Page 29 of The Robber Knight
“When she came running to me earlier, I wentto your room immediately and found you lying in the corridor in apool of blood! If it weren't for her, you probably would have bledto death out there. What possessed you to try and get up with thearrows still in your back?”
I wanted to find outwhether you wanted to help or kill me, he thought.And apparently, you want to do both, you justdon't know it yet.
Instead of saying that, he nodded gravely.“You are quite right, Milady. It was foolish of me.”
“You aren't trying to placate me, areyou?”
“Of course not, Milady. I would never dosomething like that.”
“Hmm.”
She was quiet for a bit. Finally, shesaid:
“I've finished cleaning the wounds now. Next,I'm going to apply some ointment that should help ease thepain.”
Reuben almost laughed—but since that wouldhave been a very odd reaction, he stopped himself. She was not toknow what he was. Better to let her apply the ointment. What couldbe the harm?
A moment later, when the smell of the mixturereached his nose, he had his answer to that question.
“W-what is that?” he coughed, and whipped hishead around to face her. “Satan's hairy ass! Girl, what isthat?”
All he got for an answer was a resoundingslap in the face. His hands automatically clenched into fists andstarted to move. Not that the slap had hurt, of course, but hehadn't allowed someone to slap him since he was five years old.
Calm, he toldhimself.Just stay calm. She's not even worththe effort.
“Don't you dare swear in my castle!” shegrowled. “I never want to hear such foul language again,understood?”
He blinked at her, at the fire in her blueeyes, and his hands relaxed out of pure surprise.Thatwas why she had hit him?
“I'll swear as much as I want if I have causeenough,” he said. “Besides, it wasn't a curse, it was adescription—the only thing I could think of that could smellremotely as foul as what you've got there.” He pointed to the claypot in her hand. “What kind of hellish mixture is that?”
“It is atried and tested recipe for ointment, and it does not smell likeSatan’s hairy a— like the devil's piliferous[28]rear end. I got the recipe from a wise sister in a nunnery where Iused to live.”
“I never knew nuns were on such good termswith the one in the pit.”
Again, the girl stabbed him with athreatening finger. “Do you want me to hit you again or do you wantme to finish fixing you up?”
“Would fixing me up include applying thatgrizzly mixture to my back?”
“Yes.”
“Then I think I would prefer being hitagain.”
Wordlessly, Ayla scowled and placed the lidof the clay pot on the floor beside her.
Reuben sighed. “How did I know that wasn'tgoing to work?”
“I have no idea.”
“Perhaps you could just bandage me withoutsmearing that mixture on me first. I'm sure my wounds will healfine, and the pain isn't really that bad, take my word for it.”
She ignored him, and he felt something coldtouch his back.
Cursing again, he flinched away. “I saidbandage me without it!”
“And I say hold still! If you don't staywhere you are, I'm going to call a few men to hold you down.”
Reubencould hear in her voice that she meant it. Of all the people torescue him, why did it have to be such a Xanthippe?[29]Why couldn't he have ridden past another castle, with a lady thatwas obedient and demure and all the things females were supposed tobe? But then, such a lady might have run away screaming if she'dfound him in the forest instead of stopping to help. He would justhave to take the rough with the smooth.
