Page 117 of The Robber Knight's Love
“Just now, during the night? Do you mean tosay there was a battle andI slept throughit?”
He seemed to be affronted by the idea, as ifit were his personal responsibility to be awake and ready for eachand every violent altercation.
Ayla found it hard to suppress a smile.“Apparently.”
“Tell me what happened!” he demanded.
“Well, as I said, we won,” she replied, awarm, proud glow spreading through her.
“I would like to hear it in a little moredetail if you don't mind,” he said between clenched teeth.
Nothing would have suited Ayla better. It wasthe middle of the night, and she was hungry, dirty, and exhausted,but she didn't want to eat, she didn't want to wash, and she mostcertainly didn't want to sleep. She was much too excited forthat.
She, Ayla, a seventeen-year-old girl, had wona battle against an experienced mercenary commander. She couldhardly believe it herself, and all she wanted to do was share thenews with everybody who wanted to hear it. Reuben seemed eagerenough.
Quickly, she took a seat next to Reuben onhis bedstead and began.
“You see, it was like this: we came down tothe bridge and at first we thought there was nobody there, but thenwe realized that the entire enemy army was actually right in frontof us.”
Raising an eyebrow, Reuben cut her off.“Really? And how exactly did you manage to overlook it, atfirst?”
“It was dark, stupid! And don'tinterrupt.”
“My apologies, Milady. Please carry on.”
“So, they noticed we had spotted them and littheir torches and charged. They were like a swarm of locusts. Therewere so many, it was unbelievable!”
“How many, exactly?”
Airily, she waved a hand. What did thesedetails matter? Why didn't he let her get on with the story?
“I don't know! And I said don'tinterrupt!”
“Sorry.”
“You should be. We stood there on thebarricade and there were only about twenty of us, and hundreds ofthem out there, bloodthirsty and armed to the teeth; they reallywanted to kill us!”
“I would imagine so. They're enemysoldiers.”
Ayla waved a threatening finger at him. “Willyou stop interrupting? Where was I...?”
“They wanted to kill you.”
“Ah, yes! I could see the reinforcements werestill a long way off, and I shouted for them to hurry up, foreverybody to rally and defend the bridge! The first minutes wereterrible! Only twenty of us and hundreds of them out there...!”
“Yes, you mentioned that before.”
“Then help started arriving, and thingsimproved a little. But we were still hard pressed to defendourselves.”
Reuben narrowed his eyes at her. “You keepsaying 'we.' Did you actually grab a sword and try to helpout?”
Ayla's jaw dropped. “Of course not! What doyou think of me? I'm a lady!”
“Yes, and you look very ladylike at themoment.”
Was he trying to be funny? Ayla flushed andlooked at her torn and muddy nightgown. “I was bandaging people,”she said, haughtily. “That is all, you may rest assured.”
“Good. Now go on. What happened next?”
