Chapter Twelve #2
Dacia wasn’t ready to play nice yet. She continued putting her things away. “There was a raid in the village,” she said. “The men rode out to chase them away. Some were wounded as a result.”
Amata was still wide-eyed. “The chamber I am in faces the rear of the castle,” she said. “I did not know this was going on until I heard some of the servants speaking of it. Can I help?”
Truth be told, it would be nice for her help, but Dacia wasn’t sure just how much help Amata was capable of. She didn’t like blood or dirt, and she had never seen her cousin work very hard at anything other than attracting men, so she thought carefully on her answer.
“If you can go to each man and see if he would like something warm to drink or some broth, that would be helpful,” she said. “They should not eat anything solid, like meat, so only liquid for now. You can help the men who cannot eat very well. Can you do this?”
Amata nodded. “I can,” she said. Then, she started looking around again. “Where is Cousin Vincent?”
“He has gone to bed.”
Amata looked at her curiously. “He did not stay to help his own men?”
Dacia shrugged. “You know that he does not like war,” she said. “He has never been comfortable with it. He provides the money and the titles and lets other men do the fighting.”
Amata simply nodded, looking around at the men nearest her. “Where should I begin?”
“Anywhere. Just pick any man and start with him.”
Dacia started to move away, but Amata stopped her. “CeeCee,” she said. “I… I am sorry I became angry with you. I really did come to Edenthorpe to see you.”
Dacia paused, looking at her cousin. The hurt and humiliation from Amata’s treatment still hadn’t vanished.
“You came to see Cassius,” she said. “Amata, I know you. I know how you think. Lying to me is only going to make this worse, so do not think I will fall for your false apologies any longer. The only way we will find forgiveness is if you are completely honest with me.”
Amata frowned as if she were going to become angry again. “I’d hoped to see him,” she said. “I will not deny that. But I wanted to see you, too. I did not come here only hoping to see Sir Cassius, but now I see that my efforts were in vain. His focus is on you.”
Dacia was careful in her answer. “His focus is not on me,” she said. “He has simply been kind to me, much as he was kind to you at the Lords of Misrule feast, but the difference is that I did not follow him to someone else’s castle. If he had wanted you to come to him, he would have sent for you.”
Amata was beginning to lose her temper. She had come into the hall perfectly calm and willing to forget about their earlier argument, mostly because she knew Dacia had been right. But her willingness to be humble only went so far.
“How would you even know what a man wants?” she demanded. “You have never known a man in your life.”
“And you have known too many.”
Amata didn’t have the restraint she’d had earlier when Cassius had been witnessing everything.
She and Dacia had experienced plenty of arguments in their lifetime together and Amata had always emerged the victor.
Lifting her hand, she slapped Dacia across the face, not hard enough to really hurt, but the message was obvious.
She didn’t want Dacia to gain the upper hand.
She wanted her to shut her mouth and be submissive like she usually was.
But Dacia wasn’t having any of it. Feeling the throb of Amata’s slap on her cheek, she set her bag down, turned fully to Amata, and slapped her so hard that the woman toppled over onto a chair behind her.
Amata ended up sitting in the chair, her hand to her stinging cheek and looking at Dacia as if the woman had just done something horribly wrong.
Dacia’s eyes narrowed.
“Hit me again and I shall give it back to you stronger than you can imagine,” she said. “I am tired of being your pawn, your obedient dog, and anything else that strikes your fancy. You are a petty, vain, and terrible girl, Amata. I told you I did not want to see you anymore. I meant it.”
Amata rubbed her cheek, her eyes spitting daggers at her cousin. “You are wicked,” she hissed. “Everything Mother Mary said about you was right – you are a demon. The devil has taken you over!”
“Then if that is the case, you had better not push me too far or I will wave my hand and incinerate you,” she said. “If I were you, I would be very afraid of someone possessed by a demon. It will not end in your favor if you provoke me again.”
Amata stood up from the chair, one fist balled and the other hand on her stinging cheek. “I am going to tell Cousin Vincent what you have said!”
Dacia took a deep breath. “If you do, I will tell your father every secret you have ever kept from him,” she said. “I will also make sure he knows that you steal from him. Do not cross me, Amata. You will not like the results.”
Amata was furious that she couldn’t gain the upper hand. She started to say something more, but a woman was suddenly between them. Edie had made an appearance, having seen the exchange and heard some of the argument.
Her focus was on Amata.
“Lady Amata,” she said evenly. “Might I escort you back to your chamber? This is no place for you.”
Amata scowled at the maid. “I shall go where I please,” she said. “Go away and leave me alone.”
Edie shook her head. “Alas, I cannot, my lady,” she said. “Lady Dacia has a job to do around her and if you are not going to help her, then you must leave. ’Tis shameful for two well-bred young women to be slapping each other for all to see.”
Amata was outnumbered and grossly upset about it. She stomped her foot angrily and started to berate Edie, but more men coming in through the hall entry caught Dacia’s attention.
