“Your leg?”
“It took fifteenstitches.”
Lara winced involuntarily, her bodyremembering.
“You’ve been sewn uptoo?”
She pushed her left sleeve up andpointed to a faint white line that ran up the inside of her upperarm.“When I was ten, I dove off the old oak into the river and gotsliced open by a stick.Sophie closed it with sixstitches.”
“No fun, isit?”
She shook her head.“None at all.”Sheheld the bandage up, and he sat forward.She wrapped it around hishead and breathed in the unexpectedly heady scent of man, horse,and leather.“Wash the wound in your bath each night.I’ll bandageit again after.Otherwise keep it dry and clean and no moreheadlong dives into the dirt.”
The captain snorted.“Tell it to thatbrute there.”He waved a hand toward the Black.“A stallion whocharges into battle but shies away from flies.”
The horse snorted right back, and Laralaughed softly as she tied the bandage off.She closed the tub ofknitting balm, then put it back in her bag before grabbing an applefrom the bottom of it and stepping up to the gate of the Black’sstall.
“He’ll not let you nearhim,” the captain warned her.“Not when he has his ire up likethis.”
“We’ll see about that,”she said in a singsong voice.“Shan’t we, Black?”The stallionpricked his ears forward and the captain sat erect on his stool.“You remember me, don’t you Black?We first met at the river andthen several times since.”She held the apple out on her open palm,grinning as the stallion gently plucked it from her hand.“I’vebeen bribing him with apples for a while now.”
“Traitor,” he growledgood-naturedly at the stallion, who munched his apple, unconcerned.The captain stood with a slight groan as she picked up her bag,then followed her into the stall.He took hold of the stallion’sbridle and patted his neck as Lara ran a hand over his withers anddown his injured foreleg.
“There’s a swelling on hisfetlock.No cuts or scrapes.”She squeezed the joint, gently atfirst, then applying more and more pressure until the Black triedto pull his leg away, then she slowly bent his hoof forward andbackward, noting the stallion’s reaction.She lifted his hoof,taking a good long look at the underside.“His hoof looks fine.”She set it back down on the ground and watched as he shifted so theleg didn’t bear any weight.Standing upright, Lara ran a hand downthe stallion’s powerfully muscled back and haunches.“I think hetwisted it.Bad enough that he’ll need to be kept off it until hecan walk without limping.”The captain nodded and swayed on hisfeet.“You should sit and rest as well.”
“No, I’m—”
She pointed at the stool on the otherside of the gate.“Sit.Now.”
“Yes,mistress.”
Lara waited until the captain wassafely on the stool, then she pulled out the same tub of ointmentshe used on Fulrad’s knee, scooped up a handful, and rubbed it intothe stallion’s fetlock, grinning as the horse nickered and blewinto her hair.
“You should be quiteflattered,” the captain said as she scooped another handful ofointment from the tub.“He’s never let anyone but me tend hiswounds before.He can be a contrary beast at times.”
Lara grinned.“Much like hismaster.”
“Ouch.”He clapped a handover his heart.“Yet another scar to add to my growingcollection.”
“One you’ll recoverquickly enough from, I’m sure.”He cocked his head and saidnothing, and Lara couldn’t read the expression on his face, whatwith his left eye swollen almost shut and the bandage covering hisforehead and brows.“What breed of horse is the Black?”she asked,rubbing the salve into his leg.“I’ve never seen one so big andblack that wasn’t a plow horse.”
“He’s a Friesian,” thecaptain said as Wolf ambled over and laid his head on the captain’slap.“From Friesland, a land far north and east of here.”He rubbedWolf’s ear.“Do you know of it?”
“I’ve heard the name, butthat’s all I know.”
“I went there as anemissary for Charles, ten, no, nine years ago now, and came backwith this black brute as an unbroken yearling.There are wholeherds there as big and black as him.”
Lara stood and wiped her hands on therag hanging over the gate.“A horse from Friesland, a sword fromRome, a board game from Byzantium.Do you always take somethingfrom the places you’ve been?”
“I suppose I do,” he said.“When I choose a place to stay, my land from Charles, I plan ongoing back to Friesland and buying a dozen good broodmares for thisbrute to cover and raise sleek black foals for the king’sarmy.”
“So.”Lara gave thecaptain a sideways glance.“You do intend to stop your wanderingssomeday?”
“My wanderings?”Hechuffed.“I’ve been tending to the king’s business and fighting hiswars.”
“And seeing much of theworld in the bargain.”She recalled the few stories he and Phillipehad told her of their travels, how the captain’s eyes would lightup with the memories.“You would miss it, I think, traveling theworld.”
“The travels, yes.”Heshifted on the stool with a low groan.“But not the traveling.There comes a point in a soldier’s life where your body remembersevery freezing wet or sweltering hot sky and hard-packed piece ofearth you laid your bedroll, where a comfortable bed under a sturdyroof in a dry room sounds better and better.”
