A Queen's First Steps

Bertha's Tale: A Novel - episode 1

A creative retelling, based on truth but not intended to be read as historical fact.

Bertha’s Voice 
c. A.D. 580 
Canterbury, Kent

She had never been across the sea before. She had, never, in fact, been further than a day’s journey from her home. And yet here she was, in her new kingdom, Kent.

The journey had been long and arduous, full of steely grey skies and steely grey waters. The wind had whipped ice-cold on her face as she travelled across the body of water that separated her homeland, Francia, from her destination. Great sprays of seawater, salty in her eyes, wet on her skin, and soaked into her clothes, splashed as the oarsmen rowed the great ship over the waves. She’d had to grip onto the slippery wooden sides to steady herself as her stomach churned and her body began to shiver.