Love Comes Quietly
By: Skyie
Disclaimer: I don't own anything from King Arthur, just my OC's. I'm just taking them out to play a while.
Remember, this is rated "M" for the adult readers out there.
Vanora was furious! The tavern owner, Sinich, had told her he was going to let Kiana go at the end of the week. Where was the girl going to go after that?
Vanora had argued with him all morning and most of the afternoon as to why he was getting rid of the girl and his reasoning made her angrier still.
"She won't do aught more than serve the food and drinks. I need a girl that serves all the men's needs." Was Sinich's final explanation to her before he added, "You've been good for business keeping the knights here and all, but you don't own this tavern. I'll not have you questioning how I run my business."
Vanora knew it was time to stop arguing. She had 9 babes to feed and needed the small sum of money she earned at the tavern with Bors' salary as a knight to keep the roof over their heads and food in their bellies.
It still made her furious with Sinich though. Kiana was a good girl and a hard worker especially since she didn't try to earn the extra coin by lifting her skirts for the Roman soldiers and other men at the fort. Vanora knew she could be relied upon to show up at work on time and work her full shift as needed and not disappearing off with whichever man wanted his temporary fulfillment.
Lifting her chin up and setting her jaw into a tight line Vanora decided it was time to plead Kiana's case elsewhere. She watched Kiana serving the usual rowdy crowd during the night. Kiana deftly served the plates of food and filled cups of ale, mead or wine as demanded all while avoiding groping hands and lewd requests.
Vanora waited until her lover was awake the next morning and his head clear from the previous nights ale, "Bors, I need your and the nights help with something at the tavern." She said simply as she fed number 9 at her breast.
Bors looked at Vanora cautiously, "What kind of help?" The last time Vanora wanted help at the tavern the knights went without ale, wine or mead for two weeks because Sinich wasn't paying the tavern wenches a salary other than what they could make from lifting their skirts. He wasn't up to skipping his nightly ale.
"The girl you brought in about six months ago and dumped in my care, Kiana. Sinich wants to get rid of her because she won't lift her skirts in addition to serving at the tavern. She's a good girl. She works hard, watches the other girls' kids when they are busy as well as ours when you and the knights keep me busy. You put her in my care, just like the other girls and told me to look after her." Vanora watched her lovers face as he thought about what she was saying.
"She thinks she's too good to be a light skirt as well as a tavern wench?" Bors said as he rubbed his hand over his shaved head already knowing the fight he was going to have with his brother knights and the stubborn Sinich. He despised the man and tolerated him for Vanora's sake only.
"Just because she feeds the men and pours the drinks doesn't mean she has to let them use her body for a few coins. The girl works hard and is worth more than what Sinich pays her." Vanora put her arms around Bors broad shoulders, "My lover, she has no other means to support herself and winter is coming. She's a decent and sweet girl or I wouldn't be asking your help."
"I'll talk to the others and see what I can do." Bors sighed heavily while he mentally calculated how many days and night he and his brother knights would go without their visits to the tavern.
He left Vanora as she secretly smiled knowing Sinich's business was about to slow down dramatically.
Kiana fought back tears of desperation as Sinich told her she was soon to be without means to support herself. What work could she do to keep a roof over her head and food in her stomach? All this because she couldn't accept a never ending stream of men pawing at her and using her body for their own pleasure. What about her feeling in the matter? Didn't that matter? Hadn't she worked hard enough to earn the small amount of coin he gave her each week?
Determined to keep her head high Kiana left the kitchen to serve the endless flow of hungry men waiting in the dining area while thinking of what brought her to the fort and working in the tavern.
She had been living her life quietly with her family in their village when an advance scouting group of the Saxon army had struck. She had been out in the forest at her favorite bathing pool when they attacked the village. No one was left alive and everything was burning when she returned. The guilt over not being with her family ate at her to this day.
She had found what little food and supplies she could and set out on foot towards the fort some days walk away. She was found on the roadway by Arthur and his knights returning from their patrols three days later. They brought her to the fort where she was taken to the tavern and handed over to Vanora's care without so much as a backward glance at her welfare. She had seen them since when she served them food and drinks. They hardly seemed to recognize her as the village girl they rescued off the road. They never asked about her welfare which she took to mean they didn't care.
Once she made it clear she wasn't available to purchase they left her alone and ignored her other than their endless demands for food and drinks. Vanora was kind to her when she could get away from her lover and her 9 children. The other tavern girls felt she was a fool and arrogant for turning away the extra coin. She had tried to explain how she one day hoped to find and settle with a man without a past of soiling her body, not to mention how the thought revolted her. They had laughed in her face and avoided her since.
On the training grounds Bors met with his closest friend and brother, Dagonet, "Vanora wants another of her favors about the tavern." He grumbled.
Dagonet didn't reply and waited for Bors to continue, "Sinich's going to let that girl we brought in this summer go since she won't whore out like the rest of the wenches."
Dagonet raised an eyebrow, "She wants us to quit the place until he changes his mind then?"
"Something like that. I'm going to talk to him after practice. Not going to spend another two weeks without ale again." Bors grumbled.
