Swartalf? A dweorgar?’ she demanded.
‘What did you call me?’ He recognised the Danish words for elf and dwarf and barked a laugh at such a preposterous accusation.
The girl looked furious. ‘Don’t laugh at me, monster!’
Her voice was deep. Hoarse from screaming.
‘Are you a child to believe in such things?’ Gui mocked. ‘I’m no monster. I’m a man.’
‘Well, you look like a beast!’
Gui pictured what he must have looked like, rising from beneath the surface, his frame broad and towering, the dark spread of hair on his chest darkened further by the soaking and with traces of waterweeds clinging to it. His hair had obscured his eyes so she would only have seen his scarred lips and crooked nose through the matted locks and beard. It was no wonder she believed him to be some unearthly creature.
Humiliation coursed through him, reddening his face and heating his blood. He stopped laughing and raised himself higher in the water, pushing the hair back from his face.
‘I’m a man,’ he repeated firmly.
Gui shifted his right hand before him in an attempt to create a sense of decency, but not before the girl’s eyes had flickered rapidly down. Her eyes slid over his body once more, examining him and flickering to the area of his body that could be guaranteed to prove his claim. As he concealed his most intimate parts she brought her head sharply up again to settle on Gui’s face with a look of mortification. Her skin was very pale like most of the women in these northern parts and now bright streaks of red flashed across each cheek. He wondered if she was a virgin. She had certainly known where to look for confirmation of his masculinity. He spread his hand wider in front of his cock as the speculation about her innocence caused a throb of lust that necessitated a little more concealment.
Presumably satisfied that he was what he claimed to be, the girl had recovered enough to glare at him.
‘You were spying on me!’
‘I was here first!’ Gui exclaimed, stung by the accusation.
‘You were watching me at any rate. How long were you there?’
Gui heaved an exasperated sigh. ‘I don’t know. I was enjoying the peace before you came upon me. I was trying to get back to the bank without you spotting me. That’s my horse you saw.’
It was at this point Gui became aware that during their underwater tussle they had inadvertently swapped positions. Now the girl was between him and his belongings, and he stood in the middle of the river, preventing her reaching hers. At some point while they had wrestled beneath the water she had dropped her fishing hook. Gui could see it glinting on the riverbed halfway between them.
‘I’m not going to hurt you,’ Gui assured her.
‘You tried to drown me!’
‘No, I didn’t!’ This was becoming tiresome. ‘I slipped and you were the nearest thing to take hold of. If you hadn’t screamed, I wouldn’t have had to come near you at all, but you were making enough noise to wake a dozen korrigans.’
Her forehead wrinkled.
‘Water creatures,’ Gui clarified. His forearm stung where she had razed him with the pin. He wiped away the blood she had drawn. Her eyes followed his movement and a hint of triumph filled them.
‘The only one who has caused injury so far is you. Are you sure you aren’t a korrigan sent to tempt me to my watery death?’ he teased. It struck him that if he was to drown, doing it in the arms of a creature as alluring as this one would not be the worst end he could imagine.
The girl looked outraged.
‘I’m nothing of the sort! What are you doing here?’
She eyed Gui haughtily, then her face changed into an expression of hatred that Gui had seen so many times. ‘You’re Norman, aren’t you?’
The tone she used implied this was worse even than if he had indeed owned to being a dwarf or other monstrous creature. He’d been met with hostility and hatred since arriving in England so that was hardly a new experience to Gui. Nevertheless his jaw clenched.
‘I’m Breton, but I expect to you it makes no difference.’
She blinked at the ferocity in his voice and opened her mouth as if she was intending to scream again. Perhaps she was not as alone as Gui thought. They were close to villages, the fields must be tended and bands of outlaws roamed the countryside. There were plenty of men who would not hesitate to slit the belly of a lone Frenchman in vengeance for what William’s army had done to the north. Gui did not relish the idea of dying naked in a river that was increasingly feeling icy. He lowered himself into the water a little, bending his legs to take the weight on his thighs and held his right hand out in supplication.
‘I’m travelling and wanted to bathe because the day was so warm. Just as you did.’
Uncertainty filled her eyes. The colour struck Gui for the first time and once he had noticed it he could not tear his gaze from a blueness so pale the irises almost blended seamlessly into the whites. Her sandy hair stuck to her face in long tendrils and she looked more of a sprite than Gui first thought.
‘I mean you no harm. I’m twice your size. If I’d wanted to rape or kill you, I’d have done it by now.’
The colour drained from the girl’s cheeks as he so casually spoke of the deeds she must have been dreading. She unwound her arms from across her body and shifted into what she clearly thought was a fighting stance, fists raised and feet spread apart. Gui recognised the bravado he had seen in enough fights in taverns to know she would probably swing for him if he got close enough.
‘You’re safe with me,’ he said. ‘Wrestling unwilling girls into submission isn’t my idea of pleasure. Especially not in water as cold as this.’
‘Why should I trust you? You’ve taken my land and killed my countrymen.’ Her accent was becoming broader as her fury rose. ‘Men like you intend harm to everyone they meet. All you know is how to destroy and hurt. Where is your army now? Did they forget you?’
William’s soldiers must have passed this way on their march to Durham a year or so ago. Perhaps the girl believed he was one of them. Gui ground his teeth. He heard once more the screams of battle, smelled the iron scent of blood and the smoke of burning buildings. Would she believe him if he told her all he longed for was a life of peace far away from the memories that haunted him? Despite the cold water he was standing in, sweat broke out across his back and in the pits of his arms. He stepped backwards.
‘I’m travelling alone. Are you alone also?’
She eyed him warily, then nodded. Irritation surged in Gui’s chest.
‘If you think the country is so dangerous, why are you dancing around in fields and singing to yourself?’
He jabbed a finger towards her, his temper rising and mingling with an unexpected sense of protectiveness towards the silly girl. He wondered again if she was a simpleton to put herself at such risk.
‘Why are you bathing and fishing if you fear you might be set upon at
