The Robber Knight's Secret

47. Enduring Stink for Eternal Love

Ayla remained in the great hall, standing tall and proud until the very last of her people had left. Only then did she rush out and collapse against a wall in a quiet back room.

"By the apostles!" she murmured to herself. "Get yourself together! Sentencing that madman shouldn't have been difficult! He deserved everything he got!"

Yes, he did. But still...

Ayla loved many things about her life in Luntberg. She loved caring for her people, protecting them, and, failing that, stitching their wounds. She even loved them for their silly squabbles and arguments which she had to resolve on a regular basis to keep people in the castle from constantly being at each other's throats.

But what she did not love was having to cause pain and suffering. Be it to the soldiers of Falkenstein outside, who had only been dragged into this feud because of their loyalty to their lord, or to those of her own people like Gernot who could not live with her decisions—she hated it!

For a while she just stood there, leaning against the wall, gathering her strength and waiting for her dizziness to abate. When it finally did, Ayla stood straight and gathered her dress up in her hands.

"No sense just standing around here," she muttered.

People would come to find her eventually. They always did. Whether it was to ask her to look after a sprained ankle or to make sure food was fairly distributed, people wanting to occupy her time were never in short supply. Normally, she didn't mind, but right now, she felt different. Right now, she needed time to think. Preferably in company that didn't bother her with unecessary chatter.

Well, there was only one choice, then, really.

Five minutes later she arrived at her destination—a building which used to be a simple barn, but ever since the stables had burned down, served a different purpose. The smell of horses permiated the air and she heard nickering from insided. A feeling of warmth spreading through her, she stepped inside and made her way towards where a certain mare was tethered.

"Eleanor, my girl. How are you?"

The horse whinnied and turned towards Ayla, giving her a friendly nibble on the sleeve, her traditional greeting.

"None of that, you sweet little glutton!" In spite of her admonishing tone, a smile spread over Ayla's face, and her body relaxed for the first time since she had seen flames rising out of the storage building earlier that day. This was where she wanted to be—with her friend, in companionable silence. No one would find her here. "There's something much better on the menu then my dress. Look, I've come bearing gifts."

And she held out a carrot to the horse.

"Although looking at you," she said, raising a sceptic eyebrow, "I'm not at all sure you need it. Your belly has grown quite a bit larger, hasn't it?"

Ignoring this insult to her horsely charms completely, Eleanor snatched up the carrot and devoured it.

"You greedy hog!" Laughing, Ayla patted the mare's paunch. "How can you be so hungry, considering how fat you've already grown? You should have enough fat on you to last you a month!"

Eleanor nickered indignantly and looked around for more carrots. When she found none, she leaned her head towards Ayla's belt pouch and tentatively bit into the leather, testing if it might be edible.

"Hey! That's going a bit too far, you know? My things are in there!"

The mare looked up at her with large, fathomless black horse eyes. Ayla wondered how such a devious creature could look so innocent.