o0o
Raik's English warriors were not as hardy as the men he brought from Scotland. He paired them up and worked with them himself, improving their muscles and agility while wielding a mace. Once they were well into their practice, he returned to the bailey outside the keep.
The great hall hummed with workers, but above the talking, he heard his wife's voice directing them. He frowned, looking for her, but didn't see her. Finally, he realized the voice came from a scaffold to the left of the fireplace. He hadn't recognized her. Her brown kirtle was as old and frayed as any servant's was. Brown and yellow splotches of paint stained it as it did the old cap tied to control her dark curls. He realized she had been the brown-clad servant who fled that day. Ranald had recognized her while her own husband had not.
"Arrange five pikes in a half circle, the third one being in the center half an arm's length below the helmet," she ordered, then stepped backward to get a better look at the results.
Seeing her heel was near overreaching the scaffolding, Raik silently rushed forward. If she were to move quickly, she would tumble to the ground. When he was directly behind her, he took a deep breath.
"Lucifer's pox'd horns, come down from there, ye foolish woman!"
His bellow caused Letia to do as he commanded. Not by way of the ladder propped against the scaffold, though. He expected as much. He'd braced himself in case she fell. With a high-pitched yelp and a flurry of skirts, she landed in his arms.
"Ack!" Air exploded from his lips as he staggered and pulled her tight to his chest. If she'd been any higher off the ground, she'd have tumbled them both to the floor.
Knowing she'd been putting herself in danger behind his back, Raik's heart thudded against his ribs. Surprised and not liking the fear that had risen in him, he scowled down at her frightened face.
She grasped him around his neck for support and stood on her feet. Wrapping an arm around her waist, anchoring her, he turned to survey the frightened workers who had frozen in their spots.
"Have not a one of ye brains enough to keep yer lady from near killing herself?" His shout ruffled the hair atop Letia's head.
"Milord, how can we give her orders? She would ignore such insolence," the head carpenter's son spoke out.
"Never, ever, are ye to allow her to take such a dangerous undertaking," Raik bellowed. "Ye are men, are ye not? If she refuses, remove her and come to me. If ye do not, it will be the last day ye spend at Seton Castle."
He ignored Letia's protests and led her from the hall, down to the bailey, through the orchard and into the formal gardens where he could lecture his wife without everyone at the castle listening in.
Finally, they reached the center of the gardens where cut pieces of slate formed a circle. A stone statue of the Virgin Mary stood at its center, her right hand outstretched with a butterfly perched on her fingertips.
Though Raik had seen the gardens from the battlements, it was the first time he had visited there. Flowers surrounded them, perfuming the air from roses of every size and color, lavender, carnations, honeysuckle, bluebells, violets, iris and many Raik could not name. Now and then, the breeze teased his mind. Somewhere in the vast area stood a bed of lilies.
Letia glanced through her lashes and noted Raik's eyes were near a stormy gray. Huh, if she thought her own lips were sealed, his pressed together in such a tight line 'twas a wonder they did not disappear.
"Husband, why are you so angered?"
He didn't reply. He did release her arm so he could fold his own across his chest and glare down at her.
"Do you believe my directing the workmen was unwomanly?" Still no answer.
"Who better than I could tell them how to place the weapons correctly? If I left it up to men, instead of pleasing patterns on the walls, all the weapons would be stacked in neat rows along the sides of the room."
"You should have told them from below how you wanted them done." He scowled and snapped his teeth together.
"I tried. They are not carpenters and painters used to working inside the keep. They did not understand what I wanted until I showed them."
Raik's eyes widened looking at her head. He reached out to tug the cloth cap off, releasing her hair to spill out over her shoulders. He looked at the paint on the cap then down at the splatters of yellow and brown on her clothing. His mouth opened and closed like a fish searching for lost water.
"Ye were there when they painted the rafters?" His voice rose.
"Of course, I was there. That's how paint dribbled on my cap."
