Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

*Before…

I see breasts…and trousers?
Women aren’t rangers?
And the Squire….it had chest mounded details.
Again breasts.
Women are neither knights nor Squires?
The Squire’s rig pops open in the chest and sure enough is a girl in there…older than me, young but where she should be married off at a close fifteen years at least and she looks at me.
“Sorceress are you hurt, did they strike you?”
Sorceress?
I turn and look around.
I hear the ranger a girl of an age close to this squire chuckle. “She’s more like an apprentice Nik.”
She…Me?
They think I’m a woman?

*And Now…

My brain goes into this blurred state for a moment…you know when the mind’s so overloaded everything slows done and they’re sounding in slow motion.

She…me…woman.

And once that’s said, heard it’s just this very instant conclusion happens that’s conformation. That always there feeling, that feeling you just take for granted that it’s there it isn’t there.

No bulgey bits, no stones of manhood remaining.

Just an almost unconscious twitching going on in my nethers and I just know.

Gone.

Gone by all the gods and goddesses.

What in all of the hells am I going to do!?

Unmanned…and…and…

How can I get satisfaction! free my people…lead?

Oh I’m going to be ill…

Then I’m being jostled by the ranger girl woman and I’m back in real time. She doesn’t look that old but at the same time she looks like a ranger?

Brown hair pulled a tied back from her face, Brown eyes that are large and liquid like a doe’s and her skin tanned like a peasant’s. Freckles are there too in a few places and she has this look there…like a mixed blood unlike those that I’ve seen.

Most folk I know are whitelings, summer comes you burn get fire kissed and then tan not get darker.

My sisters would be horrified at the scandal of this girls color, too dark to be noble blooded but dusky like that of the southlander traders with their strange pack beasts and robes and such.

I know how I sound even thinking of these differences but I’m a noble and from the Mid-lands and that means wealthy and that means spoiled and it also means white, whiter than even the peasants in our lands even.

It’s hard to look from her eyes though, I mean she’s a hard girl and very hard girl I mean her friend/companion the squire slayed many of the Wargs and Goblins but she had killed at least four that I had seen with my own eyes and that means she’s a killer.

“Are you all right? Snap out of it girl and speak.”

“I…I’m fine…I’m not…I…”

Funny, well odd funny I should be bawling right?

The cold though maybe the cold is doing it. I’m freezing.

The Squire…Squiress? I don’t know what to call her since she’s an impossibility. “I think she’s in shock Hawk, she’s shaking pretty badly.”

The ranger nods. “And she’s hurt and covered in blood.”

Everything whites out as I feel the sticky slow ooze of it on me and I see father die all over again that huge axe from The Gorgon’s battleknight crashing down and the explosion of blood from his rig-cage.

Then the battle in the attic, men tore up and blasted and dying in ways I’ve never seen before and the blood and the screams and the cries for family…

Lady Blackhand…dying her blood spraying the “Ball” as she was shot over and over with crossbow bolts.

Then the squire and that Warg and Goblin that was right on me and it exploding almost as she chopped down on it.

I don’t know when I started screaming and crying but I was all of a sudden and I have my hands to my face and they hurt so badly!

Then Hawk…this girl, this girl actually hauls back and she strikes me…Hells, it wasn’t really a striking blow as she hauled her fist back and she snuffed out my lamp.

***………… I wake up and my hands are throbbing and my face hurts a lot and I’m wrapped in a blanket and the squire this Nik? She’s looking at me and I flinch. “Don’t hit me.”

It’s the first thought out of my mouth.

She chuckles. “No, I don’t hit people unless I have need to.”

The Ranger...Hawk. “There was need to she was screaming her head off.”

The Squire…Nik. “She was in shock.”

There it is again.

She.

They’re talking about me and using she and again there’s me thinking about it that brings it, not being there into awareness.

Hawk… “We’re very close to dangerous places.”

Nik… “Not that close. She ran a good dozen miles.”

I did?

Hawk… “Sound travels.”

Nik… “Then they heard the battle.”

How? I mean I’ve heard of desperation leading to people doing feats of strength and such but me?

I can’t help but to look at my feet, they actually feel okay, they don’t hurt.

Hawk looks at Nik and vice versa and that’s when I notice that Hawk’s pulling claws from the Wargs with pliers and all of the Goblins are missing their right hands.

“You’re taking bounty?”

Hawk looks at me. “Aye, King Wayland pays a bounty on both and we’d be neglecting our duties to our liege if we didn’t bring the bounties in off of our kills here.”

“King Wayland?” I’ve never heard of him but that’s not surprising because some places I have heard have had their own kings for ages on ages and this far out they’d not be part of any trade routes that I’d have known.

I’ll be honest as far out as I think I’ve been sent… my father would have likely had to have had this king looked up in the library really outside of a hundred leagues most people in the Midlands didn’t really know too much about the “foreigners.”

Nik looks at me. “Aye he’s king here abouts Rules out from The Deep.”

“The Deep?”

“Aye Delving Deep.” She points north and further west but I can’t really see much more than what I’ve seen.

“Far?” I ask.

“Aye, a fortnight’s march in good weather to his mountain.”

“His mountain what is he a Dwarf?”

Both give me this look like but of course he is.

I’ve only see Dwarven works and those rarely. I know that a lot of things come from these lands in theory. Like I said they’re rarities even home, No one I know of had even seen a Dwarf really.

“So you’re bonded to him then?”

“Nay, you’re in The Free Kingdoms you’re close to Whitehall lands.”

Okay…The Free Kingdoms…These I’ve been taught of at least somewhat. I’m in the northwest of the continent and over the great mountain range simply called The Westmounts that stretch from The Great Northern Wall…another mountain chain all the way until they get smaller into the mesa’s that lead to the southern deserts.

These kingdoms are colonies more or less…age’s past the mountains were too hard to colonize with the beings that live there and too hard and wild so those that did make it over them or came to the shores of there by boats and such settled.

They’re considered mercenaries and raiders and small ports of call and trumped up nobles that only hold their lands because it’d be too much trouble to take them. No one in The Realms really thinks much of them.

And that’s all I know…so consequently I know as much about this Whitehall person as I know of this Wayland person.

“So is Whitehall sworn to Wayland?”

“Aye, everyone is. The Deep mints the strongest coin; it makes the best goods and steel. For good or for bad everyone here is at least respectfully allied to the Dwarves.”

“So is it for bad then…?”

Nik shakes her head… And I take her in this time. Blonde, golden haired but chopped short like a man’s and not a lot of curve but a lot of muscle and these very grey eyes…Not a beauty but she’s sort of striking looking though likely to be made fun of in a court back home.

“Nay not for us, for some of the more bent realms and houses perhaps but not here. King Wayland lets us pretty much rule as we will amongst ourselves unless we make mayhem and start whipping up troubles.”

“That sounds fair but I’d hardly know I’m a midlander.”

Hawk comes over and plonks down. “I’d have said that you’d be an Easterner myself.”

“I’ve never been east.”

“You’re marked an easterner.”

“I am?”

She looks at my bandages, they must have done these. “Aye, you’re a Blackhand.”

“I…no, no I’m not.”

“Aye, the name comes from the burns. I’ve seen yer ma here before at Serenity.”

“My mother is Deidre Lyonnes.”

They’re looking at each other.

Nik looks at me. “You’re a Lion?”

I draw myself up and it feels odd to do that when I’m not a man…boy…whatever anymore.

“Yes…” And now I’m not sure if I’m in friendly hands anymore.

Nik suddenly just nods like she made a decision. “We should leave now; we can meet up with Taylor just after dark if we hurry.”

They both get up and Hawk extends her hand to help me up and I take it which is odd in itself being on the receiving end of manners to a lady.

“Thank you.”

She nods but is getting gear and Nik’s getting ready with her squire-rig and it’s Nik that looks at me.

“How you came here…”

“Lady Blackhand spelled me away; she was killed in doing so.”

“So Lyonnes has fallen then?”

I nod and there tears welling up as well as a slow ache.

She steps away from her rig and over to me and she takes my hand. “I’m Nicole McKinnon squire to Lady Tatiana, Knight Marshal of The West and I swear to you Lady Lyonnes I will see you safely to Serenity.”

It’s a handshake and my mouth’s dry again and she said it with utter seriousness and real conviction.

It’s time…I guess, time for me to face this.

“Christian, Christian Lyonnes… Last son of The House of Lions.”

Hawk does this stop-look-stare mid packing and she huffs out a chuckle that kind of makes me angry and Nicole looks at me and she holds my eyes. There’s a look in her eyes that actually seems compassionate.

“We had better then get you to Lady Tatiana and The Fortress.”

I nod and swallow… “Can I help?”

Hawk’s the one that responds first. “Aye Ladyship, get to the fire and snuff it well before we leave.”

Ladyship…

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 3

Chapter 3

*Before…

She steps away from her rig and over to me and she takes my hand. “I’m Nicole McKinnon squire to Lady Tatiana, Knight Marshal of The West and I swear to you Lady Lyonnes I will see you safely to Serenity.”
It’s a handshake and my mouth’s dry again and she said it with utter seriousness and real conviction.
It’s time…I guess, time for me to face this.
“Christian, Christian Lyonnes last son of the house of Lions.”
Hawk does this stop-look-stare mid packing and she huffs out a chuckle that kind of makes me angry and Nicole looks at me and she holds my eyes. There’s a look in her eyes that actually seems compassionate.
“We had better then get you to Lady Tatiana and The Fortress.”
I nod and swallow… “Can I help?”
Hawk’s the one that responds first. “Aye Ladyship, get to the fire and snuff it well before we leave.”
Ladyship…

*And Now…

And the fire…well at least this I know how to do I’ve been on a few hunting trips with father and my brothers and as the youngest it was one of the things I was made to do…well some of the times. Usually we had men with us for that and such of course.

I look for water but none is there to be had so I start trying to smother it with some of the dirt that’s there by the fireside.

“Here ladyship!” Hawk says as she tosses something at me. I catch it and look it over and it’s this oddly made garden spade? Though it looks very odd and it’s sharpened too and one edge has teeth like a saw?

She’s watching me as she’s packing things with this look of bemusement and some exasperation too and I look at Nicole who smiles at me. “Push the pin in by the head and it’ll fold.”

Oh…it’s a device?

I find this pin and push it in and the head folds down like a pick and I get it now it’s some kind of clever multi-tool. It even looks like the handle slides. I start digging under the coals and turning fresh dirt over on top of them until there is no more smoke rising and just to be sure I tamp it all down good.

It’s work and doubly so fighting my clothes. I wasn’t a big lad but now I’m swimming as they’d put it in my trousers and shirts and tunic. My feet though seem okay, my boots fit if a bit looser at the tops. I’ll need to fix this situation though.

I look at the device. “Dwarven?”

Hawk shakes her head. “Relic from the ancients.”

Really? “I thought relics were items of power and such?”

Hawk looks at me. “Utility is the flour to knowledge’s bread. I’m well served by the trenchers tool.”

I walk it over and return it to her. “Could copies be made?”

“There are copies at the fortress but our metals don’t last anywhere like the things the ancients made. This doesn’t rust and it doesn’t seem to wear down anywhere near as much as anything we would make.”

“Well thank you for the loan.”

She looks me up and down. I’m not too sure she’s keen on nobility…some people aren’t treated well by some of us and I’ve seen some very rude things. I offer my hand to her.

“You’re not sore about me wicking your lamp?”

“Plenty sore, it hurts a lot but I’m not sure I’m mad about it. I’d think that it might just have been good sense?”

“Aye…they’d avoid the sounds of a moving Squire’sknight rig but it wasn’t moving and you were screaming and the screams of a woman would pull them like a dinner bell.”

I color at that. “I should have had more sense than that.”

She looks at me. “You were in shock, aside that you’re as green as they come I’d wager.”

More blushing. “Yes…I was never really taught all the things that I’ve been needing so far.”

She looks at me curiously. “What were you taught?”

“I’m… (Deep-strange-breath.)… I’m the youngest of three sons. I wasn’t looking to rule I was going to be knighted as I needed to be but I had to be useful to a house I was going to marry into if I would be lucky enough.”

“You weren’t a page?”

“I was, under my father and the house knights but it was my first year.”

“That’s old for that.”

“Well it was just so I could get knighted. I’d have gotten my shield a my coming of age and that would be that.”

“So you know what then?”

“Reading, writing, mathematics, astronomy and tings around the castle.”

“Defense?”

“Some, I know some sword work and shield but fencing and the knife most of all.”

“Knife work?”

“Narrow walls and halls if something did happen then the dagger is best.”

She nods. “So what other things?”

“Warehousing mostly, I was page to my father’s scribe knight mostly. It was decided that I should be skilled at making myself useful to the lords of whatever place I’d get squired to.”

“Sound’s like a woman’s lot.”

“My sisters were trained in hospitality and court graces and looking lovely and such things nothing like I was learning.”

“I meant common women, what you bring to a household is often part of marriages in some parts.”

“Where you’re from then?”

“Aye, I even had my teeth checked when I was offered up to be wed.”

“You’re married then?”

“Widowed actually.” She doesn’t seem that unhappy about it.

“Neither by choice?”

“No, I’m from the south if ye can’t tell by my coloring and my life was bought an sold by my family…ten silver for being untouched, another two because I can sew and knit well enough and another silver since I can cook without killing my guests.”

I frown. It’s barbaric.

She looks at me as she finishes and closes the packs. “Is it different where you’re from.”

“It is, people can’t be married by the will of the families anymore and a woman’s skills are her own.”

“In the south we’re under rule of our father’s until we marry then we’re members of our husbands households…like chattel.”

“If I can ask? How are you here?”

“My husband died of consumption and when I didn’t succumb like others did I was to blame being young and pretty and the new face in the village. So when I refused to get re-married to the headman’s son so he could have my husband’s lands an flocks I was accused of witchery and sentenced to be burned alive.”

My gorge rises some…I can see the fames almost in her eyes from the memories.

“I’m sorry.”

“Well after the men of the village took their turns raping me we was attacked and everyone slaughtered by the local lord to cull the disease. I was left for dead because I was nearly so already and it was a caravan from Lady Tatiana coming through that found me and took me home.”

“Oh…” I don’t know what to say after that.

I follow her to Nicole who is already set and waiting for us and she’s sitting in her rig cage. “Ladyship, you can climb in here with me, there’s scant room but there is some you’re in no shape for a long trek.”

“I…I can walk thank you.”

Hawk looks at me. “You’re really not in shape enough for the trek, it is far.”

“I want to carry my own weight.”

She looks at me and nods and starts hiking. Nicole closes her cage hatch sealing the chest plate and she starts the big eight foot machine moving.

I am tired, I am sore but I need space….I need space more than anything right now.

As I walk I think, try to figure it out.

Why me?

I get saving me, she saved likely as many as she could.

But making me this? Changing me to this? Giving me her powers?

I’m sure she gave me her powers, I did the ball thing…It only made sense.

And changing me made sense.
Pull my damned trousers up.

I know, I know…see men can be magisters but while they have sacred and almost mystical knowledge they do not wield actual power.

Only women can do that.

And Lady Aurora’s father.

Rory Blackhand, The Witch King.

And in my father’s youth he nearly conquered everything with that power backed behind that will of man. He was the thing of nightmares from the stories I’ve ever heard.

Pull my damned trousers up.

But…that it’s me.

It leaves this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I’m the last heir of Lyonnes even if I’ve been changed into a woman.

I do another look at myself, chest, everything…well maybe a girl not a woman yet.

But still heir and still this…heir to her powers?

What the hells am I going to do with that?

How am I going to do it?

I look up after a third pull of my trousers and I’m lagging behind some. Nicole’s picking something up that looks like a bag and she’s stowing it inside her rig. I hurry to catch up but I don’t see Hawk anywhere.

(Pant…pant…) “Where’s Hawk…”

“She’s off ahead, scouting and ranging.”

“Oh…” Well of course she is, now I feel stupid.

“Uhm, what was that?” I gesture the second bag she‘s picking up. It’s thin very basic cloth but full of things.

Nicole actually pulls the rigs whole arm into her rig cage in the chest and it’s very surreal seeing the rig arm and her arm are both in sight and it’s a rare thing to see actually and the skills are definitely there as she proceeds to smell the bag.

“Herbs I think, the first one’s berries.”

“You’re very good in that.”

“It’s my trade Lady I have to be.”

“Maybe it’s better to just call me Chris?”

“I can’t do that, you’re a lady.”

Blink… okay, she’s right but I’m not used to it but there’s still her honor at using the proper language so I might be faulting her there if I press it.

“I’m a page technically and pages have no titles and I’m on foreign lands. I’m not sure I’m anything until your mistress says that I am.”

She looks at me and then like she’s mulling it over. “The change, this disturbs you getting called that?”

“Truthfully yes, you keep saying it and I feel like looking around for her.”

I pull my damned trousers up again.

She grins. “Aye, I can call you Chris, but you might want to think of a ladies name for future use.”

“I will?”

“Chris or Christian might cause a stir and recognition you may not want.”

“Oh…”

“And let’s get you sorted.” She unhooks and climbs out of her rig.

“Sorted?”

“Aye your clothes.”

“Oh yes dammit can we?”

“Yes, for your sanity and Jessa’s.”

“Jessa?”

“Hawk.”

“Oh…I didn’t get her first name.”

“Oh likely since she didn’t give it. Jessa’s not good with people.”

“Given all that’s happened to her I don’t doubt it.”

“She told you?”

“Some.”

“Aye she only ever says some. Now strip.” I blink again as she pus a bag of things from her rig’s back?

“What’s, oh a compartment that’s handy I’ve never seen that before.”

“Aye but you’re used to courtyard trainers, we patrol as squires and keep supplies and such.”

I start getting out of my clothes and it’s still cold and I’m blushing and turning red even though we’re both women and she’s taking my things and looking them over as I look for a place and a way to make water.

Nicole looks at me head tilted. “What are you doing?”

“I need to pee.”

“Oh, go ahead then and here.”

She tosses me a roll of bandage?

“What’s this for?”

“To wipe with.”

“I’m peeing not…” Then it occurs to me…. “Oh I guess I can’t just shake it now can I?”

She’s trying not to laugh at me. “No lady…no Chris, though would be and interesting dance to see you try.”

“Ha-ha very funny.” I take it and mince my way to some bushes. I’m not used to walking in the wilds in my bare feet.

I find a spot and squat and get a shock at the feeling and then I’m splashing myself!

“Dammit! Eeew!”

I hear muffled laughter.

“It’s not fun…” Of course me not used to this at all I have no balance like this and fall back and into my puddle.

“Aaaugh!”

She comes running and with sword drawn.

Of course she stops and see’s me and turns her back to me and laughs.

I could have easily burst into tears I guess but it’s just so odd a thing to have happen in my life and it just kind of fills my ridiculous jug over.

I start laughing too.

Nicole comes over. (Chuckles) “I’m sorry; this is the first time you’ve ever done this in your life isn’t it?”

“Yes, not help me up dammit.”

She offers her hand and pulls me up like I’m a feather. That’s actually normal Battleknight users are in the best of condition because it takes so much to move them. It’s why there are different sized ones as well to graduate to the strength and skill required.

Even outside of their rigs they are deadly warriors, elite…strong and fast…you’d be fast too without all that weight you’re used to using.

She looks at me. “Let’s get you cleaned off.”

“Gladly.”

“Oh when you wipe, front to back.”

“What?”

“Illness…female problems.”

“Baking death?”

Nicole goggles at me. “What?”

“My sister Anna she said something of her having a yeast infection once. She called in The Baking death once.”

“You know what that is?”

“Aye somewhat. I read some of the texts the master physician had when I’d help out.”

“You’d help out?”

“There was a couple of times when a strong fever would it the township and I could read and mix herbs and grind things.”

“Most men wouldn’t.”

“Not much choice when all are sick, I can cook a little too.”

“Rare bird for your parts.”

“Not much but soups, oatmeal the like. I’m no savory cook or baker but I’ve helped.”

We’re walking back and she has a jar and passes it to me. I smell it…it’s alcohol spiked with lemon? There are linen cloths inside. I pull one out and start washing the pee and mud and sweat off of me.

“Our physician kept these too.”

Nicole nods as she’s sewing the waist of my pants. “Ours too but they’re good for the field as well.”

I nod…the air and the very strong alcohol evaporating off my skin is making me chill…my…my nipples get hard and achy.

“Ow…this, is this normal?”

“Aye, you’ll get used to it. It’s a bother though.”

I’m looking down…It’s literally the first naked woman that I’ve seen.

“Disturbed Chris?” Nicole’s quiet about it, gentle.

“Yes, but what can I do about it whine and cry?”

“Actually yes, I’d think that you might.”

“It still wouldn’t change things though and it’d actually just make things ten times worse.”

“It would?”

“If I get to thinking that my being spelled into this is a bad thing, is something horrible and world ending hen I’d just get more and more upset and would obsess and wallow in it. I can’t do that…I’m alive because Lady Blackhand saved my life and that would totally dishonor her sacrifice for me and my family.”

“There is that, here try these.” Her tone though is approving….well she is a squire and I am still a Lyonnes.

I look at what she passes me and they’re…underwear? Lacy knit wool at the top no wider than my leg and linen with flowers on them. I look at Nicole and she reddens. “They’re clean.”

“They’re pretty.”

She reddens more. “I am a woman too, I like pretty things.”

“Nothing wrong with that…it’s just the first time I’ve seen woman’s underthings before.”

“Oh…you don’t mind then?”

“No…like you said they’re clean.” I step into them and the woolen band of lace stretches and slides up over my hips keeping them in place. The crotch settles into my new space and they feel very odd. “This will take getting used to.”

“I suspect yes.” She passes me my trousers now with a pair of sewn folds at the waist and it takes me actually pulling them a bit higher than I’m used to. My waist is different now, I used to have a lower one as a boy and fastened my clothes at my hips more than over them. Now it’s at the waist and using the curve of my hips to hold things in place.

“Much better, thank you.”

“Sewing is a task that we do for our knight masters and such and it’s not like you ad a kit.”

“No…we were attacked in the middle of the night I just grabbed what I had worn earlier that day.”

“You were lucky you got that?”

“I know… but still if I could have just thought, but I froze.”

“Chris…you can’t should have things, it’ll just drive you mad.”

I slip my linen shirt back on and my tunic over that and look at her. “I know, but I’ll still likely do it.”

She gives me a knowing look. “I know…we should get moving before Jessa comes back mad at us.”

“I’d rather be spared her striking me again.”

Nicole laughs at that and gets in as I get my boots on and she looks at me. “You should still come with me, you’re exhausted.”

“I…”

“You’re eyes have dark rings Chris, I know you have your pride but there’s no shame in taking help.”

“Alright…so how do we do this?”

“You get in first and settle in behind my harness.”

I nod and step to the foot then the knee and then grip he chest door and step in and carefully slip past the rigging to the space at the back and then Nicole climbs in and fastens in them closes the hatch chest plate door and pulls down the scopes.

The scopes are actually mirrors that take the view from lenses in the head/helm and bounce the lights on to the mirrors by other mirrors so you can see. There are also hidden lenses you can’t see from the outside that give limited side and even rear views all on this folding up and down metal arm that comes down from the head/helm/ceiling.

I’ve never been in one this close before and I try to get comfortable. There’s not a lot of room here at all.

“Are you sure that you can do this?”

“I’ve done it before, it’d be better though if you hugged the back of my harness though.”

“Oh…okay.” I sort of settle into a hug around her and sip my legs to either side of her but not wrapped around her because it’d get in the way of her legs. This is not comfortable…. “Like this?”

“Aye, just like.”

Nicole starts moving and she breathes through each move and step moving her arms and we’re crashing along and she’s getting faster and faster using the squire knight’s own weight in the limbs to create the momentum to get us going faster and faster as she meshes the swing of the arms to help move the legs and we’re going quite fast actually.

It’s actually thrilling, moving than much machine on your own…well it’s thrilling to ride but there’s this smile on her face that I can see as she’s getting it to full stride and we’re at least as fast as a good tot on a horse maybe more.

I’m smiling too, it’s actually quite fun…and it’s getting warm in here and I feel everything piling on me and despite the jostling sleep up and takes me.

………… It’s the sound that invades my dreams, the whir and thud, the meta clanking of the battleknights and I’m home again. I see the walls falling as the ram like siege spears drive through the mortar of the walls and they crumble and fall with the men on and below screaming.

The fall of the axe and my father’s blood exploding out of the rig cage from the force…

“Father No!” I thrash and scream and I’m hitting up against all the metal in Nicole’s rig and her.

“Chris, Chris it’s a nightmare!” She’s trying to get out of her harness and I’m scrambling.

“Let me out…I need to get out…!”

“Chris…”

“Let me out!” There’s a spark a blue white flash and Nicole yelps. “Fuck!”

I get to the hatch literally climbing over her undoing it and falling out I’m scrambling that fast I hit the ground in an undignified thud and more pain as I hit some decent sized stones.

I’m breathing, breathing and yet trying to get my breath but I can’t and my chest is tightening and I can’t breathe and I hurt Nicole, my power jumped out of me and…oh gods, gods, gods…

I scream…long and hard…and there’s no air, why isn’t there any air?

Behind my eyelids the scene’s from home are still playing out!

I hit the ground, choking on pain, rage, guilt until I just fall over from it being so hard to breathe and I’m still scream crying as I curl up on my side.

I close my eyes despite the things playing there and just drive myself deeper and deeper running from it all.

I see the tempest inside of me…

I don’t know what it is but I know what it is…My magic.

Her magic and I’m on a black cloud, literally standing on one and huge black cloud castles surround me all booming the thunder is the sounds of the attack, the grind and slams of the attacking battleknights and my family dying, people dying and the images shown on the clouds with each flash of lightning.

I know I’m screaming seeing this all, I know I’m crying too.

But not enough…you have to let rain clear a storm away…

I stop, I stop screaming and I force myself to look into those storm clouds, those scenes and face them…

I watch the axe come down over and over…until…I let it break me too…I let it overwhelm me until all I can do is bawl.

There’s a point that just seems to sneak up on me…with the storm clouds faded away and I’m still on my own clouds but the sky is clearing but sunset is coming on…it’s beautiful in such a strange way.

Then It fades as I wake up.

Jessa’s here looking at me, poking me actually with a stick.

“Ow.”

“Yeah, too bad you nearly burned Nik.”

(Sniffle-cough.) “I’m sorry.”

“Get a damned hold of yourself.”

I look at her and push myself up to sitting. “I’m better.”

“Bullshit, you’re dangerous.”

“I know.”

“Get control of it.”

“HOW! Godsdammit are you a witch!? Tell me fucking how then!?” I yell at her.

“I DON’T BLOODY KNOW JUST DO IT!” She yells back at me. And I see it, she’s scared…scared of me.

I want to cry again, I’m scaring her but I’m scaring me too.

I shove off the ground and there’s burned grasses and ashes where I was and I stumble away from both of them until I hit the top of a small rise and plonk my butt down on the ground.

I hurt, inside and out and I can hear Jessa and Nicole fighting and yelling at each other.

Part of me just wants to run away.

~Lions don’t run, running doesn’t solve the problems son.~

Dad…his voice clear in my memories.

“Da…oh Da I’m so in over my head.”

He doesn’t answer of course but it just helps to think of him like he’s there, like he’s watching me and waiting for me to figure out some riddle or test patiently.

Lightning, the power electric.

I’ve had shocks before…we has illuminations…the balls of glass and copper wires…that took the electric and made them heat so much they glowed to make light. I like most of us were foolish enough to try and touch forbidden things.

I sit and stare at my palms trying to relive that dummery.

The feeling, the numb yet burning sting, that wildfire jolt through my veins.

Yes, that…I had been burned.

Others who touched the coils though ad been hurt worse.

I never slept for that entire day.

That was just…it was this…that feeling of lightning running though me, charging me up…it felt like this.

This thing that has these bright blue-silver arcs jumping now out of my hands to fall back into my fingertips.

Oh…

Oh fuck…did I already have this?

I’m staring at my hands for I don’t know how long before Nicole sits on one side of me and Jessa on the other and both have the cleaner cloths out and are dabbing at their faces and knuckles blotting away redness and bits of blood….they got into a real fight.

(Snif-cough.) “I must be fated to be this then…I’m not a full day as a woman and I’ve a ranger and a squire fighting over me.”

Jessa snorts. “Not bloody likely firefly, I like women with more meat on them.”

What!? My arcs snuff out and I stare at her. “You…Uh…”

I feel the heat in my face.

I had never thought, not in a hundred years…but given… “Pfft who said I was offering Jessa.”

I light my hands back up.

Her eyes go wide. “You can control it?”

“I’m working on it.”

I feel the flow and stop it like closing the gate for a aqueduct. It snuff’s out. But I can still feel it there underneath me.

“I think I can keep from doing things.”

Nicole nods. “Good, we just have to worry about when you sleep and nightmares then.”

I wince. “Sorry? I didn’t mean to…”

She leans over on my knees and hugs me. “Any fool knows magic and feelings are as close as a snail and it’s shell. I’m fine, you missed me.”

“Good.” I hug her back. I mean it’s what we do right? I mean it’s what I’ve seen.

I look over to Jessa who’s still looking at me. “Are we good?”

“You have to ask?”

I guess not, not with her joking with me.

“It’s scary to me too.”

“I know.”

She doesn’t hug but she offers her hand again.

I take it and shake hands with her.

It feels good but now, now I’m tired even more and feel a little queasy.

She helps me up and Nicole gets up too and we walk back down to the rig. Nicole looks at me offering and I get in nodding and winching at my bruises and her and I settle in…I really couldn’t handle a hike at all right now.

We don’t say much as we get going and I hug her holding on and I just sort of stew in all the what does it means.

What Jessa said before…

There was always rumors of Lady Blackhand and father.

But for that he’d have to been bedding her while married to my mother.

Would he?

Would she?

What if it was part of my blood all this time?

My questions slowly fade to the background as I smell green, and I can see the edge of what was that distant line of forest green and we start heading into the woodland.

We might have gone a half league in on this smallish trail road when we come to this place with a light glow from a fire and there’s a camp set up with a knighter’s wagon and throne and some large draft horses tethered and eating away and two tents set up and there’s a young man there with a cauldron going along with a fire set with a grate and a grill and pots and pans and a kettle.

Jessa’s slipping out of her packs and harnessed up gear.

Nicole sighs. “We’re here.”

“Camp?”

“Aye” She pops the hatch and it takes me a minute to cue in and climb out. “Taylor this is Lady…”

“Christiana.” I supply…yes I’ve been thinking of it.

He does a bow to me. “Milady.”

“Uhm…just Chris if that’s okay sir.”

He grins and he’s kind of scruffy in that my age but not shaved way and thick back messy curly hair. “I can do that but Taylor not sir.”

“Fair enough…” Nicole’s passing me the bags she had inside and I pass them to him?

Taylor takes them with a grin smelling them then peeking inside. “Ah my darlings won’t you cook up fine.”

I smile as he heads to the fire then walk with Nicole who is walking her Squire’sknight up this ramp and onto the wagon. It’s tricky doing but she does well and she reaches out uses the lantern poles to hang onto and guide her knighter to sitting on the throne. I climb up and get the braces and help her secure it all down. This I’ve done before, while you can go long distances in a knighter if you have too this is how we mostly do it. Though it’s a much bigger wagon and usually with six oxen pulling a full sized knighter.

“All cooks talk to their food?”

Nicole grins. “Only the good ones.”

“Taylor is?”

“He’s our hand. He comes along and does whatever as he keeps camp and such.”

“A page.”

