41

When I returned to our tent the next morning with fresh water, Henry was standing in front of me. How God

created him. Luckily with their backs to the tent entrance. My cheeks grew hot again and I nearly fainted. I hadn't been here a day and I was already doubting my survival...

I cleared my throat discreetly. "I have water, sir."

Henry turned to me, God help me, and reached for the bucket. He had a bruise around his right eye, but it wasn't swollen. "Where have you been all night?"

Put something on! "How do you know I wasn't here?"

Henry dumped the icy water over his head and then grabbed a towel to dry himself. "Nash..."

"I was with your cousin Raven. By the way, I was allowed to sleep on one bed there."

"Don't get used to it. We're getting a roommate today." I was already looking for an excuse to leave the tent when Henry finally got into his pants. "Can you grind a gun?"

"Probably not..."

Henry placed the two stools side by side and gestured for me to sit next to him. Which wasn't very pleasant, since I still had the image in my head of how well equipped Henry was naked. Then he handed me the sword and a whetstone.

"Hold it here. Not here, there... hold tight! Well, you're doing this with the stone... God, do you want to scratch my sword? Like... right. Faster and with more pressure. "

Then he slapped me on the shoulder and ran his hands through his wet hair. "You need to eat more. You have narrow shoulders, like a girl." I pretended not to hear it and kept concentrating. "Can you fencing? Horseback riding? Archery?"

"I can ride horses. I think."

Henry looked at me skeptically. "How did it come about that you are now a squire? When you have absolutely no idea about it?"

I could stick to the truth on that point. "I'd better stay at work before I starve or steal. And I've always been impressed by knights."

Henry nodded gravely. "Have you been in a home? Or was it the plague?"

"The plague."

The man, still bare-chested, making me quite shaky, looked down at his feet and put on his boots. Almost in passing, he remarked: "My three brothers also died of the plague."

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "It was pigs that made me feel from a young age that I was the youngest."

"That's what brothers are like, isn't it?"

Henry shook his head and stood up. The topic was over. The tarpaulin was thrown back for this. Raven and a brown haired man entered.

"My gold whole! Good morning." Henry grinned darkly but said nothing. "Rufus is looking for you. He wants revenge."

"For what? He loses again."

Raven squatted down next to me on the stool and discreetly corrected me. But the next moment, the brown-haired chicken kicked me off the chair. I glared up at him angrily. "Make room for the men, brat."

Raven punched him in the shoulder. "Be careful, you moron! If he rams his sword in, it's over with him!"

The moron slapped my face hard. "Don't look at me like that!"

Henry glared at him, but then said to me, "Go to the campfire, we'll be right there. Leave the sword here."

I felt my face glow and gritted my teeth. Henry took his sword and gave me a slight shove. "Go on."

The moron kicked me. "Don't you hear what your master is saying!?"

And then it was out before I could stop myself "Don't you want to finally shut up!?"

The chicken jumped off the stool and stepped in front of me. I just reached up to his chest. He grabbed my collar and pulled me so far that I stood on my toes. "Do you still talk to adults like that after you've worn a costume?"

Just as I was about to answer, Henry pulled me back rudely and dragged me out of the tent with him. But instead of going to the campfire where breakfast was being served, he stomped in the opposite direction until we got to the horse camps. There I bumped hard against the makeshift wall.

Paralyzed with fear, I turned to face him. Hands on hips, he fumed angrily. "I thought we talked about something yesterday?"

"What should I have done? That idiot is neither my master nor my king. He had no right to hit me, kick me and talk to me like that!"

Henry had shaken his head angrily and came towards me. "If it bothers me, then I will finish it too. You're nowhere near finishing anything."

It was blatantly unfair. That's why I got braver again. "Do I have to let everyone push me around!?"

"But it's not in your hands! It's in mine! And I don't intend to argue with my comrades while my squire is present!"

I was about to say something when I realized it. So Henry would have done what? "That's why you sent me ahead..."

"Quite right. But you didn't obey. If you had, it wouldn't have gotten this far."

"I am sorry."

Henry still wasn't reconciled. "I had to be embarrassed about you."

His eyes were light brown. His black hair short and full. His whole stature testified to hours of horseback riding and sword fighting practice. If I wasn't in trouble, I could look at him all day. Because it felt like his appearance was pulling me closer to him.

Henry noticed that something was weird and shook his head in irritation. "You can't embarrass me like that, is that clear!?"

"Yes, sir."

He grabbed my upper arm again and pushed me toward breakfast.

Engelbert gasped and made a face. "Damn, Campbell..."

"You don't have to touch my things."

"My God, because of a slap. The brat has to obey." Engelbert slowly got up and held on to his horse. Henry sat up with his and gave him a withering look. "What?"

"He just has to obey me, not you or anyone else. Touch him again and I'll break your arm." And that, Henry realized with amazement, was dead serious. Because somehow the boy elicited his protective instinct from him. Why didn't he understand. And he stoically denied what had happened in the crooked barn. There was nothing. No tension, no attraction. Just wrath of a master. End.

