Second Age of Darkness

by Diane Lindmark

  Roberta shrugged her shoulders and hesitated momentarily. "I merely find it interesting that men are concerned about answering to their father for their sins and being forced into marriage, whereas we as woman find other concerns involved with indiscriminate sex."

  "Such as?" questioned Broderick.

  "Such as men can have indiscriminate sex and don't have to worry about being stuck with a bairn." She added as an afterthought, "Which granted, wouldn't be a problem if your brother is sterile."

  Again the two brothers exchanged a look. Neither one of them had ever heard a woman speak so frankly, but it was Broderick who replied. "If I were to take her up on her offer and share her bed this night, if anything resulted from it, I would not leave her to face it alone. I own my sins, nor do I wish to share my bed with a woman who would consider it being stuck with my bairn." Roberta leaned in and whispered something in Gertrude's ear. Gertrude giggled. "And what do you find funny about that statement?" Broderick snapped.

  "I just find it interesting that you don't seem even open to the possibility that you can't father a bairn."

  "Whether I can or whether I can't is not in my power; nor is it my fault. I have no control over it." It was the two women's turn to exchange astonished looks.

  Gertrude looked him up and down. He certainly appeared to be a fine specimen of manhood. She smiled as her eyes alighted on his kilt. She glanced at the King; a bit disappointing, he was wearing pants. She glanced back at Broderick, stepped forward, quickly stuck her hand under his kilt and gripped him by the bollocks. Broderick yelped and wailed, "What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, you daft woman? Get your hands off me!"

  She released him and stepped back and looked at Roberta. "Well, that should be interesting. There's nothing wrong with him. He will have no problems siring many bairns."

  Broderick, who was holding his kilt tightly over his legs, demanded, "What the bloody hell are you on about, you daft woman?"

  "Gertrude can tell whether someone is fertile or sterile. But to be truly accurate, sometimes she has to get a wee bit hands on." Roberta giggled. "Though not always, sometimes she can just tell by touching your arm."

  "Why the bloody hell didn't you try that first rather than grab a hold of …"

  Malachi was biting his tongue, trying desperately not to start laughing. He knew Broderick would probably throttle him. "Well, in future, perhaps you would be kind enough not to manhandle my men without their permission?"

  "Would you like to know if you're capable, Your Majesty?" Gertrude asked, looking at him slyly."

  "Absolutely not. I swear woman, if you put one hand on any part of my anatomy …" Malachi held up a finger and started backing away. "I'll forget what my father said about never hitting a woman."

  Roberta decided to take mercy on the young King. "Well, Your Majesty, back to my question, what are you going to do with all of us?"

  "Well, for now, if your women will promise not to poison my men or do anything to them that they wouldn't like, I will permit your women to go about their daily business. But none of them are to leave the castle grounds for the moment. I presume that all of them live within the castle walls."

  "Aye, Your Majesty, they all do. Only the farmers are outside, and none of them close." Roberta hesitated and started fidgeting with her hands. "Do you expect all of us to entertain your men tonight?"

  Malachi was so surprised by the question it took him a moment before he realized she looked genuinely frightened. It was the first time she hadn't seemed confident and in control of the situation. Up till now, he thought she was the conqueror and he was the victim. Now the tables were clearly turned. "No!" He spoke in a louder voice, "Now let me make this very clear to all of you. I expect you to behave. I expect you to treat my men with respect. I do not expect you to do anything with them you don't want to do. If one of my men expresses interest in you, if you're not interested, tell him no. You are not obligated in any way. Right now, all I expect from you is to continue to run things as you've been doing - clean the castle, serve the meals, and whatever other chores you normally tend to." A woman tentatively raised her hand. Someone had recently beaten the hell out of her. Malachi pointed. "Your name, and you have a question?"

  The woman swallowed hard and looked frightened. "Cassandra … What if he … won't … take no for an answer."

  Malachi's stomach twisted into knots as he watched tears slide down her cheeks. He hesitated a moment and then instead of answering her question, he turned to Angus and gestured him forward. Angus moved to his King's side. "Aye, my King?"

