After a long pause, she set one end of the thread between the two block towers representing Gent and lay it down stretching westward, its other end coming to rest beyond the sticks that marked the uplands above the river plain. Then she frowned and moved the line of sticks back a bit. “The river plain is broader here. Lord Wichman must know the lay of the ground better than I, since he’s been raiding through this area for months.”
“Lord Wichman is brave but foolish. I will use him as I judge fit.” The count examined the little map, then moved the placement of the fort so that it rested on the plain but up against the uplands, near the place where the tunnel supposedly had its end. “River’s mouth,” he said, touching that place and having evidently forgotten—or dismissed—young Lord Wichman. “Gent. A fortified camp. A secret tunnel. The Eika have ships, foot soldiers, and herds. Wichman’s last scout brought in news that there are forty-seven ships beached near Gent. I know from my own experience that each ship can carry about thirty Eika. With Lord Wichman joining me I have about seven hundred soldiers, a third of whom are cavalry.”
“But that means they have twice as many soldiers as we do! Shouldn’t we wait here at Steleshame for King Henry?”
“Who knows when King Henry will arrive?” asked the captain. “Or if some other conflict distracts him? Nay, lass, we can’t wait on an army that may never come. And certainly not in a place like this holding, where there aren’t supplies enough to keep us fed and with the Eika raiding at their will, should they wish to harass us here. You can be sure they have scouts in these woods, watching us just as our scouts have gone ahead to watch them.”
“We will leave a messenger here to tell Henry where we are, if he arrives,” added the count. An odd light of excitement glinted in Lavastine’s expression, a man who has seen his heart’s desire and at last knows which path will lead him to it. “Bloodheart may have numbers,” he said, “but I have a plan.”
“Did you see how Count Lavastine praised my singing last night!” It was morning, and Master Helvidius could not contain his excitement. “The counts of Lavas are great landholders in Varre, practically dukes given the power they can wield. Of course, they have no blood connection to the royal line. Still, a lord of his consequence will wish to have a poet of my gifts in his retinue.”
Anna stood stunned. “You’d leave us?”
“Mistress Gisela doesn’t appreciate my verse. And she’s lost most of her wealth with this war. I’d be better off attaching myself to a new household.” He hesitated.
The salad leaves picked yesterday lay in a chipped soapstone bowl, itself gleaned from the ruins of the tannery after the Eika attack. Anna had traded the tansy for a cup of barley from last season’s scant harvest, and now Helen chewed happily on a little cake of spring pudding: barley mixed with chopped bistort, dandelion leaves, and nettle tops, boiled in a bag, then fried in lard on a battered tin sheet over the fire.
“Of course, you could come with me,” he finished, but reluctance dragged on his words.
“But Matthias can’t walk, not to follow a lord like that. I don’t even know where Varre is. Poor little Helen probably can’t walk so far either, and I can’t imagine they’d give such as us a place in a wagon.”
Helvidius grunted, irritated now, and bit at his nails. He always had clean hands, which Anna admired. “Eh, what matter? They’ll likely all die fighting the Eika at Gent. But perhaps I can sing to them tonight. I suppose they’ll march on in the morning.”
After all she and Matthias had done for him, how could Master Helvidius even think of leaving them? How could she forage if there was no one to watch over Helen during the day? But she did not voice these thoughts out loud. Instead, she took three of the little cakes and two handfuls of the fresh greens, wrapped them in the corner of her shawl, and walked over to the corner of Steleshame that stank of the tannery.
Crowded already, the large inner yard of Steleshame was now packed with Court Lavastine’s army. They had bivouacked anywhere they could find room, making themselves free with the well—and not even the whole of the army had encamped inside. Many remained outside to dig a ditch around the palisades as a first line of defense in case the Eika raided again.
