Once a Knight Read Free

have frozen a stone. He looked like a man who wanted to wring someone’s neck, and he was staring at Lady Alisoun’s back .
    Right then I vowed to be my lady’s defender no matter what might occur .
    I kept my vow, too. That’s the best part of the story .
    Anyway, I got to the lichen-covered boulders in time to see Heath and Lady Alisoun emerging from the woods. The older children hung from the trees for the best view. In a mill of confusion, villagers and servants craned their necks. Everybody spoke in a large, unified buzz .
    Then Heath called, “Make way fer m’lady.” The babbling dropped into silence and a path opened .
    I hurried to catch up, then followed in Lady Alisoun’s wake. The people bobbed and bowed as she made her way through them, and an occasional hand reached out and touched her skirt as if she were an icon brought out for a holy day procession. Like I said, she was the symbol of security and prosperity for George’s Cross. It was a burden she had assumed at the age of thirteen, when her parents died of the flux. She took the time now to offer a smile here, a word of assurance there .
    You just don’t see gracious ladies like her anymore .
    Finally she reached a cluster of serving women kneeling around one weeping bundle wrapped in Alisoun’s own cloak. “She’s here,” Heath announced to the sobbing woman. “Lady Edlyn, she’s here .”
    Lady Edlyn launched herself at Lady Alisoun without even looking .
    Such impetuous behavior surprised me. Lady Alisoun gave me a sense of safety and stability, but I would never, never have spontaneously sought comfort from her. Indeed, Lady Alisoun staggered back under the weight, then carefully, as if she were unsure of herself, she wrapped Lady Edlyn in her arms. Lady Edlyn kept burrowing closer, as if she needed to rest in Alisoun’s heart to once again feel secure. I gathered my courage and interrupted, “My lady, I don’t think you should stay out here. It isn’t safe .”
    â€œ It’s safe.” Sir Walter had arrived, red and flushed .
    But Lady Alisoun looked up thoughtfully and spoke only to me. “I believe you are right. We’ll go back to the castle at once, where we are protected .”
    Much time had passed since then. I’ve lived a long life, but no other words ever thrilled me like those —I believe you are right.
    If he could have, Sir Walter would have cuffed me again. “You’re speaking to a lad, my lady. I am your steward, and I say there is no threat anywhere on your lands .”
    Before Lady Alisoun could reprove him for so contradicting her, Lady Edlyn jerked out of her arms and turned on him. “That man who took me hit me!” Shethrew back the cloak’s hood, lifted the braids off her neck and showed a bruise the size of her fist. “He hit me,” she repeated, “and when I woke, he was carrying me like a bag of wool. When I fought, he laughed and hit me again—” she rubbed her mistreated rump, “—and when he got here, he threw…me down so…hard I lost my…breath and —”
    She struggled to tell her tale, but her tears got the better of her, and I clenched my fist at this desecration of my fist love .
    â€œ Enough!” Sir Walter said. “You were attacked, but he’s gone, and he took you only because he thought you were Lady Alisoun .”
    All sound halted and horror etched every face .
    Satisfied with the sensation he’d caused, Sir Walter continued, “We saw the marks in the ground. He had a horse waiting. If he hadn’t seen Lady Edlyn’s face, he’d have taken her, imagining she was the lady .”
    Lady Alisoun said firmly, “We must go to the castle at once .”
    I hung close to my two idols as the exodus wound through the forest. Everyone from the village and all Lady Alisoun’s servants crowded around her, forming a human