Chapter Five

Chapter Five

A FTER WHAT SEEMED to be hours of banging up and down on the bony backside of the horse, her knuckles white from gripping the edge of the saddle, Raine abruptly halted the animal and Alyx came close to flying backward over the tail.

"Hold on," he growled as he grabbed the nearest part of her, which was her sore thigh, making her gasp in pain. "Quiet!" he commanded. "There, through the trees, see them?"

Dashing away tears of pain with her sleeve, she was finally able to see a family of wild pigs scrounging in the undergrowth. The pigs halted, looked up with their mean little eyes glaring out of their lean, tough bodies and snorted over the long sharp tusks protruding from their mouths.

"Hold onto me," Raine bellowed seconds before he spurred his horse forward and went after the largest pig, lance held point down. "Grip the horse with your knees," he said when Alyx, openmouthed, held her breath as the pig began to charge them. The animal was so big compared to the horse's thin legs.

Suddenly, Raine dipped sideways, his body parallel to the ground. Since Alyx was holding onto him, she went down with him. Unbalanced, falling, she held onto Raine with all her might as he thrust his lance into the backbone of the furious animal. The hideous scream was the voice of death, and Alyx buried her face in Raine's broad back.

"Let me go!" he growled, shaking the pig off his lance, then prying Alyx's fingers from his chest. "You nearly toppled us. Now hold the saddle with all your strength." With that command he was off again, tearing through the forest, dodging tree branches overhead, trees to both sides, as he ran after another pig. Two more were brought down as cleanly as the first before he stopped and again had to pry Alyx's fingers from his stomach. She had no idea when she'd grabbed him and was glad he made no further comment on her cowardice.

When he was free of her grip, he dismounted, took several leather thongs from his saddle and, after a cautious approach to the animals, trussed their feet. "Get down," he said and waited patiently for her to obey.

Her legs, unaccustomed to the exercise, buckled under her and she clutched at the saddle to keep from falling.

Ignoring her, Raine slung the dead pigs over the back of his horse, then went immediately to the horse's head to calm him as he pranced, not liking the smell of blood so close to him.

"Lead the horse and follow me," he said to her, turning his back to her and walking ahead.

After one fearful look at the stallion, its ears back, eyes wild, sweaty from its run, Alyx gave a deep swallow of sheer terror and reached for the reins. The stallion danced away once and Alyx jumped, glancing quickly toward Raine where she could just see him through the trees.

"Come on, horse," she whispered, approaching the animal slowly but again it moved away from her.

Frustrated, she stood still, eyes locked with the horse's and softly, she began to hum, trying different notes, different tempos until she sensed the horse rather liked a very old, simple round. As the horse seemed to calm, she reached for the reins and her voice gained strength as she gained confidence.

Several minutes later, swaggering with pride at her accomplishment, she reached the small clearing where Raine waited impatiently with the third pig.

"It's a good thing I have guards posted," he said, flinging the trussed pig on the stallion's back, "otherwise with all your noise anyone within a mile could have heard you."

Absolute shock nearly flattened Alyx. Since she was ten years old all she'd ever heard was the most profuse praise for her music and now it was being referred to as "noise." Without another word from her she allowed Raine to pull her into the saddle in front of him and together they rode back to camp, her back slamming into his chest.

Once back in the camp, Raine dismounted, ignoring Alyx, still in the saddle, as he untied the pigs and slung them in the general direction of a campfire. As Jocelin came forward, Raine tossed him the reins. "Show the boy how to clean a horse," he said before striding toward his tent.

After a reassuring smile for Alyx, Joss led the horse toward the clearing where the other horses were kept.

"Boy!" Alyx muttered as she dismounted, holding onto the saddle for support. "Boy, do this; boy, do that. That's all he ever says." When Joss had unfastened the saddle cinch, Alyx stood on tiptoe, grabbed the saddle and pulled and promptly fell backward, landing in a heap with the heavy saddle on top of her.

Obviously trying not to laugh, Jocelin removed the saddle while Alyx rubbed her bruised chin where it had struck her. "Is Raine making your life miserable?"