  "How many men do you command?"

  "When you don't have me bairnwatching a prisoner," he made a face at his King, "I command a hundred of your men."

  "Let's just say for argument's sake, Cassandra is married to one of your men." Malachi indicated the lass.

  Angus glanced at her and then back at his King. "I would not even bother to ask," he said with irritation.

  Roberta looked annoyed. "And what does that mean?"

  Angus turned his full attention on her. "That means, Your Majesty, I would not bother to even ask who had beaten her. I would go and ask her husband and I promise you he would not like how I would ask. When I was done with him, he would know that if he ever so much as laid a finger on her in a manner I didn't like again, I would kill him."

  While they had been speaking, Malachi had been looking at the other women. He indicated another of the household staff, a young woman with a black eye. "Your name? And what you do in the castle?"

  "Lucy. I am a maid." The woman looked nervous.

  "You're moving down a castle corridor and you see Lucy, what do you do?" asked Malachi.

  Angus replied grimly, "I demand to know who struck her." He turned and looked back at Cassandra. "And I promise you, I won't be in the mood to take no for an answer."

  The corner of Malachi's mouth turned up. "She informs you that your Captain did it." This time Malachi smiled as Hill's head snapped around to glare at him. He could just see Hill out of the corner of his eye.

  "Then I guess Captain Hill and I are not going to be having a very pleasant conversation while I beat his head into the ground, and when I'm done, I will make sure that he knows if he ever so much as lays a finger on another woman again in anger, I'll kill him."

  Malachi looked back at Cassandra. "You will get the same response from any of my men. And you will find the lowest ranks of my soldiers would have no problem or hesitation about taking on even my General if he had beaten or raped a woman. In my army, there is no excuse for such behavior. I know it's going to take a lot of getting used to, but my men are not Edmund's men and they do not behave as such, and whatever immoral conduct you are used to expecting from the soldiers who inhabit this castle, that's gone. I expect my men to conduct themselves at all times with honor and loyalty. There are going to be a lot of things you are going to have to get used to, beginning with the fact that my men want wives and families. Don't involve yourself with one of my men unless you know what he expects first and make it clear what you expect of him. I do not condone immoral behavior. We're all human; we'll make mistakes but don't make a habit of it. A man in my army gets a woman pregnant, I expect him to marry her. Any other questions before you're dismissed to be on about your daily business?" The room was dead silent. Malachi gave it a long minute. "Then with the exception of you two ladies, the rest of you are dismissed." He had indicated Gertrude and Roberta.

  He turned his attention on Gertrude. "Until I have time to be introduced to the cooks, I will expect you to act as my liaison to them; if you would please inform them that I have a group of my hunters who should be here within the next few hours with food, so if they would prepare the larders, I would appreciate it. I do not expect a proper dinner tonight, but if they could make arrangements for some kind of cold dinner to be served on the side board that the men can get as needed, I would appreciate it. After this, I would like meals conducted in a normal fashion and my men expect thr
ee meals a day."

  Roberta interrupted him. "Unless your men are bringing a lot of food; that is not going to be possible. There is virtually nothing left in our larder." Again, she looked very nervous.

  "Fortunately, both of my new allies have already made me very well aware of the situation. I promise you there will be enough food arriving to feed all of my people in the area for at least two months. Now, back to what I was saying, would that be possible for you to attend to?" He looked back at Gertrude who nodded, looking a bit startled. "Is there something the matter?"

  "What are the rules for serving the women and the children?" asked Gertrude.

  Malachi blinked at her. "I don't understand."

  Gertrude hesitated. "Your predecessor had very strict rules on rationing based on your importance. You wish the cook to continue to use these standards?"

  "Absolutely not. I am sure if Edmund devised them, they are unfair in the extreme. At this point in time, my people have plenty of food. There is no need for any kind of rationing. My one caution is that before I left my castle, I consulted my healer. And according to her, if what Lucius said was true, which she had a hard time believing; she said that I was to make sure to caution you all to take it easy. Having been on strict rationing and very simple fare, suddenly consuming a large amount of meat might make you sick. She recommends you ease into it. She also says to watch the children especially carefully; because if they are used to being hungry, they might consume too much and make themselves very very sick. It can even be fatal. She says adults usually will stop before it's fatal, but will just make them so sick. Children have not that sense."

