The Dragon Hammer (Wulf's Saga Book 1) (27 page)

Chapter Thirty-Three:
The Archer

They stayed at Shwartzwald House. The earl’s residence was a huge wooden structure on the edge of Bear Hall township. There were lots of rooms, and Wulf and Ravenelle both got their own bedchambers.

After Wulf settled in, he met Ursel Keiler again. She knocked and entered with another bear woman to bring Wulf new clothes. They also brought a hauberk—a chainmail shirt—and a small set of armor. This included a cuirass breast and back plate, cuisses for the thighs and greaves for the shins, sets of bracers for arm covering, and a helmet with a grima noseguard. The set was light. It all fit into a flannel bag that could be tied onto a packhorse.

When he’d looked over the armor, Ursel gave him a swordsman’s cape. It was bright red with yellow piping and was marked with the symbol of Shwartzwald County, the Dragon Hammer. This was embroidered in orange and darker red tessellations across the cape. It was held in place by a clasp and by a padded leather poulon that belted across his shoulder.

“The cape belonged to my brother when he was a cub,” Ursel said. She sent the bear woman out, and she returned with a sword. “This is my father’s short sword. He wanted you to have it. He used it in the Little War.” The bear woman left, and returned with a buckler.

“Your brother’s when he was a cub?” Wulf asked. He set the buckler aside, but drew the sword out of its scabbard. The scabbard itself had leather loops to attach it either to a belt or to a strap over the back.

He gave the sword a twirl to feel its weight. Perfect. He thought about how much Rainer would have liked the feel of it.

Then he slid it back into its scabbard.

“Tell you father thank you,” Wulf said. “This is a fine sword.”

“I will,” Ursel said. “I hope you use it well. May I ask what your plan of attack is?”

“I thought I’d look to your father for that.”

“He does know a thing or two about fighting,” Ursel replied. She smiled slyly. “And I know a thing or two about sneaking up on your quarry.”

Wulf arched an eyebrow. “That’s very intriguing, Mistress Ursel. What do you suggest?” He pointed to a nearby chair and nodded for her sit down.

“They’ll expect us to come in from the southwest,” Ursel replied. She gathered her skirt and lowered herself in the chair. “But we don’t have to. Not at all. We can go east a league or more south of the city. Come up the Valley Road and attack from the
east.
That will also be good for a dawn attack. The sun would be at our back.”

“Sounds interesting.”

“We have many traders here and friends along the way who know the roads well. There are lesser known paths. Shortcuts through the forest. And we
own
the forests.”

“The otherfolk do, you mean.”

“Yes.”

“You know them well, don’t you?”

“I spend a lot of time in the woods.”

“So we should circle to the south of the town, come in from the east,” Wulf said. “Anything else?”

“I believe Father was thinking of some kind of diversion.”

Wulf nodded. He sat down across from her. “You and Earl Keiler seem to have thought this sort of thing out pretty well.”

“It’s…well, since my mother died and the scrofula has gotten so bad, he and I spend a lot of time talking about the old days. Fighting with the duke. All the plans they considered. It was very close, you know. We could have lost the Little War.”

“Yeah,” Wulf said. “I got a lot of history lessons from Master Tolas.
A lot.
”

“Maybe he was preparing you.”

“For what? Otto is going to be the next duke.”

“You might be of use to the mark in all kinds of ways.”

“I guess.”

She rose from the chair. “Take it from me,” she said. “Things hardly ever turn out the way we think they will. But that doesn’t mean they can’t turn out happy in the end.”

Wulf rose, facing Ursel. They were very close, and he reached over and took her hands. “Thank you for the sword.”

They stood together for a moment wordlessly. Her hands were warm. Her freckled face seemed flush, and she wore the slight smile, almost teasing, that Wulf was coming to see was her normal expression. Finally she sighed, and spoke. “I’ll leave you to your dressing. Good night, Lord Wulf.”

“Good night, Mistress Ursel.”

With a quick curtsey, Ursel and her bear-woman maid left his room.

