Page 19 of Heart of Snow
Friedrich
Ulrich’s little dog, Klumpen, snoredbeside me as I stared at the dark kennel ceiling, irritated to be woken too early by dreams of the countess. After she’d failed to show for last week’s lesson, offering no explanation, I should have been furious with her. But these cursed dreams were clouding my justifiable anger.
At the rustling of hay across the kennels, I leaned on my elbow to listen better. Enough moonlight still drifted through the windows for me to recognize the young varlet’s figure creeping around the sleeping dogs. He pulled his sleeveless jacket down from the hooks of leashes, sliding the jerkin onto his body.
“Ulrich, where are you going?” I whispered. Klumpen stirred but did not wake.
“It’ll be dawn soon.” He buttoned the jerkin. “The countess needs extra hands to gather herbs while the healin’ Midsummer dew’s still on ’em.”
The countess. Just the person I wanted to speak to. I pushed up out of the hay, startling Klumpen awake, and had my arm through one hole of my jerkin before Ulrich put his hand on my chest, stopping me.
“You can’t go. The dogs need runnin’.”
“You can run them.”
His mouth tightened into a thin line. “It’s Midsummer Day. In a dark forest. With maids.” He shook his head, turning both his hands up as if I should understand. “I have plans.”
“Ulrich, you’re barely fifteen. What would you know of maids?”
“Enough to court a kiss from one.” He pulled his cap firmly over his head and moved out the door, but I followed, Klumpen on my heels.
“Wait, wait, wait.” I grabbed his shirtsleeve. “Listen, there will be bonfires tonight and dancing. You’ll get a chance with your maids then, but I might miss mine if I don’t go now.”
A sly smile slid over his face. “Who’s the girl?”
I put my arm through the other hole of my jerkin. “Not your business.”
“Well enough. Since I outrank you, I’ll be choosin’ who runs the dogs, and I choose you.” He turned toward the gates, but I pulled him to a stop again.
“All right, it’s the countess, but it’s not what you think. I just need to talk with her.”
“Is she the one you’ve been sneakin’ out to meet on Sunday afternoons?” He raised an eyebrow.
Perceptive little beetle. “I’ve been helping her with... a project. Will you let me go?”
He stared at me a while, then let out a sigh. “They’re meeting in the dell by Wilde River.”
“Good man.” I clapped his arm and grabbed my cap, shooing Klumpen toward Ulrich with my foot.
“You’ll be muckin’ kennels for a week as payment,” he called after me as I trotted through the courtyard.
I followed the steep road down the hill, all the while planning just what I would say to the countess when I finally saw her. But upon reaching the dell, instead of being the first to arrive, I found the place busy with servants carrying torches and bending over the ground to search for herbs. The countess stood by a large fire directing them, handing out torches and baskets to a line of waiting servants. I stepped in line behind Bernhold, using his frame to hide me from the countess’s view.
From across the dell, Ilsa spotted me and waved, leaving her curious friends behind to speak with me. “What luck finding you this Midsummer’s morn. I expected you’d be runnin’ dogs.”
Crouching lower behind Bernhold, I answered quietly, “I got Ulrich to work in my place.”
“Why’s that, I wonder?” Her smile was coy.
I cleared my throat, using the extra second to invent a reason. “A love of herbs?”
She laughed. “No doubt.”
A pair of girls called to Ilsa, and she sighed. “I must go. Find me tonight?” She gave my arm a quick squeeze and left without waiting for an answer.
I watched her join her friends. If my circumstances were different, I might welcome her attentions. She was confident and knew her mind. She certainly beat out the countess for boldness, though the countess had every outward advantage over her. And why was it that a noblewoman would— Blast it! How had this become about the countess? Casting off such thoughts, I focused my attention ahead.
The line moved forward, putting Bernhold at the front, where the countess greeted him. She gave him a torch and a basket for carrying herbs, then pointed to an empty spot by the river, sending him on his way while she bent to pick up another basket. When she straightened to find me standing there, her eyes widened, and the polite little smile on her face disappeared.
