Chapter 44: Chapter 44

LADYS AND LORDS

Arin stared at his sword in his lap and stopped moving. Elain's cool hand rested backhand on his cheek.

"He's coming back."

He looked at himself and twitched to her thighs. "Give me your dagger. I'll drag him along."

She gave him a seductive smile, pulled her skirt down her thigh, and pulled her dagger from her garter. "There you are, my lord."

God, she still can... he thought with amusement.

For a while you only heard the grinding noise and the raging children. He felt her hand again. This time on his hand.

"Talk to me, Arin."

"About what? My ungrateful brood who want to sneak out of the house the moment your back is turned?"

She laughed that mocking little giggle and laid her hand casually on his shoulder. "Sure, start with that."

Arin nudged her lightly, but smiled. "Just conversion."

"Are you sure that's the end of it then?"

"I guess so. We still have three."

Elain rested her chin on his shoulder. "Liar."

"Give me time, my lady! You know I always need more time than you do for something like that."

"Mother! Joan stinks!" complained Jacob, who often felt too good to pay any real attention to his little siblings.

"You too!" Arin called back, laughing, and received a firm thump from Elain.

The rain wasn't getting any better when we got home in the late afternoon. On the contrary. Now there was lightning and thunder. And for the first time, I felt really candid about laughing.

Elly, Jacob and I sat next to Armin at our would-be table and stared at Arin, who winced at every thunderbolt and thunderbolt. He was white as a sheet and didn't seem able to share our cheerfulness in the least. He didn't seem to like laughing at himself.

We did it all the more for that. Arin got up angrily and left. Elly immediately jumped up ruefully and ran after him. Elain chuckled and eyed her two sons reprovingly.

Jacob leaned imperiously against Armin. "You're taking me out to sea, am I right? Of course I did. How could you do without me?"

Armin rolled his eyes. "How?"

Elain grabbed Jac by the earlobe, who immediately jumped to his feet, whining. "Don't think you can get away until you've found an employer! Now pack up and go to bed."

"I don't need an employer! I will not become a knight!"

Arguing together, the two disappeared down the corridor. Armin yawned heartily and apparently unnoticed leaned his full weight on my shoulder.

"Armin!"

"What?"

"You're throwing me off the chair!" even though I leaned my full weight against his, my whole body arched way over the edge of the chair. Still, he stayed leaning.

"Indeed? I'm sorry for that..."

I laughed and tried again to heave his body off me. "Do you really want to wrestle me to the ground in my finest dress!? And that's called a knight!?"

In fact, he rose a little and suddenly seemed distracted. Surely not because of my stupid joke?

"You really need a new dress... I'd like to know how it is in the village."

I waved him off. Because I really didn't mean to make accusations. I mean, of course it was his fault my actual dress was torn. But it was a wonderful night and brought me closer to Armin in so many ways that I happily took it upon myself to wear a comfortable peasant dress.

"We shouldn't worry about me first, Armin. You have plans with the horses. And the ship. And just for this thing you still have to organize and think about so much." When I mentioned his ship, he inhaled longingly. "There's hardly anyone in the castle. I'm actually never in the village it doesn't matter what I'm wearing."

"No it's not that baby." He looked at me seriously. "You're the daughter of one of the richest Spaniards."

"So what?"

"You're used to something else. You can't be blamed for that, but that's the way it is. Besides, it's my duty as a lord to treat my lady like one. And not like a peasant woman. And so, it doesn't matter what you own or don't own. You deserve more."

I rolled my eyes impatiently. "It's all a matter of form. You can't give me what you don't have. And just for a formal story, you certainly don't have to go into debt or anything like that..."

He grinned wolfish. “It's not a form thing, Isabella. Nobody sees us up here anyway. But the point here is that I have a responsibility to you. And I take that seriously."

When I wanted to say something again, he winked slyly, distracting me slightly.

"I have more responsibility to you than to my faithful Argos."

"How nice..."

Armin shrugged his shoulders and finished his hot wine. "You know, I don't do anything unreasonable to give you the luxury. But he's not last."

Slightly offended because he did what he wanted after all, I shrugged. "Up to you..."

