Read Online While Angels Slept by Kathryn Le Veque - Free Book Online

burned brightly in the hearth, sending
ribbons of smoke into the air.   As Tevin entered the hall, the first thing he
saw was Hunt and his big yellow dog sitting near the fire.  The boy had a big
piece of bread in his hand and the dog licked at the crumbs on the floor.  
    “My lord,” Simon
Horley somehow had snuck up behind him and he’d never heard him. “How fares
Val?”
    “She is
sleeping,” Tevin replied. “Do you have a casualty report?”
    “Nine dead,
twenty-seven wounded,” Simon replied. “Considering the fierceness of the
battle, I had expected worse.”
    Tevin nodded.  “Is
everyone attended to?”
    “Aye,” Simon
replied. “Your knights are in the knight’s quarters, awaiting your debriefing.”
    Tevin usually
gave a small talk after every battle. It was usually to discuss the battle as a
whole, how well it was managed, and if there could be any improvements made
with skill or manpower or weapons. But tonight, he didn’t feel much like
talking about it. Perhaps it was because he had been preoccupied with Val, or
perhaps it was because he was too spent. The past few days had been
inordinately draining, both physically and emotionally.
    “Tell them men
to get some rest and we shall speak on the morrow,” he said. “I shall sleep
with Val in case she needs anything.”
    Simon nodded.
“Very good, my lord.”
    With a wave of
his hand, Tevin dismissed him.  At some point, he realized that Hunt was
walking over to him, winding his way amongst the wounded on the floor. The
yellow dog followed behind.  When Hunt reached him, he stood there looking up
at him, chewing on his bread.
    “Are you
hungry?” the child asked.
    Tevin shook his
head. “Nay, boy. I am here to look after my wounded.”
    Hunt took
another big bite of bread. “Mam already did that.”
    “Where is your
mother?”
    “In the yard.”
    Tevin nodded his
thanks for the information and proceeded to the exit of the keep. The kitchens
and yard were on the opposite side of the bailey.  It took him a moment to
realize that Hunt and the dog were trailing after him.
    “I thaw the dead
men,” Hunt said as they crossed the dusty ward. “Are you going to give them
grand funerals?”
    Tevin looked
down at him, a disapproving expression across his brow. “Why did your mother
allow you to see dead men?”
    Hunt had
finished his bread, but there were crumbs all over his face. He gazed up at
Tevin with blue-eyed innocence. “They were in the ward. I thaw them. One of
them had arrowth sticking out of him.”
    Just like
Brac . Tevin didn’t know what to say so it was best that he say nothing. As
they neared the kitchen enclosure, he spied a few women in the yard, bent over
a large iron cauldron. It was steaming furiously and they were removing pieces
of cloth from the boiling brew with big sticks. Even in the darkness of the
bailey, he could see great clothes lines of boiled rags strewn all over the
yard.
    As he stood at
the threshold to the enclosure, Cantia suddenly emerged from the warm, moist
kitchen with a tray in her hands.  She spoke to the servants stirring the pot,
asking them to add more lye to the mixture. The bandages were for the wounded
and she wanted to make sure that they were clean.  Then she spied Tevin and
Hunt at the yard gate.
    “My lord,” she headed
straight for him. “I was just coming to find you. I thought perhaps you might
like something to eat.”
    As Tevin gazed
at her, he quickly realized one thing; he was glad to see her.  “And I was
coming to find you to discover the state of my wounded,” he said steadily.
    “Perhaps we
should go into the keep and discuss it while you eat.”
    He merely
nodded, allowing her to lead the way.  Hunt raced to his mother’s side, holding
her hand as they retraced their steps across the bailey.  Tevin followed along
behind, his eyes alternately scanning the ward and scanning Cantia.  He tried
not to watch her, the soft sway of her slender backside, instead