"You want me to go with you." It was a statement, not a question.
"Yeah. "
"After practice then,"
Sinich glared at the two nights standing over him. Bors had so much as told him to keep the girl or else, with his arms crossed over his chest and hands fondling his twin blades. Dagonet had glared down at him from his terrifying height. "So, if I understand you, I keep the girl here or my business has troubles. That sounds like a threat. I wonder what Arthur would think about two of his prized knight threatening an innocent tavern owner just trying to earn a living."
Dagonet leaned closer to Sinich and noted the smaller man shrink back, "I'm sure Arthur would like to know how the innocent tavern owner puts his serving wenches out as whores even against their own choosing. He has made his feelings on rape clear and this sounds like forcing a girl into rape just to earn an honest living." He had seen the horror of rape during his years of service and found the thought appalling.
Sinich glared at the two knights a moment longer before snarling, "She stays as long as she earns her keep. I don't want any trouble from her!" He stormed away throwing a dirty cleaning rag onto the bar top.
Dagonet glanced over at Bors, "Best you tell Vanora to watch the girl until his anger settles." He stated mildly and turned and walked out of the tavern.
Bors watched his brother's retreating back. They had been fighting alongside each other in their unwilling servitude to Rome some 13 years now. While Dagonet had been a quite young man before, he was distant and even quieter now.
Bors had no doubt about his brother's love and he often wondered if Dagonet's spirit had died off as the years passed them by. He rarely saw Dagonet with a woman and only an infrequent dalliance with one of the tavern whores. He sat mostly quiet with the other knights when they gathered at the tavern and spoke little.
Bors glanced back onto the tavern and saw the girl in question retrieve the rag Sinich had thrown on the bar with a look of distaste. She had a clean rag and a bucket of clean water which she began to use to wipe down the bar and table tops.
"You stay working her as long as you stay out of trouble." Bors told her shortly before he also left to tell Vanora. He was glad this was done at the tavern and wanted Vanora's sweet gratitude before she had to go work.
Kiana stopped her cleaning as the knights words sank in. She would keep her job! She felt weak in the knees from relief. Suddenly she recalled his warning about staying out of trouble and grabbed the rag to apply herself to cleaning the tables with a renewed vigor. She didn't want to give Sinich any excuse to let her go now.
Later that evening Dagonet studied the girl as she worked. As he watched her he remembered the group finding her walking on the roadway towards the fort. She had been in sorry shape with her feet blistered from walking days without proper footwear. There were dried tear streaks on her face which he later learned were due to the destruction of her home and everything she loved.
At that time he and his brothers had only seen a dirty girl with matted dark brown hair and a blank stare in her brown eyes. She had been unremarkable in appearance and nothing more than a duty to get to the fort and turn over to Vanora as they had done with other women they had found in the course of their patrols and duties.
He looked at her now and realized with some surprise what the big deal was about her not whoring in the tavern. Her hair was now a rich brown with deep red highlights. Her skin was a flawless pale with a light flush from exertion of the exertion of lifting trays filled with plates of food and drinks. Her figure was trim and shapely without being overly busty or lean which he found both distasteful. She was on the small side standing shorter than most women.
He noted that she stepped and moved gracefully out of the reach of the grasping arms and roaming hands of the male tavern patrons without being obvious in her avoidance.
When she approached the bar where he was seated she glanced his way to assess the fullness of his ale cup. Seeing it half full she picked up the ale pitcher, "A refill sir knight?' She asked politely glancing up to his face.
Dagonet caught a glance at her light hazel eyes before she lowered them to look into his ale cup while moving the pitcher to fill it taking his lack of reply to mean he wanted more ale, "Thank you lady." He said quietly for her hearing only.
Kiana looked back up at the face of the big knight whose cup she had just refilled. He had called her lady! She looked closely to see if her mocked her. His gaze was steady and focused without a hint of mockery or malice towards her. She smiled briefly up at him before moving off to refill the cups of tavern patrons.
When she got to the table the knights sat at she filled the cup of Bors first and to the very top to show her gratitude for his help in keeping her job, "Thank you sir for your help today. Vanora told me what you did." She said softly as she filled his cup.
Bors had several cups of ale by the time Kiana thanked him. He studied the girl blearily before slurring loudly, "Can't see why you don't want to bed anyone here at all. Some of my fellows are fine men." He swung his arm out in an arc in the general direction of the table where Gawain, Galahad, and Lancelot were sitting watching the scene play out.
Kiana started back away from the table with her cheeks turning red with embarrassment. She didn't know what to say to him without risking offending the knights at the table which was the last thing she wanted to do. She was saved by Vanora who had witnessed the scene and came up to sit on Bors lap.
"Leave the girl alone lover. She's working hard to keep you all fed and in your drinks. Let the others find what company they want in the regular working girls."
Bors laughed and drunkenly kissed Vanora's cheek, "Just so long as they keep their hands off you my girl."
Vanora laughed with him as she watched Kiana disappear behind the bar. She sighed in relief and looked to the knights at the table. She gave them each a stern look to warn them away from any thoughts about Kiana. When they looked away she turned back to her lover giving him her full attention for a while to keep him distracted.