It was good to get out of his old clothes. He’d been in them for three days. He’d fought in them. One arm and the chest of his shirt had been soaked with his own blood and Ravenelle’s tears. He’d also been spattered with other people’s blood, both from his father and from the man he’d killed. He’d run through briar-filled woods. He’d ridden through dust and rain.

The clean clothes were Ursel’s. They were men’s clothes she used for travel in the woods. They were tight for Wulf and too short in the sleeves and ankles, but he only needed to wear them long enough to have his other clothes washed.

After Ursel left, Grim brought in hot water in a basin and Wulf gave himself as much of a bath as he could. He didn’t really need to shave yet, but he gave his face a scrape with a razor to clear away the fuzz.

Then he put on Ursel’s clothes. They smelled of lavender. He imagined her skin probably had the same faint odor. For a moment he imagined what it would be like to take her in his arms.

But thoughts of Saeunn blotted out the daydream. He felt guilty having thought too much about Ursel when Saeunn was in danger.

His own clothes came back one bell later with the grime gone and most of the blood scrubbed away. His boots were clean and polished.

Although she’d said she wouldn’t be back, Ursel looked in one more time.

The bed looked inviting. The heat from the fire is his room was making him sleepy.

“You’ll let me know if there is anything else you need?” she said.

“Yes, I will,” Wulf replied. “I wish we’d met under better circumstances.”

“Me too, Lord Wulf,” she said.

She smiled at him and brushed red hair from her face. Those green eyes. That milky skin.

She curtsied, then turned and left.

Wulf looked at Grim, who had been watching.

“What?” he asked the faun.

“Nothing, m’lord.”

“Tell me what you think.”

Grim considered a moment. “Could do worse, m’lord.”

“How do you even know? She’s not a faun.”

“A faun could do worse, m’lord,” Grim said.

For a moment, Wulf felt a tinge of jealousy—but then thought about how stupid that was. So what if Grim was attracted to the foundling girl?

She was showing every sign that she liked him, Wulf. He wasn’t used to this kind of attention. The castle girls never gave it to him. If they drooled over a von Dunstig, it was Adelbert, who was very handsome and romantically in love with the ocean.

She barely knows me, Wulf thought. I’m just a von Dunstig to her.

I’d love to see her shoot that bow.

He thought about Ursel as he settled down in the first comfortable bed he’d seen in two days. He imagined her nocking an arrow, drawing her bow, then sending the arrow into a target.

Then he imagined her doing it naked. Would she have freckles
everywhere
?

Grim dropped a piece of wood onto the fire. The sudden crackle and flying sparks brought Wulf back to the present. He thought about his father’s injuries, he thought about Raukenrose and his family, probably under siege in the castle.

Poor Anya. She must be so afraid.

But
she
will be looking after her, Wulf thought. She’ll keep Anya safe.

She is there.

And it was Saeunn Amberstone’s face he saw as he drifted to sleep.

X X X

The next morning, Grim brought him coffee. He told Wulf that Albrec Tolas had asked him to smoke with him on the porch of the huge log house.

Wulf took the coffee, wrapped his new cape around his shoulders, and went out. Tolas was standing on a bench and leaning over the porch railing. His pipe was in his mouth, and he was sending clouds of smoke into the cold morning air.

The gnome motioned Wulf over.

“Glockendorf perique,” he said, indicating the tobacco in the pipe. “Odor of my youth.”

“I suppose I might take up a pipe one day,” Wulf said.

“Don’t,” said Tolas. “It causes dampness in the lungs when they overcompensate for the heat. Look at what’s happened to Keiler with his scrofula. The fellow was a constant pipe smoker when I was his aide de camp. Although how he ever stood the orinoco, I can’t explain.”

“Do you think Earl Keiler is dying?”

“Unquestionably,” Tolas said. “Scrofula is a terrible disease. You drown in your own bodily humors.”

“Yuck,” Wulf replied. “All right, you’ve convinced me to never draw a breath of tobacco smoke.”

