"I live with men. I have to be pushy. This Lady Grace, she has no help? No servants?"
"She has us," Faith answered, feeling another twinge of homesickness and guilt for leaving Grace to bear her baby without her help.
Agdta saw the shadow of sorrow that crossed the girl's face. So that was how it was, was it? The Paenitentia here were demanding employers, but they paid well and were never cruel. They couldn't afford to be. They'd have no hired help. The Patron would not allow it. It must be very different up North. This poor child looked cruelly used.
"You ran away," Agdta stated without question. "Good for you. Now tell me, how do you do this thing with your hands."
"Maldito gato!" Álvaro exploded into the hall.
Through the wide doorway, they saw a tawny ball of fur streak past and then Álvaro stumble in his haste and slid on his belly across the polished floor like a boy on a sled. The slide was followed by a sharp hiss and another yell from Álvaro as the cat leaped onto his back and off again into the kitchen where it marched across the floor to sit by Faith's chair, ears flat and eyes glaring.
Álvaro was on his feet and pointing a threatening finger at the cat. There was another tirade of unintelligible language from which Faith only caught one word; diablo, devil.
Agdta burst out laughing. "It's only a cat and you're only angry because it outwitted you. Again."
More angry words.
"Bah," Agdta waved him off with her hand, "It is a cat. We have mice. Let her do her job."
A scowl, more angry words, and a fist shake for emphasis with the mention of el Patron.
"He'll like it less when the mice start nibbling at his books. Now sit. We have a guest."
Faith rose from her seat and stepped back when Álvaro took a step forward, hands reaching out for her. She watched Álvaro speak, but only understood Agdta's side of the conversation.
Agdta picked up the rolling pin on the floor by her feet and threatened him with it. He was twice her size.
"You will not tie her in the barn! Look at her, brother. She's of no danger to anyone and she is from the House of el Patron up North, Lord Canaan."
"No!"
Faith was grabbed about the waist and her right arm was raised above her head. For a moment she couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Then she was twirling beneath the raised hand and saw a flutter of white mustachios.
"She is an angel," the old man shouted and danced a few short steps around her spinning body. "I am a man who has danced with an angel."
"Papi!" shouted Agdta and Álvaro together.
Faith's breath released in a rush as she was danced across the kitchen to something akin to a polka. She tried to stop him but he was too strong for her.
"Stop!"
"Why?" The old man laughed. "I'm dying and it is my dying wish to dance with an angel."
They'd reached the corner of the kitchen and when he tried to change direction, Faith managed to extricate herself and quickly signed.
"You are not dying."
Álvaro was shouting again and Agdta was shouting back. The cat was hissing and the old man was laughing.
No one heard the truck pull up, but there was no missing the two young voices singing "We Are the Champions" at the top of their lungs.
"What is going on in here?" Lord Lucien shouted just as Álvaro grabbed her arm and yanked her away from the old man, shouting something she didn't understand.
Faith reeled. The singing voices turned to shouts. There was a scuffle. More shouts as she was pulled away from Álvaro. The dark door in her mind opened and beckoned her in. She was sitting on the floor and someone was kneeling in front of her.
"Faith," Lord Lucien said quietly, but sternly, "Look at me."
He was so close she could only see his deep set eyes.
"Do not leave me, Faith. Do not go away. You're safe. I promise."
His eyes, so intensely colored they were almost black, looked deeply into hers and she couldn't look away. There was sincerity in those eyes, and truth. They pulled her in with their honesty. They were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. She felt his breath across her lips.
"No one here will do you harm."
She mouthed the voiceless words because she couldn't lift her hands.
"I know," she said and tried to smile, but the door in her mind was wide open and she was already falling through.
Chapter 8
"She's stirring," Álvaro whispered.
Agdta, standing out of sight in the hall, put her finger to her lips. The patron was angry enough. She didn't need to be caught in the House proper snooping while he was still awake. She grabbed her brother's arm and dragged him down the hall and around the corner.
