4.
The Life of a Peasant
The evening came cloudy for the small village, proving that the weather of England was easier to change than the mood of a woman! Mina threw the bucket into the deep well in the middle of the village before start rolling the reel to bring the heavy, now, object back to surface. With a bit of effort she placed the bucket at the edge of the well to take a breath. She fixed her skirt a little and ran her fingers through her dark brown locks.
No matter how much she had tried, her hard hair wouldn't stand still to make them into a bun and like it happened most of the time, they were all around again, like a tiny bush. Not even the cloth she wore to her head would keep them intact.
At her fourteen, Mina was still small-sized and thin with bright green eyes and slightly tanned complexion. She had lost her mother really early and her father had died at one of the wars the King had called him to, but she was fine by herself now. Always cheerful and singing in her thin, sweet voice, Mina was loved by many people in her neighborhood. She was always sweet and helpful towards others.
The young peasant girl poured water from the well bucket into her own one and started walking towards her humble home.
Very few people were walking around still, to go back to their houses to rest for the night. Mina knew this neighborhood like the back of her hand. She didn't need to see where she was going to know the way. After saying "goodnight" to a couple of people passing by her, she turned around the corner. This was where her footsteps had become careful. She looked around as if expecting someone to see her do something she shouldn't be doing, which perhaps she was. She reached her small, simply built house with the straw roof and this was where she stopped and took a few breaths.
The cloaked figure was waiting for her at the corner. She looked at him and smiled as the man removed his cloak to reveal a tri-colored spiky head.
"My lord!"
She called out in a whisper and Henry lounged at her almost hungrily, and yet tenderly and joined his lips with hers in a passionate kiss as his hands were caressing her cheeks, fingers buried in her straw-smelling hair. She returned the kiss with equal passion, her small arms wrapped around his neck. She was about a head shorter than he was, which made her easier for her to hide herself into his arms. His kisses were always so warm and so...right to her! She could hardly remember how her life was before she had met him!
Henry too, could hardly believe it was about a year ago when he had seen her, spoken to her for the first time as if they were two strangers. Yes, it was a year ago, when he was 26 of age and she was 13...:
Henry had been on his horse, riding across the village which rested beneath his castle. He was heading towards the road, after being summoned by his King to offer his Advice to the Council. The streets were busy indeed, people constantly moving around but everyone would stop to greet him.
Mina was among them, just went out of her house to bring water to make morning food. She was with her small bucket, still unaware of the fact that the Duke had left the castle, heading for the well. Henry immediately came to halt and looked at her. She was unlike any other woman he had ever seen before. Her sweet face was delicate but still so...true comparing to the ladies he had seen so far. Without knowing the reason, he dismounted and approached with big steps. The girl gasped when she turned around to see him.
"My good girl, please give me some water" he had said softly.
She did not argue, still too shocked to speak. She offered him her small bucket, pouring some sweet water into his mouth. He drank almost greedily, even if he wasn't really thirsty. For some reason the water that girl had offered him was sweeter than the good mead he had for breakfast. When he stopped, he mopped his chin with the back of his hand and smiled to the still, startled girl.
"Thank you..." he had whispered.
The girl only nodded her brown head, cracking the first, small smile to him, making his heart flatter inside his chest...
Henry was kissing her still when he pulled back, drawn out of his memory of her. Yes, a single smile of hers had made him want to see her more than all sweet words ladies spoke out of typical reasons. Mina smiled softly but her expression changed to that of worry, holding his hard shoulders.
"My lord!" she said, "I was so worried when I received your message! What happened? The message...you seemed...worried somehow..."
Mina knew not how to read and write at first and whatever she had learnt was what Henry had taught her so they could speak to each other. Henry smiled bitterly. It was as if the girl was inside his soul, for she could tell his emotional state by checking his writings. He cupped her cheeks once more.
"My love..." he whispered in a shaking voice, "...I am sorry...it had to be done... I had no choice..."
She started crying when she heard his words... She just couldn't believe it the day she feared so much would finally arrive.
"W-What? B-But why? H-How?" She said with her eyes full of tears, so many questions hanging inside her head
Henry bit his lip worriedly. She knew. She had read him like an open book and he didn't even need to explain to her. Her face though, her face of utter panic and loss and somehow injustice that she had to her eyes made him wish a thousands of times he hadn't told her. He wished she would smile to him.
Mina knew. Henry was never careless, and he rarely ever came out of his castle in disguise to see her inside the very village. Yes, she knew. How could she not? Henry saw that a little too late. He felt his heart clench and his stomach twist
"There was a letter...the Scot Earl gave me his daughter. My beloved, I swear to God, I had no other choice!"