“No, just our hand. He’s like having a man-at-arms but he’s not a soldier.”

“Then what is he then?”

He calls from the campfire. “As common as the come Chris. I’m just a poor peasant lad that earns is bread being useful.”

“Oh…no trade?”

“None that stuck to me I’m afraid I’m just too much a drifter for that.”

“Oh…no offense but they trust to that?”

He laughs. “I’m Keep born Chrissy, They’re all family to me.”

Chrissy?

Nicole’s tipping back a skin and was drinking when she looks at me and she laugh-chokes and spits wine through her nose.

“Chrissy?”

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 4

Chapter 4

*Before…

He calls from the campfire. “As common as the come Chris. I’m just a poor peasant lad that earns is bread being useful.”

“Oh…no trade?”

“None that stuck to me I’m afraid I’m just too much a drifter for that.”

“Oh…no offense but they trust to that?”

He laughs. “I’m Keep born Chrissy; they’re all family to me.”

Chrissy?

Nicole’s tipping back a skin and was drinking when she looks at me and she laugh-chokes and spits wine through her nose.

“Chrissy?”

*And Now…

“Aye Chris be a lads name and with a mouthful like Christiana I just trimmed it down a little.”

I look at Nicole who’s recovering and then to Jessa who looks up just because I was looking at her and she could tell and there’s a look between all of the three of us. Nicole grins again.

I sigh… “Will I get that a lot in these parts?”

Taylor looks at me. “I meant no offense lady if you’d beg my pardon but you likely will unless you make it clear that you’re noble born.”

He’s serious and I look at Nicole. “What does she use? Or what do you use for her?”

“Squire for the most part lady but I call her Nic or Nicole but I have her leave.”

“I see…”

I think for a while and he actually takes his attention off of me with a shrug and goes back to what he was doing.

That would be a lashing kind of thing back home.

Not that father would but there’d be a stern look and maybe a lecture from someone but others that would have been a few strikes or worse.

And maybe given everything and the fact that the enemy surely knows that I escaped it might be a better idea if I really was to act like a “Chrissy.” Over Christian or Christiana of Lyonnes for a while.

“It might be better though to call me Chrissy or Chris though I’ll be more used to being called for as Chris.”

He turns and looks at me. “I can do that.” He smiles and then he takes things from Jessa that she took from her things and she looks at me.

“I’m getting a bath do you want one?”

“Yes.” I answer quickly, the scrubbings I’ve had so far are not clean I still feel unclean and sweaty and there’s still…just yes and I don’t care how cold it is.

I quickly follow her and it turns out that it’s not…not cold. With a tarp pegged to a tree for some cover there’s a barrel and it’s cut in half and there’s a bucket. We do have to haul our own water from a stream not too far away but as we come back Taylor is setting fire heated bricks in the water until they heat it up some and he tops off the rest of it with a full kettle of boiling water.

We take turns and I offered it first to Jessa who takes me up on the offer with a shrug. I was sort of waiting for the no you back and forth but there wasn’t any.

I hear her huff when I turn my back.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re getting naked.”

“And?”

“You’re a woman it’s not mannerly to peek.”

“Oh bullshit, you’ve seen naked women before haven’t you?”

“No…”

“Well you will in a few minutes. You are one.”

“Uhm yes well there is that…” I can feel the heat making its way to my face.

I slowly turn still almost shyly at seeing her naked and it’s.

I sort of catch my breath.

She’s beautiful and very exotic and there are scars…I’m sort of mesmerized by seeing my first naked woman and one that close and my mind does not really know what to do with what I’m seeing.

It’s hard to be a girl and not feel something.

I am feeling something it actually very much reminds me of my usual hardening but deeper? Like getting a ready lance inside ones sporting cup but deeper inside and my nipples are getting hard and achy.

She looks at me and I can tell that she can tell and I get redder.

“I’m sorry, I’m still Chris…and you’re very beautiful.”

“Pfft…I’m your first naked woman, you’ll get used to it.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Be a sapphire.”

I blush and I know that she is a woman that likes women and I’m just…my head’s spinning with thoughts.

I sit down on the grass cross legged and play with some leaves. “I’m so not ready for anything like that.”

“Then don’t. I know lots of people that don’t.”

“Really?” I sort of look at her and she’s more into washing than I am into looking.

“Aye, Lady T has all sorts of people in the fortress and some of them are just simply not interested in being sexual or really being a sex.”

“Not being a sex?”

“Just because you’re born with parts doesn’t mean you’re comfortable with them.”

“Oh…I never thought of that…I mean there’s always like lurid tales if people crossing lines and such and in-betwixed peoples but I never thought they were real.”

She looks at me. “A lot of them are either hurt or molested or killed for being so different.”

“I heard the dwarves are like that?”

“Like what?”

“That…that their ladies have beards?”

“There are human women with beards Chrissy.”

I tilt my head.

“They shave or such but the cleanly smoothed ladies of the courts have this standard of look that all of those around them seek to copy they even use all sorts of potions and unguents to get these looks.”

I laugh. “Aye, my mother and my sisters had an apothecary’s storehouse of such things.”

“Well dwarves have more body hair than us to be certain but they aren’t human like us so it doesn’t have the same thing for them as us. The few dwarven ladies I have met have beards but some are intricately shaved in patterns some have braids and its soft satiny hair.”

There is a smile there sort of and I look at her sort of questioningly and she deepens her smile a little.

“Oh…” ….oh indeed.

She turns and she shows me this scar on her arm…her shoulder that…it’s a rose?

“What?” I move closer.

“My husband had burned me there with a fry pan he held to me and there was a large burn there and a scar. When I was with Kal she took me to a scar artist.”

“Scar artist?”

“Dwarves see scars that we carry as things of beauty, signs that we survived things and they use a bunch of different things to make cuts if they need to or to burn with acid and a glass needle shapes out of the scar tissue.”

I look at her and I reach and she gives me a nod and it’s a rose…fully in bloom to use the whole area of the burn scar but it doesn’t just look like the flower but they have done so much work in the thick scar tissue in a way that I’ve never seen it has the same sort of texture as if you felt a rose like this on cloth.

“It’s amazing.”

“It is and it reminds me of Kal now when I touch it far more than my bastard husband.”

“It’s a fine lover’s gift.”

She actually smiles. “Aye…but as far as I know it’s just one of many things they do that are different to humans.”

I take a breath and a sigh… “I have so much to learn.”

She grins and then she slips out of the water and starts to dry off and we do the process all over again for mine.

I’m not used to any of this and I’m trying to not get too unsettled at this or doing my parts but it’s only partly working. The soap’s nothing like I’ve used and filled with grit on purpose like sand and such and I learn quickly to go gently with some things.

It smells nice like pine needles and grasses.

“Was this on purpose?”

She’s braiding her hair and she looks at me. “What is?”

“The soap scents.”

“No it’s just one I was given, there’s not a lot of scent changing really those are tales.”

“Tales?”

“Aye we smell, we sweat and there’s our clothes and such we can’t hide our scents but we can do things so we lessen our chances of being smelt.”

“Oh…I don’t really know much wood craft.”

Jessa laughs lightly. “Zero I’d say.”

I chuckle a little. “Pretty much I’ve hunted a few times with my father and such but those are pretty recent things.”

“It takes time and knowing, Ranging and such are professions for a reason.”

“Have you ranged far?”

“Most of the Lady’s lands and on trails for trade and a few other places and into the dwarven lands.”

“Well travelled then?” It’s true I’ve been to two neighboring nobles and we shared borders a whole lot of folk never leave past the next hamlet or village except for a few times in their lives.

She looks at me with this sort of light in her eyes. “Never enough Chris…where I come from you don’t leave the land…the property of your father or husband without permission…”

I’m liking her homeland less and less the more I hear.

Nicole come to get her bath and she passes me a slip to wear and it’s rather large on me and a sweater to wear over that and I feel…vulnerable with the bottom not having a bottom…yes it’s very much like some short dress so that’s not boding well for me.

Jessa looks at me. “Your things need washing in the worst way and mending.”

I nod but I’m holding them looking probably stupid before she takes them and sets them down.

“Food first and then some rest for all of us we’ll have time.”

I nod. “You’ll have to show me. I’ve never cleaned clothes before.”

Jessa and Nicole chuckle. “Aye we’ll show you.”

I follow her to the campfire and Taylor has fleeces set out for us over grass mats and we sit and oh…that feels nice. Then the smells of food hit me and I’m drooling and he’s dishing out things. There is stewed meat with lots of bits and bones but a broth that has herbs and mushrooms and other bits that I think are potato and carrot and such. There are greens too from a pan that I’ve never had.

We don’t eat greens…they’re pig feed and peasant food…gods that sounds bad but the way it’s said about such stuff if we wished to eat such things then we’d be cattle.

These are stewed but he has butter in a fry pans with a chopped rasher of bacon and there might be other things but he cooked a lot of the water out from them. They’re pretty rich and there’s a sweetness to that I have had but I can’t place in them. For my first greens ever they are very good and a plentiful thing too I think.

There’s flatbread he had cooked and that we use for dipping and I’m not so good with my manners as I’m eating without Nicole who I think ate while we were bathing and I’m using my hands a lot.

“Taylor this is very, very good what is this?”

“Squirrel and rabbit.”

“I’ve never had squirrel…I wasn’t aware you could eat it?”

“Aye lots of souls eat squirrel Chrissy.”

“I’m enjoying it thank you.”

“Well the real trick out here is to spit roast things a bit it’s give the broth something extra.”

“It definitely did.”

I’m watching Jessa eat and actually copying her. And she eats the smallest bones cooked soft and crunches then up and she even bites the ends off of what could be thigh bones and eats those since they’re sort of soft enough too and sucks on the bones.

We don’t do that we waste a lot I think.

Or we waste and the others, those that worked under us did what they could with what we left.

That needs a bit more thought, it doesn’t seem all that right to me.

He smiles and then there’s cake?

Something called fruit cake.

It’s…well it’s like a brick the slice he gives me and it’s dark and sweet with molasses? But there’s dried apples and plummy bits as well as raisins? I can taste something else that’s not known to me well several things.

It’s really chewy and I think there’s suet in here too. He smiles and opens a tin box and he has a wrapped cheese in there and cuts a wedge of it for both of us. “It’s better with some cheese.”

Well fruits and cheeses have been one of those things that many do. It works with this as the cheese is waxy and not very good but it’s salty too and that seems to cut the flavors of this fruitcake.

“Thank you I’ve never had really any of this but it’s very much welcome.”

“You’ve got manners that’s a nice thing.”

“Too telling?”

“Nay but there’s a fine line between manners and snobbery.”

I nod. “I’ll try to watch that.”

He smiles. “You’re doing fine right now.”

“I’m very out of my element here; I’ll try not to let things at the fortress go to my head.”

He laughs. “Not much of a chance of that.”

I tilt my head questioningly.

“Lady Tatiana is a knight marshal, she’s a warrior and knight and a fair ruler all of which before her titles and she expects the same from all around her.”

I take a mug of what smells like tea? from Jessa. “That might not be too popular with the neighbors?”

“Aye…she has her enemies but those lot aren’t too friendly to their own much less others.”

I sip the tea, it’s far better than any I’ve had from home…it could grace a fine table for sure.

“She sounds like an interesting woman.”

Both of them are nodding and smiling and Nicole comes back and Taylor passes her a mug of tea and some fruitcake and cheese.

Nicole cleans up nicely too. I’m not used to short hair on women but on her it sort of oddly suits her and she still to me has a very strong build?

Is it wrong to say there is a manliness there? Strong looking shoulders and body muscles there on her arms and legs that well…she’s a battleknighter’s squire the effort and strength alone usually exempts most people.

I mean before my change I was still slightly built and thin only Justin my father’s eldest would have inherited The Rampant, Stephan and I wouldn’t have the strength to more than walk it around the courtyard.

I take another drink of tea to soothe the lump in my throat over my family.

I think the others looked at me and I just sort of let myself get lost in the fire or watching it and sipping my tea and it’s silent for a while until Taylor starts asking about what had happened.

The girls give him the account of some of their travels and hearing me first with a sound like a boom of thunder and seeing my comedown out in “The Bone yard.” Apparently that is the stretch of hilly plains and scrub that I was on.

“That’s not on the maps home, home the maps of here are very vague and just show the mountains and the forest here.”

Taylor nods. “Not much call for trade between us out here and the middle kingdoms.”

I take a sip. “Most of it here is dwarven trade.”

“Some…they have Midguard for trade on the other side of the mountains with the midlanders but we see a lot of trade from The Copper islands and The Wolf islands and then southern nations.”

I’ve heard of The Copper islands mostly by rumors and they’re called that because they are filthy rich with it and they use it in most everything they have or bronze or brass. Also that they are dark skinned like brewed kaffet….pagans and worshippers of all sorts of devilry.

We’ve had almost zero dealings with these people so who knows what their like.

And then there are The Wolf Islanders those I know of and they’re descendants of the same people that settled these lands that got lost and started their own colonies out on distant islands. They are pirates with dozens of islands each with chieftains ruling and an insane system of taxes and patronage all owing in time to The Wolf King.

All we see of then is the fact that salt herring and codfish comes from there and still at a good price despite the distances and that Cod oil comes from there too.

“Do The Wolf Raid here?”

Nicole nods and finishes chewing. “Some years and in some places. But we deal with them as we may though they have treaties with the dwarves.”

“I’ll…(yawn)…have much to learn…I don’t even know of any of the nobles here save your lady and that’s just from what you’ve spoken of.”

Nic yawns herself which just makes mine want to start up again. “Welcome to the Free Kingdoms, and The Houses of The Fifty.”

Fifty…there are fifty houses here…or what they consider houses here for the nobility. I will have a lot of learning to do.

But then again…that’s not so many if you look at Just Lyonnes and all those that were under my father’s banner as houses.

I yawn again.

Nicole looks at me. “You’re more than done in you should get some sleep.”

“But my clothes?”

Taylor looks at me. “I will take care of those things Chrissy; I’m named after my father’s trade.”

“Taylor…aye I was wondering about that.”

“Well he was rumored to be such; it’s what he told my ma as he passed through one Yuletide fest.”

I smile, there’s more than one Yuletide fest babe in this world.

I look at them and then at the campsite and the two tents. “Uhm…where am I to sleep?”

Jessa gets up too. “With me and I’m going to get some sleep too before my watch.”

Watch….yes well that’s a good idea.

“Should I take a watch?”

Jessa looks at me. “Have you ever stood a watch?”

“No…”

“Then no, you’re better off with the sleep.”

I sigh remembering my last time. “I hope so.”

We go to the tent she leads us to and we slip inside and it’s small and it’s like nothing I’ve camped in before but there’s several mats of grasses and a fleece pad there to sleep on and two leather pillows just round merc rolls a stuffed leather tube but still more than enough I think.

There’s several blankets of wool there instead of linens and while I’m not used to them I settle in better than I thought that I would and Jessa sleeps in her pants and with her boots on and she unsheathes a large knife and keeps it close.

I look at her.

“You never know Chris we’re not really in safe territory yet.”

“Oh…”

I have a sort of dry mouth at that.

“Don’t worry; we’ll be safe as we can be.”

“Alright….” Can be.

I’m going to leave that alone.

It takes very little time for the food and the tea and being clean to drag me under and into sleep.

***…………………………….. I know I slept soundly for a while. I can just tell that there was time that had passed where I just needed to do nothing but sleep. It’s after that when you’re starting to recover that the mind wakes and it starts to think and dream.

And it’s good and bad…there’s a lot of the good times and family memories and those little treasures and then there’s the attack again…the sounds and smells and all the fighting and all of the death and seeing those I love die and those I’ve known all my life die too and then there’s this…

Coming here…the magic…the Goblins…the fighting.

And then there are the thunderstorm dreams…that’s a little clearer now…picture an endless sky with this huge sun but it’s not a sun it’s a ball of lightning…and from it there are arcs of lightning and those arcs are the things that are giving birth to my storm clouds…my nightmares.

And myself…I’m this glowing person shape…my arms and legs are of light and somehow I move with my thoughts in this place.

If inside of you is a place…I’m sure that this is inside of me.

Just like I’m sure that I have to weather these storms and control them before they control me.

I do know that every time I catch a jolt from one of the storm-nightmare clouds that it’s what was happening to me while I was sleeping.

Okay, I do not know this for sure but after me third jolt from a nightmare I think my leg did a spasm in my sleep.

You ever do that twitch hard in your sleep and you know you did it but you went right back to sleep anyway?

That’s it really most of the rest of my sleep was waiting and trying to avoid those things until the nightmares passed and I was left with that blue white orb inside of my inner sky.

I ended up staring into it like the campfire though.

I have to figure this out and get a better handle on it, it’s not like there are teachers for this kind of thing that I know of. I mean there are witches and hedge wizards to be sure but there are few that can even be considered a Lady Blackhand.

To be honest other than her father I know of no one that has real power like by name. But then such things were never really talked about or even studied home or other places. I don’t even know much about the clerical things either.

We had a temple to The All-Gods and there was a monastery of the Elohim in the Hill’s and that there was a truce between them and Haven’s Hill but we had no friar or priest like some places did.

So…really I know of no one I can go and seek to learn from.

So that means that I have to figure out a lot of this on my own.

That’s Loverly as my brother Stephan would say.

Stephan…

Middle son and still my big brother he was our cavalier…quick witted, good with a lance and a kind man already…and then an huge storm inside me builds as my grief does and thankfully if you can call it that I wake before I spark and I feel it in my hands and I clench my fists until I shut it down and I’m shaking and then I’m crying over losing him.

I’m alone right now so I do cry pretty hard and I try to muffle things as I pull all the blankets over me to cry…I know it should be alright for a girl to cry but I’m just not there yet.

***………………………. By the time I’m done I had went back to true sleep again and woke with salt crusty eyes, dry mouth and the need to make water.

I crawl out of the bedding and blink at the daylight and I look around.

Oh…oh I’m going to have a harder time holding things than before. Standing up seems to have asked all the fluids in me to settle towards the need for a hasty exit.

“Where’s the privy area?”

Taylor points to an area with a tarp and I head over there and it’s actually a part barrel with things cut out and it’s over a deep hole and some of those muslin cloths are there rolled up.

Oh…much better and this way I’m not falling over. I suppose that this is something one must think about when traveling with women.

Or not maybe they’re just thinking ahead.

It’s still a very disturbing thing to sit to make water and wet…it’s a good thing for the cloths. I wind some off and make sure that I’m dry before going to do anything else.

I head to the main camp and it’s being packed away mostly with a lot of things obviously waiting on me.

“I’m sorry I’ve held everyone up…”

Nicole who is on the back of the wagon inside her rig cleaning and oiling and tuning says. “Not a real tightly held schedule we patrol and we have a few days leeway actually.”

Tuning is important all of those cables need to operate at the right tensions in order to really be effective it’s as vital a skill as anything else in the world of being a battleknighter.

Taylor passes me a plate with food. It’s some kind of corn meal biscuit with jam and a cup with leftover stew and I sit and eat. Jessa is nowhere to be seen and I eat quickly starting with the stew and taking a drink of the cold mug of last night’s tea gratefully.

“A few days leeway? I’d think that would be odd with something like a patrol?”

She shakes her head. “We do a lot more than just patrol the lands when we’re out like this. We help as we may with those that need it and there's always things to forage for and to provide for?”

I’m a little lost though I can see foraging the wood as we travel given the wagon we have and such but my people patrolled and little else when the did it.

“So what can I do to help?”

That makes Taylor grin at me. “Alrighty you get dressed and I’ll put ye to work.”

I finish eating and he passes me a small pack with clothes and they’re mine but much better mended and washed as well as dried. I get dressed and while I’m changing he gets me to break down the tent and to put away the bedding.

I’ve seen it done so I strike the tent and then shake it out and then line it all up for the folds until it’s one long length and that’s when I place the stakes inside and roll it all up and tie it into a bundle with the strings.

I get a nod of approval and the others are easy too just rolling the grass mats and the blankets in the same ways as well as the fleeces and by the time I’m done that he has the privy filled with the ashes from the fire and things cleaned out and scrubbed and other than that camp is done.

They did do most of it while I was sleeping.

We set the wagon ready and harness up the horses another task that I actually do know. Even if I wasn’t a wagoner or merchant we had teams of horses to use for various things and stable work is one of the things that even I was made to do.

The last thing is the barrels and baskets?

All along the length of both sides of the large wagon we place and fix barrels to each foot of length and some of those we fill with water and others are empty then we take tin hooks and place them in between the barrels and hang wicker baskets off of them and all of those are empty?

And then we’re off.

It’s nothing I’ve seen done home or done myself but as I’m riding along the back of the wagon and then joined by Nicole once her rig is settled as she likes it and is airing out we get calls from Taylor.

“T’the left.” Or T’the right.” And in those places we have markers that Nicole points of from Hawk that are things. Greens for food, nuts or berries, apples and pears and wild things like ramps? And other things all either edible or to be used for herbs and such all in those simple bags and mushrooms of all kinds and some I’ve never seen before and even straw twine tied bundles of firewood. All save the firewood goes into barrels or baskets and the firewood we keep stacking behind the chair for Nicole’s Squire’sknight.

There’s far more walking than there is riding and as a nobles son I’ve never done this and it’s shocking to see Nicole being a squire doing this as well. And there’s game too…birds and rabbits it’s rough work because Taylor and the wagon don’t stop, we keep going and we have to walk along and put things into the containers and sometimes we have to catch up.

We’re in a ride and rest moment and I look at Nicole. “Your lady must have a bountiful keep with each patrol doing this?”

She shakes her head. “Aye home’s well stocked but little of this will see the keep.”

“The why are we doing this all surely we won’t need that many provisions?”

I feel the change as we break the trails tree line and I smell manure and smoke. I look and see a farm, several homes of family and it’s extensions and fences and such and we’re driving alongside the train and Hawk comes from the bush to sit beside us as Nicole is slipping on a tunic with her coat of arms?

Light grey material with silver trim and her device or her lady’s device is a pair of doves perched on the quillions of a claymore. If she was a knight there’d be a shield added to the design and the silver trim is I think for her being a woman.

Nicole stands on the wagon. “Ho the steading!”

I’m a little confused because since when do nobles give call and not just arrive?

There’s some that come out and there’s some children and some oldsters and a matron that’s waving a white cloth.

“Are they surrendering?”

“Nay, a white cloth isn’t surrender in these parts it’s parley.”

We’re taking a turn into their yard and they’re coming out to meet us and Nicole hops off the wagon and she does this short lean bow to the woman. “Ma’am.” And to the oldest looking fellow with a walking staff and a weathered but warm smile. “Sir.”

Then she shakes their hands asking. “We’re here for post and have you need?”

I look at Hawk. “Is he a knight?”

She looks at me. “Free…Kingdoms Chrissy. Each family has the lands set forth in the tennet of claims and that’s one hundred yards by one hundred yards plus five for every wife and child in the family.”

“Okay but he has more than that?”

“This is a farm steading so each of these families gets the same.”

“But what of neighbors?”

“You cannot claim land already claimed you have to buy it from the owners.”

“Okay…but again Nicole sir’d him is he a knight?”

“No but on one’s own lands every man is a master, hence the sir.”

“Oh…” That’s…how?

I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact they’re not tenants.

“How does the realm run if there are no tenants?”

“Taxes.”

“But how do you enforce the taxes?”

“Rarely comes up?”

“What?”

She gets up. “You’ll see Chrissy now it’s time to do out duty.”

“Duty?”

She grins at me. “We serve the people not the other way around.”

I look as Nicole is heading off with the men into what looks like the fields and Taylor’s opening the forage that we did like we’re a market cart for the women of the houses and then Hawk tosses me a bundle of firewood.

And I don’t think we’re getting paid for any of this either?

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 5

Chapter 5

*Before…

She gets up. “You’ll see Chrissy now it’s time to do our duty.”

“Duty?”

She grins at me. “We serve the people not the other way around.”

I look as Nicole is heading off with the men into what looks like the fields and Taylor’s opening the forage that we did like we’re a market cart for the women of the houses and then Hawk tosses me a bundle of firewood.

And I don’t think we’re getting paid for any of this either?

*And Now…

I catch the bundle and set it down and we keep doing that until we’re all unloaded.

“So we do this for people why?”

“It’s part of our job while we’re patrolling.”

“We’re giving them things for free…”

“No, not free we’re paid by our lady to do this.”

She hops off and we both grab two bundles and I follow her carrying them.

“Alright, but why?”

“We do these small things it earns us respect from the people, it also lets us learn about our people and get close to them also when you don’t have to work so hard scraping together the necessities of living you can concentrate on earning more for your family. Wealthier families all around makes it better for taxes all around.”

That actually sounded like she was quoting someone.

“But your lady is spending taxes paying you to do this?”

“Aye but she’s paying us to patrol as well already. This is part of your duties when you work for our lady.”

“Do you get paid more?”

“We get room and board, we get clothes for free for our basic needs and we get weapons and healers and education as well plus we get paid a wage.”

We toss the bundles together onto a kind of meagerish pile of wood. I look at Hawk. “We don’t do that we have tenants and they work our lands for a share and they pay trade taxes.”

“I know and so do many other nobles and it’s a way that the nobility stays in power by owning everything.” She’s looking pointedly at me.

“But that’s the way that it always works we’ve been granted our nobility by the gods.”

“Pfft…show me a living god or goddess and I’ll believe that. Nobles keep power because they came from those who had the power to make the rules to have the might to carve their place out in the world after the great fall.”

“So? It’s still ours?”

“Was yours Lady, right up until someone came with more power and took it from your family.”

“I…” Ouch…that hurt but it was right…

Jessa looks at me her eyes searching for something. “Look Chrissy…things are different here, harsher than you’re used to and dangerous too. We’re sort of five hundred years behind what the middle kingdoms have had in time to get up and running. Here we value people over land and money.”

I’m almost mad enough to pitch a royal fit…I mean I’m not used to being talked to like that and I’m not used to the lack of…deference?

I grab two more bundles and stalk sulk towards the woodpile.

“We’re not all bad Jessa.”

She sighs. “I never said that you were and given the things that your father was doing with Lady Blackhand and Havens Hill he was a man that believed in fairness and maybe even change. And right there’s a really good reason why there would be many people that would want him and all of you dead because if you the House of Lyonnes started changing then who knows what might start to change and people in power don’t want to lose the power they think that they have.”

I toss the bundles onto the pile and turn and look at her.

Okay I’m not as angry at her now because I’m more sort of shocked again.

Women do not know these things where I am from, they don’t know politics or taxes or how they work or anything like all the things that she just said and especially not some dark skinned southern born ranger.

But she just did, as serious and as capable as any courtier.

And she’s a woman.

I need to come to terms with this, come to terms with being a woman in this world.

“I...I’m sorry I know I sound like I’m ungrateful and that I’m whining but this…all of this I…it’s all new to me and if this…this magic that lady Blackhand has done to me and has left to me…is to hide and protect me then I need to understand things.”

I sigh and slump my shoulders and head back for more bundles. “And right now I don’t.”

Nicole must have been following Jessa and I’s conversation because she clasps me on the shoulder. “The you do as we did and you learn by being here and by doing.”

Jessa steps up too and is walking beside me. “Aye and trust me I learned the hard way as well. Took me a long time to believe that a woman could do anything ‘cept what she was told. Hells it took me months to get used to wearing shoes even.”

I look at her. “Lots of people go barefoot.”

She nods. “Aye.” And we all grab the last of the bundles of gathered wood. “But where I come from you don’t do that in the wilds. There’s snakes and scorpions and even spike plants that will hurt you and then there’s the rocks and the heat…calluses only go so far hot enough sand will sear ye and then the cold nights when it’s really cold you can lose toes.”

I look at her. “So why didn’t you have shoes? Were you poor?”

She has a sort of grim grin going on. “Aye poor as it got really but no, laws. Women weren’t allowed shoes; if you have shoes there then you might run.”

I… “I think I really hate where you’re from.”

She looks at me. “They’d kill you if they knew you were a witch and if not you’d be raped and then sold to the temples and a pleasure slave being all pale and blonde and northern.”

“What was you lady doing in such a place with a caravan?”

Nicole… “Trade is trade and lots of folk raid merchants some of them contract with us for protection.”

“You’re mercenaries.”

Nicole nods. “Well it’s more formal like professional soldiers hired between our lady and guilds or other parties.”

I look at Jessa. “But you both took the Goblin heads and Warg claws that’s bounty work so mercenaries.”

They actually both just grin and Jessa says. “You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing.”

I shake my head as we finish the bundles and then we head back to the wagons and Taylor’s got a book out and he’s reading off oddness.

“….an over in Hillhock Steading Macy Turner had her little an she had a lad named Laird and Fenton Dogal thinks his tabbac will grow extra fine this year and Moira Peddle is to be wed to Conner Hoat from Cherryvale village and he’s found prentice work at the tinner in the town once over so after the wedding set on the fifth of Old leaf to which all that can travel are invited…”

He holds up a scrap of pale yellow cloth and the ladies take it and are cooing and talking about it?

“they’ll be movin too…”

He keeps going for another page but he mentions a couple of other places and people and then he puts the book aside. “Now we’ll be taking post and news after the supper but first be there anything else needs doing?”

Nicole pipes up. “I have my rig, so speak up now if ya please while we’re here and to the advantage.”

Lots of folks call their knight-machines “Rigs.” It’s sort of an easy slang.

I look at Jessa again. “So you collect news of each place you go?’

She nods. “And they’re report and logs as well we pass them in with every patrol and the scribes recopy them with things for the archives and such like census and there’s even things written for the monthly press sheets.”

“Press sheets?”

“Aye a sheaf of news of the land printed out on a press.”

“A print press?”

“Aye, faster than just scribing stuff out for as much as they sell.”

“Father wanted one of those.”

She looks at me and smiles. “Well only a man that’s not afraid of his people reading would be doing that.”

“Can many read in the Fortress?”

“In the fortress aye nearly all and the city itself maybe a quarter.”

“Oh…” That’s…that’s one out of four being able to read.

My mind boggles over that.

Jessa looks at me. “Come there’s more tasks to be doing.”

I see Nicole getting into her Squire’sknight and walking down the ramps and taking her sword and going with some of the men and the lads into the woods and Taylor unhooking the team from the wagon and keeping them in harness and going with them towards the fields.

It’s when I notice the weapons. Axes, the odd war hammer and bows, even here with the houses I see quivers and the odd spear for easy reach.

“They’re armed?”

“Aye, The Boneyards aren’t too far remember. We’re still in the borderlands.”

“Oh, good thing then.”

We look at each other and I don’t bring up that armed peasants aren’t normal home. We both know. Honestly given there are Goblins and Wargs I’m relieved.

I look at Hawk and take a deep breath. “Alright, lead on.”

We go with some of the ladies and they’re bringing out washing and setting it on a sort of raised landing and there’s a very big pot that looks like a large tin washtub.

“Laundry?’

Hawk nods. “We can do that while they do other things.”

“Alright but I’ve never done it before.”

“Take your tunic off because we’re going to get wet.”

I take it off and I watch them bring clothes and bedding and the younger ones are bringing us water from their well and there’s some hard bricks of soap there too.

I see Jessa take a brick and toss it in and then I pull it out.

“Why’d you do that, it need t’soften.”

“I have an idea.” I jog to the wagon and look through the tools that we have and I come back with a rasp and a piece of scrap armor plate from the Squire’sknight.

Jessa’s filling the tubs and looking at me. I hold up my hand. “Just fill it a quarter ways for now.”

She nods and she looks at me and I get the piece of armor and I stick it and my hand in the water.