Engelbert growled while sitting up. "The only thing missing is that I have to apologize to him."

Raven huffed in exasperation. "Shut up, Engelbert, and get going!"

Henry checked his bow. "Who catches the most?"

Although Engelbert was probably the worst hunter, he agreed the loudest. He would see what he got out of it.

"Hit him, Joshua!" The young squires crowded into a circle around two teenage squires who were fighting over some nonsense. "Come on, Gero! Show him!"

I stood in the middle of them, a bigger one because I wasn't eleven anymore. Pointed elbows kept nudging me when the guys tried to move forward to get a better view. The two ruffians were maybe fourteen years old and were wrestling on the ground.

"Yes, Gero! Shut him up!" I nudged the boy next to me who was so eagerly rooting for me.

"What is the problem?"

"What do I know."

What the... "Do you know any of these?"

The boy was grinning from ear to ear. "No. I'll just call out the names everyone is calling. It's fun."

I laughed and stared at him. where he was right. And because there was no one here who knew my real age, I joined the boys and yelled Joshua's name. So we both had our own competition going on.

As Joshua won the brawl and comradely helped Gero to his feet after he surrendered, I grinned at my competitor. "Won."

The boy pointed his finger at me with a smile and opened his mouth to say something, but then three riders who roared past us interrupted him. One had an arrow stuck in his back. When I recognized Henry, I dashed after him.

Raven and Henry stopped at our tent. The big cousin scolded angrily, Henry rolled his eyes in annoyance and resignedly entered the tent. Of course I followed immediately.

"Raven, calm down."

"Whatever the commander will say to Engelbert, you stay here."

"We will see." Henry leaned his quiver and bow against the tent wall. The arrow protruded from his right shoulder, otherwise he appeared unharmed.

Raven put one of his paws on my shoulder. "Go get some wine, Nash. He'll need it when I get the arrow out."

Henry shook his head. "Forget it. If I've drunk wine, I can't wield a sword."

"You can't anyway." Raven growled indignantly and pointed to his shoulder.

"I can also use a sword with Link, you know that. You taught me."

I shook my head in confusion. "What's going on here? Why do you need a sword? Where did the arrow come from?"

Raven wanted to answer when Henry tried to take off his shirt. We both had to help him, though he growled in disgust at himself. Blood was running down his back from the Wunder and it would be hard work to get the arrow out.

Henry lay face down on the bed with a contorted expression and looked up at Raven. "I'm ready."

"You're not normal, Henry! It's going to hurt like shit, even with the wine. It's hard to bear without it."

He ignored Raven and looked at me. "Bring me a branch or a spoon. I have to bite on something."

I did it because with or without wine, he'd be gritting his teeth. Before Henry could put the thick branch in his mouth, the tarpaulin was ripped open and Theo entered. Without hesitation, he grabbed Henry's right arm and hauled him to his feet. I saw Henry's eyes slip away for a moment, as if he were black in his eyes. But he fought for control again until his father shoved him roughly against the tent pole in the middle of the room. Luckily he didn't land on the arrow, but damn it missed. His jaw clenched, his torso seemed like stone, he was so tense. And when he let out a painful gasp, you could see how much he loathed it.

And Theo followed up by glancing over him disparagingly. "Weakling. That's an arrow, not an ax to cut off your arm." Theo looked up in disgust. "Stand straight! You stand before your father and commanders!"

Henry forgot his pain and looked up rebelliously. But before he could say anything, Raven forestalled him. "It's serious, sir. It happened at the hunt."

Theo nodded and turned his attention to Henry. "Do you need an extra prompt?"

"It's a French arrow. When we were out hunting it hit me in the back. We tried to follow the tracks but they were already too far away. So we came back to report back. I think we have to each Expect an attack now."

Theo turned away without greeting, only now did I see Engelbert standing at the tent entrance. "You'll be in my tent in ten minutes, Henry."

Raven paled. "With all due respect, Henry can't fight! And certainly not in ten minutes!"

Theo grinned, for the first time since I had known this man he looked genuinely amused. "Poor little Henry. When he can't follow his commanders with his little ailments, he goes home in disgrace to his wet nurse. Behind her skirts there's always a place for her little boy."

Proud Henry paled with anger, his normally bright eyes turning black. I saw the hate in them and had to swallow. This wasn't simple anger, this was years of hatred.

Theo reveled in the sight and patted his cheek hard. "Your father understands the boy. I never expected anything else from you." Then he left.

Raven spat on the ground and grabbed Henry's left arm. "Lay down." His tone allowed no contradiction. Henry toiled on the couch and seemed like a different person. Now it was clear to me why he almost hit me yesterday when I compared him to Theo.

He put the branch in his mouth, clenched his fists, and stared at a spot on the ground. "Kneel before me, Nash." He grabbed my shoulder with his left hand and looked up to focus.

But when our eyes met, something happened in his eyes. I couldn't describe what, but the hate went away. Also the hardness. They suddenly looked hurt. But before I could see more, he hurriedly looked away.

In the meantime, Raven had placed his dagger on the fire he had lit and was washing his hands.