"Let me go," Álvaro hissed, "She's waking. He may need me."
"Por qué? Are you afraid a ninety pound girl will wrestle him to the ground and cut off his head? There are two very healthy boys in there who will interfere if she should attack." She patted his cheek affectionately. "This is not your fault. The girl will be fine."
"It's not about the girl," he grumbled as he followed her to the kitchen.
"Then why are you so afraid?"
"I am afraid of nothing," he snarled. "You said it yourself. She is nothing more than a slip of a girl. What harm can she do? I just don't trust her, that's all."
"You think she hid herself in the back of that van and rode all that way because she is a spy? She came from a House of Guardians! Adam and Lalo said so." Agdta appealed to her father who was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee. "Tell this fool of a son that the girl is harmless."
The old man looked up from his paper. "My son is no fool." He tossed the paper on the table, finished his coffee and stood. "He is the Vigilante and it is his duty to protect the People and the Demonio Cazadoro. It is natural for him to be suspicious, but…" He winked at his fuming daughter. "We have nothing to fear from this Faith. She has rescued me from the cloak of death. She is an angel."
"Or a bruja," Álvaro grumbled.
"Or both." The old man put his hand to the base of his back and pushed to stretch out the kinks of age. "I'm going to find my grandson. I'm in the mood for a ride."
"Papi, no. You've been injured."
"And now I am not. I am going for a ride. I want to hear a young boy laugh. I want to ride my horse in the sunlight," he said. As he headed for the door he called over his shoulder. "I want to kiss that angel again, but I am too old to chase skirts and I think someone else will get there before me."
*****
"We killed a demon, Faith!"
Lalo was on his feet the second Faith opened her eyes.
"We?" Adam was on his feet beside his friend, giving him a shove to the shoulder.
"Okay, Adam killed it, but I fought, too. Adam thought it was a girl and you know how he is around girls. He gets all…" Lalo squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest and continued in a cartoon hero's voice, "Don't worry sweet thing. I'm here to rescue you."
"It wasn't like that, shithead."
Adam shoved again and this time Lalo shoved back.
"Was so!
"At least I didn't swat at it like it was some kind of fucking fly."
"No, you tripped over the damn thing and got us all tangled up." Lalo turned back to Faith and said, "When Lord Lucien made him take the heart, he looked like he was going to puke…"
Lucien, who'd quietly laid his book aside and risen to his feet, now sharply called, "Gentlemen! Enough. These are not words a young lady wishes to hear."
Lalo Looked confused. "Which words were those, sir?"
Adam opened his eyes wide and spread his hands. "Fuck, damn, shit," he listed. "You know, the same ones that piss off her sister. Use your head, you idiot."
Lucien closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It is more than the language, gentlemen. It is the subject as well. A young lady should not be exposed to such things."
"Sorry, my Lord," Adam said.
He bowed his head and put his fist o
ver his heart, but Lalo wasn't so easily convinced.
"She knows what we do and she's heard those words before," he reasoned.
"Hmm, yes, and you can see what it's done to her." Lucien nodded sympathetically toward Faith. "I do not know what she was subjected to in Lord Canaan's House nor do I wish to know, but know this. It will not happen here." His tone brooked no argument.
"Yes, sir." Lalo reluctantly touched his fist to his chest. "I serve at my Liege Lord's command."
Lucien nodded. "Now, it is late. You can see that Faith is awake and unharmed. It is time you retired to your rooms."
"Can we stop off at the kitchen, uh, la cocina and see about something to eat?" Lalo asked and then looked at his friend who nodded his agreement.
Lucien closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We ate but two hours ago."
"We know and it was really good," Adam said enthusiastically.
"But now it's gone," Lalo explained and rubbed his empty belly to prove his point.
"Go." Lucien waved them away, "And if you see Álvaro, tell him we are going to need more supplies."
