The Story of Gawain and Ragnell Read Free Page A

well since they took the fort?" Gawain asked.
    Ragnell looked away, and all he could see was the smooth plane of her undamaged cheek, beguiling, alluring. What a beauty she would have been if not for the accident.
    "Better than might have been expected, for several reasons." She faced him, gazing directly into his eyes. "How many men would want to rape a monster with this face?"
    He held her gaze, not answering immediately. The truth of the matter was, men were not very picky when it came to post-battle rape. Arthur forbade it among his men, but Gawain had seen the victims many times. The one thing most of the victims had in common was that they were female. But not even that was a given.
    "Then they left you untouched?" he asked, hoping it was not too intimate a question. On the other hand, it was she who had begun the talk of rape.
    Her lips turned up in a bitter, sad smile. "Not completely. The usurper wanted to stake a claim on me. At least I am not pregnant."
    Gawain drew in a sharp breath. "I am sorry." At the same time, it occurred to him that this, much more than her disfigurement, was the reason she had not been raped repeatedly by the men in Bertilak's warband. If their leader claimed her, intending to marry her to legitimize his position as new lord in Caer Camulodon, then she was off limits to the rest of his men.
    "I am not sorry," Ragnell said.
    It took him a moment to realize how she had meant her odd response. "My sympathy is for what you have gone through, not that you are not with child."
    She chuckled — an astonishing sound, given the topic of their conversation. Gawain shook his head and looked at her, a question in his eyes.
    "Oh, I understood what you meant, Lord Gawain," she said. "It is just that I have a tendency to be perversely literal at times."
    To his surprise, he found he liked that about her. There was courage in her that spoke to him, that gave him a feeling of connectedness. It reminded him a little of his aunt Gwenhwyfar, truth be told — Ragnell's dead older cousin who had been requested to appear at the wedding. Ragnell could not have known Arthur's first wife well. He judged her to be no more than in her mid-twenties, although it was difficult to tell with her disfigurement. But surely she was no more than a child when Gwenhwyfar died. It was another indication of her cleverness, using her cousin's name in a letter to the Pendragon, a way to deliver a message she couldn't write, and get Arthur's attention at the same time. Gawain smiled.
    Ragnell began to walk along the perimeter of the earthworks, Gawain beside her. "While we have this opportunity, I want to tell you how honored I am that you have come to my assistance," she said quietly.
    He shrugged. "You are kin. And your ancestral seat is important strategically for Britain."
    "Yes, it is, isn't it?" This time, he couldn't tell if she were bitter or amused. She stopped, lifted a hand to his cheek, and stretched up to kiss him softly on the lips before he even knew what she was about. "You have my thanks anyway."
    Then she turned and hurried away in the direction of the kitchens while Gawain stood staring after her, wondering what had just happened.
    His lips tingled.
     
    * * *
     
    "I inspected the defenses and spoke with Ragnell about the battle," Gawain whispered to the other warriors that night in the small house they shared. "We need to get word out that the fortifications in the south are weakest."
    "It is such a shame about Ragnell," Pabius said. "I had not seen her for several years, and I didn't know about the accident. Such a beauty she was."
    Gaheris raised one eyebrow. "I thought Christian priests paid no attention to such things?"
    Pabius smiled and shook his head. "I am sure there are such men among the priesthood, but those I know are not blind to the charms of an attractive woman. And young Ragnell was certainly that. But the accident would explain why she never married."
    Gawain pulled the priest's garb off over