Paladin of the Peaceful Lady

Chapter Three Departure

After they finished their meal, the children helped clear the table while Drake walked out to gather Daisy and hook her to the tarp covered wagon that he had loaded two weeks ago with the winter wheat for the Miller. The old horse placidly took her place between the shafts, knowing instinctively what was expected of her. "There's a good girl, feeling good today, aren't we? We've been together a long time now, haven't we?"

Jack came screeching from the house running headlong for the wagon. "Wait for me Da! Mum says I can go with you! She says I can go to town!"

Drake whirled, feigning outrage "She said what?!" He roared as he grabbed the suddenly startled seven-year-old mid stride and threw him into the air with a squeal to come down atop the bundled wheat with a muffled "whump". The boy sat up giggling, "So can I come Da? Can I? I've saved up some allowance, I want to get candies!"

"Well, you're already in the wagon boy," Drake chuckled, "you may as well stay there and ride along"

The boy gave a happy squeal again and scrambled over the load to sit himself on the driver seat at the front. The boy took more after his mother than his father, his hair was darker and although being muscular for a seven-year-old, it was a leaner build from running about the woods and farmyard rather than working the fields. He had his mother's green eyes and an upturned nose, but his smile was all his father's as his eyes gleamed in pleasure at the solo trip he was about to take with him.

He stopped at the gate with final instructions for Daria, the 15-year-old girl he had saved from the winter cold as a baby and who only knew him as father and Mae as mother. She looked much like Mae, and so Drake supposed must look like her birth mother in consequence. She had fierce green eyes, the same nose and mouth as Mae but her hair was a dark jet black that she kept long and neat by brushing it every morning and night. She was almost as tall as Mae too, and Drake thought with a start, must be thinking of her own marriage and house soon.

"Can't I come too father?" She looked up at him on the wagon seat.

"Not this time lass, I want you here to help your mother. Keep the other children in the yard and close the gate behind me. Be watching for me in the early evening from the wall step by the gate and only open the gate for me. Heed Greenie if he gives a warning."

The teen rolled her eyes "I know Da, I know. Same as when you always go to town alone, here." The girl handed up his steel bound stave, made of the heart wood of an iron wood tree with three bands of steel at either end. The stave made for a sturdy walking staff, or if the need required, a stout quarterstaff that could fend off all but the strongest of wielded swords.

"Thanks lass." Drake reached back and put the staff behind the seat.

"And Da," Daria started again hesitantly, "if you see Jacob, could you see if he has a partner for the summer festival dance? If he does that's fine." Her face was a mask of indifference.

Jacob was the Miller's son 16 years old and a handsome lad, she knew well enough that her father would most likely run into him since that was his destination with the grain.

"Oh, I'm sure he has a dance partner picked out by now, the festival is just a few short months away yet." Drake said teasingly. Most of the participants picked their partners out on the day of the festival, not weeks or even months ahead.

Daria's expression didn't change but her face quickly became a bright red as she turned hurriedly and walked away in just a little too stiff of a gait.

Drake was chuckling to himself as Mae came up, passing Daria as she went into the house. "Why does the girl look like she's just swallowed a red-hot quill pepper?"

"Oh, something about the miller's boy"

"Shame on you Drake Drascal! You shouldn't tease the girl; you know she is sweet on him. And if the winter solstice gathering was any indication the boy's feelings are likely similar."

Drake gave a noncommittal grunt to this, "I have eyes woman, I can see things too. But she is young yet, she need not concern herself with these things!"

"Drake, you know her friend Marion is due to get married at the end of the summer to the Blacksmith's apprentice! And she is only one summer older than Daria!"

"Aye, and there are rumors circulating the village that the wedding night may not be the first time the two of them will be fully acquainted with each other which may have sped up the courtship process." Drake responded dryly.

"Oh you! Here," Mae handed up a fresh loaf of bread and an envelope. "Give this to Julia when you see her and tell her I still expect her to visit sometime this summer so we can do some blueberry picking, you know how she loves them."

Drake chuckled at that. Julia was an old friend from his adventuring days, she had followed them into domestic life away from the rest of the world and had settled with the Miller, she was Jacob's mother and could shapeshift into an Owlbear. She had saved Drake's life several times, and Drake had returned the favor many more.

"Aye she does enjoy the berries, both wild and in pies, I prefer mine in pies though." Drake bent and gave his wife a kiss before clicking to Daisy and starting out the gate down the path to the road that led to the village a little over two hours away. He turned once outside to be sure to watch the gate shut behind him and heard the dull thud of the board being put into the lock behind.