The Red-Haired Knight Ch. 10

Since that first battle, the Lady's first battle as commander of the Volley's forces, Gwyneth had struggled with how to address the Lady. Gwyneth had been the goose girl, when Malle was just a girl. They might have been the same age, but Gwyneth had to work as soon as she could walk.

Malle came from 'fine folk'. Her childhood was full of play, until the time she must learn to be a lady. Gwyneth had the care of her family's flock of geese. There were six children and Gwyneth was the youngest. Her mother was at an age where more babies were unlikely. Honestly, her father was relieved.

The family was not in danger of starvation or losing the roof over their heads, but all had to do their part for them to survive. Her father was a small-statured man but vigorous. He had a good reputation as an honest and dependable worker and was often hired by the fine folk as a day laborer, for harvest time, planting time, wood cutting, and the like.

Her mother made simple jewelry with the silver the fine folk would provide. She was also trusted as one who 'the silver did not stick to her fingers.' The other children also hired out to do tasks all over the Valley, the eldest at some distance. Rosalie was the maid to a farm wife at the far end of the Valley near the East Range of Mountains. She had her own room, a clothing allowance and ample food. Gwyneth's 7 mother joked that Rosalie was the only one of her offspring who was likely to get fat!

In due course, when Gwyneth was no longer a girl, after her father and mother had died, this was what she knew of her siblings. Rosalie grew fat on a farm near the mountains; the other four, had typical lives for Valley poor folk. One daughter Elise, died during childbirth before marriage. The next oldest, Sancta, started working for the Holy Ground, and eventually she was allowed entry into the Guild of the Keepers of the Holy Ground. One son, Bruno, joined the Guards; he died of dysentery after only six weeks in the Wild Lands. The surviving son, Albert, lived with his wife near the estate of the Lady. He had shunned Gwyneth when she took up the life of a camp follower of the guards.

Gwyneth had grown tired of being the 'goose girl'. Typically, it was not something a female continued with past the time of her bleeding, and Gwyneth had passed that time by many seasons. She had followed Bruno into the Wild Lands, eventually nursing him when he fell ill until he died. Afterwards, she stayed with the Guards, loving the rough camaraderie of these mostly simple men.

With her rough upbringing and growing up with brothers, she brooked no nonsense from the men. It helped that she was a burly lass, and that a stout punch from her right arm might not floor a man, but it would give him pause and cause him to reconsider how this former goose girl should be treated.

She made herself useful in the guards, as a laundress and a better-than-average cook. Her skills with the needle and thread were not outstanding, but bested what the average guardsman could carry out.

The outdoor life suited her, but the guards sojourn in the Wild Lands would not continue through the winter. In the winter barracks, she secured a permanent position as 'Mistress of the Barracks', a supervisor of all domestic life, at a military post. Reporting to her were the cooks, scullery maids, farriers, and tailors.

And there was the chaplain, a delegate from the Holy Ground. The first 'gentleman' she had close contact with. A devout, humble man; he was so sweet, so shy around her. He respected her authority as Mistress of the Barracks as much as the soldiers. Nominally, she was his supervisor and he always deferred to her in the scheduling of Holy Ground services in 'her' barracks.

Keepers of the Holy Ground did not marry, neither were they bound by any vow of poverty or chastity. The chaplain passed the requisite amount of alms onto the Holy Ground. The rest he was allowed as his salary. He was well thought of, enough by the soldiers and their officers, that he was allowed a good living. He kept a comfortable room on the upper floor of the barracks, next to Gwyneth's larger quarters. While Gwyneth's were simply furnished, Seiplin's (for that was his name) had walls lined with books and the floors covered with good carpets. A large bed, with feather mattresses and a down quilt, dominated the space along with a heavy desk and several comfortable chairs.

Meals were taken with the soldiery, but Seiplin kept a cabinet of spirits for the times he entertained guests.

It was not until the second winter of Gwyneth's time as mistress, that Seiplin invited her to his room for a drink. Even then, he stumbled over his words, so Gwyneth had to complete his thoughts and invited herself to his room.

Winter evenings were spent together, sometimes in companionable silence, watching the small fire in the room's hearth and sipping strong drinks. Other nights were spent with his reading to her from Holy Books and Profane Books.

Gwyneth's world grew.

The third winter, Seiplin asked permission of Gwyneth to teach her to read and write. She was hungry for this skill, and by the fourth winter, she was reading to him.

The fifth winter they became lovers. One night, after reading to him from a Profane book, on impulse, Gwyneth rose from her chair, carefully closing the book. After putting the book down on the side table, she went over to Seiplin, who sat, gazing at her with embarrassment and eagerness; he knew what she intended, and he wanted and feared it...for things would never be the same. The companionable coziness, the safe way, would be over.

After a very tentative kiss, they both lost themselves in a passion that had been building for years.

Their lovemaking was enthusiastic, and imaginative. Well-read people are like that.

That summer, Gwyneth campaigned in the Wild Lands, walking with two heartbeats. By fall, she gave birth to a healthy girl. By the Laws, on reaching her third month, this unnamed daughter was delivered to the Keepers of the Holy Ground.

Seiplin and Gwyneth remained together until his death in the Wild Lands not long after the birth of their third child. She still had this baby boy in her arms, as she buried Seiplin, under a tree near a fast-running stream in the Wild Lands. He had stepped on a thorn after bathing in that very stream. In short order, the foot had become infected, and no treatment of the guards doctor helped.

Gwyneth sought out the healers from the Wild Lands People, but when the Healer saw Seiplin, he shook his head. "This is a dead man."

By the laws, Gwyneth brought the baby to the Keepers of the Holy Ground on the appointed day. For the first time in years, she felt all alone.

That very evening, as she prepared the barracks for the coming winter, she met the Sergeant. A rough man, slow in speech, he was an opposite of her sweet, gentle Seiplin, but his awkward expression of sympathy for her loss was so genuine, that she hugged him to her breast and cried copiously.

They became lovers that night.

(Many thanks to kenjisato, my editor!)

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