He cupped her cheeks lovingly mopping her tears away with his thumb. She was beautiful...so beautiful like no lady could ever become to his eyes...no matter what Thomas said, his daughter could never be more beautiful to him than this young and fresh peasant girl who had the power to enslave him with just a sweet smile of hers!
"It was a deal I couldn't refuse. I couldn't refuse give my King, my country more lands and more power. The old Earl used to know my father personally and he owed him a dept I had to repay... There are so much my love...so much..."
He kissed her lips once before pulling back.
"I swear to God, upon the graves of my Celts ancestors that I love no other than you, you are my life, my breath...!"
"But... What will happen to us then?" She said between a sob, crying over his shoulder
"Shhh..." Henry cooed to her as he kissed her lips deeply.
Yes, he himself wasn't sure anymore. What would happen to them if he got married? He could have her as his mistress, perhaps. However would that honor him? Would that honor her? However he found himself completely weak to leave her...
He kissed her deeply, leading her towards the house, opening the door and getting in, sealing themselves from the outside world inside Mina's small, yet warm home.
She followed him into her small cottage, kissing him passionately, trying to forget her pain and getting herself warmed up by his sweet love.
His kisses moved down her neck next, butterfly and light, almost playful.
She giggled as he started kissing her neck and started playing with his tri-colored hair with her hands.
Henry chuckled deeply. He always loved it when she played with his hair. It was so...carefree to be with her. He forgot about everything, anything that had to do with nobles, castles, taxes or goddamned marriage proposals. With her...it was like he was running free in the countryside. He loved it when she played with his hair like this. She loved his hair. She had told him before in that adorable giggle of hers... When he kissed her she would play with his hair, sometimes pretending it was a flower and she tried to pull it off...
To this, Henry buried his nose in her hair and inhaled deeply her scent. Her hair always smelled grass, clean straw and moss of the forest. He loved this scent. It was so different and so more...original than the perfumes everyone in his court would be wearing to make themselves more attractive (or hide the fact they hadn't bathed for around a month)... Everything was original with her...carefree...
Henry claimed her lips again in a chaste yet deep kiss, not being able to have enough of her. He honestly couldn't remember how his life was before he could kiss her! And it was just a year ago when they firstly kissed...
Henry was sitting alone in his room, supposed to be working on the taxes but in reality he was absentmindedly gazing out of his large window, his hand supporting his head on the desk to stop it from dropping. Ever since he had seen her...he couldn't get her out of his mind... She was everywhere, that little peasant girl with the sweet smile...
He had asked of her, he had asked and found information. Her name was Mina and was a young maiden, now at the age of marriage almost, always cheerful and she would occasionally work to his mill to get the bread of the day for herself.
Henry sighed and closed his papers. He stood up and started moving up and down the room with no real purpose. His mind was working like crazy. How could he see her again? He just needed an excuse; a tiny bit of excuse to see her and talk to her... He rang the bell and called his steward.
The young man with the short, carrot-colored hair entered the room and bowed.
"My lord"
"Please go down the village and find a young girl named Mina, who lives a few blocks away from the St George's Abbot and tell her to go to the forest and pick some mushrooms and berries for my dinner..."
It was a very common thing for a lord to ask the peasants for several jobs to be done. It could be anything and everything he asked. Of course he didn't want to give her some difficult task, so he asked for this. The steward left the room, leaving Henry alone...waiting...
Mina was on her way to return home when she saw a man coming at her on a horse. She got curious and stopped whatever she was doing and looked at him. The stewart came to halt before her.
"Miss Mina?"
"Yes..." the girl answered a bit uncertainly
"His Grace Henry Tudor, Earl of Loxley and Duke of Suffolk has asked you to go to the forest to pick berries and mushrooms for his dinner"
The girl seemed curious. The Duke? What did he want with her all of the sudden to ask for that when he hadn't asked anything of her before? However she nodded her head anyway. By nightfall she was moving towards the castle with her small, full basket under her arm. The guard stopped her.
"Halt! What's your business here?"
The girl showed her basket startled
"I-I came to His Grace the Duke...he asked me to pick something for his dinner..."
"Ah, yes, we were informed. You may pass..."
Mina walked to the castle corridors for the first time in her life. She was mesmerized by the size and the power it gave off... She was led to a small room that looked like an office and there was where the door closed behind her. Henry was waiting her. Smiling.
"Mina..." he whispered in his baritone voice, "...you came..."
She bowed her head.
"Your Grace..."
Henry approached her, smiling softly. She looked up at him.
"My lord...how come and…you know my name...?"
Henry smiled again taking the basket from her hands.
"To tell you the truth...I was watching over you ever since that day we firstly met..."
He put the basket away.
"Thank you for these, by the way"
He? The all-powerful lord was thinking of the insignificant little her? Mina was too shocked to say anything else but this;
"Why...?"
