Chapter Thirteen #2
“It is Poppy who feeds us,” Andreas pointed out, grinning. “He pays for your food and drink here. At least the lady is trying to come up with ideas to make you self-sufficient and not dependent on your grandfather’s wealth.”
Gar wasn’t at all pleased with that crack. “You have no cause to point fingers,” he said. “Hell’s Guardhouse takes plenty of Poppy’s money, so do not act as if you refuse all coin from Poppy and use your own. You do not.”
“I do,” Andreas insisted. “I must use my own money because I take Poppy’s money and gamble it away while I am in London.”
The table roared with laughter. Even Mattie was grinning, looking up at her husband, watching his face, watching every move he made.
She was clearly studying him, making sure the insults flying around weren’t seriously upsetting him.
She was learning about him, about the way he interacted with his family, and she could see how much love and camaraderie there was between them.
Given that all she had was her parents and brother, she realized that she was envious of that.
She was envious of the giant de Wolfe family.
But if she was feeling that way, she could only imagine what Maksim was feeling.
In fact, as she watched Gar shake a fist at Andreas, who laughed in the face of it, she caught sight of her brother sitting at the edge of the frivolity.
He had a cup of wine in hand as he viewed the goings-on as simply an observer, not a participant.
If their mother was the Empress of Hensingham, it was Maksim who was the emperor—not Reece.
Maksim reigned over the castle and its occupants, which was why Mattie had been mildly surprised that her father had allowed his only son to accompany her to Gleann na Fola.
Reece’s reason, at least in public, was that he needed to make sure Mattie was settled well, but that wasn’t the real reason, she suspected.
There was something else.
A castle couldn’t have two kings.
Perhaps he was hoping Maksim would want to stay at Gleann na Fola.
Unfortunately, Maksim’s time here seemed to be having the opposite effect. He wasn’t the emperor here. He was the low man in the hierarchy and he wasn’t used to that. As Mattie watched, Maksim suddenly downed what was left in his cup and left the table, heading out of the hall.
Mattie followed.
She gave Gar the rather indelicate excuse of having to find the privy and he quickly let her go.
No man stood in the way of a woman’s business.
Mattie followed Maksim out of the hall, finally catching up to her brother when he was down near the gatehouse where the men from Hensingham had set up a small encampment away from the gate.
The first thing she saw as she approached the cluster of canvas tents was Winchester, tied up next to Maksim’s pristine blue tent.
Pristine because it was never used in battle.
Or anywhere else.
Winchester was very excited to see his mistress.
The dog cried and barked and leaped vertically, straight up in the air, until she finally went to him and hugged him.
Untying the rope around his neck, she headed into Maksim’s tent with Winchester on her heels.
The first thing the dog did was run to Maksim’s bed and jump on it, getting the coverlet and pillows dirty.
Maksim, who had been bent over a large trunk, scowled at both his sister and the excited dog.
“If I’d wanted that filthy animal on my bed, I would have untied him myself,” he said. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you with your husband where I left you?”
Mattie ignored the bad attitude and went to sit on the bed next to her dog. “Because I wanted to speak with you,” she said. “I’ve not spoken to you since we arrived here.”
Maksim turned back to his trunk, digging around. “That is because you were with your husband,” he said. “That is where you should be.”
“Are you angry with me?”
He paused and looked at her. “Nay,” he said. “Why? Should I be?”
“You are acting like you are.”
He frowned and returned to his trunk. “No one is angry,” he said. “Go back to the hall. Gar will wonder where you have gone.”
“Maks, what is wrong with you?”
He was still rummaging through the chest. “I told you that nothing was wrong,” he said. “I am not angry with you. Go back to your husband, his family, and this life that has chosen you. You are a warlord’s wife now, Matilda. Your life is going to change forever.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
He paused again, thinking on her question. “Nay,” he finally said. “But it will be different.”