Illuminations from what I know create light because the wires get heated…that needs the wire to conduct but to resist…I hold the piece in both hands and I let the power flow from my through it and back into me from one hand to another but I slow the power amount that I’m taking in…and the metal starts to heat up.
It’s strange because the hot metal doesn’t hurt me while I’m holding it but the water soon gets too hot for me to take and it’s steaming really well and my arms are red for a few seconds from it I set the metal down and I grin at Hawk who’s actually staring at me.

The children and the others are too. Then one of the women blinked and nodded curtly. “Aye well that saved some time an firewood good gel.”

I smile sheepishly… good gel.

Good girl.

I grab the rasp and the soap brick and I grate the soap into the hot water and look at Hawk. “Quick start stirring and we’ll have some suds.”

It’s slightly ridiculous at how happy this is making me.

We do the wash up and the next load I go looking through the tools and get a punch and some spare rigging cables and I make two strands that I can hold and then just dip into the water with the metal piece and I actually get it boiling…like a rolling boil and we stir the clothes up like we’re making stew. It’s still a lot of washing and I have no idea how to use the power to dry anything.

But I did magic…oh it needed tool but mage stories are rife with those and it seems to make sense to me that they now might need things so they can do certain things.

So I’m fairly certain that I can do two things…reliably. One I can arc to my hands and make light. Two with this I can boil water.

Still it’s a lot of work even after that with the washing and scrubbing and them twisting and drying things out. The women though each take what’s theirs as the things are done and they hang them to dry.

And while they’re not bowing and scraping they are calling me “Wisdom.”

I look at Jessa. “Wisdom?”

“It’s something that came here out of the swamp folks, they don’t call women that do what you do witches instead it’s like a take-off of wise-woman.”

“Oh…uhm…I think that’s better actually.”

She’s smiling because we’re done the washing and we’re sitting and drying off…you do get wet and my arms are sore from rubbing things on the clothing shuttle. “You like this don’t you?”

“Aye…I’m still free, I hunt and travel and I’m myself but also I get to see this.”

“This?”

“Take the wash heating all that would be hours and to do each person’s thing it’d be just one tub per house if you were lucky…all those hours are now set to rest and mending and gardening and gathering.”

She gestures to some of the younger ones out in the fields and pastures picking things and some in the gardens.
“We did a lot of that too.”

“Aye but when ye can’t just go an traipse to a market or to a fat larder then way too much time’s set to just gathering to live day to day. And ye burn off food looking for food, all of this makes their lives easier. Them all fatter and healthy and actually able to have some coppers and such to pay their taxes and even some for later, for something nice or grand.”

“I’ve never seen this before.”

“Me either until I was rescued. The lady she’s…she’s worth following.”

“I hope so…I hope she’ll be able to help me some way.”

“We’ll see…she’d know more about things she’s fought out your way before.”

“I don’t know that much about mercenaries other than a few notes in books I was made to study about warfare from my father but that was more who used what and when they used them and tactics.”

“Sounds like that’s things a noble’s son would need to know.”

“Yes, yes it does…I’m so not remotely ready to be a lady.”

“Fuck that be a woman, you’re a sorceress in yer homelands and a lot of place you’re going to be a pariah anyways you might as well be a comfortable one.”

I nod and some of the ladies join us and then there’s tea brought out and strong smelling curds on bread with berries. It’s a berry flavored tea as well and it’s a treat and very dense and grainy dark bread and tough to chew but I’m quite hungry and this spot of it is really nice.

We sit and watch the men come out from the trees usually Taylor with the team of horses and pulling logs. Some are fresh trees and some look like deadfalls and I nod and I smile. That’s timber and fire wood and I have never seen a battleknight used for labor before but after Nicole comes out from the trees she’s using that power and weight to chop right through the logs that are going to be used for wood…she just props them at an angle and shing…

Just like a sword in hand to clip a tree branch but much thicker.

And faster than even using a saw.

And way more exciting too when we see her do the large logs with really powerful strokes and even splitting those chunks into halves of quarters. Doing the work of five men in a fraction of the time.

“Do all the Squires do this?”

“Aye and the knights too it’s called errantry.”

“I know about that it’s where new knights are looking for sponsors and travel the tourneys to find a lord when they have none of their own.”

“No, not here. It used to be and still is when a knight would leave to wander the world t’do good deeds and live by the code t’is a spiritual thing for some.”

I nod. “I think that’s the way that it used to be but it’s changed along with the needs at home for the most part. Though temple knights might do it still.”

“I’m not much a temple go’r.”

I nod still watching Nicole work…it’s smart really, harder on the equipment but this could be why she’s so skilled already, it’s all practice really and training.

I have a little too of that sensation of when Jessa and I were bathing too…skill is attractive.

“We had a monastery to The Elohim in the hills and a temple to the All-Gods in the township.”

She looks at me. “No cleric in the castle, the church would like that?”

“Oh we had that too, just it wasn’t manned except for Gods Days and holydays. My Father and us would attend temple with the people in the township.”

“You’d think that’d be dangerous.”

I look at her curiously.

Jessa looks surprised. “There’s a lot of nobles that wouldn’t go with the people.”

I nod. “I think that was father’s point.”

“So more about the people then his title yet again, I’m going t’say Chrissy he was makin enemies.”

“He was trying to be fair.”

“There’s people that don’t remotely want fair.”

I nod. “Well your lady and my father sound at least like they travel in thought together, hopefully that’ll be a good thing.”

She nods. “They had the sorceress in common at the least.”

I push off the laundry tables and head towards the fields and Nicole. “Yes, and hopefully as her heir I’ll find some answers.”

“Aye, y’need something at least.” She follows and so do some of the children sent by the mothers and we’re collecting the firewood and we’re taking it back and the smaller children are gone making trips in to the cut to get all the branches that were limbed off the logs and Taylor’s pulling the timber logs in with the team and we’re busy for awhile again.

My hands ache from the work, wood is rougher than I’m used to handling and my hands are smaller so just gripping the chunks in stretching and such. I’m not getting blisters from it though…I’m not that papered as I said I’ve done stable work and my little bit of arms training I was getting has at least that much toughed me.

It’s odd I kept it though when she changed me so much? Limits on the spell?

The last thing we do there is watch Nicole with heavy rope and a grapple pull stumpage after using her sword to work things loose and free…It’s a strange thing to see a Squire’sknight used for labor.

It’s a good area cleared too and likely a twenty yards by forty.

We all get back and the mid-days is on the laundry table all set out with a blanket for us all and things from each of the houses for all and some of what we brought.

Greens…more of them, it must be a thing here. But a large pot of them and a fairly nice smell from them. Pig’s feed home here a staple?

Bread from different hearts and in shapes. I think it’s a skill thing because Nicole’s making a thing over a braided roll with one of the women.

More of that strong cheese in it’s whey, thick like a pudding and very strong. It’s something I’m seeing here like the greens. It’s good weather, summer so eat what you have. If you’re in milk this makes sense to eat cheese I suppose.

Then there’s roasted squash in it’s husk pulled open and some potatoes too pulled fresh and peas cooked in their pods? I see Taylor take one and pull it through his teeth scraping all the pulp from the pod and the peas off and discarding the rest to the scraps bucket. I try the same and he nods and it’s very good.

Then the main is our rabbits in a stew with herbs and such but it’s stretched and thickened with these fat flat squares of dough they’re calling dumplings here and it goes well with the mushrooms we brought It’s filling.

But very little meat, it’s stretched far by these folk. Mostly greens and vegetables, compared to home a much different way of living.

Taylor gets cheered when he brings a box from our wagon and it’s salt, pepper, and vinegar and a few other spices and just that makes a huge difference.

I didn’t know we were missing the salt until I eat some food with it. Pepper too…it’s just something that was always there. Here a treat, proof we’re nobles almost or at least wealthy.

Then we’re done eating and there’s drink brought out and it’s barley-wine which is close to beer or ale but a bit different flavored with apple instead of hops and we have a drink as Nicole gathers the fighters for training?

“Training?” I ask looking at Hawk.

“Aye it keeps them sharp and us as well plus it keeps Nic in skill with instructing and commanding.”

“The Law?”

“Nay jus custom, come us too.”

“Us too?”

“You need it I wager.”

“You’d win.”

This I was not expecting and soon it’s Nic leading us through spear drill and then it’s weapons with shields. I didn’t see the shields but they have them, fitted wood with boiled leather covers covered with wax. Then archery, and even some grappling and striking moves.

I’ve some training with the spear, you’ll never be allowed hands on a lance until you can use a spear decently and spear lends to using a staff often a weapon of easy convenience. The hand to hand is different since I’m the same skill as most here with a axe or mace or hammer…barely skilled enough not to hurt myself, Archery I’m iffy at…better than half here. I’ve fired a bow in target shooting and a few times in hunting.

Striking and grappling I’m as raw as the girls here, learning holds and getting free of getting grabbed is different as a woman. And striking…boxing…I’m barely acquainted with being too small home to really have much of a chance of doing it. My eldest brother was a striker though often fighting in the garrison fights.

I’m faster though…it’s easier to move I guess for the moment without my breasts in my way yet and I gave Nic a good bout with the spear for a few minutes at least.

I get some looks through the whole thing from her and Hawk and even Taylor who didn’t actually train but played attacker and such for us during the grappling training. All he did was take hits with good nature.

I’m about done in when Nicole looks at me as they’re putting things away. “You think you can heat the waters again?”

I nod. “That I can do…baths?”

“Aye if ye wouldn’t mind.”

I look to her and some expectant faces. “It’d be an honor Squire.”

She smiles. “Thank you Wisdom Christiana.”

It was more playful but I guess it gets me as this me in peoples heads and I go and help with the tubs and listen to the women talking as I heat water.

That scrap of cloth’s a bit of material and the pattern of the brides dress. It’s being talked about as how those that might go will do to match. I’m sort of getting it now, sort of only because I don’t get the custom of why this is important.

“Wisdom? What do the women wear where you are from?” One of the girls ask me.

I…huh…

“I guess that would depend on for what and their station.”

There’s some nods and a few saying. “Naught though of the ladyships.”

I sidestep that thinking of home.

“Linen mostly, cotton on occasion and flax weaves, blouses and skirts over dresses and belts over those for the most for your carries. Vests are common too and quilted coats of cloth in the winters usually long like a robe if going out from home. Cloaks are more the rich fashion for the lords and ladies over the coats.”

“Colors an patterns ye know of?”

I really don’t and have to think and there’s like an strange moment like a lightning flash but behind my eyes.

I can see it all, all the times in the township and riding and the peasants in frozen details. I start describing the needle point and the designs which I’ve seen and some are personal family things and others with trades and other things.

I try to keep up with things. And soon I’m stripping and getting cleaned up with them and Nicole and Hawk are there with me. I’ve never talked with women so freely before in my life. Several people stare at Jessa who sticks out from all of us in her scars and her complexion.

And then there’s Nicole.

I know the standard is for women to be demure and well sweet and curved and all these other things but Nicole has shoulders, small breasts for her size that just sit perky there and the rest is muscle with curve, and legs with the swells of muscles but on her woman’s frame, her chest even and she has definition in her belly these almost there ripples that go down to her sex….I…oh I’m having those boy feelings as a woman and I sink in my water to hide my achy nipples and sooth them.

I…I might be a sapphire by default now.

But to be honest…Nicole is a damned handsome woman.

It’s embarrassing too since I’d have no idea what to do with her or Jessa or any other woman that I’ve seen here.

I sink into the water thinking, well trying to think of something else and trying to do that mind flash thing.

Harder than it seems to try to honestly think of something….but I focus in on home.

Good things…memories.

Places in the castle.

Flash…and it’s there…The library, the way the sun would filter in from the windows, the dust motes tickling my nose with the smell of leather, vellum, wood, wax…books.

I open my eyes and breathe.

I close my eyes and I’m at the top of the goat road…it’s the back way from the castle and a switchback trail and one with this amazing view of the orchard lands and farms.

I can remember it all, I can smell it.

I can remember it perfectly.

How? I’m not sure, it’s definitely magical but It’s something else.

I smile the entire time I’m drying off and then we’re getting ready to leave?

I look at Nicole. “We’re leaving?”

“Aye, we saved some time so we might be able to cover enough trail to get to Palfrey corner.”

“Oh…” I have no idea.

Some of the Steaders come with gifts…a skirt and hooded tunic for me and two blouses that might fit. Since I have nothing…I take them with a smile and a hug. It’s odd to hug…but Nicole is doing it and it can’t hurt right? I mean it shows trust that there won’t be a knife in your ribs.

I change into the skirt and a blouse, the skirt has drawstrings and it’s about the length of my mid calf. Yes a work skirt and I’m shamelessly showing ankle. Well until I get my boots on.

Taylor’s closing his book after writing down their news and he puts a few notes scrawled for others or by some into the same page before stowing it in an oil skin satchel and placing it in the box seat.

We’re waved at as we leave and Hawk and I sit on the back of the wagon and wave back.

Sigh…this was nice.

……………………. After an hour’s lounging in the wagon we get back to the foraging and Nic’s cleaning her rig again and tuning it up but it takes less time for her to do it all this time.

Me…?

I’m running through the books on plants and herbs, flashing on things I remember and their uses that the apothecary Tedric used and tried to educate me on.

It’s all there and I start taking things I can find. Kingsfoil, Coltsfoot, All heale, Willow, Cherry, Fireblossom thistle, and I even find edibles like some lobster/salamander and butter friend mushrooms and then it’s more wood bundles and tubers and roots I don’t know along with stuffed sacks of more greens… (Dandelion, salsify, clovers, pigs leaf, sorrel ect.) them more mushrooms and berries.

I have no idea how far ahead she goes to have the time to gather these things but her doing so shows her skill as a ranger really. And the fact that she hunts as well? Rabbits and pheasants but squirrels are a plenty too.

We’re all doing that until we reach a few places along the way… Tamric’s hill…literally a hill in the forest with a palisade and stacked stone houses and poor ground for farming but they dig coal from the hill. I get my first look at a mine and…well I had stories to go on but this is just a wood walled and beamed tunnel that goes in and slightly down for about forty feet maybe twenty feet wide at the seam place when they show us.

But for a small family it doesn’t have to be a big mine.

We’re not there too long either. We give food and game and Nicole uses her rig to go chop down beam worthy timber trees and we’re given coal as trade in coal dusts mixed with flour and cured in sheafs of moss and birch paper that have been cured.

All new to me since coal was only really in our smithy’s but Nicole says one of these dust longs will burn in a house hearth all day or more. They’re generous with the dust logs trading four or five for each two timber logs.

We read the posts and take them and head out keeping on until the next stop at Dewbridge brook. It’s a tollbooth bridge. Built by the family there and behind the walls of their steading. They let us pass without charge as we again drop herbs and food and firewood this time and some coal logs.

But not as much as before since they have this bridge and a water wheel mill and good walls. But there are people here living close by drawn by the mill and the trade that live here by furs and hunting, fishing, or raising things and we’re here more for them. Not quite an actual hamlet since it’s too spread out but it is a sort of community.

Us showing is news, us showing brings smiles.

Palfrey Corner is six leagues past Dewbridge and it’s gotten dark and I’m actually walking ahead of everyone…I’m holding my hand up and I’m arcing lighting between my thumb and baby fighter casting off blue white light. Hawk’s behind me where she’s keeping watch as we make our way to this place where the trail breaks into a clearing and there’s a small lake and a hamlet with a stacked stone wall and a decent defensive ditch in front of it.

There’s a horn sounded from a watch tower made of simple wood and I look at Nicole who runs up a colors flag. “Watch we come with the post!”

It takes a little longer but we get a response. “Be welcome Wisdom and Squire but be warned we’re under a yellow flag!”

I look at the others. “Yellow flag?”

Taylor’s frowning. “Sickness, they’ve sickness in the village.”

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 6

Chapter 6

*Before…

Palfrey Corner is six leagues past Dewbridge and it’s gotten dark and I’m actually walking ahead of everyone…I’m holding my hand up and I’m arcing lighting between my thumb and baby finger casting off blue white light. Hawk’s behind me where she’s keeping watch as we make our way to this place where the trail breaks into a clearing and there’s a small lake and a hamlet with a stacked stone wall and a decent defensive ditch in front of it.
There’s a horn sounded from a watch tower made of simple wood and I look at Nicole who runs up a colors flag. “Watch we come with the post!”
It takes a little longer but we get a response. “Be welcome Wisdom and Squire but be warned we’re under a yellow flag!”
I look at the others. “Yellow flag?”
Taylor’s frowning. “Sickness, they’ve sickness in the village.”

*And Now…

I’m looking at the three of them and then to the village.

They’ve sealed the walls at least and they’re giving warnings.

I look to Nicole. “What do we do?”

She’s looking and she chews at her lip a little. “We get closer and we talk.”

“Talk? I was hoping for what to do like help or go for help.”

Taylor looks at me. “You’d go in knowing there’s sickness.”

I nod. “Titles are not the things or the words that makes one noble.”

He looks at me again and then he nods. “Something said by your father?”

I nod. “But given that he knows…knew Lady Blackhand and things here I might think she rubbed off on him some.”

He grins. “Given you look like her Chrissy I’d say that there’d be some rubbing.”

I frown.

“My mother was Deidre Lyonnes, I was born from her…I’d have been told if I was not!”

Wouldn’t I?

I frown. “I mean of course I look like her I was transformed, I’m carrying her powers.”

They’re all looking at me.

Taylor says. “I’m sorry, that very well could be true.”

I huff… “I just lost her Taylor…the wound’s still bleeding.”

My heart is in my throat and it hurts to swallow from the feelings and tears are blurring and burning at my eyes and it takes so much to swallow it back…women weep…and dammit that’s effecting me too…yes I should be crying and in mourning and I am but it was anger first that I was feeling and with that came this whole other thing. I pinch the bridge of my nose to stem it off…this is so not the time.

He looks at me with this…? Tender look? “I’m sorry Christiana, I truly am.”

I nod and turn to look at Nicole. “So closer?”

“Aye, we need to talk to them and see what’s really going on before we decide on anything.”

We all look to each other again and we head over with the wagon until we’re close to the gates and the watchman is looking at us the whole time. Once we’re in the light of the watch lanterns I douse my lightning arc out.

Nicole stands up on the knee of her rig and asks. “What’s the sickness do you know it?”

He looks at us and he shakes his head. “No squire, we doan.”

“What are the ills?”

Taylor takes out the post book and flips to a blank page and takes out his glass pen to take notes.

“It be fever with wet lungs fillin up, it makes ye break out in a rash as well.”

“What’s the charm to it?”

“We doan know squire, but it’s bad…ye fill up an ye be cooking in ye own juices.”

Nicole looks at us. “Any ideas?”

“The rash sounds bad.” Hawk offers.

I nod. “We won’t know unless we see. It could be a lot of things.”

I reach inside again… I was able to see the books and stuff but can I see things that have happened to me?

I try and to think on old Tedric and taking care of his patients.

It’s right there I’m seeing him looking patients over the few times that I was there with him. Usually I wasn’t because of my station but five years ago when I was just a young boy we had a sickness hit us called influenza and there was no one else to do things, to help so station was dropped as well as trying to keep us royals from having caught it.

We could’ve left…but father wouldn’t risk us not carrying it to someplace else even if we were not sick ourselves nor would he leave the castle to leave our people in such a way.

I think on all of it that time and watch it all over again with my older eyes and see things that might help…but I’m no apothecary and I really didn’t stay that long doing those things even helping out under Tedric’s orders.

“Chris…Chrissy…” Nicole’s looking at me actually they all are.

I blink. “Sorry, yes I was thinking.”

Taylor says. “Ye were more than thinking yer eyes were lit.”

“Lit?”

Hawk… “Aye…like you had some of the light you make behind your eyes.” She’s looking at me nervously. Taylor and Nicole are more interested looking but Jessa I think is from a place where magic has a very bad name.

“It’s a new spell…or something…I discovered it back at that first steading and I’ve been testing it out…trying to see if I can control it and if it’s reliable.”

Hawk… “And that power be?”

“Magic memories?” I shrug…oh that feels vastly different when you have breasts even ones as small as mine.

Nicole looks at me. “How are they magic?”

“I can remember…anything, anything that I’ve seen or read.”

Taylor’s nodding. “That makes a pile of sense with wizards being so smart and all, I mean if ye never forget things then you’d be pretty smart.”

Hawk looks at me. “So what good does that do us?”

I look at her. “Remember when I said I’d done some clerking for the castle stores, well parts of that was working with our apothecary and I’ve been around him a few times during sicknesses home too.”

Nicole looks at me. “Right so you know what this is?”

“No, not at all but I might be able to help better for it and stem the tides of it until a real healer can do so.”

She stares at me and so do the others and I fidget.

Then Nicole nods. “Right…Taylor take one of the horses and the note when we’re ready to Dewbridge they have pigeons and see if there are any willing midwives or hedge witches nearby that can help. Jessa you’re out here to guard our wagon and to forage for things that we might need. Chrissy you’re going to have to be our wisdom right now and I’ll go in with you.”

I look at her. “You’re a squire of this land and you have a Squire’sknight do you think it wise to go in someplace that is infected?”

“I have to…people get unreasonable when they’re like this, people get very angry and scared and there will need to be some sort of law.”

Hawk adds. “Plus if they decide that you’re trouble instead of help Chrissy Nic will be there to protect you.”

“Oh…well alright then.” I look to Taylor. “I’m raiding the supplies I have no idea what they have in there.”

He nods. “I’ll take off the camp gear instead and ye two can take the whole thing inside with ye.”

It’s a process after that of unpacking and stuff and Nicole getting in her rig and her pulling the wagon into the village with the gates opening and I’m leading the way.

I look over my shoulder to Nicole. “I feel like I should have a staff and be wearing robes or some such.”

She chuckles. “Well maybe they’ll have both Wisdom Christiana.”

“I suppose that I’ll have to use that won’t I?”

“Sometimes authority is a good thing.”

I nod. It’s true sometimes you need the authority or the power of it to have people take you seriously there will be some that will always look for a reason to balk at orders no matter how much good sense is behind them.

Palfrey’s Corner is small but it’s still a village and it’s dimly lit because it’s so small but still large enough that this is going to be difficult I think. I can hear crying here and there and coughing from houses and homes. There might be a hundred buildings or so and I look around a little and there’s a few people coming to meet us and they’re a mix of younger people and a couple of older ones but no elders.

A man steps up with stubble and a shaved head and a burly look to him. “Be welcome Wisdom and Squire we are honored that you’ve come to help us and that you put yourselves at risk.”

The others sort of look nervous to speak. Like new court speakers, or peasants that came to speak to father over something on freeman’s day. They’ve recently have had this pushed on them I think.

I try a smile. “Decency and duty master…?”

“Oh…Cedric, I’m the town’s butcher.”

I nod. “I’m Christiana and this is Squire McKinnon.”

There’s some quick introductions and then a lull.

I look at Cedric. “Perhaps show us to the sick first, I would like to tell our horseman as much as possible and get more help here.”

He looks at me and he looks me up and down and there’s a knowing nod. He knows I’m not trying to say that I’m nowhere near as skilled nor as old as a healer of any kind really should be.

I get a bottle of brandy from the wagon as Nicole gets out of her rig and locks it but she’s wearing a jacket of plates and leathers and braces and she’s wearing her blade. I get some of the cloths too and then lock the rest of things up and I make some motions over our things with my index finger and make the tip spark.

Yes, it might not be called for at all but there are a lot of valuables here and such and I am smart enough to know that people do sometimes take advantage of people in times like this.

The first place they lead us is to the town meeting hall which is now where many have been taken to. That was smart it is easier to care for people when you’re not running all over the place.

It smells in here…sweat, lots of sweat and sickness…and too many people close together.

I look at Timothy? He’s one of the representatives. “Do the windows open?”

“Aye but the sickness?”

“We all have it by now…even us, or we will some people are able to fight it off others not. It’ll be a comfort for all to get the air fresher in here.”

He looks at me then to Cedric who nods.

“I’ll need to see people.”

He nods and he leads me around and I use the brandy to wash my hands with after I look them over. I don’t know rashes but these are in hot spot areas…under the arms, breasts, other like places…they look like heat rashes…the fevers though are very high and some of the people are very full in the lungs. I brandy wash with each one and even take some of the coughed up stuff and look at it.

No, I don’t have a clue but I seen or rather saw Tedric ask of that with people that were sick and I know it’s something that a healer should know.

I look around and there’s some able bodies still helping but a lot of them look tired.

I look around the hall and they have inside jakes and a store room that’s mostly empty and a kitchen.

I come out of the kitchen and I take a deep breath. “I’ll go and speak with our horseman and ranger, but do you have wash tubs?”

Cedric nods. “Aye?”

“We’ll need bathing tubs in the store room, and we’ll need cooking pots for here and I’ll need to know some of the stores that you have.”

“Aye…as for the store I’m not sure we have a lot to spare.”

“We have our ranger master butcher, we need to know what we’ll need but the very first thing is to get people bathed and to get things washed.”

“Washed like what?”

“Everything that can be washed…sickness can be carried on things as well as people and it can live for a time outside of the body so we need to wash and keep washed all that we can…”

“That’s a lot of work…a lot of…”

“I can heat as much water as we can need hauled from the lake.”

He blinks. “Oh…then…”

Nicole nods. “Aye…oh indeed but it still will be a lot of work sir.”

He nods. “But this is much more doable though.”

I nod. “We’ll leave you to it then and we’ll go and send our horseman for help.”

Nicole and I walk to the gates and she looks at me. “I’m going to take a look around in my own way. I’ll be back shortly.”

I nod and then climb a ladder on the wall and that…it just feels very different with some parts being very different and my ladder rise-stride is different and I start telling him what I’ve seen and heard and the rashes and the cough-spew and everything that I can.

He looks up at me and sighs. “You two be careful, even if everyone’s reasonable the sickness can still get you both.”

I nod. “We’ll see you when you get back.”

He get on one of the horses and while not meant for riding it’s still faster than on foot especially if he’s bringing help back.

I look at Hawk. “We’re getting a list of things we’ll have but if you can I’d start looking for more forage and herbs.”

“Anything specific?’

“Onion and garlic if you can find them in the wild and lavender and as much willow and cherry barks as you can get us.”

She nods. “I’ll set traps too when I can’t catch things as I’m doing.”

We look at each other. There’s just a nod between us and I head down the ladder and Nicole is back and I look at her questioningly.

She joins me walking back to our things and says as we’re going. “I looked at the wastes and they’ve good house pits stone and mortar and the lake looked good it’s about three hundred yards from the houses here.”

I nod. “Good even without my powers I was wondering about that.”

She nods. “It still doesn’t mean that something else isn’t spilled into it, we’ll have to ask Hawk to scout around the lake.”

“Makes good sense but all it still might take is someone just brining this in.”

Nicole sighs. “I know, and if that’s the case we’ll have to weather this as best we can and help as many as we can until we get help.”

I start to get other things from the wagon like food and herbs and the forage that we have and I look at her. “You can cook right?”

She nods. “I’m not one by trade but what are you thinking?”

I chuckle. “That we need to recruit a cook from the village.”

We both laugh at that and we head to the hall with our spoils and there’s things there in the kitchen and I start to fill pots and boil that water first and I start to take the herbs that I already have and start brewing a tea with them will the willow bark and feverfew and kingsfoil and I get the washtub that they have there full of water and soap and get some clothes and Nicole and I wash down the whole kitchen and the dishes and bowls and mugs and we’re getting looks and after we’re at it awhile we have some young ones…mostly girls there watching us and looking at us.

I look at the eldest. “Can I help you little mistress?”

That sets them to giggling. She though gives me a serious look and nods. “We came t’help wit things.”

“Well then first things are first ladies, clean up, go get washed and get the freshest clothes you have.”

We get them to go into the store room that we’re going to use for baths and to wash things up with and get then to get undressed and ready and such and I take out my tool and I heat the water for then as much as I can stand it.

“It’s very hot ladies so be careful but wash everything and don’t spare the soap.”

I look at Nicole and we set them to it and we head back to the kitchen and the things being brought in. The first thing is getting some mops made and then getting water with some of their lavender in it and vinegar to boil. I know vinegar and illness don’t mix and the lavender will cut the smells plus bugs and such don’t like that and I’m not sure what we’re working with so it’s just good to add it I think.

Cedric’s got the lists and it’s hard to read his scratch but we get through it and I make no comments as he’s already red-faced over knowing his pen is pretty bad.

I do ask for herbs and spices and that they have and more vinegar and salts and paper and…and I have no quill so I think while they’re looking for one and I picture my handwriting and my arc inside being the quill. I test it with a few letters on the other sheet but yes…actually yes!

I’m burning or branding my letters into the paper at my touch and not going through the paper either it’s black but it looks exactly like I am seeing things in my head.

Okay a very minor spell if you can even call it that but I’m writing by thinking about the words and using my fingertip to do them.

Cedric is giving me the same look as Hawk does when I’m actually doing magic up close. I get a list made of what we have and what we might need and what I need right away.

My first order is for her to get fir tree sap…it’s the sticky clear balsam liquid in the blisters on a fir tree and then spruce balsam bits that are found on the trees called gum and juniper berries.

I take it out and look for her and she’s back with some of the things that we need since I’ve been gone and we drop a sack over the side and I drop the letter and she washes her hands with brandy before picking it up and she looks at me.

“I can get the evergreen stuff in half a glass it’s all easy to find.”

“Good, I need it to brew a medicine.”

“You can do that?”

“This one I can it’s pretty simple.”

“If ye say, I’ll get on these then.”

I head back and I’m in a bit better spirits this is a medicine I’ve made during the influenza once I have the ingredients. But now I have some of what I need and it reeks of what’s hopefully a good thing.

Wild onion, leek, chives, wild garlic, and we have garlic in the village stores. I get back to the kitchen place and the young girls are cooking and some are doing washing and the stove/ovens are getting hot now and Nicole is out in the main part of the hall with a mop and bucket scrubbing the floors.

I look at one of the girls and pass her the oniony things. “Soup just with these and as much garlic as we have.”

“That’s…onion soup Wisdom?”

“Yes, there’s the heat in the juices that will help fight this sickness.” Well that’s sort of true, I was told by Tedric that there’s safe sulfurs in them and that those would help fight off illness.

I hang the willow Hawk has gathered and some of the other herbs and I take some of the dried here and I find a spot to sit and I start to break the dried things here up and I grind kingsfoil and feverfew with the willow bark they have into a powder.

Three equal parts and mix it well together. Kingsfoil is an old herb that is supposed to be a curative. I'm not sure how that works or why but feverfew is used to bring down a fever…it brings on a cleansing sweat in the same way that hot spices do. Willow bark is good for fever too but it’s also good for pain.

It’s been awhile since I’ve beaten and ground things or done anything like this. It’s hard work and it’s getting really warm in here but that’s a good thing. We’ll need the heat for all that we’re doing. We’re going to need it to cook soups and brews for teas and such.

I can smell chicken…one of the things I asked Cedric for was a few birds. It doesn’t take a wisdom to know that chicken broth is good for what ails people.

Hopefully alternating the soups with the medicines will help…they should at least give some of them some strength to fight with.

We get some others in to help volunteer and I make the willow bark tea in a large kettle measuring out the water and then the grind because you can only have a certain ratio or you’ll make people sicker and I dose all of the people working and helping no matter the faces and then have them at the broths too.

Then we take it all into the main sick room and we dose them with tea…it’s…it’s hard because they’re so sick and we have to help them drink or sip and then the onion soup if they’ll take that too just a half mug. Anything we get down into them the better for them all.