Grinning, he kissed me. It was only then that I realized I was actually sulking a bit. "Just because you don't insist, you deserve everything you're entitled to and more..."

"Armin..."

"Let's not talk about it anymore, okay? As you wish, did you say right? Leave me my stupid male pride and let me make my plans."

"And I'm supposed to just stand there quietly?"

He grinned. "You would never make it. But you should try to... well, respect my decisions. Do not try to relieve my duty as Lord."

I looked around theatrically. "Because of this box? No thanks, that honor is yours alone."

Laughing, he put an arm around my shoulders. "Then run my household as I please, understood wife?"

"Whatever you wish, Lord Campbell."

"Captain Campbell."

"You don't have a ship yet."

"But Lord hurts more than Captain."

He was a dork at times. Laughing, I snuggled into his side and stared at the wooden tabletop in front of us.

"What's the deal with you and castles?"

"What do I know... Honestly, I have no idea."

He gently kissed my temple. He put his other arm around my stomach and his lips wandered to my neck. And although our last time wasn't that long ago, it seemed years ago...

"To our haystacks, Captain?"

Armin raised his head with a sigh. "I'd like to, but I have to work sometime."

"In the weather?"

"It's best to read a book. And what kind of book, you might want to ask. Namely the house books... I need to know the numbers and where I might be owed a favor... I hate it..."

When he kissed me, I found myself pouting again.

ARMIN TAKES ON

Armin was sitting in a shabby little study that was often haunted by fat black spiders. The books in the thick chest were dusty and the parchment was brittle. And the information from it is devastating.

At some point he had studied the few numbers and also the few possessions. Armin threw the books back in the chest and decided to ride the country completely. First thing in the morning he must look at every serf and every patch of land and every cattle.

It was already the middle of the night when Armin went to her makeshift room. Isabella sat on the windowsill and stared out into the rain. Only the flashes lit up the room for him to see.

Armin lit a candle, leaned next to her and looked at her pretty long neck, in which her long brown hair hung. A necklace would suit her perfectly...

"Are you finally tired?"

"No, but now I've done everything." He followed her gaze and found only empty ones. "Why are you still up?"

"In Spain, the rain smells different..."

What? He looked at her in surprise. She stared into the darkness almost apathetically. It reminded him of how she had stared at the horizon on the ship back to England. Just before she threw herself into the sea. He watched her movements closely. Not that she could think of anything stupid...

"Different?"

"Like spices from the kitchen...I don't know why. And whenever it rained and wouldn't stop, like it is now, the cook always brought hot wine and sweet bread."

He didn't know what to say. If they had enough to eat, he would have Jenny bring those things to Isabella. But like that, he didn't know exactly what to do. And something told him he should let her talk for now anyway.

“And in the hall, the women in the house all sewed or knitted something. The men have... I don't know..."

"Why not?"

"I wasn't allowed to have men near me..."

Armin was confused for many reasons. "But you weren't a virgin anymore..."

"No, you're right. Where there's a will, there's a way." She drew up her knees and wrapped her arms around them. "My father wanted to increase my price by not letting men see me. Just guessing."

Price. abominable! Armin looked at Isabella, whose face still seemed unnaturally calm.

"But I've always outwitted him."

"Was he a bad father?"

"Like a father who has a daughter instead of a son. Otherwise everything was fine. Until he forced me to the marriage in front of the king..."

Armin saw the welts on her back, but didn't expect them to be so fresh. And he found it too rude to ask her about it. And since it was common to hit your kids with God knows what you liked, Armin figured Enrique had done just that.

Now that he knew where they really came from, unbridled anger boiled up against the men who had sealed their fate.

Enrique had abused Isabella. Before Richard.

“The music, Armin... The language. My country... It's all so far away."

He carefully took her hand and brought it to his lips. They were freezing. It didn't do Armin any good to see her like that. It made him restless and angry.

"It's going to be fine, Isabella. I promise you, it will soon be more homely here. Then you can build all of this up, even if it won't be the same."

She snatched his hand away only to swing both arms around his neck and bury her face in his chest. His young wife made no sound.