  Roberta shrugged her shoulders and looked at Gertrude as though she didn't know. "Is that true?"

  Gertrude bit her lip. "I don't know. We should consult the Healer before we do anything. She would tell us what to do and how much and she would know."

  The door opened. Malachi looked over his shoulder quickly, then winced and grabbed his side. Duff crossed quickly to his King and put his hand on his shoulder. "Whatever else you need to do, it can wait. You need to have this attended to."

  "I'm sure that the healer is busy with more severe wounds than my shoulder. When he is available I will let him attend to it, until then it will just have to wait," Malachi snapped.

  All three men were glaring at him. "Perhaps I might have a solution that would make you both happy. I have another healer, I'm sure she is not busy doing anything if you would trust her. She could attend to your wound without taking your healer away from your men," Roberta offered.

  All four men replied simultaneously, though their answers were completely different.

  Malachi, "That is not necessary."

  Angus, "I'm not sure that's a good idea."

  Duff, "The slave?"

  Broderick, "Absolutely not."

  Roberta looked irritated. "So we're good enough to share your bed and bear your children, but you don't trust us to actually take care of you? Nice!"

  "Your Majesty, there's a female healer. They call her Slave. I would trust her to attend to your wounds," offered Duff.

  Malachi considered for a moment. "Queen Roberta, since you so kindly offered to have your healer attend to me, would you go and find the one in question and have her meet me in the infirmary? I'm assuming you do have such a thing?" Roberta nodded, dumbly still staring at Duff trying desperately to figure out how he knew that she called the slave 'Healer'. Malachi turned to look at Angus. "I'm sure you and all of you men have other things more important to be doing than loitering around the Great Hall, so go and find them." All of the men excused themselves except Broderick, who crossed his arms over his chest and looked belligerent. Malachi sighed. "Broderick, go and find my pack and bring it to me in the infirmary. I need a new shirt." Broderick opened his mouth, but he was forestalled by his brother. "If that sounded like a question, it wasn't." He glared at his brother for a moment longer, then turned on his heel and stormed out. Roberta also excused herself.

  Chapter 16

  Malachi looked at Gertrude and asked, "Would you be so kind as to direct me towards the infirmary?" As he asked, he began wondering why the woman was glaring at him openly. "Have I done something to offend you?"

  Gertrude poked him in the chest. "You keep your hands off of her."

  Malachi blinked, then he looked in the direction Roberta had left the room, then back at the woman. "You need have no concerns for your Queen. She does not interest me."

  Gertrude poked him in the chest again. "I wasn't talking about Roberta. You keep your hands off the slave. She's had enough of men staring at her, ogling her. Keep your filthy paws off of her." As though to put emphasis on her words, she poked him again in the chest.

  "Why does the housekeeper concern herself with a slave?"

  "Because she's had enough. She needs to just be left alone."

  "What makes you think I would even find her appealing?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at the angry woman.

  "Because you've already been ogling her. You've already been staring at her, probably already fantasized about being between her thighs."

  Malachi indicated the corner where the dirty group of women had been. "The woman who was standing, that's the healer?"

  "Aye, now keep your hands to yourself," Gertrude said, poking him in the chest again.

  "Explain to me what you mean."

  "Oh, please, you're a man. You know exactly what I mean."

  He glared down at the woman. "I may not be as violent nor as cruel as Edmund, but you can still rouse my temper, woman. Do not mistake an order for a question, and you know good and damn well exactly what I mean."

  Gertrude swallowed and shrank just a little. Edmund had never frightened her. He was always just a bully, but this man was truly intimidating. "She doesn't need another man forcing her to pleasure him sexually and publicly parading her around like a dog on a leash."

  Malachi stared at her for a moment and then he demanded, "Please tell me that's just a figure of speech."

