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Night was again upon the Kingdom of the Midlands. Markle put out the black banner at the front of the Inn to show that they were not accepting any more guests, and instructed the Salam-Dir wardsman who was standing guard how to use the defenses built into the walls. Marie borrowed servants from several of the private houses in the crossroads to continuously cook and clean and launder as needed, pulling the thick curtains down over the windows when it became brighter inside than out.
The night had come, calm and sleep were over most of the people in the Inn. Several hours passed and the sounds of travelers outside on the road died to nothing but night birds and cats searching for the same unwary mice. Markle could not keep his eyes open any longer and tapped on the shoulder of one of the older wardsmen. They exchanged places near the front of the Inn’s common room and Markle fell asleep leaning against the wall, not in his bed. Several of the Salam-Dir servants were in the bed he and Marie shared most nights. There were people stacked inside and out, the wardsmen keeping watch, something he only remembered from when he was a very young lad. As Markle fell into dreams of the last war upon the land, several were kept awake at the prospect of the one now on them.
The sleeping drought that Laun had been given had worn off and she was lying among the sleeping forms of many of the dancers of the household. They had not been obvious about it, but they had become her maids in waiting, her small court. Disa led them, Orgia acting as Laun’s hands to direct the remaining household. There was comfort in the breathing and snores around Laun. It was more comforting that Disa had asked Marie to continue with her new Lady and that Marie had not just accepted that request but had quipped that she had expected no less.
Laun shifted, her companions reacting in their sleep but not truly waking up. Exhausted sleep kept them all dreaming of their various lives, some better, some worse, than the reality they shared when awake. The drugged heaviness that Laun felt dulled the pains that patchworked across her body. But she could not sleep any more.
It took close to ten minutes, but Laun was able to crawl out from between the women around her. She was able to stand and pull back the curtain dividing the large alcove from the main common room. Mats were strewn about the room. Bodies draped over each other as the heavy sleep of hard traveling had taken over. It was warm in the room with all the bodies. The closed windows kept in the travel scents and was slightly overwhelming as Laun stood looking at her people in the gloom. Night lamps on tables and the walls had low wicks to show the scant path through the sleeping people.
Laun carefully stepped past heads and feet and went to the awake wardsman near the front door. At least she thought he was awake until she put her hand on his shoulder. He jumped and almost fell off the stool he was on.
“Shhh!” Laun leaned on the wall next to the young man.
“Lady- I...” He was embarrassed for being asleep on duty.
Laun shook her head, her unbound hair covering her face for a moment. “None of us are used to this. Just do your best.”
The wardsman nodded and stood, moving the stool to in front of the door. Laun slowly started towards the back of the Inn when she saw Markle open his eyes and lift a few fingers. Laun nodded in acknowledgement and kept going.
A small girl was at the hearth in the kitchen, leaning against the wall near the random pile of cut wood. She was holding a stick and half-heartedly poked at the coals to keep the large water pot heating. A tired glimmer of recognition went across the young girl’s face and she tried to straighten up. Laun motioned to her and kept slowly walking past and to the back door.
The wardsman that was on duty outside was startled by the door opening at his back. He helped Laun out and onto the dirt path.
“Lady? How may I help you?”
Laun stopped herself from shrugging. “I needed to get some air. Too many people in a small space.”
The wardsman nodded. “We have a fire going between the carts and the stable. Some of us just couldn’t sleep.”
Laun nodded and accepted his hand to the circle of firelight.
Not everyone around the fire was awake. Several figures were bundled up and slept where they sat. Edgar turned when he saw Pillar across from him look up above his head. The head wardsman stood and helped Laun to sit on the haybale that he had been on. A midsummer breeze was chillier than Laun thought when she first stepped outside. Edgar, with a small, “Your permission,” stood behind Laun with his cape draped around both of them.
Pillar had a small smirk on his lips. “What I gave you should have knocked you out until at least first light.”
Lady Laun bowed her head slightly at the shaman and said, “You haven’t tried to sleep through Orgia’s snoring, have you.”
Some sort of tension was broken and the laughter from those awake was soft but true. A mug of warm cider was dipped out of the kettle for their Lady and a light conversation continued. No one wanted to actually talk about what had happened but no one wanted to talk about anything else. Comments on some of the other households that they had seen on the road seemed to be the safest, but showed that everyone was thinking of what was still ahead of them. The talk was sporadic and started and stopped as those who did not want to sleep tried to stay awake with each other.
Laun found that she was leaning back against Edgar’s legs and the heat they shared under the cloak felt odd in it’s comfort. She had never shared warmth with a man before and this was purely against the chill of the night, not the sharing that she knew happened between many of the household. It felt good and right with the head wardsman. Safe and protected.
Pillar was still smiling the slightly smirky smile. Laun also saw a flush on his cheeks after he took another swig from his tankard. One of the households kitchen’s women was draped over a wardsman and they were also drinking from tankards liberally between subdued comments between themselves. Laun sniffed at the warm cider and only smelled apples and some spice, no alcohol. It was nice and warm and felt good on her slightly raw throat.
“We will need to start out fairly early in the morning.” Laun looked up at Edgar above her. “With feeding everyone, packing and such, how long do you think it will take?”
