The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [31]
Giogioni looked up from the kitchen table at Thomas, who stood in the doorway with a raised poker clenched in his fist and his mouth hanging open. "Ah, good morning, Thomas," the young noble greeted him and smiled. "Didn't mean to wake you. Just getting together some tea. Why are you waving that poker about?"
"I-I-I thought you were a burglar, sir," Thomas explained, carefully leaning the iron rod against the wall.
"Now why would you think that, Thomas? You know I have scads of money. Why should I become a burglar?"
"No, sir, I meant that I heard a sound, sir, and that I thought at this hour down in the kitchen, it must have been made by a burglar. Couldn't you sleep, sir?"
Giogi snorted. "With all I had to drink last night?" he replied. "I went out like a snuffed candle."
"Bad dreams again?" Thomas guessed.
Eager to forget the dream, Giogi denied it with a shake of his head. "I am awake at this ungodly hour," he explained, "because Aunt Dorath has condemned me to crypt-crawling with Steele and Freffie. They've put me in charge of provisions, so I've boiled water for tea and now I'm hacking at this cheese for sandwiches. I made a bit of a mess looking for that earthenware tea jug. Sorry. I seem to be having trouble with this knife. Since you are up anyway, would you oblige, please?" The young Wyvernspur waved the knife at the servant, handle first.
Thomas picked his way across the kitchen to the table- carefully pushing the stack of dishes back from the edge of the linen chest on his way. Large crumbs and chunks of cheddar littered the table, but none could be even charitably described as a slice. Thomas took the remnants of the wheel of cheese and carved through it neatly six times. "Will that be sufficient, sir?"
"Excellent," Giogioni said, stacking the cheese slices between chunks of bread. He lay each sandwich on a piece of oiled paper. "And would you slice them into those cute little triangles like vou always do for tea?"
Automatically Thomas quartered the sandwiches, wrapped them in the oily paper, and stuffed them into the waterproof sack Giogi held out. Finding his master not only awake at this hour, but fully dressed, shaved, and alert was enough to confuse Thomas; discovering Giogi also making an attempt at self-sufficiency in the kitchen had left the servant dazed.
"I swiped those leftover tea cakes and some apples. Is that all right?" the nobleman asked.
"Yes, of course, sir." Thomas replied.
"Oh. I told Bottles you'd stop by the Immer Inn first thing this morning and pay my tab from last night."
"Very good, sir," Thomas replied.
Giogi packed the waterproof sack, the earthenware jug, some teacups, teaspoons and a jar of tea leaves into a picnic basket. He strapped on his fencing foil. pulled on his cloak, and unlatched the back door. "By the way," he said, pausing in the doorway, "I thought I'd take the burro with me to carry my supplies. That won't be any problem, will it?"
"Of course not, sir," Thomas said automatically as he nested a set of mixing bowls and stacked them back into a cupboard.
It wasn't until Giogioni's servant had finished tidying the kitchen and had his morning cup of tea that he was sufficiently awake to wonder to which burro his master was referring.
6
The Guardian
"Rise and shine, my pretties," Giogi called softly as he entered the barn.
Olive stirred awake. Without meaning to, she'd fallen asleep on her feet. She shook herself, feeling her mane tickle her neck and her tail slap against her hindquarters. Still a burro, she realized with annoyance.
Giogi stopped to pat the chestnut mare. "Would you like some apples, Daisyeye?" Olive could hear the horse chomping away on Giogi's offering.
Then the nobleman entered