A burning sensation on my nose woke me up. I opened my eyes a slit, and realised the sun was creeping up over the windowsill and hitting my face with its full glare. I lifted my arm sluggishly to scratch away the feeling.
I was in a large stone room—a castle room. Across the room on a smaller bed slept Audrianna, and sitting by the empty fireplace on a rocking chair was Alima. She was knitting what looked like a baby jacket.
I tried to sit up and fell down a second later with a woozy feeling in my stomach.
"Don't try it, dearie. You gon and got var bad sea sick. 'Bin out of it, round three days."
I deciphered what she had said in my head. Sick for three days? That must mean we were in France now.
I slid slowly out of the bed and onto the freezing cold stone floor. I stiffed my feet quickly into my boots. My faithfull chest was at the end of the bed, and I started searching through it for something to wear.
"Now don'you get yer paws dirty. I'll get yourn dress for you." I heard a loud creak as Almia stood up and moved towards me.
"No, I can handle dressing myself, if your busy knitting." She looked surprised at my words. "Is that for one of your grandkids?" I asked, nodding to her small jacket.
Her face lit up. "Ach, no. It's for one of your babies. I reckons the king will be marrying you off soon!"
I blanched, and the woozy feeling returned to my stomach. She noticed my face and rushed over to force me into a chair. After that I allowed her to dress me. Arguing with her was pointless.
I ate my unappetising breakfast in the great hall with the rest of the soldiers. Well, I was seated at the head table separate from them all. Richard, Robert, Liam, and Thornham were all mysteriously missing from the room. Unfortunately sitting right beside me was de Camville, the man from the boat.
"Do you know where my father is?" I asked him politely. He looked up from gorging himself.
"No, but there are plenty of fun things we could do without him around," he winked at me. I recoiled and stood up, abandoning my barely eaten breakfast.
"I think I'll go look for him."
Camville looked like he wanted to follow me, but in the end his food was just too appetising. I grabbed an apple off the table for later.
I made my way down one of the hallways, passing by the soldiers tables. Some of then stared at me creepily, but most gave me respectful nods. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to curtsy back or not, so I took the safer choice of pretending to be absorbed in the patterns of the wall hangings. Soon I was away from the noisy hall and in an empty hallway. I was debating where to head next when Thornham came speeding around the corner, clearly in a hurry.
"Thornham! Do you know where Richard is?"
"The king? Of course I know where he is. It is my job to know where he is at every moment of the day." I gave him a bright smile. He sighed, "I assume you would like to know where he is?"
"Yes Thornham, that would be lovely." My smile had become somewhat more strained.
"He is in the practise yard, training with the other knights." He took off again, leaving me to find where that was all an my own.
With the help of a friendly maid, a few minutes later I was at the edge of the grassy yard, observing the Knights in their heavy armour spar. The location was perfect, in the centre of the castle, assuring that the yard was always in shade. I didn't want to know what it would feel like to be in full armour in a desert.
The knights looked like they were taking it easy, checking their weapons over for blemishes, and attacking each other in a mostly friendly way. Over on the other side was target practise, empty of any people. I made my way around the perimeter of the courtyard and entered in to the range. A few practise bows were laid out on straw bales and I picked one up, checking the string.
A pair of boots appeared in my vision and I looked up to see Liam leaning lazily against the wall watching me.
"Planning to join the crusade as an archer?" He asked amused.
"Why not?" I shrugged.
He grinned at me. "I think you underestimate the strength it takes to pull a bow."
I frowned. Behind me I heard moving feet and I spun around. Camville was entering the yard, a smile on his face when he saw me.
"Here to watch us train?" He asked. I grimace at him.
"I was thinking of practising archery," I told him. He gave me a surprised look.
"You would not want to ruin your pretty hands." He glanced down at my arms where I had pushed up my sleeves and licked his lips discreetly.
"Oh, I would." God everyone here was so sexist!
Richard and Robert walked over to see what we were talking about. I sighed, I suppose it was to much to assume I could practise without creating a huge scene.
"Alix, what are you doing here?" Richard asked me. Behind him more knights were coming forward to see what was going on.
"I just wanted to shoot a bow! Is that so much to ask?"
Camville laughed nervously. "It is a proven fact that women can't use men's weapons." The majority of the knights nodded in agreement.
"Fine, if it's proven. I suppose you wouldn't mind putting your theory to the test." I held my bow out to him. He took it in his hands and looked up at me questionably.
"A friendly little test perhaps?" I asked him sweetly.
He smiled at me and tested the string as I had done before. Richard moved forward and stood at my shoulder.
"Alix, what are you doing? De Camville is an excellent shot." He whispered. "He wouldn't be one of my commanders if he couldn't use weapons."
"Trust me."
Camville looked at me and smiled. "Shall we say ten paces, m'lady?"
I looked at the target and back. "I think we could go thirty. We are inside an enclosed area, so there is no wind to worry about."
"Thirty? M'lady, you are adventurous!" We moved to the very back wall of the yard. I simmered at the knights amusing glances. In outdoor ranges I had shot up to ninety meters, and I don't know the conversion rate between paces and meters, but it must be similar.
Camville looked over his arrow and then notched it. He waited a breath and then pulled his arrow, aimed and let it go.
He was and excellent shot. The target was made up of three circles, blue, yellow and then the smallest was red. His arrow pierced the outside of the red circle. I clapped along with the rest of the knights, and the crowd of servants that had gathered.
Camville went to retrieve his arrow and gave me the bow. He made his way over to the well used practise target and pulled his arrow out, perhaps too hard. The many holes in the wooden board made it crumble under his grasp. Camville looked up with a chuckle.
"I suppose it is a sign that women weren't meant to shoot," he told me. I clenched my hand.
"You're not getting out of this competition that easily."
The crowd laughed, thinking I was jesting. Camville looked around. "Do you see anything else to aim at?" I glanced at the sparse practise yard. Nothing as bright red as the centre practise target caught my eye. One last thought in my head, I reached into my gowns pocket and pulled out the apple I had stashed there earlier.
"This perhaps?" I asked holding it up. Camville frowned at me.
"Anyone can hit an apple, it's bigger than the centre target was!"
I glowered at his. "Then I suppose if it's so easy you could balance it on you head and I could shoot it off." I said rashly. The crowd hushed.
Camville shook his head. "Are you mad?"
I held out the apple to the crowd, they all backed away. "Anyone else want to volunteer?" I yelled out.
Nobody stepped forward, and then a women's voice shouted from the back of the crowd. "I will." Audrianna made her way into the yard and grabbed the apple from my hand. I looked at her surprised.
"If you kill me, you have to look over my grandma well. Dress her up in fancy clothes and feed her the best meals; Keep her from getting arrested, agreed?" I nodded slowly, not really understanding what she meant. She stood where the target had been and started to balance it on her head. I tried to think of why she had volunteered. She knows I can shoot. She was one of the only people who had seen the bow hidden in my chest. Or she was just crazy.
Audrianna gave up trying to balance it and just held it on her crown with one finger. "You better not kill me."
I examined my arrow for glitches and notched it. The crowd held their breaths as I pulled back the string and aimed, centering my body, and with a twitch of my fingers let the arrow fly.
Everyone gasped as the arrow pierced into flesh.