Chapter Twelve
There were hooks on the legs of the table. From each hook hung a strap. One was quite wide and black leather. The other was thinner and made of leather dyed dark red.
She froze. How she had done it again, married a man who enjoyed hurting weaker people? She had been a fool to think it could ever be otherwise.
He followed her gaze. “Do those frighten you?”
Her mouth was dry. “What are they for?”
“I am the paladin. It’s essential that I am obeyed. The boys need to learn that. I am not unfair. I am never, ever brutal.”
She could not meet his eyes. “Will you use those on me?” Though it was difficult, she forced herself to look up at him to discover he looked horrified.
“Not the big one.”
She was not mollified.
“The fourthling liked to hurt you. The general told me.”
Her face felt hot. He reached a hand toward her.
“I don’t do that. I will never lose my temper and hurt you, or my lads, or our children. I am responsible for everyone in this fort.” She had not taken his outstretched hand.
“The general showed me your letter scroll, and I overheard Karel spank Birgit. Do all of you paladins spank your wives?”
The door clanged open and Benny raced in, a concerned Agnes in his wake. The maid took note of Hanne sitting on the cold floor wearing only her shift, and the paladin still in bed. “Oh, I am sorry!”
Jonis waved a gentle hand at her. “It’s all right, and we were just getting up.” He hooked a hand under Hanne’s elbow and lifted her to her feet. He nodded toward Hanne. “Your dame might want to feed the baby in bed where it’s warm.”
It was a considerate thought. Agnes handed over Lilja, cozy and soft in a flannel gown and a tiny little sweater and cap. Hanne nestled against the pillows and lifted the baby to her breast. Benny clamored to join them. “Go ahead,” his new mother said. Agnes hoisted him up. “Sera, would you like to cuddle in the nice warm bed?” her new mama asked.
“No,” said the four-year-old. She gave the bed a hard shove with her shoulder. If she was trying to upset its occupants, she failed.
“Hooray!” crowed Benny. “We’re sailing!” Jonis slowed the bed with his thigh. He held out a hand to his sullen daughter.
“Will you come with me to make sure the boys eat a good breakfast?”
Sera happily took his hand. He leaned in and nuzzled Benny’s blond head and caught his wife’s eye. “Try not to worry. Rest today. It’s been a long trip.”
“I will get up soon,” she hurriedly reassured him.
“As you wish,” he said and closed the door behind him.
Benny snuggled up to her immediately. This sweet little boy’s need for a mama made her heart ache. She brought the blankets up around his shoulders. “Would you like me to tell you a story?” He nodded happily and she began. “Once there was a princess who had to sneak out of jail. Her friends hid her in a barrel that smelled like smoked fish…”
Miri arrived as Hanne was laying the sleeping baby in a cradle. She bustled over to one of the cabinets and withdrew a tunic and an apron dress. While Benny was playing within the bed curtains, she expertly helped Hanne dress. And after braiding her hair, she helped pin a clean linen wimple over her mistress’s head. The girl stood back to admire her handiwork. “You will do nicely,” she said, as if Hanne was a child and not the dame of the keep.
Hanne knew she should chide the maid, but she wasn’t sure anyone had ever been so proud of her before. She let it go. “How do I know who does what?” the dame asked.
“Well, since we have been dameless, everyone mostly does a bit of everything. Not very efficient, between you and myself.”
“We will fix that. Would you see when the women might meet with me?”
Miri shook her head in an emphatic no. A bewildered Hanne asked, “I can’t meet with them?” The newly minted dame was not altogether sure what her new role required, but she assumed she was in charge of the domestic side of the keep.
Miri sternly crossed her arms. “Of course you can, but you do not ask them when they can meet you. You are not a traveling salesman who doesn’t want to interrupt the lady of the house. You are the lady of the house. You tell them when the meeting will be.”
“Oh. How do I arrange for them to meet me in half an hour?”
Miri winked and opened the door. She addressed someone in the hall.
“Make sure the women know to be in the grand hall in a half hour. Step lively, now—people have work to do.”
