Gydrid blinked. “What?”
Garvan nodded at the discarded arrowhead.
“Oh yes! Yes indeed, I shall keep it with me for scale. Good idea.” Gydrid leaned forward, inhaled the scent of the flower, and then rose to his feet. He had already forgotten the arrowhead.
Garvan smiled and picked it up when Gydrid left to investigate something else that had caught his eye. He shook is head and followed ready to offer it to his lord when needed.
“We have visitors, m’lord,” Garvan said, stopping to watch the riders approach.
“So I see. Let us go see who it is.” Gydrid hurried toward the newcomers.
Gydrid noted the guardsmen peeling away from the road and dismounting. He assumed they would camp in the field, but apart from dismounting, they did nothing other than wait.
“I believe lady Analise is found,” Gydrid murmured.
“M’lord?”
“There see? Talking with Dorjan.”
“I see her, m’lord. She don’t look happy.”
“No.”
She didn’t at that. Dorjan, the poor man, was taking the brunt of her anger, but he had wide shoulders. He could stand it.
“On second thought…” Gydrid said slowing his steps as he came within hearing distance of Analise. “Maybe I should hide.”
“She don’t sound happy, m’lord. Better retreat. I’ll hold her off for as long as I can.”
Gydrid laughed and went to meet Analise for the first time.
“Who is this grinning simpleton?” Analise said looking him up and down and obviously finding him wanting. “Where is your lord, man?”
Dorjan coughed and would have spoken, but a quick headshake from Gydrid held his tongue.
Gydrid gave Analise a cheeky grin followed by a handsome bow. “I believe it is I you have come to see, lady. Gydrid of Fortress Meilan at your service.”
Analise’s eyes widened a moment, but then they narrowed in speculation. Gydrid wondered what had occurred to her. Something had, he was certain.
“You?” Analise said scornfully. “You are Lord Gydrid? You’re nothing but a boy.”
“I thank you for the compliment. Good looks are a family trait I’m told.”
“That’s not what I...” Analise began to say. Dorjan grinned, and her own captain was not far from it. She started again. “I am not here to discuss your looks, sir. By what right do you interfere in my affairs?”
“By what right you ask? Why, none. Rather say I intervened as a matter of duty. Outlawry is of concern to us all. My duty to the kingdom is clear. Yours also.”
“My duty is to my father. It is my concern and none of yours!”
“Not so, lady. You are my concern and my lord father’s concern also. Do you deny that you are the heir to your father’s lands, and that you are unwed?”
“I deny nothing.”
Gydrid smiled. “Then the matter is settled. Let us take our ease in my tent. I shall have food and wine brought.” He offered his arm.
“Nothing is settled.” Analise pointedly refused to take it. She turned instead to her captain as escort.
Gydrid’s smile slipped at that, but he quickly replaced it upon his lips lest she see his disappointment. He had hoped for more from the lady of Chaidren Ridge. Ah well, he mused as they walked through the camp, times had changed, and for the worse it seemed. No longer was a scion of Meilan accorded the respect due his position. To be a son of Meilan had been held as a great honour, and a great responsibility. It still was in his family, but outside it? No. The Fortresses were simply ignored by the lords most times, and simply tolerated the rest of the time.
Upon entering his tent, Gydrid seated the lady upon his stool and offered to have another brought for her captain.
“I shall stand,” Ballard said and moved to stand behind his lady.
“As you wish.” Gydrid said and sat upon his cot. “The wine shall be here shortly.”
Analise had been studying some of the papers upon his table, but now she looked away and focused upon him. She had startlingly lovely eyes. They were a very rich green like emeralds found at the bottom of a pool.
“I was told you have my father’s murderers here,” Analise said. “I want to see them.”
“You were told that I would execute them without you should you decide not to join me,” Gydrid corrected. “The brigands are not in camp.”
“What?!”
“Calm yourself. They shall not escape you, Lady; that I swear. Tomorrow I will take you to them.”
