BLADELESS REVENGE
CHAPTER 1
I am most certain that you all have heard the stories that begin as "Once upon a time in a land far away..." so I will not bother to bore you with such rubbish. Instead, I will try something else more geared to liking. I am now going to take you into the world of a woman who found herself becoming a Goddess among strangers. The journey she took to lands she had not known... and in that journey, she found truth behind lies, peace in her heart, true love... and finally her Bladeless Revenge.
Helena dumped her small cauldron of gathered rainwater on a now smoldering fire. Hissing smoke billowed out from the wet wood to sting her morning fresh eyes. It was barely dawn, yet she still had a way to go before she reached her destination. Knots tied Helena's stomach as her hunger began to set in. The last time she ate was two days before when she broke upon a pair of tree hares. A different taste to her palette, she ate what she could of them and fed the last of the oats to her mare.
She quickly began to break her camp and prepare to move on. As she reached for her bedroll, she calculated how many kilometers she had left to travel; Less than 10 from what she remembered seeing on the map the night before. As Helena packed her mare's saddlebags, she whispered in the mare's ear gently,
"Don't worry my little Phoenix, today you eat and rest; and then you shall truly rise
from your ashes."
Dusty and mud covered, Helena mounted the horse and clicked her tongue, digging her boots into the mare's flanks. Still weary from their quick ascent through England, she commanded only a trot out of Phoenix for the last part of the journey. She needed some time to gather her wits about her before being in the presence of humans again. Helena closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. It was about to rain, she could taste it in the Spring air.
The castle Helena sought was seated atop a small mountain surrounded by rolling hills spilling into a valley. As Helena emerged from the edge of the forest, she observed the area before riding into the valley below. As she sat on the top of the forest's rise, she could see the walls surrounding the ever spreading villages. Each of the three walls present had been built when the village behind it no longer fit behind the previous wall's safety. Even now, stone huts were being sheltered in the shadows of the outermost wall.
A light Spring rain fell and Helena covered her head with her over sized, hooded cloak, pulling it close to keep dry. She covered all of herself save for the tips of her fingers and her muddy boots. Her hood covered most of her face and when she looked up, all that could be seen was from the tip of her nose to the brooch clip under her chin. If someone should come upon her, they would not know she was a woman by a mere glance at her appearance. Helena liked it that way and played it to her advantage in her travels. Men were widely more respected hunters and were paid higher bounties for their catch and kills. Helena learned of it very well since she stepped foot on English soil not more than a year before.
Though she spent a little time there already, Helena was quite cautious of the English. Actually, she was cautious of everyone. Although she shared their Celtic blood, their ways were much different than hers. She was originally a mainland Celt from the East. Here, they had adaptations she hadn't quite yet mastered and wasn't sure if she really wanted to. Helena reminded herself of this as she spotted a safe way off the rise to the main road. The sun had risen some now and was causing steamy fog to lay about the green fields. She urged her mare into another slow trot and headed for the road. As she made her way slowly toward the front gates, she saw a few villagers scurrying about the grass like field mice.
Mmmm.... mice. She thought they wouldn't taste so bad right now if they were churned over a fire. Although she'd kill for a few potatoes to add to them.
Helena reached the front gates of the castle and turned to pull a small scroll out of her pack. She presented it to the two guards who were now blocking her path. They cautiously looked her over and the guard on the left signaled to open the gates for her. As she strode in, she noticed the shutters of huts being thrown open all around her and the meager villagers were hurrying to clean up the last traces of snow from the pathways. They buzzed about Helena like worker bees, giving her curious, awkward and gawking glances and she noticed they were preparing the village for a festival. Given their curiosity of her, Helena surmised they had not seen her kind before.
Helena's senses sharpened as she smelled fresh bread and cooked meat. She knew the smell all too well. A freshly untamed boar seasoned to perfection with a hint of rosemary. She didn't have to see it to know it had been roasting since dawn. Instinctively, she followed her nose as the smell became stronger and she found herself in a small courtyard before a tavern and stables. A sign above the door of the tavern denoted itself as the "Ravenwolf Tavern". Helena commanded Phoenix to a halt and the mare whinnied back at her acknowledging the desire for food. A young stable boy appeared at the side of her horse before she had finished her dismount.