Miri might enjoy her newfound power a wee bit much, thought her new mistress.
“Will you take the children to Agnes and then come help me find my way to the hall?” she asked.
Miri gathered up Lilja and reached for Benny’s hand. “Let’s go find that big sister of yours,” she said cheerfully.
While Hanne had a few minutes to herself, she decided to deal with the issue of the cold bed. Her mother had used sheepskins to make beds warmer, of course, what her mother considered cold was probably Pinnacle Keep in July. She discovered a cupboard containing pelts, blankets, and feather beds. She stripped the bed. Finding a large, coarsely haired animal skin, she decided to start with that. It was enormous. A seamstress of extraordinary skill must have sewn it together, since no animal could ever have been that large.
Spreading it over the large bed, Hanne had to fold it over to tuck in the ends. The wooly animal skin would help prevent their body heat from leaching through the mattress. Over that, she spread a thick woolen blanket, which she topped with a feather bed. Flannel sheets, a down-filled comforter, and three more woolen blankets completed the bedding. Now, draft be damned, she would be warm at night.
Just as she finished, Miri returned. “The women are ready for you, dame.” She led her down the twisting corridors to her new role as the dame of the keep. Hanne paused at the staircase and tried to remember where she had tripped earlier. She saw nothing and tread carefully. Just when she thought she had safely made it down, her foot caught and she tumbled gracelessly to the floor.
Miri tried to hide the smile from her lips. “Never you mind, my lady. New people can never manage these stairs.” She gave a wink. “That old coot—pardon me, ma’am—Sir Armund thinks they do it on purpose.” Miri giggled at the thought, and then quickly reassured Hanne, “You’ll get used to them.”
Hanne entered the great hall and her women rose to greet her. “Please, sit down. We have work to do.” She was nervous and had to work on keeping her voice even and slow.
Hanne was handed a plate that held a large rock and a goblet of small ale. The rock was a bread roll left over from the night before, and the small ale was not just light on alcohol, it was sour and musty-tasting. This made knowing where to begin a mite easier. She thought back to the wedding feast of night before. “Who made the scrumptious rabbit pie last night?” A tall gangly young woman—she couldn’t be more than fifteen, thought Hanne—raised her hand. That was unexpected. If an army traveled on its stomach, then an army trained on one as well. Hanne thought back to the flaccidly wan venison of her wedding feast and gave a shudder. “Fine. You’re the head cook.” There was no missing the furious looks exchanged by many of the older women.
Her very first morning as dame, and she had damn near caused a mutiny. “Now, I think…” She glanced at the girl questioningly.
“Wilma,” the girl answered.
“Right, Wilma is an excellent cook. But I am sure that everyone has something they are the best at.”
Her audience remained unconvinced. Hanne wished she hadn’t been so impetuous. If only she had said, “Who is the best cook who is not a teenager?” But she hadn’t, so, forward they would go. Hanne forced herself to keep her voice light. “Who makes the best ale?” Consensus was that an elderly woman named Dortha made the best ale, but she had been behind in her sewing, so others had been doing it. Hanne’s reaction was decisive. “Other people can sew. A keep needs decent ale.” She looked around at her wary audience. They were clearly afraid she was going to do something else insane, like put a toddler in charge of firewood. “I find I need your advice, ladies. What do you think is the best way to ensure that everything gets done in an equitable fashion?”
The table erupted with ideas. Hanne had hit a spot that pulsed with raging resentments. She had spent her time at the royal court watching her former brother-in-law, the king untangle disputes. It served her well now. She allowed everyone a reasonable amount of time to state their opinions. By listening carefully, Hanne was able to determine that there were a few specific points of contention.
The evening cleanup of the kitchen and hall was not assigned to anyone specifically. Everyone knew it had to be done, but everyone was busy with other things. Although the boys had chores around the keep, there hadn’t been any attempt to use this source of labor in the kitchen, in recent years. Hanne wistfully took a drink of the dreadful ale. If it would help, she would send Dortha scampering to roast barley this instant, but it wouldn’t help. Ale took days to make.
