Ignoring her, Raine slung the dead pigs over the back of his horse, then went immediately to the horse’s head to calm him as he pranced, not liking the smell of blood so close to him.
“Lead the horse and follow me,” he said to her, turning his back to her and walking ahead.
After one fearful look at the stallion, its ears back, eyes wild, sweaty from its run, Alyx gave a deep swallow of sheer terror and reached for the reins. The stallion danced away once and Alyx jumped, glancing quickly toward Raine where she could just see him through the trees.
“Come on, horse,” she whispered, approaching the animal slowly but again it moved away from her.
Frustrated, she stood still, eyes locked with the horse’s and softly, she began to hum, trying different notes, different tempos until she sensed the horse rather liked a very old, simple round. As the horse seemed to calm, she reached for the reins and her voice gained strength as she gained confidence.
Several minutes later, swaggering with pride at her accomplishment, she reached the small clearing where Raine waited impatiently with the third pig.
“It’s a good thing I have guards posted,” he said, flinging the trussed pig on the stallion’s back, “otherwise with all your noise anyone within a mile could have heard you.”
Absolute shock nearly flattened Alyx. Since she was ten years old all she’d ever heard was the most profuse praise for her music and now it was being referred to as “noise.” Without another word from her she allowed Raine to pull her into the saddle in front of him and together they rode back to camp, her back slamming into his chest.
Once back in the camp, Raine dismounted, ignoring Alyx, still in the saddle, as he untied the pigs and slung them in the general direction of a campfire. As Jocelin came forward, Raine tossed him the reins. “Show the boy how to clean a horse,” he said before striding toward his tent.
After a reassuring smile for Alyx, Joss led the horse toward the clearing where the other horses were kept.
“Boy!” Alyx muttered as she dismounted, holding onto the saddle for support. “Boy, do this; boy, do that. That’s all he ever says.” When Joss had unfastened the saddle cinch, Alyx stood on tiptoe, grabbed the saddle and pulled and promptly fell backward, landing in a heap with the heavy saddle on top of her.
Obviously trying not to laugh, Jocelin removed the saddle while Alyx rubbed her bruised chin where it had struck her. “Is Raine making your life miserable?”
“He’s trying to,” she said as she took the saddle from him and, after three tries, managed to set it atop a wooden construction. “Oh, Joss,” she gasped. “I’m so very tired. This morning he had me scour his armor, then I spent hours with that heavy sword. Now it’s hunting and looking after that great beast.”
At that comment the stallion rolled its eyes and began to prance. Without a thought, Alyx sang six notes and the animal calmed.
Jocelin had to control his look of amazement at her unconscious use of her voice before he could speak. “Raine has a lot of people to care for.”
“A lot of people to play the lord with, you mean,” she snapped, following Joss’s lead in wiping down the horse.
“Perhaps. Perhaps a man like Raine is so used to taking responsibility he takes it without thinking.”
“For me, I’d like fewer orders,” she said. “Why does he command everyone? Why does he believe he rules everyone? Why doesn’t he just let the people rest?”
“Rest!” Joss said from the other side of the horse. “You should have seen this place a few weeks before he arrived. It was like the worst sections of London, people slitting one another’s throats for a few pennies, stealing so much you had to stay up all night to guard your possessions. Displaced farmers were at the mercy of murderers and—”
“And so this righteous Raine Montgomery set everything to rights, correct?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Did anyone ever consider he did it because he felt it was his God-given right over his underlings?”
“You’re awfully young to be so bitter, aren’t you?” Joss asked.
Alyx stopped brushing the horse. “Why are you here?” she asked him. “How do you fit into this group? You’re not a murderer and you don’t look like someone too lazy to work. The only thing I can imagine is that some jealous husband is after you,” she teased.
Instantly, Jocelin tossed the brush down. “I have to go back to work,” he said in a hard, flat voice and walked away from her.
For a full, stunned minute Alyx could not continue. Never in her life would she have insulted Jocelin. He was the only one she could talk to, sing with and—
“When you finish that you can fetch me some water from the stream,” came a whiny voice from behind her, cutting off Alyx’s thoughts.
Slowly, with deliberation, she turned toward Blanche. For all Alyx’s words on Raine’s arrogance, Alyx also had a great deal of class pride. This woman with her slovenly dress, her coarse voice, her uneducated accents, was certainly not of the same class as Alyx. Ignoring her, Alyx turned back to the horse.
“Boy!” Blanche demanded. “Did you hear what I said?”
“I heard you,” Alyx said, dropping her voice to a low tremor. “And I’m sure half the camp did, too.”