The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest (A Medieval Fairy Tale #1)(4)

“It’s nothing. I just need to . . .” Odette hastened away without finishing her sentence. Inside her chamber, the flagstone floor was swept clean and the bedclothes were straightened. But the old cloak she used to cover her longbow and arrows was lying folded across her bed.

Odette scurried to her trunk against the wall. She yanked off the bear fur that lay over it and raised the lid. Her longbow and arrows were not inside.

Glancing around frantically, she caught sight of them leaning against the wall in the corner. How could she have left them in plain sight?

“Is that what I think it is?”

Odette spun around. Rutger stood in the doorway. Her uncle was only a bit taller than she was, and he was thin, with thinning brown hair.

“Oh. I didn’t hear you there.” Her heart thumped against her chest, and she hurried to grab the cloak off her bed, then to the corner where her weapons were resting against the wall. She wrapped the bow and arrows in the cloak.

“Did you not think it would be a good idea to hide that from view?” Rutger quirked up one side of his mouth.

“Of course. I never leave them out where anyone can see them. Last night I must have forgotten.” She cringed as she placed them into the trunk and closed the lid, then drew the bearskin over it.

Odette closed her eyes and tried to take a deep breath. Heinke would not tell anyone that Odette owned a longbow and arrows, would she? And even if she did, they would never suspect the niece of a respectable merchant of poaching . . . would they?

“People will wonder what Odette Menkels is doing with a bow and arrows in her bedchamber. You could say you were hunting for a husband.”

Odette rolled her eyes at him.

His dark eyebrows drew together. “But to be serious, if the margrave’s forester were to discover . . .”

“I know,” Odette said softly. She was in constant fear of the forester, whose job it was to capture poachers and bring them to the margrave to be punished.

She did not tell him she had lost an arrow in the margrave’s forest last night.

Anna called to her from downstairs, and Rutger asked, “Do you need me to go to the festival to approve or disapprove of any young men wishing to dance with you?”

“Anna and Peter will be with me. Their mothers are staying home with the children.”

“Very well.”

“Perhaps you should come and find yourself a pretty wife.” Odette raised her brows at him.

He shook his head. “I think not. My time is better spent planning how to make more money so that I can increase your dowry. But perhaps I should be trying to hunt down a husband that you will deem worthy.” He shook his finger at her. “The men of Thornbeck have been clamoring at my door, begging to marry you for years. There is not another maiden in Thornbeck who is as picky as you. I have offered you every wealthy man in Thornbeck, and you have turned them all down.”

Odette let her mouth drop open in what she hoped was an expression of shock. “Every ugly, fat, old”—she paused to emphasize the word further—“wealthy man. Are there any young men in Thornbeck who do not have a hairy wart on their nose and still have all their teeth who might be willing to marry me?”

“See how picky you are?” He gave a look of mock outrage. “I suppose you would be proud to have a handsome husband, even if he was also a poor peasant farmer living in a one-room hovel, but I happen to think you deserve better than that. You do not want your children begging for bread, do you?”

Odette frowned up at him, her hand on her hip. “Of course I don’t want to marry a poor man, but are all the rich men ugly and old?” She tapped her finger against her chin, then held it up in the air. “I know! You should marry a rich widow. Then she could support all of us, and I would never have to marry at all.”

“That is a very good idea. As soon as I find one, I will be sure to marry her as quickly as possible. And if she is unwilling to marry, I shall get her with child and then she will have no choice.”

“You are incorrigible.” She slapped playfully at his arm.

He winked and they parted. Odette headed down the stairs to her friend.

How fortunate she was to have an uncle like Rutger. Most guardians would have married her off years ago to the wealthiest man they could find and would not have allowed her any choice. But he had always asked her thoughts on the matter. If she were to marry, she could no longer do what she pleased—namely, hunt deer in the margrave’s forest. Besides, those men had not held any appeal for her.

Odette joined Anna and they ventured back into the street. The crowds of people buzzed like bees as they made their way to the open space of the Marktplatz.

“Who do you think you will dream of tonight?” Anna asked as they walked arm in arm and passed the big cathedral, the tallest building in town, on their way to the festivities.

“I rarely ever dream of pleasant things.”

Anna gave her a frown and raised her eyebrows.

“But tonight I shall pray to dream of a handsome husband.”

Anna smiled her approval.

Already there was a large crowd of people dancing in the open plaza around the fountain where venders sold goods three days a week from portable booths. The weather was perfect as the sun sank behind the four-and five-story buildings that encircled the Marktplatz.

Jongleurs were throwing colorful balls in the air, keeping them moving in a continuous circle of three, while another young man played the flute and danced. Sellers shouted out various wares and foodstuffs for sale, but the bailiffs were forcing them to stay on the periphery to allow the people room to dance.