Chapter 5Barking Abbey, Lunden, 694 - 695 AD
The open road across the South Saxon downs made for easier and safer travelling. The Abbey at Barking, a wooden-palisaded enclosure near the great river containing many structures, made a welcome sight to Cynethryth. This was no unimportant backwater but, as Cuthburga had promised, the most important nunnery in the land.
It cannot have been a welcome sight to their guide, who having fulfilled his task, was no longer of use to his captors.
“Kneel and prepare to meet your Maker!” Guthred shoved the wretch to the ground.
“I beg of you, Lord Guthred,” Cynethryth intervened with formal tone, “show mercy to this miserable creature, in the sight of God.”
“What and let him return to his ways of killing and thieving? Maybe if we blinded him or cut o