“I would see them now. Tell me where they are and I will leave you to journey on to Devarr.”
Gydrid shook his head. “Tomorrow... ah, here is the wine.” He rose to take the tray from Dorjan. He filled two pewter cups with wine and held one out to Analise. “You must excuse the primitive conditions, my lady. I did not expect the need to entertain on this trip.”
“You seem well enough prepared for that to me.”
Gydrid smiled at the acid in Analise’s words. “I can assure you that my men and I are just as prepared for battle. Do not be fooled by my accommodations.”
“I have a right to see justice served upon my father’s murderers,” Analise said doggedly pursuing her goal. “You are on my lands, sir, not your brother’s.”
“Actually, we’re not. I checked.”
Analise frowned.
“We are camped upon Lord Atherton’s side of your border. I have permission, by the by, to camp and roam freely. Lady Anah was most understanding when I made her aware of our little quest. Lord Atherton has already left for Devarr.”
“I have a right—”
Gydrid sighed. He was already bored with the conversation. “Analise... may I call you Analise?”
“You may call me lady Analise.”
“Analise, this bickering is both petty and boring. I have things of greater import to discuss than whose lands we currently camp upon.”
“Such as?”
“Your marriage for one.”
Analise’s eyes blazed. “My marriage or lack of marriage is none of your concern, sir! I would take it kindly if you kept to the matter at hand.”
“It is of concern to my father the King, and hence to me. You are heir to Chaidren Ridge. You are unmarried, which makes you a ward of the King.”
Analise stared in stricken silence. Her captain shifted uneasily behind her. Gydrid sympathised with Analise, but he knew his father. He knew that, unlike Kings past, Gylaren would never bestow a lord’s lands to another family... certainly not while an heir survived.
“Lady Anietta should hold Chaidren,” Ballard began.
“You know better. Forgive me, Captain, but you know better than that. Lady Anietta’s rights to Chaidren passed from her with the death of her consort. Besides that, her temperament would exclude her even should my father break all custom and give Chaidren to a woman, which he most assuredly will not.”
“You insult my mother, sir!” Analise said, rallying her wits.
Gydrid raised a hand. “Not at all. Her abilities are common knowledge. Your mother is not the issue in any case. You are the King’s ward, not her. Chaidren is now his to hold, at least until you be wed.”
“I will not be forced into marriage!”
“There is no question of that. You may marry or not as you choose. If you choose not, then Chaidren will pass from your family to another. Is that what you want?”
“What I want doesn’t seem to matter, does it?” She stood to take her leave. “I hold you to your oath, sir. You shall produce my father’s murderers tomorrow or be known as a liar throughout the kingdom.”
Gydrid let the insult slip by him. “You will see them tomorrow.”
Analise performed the merest curtsy, and left. She did not see Gydrid bow.
* * *
9 ~ Brigands
Analise awoke to the sound of quiet converse. She rolled over beneath her blankets and yawned widely trying to find the energy to rise.
“…it mean?�
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“It means the King will give her to a lord for heirs. He needs a lord at Chaidren loyal to him.”
“…not fair… should marry Lord Llewyd like Lord Garth wanted afore he died…”
Analise listened to her guards speculate on the meaning of her wedding and her new status. It had been too much to hope for that Gydrid’s revelation would remain a secret. She was a ward of the King, which meant Gylaren and Gylaren alone would decide her fate. It was easy for Gydrid to make light of her situation—he was not the one who would be consorted to some lord in his dotage. She threw her blankets angrily aside. She would not marry, and there was an end to it.
“I don’t like him.”
“Lord Llewyd’s a hard man to like, and that’s a fact. You’ve heard the stories same as me. Would you let your daughter near him?”
“I’d put my dagger in him first!”
“Uh huh, that’s what I mean.”
