“I want one too.” She stepped to the same tree where he’d gotten his stick and, using her foot to hold it down, broke off a similar limb. Soon she had it all cleaned and was ready to go.
They walked farther into the woods and found a small footpath that led to an old house. The straw thatched roof was sagging and slipping, and the door was hanging loose on one hinge. Behind it they found a small stream.
Kirstyn sank to her knees before it, laid her stick aside, dipped her hands in the water, and brought it to her lips. “It’s refreshing. Try some.”
Aladdin knelt by the fast-moving stream and took a drink. The water slid down his throat and dripped from his chin. He smiled and nodded. “Good. Whoever lived here chose a favorable spot for fresh water.”
“What would it be like to live in the woods, so isolated?” Kirstyn sank back on her heels and looked around. “Aladdin? What do you think?”
“It would depend on who was with you. If you had your family around you, it would be . . . joyful.” He felt a slight squeeze around his heart and glanced away from Kirstyn, who was staring intently at his face.
“Yes, exactly. But . . . it’s hard to imagine not living at the castle with all our people.”
By “people” she meant servants.
Aladdin had lived in the orphanage for several years now, sleeping in a room with ten other boys, but he had no trouble imagining what it would be like to live elsewhere, in a house with his own wife and children, with love and warmth and laughter.
They walked a bit farther.
“Look at this!”
Some tiny pieces of blue eggshells lay scattered on the ground. Aladdin gazed up into the tree next to them. “There must be a nest in that tree.” He glanced behind them, trying to make note of anything that would help him recognize the way back.
Kirstyn sighed, standing up and turning all the way around slowly. “I love the woods, don’t you?”
“They are very interesting, but if we go much farther, we could become lost. There aren’t a lot of landmarks here.”
“I suppose. But you did enjoy exploring with me, did you not? And will you come with me again?” Her eyes were wide and so innocent.
“I did enjoy it, and I will come again with you.”
“Thank you.” She reached out both hands and squeezed his arm. “I love being out here, with no one else around to interrupt or bother us in any way.”
He gave her a half smile, his heart skipping as it sometimes did when she looked him in the eye. They turned back the way they came.
At the edge of the forest, Aladdin propped his walking stick against a tree so he could retrieve it on their next walk. Kirstyn propped hers next to his. “In the castle my brothers and sisters get all the attention, but the forest will be our place.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Spring 1410
Aladdin hurried across the castle bailey. After a colder and snowier winter than usual, he and Kirstyn were finally able to go exploring in the woods again. But Master Alfred had kept him later than usual, asking him to teach a mathematics lesson to the other children.
He passed through the castle gate, and Kirstyn was already standing there. Her face lit up with a smile. She waved to him, and he ran the rest of the way.
“Sir Ruger is supposed to meet us.” Kirstyn glanced over her shoulder. After the first time they’d gone walking in the woods, Kirstyn’s father had forbidden them to go without a guard. They’d had a series of the duke’s knights and soldiers accompany them.
Kirstyn turned her blue eyes on Aladdin and grasped his arm. “I am so glad to see you! You’ve grown two handsbreadth since I saw you last. Soon you will be as tall as Father.”
“You’ve grown too.”
“Not as much as you. And now that I’m twelve, Mother says I may not grow much more. But let us be off. I don’t want to wait for Sir Ruger. He knows where we go, and he can catch up.”
Sir Ruger was probably distracted by the baker’s daughter who sometimes walked with him to the gate and lingered there.
“I think we should wait for him,” Aladdin said.
“You’re always afraid of getting me in trouble with my father.” Kirstyn shook her head at him. “But what about you? Did you tell the stable master you would be late to work today?”
“I’m not working in the stables anymore.”
She looked surprised, so he went on.
“Frau Litzer and Master Alfred decided they wanted me to help teach the younger children, and they’re also training me to keep the financial records for the orphanage.”
“So you’re the steward for the orphanage? That’s wonderful! A commendable position.” Her face lit up again. “Although I’m sure you will someday advance to the highest position in the castle—my father’s steward—it is a good start. The other boys must be so envious of you.”