Smiling, Adam led the way into the hall. "Good day, my lord."
"Good day," Lucien sighed.
Lalo called after him. "You, too, boss," and a second later, long enough for Adam to jab him in the ribs, and after a "Shit! That hurt! Oh, yeah," he called, "I mean my Lord."
Lucien's chin dropped to his chest and his shoulders slumped. "This may have been the most exhausting night of my entire adult life," he sighed. Between the long ride, the refusal of Álvaro to go faster than the speed limit and the constant chatter of the novitiates, he was already on edge by the time they returned home and… He felt movement behind him. My God, the child! He'd almost forgotten her.
"I beg your pardon," he said, bowing from the waist in a courtly manner that reminded Faith of Broadbent.
She was curled up in the corner of the sofa, a light weight blanket wrapped around her shoulders. During the bad times, she'd taught herself to move quietly or remain unmoving. Now, it was habit. People often forgot she was in the room or missed her presence all together. She smiled and waved to show she took no offense and then signed, inviting him to share the sofa.
Agdta and old Vasco swore the girl could talk with her hands and they could understand her. Álvaro couldn't and thought they heard what they wanted to. The old man swore she was an angel, after all. Lucien, however, couldn't understand her gestures either until she finally frowned and pointed, first to him and then to the other end of the sofa.
"You wish me to sit?" And when Faith nodded, he sat. "Thank you. It has been a wearing day."
Faith put her open palm to her chest, closed her eyes and lowered her head. Her apology was as simple as she could make it and he understood.
"It was not just you. It was everything," he confessed, "The ride, the constant talk, coming home to the break-in, Vasco's beating which, thank God, wasn't nearly as severe as it first looked. Then those two novitiates who seemed so quiet and reserved when I met them. They never shut up. I made them ride home in the back of the truck with the Travelers we brought home just to get some peace. It did no good. They sang that ridiculous song at the top of their lungs all the way home. Do you know it? 'We are the champions' over and over until my head rings with it."
Lucien glanced over at Faith to find she was smiling.
"You're laughing at me, aren’t you?"
Faith nodded.
"You don't know what it's like."
Faith's grin broadened. She knew the song. They all sang it. Dov and Col started it because they knew it would drive everyone crazy. She held up eight fingers, four on each hand and then plugged her ears with her index fingers.
"They all sang it?" he asked with a horrified look.
She nodded slowly.
"What is wrong with those people? Why did Lord Canaan not put a stop to it?"
Faith shrugged. It was hard to put a stop to their youthful exuberance and half the time, Grace was singing along with them so it was hard for Canaan to say anything at all. While the noise drove her crazy, too, she sometimes envied them.
Such nonsense wasn't allowed in her father's house and the only time she had to sing and dance was when he occasionally went away. She played piano for her father's church and sang hymns, but those were of his choosing and were usually somber and dreadful. The pleasures she found in those few months after she ran away was more rebellion than real happiness and when she met Tyn… She no longer felt like singing.
Lucien saw the look on her face and could have kicked himself for his thoughtlessness. Agdta's suspicions of how she was treated at Lord Canaan's House coincided with his own suspicions upon meeting her there. That House could not hold good memories for her. He wanted to reach out and pat her hand to tell her he understood, but Adam and Lalo insisted she didn't like to be touched. Instead, he changed the subject.
He spoke of the ranch and the village nearby where all of his employees lived. They were an isolated group who, according to him, liked it that way. They called themselves The People. They spoke a mixture of Spanish and English with a few ancient dialects mixed in.
"If you want their friendship, do not call them Indians or Native Americans or Mexicans," he warned with a smile. "They are none of those. They are The People and have lived on this land since the beginning of time."
He moved from one subject to the next with ease, never lingering too long or becoming too detailed and boring.
"The novitiates did well tonight. Adam was angry when I didn't help them conquer the demon, but I needed to see what they were capable of. It was only a small one and I would not have let them be hurt," he assured her.