Analise tried to shut the voices out. She did not want to marry Llewyd or anyone, but she must marry. She must secure Chaidren for her family. She squeezed her eyes shut wanting the oblivion of sleep, but unaccountably she kept seeing Gydrid. He was insufferable—just a fair-featured boy with a mocking smile. A boy that acted like a man, a boy who knew far too much and was far too interested in her affairs!
Analise stood and found a cloak to cover herself. She knew she would never get back to sleep now. She might as well get ready for the new day.
“Shush… did you hear something?”
Analise smiled a grim smile. “One of you fetch me a bucket of fresh water,” she said into the darkness.
Ulp. “Aye, lady.”
After washing and dressing, Analise stepped outside to greet the new day. The sun had risen while she dressed, but the dew was still heavy upon the ground and the sun had yet to top the trees. Her guards followed her as she walked through the camp. Some of the men were cooking a quick meal while others tended the horses. She noted Ballard’s sentries walking the perimeter and approved of the measure. Gydrid, on the other hand, had not bothered with a guard. By the God, that made her angry. He was relying on her men to protect his!
Analise spotted Gydrid standing alone breaking his fast and decided to have words with him. She marched straight through his camp trying to ignore the looks and whispers. She didn’t care what they thought of her. She did care about her rights.
“She’s in a hurry.”
“Where’s she going now? She needs a man to settle her…”
“…be trouble I reckons.”
Analise gritted her teeth and stormed up to the boy. “Lord Gydrid, you—”
Gydrid turned and bowed. “Good morning, lady. A bright and beautiful day for riding I should think. Have you eaten?”
“No I—”
“Here,” Gydrid offered her a battered looking plate upon which there was a buttered roll with a wedge of cheese beside. “One is enough for me of a morning.”
“I am not hungry,” she said just as her stomach rumbled. Gydrid’s lips twitched, but at least he had the decency not to laugh. “Just the one then,” she said through gritted teeth and took the roll.
Gydrid smiled and nodded toward his captain overseeing some of the men on the other side of the camp. “Dorjan thinks I do you wrong by holding the prisoners for your inspection. He recommended that I execute them before your arrival.”
“If you had, I would never have forgiven you,” Analise said, hastily swallowing and coughing at the bread’s dryness.
“Here, sip some of this.” Gydrid offered a cup of water sweetened with wine. “I knew that would be your answer. If my father had been slain in similar circumstances, I would have hunted his murderers till the end of my days if necessary.”
Analise washed the bread down. “I loved him very much, but because I’m a woman, Ballard would have forbidden me from coming.”
Gydrid waved a hand at the camp. “Yet here you are.”
Analise reddened. “I threatened his removal from command.”
“I heard.”
Analise wondered who had told him. Certainly Ballard would not have spoken of it. “You have no sentries set. Are you really so confident of your safety?”
“You mean am I confident relying upon yours?” Gydrid smiled. “Not hardly. Not to cast doubt upon your men, lady, but a man standing guard in the open is a target, while a man in hiding—perhaps even up in a tree—is safe and may still give warning.”
“In a tree?” Analise looked intently into the woods. “You have men in those woods?”
“Not now, they’re sleeping, but last night I did.”
“I see.” Perhaps the rumours of Gydrid’s ineptness in the manly arts were false. “When can I see the prisoners?”
“We can go now if you wish it. I’ll leave my men here under Dorjan and take only a light guard.”
Analise turned to find her horse. “Let us go at once.”
“I think you should inform your captain first.”
Analise nodded, her face burning. “I shall be ready in a half candlemark.”
“I’ll await your coming,” Gydrid said solemnly and bowed.
Analise left feeling faintly confused. On the one hand, Gydrid was being most polite and courteous, but on the other, he had interfered in her affairs in a most underhanded manner. One moment she felt angry with him for being so overbearing and she was determined to tell him so, the next moment she remembered his smile and was warmed by it.
Ballard noticed her horse being prepared and hurried over. “Lady?”
“Lord Gydrid is assembling his guard. He will escort me to see the prisoners.”
