“Who are ye?” he demanded. “Why have ye come?”
Maitland remained calm, feeling Thomas come up beside her. She knew he was armed, and heavily so, but she held out a hand to him, silently telling him not to draw his weapon.
“My name is Lady Bowlin,” she said calmly. “I am the new guardian of Edenside. Who are you?”
The child frowned at her. “New guardian?” he repeated. “We dunna need a guardian. Go away!”
Maitland shook her head. “I will not go away,” she said. “I have been sent by Kelso Abbey. I am to be in charge now andI promise it will be much different from the way it was before. Where are the other children?”
“I’ll not tell ye!”
“Can you at least tell me your name? You know mine. What is yours?”
The boy hesitated a brief moment. “My name is Artus but they call me Wrath,” he informed her. Then, he lifted the big stick. “Make another move and ye’ll feel it!”
Beside Maitland, Thomas growled. “And you’ll feel mine, you little…”
Maitland shushed him, keeping her gaze on the child. “Artus, thank you for telling me your name,” she said steadily. “But I am in charge now and you will lower that stick. I am no threat and neither are these knights. They come as friends, I assure you. Now, where are the children, please? You will tell them to come out. There is no longer any reason to hide, I promise.”
Artus wasn’t so certain. He didn’t drop the stick, but he didn’t charge her, either. He seemed to be debating what she’d told him and, from what Maitland had been told of this place, she had to admit that she really didn’t blame him. God only knew what that child had gone through and how he’d had to defend himself. She stood still as the child came near, walking a circle around both her and Thomas, inspecting them very closely.
“We dunna need ye,” he finally said, holding the stick up for emphasis. “Queenie has taken good care of us.”
“Who is Queenie?” Maitland asked.
The child suddenly darted off, disappearing into the long building before emerging a short time later with a tiny, round, and fairly old woman who was weaving all over the place. The woman couldn’t seem to stand on her own and she leaned heavily against the boy as he pointed to her insistently.
“This is Queenie,” he said. “She can take care of us. You go away!”
Frowning with concern, Maitland glanced at Thomas, who lifted his eyebrows dubiously. Trying to assess the situation, Maitland took a few steps towards the child and the seemingly sick old woman. Thomas followed along closely, unwilling to let her get too close to that child with the big stick if he could help it.
“Queenie?” Maitland said to the old woman. “Queenie, my name is Lady Bowlin. Are you ill?”
The old woman looked up at her, her eyes glazed over as if she was simply exhausted or terribly ill. It was difficult to tell. Her gray hair was like a bird’s nest on her head and her jowls quivered as she lifted her head. When she opened her mouth, she belched so loudly that it startled the birds roosting on the sod house. As the birds scattered, both Maitland and Thomas caught a whiff of her breath.
Ale.
“Oh!” Maitland’s head snapped back and she put her hand over her nose. “God’s Bones, the woman is drunk!”
Artus simply lifted the stick as if to beat her for slandering the old woman. As Thomas stepped forward to snatch the child and shake the defiance right out of him, Maitland grabbed hold of Thomas and turned him around, pulling him with her as she walked several feet away.
“Thomas, we must be compassionate about this,” she said, her voice low. “Scaring that child and old woman will not help. We must realize what has driven them to this point. From what your mother told me, life has been terrible for them, indeed. I do not blame them for not trusting us.”
Thomas growled. “That lad needs a hand across his backside.”
But Maitland shook her head, her hand on his big arm. “That will not help the situation,” she said. Then, she eyed the provisions on the horses and an idea came to her. “I think I know what to do.”
“Beat him until he screams?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Nay,” she said firmly. “Be serious. I meant the pork side that we brought… have your men build a fire and put it on a spit. Let’s cook it. Mayhap the sight and smell of a decent meal will bring these children out. You know what they say– earn trust with a full belly.”
He was looking at her, a rather amused expression on his face. “Is that whattheysay?”
She nodded seriously, struggling to keep the smile off her face. “That is exactly what they say.”
“What idiot goes around speaking words like that?”
“Me.”
