The sun was dropping behind the distant hills as Sarah and Prince Alex approached the farmhouse. Some stars were already visible, and Sarah said with some apprehension, “This looks like the place that Alcindor described as the Starbuck farm. But I wish we could have gotten here before dark.”
Alexander peered ahead into the gathering darkness. “We have no other choice,” he said. “Unless we want to sleep out in the woods and go in early in the morning.”
“No, let’s go in now. And remember, Alex. Remember you’re not a prince. You have to have another name.” She thought and said, “It should be a name that sounds something like Alex. So let’s just say your name is Lex.”
“If you say so,” the prince agreed.
They neared the main farmhouse, and Sarah called out, “Hello, the house!”
Almost at once a man emerged. He was bent over and walking with the help of a cane. “Hello,” he said. “It’s late for travelers to be out.”
“We’re looking for the Starbuck farm.”
“You’ve found it. I’m Joss Starbuck.” He was not a large man, and as Sarah drew closer to examine his face, she saw that he had the marks of pain that an invalid sometimes has. Lowering her voice, although no one was near, she said, “Alcindor sent us.”
This apparently surprised Joss Starbuck but did not alarm him. “Alcindor has been a good friend to me. Won’t you come inside?”
The two followed the farmer into the house, which was neat and well kept. Starbuck turned to them then, and his eyes narrowed. “I expect you want a favor. People who come from Alcindor usually do.”
“We need to hide out here for a while, sir. My name is Sarah, and this is Lex.”
She expected the farmer to ask questions, but he merely looked them over, then nodded. “If Alcindor says it’s all right, it must be. I assume you want to work in order to look like part of the hired help.”
“Yes,” Sarah said quickly. “That would be fine.”
“Well, you can help with the housework, Sarah. And, Lex, you can work in the fields.”
Sarah quickly answered for the prince. “That will be fine, too.”
“The young lady can room in the house. And there’s a bunkhouse for you outside, Lex. Our hired men left, so actually we need help pretty badly.”
The farmer showed Sarah to her quarters. She saw she would be staying in a very neat room with a large window looking out over the spacious countryside. She was grateful.
Joss Starbuck took Alex to a building behind the barn. It had two sets of bunk beds and a washstand—and a stove. But he said, “You can eat with us in the big house.”
“How many people help you on the farm?”
“Ordinarily four, but they took off and left us. Scared of the war that’s coming.”
Alex looked at the older man curiously. “How do they know war is coming?”
“How do they know!” Starbuck exclaimed. “Everybody knows the Zorians are massing over on the other side of the mountains. They’re not coming to have a tea party.”
“Then we’ll just have to stop them,” Alex said grimly.
“That sounds like Alcindor.” But the farmer looked pleased. “We’ll wake you up early in the morning. There’s a lot of work to be done. You may be hiding from somebody, but we can use your help.” He turned and left.
Alexander washed his face and flopped on a bunk without even undressing. He slept a dreamless sleep.
Suddenly, somebody was pounding at Alex’s door. Next, a voice was yelling, “Get up! Get out of that bed! You can’t sleep all day. Come on. What’s your name?”
Alex sat straight up in the bunk and looked wildly around. Now he saw that a young woman had pushed open the door! “Who are you?” he demanded.
She was tall and athletic looking. She had blonde hair and green eyes. She was wearing a light blue tunic. And she did not look friendly.
The girl put her hands on her hips and said, “What are you staring at? I’m Lilith Starbuck. My father tells me you’re here to work, so let’s get at it.”
“All right,” Alex said. He stood up and said, “Do we get to eat before we work?”
“Breakfast is ready in the big house.” Then she left.
Alex washed his face at the washstand, still puzzling over this bossy girl. He splashed himself liberally, ran his hands through his thick, auburn hair, then went around to the main house. There he found the table set, and Sarah, wearing an apron, was placing dishes on the table.
“Sit down, Lex,” Joss said. “I believe Sarah here has made one of the best breakfasts I’ve ever seen. If it tastes as good as it looks, it’s all right.”
The four of them sat down to the breakfast that Sarah had prepared, which included ham and eggs and fresh breads. Prince Alex ate hungrily, for neither he nor Sarah had had supper last night.
