Lancelot and the Wolf (5 page)

I stood him on his feet. “Let me look at the wound,” I said.

“
No, it’s fine,” Else backed up out of arms reach.

“
Well, I need the damned dress to help hide the hoof marks, so hold still,” I told him. I didn’t want to frighten the little bugger. I’d seen how fast he could be with a knife when necessary but I had to have hold of him first.

“
I’ll do it,” he sounded stressed.

I made a grab for him, running out of patience. He yelped and tried to pull back, but we’d done a great deal of sparring together and I knew how to take advantage of my height and weight. I also knew all the tricks he pulled to force people to let go of him. How that fat fool pinned him to a wall I’d never understand. Even when we first started, Else proved a good open hand fighter.

I quickly pulled him into my body, he twisted and we ended up his back to my front. He began to thrash wildly. I lifted him off his feet. “Damn it, hold still before you damage more of yourself,” I grunted.

“
You have no right,” Else screamed, startling the horses.

I tore at the dress. I pulled at his doublet and beat his hands away from my face long enough to look at what I found. Wraps, linen wraps, tied around his ribs and thickly around his waist.

“
I fucking knew it,” I yelled as I dropped him and backed off.

Else collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, blood once more pouring from the wound, staining the white linen dark red.

“
You,” I lost my words. “You,” I felt so betrayed.

“
Girl,” Else supplied bitterly and breathlessly.

“
Liar,” I qualified.

Else dropped her head.

“
Who?” I thought about it. The questions, the lies I’d doubtless be spun, the tears and petty manipulations. “Actually, forget it. I don’t care. You’re on your own.”

Else’s head jerked up, “You’d leave me here?”

I threw my hands in the air and felt the anger surge out, “Well, what am I supposed to do? You lied to me. Do you know how often women have lied to me? Do you know what I’ve been forced to suffer because of women? Do you know some of the things I’ve been thinking about, having you lying in my camp night after night?” that last part I hadn’t meant to say aloud.

I expected tears. I’m not good with tears. Instead, Else tried to stand, she almost managed it by holding onto Mercury’s stirrup leather to help. The colour of her eyes darkened and her own anger crackled against mine.

“
And do you think,” she began, “this has been fun for me? Do you think running and hiding as a boy is a good way for me to live my life? Constantly in fear of discovery, constantly in fear of attack, of being found. Do you think it’s fun lying to someone who you care about? Who you owe your life too?”

A long lonely howl screamed through the wood. Seconds later the baying of hounds coursed fear through my blood. They had found our entrance into the stream. I moved quickly, sweeping Else up into my arms and I pushed her onto the horse. I tore great stretches off the dress and wrapped Mercury’s hooves, then did Ash’s. We were both silent during the process. I swung into Ash’s saddle. The cacophony behind us increased.

“
I’m sorry,” Else said. I looked into her eyes, she meant it but did I want to hear it?

I pushed Ash forward and we began to ride along another narrow path. We’d lost any advantage we had and I felt the pressure at my back as I rode behind the small gelding. I thought about Else while I assessed our predicament. Something serious must have forced her to live the way she had been, hand to mouth, no protector, family or friends. She’d chosen to travel with me because she must have thought I’d be safer than anyone else, or going her own way. She could have run from me at any time. I’d have just lost the price of a good horse. Now I knew she wasn’t a boy I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it before. She moved with a softness and grace no lad ever thought of mimicking. How desperate had her life been to risk herself in such a way?

I just wished she’d told me, trusted me. Why would she think I’d be a threat if I knew her secrets? At least I now understood her prudish attitude toward my whoring. Women lied. She lied. All the women in my life lied and tortured. The terrible pain I’d suffered in England dimmed in Else’s company. Now it all came back in a rush of misery. How did this happen to me? I was saving yet another woman by laying my life down for hers.

The path started to incline sharply. Else pulled up and turned in her saddle, “Can we get the horses up there?” she pointed at a scree hillside covered in scrubby trees. The occasional large rock protruded from the loose shale covering the steep slope.

