Page 29 of The Noble Servant

“I’ll make it for you.” He accepted the feather from her andtook his knife from the little sheath that hung from his belt. To her questioning look, he said, “I am very good at making pens.”

Steffan cut the hard end of the feather in half lengthwise for about two inches, carefully cutting and whittling to make the best point. When he was satisfied it was perfect, he handed it back to her.

She examined it closely. “Not a bad job. For a shepherd.”

“Were you this impertinent when you lived in Mallin?”

“It’s easy to hone your impertinence skills when you have a lot of sisters. Don’t you have any sisters?”

Just behind her, a goose toddled toward them. No, it passed right by her and headed directly to him. Steffan began backing away.

“What is it?”

“The beast ... What does it want? Get away.” He waved his arms at it, but it kept coming.

“Are you afraid of a little goose?”

“Magdalen ... take care not to get too close. Will it listen to you? Don’t let it bite you.” He could feel the blood draining from his face.

She actually laughed as she got in front of the goose and shooed it back toward the others.

He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what is so amusing. Those birds are vicious.”

“What happened to make you so afraid of geese?”

“I am not afraid. I simply do not like them.”

“No, it’s more than just not liking them. What is it?”

A prickly feeling snaked up his spine. He opened his mouth to tell her that she did not know what she was talking about, but his mind flashed back to when he was a little boy. The cold, blindingfear came over him, just as it had that day. His hands started to shake. He was falling, falling ...

“What? What happened?” Her voice was soft and her eyes were kind as she stepped closer to him.

“I ... I was just remembering ... something.”

“Won’t you tell me?”

“It is nothing. Only, when I was a child a goose chased me and I fell down an old abandoned well.”

“Oh no!” Her brows rose.

He stared at the ground, trying to shake off the feeling that had overtaken him, and concentrated on breathing normally. He was a child again as the memories flooded his mind.

“Were you hurt?”

“I got stuck on some debris before I reached the water. It was daytime when I fell in, but it was dark when they pulled me out.” A shiver skittered through him, the same feeling of being in the cold, dank well, everything covered over in green slime and black mold.

“Then what happened?”

His stomach sank as he relived what had happened after he was freed. He shook his head and turned his back on her.

The worst thing that could happen to a child ... that was what happened.

Not waiting for him to answer her previous question, she asked, “How old were you?”

He swallowed. “I was five. I haven’t thought about it in a long time.”

Something touched him. He spun around and found Magdalen standing beside him, her hand on his arm, looking up at him with those sympathetic eyes.