By the time we’re done we wash off with hot water and vinegar again and get ready for washing people. Nicole and two girls are helping the ones that can walk and I’m with two girls that are helping me wash the ones that can’t…we take their clothes and send them to be washed…actually I’ll help there too…that wash water really should be brought to a boil.

Cedric comes with more things from Hawk and I instruct Ellery? The oldest girl that came to help from the young ones.

“Get some water boiling and I want the fir sap placed into it with the juniper berries and keep it at a boil. Use the mortar to grind up the balsam gum from the spruce into powder and cook it down until it thickens; you want it to be like a gravy in thickness.”

I keep washing and getting people clean until we’re done…I’m vomited on twice and I’m holding people up so they can cough the vileness out and the beds with people out of them bathing I have a clean set of blankets put on them and lavender flowers sprinkled under those…for the bedroll they’re using…I can’t clean those, we just can’t we don’t have the resources but hopefully this will help as much as it can.

I’m aching and tired like an old woman…my hips ache from being on my knees helping so much and taking acre of people.

It’s taken hours and hours to get this much done…but everyone is clean… or as clean as they can get right now and the other girls as passing me with more willow bark tea and more soup. The chicken broth this time and Nicole brings me a mug of what smells like chicken stew.

“You look tired.”

I look at her and she’s looked better right out from fighting better.

“You too.” I reach up and feel her forehead and she smiles. I smile back her brow feels fine. “Well that’s a relief.”

Nicole nods. “It’s been too long a day.”

I start eating my stew. “Gods I’m starved, and yes we’re both exhausted we really did too much before coming here and getting involved in all of this.”

“Worried?”

“Yes, if we’re too tired we’ll likely get sick too no matter how much we try and not.”

“Well then we should get shifts started and then we can get some sleep.”

I roll my eyes in that this food tastes amazing way and the thought of sleep…of just laying down. “Mmmph… that would be so good but I have some medicine to finish.”

“Can it wait?”

“No, I need to get it brewed then they can spoon it out.”

Nicole nods and we eat pretty quickly and I could go for seconds but there’s other mouths to feed and we help each other up from where we were sitting and head into the kitchen and I check on my medicine it smells right and Nicole recoils. “Oh gods what are you brewing it smells like roofing pitch!”

I smile. “Close enough it’s something Old Tedric used to make for colds and coughs and sicknesses.” I take the jar of homemade gin and start pouring it into the thick balsamy soup and add the right amount of willow bark to it as well.

“Gods and they’re supposed to drink that?”

“The potion tastes foul but it works.”

I take a spoonful myself to taste and make myself swallow it and there’s the burn and the camphor and then the foul taste shivers.

Yes it made me shiver, it will make the dead retch a little bit I think.

Nicole’s laughing at me. “Oh gods your face! I thought that all healers were immune to their concoctions?”

“I’m hardly a healer of any kind. Gah I want to scrub my tongue.”

Which makes her chuckle some which sort of feels good in a way since I’ve never really been the witty type or the funny type of person that got all that attention.

I look around and it’s nearing the morning soon I think it feels like it…but then again I’m who knows how many glasses of sun further west of home.

“What watch is it?”

Nicole reaches into her pocket and she takes out a large medallion and she opens it. “It’s the third glass of tomorrow.”

“What?” I look over at what she has and it’s? “What is that?”

“It’s a handclock.”

“But…” I look it over and I’ve seen a clock before we had two in my castle and both were large things with gears and in a huge wooden cabinet. I can hear ticking coming from inside of it.

“Gears?”

Nicole nods. “Yes and you wind it here.”

“A dwarven thing?”

“No, human my grandfather gave it to me when I was chosen from being a page into a squire.”

“That must have cost a fortune.”

She looks at me and she nods. “Yes it was very costly, but my family is well off.”

I nod. “Nobility?”

“No, I’m the first one to have title.”

“Then what does your family do?”

“We make battleknights.”

“Oh…very well off then.”

She shrugs. “Yes and no, from the cost of building one and the costs of paying for all the work there’s money but there are years where it’s tight.”

“Tight?”

“Not everyone can afford the costs involved in building a battleknight it’s a lot like ship building really.”

I nod that makes sense. “So a lot of the family coffers must make do until the next contract?”

She nods. “Right now my lands are helping the family.”

“So you were awarded land with your title?”

“No, I won my parcel in tournament.”

Oh…that would be…it would take some skill to do that but then again with the fact her family does make these she must have grown up rig-running and I’ve seen her fight.

We head to the back porch area where they have the wood and that’s where she’s laid out our tent on the outside and some of our camping things and we slip inside together and the fleeces are all laid out and the blankets and such and I get comfortable.

Nicole just unhooks her jackets buckles for her coat of plates and she takes her sword off but lays it between us.

I look at her.

“Just in case Chris.”

I nod…it’s a little surreal having to think about these things so much when up until my home was attacked things were pretty secure. I yawn and settle. “How much land do you have?”

She yawns back. “Four acres….but it’s good land with most of the rocks out of it an such so it’s being used right now by the entire family.”

“For… (Yawn)…what?”

“Gardening, we just use it all for food between all of the family it’s been a boon for us last year.”

“I nod, food is money.”

She nods. “Someday I’ll add to it and I’ll have a house and things.”

“Not a castle?”

“Pfft…what would I do with a castle? No, just some land and gardens and some bit to farm and such and some horses and a place of my own.”

“Not content with living with family?”

“Not at all, we’re too many and between my siblings and my cousins I’m already an Aunt fourteen times over. The McKinnon compound is filled to the rafters with family and extended family.”

“Because of the trade?”

She nods and shifts to get comfortable. “Just like ship builders we have family that does all sorts of things for the battleknights, so we’ve all been in the same place. Even if some of us do other jobs the bulk of us are doing work in the family shops.”

“What’d you do before becoming a page?”

“Nothing, I was taken into being a page in my eighth year.”

“How’d that happen?”

She yawns… “I took my dad’s twenty ounce hammer to the castle gates and beat on the door every morning for close to a year yelling I want to page to the lady.”

“And you never got into trouble for it?”

“Lots but I kept coming back…she walked into the compound on that years longnight and drank mead with my grandfather and father and fasted with us.”

“Your lady?”

She rolls onto her side. “Aye…”

I sort of want to ask more, sort of not want to sleep but I’m falling away regardless.

……………….. My dreams thankfully aren’t storms or the attack but they’re me trying I imagine Nicole’s home, the throngs of relatives, the battleknight building shops…but also there’s the sick here…tending them, and laundry…and images…dream like things of me home but in a simple dress? But I’m reading books in Tedric’s collection…unfortunately it’s just dreaming.

But it wasn’t nightmares.

But I feel them still there lingering at my edges.

I wake up needing to go to the jakes and I slip out shivering in the dawn…it’s cooler here…still close to the mountains really but close to the sea too somewhat and the lake has that mist of the morning on it.

It’s a pretty village really.

I head off to use the jakes and still having this I can’t…is this real feelings going on. But sitting and letting go and peeing sitting down and wiping has a certain reality.

My heart hammers a little just standing there after wiping and the thoughts of what I’ve become…what I’ve lost…but what’s ahead…what I have to deal with and survive…it’s threatening to swamp me.

I move out from the jakes and head for the lake and I don’t know why but I pull off my boots and wade barefoot into the chilly water…just breathe and stare out into the grey the water starting to creep up my skirt and I just stand there getting a hold of myself.

I wade back and I take off my top and my shirt and then wade back into the water with just my panties on.

Cold not cool cold water and it’s actually just what I want though my breasts and my nipples ache at first and the tips harden…that makes me stop and look at them…cup them…barely a cupped hand, a sup of water.

But massaging them feels… “Stop that…gods, that’s the last thing you need to be dealing with right now.” But aside from the erotic it just feels good in soothing the aches they have.

“Swim…definitely swim.”

I sort of fall into a swimming stroke and there’s a raft out a bit of a ways and I swim out to it. It’s close to the middle and it’s a good place for it too it looks like it’s used for fishing from…well by the smell more than the look. There’s a laddered chair in the center too and a bell…it’s foggy right now but this would give a good look for the other side of the lake.

So a look out post on the water…good idea.

I push off and swim back but heading towards the town’s dock and when I get there I dive and flip and do another lap.

I know how to swim we have…had a reservoir home and my mother and her folk are all Eastlanders.

The Eastlands are like these parts only older and more settled. The eastern mountains are nowhere as huge as the western ones are and are filled with valleys and big passes and lead down to gentle hills and hundreds of lakes and rivers all leading down to the sea.

See they’re still not The Middle Kingdoms…but they were easy to settle. When The Great Fall happened and the fleets of the ancients had to land here on Titan the great ships of the stars had to land where they could and the Middleland plains was where they could do so most.

The Middlelands had been home to the ancestor colonists and they had farms and food and were already established while the other places of this world were not as much.

The War of The Fall saw the death of the ancient powers and the arrival of The Others through the “Gates” and the war between the others and those of The Dark Races had begun and waged for hundreds of years before the gates were destroyed one by one by The Great Alliance and the world was left in the early stages of what it is now.

But The Middle Kingdoms was and has been the most powerful and the oldest kingdoms of mankind event after the civil wars that caused mankind to leave and split and head it’s separate ways.

The Eastlands is one of those that left seeking their own power and fortunes long ago but they were not and still are not The Middle Kingdoms.

So…yes…father sort of married down.

I know it was an arranged marriage though but not why and not what Lyonnes got from it.

Those would have been secrets of the heir.

Mother’s house is the Noble House of Petrel, and they’re merchant nobles with power in the form of properties and wealth and trade more than anything that would be considered military.

Orchards and vineyards and cotton I think…And shipping, it’s been close to seven years since I was last there and I didn’t get all the reasons why my mother didn’t like going home but it was there.

I do remember there was a lot of ass kissing to us by our relatives there and they rarely came to visit us.

So perhaps bad blood there.

And very unlikely to help me get justice for home, aside from maybe funding but I have the feeling with such loans there’d be a steep price.

But the thoughts help, the cold helps…the swimming helps.

I knew warriors home, soldiers that would run, not march but run in the mornings my mother would do this ride out to the reservoir and swim whenever she could.

I know it’s a strange lake but practically being a lightning fish I’m none too worried.

But I do stop at the raft and grab the rope they have used to anchor it and pull myself down in the water after talking a deep breath.

It takes a moment but I touch the bottom here and there’s a chill over my feet and halfway to my knees as I’m in a light current but colder water and I arc one hand making a tendril of lightning between my pinky and my thumb.

Oh…

Okay it’s another world down here…sand a gravel bottom but big greenish boulders and from them lake weed sort of like tall forestly trees and then there’s fish…I don’t really know fish that much but I see spotted trouts and others and there’s a lot of then here doing fishy things and such but they’re schooling around me curious but wary of my light.

They break and dart in a panic as two otters break through their ranks and they swim around me looking and looking and checking me out just like a pair of curious dogs.

I even get nosed a little at my navel which makes me fight laughing under water but smile a lot.

I needed the smile and honestly it’s amazing…I’ve never seen anything like this before but I’m here in their world so they’re a whole lot less shy.

They stay only for a short time and I have to go up for air.

Dawn is just coming and I can see it outlining the mountains…the lake is steaming with the change in temperature and I’m right here in the water and it’s…it’s a freezing but nice scene.

Actually it’s an amazing scene.

I’m getting the shivers…I’m so much smaller now.

I take a breath again and I slip back down making more light but I dim it…not as bright and the circling fish are less scared and more curious and I reach out and focus…and I let loose some power.

It comes out like a wild thing like lightning does but still where I want it to go more or less and when it hits the schooling wall of fish it bursts? Well it’s what it looks like sort of like a ripple of energy in the water like the waves when you drop a copper in a wishing well.

Oh...okay…water and lightning have different reactions…and me making light didn’t do that…because it was still channeled back to me?

The ones in that ripple though go floating to the surface and I follow them. I break the water and start to toss them onto the raft and there’s some plenty large ones too since I was sort of able to aim for that.

I take a swim when I’m done to the wharf and grab a basket and swim back with it and the two otters are up on the rafts eating two of the fish and the whisker smile at me as I pull myself up.

“Yes, yes Master and Mistress Otter consider that a tax on me poaching in your domains.”

They don’t answer except to go back to eating only long enough to pause and watch me while they’re chewing a mouthful of fish.

I’m not used to this still and it’s very enjoyable really, it feels good to just smile for something simple.

And get even more of a grasp on myself and the powers granted to me.

I leave the raft and float-swim the basket back and carry it out of the water and there are people up and some are headed this way to do they’re chores or whatever and I’m getting looks.

I carry the basket over my breasts all the way to my clothes and I keep my back to them trying to not look embarrassed but I put on my slip and then my shirt and wring out the bottom of my skirt and then put my socks and boots back on.

My panties I’ll change at the tents.

Dammit that air is chilly.

And my hair seems to weigh more than I remember as a man…boy.

I can only imagine what’ll be said me coming out from the water naked no doubt or close enough to it with a forty pound basket of fish.

Oddly enough it seems almost “Sorceress” enough it makes me smile.

I head to the tent and Nicole is…well was sleeping and she cracks an eye.

“You’re up early.”

“I’ve been up an hour I think.”

“Why? We…that’s not enough sleep.”

“I feel fine actually.”

“Chrissy it’s not enough sleep.”

I look outside the tent at the sun. “I’ll nap later, seriously I don’t feel tired.”

She looks at me and grumbles. “Three hours is not enough for me but I’m too tired to argue with you…just be careful.”

“I will…you rest.”

She gives me a dubious look the she nods and I get changed into some of the other things the steading women had given me and I head in through the porch with my catch.

“Oh Blessed it’s lovely and toasty in here.” I just kind of smile as the heats starts to sink in.

The women there are looking at me surprised. “Wisdom? Is all well you just left?”

“It’s well enough how are the sick?”

“Still ill but the foul brew seems to have abated the coughs and the herbal tea some of the pain and such.”

“It’ll take time to take an effect. Does anyone here know how to cook fish?”

They look at me like I’m stupid.

I smile and blush. “I’m from the Middle Kingdoms the closest river with decent fish was a half days ride from where I lived. It wasn’t exactly standard fare.”

Actually it was costly when you took in the fact we sent riders for it whenever mother became homesick for something fishy. The locals it wasn’t costly but still we had to send for it.

I get several volunteers to cook it and I smile. “Can you give me a few minutes with the sick so I can see and make notes and then if you ladies would be so kind I would love to learn how to do all of this?”

I mean it too. One I don’t know how and two there are going to be social expectations of me as a woman now and I can’t avoid them…not without raising eyebrows. And it’s a common thing. I seen the Lady Blackhand do things like this…I mean she seemed to just do everything else that the common folk did.

And I don’t know why exactly but that’s important to me.

Alright I know why.

It’s that whole thing from yesterday.

What if I always have been her child?

I mean My Father and Mother will always be…

But if she was…and she died for me?

(Sigh.)

I really wish that I knew the truth.

Perhaps Nicole’s Lady Knight-Marshal will have answers for me, she knew Lady Blackhand apparently.

I get cloths and cleaning water and a jar of the potion-gin-medicine and have one of the girls follow me with a mug and some more of the willow-herb tea and I go and make my rounds and check on people.

It’s still more of the same but they smell cleaner and they take the spoonfuls when they can and everyone has that same reaction to it and then some tea even if sips of it and I wash some of the ones off that need it.

Sitting in sick sweat isn’t good and a gentle wash off keeps them cooler and even if they’re too sick to say it lifts their moods.

But I’m learning that there can be a thank you in a look of the eyes.

I pull some sheets from the worst and get the girl to get clean linens while I wash them off and put them back to bed.

Two children are dryer and seem less fevered, two children have messed themselves, and an old woman cough drools green goop up from her lungs and all over my arm.

I…

~It is what a man does for the least of his fellows that tells his worth more than his glories…~

Father said that to me and my brothers every time we balked at doing something we didn’t want to do because others did not.

By other’s I mean others of our stations and such.

It’s only been two? Three days and I’m seeing things that I’ve never seen about my life before.

Can loss change you that much that fast?

Once I’m done and I quickly jot down my notes about this care session I join the ladies back in the kitchens and we start cleaning and scaling and cooking fish.

I did need to learn, I had no idea that you had to scale fish before eating some of them or how to cut the bones free from this fish the call perch. I had no idea that in some fish you kept things…fish have livers, this I did not know, and that the egg sacks and the essence sacks are kept as well and you very lightly and delicately fry them in butter or bacon fat and when you’re done you get to eat them smeared on toasted bread.

We fill every frying pan with fish and we put some in the ovens to bake smeared with bacon fat lightly then salted and peppered and dusted with flour.

We cook all of it and we feed the littles first that are helping and we send them to call in people to feed as well and some of the fish flaked off carefully and a bit of onion and some milk to boil becomes a bit of a fish broth for our sick ones that can have it.

I bring a whole crispy roasted fish and some buttered bread and two large mugs of tea in to the tent for Nicole who is again awake as soon as I entered the tent.

Warriors and soldiers I guess it’s true they learn to sleep still awake it seems.

She sits up and I pass her the wooden plate and she smiles at me. “Thank you this looks good.”

“It has been I’m stuffed.”

“Well you’re thin as a bird Chrissy it wouldn’t take much.”

“When you’re working magic it does, I ate two of those and had some fried roe on bread besides that.”

“What on what?”

“Eggs and fish seed butter fried and smeared on bread.”

She makes a face. “That sounds disgusting.”

I shrug. “Actually it surprised me too but it was good, but I was starving.”

“They’re generous.”

“Actually I caught them.”

“You fish?”

“I…I shock them…” I shrug. “It works.”

She nods. “With half the town ill it’s needed too.”

I nod and sit and sip my tea. “I’m going to go house to house soon and see what’s what I heard coughing and such when we came here.”

She looks at me around mouthfuls. “You should rest.”

“I’m not tired…I’m serious Nicole those few hours, they seemed to have been enough. I don’t know if this is something with the magic or not. Honestly it’s a little strange since I really should be much more tired than this.”

“Was that something the sorceress done?”

“Honestly I don’t know, I didn’t have a whole lot of contact with her most of the time. I wasn’t exactly important enough.”

She nods and she passes me back her plate and chugs down her tea. It makes me smile a little crookedly.

“What?”

“You eat like a boy.”

“No…I eat like a soldier when I have need to.”

“We’re not exactly rushed.”

“I am I have to pee.”

I actually laugh as she gets up and we head out from the tent and she heads to the jakes and I take the fish head off her plate and eat it…well gnaw on it and such.

Mother ate the fish heads, the women here did too…I never even tried one until today but it just feels. Maybe a little closer to her? And they’re right they’re actually not that bad.

After that we gather things we need and get two of the girls to come with us and Nicole has the pots and jars and such we may need in a wheelbarrow and we start going from house to house. Some people seem fine, others are sick but not fevered and I’m getting that people don’t argue with a Wisdom when she tells them to take a spoonful of this.

The homes with the sick people that are in bed those we help as much as we’re needed but don’t push in on family helping family. But I do make sure there’s a certain level of clean and hygiene and that the family members aren’t running themselves down.

But some places we do little things, sweep a floor or scrub, get firewood and clean out ashes and several times I send the girls for more tea and more onion soup and I take and make notes of those that need help and things that should be done and seen too.

The…respect? The little offers of shared things like fine things they have stashed for a special occasion is humbling. I’ve learned shortbread is king here as biscuits go and all the older women have a tin and a jam they’ve mastered.

I’ve never had carrot jam or beetroot jam.

Or pumpkin pate? I’m not even sure what a pumpkin is but it was very buttery, and creamy yet it had southern spices.

And each house has a tea they make. I have never had so many cups in my life…or had to pee so much…smaller bladders and…such. Thankfully I’m not alone in this Nicole and Ellery and Lucy are all beset by this.

But there’s such pride in these little shows, this sharing and to have a Squire in one’s house and a Wisdom.

Better manners than a good half the people of “Good Breeding.” I’ve been to see with my parents.

And Nicole get manned by default?

It’s little things but the few men taking care, the old fellows laid up, they all offer her things beyond the tea and sweets. A puff of tabbac, or a hand-roll…spirits or beer….cheese.

That used to be me, my brothers and it’s very odd seeing that sort of thing being done with her.

I’ll say this she’s polite and she takes what’s given, talks like my brothers would. But she’d also speak to the women and compliment the recipes, the teas…talk about them and she’s apparently knowledgeable in knitting and patterns, rug hooking? And other womanly things.

Half the time I’m just listening because some of that’s like another language.

Then we’re off to the wall to talk to Hawk. Maybe I might not feel quite so lost and confused talking to her.

I climb the ladder and whistle getting her attention she’s talking with Taylor who’s back and there’s a handful of people with him. I look at the sun and it’s close to midday already.

They see me then Nicole who has another ladder up and they head over our way and there’s several older people with them and another woman with pants…well young woman like Jessa and Nicole in age and she’s carrying a oil-skin bag over her shoulder and she’s wearing a light canvas jacket and a corset.

From here I’m getting quite the look at a fine set of breasts.

I can’t help but look, I wasn’t changed that long ago.

And she’s pretty too, it that scary way…red headed…so many things said about a red headed person…especially a woman.

Blue eyes too…stunning blue even from here, long tumbly hair unbound.

Nicole cries out happily. “Megan! Is that you!”

“T’is y’clanker y’didn’t have enough on yer plate you sought this out did ye?”

“Aye’s well duty and honor!”

“Aye the honor of havin duty!”

They both laugh and I look at Nicole. “Friend of yours?”

“Yes, that’s Megan Patriquinn a friend from my page days.”

“Another Squire then?”

“Aye but she took service with Sir Alaan.”

I give her a black look. “And he’s…?”

She points as a man with a proper warhorse comes into view with a horse and a team following behind him and it looks very much like ours except there’s no Squire’s rig but mounted behind the driver is a large flag with a sword crossed with a scarlet cross.

You are only able to use a scarlet cross if you’re a sworn healer of some kind and that’s pretty much standard as far as I’ve ever seen or read about. I answer my own question. “A knight healer then.”

Nicole nods. “Knight Surgeon is his actual title and a good man.”

“I nod…it takes a special person to do that work.”

He rides closer and everything says he’s been doing what we have travel and patrol and helping. I can see the baskets and bundles of firewood. But the look of them says they came right from where ever to here and it was a long ride for people and horses.

And he keeps riding all the way to just shy of the gate and looks up at us.

He’s a very handsome man, and younger than I’d guess for a healer. Mid twenties, blonde hair blue eyes and in need of a shave for a few days. Armed he has a sword and several odd daggers and a belt axe….a coat of brigandine like Nicole wears and he looks at us and nods to her and he’s staring at me…?

“Wisdom Christiana, an honor and a privilege.”

“Privilege?”

“I knew your mother.”

I’m fighting the urge to be mad…I… “Do I look like her that much?”

“In most ways, though your age and mine were reversed when I knew her.”

“I thank you Sir for the compliment but I’m far from the same woman as she was.”

“Was..!?…I think I best come inside.”

“The sickness Sir?”

“I’ve guesses given what I’ve been treating.”

Oh…well I never considered we weren’t the only place. “And what are we facing Sir?”

“Scarlet Fever.”

I have heard of this and it is not the influenza…

He looks to the watchman. “Please open the gate.”

The watchman looks to me like I’m in charge. I nod to him. “Do it, we’ll need help.”

Sir Alaan’s wagon stops only as long as it took Taylor and the people with him to load up things they had and what Jessa had gotten and soon they’re rumbling through the gate and it slams shut as they lock us all in once more.

I get down from the ladder and that Megan helps me down those last rungs. She gives me a smile but shy and unsteady, that same look Jessa gives me sometimes, that sorceress look.

“Thank you Squire.”

So odd…female squires, having something done in knightly deference for being a woman…I wonder if it’s her, if she’s a sapphire like Hawk or the fact that I’m a wisdom?

I look to Sir Alaan and he slips off the horse with long ages of body memory and stretches and straightens then offers me his hand.

I shake and he looks like her was expecting?

Oh…I should have offered my hand like a lady.

But he’s shaking my hand like this pleases him and there’s a nice, very nice smile there….and I feel pretty small compared to him suddenly and my mouth is dry.

I look at him…. “I took notes until a real healer could get here.”

“Notes are good…you’ve done this before?”

“Only as extra hands with a little education Sir.”

“Alaan Lady Please, it’s not court or the battlefield.”

“Then Chrissy please.”

“Alright then but a shame.”

“A Shame?”

“I like Christiana, it’s not a name I have heard before.”

He’s smiling and I’m blushing…I’ve never had this kind of close attention like this before…never like this…ever.

I swallow hard and get the book from our wheelbarrow.

“Here are my notes.”

My blush fades as he takes the book suddenly serious and starts reading while pacing and walking the saddle off.

He finishes and looks at me. “This is very good, it’ll save us a lot of time since you’ve organized things so well.”

I blush again but it’s that…It’s that getting recognition blush when you’ve never been getting it…as the youngest son, a lot of my tasks were things needed doing. Nothing this big, not often.

And that Sir Alaan looks serious and that he’s not being charming or flattering means a lot.

But Scarlet Fever….I look at the village.

He says it before me. “We’re just getting started with this.”

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 7

Chapter 7

*Before…

“Then Chrissy please.”
“Alright then but a shame.”
“A Shame?”
“I like Christiana; it’s not a name I have heard before.”
He’s smiling and I’m blushing…I’ve never had this kind of close attention like this before…never like this…ever.
I swallow hard and get the book from our wheelbarrow.
“Here are my notes.”
My blush fades as he takes the book suddenly serious and starts reading while pacing and walking the saddle off.
He finishes and looks at me. “This is very good; it’ll save us a lot of time since you’ve organized things so well.”
I blush again but it’s that…It’s that getting recognition blush when you’ve never been getting it…as the youngest son; a lot of my tasks were things needed doing. Nothing this big, not often.
And that Sir Alaan looks serious and that he’s not being charming or flattering means a lot.
But Scarlet Fever….I look at the village.
He says it before me. “We’re just getting started with this.”

*And Now…

The words do leave me feeling…ill but not sick just that stomach dropping feeling.

I was thinking influenza, hoping it was something that could be fought but Scarlet Fever…I’m no healer by far but a lot of people have heard of such a thing and it is a killer and it’s a maimer.

People that get better from this if they don’t die don’t come out the same unless there’s something else involved…I heard that there was outbreaks in Valhalla.

That’s “The” Capital city of all cities here, well in the Middle Kingdoms and The Eastlands. It means heaven or something in some archaic language or something but it is home to High King Boen and the home to the might of the Middle kingdoms.

They’ve faced such things and have come through well from stories. But they have a lot that other places do not, including magisters and sorceresses.

We so do not have the luxury of those things here.

I walk with him as he’s reading and re-reading my notes and suddenly I feel like I’m being schooled again and we get to where we are camped and he looks around and he nods to Megan.

“Here will do, let’s keep all hands in easy reach.”

“Aye sir, what’s the first order?”

“Set up the alchemy tent first and the Wisdom and I will take a look at the patients in the flesh.”

Megan nods and she unharnesses the mules from the wagon that they have and Nicole takes them and leads them off to get stabled along with Sir Alaan’s horse it’s strange to see and not.

Both are Squires and I’d not have expected any less but both are women and that’s totally still new to me.

We head inside the main hall and he’s looking around and smelling.

He goes over and sticks his head over some of the pots and smells and reaches for a spoon from no one like old Tedric would when he needed something and I quickly place a spoon in his hand and he’s tasting everything including my fir-potion.

I shudder as he actually is swishing in in his mouth like he’s tasting a wine.

“Very decent, you’re first attempt?”

“Yes Sir Alaan, before all my other times was helping and mostly just stirring.”

“If there was one potion that I’d insist on someone learning it’s be this one.”

“And the second?”

“Infusion of poppy, but your willow bark tea is a very close third.”

“I wouldn’t dare the poppy even if I have it. Too strong and it can kill.”

“So can most medicines but I’ll show you what to do.”

“You will?”

“We may be here awhile Wisdom, and there will be times that it would be wise for you to know these things as well. Plus it’s not likely that you’d ever forget what was taught.”

“You know?”

He nods. “Your moth…your predecessor had an infallible memory as well as other gifts.”

“We will have to talk about them Sir, I and very keen to know more of things that she could do.”

“She didn’t raise you?”

“Nowhere near as much as she’d have liked Sir Alaan, she was a very busy and travelled woman.”

He actually has this bit of a pause and an emotional swallow?

“That she was…”

“But what she has taught me I paid close attention to.”

I’m saying that because there’s others nearby that can hear me and it might not go down too well that if they had thought that I’m as green as I am in all of this.

Sir Alaan nods and there’s a look there between us that he knows what I was saying without saying it.

We go from there into the main part of the hall and we go around and he’s doing things like checking on them like I was but looking at their tongue? No…

“Wisdom, see here the glands on the inside of the throat…the swelling and the color, not very good is it?”

“No, no it’s not.”

He’s showing me by asking my opinion on things, colors and smells and what some of those smells mean and other things. I’m actually paying close attention and he’s being very good about all of this too.

I’m well aware that he could make himself look grander by shaming me and that he could shame me for being a woman as well.

The gods know that home, well maybe not home per-say but back in The Middle Kingdoms that would be common enough.

We’re at that awhile and we even do some washing and some more dosing of a few that he thinks could use some more potion for now or willow bark tea.

Then we’re into the laundry room that we’ve set up and he’s checking things there and he looks at me with an approving smile.

“You’re washing everything and keeping things as clean as they can get with what we have.”

“It was just common sense Sir Alaan.”

“I’ve told you before just Alaan.”

“Sorry, I’m still in the habit.”

“You were a nun?”

“……………….” Oh…oh okay now I got that…. “No sir, and you owe me a copper.”

“A copper?” He looks surprised and slightly amused. There’s a smile that’s different than the other ones and it’s.

Lords of Light I have no idea…actually I do and that though is mind-spinning.

Nevertheless. “Yes, I charge a tax on bad puns sir and that was a bad pun.”

He actually blushes which is…

I’m not used to having someone at my advantage.

And this advantage would not have even happened if I was male.

So very scary and odd.

“I best watch my words or you’ll have me in the poor house.”

“You can earn those coppers back with foot rubs.”

“Done!”

I…

Oh my…what did I just get myself into?

And he’s pointing at one of the benches. “Please sit.”

I tuck my skirt and sit and then suddenly he’s kneeling and he takes my foot.

I’m covering my face with my hand and he’s slipping off my boot and then my sock.

The women there washing are watching intently…very intently.

Gods I’ll…we’ll be gossip for months.

Alaan actually dusts off my foot. “Sand?”

“I went swimming this morning.”

“Swimming, that’s a middling rare skill.”

“We had a reservoir.”

“Ah well that explains a lot.”

He takes my foot in both of his hands and he’s rubbing them but he’s massaging and pushing between bones and joints with his fingers and into the muscles and it feels so good. I mean he’s getting rid of pain and soreness that I just sort of didn’t know was there.

It’s like he’s taking out the last while on foot and all the stuff that I’ve done out and away from me and I’m leaning back.

“Oh…”

“Oh?”

“Oh blessed light this is nice.”

The women giggle and I’m blushing. “Sorry it’s my first foot rub thingy Alaan.”

“So I gather, there’s a lot of things that I’ve been learning about feet actually.”

“Oh…uhm…Dear gods why?”

“Healing is an art and a science and I’ve been trying to decipher an ancient text about this thing called reflexology.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s ancient Chaikanese.”