I looked at her and said, “I can but can you?” she was so pale. “We can’t ride up it, we’ll have to scramble and let the horses find their own way.”

She nodded, “I can do it if you think it will help.”

We rode to the bottom of the slope and pushed the horses into the small oak trees. They soon began slipping on the rocks but we found a path carved by the likes of deer and foxes. I finally slid off Ash and helped Else down. She felt strange in my hands, my body reacting to her presence in a predictable manner. I ached for her profoundly, shocked by the surge of lust. I gasped and almost dropped her down the slope I tried to escape her so fast. I made it to Ash’s head, grabbed his reins and pulled him forward, moving quickly, trying to escape myself and the hounds. I tried hard not to think. The sound of the hunt echoed off the side of the hill we climbed. Dogs would have no trouble with the loose rocks but would their masters want the risk badly enough to come after us?

Else began to pant hard. Her breathing out of control. I looked down into the forest spreading out below us. Light flashed off steel helms. They would reach the slopes of our cliff face in no time. I glanced upward. Large rocks seemingly balanced on thin air hung over the scree slope. I struggled past Ash to avoid falling.

I pulled Else upright, “You take Ash, I’m going up there,” I pointed. “If you hear them still following you just ride. I will slow them down as much as I can.” I grabbed my sword and the short bow I used for hunting.

“
Lancelot,” she grabbed my arm when she realised what I planned. “Thank you.”

“
Just keep the horses safe,” I said gruffly and I scrambled away from Ash. If I’d been alone I would have managed to outrun them but Else needed help. She needed to recover and I needed to check that damned wound.

On hands and knees, I made swift progress up the cliff face. Pulling myself from tree to tree where possible. I still had to dig my fingers into the sharp shale. They were cut and bleeding in no time. The damned mail shirt weighed me down and I sweated under the hot morning sun. Grunting, I hauled myself over the edge of the rocks. I lay for a moment wheezing, my lungs and muscles screamed at me.

“
This better fucking work,” I muttered. I rolled over and crouched low. I’d raced up the slope to avoid observation. I did not want to be seen from below. I watched Else half leading, half leaning on Ash. She’d tied Mercury to his saddle and the three of them moved quickly. The hounds circled below trying to find our tracks. The huntsmen closed in on their trail. I didn’t want to kill any of them, they were following orders but I also didn’t want to be hung for killing a worm.

If I worked swiftly enough I’d have time to get this right and save lives. I found what I’d spied from below, a small tree trunk, uprooted that winter because leaves graced its small crown. I pulled and it moved. Every muscle in my arms and shoulders begged me to stop but I learnt to swing a sword at four years old and I’d been pushing myself ever since. I ignored everything but my end goal, survival. I forced the narrow roots under the rocks and worked the trunk like a lever. Up and down, the seesaw action pushed the trunk deeper and deeper every time the earth around the rocks gave. I heard the horses gathering at the slope and men’s voices discussing the merits of following us. I heaved. The rock shifted. I pushed, it wobbled but the trunk couldn’t give me any more. The earth too soft to take the pressure. I climbed over the tree and dug my fingers under the huge rock. I realised the impossibility but I’m a stubborn bastard. I heaved and lifted with my legs. The pain, the need to stop became anger and grief over Arthur and his cursed wife. I suddenly saw her. Long blonde hair blowing in the summer breeze, she laughed at me and caressed my face. Her betrayal snapped something in my mind and caused my heart to cry out in an anguish I hadn’t released even as I’d been flogged. I thought about Else and how alone she’d been, how brave and how she’d never asked anything of me but her own space. The rock shifted. The rock fell. The rock tumbled away from me and I almost fell after it.

CHAPTER SIX

I didn’t bother to wait to see the chaos. I did hear it. Dogs barking, men yelling, horses screaming in fear. I prayed silently they all escaped the crashing hellish maelstrom of rock. The top of the cliff rolled downward gently. I ran on trembling legs. The forest once more became a gentle warm place.

