Love Beyond Time Read Free Page B

annoyance
that a young man should be lying almost naked to her mistress’s
view, made a point of covering his manly parts with a cloth, but
not before Danise had rested fascinated eyes on him. She had lived
a protected life since her mother’s death a few years ago, but her
earliest youth had been spent in a freer way, so the sight of
unclothed male babies or little boys had been common. She had also,
on several occasions, helped wounded men. This unknown man’s body
should have been no different from any other. But it was. Danise
glanced at the cloth over his groin and blushed.
    “Be particularly careful when you wash his
face,” Clothilde advised. “Those scratches must be painful. I
wonder if his nose is broken?”
    “My father thinks not, but we won’t know for
certain until the swelling subsides.” Gently Danise wiped dirt and
pieces of leaves off the man’s hair, taking special care around the
lump on the left side of his head. Then, after rinsing the cloth
first in warm water, she began to work on his face. He muttered a
string of unintelligible words and groaned, but did not rouse from
his stupor. When he lay clean and well-covered, Danise turned to
Clothilde.
    “You will have to ask Guntram to find clothes
for him,” she said. “He cannot go about in his own clothing. He
will attract too much unwanted attention.”
    “I will see what I can do,” Clothilde
replied, “but from the look of him, don’t expect him to waken soon,
if ever. I think Savarec ought to have the physicians look at him,
and then the priest.”
    “We will leave those decisions to my
father.”
    Danise pulled up a stool and sat down beside
the bed. She smoothed back the man’s damp hair, sighing at the
condition of his face, which was turning blue and purple where the
bruises were darkening. He was not a pleasant sight, yet in his
very strangeness, in his battered form and his helplessness lay a
peculiar attraction, while the mystery of his presence alone and
unattended in the forest intrigued her.
    “You cannot be a Frank,” she murmured. “You
are from a land far away. When you can speak again, will you tell
me about your home?”
    “He may never speak again,” Clothilde warned.
“I’ll get rid of this dirty water and wash out the cloths we used
on him.”
    The tent flap had barely closed on Clothilde
when the man opened his eyes. Twin pools of brilliant blue regarded
Danise with an intensity strong enough to make her hold her breath.
He did not speak. When she could bear the silent scrutiny no
longer, Danise asked, “Can you tell me your name?”
    Still that intent stare, clouded now by a
growing anxiety. He moistened his dry lips.
    “ Je ne sais pas ,” he whispered.
    It took her a moment or two to understand
what he was trying to say. The language he used was not Frankish,
though it was somewhat similar.
    “You don’t know your own name?” Thinking she
might have misunderstood him, she touched her bosom. “Danise. I am
Danise. And you?” She laid her hand on his chest.
    “No!” He nearly knocked her over when he
tried to get out of bed. “No!”
    “Guntram!” Danise did not need to call him;
Guntram was with her before the word was out of her mouth. He
forced the stranger back onto the bed and kept him there. The
stranger put both hands up to his head, holding it tight and
groaning.
    “He’s in pain,” Guntram said. “It’s the head
wound. Stay there!” he shouted at the man on the bed and shook his
finger for emphasis. The man stared back at him, then nodded to
show he understood. Guntram released his hold on the man and stood
watching him, ready to prevent any threat against Danise.
    “He can’t remember his name,” Danise
explained. “My asking upset him.”
    “His confusion will end when the swelling is
gone,” Guntram replied. “Don’t give him anything to eat or drink
until tomorrow. If you do feed him, he may vomit and choke to
death.”
    At that moment Savarec returned with