The Sworn Sword

She had a quiver of arrows on one hip, and held a longbow that was just as tall as she was, which wasn't very tall. If Dunk was shy an inch of seven feet, the archer was shy an inch of five. He could have spanned her waist with his two hands. Her red hair was bound up in a braid so long it brushed past her thighs, and she had a dimpled chin, a snub nose, and a light spray of freckles across her cheeks.

""Forgive us, Lady Rohanne"". The speaker was a pretty young lord with the Caswell centaur embroidered on his doublet.

Dunk looked from one lady to the other. "" You are the Red Widow?"" he heard himself blurt out. ""But you're too-""

""Young?"" The girl tossed her longbow to the lanky lad he'd seen her shooting with. ""I am five-and-twenty, as it happens. Or was it small you meant to say?""

""– pretty. It was pretty "". Dunk did not know where that came from, but he was glad it came. He liked her nose, and the strawberry-blond color of her hair, and the small but well-shaped breasts beneath her leather jerkin.

""My first husband died when I was ten. He was twelve, my father's squire, ridden down upon the Redgrass Field. My husbands seldom linger long, I fear. The last died in the spring"".

That was what they always said of those who had perished during the Great Spring Sickness two years past. He died in the spring. Many tens of thousands had died in the spring, among them a wise old king and two young princes full of promise.

""Gown?"" She glanced down at her boots and breeches, loose linen tunic, and leather jerkin. ""I wear no gown"".

""Your hair, I meant… it's soft and.. "".

""And how would you know that, ser? If you had ever touched my hair, I should think that I might remember"".

""Not soft"", Dunk said miserably.

"" Very red, ser? Oh, not as red as your face, I hope"". She laughed, and the onlookers laughed with her.

All but Ser Lucas Longinch. ""My lady"", he broke in, ""this man is one of Standfast's sellswords. He was with Bennis of the Brown Shield when he attacked your diggers at the dam and carved up Wolmer's face. Old Osgrey sent him to treat with you"".

""He did, m'lady. I am called Ser Duncan, the Tall"".