78. Now Wooing
NOW: WOOING
After two days of cold, heavy rain, it merely spat and drizzled. According to Dermid, who visited our camp the morning of the third day, Thane had advised Gerard and the other high-ranking army officers that it was best to wait one more day and let the ground harden again.
Ilsit and I had been discussing the last time we had seen Bertram or Gerard ride by on their mounts.
And then Tessa overheard one of us saying the phrase “almost killed.” There was a row amongst the three of us, resulting in me admitting that someone had made an attempt on my life, all the while eyeing Ilsit not to elaborate.
She aided me in this, saying she thought it was a random attack, a thief in the night.
And when I explained that was why Reed took me to his bed at night, that there was no other threat since, she was halfway to forgiving us.
But then Jade overheard, and then Fox was involved and another fight was had.
It ended with Ilsit and I downplaying a single attack and saying that Reed was merely overprotective.
Both Jade and Tessa did not speak to me for most of the day.
The rain’s having gone from a torrent to a sputter did nothing to ease the tension in the camp, only exacerbating it, irking folk who needed to leave the cover of their wagons to carry on with the tasks of readying their camps for the next day, tending to the sodden livestock and the preparation of food.
The infantry officers that patrolled the camps were shorter and terser, snapping at anyone who was deemed out of line.
I wondered whether Reed would come collect me, as the earth beneath the wagon was dry enough to make our beds there again and we were tired of the cramped wagon and the smell of the animals inside it.
Ilsit was convinced that Daisy had pissed somewhere in the wagon and was attempting to make Fox admit it, but Fox was adamant that Daisy only ever went outside.
Tessa had smartly thought to collect rainwater in our buckets, and we each took a quick turn in the wagon to bathe.
I chose to wash my hair, however awkward it was to lean over the bucket.
We all felt grimy and sweaty from sitting next to each other so long, despite the wintery air and rainy weather.
It was a relief to smell a little fresher. I reveled in a clean scalp.
Keir, Dermid, and Evangeline came to dine with us, bringing a cut of venison from deer Keir and Reed had hunted that morning.
“Don’t tell anyone,” Evangeline warned. “They had to turn it over to the Starling priest and the higher-ranking army men. But we got to keep this.”
The cut of meat barely allowed for us all to have a portion, and I declined mine, feeling less hungry and more curious about whether or not Reed would join his brothers in our meal.
He did not. And afterward, using the last of the bucket water, Keir and Dermid washed and dried our dishes.
Jade made bark tea with a dash of whiskey for everyone, even Fox.
I found myself charmed by their added company but, as everyone conversed around the campfire, my mind was ruminating on what Skow and collecting Adelaide would be like.
“Ah, here he comes,” said Keir, looking up from a bucket of suds. And then he turned to Jade and winked, tilting his head towards the rest of the camp.
Reed stepped into our circle and nodded at everyone. To Fox, he pointed and held out his hand as if she were to hand him something.
Fox patted her chest and smiled up at him.
When had he learned how to greet her and ask after her? I wondered.
“Here to collect his nighttime companion,” Dermid said and elbowed Ilsit next to him. She and Tessa burst into laughter.
I stood up, quelling the eagerness in me, trying not to show how I had craved his company over the last few days. I had hoped for his arrival and had my rolled quilt ready next to me. “It is the same joke they tell every night,” I said to Dermid. “It grows old.”
“But you are always laughing with each other,” Evangeline pointed out. “Just like us. You have such banter. How did you all meet?”
Mischief in her features, Ilsit took her pipe out and said, “Jade and Robbie were both deflowered by the same tinker.”
Jade snickered into her tea, avoiding Keir’s curious look.
“Not true,” I corrected Ilsit. “I gave my maidenhead to Micah.”
“A fine-looking man,” Tessa said. “And that’s me talking.”
Fox made her wheeze laugh while Ilsit cackled.
“Either way,” I pronounced. “Ilsit makes the same joke every night, and it does grow old.”
“No it doesn’t,” Keir disagreed, grinning. “Someone is threatening your life, and Reed insists on you sleeping with him. The joke is, Madam Robbie, that he can only get women in peril to join him in bed.”
“How incredibly funny,” Reed said dryly and extended his hand towards me, the palm facing downward, the fingers relaxed but expectant.
I laced my fingers with his, and he pulled me next to him. “Let’s go,” he whispered and led me away from our camp.
“I don’t want to jest about dear Robbie’s threatened life,” I heard Dermid say from behind me, “for it is a terrible thing, but it is important to note also that Reed used to tell girls he liked that he wished he had two eyes to better see their beauty. So all this trouble is to his advantage as he clearly has wanted to bed Robbie all this time but hasn’t the talent for wooing.
At all. I swear it, really and truly, at all. No talent. No wooing.”
Keir and Evangeline started to howl with laughter, and the rest of them soon joined.
Next to me, Reed’s shoulders shook and he called out, “I was nineteen and it was one time.”
“It’s a very good line though,” I assured him, trying not to smile at how his reply only increased the hilarity felt by his brothers. “May have worked on me.”
“You be quiet,” was his reply, but it was said with humor.