deputy spoke with you yesterday.”
She shrugged. “Then he won’t think anything amiss in seeing
me again today. I am a common laborer, hardly worth his notice.”
“You don’t look like a common laborer,” Arthus pointed out.
“You walk like a woman accustomed to a different life. And,” he indicated her
squared shoulders, “You don’t carry yourself like a woman.”
“Let me deal with that,” she retorted, and then turned to
me. “So, shall I investigate for you?”
I nodded. There was no harm in it. She had a good point
about her anonymity. She had nothing to fear from the enforcer and his men
except the usual things women feared about a man’s attention. Wren, of all the
women I knew, was the most equipped to handle that kind of interest. Unlike
Arthus, I witnessed her performance yesterday.
“What do you need to know?”
“Just what the men wanted with Joanor.”
She nodded, propped her bushel on her hip, and started to
walk toward the orchard keeper’s cottage. With each step, her gait and manner
changed, slowly fading into the image one would expect to see in any field
laborer or farmer’s daughter. Arthus watched in amazement until she disappeared
from view.
“You knew that she could do that,” he accused. “You let me
make a fool of myself pointing out how she didn’t fit the role.”
I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my mouth. “Of
course I knew. You should have seen the act she put on for the enforcer’s men
yesterday when they called her over for wearing trousers.”
“So, that is why she has the dress today.”
I nodded. “If any of us can do it, I am quite confident she
will.”
When she returned, two hours later, the humble manner of a
servant was gone. She strode down the lane between the trees, her skirt
whipping her legs, and planted her feet at the foot of my tree. Crossing her
arms over her chest, she waited in silence while I climbed down to meet her.
“The enforcer is raising the tax due at the end of the
quarter and demanding another day’s work from every man this winter. Joanor’s
wife is beside herself with hysterics. It took me a good hour to calm her down
before it was safe to leave her alone.”
“What do you mean, leave her alone. Where is Joanor?”
The enforcer’s demand begins today. His deputy came to
escort him to the work site and informed Joanor’s wife that he won’t return
until tomorrow morning. He mentioned something about a curfew in the village
and Joanor being released too late to make it home before it.”
A curfew. I frowned. It wasn’t as though we went about much
after dark anyway, but when we did, we were going to have to be more cautious
than ever. It was also going to make shopping in the village riskier. I usually
slipped into the village under the cover of darkness to visit the storekeeper.
But now, I wasn’t sure exactly how I would manage it. Kat would still need
flour and oil for her bread and there were other basics we would need.
“I thought these people were your tenants.”
I nodded absently. “They were my father’s tenants, and thus
mine. I have been trying to help them any way I can.”
“So, if you were to claim your rightful place as Lord
Iselyn, Orac’s enforcer would have no authority to tax and demand work from
these men?” She frowned up at me, every inch of her small frame held in check
and anger glinting in her eyes.
“That is not an option.”
Her strange changing eyes, now more gold than anything else,
studied me carefully. I wanted to squirm under their concentrated gaze. “Could
you explain?” Her voice calm, she sounded almost friendly despite the obvious
anger of a moment before.
I blinked. “Not now.”
She nodded. “Which way did Arthus go with the ladder?”
I pointed in the direction I last saw him, and she strode
off. I watched her go. She was a strange puzzle of control and spirit. But the
question that burned in my mind was whether or not I could trust
She shrugged. “Then he won’t think anything amiss in seeing
me again today. I am a common laborer, hardly worth his notice.”
“You don’t look like a common laborer,” Arthus pointed out.
“You walk like a woman accustomed to a different life. And,” he indicated her
squared shoulders, “You don’t carry yourself like a woman.”
“Let me deal with that,” she retorted, and then turned to
me. “So, shall I investigate for you?”
I nodded. There was no harm in it. She had a good point
about her anonymity. She had nothing to fear from the enforcer and his men
except the usual things women feared about a man’s attention. Wren, of all the
women I knew, was the most equipped to handle that kind of interest. Unlike
Arthus, I witnessed her performance yesterday.
“What do you need to know?”
“Just what the men wanted with Joanor.”
She nodded, propped her bushel on her hip, and started to
walk toward the orchard keeper’s cottage. With each step, her gait and manner
changed, slowly fading into the image one would expect to see in any field
laborer or farmer’s daughter. Arthus watched in amazement until she disappeared
from view.
“You knew that she could do that,” he accused. “You let me
make a fool of myself pointing out how she didn’t fit the role.”
I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my mouth. “Of
course I knew. You should have seen the act she put on for the enforcer’s men
yesterday when they called her over for wearing trousers.”
“So, that is why she has the dress today.”
I nodded. “If any of us can do it, I am quite confident she
will.”
When she returned, two hours later, the humble manner of a
servant was gone. She strode down the lane between the trees, her skirt
whipping her legs, and planted her feet at the foot of my tree. Crossing her
arms over her chest, she waited in silence while I climbed down to meet her.
“The enforcer is raising the tax due at the end of the
quarter and demanding another day’s work from every man this winter. Joanor’s
wife is beside herself with hysterics. It took me a good hour to calm her down
before it was safe to leave her alone.”
“What do you mean, leave her alone. Where is Joanor?”
The enforcer’s demand begins today. His deputy came to
escort him to the work site and informed Joanor’s wife that he won’t return
until tomorrow morning. He mentioned something about a curfew in the village
and Joanor being released too late to make it home before it.”
A curfew. I frowned. It wasn’t as though we went about much
after dark anyway, but when we did, we were going to have to be more cautious
than ever. It was also going to make shopping in the village riskier. I usually
slipped into the village under the cover of darkness to visit the storekeeper.
But now, I wasn’t sure exactly how I would manage it. Kat would still need
flour and oil for her bread and there were other basics we would need.
“I thought these people were your tenants.”
I nodded absently. “They were my father’s tenants, and thus
mine. I have been trying to help them any way I can.”
“So, if you were to claim your rightful place as Lord
Iselyn, Orac’s enforcer would have no authority to tax and demand work from
these men?” She frowned up at me, every inch of her small frame held in check
and anger glinting in her eyes.
“That is not an option.”
Her strange changing eyes, now more gold than anything else,
studied me carefully. I wanted to squirm under their concentrated gaze. “Could
you explain?” Her voice calm, she sounded almost friendly despite the obvious
anger of a moment before.
I blinked. “Not now.”
She nodded. “Which way did Arthus go with the ladder?”
I pointed in the direction I last saw him, and she strode
off. I watched her go. She was a strange puzzle of control and spirit. But the
question that burned in my mind was whether or not I could trust
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