Page 20 of May Queen: May Day

Chapter 6

Ricard stirred restlessly, once again seeing the mysterious auburn-haired woman standing in the center of a burning bonfire. He heard laughing and singing and also drumming and music pounding in his head.

He walked closer to the fire and, as he did, the woman turned around to face him. He stopped in his tracks, knowing whose face he would see. He saw Flora’s long, auburn hair framing her heart-shaped face. Her head was crowned in flowers and her bright green eyes, the color of new life of the earth, looked up at him in terror.

“Help me,” he heard her cry out. She looked back and forth in fear and, this time, he noticed she was naked. The flames burned high around her.

“Flora,” he whispered, frightened for the girl’s life. Then the ceremonial drumming got louder and he heard a loud crash as an angry man wearing a dark cloak raised a sickle and lunged at her.

“Nay!” he cried out, grabbing for his dagger, but it was gone. Looking down to his waist, he realized he wore no weapons and no clothes at all.

Ricard’s eyes popped open and he bolted upright, reaching for his dagger next to him on the bedside table and flinging it through the air.

Flora had carefully movedthe furniture away from the door without Ricard hearing her. Dressed in her cloak with her shoes on her feet, she prepared to sneak back to the forest and look for her father. Looking over her shoulder to make sure Ricard was still sleeping, she opened the door. When she turned back around, she jolted in surprise and screamed to find Ricard’s squire, Nash, standing there.

She stumbled backward, knocking over a chair.

“Good morning,” said Nash with a smile.

Then a dagger whizzed past her ear, embedding itself into the wood of the door, right next to Nash’s head.

“Nay!” Nash covered his head and fell to his knees.

“What the blazes is going on?” Ricard ground out from across the room.

Flora held her hand to her chest, unable to speak. Had her husband-to-be really just flung a dagger at her because she was trying to sneak away? She instantly regretted her action. She also disregarded the rumors she’d heard about him being weak. This man was not to be taken lightly. She knew now not to double cross him again.

“My lord?” Nash uncovered his head and looked across the room. “What are you doing in Lady Flora’s chamber?”

“Never mind that!” Ricard jumped out of bed and hurriedly dressed. “What are you doing here, Nash? And where are you going, my little vixen?”

“Vixen?” Nash stood up and scratched his head. “I’ve never heard you call me that before, Lord Ricard.”

“Not you, you fool,” spat Ricard, putting on his boots and hurrying over to the door. “I am talking to my untrustworthy bride-to-be.”

“I – I was just going to use the garderobe, my lord,” she told him, hoping he would believe her, but knowing he wouldn’t.

“You were trying to sneak out again, just admit it.” His hand was under her arm as he pulled her to her feet. “I highly doubt you’d wear your traveling cloak for a quick trip to the privy.”

“I don’t know. It is pretty cold in the garderobe,” Nash said in Flora’s defense. “Oftentimes, I swore my arse was frostbit before I was done doing my business.”

“Nash, perhaps you should mind your own business,” warned Ricard. “What is it you want?”

“My lord, I was just coming to ask Lady Flora if she’d seen you. None of us saw you since yesterday and your brothers were becoming concerned.” He looked over to Flora and smiled. “However, now that I know where you were last night, I can see why you didn’t return to your solar.”

“Stop smiling, Nash. Nothing happened,” Ricard told him, yawning and running a weary hand over his face.

“I cannot believe you threw a dagger at me,” retorted Flora, walking over and pulling the blade from the door, inspecting it.

“Don’t take it personally,” Nash told her. “He’s done it to me on more than one occasion. You just need to always be on your toes around Lord Ricard because you never know when a dagger will come flying at your head.”

“So, I see.” Flora ran her hand over the hilt of the dagger, inspecting the etched symbols. There was a spiral swirl, a tree, and a crescent moon just like she had on her leg. Her mother had a moon on her arm. When Flora was a child and asked about it, her mother told her the symbol of the moon was just a way to tag her as the child of a noble. She also made Flora promise to keep it a secret. But on her deathbed, the woman admitted it was more than that. It was an ancient symbol of the Druids to which her father belonged. The crescent moon symbolizes feminine fertility.

The woman’s dying words were short, but she said that Flora was a descendant of the Druids. This intrigued Flora and she longed to find out more information. If she could ever get a chance to see her father and give him the necklace, perhaps she would find out more of her secret heritage.

“These markings on this dagger. What are they?” she asked.

“Don’t worry yourself over it. It’s nothing.” Ricard took the dagger away from her.