Lonely winter

The day of Benjamin's departure eventually came, and the big party gathered right outside the castle was waiting for their master. He stopped by his wife first to say his goodbyes.

"I'll be back in no time, my dear. You won't even have time to miss me."

"I already miss you and you haven't even left yet."

His laughter made the room tremble and Iris could not help but smile. His arms were holding her while she was resting on his chest. Slowly he lowered his lips to her and they shared a sweet but short kiss. When his arms left her, her body felt the cold at once, although they were still inside the bedroom where the fire was playing cheerfully.

"I have to go now," he said while caressing her cheek.

"I'll go with you to the gates."

"There is no need, it is cold outside…"

"Just let me have these last minutes with you," she interrupted, leaving him no choice.

They went together to the main entrance, where everybody was waiting. There were at least 50 soldiers, the three commanders, his friend Lord Luke, and to her displeasure, Lady Rose. She was sitting in the saddle on a snow-white horse, much larger than Blaze, but just as majestic. Iris felt a sting in her heart when she saw the redhead mounted on a horse, waiting to accompany his husband to a place she wasn't invited.

For the hundredth time she had to remind herself that Lady Rose was her husband's childhood friend and trusted advisor. But it was easy to forget when she looked at those red lips and light green eyes, as well as her voluptuous curve visible even when on horse. Iris bit her lip to remain quiet and look like the party made their way down to the town and out the double gates protecting it.

While watching the procession, Mary came with her fur coat, laying it on the lady's shoulders. It was the first day of winter and a white layer covered everything in sight. Just the night before it snowed heavily, giving vain hopes that the departure would be postponed. It was not, of course.

"Come Mary, I want to take a walk in the garden."

The garden was clothed with a generous layer of snow, reflecting the powerful sunlight. But from the tree's shadows, its pureness could be better seen. The snowy branches hang lightly in the cold air, not heavy enough to become a threat for those under them.

Iris wanted to make the walk short and decided to return to the warmth of the castle, when screams and laughter broke the silence inside the garden. Not far from them, four of the servant's children ran in the snow throwing snowballs at a large man who played with them. She had never seen him before but couldn't miss the fact that he was limping with his right foot.

"Mary, who is that man?"

"He is a knight of the lord but could not follow the party to the capital due to his injury," the maid explained.

"What happened to him?"

"I heard he encontered a wild beast when patrolling, but I don't know the details. Do you want me to go and ask?"

"No, better bring him here. He can tell us from where he received the injury."

Mary nodded and went to the knight and both returned. He was nervous and looked intently at the ground, not daring to face his mistress.

"Your Grace, you honour me with your presence," the man said, trying to bow when Iris held his elbow in a try to raise him up.

"Don't, Sir. I see you are injured, and Mary told me it's because of trying to protect the people here. I am indebted to you, Sir?"

"Marco, if it pleases Your Grace."

"Sir Marco, could you tell me what kind of creature you encountered?" she inquired, curious of what lives outside those walls.

"It was a damn tatzelwurm, damn it. I'm sorry, my lady, I'm used to the company of my comrades and…"

"Don't worry, Sir, I didn't hear anything wrong," she smiled at him and seemed to relax slightly. "But what is a tatzelwurm?" She looked at both Mary and the knight.

"I do not know, my lady," said the maid.

"It is an annoying little lizard-like creature the size of a hound with a poisonous bite. It isn't difficult to kill, but the forest is its home and is very good at sneaking on its prey. We were patrolling the forest behind the western walls when the creature was stupid enough to sneak on us and get killed, but fast though to land a bite on my leg."

The lady covered her mouth with her hand in shock that a monster came so near the walls and the knight saw her fear, adding in a haste.

"Don't worry, my lady, no monster is able to get inside the strong walls. They are protected by magic, not only height and guards. It sometimes happens to meet a lesser one in these forests, but never in town, and much less here. We are all working to protect our lords as best as we can."

"But your leg, did you not go to the healer, Sir Marco? Was he unable to heal you?"

"The old man did an amazing job, but the poison of the tatzelwurm cannot be entirely healed by medicine. It was stopped so it isn't deadly, but the healer said I'll have the wound for the rest of my life," he explained, looking to the ground, a mix of anger and regret on his face.

"Is there no other way, maybe go to someone else…" she started thinking where to send him to get healed. He got injured at duty, for them, she had to do something if possible.

"I thank you very much, Your Grace, your concern is more than enough for me," he smiled sincerely, but Iris racked her brains for an answer.

And then it came to her, as simple as that is and her eyes went to the eastern tower where the mage resided. He just arrived a couple of months after a long period of absence of such an alternative, of course nobody thought about him.

"The mage," she said quickly, relieved that there was a way to repay the knight, but his eyes went wide, his body frozen in place.

"Your generosity humbles me, but I am just a knight of low birth, there is no way for me…"

"But there is! We now have a mage, a young and inexperienced one, but from what I could tell, he's pretty good at what he does."

"But Your Grace, I could not dare…" he tried to excuse himself.

"You are a knight of Alutus castle. Your duty is to protect it. How can you do that with a limping leg?" she tried to sound authoritarian, to even scold the knight who shrank his enormous body. "Your devotion and your actions speak more of yourself than your origins. The wound is proof of respecting your duty and not backing away from it. If that is not enough to seek the mage to take care of someone, I don't know what is."

The shock on his face didn't disappear, but his eyes were becoming warmer when looking at his lady and the corner of his mouth went up a little.

"I'll talk to Ray. Come tomorrow after luncheon at his tower and know that I won't take no for an answer."

"Your Grace, I don't know how to thank you."

"You can thank me after you're healthy again by continuing with your job," she smiled kindly at him.

"I will do my very best."

"Come tomorrow to be able to do that," she said to him before leaving.

The rest of the day was spent inside her study, looking over some older ledgers to catalogue the past costs and see where improvements could be done. Sime numbers weren't adding up, probably there were some pages missing, but it frustrated her that the sum was not correct. In the end she decided to ask the butler to search for them. Maybe someone misplaced them.

By nightfall she was so tired that the thought of getting in bed topped everything else. Daisy had other ideas instead and was already waiting for her with the bath ready. Mary brought the towels, and both helped their lady inside. Once she was clean and smelled of roses, she slipped inside the cold bed, but sleep did not come easy.

She turned and tossed thinking about how lonely the winter would be without her husband. Although he was busy almost all the time since they came to Alutus castle, his presence nearby offered her a drop of comfort. Even that was gone. She sighted and turned again.

Then her mind went to the missing pages and then to the injured knight. Ray would heal him, she had no doubt about that, but it was sad that Sir Marco didn't dare to ask this himself. There were probably others who chose not to use his gifts, but the hope that they would too call on Ray when needed started to bud. She had to talk to him, to make sure he wouldn't chase them away.

After a while of waiting to fall asleep but failing, Iris saw a glowing light coming from outside. When she went to the window, she saw the moon full. She went to the table nearby where there usually was a water carafe and a bottle of wine. She drank very rarely, but she asked her maids to make sure it was there for nights like this. She poured herself a glass, then took the fur coat and went into the cold of the balcony to enjoy the night.