She did not tell him where she had been at the time. She feared he would have apoplexy if he knew. But she hadn't been on the scaffold long. The men had kept her safe by tying a rope around her waist and holding firmly to it in case she had a misstep—as like happened today.
"Why cannot ye tend to wifely duties? Giles can relay your wishes..." His voice sputtered quiet, most likely remembering he had withdrawn her squire to tend the slingers with Alfred and Piers. He raked his fingers through his hair as he heaved a sigh.
"If we are finished here, my lord, I must see to Aubrey." Letia tugged at the front of her kirtle, anxious to get to her little one.
"Aye." He fell in step beside her as she hurried back the way they had come. They found Lady Joneta just outside the entrance with Maud holding a blanket beside her.
Raik relaxed on seeing his mother holding Aubrey. Since she had come to Seton, she looked different. Younger. He studied her face, wondering what changed it. Why, 'twas happiness, of course. The way she cuddled the little boy to her chest and smiled at Letia showed it. If she felt such joy in Letia and Warren's son, how delighted she would be with his own.
"Here is your mother, little one," she murmured against Aubrey's forehead. She looked at Raik and clucked her tone. "For shame. Keeping him from his milk, son."
"He seems happy enough now she is here." He watched as Aubrey waved his arms, trying to reach his mother's breast. "He has grown much in this last fortnight, do you not think?"
"He sleeps through the nights, now. His appetite is hearty, too."
Maud flapped out the blanket and settled it in the shade, giving care to place it so Letia would have privacy from the wall walks as she nursed the boy.
Seeing his wife's pale face, he felt a twinge of guilt knowing she had tried hard to please him while Ranald was in residence. He softened toward her, too, for the deference she showed his mother and the loving way she treated her. How long had she been without her own parent? Mayhap not having her influence as she turned from girl to woman was the reason she overreached her duties.
He nodded to the women and made his way back to the keep. He remembered his thoughts about Leofwan when he first arrived. With the man's advanced years and his time spent with Letia, he would have valuable insight on how Raik should treat her.
That morning, Leofwan and Edmund were to inspect the guard posts and wall walks around the castle. Likely they would still be there. Taking two steps at a time, he raced up the outside stairway to the east walls. Warm gusts of wind blew through the crenellated battlements and struck his face when he walked out upon the wall walk.
Raik stretched and rolled his shoulders, easing away his tension. Across the bailey at the opposite wall, he saw the two men coming from the weapons tower. No one could mistake the tall one-armed man who walked with such dignity.
Two fingertips between his lips produced a shrill whistle loud enough to hear as far as the woodlands. The well below in the middle bailey was between them, so he pointed to it letting them know to meet him there.
"What goes on in the weapon's tower?" Raik asked as soon as they met.
"Now that we have selected the weapons to adorn the walls below, it was a good time to have an accounting of all that is stored there," Edmund picked a metal cup with a long handle, dipped it in a bucket of water and drank it down.
"Ah, so you both had a hand in today's changes?"
"Aye. Lady Letia asked our help in selecting weapons
that look the most impressive when adorning walls." Edmund grinned.
"I had not thought she would ask your aid." It surprised Raik that she had.
"She wished to know which ones she could use that would not hamper us should we have urgent need of a ready supply." Leofwan's one eye studied Raik; the brow above arched just the smallest bit in question.
"While we looked through them, we decided the oldest weapons that were in good shape for looks but not action could readily be spared. That way, all that are stored are battle ready," Edmund said.
"I did not mean to interrupt your work. Leofwan, I have need of your keen insight, if you don't mind. Come, the solar should be empty. The women are taking the sun with Aubrey."
CHAPTER 31
Raik waited patiently while Edulf poured ale into the two waiting cups and excused him to go about his duties. Once the door closed, he leaned back in the chair, his hand playing with his cup.
"As ye have likely guessed by now, my lady wife proves to be a puzzle to me," Raik blurted out.
