Friday, November 30, 2007

13

She left the kitchens by the side door into the back yards where the barns were located. She had found Petre there before and sure enough he was in the paddocks caring for Wulfgard’s favorite horse. Shepp still trailed behind her. She would look back and smile at him every once in a while, feeling odd to have her own personal guard.

Petre looked up from brushing Wulfgard’s horse and smiled at her. He stopped brushing, looking her up and down and shaking his head.

“Do you not like what you see?”

“On the contrary, you look as I always knew you would look. Beautiful.” He smiled again, then put down his brush and climbed over the fence to where she was standing. “You have always been beautiful to me but now you are arrayed as you always should have been. You are far more beautiful than Lauryn because your smile is so sweet and it lights up your eyes so bright.” He turned pink in his cheeks at this long and flowery speech. Mairyn punched him on his shoulder. He punched her back and they were their usual selves again.

“What have you been doing with yourself all morning, you lazy bones?”

“I have been enjoying a long bath, a leisurely morning meal and the most amazing thing.”

“What so amazing thing happened on this fine sunny morning?”

Mairyn bared her teeth to Petre, stretching her lips wide, her eyes open big. She looked so comical, like a jester Wulfgard had hired as entertainment one year that Petre doubled over in laughter. He had no idea what she was trying to show him. She shoved Petre and he was so unprepared for it he fell on his bottom. Mairyn stomped away from him. Shepp shook his head at a stunned Petre and followed Mairyn. Petre jumped up and ran after Mairyn. When he caught up with her, she tried to pull away from him. She was crying and he had no idea why. He pulled her over to a bench in the court yard and made her sit down. Shepp stood off away from them with his back to them to give them some privacy.

“Mairyn, I’m sorry. I thought you were trying to make me laugh. Tell me what you were trying to show me.”

“I brushed my teeth.” Mairyn spoke quietly to her lap. Petre sat next to her and did not reply. Mairyn looked up at him because they were quiet for so long. Petre had tears rolling down his face. This was not what Mairyn had expected.

“I am so sorry,” he said. “I had forgotten how little you have had in your life that I take for granted.”

“I thought you were making fun of me.” Mairyn sniffed.

“I was laughing at you, but you looked just like an entertainer Uncle Wulfgard had acquired for a winter solstice celebration one year. The man had many comical masks that he would put on and pantomime different people. He made use all laugh for a very long time and the face you made had me thinking of him.” Petre shrugged his shoulders in apology.

“I would have liked to have seen that man.”

“Perhaps we can have Uncle hire such an entertainer to perform at your wedding.”

“My wedding? I’m getting married?”

“Not now, but some day you must marry.”

“Don’t be silly. Who on earth would marry me?” Before Petre could answer, a shower of small stones rained down on them from the mountain path above them. They looked up and saw Gideon looking down on them. He took off as Petre called out in alarm. Shepp spun around and looked up where Petre was pointing. Shepp called out the alarm and many men came running. He explained that they had seen Gideon on the pathway of the mountain that passed above the court yard. Men took off after Gideon. It would take a little while for them to get to the start of the pathway which began in the town itself down by the lake. It ran up behind the houses and above many roofs. It was the path that passed by the skull cave that Petre and Mairyn liked to hide in for some quiet private time. Someone else went looking for Wulfgard. Petre and Mairyn stood in the courtyard, the bright noon sun shining down on them. Petre held Mairyn’s hand and she gripped him tight. Wulfgard arrived and look at the pair of them standing together. He asked what had happened and they explained to them that they had seen Gideon high above them. Shepp, who could not give chase because he was required to stay with Mairyn at all times that he was on duty, told Wulfgard about the men who had followed Gideon. Many people had come into the courtyard when all of the yelling had begun. It wasn’t until Wulfgard had gotten everyone in order that Mairyn and Petre noticed the man with Wulfgard. They did not know this man with a long white beard, braided and tied with a green ribbon on the end. His eyes were as bright green as his ribbon and they sparkled in the sunlight. He stood quietly beside Wulfgard, peacefully looking at Mairyn and Petre. With his white hair and white beard, long plain robes he appeared very old at first glance. But his face was lively and the only lines on his face were laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. When Wulfgard called everyone to go into the midday meal, the man walk with a spry step. He did not use cane or staff, he had no limp and he was not bent over. As he and Wulfgard went into the halle, Mairyn noticed a boy and a girl pulled a hand cart covered with a tarp. They parked the cart by the entrance and followed the man into the halle. Petre was going to sneak a peek under the tarp but Maison had directed someone to pull the cart around the back of the halle. Once everyone had been seated and dinner served, Wulfgard made the introductions. The man sat in Gideon’s chair to Wulfgard’s right. The boy and girl sat to his right. The children were happily eating and entertaining themselves. Mairyn guessed they were about twelve years old.

