ay at once that Owen did not come back by Yule. All
that went on in the Cornish court I do not know, but it seemed that
Gerent thought it well that he should not return until the last
hope of victory over Wessex had passed from among his people; and
it may be that he did not wish it to be thought that Owen had any
hand in bringing about the peace which he must needs make. He would
see to that, and take all the blame thereof himself, caring nothing
for any man, if blame there should be from those who set the war on
foot.

So although I waited to hear from time to time as Thorgils came and
went, getting also word from him when some Danish ship crossed to
Watchet, nought was said of Owen's return. And I was not sorry, for
as things went I could not have gone to Dyfed to meet him.

There was the new land we had won to be tended, and for a time the
planning for that was heavy enough. All men know now how it ended
in the building of the mighty fortress of Taunton at the southern
end of the Quantock hills, to bar the passage from West to East for
all time. There is no mightier stronghold in all England than this,
at least of those built by Saxon hands, and there has been none
made like it since Hengist came to this land. It stands some two
miles from where the Romans set Norton, for they had the same need
to curb the wild British as have we, and the place they chose for
their ways of warfare needed little amending for ours.

While that was building, Ina dwelt in the house of some great
British lord at the place we call South Petherton, not far off from
the fortress. As the place pleased him, presently he had a palace
built there for himself, which, as it turned out, Ethelburga the
queen never liked at all. However, that came about in after years.
All day long now he was at Taunton, taking pride in overseeing all,
so that there is no wonder that the place is strong.

As for me, I was with Herewald the ealdorman on the new boundary
line with the levies and the king's own following, guarding against
any new attack, and trying to win the Welsh to friendship. That was
mostly my work, as I knew the tongue, and they knew me as Owen's
foster son. We had some little trouble with them for a time, but
soon, as they came to know the justice of the king, and that he did
not mean to drive them from the land, they became content, and
indeed there were many who welcomed a strong hand over them.

Presently there would be Saxon lords over