Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Instinct told me to hide behind Will but I couldn’t do that. I was his bride and these were his people. I had to show them a good face, at least for this first meeting. Will guided me into their company as he smiled and inclined his head to them. I did the same and more than one little housewife leaned over and whispered to her feminine friend. I hoped it was words of compliment.

A single table in the middle of the room stood empty. Will led us over to that one and grasped the back of a chair where he pulled it out for me. I was glad to rest my trembling legs as he walked over to the other seat at the table but didn’t sit down. Instead, he draped an arm over the back and swept his bright eyes over the room.

“Good evening, people of the country,” he greeted them. “It’s been far too long since I came here to see you all.”

“Not nearly as long as the two summers fifty years ago when the fires wouldn’t stop raging,” one of the old-timers spoke up.

Another glared at him. “It was forty-nine years ago, you old fool!”

“What about the winter of thirty-two years past?” another chimed in. “His Lordship was gone for a spell during that fetching the cattle who got lost in the blizzard.”

The second one scoffed. “That was only for a few months.”

“I would like to introduce you to my bride,” Will spoke up, interrupting their bickering. He swept an arm toward me and his smile softened. “This is Rose, Lady of My Hall. I hope you all get to know her very well and love her as I do.”

One of the women at a nearby table stood and smiled at me. She clasped her hands in front of her and bowed her head to me. “We wish to extend to you a warm welcome, Lady Thorn, and hope you will visit our homes as often as you like.” A murmur of approval arose from all those present.

I stood and tried not to let my shaky legs collapse beneath me. “Thank you so much for that warm welcome. If you could, I’d like for you all to call me Rose. I-” I blushed and dropped my eyes to the floor, “-I don’t really know how to reply to titles, so I’d very much like to be called Rose.”

I risked a look up and watched more than one person bob their heads in approval. Their representative nodded. “Of course, Rose, and if it so pleases you, we would have you call us by our given names, as well.”

“Not me!” one of the curmudgeons at the hearth spoke up. He was an ancient specimen who wore a battered broad-brimmed hat, pants patched at the knees, and a plain plaid long-sleeved shirt. “She’ll call me by my last name or I’ll be damned!” His insistence raised a few eyebrows and earned a few guffaws.

Will himself smiled at him. “We will gladly make an exception for you, Mr. Ealdor, provided you refer to me as ‘Master Thorn.’” Laughter burst out of the crowd and more than one man slapped their knee.

Ealdor wrinkled his nose before he turned his back on us to face the fire. “Not on yer life. . .”

Will clapped his hands together and looked about the room. “Now then, what merriment have we in store tonight?” A pair of children scurried past him giggling. He scooped both of them up in his arms, frightening them at first before he spun them in a circle. They squealed and squirmed before he put them down on the floor where they shot off to their scolding parents. Will resumed his scouring of the room. “Or shall we have stories?”

“Stories!” a few of the children shouted.

The woman who had welcomed me bit her lower lip. She glanced over her shoulder at a few of the other occupants of her table. One of them, an older man with a stern face, nodded. The woman’s shoulders slumped and she returned her attention to Will.

“Lord Thorn,” she spoke up as she pawed at the front of her dress. “There. . .there are a few matters we wish to discuss with you. That is if you don’t mind.”

Will turned to her with his pleasant smile and shook his head. “Not at all. I was told some of you had concerns you wished to share with me. I would like to hear them.”

An awkward silence fell over the room as the company looked at each other. The old man at the table eased himself onto his feet and leaned on his staff. He cleared his throat and the sound echoed over the quiet room. “My Lord, we have a few grievances we wish to discuss with you.”

Will swept his arm toward the man and inclined his head. “Then please speak openly and without fear of any retribution.”

The man sighed. “Our grievance is with the waters that run through our lands. Nature has diverted them and now our cattle do not have as much as they need. We ask that the waters be returned to their old course.”

A man from a different table leaped to his feet. “But if you divert the waters then we won’t have those waters on our land! Our cattle will suffer!”

Another man jumped up. “What about the forest on my land? Am I allowed to cut down as many trees as I want?”

“And the wild animals that are invading our fields!” a woman chimed in as she slammed her fist against her table. “Those miserable monsters need to be poisoned but our neighbors won’t allow it!”

“Those rodents might carry the poison to our animals!” a woman from a nearby table protested.

The room erupted with grievances and shouting matches. I stared in bewilderment at all the problems that popped up, each creating a complicated tapestry of problems and solutions. Years-old feuds popped up and the discussion of nature versus civilization carried on to a fevered pitch.

Will cocked his head to one side and closed his eyes. He stood as still as a statue amidst that terrible storm of bickering and complaints. Indecision ruled me as I mulled my options: to protest their complaints or usher him out of the place before the feared rebellion took place.

Will decided it for me.

A great firestorm of flames and wind sprang up around him like a tornado and stretched upward to brush against the soot-covered ceiling. The people let out a cry of fright and those closest to us scrambled back. Others sprang to their feet and a few even made for the exit. The only one unperturbed by the display of power appeared to be Ealdor who continued to stare into the tiny flames in the hearth.

Hilda stepped in front of the door and stopped the stampede with her girth. She glared at the frightened people and stabbed a finger at their tables. “You wanted him to hear you now you can hear him, so back! Now!” The people were cowed by her hulking presence and skirted Will’s fury to slink back to their seats.

I was beginning to wonder if he would get a hold of himself when Will opened his eyes and the tornado collapsed in on itself, leaving nothing behind except warm air and silence. His sharp, very red eyes swept over the room meeting the trembling gazes of his subjects one by one. Most turned away but a few were more defiant.

One of those bold ones was the man who first complained. “Our troubles aren’t something that can be swept away with a little bit of fire, My Lord. They’re serious to us and most of them have been festering for a while.”

Will nodded. “They should be but not in such a manner. Shouting at one another will not fix your fences nor divert the water to your liking.” He paced the tables, staring at the occupants. Many of them couldn’t take his unwavering gaze and averted their eyes. “You must ask yourselves what steps you have taken to fix these issues.” He stopped in front of the two bickering over water. “Have you two spoken about properly sharing the waters as they flow now?”

The men glanced at each other before the one who proposed diversion shook his head. “No, My Lord.”

“But we will now, My Lord,” the second one spoke up. “There’s plenty of water for my herds and I wouldn’t mind drawing some back into the old way for his.”

A faint smile graced Will’s lips before he moved on to the complainants and their rodent problem. “Have you tried capturing the animals that are attacking your field?”

The farmer eased himself onto his unsteady feet and nodded. “Yes, My Lord, but they’re too smart. They chew through everything or steal the bait and run without ever setting off the trap.”

“Stop up all but one entrance to their trenches and inform me when the task is done.” A crooked smile slipped onto Will’s lips. “I will take care of the rest with my fire.”

The farmer’s eyes lit up and he bobbed his head. “Thank you, My Lord! A thousand thanks!”

Will turned in a slow circle to address the whole room. “I have thanks to give to the rest of you.”

“Thanks, My Lord?” Steven spoke up.

Will nodded. “You have all come here and reminded me that I have been lax in my responsibilities toward you. For that, I apologize and I hope my future actions will make some amends.”

“Of course, My Lord!” someone shouted.

“Three cheers for Lord Thorn!” another yelled.

“Hip-hip-hooray! Hip-hip-hooray!”

I couldn’t have been happier watching all those people cheer for my husband. Still, something dark lingered in the back of my mind and my instinct again told me to look toward the front windows.

A hideous pale face hovered on the other side of the glass.