Yngvild and the Forest of Dreams

Riding lessons

Being with an army on the march was a new experience. The largest group of fighters I'd seen was when the crew of the Seagull had joined with the Straven community to stand against the raider ship. There were about sixty of us stood together, plus more sailors crewing the ship.

When we got outside it became clear that our interrogator was one of the key figures in their army command. His clothes were unadorned, and hadn't offered that clue. The officers we'd seen earlier had finer versions of what the soldiers had been wearing, with silver or gold lace. They'd stood out as being more important. Apart from the Rider, he'd looked plain too, but the officer had treated him as a superior.

'I'll need to leave you two in the charge of Major Duerte, I've got to catch up on some army business that I've neglected while watching over you two.' He pointed out Major Duerte, another young dark haired man with a swarthy skin tone. He was slim and fit, dressed in a tight-fitting blue tunic covered in silver lace that looped across his chest and stomach around two rows of silver buttons that formed a V from his waist to shoulders. He had tightly fitted pine green trews on, with brown leather reinforcing the seat and inner thighs. The trews had a line of silver lace either side of the seams. This was all set off with a silver embroidered waist belt with a curved sword in a shiny metal scabbard. On his head he wore a conical helmet with a brim, cheek pieces and a wide neck flap. The cheek pieces were tied up just behind a white horse hair tuft on the top of the helmet.
The tight fit of his uniform showed off muscles, and left little doubt that he would be a watchful jailor.

'Major Duerte, at your service. My lady.' He bowed to me. 'My lord.' He bowed to Noren.
'Major, my belly thinks my throat has been cut, I haven't eaten since before dawn. Can you please get us some food?' I said.
'Certainly. Come with me.'

I noticed as we followed Major Duerte that he walked with a wide stance, and that he was slightly bow legged. Too much sitting on horses did that to you I supposed.
We were in a small village, with maybe a dozen buildings. The large hall was in the centre, and there were some houses scattered around it. There were also two large barns. We went into one of them, our captor had gone into the other ahead of us. The yard outside our barn had several horse soldiers in it, all of whom jumped up when they saw us and stood stiffly staring to their front. Also in the yard were two tents like the one I'd been taken into when we were first taken prisoner. One of these had the front pinned open and there were several men inside preparing vegetables. A strange looking cart with a chimney on it stood outside, and another man was feeding wood into a door on the side of the cart.
'That's our field kitchen' Major Duerte said when he saw me look at it. 'It's more efficient than just building an open fire, and harder for the enemy to spot because the fire is inside the cart.'
'Doesn't it just end up setting the cart on fire?'
'The fire is inside a clay and brick container, the cart is just for moving it about easily.'

The door to the barn was open to let the light in. Inside were tables with benches on either side of them. Each of the tables was covered in a white tablecloth and had place settings with knives and spoons already laid out. A soldier in a spotless white apron came over when he saw us.
'Sir!' he said, standing stock still in front of the Major.
'We need some luncheon. See to it.' The Major said.
'Yes, sir!' the soldier dashed off out of the door to the field kitchen.
'Take a seat, he'll be back with some food shortly.'

We sat at one end of the table, Noren at the head, me on his left and Major Duerte opposite me. The soldier returned with a board bearing a very fine looking cut white bread. He was closely followed by another soldier, in an identical white apron, who bore a tray with three steaming plates of food. There were a variety of vegetables, I recognised carrots, peas, beans, but not some of the others. Half of the plate was filled with a succulent looking white meat that I didn't immediately recognise. A third soldier brought a sauce jug, which the Major took control of. As soon as each had delivered their offerings, they left silently.