Lilith cocked her head to one side. “If you can work as well as you can eat, you’ll be of some help around here.”
Sarah smiled at that. She said, “What’s to be done today?”
“Quite a bit. We’ve got to weed out the corn, and that will be a big job,” the girl said.
Before long, Joss and Lilith began talking about conditions in the kingdom. Joss Starbuck put a bad face on it, but it was Lilith who snapped, “If the king’s son were worth a copper coin, we might have a chance! But all he wants to do is party and have fun!”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t talk about people you don’t know!” Alex said sharply.
Lilith turned her eyes to him with surprise. “Don’t tell me you stand up for that no-good prince!”
Sarah put in quickly, “I’m sure Prince Alexander has some good features.”
“He has good features all right. He knows how to play and ignore all of his duties. I’d like to have him here. I’d tell him a thing or two.”
“He might spank you,” Alex said. He hoped he was covering his anger. “I hear the prince doesn’t like impudent women.”
“I’d like to see him try it!” Lilith had a table knife in her hand, and she gestured with it. “But no danger of that. He’s too busy enjoying himself to come and do anything as low as working on a farm.”
Sarah managed to change the subject. After they had finished eating, she said, “I’ll be working in the house today, Lex.”
“And he’ll be outside helping me,” Lilith said. “Although I don’t think he can keep up with a real worker.”
“Like you?” Alex asked.
“That’s right! You’ve probably never done a day’s work in your life. We’ve had your kind here before. I’ll work him until he falls, Father,” she said. “Well, come on. It’s time to get to work.” She got up and strode out of the kitchen.
Alexander followed her.
“She means well,” Lilith’s father said apologetically to Sarah. “But she may be a little rough sometimes. She hasn’t had much fine raising.”
“She’s a nice girl and beautiful. I know you’re very proud of her.”
“We lost her mother five years ago. She’s been very lonesome since then,” Joss said thoughtfully. “But she takes care of me, does all the housework and all the cooking. I am proud of her.”
“She was a little hard on the prince.”
“Yes, she was, but then everybody in the kingdom knows the prince isn’t the man his father was.”
“Maybe he’ll change.”
“I hope so,” Joss said, wagging his head sadly. “It’s a shame for a young man with all his opportunities to waste them.”
Lilith led Alex out to a very large field. She handed him a hoe and said, “Now, you know how to hoe corn?”
Grabbing the hoe from him, Lilith made a few quick strokes and cut the grass that had grown between two stalks of corn. “This may be too difficult for you to understand, but you have to chop the weeds just like this. You think you can remember that?”
He glared at her. “I can remember. Give me that hoe.”
Alex began to work, and soon the sun overhead brought a fine sweat to his face. The hoe was too short for him, and he had to lean over. So his back began to hurt. Up one long row he went, then back another. He looked up occasionally to see Lilith doing the same sort of work farther down in the field.
He had been at the job for about two hours when she suddenly appeared with a jug of water. “Here. Drink this.”
Quickly Alex dropped the hoe and seized the jug. He let the delicious, cool water slide down his dry throat. Finally he was satisfied, and he handed the jug back. “Thanks,” he said.
“You’re welcome.” She looked down the row he had hoed and said, “You’re missing some grass. Be more careful.” Without another word she walked away.
Alex said under his breath, “Impudent girl! She does need a spanking.”
The morning wore on slowly. By the time the sun was directly overhead, Alex could hardly stand up. He sat down in the row to rest and pulled his broad hat down over his face. Suddenly he was very tired. He went to sleep sitting there.
He was awakened some time later when something struck him on the shoulder. He jumped up to see that Lilith had been tapping him with her hoe handle. “You will never touch me again!” he cried crossly. “You understand that?”
Lilith ignored that and glared up at him. It was obvious she thought he was not much of a worker. “You can’t even work for a whole day!” she taunted. “What makes you so special?”
“I can accomplish any work I choose to,” he said.
“Can you? Then we’ll see. We’ll go to the house to eat, and then we’ll see who can chop the most rows this afternoon. My wager is that the woman will be the victor.”