Aladdin shrugged. He didn’t mention that after word spread about his promotion, Dieter and his friends had caught Aladdin behind the orphanage. They tripped him, but Aladdin’s friends found them before Dieter could land the first blow. If they’d been caught fighting, they would have been punished.
“Oh, here is Sir Ruger.” Kirstyn propped her hands on her hips and glared at their knight protector.
The young red-haired knight hurried toward them, his sword jostling on his back, the hilt bobbing over his shoulder. “Forgive me for being late, Lady Kirstyn.” Then he nodded to Aladdin.
“Of course. Let us go.” Kirstyn hastened forward.
The Marktplatz was more crowded than usual, as it had been cold and rainy the previous two market days. Everyone was out on the relatively warm spring day.
When they passed through the town gate, they glanced behind them. They’d already lost Sir Ruger.
“Well, I’m not waiting again for him,” Kirstyn said.
“I’m sure he’ll be along soon.” Aladdin strained to see through the crowd of people but didn’t spot the knight.
When Aladdin turned around, Kirstyn was running up the hill, just as she had done almost a year ago. Her laughter carried through the still air and seemed to lodge in his chest.
Aladdin smiled. Perhaps she was a bit too accustomed to getting her way, but how could he not want to please her when she was so full of life and innocence and playfulness?
He caught up with her before she was halfway up the hill. He opened his mouth to tell her to slow down and wait for Sir Ruger, but before he could speak, she laughed and ran even faster. Her long skirt didn’t even slow her down.
Aladdin paused at the edge of the forest, watching to see if the knight would appear below them. He waited as long as he dared, lest Kirstyn lose him too, then started after her.
A scream, shrill and urgent, stopped his blood cold in his veins.
He lurched forward, running into the forest, leaping over bushes and old tree limbs in the direction of Kirstyn’s scream.
A bear stood on its hind legs, its huge black body nearly blending into the murky dark of the forest. Beside the bear was a small cub. And directly in front of it stood Kirstyn.
Urgency flowed through his body and propelled his legs forward.
Did he have time to retrieve his walking stick? It was too far behind them now.
The bear let out a roar, its enormous jaws agape. Kirstyn took a step back, then another, still facing the bear and her cub.
Aladdin edged forward while Kirstyn inched backward. When Aladdin was beside Kirstyn, the bear roared again, its small black eyes shifting between Kirstyn and Aladdin.
“Keep moving backward.” Aladdin tried to keep his voice soft and soothing. “Slowly.”
He maneuvered his body in front of Kirstyn’s. The bear came down on all four paws and roared again. “Lady Kirstyn, I want you to run.”
Kirstyn grabbed his arm from behind.
“No, just run. I’ll be right behind you.”
He still felt her hand on his arm as the bear sprang forward and charged toward them.
Al
addin spun around. “Go!”
Kirstyn’s eyes were wide and round as she turned and bolted.
Aladdin ran too, shielding her body with his. The pounding of the bear’s paws on the thick layers of leaves filled his ears.
Hot, moist breath heated the back of his neck. Something slammed into his shoulders, hurtling him stomach-first onto the ground. The next moment searing pain ripped through his lower leg as the bear’s teeth sank into it.
Kirstyn had reached the edge of the trees, but Aladdin was not behind her. She screamed. He was on the ground, the bear on top of him, tearing into his leg. The bear paused her rampage to roar, then her front paw slipped under Aladdin’s shoulder and flipped him over. She roared in his face.
Kirstyn glanced around. Their sticks leaned against the tree just beside her. She grabbed Aladdin’s stick, her blood surging through her veins, and raced forward.
The bear slashed Aladdin’s shoulder with her enormous claws, and Aladdin cried out, his voice filled with agony.
Kirstyn ran faster, screaming.
The bear looked up at her just as she reached it. Kirstyn swung the stick as hard as she could into the bear’s nose.
The bear roared again, this time directing her rage at Kirstyn. Her heart in her throat, Kirstyn swung again, striking the bear in the side of the head.