Else stood holding Mercury but leaning on Ash. He didn’t flinch even as her blood dripped down his leg. He just kept turning his head to check on her. He whinnied softly as I appeared, seeming to ask for my help. I rubbed his head when I reached him.

“
Else?” I peered at her. She slowly raised her head and managed a smile.

“
We won?”

“
For the moment. Now, let me check this wound,” I said dropping to my knees.

She pushed off Ash, “Just where I like my men. On their knees,” she laughed weakly at her own joke and I heard a sob at the end.

“
Well, if you behave yourself I’ll be happy to kneel before you, my lady,” I said peeling back the hole in her clothes. The arrow had cut down to her ribs, a clean slice. It would need stitching to close it, but if we kept it washed, it should heal. I gave her the news.

“
Oh, good, stitches,” she said as she tried to see.

I slapped her hands, “Don’t touch it. Let me unravel some of these bindings and move them over the wound. We need time to stitch it well and I want to put a few miles between us and that accident.”

“
I can do it,” she began to pull away.

“
Worrying about your modesty isn’t going to help us escape,” I snapped. “For God’s sake, woman just accept my help and be done with this game.”

Else froze instantly, “Sorry,” she murmured.

I carefully pulled her jerkin over her head. Its soft wool and leather smelt heavily of horse and Else. The bandages around her chest and stomach, one to flatten nature, one to fill it out, were clean and neatly tied.

I undid the one for her waist.

“
Why did you lie?” I asked, concentrating only on the soft fabric in my hands and trying to avoid the bloodstains.

“
I didn’t mean to, I meant to tell you as soon as I could but when you offered me a job, I realised I wanted it. I wanted to stay with you and feel safe for a change. I’ve never travelled closely with one person before and I thought I could manage well enough. Even the Sheriff’s brother didn’t think he was raping a girl.” She sounded detached. I didn’t look up into her face. I didn’t want this to be personal.

“
I hate being deceived,” I said.

“
I know. I don’t blame you. I would just beg you to dump me somewhere large enough for me to be lost.”

“
Like a forest,” I snapped.

“
I was rather hoping for a town,” she said quietly. A small hand suddenly captured my right one, my fist full of linen. “I am sorry. I never meant to hurt you or confuse you. I just wanted to be safe.”

I stared hard at her hand and realised her stomach lay inches from my nose. Flat, tight, narrow waisted. “How long have you been living like this?” I asked, my voice rough.

“
Five years, travelling from place to place. I knew it couldn’t last, I’m not getting any younger and the crows’ feet don’t match the beardless face.” I heard her frustration.

“
Why did you do it?” I had to concentrate on something else other than the feel of her hand on mine. Her callous’ rough as my own. My fingers still sore from the climb.

“
I had to run and hide. I didn’t want to marry the wrong man and my father isn’t very forgiving.”

“
Who is your father?”

“
It doesn’t matter,” she whispered. I looked up then, straight into her soft round eyes. How could I have thought her a boy? The brown, so warm, so precious. A gift.

The moment stretched. I stayed on my knees looking up into that urchin’s face with its short spiky halo of hair and she stared down into my rough, square jawed, features. She smiled and her left hand moved of its own accord to gently trace the line of a scar over my right eye.

The howling of hounds made us jump. “Fuck,” I snapped. “Hold still.” I ruthlessly bandaged the wound up. Else whimpered at the feel of the linen but didn’t cry out. As I stood, she swayed unnervingly. I lifted her into my arms and pushed her onto Ash. I jumped up behind her and wrapped one arm around her waist and another on Ash’s reins. Mercury remained tied to the saddle.

We moved off, deeper into the green wood.

The canopy began to thicken and the light grew greener. Else remained conscious but she seemed barely aware of our surroundings. The sounds of the dogs gradually dwindled behind us. Unable to climb the scree, they would have to find a way round and pick up our scent at random. Finally, we were able to put room between us and the sheriff.