Serenity Valley (42 page)

Eva came out of her door with huge,
concerned eyes. Her giant meat cleaver was gripped in her right
hand. “Good lord, Nesta, what’s wrong, girl?”

Nesta yelled, “It’s Mama! He may have
killed her this time! Come quick!”

Eva began running toward Trina’s
house. Having heard the ruckus, Master Tanner Forwin and his son
joined them. Both held short swords in their right hands. When they
reached Trina’s house, Forwin said, “Best let us go in first ta
have a look!” Forwin looked at Eva, then Nesta. Eva grabbed hold of
Nesta and nodded her head in approval. Forwin went in with his son,
expecting the worst.

A minute that seemed an eternity
passed before Forwin’s son came back outside. “Lady Eva, Pop says
go on in. I’ll stay with Nesta.”

Eva quickly went into the house,
leaving Nesta with Evan. Trembling in fear, Nesta looked at Evan
and asked in a shaking voice, “Evan, is Mama dead?”

Evan looked at her and said, “I
promise you, your mother is fine!” Nesta started to reach for the
door. Evan pulled her hand back and said, “You need to stay here
with me now; yer mom will come out ta you shortly.” Evan looked at
Nesta’s face in disbelief. He moved her hair out of the way to see
her left eye swollen shut. Her right eye and cheek were already
changing to a dark purple color. He put his arm around her and
said, “I’m so sorry the bastard turned on you, Nesta. Pop and I
have wanted to do something about the bastard for a long
time!”

Several minutes passed before Trina
came out of the door, carefully closing it behind her. Nesta ran to
her mother and wrapped her arms around her. She cried, “Mama, I was
so scared he killed you this time!”

Trina hugged her daughter and said,
“Not this time. Told 'im never lay hands on ya, he be gettin' da
worst a it this time. We be sendin' 'im off now, darling; you go on
ta Sirates, not ta worry no more 'bout da bastard.”

Evan said, “Come on, Nesta, I’ll walk
ya over.”

“Ya go on now, an haves Giselia look
at yer face,” Trina said when Nesta still hesitated.

Nesta said, “I’ll see you in the
morning, Mama?”

Trina said, “Yes, baby girl, I come ta
ya in the morning.” Trina slowly turned and walked back into the
house, well pleased that her baby girl was headed to Sirates House
with Evan.

Once at Sirates House, Nesta stayed
outside the back door as Evan went in to see where Fulk was. Evan
returned to take Nesta inside. He said, “Fulk has gone to bed.
Giselia and Ivan are the only ones still up.” Giselia met her at
the back door and quickly took her into the great room, where Ivan
was collecting oil lamps and placing them on the table. Giselia
pulled Nesta’s long hair back and tied it out of the way. She
examined her closed eye and the bones around the eye orbit. She
then moved to the other cheek. After a complete examination,
Giselia spoke, “Bones not broken, okay being eye, just looking
bad.”

Ivan asked Evan, “Where is this beater
of women? I will handle him, not very nicely!”

Evan said, “Trina has taken care of
him. He is in no condition to hurt anyone now.” Ivan looked at
Evan. Evan just nodded.

Ivan said something to Giselia in
their language. Giselia said, “Yes, good; this is good thing!”
Giselia said something to Ivan, and he went outside with a wash
basin. When he returned, it was filled with ice-cold water from the
well. Giselia made cold compresses and applied them to Nesta’s
face.

Evan said, “I’ll be going back now.
Trina will be wanting an update on Nesta.”

“Thank you, Evan,” Nesta said
softly.

“You’re welcome, my lady.” Evan left
by the rear door, closing it gently as to not awaken
anyone.

In the early morning hours, Fulk woke
to find Nesta tucked against him, her face snuggled into his chest.
He carefully started to move her long red hair from her face, but
Nesta suddenly rolled over and sat up on the bed.

“Good morning, good sir. Did you sleep
well?”

“Why, yes, my lady; I was in the
company of an angel.”

