In a few minutes Gwyndolyn would rise. But right now, she would remember her mother and her sister and their final moments on this earth.

"I know...I must say goodbye, my beauties."

"No. Please. You have been weak before. You will regain your strength in time. You just need rest."

"No, my love. I... I love you with all of my heart, but I must leave you. I must ask that you take care of them for me, my love."

"No. I cannot care for them alone. I need you, mother. We need you."

"I am so proud of you, my love. You are bright and gentle and you have a heart made of gold. But you are not weak or timid. I do not suppose that you can be with so many brothers." Mother sighed and closed her eyes for a moment as if gathering strength.

"I do love your father and your brothers, but between the five of them they do not have the sense that God granted to a mule. You must take care of them, my love. They need you."

"I cannot." Gwyndolyn was in denial, though she knew her mother spoke the truth. Mother was not long for this world, and from the way the babe struggled to breath, neither was she. "I am but a child still."

"You are seventeen and you are beautiful, and young, and a woman, my love. You have already been taking care of them these last two years, all during my weakness. You will be alright. You must be."

Gwyndolyn's eyes burned with tears that she struggled to hold back. It seemed that if she allowed herself to cry then she would be admitting that Mother was right...

And she could not do that. Not yet.

Mother smiled and lifted a weary arm toward Gwyndolyn and the babe. In a heartbeat, Gwyndolyn rose and carried the babe to the side of the bed where she knelt and held the baby close.

Mother had not the strength to hold the baby or to lift her head to kiss the downy soft hair. Mother only touched the tiny crown and gave a tearful smile to Gwyndolyn before she sighed and closed her eyes in eternal sleep. Just like that, Mother was gone.

The baby's raspy breath brought Gwyndolyn out of her sorrowful trance. Perhaps if she kept the babe warm, the babe would get better...Pulling the covers up over Mother, Gwyndolyn closed the door behind her as she shuffled numbly toward the hearth.

Father and all of her brothers were in the fields and would stay there until it was too dark to see. She was alone. If one of them came back early, she could send him for... There was no one to send for.

Settling to the floor, Gwyndolyn sighed. The old woman who was midwife in the nearest village died during the last winter. There was no daughter to pass the knowledge along to, so now there was no midwife. Life went on still. As ever it had. As ever it would...but without a midwife.

Gwyndolyn tried to remember all that her mother taught her. After all, she was the one to care for Robin. No, Robin was a robust babe, hearty and hale...and Mother was there to help...a lot.

Gwyndolyn was quite confident she could handle the baby care on her own: the bathing, feeding, swaddling and such. But she could not recall any remedies or healing potions for a sickly infant. There were breathing remedies, but she could not manage them on her own.

Gwyndolyn was reluctant to set the babe down for fear that it...that she...would die all alone...

That was all just too much and so Gwyndolyn curled up in front of the hearth with the babe in her arms. She cradled the child, crooned softly, hummed some, sang a little and prayed a lot.

Why was it so hard to say goodbye to these tiny siblings?

This was not the first that was lost. For sooth, she scarcely knew them as two of them never drew a breath and this little angel could not be much longer for this earth. With a sad smile, Gwyndolyn sniffled and swiped at her cheeks with her palm. She would give her a name. She could do that much at least.

Angelica was a good name for such a precious little baby girl. She had fair hair and blue eyes like mother. For a moment, Gwyndolyn allowed herself to imagine Angelica aged five years with bouncing blonde curls and sparkling blue eyes.

Then she tried to imagine Angelica at seventeen: tall and willowy and beautiful like Mother... Angelica's strangled breathing rasped loudly and Gwyndolyn instinctively hugged her little sister closer.

With unshed tears blurring her vision, Gwyndolyn watched helplessly as Angelica's life sputtered like a candle on in its last minutes. Angelica gasped once more, her tiny body shuddering as she released her final breath.

There was no sadness or pain as Gwyndolyn softly stroked the tiny cheek and kissed the tiny brow goodbye.

There was only...emptiness.

In a few minutes, she would rise and take Angelica to her mother.

She would tenderly place the babe into their mother's arms.

She would gently clean them both and prepare them for the family to say their final goodbyes before taking the bodies to bury.

She knew Mother was in heaven with the tiny Angelica in her arms...

But it did not stop her heart from breaking.

---

Mornings were her favorite time. When all of the men left her to tend their chores about the farm, she finally knew a moment's peace as she went about making the day's bread. Looking around their tidy little home, she smiled.

Wil was the eldest son and built himself a home nearby when he took a wife. The wife passed away in the first year, so Garth and Jordan moved in with Wil making a family of three for each little house.

She enjoyed the solitude of their cozy little home as she went about the rest of her chores. There was a meal to ready, a garden to tend, garments to mend, elixirs and tinctures to prepare and...

"Gwyn!" Robin burst through the open door and bellowed again. "Gwyn! They are coming!"

"Rob, Have I not told you many a time: Do not raise your voice inside of doors? Our home is much too small to hold so much of your exuberance. Aside, it is not the proper manners."

"I am sorry." Robin slumped and scuffed his toe on the packed dirt of the floor. "I shall try to remember but—"

"That will have to do." Gwyndolyn offered him a smile to soften the sting of her rebuke. "Now then. Who is coming?"

"They are!" his voice raised in excitement but he choked it back. Gwyndolyn allowed a small smile of encouragement as the boy drew a deep breath continued in a more moderate but still very excited voice.

"Soldiers! Lots of them! And wagons and dogs and animals too! I was up in a tree and saw the dust and looked and I saw all the soldiers and I tried to count them but there was too much dust and they were moving and so I kept losing count and so I climbed down and ran all the way home to tell you!"