She didn’t have time for Amata’s temper tantrums.
Completely forgetting about her cousin, she headed towards the entry to see what the casualties were. She was met by a wide-eyed, bloodied, and exhausted soldier.
“My lady,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “De Wolfe has been wounded. We’ve brought him back, but he shouldn’t… he can’t…”
The man was cut off when Cassius suddenly appeared in the doorway with two big arrows sticking out of him.
He was dressed in full battle gear, including his helm, and there was a great deal of blood all down the left side of his body.
One arrow was in the left shoulder and the other was somewhere down by the curve of his torso, in his gut.
He was holding on to that arrow to stabilize it, but the expression on his ashen face was nothing less than calm, steady strength.
It was all Dacia could do not to cry out at the horrific sight.
“Cassius,” she said as evenly as she could. “Please… let me take you someplace to lie down. You must lie down so I can look at your wounds.”
He just stood there, but he was weaving unsteadily. “I never saw them coming,” he said. “I heard them before I saw them and, suddenly, they hit me.”
“I can see that.”
“They came out of nowhere.”
Dacia sensed that he might not have been as in control as he wanted her to think.
As he wanted everyone to think. Cassius was all about honor and the de Wolfe name, so it was possible he didn’t want to show weakness in front of the men.
In front of anyone, really. He had a reputation as Lord Protector to uphold, but Dacia could see that he was hanging on by a thread.
Perhaps the hall wasn’t the best place for him.
“It will be all right, Cassius,” she said, moving to him and putting her hands on his arm. “Come into the keep with me. You can rest there while I remove these. Will you come?”
He was looking at her. In fact, his pale eyes never left her. “How are the men?”
“No one will die,” she said. “Most of the wounds are minor. But you… you must come with me. Please, Cassius.”
“They came out of nowhere.”
He was repeating himself, indicative of the fact that he probably didn’t have much longer on his feet. She could feel him trembling violently as she gripped his arm. She looked at the soldier who had announced his arrival.
“Help me,” she said quietly, then looked over her shoulder. “Edie! I need you!”
Edie rushed over, getting in behind Cassius because he was now having difficulty walking as Dacia turned him for the keep.
Argos, seeing his injured master, came bounding over and Dacia had to push him away.
With the soldier on one side and Dacia on the other, Cassius began to walk haltingly towards the keep.
More soldiers, men who had seen him ride in with arrows sticking out of him, had followed him to the hall, astounded that the enormous knight was still on his feet.
But, then again, he was a de Wolfe.
De Wolfe strength, as evidenced before them, was legendary.
Dacia saw the men gathering, looking at Cassius in shock, and she didn’t want them gawking. She focused on two older soldiers who had served her grandfather for many years.
“You two,” she said. “Help me get him into the keep. Edie, get my medicament bag. Then I want you to send someone into the village to find Emmeric the physic. With the village in flames, I do not even know if he is still there, but send men to find him. I will need help with Cassius, so hurry. Hurry, Edie!”
As the two older soldiers got in behind Cassius to help him cross the bailey, Edie fled back into the great hall to gather Dacia’s medicament bag.
The other maids were still there, wide-eyed at what they had just seen, and Edie encouraged them to continue tending the men.
She instructed the other servants to do the same, and put Fulco in charge, but as she came to the bag, she noticed that Amata was still standing where they had left her.
Head down, she quietly collected the bag, but Amata stopped her.
“I shall take it,” she said, reaching out to demand the bag. “I will help Dacia with Sir Cassius. You will stay here.”
Edie knew about the earlier fight with Dacia and Amata because she had been in the chamber across the landing when she’d heard it.
She had heard everything. She had never been so proud of her mistress than she was when she heard her tell Amata everything that had ever needed to be said to the spoiled young woman.
Therefore, she knew that Amata’s demand for the bag and the insistence to help Dacia were not altruistic. Amata had a motive in mind, as she always did, so Edie politely shook her head.
“Nay, my lady,” she said. “She asked for me. I shall take it to her.”
Amata reached out and grabbed it, but Edie held firm. “Let it go,” she insisted. “I will take it to her.”
“Nay, my lady. Please release it.”
Amata yanked on it, but Edie wouldn’t let go. “I said give it to me,” Amata said angrily. “You are a stupid servant. You cannot be any help to her, so let it go.”
Edie’s dislike of Amata had reached its limit. She wasn’t going to let Amata help Dacia, and in a sense, she was protecting Dacia against a woman she’d long tried to protect her from. She’d seen years of abuse and selfishness from Amata towards Dacia. It had been heartbreaking to watch.
Now, she wasn’t going to take anything more.
Amata never saw the hand that shot out and slapped her across the face. Suddenly, she was falling onto her backside as Edie slipped from the hall, out into the night, where Dacia and the escort of soldiers were just reaching the steps leading up into the keep.
As Amata screamed, Edie just kept on walking.