Mattie watched him resume his quest for something in the trunk. Even though he’d said he wasn’t angry with her, something about him still seemed off.
“Will you at least stay here awhile?” she asked.
“It would do me good to see at least one person from home. This is a very big place and although everyone has been kind, it is still daunting to me. I would like it if you could stay awhile. Mayhap you would even meet a young woman to marry. I am not sure how I ever became betrothed before you, but imagine if you were to meet a de Wolfe bride. Then you would be part of the family, too!”
She said it with some excitement, but Maksim didn’t rise to that level. He finally found what he was looking for and pulled forth a heavier tunic, something warmer against the cooler temperatures of the night.
“Family,” he muttered, shaking out the tunic.
“You do realize that we have no family at all. No cousins, no uncles. We live in a castle that has not seen a battle in decades. Father has grown soft, our soldiers are bored, and I… I am a well-trained knight, Matilda. I have had the finest education, yet I sit and rot at Hensingham.”
Mattie’s brow furrowed with concern. “I’ve never heard you talk this way,” she said. “Are you unhappy, then?”
He had to think seriously on his answer.
“Unhappy?” he said. “Not exactly unhappy. But seeing Gar with his cousins and brothers and family, how much they adore each other, how seasoned and experienced they all are, has made me realize just what I have missed. Do you know I’ve only seen one skirmish in my entire life?
Papa sent me to Berkhamstead Castle and all it ever was during my tenure there was a royal prison.
The only skirmish I’ve ever seen was there, when some unruly warlord tried to break his son out of prison.
The skirmish was easily put down. But I trained, I learned, I went through the motions of being an excellent knight, but the truth is I’m not. ”
“You are!”
He shook his head firmly. “I am not,” he said, throwing a finger in the direction of the great hall.
“Those men are excellent knights. They have seen death in battle. They’ve suffered.
They have a camaraderie that I can only dream of because I’ve not fought with them.
I’ve not fought with anyone. I do not know why I am even telling you this. You cannot possibly understand.”
Mattie was listening to him seriously. “I know what it means to belong to something,” she said. “You and I, Mama and Papa… We belong to each other. We belong to the legacy of Hensingham. Is that not something, small as it is?”
Maksim shrugged. “I suppose so,” he said.
He finally sat down on the bed next to her, his shoulders slumped.
“But I want more, Mattie. I did not even realize that until we arrived and I saw all of the knights and the way they were with each other. You asked me if I was going to remain here for a while—the truth is that I will stay permanently if Gar will allow it and I am not sure how Papa will take the news. I want to live the life I was trained for. I do not want to return to a castle of boredom.”
Mattie could understand that, somewhat. Everyone wanted to feel as if they had a purpose. She put her hand on her brother’s shoulder.
“I think Gar would love for you to stay,” she said quietly. “Remember that he said he’s been having trouble with the Scots. I’m sure he can use every good knight he can find.”
Maksim nodded, pondering what the future at Gleann na Fola might hold for him. “I think Mama will be worried for me,” he said. “I do believe she is content for me to remain at Hensingham, safe and under her care. I think this is what she envisioned for me.”
“But you do not,” Mattie said softly.
Maksim shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “I do not. If I am to have a legacy, then I must build it. Your marriage to Gar has given me that chance.”
Mattie smiled at him. “I hope so,” she said. “I think my marriage to him has given us both a chance at a different life. A different legacy.”
On the bed beside Mattie, Winchester let out a sigh of contentment and they both looked over to see the dog lying on its back, limbs curled, snoring away.
Maksim shook his head reproachfully.
“That stupid beast has done nothing but bark since yesterday,” he said. “Since we do not want him attacking Gar and tearing his breeches again, I’ve been forced to keep him here and listen to him bark all night.”
Mattie cocked her head thoughtfully. “I’ve been trying to get those breeches off him since he first put them on.”
Maksim let out a snort of disgust. “God’s Bones, Matilda,” he said. “Do not say such things in front of me. I do not need to know that.”
