They Counted Me Like Cargo, So I Took the War novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Took the War
Seren and Corvus married at the ford.
The old king had wanted Highcourt, the great hall, the bells.
Seren had said the hall was where they'd chained him to a ring for the hounds, and his father hadn't argued after that.
So it was the gravel bar in the middle of the Wend, at noon, with no pavilion and no canopy.
Both banks were full to the tree line.
It didn't rain.
It was the first dry day at that ford since Seren had come to it.
He wore his wedding coat of Caerwen blue.
Garrow had found it in a chest at the camp, still stiff with river mud.
The cook's wife had spent two days getting the Wend out of it.
Corvus wore Varran black and the red cloak and no sword at all.
The priest from the Hollin chapel stood between them with his book open.
He was so frightened of the lords on both banks that his hands shook.
Nobody read out a list.
The herald stood on the west bank with his hat in his hands and his mouth shut.
He looked happier than Seren had ever seen him.
The Varran clerk stood on the east bank with his tally book closed under his arm.
The priest asked Seren if he came freely.
"Yes," Seren said.
He asked Corvus.
"Yes," Corvus said, and then, because the priest was still looking at him, "Obviously."
Both banks laughed.
The old king laughed in his litter until he coughed, and the gaoler's sister made him stop.
Then Corvus put his hand on the back of Seren's neck, the way he had at the cook fire.
He kissed him in the middle of the river in front of two kingdoms.
He kissed him for a long time.
Somewhere in the fourth company, someone started The Farrier's Son.
Somebody else started the verse with the stick in it, and they fought about it all the way through.
Nobody counted the guests.
Nobody counted the wine.
The broken-nosed captain tried to take bets on how long the oak cot would last.
Garrow put a silver coin on "forever."
It was full dark when they got away.
The tent was the same tent, on the east bank, with the canvas patched where the clerk's knife had come through.
The oak cot stood where it had stood, with Garrow's red ribbon still tied round one leg.
Someone had put a second ribbon on the other.
Corvus tied the flap shut.
Then he turned round and looked at Seren in his blue coat by the brazier, and didn't move.
"You wore that the first day," he said.
"It was wet the first day."
"I remember."
His voice had gone rough.
"I stood in the river and watched them count you in it, and I wanted to kill every man on that bank."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of They Counted Me Like Cargo, So I Took the War are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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