Nesta stood. “You flatter me, sir. I
will start some biscuits.” She was still dressed. She just walked
out of the bedroom without even combing her hair. Fulk thought that
sort of odd. She always loved taking care of her beautiful hair. He
got dressed and went out into the great room, which was still dark.
Nesta hadn’t bothered to turn up the oil lamps. Fulk started to
adjust the lamps, but Nesta asked, “Please, Fulk, I have a headache
this morning. Can we leave the lights low?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you need a
tonic?”

“I already took one. It will pass soon
enough.”

“Okay, my lady, but let me know if you
need another tonic.”

“I will, good sir.”

Fulk went to work on the
fire. It soon flamed in the great hearth. “I’ll feed the horses and
be right back to help with the cooking,” he told Nesta. He went out
the front door thinking something wasn’t right. The horses were in
good spirits. Demon’s neck wound was healing nicely, and to see
them now, just a few days after the horrible battle, one would
never guess they had been involved in such bloodshed. Horses had
the kind ability to feel little or no regret. Their memory patterns
favor present time versus the past. As Fulk returned to the house,
he thought,
What a gift the horses have,
to live in the present without concerns for the future and no guilt
for what has already passed. We could all learn lessons from
them.

Once inside, Fulk settled at the great
hearth and began cooking pork strips. Nesta brought a platter of
thin sliced meat to Fulk. Her hair hung over her face, hiding most
of it, but in a flicker of firelight, Fulk saw the discoloration of
her cheek. He dropped the platter of meat on the floor and took
Nesta in his arms. He carefully moved her hair away from her face
to reveal the damage. Her left eye was closed with a blackened
bruise under it that extended to her entire cheek. The right side
of her face looked like a purple sunset with browns and yellows
mixed in. Fulk was shaking uncontrollably now as he gritted out,
“Nesta, who did this? What happened to you?” With tears running
from her face, Nesta’s lips moved, but no words came from her
mouth. Fulk demanded, “It was your father, wasn’t it? He beat you,
didn’t he?” Nesta still couldn’t speak but simply nodded her head
slightly in agreement. Fulk held her in his arms tenderly for a
time. Then, he lightly pushed her away and kissed her forehead. He
whispered, “My beautiful Nesta, I promise you, after this day, he
will never touch you nor lay eyes upon you again.” Shaking with
barely controlled rage, Fulk headed for the front door. As an
afterthought, he went to the corner piled with weapons and grabbed
the first thing he came to, Gamel’s battle-axe.

By the time Fulk cleared the front
door, he was at a full run, with the lethal axe pumping in his
right hand. He ran in the straightest line possible toward Trina’s
house. As a bird flies, it was through the thick woods with no
trails. Fulk never slowed down in the tangled woods. When he came
to a fallen tree, he jumped it. When a limb obstructed his way, he
swung the great axe and chopped it from his path. He was teetering
on the edge of insanity when he cleared the woods. Buildings and
cottages along the main road were visible now. He spotted Trina’s
house and corrected his flight.

It took some time for Nesta to reclaim
her senses. When she could think clearly, she realized she couldn’t
let Fulk kill her father, which she was sure he would do as soon as
he found him. She ran into Gamel’s bedroom wailing, “Gamel, wake
up! You need to find Fulk. He’s going to kill my
father!”

As soon as Gamel heard his name, he
was on his feet. After he heard what she said, he came to her. The
wretched mess of her face was evident in the morning light. “Good
Lord, Nesta! I’m not sure I should stop him. How could a man do
this to his own daughter?”

Basilea was slowly sitting up in bed.
She said, “Nesta, come here. Be with me.”

“Please, Gamel, don’t let him do this,
not because of me. I could not shoulder the guilt.” Nesta went and
sat with Basilea on the bed while Gamel dressed. Basilea was
inspecting the damage to Nesta’s face.

Gamel asked, “Will he be at your
house, Nesta?”

“Mom fought with him last night. She
said she was sending him away and I would never see him again. He
won’t be at the house. Fulk will probably go to Mama to find out
where he’s gone.”

“I’ll try the kitchen, then. Stay with
Basilea.” Gamel ran from the bedroom. Moments later, the rear door
could be heard slamming shut.

By now, the whole house was stirred
awake. Bells ran into the bedroom with her katana in her hand. She
gasped when she saw Nesta’s face and demanded, “What goes on
here?”

