The Kingdom

It was almost with eagerness that I slid into the saddle of the mare I rode. Eagerness to be gone from this dreary place. What was Kuri doing anyway?

Time stretched on and I was about to dismount and go back inside, when the doors of the shack opened and Kuri came out, only he wasn't alone. To my consternation the servant girl was with him and she had a dirty sack hung over one thin shoulder.

No, it couldn't be!

Kuri mounted up and then pulled the girl up behind him. He turned his mount to go and I couldn't help the question that came from my lips, "Why?"

"Why not? Benaiah, when it is in your power to do good you should."

"This is good?" I exclaimed.

Kuri gave me a censoring look and turned his horse onto the trail out of this little hole in the middle of nowhere. The girl turned her head back to me and, mildly shocked, I watched her stick her tongue out at me.

The brat turned forward and I turned my mount to follow along after Kuri. Kuri was making a terrible mistake in bringing this girl along.

*****

I don't think I'd ever seen anyone eat so much before. Early in the day I'd ridden ahead and been fortunate to bring down a Roan deer with an arrow. I had it gutted and dressed out with a fire already made when Kuri had arrived with the girl.

All the while the meat had cooked over the fire the girl had stared at it in rapt focus. Hadn't she ever had meat before?

As I watched her devour her third steak, I soberly acknowledged the possibility that perhaps she hadn't. Whether she had or not she was certainly making up for lost time.

I'd had one steak so far and I'd been about to start into a second, but there wasn't much meat left as most of the usable deer meat I had packed in salt for the journey. I was still hungry, but it didn't seem right to eat more in the present circumstances. I laid the second piece of meat before the girl.

She stopped eating for a moment to glance up and stare at me intensely. She didn't say anything and after a moment she went back to eating, but at a slower pace.

Why had I done that? I didn't particularly care for the girl and from all appearances the feeling was mutual. She needed help though and it had been right to give her extra, as I had been far more fortunate than her as of late.