I chuckled, “It’s the small things like that, that you never hear about in romances and adventure stories.”
“Everyone is younger in those tales. Men at my age aren’t supposed to be assaulting furniture and fighting assassins,” James suggested.
“You are hardly old yet,” I countered. James was in his middle fifties now and still fairly robust.
“Easy for you to say,” James replied. “How is Walter doing?”
“Still recovering, but I think he will be fine,” I answered.
The King smiled. “Nicholas was quite taken with Elaine, but now he speaks of nothing but your wife. He’s been calling her his ‘angel of deliverance’. Poor Barnabas is probably mortified knowing that a woman saved them both.”
“He acted bravely, throwing himself in front of that sword. He had nothing to be ashamed of,” I responded immediately.
“Some men have a different view of chivalry.”
“He’ll have to get over it.” Otherwise I’ll tell Penny, and let her knock some sense into him.
“Don’t misunderstand;” said James, “He’s not a lout. He’s grateful… just a bit embarrassed.”
“Speaking of which… I should apologize to Nicholas for my words. I had not meant to argue with him. I think I was just a bit oversensitive about the topic.”
“He’s leaving tomorrow. I was thinking of offering your services transporting him and his men back to Lancaster, to shorten his journey…,” James suggested.
“Castle Cameron,” I corrected. “He can spend an evening with us, and perhaps I can win him over with our hospitality.”
“Even better,” said James.
“You vanish like a stray cat, and then when you reappear, this is what you bring me?” Penny was a bit annoyed with my disappearing act. By ‘this’ she was referring to my announcement that the King of Gododdin would be spending an evening with us.
“Are you comparing King Nicholas to a dead bird or lizard?” I said, extending her analogy a bit further.
She ignored my clever remark. “Do you know how much needs to be done before we can host royalty here?”
In fact I had a good idea, but I pretended ignorance. “Just wave your hands my dear, and the entire castle will be leaping to do your bidding.”
“Good luck with the children,” Penny replied with a wry smile.
“Wait, what?”
“If I’m to organize this place for a royal visit, I won’t have time to manage them this afternoon.”
“But I need to check on the progress at…,” I started.
“It can wait another day,” she interrupted.
“Where is Lilly?” I asked. I hadn’t seen her yet. Normally she was at hand to help with the children.
Penny handed me little Irene. As usual her large blue eyes were focused on my beard, and grasping hands kept trying to pull it out. “Lilly has taken ill today. You’ll be on your own. Don’t worry though; I’ll stop in to feed her in a few hours.”
I was perfectly comfortable with our older children, and I had no fear of infants, but three plus Irene would be a handful for me. “Perhaps Rose is free…,” I suggested.
“She’ll be busy helping me. Perhaps Dorian will take pity on you.”
In the end, I elected to take on the chore without assistance, more as a matter of pride than for any other reason. We had effectively gotten through dealing with two infants at once years before, so I was well acquainted with the messier side of babies… and in fact with Moira and Matthew to assist in keeping an eye on Conall, I’d have plenty of attention to focus on little Irene.
That was the plan at least… until Dorian showed up with Gram in tow an hour later.
“Did you come to see the circus?” I asked him with a grin after opening the door.
He looked at me a bit sheepishly, “Actually, I came to ask a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Your wife has stolen Rose for her projects, and I need to start preparing the security measures for tomorrow if King Nicholas is really going to be staying with us…,” he glanced down his arm at his son and then back up at me.
The day was effectively over for me at that point. The twins were already bouncing with excitement, as Gram left his father and began chatting with them. In general, the addition of an extra child threw the balance out of whack, and I’d now have to keep an eye on Conall… the older children would ignore him.
My prediction was on the mark. The one bright side to Gram’s presence was that all three of the older children disappeared outside to play. Although our house was connected to Castle Cameron, its actual location was in a scenic mountain valley in the midst of the Elentirs, a place so remote I doubted anyone had ever been there before we built our secret home there. Conall stayed inside with me while I tended to Irene, and I had to admire his behavior, not many children were as easy to please at age three as he was.
After an hour or so, I managed to get Irene down for a nap, and that let me focus my attention more fully on Conall. I rarely had time alone with him, so I did my best to enjoy the time building things with him out of his extensive wooden block collection. The truth of the matter though, was that I was utterly bored. Thankfully, Conall didn’t seem to notice my lack of enthusiasm.
The peace was short lived. Matthew and Gram reappeared, followed closely by Moira. The three of them had encountered some utterly new form of lizard out in the meadow, and after many heroic attempts, had managed to capture it. They broke into the nursery with all the peace and serenity of an avalanche, shouting and waving their catch at me. Irene promptly awoke and began to cry.
I could feel a headache building between my ears, but it was hard to be sure with all the noise. I yelled, “Be quiet!” to give me a moment to see if it had been my imagination. Yep, I definitely had developed a headache. The three children stared at me in utter silence for a moment, while Conall stared intently at the lizard they had brought. After a few seconds they all began chattering again.
“Kyrtos,” I said abruptly, and silence fell across the room, as Matthew, Moira, and Gram discovered they could no longer speak. I picked up Irene and began rocking her in my arms while Conall took the lizard from Matthew’s unresisting fingers.
The three of them were staring at me while their mouths worked uselessly. I winked at them while I cooed at Irene, trying to soothe her. “There there…” I said softly, “that only happens to noisy children. You are far too cute for me to put a spell on.” Something was working; Irene had stopped crying now and was staring intently at me.
“T’ank you,” Conall told his older brother, as he stroked the lizard’s head.
After a minute I looked at them and felt a momentary pang of guilt. Moira had her fingers in her mouth, trying to discover the source of her vocal paralysis, while Gram sat sullenly in the corner staring at one of Conall’s toys. Matthew on the other hand, was looking straight at me, his blue eyes welling with tears. I had betrayed him.
“Keltis,” I said immediately. “Are the three of you ready to behave?” I asked, using a tone that hid my guilt feelings. I had learned long ago never to show weakness in front of the natives… they’d sense it and tear you to pieces if you did… or something like that.
Matthew was the first to nod a slow ‘yes’, and the look on his face made me want to hug him tightly and apologize, though I resisted the urge; Moira, in contrast, simply asked, “How did you do that?”
“Magic,” I said, giving the answer that usually was enough to finish most conversations. Today however, I was struck with an inspiration. “Which reminds me, I know a better spell that doesn’t make you silent, but which requires you to stay quiet for it to work,” I told them.