I’m sort of sitting up now. “The Silk Islanders?”

He nods. “I’ve never met any but Lady Tatiana has and she has the most amazing library.”

“So how do you read it?”

“With several codex books to decipher it and great difficulty.”

“Well…this is amazing…” And I’m blushing again.

“It’s fascinating actually talks about nerves but how they relate to things.”

“More for me to learn?”

He looks at me. “You could likely master it with your majik.”

“I could?”

“With your memory skills if you’re able to remember all the characters and what they mean you could master any language.” The way that he said it though…he was going to mention my “Mother.”

And he’s not the only one that’s seen the semblance between the two of us.

We look at each other for a moment and there’s kindness there.

I’m feeling it too.

I’m…well.

I’ve always been able to admit…at least to myself, before this that some men are handsome. It’s sort of something you need to know in noble circles. There’s a lot of vain people out there.

So handsome like this…in this body, kneeling and rubbing my feet and being nice…

I’m starting to feel my body…like it’s been doing when I’ve been seeing other women.

I slowly take a breath and pull my feet from his hands. “Thank you Alaan, that was…interesting.”

“For both of us Chrissy.”

I blush some then cough. “We have patients.”

He nods. “That we do. Come and I’ll introduce you to my Alchemy tent.”

He says that but he puts my socks back on and my boots making me blush and use my hand to cover my blushing face again while the women washing clothes are laughing at me.

“You’re a bad man Alaan. You’re doing this on purpose.”

He offers his hand. “Maybe.” He’s smiling.

Just what was my mother to him?

We head outside to where Nicole and Megan are setting things up and there’s this strange looking frame. It’s like a house with four walls and a peaked roof even with the heavy canvas being run though the metal pipe frame like curtains on a rod and there’s snaps for the rest.

“This is interesting, Dwarven?”

“No, we learned this from some of the Southlanders.”

I nod. “Their traders do have elaborate tents but I’ve never seen one being constructed.”

“Well they’re tents are more than tents they’re like homes down there sometimes and they denote class and rank and wealth and many things.”

“You’ve seen a lot of them?”

“I was in the Southern realm of Laifa for a year studying.”

“Studying?”

“Consumption…there is a temple hospice there that does amazing work and taking advantage of the dry desert air. Plus there were swords and horses to learn about.”

“Studying southern sword?”

“Best way to fight something is to learn about it.”

“In war and sickness.”

He nods. “I’m still fighting for lives.”

We actually help them and there’s more metal bars that have built in clamps that we clamp in place and tighten and at first I’m a little lost until I see it comes with shelves that have half circle bits that fit to the bars and then we hold them in place with more pipes to the sides and front and tension keeping them in place.

Then there’s the floor and then there’s put together tables and these really stunning machines…spinning things called centrifuges and a magnifier with these glass boxes of lenses to insert in with things he calls slides and there’s a veritable fortune in glasswares that take my breath away and that’s not all just the hard stuff then there’s chests and chests of things in vials and jars all snuggly secured in custom cut for each container layers of cork.

I take a breath and sit in the folding chair as Megan’s getting tea on for us all and I stare at everything.

“This is all amazing; there’s so much it must have cost a fortune.”

He nods. “It did, thankfully the order is well funded.”

“Order which one?”

“I’m a member of the Order of the Dove.”

“Dove? I’ve never heard of it.” No one home would make such an order with such a poetically unmanly animal.

He nods. “It’s local, well Westlands based and we’re small but we have good banking.”

“If there’s money to be made I’m surprised more knights haven’t joined.”

“You have to really want this.”

I look at this…there’s no silks or fancy things this is all for medicine, for healing and the only way that you’d be part of this wouldn’t be for the money.

The tea smells amazing it’s that rare black and orange tea that mother coveted and that we had at every breakfast together on Godsday before temple.

Megan sets out the tea service and it’s lovely things.

“These are dwarven.” Alaan says.

“They’re enchanting.” I take my cup and add some milk and a lump of sugar and stir in everything really evenly.

We all do the same and sip…and there’s that collective sigh. It’s a very good thing this tea. “The cup’s heavier than I thought.”

“It’s metal, enamel ware with a fired glass finish. It’s really durable for travel and fine enough for company.”

“Company’s important?”

Alaan nods looking surprised. “I’ve done as much good with a tea set as with my sword.”

Nicole nods. “In the Southlands if you don’t offer hospitality it’s considered offensive.”

Alaan nods again. “It’s the same with a lot of cultures, though there’s a complete thing with coffee and tea and things you serve for what down in the Southlands.”

“I’m not that well-traveled yet I’m afraid.”

“Well I wasn’t either but that changed.”

“Changed?”

“Plague, The green plague came to my town. Those that lived watched everything we had burn when the Lord Dempsey put the town to the torch.”

I nod, I can see that, fire was and often is the weapon of choice for that back then…still likely in many places.

“Dempsey… Byron Dempsey?” I’ve heard the name before.

He nods.

“Father said that he caused the plague.”

Alaan tilts his head.

I accept another cuppa from Megan as I continue. “We heard, most have heard of Dempsey’s folly.”

“Folly?”

“Bad plumbing, bad lordship of things that should have made sense, the water was fouled and he rode the people till things broke.”

Alaan looks at me. “My family came here with Lady Tatiana when her caravan was returning from the south. I never heard much of the court gossip back there.”

“It wasn’t so much even gossip as my father and some of his friends talking about what went wrong.”

“Do you know what happened there since?”

“Lord Dempsey sold all his lands to who I don’t know but he’s a city lord now in Valhalla.”

There’s a look of frustration on Alaan’s face.

I try and remember and conversations come back between my father and some of his circle of nobles and lords and such he’d go hunting with. The lodge was a small old keep actually from way back a big square thing four stories high with a windmill for the water and a barracks and a few other things.

I remember the nights we’d be there eating what was hunted and there was lots of drinking even me so young had many cups there. My first spirits there poured by those men, my first horrible bout with ale. I don’t mind ale but I had my first sick lesson there…that comes flooding back too in my searching through my memories.

Ah…Yes Lord Dempsey…They were talking about him not making proper septics…on not paying the coppers to the masons to build it proper and then there was the way he was with his folk…taxes on taxes on taxes with him in the western foothills he had mines and mines and those that needed work…got the mines, those that couldn’t pay taxes went to his mines.

Skimped on everything but himself… Married and remarried…hung a wife for “infidelity” my father was a fair man so something was amiss when he’d refer to someone as that stupid bastard with consistency.

I look at Alaan. “Was your family in mining?”

He nods. “We were nobles…well father a knight and we had a small claim to a seam of coal in our lands. Not that I was there much. We lived in Greylocke Township like most people until things got worse and worse. Then we like the other survivors had nowhere else to live and were forced from the lands because we were plague tainted.”

He finishes his tea. “Diseases, plagues, the causes of them and injury see far too many homeless and worse it’s why I became a surgeon.”

“Not a knight?” There’s just a way he said that.

“That came later, turns out a healer needs to defend himself and others.”

Megan nods. “True that, it’s what appened wit my family.”

I finish my tea and help her with the things until waved off. “What happened?” I ask.

“We had a bout of influenza an w’were too ill t’do much defendin so we lost most of our livelihood and stuff from raiders.”

“Raiders, not afraid of the sickness?”

“Y’don’t get too exposed stealing sheep an cattle and such or cutting grain by night or stealing crops.”

I shake my head. “I’m sorry.”

“Doan be, we lived, it t’was hard going until Sir Alaan showed up with some others and they made us hale ‘n whole and stayed t’help with thing we didn’ta have.”

I look at Nicole who nods. “Exactly why we do what we’ve been doing too. All that goodwill we’ve been doing it means a lot when it comes to those in need when we come asking for help or donations.”

I smile and nod again. “I am getting that more and more, and I really want to meet this Lady Tatiana.”

There’s smiles al around and they’re that sort of cheerful that reminds me that I should be careful of what I wish for.

We take a few minutes to get organized and then we’re back to doing rounds and it’s actually been hours since and we’re doing more things like taking slides from the sputum, blood, the rashes. I’ve never done slides before and it’s an experience doing that and using the tools and the glass and all of that while washing and dosing them with my potion and getting soup into them.

Two of the children get sick on me…so bathe fast twice and change clothes and then back to it. One of the men was having fever dreams and we had to hold him down while he was screaming about flames and damned goblins and it was really hard work to hold down a sweaty slippery man that was in a battle with ghosts.

Nicole was there pretty fast but it was quite a ride trying to keep him from acting out and hurting himself or others. I was tossed around and so was Megan and Alaan was struck in the face when an arm got loose. We learned too to get the restraints out, broad leather belts too wide to dig in.

I never knew just how exhausted you can get doing this sort of thing and then there was the poppy we doused him with and making sure he was going to be down for the night.

And then we’re heating water…or I am, more laundry…Nicole goddesses bless her with all that battleknighter squire muscle did so much laundry that she was wet half the day.

I think I boiled twenty two or twenty tree tubs of water today.

It’s nearly dark by the time we stop and Megan and the ladies had done cooking.

Scalloped potatoes, scalloped turnips both a sliced root vet thing baked in milk and butter. More fried fish, and the ever present wild greens. We’re using milk that’s not being used because people are sick and the cows need milking still. Megan’s skilled enough to make butter which I know little about but Alaan and her are talking of making Yogre?

“Yogre?”

Alaan covers his mouth and choke laughs. “No yogurt….with a t.”

“Oh…well what is yogurt?”

“It’s a sort of liquidy milk cheese food that is eaten a lot in the south.”

Nicole. “It’s a lot like the milk version or soured cream. It’s good.”

“I’ll take your word on that.”

They laugh but I’m a little iffy but it quickly becomes a thing once Alaan breaks out his own and we all have a taste. It’s like milk or cream but not and he served it with honey and it was good.

Apparently it’s a potent food made very cheaply.

And for a starter, the stuff needed to make it here he has some he keeps from the south apparently and it’s a child of a batch said to be fifty years old brought north from traders?

That I get; there are some very old dough starters that I learned of doing counts for the kitchens back home.

The rest of the evening is using the milk for yogurt and setting the right area up for them and the women here are doing their own cheese making with them showing off their cottage cheeses and Nicole even makes another cheese called Rykota that is like cheese if cheese was butter and is sweet even and my favorite.

It’s time to go to sleep again and Alaan and Megan are taking shifts with seeing to the patients and Nicole is staying up with Megan to catch up with things and really talk since they’ve known each other as pages.

Me…I do go to the tent after a fourth bath of the day to keep clean from the fever’s essence and I’m more than grateful for the softness and the sleep.

……………….. I dream but it’s more like a nightmare…Home but sickness is there and The Gorgon comes to put us down again and not just the keep was struck but like in Alaan’s tale everything is burning…villages, the township, the fields.

I see it all on fire as I’m in the sphere heading away from it all.

Then flashing back to seeing father…and the huge blade coming down…the explosion of blood.

So much power and force there was an explosion of blood.

I wake panting and hurting inside and I can’t hold it in and I curl around my pillow and cry myself to sleep.

……………….. The rest of my sleeping is quiet yet I still end up dreaming of that sky and the huge sphere of lightning. The part of her power of my power inside of me. I think I just sort of stared into it, into myself?

It really feels bad waking up feeling unsatisfied, with no more answers than what you had.

Nicole’s sleeping or was until I moved and she woke with her had close to her blade again. She looks at me. “You’re awake again.”

I nod fingering hair from my face. “Yes…sleep’s not coming that easy.”

She nods and opens her blanket. “My armor’s not too comfortable but you’re welcome for a snuggle.”

I look at her oddly.

She blushes. “Sorry Chris I forgot, you just sort of blend.”

I nod but then pull my legs up and wrap my arms around them which just makes me feel the changes even more. “I haven’t…I’m so not the same.”

“Well that’s obvious.”

I look over. “I still like women.”

She rolls more onto her side. “So? Jessa’s a sapphire there’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Nothing the thought of it, of women is as enticing s ever but it makes me feel other things than I’ve ever known.” I look at her. “It’s also I think this body likes men.”

“Your body?”

“Well I’ve never had these thoughts before this and then there’s Alaan.”

“He is rather yummy.”

I look at her. “I’m not sure…”

“Well for my tastes he certainly is, though he seems to like you.”

“Me?”

“I’d daresay your mother…uhm…the sorceress bedded him.”

“Oh…well…uhm.. she did have a reputation.”

Nicole nods. “She had many lovers from what I know.”

“Do you think I inherited that?”

“Maybe…but your body is a young woman’s and usually that responds to certain things but you’ve your own mind Chris so you’ve been attracted to women all of your life too.”

“What do I do?”

“I have no idea, but you want to be careful with men until you can get moon silvered.”

“Moon Silvered?”

“It’s a potion, from the dwarves and it keeps a woman from getting with child.”

“Oh…I could not handle being a mother.”

“Nor I which is why I’ve had mine.”

“You’re not a virgin?”

“Heavens no, I like sex, and I like being free.”

“Free?”

“Children tie one down, I’m not ready for that, I’m not even a knight yet.”

I’m nodding and for once I’m really paying attention. I mean women talk of children and it’s different than when men do and for me it’s a lot…it’s exactly like Nicole.

Children are a possible consequence of being female, having them is something that irrevocably changes you. There’s so much to having them even to being pregnant that hinders women compared to men.

And as far as I know and can tell that is the state that I’m in.

I look at Nicole. “So…”

“So…?”

“What’s sex like?”

She actually moves and sits up and she looks at me. “Sex…well it’s actually been a mixed thing for me…there are some men that will be inside you and they’ll just rut with you…or more like rut you it’s all about them getting off. They’re the worst ones and I really try to not land one of them.”

“Eeew…sounds…it sounds like just being used for a hole.”

“It’s all some men want, you can usually tell though most of the men like that tend to see women as not too much anyways or think far, far too much of themselves.”

I’m nodding and there’s a smile. “I know some of those, there’s this list now compliling in my head of people that I know.”

She tilts her head. “Now you see have an advantage.”

“Advantage?”

“You were a man, you know how they think.”

“And…that’s an advantage?”

“Well yes, I mean guys are so alien to us you know.”

I nod. “Well to be honest women are a complete mystery to us as well or they sort of were.”

“Were?”

“Let’s just say that I’m getting to see a bit more of the perspective.”

“And that is?”

“Well people are people but I’m seeing a whole other side of strengths and vulnerabilities. Though to be honest the whole rest of it is a mystery still.”

“The rest of it?”

“The effeminate things the being pretty and all that side of things I am scared of it all.”

“Good, welcome to being a girl.”

“How…? What?”

“We’re just as mystified by it sometimes too. Some of us strive for it in a way to be and some of us cling to those things as our only means of empowerment but others like me…I’d look like a clown if I tried to put on face.”

I look at her. “I never really thought about that.”

“Men don’t but there’s a lot of women that don’t fit the idea of women or of their stations as women.”

I nod. “It’s the same for men I think too I mean I sort of never thought a lot about it other than knowing I was the third son and that I would not be like my brothers.”

She nods and she looks at me a little.

“It’s not all bad.”

“What?”

“Sex with men.”

“Oh…” I’m blushing again.

“There’s something to be said when it’s right, when he’s strong and he’s considerate and he can keep going past when you have your bliss moment.”

“What’s that like?”

“Honestly it’s amazing but at the same time it’s different for most people…for me it’s like there’s this build up inside until it feels so good that it almost hurts like this powerful sweet tension and then when I find my bliss it breaks like a dam giving way and the rush of feelings goes from my core to my brain in moments and then comes rushing out well you know from whence.”

Gods and goddesses the way she’s talking about that and the ways that her eyes shine I’m still with no idea what exactly she’s talking about but I’m getting aroused…that warm sort of ache and that feeling in my nethers and the powerful little good ache starting in my breasts.

“Wow…it’s sort of the same for men but it’s…kind of explosive…fast…leaves you breathless for a few seconds.”

She raises an eyebrow.

I hold up and hand and move it suggestively.

We both end up laughing.

I giggle a little and my laugh is really sort of higher pitched than I thought…?

My face must have had this expression on it because Nicole bursts out laughing again and then she does thing hand gesture with her two middle fingers and it takes me a few moments before I get what she’s doing and I…I never… “Women do that!?”

Which makes her howl with laughter and I’m laughing and I’m blushing and then…well of course I’m looking at my own hand and I’m trying to do the same gesture to figure it out which makes her fall over on her side and she’s laughing so hard she has tears. And then I get firsthand knowledge excusing the pun with about hands but…I’m getting why women so often excuse themselves while being merry.

Which hits us both but we’re chuckling about it at the jakes and when we come back Alaan is looking at us his head peering out of his tent which makes us laugh.

I mean there’s no real reason to laugh but he was sort of the topic that led to this current topic and he gets this look on his face while watching us that I know really well.

It looks a lot different and much stranger on this side of that.

It’s the ‘Are they talking about me?’ look.

We actually head back to the tent and Nicole looks at me. “You’ll figure this all out Chrissy.”

I sigh. “I really hope so, it’s…there’s just so much that I don’t know and I think that I need to every time that I turn this around and around in my head.”

She hugs me and I lean into it and it’s not like sexual, it’s two friends only in my old world men didn’t’t do that, not unless you were like brothers or as close as it comes. It’s nice to have it be okay to hugs and just be able to lean on someone.

Nicer than I thought it could be.

Nicole looks at me after it. “Why don’t you come down and like I said snuggle with me, maybe the company will help you get some sleep.”

I’m not really tired like last time and feel good body wise but honestly I want the comfort. I’m not sure if it’s a womanhood thing catching up my mind or my feeling to my body but I want this.

I nod. “Okay that sounds good.”

We settle into the bed rolls and the blankets and Nicole actually has my back up against her and she’s definitely pretty solid with her things on and her muscles and everything and she slips an arm around me and I close my eyes and try to sleep.

I’ll be honest it does help…it doesn’t’t really make me sleep but I do close my eyes and just lay there feeling her weight against me and her breathing.

It’s very restful and I do sort of drift out of it for an hour or so.

I slowly and carefully get up trying again not to wake Nicole but it’s no good, she’s looking at me but not saying anything and I kiss her cheek and slip out into the morning.

This time I take a towel with me and fresh clothes then I get a large basket from the dock and again I strip down to my underpants. I head out again to the watch post raft that’s still unmanned because there’s just no one to watch it and I set the basket up on the raft and I start to do my morning swimming.

It’s cold out and it’s got that misty fog coming off the water again and it’s just me and the odd bird or two waking up to the day and I do my laps back and forth. I think that I’ll do this for as long as we’re here.

Goddesses and gods it really helps so much.

Honestly it’s just this really nice mixture of the cold and the exercise and once my arms are tired I retire to the raft and I rest for a while. I stay in the water since it’s right now water than the air is and I’m joined by my two sleek and cute companions.

One moment I’m alone and the next minute they’re a few feet away bobbing in the water and they’re looking at me.

Actually they’re looking at me expectantly.

I smile. “Very well then Mistress and Master Otter shall I go and fetch your breakfasts then?”

One of them sneezes and the other one is doing that whisker smile.

I make my way down again the same way as before and they follow me and there’s a bit of that playfulness as the zoom through the water around me and then they zip off again.

I do my light trick and I wait until it attracts the attention of the fish.

I take some time to let them get close and there’s a lot of fish here, some are very large and I watch some of them sort of circling me and it could be sort of scary but it’s oddly not.

Okay…I find some good sized fish rainbow trout I think and I unleash another bolt of lightning.

Oh…

Okay…the fact that it blooms out like an energy version of a dandelion puff is sort of amazing.

And it’s kind of sort of worth it.

I mean having this….power.

But there’s this something here…something that stirs when I take it all in that sort of makes a strange sort of sense, sort of wonder.

I break the surface gasping for air and blowing water out of my face and tread water over to the raft before hanging onto it and then getting the basket.

I’m glad that I got the bigger one and I fill it with fish and I burst out laughing when the otters are coming to me playing fetch the fish. They bring them right to my hand just like a dog and I think that they’re just as smart I think.

They follow me all the way to the shore as well.

I stop and look at them. “Very well thank you for your help Master and Mistress and might I suggest the trout or maybe the bass.” I offer each to them like a wine bottle that the table master would do home.

They take both. I laugh. “Lushes the pair of you.”

I get the basket and I head to my clothes and again there’s the very early few risers looking my way and I smile at them and blush and then get to my towel and my clothes.

And Alaan’s awake too and though he’s further off he’s staring and watching me.

I set down the fish basket and turn my back and start getting dried off then dressed and I look over my shoulder a few times…and I’m still getting dressed and there’s still eyes on me.

Still his.

And I’m not sure how to feel about this?

I’m not aroused, but I’m very, very aware of being a woman now…the differences…being seen but so blatantly seen.

I don’t know what this is…but…

I am so being watched as I swap out my panties once I have my skirt back on.

Yes, oh yes I’m blushing pretty hard but I…I have to own this right? I’m the daughter of the sorceress right?

She was…I mean there were rumors right?

Father and her…and Alaan and her?

I pick up the basket and I head over to the hall and there’s some talking and whispers from the people that were watching and I hear.

“Talks t’the animals.”

“Charmed the fish.”

“Magic swimming in that cold.”

“Heard her laugh comin over the water this mornin.”

“See her offer up the fish…that’s respect for the animals I tell ye.”

It all sort of drifts off as I get further away and I see Alaan looking at me.

He’s closer now and he’s doing that head tilt thing and I bite my lips and then smile.

“Good morning.” I say and I’m aiming for pleasant.

“I…uhm…yes…you look chilled.” He looks…he looks like he’s aroused and uncomfortably so. And he’s standing behind the door to his tent partway…but like Nicole said I know the distractedness he’s having.

“Pleasantly so actually it makes the kitchens enjoyable.”

“I…I bow to your experience. Would you like some tea?”

“I would like some tea and so would the other ladies too I think.”

Yes I’m getting him to brew some of that good tea for me and all of the ladies.

He blushes. “Of course I should have offered it before this.”

“Likely so but if you maybe bring it along as well as some other things that may do us all well in the kitchen we can have a nice and maybe moral lifting breakfast togethers.”

He smiles. “I will morale is important. Thank you for your foresight Chrissy it seems like another of your gifts.”

“You’re welcome and if you’d excuse me I have some fish to clean and get ready.”

He does a little bow sort of nod and I head inside a bit of a smile going. It’s so strange the way that things just have been going between him and me. Before it would have been me a lot quieter and self-conscious because of his rank but this strange thing with me being like this?

Maybe it’s me or maybe it’s him reacting to me or both or the three things when you add in my powers but he seems sort of charmingly off balance and that’s sort of a lot easier to take.

Admittedly I’m curious too…I’m young, this body is young I’m a young woman of marriable age and that is making itself know sometimes to myself.

And then there’s the fact that he’s from here and people from here seem a lot less…bound by the same rules of men and women home so that I think is helping things too with me.

I don’t know what I’d do if I was like this and still back home.

Well I’d likely be hunted down and killed by now but there’s also the way that women get treated too. We might not be the southlands like Jessa has told me of but there are plenty of places that are not Lyonnes.

The ladies are glad to see me and there’s some fussing over my catch and soon we’re scaling and cleaning and doing things with the fish and some of the fish parts and I take time to make more Willow bark tea and more of my fir/sap and balsam potion and Jessa has made another delivery of essentials for us and hunting and there’s other things too.

Megan’s there doing her nursing duties and keeping records and she’s been their ward all night I think and we help each other with the heavy lifting and such and washing down some of the fevered ones and getting them dosed with the medicines and some with liqueur of poppy and it’s a good hours work non-stop before we’re done and then we’re washing up in hot as we can stand soap and water after a vinegar cloth wipe down.

I take a few minutes to get all the water that the men have brought us to the boil and get the washing tubs for the cloths and clothes literally boiling so they can stew clean while we are eating.

Alaan is there freshly cleaned up himself and I can smell his tea being brewed and such and other things being made and cooked and I help out as much as I can without being in the way at this point.

We make room at the tables and we take time to make good with our hairs and we invite people that are up sending word as things are cooking and we set up the spaces we do have with a nice blanket that passes for a table linen and we start to feed people.

It’s still sort of rationed but not… there are preserves out and there is bread with flours from our store that Nicole and I had on our wagons and some of what they had here and some of what was in Alaan’s stores and the ladies make loaves and they’re fresh and good…then there’s the fish…I filled the larder again so to speak with those and some are fried and some are set aside to be baked later in the day and there’s pork fat for frying and buttering the breads and then some real butter too and lots of farmer’s cheese and cottage cheese and greens…this time of year there are always greens I’m finding but we have a few other things too but we have it all with the fine tea and the sugar that Alaan brought and we feed all that come to our tables and I send runners for some of the homestuck to see if we can bring them something.

I’m having my tea and building a basket for those that are getting things delivered and Alaan looks at me as he’s reading the notes from last night and we eat as we’re doing other things.

I’m getting more partial to bread with white farmers cheese only and a dollop of greens with some vinegar….or a slice of sour apple as Alaan has it. I eat a fried fish steak or two as I’m doing it and then I’m ready and Alaan gets his healers kit and… “I’ll come with you; I need to see them too.”

I nod. “I’m still getting to know some of them but it’s a good idea to make the rounds.”

……………….. It’s a good set of rounds. The people are happy to see me and they’re very much the same way as they were yesterday with Nicole but with Sir Alaan as well and he’s doctoring to them as we’re there checking on their fever and checking with the family members too.

There is still that thing with the men and I talk to the women folk about the breakfast and the food and I make tea myself for them and set out little plates of the food that I brought and serve and such to them.

A few cases Alaan is treating more than a few maladies at each visit and such and he’s even mixed a few medicines and unguents right there for them to use and even applied a few things…if it hurts and he can get them to tell him of them then he’s doing what he can or taking note of what he needs to make and bring to them tomorrow.

I’m helping too…taking notes or measuring out what he needs as he’s mixing with like the next ingredient since I can read the markings on the glasswares and I’m learning, I’m smelling and watching and tasting when he offers.

Breakfast took us close to two bells before lunch to do with the visits and I head to the ladders and watch things outside for a while with the people that came to help camped nearby but not too nearby and I can see the fields getting tended to and the gardens and the bairns.

Taylor comes over washing his hands with a cloth getting blood off of them and I can see that there’s some smoking and drying things set up in the camp.

“Morning Chrissy how’s things inside.”

“Still fairly bad, right now I think we just got here enough that people are fighting a holding action with this.”

He shakes his head. “Sir Alaan hasn’t fixed things up yet?”

“It’s not as easy as that.”

“Never is, but he has a good reputation.”

“He’s a good man, kind, generous.”

He tilts his head and looks at me. “Christiana are you telling me that you’re feeling something for this fella?”

“Yes, I might be but it’s not going to go anywhere like that Taylor but I’ve never had my Moon Silver yet so that’s not something that I’m going to be chancing.”

“I could fetch you some it’s fair likely that Jessa has some in her bags.”

“No!...I’m not ready for that either!”

“Just funning, just funning be careful Chrissy you and Nicole both.” He looks very serious too and he looks concerned.

“Are you concerned for us?” I’m sort of teasing.

“Aye! Damned straight I am you two behind those walls with that scarlet fever running amok and me here just playing cook’s monkey while everyone else is doing things that are dangerous.”

“Hey! You’re riding herd over all of the people out here and making sure things are organized and everything and you’re the advanced guard too don’t you forget…don’t be frustrated Taylor what we’re doing we couldn’t be doing without you and Jessa and the others helping out.”

He smiles but he blushes too and he’s doing the foot rubbing the dirt back and forth stuff.

He looks up at me and he walks a bit closer to me and he looks at me. “Lyonnes was a kingdom wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was we’re nowhere near the largest….”

“You talk like real royal blood Chrissy…” he give me this sort of bow and nod. “Thank you princess.”

Oh…

Oh my…I’m seriously blushing and so is he and he’s heading away and I look around to see if we were overheard but while we were getting watched by a few at the wall I don’t think they caught the last part which is why he came closer…”

I’m still sort of hiding out who I am as per my title until we get to this Lady Tatiana’s place and since I’m not likely to be able to hide the magic or my look I’m sort of using being Aurora’s daughter as hiding in plain sight.

But what he just said…it says a lot. It’s like he just said that I’m a lot like my parents, like the father and mother that raised me.

I head down the ladder and then I walk and make my way back to our area and I end up boiling more water and even more water and then I go looking for Alaan in his Alchemy tent where they say he’s been holed up since he’s gotten back.

He’s looking through the enhancing device of his and there’s so much stuff going in vials and beakers and some things are brewing and filtering and there are some books out and recipes?

He’s looking at the blood we took and making notes and I watch as he takes a dropper of something and he adds it to it and he looks and watches.

“Antibiotic serum sixty one, one drop and results are….negative…”

I cough and he looks up. “Morning.”

I smile. “Closer to mid-day now at this point.”

“Really…dammit.”

“Need some help?”

“Frankly yes, Megan usually does this but she’s sleeping after her nursing shift.”

“I think I saw Nicole with Cedric and they were getting ready to do some training and such.”

He nods. “We’re short on manpower and in case something happens it’s always something of a good idea to have some training down and a place for a specific place too.”

“Well since they’re working on that I can help you.”

“Would you mind clerking?”

I smile. “No not at all it’s something that I actually know what I’m doing with for once.”

“Well I’m glad for the help; here I’ll show you what I’m doing.”

Alaan shows me what he’s doing with the samples of blood and the other things and that he’s trying different type of cures to fight the things that are called cells that invade and make you sick and he shows me then through the magnifier…it’s really…

It’s as much on another world to me as magic seems to be. And then he’s showing me the notes that he’s made so far and the measures and the different formulas he’s trying and the ingredients which range from herbs and fungi to minerals and all these other things that he’s made distillations of and how they work on the cells that we’re trying to defeat or if they don’t work.

We have another pot of tea made with him making it while I go through his notes and I make up pages with boxes and the items that we’re using long the side and then the amounts or measures along the other side so I have to just mark the item and then the quantity that we use and with a list of the items it’s just a matter of looking at the sheet for the permutations that we do.

Alaan’s looking at it. “Where did you learn that?”

“I’ve seen it before in books and father used something like this in his ledgers to keep track of things.”

“Things?”

“Expenses but prices too for varying goods in the markets.”

“Sounds odd, not that I’m a merchant.”

I just nod…. I’m not really venturing too much right now about my other family, my real family because I’m sure that he’s trustworthy I’m not sure if I want things overheard. Right now he thinks that I’m Lady Blackhand’s daughter and right now I’m not sure if that’s really not true.

Father can be a merchant for now.

……………….. It’s amazing how fast time moves when you’re working and especially when you’re learning and I am learning Alaan shows me what he’s doing so much of the time it’s becoming easier and easier to get it.

The machines use little cranks and wheels to work or in the magnifier a tiny little illumination pot with something called a battery…that requires minerals and chemicals and such inside on it and metals to hold power in place…we wire it to these two points on the outside of the light pot and the slides go over that with two pinning metal bits so it can be viewed.

He has three of these batteries and I’ve been feeling the dead one out as I’ve been marking things down.

I’m not really clear on how it works but I am able to charge it up just by holding it and thinking about it. Alaan looks at me when I pass it to him. “Fully charged.”

“Thank you.”

“No thank you I’ve never seen one before.”

“Well they’re hard to make and fairly hard to come by wind makers are more effective or water makers but you’ll see them here and there in some places especially the bigger cities with guilds in it like The Illuminators.”

“I thought that The Emps killed all such things when they attacked?”

He’s chuckling and starts the kettle going again. “There was no attack by The Emps.”