He held her for a while, then picked himself up and carried her with him to the haystack. She hid her face on his shoulder as they both lay back and fell asleep nestled against him.

Armin was not granted that. Often he had seen these welts. He had thought nothing of it. And now the skin with welts under the dress, under Armin's hand, seemed to be burning.

Anger kept him awake. It had all been so unfair. Neither he nor Isabella deserved that. Even if it had turned out well for both of them. It was unfair.

Because how could King Richard or the bushy-bearded Enrique have known that Armin wouldn't treat the young Spaniard badly?

Arin was considered notorious and dangerous in England. Armin was his son. King Richard had chosen him precisely for this reason. You should have expected that Armin could have been dangerous for Isabella.

They probably had too. They just didn't care.

It shook the twenty-year-old to the core. He had no children, but the thought of one day feeling such indifference toward his child made him sick. He knew full well that he wouldn't be able to be like that.

Even though he had heard from his uncle Taran how his grandfather Henry was towards his father Arin. Every now and then Armin almost panicked about becoming like that and treating his children so badly. But his mother, Elain, and his big cousin, Syman, had always made it clear that he wasn't like that.

Isabella stirred a little.

He certainly didn't have indifferent feelings for her. And Armin would show her that often enough.

Together with the children, we walked around the castle wall with Akay and looked at the surroundings. Joan was very calm and thoughtful. Her dark eyes and dark hair made her seem almost sinister with her calm demeanor.

When Elizabeth and Jacob tussled, Joan was on her own, surveying the surroundings with a nonchalance all of her own.

So it happened that this nimble and quiet little devil suddenly got lost and disappeared. And while the other three of us were still looking for little Joan in a panic, Armin came back with the sulking sister in his arms.

He spoke to her with concentration, she answered seriously and pouted more when he answered with a grin.

"There you are, Joan!" Elizabeth sighed with relief. "I was so worried about you!"

"Not me." Jacob muttered acidly and raised a finger menacingly. "You always run away! Don't do that again!"

Completely unperturbed, she raised an eyebrow.

Jacob ignited and glared at Armin angrily. "That's why I don't want to take care of those two!"

Armin looked at Joan. "You have to be nice to Jacob when I'm gone Joan. Otherwise you're just worrying me."

"You mustn't go..." she murmured softly. Her fingers clawed at his doublet.

"I'll come by often, I promise."

When Armin tried to put her down, she wrapped her legs around him and refused to stand. So he sighed in surrender.

"Fine, stay with me then. Jac, Elly, go away, I want to talk to Isabella."

Elly's big blue eyes darkened. "How rude!"

Jac took it easy, playfully shooting Elly and running away from her. When we were finally alone, Armin turned back to me.

"I'm sorry Armin. She's really damn fast..."

Armin laughed and nodded. "And calm. You hardly notice when she disappears, huh? It's happened to me thousands of times."

"Still not okay."

Armin casually shrugged his shoulders. "What the hell. You can't break her habit. I mean yes. But I never wanted to do it that way."

"How?" Interested, I leaned against the stone wall and looked at the big guy with the toddler in his arms. An unusual sight.

"By hitting her. But like I said, that's out of the question. Don't you, Joan? As a brother, you don't always have to do the dirty work."

"Only as a father you have to..." Arin suddenly murmured. When Joan saw him, she reached out and smiled to him.

Armin seemed impatient. "Are you coming to get her?"

"However. Your mother is packing. We're going to leave."

I was flabbergasted. It would be very boring...

But Arin seemed more exuberant than ever. Now I recognized again the resemblance between father and son. The two Campbells and Castles...

Arin grinned. "Shall I send you Syman?"

Armin shrugged. "He's going to come visit me at some point."

"Then I'll send it to you."

Raising his hand in greeting, he disappeared talking softly to his three-year-old daughter.

Armin suddenly clapped his hands thievingly. "That fits perfectly. Nobody would be better than Syman."

"I beg your pardon?"

Suddenly Armin braced himself with his arms next to me and came so close that no hand would have fit between us.

He sparkled wolfishly. "I have a woman in the castle who wants to see you."

"And what about the syman fits perfectly somewhere?"

He kissed me fiercely. "To many questions."

