Chapter 1

My name is Stuart Allen, a freeman, beholden to no man on this earth. I stood up on the barge, looking across the river at the two horsemen waiting for me to come and ferry them across. Being a ferryman on an insignificant little tributary like the Upper Remark River isn't a glamorous position. It pays poorly, hard work though it is, and there were no chances for either advancement or adventure. What possible excitement could you expect when you spent your whole day traveling between two muddy banks, both separated by less than a hundred yards of roiling river.

I pulled the barge and myself across slowly, hoping my drawing the transit time out would prevent complaints of overcharging from my soon to be passengers. While I pulled the barge towards my fares, I found myself wondering, for the ten thousandth time at least, why I was always sitting on the opposite side of the river from the side where my fares were waiting. You would think it would be about fifty/fifty, and half the time you'd already be on the side that the passenger needed to leave from. Three years now I had been the ferryman at this narrow bend in the river, and in all that time I've been on the correct bank no more than twenty five per cent of the time. Half of the time, when it turned out I was on the correct bank, it was only because there were fares waiting to be crossed on both sides at once. When that happened, of course, it just meant I'd have no opportunity to rest my arms before being required to pull the barge back in the direction I'd just come from. It was a hard way to scratch out a meager existence.

"How much to cross the two of us and our horses, boy?" I can tell you that I didn't much care for the slight whine I was already hearing in the stranger's voice. The other one had his head turned away from me, and was staring back at the road he'd just traveled.

"One copper for the passenger, and two for the horse."

"I won't pay that, damn me if I will. I'll wade my horse across this tiny trickle first."

"Yes sir, and that's your right, your grace. It's a wise man that know's the value of a whole copper." The other horseman barked out a high pitched squeak that might have served as his laugh. I couldn't be certain who the man was laughing at. If it was at me though, I didn't like it much. It wasn't me that set these fares for a crossing, it was Squire Appleton who was responsible. It was worth my job too if I ever let someone cross for less.

"I'll pay you three coppers for the two of us and our horses. Take it, or be damned, you vulgar get."

"He speaks only for himself boatman. I'll not risk to get drowned to save thruppence." That voice belonged to a lass and naught but. She kicked her mount forward onto the barge, leaning down from her saddle to press the three coppers into my hand. I looked up to say my proper thanks to her, and was struck near dumb by her comely looks. She looked to be my age, nigh on twenty years, and none more. Her teeth were whitest white, reflecting the good diet that bespoke gentry. As soon as she had lighted from her mount and caught her balance, I pulled on the rope and set us towards the far shore, leaving her companion to stare after us, surprised that I had ended his brilliant negotiations so abruptly. As I earned a tenth part of every copper collected, leaving him on the bank like that was an expensive proposition to me. I knew he wasn't going too far though. Not with the river up and swollen as it now was. He would have to be either desperate or crazy, or both, to try to ford the river here when it stood at full rise. I let off my fare on the other side, quite content to watch her as she rode off.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the river, that other rider was engaged in shouting out some kind of orders to me. He either knew not, or cared not, that the sound of the river's current deadened his shouted words long before they ever reached my ears. My hut lay on this side of the river, and, since there was no further business in the offing, I tied the barge fast for the evening, and wandered away from my responsibility. It had been a decent enough day of toil for me, nineteen coppers in fares, and another two coppers for me for the hares I'd sold that morning to the cook at the ordinary. Living as I did, almost completely off the bounty of the land, I was putting coppers away at a frantic pace. Already I had saved enough in my first three years working for the squire to imagine myself one day to be a landholder, fee simple, of my own estate.

I was well advanced, walking along my route, when the lass doubled back on her mount. She gave me a puzzled look as she saw me so far from the river and barge.

"And what of my husband then, boatman? Tell me that you haven't left him stranded on the Quincy side? We dare not tarry if we have hope of arriving in time to do some good."

"If your husband is that gentleman seeking to cross at half fare, I imagine he is still waiting in hopes that the river will recede so that he might cross without any loss to himself of his precious copper coinage."

"Do you mean to strand him for the whole night then?"

"It wasn't me that did the stranding, begging your pardon mistress. It was him as declined to be towed across by me. If I wasn't going to make one trip across for the half pay he offered, then it would stand to reason, for those possessed of any of the same, that I wouldn't care to make three trips for only one full pay. I'm sure he'll be more amenable to paying his full fare when I cross to the other bank in the morning."

"I grant you your logic, and concede that you were within your rights to act as you have. Still, I would ask it from you that you return once more to your barge, and bring him forth to this side today. If not for his sake, then for mine."

It isn't often that one such as me, base born and without any prospects of note, should find himself being asked to provide some small aid to one such as she. In truth, this was the first such time. I didn't choose to have it go by the boards unfulfilled either.

"For you then, I'll do it. I'll not take even one of his precious coppers though. Let him keep them if they are so dear that he'd choose them over seeing to his proper duties of seeing to your comfort and safety. I'd sooner pay his fare myself."