“Too bad.” Tolas smiled. “It can be very calming.”

“But you said—”

“It’s time you started thinking for yourself a bit more,” Tolas said. “I can’t do all of it for you.”

“I
can
think for myself, Master Tolas,” Wulf said, feeling a bit of resentment rising inside himself.

Tolas looked at Wulf as if considering whether he’d failed at his job or not.

“All right, if we accept that, then I would say you ought to be thinking practically right now, for instance.”

“What do you mean? Tell me, and I’ll do it.”

“I mean the stick you carved with Lady Saeunn’s name on it. I saw it before you tucked it beneath your belt”

“What about it?”

Tolas took a long drag on his pipe and waited a moment before he puffed it out.

“You understand that to tempt Lady Saeunn to love you is dangerous for her,” Tolas finally said.

“I don’t think we have to worry about me tempting her.”

“Be that as it may, you cannot marry her.”

“I know that, Master Tolas. I know it very well.”

Tolas took another long drag.

“Someone like Ursel Keiler, on the other hand . . .” He turned to Wulf again with a smile. “I do not believe you understand how rich she is going to be when she is married.”

“Keiler said he was giving her a fat dowry.”

“Fat, as in his holdings in the entire western Shwartzwald. It is a fortune to rival that of a princess.”

“Good for her.”

“She likes you, von Dunstig, and you are attracted to her. Don’t deny it. I have not spent fifteen years as a teacher of boys not to see as much.”

“She’s very pretty…and very nice.”

“She’s a hunter, an expert archer. She’s trained in medicine. She knows how to handle bear people when they’re angry—something that is difficult to do and extremely useful for a son of the ruling family in Shenandoah to have at his disposal.”

Wulf shrugged. “What do you want me to say, Tolas?”

“I want you to consider Ursel Keiler as a woman. It would be a match that is extraordinarily good for the stability of the mark.”

He hadn’t thought of it that way. And he really didn’t like it.

Why can’t I just be a ranger, Wulf thought. Patrol the border. Go home at nights to my cabin and read a saga or two.

“Remain in the present, von Dunstig,” Tolas said. He was speaking almost…gently, Wulf thought. “Let the future and the past take care of themselves.”

“Okay, then. Here’s my answer: I wish I could, Master Tolas. Ursel’s incredible. To think she’s a foundling . . .”

Tolas shook his head. There was the slightest of smiles on his face. “I wonder about that,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing I wish to discuss at present,” the gnome said. “See here, von Dunstig, what I’m telling you is that frankly you must consider someone, anyone, besides Saeunn Amberstone. That way lies heartbreak for you. And for her, too. You must not force her to chose between you and her own immortality.”

“Are you actually giving me advice in love, Master Tolas?”

“It seems somebody has to point out facts that are as plain as the nose on your face,” the gnome replied.

“Well thanks.” He touched his nose to be sure it was still there.

From the stables, which were a separate building, a bear man brought out a smallish brown draft horse. It was saddled and looked prepared for a trip.

“Horse is ready, Master Tolas,” called the bear man. “Sure you don’t want a pack animal as well?”

Tolas chuckled. “I’ll be fine, Master Groom. Are my things in the saddlebags?”

“Yes, sir. That all you’re taking?”

“Yes. I’ll be there directly. Let me finish this pipe, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all, sir. I’ll just give her a treat before she’s off.” The bear man pulled an apple from a pouch at his side and fed it to the horse.

“Where are you going, Master Tolas?” Wulf asked.

“South,” Tolas replied.

“You mean you’re leaving Bear Hall
now
?” Wulf felt betrayed. Then he thought about how immature that was. But there was an empty feeling that settled in his stomach. “Do you really have to? I could use…well, I would really like for you to be around.”

“Nonsense,” Tolas replied. “Your most immediate need is to discover how to be your own man.” He looked toward the town. “The gnomes are heading north on the Valley Road. I’ll meet them and fall in. I’m assigned to a pike unit.”