The Silver Wolf Read Free Page B

listen to.” His voice trailed off as he sniffed the air. “Fresh baked bread,” he whispered. “I forgot it’s Matrona’s baking day.” His body floated from the bench. He seemed pulled along by the enticing odor, his nose sniffing the air.
    Maeniel placed one big hand on Gavin’s shoulder and pushed him back down on the bench. “Matrona has a lot of work to do on baking day. She becomes very irritable. Remember the time I had to rescue you? She was trying to push you feet first into one of the ovens. You had both feet braced against the wall oneither side of the door. You were screaming at the top of your lungs, and if I hadn’t—”
    “You didn’t have to rescue me,” Gavin denied hotly. “It’s just that I’m a gentleman and didn’t want to hurt her.”
    “To be sure,” Maeniel soothed, “to be sure. Besides you were right … I mean about the worry business.”
    “You’re giving it up?” Gavin asked.
    “No,” Maeniel said. “I have a new one.” He handed Gavin a letter.
    Gavin gave it a cursory glance; then realizing its importance, he began to read more slowly.
    “Not politics in Rome,” Maeniel said. “Politics in Franca. The woman comes recommended by Charles, the great Charlemagne himself. I had better marry her.”
    “I wouldn’t,” Gavin said handing him back the letter. “I’d tell the
great
Charles to go fly his hawks or chase Saxons, whatever the hell a king does. Forget marrying. When some royal cousin comes here, lock your gates, sharpen your sword, and wish them Godspeed over the pass into the valley. I’m betting you’ll never hear any more about her.”
    “I can’t take that bet,” Maeniel said quietly. “The stakes are too high.”
    “No, they aren’t,” Gavin insisted. “You’re sitting in an impregnable fortress. This rock has never fallen to assault, not even in the time of the Romans.”
    “And if Charles ever seriously decides to dig me out,” Maeniel said flatly, “he can. Why do you think I send Charles’ court a hefty sum of silver? Every year a nice present of gold and jewels is sent to the court in time for Christmas. I keep the roads clear of thieves and bandits, don’t overcharge the merchants traveling through the pass. In between I keep my fingers crossed. So far he’s left me alone.
    “But no more. The reckoning has come, and in a form I can’t really quarrel with. He’s offering me a marriage with a woman of the royal house. I dare not refuse. The letter says she is young, comely, and—”
    “The letter,” Gavin broke in, “does give every pertinent fact about the lady: her birth, her lineage, yes, every fact, but one. What’s wrong with her?”
    “What could be wrong with her?” Maeniel asked.
    Gavin stared out glumly over the village. “Now who’s the optimist? Aside from dire poverty, I can think of a few things. Promiscuity, drunkenness, insanity, dishonesty, stupidity, leprosy, cruelty, and greed. Any and all of the above. In addition, she’ll probably turn out to be a humpbacked dwarf with only one tooth remaining in her head and halfwitted in the bargain.”
    “Sometimes I think it was a mistake for your father to send you to school. It stimulated your imagination no end,” Maeniel said.
    “I know,” Gavin agreed. “I told him that every day until it was a question of what would wear out first—his arm, his belt, or my backside. As it was, you and I both ended up trying to run away to seek our fortune. Well, we found it, and now you must marry this … creature to keep it.”
    “It’s a small sacrifice,” Maeniel answered.
    “Let’s hope,” Gavin said.
    “If she’s a humpbacked dwarf, she may have a pleasant personality. If she’s insane, I’ll see she’s cared for. Drunken, dried out at intervals; promiscuous, persuaded to be discreet. Cruelty and greed can both be restrained. And even leprosy, God help me, can be treated. At this altitude the sick either recover quickly or die.”
    “That’s