The Reckless Oath We Made - Bryn Greenwood Page 0,49
stuff he’d packed, wondering how much of it I’d have to carry and how far. I hadn’t had any pain meds for my hip all day, so I decided I was going to take a big dose when we got wherever we were going. Enough to knock out a bear.
There was the big bundle that I’d guessed was a tent—a bunch of white canvas wrapped around some long poles—and two baskets full of everything else, including the ice chest. Gentry pulled the tent out until it was balanced half on the tailgate and half off.
“How much further are we going?” I said.
“’Tis not far, but up the hill.”
He squatted, got the tent balanced on his right shoulder, and lifted it up. Then he squatted again and looped one basket on the end of the poles. He turned and a third squat got the second basket on the poles.
“Do you need me to carry something?” I said.
“Nay.”
“I’m strong enough to help.”
“My lady, I doubt not thy virtue, but thou art weary, and ’tis my custom to bear it thus,” he said.
“I don’t know what that has to do with my virtue.”
He frowned. I was going to at least offer to close the tailgate and topper but he did a slow rotation so he could reach them with his left hand.
“Thy virtue. Thy strength.”
“Is that what virtue means? I thought it meant something else,” I said, but he didn’t explain.
All that stuff must have weighed a lot. Enough that his right arm where he was using it to stabilize the weight on his shoulder was flexed tight.
“I didn’t know you were taking me to the gun show.” As soon as I said it, I could tell he didn’t understand. He turned and tilted his head in that cute, doggy look of confusion.
“My lady?” He was standing there holding all that stuff, waiting for me to explain.
“Gun show, like your arms are your guns. It’s just a saying. I only meant because your arms are so big. Whatever.”
For a few seconds he looked even more confused, and then he smiled and turned back around.
“’Tis nigh dark. Thou must admire my arms and walk in the same while,” he said.
I hoped it was a joke, because I laughed. Walking behind him at dusk, it wasn’t like I could see his arms, but going up the hill it was hard not to notice that he had calf muscles like softballs.
As we came up the path, I could see a bonfire and some sort of a Hobbit house with a grass roof. I hadn’t known what to expect, but I wasn’t sure why we needed a tent, if there was a house. When we got to the fire, two people stood up to greet us. A man and a woman, who was wearing a nightgown.
“Sir Gentry!” the man said. “Ever true to your word. We had begun to worry that you were delayed.”
Then they saw me.
“You brought a guest!” the woman said.
Even with all that stuff balanced on his shoulder, Gentry bowed and said, “I present to you Lady Zhorzha. My lady, these folk been Sir Edrard, long my friend and brother-in-arms, and his wife, Dame Rosalinda.”
“Lady Zhorzha! Welcome!” they said.
When Sir Edrard came around the fire, I put out my hand, meaning to shake, but he took it and bowed over it, the same way Gentry did. Dame Rosalinda curtseyed to me, and since I didn’t know how that worked, I waved.
“I shall make ready the pavilion,” Gentry said.
I would have been just as happy to help set up the tent, but I stayed there and made polite conversation. Sitting around the fire, I could see Edrard and Rosalinda a little better. Gentry wasn’t all that tall, but they were adorable little gnome people. Edrard had a thick curly mustache and beard, and Rosalinda had Princess Leia hair.
I took the water they offered me and, when I asked, Rosalinda led me into the woods, where I expected to have to squat, but there was an actual outhouse. When we got back to the fire, Gentry was talking to Edrard about sledging stones. Or I thought that’s what I heard.
By then, the sun was down, and we sat around the fire talking until I couldn’t anymore.
“If it’s okay, can I go to sleep?” I hated having to ask, but there I was, like always, a guest in someone else’s house . . . ish.
“My lady, I am sorry thou hast waited and art weary.” Gentry stood