Edgar looked into the flames for a moment. “I would say mid morning at the earliest. We have just about one hundred people in our group, none of us are truly seasoned for pushing through travel. I stopped the caravan last night because I couldn’t stay in the saddle any longer so I knew no one else really could.”
Even from her upside-down perspective, she could see the worry lines that had started up on Edgar’s forehead. “Sir, you are doing your best in a bad situation.”
Edgar started to say something but changed his mind. He just nodded and put his hands carefully on Laun’s shoulders under the cape. She leaned her head against his arm and sighed.
One of the young wardsmen awake around the fire started singing a common harvesting tune softly. A few more voices joined in around the fire, emboldening the youth who had started it. Laun liked hearing the singing and just listened. Edgar also joined into the singing, lending a low note Laun could feel under the cape as well as hear blending with the others. The imagery from the song fed the homesickness Laun had been ignoring. Singing of gathering the wheat that will be the bread to tear with your family brought a tear to her eye.
A melancholy silence descended after the last of the song had been sung. Laun drank the cooling cider in her mug. An idea flitted through her mind and she looked up again at Edgar. “Would you like to walk with me?”
“Lady...” The wardsman helped Laun up off the hay bale and Laun walked with him under his cape away from the firelight.
Even with some warmed ale in him, Pillar saw Laun take her head wardsman away and was somewhat concerned. From what he had been able to glean from the others from Salam-Dir, she was innocent enough that she did not know what that might lead to, either physically or socially. He tried to get up, but that was when the several days of travel and adrenaline mixed with the ale decided to catch up with him. He was unstable and very tired and sat down again before he was more than a quarter up from the ground. Well, she was an adult and now was the head of a landed household. If she couldn’t take care of herself, they would know soon.
Edgar and Laun slowly walked around the Inn and the small encampment. Edgar had been brought up by his parents as a gentleman, taught by his wardmaster to be a noble. He had been around the Salam-Dir household long enough that he remembered seeing Laun as a child, before the Dance Master had groomed her for entertaining, and before she had found herself as his Lady. Being several years her senior, he had always thought of her as a little sister, especially after Lady Hellon had asked him to make sure that none of the wardsmen would take advantage of Peach. Lady Hellon had a liking for Peach, now Lady Laun, and wanted to make sure that she was not spoiled by a randy young man before her time. He now found that his gentle, noble nature was being threatened by the delicate creature he had under his cape with him.
Laun was deciding what she wanted as she walked in the dark with her wardsman. Stories she had heard of the comfort that men and women gave each other floated through her mind. They were chased about by a voice that told her not now, wait until it was safer. The pragmatic side that had ruled for several days in her journey did win out, but only because there were no private areas available right then.
Edgar and Laun found themselves on the stoop of another private home at the crossroads discussing the route they should take back to the Salam-Dir lands. Edgars’ arm was around Laun, holding her close under the cape they shared as they worked out logistics of getting the household underway, and what they would need to do once they were back at the keep. Laun found she was shivering even with his warmth heating them both when she thought of all the people they would need to bury. The slight smell of blood from the wounds they both had pushed her suddenly into despair as she flashed on the faces of the people, the bodies of the people who awaited them.
The pain that was inside was so great that Laun barely kept from howling her misery into Edgar’s chest. Edgar also felt a pain go through him as he thought of his father and siblings at the Jeral mains. He had not been in line to inherit the lands since he was the fifth child and had decided long ago to stay with the Salam-Dir household past his warding. With Falmir... Edgar may not have a family to go back to. The tears that flowed were warm and bitter and cold and sharp and mingled with Laun’s own on her face and his tunic.
Neither of them talked. They held each other and wept into each other, comforting as they shared the misery. After a while, they were both emotionally spent and just continued to sit there in the dark of the summer’s night. Even the night animals were long-since asleep at that hour.
Edgar, meaning every action and word, tilted Laun’s face up so he could see it in the gloom and kissed her gently. “Lady, I pledge myself to you. I am your man for as long as you may need me.”
She was tired and vulnerable, being held by a wardsman she had been around for most of her life. Laun stroked his cheek with a bandaged hand and kissed him back. It was also very gentle and a little earnest. Laun tried to look into Edgar’s face in the dark and said, “Thank you. You don’t know what that means to me.” Laun’s head tipped forward and she rubbed against the stubble on her swornman’s chin.
He could feel the shaking again. “Lady, I think you need to get some more rest. This cold isn’t doing you any good.”
Laun smiled and said into his chest, “You sound like Orgia.” Laun felt the snort of a laugh from him and looked up. “Of course, you are right. I just can’t seem to stop shivering.”
Lady and Swornman slowly made their way back to the firelight and then the guarded back door. Laun was helped up the few steps on the stoop and through the back hallway of the Inn. At the curtain of the alcove, Laun stopped and put her hand again on Edgar’s face. “Thank you.” Laun made her way back into the pile of women. Disa’s eyes were on the head wardsman until he disappeared as he pulled the curtain closed.
Chapter 13 The first Household morning meeting, plans for reclaiming the lands
Need a palette cleanser before moving on? Try the Jackie and Mark series. Caution, sexytimes. 😉
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