Page 110 of The Robber Knight's Love
“Give the hammer to me, soldier. Now! This ismy responsibility.”
After another moment of hesitation, thesoldier gave Ayla the wooden hammer. She took it and used it tohammer the simple wooden cross over the graves of the thirty or somercenaries they had been able to find, deeper into the dampearth.
For a moment, she rested her hand on therough wood.
“You might not have lived in it,” shewhispered, “but at least rest in peace. May God forgive you—andme.”
Then she stood back to listen, together withthe men who had helped her gather the bodies, to the short sermonof the village priest, about peace, the meaning of Christianity,and loving your neighbor.
Well, the last bit isgoing to be rather difficult, she thought, as she felt asurge of hatred for the man who had made her do this. In thatmoment, she wanted to hurt the Margrave von Falkenstein, badly. Hewas the real enemy. If not for him and his lust for power, shewould live in peace, and all those men would probably still beabove the ground.
She felt her eyes stinging, but knew shemustn't cry. Not here, not now. Not in front of her men.
Oh, if only there weresome way to let me forget all this for just a fewminutes, she sighed, inwardly.
And then she realized that there was—in aroom, not too far, up in the castle.
*~*~**~*~*
There was a soft knock at the door.
“Yes?”
“Reuben? May I come in?”
He would have known that voice anywhere.
“Of course, Ayla,” he said, frowning. Hervoice sounded oddly unsteady.
She entered shyly, as if this were astranger's house and not her own castle.
“May I...” She swallowed and started again:“May I come sit by you for a while?”
“Of course,” Reuben repeated.
She came, her steps small and uncertain. Whenshe was at his side, she almost collapsed beside him, her maidenlyfigure falling against his side. Her large blue eyes lookedimploringly up at him, and he didn't need her to ask for it to knowwhat she wanted this time. He just put his arms around her and heldher close.
Reuben didn't understand why she had comerunning to him, looking so terrified. His mind turned back to thelast time she'd come into his room, looking for comfort. Had sheneeded to kill some more people? That didn't seem likely, though.He hadn't heard any sounds of battle from outside, only the dulltones of a priest preaching. That might be enough to sendhimrunning off in terror, but hedidn't think Ayla shared his views of the clergy.
What could he do to make it better?
Tell her you love her,you idiot, he thought, furious with himself.If she's anything like the other femalesyou've known, she'll throw herself into your arms rightaway.
Except, of course, that she wasn't anythinglike the other females he had known.
And, oh yes, she was alreadyinhis arms—though he had no idea why, which wasimmensely irritating.
Tell her you love her! Goon! Tell her!
But for some reason his usually so eloquenttongue seemed to be stuck to the roof of his mouth.
RisingDarkness
Quiet returned to the castle. Over the next fewdays, everything was peaceful. The enemy did not make a singlemove—and it nearly drove Ayla insane with worry. The last time thered robber knight hadn't shown his forces or himself for days, hehad been hatching an evil plan that had nearly destroyed them all.And back then, there at least had been the sound of axes to giveher a clue as to what the enemy was doing, even if she hadn'trealized it in time. Now, there was nothing. The many-headedmonster of the enemy army just sat across the river, waiting.
Isenbard's condition wasn't doing anythingfor Ayla's peace of mind, either. His bruise had faded to ayellowish color by now, but he was still completely unresponsive.No matter what Ayla tried, he remained in his too-deep sleep, andAyla had no idea how to help him. She had already tried everythingthe nuns at the convent had taught her. Once, when Reuben wasasleep and couldn't see what she was doing, she had even triedemptying a bucket of ice-cold water into the old knight's face.When that didn't work, she tried holding a piece of dung under hisnose.
The only result was that she’d had to washher hands six times until she got rid of the smell.