But none of Lavastine’s soldiers paid any attention to her except to avoid bumping into her as she wove her way through their ranks or pressed past those of the Steleshame people who had come forward to offer berries or bread in exchange for news. At the tannery, she found Matthias sitting on his stool. She paused to watch him. His face was as pale as the bleached winter sky, but he worked vigorously. She waited until he had finished scraping the hair side of the skin pegged out before him, then spoke his name.
He turned, smiled, then frowned when she opened her shawl and offered him the food. “There’ll be bread tonight and a porridge. You should eat that yourself.”
“I’ve had plenty,” she said, and for once it was true. “You’re never given enough. You know it’s true, Matthias. Now don’t argue with me.”
He was tired enough and hungry enough that this time he didn’t argue, only ate. He had barely finished the scant meal when, looking over her shoulder, his eyes widened and he grabbed his stick and heaved himself to his feet.
“Matthias!” she exclaimed, but he made a sign with his hand and dipped his head. She spun.
Ai, Lady! She touched her Circle, traced her finger around it, and gaped. Lord Wichman might be the son of a duchess, but he was nowhere near as fine as this noble lord and his son, who even fresh off the march looked as grand as Anna supposed the king might. The noble lord was not as tall or robust as Lord Wichman, who walked beside him, but he had the same kind of brisk and effortless pride which she had noticed in the master currier back in Gent, when Matthias first apprenticed in the tanning works: Such a man—or woman—knew their domain, and that they commanded it absolutely. No doubt the master currier was dead now; she had never seen him among the refugees at Steleshame and supposed he had stayed behind during the final attack to defend his beloved demesne.
This lord had hair as colorless as the sand, a narrow face, pale blue eyes, and a keen gaze. He paused to speak to one of the workmen, indicating some leather which lay over a beam, and asked if the tannery had any leather cured and finished enough that his soldiers might use it to repair their armor. Lord Wichman fidgeted, having no patience for this sort of practical talk, and turned to speak to the lordling who stood at Count Lavastine’s side.
“Don’t stare!” whispered Matthias, nudging her with his free hand.
Master Helvidius had said that the count traveled with his son. Yet this young man was half a head taller than the count and had black hair rather than pale. He wore a padded coat worked with silver-and-gold thread in the outline of a hound, and, indeed, two huge black fierce-looking hounds walked meekly at his heels. He and his father were also attended by the Eagle. In the daylight Anna could see that her skin had not the tone of soot at all but rather that of a certain honey-colored soft leather prized by rich merchants for gloves.
A messenger from the king; a noble lord and his son; even Lord Wichman, who after so many months engaged in constant skirmishing looked ill-kempt beside his noble comrades. The assembly quite took Anna’s breath away, but not nearly as much as when the young lordling turned as if aware of her stare and looked right at her.
She cringed, knowing she ought not to stare. “Anna!” But Matthias’ muttered warning came too late.
The young lord crossed over to her, the hounds right behind him, and bent to touch a finger to her wooden Circle. “Poor child,” he said kindly. “I saw you at the roadside, I think, when we were marching in. Did you come from Gent?”
o;But Matthias can’t walk, not to follow a lord like that. I don’t even know where Varre is. Poor little Helen probably can’t walk so far either, and I can’t imagine they’d give such as us a place in a wagon.”
Helvidius grunted, irritated now, and bit at his nails. He always had clean hands, which Anna admired. “Eh, what matter? They’ll likely all die fighting the Eika at Gent. But perhaps I can sing to them tonight. I suppose they’ll march on in the morning.”
After all she and Matthias had done for him, how could Master Helvidius even think of leaving them? How could she forage if there was no one to watch over Helen during the day? But she did not voice these thoughts out loud. Instead, she took three of the little cakes and two handfuls of the fresh greens, wrapped them in the corner of her shawl, and walked over to the corner of Steleshame that stank of the tannery.
Crowded already, the large inner yard of Steleshame was now packed with Court Lavastine’s army. They had bivouacked anywhere they could find room, making themselves free with the well—and not even the whole of the army had encamped inside. Many remained outside to dig a ditch around the palisades as a first line of defense in case the Eika raided again.