He snorted as if he was part horse. “I’ll see that they get ten times what these horses are worth and more. By the time they return home, the men after us will burn the house, barn, and all else. I owe them for all those things, too, as well as the contents.”
“Are you that rich?”
“Me? I’m just a knight, so I serve at the pleasure of my King. You, on the other hand, have the wealth to buy a hundred farms like theirs. A thousand.”
Hannah turned in the saddle. “I light fires for the kitchen. I’ve never even held a coin.”
“Your father was a most important man. All he owned is now yours, including my services. However, I am a Knight of the realm and a friend to the Old Mage, and as such I will act in his stead until you are properly raised, educated, and of age to control your wealth. It was my pledge to your dying father.”
Hannah recalled the scene of her father’s death and reviewed it from the time she first heard the arrow passing her, to the impact, and the aftermath. At no time did she see the Mage talking to Sir James. She didn’t wish to call him a liar, but he was not telling the truth. She turned to the front to watch for low hanging branches while she thought about why he might lie.
Did he want her belongings? That didn’t make sense. If he did, he could have killed her and told the tale that the Mage had given his belonging to Sir James. From the little she knew of how things like that worked, he could have easily claimed it all.
But the loss of trust, even in small things, strained friendships, and this was far more than that. The best way to confront a lie was to go at it from the front. Don’t let it fester like a sore. She’d learned that working in the kitchens. Face a problem and whatever happens, happens. She shifted in her saddle again, wishing to look at his face when she spoke so she could judge any reaction.
“You said he told you all those things my father said, but I was there with him in my arms. He said nothing.”
The knight nodded, rode a few steps without talking, and said, “I lost three guards yesterday and a friend I’ve known almost my whole life. Without your father, I’d still be working in a stable, at best. But after that arrow struck him, he still breathed but could not speak, and he knew he would die soon. His eyes found mine, and with his gaze, he placed all those thoughts into my head as if he spoke each word and we had a long conversation.”
Hannah recalled the Mage looking at her, and then at Sir James, as she held him. Had she seen a spark in his eyes or had she imagined it? No, she saw it but didn’t know what it meant. “Before he died, I saw a small flash in his eyes, like a spark from my flint, while he was looking at you. I think that’s when he told you those all things.”
“I feared you would think me daft or up to no good if I mentioned it.”
“He talked about you, you know. He said nice things, and if there is anyone I trust, it is you.”
“I will make my pledge to raise you to the King when we reach the castle. My days of knighthood are over, and I will be a father to you, if not the father you deserve. Now, if you don’t turn around a branch is going to knock you off your horse sooner or later.”
“Was he a good man? My father?”
“If he had known of you, he’d have burned down the kingdom to reach you. When you did that little trick at the celebration with your finger, I thought he’d have an attack and die right there. His body stiffened, and I thought he’d been attacked, but he instantly saw the dangers to you, and he put up a mental shield that taxed his health. Even those who looked directly at you didn’t see your little stunt, or if they did, he made them forget it.”
“You said I would be properly raised and educated.”
“Yes, well, we’ll do what we can, but you are going to be a thousand problems and more for me, I fear. Times will be interesting.”
“I won’t cause problems for you,” she said.
“It’s not you, but who you are. You look a ragamuffin in that borrowed shirt, yet you’re the daughter of royalty and a woman mage on top of that, as impossible as that sounds. You will have to learn to act the part of a wealthy Royal in direct line for the throne. You’ll step ahead of others, and most won’t like that. They will demand proof, but the records are there, and my word will enforce them. However, I foresee a few problems in establishing your ascendancy.”
“I hope not. Not that I want it, but I want to do what’s right by my father and mother.”
The Knight rode in silence before speaking softer, as if the forest had ears. “You have the initial powers of an emerging mage, and may become one of the most powerful according to your father. But you are also a girl, and everyone knows girls or women cannot be mages. Those are but two of the thousand problems you’re going to cause me.”
“You sound like you’re laughing back there.”
“As one who enjoys a good joke or prank, believe me, when I tell you that I foresee a life of rich humor ahead of us. We, you and I, can either laugh or cry, it matters not. But our lives have changed this day.”
She rode on in quiet. Finally, she said, “I only knew my father for less than a day.”
“But I knew him a lifetime and will share those things with you. The King will also have his tales to share.”
“The King will not believe a girl from the kitchens is royalty. I will be content to live with you like I’m your daughter.”
His voice took on a deeper, more serious tone. “That is not possible. There will be those who will decry you, and even some who will denounce you. A few will not believe, but those who will hold the most against you are those who will find themselves one life further from the throne. I’m only surprised you’ve lived this long because you look so much like him, and the tales fly. Only the fact that this tale is so strange has prevented it from reaching those who care.”
Hannah sat taller, holding her back straight as she’d seen fine ladies do. “Is the throne so important? I see Royalty in their beautiful dresses and the servants rushing to perform their smallest wish. The most important thing they do on most days is choosing a dress to wear. They eat fine food, live in castles, and they never work. I think I like cooks, stablemen, seamstresses, and wood choppers more than them.”
“And I will do my best to make sure you keep that opinion.”
A slow stream trickled alongside the path, and at a wide place, grass for the horses grew green and lush. A blue jay sat on a nearby branch and watched, looking for something to steal, probably. The clearing was anything but empty. Flowers bloomed, new pines and firs sprouted, and old logs rotted. She realized at one time the old logs had stood tall and proud in this spot. Disease, fire, or possibly wood choppers had cleared it like a wound, but now it healed itself.
Sir James climbed down. “Sore bottom?”
“A little,” she lied, knowing it was more than a little sore.
Sir James took the horses to the stream to drink, then knelt down and scooped water with his hand for himself. She said, “I don’t want to drink that.”
“May I ask why?”
“It has green stuff growing in it.”
“That it has. Now, we begin to teach you another lesson. When, and if, you locate water, always look for green. Green is life. If there is no green, the water is bad and will probably kill you if you drink it. At the very least it will make you ill. If it cannot support green life, it cannot support you.”
She tightened her jaw, but went to the edge of the water and gingerly slurped a mouthful, finding it cold, and perhaps the best tasting water she’d ever had. She nodded to Sir James and drank her fill before standing. As she stood, her eyes took in the meadow, the forest beyond, and the best escape routes for any direction where enemies might emerge. She allowed the horse to drink its fill but remained on the left side of the animal where she could mount in an instant. “What else have you to teach me?”