It was that damnable red hair, Leif reflected as the cluster of workmen puzzled over the network of drawbridge gears thirty feet below. Twelve summers of peace in the kingdom made for lax routines and little necessity for the drawing it closed each night, only to be let down the following day.
"What's all this fuss about raising the drawbridge this morning?" He did his best not to flinch noticeably as the sound of his wife's voice caught him by surprise, aggravating his already frayed nerves. He'd missed her walking up behind him as he leaned over the parapet.
"Just being cautious," he assured her, attempting to sound off-hand.
"Well, you've been gone a fortnight and promised to take your son hunting today," Lady Mallory's voice dripped with disapproval. "He's been practicing with that bow all summer and first frost almost upon us." Even her pause had a grating quality. "In case it had slipped your attention."
"It hasn't," he muttered sheepishly. As hard as he'd ridden home from the Kingsmeet in the north, still he'd noted how bare the trees had gotten in the short time he'd been away. "I'll take him out this afternoon," he promised. "We won't be going far."
"But all is well?" His wife was no fool. "The kingdom is at peace, is it not?" He could hear the probing shift in her tone.
"Of course, of course," He waved dismissively, watching his men struggle unsuccessfully yet again at turning the large gear of the chain hoist. "Apply some more grease to the upper gear, damn you!" His anxiety got the better of him and he scanned the horizon to the North fretfully. "It's just those Northern lords are all so easily roused." He tried to shrug indifferently. "You never know what will set one of them to offense."