Doomsday Book (Oxford Time Travel, #1) - Connie Willis Page 0,165

where you found me, she willed Gawyn. Tell them where in the woods.

“ ‘I am your liegeman and will find these evil knaves,’ I said, ‘but I fear to leave you in such sad plight,’ ” he said, looking toward Eliwys, “but she had recovered herself and she begged me to go and find those who had harmed her.”

Eliwys stood up and walked to the door. She stood there for a moment, looking anxious, and then came and sat back down.

“No!” Agnes shrieked. One of Sir Bloet’s redheaded nephews had Blackie now and was holding him above his head in one hand. If Kivrin didn’t rescue it soon, they’d squeeze the poor dog to death, and there was no point in listening to any more of the Rescue of the Maiden in the Wood, which was obviously intended not to tell what had happened but to impress Eliwys. She walked over to the children.

“The robbers had not been long gone,” Gawyn said, “and I found their trail with ease and followed it, spurring my steed after them.”

Sir Bloet’s nephew was dangling Blackie by his front legs, and the puppy was whimpering pathetically.

“Kivrin!” Agnes cried, catching sight of her, and flung herself at Kivrin’s legs. Sir Bloet’s nephew immediately handed Kivrin the puppy and backed away, and the rest of the children scattered.

“You rescued Blackie!” Agnes said, reaching for him.

Kivrin shook her head. “It is time to go to bed,” she said.

“I’m not tired!” Agnes said in a whine that was scarcely convincing. She rubbed her eyes.

“Blackie is tired,” Kivrin said, squatting down beside Agnes, “and he won’t go to bed unless you will lie down with him.”

That argument seemed to interest her, and before she could find a flaw in it, Kivrin handed Blackie back to her, placing him in her arms like a baby, and scooped them both up. “Blackie would have you tell him a story,” Kivrin said, starting for the door.

“Soon I found myself in a place that I knew not,” Gawyn said, “a dark forest.”

Kivrin carried her charges outside and across the courtyard. “Blackie likes stories about cats,” Agnes said, rocking the puppy gently in her arms.

“You must tell him a story about a cat then,” Kivrin said. She took the puppy while Agnes climbed up the ladder to the loft. He was already asleep, worn out from all the handling. Kivrin laid him in the straw next to the pallet.

“A wicked cat,” Agnes said, grabbing him up again. “I am not going to sleep. I am only lying down with Blackie, so I need not take off my clothes.”

“No, you need not,” Kivrin said, covering Agnes and Blackie with a heavy fur. It was too cold in the barn for undressing.

“Blackie would fain wear my bell,” she said, trying to put the ribbon over his head.

“No, he wouldn’t,” Kivrin said. She confiscated the bell and spread another fur over them. Kivrin crawled in next to the little girl. Agnes pushed her small body against Kivrin.

“Once there was a wicked cat,” Agnes said, yawning. “Her father told her not to go into the forest, but she heeded him not.” She fought valiantly against falling asleep, rubbing her eyes and making up adventures for the wicked cat, but the darkness and the warmth of the heavy fur finally overcame her.

Kivrin continued to lie there, waiting till Agnes’s breathing became light and steady, and then gently extricated Blackie from Agnes’s grip and laid him in the straw.

Agnes frowned in her sleep and reached for him, and Kivrin wrapped her arms around her. She should get up and go look for Gawyn. The rendezvous was in less than a week.

Agnes stirred and snuggled closer, her hair against Kivrin’s cheek.

And how will I leave you? Kivrin thought. And Rosemund? And Father Roche? And fell asleep.

When she woke, it was nearly light and Rosemund had crawled in beside Agnes. Kivrin left them sleeping, and crept down from the loft and across the gray courtyard, afraid she had missed the bell for mass, but Gawyn was still holding forth by the fire, and the bishop’s envoy was still sitting in the high seat, listening to Lady Imeyne.

The monk was sitting in the corner with his arm around Maisry, but the clerk was nowhere to be seen. He must have passed out and been put to bed.

The children must also have been put to bed, and some of the women had apparently gone up to the loft to rest. Kivrin didn’t see Sir