“Well, there goes our refreshment, thank you very much,” Walter grumbled. “And that thunder of yours has frightened away everyone else as well. I suppose I couldtryto find the buttery myself, but God’s wounds, it might take days to locate it in a place this size.”
Ranulf’s reply was curt and to the point. “Searle, stuff something in his mouth if he says another word.”
Chapter Five
Aubert nearly ran Reina down on the stairs as she mounted them with Theodric at her side. If Theo had not caught her, she would have gone tumbling backwards, yet the squire was so agitated he did not even think to apologize.
“Thank God you are come at last, my lady! The lord has somehow taken insult that you have not received him. He affrighted Lady Elaine to death and—”
“And you as well, I see,” Reina snapped impatiently. “Jesú, I toldyouto make them welcome, Aubert. Did you offer refreshment, see to their comfort?”
“I—I did not think you would be so long, and—and he is monstrous, my lady. I have never seen a man so—”
“Lackwit! Do you tell me all this time no one has attended them?”
“I thoughtyouwould be down.”
“I never came up! There were wounded who needed immediate attention and—oh! Never mind. I swear, Aubert, you have me so wroth, if I do not see you for a sennight, ’twill be too soon. Dosomethingright and pull me up these stairs. I am tired unto death and, thanks to you, cannot even sneak past them to get to my chamber as I intended. Theo, do not just stand there grinning like an idiot. Help!”
“You must admit, my lady, that we do not often see you in such a grouch.” Theo chuckled as he pulled on one arm, and Aubert the other, to maneuver the last few stairs. “’Tis most novel and enlightening. There, can you manage now?” he asked at the top of the stairs.
“Aye, and you will find yourself demoted to the kitchens if I am treated to any more of your humor. You overstep yourself, but then you always do. I am in no mood for it just now. And where the deviliseveryone?” she said as she looked across the hall to find it empty except for those few men by the hearth at the far side of it.
“Itoldyou he was fearsome,” Aubert said indignantly.
“What you said was ‘monstrous.’ Do you mean this lord has frightened everyone into hiding?”
“I did not see them leave because I was leaving too quickly myself, but they are wise to hide. He is notnormal, Lady Reina, and do hurry.”
“Do I have reason to fear, Aubert?” she asked in all seriousness now.
“Nay, he wants to see that you are safe, is all. He would not believe me when I told him you were. Me-thinks he suspects something amiss because you have not appeared to him yet, and the longer he waits, the more suspicious he is become.”
“Well, run ahead and tell him I am found. I simply cannot hurry, Aubert, to save my soul, not with this armor now weighing as much as a horse.”
“Please, my lady, he is like to wring my neck before I get the words out if you are not beside me. Let us just go.”
She sighed and did just that, with one of them on each side of her, yet several feet behind her, she noted in disgust. Her “protectors.” She would feel safer with her ladies around her, even if most of them were children.
Shoulders slumped, her head aching from exhaustion, her body feeling as if it had been battered, and so it had been when that wounded man had fallen on her, Reina presented herself to her “savior,” started to curtsy—whether she would be able to rise by herself afterward was another matter—and found herself lifted clear off the floor instead.
“I am done with excuses, delays, and evasions, so if you have not come to tell me where the lady of this castle is, you are a dead man.”
Reina’s mouth dropped open, but not to utter any words. Words were stuck halfway down her gullet and were not likely to come up soon. He held her off the floor with his fist hooked into her mailed tunic just above her breasts, one fist, one single fist supporting her and her accursed mail more than a foot above the rushes, bringing her face up to a level with his. A peek down revealed that much; revealed, too, thathewas not standing on anything to account for this height. Monstrous, Aubert had said? SweetJesú, this was a giant, as wide across as he was tall—well, that was an exaggeration—but he was incredibly wide across the shoulders and chest, easiest to see in her present position of lookingdownon things. No tall reed this, but a bear, with a bear’s growl.
She was not the only one in momentary shock. Theodric and Aubert were likewise rendered speechless, that this giant would dare,dare, to treat her so, to speak to her so, and not only that. He shook her! He actually shook her when she did not answer him soon enough.
Aubert was the first to regain his senses, only to lose them again in thinking he alone could do something. Instead of speaking up to inform the giant of his mistake, the fool lad chosethatmoment to finally be courageous. He leapt on the giant’s back, to be shrugged off as if he were no more than a pesky squirrel. The giant was annoyed enough by it to shake Reina even harder.
Reina then heard the most reasonable voice suggest dryly, “Mayhap if you set him down, Ranulf, the fellow would remember he has a tongue.”
But it was Theodric who did the remembering and said, “’Tis the Lady Reina you are throttling, my lord.”
Oh, curse and rot that boy for not being more subtle! The giant was so surprised he dropped her, just let go, and Reina went crashing to the floor at his feet.
They stood around her, three towering knights too stunned to move, let alone speak, staring down at her with the most ridiculous expressions. If Reina did not hurt so, she would have laughed, for this truly was the perfect topping to an otherwise rotten day. But she did see the humor in it. Later she would be mortified. Just now, it was their turn.
“Well, this is one way to discover if the rushes need changing.”
