Burchard could hear footsteps. “He would yield if you gave him space to lift his face up, squire,” Sir Peter said from above Burchard in a low, angry tone.
Burchard could only imagine the look that Reggie was giving Sir Peter. Probably a sneer, but the foot did let up. “I yield,” he said. The foot completely removed itself from his back.
Burchard decided to stay on the ground, until he was certain his brother had left. Then, he slowly pushed himself up.
“Are you OK?” asked Sir Peter quietly.
Burchard shrugged. “I’ve been worse,” he responded, not really answering the question. His muscles felt like they were on fire. He tried lifting his sword so he could put it back in his scabbard, but he could barely move it. Burchard was surprised when he felt his fingers being peeled from his sword hilt.
Wordlessly, Sir Peter put Burchard’s sword back in his scabbard. “Let’s get you a bath and bed.”
With a gentle hand on his arm, Sir Peter guided him slowly toward the officers’ bathhouse. Burchard was too tired to question his knight master about whether it was a good idea to take him there.
6
Two days after Burchard’s sparring with his oldest brother, he still felt worn out. The healer had told him to make sure to take everything slowly. The first two days he could do short sequences of training exercises a couple of times a day and walk around the perimeter of the castle. He carefully avoided going anywhere his brother might be, altering his practice routine so that he was done before his brother had even eaten breakfast. Then, when Reggie made his way out into the practice yard, Burchard headed for the kitchen to see if Cook needed help with anything.
He pushed open the door to the castle kitchen and had to pause. The room bustled with people. Servants carried trays from the dining hall into the kitchen. Cook herself was going from station to station making sure the preparations for lunch were to her exact specifications. Burchard was afraid to move any farther into the room lest he bump anyone and cause a mess. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there before Cook noticed him. She waded effortlessly through the servants and grabbed him by the arm, guiding him to the back corner, where Lady Gladys sat at a table.
“Stay here until things calm down more,” Cook ordered and disappeared before Burchard could respond.
“Hi,” he said softly, not sure what to do with himself. He clasped his hands together on top of the table.
Lady Gladys smiled. “I have some cards if you’d like to play.”
Burchard shrugged. “Sure.”
She pulled a deck of cards from her pocket and fanned them out face-up. “See this one?” she said and pulled out a card with a large gold crown and the number twenty-one on it. “This is the highest card.” Next, she selected one that had a baby on it and the number zero. “This is the lowest card.”
Burchard studied the cards she’d pulled out and some of the others still in the fan. “What do we do with them?”
“I was thinking of keeping it simple. There’s a game I was taught that I like to call War. We each get half of the deck and flip over one card at a time. The person with the highest card takes both cards. The winner is determined when one of us runs out of cards,” Lady Gladys explained as she slid the cards back together and shuffled the deck.
“War sounds simple enough. I’m willing to give it a go,” Burchard informed her.
Burchard waited patiently, watching how at ease Lady Gladys was with the cards, as though she had spent many hours playing. As she dealt the cards, he noticed how worn some of them were, the edges a little ragged. When she finished, she handed him the stack closest to him.
“Any last questions?” she inquired.
He shook his head. “Nope, I think I got it.”
“One, two, three!” Lady Gladys said, then they both flipped their cards. His card was the baby with a zero, and hers was the big gold crown with a twenty-one. She slid the two cards toward herself. “Ready?” Burchard inclined his head and she counted again. This time his card was a shield with an eighteen and hers was a knight with a twenty.
They continued for three more card flips; every time, Lady Gladys won. “Are you sure you shuffled properly?” Burchard asked, eyebrow arched.
Lady Gladys giggled. “You watched me the whole time.”
Burchard pressed his lips together. They still had most of their stacks left. It was possible that the results could end up more balanced if they continued. “OK, let’s keep going.”
Burchard was on the last card in his hand. The rest of the flips had been more equal in who won or lost. Peering at the stack in front of him and the one across the table, he wasn’t really sure which one was bigger. He flipped over his last card a hair faster than Lady Gladys did hers. It was a horse with a three, and Lady Gladys’s card was the same.
“Now what?” he asked uncertainly. They hadn’t discussed what was supposed to happen if they both put down the same card.
“Since we’re both out of unused cards, we need to shuffle our piles of the ones we have won.” Lady Gladys picked up her cards and shuffled them.
Burchard watched the motions her hands were making and decided to give it a whirl. He split his cards in half and, using his thumbs, lifted the edge of both halves. As soon as he began what he thought was the process of flipping them, all his cards flew into the air and fluttered around them, landing up, down, and stuck in things. He started to laugh and Lady Gladys soon joined him. How silly he must look sending all those cards into the air.
Sides still heaving, Lady Gladys helped him collect the cards. “I will shuffle them for you so that doesn’t happen again.”
“Brilliant idea,” Burchard replied with a grin.
After both of their decks were properly shuffled, Lady Gladys blew out her breath. “Now we each put three cards down. I,” she said, then placed the first card face down. “Declare.” She placed the second card. “War.” The third card she put face up. It was a compass rose with a four. “Your turn.”
Burchard nibbled on the inside of his lip before placing his cards. “I…declare…war.” His third card was a crossbow and had a five. He let out a whistle. “That was close. Do I get all of these cards?”
Lady Gladys nodded in confirmation. Burchard gathered up the cards into a neat stack before they continued their game.
Burchard lost track of the time. He jumped when Cook returned and set down two bowls of stew a safe distance from their cards.
“What’s this?” he asked, reluctantly drawing his eyes away from the cards to look at Cook.
“Lunch. You two have been over here playing cards for a couple of hours now, and I thought you would appreciate the opportunity to eat,” Cook said calmly.
“Hours?” Burchard said with a gasp.
Cook chuckled. “Yes, but I know you’re in here to avoid your brother, and since the healer wants you to take it easy…it’s not like you have any responsibilities to attend to at the moment.”