"Come on Armin!"

"Let's put it this way, it fits perfectly into my main plan. You'll see he's the question to every answer."

Then he took my hand and led me back into the castle. An elderly woman with a basket on her lap sat in our humble hall. Carina brought her a cup of wine.

"This is Bessie. She'll make you a dress."

Bessy stood up with surprising agility and approached me, frowning, pulling a long thread from her head.

"One... .... ...ten...."

"Hello..." I mumbled as she slid my arm around and continued counting. "I'm Isabella."

"I have everything." She looked at Armin. "What color?"

He looked at me. "Red."

I raised an eyebrow. "Red?"

"Do you get along with Spanish editing?"

"What are you talking about?" grumbled the old woman and put her arms on her hips. "I'm English!"

"Then make it look as modern as possible."

"And what do I get for my work?"

"Your lease will be waived this month."

"Deal." Bessy eyed me for a moment. "I'll be back next week."

She trotted off into the corridor and was gone. Simply that way.

CHANGE OF PLAN

Arin and Armin said goodbye with a cool, friendly pat on the back. Both seemed ready to say goodbye, but both wait with stoic masculine attitudes.

Elain kisses Armin's forehead and smiles at him with motherly warmth, then she jumps onto the horse and takes Elly on her lap. Jacob reluctantly climbed onto his father's old pocket and crossed his arms.

I heard Joan crying bitterly until the family rode through the castle gate and over the drawbridge.

Armin fled into the castle so he really didn't have to hear it anymore and rubbed his neck bitterly. Since the family was here, he seemed like a best friend to Elly and Jacob, but apparently Joan was something else. And it seemed that saying goodbye to the three-year-old broke his heart more than saying goodbye to the others.

I could well imagine why, so I decided not to ask him and just dig into his wound. I went to the kitchen and helped with the food.

When we were eating, Armin suddenly smiled broadly. After eating dull and bored all the time.

"What is it?"

"I just figured out where to get a ship from..."

"Did you just think about that?"

"About what else?"

Aha... well, the red knight seemed to put that aside. I should be fine.

"How should I know?" I mumbled innocently and drank my water. Because wine was finally over.

Armin ignored it anyway and kept smiling. He seemed relieved and almost relieved at the conclusion.

"Armin, do you want to tell me what's on your mind today or do I have to beg, dammit!"

He laughed out loud. "You're not patient, are you?"

"Are Spaniards known for their patience?"

Armin's gaze became lustful and wandered up and down at me. "More for temper."

I drummed my fingers on the table and just couldn't hold back my flattered smile.

"Now tell me..."

"If Syman really comes, we can ride to my uncle Avan and borrow his ship."

I looked at him a little puzzled. Hadn't he skipped a few steps in his plan? Horse breeding for example? Restoring the... well... windows of the castle? Did he want to leave everything and do whatever came to his mind?

"And what are you planning to do with the ship?"

"What? Sometimes you're a sheep..."

"I beg your pardon!?"

"An English spell, Isabella. It's not an insult."

Was sheep flattering on an English lady? At least not for a Spanish woman...

Armin ignored me this time as well and pointed to the window behind him. "It's finally stopped raining. God, am I glad when spring ends."

"The farmers' harvest will probably not be particularly plentiful."

Armin sighed in surrender. "She probably wouldn't be anyway. This land is as good as barren. Most of the farmers keep cattle here and built handicraft shops."

I looked into my water cup and wondered what the king had against Armin. How could he burden such a young knight with such a dilapidated castle?

Armin got up and invited me to follow him. Together we strolled in the ankle-high morass to the stables, saddled Argos, and rode to our little fisherman's hut.

Armin made another fire and sat in the boat with me. "You've probably noticed, but I thought of something else."

"In what way?"

My husband's brow was furrowed, his hair pulled back into his signature ponytail, and he was hell bent on getting what he set his mind to. "I hope you're not getting hysterical. But I'm not getting the ship just to go sailing."

I wasn't surprised. I must have expected it unknowingly.

"We can't go on as we are now. By summer at the latest, when the famous drought hits this part of England, we'll starve to death."

"What are you up to?" My voice was calm and settled.