“Yes there was it’s what destroyed so much of the old ways.”

“Well sort of, it’s ancient history but The Emps were a kind accident.”

“Accident?”

“Yes do you know about The Great Fall?”

“Some it’s when the ancients fell.”

“But do you know why?”

“The great War of the Fall.”

“But do you know what happened with that?”

“No, not really…I mean it was when magic started.”

Alaan nods and he makes us some more tea and we take a break and we go outside and take seats to get some air and I take a few sips as he continues.

“In the far ancient past mankind had left Mother earth after becoming very great and powerful and all of the earth was covered in kingdoms and nations and there was far too little left so they marshalled their powers and they journeyed out to the stars.”

“This was still a vastly hard thing even for them and it took much time and only the very biggest of engines could make them go fast enough that man did not die of old age for the distances were vast.”

“So they built these great ships and in these ships they had smaller ships that were to make and bring people to places to create colonies. This went on for ages on ages until the way of doing these trips changed…the greatest empires of Mother Earth owned the great ships and all were beholden to them and with that came dissent and the desire to be free and rebellions.”

“Now along with this rebellion came innovation…some of the greatest minds and mages of the ancient banded together and they created The Gates.”

I nod this is more detail than I’ve ever heard about it but it sounds still all familiar.

“The Gates allowed ships that could not before travel to other stars that had gates without the huge ships of the old empires and this led to a huge war. The colonies being colonies fought but they lost so much of the time and them it happened.”

I look at him. “What happened?”

“The old empires seized the gates and they stole the workings of them and they used them more and more and instead of being beholden to the old empires we were subjugated to them again and the war ended.”

“But what they had was not enough and soon the use of gates became common…common enough that gates were place on worlds themselves in smaller forms and that’s when it happened.”

I’m exasperated now. “What happened?”

“The Great Fall…from what the great scholars has made guesses at and what the other races have shared is the use of so many gates wore thing the fabric between our universe and that of the other races…”

“Another universe…?” I’m a little awed.

“Yes and we discovered them and they discovered us and they had gates too…ones made with their magic’s and both sets of gates locked up and they would not shut off.”

I take a gulp of tea. “Then what?”

“All-out war…we feared their magic’s that were so much more powerful than ours and they feared out technologies and this war raged and raged for who knows how long in between our universes until untold numbers were killed on both sides and that’s when it all ended.”

“All ended?”

“There were villains or heroes depending on what you believe that gathered an army and one from both sides and the destroyed the gates…when each gate was destroyed it released huge amounts of power and magic and it created a wave of energy called what we call The Emps…it was your mother that explained to me it means electromagnetic pulse…or E, Em, Pee…”

“So…that’s why everything came to a stop…that there were gates on ships and on the planets and it all went off and killed all the devices that used energy?”

He nods. “That’s why we lost so much, everything was stored on those things and everything the ancients knew used power to do things even the most basic things to us or the miraculous but without power none worked and the fleets here used up all their reserves or hard fuel just to find places to land or die.”

“Oh…so you learned all of this how?”

“Books and libraries and such but also talking to the other races and some of their scholars that I’ve met.”

“Sounds fascinating actually.”

He finishes his tea and he looks at me. “It is and scary to know just how much we’ve lost and how huge the world really is.”

I nod and take our cups. “Trust me I know the feeling of the world and all you know seeming so small Alaan. I’m still getting over the shock of it.”

I head back inside the alchemy tent to get back to work.

And I’m wiping tears from my face with the back of my hand.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 8

Chapter 8

*Before…

He finishes his tea and he looks at me. “It is and scary to know just how much we’ve lost and how huge the world really is.”

I nod and take our cups. “Trust me I know the feeling of the world and all you know seeming so small Alaan. I’m still getting over the shock of it.”

I head back inside the alchemy tent to get back to work.

And I’m wiping tears from my face with the back of my hand.

*And Now…

I feel silly feeling so upset.

I mean I do and I don’t because my word has been so completely turned upside down and inside out and everything and yet learning about all of the stuff Alaan had just told me and seeing sort of just how small and tiny my part in everything just is.

I shouldn’t be crying I should be fascinated and trying to take it in but instead I’m still wiping tears off of my face and trying to get over that something huge did happen to me and it wasn’t a small thing, it wasn’t not really and yet it sort of feels like after the stuff that he said that it is small and trivial…I sort of feel erased?

He’s cleaning up the things for tea and he’s giving me my space which I want and I don’t. I have no idea if this is a clingy girl thing or if it’s just a me feeling so young and lost thing but part of me wishes that he didn’t and that he.

But do I?

Do I want him to be here being the man and stuff and holding me?

The thought of being held is pretty enticing and it’s really at war with my own self-image and being held by a man.

It’s not that I am getting jarred with the image of this new me every time that I see myself and shocked by it or anything but it’s just that when I get busy and into doing things there’s time my mind is doing more processing that my mind and body and I forget that I’m a girl now.

And now there’s times that I literally cannot but feel my new self because there’s such a difference between the way men feel and women feel and I’m not able to keep things in like I could easily do as Christian.

I mean I am trying to get a hold of those inner reins but it’s just not happening because the stuff going on if pretty strong or I’m weaker.

(Sniffle.) Wait why did I think that?

I mean I know why I thought that just now and it’s the way that I was raised. I mean there’s always talk about the fairer sex and how women are so delicate and that they’re weaker than men are but with everything that I’ve seen.

They do endless chores and they work really hard and just because it’s not the same work it doesn’t mean that it’s less hard or worth less.

And then there’s Lady Blackhand, Jessa, Nicole…doing things that are amazing for anyone not counting their sex and the so called theories about it.

(Sniffle.) I rub at my eyes…and I can feel this sort of grim, ironic smile on my face. I mean really it took getting offended at the way that I was thinking and feeling to get me through this emotional rough patch.

They’re not weaker and can’t deal with their emotions to sock them away like a hoard of bad coppers. Hells no, they’re harder to deal with because they’re so strong.

I feel actually better for feeling and thinking this out.

I take a breath and wipe the last tears away and I straighten my clothes, they don’t need it but at the same time it’s a familiar enough of a gesture that it helps settle me even more.

I take another breath and I go and get some more slides ready from the samples and start to get all the documentation for then and I start without Alaan, I know what we’re using and I know the varying measures and the counts and such and I go through slide after slide and copy the notes down as I am doing things.

I get into what I am doing and there is this sort of very scholarly meets sorceress thing to this I feel like I’m delving into lore and mysteries and that somehow I’m doing a lot more towards being called a Wisdom than just making teas and heating water.

There’s nothing wrong with either by the way those are things that any place with any kind of healing needs to have and to be able to do so in a timely way is a great skill as well.

I guess I was sort of feeling like there’s a lot more riding on these smaller shoulders than just doing that.

She died for that.

I’m starting the second batch of slides or second batch for me when I notice Alaan take the records book and the quill and he’s looking over my notes and he gives me this nod and a look at the equipment that says go ahead or continue and I do.

It’s a few minutes before I speak. “I’m sorry that I got upset with you, it really wasn’t what you said.”

“Well that’s actually a relief, I wasn’t sure and I didn’t want to make things worse so…”

“So you gave me space because like a typical man when a woman is upset and you don’t know why the first thought is retreat.”

I’m trying for teasing humor I’m not mad at him.

“I…uhm…exactly…”

I give him a bit of a smile. “It’s alright, I’m not so good at when to comfort or console people myself.”

He nods. “Not all are but it’s one of the more attractive things about you Chrissy.”

I look at him surprised at the attractive bit. “Oh?”

“You’re very straight forward, plain spoken and that’s a very good thing.”

I…well I think that I wasn’t really thinking about how I acted and such. I mean my sisters wouldn’t have acted like me I don’t think. Mother maybe but that’s a whole other generation. But Jessa and Nicole aren’t coy.

I swallow a bit of dry surprised mouth. “Home they’d call me brazen or worse.”

Alaan smiles and comes over. “Some places in these realms might do the same but I’m not a courtier really it’s why I’m out here…or one of the many reasons. I certainly don’t mind a woman that speaks her mind.”

“That’s quite different but nice to hear.”

“Good, I like that you liked hearing it.”

“Sir Alaan…” I do another swallow… there is something going on inside my woman chemistry for certain. It doesn’t hurt I think the regular part of my likes the man as well. “We…we should get back to work.”

Okay it was very satisfying to see him do the blink and swallow something back too. Both as a woman and as just not being alone in the whole attraction and restraint thing.

A few moments of deep breaths and we’re back to it though we do trade places and as much as I am pretty sure of what I’m doing I do just feel more comfortable with Alaan being the one doing the research while I take the notes.

Then another sort of break while we go and help with the nursing duties and taking care of the sick and giving the others a break and me heating more and more water and Alaan opens his stash of good tea for us and the patients too.

That helps too I think, doing that and having such a thing…keeping peoples spirits up is a good thing.

Cedric surprises us in the evening with a boar that Hawk had shot and sent over to us. Now I’ve had many a boar feast with my father in the hunting lodge and some in various noble functions but this was.

The fur was taken off of it with a lye bath and then it was washed and scraped until they thinned it’s skin to being raw with a wire brush and he had peeled the skin back to the spine and applied this mixture of dried herbs and apple jelly and then they stuffed the body with root vegetables like carrots and turnips and parsnips and yellow beet roots and more apples and then filled the rest with barley and more herbs and onions and the like and then sewed the beast shut and covered the skin with a salt rub and they cooked it all day while we were working over a low bed of coals with corn in the husks and squash just set upon the grating.

If I ever get to where I am in life such a thing will grace my tables too. That cooked down fat with the jelly and those juices in the meat and getting soaked up by the barley and the skin…It was thinned just so it was like having young suckling pig done in the fanciest of tables.

Again taking plates around to the homestuck and this giving the women in the main hall a break was a good thing.

A good thing for the men too…they made a real project out of this and without being able to leave the village and doing their usual work and feeling helpless with the sickness it was a good thing to take their minds off of what is going on.

I got a few looks though at my appetite, it was a big beast and enough for all and I had two good plates and licked my fingers off the whole time.

That’s something that I was still working on, the eating with my fingers thing. I know manners are important but there are just times that eating like the common folk just makes so much sense.

You done munch on crispy skinned boar/pork with a fork.

Nicole and “I by default.” contribute as well by sharing our stash of salt and pepper.

I get that it’s a treat but I still am trying to get that it’s a treat. Both were common and just ask to pass at my father’s table.

We take a break after the meal too actually and I watch and doze by the fire we have for our camp by our wagon and tents as Alaan is instructing Megan and Nicole in drill with the sword and then the two go at it with practice blades.

I don’t usually sleep well since the transformation happened but with a warm fire and comfy canvas folding chair and a blanket and a very full belly I doze through things mostly only waking when the crack of hickory on hickory gets really close or loud.

I wake when I feel a nudge and Alaan is passing me a practice blade myself. I blink and look at it and him.

“I hear you know some blade work.”

“I barely know the sword, just some things I’ve picked up so far.”

“Well there’s no reason to not take some training time in.”

I take it and it’s got a fair heft to it and I get up out of the chair and he has a blade passed to him by Megan and we spar… the facing off and the salute and then the touch of blades and then I’m doing as I would at home and going through my forms as I attack him and he counters.

Forms are sequences of moves they are things that have been chosen to work from experience and put together in a string of what works best but as with my training you go through the forms that you know at the start of each session and your master will respond and then afterward you get instruction.

It doesn’t take long before I’m done going through all that I know and start to repeat it…I’m good at like three basic ones and was learning a forth when all this happened.

We stop and he looks at me eyebrow raised. “You’ve had formal training.”

“I’ve had some.”

“You know a few forms and you know the ritual manners and what to do with a trainer that’s more than most.”

“Well I wasn’t always a sorceress.”

“So it seems ready for more?”

I nod. “Honestly yes, I wasn’t that sure before but this, this is helping.”

And it is too, there’s something very much of myself in doing this the old me and taking it into this newly changed version of me and there is always something therapeutic about bashing about with someone even if it’s very purposeful bashing.
We start up again and he’s calling out switches in the forms for me to try and to use as we’re going at it and he’s fighting back now, which is making it harder of course but it’s something that I need, and I mean really need since I’m under no illusion that there are likely still people out there that wish me harm.

I need to get better and I need to get my defensive skills a lot sharper.

Though the damned skirts are not helping me with my footwork at all. And the few stumbles I make get Megan and Nicole who are both watching now grinning as I stumble some or break stride.

I spare them a look. “Now I see why you wear trousers.”

Megan laughs. “Time an a place fer ever tin Chrissy.”

Nicole… “They teach a sword play in dresses at the fortress Chrissy, you might like that.”

Me… “I’ll admit it’d be useful to know, you never know when someone’s going to come at you in the middle of the night.”

Alaan… “Agreed.” And he picks up his pace with his offense until I’m really having trouble and that’s not too hard to do and in about nine moves my sword in flying away from me and Megan deftly catches it.

And then she comes over to me and she offers it over her arm to me and Alaan nods to her and she takes his place and we go at it and she’s even harder with me than he was…he’s a knight and a teacher but she’s a squire and she might also have a lot of this woman proving herself thing with other women thing going on.

And she’s pretty serious or she has this serious facer on and I’m getting I think my first dose of this and it’s sort of scarier than I thought because she’s so intense and I I’m having a hard time getting to where I can really swing on her.

I mean she’s a girl.

And it’s been a thing that has been drummed into me all of my life and that’s… ~You never strike a girl Chris. ~

It’s really throwing me off and the fact that I think that it dawned on Nicole finally saved me from more bruises.

She steps in with her practice blade and blocks Megan’s next blow. “I think the Wisdom is a bit too worn out for this.”

Megan looks at her and then me. “Aye or it could be her growing up out there in The Middle Kingdoms.” She looks past Nicole to me. “Ye never have sparred with another girl have ye?”

I shake my head. “No, no I haven’t and it’s definitely throwing me.”

“Doona let it, women are just as dangerous as the men folk are we’re jus a bit more up front t’is all here ‘bouts.”

I nod. “I’ll have to work on that.”

She grins and I pass her the practice blade. “Aye an I’ll be doin that while we’re still here from dial t’dial.”

“Dial to…dial…?”

Alaan looks at me. “From time to time.”

“Oh…”

He claps me on the shoulder and leaves with her and they head to the main hall and I look at Nicole. “Sorry I just couldn’t.”

“You’re going to have to learn and you’re going to have to get used to a whole difference in manners and attitudes towards you and not just from the men.”

“You mean like Jessa?”

She looks at me. “No…I mean women don’t act like they do to men around other women or with other women. There’s no cutting of slack because you’re a girl when you’re with girls. You might get the whole not from around here benefit for a little while but that won’t last. Especially if they see you as a threat.”

“A threat to what?”

“Attention, a man’s favor, being capable…. You’re in the same boat as you were before around the lads only you’re going to be judged on your looks and manners and all the frippery that comes with court sometimes or in a courtly land even. Women have to fight for power and respect in all sorts of ways from who they marry to what they do for a job and the competition is there just as much and we still have to prove ourselves in all sort of way with men too.”

“I thought here was different?”

Nicole nods and she sits and takes out her pipe. It’s a smooth slender ceramic affair and stuff and she goes through the whole thing with it and soon I smell some apple brandied tabbac. “It is different here than a lot of other realms, we’ve a lot of culture from our dwarven neighbors and then there’s Lady Tatiana but we’re just one place…and there are even others here that cling to some of the old thinking and such. In another kingdom do you think that some lord would ever let me touch a Squire’sknight let alone be one?”

“No…I’m pretty sure not.”

She takes a draw and exhales and she passes it to me and I take a draw and hold it a little before letting it out and getting a head rush from it. I’m not an often smoker it’s more of a social thing and such so it usually will hit me with that first puff.

“You need to learn to face these things now Chrissy because it’s what you got to look forward too and once we’re…”

I pass the pipe back and nod. “Once I’m there you might not be around to watch over me.”

She nods but it’s a sober one. “Exactly.”

We share that pipe before we head into the main hall again and I take some tea around one final time and some wash water and herbs and s basin and wash some of them and then I get to heating water for those of us that are getting baths and some of the clothes washing.

Sigh…there is always washing.

I get hugged in thanks though by one of the women of the town. “Thank you Wisdom.”

“No, no it’s okay Rose.”

“It’s a lot of work and we notice, we see it when you look tired and when you’re moving like my Nan.”

“I don’t move like your Nan.”

She gives me another squeeze. “No she moves faster sometimes.”

I grin a little and honestly I don’t feel that bad it’s just maybe I look like I need the break? I’m a little scared of it but at the same time it is nice to get the water and the tubs all heated and then get to go and take a bath.

I could never get used to the idea that some people reverted to not-washing but I had seen it both here and in places at home and even with some of the people we knew in the nobility.

But bathing has had the same appeal to me as I’ve heard my sisters and some women say it as and such like there was this emphasis on bath like one would say sweets.

But clean is always good.

There’s more than one tub so there’s that and there’s talking and sighs and such and I watch closely and to see some more of what to do and try not to get caught up in the differences that I now have.

It might sound funny and I’ve never mentioned this to Nicole but there was this impression of a hole where there is a well hole, I had thought that it wasn’t y’know watertight…

Well that’s sort of the thoughts of one that has never really known that much about a woman’s bits. And it’s very much more there in my head of how I’m sitting, that my bottom is actually naturally designed to keep my lady slipper off the flat surface.

That’s a local term I hear the women call their woman’s place and I think I like it, it’s nowhere near as crude as some of the things that I’ve heard.

It’s also still a thing for me to get used to the sight of naked women. It’s also just sort of a think to take in culturally that there are all kinds of body types and shapes and pretty is fine but it’s rare and it’s passing and most women are not the type that are the svelte goddesses that one see’s in art and talked of in stories and poems.

I’ll admit I was sort of biased too with my eye to women being sort of bent toward watching women and seeing them through a man’s eye that the bodies no longer in clothes…they sort of become less a thing…the extra weight, the bits here and there that aren’t perfect become less and less who these women are the more that I talk with them and that it’s much more eyes and faces and smiles.

And the more you are familiar with people the more attractive everything is about them I’m finding. No not more attractive just less give a damn about the stuff that doesn’t really make her up as a person.

There’s a woman thing too here going on like a communal thing too with a bit of rose hip and cherry tea that is sweetened a little and still flowery and tart and they pass around a small crock with a soft soap that is flower scented and such and it’s better and a lot less harsh than the lye based utility soap that they have here. There’s even these soft scrubs made of yarn that are sort of shaggy and they soap up wonderfully and it feels really good to get that clean and to just stop for a while and be social.

I actually try and be social by telling them about the places I’ve been too since being here and the news that we’ve taken with the post.

A lot of the talk of course is of the wedding and who knows who and what the couple looks like from one of the women who knows the family involved and that leads to the clothes and such.

It sounds like such a stereotype but clothes and who matches and to how people will look there at the wedding and it being mentioned for post alone means it’s a to-do event and getting seen well dressed and looking fit and fine shows you off, it say things about you and your family and village and things to other families and potential matches.

Apparently there is a tradition of finding someone one’s self at a wedding and the celebrations afterwards.

And then there’s talk of the parties, and food of course and the dancing and I’m sort of used to these things being things…though most noble meals aren’t with dancing and parties it was much more like music if you had it and guests which were more about realm business than anything else and then we men would retire to fathers study to smoke and have drinks and talk some more business mixed with some added amounts of storytelling.

I’m not sure what the women did after but I’m suspecting something like this or close to it minus the bath of course.

But it’s nice, it’s nice to talk and learn and ask opinions and ask why someone would favor something over another with clothes and such and when I’m asked I usually will close my eyes and recall things with my magic sometimes as the idea comes to me about the things I’ve seen from home.

There is so much you have seen that you remember and yet don’t. That pretty blonde woman from Turner’s Dale with the basket of flowers to sell. I remember her loosely because she was pretty and fetching…I remember she had a yellow dress on. And that’s it. With my powers that memory becomes clear and frozen in my mind’s eye and I can take my time to see everything that she was wearing and that the dress was a dusky yellow but someone had embroidered brown eyed daisies along the edges.

And I can do that with everything, even conversations and such. I’m bewildered by the power that this actually has huge implications. I wonder how she used it? It could take me all my life to even use this with the potential that it has.

But right now it’s making me seem like I fit in and at the same time my questions are passed off as both me being from The Middle Kingdoms and the daughter of Lady Blackhand seems to allow me some passing amount of strange.

The best part, the absolute best part of this woman thing and this communal thing is that we are washing each other’s backs. I’ve had servants and they don’t help the lads bathe when you wash your back you have a brush for the hard to reach places and my sisters…well I have no idea if they did this but everyone sort of helps another and yes I’m blushing at doing it for others at first but to have someone wash you back feels amazing, almost as good as feeling someone wash your hair and comb and brush it.

Apparently I had a few tangles that Rose used a comb while helping me wash my hair. And it’s the same for me helping her and I watch the others when it comes to braiding it take it in and learn that.

We get done and I heat water for the others and then I end up doing a final check on the patients and some more willow bark teas for some and I clean off again and I head to the tent with Nicole and I and head to bed.

My dreams are the same at first, home and what happened and then it sort of shifts into remembering things from home, people and places and women and they’re things but the things that they say and do and talk about.

My eldest sister Angeline… haughty with people so much and serious too very much the lady in all the book sense of the word she never had much time for me always shooing me off but I’m remembering her much my mother’s second and she was good at table conversation.

My Older sister Gracia… a real noble girl and sweet and playful but mean and spiteful and demanding some times, we really didn’t get along with how she just seemed to want better, deserved better and was so very spoiled.

Remembering her like this though she was but she was also popular with an entourage of the rich merchants daughters and the daughters of visiting nobles coming to stay and she was even worse with me remembering her like this…I think it’s my powers going through my dreams.

It’s not like she was a bad person or a horrible person it’s just that she was spoiled, that’s the way it goes sometimes she never really had any of Angeline’s responsibilities and…and…some of it was allowed?

I flash mentally in on a few dinners with guests and such and see looks between mother and father or my brothers and a few others in my father’s close court as Gracia was chattering away at what I thought was babble but it was gossip. Like who was doing this and why who was where because their parents were doing this and lord so and so was doing this but those were only the bitty details around her and her friends.

That just boggled my brains that they were using her ways to their advantage.

Then there’s….Elizabetha my little sister and the baby of the family who was a mix of the other two. She wanted to have “friends” like Gracia did and she was quiet and thoughtful like Angeline was but not as sober.

But there are lot of cues from all three of them and mother and my memories from the other women in the keep.

And then there’s memories of my training home and my brothers and sparing with then and father and then there’s tonight and today and all of those things blurring with everything that has gone on.

I wake up and it’s early again and I get up and try not to wake Nicole who stretches and sits up.

“Morning.” She says.

“Morning, you can go back to sleep.”

“No, things to do today I’ve been making a list since yesterday.”

“A list?”

She nods and she stretches and gets to her feet shuffling herself around and adjusting things since she always sleeps in her gear or partial gear and she resettles it and she tightens her boost and gets the rest of her kit ready for the day.

“There’s all those little things that get put off because there’s always so much other stuff to be doing like the woods and the fields and such so I’m going to keep some of the people busy by all of us together getting together to do these things.”

“Oh…good idea.”

“I’m going to be fair about it too all the jobs are going to be a lottery and we’ll draw lots to see the order in which some of these things get done.”

I nod. “Nice, very diplomatic.”

She draws herself up proudly. “I’m a Squire I’m trained for these things.”

I look at her as we leave the tent. “I’ve been meaning to ask, you’re Lady Tatiana’s squire so how aren’t you with her?”

“I’m one of her squires she has more than one and she has faith in us and she does that so the people will have faith in us and not to see us in the Fortress feasting and being layabouts.”

“That is not how it’s done home, but maybe it should be. There’d be a lot better flow between the people and their rulers if more did that.”

She grins. “Aye that’s the truth, the thing is she’s a very hands on and hands off ruler.”

“Hands off ruler?”

“We vote, and have councils for things and we elect people to represent parts of the city and such and towns have mayors that can come as reps and the guilds and we do the protecting and serving the people and she arbitrates the disputes when she has to in court with people to make their case and such.”

“So she does but doesn’t rule…that’s almost blasphemous.”

She grins and so do I but there’s a part of me not kidding, this is stuff from ages past and it’s something that a lot of places will simply no accept, not even some of the not so bad places.

I can see there’s something in her though, something that knows she’s defending something important.

I head off to the water. “I’m going to take my swim, I see you later.”

Nicole nods and I head to the water ready with one of the blankets and dry clothes and I head down to the water and it’s not so misty this morning and the otters are there waiting for me whiskers all a ruffled and waddling back and forth and they start chuffing at me impatiently.

I laugh. “Yes, yes master and mistress otter breakfast will be coming along shortly. What are the pair of you going to do when I move on from here?”

I get a look from them like I’m dense from them both and it makes me laugh. It was so spot on or something.

It’s the usual cold chilly morning swim but a little nicer since the sun is out good and strong today which is actually the first day that it’s been this nice since landing here. I mean it’s mostly fog in the mornings and cloudy with some sun a lot of the time but this is the first all blue sky morning that I’ve seen and it’s nice.

I swim and do my laps in first or do them until I feel like I need a break and the otters both follow me as I do and they race ahead of me and around me and when I am hanging onto the raft there’s one on either side of me looking at me almost in my face with this almost…well? Look in their eyes; it’s that semi-frustrated almost begging dog look.

“Okay, okay time for your breakfast.” I take a breath and I head down following the anchor and I start making my little bit of light in the arc to attract the fish….and a frog that seems very bewildered at whatever is in his lake.

I’ve been doing this a lot but it’s needed with so many people that do feed others by doing things like fishing knocked down from the fever and it’s the only reason why I’m doing this. I’m not sure if using magic to hunt is a thing anyone should do.

But smoking and putting down some of the catches should help with their stores for winter as they’re losing time in the seasons.

I do my thing and just to get ahead I fill the basket I brought and I go for three more this morning it’ll give some of the others things to do and really I’ve seen nets so I can’t be taking more fish than they are.

I finally get those filled and the otters taking their chosen fish and I get dressed and dried off then head to where some people are doing the smoking and such and I get smiles and nods. “Wisdom.” It’s said like lady and I smile and ask if I can help them. “Nay lady, we’re good just keep tending to our loves be enough.”

I nod and head off and I bring some fish to the kitchen and let them do justice to the fish and I wash up with the cleansing solutions and check on my patients. I’m getting to know names too without using magic and then I head to see Alaan while breakfast is cooking.

He’s there with Megan and they’re in brewing and mixing mode while doing more tests with the blood and the place stinks but not, it’s a very medicinal and anti-septic smell but one I’m getting used to.

“Can I spot anyone?”

He says without looking up from the magnifier. “No but you can take the notes while Megan mixes, we’re getting close, it’s fighting some of the fever but we need to get the right combinations and measures down.”

“Really! That’s excellent!”

He looks at me and we all share a very excited set of smiles and we get to work. It’s still work and it’s still methodical it’s still hard work doing all the figuring and brewing the right things. I mean one ingredient needs to be made and remade and done in so many different strengths and combinations it’s staggering really and having twenty odd things all together…but having progress, and more and more little by little as certain combinations are doing far more than others.

We break only for meals and for nursing and to give people lists of thing for Hawk and Taylor to gather for us. And lots and lots of tea, and breaking the sanctity of tea as well by letting it boil and steep and get strong enough to walk on to keep us going and awake.

You lose time like that, hours….lots of hours fly past and we start breaking into shifts with someone sleeping while we work and then switching off.

It was past supper and well into night with lanterns lit when Nicole stops by with more tea and this thing she made. It’s a flat bit of bread dough with the edges rolled up and an egg custard baked into it like the bread was the dish and a dollop of baked jam to finish it.

I ate four with the gusto of when you’re craving sweets and you don’t know that you’re craving sweets.
She looks at me. “You’re working all night?”

“Looks like it, we’re really getting somewhere with this.”

“Good but don’t push it. You don’t need getting sick either medicine or not.”

Alaan says around a mouthful of his own. “She won’t Chrissy is immune.”

I look at him having decided to reach for another custard bread. “What?”

We’re all looking at him.

He looks at us. “Your magic, the virus and things like it won’t survive your natural electrical field it was the same with your mother.”

I…

“It was!? You could’ve told me!” Yes I yelled this was something that I should have known, should have been told.

“No, you’d have tried to take on too many things.”

“I would no….” Nicole puts her hand over my mouth. “Yes you would have, you push yourself too hard as it is all the sleep you don’t get and the hot water for an army and nursing and cooking and all these other things. I know you have a sense of duty and I know that you have good reasons to not sleep but Sir Alaan is right you’d have pushed yourself too far.”

I… dammit…

But still….

I round on him and poke him in the chest with a finger. “You might have thought that you had a very good reason to not tell me this, but that’s not for you to say. You told me that you’d help me with the things that you knew about her. It’s not your place to say Alaan what I do with tat knowledge.”

“It was my medical opinion that you’d push yourself Christiana.”

His voice rises too.

“You’re not my knight master Alaan and I’m a reasonable woman wit a brain you could have just told me, we could have talked it out.”

“You’re barely out of girlhood, don’t start wearing slippers too big for your feet.”

“I’m damned well old enough to be wed and bred and how dare you sire it up to a woman about what a woman is!” I poke him a few more times in his chest and he looks at me and at Nicole and Megan and it’s definitely a three on one woman thing.

He throws his hands up. “Blood and ashes!” He stomps past us all stopping only to get his coat and sword belt and looks at us. “Women!” he glared at me as he said it like…like a dig and I give him the finger.

I’m shaking a little and Nicole is frowning. “I know he meant well but I think, I think you’re right it’s your decisions.”

Megan… “Aye…he’s a good man but he’s still got some of that whole making decisions without asking and over others heads thing.”

I look at her. “But you still Squire to him.”

“Aye he’s a good man, good enough not t’take advantage of me an good enuff t’do take advantage of me. That’s rare enuff now getting to getting men tithing past thousands of years of it’s jus so because they’re men that’s a hard thing t’get passed because it be invisible, hard t’see when it’s always such.”

I look at her. “Sapphire thinking?”

“Aye in part, but it’s also called feminism, it’s an ancient philosophy an such bout equality through the woman’s point of view.”

“Sounds so strange that it exists.”

“Aye it’s pretty much a lost thing in human culture an such but she has the books an such with ancient writings in it and she says equality must come from different points of view comin together. Lady Tatiana teaches it along with other things to us. It’s one of the reasons why I’m with Sir Alaan.”

Nicole nods. “Still teaching even when they’re knighted.”

I look out where he left and I take a breath. “I just don’t know where that came from with me, it’s not like I was raised with a lot of men centered over me things going on.”

Nicole looks at me. “Actually you were, we all were even Sir Alaan. It’s just that you got a dose of the invisible stuff to most people. He assumed he knew better and your heart and head rebelled against that so you just did…well…said the stuff you did.”

“It was just so…manner of factly like I didn’t have a say. It made me mad.”

Nicole nods. “It’s a pretty big thing and knowing is like changing it, it goes right to who’s jobs are what, who plays with what, does what…but it goes both ways.”

I look at her and Megan nods. “It does thet’s why we study more than just that. It’s a bad thing thet women folk are done fer in such a way but jus as many lads have no choices either. Like y’need see girls ‘n women conscripted, or punished with the hard labors in prisons and such forth…that’s why we look t’do, challenge ourselves t’be better it’s what the code be all about.”

I nod. “That’s not chivalry as I know it.”

