I answered him in the same tongue. “I am Wulfric of Ashford.”
His brows rose.
“Of Ashford?”
“What remains of it.”
Raoul glanced toward the western ridge, beyond which the faintest stain of old smoke still marked the sky. Something shifted in his expression then, not sympathy, certainly, but interest.
I had seen the same look among soldiers. Men understood defeat because every warrior expected to meet it eventually. Survival, however, particularly survival that came from choosing retreat rather than glory, confused them.
Raoul removed his gloves one finger at a time. “You shelter rebels.”
“I shelter farmers, children, widows, old men, and several goats.”
As though summoned to testify, one of the goats bleated behind me.
Darcy murmured, “Excellent timing.”
I ignored her, but Raoul did not as his eyes moved back to her. “And this woman?”
“Also difficult to control.”
Darcy’s head turned sharply.
I kept my face solemn, though it cost me.
Raoul’s mouth almost curved, and I took the small victory for what it was. A man who had been made curious, or better yet amused, was often easier to bargain with than one who arrived already insulted.
“You have gathered people without Duke William’s leave,” Raoul said. “You occupy land that will soon belong to anotherlord, if it does not already, and men hiding in these woods have attacked Norman patrols.”
“We have attacked those who attacked us.”
“That distinction may not matter.”
“It matters to those still alive.”
Silence followed, and I allowed it to remain between us. There had been a time when I would have filled such a silence with threat, because young men often believed the loudest voice must belong to the strongest man. My father had taught me otherwise, though it had taken war, grief, and one woman falling into my life before I learned how useful the lesson truly was.
Raoul turned his head slowly, studying the settlement once more.
“You will disperse.”
A murmur moved through the people behind me, low and uneasy, but I did not turn toward them.
“No.”
Beside me, Godwin went very still and Darcy did not move at all, which I found considerably more alarming.
Raoul’s face hardened. “You misunderstand your position.”
“I understand it plainly. If we disperse now, many will die before winter.”
“That is not my concern.”
“Then taxes will be.”
For the first time since entering the clearing, Raoul looked at me without the faintest trace of condescension.