"He's trying to," she said as she took the saddle from him and, after three tries, managed to set it atop a wooden construction. "Oh, Joss," she gasped. "I'm so very tired. This morning he had me scour his armor, then I spent hours with that heavy sword. Now it's hunting and looking after that great beast."

At that comment the stallion rolled its eyes and began to prance. Without a thought, Alyx sang six notes and the animal calmed.

Jocelin had to control his look of amazement at her unconscious use of her voice before he could speak. "Raine has a lot of people to care for."

"A lot of people to play the lord with, you mean," she snapped, following Joss's lead in wiping down the horse.

"Perhaps. Perhaps a man like Raine is so used to taking responsibility he takes it without thinking."

"For me, I'd like fewer orders," she said. "Why does he command everyone? Why does he believe he rules everyone? Why doesn't he just let the people rest?"

"Rest!" Joss said from the other side of the horse. "You should have seen this place a few weeks before he arrived. It was like the worst sections of London, people slitting one another's throats for a few pennies, stealing so much you had to stay up all night to guard your possessions. Displaced farmers were at the mercy of murderers and—"

"And so this righteous Raine Montgomery set everything to rights, correct?"

"Yes, he did."

"Did anyone ever consider he did it because he felt it was his God-given right over his underlings?"

"You're awfully young to be so bitter, aren't you?" Joss asked.

Alyx stopped brushing the horse. "Why are you here?" she asked him. "How do you fit into this group? You're not a murderer and you don't look like someone too lazy to work. The only thing I can imagine is that some jealous husband is after you," she teased.

Instantly, Jocelin tossed the brush down. "I have to go back to work," he said in a hard, flat voice and walked away from her.

For a full, stunned minute Alyx could not continue. Never in her life would she have insulted Jocelin. He was the only one she could talk to, sing with and—

"When you finish that you can fetch me some water from the stream," came a whiny voice from behind her, cutting off Alyx's thoughts.

Slowly, with deliberation, she turned toward Blanche. For all Alyx's words on Raine's arrogance, Alyx also had a great deal of class pride. This woman with her slovenly dress, her coarse voice, her uneducated accents, was certainly not of the same class as Alyx. Ignoring her, Alyx turned back to the horse.

"Boy!" Blanche demanded. "Did you hear what I said?"

"I heard you," Alyx said, dropping her voice to a low tremor. "And I'm sure half the camp did, too."

"You think you're too good for me, don't you, you in your pretty clothes with your fine manners. Just because you've spent today with him doesn't mean you'll spend every day with him."

With a sneer, Alyx kept working on the horse. "Go about your business, woman. I have none with you."

Blanche grabbed Alyx's arm, pulled her about. "Until this morning I waited on Raine, brought his food to him and now he orders me to prepare a bed in his tent for you. What kind of boy are you?"

It took Alyx a moment to understand Blanche's insinuations and when she did, her eyes blazed purple fire. "If you knew anything about the nobility you'd know that all the lords have squires. I merely perform the duties of any good squire."

Blanche, obviously attempting to appear as part of the nobility, tried to stand erect. "Of course," she snapped. "I know about squires. But just you remember," she said threateningly, "Raine Montgomery is mine. I care for him as his lady would—in every way." With that, she turned on her heel and left through the trees.

"Lady!" Alyx muttered, going after the horse with a vengeance. "What would a slut like that know of being a lady?" Angry, she was unaware of time passing until she heard Raine's voice close to her.

"Boy," he said, making her jump. "You've got to be faster than that with a horse. There's plenty more work to be done."

"More?" she whispered and looked so sad that Raine smiled, eyes twinkling, and Alyx straightened. She'd give him no reason to laugh at her again.

After setting aside the brush, whispering one last tune to the stallion, Alyx followed Raine back to the camp, where he went directly to a group of disreputable-looking men huddled about a fire. Raine, with his proud stance, his noble bearing, made these men seem even filthier than they were.

"Here, you three," Raine said in a low growl. "You take the first watch."

"I ain't stayin' out in them woods," one man said as he turned to walk away.

Grabbing him with one hand, Raine pulled the man back and administered a swift kick to his backside that sent him sprawling. "If you eat, you work," he said in a deadly voice. "Now get to your posts. I will come later, and if any of you are asleep, it will be the man's last sleep."

