He finally cleared the gate, allowing it to swing freely, and made his way back towards the cottage by way of the stables. He decided to cut through them, intending to come out the back way where his home lay.
As he approached, he heard a young girl’s voice. He thought it was Anna, but upon listening more, the voice sounded older. Entering the stables, he was unexpectedly faced with Princess Margaret. She had just ridden into the stables, and the stable master was taking the reins, as a stable boy helped her dismount. She was wearing a blue dress, similar in style to the one her mother had been wearing earlier in the day, but less ornate. She saw Gerald enter, briefly noticing his presence but ignoring him. She remarked how much the stable stunk, and then stomped off back to the Hall.
He didn't think much about it at the time, but later, as he sat eating in the cottage, he realized that if Princess Margaret had been out riding, the queen must have been talking to someone else. Who was this mysterious girl in the green dress?
He didn't see the girl in the green dress anymore, but two days later, he heard the queen was leaving. He watched from the stable as she and the princess exited the Hall. Once again, the servants were standing in line. This time the queen ignored them, walking straight to the carriage. She bid her daughter to enter the coach and then, with only a brief glance at an upstairs window, climbed into the carriage.
There was the shortest of delays, then the driver cracked the whip, and the horses began trotting out. The queen was leaving early; this did not bode well for the staff.
Gerald avoided the other servants until dinner, hoping this time he could talk to them, and find out how the visit went. He heard a sobbing noise as was just about to go into the servant’s entrance. Following the sound, he found Anna sitting in the back garden on a stone bench. She was wearing the same green dress that was on the child the queen had been talking to a few days earlier. Could the queen have been speaking to Anna?
He came and sat down beside Anna, trying to figure out how to comfort her. "Anna, is everything alright?"
"No," she choked out, "everything is not alright! Everything is terrible. I hate this place; I wish I'd never been brought here." She clutched the end of her dress, and he saw where the lining had caught on a bush or something. There was a small tear, and she was absently fingering it. He sat in companionable silence for a moment or two and thought of what to say.
As he was doing this, Mary, the scullery maid, come out of the servant’s entrance and came over to them.
"Cook says to tell you that dinner is on the table. You two need to get washed up before coming in for dinner," she said, oblivious to Anna's inner turmoil.
"I ripped my dress," the sad little girl squeaked out.
"Not to worry," the maid retorted, "you'll get another one next year when she comes back. You make it sound like it's the end of the world!"
Gerald was incensed by the callous treatment Mary was dishing out but held his tongue. There was something going on here that he was not seeing.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, perhaps with a little more venom than he had intended.
The maid was quick to make amends, "Forgive me, Master Groundskeeper. I merely meant the queen always brings a fresh dress for the princess when she visits. That one won't fit her much longer anyway at the rate she's growing. Now you'd best get inside before Cook loses her temper." She disappeared back into the house.
It felt like a slap in the face as he comprehended the enormity of the word he had just heard. 'Princess?' He turned to face Anna, and suddenly things began to make their way through his addled head. "Anna?" he asked softly. "Are you a princess?"
She nodded slowly, not daring to speak.
"And the queen is your mother?"
"Yes," she muttered. "She only visits once a year. I thought that maybe this year she'd take me back, but she left early. She doesn't want anything to do with me!" As she let out the words, the tears began to flow in great sobs. She instinctively turned to Gerald and hugged him. He held her gently, feeling sad at the way her mother had treated her.
He moved to place her at arm’s length. "It's all right, Your Highness, you'll be fine."
"No, I won't," she stammered. "Don't you see? Everybody treats me different. Nobody wants me, all they see is a rich spoilt brat."
Gerald became acutely aware that Anna was not just a little girl, she was a member of the Royal Family. There could be huge ramifications for any actions he took with her. Even allowing her into town could suddenly become an enormous problem. He stiffened in his seat, suddenly aware of the deep water he had been treading.
Anna looked at him. "See, even you treat me different now. Just because I'm royalty, everyone hates me."
He saw that she was right, and yet he acknowledged to himself that even a child needs a friend, not a courtier. "You're right," he finally agreed, “people do treat you differently, but I'm still your friend Anna. You'll get through this, I promise. And besides, you have friends."
"Who," she responded. "Who do I have that are friends?"
"Well, for a start there's Tempus over there. He looks anxious."
She cast her eyes over at her faithful dog. The dog seemed to see the worry in her eyes and wandered over to her, nuzzling her affectionately. She buried her face in the massive neck and cried. "I wish I had never been born!"
"Anna!" Gerald exclaimed. “Don't say that. You're a wonderful person. Besides, we still have to work on the maze garden, prepare it for winter. You don't want all that work to go for nought, do you?"
She withdrew her face from her dog and looked at him with a determined expression. "I suppose that's true." She looked as if she was almost admitting to the inevitable fate.
"Good, cause I'd hate to have to do all the work myself. I'm getting old you know."
That brought at least the hint of a smile to her face.
"Let's get you cleaned up and get some dinner into you. I bet Cook's made something special tonight," he tempted.
