lovely reviews, duckies, just lovely...sorry, this is a shortish one--the next one will be longer, I promise.
Wild Woman: just curious...what do call track and field over there?
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When Codi awoke just after sunset, her headache was gone. Hopefully, she kept her eyes closed and counted to twenty in the vain hope that it had all been a dream and she would wake up in her own room. She opened her eyes and saw the curtains. Damn. With a sigh, she got out of bed and looked at her sweaty, smelly clothes and dirty feet and noticed a simple dress laid over the back of a chair. Shrugging, Codi stripped out of her dirty clothes and pulled on the dress. It was rather too large for her, but it would do. She found her socks and was tugging on her boots when Vonora let herself into the room.
"Do you feel better?" she asked with a smile.
"Much better," Codi said with a nod. "I am happy."
Vonora frowned, then laughed. "Say, 'thank you'. I don't think you are very happy at all."
Codi smiled sadly. "No. I want home and father. But I cannot have."
"The knights—the big men—have been wondering what to do with you," Vonora told her. "I offered to let you stay in my house and help me care for my children. Would you like that?"
"Children?" Codi asked, trying to mask her horror. She abhorred small children.
"Perhaps not," Vonora said with a laugh. "Well, you can stay with me regardless. We'll find something to do with you."
"Thank you," Codi said. "Where is stables? I want to see my horse."
"Where are the stables. I will show you," Vonora said, and handed her a cup of some foul smelling medicinal brew. "Drink this as we walk. We must hurry. The men will be wanting their dinner soon. You can help me work."
"No children?" Codi asked.
"No children," Vonra assured her.
Moondancer greeted Codi by attempting to smear bran mash over her hair. Codi escaped and, satisfied that her horse was alright, followed Vonora to a tavern where she handed Codi a pitcher of ale and told her, "Fill up the cups." Codi, eyes wide, kept her mouth shut and did as she was told, ignoring the leers men directed at her. More than a few times one would say something that she didn't understand and Vonora would rescue her.
"Ale?" Codi asked wearily an hour later.
A dirty, gap-toothed guard with stringy, oily hair grinned up at her and slurred something. Before she could move, he had grabbed her about the waist and pulled her into his lap. Codi cried out and tried to get up, but he yanked her back and tried to kiss her. She nearly gagged at the smell of his breath. Codi drew her hand back to slap the inebriated bastard, but he grabbed her wrist and forced it down. His buddies were guffawing merrily and clapping him on the back. Codi bit back tears and turned her face away. She could vaguely hear Vonora shouting in the background.
Very suddenly, Codi found herself free. Sprawled on the earthen floor and rubbing her wrist, but free. The drunken ape was pinned to the table with three swords at his throat. Codi looked up at her rescuers and saw Arthur, Dagonet, and Tristan standing over her would-be rapist with hard, cold expressions on their faces. The rest were ranged behind them, daring anyone to intervene.
Vonora rushed to kneel at Codi's side and put her arms about the shaking girl, stroking her hair and murmuring comforts. She glared around at the drunk's companions and gave them all a tongue lashing. She asked Codi a question, but Codi's mind was so overloaded she couldn't understand a thing. Vonora helped her to her feet and led her away to the back of the tavern, where Codi was made to sit on a stool in front of the fire and drink a cup of tea.
Soon, Codi was calm enough to collect her thoughts and return to work, although Vonora offered to take her home. At the end of the night, Codi was exhausted both mentally and physically and could only stare dumbly at the handful of coins Vonora handed her. Wearily, she tucked them into her pocket and followed Vonora and Bors to their home, a little one room house crawling with children. Vonora sent Codi up to the loft with the rest of her children to sleep.
Codi tugged her boots off and curled up in a corner of the loft, trying not to think about spiders or rats or other undesirables that might be sharing her sleeping space. She closed her eyes, but couldn't sleep. Seven children between the ages of five and ten were, in her opinion, a fate worse than death. For what seemed like hours, they argued, wrestled, cried, and whined while Vonora and Bors carried on their own argument downstairs.
Even when the noise stopped, sleep eluded Codi. Every little sound was a rat scurrying through the hay and every breath of wind was a bat flying right by her face. Even the children's gentle breathing was as distracting as Bors' snoring. With a sigh, Codi slipped down the ladder and padded out the door in bare feet.
Once outside, she pulled on her boots and wrapped herself in the shawl Vonora had given her. The streets were deserted. Taking care to remember where she had come from, Codi set out, keeping to shadows, and eventually found her way to the stables. With a sigh of relief, she slipped into Moondancer's stall. The filly was slightly confused as to why she had a visitor at this hour, but she didn't protest.
"What are you doing here?" a startled voice asked.
Codi whipped around to see Gawain exit the stall opposite hers. Uncomfortably, she looked around. "Not sleep."
"Cannot sleep," he told her.
Rubbing her face, Codi nodded. "Forgive me. It is...not easy."
"Difficult," Gawain provided.
"Yes, difficult," Codi agreed. "New place, new language. I am a child here."
"You will learn," Gawain said comfortingly, leaning against the wall. "Here, I'll help you." He pointed to the stall and said the word in his language. "See? A new word."
In spite of her fatigue and depression, Codi smiled and repeated it in her language. "You learn, too."
They spent the next hour naming things in both languages until Codi was so sleepy she couldn't see straight. Chuckling, Gawain walked her back to Bors and Vonora's house and then returned to the castle, shaking his head at the strangeness of it all. He snorted with laughter, recalling her pantomimed explanation of why she couldn't sleep. He had witnessed Bors' bastards quarreling on more than one occasion and was all too familiar with his friend's snoring, so it was easy to recognize. Codi had managed to mimic it almost perfectly. It was both strange and amusing to hear such a huge sound come from such a little thing. Especially that sound.
I wonder what will become of her? Gawain mused. She seems so small, yet I know how strong she is—physically, anyway. She needs someone to stand up for her until she learns to stand up for herself. Gawain smiled, knowing that, whatever they might say, the Sarmatian Knights would not just send the girl on their way. Arthur wouldn't abandon their foundling and neither would any of his knights. They would all stand up for her whenever she needed it.
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forgive the sap, but that's my Gawain for you...a hopeless romantic. keep the reviews coming!