Dark Age Maiden

She wanted to strike him

       She heard him moan and then he turned toward her, opening his eyes. He spoke her name.

        "Uberto," she answered with hope, glad he was awake for she had feared he was dead. "Can you move everything?"

         For a moment he said nothing. "With pain."

        "Please tell me nothing is broken."

        "I don't think so."

        "Thank God." She stood up and asked Guy and Wotano if they had any candles.

         "One," answered Wotano.

        "Light it and then gently undress him. I will come back with unguent to rub on his wounds. It will help him to heal faster and keep his skin from festering."

        As she exited Carina could hardly fight down her feelings against Giancarlo. How could he have beaten Uberto so unmercifully. This is training? She wished she could pummel him and leave him prostrate on the ground. She rued thinking he might actually become her husband.

        She returned shortly with the unguent and was appalled when she saw the full extent of the beating. As she rubbed the poultice into the black and reddened areas she felt the solid muscles of his body. Uberto moved when she told him to, so she could attend to all his cuts and bruises, but otherwise he seemed barely awake. When she finished, she told Guy and Wotano he needed at least two days rest to recover. She would take it upon herself to bring him food while he recuperated. Then she left.

         Late that same night in his room, Giancarlo thought about his beating of Uberto. He had always taken pride in keeping his feelings under control, but he realized after Uberto's hard thrust he had reacted with unrestrained anger. He wondered why Uberto had not uttered a word to stop the fight even when he was lying on the ground practically helpless against his attack.

         Early the next morning Carina came to Uberto and his friends' room. She carried with her soft boiled eggs, fresh bread, some cheese, and mead. Guy and Wotano were already getting ready to go for breakfast. After greeting her they left, and she was alone with Uberto. In the morning light she could see more clearly the bruises and whelps on his skin. Uberto opened his eyes when she spoke his name and sat up with obvious pain on seeing she had brought him breakfast. 

          Carina knelt beside his low bed. "How do you feel?"

        "Better," he said, taking the food she proffered and slowly chewing it. She stayed beside him while he ate. It seemed to her he was still dead tired.

         "Rest, and by tomorrow you will feel stronger."

        He nodded in agreement and took a drink of the mead. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again.

        "Go back to sleep now, Uberto. Rest will help you to heal." She got up, taking the trencher, and before leaving bent down to kiss him on the cheek. She turned back to him at the door and saw him lift a hand in farewell.

        "I'll return later with dinner," she said in parting.

      Less than an hour later the men assembled for training. Giancarlo was astonished to see Uberto among them. He saw the still reddened bruises on his face and the stiffness in his movements. He watched as Tiberio approached Uberto and heard him ask if he felt well enough to practice. Uberto nodded yes. Giancarlo's feelings about the youth were mixed. On the one hand he was aggravated to see him back so soon when he should be in bed. On the other he grudgingly had to admire the youth's toughness.