With his features set in a grim line, Raine watched the men as they left the camp, sulking like little children. "Those are your fine friends," he said in an undertone to Alyx as he turned away.

"They are no friends of mine!" she snapped.

"Nor is Pagnell a friend of mine!" he retorted.

Halting, she stared after his broad back. It was true, she knew. She had no right to hate him because of what another man had done.

"Blanche!" Raine grunted. "Food!"

With that, Alyx went tearing after him because she was very hungry. Inside the tent, Blanche placed roast boar, bread, cheese and hot wine before them, and Alyx tore into the food with gusto.

"That's the way, boy!" Raine laughed, slapping her on the back, making her choke. "Keep eating like that and you'll put some size on yet."

"Keep working me like today and I'll die in a week!" she gasped, trying to dislodge a piece of pork from her throat, ignoring Raine's laughter.

The meal finished, Alyx looked with longing toward the pallet along one wall of the tent. To rest, she thought, just to lie down and be still for a few hours would be heaven on earth.

"Not yet, boy," Raine said, grabbing her arm and pulling her upright. "There's still work before we can sleep. The guards need to be checked, I have animal traps set and we both need a bath."

That startled her awake. "Bath!" she gasped. "No, not me."

"When I was your age I had to be forced to bathe, too. Once my older brother scoured me with a horse brush."

"Someone forced you to do something?" she asked, incredulous.

Raine's pride seemed to be at stake. "Actually, it took both my older brothers, and Gavin came away with a blacked eye. Now, come on. We have work to do."

Reluctantly, Alyx followed him, but no matter how hard she tried, she could put no energy in her steps. Like someone dead, she followed Raine through the forest, occasionally bumping into trees, stumbling over rocks, as he went around the perimeter of the camp making sure the guards were on duty and awake and removing rabbits and hares from his traps. At first he tried to talk to her, explain what he was doing, how to toss a rock and see if the guards responded, but after a while he studied her in the moonlight, noting her exhaustion, and stopped talking.

At the stream outside the camp he told her to sit still and wait for him while he bathed. Half asleep, reclining on the bank, her head propped on her arm, Alyx watched with languid interest as Raine removed his clothing and stepped into the icy water. Moonlight silvered his body, caressed the muscles, played along his thighs, made love to those magnificent arms. Lifting herself on her elbows, Alyx unabashedly watched him. All her life had been given to music. While other girls were flirting with the boys at the town well, Alyx was composing a Latin lamentation for four voices. When her friends were getting married, she was inside the church organizing a boys' chorus. She'd never had time to talk to boys, to get to know them—actually, had never been interested in them, had always been too busy to even notice them.

Now, for the first time in her life, watching this nude man bathing she felt the first stirrings of... of what? She certainly knew about mating, had even listened to some of the gossip from the recently married women, but she'd never felt any interest in the process. This man standing before her, rising out of the water like some heavenly centaur, made her feel things she'd never thought possible.

Lust, she thought, sitting up farther. Pure and simple lust was what she was feeling. She'd like for him to touch her, to kiss her, to lie beside her, and she would very much like to touch that skin of his. Remembering how it felt when she'd straddled his back, she began to tingle, her legs seeming more alive, even her feet growing warm.

When he left the water and came toward her, she almost lifted her arms toward him.

"You look lazy," Raine commented, drying himself off. "Sure you won't take a bath?"

All Alyx could do was watch the course of the cloth he used for drying as it ran over his body and vaguely shake her head.

"I warn you though, boy, you start smelling so bad you drive me from the tent and I'll bathe you myself and it won't be a gentle bath."

Eyes wide, Alyx looked up at him, her breathing changing just slightly. To be bathed by this great god of a man, she thought.

"Are you all right, boy?" Raine asked, concerned, kneeling beside her as he frowned at her odd expression.

Boy! she grimaced. He thought she was a boy, and what if she were revealed as a girl? He was of the nobility and she was only a poor lawyer's daughter. "Aren't you going to get cold?" she asked flatly, rolling away from him to stand apart, not watching as he dressed.

When he was finished, she silently followed him back to camp, where she collapsed on her pallet but did not sleep until Raine had settled himself on his narrow cot. Content at last, she fell asleep.