A man with a thick mustache and thicker accent was speaking earnestly. A slender woman with bare feet stood beside him. Gypsies. There had been reports of the gypsies seducing village men and dancing for coin. The villagers did not like the foreign gypsies. They were viewed as outsiders and, therefore, untrustworthy.
Gawyn shifted to hear Aurora’s proclamation, although he had not heard the complaint from the gypsies.
“You may conduct your activities at market. You are welcomed inside the city walls to purchase necessary items,” Aurora stated.
A murmuring trickled through the gathered crowd in the Great Hall.
The gypsy man bowed. “Thank you, Lady Aurora.”
The gypsies were happy with this. The crowds in the city would not be. This was not the end of it. Even though it was a fair ruling, the villagers saw Acquitaine as their home and didn’t want the foreigners in it. Still, the gypsies had to make a living. It would be an unpopular decision.
Gawyn watched the man and woman walk past them toward the rear doors. Even the way they moved was foreign, languid, and sexy. They moved up the center aisle as the next person presented their troubles to Aurora.
Suddenly, a commotion behind them caused Gawyn to whirl. Five men dressed in animal furs were pushing their way to the front of the room, shoving peasants and nobles aside.
Gawyn recognized the Hungars immediately. He gently guided Justina and Adam to the side of the room without taking his eyes from the men. “Leave the room. Go out into the hall and wait for me there.”
Justina didn’t argue. She grabbed Adam’s arm and exited through the great double doors they had entered through at the back of the room.
Gawyn skirted the wall and moved toward the raised dais where Aurora sat. Damien had already stepped down a stair and stood before her protectively. The guards moved immediately to defensive stances. No one had drawn weapons. Not yet.
The Hungars stopped just before the stairs. They were all stocky and strong, wearing animal pelts for clothing. Swords and axes hung from their belts.
“There is a protocol here,” Aurora told them. “You must wait for your turn.”
“We don’t wait,” one of the men responded in a gruff tone. The pelt of a bear draped over his shoulders; a necklace of fangs hung about his neck. His brown hair was stringy and greasy and hung past his shoulders. A scar ran from just below his left eye down to his chin. “For anyone.”
“What do you want, Hogar?” Damien demanded.
“You put puny men on our lands.”
Damien cast a quick glance at Gawyn for acknowledgement.
Gawyn shook his head. The soldiers were not on Hungar lands.
Damien looked back at Hogar. “They are on Acquitaine lands. Maybe you’ve forgotten where your borders are.”
“We forget nothing. Least of all how weak you are.”
Aurora stood and walked up to Damien’s side. “We don’t want war, Hogar. But my people will be protected.”
“You’re a pretty girl,” Hogar grunted as the men around him laughed lustily. “We follow no woman’s orders. No matter how her tits jiggle.”
Damien jerked forward, but Aurora caught his arm to restrain him.
Hogar chuckled. “You should visit Hungar to see what real men do for their women.”
Damien’s jaw clenched, but other than that, he appeared relaxed.
Gawyn knew that was when Damien was most dangerous. Every muscle in his body tensed, ready.
The soldiers and guards around him all had their hands on the pommels of their swords, ready for battle.
Hogar’s gaze quickly moved over the armed soldiers which outnumbered his men three to one. His grin slipped. “I come to tell you to remove your men from our lands.”
“And I tell you that my men are not on your lands,” Damien snarled.
Gawyn saw the signal a second before Damien acted. Damien’s left hand fisted. It was a sign that all the soldiers knew. Close in.
