Viking Love Beyond Time (Time Travel Romance) by Kathryn Anderson

a wagonload of straw pulled by an ox walked slowly in front of them, dropping stalks to mix with the mud.  There were open rubbish pits outside almost every house and the stench of these almost took Alodie’s breath away.  She had never smelled anything quite so appalling in her life, the whole village seemed to reek of a mixture of unwashed bodies and dung, both human and animal. 
    A scream of hysterical laughter made her turn her head to a group of filthy, almost naked children who were screaming and giggling as they wrestled in the mud.  Alodie could not even begin to bring herself to think of the germs they must be exposed to.  Added to this cacophony was the high pitched shouting of the women, the grumbling baritone reply of the men and the various noises made by the dogs, cats, goats, hens and pigs which were either wandering free or tethered next to the houses.  Alodie had never seen such a collection of exotic animals in her life.
    As they progressed through the village, the inhabitants showed their respect  to Oswy by either knuckling their foreheads or curtseying, a practice which Alodie found amazing - in the twenty fifth century power, prestige and wealth were gained not by an accident of birth but by what a person accomplished during his or her life and as for one person making an obeisance to another, why it was unimaginable.
    The track and village sprawled up a small rise, in the lee of which was a tiny hut, set apart and back from the rest.  This dwelling seemed to be even filthier than the rest  and  Alodie’s attention was taken by the screams and giggles of a group of children who were gathered round the tiny window.  The larger ones seemed to be lifting the smaller children up to enable them to view what was  going on in the interior of the hovel.
    As they passed, the door flew open and a fat man appeared, fastening a pair of filthy hose.  The children scattered like flies, screaming with a mixture of  hilarity and fear. “Bugger off yer imps o’Satan!” snarled the man and, throwing a couple of coins to a slatternly woman of indeterminate age who had appeared in the doorway behind him, he mounted an underfed pony and, touching his greasy cap to Oswy, rode off.
    Noticing Alodie’s look of amazement Oswy grinned.  “Hyld the bawd - does a necessary job!  I trust you won’t need to visit her though Nephew, tried her myself a few times when my wife was away, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re desperate.  She comes in useful though, has a brat a year and rents her dugs out for wet nursing”
    “Where are her children now?” asked Alodie.
    “Graveyard, mostly” he replied.  Alodie’s retort was stillborn as they arrived at a high hedge and passing through a gap came to a barn somewhat larger than the rest, surrounded by outbuildings around which several hens were pecking.
    A chubby cheeked woman was spreading wet clothes on the hedge and on hearing the horses she turned and bobbed.  Oswy smiled, then, waving his hand expansively at the barn said “Well, we’re home, I trust you’ll be comfortable, a bit better than what you’re used to in Bohemia I’ll be bound”
    Home? thought Alodie The boss man of the area lives here?  I’m going  to be sick, I can’t stand it I really can’t.  The filth, the squalor, the smell...... and for the first time in her life Alodie Austen fainted.
    *****************
    Emma lay on her bed, her hands behind her head, staring at the rafters.  She fancied she could see the face of a warrior there in the grain of the wood.
    She was a tall, well built , slightly plump young woman of twenty nine.  Some considered her to be good looking although she was probably past marriage now.  Still, a widowed thegn who needed a lady to look after his house might just propose if she were able to meet one.  Time was running out.
    She sighed and clambering from the bed, crossed to the dressing chest  and took up the hand mirror given to her as a