he did trust most. It was the word of Uhtred that he respected most. Uhtred of Bebbanburg, I find the letter written by my father to be true. Alfred's pardon does stand. You are a free man, able to choose your own path." The crowd cheers.

"May I ask? Lord Uhtred, may I ask now that you are a free man once, where will your path lead? I would like to know?" Beocca questioned the Dane.

"Steapa, my sword. One day, Father, I hope my path will eventually lead north to Bebbanburg, but not that I believe I am needed here. I will follow Edward Rex." Edward pulls Uhtred into a hug.