The Nun and King

Chapter 17

The sound of rustling awakens me in the morning and I open my eyes slowly, blinking the sleep away. Pale light shines through the tent's doorway and careless voices sound from outside as men prepare for our departure. In in only few short hours we'll arrive at the encampment. Looking to my left I see that Claire struggles to get dressed underneath my blanket back into her damp dress from the day before.

"Would you like me to grab something dry for you?" I ask in a voice thick with sleep.

She jumps, unaware that I had awakened and looks over at me before giving me a nod. "I would appreciate that thank you."

Yawning, I climb out from under my blanket and realize that I'm still in my skivvy's. Not wanting to have to deal with the cold dampness of my trousers I decide to risk the walk to our clothes outside. Stepping out, I earn a few whistles as my bare feet walk on the dew covered grass to where our clothing was left hanging on a limb.

Not putting too much thought into what I wear, I retrieve the first shirt and pair of trousers that is closest to me and finally a pair of socks. Turning to Claire's few dresses that are displayed, I decided to go with her hunter green dress that compliments her hair. "If she doesn't like it she can change," I tell myself with a shrug.

Glancing to my left I see that Sven is standing with his hands on his hips while Nik struggles to dig into his medicine bag. Walking over to them I can hear that the two are arguing. "I told you not to poke it! It's sore," Sven chasatises.

"I have to! How else are we going to know if it's infected," Nik retorts.

Sven crosses his arms over his chest and winces at his discomfort before muttering, "You hit your head so hard you can't listen to simple instructions?" which Nik then shoots him a scowl.

I offer a nod. "Morning," I greet with a yawn. "How are you two holding up?" I ask, my gaze focusing on Sven's forearm. It's rather angry and pus slowly oozes out causing my nose to wrinkle. "That looks infected."

Sven frowns, "It didn't look this bad until he decided to prod me like a cow."

Nik ignores his comment and finally finds a small jar of ointment he's been searching for. "I'm done playing nurse. Here," he says, passing the concoction to Sven.

"How's your head?" I ask amused. He tilts his head down and pushes back his hair allowing me to examine the small cut. The swelling has gone down and the small cut appears to have stopped bleeding. "Seems like you'll be alright. How do you feel?"

Nik shrugs a shoulder and bends down to retrieve his bag before tossing it over his bare shoulder. "I've got a headache from hell but I'll manage." We chat for a few more moments before I remember that I'm still in my underwear and that Claire is waiting for me in the tent. Saying goodbye, I head back and clear my throat before sticking the dress through the tent flap so she can get dressed in private.

"Thank you," her soft voice says as she takes the dress from me. Standing outside, I wait and take in the morning. The sun's morning glow paints the sky in a beautiful pale pink and birds chirp in the distance. The majority of my men are up, slowly getting ready for the day's ride. The nuns stand in their own group chatting save for Beth Ann, who sticks by my brother and watches Rory break down his tent.

I'm still not quite sure how I feel on the subject of those two, but any negative thoughts are bottled away for the time being.

Gale and Warren sharpen their swords by the dying embers of last night's fire and laugh lightly amongst themselves which is welcomed given that the two didn't get along so well a year ago.

"All done," Claire says as she steps out beside me. "I'm never taking dry clothing for granted again."

Grinning, I tilt my head in the direction of the other women. "You can join them if you'd like. I'm going to change and load our things on the horse and we'll head out."