“It doesn’t appear that the system is working very well. Should we try a period where we alternate tasks until we find what suits us best?” One of the older women didn’t like this idea, but most seemed appeased. “I will oversee the evening cleanup, for now.” Very quickly, they arranged a reasonable working day for everyone. Food preparation would be the primary task of some, others would be in charge of sewing. Another group would be in charge of weaving. New drop spindles were needed, so Hanne sent a request to the barrel maker for some. Hanne was in charge of clothing dozens of boys. That was going to require a lot of wool. Every woman needed to spin whenever she rested in front of the fire in the evenings. “Now,” she said with a cheery confidence she did not feel, “I would like to see the keep.”
Miri handed her a cloak and led her down a staircase. The first long and narrow corridor they came to was lined with an incredibly long rabbit hutch. The air smelled surprisingly fresh considering that there were no windows. “Who takes care of the rabbits?”
“The boys have chores and cleaning the hutches is one of those. The older boys harvest them for the kitchens when we need them to.”
Hanne squared her shoulders. There was no room in her new life for tenderheartedness toward potential dinner. She had eaten plenty of rabbit, but she had never looked at one and thought of it as a harvestable resource.
Miri spun her finger in a circle. “The hutches are on the inside ring of the basement—closest to the center of the keep.”
As they moved in concentric circles, Hanne was astonished to see dairy cows, doves, chickens, and goats. All the animals were seemingly content and well-cared for in the belly of the fort. “Do you not keep horses here?”
Miri rolled her eyes. “Not in the cellar. Horses have a stable along the wall.”
“What about dogs for the sleds?”
“They have a kennel, of course,” Miri answered in her matter-of-fact manner.
The food stores at Pinnacle Keep were vast. She was relieved since everyone seemed more than a little amazed that she had gotten through when she had. She had the sense that there would be very few new arrivals on the wall until the thaw. Hopefully, their stores would hold out until spring.
One room held barrels of fish. The barrels sported an outline of a fish that had been burnt into the wood. That was easy to ascertain. “What does this mean?” Hanne pointed to a squiggle running vertically on one of the boards of the barrel.
“Means it’s smoked,” said her guide. “And these”—she pointed to a row of barrels that also bore the mark of a fish but had wavy lines that ran horizontal—“these are salted.”
“Those are waves!” Hanne was delighted with herself for figuring out the symbols. She could read four languages, but runes had not been covered by her governesses.
Miri shrugged. “‘Course they are.”
“Can the paladin read these?”
Miri shrugged her shoulders. “Why would he? He can’t come in here.”
“He can’t? Is there some superstition about men being near the food stores?” Hanne had been raised to feel noblesse oblige for the people she served as chatelaine. She was going to have to learn all she could about these people since she would live among them for the rest of her days.
Miri cocked an eyebrow. “Well, I wouldn’t call it a superstition.”
Hanne backpedaled. “I meant no insult. Beliefs can be deeply held.” She patted the girl’s arm. “I only want to learn,” she said solemnly and perhaps a bit pretentiously.
Miri gestured overhead. With an upward glance, Hanne suddenly understood. The hams that were hung from the ceiling made a sort of porcine drop ceiling. Jonis would have to nearly drop to his knees to come through here.
“I’ll just be quiet and you show me around, all right?”
“Might speed things up, milady,” was Miri’s matter-of-fact reply.
They were leaving the pantries when a skinny freckle-faced boy ran up to them. He rested his hands on his knees and caught his breath. “The paladin wants the dame.” She did not appreciate being summoned this way. A fur cloak was awarded under his arm.
“Where is he?”
“The paladin, you mean?” Apparently they weren’t accustomed to their vaunted leader being called ‘he.’
“Yes, the paladin.”
“He’s in the sparring room, milady. He said you’d need this.”
She draped the fur over her arm and followed the messenger.
The young messenger led her up at least eight spiral staircases. She was struggling to keep up, and realized that living in the keep would improve her fitness, or—and perhaps more likely—kill her. Just when she thought she could not manage another step, the staircase opened up, and she was standing in a large open room.