He stood up and held out his hand. Anna placed her hand in his, and they began to walk up to the Hall, Tempus following slowly behind. She took a few steps and stopped suddenly, bringing Gerald to a halt.
"Gerald?" she begged. "Make me a promise?"
"Anything you like, Princess," he responded.
"Can we still be friends, like before?" she asked.
"Of course," he responded.
"And can you just call me Anna, not Your Highness or Princess?" she queried.
Gerald stooped to her level to answer. "Yes, Anna, I promise you."
She smiled and hugged him. "Thank you," she said in a much more matter of fact manner. "Now let's go get some food before it's all gone.”
They wandered up to the Hall to the waiting dinner table.
Chapter 13
The Seasons Pass
Winter 953/954 MC
IT took some time for Gerald to become accustomed to Anna's parentage. She had always been the little girl with the dirty feet to him, and yet he could not quite come to grips with the fact that her father was the King of Merceria.
It was the middle of winter. He was sitting in front of his nice warm fire of an evening; some mulled cider in his tankard. He had been reading with the oil lamp by his side but had found his attention wandering.
He was thinking of Anna, and how he could help her, but every time his mind began to work on the problem he would get caught up in her situation. He just couldn't understand why she was treated so badly by her own family. He was reading a book that Baron Fitzwilliam had sent him a few months ago. It was about the Royal Houses of Merceria. He had been such a fool not to have reasoned out Anna's identity. Obviously, Fitz knew, so why hadn't he seen it for himself. He let out a sigh and turned the page. The Illuminated book contained a drawing of King Andred, the current ruler, and, he had to remind himself, Anna's father. Holy Brothers had carefully made the hand-crafted book in Wincaster and, unlike most books, Fitz had paid the Brothers to illustrate it.
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The ink drawing of Andred was remarkable, showing off the man’s black hair and short, cropped beard, just as he remembered it. He examined the picture carefully, trying to see a resemblance to Anna, but he just couldn't. There was just no way that the blond-haired girl looked like him.
He held his breath for a moment when he realized what he had just discovered. He skimmed back through the book, finding the king’s ancestors. All of them were dark haired and dark eyed. He remembered when Queen Elenor had visited in the autumn; she also had dark hair, and he was told, brown eyes. He had to shake his head and looked again in the book, suddenly grasping what was before him.
As it dawned on him, everything fell into place. The isolated location, the rare visits from the queen, even the fact that the king and queen were seldom seen together. It was undeniable now, Anna was the daughter of the queen, but King Andred was not the father. Now he understood why she was shunned. The king wanted nothing to do with her, never even publicly acknowledging that she existed. The poor girl was a nobody. Worse than a nobody. Not only was she denied her position in life, but she was also actively shunned, hidden away like a mad dog.
The very thought of it disturbed him deeply. He liked Anna, thought of her as a daughter. He was furious that she was treated in such a callous manner. He resolved to give her a life; to allow her to experience things like a regular child.
There was a knock at the door, and Gerald smiled. He recognized Anna's light tapping instantly. He wandered over to the door and opened it, peering out into the snow. He ignored her presence and looked directly over her head as if she wasn't there. "That's funny, I thought I heard a knock on the door."
Tempus barked, and Anna said, "It's me, Gerald, down here." She waived her mittened hands in front of his face.
"Well, bless my soul," he declared with an exaggerated expression. "So it is. Come in, come in. Warm yourself up by the fire."
She stepped inside the cottage, careful to bang the snow from her boots. She was carrying something behind her back. She carefully removed her coat, hat and mittens, hanging them on a hook by the door. She waited till she thought he wasn't watching to return the item behind her back. She waited for him to look at her after closing the door.
He decided to let her enjoy her fun. He looked at her and asked, "Anna, is something wrong?"
"No Gerald, I brought you something." She produced a cloth-bound gift that was several feet in length.
"Is this for me?" he asked. "What's the occasion?"
"It's close to midwinter," she stated. "It used to be tradition to give gifts to family members at midwinter, and since I don't have a family, or at least a family that cares, I thought I would give you a gift."
Gerald was touched. She handed him the wrapped item. It felt like it was made of wood and was not too heavy. "Let's go over to the fire to unwrap it, shall we? Why don't you go over to the apple cider and grab yourself a cup, and don't forget Tempus too.” The dog had become a regular visitor, and now there was always a bowl on the floor for him. Anna poured herself some cider and then poured some into the bowl for Tempus. Gerald sat on his chair in front of the fire and examined the wrapped gift. It was tied with ribbon, and he could see where her small hands had struggled to tie the knots. He waited till she was seated, then he began to unwrap it with great deliberation.
Inside was a beautiful oak walking stick. It was highly polished but worn. It was capped with metal at its tip and the handle, likewise, had a solid metal knob. "This is wonderful Anna. Where did you find it?"
She smiled. "I found it searching around the Hall. It must have been there for years just waiting for you. I know you have the brace, but I see your leg still bothers you sometimes, so I thought this would help."
Gerald was deeply moved. "Thank you, Anna. This is very kind of you." For the first time, in a very long time, he felt genuinely thankful. He felt valued as a friend. It was almost like having a family again. He rose and gave her a hug. She clung to him, and he realized how truly ignored this poor girl was.