“I know your curiosity is about ready to cause you to burst,” said Wulfgard. “Petre, my nephew and Mairyn, my daughter, I introduce you to Neemyn. Neemyn is a teacher and I have hired him for you both.” Mairyn and Petre looked at Neemyn with their mouths hanging open. Neemyn chuckled.

“I see you are surprised,” he said. “Do I look so unlike a teacher as all that?”

“Not at all,” said Mairyn, her cheeks flushing pink.

“What do I need a tutor for Uncle Wulfgard?” Petre blurted out the question that Mairyn wanted to ask.

“Mind your manners, Petre,” said Wulfgard. “You need a teacher because I say you need one.”

“But what will he teach me?”

“He will be teaching you how to read and cipher.”

“What on earth for? There are scribes for that and besides I have nothing to read and certainly nothing to count.”

Neemyn placed a hand on Wulfgard’s arm and replied to Petre himself.

“A man should be able to read contracts himself. A man who can read and add and subtract can not easily be cheated.” Neemyn looked Petre in the eyes as he spoke. “A man who wishes to make something of himself can use as much knowledge as he can get.”

“I take your meaning, sire, but I take care of the horses,” said Petre. Neemyn looked at Mairyn and then back at Petre.

“Caring for horses is an honorable profession, but is that all you wish from this lifetime?” Petre looked at Mairyn, who had a puzzled look on her face and then he looked at Neemyn and then at Uncle Wulfgard, who nodded to him. Petre nodded back. He understood.

Neemyn was pleased at Petre’s quick wit.

“You, my daughter, will need to read and cipher for the same reasons. The household accounts must be kept and while Maison does most of this with Cook and they have been with my family all our lives and I trust them completely, you need to know what they know to help them run the household.”

“I think that you will find that there is great enjoyment in being able to read also,” said Neemyn. “There are exotic tales and histories that have been written down on parchment and I believe you will find pleasure in reading them and learning about other peoples.” The children next to Neemyn had finished eating and were now playing some sort of game, getting louder as they gotten into it. Neemyn gently placed his hands on them and they immediately quieted down and looked at him. They did not look at him with fear or anger at having their game interrupted. They looked at Neemyn with affection.

“These two urchins are my grandchildren,” he said. “This girl is called Kym and this boy answers to the name of Kohl, which is good as it is his name.” The children laughed at his joke. The girl waved to them. “They are with me as apprentices until they are fourteen and then they will return to their parents with heads full of knowledge and skills. They will be joining us for your lessons, helping you catch up to them and learning more along the way.” The children giggled. The boy leaned over and whispered something to his grandfather. He nodded his head.

“Sire Wulfgard,” said Kohl, “may my sister and I be excused from your table and your presence?”

“Yes, by all means.”

At this response from Wulfgard, the children jumped up and ran from the halle, racing around the few people who had risen to go about their business. Neemyn followed them with his eyes and a very fond look on his face.

He turned back to Wulfgard, Mairyn and Petre. “We will begin our lessons directly after we break our fasts on the morrow. We will be able to see what you already know before it is time for Mairyn’s adoption feast.”

“That won’t take long,” said Petre.

“We will start learning something, however little it may be, in that case.”

The men who had formed the party that gave chase to Gideon had returned and entered the halle. Franc, who had been the leader, approached Wulfgard.

“We were not able to catch Gideon, Sire,” he said, “but we believe we found his trail. The shadows on the mountain are too dense and deceptive at this time of day to follow safely where we believe he has gone.”

“Have the men eat and take their ease,” said Wulfgard, “We will speak after the meal and make a plan for a search party on the morrow.” Franc bowed and went to join his men at table.

Wulfgard turned to Mairyn and Petre.

“I suggest you go enjoy your last afternoon of dunderheaded freedom, while Neemyn and I plot your torture.” They did not need to be told twice and ran off almost as fast as Kym and Kohl. Mairyn and Petre found these two out in the courtyard playing with a round object that they kicked between themselves.

“Play ball with us,” they called to Mairyn and Petre.

“Another time,” said Petre. “We must escape while we may, for some time to ourselves, before your grandfather tries to shove us full of important thoughts.” Petre grabbed Mairyn’s hand and they ran off down the street to the lake. They found an empty boat and climbed in. Sitting side by side, they rowed into the center of the lake where the sun still struck before its downward slide into night. They pulled in the paddles and floated quietly by themselves. All of the fishermen had gone in for the day. They fished early in the morning until the midday meal and then went off and did other work according to who they were for the rest of the afternoon. Several of Wulfgard’s men fished in the morning such as Llood and Briin and Jonithon. In the afternoon, Llood help cut and carry wood, while Briin and Jonithon helped with the horses and the sheep as they were needed.

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