Something about the girl’s independence pleased Alex, but at the same time he wondered if she ever had a more womanly side.
Back at the house, they ate a good midday meal—prepared by Sarah—and Alex drank plenty of cool water. He hoped Lilith would give them an hour’s rest.
But as soon as she finished eating, Lilith said, “All right. Let’s go back.” And she winked at Sarah. “We have a contest going to see who can hoe the most corn.”
Her father shook his head. “Don’t let her work you to death, Lex. She loves work the way other girls like pretty clothes.”
Getting through the afternoon was difficult, but by working as fast as he could, Alex managed to hoe as many rows as Lilith did. When the sun was low in the sky, she came by and looked at his work. “That’s a good job,” she said with some surprise. “I didn’t think you could do it.”
Alex did not say a word. His back was aching, and his palms were covered with blisters. Some of them had even bled.
“Enough for today. Let’s go in and have supper,” Lilith said.
The supper was good. Sarah had outdone herself again, but Alex was so tired, and his back ached, and his hands hurt so badly he could not join in the conversation. When he had finished eating, he said, “I think I’ll go to bed early.”
“We’ll get in another good day’s work tomorrow. See if you can hold up, Lex.” Lilith smiled.
After the prince had left for the bunkhouse, Sarah said, “As you see, he’s willing to work, Lilith, but he’s not used to this kind of work.”
“No, I saw that right away,” Lilith said. Then she eyed Sarah curiously. “What are you two doing here anyway? Father tells me you’re hiding from something.”
Alarmed, Sarah said, “You must never say anything like that publicly, Lilith! If we are found, it would be very bad.”
“But Alcindor sent you,” Lilith said thoughtfully. “So you must be all right.”
Alex went to an outside shower, where he washed off some of the sweat and the dirt. The water felt good, indeed. He went back to his room and lay down on the bunk, exhausted. His hands hurt.
The door swung open almost at once, and Lilith marched in with a basin of water and some other things on a tray.
“Do you know how to knock?” Alex demanded grumpily.
She put down the tray and said, “Sit up.”
Alex sat up, wondering what she was doing.
“Let me see your hands.”
Alex extended his hands, palms down.
She turned them over and took a deep breath. “I thought so. You should have told me that you were getting blisters. I would have gotten you some gloves.”
“You didn’t ask.”
Lilith looked at him and frowned. “Your hands are pitiful. I’ve brought some salve that will make them feel better.”
She rinsed and dried his hands, then opened a small jar and began to put the salve on his palms. “I know this is painful,” she said. “We’ll find some work for you tomorrow that won’t be as hard.”
“Thank you. That feels better,” Alex said when she finished. “I’m sure I can do more hoeing tomorrow.”
“There’s other work that’s not as hard on the hands. Can you milk a cow?”
“No.”
“Maybe I’ll teach you how to do that.” She sat for a few moments then, looking at him curiously. “What have you been doing with yourself?”
Prince Alexander knew she meant the question to be innocent enough, but it somehow hit him hard. He thought of how wasteful he had been of all the gifts that he had and how he had thrown away his opportunities.
“Nothing to be proud of,” he said, looking away.
Lilith seemed surprised at this answer. But she said, “Well, Lex, you’re still young. You can make anything you want to of yourself.”
“Like a farmer?”
“Of course. You’re strong, and that’s important. Would you like to be a farmer?”
“Lilith, I don’t know what I want to be. Except I don’t want to be what I have been.” He looked at her oddly and then smiled. “What about you?” He had never talked much to a commoner and was suddenly very curious. “What will you do?”
“What will I do?” Lilith said with surprise. “I’ll work. I’ll marry. I’ll have children. I’ll help people all I can. That’s what I’ll do.”
“That sounds like a good thing,” the prince said. “You do that, Lilith.”
She rose to her feet and went to the door, where she turned back and smiled a warm smile. “Tomorrow morning—if your hands are well enough—I’ll teach you how to milk a cow. Then we can gather some eggs. And then maybe we’ll do something fun instead of just work.”
“All right, Lilith,” he said. “If that’s what you want, I’ll do it. Good night.”
“Good night, Lex.”
And he knew that she had lost her dislike for him.