Love of a Thousand Words

Ch.4 The First Encounter

Her maid Annie, helped her in. The sour stench wafted to the two girls' noses as they sat down in the carriage.

"What's this smell?" Her maid said before sniffing the air and holding a cloth to her nose.

"It's the smell of sweat and blood, perhaps the smell of a man," Rosemary stated as she searched around the carriage for blood.

"A man? What do they smell like?"

"They stink. Like the men at the stables," Rosemary stated while wrinkling her nose.

Rosemary has smelled this many times whenever she was around the stable boys to carve her wooden horse. However, this smell was different since it had a sharp metallic scent to it.

"It's definitely a smell hard to forget," Annie exclaimed.

Rosemary threw the dirtied blankets out the window before making herself comfortable on the wooden bench. She spotted clumps of blood on the blankets and didn't waste a minute in getting rid of them. It's not like she can't handle blood, but she'd rather not sit on the mess especially if it stunk.

"Hiyah!" With that, the carriage lurched, and they headed back to the safety of the capital.

Pulling out the flat bread from her sleeve, Rosemary started to eat the plain bread. Even though it's plain and in need of water to wash it down, she doesn't want to be hungry. It has been a while since lunch and knowing how long it took her to travel here last time, who knows when they'll get fed next.

It took two whole days traveling to get to the small cottage. During that time, she was given only two meals the whole time since she was to reflect on her actions.

All of a sudden, their carriage stopped as sounds of horses could be heard just in front of them on the dirt road. Her maid peeked out of the carriage wondering who would be going past them in such a hurry. Just as she glanced out the door sweeping the curtain aside, Annie hurried back inside the carriage with a look of fear evident on her face.

"Annie what's wrong?"

Annie opened her mouth but before she could utter a word a man loudly announced, "On order of the General, we are to search this carriage for a fugitive man. Please comply."

Scared of this, the middle-aged women fervently said, "Our young miss of the Gunvaldson clan is inside this carriage. No man can go inside an unmarried woman's carriage. We are to bring her back home on her aunts order, please understand."

Annie quickly sat down next to me holding onto my hands as if she could ease the worry building inside of her. Rosemary quickly patted her hands as if reassuring her maid that everything would be okay. Her maid nodded her head in understanding.

The third in command came forward the lady demanding, "It's by decree of the King. Men search her carriage."

Just as the third in command was about to go over to the carriage a soft pleasant voice spoke up from inside the carriage. The voice was soft as silk holding a youthfulness that could only be achieved by her age of fifteen years.

"This is Lady Rosemary from the Gunvaldson clan. Sorry for the incompetence of the head maid. We will oblige to a search but before then, may I humbly speak to your esteemed General?"

The third in command was about to dispute the lady's request before the General silenced him with a raise of his hand. He stared at the carriage slightly astonished of hearing the unwavering voice of the lady coming from the carriage.

Lars, the third in command faced his General before exclaiming, "General Burke, this may be a trick. Don't trust what the lady says!"

The second in command just went over and reprimanded Lars by saying, "A young miss can't do anything to our General. Our priority is to find the man, not wasting precious time."

The General, thankful for his second in commands words, led his horse right up to the side of the carriage. He was curious to see who this lady might be. She was so straightforward and seemed unafraid of him and his soldiers. Truly, a rare occurrence.

Rosemary spoke up once she noticed the Generals shadow outside the draped window. "I came from the cottage near the stables. I threw out some dirtied blankets into the street in front of it. You might find what you're looking for in the warehouse next to it, if I may so boldly say."

She moved the window drapes aside to point in the direction with her hand as to where it would be. She didn't want to get in trouble by protecting whoever was in this carriage before her, whoever he may be.

She especially didn't want the General to think she was hiding anything although she was slightly curious about his looks. If he looked like what all the rumors made him put to be.

Her maid always loved to hear the towns gossip. She said that he was a beast of a man who was marred with scars from plenty of battles but was also given one of the most handsome faces by God.

Just as she moved the curtain farther away, she caught a glimpse of his royal armor and the black regal horse. The King's crest was woven into the middle of the armor, but she didn't dare stick her whole head out to get a full look.

In turn, her mother's bracelet caught the Generals attention as it hung limply around her thin wrist. The gold and silver bracelet caught the light of the sun shining brightly.

Just then a loud screechy voice exclaimed breaking the exchange, "Our young miss doesn't know what she's talking about. The lady of the house sent her to the countryside for peace so she could take care of her mental state. She spouts nonsensical words sometimes." The maid hastily cried out.

She ran over to the General causing a raucous while trying to plead her charge's mental state. She grabbed onto the General's boot in her rush of pleas, scaring his horse.

Daemon, the second in command, seeing this quickly ordered, "Hold that maid down before she harms the General."

The maid quickly stopped after hearing the severity of her actions and slumped to the ground as the soldiers wrapped their strong hands around her arms. Her body seemed lifeless on the ground as she kept her lips closed for the first time with newfound fear in her eyes.