The Robber Knight's Secret

41. Training

Ayla had thought Reuben already inflicted strict discipline on his men before he started training them on the crossbows. She had been wrong.

He had told her not to come and watch him train his fighters. So of course, the first thing she had done when she had a little free time on her hands was come and watch. After five minutes, she had to sit down on an empty barrel that stood against the bakery wall. She got tired and slightly queasy just from watching.

"Why do you make them run endless laps around the castle walls, carrying stones and buckets of water and God knows what else?" she demanded when Reuben was finished torturing his victims for the day. "I mean, where's the sense?"

"The sense?" he said, cheerfully. The training always seemed to put him in a good mood. "The sense is that they learn to do whatever the hell I tell them to until they collapse. And then I kick them in the ass until they get up and do it some more."

"And that makes sense because...?"

"It builds discipline and is good for moral."

"And the fact that you enjoy it has nothing to do with it?"

"Milady! You wound me!" He placed a hand over his heart and managed somehow to actually look hurt. "Here I am, slaving away in your service, and you accuse me of base motives!"

"Do you have base motives?"

"Well, yes, but that's not the point." He gave her his most dazzling, devilish grin. "You shouldn't accuse me of having them, whether I have them or not. You shouldn't be so suspicious. Especially not," he added, leaning towards her until his stubble tickled her face, "of the man who loves you."

"Don't change the subject!" It was supposed to sound like an accusation, but with Reuben's lips skimming down her cheek, over her jaw and down her throat, it ended up as more of a moan.

"I'm not trying to change the subject," he whispered against her skin, and Ayla nearly fell of the barrel at the sensation. "I'm trying to change positions, from vertical to horizontal. But you're being stubborn, as usual."

"Reuben! The whole courtyard is full of people! They'll see us..."

"Oh, trust me, we won't be interrupted. They're shooting, and I've told them if one of them turns around, away from the targets, they'll have to do fifty laps around the outer castle wall, carrying Sir Waldar on their back."

"Reuben!"

"Yes, I know, I'm abominably cruel, aren't I? But at least we have our privacy..."

He went for her mouth and silenced her in the most delicious way on God's wide earth.

*~*~**~*~*

After this little discussion, Ayla vacillated between not coming back to the training grounds because she didn't like to see how hard Reuben was riding his recruits, and coming back regularly in order to distract him and maybe lighten their life a bit. The latter option also had the added advantage of being clenched in his passionate embrace, with a noble reason for for her actions that helped to assuage her conscience. After all, if it helped ease the life of a few hundred poor, exhausted people, kissing Reuben couldn't be that immoral, could it? It might even be downright noble!

Needless to say that over the next few days, she took pity on Reuben's recruits quite often.

"You're distracting me from my duties," he growled against her mouth, pressing her into the castle wall. Leaves of the ivy that grew up the wall behind her tickled Ayla's face and neck, but she didn't mind at all.