“I say we drug him.”
“A devious woman’s trick,” Lysander spat. “I say we be forthright like men.”
She scoffed. “You’ll kill him if you do. A man like him won’t come with you peacefully. If you attack him, he’ll attack you.”
Lysander made a rude noise at her. “Come, let us be about this. Cat, you make the wagon ready for him.”
She threw her hands up, unwilling to argue further. “When he ends up dead, remember who had the voice of reason.”
As Viktor started off with them, Lysander made him stay behind. “You make too much noise, Viktor. It’d be best if you leave this to Bavel and me.”
Reluctantly, Viktor agreed.
He ambled back toward the fire where Cat still stood with her hands on her hips as she watched the other two imbeciles head off.
“They are such fools,” she said under her breath.
“Now, Cat, don’t be so angry because they didn’t listen to you.”
“I’m not angry. I’m perfectly calm. See.”
He laughed at that, then helped her clean up their dinner remains. Catarina washed their cups and platters while Viktor fed the scraps to their wolfhound, Tem.
After a short while, Bavel and Lysander returned, empty-handed. Both of them had lost a good deal of color in their cheeks.
“Well?” Viktor asked.
“Have you seen the size of the man?” Bavel gasped. “He’s taller than a tree.”
Even Lysander’s face was pale and Cat had never known anything to daunt the ex-soldier. A veteran fighter of the Crusades, Lysander had always had nerves undaunted by any fear.
“I don’t want to be hitting this man to be sure,” Lysander agreed. “Like as not, it will only upset him.”
“How big can he be?” Viktor asked.
Lysander stretched his arm over his head and stood on his tiptoes. “He’s a giant. No one said anything about kidnapping a giant.”
Bavel nodded furiously. “We’ll need a bigger wagon to hold him.”
Viktor stroked his gray beard as he considered their words. “I was told he drank much. Was he not in his cups?”
Lysander shrugged. “All I know is he had an ax and I watched him cut down a tree twice the size of me with only three strokes. I wasn’t about to get between him and that ax to figure out if he were drunk or not. And if he could do that drunk... Well, I’m thinking he’s a mighty fine terror.”
Suddenly, all three men looked to her.
“Oh,” Catarina said snidely. “Now why you be staring at me, huh?”
Lysander cleared his throat. He looked at the others, then back to her. “What’s your idea, woman?”
“So now you be facing me for ideas, eh? What makes you think a simple, brainless woman like myself would have any idea on how to accomplish men’s work? Why, I feel faint just trying to think any thought at all.”
Lysander curled his lips.
“Please,” Bavel said, moving over to stand by her. “You’ve no idea what we’ve just seen. If you be having anymore ideas, I’m willing to listen.” He shot a look to Lysander over his shoulder. “And if he insults you again, it’ll be his noggin we conk.”
Nora woke up early, even before the brewer and his wife did. As quietly as she could, she left the small cottage to attend her needs.
It was barely after dawn, with the light just creeping through the village. This was one of her favorite times of the day. She almost always woke up before anyone else and she treasured the handful of time where she was alone in the world.
