The Fallen One (21 page)

Cathlina
giggled as he handed her a slab of bread with the beef piled on top because he
was rolling his eyes at the manners of his brother and father and even went so
far as to smack his brother on the side of the head because he was eating like
a barbarian.
 
Food was flying
everywhere.
 
Mathias took his own meat
and bread, sitting down beside Cathlina on the bed.

“How
far do you plan to take us tomorrow, Mat?” Sebastian asked as he stuffed meat
in his mouth.
 
“If I recall this road,
there isn’t a tremendous amount of civilization until we reach Edinburgh.”

Mathias
nodded as he chewed on his meal. “A positive aspect,” he said. “Hopefully it
means less Scots to question us and wonder what we are doing in their lands.”

“What
will we tell them if we run across any?” Justus wanted to know.
  
“With a woman along, I do not suppose you
would be inclined to fight your way out of a confrontation.”

Mathias
looked at Cathlina, shoving bits of bread in her mouth. “That would not be my
first choice,” he said, his gaze lingering on her sweet beauty. “The armor and
mail we have is limited from what we could scavenge.
 
Sebastian and I split the armor I used for
the tournament and you have an old mail coat that hardly fits. It will make a
fight even more dangerous.”

Sebastian
shrugged. “At least the weapons we have are superior.”

Justus
sighed faintly. “There is an old baron somewhere who will wonder what became of
the sword I was making for him.”

Sebastian
snorted. “We have more weapons on us than a small army,” he said. “We stripped
the stall of anything valuable before we left it – hammers, blades, or tools.
Woe betides the idiot foolish enough to attack us.”

“Cathlina,
can you use a weapon, lass?” Justus asked, half in jest. “We are speaking of
battles and not including you in the conversation.
 
Mayhap you can fight as well.”

Hearing
her name, Cathlina’s head came up from her bread and she appeared thoughtful.
“I have never tried,” she said with a glimmer in her eye, “but I am great aim with
an open palm.”

Mathias
grinned. “That means someone would have to get close enough to you for you to
slap their face. I hope that is never the case.”

“I
can pull hair, too. And punch.”

“Let
us hope it does not come to that.”

They
shared a small laugh as they finished up the remainder of their meal.
 
Sebastian, having inhaled his fill of the
beef, belched loudly and began collecting the rubbish to throw outside.
 
Now with the meal dwindling, fatigue was
overtaking him.

“You
did not answer my question, Mat,” he said as he got up and opened the cottage
door. “Where do you plan on taking us tomorrow?”

Mathias
finished the last of the ale in his wood cup, cheap liquor but satisfactory
considering it was all they had.
 
Already, he could feel the warmth in his veins,
soothing his weary body.

“It
will be a long day,” he said. “It is at least a day’s ride on a swift horse to
reach Hawick.
 
I would like to try and
make it there tomorrow night. But I think our first priority must be
commissioning armor that fits us but I do not suspect we will find such a
smithy until we reach a larger town like Edinburgh.
 
Until then, we will have to be careful and
make due.”

Sebastian
tossed the stripped bone outside. “Then we will leave early,” he said, wiping
his hands off on his dirty breeches.
 
“Come
along, old man. Let us leave the lovers alone.”

Justus
was still chewing on a piece of bread, looking rather surprised when Sebastian
pulled him to his feet. But he just as quickly realized what the man was saying;
Mathias had a new wife, something he was still unused to.
 
It had been just the three of them for years
since his wife passed away. Now, there was a new female added to the mix and in
honestly, he still wasn’t sure how he felt about any of it. Times were changing
and he was forced to accept it. He looked at Cathlina with a grin.

“I
apologize,” he said. “I am a dense old fool.
 
Good sleep to you, my lady.”

Cathlina
fought off a smile as she pointed a stern finger at him. “You must call me
Cathlina. You did it once before.”

He
nodded, still grinning. “Cathlina, then.”

As
Justus quit the cottage, Sebastian came up, his dark green eyes working her
over for the moment. He, too, was fighting off a smile.

“Good
night to you, sister,” he said. Then he pointed at Mathias. “Come bang on my
door if he is too brutish with you and I will put him in his place.”

Cathlina
laughed softly, blushing furiously. “You are a beast,” she said, pointing at
the door. “Out with you.”

Sebastian
chuckled and did as he was told, leaving the cottage and following his father
out into the night.
 
When they were gone,
Cathlina went to shut the door behind them but noted that the water bucket near
the door was nearly empty.
 
They would
need water for the morning. She picked it up by the rope handle.

“I
would collect some water before we retire,” she told Mathias. “I shall be right
back.”

He
shook his head as he moved for her, extending a hand. “I will get it for you.”

Cathlina
was already moving out of the door. “I will get it,” she insisted. “You have
done all of the work all day and I have done nothing. Let me do something.”

He
simply lifted his shoulders as she made her way outside to the riverbank barely
twenty feet away.
 
The moon was just
starting to rise, making the gently flowing waters of the river look like
streams of diamonds.
 
Everything was
glittering, cold and bright.
 

He
could hear his father and brother in the cottage next door, arguing over
something, and the faint noise from the tavern behind them wafted upon the cold
air.
  
He watched Cathlina go to the edge
of the river and crouch down, splashing the water with her hand before dipping
the bucket into it.
 

Mathias’
gaze lingered on her a moment, thinking of the night to come, before turning
around and moving to the fire to stoke it.
 
He wanted it warm when his wife took off her
clothes.
 
