The Robber Knight's Love (The Robber Knight Saga #2)(152)

“You don't even know if they are Christian,” Reuben pointed out.

“That's the point,” insisted Ayla. “If they are, they should not be denied the chance of heavenly forgiveness and entrance into heaven. And if they’re not…it can’t hurt.”

The four men in the room shared a look. Apparently, it was not only Reuben and Burchard who were in agreement over this issue. Ayla stamped her foot, feeling her temper rise.

“What's the matter?” she demanded.

“Well…” Captain Linhart began, “it is just that they are murderers and pillagers. I doubt very much that they will repent posthumously and have a shot at heaven.”

“You don't know that!” Ayla's tone was defensive. “They might very well. There's good in everybody somewhere, you know. No matter what kind of life they've led before, people can repent and gain forgiveness.”

She glanced at Reuben. The others missed it, but he apparently noticed her quick look in his direction and rolled his eyes.

“All right,” he growled. “I concede that they might be Christian. But how about this reason for not doing it: giving them a Christian burial would mean digging five hundred individual graves. By that time, all that will be left of the corpses will be mush and bones. Stinking mush and bones, covered with flies!”

“We should still do it,” Ayla insisted stubbornly.

The debate between the mistress of the castle and her vassals remained at this impasse for several days. In the end, Reuben resolved it by creeping out of the castle one night, emptying a barrel of pitch over the bodies, and setting it ablaze.

Ayla wasn't very pleased with his actions and remonstrated with him in no uncertain terms. When the castle towers had stopped shaking, Reuben remarked how happy he was that she had enlarged her vocabulary of obscenities. Some of the terms she used had undoubtedly originated with him, and he was very proud of his pupil.

Thus, peaceful times went by in Luntberg castle. The leaves, only tinged with a spot of red and yellow here and there, really began to take on the colors of autumn. With the permission of Ayla, who, as the castle mistress, held all the wood-rights of Luntberg, people began going out into the forest to cut wood for the rebuilding of the village.

She was more than happy to grant this small help to her people when she herself could do little else. They had to hurry if they wanted to rebuild their homes before winter came. Ayla was sure they would have started earlier than they did if Reuben hadn't stubbornly insisted they should hold off the rebuilding effort.

“Why?” Ayla had demanded to know. “Just tell me why!”

And all he would do in response was shrug and say, “Just a feeling I have.”

His feelings hadn't been enough to deter the villagers in the end. Work was underway on several houses in the village already, and Ayla was very proud of her people's work. One day, she decided to take a ride through the village and have a look at what had so far been constructed.

What she found puzzled her exceedingly. There were several houses being built, all right. But it looked like that there had been a huge error made in the construction. As she passed Bardo the carpenter, she called him over. She had barely to lean down from Eleanor to talk to the huge man.

“Um…Bardo?”

“Yes, Milady?”

“Not to be disrespectful of your skill, Bardo, but you seem to have made a mistake.” She pointed to the houses, or rather, skeletons of houses. “There are all those huge holes in the houses. They are just wooden frameworks.”

Bardo nodded earnestly, respectfully holding his cap in his hand, as he always did when talking to his mistress. “That's how it's supposed to be, Milady. The gaps will be filled in.”

“Interesting.” Ayla looked at him enquiringly. When he wasn't forthcoming, she prompted, “With what?”

“Um…that's actually something I wanted to talk to you about, Milady. If you have the time.”

Frowning lightly, Ayla noticed that he had avoided the question. She also noticed that Bardo had started twisting his cap in his huge hands, as he always did when he was nervous.

“Go ahead,” she said pleasantly, meaning to put him at his ease. “I have time.”

The speed of twisting increased.

“Umm…maybe some place private?” Bardo inquired, his eyes downcast.

Leaning forward a little more, Ayla asked, “Is it a secret mixture, what you put in the gaps? A secret of your craft?”

“No, not exactly…”

“Oh.” Ayla had to admit, she was slightly disappointed. She also couldn't see what he was being so secretive and nervous about, if that wasn't the case.

“Well, then you can come right to the point.”

“Um, Milady…well, you know how you have all those animals up in the castle? Horses and cows and God knows what else, a lot more than we have down here?”

“Yes?”

“Well, you could say it has to do with them. Because you have them, you have…the building material we need. We was hoping you could give us a bit. Usually, our own animals would be enough, but now that we have to rebuild the entire village…we was hoping you could help us out.”

“Indeed?” She smiled at him. “Well, if it is in my possession, you shall have it. What is this magical substance connected to my animals that will build your houses? What do you need to fill those gaps?”