Page 107 of The Robber Knight's Love
“The bridge, the defenses...” she asked thesteward, “is all being done as I said?”
His mustache twitched. “After yourperformance today, I think none would dare do anythingdifferent.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, lowering hervoice.
“Well, they might be afraid that you’ll setthem on fire.”
“What's that supposed to mean? I intimidatepeople?”
“No, of course not, Milady. You justsingle-handedly came up with a plan that killed a hundred enemysoldiers—people areboundto thinkof you as a harmless little rabbit.”
Ayla winced. She wanted to tell him that ithadn't been her idea. She didn't like taking the credit for someoneelse's plan. But even though, unlike with her other people,Burchard's morale wasn't likely to be shattered by the revelation,he would get suspicious about Reuben. Very suspicious indeed. Aylawasn't sure herself where Reuben had acquired the knowledge thathad saved their lives, but she was determined to get the answersherself and not have Burchard interfere. He was suspicious enoughof Reuben as it was.
In any case, another piece of information haddistracted her from the gray-eyed merchant for the time being.
“How many?” she asked, eyes wide. She wasn'tsure she had heard correctly.
“One hundred, Milady. You killed one hundredenemy soldiers.” Burchard spoke more softly than usual, regardingher with compassion. There! It wasn't impossible for men tounderstand that killing people wasn't a nice pastime! Why couldn'tReuben get it through his thick skull? “We are still counting, ofcourse, and we will never be entirely sure. Many enemy soldiers gotdragged to the bottom of the river by their armor, others floatedtoo far downstream for us to find or washed up on the easternbank.”
“Then how do you know it's a hundred?” Aylawanted to know. Was her voice as steady as usual? She hoped itwas.
Burchard shrugged. “We calculated from thenumber of tents that vanished on the eastern bank. Bodies are stillbeing washed ashore as we speak, so we might have a better idea ofthe numbers tomorrow.”
“See that you get as exact a count aspossible.”
“I will do my best.”
“What about the river patrols? Are they allset up?”
“Yes, Milady. Captain Linhart is verycompetent. No enemy will slip through. We have patrols all alongthe river, right up to the rapids. If they attempt to cross there,they'll quickly find out that not only our arrows can be deadly.The night patrols are equipped with torches and are more numerousthan the daytime patrols, so we won't miss anything, even in thedark.”
Ayla gave the hairy old man a smile.“Excellent work, Burchard.”
“Thank you, Milady.”
Lowering her voice, Ayla added: “I haveanother question. The most important one of all.”
Burchard's already serious face became moreserious. “Yes, Milady?”
“How much of this did my father see?”
Some of the tension went out of the steward'sface, but not all. His mustache twitched, thoughtfully. “As far asI'm aware, nothing, Milady. My Lord of Luntberg was taking hismidday nap when the enemy attacked. The shutters of his tower roomwere closed, and you know his hearing is not what it used to be. Ibelieve he slept through the entire battle.”
Ayla exhaled in relief. “Good.”
“You... don't want him to know, Milady?”
“Of course I don't want him to know,Burchard!”
There were a few moments of silence.
“Why don't you go to see him?” Burchardsuggested, gently. “I'm sure you can find the time. You take yourduties too seriously, you know. You do not need to work yourself todeath for our sakes. And you don't have to tell him about thebattle if you don't want to. Go to see him and...”
“No.” Quickly, Ayla shook her head. She hadtrouble keeping the moisture out of her eyes. “If I go to see him,he'll ask me what happened, ask me how I am. What do you think,Burchard, will I be able to tell him that everything is fine, thatIam fine?”
She looked at him.
He looked right back, his mustache twitchingin a grumpy smile. “No. You've always been a terrible liar.”