Armin smiled weakly. "Do you really want me to tell you?"

"If I come with you, I'll see it anyway."

He seemed a little relieved. "You would come with me?"

"Where to, Armin? Tell me. What you couldn't tell me in the castle."

He said it without hesitation. "I'm going to rob. I go by ship from one country to the next and take with me what I need."

"When do we set sail, Captain?"

Armin took my hand seriously. "This is really serious, Isabella. If Richard even suspects that it's me among the robbers, he'll have no mercy on me. I'm a Campbell. Hardly any line of knights is so at loggerheads with the kings."

"Why is that?" So we got closer to the castle thing.

"Because Richard is afraid of our power." He waved him off. "Anyway, as long as we join piracy, it's going to be a life on the run. Not a nice life."

"But alone in this shabby castle, okay?"

Armin shook his head. "I already have a plan."

"No, I want to go with you." I sat on his lap. "I find it exciting."

Armin's big, strong arms wrapped themselves around me. "Are you sure you can handle this? No permanent residence, just the ship..."

It was a horrible prospect not to come home at all. But I had finished with the idea a long time ago. "I told you before that I don't mind."

Armin kisses my neck. "Your spontaneity is one of your greatest assets, Senorita."

Armin spent the next week preparing to leave for his uncles. And since Syman was probably already on his way to them, they would have to wait for him.

Armin was a little excited. Syman had always been something like his big brother. He had always tried to support Armin and saved him often enough from his numerous difficulties.

Whether it was someone from the village, Arin or even Elain. Syman had always stood by Armin. And Armin admired him for it.

Syman was stricter later than his employer, but mostly took it with honest humor when Armin fell back into his old ways.

After a week of preparations and continuous sunshine, the two spouses had really achieved something together.

Isabella had gotten her new dress and some of the villagers had helped Armin with the repairs. The morass was bone dry now and far more handsome than when they arrived. They also had supplies. Armin had acted and haggled wildly. This month he demanded the rent from the cattle owners not for money, but for cattle. He took money from merchants and from the few farmers he took wheat and wine.

Isabella, on the other hand, sewed, scrubbed, hired maids and quickly made herself popular in the village.

So they actually managed to build up a small household, at least a little bit. And yet it was such a meager household that they bitterly had to economize.

More than ever, Armin was convinced that he was not getting anywhere and urgently needed the solution as a pirate.

Ralph, their only security guard, was reporting that they should probably hire some soldiers. All the more so since the lord of the castle planned to stay away for a while. Armin had only told Ralph that he would stay with his uncles for a while.

"Please hire some soldiers and tell them they won't get paid for the first two months. But a roof over your head and a decent education."

"Wouldn't you rather have people already trained, my lord?"

Armin shook his head and stopped in front of the guard room. “Just hire some farmers and villagers. My castle isn't worth that much either, Ralph."

Ralph made a face. "I can't teach such fools."

"What who the origin of the knights, Ralph?"

"My lord..."

"Right. It was peasants who went to war and later invented knighthood. So it's not an impossibility." But below your dignity, huh? Armin added mentally.

Ralph felt visibly humiliated. Armin was so much younger than him. "You will regret it."

"Don't worry, I've got someone good at teaching these dumplings. And I entrust my life to him."

"Indeed?"

Armin gave a sneaky quirk of his eyebrows and left his guard behind. He owed the man no accountability.

Isabella was sitting in the sun next to the stable with a sewing kit on her lap. Her dark red dress fit her like a glove. Her brown hair fell loose around her shoulders and her caramel skin made her Armin's jewel.

The only reason he needed soldiers at all. To protect his jewel. His Isabella seemed tough, but was delicate and fragile.

He would move heaven and earth to know her for sure.

"Senorita."

She lifted her head. Her green eyes immediately shone like emeralds. "My lord. What brings you to me?"

"I'm done for today. I thought we were riding to the boathouse?"

She giggled softly. "We're there more often than at home."

Still, she put her sewing aside and stood up. Just as they were about to go into the stable, they heard hooves on the drawbridge.

Ralph came grunting out of his guard room, but before he could say anything, the rider was there...