Anna released him and sat on the floor beside Tempus. Every evening after dinner, she would come over to the cottage to be tutored in reading. She had made remarkable progress and was a very quick learner. Gerald sat in thought, mulling over an idea.
"You should try it!" she exclaimed.
"Yes, let's give it a try," he agreed enthusiastically, standing up. He held the stick in his right hand and walked up and down the room. The curve of the knob fit his hand perfectly, and the cane was just the right height. He knew this would help immensely. "Look at that!" He was exaggerating his enjoyment just a little. "A perfect fit! An excellent gift, why, along with the brace you’d never know I had a bad leg."
Gerald returned to his seat. Anna was sipping her cider and absently leaning against Tempus. He was big enough that it was like he was a sofa. Her dog warmed her back with her front heated by the fire.
"I thought," he said, after a moment’s hesitation, "that tonight we might try something a little different."
She perked up. "A new book?" she said, eagerness in her eyes.
"No, I thought we might do something a little different from reading a book."
"What?" she asked hurriedly. "What are we going to do?"
He paused for dramatic effect before speaking, "I thought we might build a snowman!"
"A snowman?" she asked. "What's that?"
"It's a man, made of snow; you roll up the snow into balls and…" he could see that she was not comprehending. "Come, get your coat on and I'll show you. We used to make them all the time up in Bodden."
They both suited up for the cold, and soon the enthusiasm had spread to Tempus.
"We'll need some sticks for arms and some stones for his eyes and nose."
Anna had no idea what they were going to do, but she was fascinated. They trundled outside, and Gerald made sure to grab his new cane. Moments later they were rolling snow into big balls to build the snowman. Anna had never played in the snow, never being allowed out in the winter. She now found the cold exhilarating.
They rolled up the bottom of the body, then made smaller balls of snow for the upper body and head. Gerald had to lift the body and head up; it was too heavy for Anna. He pointed to some sticks lying at the edge of the trees and asked Anna to go and get them.
She wandered over to the sticks and selected two of them. As she turned to come back, Gerald threw a snowball at her, startling her.
"What was that?" she asked, looking questioningly at him.
"A snowball. Haven't you ever made a snowball before?"
"No, how do you make one?"
Gerald smiled, "Come here, and I'll teach you." He showed her how to pack the snow together using his hands, and they threw some into the woods. Tempus thought this was great fun and tried to catch them. They ended up tossing them for him until their hands were almost frozen. They didn't finish the snowman, but they were laughing when they returned to the cottage to warm up.
"That is the bestest present ever," said Anna.
Gerald smiled at the wording. Now was not the time to correct her grammar. "You mean the snowman?" he asked.
"No, the snowballs! I've never seen Tempus so lively!"
They both laughed. Anna smiled at Gerald and leaned forward conspiratorially. "I have an idea," she shared.
Gerald leaned forward, acting as a co-conspirator. They were both having far too much fun. "What?" he asked.
She almost whispered, "I saw Cook making some mince pies earlier today. I say we do a kitchen raid and snarf some."
"Alright, I'm in, but we have to plan this carefully." He went over to his bookshelf and withdrew a bound volume. He took it to the table and opened it, beckoning her over as he did so. Anna moved to the table. The book was simply bound paper. Gerald had used it on occasion to make some notes. He had tried to sketch flowers and herbs, but he didn't fancy himself much of an artist. He turned the book to a fresh page and took out some charcoal.
"Now," he b
egan, "the kitchen is located at the back of the Hall." As he spoke he sketched out the floor plan. Hours later they were still at it, making plans and corrections to his sketches. It would be a proper operation that was never carried out. He realized this when he looked over to see she had fallen asleep at the table.
He bundled her up and took her back to the Hall for the servants to tuck her in. The great kitchen raid would surface again in the coming months, but they never did quite manage to pull it off.
The bitterness and cold of winter had turned milder and finally warmed in the spring, then spring naturally turned to summer, and Gerald could not remember nicer weather. It was on a warm day in the middle of the summer that they decided to walk the estate. Remembering the adventure last year of the Angelroot, he made sure to wear waterproof boots.
He had a backpack which he had used for years in the army. Now it held food and some extra water. He had packed some sausages, and Cook had generously packed some tasty meat pies for the expedition. Anna was straightening her pack while Tempus sat and watched.
They had planned the trip for weeks, a circumnavigation of the estate. It would take most of the day. They had spent three evenings pouring over maps of the grounds to pick the perfect route. Anna was very good at reading maps once Gerald explained them to her. She had a sharp mind, with a knack for noticing trivial details. They had thought about checking the old well for water, but in the end, they decided it would be too much work, after all, it was still boarded up. They settled for taking their water with them. Anna had managed to sneak some pastries away from Cook, as she often did. Gerald had concluded that Cook kept these out on purpose for her to take, but he didn't want to spoil her fun. Even Tempus was ready to go. In the spring, they had travelled to Uxley Village and paid Sam to make a simpler harness for Tempus. He could still pull the cart, this had proved itself useful many times over with the spring planting, but his new harness was simpler and let him carry a couple of saddlebags.
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