“The food is delicious, Artus,” she said, mouth full. “Won’t you have some? There is so much of it and we cannot possibly eat all of it. Please come out and bring the children. Surely they would like to fill their bellies with this wonderful food.”
There was more hissing and it was growing louder. Maitland leaned forward, trying to hear what they were saying, but she couldn’t quite make out the words. She could, however, hearArtus as he whispered loudly in a somewhat pleading tone. But still, no children were forthcoming.
Thinking her plan to lure them out of their hiding places was not working, Maitland turned her back on the outbuilding, finishing off the piece of pork in her cup because, much like those children, she was quite hungry. She thought to, perhaps, return to the fire and consult Thomas and Desmond on what they should do to bring the children forth, but just as she began to walk away, she could hear something behind her.
Turning around, she saw a little girl with beautiful long, curly blonde hair standing just outside the door. She couldn’t have been more than five years of age, a tiny little creature no bigger than a sparrow. Before Maitland could open her mouth and speak, the little girl rushed towards her, wiping at her teary eyes and smearing dirt across her pale cheeks.
“I’m hungry,” she said. “I want a’bit.”
Her Scottish accent was heavy, coupled by the fact that she was simply very little and not particularly articulate. Maitland immediately held out a hand to her.
“Then if you are hungry, you must come with me,” she said. “I will make sure your belly is full. Will you come?”
The little girl nodded firmly, still wiping at her watery eyes, and reached out to take Maitland’s hand. When Maitland clutched the little fingers, they were like ice. She was so little and so very cold.
“What is your name, lass?” Maitland asked.
The little girl simply looked up at her as if she didn’t understand the question. Maitland was very gentle with her as she bent over to ask her again, but the words didn’t come forth before she heard a voice by the outbuilding door.
“’Tis Pride, she is.”
Maitland looked up to see Queenie standing there with a group of children around her. She didn’t look so drunk anylonger. In fact, she sounded rather sober. But Maitland wasn’t really looking at her. She was looking at the children, shocked by what she saw.
It was worse than she thought.
She’d never seen such destitute children in her life, all of them in rags, all of them skinny and malnourished. They were all bunched up around Queenie and Artus, and the younger ones were weeping. Queenie pointed to the little girl in Maitland’s grip.
“Her name is Dyana, but I call her Pride,” she said. Then, she began to point to the children around her. “This is Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Wrath, Greed, and Envy. Ye have Pride with ye. ’Tis the only way I can remember their names.”
Maitland took a few steps towards the children, getting a better look at them. The sun was nearly down now, but the moon was bright. Bright enough to light up the yard and the landscape beyond the walls, with the smell of the river blowing on the evening breeze. The children were looking at her with a mixture of apprehension and hope– four boys, two girls, and then a third little girl in her grip. All of them dirty and ill-dressed for the cold. Truly, it was as tragic as Maitland had ever seen.
“But surely they have real names,” she said. “What are their real names?”
While Queenie shrugged, Artus pointed to the two girls standing next to him. “This is Marybelle and Nora,” he said. Then he moved to the boys standing nearby. “The tall one is Phin, and those two are Renard and Roland. They’re brothers. Lust, Gluttony, Sloth, Greed, and Envy.”
He pointed to them in the order he’d introduced them. Maitland thought it was a rather horrible thing to name these children after the seven deadly sins, but she didn’t say so. It wasn’t the time. Instead, she motioned them all towards the fire.
“Come along with me, children,” she said. “We have food for everyone and a fire. You shall be warm and have a meal. Come along, now.”
She turned around again, little Dyana still in hand, only to see that Thomas, Desmond and Tibelda had come up behind her and were watching the interaction. As soon as Maitland saw Thomas, she hissed pleadingly.
“Cloaks,” she said. “Cloaks and blankets, whatever you may have with you. These children are freezing.”
Thomas and Desmond nodded, turning back for the horses where cloaks had been packed for inclement weather, but Tibelda came forth, to Renard and Roland, respectively, because they were twins and not much older than Dyana was. They were tiny, dark-haired lads with bird-bones and Tibelda was surprisingly gentle with them as she took each boy by the hand and began leading them over to the fire.
The rest of the children, and Queenie, followed.
Thomas, Desmond, and the soldiers with them had managed to unpack several cloaks from their possessions and, soon, the children were wrapped up in them, sitting next to the fire and eating great pieces of roasted pork. Maitland and Tibelda, with their cups of beans and each with a wooden spoon they’d confiscated from the soldiers, moved from child to child, spooning the soft, delicious beans into their little mouths, feeding them like mother birds feeding their babies. There were a great many open mouths, starving, and they fed them carefully, making sure each child was fed.
But it was quite a process.
Artus was one of those with his mouth open for the hot beans. With pork hunks in both hands, he alternately stuffed himself on the meat and slurped down the beans. Maitland waited until she got a goodly portion of food into the lad before she started asking him more questions.
“What have you been living off of, Artus?” she asked. “Have the priests from Kelso come here to provide you with food?”
Artus’ mouth was full as he spoke. “Sometimes,” he said. “They come when they have somethin’ tae give us. Sometimes they bring us sacks of barley and oats.”
Maitland’s gaze moved to Queenie, who was dozing by the fire. She didn’t seem to be too interested in the food. “And you,” she said. “Queenie? Why are you at Edenside?”