"May I take your horse for you, Sir?" The boy strongly asked with a thick poor man's
accent Helena was not used to hearing.
"Yes... a rubdown and hot mash for her. We have come a long way, she will also need to be well bathed and groomed." Helena answered him as she reached for her purse and pulled from it a coin of gold.
"She's a fine horse, sir. What's her name?" The boy inquired as he rubbed the horse's neck.
"Her name is Phoenix... and be careful, she's a bit headstrong." Helena answered the boy, handing him the gold coin, "Keep a sharp eye on my belongings as well. If they are all there when I return, and she's well fed and rested, I will give you more."
The boy looked wondrously in his hand at the coin. It was the most he ever had, save for all the coppers he was forced to keep until now. Helena looked over his shoulder and eyed a blacksmith hard at work. His movements were languid and dreamy, reminding Helena of her early childhood. The cozy nights she fell asleep in her bed by a hearth to the clamor if iron and steel her uncle had honed to perfection.
"Is that your father?" Helena asked the boy, " have him shoe her too."
She then pulled another gold coin from her purse and handed it to the boy for his father. He rushed over and showed his father excitedly, pointing back at Helena. The Smith looked in amazement and he and Helena respectfully nodded at each other. The boy ran back to her and hurriedly grabbed Phoenix's reigns and took her into the stables. Helena now stood before the door of the tavern, famished.
As she opened the door, a pungent smell of ale and tobacco hit Helena's nose. She wondered how many men had been in there the night before to have such strong scents still lingering in the morning. Her sharp eyes looked over the tavern and concluded it was empty. The fire in the hearth beckoned to her and Helena stepped forward to it and warmed herself. If she could she would have thrown herself in it to stave off Winter's chill. She quietly dropped herself to a bench before a table in a dark corner and faced the door.
From the kitchen a comely tavern keeper came out whistling and crossed to check on the hearth. Not a very large woman, yet endowed where it counted, Helena wondered if her clothes were purposefully tight across her ampleness. She lightly coughed and the keeper finally stopped whistling and came over to her.
"What'll yah be havin' m'dear?" She asked of Helena too cheerily for her that early in the day. Helena didn't bother to speak to her, she just pushed the last gold coin across the table, looking up slowly. The keeper could see the hunger in the stranger's tired face.
"Yes!... anythin'... I mean, everythin' we offer is yours. I'll get you somethin' to eatright away!" Startled by her paying in gold, the keeper took it and scurried to the kitchen bringing everything that was prepared for the day. This included the warm bread and the rosemary spiced boar Helena had savored. As she placed the plates before Helena, Helena whispered,
"Thank you kindly, milady." She then pulled out an ivory handled dagger and sliced off some bread to dip in the meat's juices.
"Such courtly manners of you, stranger? You're not dressed like royalty." The keeper mentioned as she looked down at Helena devouring a piece of meat.
"Long journey, I bet. Ach...aye love...you're not from these parts. An appetite and proper manners? Nobility here hasn't any manners like yours. Stay around long enough and you'll see for yerself." The tavern keeper walked over to the hearth again and placed a few more logs on the fire.
Suddenly, two young men burst through the door of the tavern in a tidal wave of guffaws and laughter. Their loud behavior caused Helena to look up sharply at the keeper for she wished for an undisturbed and quiet meal.
"And I digress... enter some of our nobles." The keeper torted to Helena, rising from the hearth and sauntering over to greet them. The two young men grabbed the keeper by her arms and swung her around, each planting a kiss on her plump face.
"Good mornin' Maggie, my love!" boasted the handsome, dark haired noble.
Maggie smiled as she cuffed both men sharply upside the backs of their heads. Both young men rubbed the backs of their heads and cursed inaudibly, taking their seats at their "usual" table.