Another voice let out a protracted yell, drawing closer and closer.
The bear turned toward this new threat, and swinging her shaggy head, she backed away from Aladdin’s prostrate body. She hesitated, shifted side to side, turned, and lumbered back toward her cub, which fell in beside its mother as they headed toward the mountains.
Kirstyn sank down beside Aladdin, barely seeing Sir Ruger running toward them with his sword drawn.
Blood reddened Aladdin’s leather cape at his shoulder and across his chest, his clothing torn in long strips. His face was white and his lips ashen.
Her chest hollowed as all the breath left her. “Oh, Aladdin. Oh, God in heaven, have mercy. Mercy, O God.” She took off her own cloak and pressed it to his chest and shoulder to stop the bleeding.
“I think his leg is the worst,” Sir Ruger said, his voice hoarse.
Kirstyn turned to see the puddle of blood forming under his leg. With trembling hands, she wrapped her cloak around his lower leg.
The tangy smell of blood swept over her. Her vision began to spin and grow black around the edges.
Sir Ruger knelt and nudged her aside, holding the cloak tight around Aladdin’s wound. “Go get help.” He looked her in the eye. “Be strong now.”
Aladdin closed his mouth and swallowed. “It’s not bad. I’ll be well.”
Kirstyn squeezed his hand and jumped to her feet. She sped off, her vision all a blur. She tripped and fell, rolling a little way down the hill, but jumped back up and kept running.
Tears were streaming down her face when she approached the gate. Openmouthed, the guards stared at her—having no doubt heard her screams, yet not allowed to leave their post unless they could see danger.
“Help me!” Her chest was still bereft of air, even as she breathed hard. “Come! Aladdin is injured. You must take him to the healer. Hurry.”
She turned to lead them, but they ran so much faster and she couldn’t keep up. As they hurried up the hill, she fell to her knees in the grass.
“God, please.” Horror overwhelmed her as she relived the bear attacking Aladdin. “This cannot be happening.” If only she could go back and stop herself from startling that bear and her cub. If only she had waited for Aladdin and Sir Ruger. What a child she was, a thoughtless, foolish child.
She was too devastated to cry any more. How could she draw attention to herself when Aladdin was hurt?
Soon the two guards carried Aladdin down the hill, moving quite fast. How much blood had he lost? How bad was his leg wound? He must be in horrible pain. O God. Her stomach twisted and she clasped her hands together.
Please, please, God, please don’t let him die.
Aladdin lay on the small bed in the healer’s chambers, his mind fogged over with anguish.
Frau Lena leaned over him, applying a thick salve to his chest and shoulder. But his leg, elevated by several blankets, gripped his attention.
“Are you ready for more tea?” Frau Lena’s voice drifted through the fog and jarred his aching head. “It will help with the pain.”
“Yes,” he said, because it would take too much effort to nod.
Frau Lena left off dabbing at his chest wounds. When she returned a few moments later, beside her was a girl—Kirstyn—holding a cup.
He touched the blanket to make certain it was at least covering his stomach and lower body, though his chest was bare.
She approached him and slid her arm under his head while Frau Lena stuffed a feather pillow behind him, propping him up a bit. Kirstyn held the cup to his lips as their eyes met. He reached out to take the cup from her, but his hand shook and she did not let go.
He drank several swallows of the bitter herbal concoction before drawing back.
“Would you like some water?” Kirstyn’s eyes focused intently on his as she leaned close.
“Yes.” Getting mauled by a bear must make a person thirsty as well as dizzy and weak. Sweat tickled his forehead.
Kirstyn hurried away and came back with another cup and held it to his lips. He drank two gulps of the cold water, then nudged the cup away as his stomach threatened to empty its contents.
He closed his eyes and lay back against the pillows. Kirstyn removed the extra pillows so he could lie flat.
“Are you feeling sick?” Kirstyn asked softly.
“Yes.”
Something cool and damp touched his forehead. He opened his eyes to see her stroking his brow, then his face, with a wet cloth. The sick feeling began to subside.