Robin paused to draw a breath and Gwyndolyn seized her opportunity.

"I shall have to prepare for company." She began, grateful for the last ten years of deciphering excited little boy ramblings.

"Run along to the fields and fetch Father and our brothers. They should be here to greet our guests and I am certain there will be things they need to do to ready the barn to see to the care of so many animals."

When he just stood there, she chuckled and shooed him with a wave of her floured hands. "Be off with you!"

The boy scarcely cleared the doorway when the laughter that was bottled inside her bubbled up and filled the little house with mirth.

The mirth vanished shortly after the soldiers arrived. They swarmed over the farm like locusts, consuming nearly everything in their wake.

The horses, the pigs, the new milk cow with her calf, and most of the chickens joined the large entourage of animals Robin said he saw. The cellar was emptied, as was the meat house and the grain stores.

Manners were entirely lacking as one of the big ones barged into her home and demanded she prepare a meal for them.

"With what shall I prepare this meal? You have taken all that we have!" she snapped, then refused to flinch as the brawny oaf raised a hand to strike her.

Wil was taller and broader than the offending soldier, and when he stepped in the door just then, he grabbed the soldier's wrist. Wil's words were for her, but he glared menacingly at the soldier. "Do as you are bid, sister, and no more of your mouth."

Grateful for his intervention, and unwilling to risk further retaliation from the soldiers, she dipped her head meekly and left to seek out food stuffs enough to feed all of these men.

"Beg pardon, milord." She meekly approached one of the men near a wagon overfull with food. "I am bid to prepare a meal for all of you men and—"

With a bellow, the soldier interrupted her as he called over two others. "This wench is to prepare our meal. See that she has what she needs carried to the house."

With that Gwyndolyn was dismissed and so she returned to the house to await them. She spent the entire day cooking and washing the dishes again and again as they came in an endless stream to be fed. As the daylight began to fade, she was exhausted and ready for them to leave.

---

"No!" Gwyndolyn cried.

Her heart broke as she was held back by father's strong grip. Robin clutched her skirts and cowered beside her as the soldiers dragged off Wil and Garth. Jordan fought to stay behind, against the urging of Wil and Garth...and father.

The soldiers did not bother with him long. They simply hit him on the skull with the hilt of a sword, bound him hand and foot and dragged him to the wagon with the others that were so unwilling they were bound.

"No." she wept as the soldiers left.

Father was left behind. He was unfit to be a soldier with his leg splinted and hobbling around on a crutch. Robin was left because he was too young to become a soldier.

"No." she whispered as the dust and silence settled behind them.

Who would bring in the harvest and prepare the earth for the coming winter so that it could be planted in the spring? Who would protect them from bandits now? Who would help father...?

"Hush my little Robin." She automatically crooned as he hiccupped. She was so lost in her own misery that she had forgotten about the little boy by her side. "All will be well. You shall see. Our brothers shall redeem themselves in battle and come home to us as heroes."

"Do you promise?"

"I can hope... I can pray." She answered honestly. "But I cannot promise."

"Okay."

It broke her heart that he was already so grown up. Jordan sheltered him as much as he could manage, but living on a large and prosperous farm, there was not much room for slacking. Little Robin had needed to learn hard work and discipline from a young age. And now he stood sniffling... at the ripe old age of ten.

It was not fair.

Life was not fair.

This truth she learned long ago when she watched Mother slipping away after the births of not one, but two stillborn babes. And then to lose Mother after Angelica was born...

and Angelica a few hours later.

Father nudged her arm.

"Hmm?" she took a deep breath and shrugged off her feelings of sadness, anger, fear and uncertainty.

She needed to help father get inside.

She needed to start supper.

She needed to see to the animals and make sure the barn was settled for the night.

She needed to—

"Come. You must take Robin and rest. Let me fix us a simple supper and then we shall all retire early this eve. Tomorrow is soon enough to start worrying what we will do next."

"They took all of our food." Robin mumbled as he slipped his hand into Gwyndolyn's and followed her to the house.

"Not all of it." Father smiled. "They left us the garden, and we have enough food left for today. If we are careful, we shall have enough for a few days. That will be ample time for us to harvest more from the garden and the fields."

"At least let me chase down those hens first?" she waved her hand around as one of the hens ran by. "There are three or four that got away and the soldiers did not bother to chase. If I get them before the dogs do, maybe they will settle down. They were so frightened; I wonder that they shall ever lay again."

"Well, if they do not lay again, they shall be rather tasty in the pot." Her father said with a smile as held the door for them to pass. "Now, forget everything and go lie down the two of you. I shall fetch you when supper is ready and then we three" he pointed to each of them in turn, "can see if we can catch them."

"Will we really be alright?" Robin sniffled.

"We really will." Gwyndolyn smiled down at him. "Now, let us do as father says and lie down for a bit. After all of that excitement, I think I should welcome a chance to close my eyes for a little while."

"Okay." Robin sighed.

Gwyndolyn's heart broke as she climbed onto the little bed and curled up with Robin, his back to her front. She could feel his little body trembling but she could not tell if it was from exhaustion or from fear. For her own part, she felt equal measures of both. With a sigh she placed a kiss on his crown.

Mother's oft repeated words swept through her mind and she could almost hear Mother's voice as she would say: "One worry at a time, my love. Only one at a time."

Robin let out a sigh as he fell into a light sleep and only a few minutes later, she followed with the words only one at a time echoing in her mind like the repeating refrain of a hymn.