A Dishonorable Knight - By Morrison, Michelle Page 0,122

her the damp and dirty branches. Of course, she had not offered to lift a finger to help prepare the food, but, he rationalized, how much work was there in tearing bread and slicing cheese? She was, he thought charitably, acting less and less overindulged every day. As he sat down next to her, he again wondered if she would ever consider marriage to a poor Welsh knight.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, handing a hunk of bread to her.

"Yes," she said without enthusiasm and took a small nibble.

Gareth laughed. "Well don't gorge yourself all at once on this feast."

Elena smiled. "It's good enough, I just wish traveling didn't mean cold food."

Gareth thought a moment and then scrambled to his feet, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He searched around in the underbrush for several seconds before he said, "Aha!"

Elena sat up from her reclining position. "What are you doing?"

"You want hot food, Sir Gareth will deliver hot food." He held up a long stick proudly.

"I don't mean to offend you, good Sir Gareth, but that does not look like roasted venison to me."

"Patience, sweet, patience." He retrieved his knife and began whittling the end of the stick to a point. When he was finished, the stick was bare of bark and sharply pointed. He then skewered Elena's piece of bread, her cheese, and her slab of hard sausage. "There we go," he said as he thrust the stick out over the fire.

Elena watched, fascinated, as the cheese began to bubble and turn a delicious golden color. The smell of the roasting sausage made her mouth water as drops of grease sizzled into the fire. Gareth carefully turned the stick, wary that the cheese did not melt off, and when he deemed it finished, he carefully removed all three items, stacking the meat and cheese artfully on top of the toasted bread.

"Fit for a queen," he declared as he handed it to her.

Elena shifted her meal from hand to hand until the bread had cooled enough not to burn her skin. She then took a huge bite, scalding the roof of her mouth on the sizzling meat, but enjoying the taste of the gooey cheese and spicy sausage nonetheless. When she had managed to chew and swallow her unladylike mouthful, she looked to Gareth who was expectantly awaiting her response.

"It's delicious," she said. "I think I will recommend you to King Richard for the position of Chef Extraordinaire when we return."

Gareth's grin of pleasure at her initial response faded when she mentioned Richard. It only reminded him that she would be out of his reach once they arrived at the king's court, and that he was lying to her even now about his plans.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked, worry evident in her voice.

Gareth shook his head. "Nothing."

"Something is bothering you. Is it what I said about making you a chef? I promise I won't tell anyone about your cooking talents if it would make you seem less of a knight." When her teasing evinced no response, she took another approach. "Are you having doubts about returning to Richard?"

Startled, Gareth shook his head. "Oh no, I was just thinking that if Cynan and Bryant found out I could actually make something edible, they'd make me cook every night instead of the three of us taking turns when we're out in the woods. As it is, I have to struggle to make my meals taste bad so they'll offer to cook for me!"

Elena smiled at his response, but Gareth sensed she did not entirely believe him. To his great relief, however, she did not press him further and he vowed to himself to make her forget his temporary lapse into melancholy.

With as much animation as he could muster, he told her of his first night spent in the woods when he was a boy. "Cynan and Bryant and I were finally allowed to go out alone all night. I think we were about eleven years old. As we were preparing to leave the keep, Cynan's father told us to watch out for the bog ghoul who might come steal us away to the underworld. We all laughed, of course, because we were much too grown up to believe in such silly monsters that used to frighten us as children.

"As we made our way into the forest for our grand adventure, I came up with the brilliant idea of sneaking away in the middle of the night and pretending to be this ghoul to