The actors portrayed the brothers and when Abel hit Cain over the head, he really brained the man, who fell over the side of the wagon and bloodied his nose. Infuriated, he jumped up on the wagon bed, punched Abel in the face, and a full-scale brawl erupted. That was not part of the play. Gavriella started laughing as Andreas shook his head at the antics and led her away to the next, and hopefully less violent, entertainment.
The next wagon had a good-sized crowd around it. It was a play about Demeter, the Greek goddess of agriculture, among other things, but in this play she was killing everything that moved. There were three men in this play, each one assuming several characters, and they watched Demeter kill crops, kill a goat and eat it, pull flowers out of the imaginary earth and then throw them to the audience. Andreas, being quite tall, caught one of the flowers, a white rose, and handed it to Gavriella. She held her rose quite happily, watching a play that was very depressing.
But they watched the entire thing and it had been long. Demeter ended up getting swallowed up by the underworld. When the crowd broke up, looking for the next spot of entertainment, Andreas and Gavriella wandered down the avenue to a stage that had been built from the ground up. There was no wagon here and groups of children surrounded this stage as two actors, made up as a dog and a cat, chased each other around, foiled by a third actor dressed as a rat.
The cat, the dog, and the rat ran around the stage, biting each other much to the delight of the children. Gavriella thought this play was much more fun than the other two and she laughed right along with the children. The rat was conniving, the dog stupid, and the cat frantic. It was hilarious to watch. At one point, the rat offered the dog a bowl of what was presumably dog food, but the cat smacked the bottom of the bowl and the contents went flying into the audience.
The children screamed with delight as pieces of hard honey candy rained down on them. Gavriella managed to catch two pieces and she gave one to Andreas. Together, they ate the honey candy that tasted like cinnamon. It was quite delicious. But once the honey candy sprayed out over the audience, the play was apparently finished and they clapped enthusiastically.
They moved on.
There was so much to see that time passed swiftly. The day became midafternoon, and soon it was nearing dusk. Andreas and Gavriella had seen several plays, the last one being two men beating each other with padded clubs and anyone else in the audience who strayed too close. It was quite humorous, or so Gavriella thought, but Andreas wasn’t entirely sure it was proper entertainment for a lady. He walked back to the street, trying to coerce her to come with him, but she was enjoying watching the men beat up on each other.
He finally gave up trying.
Andreas stood out on the street, watching her as she laughed uproariously at the men on the stage, beating and poking each other and telling terrible jokes. He thought they were terrible, but Gavriella did not. She was enjoying it immensely and he was enjoying her. She laughed so freely that he was coming to think she didn’t do it often enough. It was as if it had all been pent up inside of her and she was letting loose for the first time in a long while. Given what he’d seen last night, he believed that.
Sometimes you meet people who hide a great deal, she’d said.
He had a feeling she was hiding more than her share.
She’d kept an air of mystery about her, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to be with her, to hear her laugh, or to see her eyes when they twinkled at him. Something about the way she looked at him made him feel like the most handsome, vibrant man in the entire world. He’d had plenty of women look at him, but not like that. Never like that.
No one had ever looked at him like Gavriella did.
He rather liked it.
“I thought that was you, de Wolfe.”
Andreas heard the voice and turned very calmly to see three dirty, rough-looking knights standing there. They were clad in well-used protection, with big swords. He knew who they were on sight and, immediately, he went into battle mode.
Protection mode.
He needed to keep them away from Gavriella.
“De Alisal,” he greeted calmly, though he was moving away from the stage where the fools were. “You’re a long way from home.”
The three knights bearing the yellow and red colors of the House of de la Londe, a distinct enemy of the House of de Wolfe, tracked his movements.
“As are you,” de Alisal said. He was an older man with bad teeth and a massive scar down his cheek. “Are you alone?”
Andreas shook his head. “Of course not,” he said. “My cousins, Tor and Will, and Theodis de Velt are around here somewhere. Shall I find them for you?”
That seemed to bring the knights pause. Suddenly, they weren’t quite so confident with the mention of those three names. “De Velt is around here?” de Alisal asked with a hint of apprehension. “Where?”
Andreas kept walking, leading them away from Gavriella as she continued to watch the fools, oblivious to what was going on behind her.
“Come with me and we shall find him,” Andreas said. “I am sure he would be quite happy to see you. I think the last time he saw you was at the tournament at Northwood Castle to celebrate the marriage of Lord de Longley’s eldest daughter. I heard something about an illegal joust pole when you went up against Theodis in the final rounds of the joust, but I could be wrong. Mayhap we should find him and clear up that rumor.”
They were still walking, moving away from the stage and back towards the avenue lined with merchants. More opportunity for Andreas to level out the fighting field should the knights choose to attack. But de Alisal came to a halt at his comment, his face contorting with rage.
“It was nothing of the kind,” he said. “I did nothing illegal.”
They were far enough away from the stage of fools that Andreas felt comfortable enough to face them, but he was still edgy. Too many variables, including the fact that he didn’t want Gavriella to notice he was missing and come looking for him. He didn’t want her anywhere near the situation.
He had to get rid of the knights.
“I am sure de Velt could help us dispel that nasty rumor,” he said, positioning himself so that he could see the area where he’d left Gavriella. “And then, mayhap, we could drink and reaffirm our bonds.”
The dirty knight scowled. “I’ll not affirm my bonds with any de Wolfe except those of hatred,” he snarled. “You and your kind think you rule the north, like kings, but you’re really like vermin that must be rooted out. You infect everything you touch.”
Andreas smiled dangerously. “Strange,” he said evenly. “I was just thinking the same thing about you. But since we’re speaking truths, allow me to speak mine – you are a cowardly piece of filth, de Alisal. You’re a shame to the knighthood. Now, let me find de Velt because he’ll have a few choice words for you as well.”
They weren’t going to let him move and the swords came out. Andreas was acutely aware that he wasn’t wearing any mail or protection, but he had his broadsword and considered himself grateful for small mercies. Still, he was concerned that he was about to be engaged in something that was going to be deadly and quick, and he was unable to communicate any of it to Gavriella, who was still over by the fool’s stage more than likely still having a good time. In fact, Andreas was sorry that he was about to put a mark on what was otherwise a flawless day.