He then went on to tell her about tracking the Travelers into the wilderness, destroying the drugs and sending those on their way who wanted to continue after wiping their memories of all that occurred. He did not tell her about the fate of the leaders or those who fought by their side.
"Two of the young men did not wish to go on, so we offered them a choice. They will spend the night in the barn and tomorrow decide to go or stay. If they go, tomorrow night Chico, one of Agdta's son's will drive them as far as he dares. If they decide to stay, they will join our little community."
Faith's head snapped up at the word. She was raised in her father's Community of Saints. It was a farming collective held by the church though in fact, owned by her father. She hated it and him.
Lucien saw that he'd made another mistake. Pulling his watch from his pocket, he saw that he'd been talking for over an hour. She must think him as garrulous as the novitiates. He couldn't remember the last time he'd talked so much.
"Come, muchacha, I'll see you to your bed. Agdta says you need the sun, so she fixed you a room facing the courtyard. It catches the morning sun. If it is too bright for you to sleep, there are drapes such as these," he pointed to the heavy drapes that covered the courtyard view completely. "If you wish to become a night sleeper, I will understand that, too, and Agdta will find you a place in the village until we can decide what will be done with you. But rest assured you have a place here. No one can make you leave."
Lucien offered her his hand, but Faith refused to take it and slid from the sofa to her feet without aid. He held the door open for her and she nodded her thanks before following him down the hall and around the corner where he opened a door to an interior room. There, he stepped aside and allowed her to pass with a soft 'Buenos Dias, Faith'.
Faith smiled her thanks, slipped inside and closed the door. She rested her back against it and sighed.
She'd made a fool of herself tonight, but Lucien was too much the gentleman to mention it. That was a good thing, because she didn't know how to explain it. She thought she was strong enough to leave all that behind her and when the old man, Agdta's father, grabbed her and kissed her, she was shocked, but not floored. The dark door opened, but she didn't fall in. Why then, had she fallen through when Álvaro grabbed her arm? Would she h
ave done it if Lucien touched her?
The man she saw tonight was nothing like the man she saw at Canaan's. Tonight, he was kind and courtly. He entertained her with his tale of the night's adventure. That was exactly how he presented it, as an adventure. He protected her from the blood and gore. It was sweet.
Conquered the demon! She'd almost laughed when he said it. They cut off its head or ripped the heart from its chest. She didn't care which as long as it was gone.
Back at Canaan's House, Lucien had seemed so hard and cold. JJ's christening him the Ice Dude was rude, but not unwarranted. Yet when he tried to take the tray from her and looked into her eyes, Faith saw no coldness there. Anger, yes, but as frightened as she was, she knew the anger was not directed at her and when he said he said he wouldn't harm her, she believed him.
Her father was a mean spirited man, frequently angry and his anger was always directed at Hope. Faith never saw the wrongness of that even when it was her offense that caused the beating and Hope, God bless her, never said a word. Like everyone else, Faith thought her sister was strong and could take it because she was tall and broad. Faith felt the shame now for what she hadn't felt back then.
Lucien's anger wasn't like her father's, where any little thing might set him off. The Liege Lord's anger had seemed more focused, though on what she had no idea.
Shaking her head, Faith put all thoughts of the night aside and began stripping off her clothes. She wanted a quick bath and bed. For someone who'd dozed away most of the long trip and taken a long nap after the commotion in the kitchen, she was still tired. Someone had left her few things, neatly folded, on top of the ornately carved dresser. She was reaching for her nightshirt when she caught sight of herself in the equally ornate mirror that hung above it.
She was shocked by the woman who stared back at her. Maybe it was because this mirror was different from the one in her little bathroom back home or maybe it was because she never really looked at herself when she brushed her teeth and combed out the tangles from her hair, but this reflection was a woman she'd never seen.
Guardian's Faith Page 7