Part 14 (1/2)
David caught Eudo when he lunged. Holding his struggling squire, David pointed at the stableboy. ”You can, of course, say what you wish about Louis, but Louis understands every word you say, and he's not partial to insults about his disposition.”
Siwate blanched and stepped back, and Eudo said, ”Ha!”
David continued, ”Lest you worry, however, let me inform you that Louis is no longer your responsibility. Eudo will now care for him.”
Eudo froze, and Siwate retorted, ”Ha!”
”Eudo is my squire, and he is not afraid of Louis.”
From beside him, David heard Eudo's squeaky voice murmur, ”Sir David, you made me swear to tell the truth...”
Lifting Eudo, David seated him on the high boards around Louis's stall. ”Louis is a reasonable horse. He loves to terrorize those he doesn't know, but he'll accept you.” David held his hand through the gate to offer the strong yellow cheese he'd saved. Observing the cheese, Louis stretched out his neck and with great care, nipped David's fingers. Cursing, David dropped the cheese, and Louis scooped it off the floor, then with teeth bared, showed it to David.
Siwate ran. Eudo shrank back so far he fell over backward onto a pile of hay. After baring his teeth back at the destrier, David said, ”Louis is a reasonable horse.”
Louis ate the cheese and exhaled the odor into David's face.
”When he's been exercised.” David lifted the reins off the wall and stepped into the stall. Eudo peeked up over the wall, saw the horse accepting the restraints David placed on him, and clambered back into place. Louis reached out with his head and sniffed Eudo's foot. Eudo gripped the boards until his knuckles turned white, but he didn't stir as Louis worked his way up his leg. ”That's your lad,” David advised him. ”Take care of him, and he'll take care of you.”
Louis rolled his eyes at David.
”You can't nip him. That wouldn't be fair. And be careful not to step on him, his bones are still young and thin.” David smiled at Louis and in a confidential tone said, ”He's already broken his finger.”
Louis nudged Eudo's hand, and Eudo hesitantly petted his head. ”He's nice,” the lad said in astonishment.
”He's the meanest piece of horseflesh you'll ever have the misfortune to meet.” David opened the gate, then led the horse toward the door. ”But he thinks he owns you now, and he protects those he owns.”
Eudo hopped down and followed, staying well back from Louis's hooves. ”Even b.a.s.t.a.r.d boys?”
David and Louis eyed each other with understanding, then David said, ”Especially b.a.s.t.a.r.d boys. Do you think Louis's parents were wed?”
One shocked moment of silence. Then a boyish giggle.
David beckoned. ”Come here, Eudo.” When the boy stepped forward, David lifted him high enough to scramble into the saddle. Louis stood still for it, although it was early for him to have such tolerance, then he paced forward, letting Eudo get the rhythm of his gait. Eudo managed to let go of the mane long enough to wave at Siwate in a superior manner, and as they left the stable, Louis released from his hind end an opinion of its inhabitant that made the stableboy scramble away.
Eudo was still giggling when David led the destrier into the training yard, but he straightened when the other squires froze. Sir Walter froze, too, hand outstretched as he prepared to gut Andrew with a wooden sword.
Feeling foolish, David nodded amiably. ”I've come to train the squires.”
”I'll finish the accounts on the morrow,” Lady Alisoun said as she knelt in between the fanatically neat rows of parsley and rue. ”After all, it's not as if I'm actually s.h.i.+rking my duties. The herb garden needs to be weeded, also.” Her long fingers grasped a weed firmly at its base and she jerked it up. ”d.a.m.n,” she muttered. She'd left the root in place, and before Tochi had withdrawn, he'd specifically forbidden such sloppy work.
Philippa grabbed Hazel's s.h.i.+rt and held her in place long enough to allow the kitten to escape the baby's grasping fingers. ”The suns.h.i.+ne will do you good.”