"Sit your arses down and be quiet, both of you... you'd swear you two never slept alone in your beds last night with all that racket!" Maggie mentioned as she wiped down their table with a cloth. The young men began to snicker and laugh as Maggie raised a brow at them.
"I shouldn't have said that...I knew better than to say it..." Maggie trailed off as she headed to the kitchen for their food and ale. She quickly returned with a pitcher and two tankards.
"You're servin' us this mornin', Maggie? What 'ere happened to that tasty little dish you had in here?... Aye, Corin... what's her name?" The blond noble asked with a slight furrowing of his brows.
"Hmmm... that fiery tempered redhead? Aye... believe that one was Gwendolyn. Creamy, buttermilk pale skin, legs long and sturdy like oaks... breasts the likes of the Goddesses could not posses!" reminisced the dark haired Corin, "A Scots-lass I think too, eh Daniel?"
"Just my flavor!" replied the blond haired Daniel as he winked back at Corin, leaning over to punch him in the shoulder for his better knowledge of the girl.
"Yah prancin' popinjays need to halt your heated breeches! She went home yesterday. I was sent word of her dearest Gran's passin' and her mum couldn't stand the loss without the girl." Maggie answered them as she returned to their table holding plates filled with food.
"Well, a moment of silence then!" ordered Daniel. He and Corin then cupped their hands in their laps after jointly flopping their boots on a corner of the table, bowing their heads in mock respect. Corin broke out into sinful laughter and Daniel followed suit.
"Lovely Maggie, then I guess you'll be our light skirts until a succulent replacement can be found." Chided Corin as he slowly leaned back in his chair to flip the upper layers of Maggie's skirtings. Maggie turned sharply and smacked Corin's hand away from her.
"Listen here, young man... you two dunderheads have obviously forgotten how many times I've bathed and changed both your knickers!... and in those tasks, there's not a God's given inch I haven't seen of you two." Maggie commented back at them. Daniel smiled devilishly as Maggie headed back toward the kitchen.
"Aye Maggie! But we're bigger than a God's given inch since you've last bathed us! if you agree to do it again... we'll be happy to show you!" Daniel called out over his shoulder as Maggie slammed the kitchen door in disgust.
"Aye, Mags! Daniel here's dyin' for one of your baths!" Corin called out to the closed door. Waves of riotous laughter arose again from the two nobles as they clapped their tankards together and gulped down some of their ale. Maggie quietly returned from the kitchen with a bucket of water and a chunk of floor soap. Corin was silent as she walked up behind Daniel and poured the contents of the bucket over his head. Daniel opened his mouth to scream at the shock of the water's frigid temperature, and Maggie then took full advantage to shove the floor soap into his mouth.
Corin, now howling in laughter, fell back in his chair to the floor. Daniel quickly removed the soap from his mouth and arose from his chair. He walked over to Corin, dripping over him, and threw the chunk of soap down at his chest.
"Bloody bastard... you're always gettin' me into trouble!" Daniel whined as he pulled Corin back up by the arm to a seated position. Maggie placed two cloths on their table as she refilled their tankards with a look of satisfaction on her face.
"Mags, we still love you. That kind of spirit is what made our mother's choose you to help nurse us." Daniel spoke solemnly. Maggie dried his hair with a scruff of the cloth and kissed his forehead in return.
"Now hush up and eat!" She demanded as she took the cloths over to the bar to clean up.
In the dark corner Helena chose by the hearth, she remained utterly silent. English nobles were intriguing to her in their own right, but of these two her curiosity reached it's pinnacle. (If this story took place in more modern times, you could say Helena thought of them to be like Lloyd and Harry from the film "Dumb and Dumber". Yet, these guys did not look like geeks. They were more manly formed and had certainly ate their "Wheaties".) In Helena's silent observation of the two "prancin' popinjays", she wondered what kind of childhood they had to bring them to such behavior. If they didn't mature soon enough, what kind of leaders would they become? A flash of the two as pot-bellied drunkards with a dozen untamed tots running amuck around them plagued her mind. In disgust of her vision, she gulped down her ale in hopes to wash it away.
