Page 36 of The Maiden

“Are all Englishmen as vile-tempered as you?” she answered, stretching beneath the covers.

He watched her intently and his pale skin seemed to grow paler. “Get your belongings and come below,” he said, then left the room.

It didn’t take Jura long to get her few pieces of clothing and her weapons together. The courtyard was loud with prancing horses and shouting men. Geralt, wearing black and on a black horse, was ordering men about. Daire sat on his horse to one side and near him was Cilean.

Jura smiled at her friend but Cilean turned her head away. Jura’s smile faded as she accepted bread and watered wine from a servant.

Rowan was in the midst of the men, his horse ready to go, and Jura had to admit that he seemed to be capable of organizing the expedition and the men seemed to recognize his leadership.

There were wagons filled with goods and Jura saw Lora and the boy Phillip sitting on one of them beside a driver.

“Jura!” the boy called, and smiling, she went to him.

“Good morning,” she said, offering him a piece of bread.

“Do Lanconian warriors eat bread?” he asked solemnly.

“Always,” she answered just as solemnly, and turned to Lora to smile, but the Englishwoman put her nose in the air and turned away. Jura went to her horse, falling in beside Xante as they began to ride.

It took all day to reach the Irial villages. There were other, smaller villages scattered about the Irial land, but these were inhabited by peasants, the lowest class of people, people who fought among themselves, whose family feuds were centuries old. These people had no idea whether they were Irial or Vatell or English for that matter.

But twenty miles from the walled city of Escalon lived the main population of Irials. When a guardsman or woman chose a mate, he/she came from these people. The guards were chosen from these people, and after they were trained, they were sent back to the village to watch and protect the Irials from invasion. In these few square miles was the only serenity an Irial was likely to know. Here children played and women sang and crops were harvested. Here fabric was woven, garments embroidered, and here the sick and old were given comfort and peace. Thousands of the Irial guard had died to protect this place.

Jura rode beside Xante for most of the way but she heard Phillip beginning to complain, so she turned back to the wagon. “Would you like to ride with me?” she asked the boy, and he looked at Lora for permission.

Lora looked as if she were fighting against herself. She turned her head away then gave a curt nod.

Phillip practically leaped into Jura’s arms as she pulled him into the saddle before her. For the rest of the journey she told him stories of the old gods of Lanconia, gods who fought and feuded, gods who had more character than the Christian God Jesus who never so much as spoke back to his mother.

“Why do you hold this pup?” Geralt demanded of her angrily as he reined his horse beside hers. “Do you grow soft toward the English?”

“He’s a child,” Jura said.

“Boys grow into men.”

She gave him a look of disgust. “He is no threat to you. He has no pretensions to your throne.”

Geralt gave the boy a hostile look and rode away.

“I don’t like him,” Phillip whispered.

“Of course you do. He is to be King of Lanconia and he will make a very good king.”

“My uncle Rowan is the king and he is the best king.”

“We shall see about that.”

It was night when the travelers arrived at the village and the wagons had to be ferried across the river, as did the horses and passengers.

The people, bearing torches, came out to greet them and see this Englishman who called himself king.

Many of Jura’s relatives ran forward to greet her. Her status had risen high since she had won the Honorium and married the king.

“What is he like?” they whispered. “Has he given you a child yet?” “Is he as handsome as Daire?” “As strong as Thal?”

They stopped talking when Rowan walked up behind her and Jura saw the eyes of some of her cousins turn liquid. There was a collective sigh.

Jura smiled at them and even felt a little pride. She turned her smile on Rowan. “May I introduce you to my family?” she asked him politely.