I almost felt sorry for Siward trying to take all this in. His mouth opened and closed like a fish’s. “Perhaps Wynter ran away during the fight, which was clearly lost, and is now ashamed...”
“Wynter would never have left him.”
He knew it, of course; everyone knew it. The shame I had sensed so clearly in Wynter during our brief encounter had been at lying to me, not at deserting his lord. With a hint of desperation, Siward said, “But Leofric was knocked unconscious before the fight ever left the hall! He was still under the table when we found him.”
“He was back under the table when you found him. Asselin told me that Leofric shouted from the gate that the gang were coming. That was when he and the other Normans ran away. None of them killed Hereward.” According to Asselin... “But the g
