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The pain in his chest eased, and hope bloomed again. “Of course. Paul’s one aim was to keep Claire safe. He would have taken to her where Lord Jeffrey couldn’t find them. I will indeed go east. Thank you.”
Now he had a plan, Mitchell hurried back to the guard house to get directions to these easterly hamlets. That’s where Claire will be, safe and well. I just hoped she’s still unmarried.
* * * *
Ivan was stunned to see that a group of children playing in front of the houses didn’t run inside to hide as he arrived. They stopped playing and waited for him to approach. He expected them to vanish, or at least go and get their fathers, but they were quite unafraid of him. It’s because I’m just one man and not wearing armor. But it seemed wrong somehow. Had they no sense of self-preservation, these little ones?
He stopped a good distance from the children and asked, “Please may I speak with the headman?”
A couple of the children ran off then, but one, a girl, reappeared almost immediately, handing him a mug of cold water.
“Thank you.” He drank it down. It was cool and delicious. He hadn’t realized how thirsty he’d become since he’d last passed a stream.
The other child reappeared with a couple of women.
“The men are all in the fields. How can we help you? Do you need a place to stay this night?” asked one.
“I’d be grateful for a place to rest, indeed, thank you. But mostly I’m eager to hear the news from around here. I’m on my way south to work on the farm of a friend, but yours is the first well-cared-for hamlet I’ve seen in a long while.”
The women were willing to talk, and soon he’d heard how Lord Jeffrey had been killed riding across a partly frozen river when he’d tried to attack a hamlet close by Lady Elinor’s stronghold.
“Lord Rhys has reclaimed his demesne and has built a stone wall to protect it,” added one woman.
“And Lady Elinor has twin sons. Two of them,” added the older girl who’d given him a drink.
“That is wonderful news indeed. But if the soldiers are all gone, why are so many hamlets derelict? Are there masterless men roaming the area?”
“On the other side of the woods, Lord Jeffrey’s soldiers were particularly vicious. They killed many people. The survivors went to Lord Ceadda’s stronghold and haven’t come back,” said a woman who hadn’t previously spoken.
“We think it’s because the people here were well prepared. Everyone knew Lord Jeffrey was attacking peasants, so people had buried or hidden their crops, and vegetables, and seed. Which meant there wasn’t much for him to take. We think the soldiers became angry when they found so little to steal, and in their anger, they killed everyone,” said the first woman.
“What a choice. Starve to death or be murdered!” added another.
“Yes, yes, that may be true indeed,” said Mitchell thoughtfully. It would also explain why he’d neither seen nor heard the people from the nearby hamlets in the forest. But overall it was wonderful news. They could all go home to Paul’s farm. Even though it’d been neglected for a year, and it was too late now to sow crops, they could still hunt and gather enough to survive winter with two of them working hard. Besides, Claire had a flair for finding edibles in the forest, too. Surely she would remember where such things were back in own woods. Life in a house, even if a fraction rundown and needing maintenance done on it, would be much better than spending winter in the forest.
The only problem would be if Claire raced straight into the arms of the man she loved. For a moment Ivan wondered if they should stay in the forest until spring at least. He’d have her to himself then, and they could return in time to plant the crops. But no. That was silly. If she was going to leave him, it would happen. He just had to trust the man was already married to another woman and that Claire would choose to come to him.
Just as the sky was darkening toward nightfall, a large man on a horse rode into the hamlet. For a moment Ivan was worried it was a soldier, but it soon became obvious the man was just a freeman like himself, and the horse was old, not a soldier’s mount.
“Two visitors in the one day!” gasped the girl who’d brought him water.
“I’m sorry to arrive so late and must beg a place to stay the night, but I’m looking for my lost love and hope you have some news of her. Her name is Claire, and I am Mitchell,” said the large man.
“Your lost love? What happened to her?” asked a man.
The visitor’s face creased in pain, and his voice was filled with anguish. “I wish I knew what had happened to her and where she is. Her brother brought her here to the north to protect her from Lord Jeffrey’s attacks. But they never arrived at her family home, and Lord Ceadda hasn’t heard any news of her. Unless she’s in one of these hamlets, I’m terrified she’s been hurt or lost forever,” he said.
“No people have come to live around here. People have left, either killed, or run away, or moved to Lord Ceadda’s stronghold, but no one has arrived here,” said the same man who’d spoken first.
“That’s what everyone is telling me. I’m so afraid she’s come to harm. I love her with all my heart. I can’t bear it if I don’t find her.”
People questioned the big, young man for a while longer, but Ivan could tell they were just trying to be kind. No one knew anything about Claire. But he did. Unfortunately, if he said anything now, it would reveal where he’d been hiding, and he needed to talk to Paul first. He couldn’t just blurt out his secret to the village.
But could he trust this man, this Mitchell, if he took him to their campsite? The man’s concern for Claire was obvious and true. But what if Paul still didn’t want to go home? With the danger from Lord Jeffrey ended, surely he’d want to return? And the appearance of Mitchell meant the end of his own hopes of marrying Claire.
God’s blood, what was a man to do?
* * * *