"I don't know..." came the honest answer, "However you are everywhere in my mind...always... I just needed an excuse to see you again..."
Her own heart was flattering like a trapped bird as his hand traveled to her cheek. His touch was enslaving her for some reason... She felt drawn to him ever since she had seen him and offered him water. After that they had met each other only from afar and only a couple of times...
"Do I scare you...?" He whispered lowly, almost huskily.
She shook her head negatively.
"No but...why me...? You can have all the ladies you want... I am nothing...I am just a peasant girl..."
She was stopped by his gentle finger on her lips.
"I only see a man...and a woman..."
The distance between them close with a kiss.
Ever since that day Henry could hardly imagine how his life was before that kiss, before knowing her. He inhaled her scent once more, placing a kiss in her hair.
She continued playing with his hair, running her fingers through it and giggling softly, feeling the sweet scent of his hair. She loved his hair! It was so unique! She had never seen someone with a hair like this and it was something she really liked about him: he was unique and special to her! She kissed him back tenderly, running her fingers over his cheeks now, caressing his face lightly.
Kissing her softly he put his arm behind her legs getting her up bridal style he placed her on her narrow bed and he lay there next to her, smiling at her. He often did that too, lay there beside her like this. He loved to watch her simply lay there and getting lost in her green eyes; those green eyes that seemed to be doing contrast with his own.
She lay next to him, giggling and snuggled comfortably to his chest, her hand was resting on his torso, softly caressing him. She loved hearing his heartbeat close to her... And he was so warm... She snuggled closer and smiled, feeling like she was where she belonged.
Henry smiled.
"You're beautiful...you know that...?" he cooed to her as if talking to a girl
She giggled once and looked at his eyes.
"Really?" She caressed his cheek softly, "You're beautiful too..." She said with a sweet smile
"Am I...?" he cooed to her too, caressing he cheek, "Not as much as you..."
She giggled once more and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
He loved it when she became bold like this and at the same time shy. He smiled and caressed her cheek again.
"How...? How can I marry any other woman but her? How can I lie in the same wedding bed with another woman that looks nothing like her...? How can I find myself with another person but this sweet girl...? God! Why must you be so cruel...!"
She noticed him becoming gloom again and she lifted her body a little to look at him.
"Henry... what's wrong?" She asked softly, but at the same time worried
"Hm?"
He came back to reality once he heard her worried tone. He realized he had been lost in his thoughts and he blinked once.
"No. No my love. Everything seem perfect when I am by your side"
She sighed and sat on the bed.
"Stop thinking about it, okay?" She said in a low voice, looking down at the floor.
He blinked repeatedly, not expecting this answer from her.
"And what else am I supposed to think?" he said sitting up as well, "My letter is already on its way! I cannot take my word back. I came to you only to realize that I cannot say goodbye to you! That I need you almost the same badly I need the air to breathe!"
"Perhaps there is still a chance!"
She rose up from the bed, finally showing her indignation towards the situation.
"Why don't you run away? Forget about her, forget about castles! Come live with me! We could run away to a place where no one will recognize us!" She suddenly shouted with tears in her eyes...
She didn't know why, but she was feeling so sad and broken all of a sudden that she wasn't thinking clearly anymore.
Henry smiled a sad smile standing up as well and he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.
"Ah, Mina, Mina... My poor, sweet, innocent Mina..."
He was cooing to her the way a father consoles a child, while caressing her head softly, comfortingly, nearly rocking her back and forth.
"...You don't understand... If only it was that easy! God knows how much I want to run away with you but my blood runs thick in my veins...noble blood coming straight from Celts... When I give my word I must keep it...or else I will be damned for all eternity, me and my ancestors and my descendants all together... And I can't leave my precious subjects... My title, my land, my oath... And my King...?"
He sighed softly still rocking her.
"I gave my word, I've sworn upon a Saint's bones that I would keep the deal... If I leave everything behind...it would be treason. I would be damned, by God and humans...and you, my sweet and innocent, my pure Mina... Would be cursed, called a witch and a devil... Where could we run? And what can we leave behind...?"
There were tears in his eyes but he was holding them back.
"Nobles work different than commoners... This cruel fate of ours... It might not be hunger but blood is our bonding..."
She rested her head on his chest and cried, soaking his clothes with her tears... She didn't want to accept reality, but down in her soul, she knew Henry was right... How could fate be so cruel with them?
"Don't cry... my sweet Mina please...please don't cry..."
He was whispering, almost in shaky voice but he knew deep inside it was similar to tell the fire "don't burn". But it brought him to the verge of tears... His sweet Mina was crying and all he could do was hold her and comfort her the best he could...
