Free The Barbarian by Georgia Fox Page B

is
Ifyr this morn?" he demanded.
    "Probably in
the arms o' some whore," one of the men grunted. "Or three. Last time
I saw him he was balls-deep, still going by first light."
    "He knows I
called a meeting?"
    Rolf nodded.
"He knows."
    Stryker's temper
mounted. Clearly he gave Ifyr too much leniency. "Then he's due for a
dunking in the rain barrel and a few hours in the drunk shed. No more whores
for him until I say so."
    That made a few of
the men sit straighter and make greater attempt to look alert, propping
themselves up with elbows and knuckles.  
    "My wife can
make a few bowers of greenery for the great hall," Rolf volunteered.
"For the wedding feast. Her fingers aren't so nimble as they once were,
but she can show the cookhouse girls how to twine some willow and wind it with
ivy."
    "And we've
horns from the stags we hunted yesterday," another man suggested.
"They've yet to be washed and hung up."
    "Women like
soft things," someone muttered disapprovingly. "Feather pillows on
chairs."
    Stryker nodded.
"Better. I want to see more effort about the place. More candles and
things that smell sweet."
    The men looked at
him blankly.
    "Herbs,"
he snapped. "Flowers."
    "'Tis winter,
sire. No flowers about. In this weather 'tis a bugger to find anything
growing."
    "There must
be something growing that smells good. Find what you can. And watch your
language around my Lady Amias. She's come from a large town with modern
conveniences and lordly men who don't fart in public."
    "What do they
do then?" one of the younger men inquired.
    "They must
hold it in," said Rolf with a smirk. "Until it bursts out of them in
a gush of hot air. Then they call it verse and slap a tune to it for
wooing."
    The others
laughed. Even Stryker was tempted, but he curbed it. Rolf had given him an
idea. Wooing was a sure way to make a woman smile and keep her content until
her uncle came. Elsinora had once accused him of never bothering to woo her. He
would not make the same mistake again. He would prove to the Baron Burleigh
that his shrew niece could be tamed and that he, Stryker Bloodaxe, was the man
to do it. Now he was this close, he could smell the coin in that bride purse
and he wasn't about to lose out this time.
    When the men were
dismissed, he asked Rolf to walk with him outside.   Since the death of Stryker's father, seven
years ago, Rolf had become the confidant he most trusted. The old man's eyes
were cloudy now, his hair thinned, back bent, legs bowed, but his knowledge
remained intact. He may not always remember what he ate for supper the night
before, but he could tell Stryker, in detail, the events of a battle in which
he participated twenty years ago. It was probably a great many years since the
man had cause to "woo", therefore Stryker had every hope his memory
would be detailed on that too.
      But Rolf's experience, when it came to
breeding, was mainly about horses. He'd had one wife for thirty years and their
courtship, as he explained it, took place over one sunny afternoon on a
hay-cart in harvest. After careful consideration of Stryker's dilemma, the best
he could come up with was, "Compliment her on her titties."
    Stryker tried to
imagine her face, should he tell her she had nice breasts. Somehow it still
scowled at him, even in his imagination. "Hmm. What else?"
    "Hold her
hand," the old fellow replied sagely. "They like that—women."
     
    ****
     
    Ami and Villette
unpacked the coffers and trunks that were rescued yesterday from the flood
waters. Some had leaked, rendering the contents damp and stained, including her
wedding gown. The material was a soft, loosely woven linen, dyed green. The
separate sleeves were embroidered with tiny sprigs of gilt thread that poked
through like primroses in spring. A pretty but frivolous, unnecessary
embellishment and too much for this place. Even with a muddy water stain
marking the skirt, it was still finer than anything else she might find in this
remote manor.
    As she held the
material up to