From the bailey that surrounded Tochi's pride and joy, the two women could hear willow branches rustling like satin hangings. Inside, the tall stone wall created a private world. Alisoun had carried the kitten in and it had promptly made a nest in her skirt and gone to sleep. But her constant slow progress down the row disturbed it, and at last it stretched and scampered away, exploring with a child's sense of adventure. Hazel crawled after, eyes intent, nappies in motion.
With a digger, Alisoun set to work freeing the root from the clinging dirt. The scent of damp earth rose to her nostrils, tantalizing her with the delectation of summer and the promise of harvest. ”I've never weeded before, but my parents instructed me to learn all aspects of my demesne, so I'm grateful for Tochi's instruction.”
Philippa laughed, although whether at her child or her lady, Alisoun did not know. ”He certainly enjoyed giving it.”
”He did, didn't he?” The root came out, and Alisoun sat back on her heels and waved it. Bits of dirt flew, but she didn't care; she was triumphant.
Philippa laughed again, and this time Alisoun knew she was laughing at her. ”It's not often anyone can tell you anything.”
Throwing the root into the slowly growing pile of weeds, Alisoun bent to her task again. ”Am I so intimidating, then?”
”Not to me. Don't eat the dirt.”
Surprised at the command, Alisoun looked up in time to see Philippa lunge after her daughter and pry her little fist open until the earth she clutched fell back on the ground. ”Uck!” Philippa made a dreadful face at Hazel. ”Don't eat that. Nasty.”
Fascinated, Hazel stared at her mother. Then her bottom lip came out and quivered, her big eyes filled with tears, and she sat up and bawled like a calf.
Alisoun couldn't help it; she laughed aloud. It had been a long time since she'd done so, and she laughed again when Philippa gave her a sour look.
Searching through her bag for something to distract Hazel, Philippa said, ”Wait until you're a mother.”
”A fearsome thought.” Still grinning, Alisoun bent back to her task.
”I think you've waited almost too long as it is.”
Alisoun looked up sharply. ”What do you mean by that?”
Philippa handed Hazel a dried gourd. Hazel rattled it once, then threw it away so vigorously it dug into the loose soil. ”You're turning into an old maid with a cat.”
”That's not my cat!” She tried to see the sc.r.a.p of black fur that had so firmly attached itself to her, but it had disappeared, and she was glad.
Besides, it could scarcely come to harm in a garden surrounded by stone walls.
”Very well,” Philippa said. ”You're turning into an old maid.”
Dumbfounded, Alisoun tried to joke. ”I am the oldest widowed virgin in existence.”
Apparently not even Philippa thought her amusing, for she dangled a string of colorful beads before Hazel's eyes and continued as if Alisoun hadn't spoken. ”You're set in your ways. I don't think there's a man who could change you. I had great hopes for Sir David, but he's failed, so what's left but to hope for a child?”
Straightening, Alisoun rubbed the aching place on her lower spine. ”What are you talking about?”
”You need to have a child.”
Staring at Philippa, Alisoun tried to decide if this was some kind of new humor-the kind she didn't understand. The saints knew, that was likely. But Philippa stared directly back, as earnest as Alisoun had ever seen her. With impeccable logic, Alisoun prepared her answer. ”I'm not married.”
”Marriage isn't what brings the children,” Philippa advised. ”Bedding is.”
”I know that.” When Philippa grinned, Alisoun realized that that had been humor. ”I mean, I'm the lady of George's Cross. I can't just take a lover and-”
”Why not?” Philippa demanded. ”What's the use of being the lady of George's Cross if you can't do one wicked thing?” Bored with the beads, Hazel threw them after the gourd and grabbed another handful of dirt. As Philippa wrestled with her, she said, ”I suppose I should say-one more wicked thing.”
”My conscience is at rest. I confess my sin to the priest every day, and do the penance he a.s.signs.”
”He's deaf,” Philippa said in exasperation. ”If he wasn't, the whole village would be excommunicated.”
Alisoun subdued the smile that threatened to break out, and said primly, ”G.o.d works in mysterious ways.”