She stood there, silently sobbing on his arms... If there was something she could do... Maybe God could still help them... She didn't know, but she didn't want to give up on hope... Maybe something could still change... She just had to have faith...
Henry breathed through his nose and two small tears escaped his eyes. He threw his head back so they would flow and get lost.
"No! I can't! I can't, Mina!"
He got hold of her shoulders.
"I'll find a way for us to be together! I swear to God I will! But I can't let you go! I can't live without you!"
She was surprised by his sudden reaction but at the same time she felt her heart flatter in hope! She hugged him tightly and whispered.
"I know you will..." She said softly, half-smiling as she held him tenderly, a single tear escaping from her eyes.
Hey there!
I have exams the day after tomorrow and the day after it (Monday and Tuesday) but it is so freaking hot in here that I find it hard to concentrate and study! Plus I can't stand the Byzantine Archeology anymore! . Well since Byzantine Empire was to the East, Medieval kingdoms were to the West and so...because I really miss the Medieval roleplay I do with my friend and also because this chapter is also small I wanted to post it now!
So...here it is. Another small chappie of Medieval YGO stories I do with my friend AnaPaulaDBZ
Does anyone remember little Mina (Mana's incarnation) from my doll-making poster? [Yu-Gi-Oh Medieval (as QueenCards) in my DA page] Well here she is!
It is a small introduction of her character. As you can see she is Henry's "secret love" and the reason why he does not like the idea of marriage too much anymore. She is a sweet and innocent peasant girl.
The reason why she suggest from Henry to run away is that she does not really understand the way the nobles are thinking and she feels desparate to keep Henry close to her.
And Henry too went to her originally to say goodbye because he is engadged now, but in the end he couldn't!
Henry's war-horse was inspired by the book series of Septimus Heap. I had read those books so long ago and there was a black stallion named "Thunder". The scetch in the book was SO great that I wanted it to be Henry's horse!
Soon I'll post more
Don't worry. Christian (Seto) will come back soon!
Henry Tudor: katerinaaqu
Mina: mostly: AnaPaulaDBZ, but also: katerinaaqu
TRIVIA
* "Mina" is a name chosen by me and my partner for Mana's Medieval incarnation.
* "Mina" has many interpretations as a name. Some of them are: "Love" (in German and English) and "Protector" (in Dutch)
* When I chose the name for her I wanted something simple and sweet so the basic criteria was the sound and not the meaning, but I was glad to see the meaning fits her story.
* There were two kinds of peasants, those who were free men and those who were totally submissive to the feudal lord. The second category was similar to the previous slaves but they weren't objects. However those people could not leave their land and if the land was given to someone else, they were given to the new master as well. Tchnically there is not much of a difference in lifestyle between the two kinds of peasants except from the freedom to move around.
* Mina belongs to the first category of peasant. She is a free woman.
* Peasants were, of course, to their most part uneducated. Henry taught Mina how to read and write so they could talk to each other through messages.
* A nobleman could have an affair with a peasant girl or a prostitute if he wanted to but marriage with one was considered unacceptable.
* When Henry refers to his Celts ansestors, it is a phrase inspired from the video game "Duelist of the Roses" when Henry loses to the duelist/player, he swears upon his ansestors that he will lay a foot on England
* Peasants lived in the villages usually close to the feudal lord's castle so in case of war, the villagers would move into the castle walls for protection if needed.
* There was a well as well as a windmill in the village by the 12th century and above however they usually belonged to the feudal lord and usually the peasants should pay a fine to him if they wanted to make their bread to it.
* A peasant, apart from the usual tasks they had to do, they shoul fulfill any desire of their feudal lord (from gathering honey till making mustard or something similar). Here Henry seeks for a reason to call Mina to his castle, so he asks from her to gather mushrooms for his dinner from the forest. Maybe that kind of tradition was the thing that created the myth of the "First Night Right". According to that untrue myth, the feudal lord had the right to bed a woman before her husband in the honeymoon.
* Forests were usually a great source of wealth for a feudal lord because of wood, hunt and fruits there.
* Medieval villages were mostly gathered around a feudal lord's castle. Around the village were the fields that were taken care of peasants but the feudal lord would always keep parts of it in his storehouses in order to sell them to other feuds or gather them for future needs.
* Peasants had to go to war if needed but of course they were soldiers on foot and they could not afford good weapons. Swords and horses were benefit of nobles only.
* Henry mentions the "Saint's Bones" that he's sworn onto. When a lord became a vassal to the king or someone else, they had to swear upon the Bible or (the most usual) upon a saint's remains (such as holy bones, clothes etc)
* In Middle Ages there was a great bloom at commercial of holy objects and holy bones but it is doubtful how many of them were real.
Please do not use/steal/copy any of this unless you have mine and/or my friend's permission. Thank you.
