Page 10 of The Robber Knight's Love
Proudly, she raised her chin, ignoring theblade at her throat. She had called his bluff. Ha! Now what couldhe do?
He sighed again. “Oh well, if youinsist...”
*~*~**~*~*
Five minutes later, a very ruffled and evenangrier Lady Ayla stood beside her horse on the ground.
“Lecher,”[16]she hissed up the knight whowas busy checking his armor for fingernail scratches.
“Oh please!” She could almost hear his eyesrolling. “If you think I purposefully touched youthere, you areverymuch mistaken. I only meant to grab youaround the waist.”
“Well, you aimed a bit too high forthat!”
“My hand slipped.”
“So you say! I bet you did that onpurpose!”
The knight snorted and picked a few longgolden hairs from his breastplate. “You wish!”
Ayla gaped up at him in wordless indignation.The fiend had the audacity to suggest that she wanted, that she...It wasn't even possible for her to finish the thought in her mind!She could feel the color rising to her cheeks and gritted herteeth.
Finished with ridding himself of the remnantsof the struggle, the knight looked down at her and laughed. “Youlook funny when you blush, do you know that, girl?”
“I can't find anything amusing about thesituation,” she hissed between gritted teeth.
“Just wait.” He bent forward and patted heron the head. If he hadn't been too far up for her to reach andhadn't been wearing his helmet, she would have punched him in theface, sword or no sword. “In ten years or so, you'll tell thisstory to your friends, and it'll make the long winter evenings seemthat much shorter.”
“If they've found and hanged you by then,”she snapped.
“Ha!” He threw his head back and barked inlaughter. “You'll have to wait a very long time to hear thatnews.”
Ayla didn't want to, but she believed him.The way he handled that sword of his... He wouldn't be caught. Notif he could help it.
“Blackguard,” she muttered.
“You know, I was robbing another woman onlythree days or so ago, and she was much nicer than you.”
An angry tear ran down Ayla's face.
“Until this day,” she said, her voicequivering, “I had always thought knights to be men of honor.Apparently, I was mistaken.”
“Oh, I do have honor, Milady. A lot.”
“But you just said...”
“Not the sort of honor you mean, Milady—thesort that compels you to be courteous and pious. That sort of honoris, as I said, bothersome. The sort of honor I like is the kind youtake away from pretty maidens.” Ayla wasn't sure, but she thoughtshe saw him wink through the slit of his visor. “And I have heapsof that.”
He grabbed the reins of Ayla's horse andraised his free hand in farewell. “Good day, Milady.”
With an encouraging curse, he spurred hishorse forward and galloped off. Soon, he was nothing more than ablack and red streak, flashing between distant trees.
“I'll find you, do you hear me?” she shoutedafter him. “I'll find you, and when I do, I'll have you hanged fromthe highest tower of Luntberg Castle! That I swear by all the bonesof my ancestors!”
All she heard in reply was the rustling ofthe wind in the trees and maybe, just maybe, the faint echo of adevilish laugh in the distance.
Aylatouched the place where the cold steel had pressed against thetender skin of her throat. The Margrave von Falkenstein was onething—but at least he still kept to a distorted semblance ofchivalry, tried to adhere to the rules and laws that governed lifewithin the Holy Roman Empire.[17]This fiend on the otherhand... He had unsettled her in an unexpected manner. He had madeher angry. Very angry.
Anger wasn't going to get her anywhere,though. Scowling at the surrounding forest, she turned and beganstomping back towards the castle. If she ever got her hands on thatrobber knight, she would make sure that he never forgot the name ofLady Ayla von Luntberg!
