Page 130 of The Champion

But as they played, Swan’s words came back to haunt him. His knight was correct. He couldn’t just marry her and leave. To do so would leave her open to any attack from anyone out to cripple him.

But now that he had Alexander...

“Father?”

He looked to the boy. “Aye?”

“I need a chamber pot.”

Fatima stood up. “Where may I show him?”

“I’ll take him.” Rowena held her hand out to the child. “No one will think anything of us being together.”

Fatima returned to her food while Stryder set Edward back on his feet next to Alexander’s trencher. “My lord? May I humbly ask you why you look so saddened by Alexander’s presence? He is a good boy and of very little trouble compared to others of his age.”

“I know, Fatima,” Stryder said as he toyed with the soldier’s arms. “I am only concerned since I can’t see a way to save the world and raise my son at the same time.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s so much evil out there to protect him and others from. How can I fight for that and keep him safe, simultaneously?”

She looked twice as puzzled by his words. “I still do not understand, my lord. You are but one man with one sword to fight all the world. This is indeed a good thing. But when you are gone, so too, is your sword. So, it seems to me that while it is important to fight a bad man, it is just as equally important to raise a good one. Raising more than one would be even better. That way, when you are gone, you will leave a whole generation behind who will fight for what is right.”

Stryder was awed by her wisdom. “Thank you, Fatima. I had never looked at it that way before.”

She nodded and finished eating her food.

Stryder stood silently cogitating her words. That was what Zenobia had meant when she had been speaking of Simon. Though to be fair to Fatima, Zenobia hadn’t phrased it nearly so eloquently.

Aye, he had something to fight for, all right.

And for once, it wasn’t the Brotherhood.

Seventeen

The day flew by as Stryder introduced Alexander and Fatima to his men and showed them around the castle. He also commissioned new clothes for both of them from a visiting tailor. Something that wouldn’t make the two of them stand out so vividly from the rest of the people there. It was the best protection he could give them.

At sunset, Fatima went off to pray while Alexander napped in Rowena’s room under her careful supervision.

While his son slept in a bed he longed to be in, Stryder had gathered his men together in his tent.

“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” Will asked, his tone gruff and surly as he took up a cocky stance by the desk. “I can feel it in my bones.”

“Nay,” Stryder contradicted. “Not exactly.”

Swan let out a sound of disgust as he stood by the entrance with his arms folded over his chest. “‘Tis that woman again. She has ruined his mind.”

Stryder growled at him. “It’s not Rowena.”

“The boy then.” Will looked to Raven. “We can send him–“

”It’s not Alexander.” Stryder cut Will off as well.

“Then why are we here?” Swan asked.

“Because I wish to have a word with all of you. I’ve been thinking, for a while now, about our futures.”

Swan cursed. “It is Rowena. You want to marry her. I knew it.”