He looked at her as if he wanted to say something else. A breeze drifted across his face, and without another word he turned and strode away.
The next few days passed in much the same manner, but Tanon had stopped trying to talk to Gareth. Instead, she followed him. She watched him ride his horse around William’s land with his uncle and his brothers. His brothers seemed to enjoy thrashing him, or at least, trying to thrash him. Most of the time they failed. Even on a steed as large as her papa’s, Gareth avoided being struck, either by ducking low over his saddle or arching his back.
In the great hall, Tanon covertly watched him eat his food. She even giggled when he stuck his finger in cook Charlie’s tarts to check what was inside before shoving them into his mouth.
Gareth finally did speak to Tanon at the end of his first week at Winchester. It was a lovely summer afternoon, and she was thoroughly enjoying it with Petunia. She skipped in a field of yellow daisies behind the barn, singing a song she’d heard some of the men singing in the great hall after they’d drunk all of William’s wine. It wasn’t a ditty fit for a young girl, but Tanon didn’t know that, and she was barely mindful of her voice anyway, what with picking daisies and all. Thankfully, Rebecca had let her out without pinning up her hair. She hated how the pins pinched her head, and by the end of her excursions, most of her unruly curls had come loose anyway. Besides, she liked how her curls felt bouncing around her face. Her mother often shook her head and told her that she had her father’s heart. That made Tanon even happier than visiting William.
She didn’t hear Roger and the Drake brothers sneaking up on her until their scratchy voices shattered her reverie.
“Twiggy Tanon goes snort, snort, snort!” A round of laughter followed that insult before another voice rang out.
“Mayhap she sleeps with the swine, too. She certainly sings like one.”
The three boys circled her and her pig. And then Roger began to chase Petunia. Tanon shouted at him to stop, but he snorted at her and laughed again. Luckily, Petunia was too quick for Roger, but he almost struck her with his foot when he tried to kick her. Tanon screamed and shook her fist at him.
“You leave her alone this instant, Roger deCourtenay, or I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” he challenged, his eyes gleaming with anger as he stopped chasing Petunia and took a step closer to Tanon. “What will you do?”
He lifted his hand to strike her, and Tanon squeezed her eyes shut behind her obsidian curls. The Drake boys looked around to make certain no one was watching.
But someone was.
Tanon opened her eyes just in time to see Gareth reach Roger, yank him around so that they faced each other, and then shove him backward with such force Roger landed hard on his rump.
“Gwna mo chyffwrdd ’i!”Gareth shouted at him. Tanon pushed her hair away and stared at him. Oh, did he look mean!
“What?” Roger deCourtenay’s lip actually trembled. He wasn’t laughing now.
“Bod cerddedig,” her new champion growled, motioning with his hand for Roger to run away.
Tanon wanted to clap her hands before Roger and the others even had time to flee. She sprang forward, tripped over her skirts, and then righted herself again. “You did it! You frightened Roger deCourtenay!” She’d never been so happy in her life. She would have leaped right into Gareth’s arms if he weren’t already turning away.
“Please, wait,” she pleaded, barely able to stop herself. She blew her curls away and touched his hand before he moved to leave her. “You saved Petunia.” She didn’t know if he understood her or not, so she smiled at him.
He just stood there staring at her for a moment, then he reached out and touched a springy curl near her eye. Finally, he did what she’d been waiting for. He smiled back. And this time it was even better than the first.
They barely left each other’s side after that. Roger was sent to Normandy a few days later. With their leader gone and a new champion watching over her, the other children left Tanon alone. She spent the remainder of her summer days playing with Gareth and letting him teach her some of his words.
Unfortunately, just when Tanon decided she liked Gareth even better than Petunia, the summer was over and she had to go home.
*
Gareth stretched outon the banks of the river Clwyd and looked up at the midnight sky littered with glimmering stars. For a moment, he held his breath at the beauty of it. For a moment, he forgot that he killed eight men. And it was only the first day he fought in a real battle.
He turned to his best friend, Madoc, sitting in the faint, grey moonlight eating an apple.
“She’s very bold and adventurous.”
“Who is?”
“Tanon Risande. The girl who was promised to Cedric.”
“The Norman girl?” his friend asked, sounding rather unfazed.
“Norman and Saxon. She’s very…pretty and…cute, with a head of curls blacker than a moonless night. Her eyes are filled with sunlight and joy. Her smile is both confident and dutiful—”
“You care for your brother’s foreign betrothed?”