'Tis better not to mix with Englishmen. Helena thought as the warm ale hit her throat.
Chewing a mouthful of meat, Daniel raised his eyebrows at Corin in observance of him mostly picking at the bread and cheese. He knew something deeper was amiss with Corin today, but he chose to keep to his foolhardy behavior.
"Eat up you scrawny chicken, or I'll break your beak in the tournament!" chided Daniel as he chewed slowly.
"Oh piss off, you Blond-haired Pussy willow! No matter what or how much I eat, we both know I could best you any day!" steamed Corin as he threw a grape at Daniel to hide his true feelings.
"Care to put your coin where your mouth is?" replied Daniel, with his brows raised a bit.
"Ha! If I took that bet, I'd break your purse strings, Cousin, and you'd be poorer than a club-footed ol' beggar!" Corin replied in jest, smothering another piece of bread with cheese and stuffing it in his mouth.
"Nay! I'd mop the floor with you right off!" Daniel jested in return.
"Hmmm... maybe you'd have a chance, that bush of yours certainly makes you look
like one!" Corin chided, nodding at Daniel's head and then he quickly had to duck
grapes that flew from his cousin's hand in reaction to the belittlement.
"Seriously my good Cousin, something's afoot... so confess." Daniel demanded before he stuffed his mouth full of meat and washed it down with ale. Corin sat in silence for a moment as he pondered his predicament.
"Y'know my father..." he began, " he will soon pass on and make me his heir. He's made a final demand of me, and if I refuse to comply... the inheritance and title pass on to my younger brother Connor. As you know, Connor is only my half brother by blood, and is no position to run the manor... he is far much less deserving of this task than I." Corin looked down at his hands and fiddled with the ring his father had given him.
"So... what's this demand? I've never seen you so troubled! Your father worships the ground you walk upon, so I couldn't imagine him giving you an impossible task." Daniel cut in with a puzzled look.
Helena slowly picked at the large grapes in front of her and ate them slowly. She was also curious as to what demand Corin couldn't handle.
"He told me I need to marry before he passes." Corin choked out, "He's tired of all the women around me and wants me to be the Son and heir he intended me to be. She cannot be a woman I've known before either. She must be a woman of good character, strong and loving. It cannot be an arrangement of a year and a day marriage just to gain his title. I will actually have to love her and take care of her the rest of my life. I can't see why he would do this to me! Can you believe it?" Daniel shrugged his shoulders as Corin went on, "I mean, choosing a woman is like buying a horse... you mount it, take it for a ride, and see if it suits you before you buy it. If I can't try her out first, how am I supposed to live with her?"
"Well, first... your unchaperoned visits are not what your father had in mind, Corin." Daniel quipped in return.
"Bloody hell! How should I go about this then?" Corin leered.
"I learned some good things in my life, Dunderhead. Why don't you at least try to find out her name before you've bed her. Nay... better that... before you even lay your hands on her, permission or not." Daniel answered wisely.
"You jest!" Corin answered in a shocked manner at Daniel's wise remark.
"Seriously, how many times have you known a lady's name before taking her into your bed?" Daniel inquired raising one brow and staring knowingly at Corin. Corin began a count on his fingers but didn't get past the fourth finger.
"Oh fine! I get your point... now leave me alone!" Corin huffed.
"Fine... someday you'll need to tolerate a conversation with a woman longer than it takes to seduce her." Daniel chided as he grabbed some grapes and popped them one by one into his mouth.
"You've made your point, and it's sharp enough! There's no way I'll find a woman from around here interesting enough to want to know more than her name, let alone want to marry." Corin argued as he picked up his tankard and noticed it was empty.
"Suit yourself... but miracles can happen. Yet, in your case... It'll have to either be one serious miracle or one Hell of a woman." Daniel laughed as he also noticed his tankard was empty.
