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Her thighs were sticky with the essence from the men, and there was a small amount of blood but not much. Once again she was glad she didn’t have to display the bed sheets—not that she had bed sheets here anyway!
She cleaned herself and dressed then left the shelter. Outside she was surprised to see the campsite had been almost demolished. The fire stones had been taken away, as had the big log the three of them usually sat on. The brush that had covered the top of the shelter was also gone. The men must have been working for hours, for to disperse the rocks through the forest would have been a long job. Then she remembered the horse. Of course, he could carry far more than a person and would make the task easier. But still, they had achieved a lot this morning.
She walked over to the cooking pot and helped herself to a cup of water. Beside it was some meat on a stick, which she also ate. Suddenly she was ravenously hungry, although her body was still quite stiff and a little sore.
Just then the men returned, Mitchell leading the horse.
“Good timing, my sweet. We only have to load the horse, and we’ll be ready to leave,” said Paul.
“What about the shelter?” she asked.
“We decided to leave it. There’s no way we can fill in the deep hole we dug, and someone else might find it useful. The area doesn’t look such an obvious campsite anymore, so I think that’s the best we can do,” said Ivan.
Paul and Mitchell disappeared into the shelter, returning with all their cloaks and few possessions. Claire rolled her good dress and her cloak into a bundle and tied her mug and knife onto her girdle.
They each had a long drink of water, then tipped the last of the water out of the pot, and put their few bits of food and other things into the pot. Mitchell tied it onto the horse, along with all four of their bundles.
“That’s it?” Mitchell asked.
Paul looked around the now-empty campsite and nodded. Ivan ducked back inside the shelter, then came out and said, “Yes, we’ve got everything.”
“All right, up you get on the horse then, Claire, and we’ll leave,” said Paul.
“Me? Not Mitchell?”
“We decided it was best if you ride and we walk. With three men and no luggage, it should be perfectly safe travelling. Besides, we’ll be able to walk faster and for longer than you could,” said Mitchell.
That made sense. They were stronger than her, and she was still tired and a bit sore from the night’s activities. But what a night it had been. Never had she expected to experience so much intense pleasure. Never had she even imagined such things were possible. And now her life stretched before her, being loved by two men. But would people accept them back at the stronghold? Was Paul’s land still safe? Besides, how were they going to manage living between two farms when she would need to keep house and care for Old Mary as well as the three men? It’d sounded so easy when they’d talked about it last night, but in the cold light of a new day, it suddenly seemed overwhelmingly complicated. And first they had the long journey back. Who was to say the road wouldn’t be watched by masterless men and other people, waiting to attack them?
Maybe on the way they could plan how to manage their new lives. Or would that distract the men from their main task of watching for danger? Claire sighed. It was going to be long, long trip.
Chapter Five
Mitchell had left her with plenty of food and fuel, but Mary was well aware that when he came back with Claire—not if, when—the season would be well advanced toward winter, leaving him very little time to replace what she’d used. Besides, she was happy in the stronghold, sitting in the courtyard watching the little ones play or sitting by the fire in the great hall, warming her old bones, talking to the young mothers nursing their babies and the other older people like herself.
Certainly she missed Mitchell, no one could have been given a better grandson than him, but he was a man now and needed to bring his chosen bride home. Her time was almost over. She just hoped to live to see him and Claire wed, and possibly even to welcome a great-grandchild should God grant her such a blessing.
The stronghold was much more orderly and better managed than when Lord Huart had been lord. She remembered children always running between people’s feet, getting up to mischief, setting the horses loose or throwing stones into the well. Under Lady Elinor’s rule, the older children all had specific tasks to do each day. Many of them had been trained as watchers to help relieve the guards on the battlements. Others were messengers, and they competed among themselves as to who could remember correctly long and complicated instructions. A few were even learning to read and write, a rare skill indeed.
Of course, children had always helped in the fields, scaring the birds away from freshly planted seeds and weeding between the new, young grain, but that was only for a few months each year. These children all had ongoing tasks that gave them status and position in the stronghold, and made them aware they had a part to play in the life of the entire community.
Even Mary, old as she was, contributed by teaching the children some of the stories of the stronghold’s past. She remembered Lady Elinor’s three younger siblings who’d died of the coughing sickness many years ago, when her daughter-in-law and grandchild had also died. Other children had died then, too, children who would have been aunts and uncles of these little ones, and several older people. It was always good to remember those who had passed on.
Long before that, when Lord Huart had first married Lady Ann, they’d gone to Court, and Mary told the children the stories she’d heard from Lady Ann about Court. More recently Lord Rhys had gone to Court to tell the King he’d reclaimed his demesne and had two heirs. Every child knew the story of how Lord Coll had ripped Lady Rhyannon’s Court gown in spite and how the sewing women of the stronghold had repaired it and made it more beautiful than ever using a design, developed by Garnet, of a tree with branches and flowers.
“You see,” she told the children, “no problem is too great to be solved. All you have to do is think hard, use your skills, get your friends to help as well, and the greatest disaster can be averted.”
“Like learning to swim.”
“And defeating Lord Jeffrey,” called the children.
“That is so,” said Mary, pleased at their bright smiles and eagerness to learn.
But as the weeks passed, she really missed Mitchell and prayed fervently that God would bless his quest, that he would find Claire alive and well, and bring her home.
As winter drew closer, the stronghold became busier than ever. Women and children went out into the wooded lands almost daily, collecting fuel and foraging for any remaining edible roots, nuts, and berries.
The soldiers and some of the freed men formed hunting parties to kill large animals which would feed many people. Almost everyone knew how to trap a few birds, or fish, or rabbits, but to kill a deer or a boar required much more skill and the cooperation of a larger group.
