A Daughter's Love - Book 2 The Frencolian Chronicles (complete)

Chapter Twenty-Two

The baron allowed Jobyna to ride Rainbow to Litton but he kept a slow pace, becoming disturbed whenever she spoke of 'racing' him each time they came to a long straight in the road. 

He created distractions, much to her chagrin. 

The first time she challenged him, the baron saw a company of knights and soldiers in the distance heading their way and said they must move aside as the knights had right of way.

When Jobyna claimed that he, Baron Chatelain was a senior knight, 'Sir Louis' and that there were knights in their company, Louis ignored her and the company dutifully lined up along the side of the road.

In actual fact, Sir Louis Chatelain had rights above all others save the king, but he wanted to prevent his daughter from over-exerting herself in a 'race,' or worse; falling off her horse; so he ordered the company to move slowly along the grassy verge, allowing the military complete use of the road.

The second time Jobyna demanded to race him, the baron ordered his cavalcade to stop for a snack; and the third time, they dismounted to pick ripe berries, for eating, from thickets just off the roadside.

Blackberries, boysenberries and loganberries grew in great abundance and Jobyna took her bonnet off, filling it with berries to take for her friend Nita at Litton.

She carefully carried the filled bonnet to her mother who rested  in the shade of a tree. "I want to get some so Baron Tolard can have a pie. May I have your bonnet, Mother?" She asked.

At the sight of Jobyna's berry-stained bonnet, the baroness pulled a face. Before she spoke, Sabin came to the rescue with a linen bag, which had contained the cheese and bread they'd eaten.

Jobyna skipped off, calling for Ellie to come with her if they wanted to fill the bag before their father was ready to go. They moved further away from the road, deeper into the thicket, eating as they picked.

When the bag was three-quarters full, Jobyna forced it upon Ellie who complained, "Now you want me to hold it but you didn't before!"

Jobyna reached down to another clump of blackberries. As Ellie held the bag out, a growling, snorting sound came from behind her.

Jobyna looked up, her eyes turned wide with fear. Dragging Ellie by the arm, Jobyna cried, "There's a big bear right behind you ... standing up on its hinders ... run Ellie ..." The older girl did not need another warning. She ran, with Jobyna close on her heels.

Ellie screamed and shouted, "Father! Father! A bear, a bear!"

Jobyna couldn't call out; words had frozen in her throat. Scrambling up the slope over which Ellie had disappeared, she tripped on her long skirt and fell. Rolling over to see if the bear was following, she saw that it was.

Crashing through the berry bushes, it ran on all fours, hot on her tail. Suddenly the beast reared up.

Jobyna didn't see the two knights rush over the slope with their swords drawn because the scene had faded from her view into darkness. 

Voices came to the faint girl as though from a distant mist. Jobyna heard her father scolding Sabin for neglecting to accompany the girls. She tried to speak, to tell him it wasn't Sabin's fault that the bear came, but the words would not form. Struggling in her mother's arms, Jobyna cried, "I'm hot, too hot ... ohhh ... I feel sick!"

The arrival in Litton was an anti-climax. 

The messenger, who had gone ahead, returned to them, saying that the doctor was in Bruis and wouldn't be back until the morning. Doctor Valence did a circuit of two districts. He was taking care of a baron's wife in Bruis who was expected to be delivered of twins within the next day or so. If all went well, the doctor might return in the morning, having received notice that the baron from Chanoine wanted him to examine his daughter.