Squire Hayseed

Deep in the Cups

"Sound it out," the voice behind her shoulder ordered. Hayley blew a breath through her lips, her exhausted and bleary eyes scrunched up tight. The squiggles looked like the same smattering of lines. Twisting the parchment towards the light she popped her mouth a few times, then the answer dawned in her head like magic.

"Dog!" she said, turning towards the man who had kept his face locked down on neutral. At least the eyebrows were raised from their cloudy glower when they first began.

"Right, and the next word after."

Silly her thinking that'd be enough for her to go free. She jabbed down the parchment, her finger trailing the loops he made in ink when she caught out of the corner of her eye Gavin's head rising. Hayley dropped her work to watch a cluster of knights sashaying towards them.

"Told you," Ser Frederick called, his hand extended far. Hayley took a quick peek around the man but there was no sign of Larissa. Thank the lord. "I told you, we have enough wine to drown a church, gambling of every variety a good lordly knight shouldn't know of, some very heavenly bodies more than pleased to attend to our whims, and what is dear Gavin up to?"

Her knight's lips cracked wide in a smile. "Evening, Frederick. Cal." The men all nodded like broken necked birds before Gavin turned to the lone woman. "Ser Mayu."

She wore the red banner, a lion blazing a path through a forest across her chest. Dragging a single finger back to the low knot in her jet black hair, Mayu smiled, "Been a while, Gavin."

"Don't worry, I yet limp from our last encounter." He smiled as if it was a joke.

Mayu laughed as well. "My ailment is best not spoken of in polite company."

Hayley's eyes bulged, the hair on the back of her neck sticking up at the tension rising in the air. She moved to slot beside Gavin, as if she needed to protect him, when Ser Frederick slid in close. A hand curled around her shoulder as he whispered, "Don't worry, little one. They merely met on the field of combat..."

"Jousting," Gavin said with a tip of his head, "Mayu's the best of the lot." The woman smiled at the acknowledgement but didn't race to downplay it.

Frederick continued loudly, "Not in the bedroom," causing both Gavin and Mayu to roll their eyes and groan. "Least," the voice in her ear dropped to whisper, "far as we know." With that cryptic statement he slid away from Hayley, a finger laid next to his nose to seal in the secret.

"What brings you out here? Soliciting for the Earl?" Gavin asked, causing the knights to pickle their features at such a thought.

"We've come for you, toiling away as if his patron is staring over his shoulder. It's despicable," Frederick groaned.

"Pathetic," Calvin added. He'd shorn his golden locks at some point, the hair circling around the top of his crown like a moat while the bottom section was shaved. "The damn dragons have already swept in to claim a full cask. It should be ours."

"Drink, drink, drink," Mayu grumbled, "that's all you serpents ever concern yourself with."

"What would you have us worry about then, oh great lady?" Frederick chuckled, his hands splayed out in a bow.

Her shrewd eyes cut over to Gavin. "How much glint did you bring?"

"Not enough for your blood," he said, but his eyes gleamed at the thought. "Enough for a few rounds of dice. What of you Frederick? Shall you be joining in this time?"

The knight scoffed, his lashes blinking rapidly as his chiseled face lit up. "Against you two? I'd be better off stripping to my knickers now, thanks very much."