He was in the process of
working it into a rolling blaze when he heard Cathlina scream.

Mathias
was up and out of the cottage faster than he had ever moved in his life.
 
Even as he was running at her, he could see
that she was quite alone.
 
There were no
threats that he could see.
 
Sebastian and
Justus were running towards her as well, all three men descending on her,
preparing to do what was necessary in order to protect her. But by the time
they reached her, he was giggling uncontrollably and splashing her hands in the
water.
 
She seemed to be having a
marvelous time.

“What
is the matter?” Mathias demanded. “Why did you scream?”

Cathlina
looked up at the three edgy men behind her and stood up, apologetic. “I did not
scream,” she said, bewildered, but then her features relaxed with
understanding.
 
She put a wet hand on
Mathias’s arm. “I am sorry; I suppose I did scream but it was not one of
fright. I was startled when the otter came out of the water and nibbled on me.”

“Otter?”
Mathias repeated. “What otter?”

Cathlina
was crouching down again, splashing her hands in the water.
 
She was calling to something, something they
couldn’t see in the darkness, but suddenly a flash of black wet fur shot out of
the water and into the bucket next to Cathlina.
 
She squealed with laughter as
 
an
otter about the size of a large fish, perhaps ten or twelve pounds, played
around in the bucket, dumping it over and then slithering back into the river.
 
Cathlina was delighted.

“See?”
she pointed to the river. “An otter.
 
He
seems to be quite tame.”

Sebastian
crouched down next to her, watching the otter frolic in the moonlight. “I have
seen them around in the burns and lakes,” he said. “They are little thieves;
they will steal your meal if you don’t watch out.”

“I
think he is wonderful,” Cathlina said as the otter came back on shore and
scooted right up to her.
 
She was able to
pet it but when Sebastian tried, it barked at him.
 
She looked at her brother in law
apologetically. “Mayhap he only likes girls.”

Sebastian
made a face and stood up, watching the otter play and wriggle at Cathlina’s
feet.
 
“It’s to bed for me,” he said,
yanking his father by the arm. “Come along, old man. Back to bed.”

Justus
was fairly intrigued by the otter but allowed Sebastian to pull him along.
 
As they moved back to their cottage, Cathlina
remained crouched on the river’s bank, giggling at the otter that was very
playful.
 
He was slither out of the water
and rise on his hind legs, making grunting sounds at her as she pet it.
 
But he thought she had something to eat for
him and would grab and nibble at her fingers, much to her delight.
 
Soon enough, the otter was back in the
bucket, rolling around in it.

Mathias
stood over the pair, hands on his hips as he watched the fun.
 
In truth, it was very sweet to watch.
 
Cathlina had such a glow about her, such
beauty and innocence, that he wasn’t surprised that creatures sensed it.
 
The otter was being very playful and
affectionate with her.
 
He finally
reached down and put a hand on her dark head.

“As
much as I would like to stand here all night and watch you play with the otter,
I really think we need to get some sleep,” he said. “Get your water and let us
return inside.”

Cathlina
knew he was right.
 
She tried to coax the
otter from the bucket and when he finally slithered out and back into the
river, she rinsed the bucket out a couple of times before finally collecting
the cool, sweet water.
 
Mathias took the
bucket from her and they made their way back up to the cottage.
 
They were about to enter it when a flash of
wet fur bolted past them as the otter ran into the cottage.
  
Both Cathlina and Mathias watched with
surprise as the otter leapt onto the small bed and began burrowing in the
covers.

“Oh!”
Cathlina cried. “He will get everything wet!”

Mathias
was much calmer than his wife. Shaking his head at the antics, he set the
bucket down as Cathlina went to the bed, trying to remove the happy otter.
 
The animal didn’t want to come out, however,
and she spent a good deal of time trying to coax the furry creature forth.
 
Finally, she simply trapped him in the
coverlet and wrapped him up, carrying him like a swaddled baby to the
door.
 
Setting the blanket on the ground,
she gently unraveled it until the otter rolled out.

“Now,
you stay out here,” she scolded as she backed into the cottage. “You cannot
sleep with us.
 
Good night to you, my
little friend. I will see you on the morrow.”

Even
after she closed the door, she could hear the otter grunting outside and
scratching at the wood.
 
Mathias threw
the old iron bolt and pulled her away from the door.

“Come
along to bed, now,” he said. “We will be up before dawn and you must get some
sleep.”

Cathlina
nodded as she moved to her satchel and began removing her clothing. It occurred
to her that their marriage would be consummated very shortly and she struggled
not to feel nervous about it. Now, the travel of the day had passed and the
evening meal was finished, and all that was left to do was settle down for
sleep.
 
She could hear the otter
scratching at the door as she began to unfasten her surcoat.

“I
do hope he will go away and settle down,” she said, eyeing the door.

Mathias
pulled his mail hood off.
 
“He will,” he
said, turning to face her and holding out his arms. “Help me with this,
please.”

Cathlina
went to him, dutiful and eager, but really didn’t know what he meant. She’d
never undressed a man before.
 
Mathias
indicated his arms.

“Pull
on the mail,” he said.

Cathlina
took hold and pulled, nearly falling over with the weight of the mail when it
came off.
 
Mathias had to grab hold of
her so she wouldn’t end up on the floor.
 
She grinned at him.

“I
suppose I am not very good at that,” she said.

He
winked at her. “You will get better. As the wife of a knight, you’ll have to.”