The Seventh Lost Tale of Mercia: Hildred the Maid by Jayden Woods Read Free Book Online Page B

And in truth, they owed as much to the
people, who had often come to work the church’s lands in the past
when their sins lay heavy on their hearts. Hildred knew she should
be grateful. But it was difficult to be grateful for a small bowl
of leek soup after glimpsing the church’s gardens and flocks.
Surely they could afford to give back more to the people than that?
Didn’t she deserve a pouch of milk to carry back to her baby
brother?
    Sweat beaded her brow, though a cool breeze
blew from the graying sky. She remained standing still as everyone
else flooded into the meager sanctuary. She glimpsed the monks
within their humble habits. Despite everything their cheeks glowed
with vigor and their robes remained tight against their forms. She
knew that perhaps God intended this, and rewarded these men for
their hard work; and yet all of a sudden, she could not stand the
sight of them.
    She backed away from the church entrance. She
turned aside.
    As if in a trance, she followed her nose. She
was not sure why no one stopped her. Perhaps they were all like
her, unable to think of anything beyond the pangs of their own
bellies. She walked through the lush fields, though they seemed to
lose color around her as the sky darkened above. She wondered if
God was watching now, hiding behind the blur of the clouds.
    Her worn sandals led her through the dank
grass to the kitchens, a more skeletal building behind the church.
Her nose flared with the wafting scents and she felt dizzy.
Vegetables, bread, fish, and even fruit … her sense of smell
informed her that all of those things were only a few steps out of
her reach.
    A single man worked in the kitchens now,
tending the food while the others worshiped. She could hear him
humming as he worked. She stepped into the enclosure, her eyes
drinking in the sight of the bowls of stew, the raw ingredients,
the stores in barrels or underground compartments. Under the shade
of a grassy roof, rays of sunshine shot through and bathed the
precious items in golden light.
    Then she saw two more men, and her eyes
opened wide. They were Lord Eadric and his companion, standing
amongst the food as if waiting for the cook themselves, while their
horses grazed in the nearby grass. They were talking with casual
smiles on their faces while the chubby cook bounced about, stewing
pots with with thick fingers and then licking them clean of oil and
butter.
    She stood there for too long. Of a sudden,
Eadric saw her.
    His smile drooped to a frown. Hildred forced
a gulp through her watering mouth. She trembled but stood firm
against his cerulean gaze.
    “ Hey Aidan,” said Eadric.
“You’ve a visitor.”
    The monk stopped working and turned to look.
His round face took a strange slant. She could sense the unease
behind his forced smile. “Hello there,” he said. “Are you looking
for something?”
    “ I … I …” She watched as a
slab of butter a few tables away melted in a large, gooey drop. She
felt faint. “I need food.”
    “ I know it, my dear, I do.”
He walked closer to her, his large form blocking the sight of the
foods. She was forced to stare into his green eyes, which seemed
much too sharp and darting for a man of God. “But it is easy to
forget that your soul is in as great a need as your body, or more
so! You must offer your soul to God before you expect the fruits of
His good will for your body. Go on to church with the
others.”
    “ I … can’t.” Not needing to
exaggerate, she shuddered and fell to her knees. She no longer
cared about the handsome nobleman watching, nor what he thought of
her. The sharp-eyed cook blinked rapidly with surprise. “I’m … too
weak.”
    He cocked an eyebrow, growing irritated. She
trembled as his green eyes raked her up and down. “You look well
enough,” he remarked.
    “ For God’s sake,” said
Eadric, startling them both. Hildred looked up to see, with some
relief, that the lord and his man were turning to go. “Give the
lady a carrot,