Medieval 03 - Enchanted

place
where wind and ice couldn’t reach. So were their horses.
    The keep was fairly stuffed to the ramparts by
suppertime. With trestle tables dragged up to form a huge U,
knights from three keeps sat elbow to elbow for the length of the
great hall, mopping up the last drops of meat juices with great
hunks of fresh bread.
    Only Geoffrey sat alone. He was at the far end of
one of the trestle tables, as distant as possible from the
lord’s table. No squires attended Geoffrey. Nor did any
knight from any keep choose to sit near him. The separation was
enough that Geoffrey had to stand up and see to his own meal, for
no one would pass food across the gap. Not even Sven, who sat just
beyond reach.
    It was the naked hostility of the Disputed
Lands’ knights toward Geoffrey that had made the Glendruid
Wolf decree that no swords would be worn within the great hall.
Dominic had considered banning daggers as well, but had decided
against it. The squires had enough running about to do at mealtimes
without having to carve meat for knights as though they were dainty
highborn ladies.
    Erik sat at the lord’s table across the front
of the hall, watching Geoffrey with eyes the color of fire. The
silver dagger in Erik’s hands gleamed as he turnedthe blade over with slow, almost lazy motions of his
hands. The peregrine on a perch behind his chair was in a fine
state of ire, her feathers ruffled and her feet so restless that
her gold and silver jesses chimed ceaselessly.
    The falcon’s baleful golden eyes never left
Geoffrey. Nor did Stagkiller’s equally yellow glare.
Torchlight gleamed on canine fangs as the wolfhound licked his
chops and whined to be allowed to hunt.
    “Erik,” Amber said in a low voice.
“Quiet your animals. You will make Geoffrey
uneasy.”
    “A creature that sleeps in pig dung has no
nerves worth our concern.”
    Laughter rose from the knights who were close
enough to overhear. The story of the unpopular Geoffrey being found
naked in the swine pen had passed through the keep as quickly as a
storm wind.
    Amber looked to Dominic for help in curbing her
brother. She found Dominic watching Erik as carefully—if much
more warmly—as Erik was watching Geoffrey.
    “I told Cassandra she should come with
us,” Amber muttered. “Erik is thinking of cutting out
Geoffrey’s tongue.”
    Dominic made an approving sound.
    “You are no help,” Amber said
unhappily. “Where is Meg? We could use one of her calming
brews.”
    “She and Ariane are in the solar,”
Dominic said. “Meg wasn’t feeling well enough to eat in
this noisy hall.”
    Something in Dominic’s tone made Erik, Simon,
and Duncan turn to look at the Glendruid Wolf.
    “Is Meggie’s time at hand?”

Duncan asked with the familiarity of an old friend.
    “Nay, we have more weeks to wait, though we
are both impatient to see our babe born.”
    As though in answer to Duncan’s concern, Meg
and Ariane walked into the hall from the lord’s solar. Ariane
came to stand by Simon. Ignoring the other people in the hall, she
put her hand on Simon’s shoulder in a silentbid for his attention. Nearby, Meg bent and murmured
in Dominic’s ear.
    Simon missed the feral alertness that came over
Dominic, for Ariane had taken her husband’s sword hand and
was pressing his palm against her cheek.
    “What is it, nightingale?” Simon
asked.
    “Nothing. I just wanted to touch you. Were we
not in sight of the entire keep, I would kiss you most
soundly.”
    “Hammer the keep. Kiss me.”
    Simon slid his hand beneath Ariane’s
headcloth and around her neck. The marvelous softness of her skin
lured him. He tugged gently, pulling Ariane’s mouth down to
his own, shielding the caress behind the amethyst silk of her
headcloth.
    Meg went to Duncan, spoke so that no one could
overhear, and then went to Amber. While Meg bent down to whisper to
Amber and Erik, Duncan rose without any fuss and went to stand
behind Simon. Simon didn’t notice, for Ariane’s dress
had flowed forward over his legs, caressing his thighs beneath the
table. Her lips parted and her tongue teased him very lightly.
    Erik came to his feet in a lithe motion and walked
down the length of the hall beside Amber. Together they stopped
close to Geoffrey.
    After one look at Erik’s eyes, Sven put down
his bread and moved away from the table. Within moments he had
blended into the crowd of knights. Soon he was at Dominic’s
side, poised for any new orders that might come from his lord.
    “All