I turned back from whence I'd just come, and returned on shank's mare to the barge. Light was beginning to fade as I untied the barge and started my crossing one more time. I couldn't see any sight of him as I drew near the other end. Thinking that he'd gone back to find the shelter of the ordinary, I set off in search of him.

Standing there in the open doorway of the tavern, I chanced to set my eyes upon him once more. He had a tankard of ale in the one hand, standing there he was, as relaxed as if he were in his own grand lodgings, warming himself close by the tavern's well lit hearth. In his other arm, was Gwen, the indentured serving wench who sculled for the kitchen and brought out trays and tankards for the tavern's customers and guests. The open palm of his hand was clutching shamefully at her right haunch. His rubbing at her buttocks, visible to any who cared to see it.

I thought him a vile and contemptible cur to take such liberties in full sight of any who chanced to pass by. I approached him and cleared my throat, hoping thusly to attract his attention. He turned, staring at me, not recognizing me, even for all that he'd seen me not one hour's time before.

"Forgive my intrusion, your worship, I've come back to see to your crossing. It soon grows dark and we must hurry if we are to beat the fading light."

"Oh, it's you then, Bumpkin, changed your mind about my offer, I see. Well, it's too late for that now. I've had my horse seen to, and booked room and supper here for my rest. I'll see you on the morrow, make sure to be waiting for me from first light onwards."

"But sire, what of the lady?"

"Not any concern of mine. She can wait or go forward as she chooses. I won't assume responsibility for her headstrong and intemperate actions. She has crossed and left me to my own devices. Let her then see to her own comfort, as I've had to look after my own." He waved me away, dismissing me with all the contempt of a man shooing away a horsefly. I turned toe to heel and left his presence. What sort of man was he, to be brazenly fondling a serving wench, all the while he was discussing his own wife's dire predicament, as if none of it were of any real concern to him? I walked back to the barge and pulled myself across. My anger at his attitude allowed me to pull across in less than a minute. I tied the float off with an angry knotting that would surely take me a few minutes to unravel in the morning. Finished, I looked up and saw her staring after me, from her position fifteen feet away, and fully astride her horse.

"He's in the ordinary, your ladyship, says he's settled in for the night. Put his horse up and all. Would you wish me to ferry you back across? I'd not charge you for the crossing?"

"What of me then, did he tell you what I'm to do?"

"He says you are to wait or move forward, milady. But I can run you right across again, and have the two of you on the same side of the river at least. You need to be looking after your safety and comfort. It isn't safe to be caught out in the open of a night hereabouts."

"This is what it comes to then? I mean less to him than his horse? I'll ride on boatman. If I ride through, I could be in Fairlawn before first light. Thank you for all of your kind assistance. Tell my husband, when you next see him, that I've ridden on."

Spurring her horse as she first turned him and then prodded him forward, she disappeared into the early evening's dusk. I watched after her. Fairlawn was twenty miles or more past where I stood. It was a large estate near Herriot. If she was heading there, she was in for a long ride through the night. I looked up, trying to see what type of night sky she'd have for her journey. It would be dark, I hoped her mount was sure footed. I started walking towards my hut, angry with myself for my part in placing her in this danger. Had her husband been near enough to me then, I'd have given him something to worry about as well. Well, I would have if he hadn't been a gentleman, and I merely a lowly ferryman.

I arrived home, not even taking the time to check my snares. I hid the squire's coppers and then placed my own four in my secret place of safekeeping. I grabbed my tines and turned my straw, and then laid myself upon it. Too soon the rooster crowed and woke me from my dreams. I searched for tucker and found stale bread and a small piece of cheese, so old and hard that it gave my teeth a worthy contest in the eating of it.

I walked to the river, and knelt down by the bank, washing my face and hands. Because of my work, I tended to keep myself somewhat cleaner than others who hadn't the advantage of my closeness to a ready source of water. The air held a chill as I pulled myself across to the Quincy side of the river. I arrived and tied up, figuring to wait for my fare. It was still early when I looked across to the other side to see three people on foot, signaling to me to come get them.

I shook my head in wonder that I once again found myself on the opposite side from my fares, but shoved off with my pole and then pulled myself over to them quickly. The three were two men and a woman, people from the country, heading to some of the bigger towns in hopes of finding some work for themselves. The men appeared to be related, probably brothers, and the woman belonged to the taller of the two. They paid their three coppers without any murmur, grateful for a dry and safe crossing, and also for not having to waste part of their traveling day waiting for me to get to my work.

It was an hour later before the man from the evening before rode up to my barge. I had enjoyed no other fares since that first one, so, I found myself sitting on the correct side of the river for once.

"I'm happy to see you took my advice and positioned yourself here early, Rustic. To show you my good humor, I'll pay you two coppers for the transit." He put the two coppers in my hand, making sure not to soil himself by making any contact with my skin.