Just what I’m going through, they cannot understand.
Some try to tell me in thoughts they cannot defend,
Just what you want to be… you will be in the end.”
~ 13thCentury Minstrel Lyrics
*
“Nay!” The youngwoman screamed. “Let her go!”
It was the middle of a busy marketplace in the middle of the day, with hundreds of people bustling to and fro. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and clouds darted across the sky in the brisk breeze. But in the middle of the busy avenue, no one seemed to be paying attention to the young woman in a panic.
She was pulling on the tunic of a rather burly man with one eye who had a young girl in his arms. The young girl was screaming and kicking as the young woman fought him for all she was worth.
“Let her go!” she demanded again, hitting him on the arm and trying to grab at the girl in his arms. “Put her down, do you hear me?Put her down!”
The man tried to ignore her. He was drooling, his clothing torn and stained. He had grabbed the young girl from the back of the wagon she had been sitting in and now he was trying tomake off with her but her sister had other ideas. He was moving away from the wagon with his quarry squirming in his arms as the sister beat on him.
“Nay!” The sister screamed again, realizing the man wasn’t about to release his prey so she grabbed hold of her sister’s arms and dug her heels into the mud, trying to pull her sister free. “Release her, you animal! Father,help me!”
The young woman knew she needed assistance. The brute that was trying to make off with her sister was big and strong. The young woman was in a panic, struggling to keep her head. Her father and sister were down the street with the spice merchant, running errands for their mother, and she had been left with the wagon and her younger sister. The young woman had been admiring a dress merchant across the busy avenue when she heard her younger sister scream. A man had grabbed her. And the fight began.
Her young sister was crying hysterically, grabbing on to the young woman’s arms by digging her nails into the flesh as she fought against her abductor. But the young woman saw that she wasn’t making any headway against the man, determined as he was, so she kicked him in the knees. It was a hard kick. When he faltered, she grabbed his dirty, vermin-filled hair and yanked as hard as she could.
The man roared and tried to hit her. As he released one arm around the young girl, she slipped and ended up hanging almost upside down. The older sister, down on one knee to avoid the strike from the brute, grabbed her hanging sister with both hands and pulled as hard as she could. Her sister slipped free and landed in the mud.
But the brute wasn’t giving up so easily. He grabbed the young girl by the legs and pulled, drawing more screams from both women. People were noticing now, seeing the brutal struggle and wondering what it was all about.
Down the avenue in the midst of the bustle stood a smithy shop; they had heard the screaming, too, and a dark head poked out from the enormous shop that was blazing with fires and hammering anvils. Steam and heat rose through the thatched roof.
Mathias had heard the screaming but all he could see was people. Being that it was a very busy day in spring when farmers brought their spring harvest into town, there were more people than usual. Horses, wagons, women, children, and a few knights who had arrived for next week’s local tournament… they were all here. Moreover, it was a bright day with good weather, but that would change as the sun grew warmer and the smell from the sewers began to fill the air. The flies would be bad, too. Not seeing the source of the screams, he was about to turn back to his business when the cries of panic caught his attention again. Then, he saw it.
A big bear of a man had the legs of a girl in his grip, but an older girl had her arms and they were tugging her apart. Both girls were screaming and the older one was calling for help. No one seemed to be coming to her aid and Mathias thought it was a family squabble until the man let go of one of the legs he held firm and punched the young woman who had hold of the girl’s arms. The blow to the shoulder sent the young woman reeling.
But she was tough. The woman was stunned but she didn’t lose her grip. She continued to hold, shaking the bells out of her head before resuming her death grip on the young girl and screaming once again for help. Meanwhile, Justus, pausing in shoeing a horse, noticed where Mathias’ attention was. He could hear the girl screaming, too, but it was none of his business. Besides, he’d been banned from that kind of thing. There was no more chivalry left in his veins. That had died along with his permission to bear a sword.
“Mathias,” he called quietly. “Lad, do not….”
It was too late. Mathias was already tossing off his leather apron and moving towards the struggle. Sebastian, pounding out a chorus of sparks on a piece of steel destined to be a sword for a local baron, saw his brother heading towards the struggle and thought he wanted a piece of it, too. Unlike his father, he missed the thrill of a fight and the exhilaration of a kill. Mathias, on the other hand, never spoke about it one way or the other, but Sebastian knew that his brother’s sense of chivalry certainly wasn’t dead. He just kept it buried.
As Mathias approached the fight, he could see that the young girl in contention between the young woman and the beefy man had been twisted around so violently that she had vomited. She had it in her hair. The young woman who had hold of the girl’s arms was losing her fight. Defeat was written all over her face. The man was winning simply because he was much stronger and the young woman was trying not to collapse because of it. She was holding on until the bloody end. It was a puzzling and violent scuffle and as it raged, Mathias walked to within a few feet of the fracas.
“What goes on here?” he asked evenly. “Why do you hurt these women?”
The brawling came to a startled halt and the woman with the weakening grip on the girl turned to Mathias with wide and terrified eyes.
“He is trying to abduct my sister,” she gushed, her voice trembling. “Please help me.”
Mathias cocked an eyebrow, looking at the hairy and filthy man. “Is this true?”
The man bared his teeth at him and roared. That was as much of an answer as he could give. Then he gave one hard yank and pulled the girl free of the young woman’s grasp. He turned to run away with his prize but Mathias moved quickly.
Reaching out, he threw his arm across the man’s neck and jerked him back so hard that the young girl tumbled out of his arms. As the brute fell to the ground, it was enough of a break for the young woman to grab the child and pull her to safety. Meanwhile, the fight had now moved from the scruffy man against two small women to the scruffy man against an extremely formidable opponent.
Mathias was more than ready to go to battle against the filthy man who seemed to be covered in lice and sores. Upon closer inspection, it was a fairly disgusting sight. But he made no move against the man, instead, waiting for him to throw the first punch. Poised, fists balled, Mathias stared down his opponent, waiting. As he stood there, primed and ready, a flash of red hair moved past him and Sebastian charged the dirty man, getting his kicks by grabbing him by the face and throwing him to the ground.
“Bastard!” Sebastian spat, kicking the man in the ribs. “Do you go around taking your fists to women, then? You should be taught a lesson.”