He felt himself drifting away . . .
When he opened his eyes again, the light outside the window was waning. Frau Lena was closing the shutters.
“Your Grace.” The healer curtsied to the man standing by his bed.
Duke Wilhelm glanced his way. “How is he?” Aladdin knew he should bow. But he was lying flat and couldn’t even move.
Frau Lena spoke in a whisper. Aladdin closed his eyes and listened.
“He’s lost a lot of blood, but he is strong. I’m hopeful he will recover. Pray his injuries don’t become putrid or diseased.”
“And his leg?”
Her voice softened so much he could no longer hear anything except, “We must pray it will not be necessary to . . .”
Aladdin strained to hear what he could, then Duke Wilhelm mentioned Kirstyn. Would he forbid her to come any more to the sickroom?
Frau Lena said, “They have a bond, even more so now.”
Aladdin would have liked to hear everything they were saying, to add his own thoughts to the conversation, but the herbs were drawing him under the darkness of sleep.
Kirstyn knelt in the chapel in the southern tower of Hagenheim Castle, her hands clasped in front of her and her head bowed. When she finally looked up, her mother was kneeling beside her.
Mother’s eyes were closed in prayer as well, so Kirstyn said nothing. She kept praying but glanced every so often at her mother.
Finally Mother rose from her knees, kissed the cross she wore around her neck, and gazed up at the crucifix over the chancel.
Kirstyn rose too and followed suit, making the sign of the cross over her chest and falling in behind her mother as she walked toward the doorway.
When they were both in the corridor outside the chapel, Mother turned and hugged Kirstyn. “Did you see Aladdin today?”
“I went to the sick chamber this morning, and Frau Lena said he is a little better.”
“But you didn’t speak to him?”
“He was sleeping.”
“And you have been crying.”
Her compassionate voice conjured up the tears again. Kirstyn threw her arms around her mother and pressed
her forehead into Mother’s shoulder.
“It was all my fault.” Kirstyn sobbed at the horrible truth. It sounded almost worse spoken out loud than it did in her mind. “He wanted me to wait for Sir Ruger, but I laughed and ran ahead. I ran into the woods and I didn’t see the bear until I was too close to her. She’d already seen me and must have thought I wanted to harm her cub.”
“Aladdin saw you were in danger and caused the bear to attack him instead of you.” Mother held her tight and rubbed her shoulder.
“Yes. So you see what a horrible, horrible thing I did.”
“No. You did not do anything horrible. You were being playful. It’s what children do—they play and hide and run and are sometimes reckless. But it was not your fault, not really. It was an accident. No one knew bears were so close to Hagenheim. They usually stay in the mountains, far away from town. You could blame Sir Ruger for not staying close to you—as your father did.” She lowered her voice. “But it’s not his fault either. Sometimes bad things happen . . . A man who has survived a battle gets thrown from his horse on his way home and dies, or lightning strikes a man while he’s plowing his field. We don’t understand it, but it is part of life. But one thing you can always depend on.”
Mother seemed to be waiting to make sure Kirstyn was paying attention. She held her gaze. “We can depend on the assurance that God cares about us and is always with us.”
Mother’s intense look seemed to demand a response, so Kirstyn nodded.
“We can pray for Aladdin, as I’m sure you were just doing, and be sure that God hears and He cares, about you and about Aladdin. And we can thank God Aladdin’s injuries are not worse.”
Kirstyn withdrew the handkerchief her mother always made her carry in her pocket and wiped her eyes and nose. “I hope he doesn’t lose his leg or have to limp for the rest of his life.” She bit her lip. She had to stop crying. “And I know it’s selfish, but I hope he doesn’t hate me.”
“I’m sure he won’t hate you. He’s your friend.”
She and Aladdin had been on many walks in the last year. They talked about their likes and dislikes, about their relationships and favorite books. Besides her mother and her sister Margaretha, Aladdin was her best friend. She could tell him almost anything. And now he might be crippled or even die. She couldn’t bear it if he did, not when he had been trying to protect her.