Mattie realized what he meant and she laughed. “I simply meant that they are filthy and he will not remove them, not even for cleaning,” she said. “But if I let Winnie run free…”
Maksim could see where she was going with that line of thought. “Then he’ll find Gar and rip the breeches off for you,” he said. “You are a devious girl.”
Mattie laughed again. “Mayhap when the situation requires it,” she said, rubbing her dog’s belly affectionately. “In fact, I think I will take him up to the hall. Mayhap he can even tear those breeches to shreds tonight.”
That had Maksim grinning at the thought of Winchester tearing Gar’s breeches off in front of a hall full of men.
Mattie stood up from the bed, pulling with her Winchester, who was more than happy to go with his mistress.
Maksim stood up to follow because if there was going to be a spectacle in the hall, he wanted to be present for it.
Just as the two of them, plus the dog, reached the tent opening, they could see a good deal of commotion going on at the gatehouse.
There was yelling, and people calling for Gar, as an exhausted man in tatters came through the gatehouse.
Several soldiers were pulling him toward the keep.
Mattie watched curiously as Maksim pushed past her, coming out of the tent. He stood there for a few moments, watching the scene, before tilting his head upward as if looking to the sky.
“I smell smoke,” he said.
Mattie looked at him. “There are a dozen fires in this bailey,” she said. “That is what you smell.”
But Maksim shook his head. “Nay,” he said. “It is blowing in from the south.”
“What does that mean?”
He snorted. “That there is a fire to the south of us,” he said, stating the obvious. “Get back up to the keep, Matilda. Take the dog with you. There’s something in the air and you should be safe inside.”
Mattie nodded and started walking for the keep, quickly, making sure Winchester was right at her side.
The dog stuck closely to her, all the way into the great hall, where the man in tatters was now speaking with Gar and William and the rest of the de Wolfe men.
Mattie remained on the edge of the hall, watching carefully, but still making her way over to where the women were still sitting.
By the time she reached them, Jordan was on her feet.
The woman’s gaze was locked on her husband and the disheveled man he was speaking with.
“My lady?” Mattie said timidly. “What is amiss? Do you know?”
Jordan shook her head slowly. “Nay, lass,” she said. “But it is clearly something.”
Rhoswyn and Avrielle came to stand next to Jordan also, all of them watching the men. When a few of them broke off from the conversation huddle and dashed from the great hall, Jordan seemed to know, instinctively, what to do.
“We go tae work,” she said quietly, turning to the women around her. But her focus was on Mattie. “I dunna mean tae usurp yer position as Lady of the Keep, but would ye like for me tae organize an area for any wounded we may have?”
Mattie looked stricken. “Wounded?” she repeated. “Has something happened, then?”
Jordan shook her head. “I dunna know,” she said. “But I suspect something is either happening or will happen, so we must be prepared. There may be those in need of help. May I organize it for ye, lass? Unless ye’d rather do it yerself.”
Realizing that there was some kind of battle at hand, Mattie felt sick to her stomach. Sick and frightened. Even so, she understood the value of what Lady Warenton was offering: a woman who had seen such things time and time again.
Mattie never had.
Quickly, she nodded.
“If you would be so kind, my lady,” she said. “Please tell me what to do and I shall do it. I will gladly learn from you, if you will teach me.”
Jordan smiled, putting a gentle hand on Mattie’s cheek. “Good lass,” she said. “Now, ye can take charge of the hot water and bandages. The cook may know where they are and how tae help, so see Brickie and ask for his assistance. Rhos and Avie and I will take charge up here.”
Taking Winchester with her, Mattie fled the hall, heading down to the kitchens to get the hot water to boiling. She could do that, couldn’t she? Manage something as simple as water and bandages? She could. And she was going to do it to the very best of her abilities.
She was going to make Gar proud of her.
Because, God only knew, she was facing something she’d never faced before.
And it would end up being nothing she could have ever imagined.