As if by psychic sense, Maggie came out of the kitchen with a fresh pitcher of ale. Corin stretched a little in his chair preparing to mess with her again. Maggie passed their table and crossed over to Helena. She refilled Helena's tankard and took away the empty plates. Both Daniel and Corin were startled as they finally saw the cloaked stranger and silently wondered why they had not noticed him before when they came in. Corin nudged Daniel's boot with his own and nodded in the foreigner's direction.
"Who's that?" Corin quickly asked Daniel, who was devouring more food.
"I don't know every man in this damned tavern y'know!" answered Daniel, trying to catch a glimpse of the cloaked one's face.
"Yes, but you've known almost every lass come in here, married or not." replied Corin, before he laughed at Daniel. Daniel scowled harshly at Corin and stomped his boot as Maggie came to their table.
"Maggie, who's that man there?" Daniel asked as she picked up his tankard and refilled it.
"I dunno... a foreigner that blew in with the rains. Who 'er they are... very quiet, payed with gold, and has manners to boot.... unlike you two Dandys!" Maggie answered quietly as she slightly looked back over her shoulder to Helena.
Helena gave a half smile to no one as she smeared cheese on a piece of bread. She thought for a moment about the two of them being from her country, and if they were, the women there would run circles around them. Corin tapped his tankard on the table to get Daniel's attention. Daniel's eyes were fixed on Helena's direction in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the foreigner's face.
"So, do you know who will compete against us in today's tournament?" Corin inquired, trying not to let the strangers presence bother him.
With Helena's back to the hearth and her hood over her eyes, she was completely cast in shadow. As much as Daniel tried he could barely see the outline of her lower lip and chin. Corin stomped Daniel's boot to gain his full attention. Corin asked again, "Do you know who will compete against us in the tournament?'
Daniel, growling in pain, turned to Corin, "Argh, yeah, right.... the tournament. The joust is as usual but, with the new guard... I dunno. 'Tis alright though, with the skills acquired on that trip to Rome... no one can defeat us."
At the mention of Rome, Helena lifted her head and glared at the two until her vision blurred. She payed close attention to the next pieces of conversation she overheard. Corin then placed a finger before his lips as a signal for silence on the subject.
"That knowledge is our upper hand." Corin whispered, thinking Helena would not hear him. "We do not know exactly who our competitors are then... if they have spies... or even if that foreigner over there is the King's own spy, watching us."
Helena smirked, holding a piece of bread in her hand as Daniel looked at her in a half-shocked, half-suspicious way. To Helena, he looked like a confused dog. Corin coughed and cleared his throat as Maggie came past their table and tended once again to the dying hearth. She threw on a few more logs and rose in satisfaction as the flames rose to the crackling wood. Corin pushed away his plate and Daniel did the same.
"Excellent as always, Mags. But... do let us know when you find another serving girl like Gwendolyn." Corin spoke before giving her a devilish smile.
"Try for another fiery redhead, Maggie... with long legs she knows how to use !" Daniel called after Maggie scooped up their plates and took them to the kitchen.
From the door, She cast them a seething look that would make normal men cringe. The two just laughed, dropped a silver coin each on the table and headed for the front door. Daniel and Corin clasped each other's forearms as Daniel spoke.
"See you on the King's field." Corin shot back another sly grin and both men strolled out of the tavern to prepare for the tournament.
Helena straightened up on the bench and downed the last of her ale. She tallied in her head what she would need from her pack. She had almost all of her weapons on her, cleverly disguised by her own designs. She pushed her empty plate away, rose to her feet and nodded thanks to Maggie.
"Those pompous and foolhardy men would faint at the sight of their own blood, let
alone be able to shield a King in battle!" Helena scowled. Maggie nodded in reply,
"Aye love...the competition is still open to those skilled in the sword. Why don't you
try your hand.... if you think you can do better." Helena pulled out her scroll and
showed it to Maggie. Maggie silently said a prayer as she quickly made a motion of
blessing herself.
Cover art on Wattpad provided by olga_godim