  "Which part? The part that he would make her have sex with him in front of his men, or the part that he would make her dance naked in front of his men, or he would literally put a leash on her and make her trail behind him in the nude? She is a slave and he treated her like a dog." Gertrude felt a bit contrite at the horrified look on the young man's face. She turned and indicated a set of doors. She gave him directions to the infirmary, then added, "I mean it, don't touch her."

  Malachi arrived at the infirmary. First he inhaled deeply; he liked the smell of all the dried flowers and plants, smelled nice, clean and earthy. He looked around the room. There were lots of books on the shelf; he scanned the titles. They all had something to do with plants, medicinal herbs, or bairns. After a few minutes, the two women entered. Roberta nodded to him. The slave curtsied. Malachi stared at her, wondering what she would look like twenty pounds heavier. She definitely needed twenty pounds. He had to shake his head as he immediately began imagining his hands all over those curves. The slave moved in front of him and gently tugged his shirt, then she made as though she was pulling off her shirt. Then she waggled her hand back and forth in front and she held out two fingers and made a clipping motion. It took him a minute before he realized she was offering to cut off his shirt. "Can you not speak?" he asked in surprise. The slave looked down at the floor but did not respond.

  "If she's capable of speech, she has not spoken in the three years that I've been here," replied Roberta.

  "Well, thank you for the offer, but I think I'm capable of removing my shirt." He pulled it off, though not without some grunts and groans. The slave gently put her hand to his chest and then patted the table. He stared at her confused for a moment, and then she patted his chest again and patted the table. "You need me to lay face down?" She smiled at him and nodded. He did as he was asked. She carefully washed his wound and then he could feel her gently touching around it. "There's a bullet in there. Just dig it out or cut it out or wh
atever you need to do to get the bullet out, then bandage it and I'll be fine after that." After a minute or two, the slave moved to where he could see her. She held up a knife and then indicated using the back of her hand that she was going to have to cut.

  "The hell you are! You aren't cutting on my brother's back," Broderick said, bringing in the pack.

  Malachi grumbled, "Queen Roberta, would you be so kind as to ring for a servant."

  Roberta crossed to the bell pull and pulled. It was a minute or two before a servant entered the infirmary. She curtsied. "Is there something you need of me?"

  "Aye," replied Malachi. He pushed himself up a bit and looked at Roberta. "Queen Roberta, would you please inform the servant where you intended me to be billeted tonight and then have her take my obstinate brother to leave my pack there?"

  "Josie, would you please be so kind as to escort Mr. Broderick here to the King's quarters, and would you inform Gertrude to have the room cleaned and prepared for new occupancy."

  Josie curtsied. "Of course, Your Majesty." The lass very shyly gripped Broderick's shirt sleeve and began pulling him in the direction of the door. Broderick grumbled, glared at his brother, but followed.

  "At the risk of sounding squeamish, have a couple of my men replace that mattress. I'll not sleep on the same bed as that bastard." He turned his head back to the slave. "Let's get this over with." The slave quickly and carefully removed the bullet, then she came back with a needle and thread and held them up in front of him and pointed to his back and then made sewing motions in the air. "It doesn't need stitches, just bandage it and I promise you I'll be fine." She looked very worried, but did as she was ordered. She washed her hands and then began cleaning the blood off of his back. "What's your name?" She continued cleaning the blood off of his back. Malachi gripped her arm gently and pulled her in front of him. "What is your name?" She nodded to him and crossed over to a counter and came back holding a slate. She wrote something on it and turned to face him. 'Slave'. Malachi took the slate and wiped it off. "No, that's what they call you. What is your name? I am Malachi … you are?" Again she wrote something, then she turned it around to face him. 'Healer or Slave'. As Malachi turned to look at Roberta, he was sure she was going to be laughing at him; but to his surprise, she looked very grim. As Malachi's eyes drifted down to her swollen belly, he thought he knew why she looked so grim. "When is your bairn due?" The slave made a little noise and dropped the scissors. Roberta looked frightened.