Chapter 1.9

I stood in the courtyard with a carriage behind me and Lord Reinard before me
He presented to me a traveling trunk and three guardsmen. Ison, the pikeman, was a heavy-set man with bushy red hair. James, the bowman, was tall and stringy, and his limp brown hair hung from a fringe around his freckled pate. Charles, the knight, had thick black curls framing his boyish face. He wore a silver crucifix and a rare steel sword. These were three of my lord’s best men.

That I should need such an escort, either for protection or to guard me, did not relieve my uneasiness.

My lord put a bracelet, a golden snake, on my left arm, and two rings, an opal and a sapphire, on my right fingers. "These will protect you. They can open locked doors; they can buy you safe passage home. Don’t hesitate to use them. Is there anything else you need?"

I had already, under pretense of needing a trip to the privy, picked up my sword from the stable hayloft, where it had been hidden for ten years. Now belted beneath my robe, Geldswan poked me in the ribs. But I had not been able to get to the closet that my lord had granted me for sleeping, and thus retrieve my other precious possession.

"I would like my harp," I signed.

He smiled warmly. "I thought of that. It’s in the trunk."

I drew in a sharp breath.

"Don’t worry. I had a Silent Monk do the packing, and you know how careful they are. It’s perfectly safe."

I slowly let out my breath, but not in relief. It is the way of my lord to think that anyone can touch a Bard’s harp. Yet if someone had to touch it, let it be a Silent Monk, for they have the only gentle hands in this cursed castle.

I bowed to my lord, nodded to the Silent Monk standing behind him, and entered the carriage. Charles climbed in with me, and James shut the door. I felt the carriage rock as he and Ison climbed onto the top. A whip cracked, signaling to the horses, and the carriage bounced forward. After ten years I was leaving.

I was leaving the few people who could understand the only language I could now speak.

The young knight leaned forward and said in a cheerful tone, "I hope they don’t put rats in our room."