Nicole… “It’s not chivalry, it’s the code it’s much more than chivalry used to be.”

I nod and look at them. “So what should I do?”

Nicole… “Go talk to him, it was a fight and one with cause but you can make peace with each other.”

“So…I go apologize?”

Megan… “Nay, talk…going with he said that first jus leads t’more attitudes both ways it’s not a contest of whose arse is smartin more over what was said.”

I set the custard bread down and square my clothes and nod and head out after him. It takes a few minutes to find him and he’s down near the lake in a less cleared spot swinging his sword at the bull rushes.

“I never really done something like that before Alaan.”

He jumps a little and misses a step and one foot goes in the water and he hops out shaking it off. “No, you’re right…I shouldn’t kept something that big from you. It was…patronizing to think I needed to protect you from yourself.”

“Yup.”

He looks at me and I smile and hook my hands behind my back. His face get’s that rueful smile going. “You’re really not going to cut me any slack are you?”

“Do you want me to?”

He smiles but shakes his head. “No, No I want you to call me out on my bullshit.”

I smile back. “I’ll try just…just remember I’m a person before a woman and I know my limits better than you do.”

He nods. I will try, and I’m sorry.”

“Good, and I’m sorry I poked you.”

He grins. “I enjoyed that part actually.”

“You did?”

“Yes…a lot….it was sort of fun…” He’s looking at me and even in the dark I can see him blushing.

Saying these things, him meaning the things that he said and just the fact that I am like this…and said all of that stuff and let loose a big ball of fear and stuff from inside of me. I was really sort of holding this whole expectation of being a woman to myself and the expectation included how others see and would, have been treating me.

And fears from home…what if this is forever? It’s all there churning away and building and it just came out in this sort of rush tonight.

But him being this kind of man, y’know trying when really in this sort of world he’d likely never have to.

The things he says.

The blush….dammit I’m definitely, definitely feeling this ache of attraction going on.

I offer my hand and he sheathes his sword and takes it and we smile at each other before I start just walking with him.

I’m not sure but I think he sighed in a bit of tension leaving good way.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 9

Chapter 9

*Before…

“Good, and I’m sorry I poked you. He grins. “I enjoyed that part actually.”

“You did?”

“Yes…a lot….it was sort of fun…” He’s looking at me and even in the dark I can see him blushing.

*And More…

The things he says. The blush….dammit I’m definitely, definitely feeling this ache of attraction going on. I offer my hand and he sheathes his sword and takes it and we smile at each other before I start just walking with him. I’m not sure but I think he sighed in a bit of tension leaving good way.

*And Now…

It’s a very, odd very strange, very oddly strange sensation really beyond the attraction and all the man to woman things and that’s holding hands. I don’t think I held hands with anyone other than my family and that’s when I was a young child and needed hands to hold.

So to do this now and with what had just sort of passed between us it’s…

My hand is really small. He has a lot of calluses I can feel then on my skin from all of his hard work and the weapons training and they feel so very big and tough like leather in places almost and his hand is very, very warm. I think I like it, I think I like doing this and he looks at me and I look back and I give him a smile and he gives me this shyish looking one back and that’s not fair. It’s not because I don’t know if a woman’s mind does things that differently as a man’s does but I’m not thinking like a man right now I’m thinking that he is very cute and he is an honorable and sweet man with desirable hands.

We walk along the bit of the lake front and through some of the out buildings and we don't say that much of anything really. It's just a bit of time for us to clear our heads and just sort of breathe. 

I look at Alaan as we are starting to make our way back to the alchemy tent.

"You knew my mother, you said as much. Can you please tell me about her?"

"I... I knew her years and years ago. I was just a squire then and she was this amazing and daunting woman. I had no idea that the night we met at the end of the siege of Basra was going to turn into what it did."

"What it did?"

"We'd been fighting in Basra and trying to stop the Lord there from expanding his own realm into those of allies and neighbors. He was a brutal man that wanted to silence all who opposed him and his ways. A slaver and a true bastard to all the women under his divine rule. He took the pass at Dragon's Fair and used black powers to blast apart the two peaks and close it to all that needed it. He conquered the land of Belle-Saini that held the pass for over five generations and slaughtered the entire family. He forced all trade that must pass through there to use a tunnel he built with slaves that was no better than a murder-hole used to rob merchants and traders at will...trade was dying, it was five hundred miles to go around so many had no choice but to use it. He took money, taxes, tariffs and slaves at will. We marched and fought and freed the people there and restored the best line that we could from the south to ensure peace and not instill a war by them thinking that we had created a rulership in our favor."

He stops and cuts off a stalk of rhubarb and chews on the sour stuff even offering me some and I wave it off pulling a face. I like it fine sweetened but not like that, just all sorts of no with that.

He looks at me and he blushes some. "I was partying with some of the other squires and knights and the local fighters that had rallied to us during the time. There was music and merriment and lots of wine and date liquor and palm beer and I was well into my cups."

I'm staring at him and it catches up to me. "You and her?"

"Yes, she was my very first ever."

"I'm not sure if I want to know this..."

He nods and stares at me. "Like I've said you favor her very much and it's such a powerful and wonderful memory too. She took a young boy and showed him things, taught me how to be with women in a way that I hadn't heard of from the talk of the others."

"Oh? I... I don't know what you are..."

My face is plenty red and I can feel it.

Alaan looks at me. "They were lessons that I've never regretted.”

I think I just discovered what a man's smoldering look is all about.

I can feel my heart beating very, very fast and there's a swelling in my small breasts and nipples of both anticipation and want.

It's an ache like nothing I've known and it's a good and scary feeling all at the same time. 

Gods I want to be touched, I want to touch him and I want things to happen and...I...I think I actually might want to bite him...in like a good way.

It's warring with the real me and being well aware of what sex is at least the mechanics of it and the fact that it would require me to stop being a virgin and that I do not have that stuff that Nicole had told me of to keep me from getting with child. That thought alone is more that sobering to me and helps me keep my head over all the want and need that's burning through my body. 

(Cough...) "Perhaps we should get back?"

He blinks like I interrupted his thoughts and he blushes the he nods. "Right...I'm sorry if what I said was upsetting Christiana. I am very much reminded of someone who has been a big influence on my life and her daughter is just as moving."

I... What do you say to something like that? I know this man enough to know that he isn't the type to use words like that to bed a woman just to bed a woman. 

Deep breath...

"Alaan you're a good man but this is something that I have to weigh very carefully. I'm not my mother and while you do things for my heart that I think I might share with her I am still my own woman. I really need to think on this a lot before I decide to bed with you and bite you."

Yes I said bite and it's a little bit of me getting a little bit of control back. And it's a little bit of me trying to be me.

I sort of need that. 

And there's this maybe some odd thing too...me maybe having this really strange connection with my mother because of this man. She was the first woman that he had slept with and that she did with him and now I'm here with him however many years later...

It's in my brain.

Him and her.

Him and I. 

I mean how could it not? Is this natural that I'm feeling this? This strange mix of curiosity and competition and wanting this very, very strange connection with her like this?

"I think I very much need a cup of tea. "

"I think a pot of tea might be just the thing that both of us are in need of."

It’s somehow gratifying to think that some of this whole thing has him at least as unsettled as I am feeling really.

We head into the tent and I get the water heating in the kettle and there’s a few looks, me at him and him at me and Megan at both of us. She purses her lips sort of in this sort of sideways smile sort of not way and I shrug and she nods and looks at him and he blushes.

Okay it’s still all sort of very awkward and sort of amusing in the fact that it’s awkward and then it also has this sort of in between him and myself joke thing or quality to it.

The tea definitely hit the spot and sort of seemed to settle my nerves and not soon after we all have the pot that we get back to work and I slip back into my documenting and charting duties as Alaan and Megan are going through the measures and concentrations.

The difference is that this time we’re seeing actual progress now with the solution’s reaction to the blood samples. Drop by drop and gram by gram we’re getting closer to seeing the medicine working more and more.

At another point Nicole comes in and tells us that nursing duties are being handled and that we’ve been told that just to keep working.

I think I hear at some point in the day while we’re working the sounds of hammers and mallets and saws being used and the sounds of workmen being busy but also getting invested in doing the things that they are doing.

It’s good really; it’s the sounds of life, of people trying.

We have supper brought to us in what seems not too long after that and that’s when we set things aside and go outside. I need to breathe and I think that the others did too since we’re rubbing at eyes and stretching and my arm from taking notes and being in the steady posture in a little sore and so is my back too from being bent over the log book for so long.

I see two newish thatched roofs and a shack that’s set up close to the water that looks…odd…it’s wide like twelve feet but only perhaps four feet from front to back and it has a peaked roof that looks very much like…well it looks like a gable roof but it makes the structure look like a treasure chest of sorts.

We sit at the table set up for us outside and Nicole is there looking freshly bathed and a little sun kissed not a burn but just a tinge of color there.

“That’s a very un-noble look.”

“Oh? Well I suppose where you’re from but talcum skinned isn’t so much a thing here.”

I smile and sit on the bench. “I think I got that part but back home you’d be all a scandal all the ladies of the realm would be all a twitter over the poor state of your complexion.”

I almost laugh at the ‘what the hell’ look on Megan’s face. “Fer true? What D’they do hide like vampires?”

I’m nodding and tearing at a roll that had just come out hot and I take the spoon of the fat with herbs and browned oniony bits in it and give it a smear and waiting a second or so as it melts and I take a bite.

It’s rough bread dark from the grain and the grind, chewy and dense and there’s the off little bit of hull and husk but I’m hungry and it’s good and before I’d have come here it was something that I’d have never eaten this kind of bread and drippin’s as they call it here.

“For true Megan, they have lotions to keep from getting a sunburn and to lessen it afterwards and sleeves done fancy and in drapes or with all sorts of frills and many ladies parasol during the brightest days and then there’s always hats and the scarves and the ribbons. Fair skin is the mark of privilege in the middle kingdoms.”

She’s shaking her head. “Here even with the nobles it’s a sign of being either sick or being lazy or being born of fair skin and ye’d burn right fast even though t’aint spared me none.”

She gestures at herself and her own completion and she does look like she’d burn easily.

“Or you’re like Chrissy and never sunburn.” Alaan says.

I look at him. “I’ve sunburned before.”

“Since your magic has started?”

“Uhm…” Well it hasn’t been that long but that’s not something I’m saying yet even with him.

“Lady Aurora told me that she didn’t sunburn because she had a somewhat more of a magical resistance to things like fire and the sun with all of the energies that flowed through her system.”

I blink, that’s something new but it sort of makes sense she was very fair and I’m that as well but I haven’t really felt the sting of the sun. I’m actually looking at my arm and I I’m not really as fair as she was but father blood mixed in too might be a factor.

“Well that’s more I didn’t know.” I look at him thoughtfully trying to think of things to ask him without going to the whole him sleeping with her thing. That’s interrupted by the ladies bringing supper and Nicole steps on my foot as Alaan gets up in their presence and I nearly did as well.

Force of habit.

It’s so strange to be on the other side of things and he’s quickly told to sit and “Noon a’that we’ve enuff comin an going wit out ye bouncing up and down like a five year old, we’ll take this time as payment in ad’vance and thank ye kindly though Sir for thinkin s’kindly of us an all.”

Okay…I’m stealing that in advance thing, I might need that as a woman now and I think that if I was around a lot of that it’d get tiresome. And I think that it’d still fall within good manners too.

Supper is soon brought with fish that’s been fried whole and meal crusted and there’s a large bowl of hot peas in the shells and they’re in drippings and green beans in the same way with vinegar over them and yellow beans in a dish with cooked chunks of turnip covered with mustard and then there’s another large bowl of wild greens and a platter of pickles and some of that farmers cheese they make in these parts.

I’ve never eaten this much green anything really and it makes sense that these plants are growing as far as I know in a decent year readily but there’s always wild greens stewed on the tables here. I suppose it’s only smart to eat what is edible while you can, but I don’t think that this has been even this much of a thing even home.

I might be hungry but I do like most of it and the turnip is new to me this way, I’ve never had a mustard on them before and this, well it has that vinegar hint and then the actual mustard flavor that blends into the sweet sort of musky flavor of the turnip and considering how well they keep. I mentally file this away as something that could be useful; you never know how or when something like this will be actually important especially in a really lean year.

There’s wild garlic in the green too which tells me that Taylor or Jessa harvested them and sent them over the wall and it adds a nice difference to things and I find myself doing like Alaan and putting some of the mustard on the fish and then some greens and eating it that way and he’s mimicking me as I do the drippin’s on the bread rolls and then some greens and then the farmer’s cheese.

Nicole asks about the testing and then we’re talking about that and the work that she and some of the men she’s organized and some of the things that she’s getting done and gotten done.
There’s actually dessert with a cracked wheat cake on a sweet custard and a sauce of wild berries and something sweet added to it like a jam or something. It’s absolutely amazing with a cup of this local bitter tea…I’m not sure the plants used but it’s a local brewed tea/tisane that’s bitter in a nice way and with something sweet it very nice.

I’m full and feeling quite spoiled and I have a second cup of the tea while the others are settling with their fullness and I make myself get up afterwards and take some of the dishes and clear the plates and take them into the main hall and heat water for the laundry and for the baths and I roll up my sleeves and start to help with the dishes.

I’m still getting a few looks at helping and it’s not as bad as it could be since there seems to be a difference between myself and Nicole and Megan who are squires and nobility and the fact that they see me as a Wisdom and more like someone to be respected for things that I know and can do than anything to do with rank.

And I’m helping because I want to not seem like I’m too good for things that everyone must do and besides my hands helping out are giving the women and helpers here at least some relief.

Nicole and Megan actually join me and the women object a little bit of course before we shoo them out of the kitchens and to their baths. I scrub and clean pots and pans and Megan cleans the hearth of ashes and sifts them out to get clean ashes for the soaps and other uses they have and the rest are put in the barrels for the jakes. Nicole takes flour and we use a copper strainer from the alchemy tent for a few minutes to make a finer flour from what they have and she cuts in some of ours from our wagon and she gets a large batch of bread dough made to raise and ready overnight for the morning.

I watch and learn too, I did not really know all the things that one needs to do to make bread and I learn about using a starter which apparently is a semi-precious thing really and the fact that we use a little sweetener to help feed it and we actually use some of this sweet preserving liquid from a jar of pears as liquid and sweet for the dough and we cover it with damp towels and let it do it’s business.

Then it’s our turn for the baths and once we’re done and out of them I head to the alchemy tent where Alaan has already bathed and Megan and I get back to work with him and our figuring while Nicole gathers her things and heads to where the men are at to start another round of drill with weapons and fighting skills.

Then a few hours later and some more blood samples and some nursing while we’re there and more note taking and we’re back at it taking turns to keep our minds and eyes fresh and I’m looking through the magnified as we start using the latest batch of solution.

And I see the fever in the blood start to die out even more.

“Alaan! Look it’s working!”

I move out of the way and he’s looking and them Megan and I are making more slides and we’re working on doses and then there’s this formula that has the amount of drops used in the slide to the amount of drops used in the slide and that with a lot of equations actually works out to how much solution that we use per pound of the patient.

It’s another hour and then there’s this pause…this just stopping and…

Alaan looks at us and there’s this smile and this light in his eyes there and he says. “We found it, we found the right stuff, we can beat this.”

Megan’s actually wiping away at some tears and so am I.

This, this feels better than the first time I rode a horse or was given my first sword.

Days and nights of being here and doing all of this and nursing people and so many things that I thought that I’d likely never do and now…and now we can help people.

A lot of people.

Alaan opens up a case and there are more needles and the glass tubes they fit to and he gets things ready and we triple check the results and we make very, very sure that the formula is written down and he makes a copy of it in a smaller book that he had in a pack and Megan makes her own copy as well.

She looks at me and smiles and she passes me a small thin leather-bound book. “I’ve an extrey ye kin have it and I’ll get another.”

I smile and I find a page to use as I want to write a few more things in the pages ahead of this of the things that I’ve learned and done so far.

“Thank you, this is an amazing gift Megan and an expensive one.”

“Aye t’is and remember that Chrissy ifinya please, it’s be a sweetness if ye did.” And she’s looking me in the eyes too and that’s when it sort of dawns on me that Megan is a sapphire and she’s…is she?

I mean I’m assuming that sapphires do sweet things for other girls just the same as young men would do for a woman.

“I will, I mean it.” I meet her eyes and there’s a thing there for sure but she blushes some and she returns to writing things down and I look at Alaan who missed the entire exchange and is still writing things down.

I think Old Tedric would approve of getting this down in a few places; knowledge like this should be preserved and shared.

I’m not sure what he’d say about the fact that apparently I have the interest of knight master and squire happening though.

I’m not sure of that I know what to say about that either.

We brew and strain and refine and we make more and more and we very carefully take the solution we have and the needles and very potent alcohol and a pot of water for me to boil and we go to the main hall.

It’s still a lot of work administering to them, and I learn more about finding veins and where to look for them and then it’s taking the needles and boiling them and then bathing them in the alcohol and then in the very early hours of the morning we are done and just waiting…and waiting and I see Nicole come in looking a little sleep bleary and I pass her a mug of the bitter tea and she looks at me.

“Have none of you slept?”

“No, we’re waiting.”

“Waiting?”

“We found it, we found it and we’re waiting for the fevers to break. We’ve dosed everyone here.”

“You found it, a cure.” She’s smiling and the news looks to have woken her up.

“Yes.” It’s sort of whisper shouted in that happy excited way from me. This is the biggest good thing I have really ever done and this…I need this dose of happy.

“Okay…I forgive you not sleeping I’d be excited too.”

“I am, this…it’s sort of amazing Nik.”

She takes another big gulp and she hugs me and just leans on me and it’s good. It’s not a sapphire thing since Nicole’s not like that but it’s that lean on you that really close people do, that I’ve seen armsmen do.

And that feels good too.

Actually that feels amazing too really because it makes me feel a whole lot less lonely.

We stay like that for a while and then Nicole pulls away. “I’ve bread to pan and fat to heat and such if we’re going to be up and doing this.”

I look at her and I look at Megan and Alaan who are out there among the beds and pallets sitting on the floors keeping a vigil both are healers and they seem so intent on things that you can just sort of feel their passion in what they do, that commitment.

I nod and look at her. “I’ll help you another set of hands and I want to learn this too.”

“You’re really set on learning all sorts of woman’s things.”

“Well honestly they should be just things and not a man thing or a woman thing…I’m getting that now but yes, I want to learn these things so I will know and who knows how long I’ll be like this and who knows who’ll be alive when I get back home….i might have to teach people these things.”

Nicole nods. “All good reasons, c’mon we’ve a hearth to get up to heat.”

We get sort of cleaned up and prepared to bake with our hair tied back with kerchiefs and the ovens stoked and going and I’m amazed at how much the dough we made earlier has grown and she shows me how to kneed and how not to put too much work into it else we make it tougher that it needs to be and I learn about fried bread dough and I learn about making Jam & Bits a dish that Nicole’s family had made often which is literally these trimmed bits of dough that are like small finger length dumplings and we fry them and then we put them in a roasting pan with the berry sauce and some jam and slide them into a cool corner of the oven and let the whole thing cook down and get just shy of candying.

And then we’re making bread and that’s another thing that is a serious job really knowing the smells and knowing by the heat of the oven just how long to put it in and to turn it and this is a very smart thing really almost as tricky as smithing fires in my opinion with all the things that you have to know and it kind of occurs to me that many women do this very thing day in and day out and they get very little praise for this sort of thing.

But it is a skill and bakers are a trade or at least in larger towns and such. We’ve things well under way when the women are waking from their pallets or coming in from their homes and they are smelling the baking and there’s some smiles and Nicole set’s out mugs of tea and the Jam & Bits which makes more smiles and I serve a few myself and then Alaan comes in and he’s looking at us all from the doorway.

“The fevers are all breaking or on their way to, they’re all going to be okay it’s working.”

One of the women has tears and she looks at him. (Sniffle.) “Working?”

“Yes ma’am we’ve brewed the cure.”

The entire kitchen explodes in cheers and tears.

*** Angeline…Before…

It was in the dead of night and I had just been done reading and settling in to sleep and to try and picture things.

I’d been betrothed, an arranged marriage and it was still new to me, it was sort of expected and my lot but I was expecting a neighboring lord or one of his sons and I was expecting a good match because as eldest daughter in the event something should happen to my brothers and my parents I would be in line to succeed…or rather my husband would to the lands of Lyonnes.

“Braitheholde…” I breathed it out looking up at the canopy of my bed.

I had to go to my father’s study to look it up.

A small country a small and remote country that I had never heard of…and I think that even father would not have had a tome with it in it if he hadn’t betrothed me to them.

North…north and east it was even hard to place on a map other than this dot. Way at the top of the eastern mountains overlooking this huge place called Stonewood. They have no neighboring realms that I could see, they are in the middle of nowhere and all I know is that.

Well that and father’s tome said that they mine there and that they have sheep and goats and make money as freeblades.

So engaged to mercenaries in the middle of nowhere.

Then it happened…

I felt the first strikes through my bed and I was trying to figure out what the vibrations were when I heard the claxons sounding off.

An attack.

I hurled myself out of bed and went for my boots first thing, I had shoes but there’s be fires and broken bits of stone and glass maybe and then I shucked myself out on my nightgown and into a shift and a dress.

I’d just snapped my belt when… there’s a shout. “Trebuchet!”

What!

I saw it, I saw this thing on fire coming out of the black and it streak passed my windows and there was a huge impact shake and flames and more yelling and screaming and I ran…foolishly ran to my window to see.

I saw the walls break…wall breaker spears like huge chisels held by a battleknight while another used a huge hammer to break the walls apart. One…then two then three holes in the walls and the enemy rigs, were tearing the holes bigger and using those chunks they tore off as things to throw.

Their standard a steel or grey raging bull on black. Their battle knight only bearing that as a color instead of being enameled just plain polished steel and my gorge rose as I watched a chunk of rock bowled through armsmen I know and crushing some and wounding others and our fighters closest to the holes firing their crossbows trying to shoot the battleknighters through the venting in the rig cages getting smashed by huge hammers or just the fists…and feet.

Until then all I ever had was war stories I heard from father and some of the others. Until then I had never seen a man struck with something so large and so hard that what was left exploded.

I looked up and away from the carnage I’d be dead if I hadn’t as when I did I saw another trebuchet load falling out of the sky and right at my windows.

I hurled myself away and there was an explosion.

Fire and violence…there’s no way to describe being in or so close to an explosion like that than just…absolute violence. There’s fire everywhere and I couldn’t breathe and Then mother’s there and she’s dirty and covered with ash and soot and Lady Blackhand was with her?

“Can you save her?”

“I can, but she’ll lose the arm.”

My arm…

I remember Lady Blackhand and this brilliant flash of light and heat, heat like I was suddenly dipped in fever and pain but not pain.

I remember mother off from us in the hallway and she was with Mary and Gertrude her maids and she was firing crossbows…and Mary would take the empty one and pull the wire with a hook and pass it to Gertie and she’d knock a bolt and pass it to mother.

I remember Lady Blackhand pulling me to my feet and wrapping me in a blanket and her eyes becoming electric and white all at the same time like lightning in fog.

Then there was this bubble and she wasn’t holding me up any longer and I fell.

The whole thing glowed and then exploded away from my room through the hole made by the trebuchet…I saw everything burning, the keep and the township was in flames and some of the larger farming steadings as well.

There must have been a thousand men easily down there and a score of battleknights and that’s all I could see as I passed then all gaining in height and speed and I realized that I was flying.

I passed out after that.

***Angeline…And More…

I woke and it was cold, it was cold and beyond cold and my shivering woke me and the bubble was getting less and less bright and there was snow all around me.

My right arm as soon as my brain was even half woken began to scream and I reached for it and scream gasped in pain and ran my hand down and it stopped…it stopped where the bone from arm almost met my elbow…the rest of my right forearm and hand were gone…just a burned stump remained.

I bawled, I bawled and I screamed and I lost control as nerves met panic and trauma and the bubble burst.

And the cold thin air slammed into me.

And then I heard the breathing.

With blurring eyes and a burning throat from the smoke and the pain and the crying I looked up and seen…

Trolls…three of them.

I’ve only ever seen pictures but those do not do them justice. Each was a dull grey in color and had feral reddish yellow eyes and large ears some were actually missing some cauliflowered and big broad broken noses over these huge square jaws that had fangs…not just fangs but tusks too like a huge predator and a boar of some kind.

Huge…huge things two and a half men high close to five yards high and three or four across the massive shoulders and huge barrel chests trolls were as close as you came to giants and they were a horror story out of children’s tale or the adventure ones told of the heroes.

Trolls were one of the reasons why battleknights even existed, no armed man no matter the mail he wore or how strong they could be were able to battle trolls, not effectively…not out of the story books.

A troll is fast and it’s flesh and blood and they are supposed to be smart…well these looked smart enough, they covered their foul bits and they had some sort of tattoos inked into their skin and they had weapons… one an axe another a mace on a chain and another a war hammer.

Two were bald save a top-knot and the other had long braids of some kind adorned with the skulls of birds and rodents like beads.

They guttered something back and forth and I didn’t scream seeing them, I just sort of got to my feet and got ready to run.

I’d never make it but it’s all I could do…hells though I could barely breathe to tell the truth.

“Ach t’ish gots spine.” One of the top knots said.

“O’course it has a spine cha’tard otherwise it’d be flopping.” The other one said.

I didn’t know that they spoke common.

“She’s mine.” That was the braided one. “I want’s the magic it’s got.”

“Wot magic?” Top-knot one says.

“I saw the shimmery thing when it came down and I want’s t’eats it for it’s magic.”

The second top-knot. “Oi, like a fairy I’s likes fairys them’s tasty.” And that’s when he started to take a step towards me and I hold my hand up.

“I’ll blast you… you big dumbass not another step.”

He stopped, the other two stopped.

The first top knot said. “Ye think it’s ‘er she’s been round ‘ere afore?”

Braids… “Dunno but I still want’s t’eats it.”

I scream in anger at them and feel my voice getting shredded. “I warned you, I curse you by the powers of the gods!” I raised my arm back and I threw at them….nothing but I did the motion.

They jump and duck and cover up and the shaking almost takes me off my feet.

And that’s when I ran.

I’m very, very lucky that the snow was so hard like ice but not ice but snow just hard enough to be like earth it’s so packed and cold and I was running for all I was worth.

Did you know that when you’ve lost a significant chunk of yourself that your balance is thrown off?

Running was hard, the pain…I felt the fabric of my dress tearing at places where it had become stuck to my body, my right leg really hurt too and the thin air.

Fortunately again panic makes you faster and that helped me too and I turned to look back to see them up and peeking and then figuring out that they weren’t blasted they roared with anger and they began to chase me.

Then there was thundering ahead of me too shaking the ground and I turned and fell to my knees sliding with a wail of hopelessness and it was cut off as this battleknight runs past me, stepping over where I was and it reaches back and it unsnaps from the locking clamps on the back a sword and I hear this war scream over the voicer on the battleknight.

He slid going using the snow and drove that big sixteen foot longsword into top-knot one’s chest and they both went down and they rolled and the battleknight came on top straddling the dead troll.

I watched him fall the battleknight backwards and the mace and chain missed him by a foot and he caught himself with his arm as he grabbed the dead trolls axe and pushed himself upright again and threw the axe at braids who dodged it but took a slice to the face.

Top-knot two snaps the mace and chain like a whip and the battleknight bashes it away with his forearm and metal crunched and rang audibly over the ice and then in an act of sheer power the battleknighter pushed to his feet…even with all the things that make it able to move that should have been…

Okay, I’ve only seen tourneys and father and my brother Justin in a battleknight before and I’m sure that they couldn’t do that…maybe?

But he got to his feet and pulled the sword free and got it up in time to block the mace and chain attack again and he advanced on top-knot two. Braids started to circle looking for an opening.

It happened really fast again top-knot two swinging in and the battleknighter blocking and braids coming in with the big war hammer and the battleknighter side stepping that hit and moving sideways and unexpected to all but the pilot…he grabbed braids’s braids and pulled his face into top-knot two’s mace and chain swing.

Braid was cussing in troll and scream-snarling and the battleknighter stepped back and away gaining room and swung the sword taking braids’s head off and the hand that was clutching at his maced face all in the same go.

This apparently made top-knot two very angry and he charged the battleknighter screaming and holding the chain a lot shorter to use it up close a lot easier and it was swing and block and swing and block and top-knot stomped on the battleknighters left foot pinning him to one place and he swung.

And the battleknighter…actually used his battleknight to head-butt the troll.

That’s all the optics and mirrors and scopes and its important right?

It worked though and top-knot two reeled with yet another busted nose and the battleknighter shifted fast in the upper torso and drove a fingers first blow into the trolls throat and then a punch with the sword holding hand into the gut and that doubled him over enough to get a hard and fast knee to the chin and top-knot two staggered back and the sword flashed faster than I could follow and the battleknight stepped back and out of the way as black blood and intestines fell free from the sliced open abdomen.

I remember looking around and seeing just him and me and then my strength went out and I fell.

I thought that I was dying as the battleknight walked towards me shining in the sunlight.

Light brown enameled plates trimmed with brass and with some very old fashioned designs to it and the coat of arms a bears head and swords in gold on a shield with red as the color for the field.

The rig, the battleknight looked old but the coat of arms looks new…gold leaf? It was shiny.

The rig cage opened and this man jumped out and he was wearing brigandine armor and a woolen cloak that he took off and wrapped around me. He had long wild and unruly curly brown hair kissed with sun fade and this thick but not too long beard to match.

He pressed a skin to my lips and water had never tasted so good.

“I saw the light lady what happened.”

(Coughing.) “Lyonnes…it’s fallen, I was sent here by a friend…an aunt.”

“Lady Blackhand.”

I nodded.

“And you would be lady?”

(Coughing.) “Angeline…Angeline Lyonnes….eldest daughter…”

He looked surprised and maybe a little frowny?

“King Wyatt Braithe my lady, your husband to be.”

And that’s when I fainted again.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 10

Chapter 10

*** Gracia…Before…

It was horrible….

It was the most horrible thing…

I roll over and grab onto the pillows and the blankets as everything comes back at me and hide…and cry…

And it had been such a nice day too.

I had finally gotten a dress from the seamstress Esmeralda one of the very best in all of father’s lands and even though I am a noble lady there was a wait from others and Daddy forbade us to use noble privilege to have our work put first.

I know, completely unreasonable. I need those clothes to be a proper princess. I have duties and I have followers and I need to look my best to be a good representative of the realm amongst the other realms.

Oh it was pretty too, hidden stiffened boning that tightened just so and pushed up just so and cut low enough that my suitors would be drooling and modest enough that my parent would not lock me away from them. I swear there is just something blissful about the way that men just seem to melt especially with a lovely cleavage, yes mine isn’t as great nor as inspiring as Angeline’s or mother’s but mine isn’t anywhere near as dowdily covered.

I do love the thrill of men.

The looks, the smiles, the hunger they have for me.

Who doesn’t love being wanted, being popular?

And the silks and the brocade of a fine dress.

It’s never been a chore for me to be a lady.

Oh I had other things that I did that day like go riding with my ladies and a tea with mother and her ladies while they talked endlessly about boring things like the cost of cottons. I mean really I have no idea how Angeline could like even stand it.

And supper was interesting with Sir Shane Winterbrook here on errant to be with us for a fortnight. He was pretty thing, all blonde with nice clothes, better than nice clothes even a uniform and a very nice sword one of those high court dueling blades.