Leofwan opened his eye wide, raised his brow near to his receding hairline and put on a surprised face. "Nay. I would not have guessed," he said then laughed. "I have found most women to be puzzles. With one such as our Letia, any man who has not known her for years would have to have foresight to understand her."
"Do ye know aught of my lady's life afore she became Lady de Burgh?"
"Aye. Baron de Burgh and her father were at the Crusades together. The same time as your uncle Laird Broccin of Raptor. Their men fought alongside each other. When we returned, Warin and her father remained friends. They came to each other's aid when needed."
"I would learn of her early years afore she married. De Burgh told us of Letia keeping her father's death a secret and protecting the castle until he arrived, but how did she become so, uh, fearless of men."
"Fearless? It is her very fear of men that has made her the woman she is." Leofwan cleared his voice, frowned then began to tell Raik of the fatal raid on her family's home up until the current time.
"She has protected the men in her life as much as they protected her. Though Warin wished it could have been different, in the end he asked much of her. It would have broken any other woman I have ever known."
Raik leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, his fingers massaging his temples.
"Never before have I met a lass who had so little need of me," he confessed.
"So little need? Are you daft, man? She needs a strong man who can protect her, give her a chance to enjoy being a woman and mother."
"Then why is she unhappy that I have tried to put her in her place as wife and lady of the keep?"
"It will be a while before she realizes she does not have to protect herself. Until then, she needs the security of having her place in protecting Seton."
"I should allow her atop the wall walks to lead the slingers again?" The idea did not set easily with Raik.
"For now, return Giles to her service. His humorous antics are good for Letia. Too, she is used to his following her about throughout the day. With him by her side, she will not need to climb ladders and scaffolding. They work well together."
o0o
Raik found Giles capering in front of the youngest slingers, splattered with mud from his laughing face to his boots. It was the first time Raik had seen these young ones training firsthand. He recalled the morning months ago that he had watched Letia and her squire below at the well. Now he knew why she had needed to douse the squire with bucket after bucket of water.
Raik crossed his arms and rested his hips against the wooden fence. His sprawled legs supported him. It was the most relaxed he had been since finding his wife on her hazardous perch.
Giles leaped and twisted into the air, but could not avoid the mud ball that splattered his shoulder. 'Twas fortunate no rocks were included, else he would be sprawled on the ground. Raik waited until the last child slung his mud then collapsed in a heap of giggles. Raik smiled hearing the happy sound. He cleared his voice.
"Giles, I have need of you." His words carried above the children's laughter.
"May I help you, my lord?" He trotted over to his baron.
"Aye. But first, I think ye'd best douse the mud from yer body afore it dries." He headed for the well while Giles lengthened his stride to keep up. Seeing a servant nearby, Raik motioned him to follow.
"Were ye fostered here at Seton, Giles?"
"Nay. I was born here."
"How did ye become Lady Letia's squire?"
"When our baron married the lady, I was ten years of age and the first slinger she trained. At the same time, the baron had Sir Leofwan train me to be Lady Letia's squire. He wanted someone to guard and help her. I have been at her back since."
"Ye did not get teased for being assigned to a lady and not a knight?"
"Teased? Huh! The others were jealous because I became a better slinger and archer than they."
By the time they reached the well, they were in easy conversation.
Raik nodded to the servant. "Keep the buckets filled. He has enough dirt on his shoulders to plant turnips." Raik hefted the first filled bucket. "Take your shirt of, lad. Ye will have to be cleaned up afore ye return to the lady's service."
Giles's let out a delighted whoop and jumped in the air to click his heels together. Raik could see how having the lad around had brightened Letia's days.
"Ye must relieve her of any physical climbing or work. I'm sure she trusts ye to carry out her orders."
"Aye, my lord. You can trust me to keep her safe. I heard of her fall from the scaffolding. She could well have broken her back had you not caught her." He gulped and looked guiltily up at him.
Raik cocked his head hearing a commotion in the bailey. Freki bounded around the corner, a large hunk of meat in his jaws as he fled one of cook's helpers.
