Chapter 14.2

#

The snowfall hid us as we took a path that led south from Krast. Soon a wide, dark road crossed it, leading us into the forest. There knobby trees closed around us, like a withered fist. Clumps of snow filled the branches, wet and heavy. Shaggy vines hung down, ropes waiting to bind us, and the bushes below the trees filled with white. Yet the road stayed clear and black.

A wind blew, knocking a clod of snow onto the horse. He snorted and shook his head, but otherwise kept his training.

Charles pulled his cloak tighter around his frame. "I was knighted on a day like this. Bitterly cold and bleak. There was ice on the inside of the chapel walls – and when I put my hands between my lord’s to swear my fealty, they felt even colder."

I remembered the day. It was so cold that Wallen had insisted that I sleep inside, in his room, and attend the festivities afterward. I wondered what omen this was for the new knight, this stinging cold and shadowed skies, but his warm manner seemed not to notice anything amiss.

Charles continued. "That night, though, there was a feast to suit royalty! Two pigs roasted on the fire, and there was swan and fat goose. Four kinds of pudding, and the breads were shaped like rabbits and ducks. Roasted nuts, candied fruits. And for desert there were a sugar confection, a whole glorious battle with men, machines, and a castle wall."

The detail had been perfect, down to the fainting maiden and the sappers undermining the wall.

"And while we feasted, there was music. A rare thing, in truth."

No, I thought to Charles, trying to catch his eye. Don’t tell Peter where you’re from.

"For we had with a Bard – and almost Bard, that is. When my lord called for presents, this man came forward to play the harp. What he played, I don’t quite know, but the notes themselves were words that embedded in my heart. As he played I saw the duty and honor of being of knight. I was to be as serious about my service as a monk is about his vows, and if I soiled my honor I would have broken faith with God himself. That was the message I heard, and I swear by my life that I will honor it forever."

I hadn’t realized that my simple meditation melody had affected him so deeply. At the time he had looked as pleasantly blank as everyone else in the room, but perhaps I had allowed him to look within and see what he had sworn himself to.

My thoughts returned to pleasant memories of the feast, of the food I was not likely to see that day. From there I slipped into dreamless slumber.