Torches lent a fragile sort of fantasy to the usual fortified camp. Dancing shadows reflected on the very sky of leaves above. Threats were not just from straight out, but might jump down! A worry they currently had little answer to, aside from propping Sarrisas upright around the tents.

  Ethan snorted. More likely, the heights were great enough the fall would kill any beast, and the effort required of men to climb so high with something heavy enough to be worth dropping… Unlikely.

  “Join me for a cup?” He asked his knights as they walked towards the command tent, having completed a circuit of the camp and checked in with the various officers.

  “Not tonight. Yous go on wit out me.” Conner offered, his eyes a shallow pool, but a flicker of humor lingered at the corners of his mouth. Odd.

  “Nor me, Miro and I have plans.”

  “Nope. Busy.” Leo Shrugged.

  Guile just shook his head.

  He turned to Andrew with an eyebrow raised. And Andrew wouldn’t make eye contact. Definitely odd. “Ah, no. Can’t.” He quickly turned and walked down the closest aisle – the one that led to the tanners…

  He glanced around one more time, his eyebrow still raised, but no answer was forthcoming. Merely a few poorly hidden grins.

  He shrugged and pushed his way past the tent flap. The sounds of the camp quickly died, as the Blake’s work once again showed its worth. Not gone, that was dangerous. But quieter.

  The camp furniture was already assembled and laid out on a thin wool carpet while a pair of candles cast its simple layout in warm shadows and islands of light.

  And one such island held a woman.

  Ahhh.

  Ermina stood stiffly in a light, slightly sheer house robe. A piece designed to handle the warmth, not merely to look attractive, Ethan judged, for all that it did both tasks quite well. It hugged her tall, lean frame agreeably anyway. She stared for a moment, uncertain perhaps. He shrugged, then unbuckled his sword belt, hanging it and his barbute helm on the armor stand beside him. His fingers began to search for the points, and then she was there.

  “Let me help you with that.” He opened his mouth, then closed it abruptly. He could have done it himself, if awkwardly. He could have called a page in just as easily. And, he reflected as she fumbled at a knot, they’d have done it faster than she. Greta would – No. He crushed those thoughts. Patiently waiting with his arms spread wide.

  She was making an effort. Reaching out. He’d not slap that offered hand. And for all that she was unpracticed with it, she had seen such sets many times before. She figured it out with a few subtle hints. Pauldrons and pturgis came off first, joining his helm and sword belt on the stand. Then his bracers and greaves were unlaced. The first was simple, though it required her to be quite close.

  The latter though, had her kneeling innocently before him. He crushed that thought as well. Soon it was merely the squamata chest, reaching beneath his elbows to either side, and down to his mid-thighs below, slit in front and behind nearly to his waist.

  It was an awkward piece to put on or take off at the best of times. Often required a good bit of wiggling, shoulders and hips. Hardly the image he wanted to pervey at the moment. So he let her help, leaning forward obediently as she pulled, firmly and consistently, as it slid in fits and starts over his head.

  After a moment of hesitation, she reached for the laces that ran up either side beneath his arms. His gambeson’s thickly quilted padding, matted with sweat, rust and oil stuck at times to the laces. But with a bit of grumbling she at last had them free, letting him lift the knee length garment over his head.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  She quickly hung it on its stand, her nose wrinkling but otherwise let it pass without comment.

  A page would gather it for cleaning later.

  Leaving Ethan in merely a loincloth. A blushing Ermina did not falter. A warm, wet rag was produced and the accumulated sweat wiped gently away.

  “Thank you, My lady.” He offered with a genuine grin, before stepping aside the waiting wash basin to first dunk his head, then dropping his loin cloth in favor of a wrag he washed the rest of him. It was good to be clean.

  And if Ermina’s kneck and cheeks turned a bit red, why all the better.

  Soon enough, he was clothed again. In a loosely belted robe that nearly matched hers for thickness. And for the same purpose. The days may be cooler here, but the night didn’t cool off much.

  He glanced to the side at Ermina, sitting at the table with him rather than across the way. With both of them angled towards the closed tent flap. He leaned his knee to the other side by habit and absently confirmed the presence of a sheathed gladius.

  Ermina clapped lightly and a maid emerged from behind the partition. A pretty bit of a girl child. A daughter of an old retainer Ermina’d brought into service. The girl quickly brought a platter of piled flat bread, fried greans of some kind and thin slices of some roasted meat.

  Grabbing a bit of flatbread he used it to scoop up a sliver and the root before taking a small bite. Nope. No idea what the meat was. Which meant it was one of the beasts they’d taken down today.

  The silence began to linger and he searched for a topic to break it with. Slightly desperate he glanced at the wrap and shrugged. “What might this be?”

  “Ah, its fiddlehead My Lord-“

  “Ethan, Ermina. I think we can both do with a bit less distance.”

  “Ethan then.” She managed. “Fiddleheads are young ferns, a staple of this area.”

  “Ferns? Huh, so the menaces are good for something after all? Interesting, but I was referring to the meat. I don’t recognize it.”

  “There I’m afraid I can’t help you much, Ethan. The creature was some kind of rift monstrosity. An elephant-like body and big biting jaws.”

  “The one that looked like a crocodile?” Ethan stopped chewing abruptly.

  She shrugged. “Somewhat, now that you bring it up.”

  “The one that breathed poison?” He reminder her.

  She smiled with a bit of a twinkle in her eye. “Why, however could I have forgotten that?”

  He snorted softly, then shrugged. What the hell. In for a copper, in for a gold. He took another bite. It was actually pretty damn good. Fatty and tender.

  She smiled in approval. “Don’t worry. I asked the cooks for something special and this is what they picked. They assured me that it would taste the best of anything they had available. And I quite believe them now.” She took another bite, having to deftly interpose the flat bread beneath her chin to catch leaking juices.

  The girl – he’d have to remember to ask her name later – emerged again with an ewer of chilled wine. Pouring them both a glass before leaving the ewer and going back for another trip. Emerging with a paste of beans and garlic that was quite popular with the men and a small pot of puls.

  The porridge was well dotted with a fragrant white cheese that he found he quite liked.

  “I’m glad you do as well Ethan. It’s a product from my old home. Father knows it's my favorite and had several pounds slipped in with my luggage.”

  Ethan blessed the old man for his thoughtfulness. Not just for the taste, but a few careful questions had her speaking in glowing terms of the cheeses available, both in the place of her birth and from this forest. They apparently exported a particularly fragrant type of white cheese with ribs of blue that was highly prized.

  “I understand the wine is quite good as well?”

  “Oh of course. The best outside the capital and that’s just an unfair comparison to start with.”

  “How so?”

  “The capital grapes aren’t a patch on Auenlands, but their brewers’ levels and the bonuses of that ancient core more than make up the difference.”

  Ethan shrugged. That was indeed the tyranny of levels. It applied at all levels of society.

  Still, it was something to talk about and the evening grew long indeed before at last the platters were cleaned away.

  Conversation came to a slow, but congenial pause and with a deep, steadying breath, Ermina stood up, gracefully too for all that they’d been sitting for at least an hour. She looked at him searchingly, then reached up gently and pulled the knot that held her house robe together free.

  He stared back, unashamed. Taking her in, A strip of bare flesh framed between semitranslucent panels and all the more intriguing for their presence. Then his eyes raised to meet hers and she let out another breath. Whatever she was looking for in his eyes, she found.

  And the night did not end for quite some time.

  ___