Page 14 of Peregrine's Call
“I can cut my hair again. I’ve no great vanity about it. It will grow back.”
“Even if you cut your hair, you can’t hide your face.”
“My face is the same.”
“It is not. You’re older. And…”
“And what?”
“You’re quite pretty,” he said, not looking at her.
“Oh.” He thought her pretty?
“And that makes it imperative for you to be somewhere safe. Not out here.”
“What sort of arrogance leads someone to ignore help when it’s offered? If women were in charge of armies, the wars would be far shorter.” She nudged her horse and rode on ahead several lengths, too annoyed to argue further.
A short while later, Octavian caught up with her, and reached out to take the reins of her horse, signaling both horses to halt. “We need to discuss this.”
“I thought you had already decided my fate.”
He looked frustrated. “You’re correct about the situation. I’m at a disadvantage, considering that I don’t know enough about the area, and I can’t hire anyone I don’t know. I know you, and you’ve already learned about the mission, so it’s not exactly violating the king’s instructions to tell you more.”
She took a deeper breath, relaxing as she felt the glow of victory. She’d convinced Octavian that she was worth having. “Then we can stop fighting.”
“I wasn’t fighting with you, I was trying to protect you,” he said, glaring at her. “And that’s still a matter to address because you absolutely can’t travel alone with me looking as you do.”
His implication was clear. Robin would be vilified for traveling alone with a man who she wasn’t related to in some way. And while she knew that Octavian wasn’t a threat to her, by the mere fact that they had been together without anyone else to keep watch Robin would be assumed to be ruined, her virginity lost along with her soul. She could almost hear the condemnation from the church—how she had transgressed, and how she was like all women, wicked and lustful and inspiring otherwise good men to sin.
“I’ll be a boy,” she said. “I’ll get dirt on my face, and cut my hair short.” She looked to his own close-cropped hair. “You’ve got a razor, don’t you?”
Octavian’s eyes flashed. “Don’t touch your hair. How would you explain the damage once you return to Cleobury?”
“I’ll…I’ll say the lice got so bad that I had to shear all my hair off. That happens!”
Despite the situation, he laughed. “Not to you. So kindly leave your hair alone.”
“If I keep my hood up,” she said, “I think I’ll be safe enough. At least till I think of something more clever.”
He sighed. “Spare me your clever ideas, Robin. They’re going to get me killed.”
Chapter 6
They rode onward, Robin ridingahead, and Octavian looking behind them frequently in case the bandits decided to chase after them once more. Robin thought it unlikely. Such men wanted easy pickings. Discovering that Octavian was a well-trained knight, and that he was now accompanied by an archer, would discourage any repeat attack.
She sought out a secluded spot to camp that night. The area here was especially wild, and she wanted them to remain well hidden. Setting up the little camp took almost no time at all. Gathering firewood was the most consuming task, but it was now cold enough that she thought they should risk it.
Octavian, though he still looked dubious about her presence, did appreciate the fire. While they ate supper, he looked at the sack of things Robin had liberated from the thieves. “What’s in there?”
“More food, mostly,” she said. “They owed us something after trying to kill you and steal your horses.” She rifled through the sack, pulling items out. “Looks like some smoked pork, a few skins of wine. Ooh, a wheel of cheese! And a blanket.” The last item she pulled out was a folded brown cloth. But it turned out not to be a blanket. It was a monk’s robe, clean and patched in many places.
Robin made a face. “Ugh. I hope they didn’t rob a monk to get some food. Though they seemed evil enough to do it.”
Tav frowned at the robe. “If the thieves sunk that low, I should have punished them far more harshly than just leaving them in the woods.”
“Too late now.” Robin shook the robe out and held it up, trying it on for size. “Perhaps they used it to trick travelers. Monks aren’t intimidating.”
Octavian tilted his head slightly, regarding her with a more speculative air.