“Fulk found out my father beat me.
He’s gone to kill him, and Gamel has gone to stop him.”

Bells said, “If he doesn’t kill him, I
will!”

“No, please no, he’s gone. Mama says I
will never see him again.”

Bells thought about that for a moment.
It occurred to her that the man may already be dead.

Fulk was searching the house when
Master Forwin entered the cottage and said, “You won’t find him
here, Fulk. He’s gone for good.”

“Where has the coward gone, Master
Forwin?”

Forwin thought about that a moment and
said, “Well, I’ve got a good idea where he be gone to, but I
wouldn’t care ta speculate.”

Fulk ran out of the cottage, heading
straight for the kitchen. The axe in his right hand was wanting for
use. He ran into the kitchen, full speed, and straight to Trina’s
soup station.

Trina put out a hand to signal a stop
and said, “Hold, young Master Fulk. He be gone and won’t be causin'
no more troubles.”

“Where did he go? Trina, tell me. You
have to tell me what direction he went,” Fulk demanded.

“If'n a had to guess, me guess would
be south.”

Eva started to snort. Several of the
ladies in the kitchen were struggling to contain their laughter. A
very confused Fulk asked, “What’s so funny? Tell me where he’s
gone. I won’t rest till I settle with the maggot!”

Trina walked up to Fulk and put her
hands on his shoulders. Looking him in the eyes, she said, “Fulk,
ye love me daughter; yer intentions be honorable, buts believes me,
he being taken cares of already. He cannots be found.”

Holding a huge cleaver in her hand,
Eva spoke up. “'Tis true, Master Fulk. He been taken care of.” Eva
looked at Fulk and then down at the rack of ribs she was working
on. She slammed the mighty cleaver into the ribs, cutting through
bone and meat. Then, she looked back at Fulk and gave a little nod
of her head.

Fulk turned white with horror. He
asked, “What kind of meat is that, Eva?”

Eva looked at him with a cold, hard
stare and said, “Our noble guests will dine on pig today, a very
special pig.”

All the kitchen staff all but burst
trying to subdue their tittering. Fulk stood there for a minute,
trying not to know what he knew to be true. He finally muttered,
“Oh. Oh, I see, oh, oh, my goodness.”

Trina said, “Well, young Fulk, yer
curiosity being satisfied, has it?”

Gamel had just arrived with Demon and
Mildred. He thought he may as well bring them along or he would be
fixing the turnout gate. Fina called out to Gamel, “All is well,
Gamel, not to worry.” The staff gathered at the window to admire
Demon’s new wooden arm. Everyone praised Demon on his much more
acceptable trophy. Demon was in a great mood and pranced around
with his arm waving and flopping around.

Trina gave Fulk a hug and whispered in
his ear, “Ye be da good man I never hads. You runs along now and
takes care of me baby girl; tell her I loves her an' will be by
later.”

Fulk hugged Trina and said, “You did a
good deed here, my lady. You saved me the trouble and guilt of
taking care of it myself. Don’t let it burden you, you were
defending our girl.” Fulk gently released Trina and left the
kitchen to join Gamel. The horses were eating their pies. Demon was
no longer getting the impression that people were going to steal
his prize, so he was much more relaxed and enjoyed his pie this
morning.

On the way back to Sirates, Gamel
asked, “So what’s going on, Fulk? You look as if you’ve seen a
ghost!”

“Trina killed the bastard for beating
Nesta. Eva chopped him up, and they’re feeding him to the noble
guests for lunch.”

Gamel stopped short and stared at
Fulk. He didn’t believe what he had just heard. “That is somewhat
disturbing; are you sure?”

Dead serious, Fulk just looked at his
friend and said, “Oh, yeah! Let’s just keep this to ourselves,
though, okay?”

“Good idea. Some things are best left
alone.”

Fulk and Gamel entered the rear door
of the house to find everyone sitting at the table eating break
fast biscuits with hot tea. Basilea, wrapped as a mummy, sat at the
table. She said, “Everything all right? Is he gone?”

Gamel said, “Yes, he’s gone. We’ve
seen the last of him, for sure.”