Onceoutside the church, she cautiously approached Drogo. He looked at the children,then at her, but said nothing. Silently he gave each of his men a child toplace in front of him on his horse, then grabbed her and tossed her up in thesaddle. She could feel his anger, see it in the tight line of his jaw, as heswung into the saddle behind her. She just prayed that most of that anger wasfor Sir Guy and not her.
Whenthey returned to their carts, they discovered that William had ordered camp tobe made. Ivo was waiting at the edge of the camp to lead them to Drogo's tent,which he had already prepared. Eada was not sure she wished to spend the nightso close to the burned village, but one look at Drogo's frown was enough tomake her swallow her objection.
Itwas not until they were inside his tent that he spoke. "I cannot becomethe shelter for every orphan in England," he said, as he helped herdisrobe and then gently washed the cuts Sir Guy had inflicted.
"Iknow," she replied quietly. "If we can find a village that is not destroyed,there may be someone there who will take them in."
"Yourushed blindly into danger again," he said, breathing an inner sigh ofrelief when he saw that none of her wounds was deep enough to requirestitching.
"Iknow that, too." When he sat back on his heels, she slipped on herchemise. "I am trying to wait, to not answer the cries the moment I hearthem; but, Drogo, this time I heard the cries of children. I heard their fearand their pain and I just ran to them. I think I knew that there was no time,that I had to get to them right away or they would die."
Hetook her into his arms and lightly kissed the top of her head. "And whatgood would you have been to them if you had died before you could even reachthem?"
"None,"she mumbled against his chest. "When I saw Sir Guy kill that woman at thevery door of the church, I fear I allowed my fury to rule me."
"Youattacked him?" Drogo asked, staring at her in surprise.
"Yes.I pulled him from his horse. We fought, and none of the other men interfereduntil I got hold of Sir Guy's sword. I almost defeated him. If his fellowknight had not put himself and his horse between us and had not earlier takenaway the sword, I might have won. I did keep them all so distracted that thewomen and children were able to get inside the church." She frowned whenDrogo began to laugh. "I do not see what is so funny."
"No?You, a tiny woman with no weapon, almost defeated one armored knight." Heshook his head as the seriousness of the situation overcame his humor. "SirGuy will now hate you as much as he hates me."
"Irealized that as we fought. At first I think he wanted to kill me because I amwith you, but then he wanted to kill me alone. But, why would he be cuttingdown women and children? They were not fighting him. They were no threat to himat all."
"Ifear I cannot explain such brutality as I do not understand it myself. It seemsto come from a pure love of killing. It is said that some men are maddened bythe scent of blood, and yet Sir Guy does not appear mad."
"No.He does like the killing, and I think he especially enjoys cutting down thehelpless and the terrified. As he killed that poor woman he smiled, as if itwere all just some mild amusement, of no more importance than watching aminstrel play. I believe that is one reason I grew so angry. He took a person'slife away with no more concern than he might show if he swatted a fly."
"Itis at times like these that I wish I had had the courage to leave you behind inPevensey. I only soothe that guilt by reminding myself that it was little saferthere." He sighed and shook his head. "You are seeing all the blackdeeds and the evil many women of good birth are protected from."
Shereached up and caressed his cheek with her now bandaged hand, the fight withSir Guy having left it covered in scratches. "Neither of us had muchchoice. And how can we be sure that I would have been saved from seeing thehorror and the evil? Old Edith's gift has made it difficult for me to be blindto the troubles all around me." His eyes narrowed and she immediatelyregretted reminding him of her strange skill, a skill that had caused her todisobey him and put herself in danger yet again.
"Youmust cease running toward these voices alone." He touched a kiss to herlips to silent her protest. "I understand what makes you do so and Icannot fault that. But, Eada, you have this gift for a reason—to help others,to save people. Would it not be a sin and a waste if you got yourself killedbecause you cannot find the wit and strength to wait but one moment to get oneof us to go with you?"
Shethought about that and realized that he was right. Although it was hard toignore the pain and the urgency of the cries she heard, she had to find thewill to hesitate before responding to them. When she had thought his objectionsstemmed just from his concern for her safety, she had shrugged them aside. Shesuspected that was still the only real reason he wanted her to learn how towait, but his reasoning was faultless. She did have a valuable gift, valuableand possibly life-saving for some of the innocents caught in the war. It wasfoolish to waste it. Dying to save children was honorable, but that honor wasdimmed if it meant that she had robbed her people of a gift that had, thus far,helped them.
"Youare right. It would be foolish to waste it when all I need to do is pause forone moment and get a man with a sword to take me where I must go."
Drogoinwardly breathed a hearty sigh of relief. He had not wanted to tie her to thecart, to restrain her in any manner, but he had begun to think that it was theonly way to keep her alive. He could not silence what she called her voices andhe could not stop her from helping someone who was in danger or in pain, but itwas far past time for her to begin to practice caution. It was even moreimportant now that she had Sir Guy as an enemy.
"Now,you must rest," he urged as he pressed her down onto the sheepskin beforethe fire. "Your wounds were not severe, but you should take care. I thinkyou will also discover that a great many parts of you will soon begin toache."
Shegrimaced as he gently spread a blanket over her. "They do already."
"Youcan expect nothing else when you fight with an armored knight with no more thanyour bare hands," he drawled.
"SirGuy will never forget that I have humiliated him, will he?"
"No,never."
"Itseems as if I do little more than cause you trouble at every turning."
"Oh,there are a few pleasant moments," he murmured, and grinned at her sleepysmile before kissing her cheek. "Sleep."
"Ishould see if I can help some of the wounded, and there were some who weresuffering some most uncomfortable maladies."
"Menon the march often suffer very uncomfortable maladies. As for the wounded, youwill not be allowed back into the village tonight; and any man who was woundedwhile he burnt the village and murdered the people there deserves to suffer hiswounds."
"Thechurch says we should forgive," she said but smiled at him, agreeing withhis sentiments about the men who were hurt while indulging in destruction.
