They were at the bottom of a bowl of land. Big rocks that looked as if
they might have rolled down the surrounding hillsides lay on the shore
of the small lake. The floor of the wood was thick with brown leaves.
This forest, Simon thought, probably belonged to some local nobleman.
Most of the countryside around here was farmland.

Even though denuded by autumn, the masses of trees on the opposite shore
looked impenetrable, ramparts of gray spikes frequently interrupted by
the dark green of pines. The place had all the privacy he had hoped for.
He prayed that this time alone together would not end in disaster as
their last meeting outside Orvieto had.

Holding Sophia's arm and guiding her down to the edge of the lake gave
Simon a warm, pleasant feeling. A tremor ran through his hands when he
grasped her slender waist and lifted her--how light she felt!--to perch
on a big black boulder.

She laughed gaily, and her laughter was like church bells at Easter.

He scooped up leaves and piled them at the base of the rock. When he had
a pile big enough for two people to sit on, he spread his cloak over it.
He held out his hand, and she slid from the boulder to the leaves.

He went foraging in the wood and quickly gathered an armload of broken
branches and a few heavy sticks. He made a ring of stones near the
water's edge and piled the branches within it, putting leaves and small
twigs that would catch fire easily under the larger pieces of wood. He
added some dried moss and took flint and steel out of a pouch at his
belt, struck sparks several times, and got the moss to smoke. He blew on
the glowing spots till a bright orange flame appeared. In a moment the
pile of branches was afire.

Sophia crawled to the fire and held her hands out to its warmth. Simon
sat beside her, so close their shoulders touched. He felt a pang of
disappointment when she moved just a bit away from him.

"How comfortable you've made us!" she said, sounding a little surprised.
She was very much a city woman, Simon thought. She seemed to know little
about the country, and he had noticed that she never looked entirely
relaxed on horseback.

"Are you surprised that I know how to make a fire in the woods?" He felt
inordinate pride at being able to show off this small skill to her.

"I did think you relied on servants to do that sort of thing for you."

"A knight may not always have equerries or servants to help him. I know
dozens of useful things tha