A Feast of Dragons - By Morgan Rice Page 0,34
is her contract worth?” Erec asked.
“That’s no business of yours—”
“Answer me!” Erec growled, putting one hand on his dagger.
The innkeeper must have detected Erec’s seriousness, because he swallowed and looked back.
“The typical servant is paid room and board and 100 pence for a seven year contract,” he said.
“If I win the jousting, and if she agrees to be my bride, I will buy her contract from you. In fact, I will pay you triple.”
Erec took a sack of gold coins from his waist, and dropped it on the table. It landed with a clang.
“300 pence of the king’s gold,” Erec announced.
The innkeeper looked down, wide-eyed. He licked his lips in greed, looking from Erec to Alistair. Then he grabbed the sack, weighed it in his palm, and opened it, examining the contents.
Finally, he stuffed the sack into his pocket. He shrugged.
“Take her then,” he said. “It is your money to lose. Only a fool would throw away so much gold for a servant.”
“Please, my Lord, don’t do this,” Alistair cried out to Erec. “It is too much money! I am not worth it!”
The innkeeper was about to go, but stopped and turned.
“And if you don’t win the competition? And if she doesn’t agree to be your bride?” he asked.
“As long as she is set free,” Erec said, “the gold is yours to keep.”
The innkeeper smiled, turned, and hurried from the room, slamming the kitchen door behind him.
Finally, it was just Erec and Alistair, alone in the room.
Erec Turned and looked at her.
“Do you wish to marry me?” he asked her, with more seriousness than he had ever mustered.
Alistair lowered her head in humility, and Erec’s heart pounded as he awaited her response. What if she said no?
“My lord,” she said. “I could think of no greater honor, no greater dream for any maiden in the kingdom than to be your wife. But I do not deserve this. I am but a common servant girl. You would sully your great name to be with me.”
Erec’s heart swelled with love for her, and he knew at that moment that he did not care what others thought—he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
“Will you marry me?” he asked her directly.
She lowered her head, and Erec stepped forward, placed a hand gently on her chin, and raised it.
She looked up at him, and her eyes were filled with tears.
“You cry,” he said, crushed. “That is a no.”
She shook her head.
“They are tears of joy, my lord,” she said. “From the moment I laid eyes on you, I wanted nothing else,” she said. “My heart was too overwhelmed to say it. I dared not to dream.”
They embraced, and he held her tight in a hug. The feel of her body enwrapped in his was greater than anything he had felt in his life.
“Please, my lord,” she whispered into his ear. “Win this jousting. Win it for me.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Thor, drenched in sweat, stood with the other boys in the Legion, trying to catch his breath. The second sun was at its peak, beating down on him overhead, and it had been a relentless day already.
After gaining permission from the Kavos and finally finding their way back to the other Legion members the night before, they had all crashed on the desert floor. It felt to Thor as if he had just closed his eyes when he had been awakened early, at the crack of dawn of another day—and since then, they had not stopped training all day long.
It was the first day of training of The Hundred, and it was more grueling than anything he could imagine. They had been sparring since the morning, breaking off into groups with all different ages. They practiced throwing spears at moving targets; clanging shields for hours; sparring with extra-heavy swords; jumping over ravines; and wrestling with each other. As he turned and looked around, he saw that all the boys looked exhausted. It was as if they had crammed a week’s worth of training into a morning, without a rest between. Every muscle in his body ached. He could not imagine how they could possibly keep up this pace for a hundred days. Maybe that was the point.
Finally, the commanders had summoned them all together, and he stood there with the others, catching his breath and staring back at Kolk, who paced among them.
“We have brought you to this island for a reason,” he boomed. “Training here is different than anywhere in the world. If