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Dunk the Maiden (Part 2)

I quickly found myself soaked to the bone. My once perfectly styled hair had become a tangle web of loose strands. I felt myself starting to shiver a little. The fire had almost gone out in me. The crowd in front of me was starting to ease up a bit and I was glad. I thought maybe I could catch a little break. But then Wyatt came up to me and started to whisper harshly toward me.

“Hey Jeanette!” He whispered in a harsh tone of voice. “You're losing the attention of the crowd. Do something girl! Get them to throw at you. Remember teasing is part of the show.” He muttered as he returned to working the front counter.

I blinked and blinked again and took a deep breath.

“Hey!” I called out to a fellow who was passing by the tank. He was a huge fellow. A big man with arms the size of hams and a head the size of a barrel. He was as tall as an oak tree, he had fingers the size of sausages and a big thick neck that was covered in hair.

It took him a few moments to come to understand that I was talking to him. He pointed toward himself and I nodded my head. He then gave me his full attention. I felt bad for what I was about to do, but I reminded myself that this was for charity after all.

“Hey Hayseed! You know some village is looking for its fool right now? I heard Sea Breeze is looking for a new town clown after the old one got hacked off by bandits.” I shouted.

The man stormed toward the tank, his face had turned a beet red and he was bristling like a cat ready to fight for its meal.

“Hey! Hayseed! You want me to shut up! You want to get me back! Drop some money and send my sassy mouth self down into the water below. I mean if you can.” I teased and then I waited. I felt my heart starting to skip a few beats as he dropped a few round silver coins down upon the wooden countertop. And I nearly jumped off the board as the heavy leather balls came flying through the air and smashed into the wooden board set up behind the target.

“Come on Hayseed! My Grandmother can throw better than you!” I wanted to edge him on. A moment later I heard the heavy leather ball strike the wooden surface of the wooden target. Again I felt the wooden seat I was sitting under give away and once again I dropped into the freezing cold water below! I broke the surface and took a deep breath.

“Lucky shot Hayseed!” I called out as I mounted the plank again. “Let's see if you can do it again.”

A crowd was once starting to gather around the booth. The beast of man, seeing me dunked, smirked and walked away. It seemed like I needed to find another target to tease. I shifted my eyes from left to right and before long my eyes fell upon a tall lad, who was straight and narrow as a bean pole.

“Yo! Jack!” I called out. “Climb any beanstalks lately!” The lad looked and me and blinked.

“Never seen one of them before.” The boy said, blinking.

“Man, all you gotta do is look in the mirror every morning.” I shouted. And the boy blushed a little as he walked up to the counter and dropped two silver coins down upon the table. The boy was still blushing as he walked up to the target and pushed it end. Sending me dropping once more like a heavy stone down into the water below.

“And 'Thus the wicked shall be cleansed by the water that flows from the wellspring of the Golden Fountain of the Goddess. Whoever hath bath in the water have his sins cleansed from himself' Your welcome.” The lean fellow said. I blinked and blinked, and the stunned silence fell over the crowd. I really had nothing to stay about that. That was just weird. Really weird. Too weird for me to handle. So I shrugged my shoulders and climbed back on the ladder.

“Okay thank you the sermon bean pole! See you next holy day!” I shouted as I started to kick my feet a little. I hate to say, but I was starting to have fun.

“Hey!” I called out to a young woman who was passing by the tank. “Village lass!” I called out. A moment later the young girl spun around and peered toward me. She had fiery red hair that seemed to almost sparkle in the early afternoon sunshine that bathed the cobblestone square. Her eyes were green as emeralds and her face was as smooth as an egg. And her complexion reminded me of buttermilk.

I paused for a moment, I knew only one girl who looked like that. “Priscilla Lapham!” I said blushing as the young woman moved toward the dunking booth. As she moved closer, I noticed that Priscilla was wearing a form fitting white bodice over a short sleeve blue woolen dress. Like most of the village women she was wearing sturdy brown leather slippers for shoes.

“Jeanette! Jeanette!” She cried as she reached down and fished out a brown, leather, drawstring purse. “I can't believe it! Fancy seeing you!” She said grinning as she walked toward the front of the dunking booth. Without skipping a beat she laid down four silver marks. “And staffing the dunking booth I see!”

“Aye.” I said blushing a little. “By chance is your brother around?” A few moments later I felt my cheeks starting to flush a little. You see Priscilla and I have a bit of history together. Her older brother was named John. John Lapham. Formally John the Woodcutter. You see, I first met her older brother when I entered this world. I later learned that John had come into some money once his grandfather died and so he had left the woodcutting business and went into business for himself. According to him, his family was once a prosperous merchant family. According to him, the Lapham Merchant and Trading company once covered most of the Storm Bay Region.

