Page 26 of Veil of Winter

She helped Ysa finish making a pallet of furs on the floor and the two of them lay down together. Even with the fire it was too cold to do otherwise.

She lay awake, listening in the relative darkness. As crowded as the room was, it was surprisingly quiet. She was exhausted, but her mind struggled to trust that she was safe enough to fall asleep.

Surprisingly, the breathing of the ever-vigilant Ysa became deep and even as she quickly fell asleep. Poor Ysa. She certainly deserved a rest.

She thought of Delia, asking her brother to help her. Kind, generous Delia. And her brother did seem trustworthy and strong. Sir Gerard and Sir Oswalt would defend them. She and Ysabeau were surely safe with God watching over them, along with these two knights.

Finally, after wondering yet again what tomorrow would bring, Elyce felt herself drifting off to sleep.

Seven

Gerard got up twice during the night to put more wood on the fire, and both times the fur trapper’s eyes were trained on him, along with his wolf-dog’s, watching his every move. Gerard and Oswalt were both light sleepers, so he wasn’t worried. Still, it was unnerving to have the fellow so suspicious of them.

When Gerard was certain it was late enough for the sun to be up, there was still no brightening around the edges of the door, no sign that dawn was breaking. The wind continued to roar outside their shelter, and the women were still sleeping.

He might as well let them rest.

The trapper must have exhausted himself with watching them all night, because now he was snoring on his pallet of furs. Gerard was exhausted too. He’d lain awake thinking about all the things that could go wrong and how he would resolve each problem.

He’d been a guard captain, even at the age of twenty-one,but he’d never been responsible for a mission like this, for the lives of women, one of whom was a princess. Even though she didn’t like him very much, he did not want to fail her. Her people would suffer an unfortunate fate if he did, and he and Sir Oswalt would very likely end up accused of absconding with the princess. And that would get them executed. Gerard would go to his grave not only a failure but feeling guilty for getting his friend killed.

He suddenly realized the trapper was no longer snoring.

The man was getting to his feet, his knife in his hand. He said something in his gruff, guttural voice, looking rather menacing in the flickering light of the fire.

A glance at the women on the other side of the wooden house showed them sitting up, their eyes wide.

“What did he say?” Gerard asked them.

“He says it’s morning so we have to get out.” Princess Elyce’s voice was low and calm, but Ysabeau looked frightened.

“We’re not leaving. Tell him that. We will leave when the storm stops.”

The princess spoke in the German language, which sounded downright pleasant and easy to understand on her lips, though it was rough and heavily accented when spoken by the trapper.

The trapper answered her angrily. Gerard was starting to understand more of his foreign tongue. Obviously the trapper either did not respect her as a princess or did not believe she was one.

Gerard faced the man and spoke just as angrily, using his German. “Your threats change nothing. We are not leaving.”

The fur trapper said nothing for a moment, still glaring at Gerard.

“Here is where we will stay until we are able to travel.” Gerard stared right back at the man, and they regarded each other without so much as blinking.

The trapper propped himself against the wall and continued to glare. Well, let him glare.

The two women came toward him with their warm cloaks on.

“We have to go out.”

“Go out?” Then he realized they meant they had to relieve themselves. “You can’t go out in this blizzard.” He glanced around. How to solve such an awkward problem?

He turned to the trapper. “Where is your chamber pot?”

The man shook his head and gestured with his thumb toward the stable area where the horses were.

The princess and Ysabeau looked at each other with cringing expressions.

“He wants us to go in the stable. It has dirt and straw. But we’d rather have a bucket so we can take it out afterward.” The princess’s face was turning red.