Warwolfe (de Wolfe Pack Book 0)(115)

“I must go and say my farewells to Ghislaine,” he said. “You will tell Aramis that we depart within the hour.”

A word from Téo stopped him. “Gate,” he said. “It is merely a suggestion, of course, but why not leave Jathan here with the lady? He can act as her protector as well as provide her with company. You may feel better about leaving her behind if you do. And he can prevent her from trying to follow us.”

Gaetan scratched his head thoughtfully. “An excellent suggestion,” he said. “Although I doubt Jathan could stand up to the formidable Lady Ghislaine should she try to follow us, I will leave him with her just the same.”

Leaving Téo to inform Aramis of their coming departure, Gaetan headed down through the neat stone village, inspecting it as he went along and seeing that there was, indeed, minimal damage from the raid last night. In fact, it looked as if there had been absolutely nothing amiss only hours earlier. There were women in front of their cottages, sweeping their stoops, who smiled timidly at him as he passed. Even children, playing on the avenue, came to a halt as he walked by. But one little girl, perhaps four years of age, began following him. Gaetan didn’t notice her until she ran up beside him and tugged on his tunic.

Curious, he came to a halt when he saw the child. Unfortunately, he’d never been very good with children and he wasn’t sure if he should speak to her or just keep walking. Not to be rude in front of all of the people who were watching him, he bent down to be more at the child’s level.

“Can I be of service, my lady?”

The little girl looked at him with her enormous brown eyes, bringing up a dirty finger to point at a missing front tooth. Gaetan peered at it.

“Did you lose your tooth?”

The little girl nodded and another child, a boy of about seven or eight, ran up behind her and began to pull her away from the big knight.

“She lost it last night when she was running away from the Men of Bones,” the boy said, his speech that odd mix of Latin and Saxon just like everyone else in the village. “She wanted to show you.”

Gaetan fought off a grin. “That is a terrible casualty,” he said. “I am sorry we could not prevent it.”

The boy looked him up and down, an expression on his face suggesting he rather liked what he saw. He was used to the men around him, sometimes weak or colorless, or both, but this enormous knight in mail and leather in his midst was an example of what men could grow in to. Perhaps that was what he wanted to grow in to, someday.

“You fought with swords,” the boy finally said. “I saw you.”

Gaetan nodded. “We did, indeed.”

“Will you teach me to fight with your big sword?”

Gaetan did smile, then; he couldn’t help it. He rather liked young eager boys, willing to learn, willing to fight. But he had tasks to attend to and time was growing short, so he simply nodded his head.

“Mayhap I will, someday,” he said. “In the meantime, learn to fight with the smaller blades that your men use. Understand how to use that blade before you use a bigger one. When it comes time for that, I will teach you.”

The child simply grinned, brightly, and Gaetan went along his way. It was a rather nice village, he thought, peaceful when it wasn’t being attacked by bone-wearing barbarians. He was starting to see why these people protected their way of life so fiercely – it was worth protecting.

Coming around the corner that led to the row of cottages where Ghislaine’s hut was situated, he saw the women at the pond, washing their clothes in the early morning. As he walked by the pond, every lady turned to look at him. He felt rather on display.

Approaching Ghislaine’s cottage at the end of the row, he could see Jathan sitting out in front of it, cleaning his weapon. Drawing nearer, the door of the cottage suddenly opened and Lygia appeared, closing the door very quietly behind her. She and Jathan caught sight of Gaetan at about the same time, and Jathan set his sword aside.

“Good morn to you, Gaetan,” Jathan said. “’Tis a fine day.”

Gaetan acknowledged the priest. “I have come to see the lady,” he said. “Is she awake?”

It was Lygia who spoke. “She is not, my lord,” she replied. “Her leg was paining her a great deal after she returned to her cottage last night and old Pullum gave her a potion to make her sleep. I am afraid the lady is dead to the world right now.”

Gaetan was disappointed. “I see,” he said. “I do not wish to wake her, but I wanted to tell her that my men and I are leaving this morning. We must finish our task and we cannot wait until her leg heals, but I wanted to reassure her that we will return for her. I will return for her.”

“I can tell her, my lord,” Lygia said. “Even if you tried to wake her now, she probably would not remember the conversation. Pullum’s potions are powerful.”

Gaetan was growing more disappointed by the moment. He was hoping for a sweet word and a tender kiss with Ghislaine. But as he pondered his disappointment, he noticed that Jathan had stood up and was gathering his things around him, preparing to depart with the rest of the knights.

“Nay, Jathan,” Gaetan said. “You are not going. You will remain with the lady as her protector and companion until I return.”

Jathan, too, now had the look of disappointment. “But… you may need me, Gate.”