“No, lady, I cannot allow that.”
“You cannot allow?” Analise said in amazement. “You cannot prevent it! How dare you question me?”
“I would dare far worse than your anger to see you safe, lady. I shall assemble a like number of men to join Lord Gydrid’s guard.”
Analise opened her mouth to berate Ballard, but then she snapped it shut almost strangling on the shriek she wanted to utter. She wasn’t made of glass! She didn’t need to be followed everywhere she went. They were smothering her! But then, when had it been any different? While her father was alive, he had escorted mother and her as a noble lord should of course, but what was the real difference in who escorted her? She hadn’t felt smothered when escorted by her father. She had felt loved and safe. Now she felt angry all the time. It wasn’t Ballard’s fault. He hadn’t changed, he was the man he had always been—it was her.
“Very well, Captain. See to it.”
“At once, my lady.” Ballard stormed away, roaring at his men.
Analise turned and with a little assistance from a guardsman, she mounted her horse.
Gydrid waited at the head of his men. She urged her horse into a trot to join him. He bowed from the saddle and didn’t seem surprised to see Ballard at the head of twenty guardsmen approaching.
“Shall we go?”
Analise nodded. “Where are we going?”
“The keep.”
“You have them imprisoned at Atherton? How did that happen?”
Gydrid shrugged. “I paid my respects to Lady Anah and to ask her permission to roam her lord’s lands freely. She gave it and offered her dungeons for my use. I accepted.”
“But how did you know the brigands were on her lands?”
“Ah well, I sent my scouts looking for you as soon as I knew you were hunting your father’s murderers. I was confident I could find both you and them. I received word the third day that there was fire at Greenwall.”
Analise frowned. “Not the village?”
“No, thank the God, I was in time to prevent that. The villagers tried to stop the raiders by burning the bridge across the Chelmer. The brigands were swimming their horses across when I arrived. I asked them to desist, and they did.”
“Asked them?”
“My men are very good with their bows, lady. Very good indeed,” Gydrid said grimly.
<
br /> Analise eyed the bow stave strapped to Gydrid’s saddle. “And you?”
“I can hit what I aim at most of the time, but I haven’t the arms to do more.”
Analise looked him over and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “I had heard that you were more a scholar than soldier.”
Gydrid shrugged. “That’s true enough.”
“You look capable.”
Gydrid looked more than capable. As she had noted before, he was good looking—wide shouldered and tall with slim hips and good legs. She eyed the bulging muscle at his thigh and knew he had spent much of his time in the saddle, yet he claimed to be a scholar.
“You ride well,” she said hoping to draw him out.
“I thank you.”
“You say you are a scholar. What do you study?”
“Everything. I don’t like to limit my studies. Sometimes my duty guides me toward something new and interesting.”
“How so?”
Gydrid turned in his saddle and pulled out a worn looking book from his pack. “I found this at a market when I visited Bethel for my brother.” He handed her the book. “It’s ancient. Please be careful.”
Analise carefully leafed through the book. The pages were almost brittle with age and the script was hard to read. It wasn’t just that the pages were yellowed, it was the manner of the writing itself. Analise found herself struggling to read a few lines.
“It is a… fallacy?” Analise said uncertainly and Gydrid nodded in encouragement. “A fallacy of those supposedly more knowledgeable…” She shook her head. “I can hardly make out the words.”
Gydrid took back the book and smoothed the cover in his hands. “It is very old. I believe it dates from the Founding.”
“Is that likely?”
“No, but there are a few texts left from that time. I have come to recognise writings from those days. I know this book is genuine, though my brother doubts me. I have heard there are many others at Athione. I would very much like to study them there.”
“The Great Library is for mages.”
“Not so, lady, it has two halls. One is indeed for mages; the other is for anyone who wishes to study. I am no mage, but still I would like to read those books—even the magical tomes.” He sighed wistfully. “They are a part of our history.”
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