"'Tis the truth." His gaze followed the chase until the man stopped and heaved a mighty kick in the dust before returning to the cookhouse. "Mayhap ye can also keep the big beastie from raiding food else we'll have naught but gruel for sustenance."
o0o
Giles appeared on the fringe of the gardens, keeping his distance until the women rose and started back to the keep. He was fresh from a bath, his sleeveless blue tunic and white shirt immaculate. He swept Letia a deep bow, his face as solemn as any squire would be toward his master.
"My lady, my lord Raik wishes me to return to your service."
Letia would never understand her husband, not even if she lived well past Maud's age.
"I am pleased, Giles. If this is not to your liking," she cocked her head and studied him, "I will release you to one of the knights needing another squire."
"Do not, Lady. I am well pleased. My days with you are far more interesting than cleaning shields, honing blades, currying a horse and fetching ale for a knight."
"Good." She turned to Lady Joneta, who held a sleeping Aubrey cuddled in her arms. She leaned to kiss the babe's fattening cheek and smiled before she and Giles headed for the great hall.
o0o
Each morn, after Raik and his men left the solar Letia fell into a soothing routine with Lady Joneta and Maud, who had become friends, both being of the same age. After Letia satisfied Aubrey's ravenous appetite, the women enjoyed burping him, not minding the fact a fountain of milk exploding from his mouth accompanied those same burps.
Once the babe was in his cradle, he happily waved a stuffed toy in the shape of a very long-legged horse. His grandmother had sewn it out of scraps of bright cloth. Cook's helpers brought cider and milk, hot oatmeal, baked apples and hot bread and all that would go with it.
Letia's days of transforming the great hall ran smoothly, for using a sharp piece of charred wood, she sketched how she wanted weapons arranged on the walls and where to hang the tapestries.
Giles directed the workers in words they understood, words that no lady would yell at a man for putting a nicked short sword in the middle of a semi-circle of two-han
ded broadswords.
Raik noted each change as it appeared. His smiles were no longer rare but flashed often. Letia herself grinned like a foolish girl when they hung the last of the tapestries.
He stood in the center of the room turning slowly to study each bright scene. When he completed his survey with the massive tapestry behind the high table, he went to stand in front of it. Warin had told Letia that his mother and her ladies started it before he was born and did not finish until he was three years of age.
The center of the tapestry showed Seton Castle complete with each bailey and its buildings, the towers, the gardens and orchard, the walls surrounding the castle with the forests beyond and even the wild stream to the north where water crashed over the rocks.
Raik's arms lifted, hands outstretched as if he cupped it, and sighed.
"'Tis beautiful."
He turned to Letia, grasped her hand and led her to the table. She looked fresh from her bath and more relaxed than she had appeared for the last sennight. When she sat, he brushed his lips across the smooth skin at her temples. His heart jolted at the soft scent that floated to him. Lilies.
He forced himself to relax remembering when he had returned to Seton searching for his elusive lady. Many of the women he approached had liked the same scent.
Even so, it still caused his heartbeat to speed. Whether from lust or anger, he wasn't certain.
'Twas a lie. The heaviness in his ballocks proved it. When Letia finished with her meal, he smiled, urged her to rise and headed for their bedchamber as eager to satisfy his lust as any youth.
When Freki met them on the stairwell, barked at Letia and bounded back to the top, his hopes died.
"Shite!" he muttered under his breath. He regretted it when they drew near and heard Aubrey's frantic cries.
"What is it, Maud? He's never cried so sharply before," Letia said as she ran into the room.
"I don't know. He has not passed any wind, nor has he belched."
Letia gathered the babe to her breast and tried to soothe him. His wail did not cease. She held him in her arms and rubbed his stomach, but it did not help. She put him against her left breast and tried to burp him. Still he cried. Aubrey's tearful blue eyes looked into Raik's own, pleading. Raik's heart melted.
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