A Dishonorable Knight(112)

Elena shifted her meal from hand to hand until the bread had cooled enough not to burn her skin. She then took a huge bite, scalding the roof of her mouth on the sizzling meat, but enjoying the taste of the gooey cheese and spicy sausage nonetheless. When she had managed to chew and swallow her unladylike mouthful, she looked to Gareth who was expectantly awaiting her response.

"It's delicious," she said. "I think I will recommend you to King Richard for the position of Chef Extraordinaire when we return."

Gareth's grin of pleasure at her initial response faded when she mentioned Richard. It only reminded him that she would be out of his reach once they arrived at the king's court, and that he was lying to her even now about his plans.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked, worry evident in her voice.

Gareth shook his head. "Nothing."

"Something is bothering you. Is it what I said about making you a chef? I promise I won't tell anyone about your cooking talents if it would make you seem less of a knight." When her teasing evinced no response, she took another approach. "Are you having doubts about returning to Richard?"

Startled, Gareth shook his head. "Oh no, I was just thinking that if Cynan and Bryant found out I could actually make something edible, they'd make me cook every night instead of the three of us taking turns when we're out in the woods. As it is, I have to struggle to make my meals taste bad so they'll offer to cook for me!"

Elena smiled at his response, but Gareth sensed she did not entirely believe him. To his great relief, however, she did not press him further and he vowed to himself to make her forget his temporary lapse into melancholy.

With as much animation as he could muster, he told her of his first night spent in the woods when he was a boy. "Cynan and Bryant and I were finally allowed to go out alone all night. I think we were about eleven years old. As we were preparing to leave the keep, Cynan's father told us to watch out for the bog ghoul who might come steal us away to the underworld. We all laughed, of course, because we were much too grown up to believe in such silly monsters that used to frighten us as children.

"As we made our way into the forest for our grand adventure, I came up with the brilliant idea of sneaking away in the middle of the night and pretending to be this ghoul to scare the wits out of Cynan and Bryant."

"You Gareth? No!" Elena exclaimed, teasing.

Gareth grinned and continued his story. "The start of the plan worked perfectly: I snuck away as soon as they fell asleep, I ran to the stream we were camped near and smeared my entire head with mud. I then stuck leaves and twigs in my hair and practiced my most ferocious growling. As I made my way back to camp, I made sure to crash about, raising all sorts of noise sure to wake the sleeping innocents." Gareth paused and took a swallow of wine.

"You said the start of the plan worked. When did things go awry? Did they realize right away that it was you?"

"Oh no, in fact, they were just coming awake as I crashed through the bushes circling our camp. In the dying light of the fire, I must have appeared quite ghoulish indeed. Cynan and Bryant began screaming most pitifully." Gareth started laughing and Elena poked him in the ribs.

"And?" she asked imperiously. "What happened next?"

Still chuckling, Gareth continued. "I was growling and waving my arms about while they tried to free themselves of their blankets when I noticed something entering camp from the opposite direction."

"What?"

"Coming into the ring of firelight was a creature which made my pitiful attempt at a ghoul seem like child's play. It hobbled into camp and I could see it had a huge hump on it's back, its hair stood straight on end and foamy slobber dribbled down its chin. It was growling horribly and reaching for Cynan who was nearest it. I swear my eyes felt like they were going to pop right out of my head. I forgot all about snarling and sounding demonic and instead began to scream myself. Cynan and Bryant stopped screaming only long enough to turn around and then they joined my chorus. We all took off in different directions into the forest, though we somehow all managed to arrive back at the keep about the same time. We were all blubbering like babes as we told my father our story and I remember wondering why he didn't send out a contingent of armed men."

Gareth leaned back on the bedroll, propping his head up on his hands. Elena curled up next to him. "And? Why didn't he send one out?"

"As we were to discover later, the creature who tried to attack us was actually Cynan's father."