But it seems John's father. Noel Lapham spoiled the families fortune on one risky business venture after another, forcing his eldest son John to take up a trade instead of following on with the family tradition of trading goods for profit. All that had changed a few months ago when John's grandfather passed on the ripe old age of one hundred and five. In his will, he had left his whole estate to his young grandson, Noel Lapham, John's father who now worked for his son as a clerk back at the family store in Sea Breeze.

I had learned all of this first hand from John himself a few months ago when I'd crossed paths with him and his sister Priscilla at the tiny little village of Thorn. It seemed John had decided to take his only sister along with him. The girl acted as something of a junior clerk to him. She was also handy with a slingshot. She was deadly accurate with one, I've seen her split a bandit's head wide open before.

“You do spacing out!” Priscilla called as she reached down and picked up the first heavy leather ball. She tossed the ball up in the air and caught it. She then tossed it back up and caught it again. “Because I want to see your face when I dunk you!”

“Is your brother around?” I asked with a ghost of a blush forming on my face. As soon as the words left my mouth I felt the board I was sitting under give way. A moment later I was splashing down in ice cold water. I was still blushing when I pushed the board up again and climbed back up.

“To answer your question.” Priscilla said. “He is, he's trading. He heard salt is cheap here. But worth a mountain of gold back in Sea Breeze. He said he'll buy all the stock he could here and take it back to Sea Breeze. Then on to Budehuc Castle he says, it seems pearls are common as acorns there. Load up on pearls and return to Sea Breeze where they sell for a mighty pretty penny.”

I was just about to say something when once more Priscilla drew her arm back and a moment later she tossed another one of the heavy leather balls toward the target. A few beats of the heart later, I heard the ear ringing sound of the leather ball smashing into the wooden target. Once more the seat I was seated on  gave way. Dropping me down into the freezing water below!

Again it took me a few moments to pop the plank back into place. But once I popped the plank  into place again. I took a deep breath and climbed back up onto the seat and took a deep breath and smiled.

“You think he would mind a dance this evening once he's done trading?” I asked as I shifted my eyes around a little. A few seconds later I felt the board once more give away as I splashed down in the ice cold water, the cold water kind of cooled my head. I muttered something under my breath, something to the effect of 'Nobody should be this darn good at this silly little sideshow game' before once more pushing the plank into place before climbing back up.

“I can ask him for you. You fancy him?” Priscilla asked with a grin.

“Do you fancy Oliver?” Oliver was for a lack of better terms my understudy. A few weeks ago I'd seen Priscilla and Oliver talking, maybe even flirting. That was back when I'd taken command of the defense of the tiny village of Thorn that was under threat of attack by a host of two hundred, blood thirsty bandits. As a favor to her brother, I'd ordered Priscilla to the rear of our line, that to say in the village. I'd given Bridgette the Village Wisdom charge of her and had put them in charge of caring for the wounded.

Well what happened? Oliver had gotten himself cut, not too bad, but it had earned himself a bloody red badge of courage as a reward for enduring his first real battle. Anyway Priscilla had fussed over Oliver and had fussed hard. Bridgette had pulled the girl away from his side to tend to his cut.

The moment I mentioned Oliver though Priscilla turned a beet red as she turned her head to the side and started to pout.

“Hey! If you get your brother to dance with me this evening. I'll make sure that you get to ride with Oliver to and from Budehuc Castle! You know, merchant's need guards. And I am the leader of a seasoned band of adventures.” I said, smirking a little.

I swear I saw Priscilla blush a little as she turned her head away from and started to pout a little. It was cute, sitting there and watching her pout as she wrestled with those teenage emotions and hormones. I'd hoped the thought of her spending several long day's sitting beside her crush alone would throw her off her game.

“I'll consider it!” She said as she tossed her last remaining ball toward the target. I took a deep breath expecting the ball to once more smash into the wooden board. Instead it curved as if caught by a sudden gust of wind and passed harmlessly under the target.

“Missed.” I teased.

Priscilla turned her nose up and folded her hands under her breast and closed her eyes and poked out her cheeks. I could tell she was pouting and it was cute. Priscilla had in a way become like a little sister to me. In fact, she kind of reminded me of the little sister I once had. I wonder if her name had also been Priscilla.

“Only because you were teasing me!” She said, “Anyway! I'll tell my brother you want to dance with him around the maypole this evening! But you better keep your promise!” And with that she stormed away.

My eyes followed Priscilla as she vanished into the crowd.

“I will.” I said and so here another chapter ends. Soaking wet. And daydreaming of my own knight in shining armor.