Page 36 of The Robber Knight
“Are you good?”
“Yes, Milady, I think so.”
“And quick?”
“I believe so.”
“Then make me a doll out of leather. Paint aface on her and put her in a dress. Can you do that in, say...”Ayla gauged the remaining distance between the travelers and thebridge, “...half an hour?”
“If I have help, Milady, yes.”
“Then get to it. And hurry, we don't havemuch time!”
As the maid hurried off, Burchard leant overto Ayla and asked in a low voice: “Forgive my ignorance, but howexactly will this help us win the fighting?”
Ayla smiled an apprehensive smile. “It won't.But it might help me stay alive long enough to actually seeanything of the fighting.”
*~*~**~*~*
Possibly her deadliest foe ever wasapproaching from the opposite side of the bridge. Ayla, however,didn't turn and run. Like a true Luntberg, she stood her ground andawaited the approach of the mighty one who would spell wreck andruin if she did not give them what they wanted.
When the little girl had reached her, Aylabent down, smiling, and said, without letting her fear show: “Hellothere! Did you have a nice trip?”
“Where's my doll?” the girl demanded.“Where's my Agnes?”
Ayla winced. Right to the point. She hadhoped to draw this out a little bit. Apparently, there was to be nomercy. Now, everything depended on Dilli's handiwork. If she evergot her hands on the crimson-clad fiend who had made her endurethis...
“Look,” she began in a nervous voice,“there's something I have to tell you...”
“Where's my doll?”
Persistent, too. May the crows and thepestilence chase that crimson cad.
“Your Agnes may be a little bit differentthan you remember,” Ayla said, and she tried another smile. Itended up as more of a grimace.
The little girl's eyes narrowed in suspicion.“Different? How different? You didn't let a baddy get to her andlock her in a tower, did you? I told you...”
“No, no,” Ayla assured her hurriedly. “It'sjust that she met this other lady doll in my saddlebag, a very finelady doll from the... um... the Emperor's Court, and this lady dollinsisted on giving your Agnes a new dress and helping her look lesslike a wolfhou— um... even more fine than before. So, here sheis.”
Ayla removed her hand from behind her backand held out a leather doll in a fine silk dress, with a smilingface and sparkling stones for eyes.
For a few moments that lasted for aneternity, the little girl stared at the doll with an expressionlessface. Ayla held her breath, awaiting her sentence.
Then, the girl snatched up the doll and threwher arms around Ayla's waist. “Thank you! Oh thank you, thank you!You've made Agnes look so much finer! She's a real lady now!”
“That she is,” Ayla said, sighing withrelief. “That she certainly is.”
“Thank you so much, Lady Ayla! I gotta goshow this to my mummy and daddy, yes? May I show them, please,please?”
“Yes, of course. Go on,” Ayla laughed.
The little girl ran away with her newtreasure pressed against her chest, her hair flying wildly behindher.
Ayla sighed again and wiped a few drops ofsweat off her forehead. “Now for the easy part,” she mumbled. “Thesiege.”
Feast, Feud, andFennel
Reuben was bored. It had now been several hourssince the mad girl who styled herself the lady of this castle haddisappeared, and since then, nobody had come to see him. He hadneither seen nor heard anything to arouse his interest. Did nothingever happen in this dump?
