Chapter 11
"All right, and put that lumber and those stones over there, by the drawbridge." Elmont instructed. He watched as his men obediently did as he commanded. Vaguely he wondered if his men could see his mind was not completely on rebuilding the castle. He was in charge of the restoration, mainly because he was the only one in the castle who could hit a nail with a hammer and not hurt himself in the process. He mentally thanked his uncle, who was a carpenter, for teaching him how to build things—otherwise, Cloister's king would be without a castle.
Suddenly he heard a loud crash come from the back of the castle. "What in the name of Cloister is that?" Crawe grunted, wiping his forehead. Another crash sounded, and then yelling. Elmont dashed around the side of the building, Crawe on his heels, and he stopped dead in his tracks as he rounded the corner. There was a huge scuffle going on near the woodpile, between one of the pages that was being trained, and…Elmont groaned. Maddy. The other kids were gathered around them, some of the orphans mixed in with other pages, and they were cheering. The page was being beaten badly, as Maddy overpowered him easily. She sat on him and rained punches left and right. Elmont and Crawe rushed forward, and Elmont grabbed Maddy, who thrashed wildly.
"Lemme at him, just lemme at 'im! I'll teach him a lesson!" Maddy shouted.
"Stay away from me, you bloody barmy wench!" The page yelled back.
"Stupid excuse for a lazy, know it all jerk!" She bellowed, jerking forward. Elmont held her back, and the page stuck his tongue out at her. Maddy yelled a word that made everyone gasp and made Crawe, who wasn't known for his clean mouth, blush.
"You talk to your mother with that mouth?" The page asked, but Elmont thought he saw a spark of something in his eyes. Crawe gave him a jerk.
"You really don't know when to shut up, do you, Grimes?" He grunted, dragging the boy away. Elmont pulled Maddy away, but by that time, she had lost the will to fight. As the crowd dispersed, Elmont lifted Maddy up onto the woodpile so he could look her in the eye.
"Do you wanna tell me what happened?" He asked softly. Maddy shrugged and kicked her legs aimlessly. She looked down. "Madison. What. Happened." She winced.
"He was making jokes about how our momma's didn't want us and they dumped us off at the orphanage cuz we were ugly and fat and ate too much, and that Miss Chase would probably never get better and be a 'veg-ah-table' for the rest of her life, and she wouldn't be able to take care of us and we'd have to go live on the street again, and I said that his momma wore man's boots, and he said to take it back, and I said no, and he threatened to punch my lights out and I told him to go ahead and try, and I only hit him in self defense, I swear!" She whined. Elmont sighed.
"I'll speak to him about it. But you have to apologize."
"I'd rather stuff my face in a cow pie." Maddy crossed her arms and snarled. Elmont glared at her, and she huffed. "Fine."
X***********************X
"Grimes, Maddy has something she wants to say to you." Elmont kept his hand on Maddy's shoulder. She crossed her arms and huffed at the page, who was glaring right back at her.
Maddy muttered something to the tune of "Mmm srry ah hit uuu." Elmont squeezed her shoulder a bit, and she sighed heavily. "I'm sorry for hitting you." She said, over-exaggerating every word.
Grimes' face softened, and he shrugged. "Sorry for calling you names." He stuck out his hand. "Truce?" Maddy reached out and shook his hand. After she dropped it, she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Horse fodder." She said. Grimes grinned, and crossed his eyes at her.
"Pig slop." They nodded to each other, and Maddy flipped her braid over her shoulder and headed back to the other kids. Grimes' eyes followed her as she left, and then he looked up at Elmont. "Need me to do anything, sir?" He asked innocently.
"Yeah…No more fighting, okay?" Elmont ruffled the boy's hair affectionately. He knew Luke Grimes very well—he was nearly old enough to become a squire. His father was friends with Elmont's father, so Elmont of course knew Luke, and was friends with the boy, even though he was younger by nearly ten years.
"Yes sir." Grimes rubbed the back of his neck, and winced. "For a girl she can sure hit hard. She has a bloody good right hook."
"Maybe she can show you, what do you think?" Elmont hid a smirk as Grimes blushed.
"Aw, who needs a girl to show them how to do anything?" He said, then turned and hurried after Maddy. "Hey, fish-face! Wait up!" He yelled. Maddy turned around, and punched her hands on her hips.
"Come on, slime-bucket! Hurry up! Can't wait here forever!" She hollered. Grimes ran up to her and they walked back to where the other kids waited. Elmont shook his head and grinned, then turned to Crawe, who had just come from the barn.
"Crawe, can you take over for me? I'm gonna go check on Chase."
"Sure thing, Captain. Whatever you need." Crawe smiled at him. "Take a break, sir. You've been working nearly all day." Elmont smiled at his friend, and Crawe cocked his head. "How is Chase doing? Any better?" With a sigh, John shrugged.
"She still hasn't woken up yet. It's been nearly a week since…well…You know."
"I'm sorry, mate." Crawe sighed as well. "Well, what are you waiting for? Go to her!" He gave John a shove. "That's an order!"
X********************X
Elmont hurried into his room in the castle. Dr. Pierce looked up from examining Chase. "Ah, Sir Elmont. I was just about to send someone to find you." He said. He smiled. "Miss Hunter is doing much better. I expect her to wake up any day now. She's past the danger point, and I am thinking she shall make a full recovery!" Elmont felt his knees go weak at the good news.
"T-thank you, Doctor." He said softly. Dr. Pierce nodded.
"If I were you, I would stay here. She seems to like it." The doctor smiled at him, squeezed his shoulder, and left. Elmont collapsed into the chair next to the bed.
"Oh, Chaselynn…" He whispered, then chuckled quietly, taking her small hand in his shaking one. "You're going to be fine! You're going to get better!" He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it gently. "You're going to be okay." He repeated softly. He looked at her beautiful face, and imagined that intoxicating smile on her lips again…her blue eyes twinkling at him… her soft hand in his. "Chaselynn…" he breathed, leaning forward. "I…I know I never told you…while you were, well, awake…But I really should have, and I'm sorry." He licked his lips, his mouth suddenly dry. "Chase…I love you…" he whispered softly. Her expression made no change, and he gave a quiet laugh. "The only reason I'm telling you this now is because…well…you're asleep, and I'm scared of what you might think if I told you this to your face. But Chaselynn…know this. If ever a day goes by that I don't say 'I love you,' know that I always have, and always will." He brushed the hair out of her eyes, and took a deep breath. He leaned forward and pressed his chapped lips to hers. A pleasant warmth ran though his body. He lingered there for a moment, not ever wanting to lose this feeling. As he pulled away, he pressed another quick kiss to her forehead. A shudder ran through her and he jerked back. Her eyelids fluttered open, and her eyes darted around, finally landing on him.
She licked her lips and croaked out, "John?" She looked at him more clearly. "I'm not dead?"
"No." Elmont swallowed back tears of joy. He squeezed her hand. "You're very much alive."
My tiny baby-blue tinted world, XD, here's the Sleeping Beauty kiss! :) Hope you like! :)
Monopoly Guy, is this good enough for ya? Haha, JK, there will be more coming up in a later chapter! Pinky promise!