Now he wasn’t a battleknighter more’s the pity but he was of good breeding and he was a cavalier so he was an expert horseman and he was an excellent dancer.

I loved the look of him, blonde hair with a neat braid that promised my fingers running through sweet lengths. He had a ready smile and a quick wit and a bottom that was made from sculpted steel.

And he listened and had stories of his knight errantry and that life.

Oh nothing like a man like that to stir up the other suitors.

Which of course made me like him more. 

…………………………..

I was talking to him actually when it happened.

Yes it was after common hours and it would be frowned upon of course if it was something we were caught doing but even if we weren’t…people still knew that we were talking and likely intimately past good hours and yet it was expected.

A young woman of my standing was supposed to have dalliances.

We were sipping brandy in my study…

Yes I had one; we all did even if I just generally used mine more for entertaining and reading than studying.

He was showing me swordplay, with his sword and all the flirty innuendos that came with a bit of a sip and me holding his sword when the alarms went off and things shook like crazy. I looked at him and he looked at me and then there was another and this huge crash into the walls that sent books tumbling off the shelves and shattered all of the windows in my bedroom.

Then we heard one of the men at arms yelling. “Attack! Attack we’re under….” There wasn’t anything after that and Sir Shane went from my study to my windows and looked outside and though he used his arm to push and ward me back I still went.

Looked outside and everything was in flames.

I could smell liquid pitch and sulfur and I could see and hear some of the people here in the castle courtyard fighting and troops pouring in and battleknights smashing and killing people and some…some were even on fire.

Then there was this…it was this sort of sound…not like anything that I'd ever seen and this huge flaming thing was coming right at us and someone on the walls was screaming… “Trebuchet!”

Sir Shane grabbed me hard and he pushed me…shoved me…actually he threw me back into the study and I screamed because it was scary and it hurt and it was just…

It was just a second and he was there, he smiled at me…as everything seemed to slow down and then he was gone…the flaming stone shot hit him and then my wall and went right through the wall rolling and spilling oil and flames and he was there…on my floor…ripped apart or more open…really like he was crushed and when it kept going it peeled his front off…blood was spurting out of places and out of everything and he wasn’t even dead…or he was only the reapers were too busy to still him.

He was making this not human keening sort of whine sound.

I don’t know why I went to him, I…I think I wanted to stop that sound…I had to stop that sound.

I reached for the blade and I could literally see his heart and I was about to run it through when it stopped…when he stopped and when I knew that it was like someone kicked me in the chest.

I didn’t like Shane like that, I barely knew him past our dancing and flirting and yet he gave everything for me.

……………………….

The smoke burned my eyes and my throat enough to shock me from staring at Shane’s corpse and I didn’t know what we were going to do to get out of this but I knew he’d need to be honored one way or another.

I took his signet, and cut off his shield patch…the best one from what’s left of his coat’s shoulder and I take a lock of hair, the castle was falling, I knew it in my bones and I rolled the hair into the fabric and stow in in my bodice. 

“I’d like to see more of that little whore.”

I look and see three of these enemy men-at-arms in my rooms or well what’s left of them. I don’t recognize the colors and they’re in leathers-with-rings and have weapons drawn. 

They’re leering at me.

Another one says. “Take the slut.” I don’t know the accent it’s very different.

The third just snarls and he grabs my arm and I drive Shane’s sword up between his legs and it’s a double edged blade and he huffs-wheezes and I pull the blade cutting into his male parts like a knife into a bread loaf.

There’s a spurt of blood and half his sausage falls through the gap in his breeches.

“My Cock! She coot uff m..mm..cock.”

He let me go to grab his parts and his two friends stared aghast and I swung hard thinking they’re not moving and their throats have little protecting... there so I went for the head, well the neck and took his head off. 

Well turns out it doesn’t work quite like that but I end up driving the edge it half-way before it gets stuck in his neck bones and my wrist turned the wrong way and I heard a pop as something hurt really bad. 

I was fountained in his blood though as I severed the sprayer in the neck. The last man swung on me with a mace and I don't know how I ducked the swing but he missed me and I kept trying to pull the blade free bit it wasn't budging and he swings again and the weapon stops inches from my face act it's vibrating. 

I looked to see Lady Blackhand there with her hand outstretched and her eyes are actually shimmering blue and white like the blue moon behind clouds. 

I've never seen her like this and she is practically kin, she's both best friends of my father who's definitely bedded her and my mother who's her best friend I think.

If mother lions were witches then that's the look.

I seen blades, her blades these disc's of steel with saw like teeth that she carried as tools coming from the satchel that she always had with her.

They flew past me and are spinning so fast they're making this singing sort of sound and they are so hard to track by eye and I never should have tried as all I seen was more blood and gore as they zip around the castrated one and the fellow with the mace and they both cut of the butcher's off bits in but a few moments. 

You hear things; honest to the Gods you do especially about witches. But while she was strange and spooky and mysterious she was never ever someone who could do something like that. 

She was my mother’s best friend and I think more with my father if you follow the rumors. She was my aunt though not by blood or even by adoption into our house…you cannot do that, the last witch that had title was her father and he was a monster if you believe the tales.

Or more to the point not the tales.

You here people talk, I’ve heard father talk about things that were honestly pretty vile things that men did to men on the battlefield and yet when it came to That event…no one spoke of it.

Then she’s grabbing me by the wrist. “Run! More will be coming run!”

I’m still in shock as I get hauled bodily out of the open to the air remains of my room and she’s taking the wallward side of the hall and shoving me clear as several more Trebuchet shots careen into the keep and shake the place hard…two I think breached rooms.

She hauls me out to one of the balconies that’s facing away from the fighting and she looks at me. “I’ll do what I can to get the others out but right now I have to send you into more danger.”

“More danger!? What’s going on? Where are you sending me and with who?”

“No one but I’m sending you to the capital seek out High King Boen there and tell him what happened here.”

“What!? How!?”

Then there’s this bubble around me and it’s like silvery-blue see-through light and then I’m send to my bottom as it rushes upwards and away from the castle.

It was burning, it was all burning…And I’m pretty sure that I screamed as we kept getting higher and higher.

I seen father, I seen The Rampant and I seen the death stroke fall and even the blood from this height as it bathes everything in the rig-seat and chest area in his blood. I screamed, I screamed “Daddy!” at the top of my lungs but he never heard me.

He’ll never hear me again.

There was the bursts of flames as the grain stores went up and some of the other things and very, very quickly I was speeding away up and out of sight. I seen another flicker of something up here far off and it’s headed to the east but I lost sight of it as well.

The rest is strange and surreal.

I remember that I oddly enjoyed the sights, the view from this height in this very strange and detached way as I sailed and sailed away from home and going farther and farther away already passing over places and realms that I’ve never been to.
I never knew the world was so settled, that farms and fields made intersections like a quilt and roads and ditches it’s an amazing thing to see when you have never seen it before.

And there’s villages and towns and keeps and even a few cities that I sail over. I should have known the names of those places but my brain was not working quite right after everything that had happened.

I did recognize the King’s Wall.

Not really a wall as these huge hills that sort of separate the lands of The High King Boen from the rest of the middle kingdoms and they surround this huge plateau that leads to The Mountains of the Kings.

The great center kingdom, the capitol was built on the plains that the ships of the ancients had and they sort of stand with a mass of buttes and massive rocky hills called The Mountains of the Kings where the first nobles had lived and built the castles that sheltered us from our foes…south of those is the plateau and it’s the lands of The High King and then south of that is the foothills that I was soaring over.

It’s not truly a wall but for an invading army it might as well be. Tall steep hills with keeps and castles and sections of walls in places that would be easy passes for foes covers the landscape as well as all the small towns that go with having keeps and soldiers and knights and all the things that they need..

I saw fabled Garrison Road; my father told me stories of. He had been here during the war with Lady Blackhand’s father. It’s this huge road thirty yards wide at a guess and made for battleknights to march on and their wagons and the siege carts and armies and it’s all made of flagstones…the golds that must have cost.

I'd seen battleknights too in those places even if the look like fathers tin models on his map boards from here and just everything else…there’s so much wealth as it’s not villages but it’s estates and the homes of the richest and the nobles and knights and all of that stuff until I was coming into view of…

Valhalla…

Named after the home of some of the lost gods or such.

The Capitol city of the High King and it’s built in these huge levels with like a star or a sun at the bottom and then it rises in huge, huge tiers and adorned with these fancy buildings all smooth and lit up and there’s the glitter of so much light and so much glass.

It looked like a fancy gigantic cake.

I…it…was headed for the palace…the castle called Whitehall…and I barely got a look besides it being huge almost a small city with towers and tall buildings all of it’s own before I crashed into a fancy garden with flowers and trees that looked decorative and in the end a gazebo of fine wood.

The soldiers came running with fancy spears and some with swords and some with crossbows and I remember seeing a man with a very nice uniform on like the others but with the best embroidery I’ve ever seen and he loomed over me with a dagger at the ready.

“Who are you girl and what sorcery be this!?”

“Gracia…Princess Gracia Lyonnes…my father…my…The Lion has fallen…”

It’s all I could get out.

This man his expression changed to shock then concern and things faded to black as I hear him yelling though he seems far away.

“Get the knight captain! Fetch a healer!”

And that was how I'm here, crying...so very far from home.

*** Chrissy…………Before…

Nicole set’s out mugs of tea and the Jam & Bits which makes more smiles and I serve a few myself and then Alaan comes in and he’s looking at us all from the doorway.

“The fevers are all breaking or on their way to, they’re all going to be okay it’s working.”

One of the women has tears and she looks at him. (Sniffle.) “Working?”

“Yes ma’am we’ve brewed the cure.”

The entire kitchen explodes in cheers and tears.

***And Now…

There’s a whole lot of cheering and there’s happy tears and there’s just such a happy high in the place that I have a smile on my face and there are tears in my eyes too and running down my cheeks.

It feels so damned good to have something to be so happy about. It’s something too that I’ve never really felt before either. This is a thing that we did for others; this is us winning over something really bad and all of the hard work for not gain but just because it’s the decent and right thing to do.

Worth more than silver and gold this feeling is.

It’s why a noble should be a good ruler, it’s why a healer heals, it’s why a knight should take their oaths.

I actually caught my thought there, I almost though his oaths automatically but I know now that this is so not the case.

For Nicole and for myself too because right now the change that was made to me doesn’t matter, doesn’t bother me so much and I’m sure it’s because my sex doesn’t stop me from doing things that are worthwhile and it’s only things I’ve learned and the thoughts of others that might bar the way of any woman.

Then there’s hugging and me and my tiny self getting spun around by men and women together and it’s fun. They even forget that I’m me the sorceress’s daughter and the Wisdom and just are happy.

Then there’s a lull afterwards and I’m not sure of what to do next until Alaan says. “Right, now ladies if you’ll excuse my squire, the wisdom and myself we need to get back to work and to brew as much potion as we can so we can treat everyone.”

There’s nods and some more hugs and kisses and I stay behind to heat water as Alaan and Megan are cleaning up the alchemy tent and readying everything there for mass brewing of the cure so we can save time and just get more done.

I get the men to fill the pots and the tubs and I set to boiling as much water as they have to get the things we need to wash cleaned and fresh and more importantly sterilized.

Even with the cure we still will have to wash and clean and clear out everything that we can so the sickness doesn’t come back or take root again.

Clean, clean, clean is so much the basics of real medicine I’m learning. Actually I’m learning so much here doing all of this and once I’m done and thanked I head to join Alaan and Megan at the alchemy tents as Nicole gathers her work force of volunteers to do some more of the work but a lot of the cleaning too.

Getting back to work it’s soothingly hopeful and each batch and each vial seems so precious and special and it’s worth the aching feet and the sore back from standing for hours on hours and getting lungful’s of fumes and odors and have the same in your clothes and hair.

I don’t care; this is so much more than important.

But truthfully I am glad that when we are done that we are done.

Well the alchemy at least and there’s a lot more of the dosing people with the potion and we waste no time in doing that either.

There’s this oddly village fair atmosphere as we do the patients in the hall and those that are coming in from the places outside the hall and Nicole and her crew bringing in those that are homestuck.

I see a bruise on her cheek and two young men with a lot more bruises on them doing what she has and they don’t meet her eyes, heck they don’t meet the eyes of any of the local women.

I get a tea for both of us and go over to her and she takes it with a smile.

“Thanks Chrissy.”

“What happened to you?”

She grins and nods towards the two boys. “They weren’t too happy about being asked to do women’s work and being ordered by a girl.”

“So they did what?”

“Oh they tried to put me in my place.”

“What? I thought that that sort of thing didn’t happen here?”

Nicole takes a drink. “No it happens but it’d also true that it doesn’t. There’s always some that think that what people tend to do as men and as women are bound by fates or some unwritten laws and some think that force settles those rights into place.”

“So they tried to fight you?”

She nods smiling.

I look at her. “I’m sorry I missed that.”

Nicole looks at them. “It was bound to happen, it will still happen especially when they don’t see the sword and the armor and stop seeing the squire and just see me as a girl.”

I shake my head. “I was hoping that it would stay different here.”

Nicole slings her arm over my shoulders leaning on me. “It was but two lads and it was a lesson they needed to learn the hard way and everyone knows what they tried and they’ll be feeling the sting of that far longer than the bruises that I gave them.”

I look to the two and the way that they’re being treated an it’s not just the women that are giving them looks the men are too in their own ways of treating them like the “Young idjits.” that they are.

I finish my tea shaking my head. “Home it’d likely be different.”

Nicole looks at me. “In your homelands I’d not be a squire period.”

I look at her. “That will change at least when I take Lyonnes back.”

She looks at me. “You’re going to try to take it back?”

“Yes, I have to. Even though I’m like this I have to. I can’t leave things as they are and leave my people to whatever is going on there.”

“You think that Lady Tatiana will back you?”

“You know her better than I do but I know that it won’t be easy and it might not be fast and there’s a lot of things that I need to know and to do before I can even set a footfall towards home.”

She gives me a hug with the arm over my shoulders. “Well if I’m given leave you’ll have me with you.”

I hug her back. “Thanks that means a lot.”

We both head off to finish our duties and there’s still a lot to do and slowly but surely we’re getting it all done.

I’ll admit my head and my heart is a little heavy from the talk with Nicole but it’s a reality that I will have to face.

Men, money, food, knights all of that will cost money. The Gorgon in the meanwhile will likely beggar my lands to fill his own coffers and do who knows what with everything that we had so there’ll be no guarantee that I can use any assets from home that I might have had to pay them off and even if there was something left there would be so much expenses.

Just crossing the mountains would be a huge thing logistically and with all of that again the coins.

I’ll need to learn yes but I’ll need to cultivate goodwill and I’ll need to earn coin in some measure or another.

I have no idea about the wealth of Lady Blackhand she didn’t seem wealthy like a noble would seem but she didn’t seem poor either.

I help with the dosing and then the washing and once that is all done I heat water for the baths and I’m more than grateful to slip into the hot water and let the heat and the soap soothe me.

This, I understand this so much better now with how much my mother and my sisters enjoyed their baths and just having that heat soak into you.

It’s so much different being like this and being so much smaller than myself before. You lose a lot of body heat or I did when I lost that size.

I mean it might just be less than twenty pounds but that’s a fair amount of my weight in either state.

I soap up and then sit and soak once my hair is soaped and I close my eyes and relax and think back. Use the memory power to focus in on Lady Blackhand and the things that I know that she’s done, that I’ve seen her do like moving metal and some of the things that she’s done like that.

How did she do it?

It’s over and over searching through the things that I’ve seen.

I look through other things, things I seen with the illuminators and with our generation machines and the like looking for clues because that power is my power too.

I remember…

I remember that there were magnets, cores of iron with copper wires wrapped around them and they were used for the generators and I’m trying to focus on that… I need to see it, to feel it and to do something.

I need to be able to do more as a sorceress.

I wash off and rinse my hair out and dry myself off and get dry my hair as best I can and comb it out and then get dried and then dressed and quickly head outside the hall and head to the smithy of the village and look for the things that I need.

Copper wire, and smithing rods and I wrap the wire around the rod and I reach inside myself and run the current through the wire and feel the current… no, not the current the magnet force.

I feel and feel and then something changes for me…it’s a ghostly like thing but I can see the magnet force and as I move myself and the magnet around close to the metals I see it reaching for it, I see it seem to be related to mass too as it reaches out and pulls nails to the bar and small object but larger ones aren’t able to be effected by it.

This, this is it. This is part of her powers her magic that she did!

My power spikes as I get overly excited by the prospect of it and suddenly everything is flying at me!

The thuds are pretty painful as I’m getting pelted and things are sticking to me and I’m crying out in surprise and pain as things are happening so fast.

“What in blazes be going on in here?” I see Megan in the door to the smithy before a few lengths of chains fly to me and wrap around my face and mouth and legs and I lose sight of her and fall over with a. “Mrrmph!”

Falling flat on my face and being covered in metal is a very… “Ow…” and embarrassing moment.

My ears are burning as I hear that musical lilt of Megan’s accent in her laughter and she’s come over to me and she’s rolling me over from front to back and she’s trying to pull things off of me.

She does get my face clear and my mouth free and she’s smiling down at me looking very beautiful in her fresh washed look and corset vest top and her bounty showing along with her very pretty smile.

“What did ye do?”

“I found the magnet force.”

“Aye ye did at thet I’d have te say.”

“I got a little too happy about it and my powers took off again on me.”

“I kin see thet.” She says it softly with a sweet tone and a kind smile.

Things start to fall away from me as I’m looking at her and I’m feeling my boy feelings or maybe sapphire feelings and her eyes are so pretty and my inside my lady parts are feeling…well it’s arousal and close enough to what I used to feel that I know what it is but at the same time entirely different.

Her…and the way that she’s looking at me.

Alaan and the attraction there with him and me to my body knowing what men do with women and the like too.

It’s confusing and arousing and…metal bits are falling free of me.

“Ye seen to be getting control of things now.”

“I’m honestly pretty distracted.”

“Oh ye are?” Playful sexy ginger smile there.

I nod. “Very, it’s not every day that I’m in this kind of a position with a beautiful woman.”

I blush at that, a fully heated face blush and she smiles. “I thought ye had a thing for me knight master?”

“I do…I’m greedy, my heart wants too much.”

“You just could be generous Christiana.”

I like the way that she just said my name.

Yes my name but not my name and it’s still…it was very…

“It wouldn’t be right me being with either of you. My life is complicated and it’s unfair to both of you.”

“Why? People feel what they feel and they want what they want and sometimes it has nothing to do with being with one person than being with another.”

“Honor, fidelity, loyalty…”

“Aye and being with different people an carin for different people changes those thins how?”

“I…I don’t know…it’s just how things have been.”

“In some lands Chrissy with some people.”

“But…”

Megan leans over and she kisses me. It’s so soft and sensual and there’s this something that reacts inside of me that gets all melty and gooey literally I feel melty inside of myself and feel it seeping and I don’t care.

She breaks the kiss. “Ye never thought?”

“Thought?”

“Ye mother, she had just as many lovers in men as she did with women too.”

“She did?”

“Aye, she was known fer it.”

Megan kisses me again and this time my mind flickers back to Lady Blackhand and…my mother…I mean I am certain that she did it with my father but her and my mother were best friends…and I don’t see them doing things together like intimately and yet.

I see in my mind shared glances, sometimes them leaning on each other in a way that you didn’t see between two women at home.

Were they? Did they?

And yet my parents were happily married, they loved each other and the three of them were all friends.

It’s enough, it’s enough and not as confusing or as hard to let my lips part and Megan makes the kiss deeper and my hands slip to her waist resting there and touching and Megan moves just enough to pull the smithy doors shut on us and then shove all the metals away from us and straddle me.

The ache is unreal in me. My dress is too hot and my breasts ache with need in a way that I have never felt but I need to somehow have sated.

Then she undoes her corset vest’s stays and pulls it off and she’s naked from the waist up and it’s suddenly different than bathing together, it’s so much different now that it’s something intimate.

Oh her breasts are so, amazing and I want…

I’m being kissed again and Megan is slipping my dress off my shoulders and my nipples react with the air and there are hands…her hands doing these amazing touches that make me arch into her hands more and I…

I reach out and touch hers shocked at the supple softness the texture of silk and skin and there’s so much heat too and she gasps. “Aye…aye like thet luv.”

She cups and squeezes but just so and her fingers let go sliding away to dance over my nipples to make my head spin and me whine with this astounding pleasure…

At some point Megan has her bottoms and her skirt then my dress is pulled up and she’s pulling my panties off and we’re kissing and it’s all happening so fast and so slowly and I feel Megan mount my leg and she running her sex against my leg, my knee and she’s making these trembly breaths that are matching mine and then one of her hands slips down to my sex and she cups me there and pushes with her hand and I whine-squeal as it spikes the pleasures that is running through me.

Then her hand runs over and over catching y juices and using the to do…do it…faster and then I feel the fingers slip in between…not like inside me but in between my parts the fold like bits and she touches something and like before in the old me when I would pull my well rope my hips arch up by themselves.

“Oh…Oh Gods…Megan!”

“Aye…I’ve wanted this since I’ve see ye….Good gods ye are so very beautiful.”

“Mmmm…me..?”

“Aye like a fine doll…so pretty and pale and fine like clean linens…”

“Linens..!”

“Aye… will ye sue meh fer not avin the right words?”

“Nay… (Gasp)…your words are fine.”

Megan kisses me and I feel this shiver run through her and then this wetness and warmth but not enough for it to be…

“Did you…?”

She blushes but she has this big sexy smile and there’s this shine to her, this light and… “Yes, yes I did.”

“But I barely did anything?”

“Ye did lots, ye did enuff and…”

“And?” (Gasp) Her fingers are doing that thing, rubbing and dipping between and there’s this wave of pure pleasure and lightning that runs through me as things inside clench and spasm and I have my first sexual explosion.

I’m panting and sweat soaked and so, so alive and wanting more.

“And we have time fer more, much more.”

It goes into that more… kissing and touches and me learning how to kiss more and more, to learn to love breasts and nipples and skin more and more and how to use my body to please hers…to taste Megan and to be tasted by Megan and so many more times do I reach my peaks, so any more than I possibly could by pulling on my well rope.

And I…we laugh, giggle, kiss and I cry.

Yes cry.

Megan holds me and she looks at me after I lift my face from her bosom. “Oi what was that about?”

“Life…”

“Life?”

I nod. “Too much death, too much of it so that even after everything that’s happened I was just feeling my way through things like I was in a trance. I feel like you, like this, this was such a good thing but you were my first…ever…it’s like you reached in and pulled me free of the fog.”

She gives me this serious stare. “Ye givin me too much credit.”

“No…it really helped.”

“What happened?”

“A warlord, with a Gorgon standard and with an army came to my home and dropped the walls, killed my family…those that Lady Blackhand hadn’t gotten out like me.”

“Ow…I’m so sorry luv, so you’ve been…”

“Surviving, trying to get used to everything being different, being here.”

“Here?”

“I’m from a long ways off.”

“I knew ye weren’t from here but Sir Alaan seemed t’know it.”

“Lyonnes, it’s out in The Middle Kingdoms.”

“Oi…thet’s far.”

I nod. “It was just over a week ago.”

“And ye haven’t stopped yet?” I shake my head no. “Then ye due a good cry and then some.”

I nod. “Thanks for being there, for this.”

She tilts my head up and kisses me lightly. “Oi, we’re lovers and where I come from thet says ye at least have a care of the one yer wit.”

I kiss her back still sort of marveling in her, and this closeness even with us both sticky and covered in soot and dirt.

We’re kissing some more when there’s a hard bang on the door making us jump. “Hey get your knickers on you two it’s been long enough and the smiths’ be coming back from supper soon enough.”

It’s Nicole. I look at Megan and she looks at me and we burst out giggling. “Well now we wouldn’t want to be givin him an eyeful now would we?”

She helps me up and we get dressed and it feels.

I feel…I feel like I’m moving differently.

It’s…

It’s a big thing that just happened really. I mean I’m not a virgin anymore.

Right?

I mean I peaked over and over and it means that I had sex, made love.

So just because I’ve not been touched by a man doesn’t mean I’m still a virgin right?

Confusing but a good exciting and confusing.

It’s how losing your virginity should be right?

We get dressed and come outside and I see Nicole looking at me and then at Megan and she grins. “Foods still on the board you two go get cleaned up, you’re a mess.”

I can’t help but to bush and to grin a little and there’s this look between us…it’s like the look that the boys and men share with the camaraderie and that same kind of humor but different, that but between women.

It sort of seems to find a place inside part of my heart as I walk with both of them to the hall and I see the village smith and I look at him. “I’m sorry I left your shop in a mess but I was doing some research sir.”

“Mess, research?” He’s looking at me and at Megan.

“Aye, she was foolin with her magic and making a thing like lodestone an when I heard the ruckus she had every light loose bit o’ iron an steel clinging to her like burdocks.”

He and Nicole looks at me and I’m turning red and blushing and the three of them start to chuckle as Megan starts telling them as I’m getting stared at by the other two and some others close by and Megan’s very good at that charming turn of phrase with that accent and the way she just seems to shine as she tells a tale with a smile.

I shake my head with a smile and head into the main hall and to the back room with the washing tubs and I start getting cleaned up again.

I was pretty filthy from head to toe and then some all over again and I have to find some more clothes to wear and make my way to The tent that Nicole and I share in my boots and my shift and get dressed in one of the shirts I still have that’s clean and a clean skirt and fresh panties.

I’m still not quite sure what and how I feel about all of this but I settle myself and head back out and join Nicole in heading to the main hall and getting some food from the board.

There’s leftover fish both baked and fried and I get some of each and a bowl of the greens and some of the green beans and bread and the farmers cheese that they have and a good helping of the pickles. They have lots of things that are pickled and it’s just easier on the use of food for everyone to use them when you can so I get some beetroots and some of the thumb carrots and some of the mustard pickles.

I’m hungry and I’m finding that despite the table I was raised at that I’m not all that fussy of an eater when I get passed the class of food difference.

I think that I’m honestly looking forward to the greens too these days and the local fast made cheeses.

Nicole gets herself a similar helping and we take it outside to sit and eat together on the back stoop with to leather jacks of cold leftover tea.

She looks at me as I’m eating and there’s a grin as she’s chewing.

I look at her and raise an eyebrow.

“How do you feel?”

I swallow and look at her. “Fine…better, different.”

“Different?”

“Nothing like reaching those peaks inside to land one squarely into your sex.”

“Really?”

“Well…I’m not sure exactly how much it helped but it helped, there’s a whole other side of all of this that I wasn’t feeling.”

“And Megan?”

I shrug. “I like her a lot but she was pretty clear that as special as our time was there wasn’t a serious relationship in what we did.”

“So how does that make you feel?”

“Relieved, because I know that a real relationship a deep relationship is not the sort of thing that I can handle right now.”

“You okay with that?”

I fork some of the cold greens and cheese together. “You said you’re not a virgin so were you?”

Nicole nods. “Good point I’ve had lovers but haven’t been ready for a relationship either. I’m still trying to have a relationship with myself.”

I point my fork at her. “That, exactly that. I think that as things are now I just took a bigger step in the relationship that I’m having with myself.”

She nods and we share a smile and it’s another one of those women moments that surprises me. That women are not always looking for love, for the forever love or for settling down either. That there are some of us that still want to be open with our lives and still have some things to do with those lives that you really can’t do if you settle down.

It’s that sort of like minded thing that’s feeling like friendship and maybe even sisterhood to me a little.

I finish eating and we both go and do our dishes and everything is done for a while and it’s getting dark and the others are going to be doing the nursing duties and the like so I head off to the smithy as Nicole is heading towards her Squire’sknight to go over it and to do her checks and tuning.

They’re a lot like an instrument really you need to keep the tensions right in them and that requires both use and it required care and attention or else they get tight and hard to move and risk breaking cables or wheel-cranks or too loose and they have a bad sluggish time.

I make my way to the smithy and he’s there still cleaning up my mess and I rap at the door jam and cough. “Master Smith? I should be doing that.”

“Aye, you should but it’s alright lady but you might want to take the thing that you made.”

He offers me the metal rod wrapped in the copper wire and I take it and I look at him. “Thank you how can I repay you for this?”

He looks at me and he chews on his mustache a little and he looks at the shop. “Well ye could help me tidy and the likes but I’d be interested in seeing ye do yer craft.”

“I’d be glad to help clean up but I’m just learning my craft, I’ve never had much formal training and such with these things.”

He gives me an odd look and I try for a smile. “I was just starting everything in my life really when she was killed.”

He winces. “I heard it t’was sommat like that, tis a pity.”

I nod. “But I’d still be willing if you’re willing and trying a few other things that it might be safer to try here as well.”

“Like’n?”

“Welding, I’ve seen it done with chemical covered rods that flare I was wondering if I could do it with my powers.”

“I’ve heard of it they call it Arcin but I’ve never seen it meself Wisdom.”

I run current through the bar and I feel it and see it faster now and I point at a length of chain and see the magnet force reaching for it but it’s too far away and too much mass for the magnet in my hand and I stare at it and stare at it and the ghostly color is reaching for it like I’m sending it there.

Can I direct this and feed power into it?

I point the bar at it like a wand and push more of my power through it but like I’m trying to push out the magnet force at the chain on purpose.

I feel it touch and grab hold!

I smile and pull the length of chain to myself and my “wand” and he’s staring at me and there’s a smile and a nod.

“Ye got thet right.”

I smile. “You’re not scared?”

“Ye came in and ye helped save me an mine before Sir Alaan did that says a lot about ye. I think I can trust ye.”

“Thank you and you’re sure you don’t mind me doing this?”

“Nay ‘side I kin say I knew ye when ye were just learning yer craft and maybe be even a little bit famous t’boot.”

“Well thank you Master Smith it’s nice to be so highly thought of.”

“Ye kin call me Aiden.”

“Chrissy.”

“Oh nay yer high born I can tell thet much.”

“No, I was wealth born there’s no man or woman that should be set above another.”

Eight days or so ago and a boyhood away I didn’t even know that much about life to even say that and now.

Now it just feels right.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 11

Chapter 11

*Before…

I smile and pull the length of chain to myself and my “wand” and he’s staring at me and there’s a smile and a nod.
“Ye got thet right.”
I smile. “You’re not scared?”
“Ye came in and ye helped save me an mine before Sir Alaan did that says a lot about ye. I think I can trust ye.”
“Thank you and you’re sure you don’t mind me doing this?”
“Nay ‘side I kin say I knew ye when ye were just learning yer craft and maybe be even a little bit famous t’boot.”
“Well thank you Master Smith it’s nice to be so highly thought of.”
“Ye kin call me Aiden.”
“Chrissy.”
“Oh nay yer high born I can tell thet much.”
“No, I was wealth born there’s no man or woman that should be set above another.”
Eight days or so ago and a boyhood away I didn’t even know that much about life to even say that and now.
Now it just feels right.

*And Now…

It’s been touch and go with the magic and seeing the magnet force within or rather around the metal in the shop as I’ve been working with the magnet wand I’ve fashioned and Aiden’s been very gracious as far as that goes and he needs my help with cleaning up and doing a few chores that require extra hands and his apprentice is still down with the fever or well recovering after he’s been dosed.

Still it’s been a few days and this has given me room to breathe and to thing after Megan and I happened and my feelings about that and myself and this body of mine.

Sleep’s been touch and go as well with naughty dreams of her and then again dreams of Alaan too and the thoughts of how Megan’s fingers felt inside of my body and the intense pleasure and then my mind would do the fantasy drift from that to Alaan and something bigger than a finger.

I shouldn’t be thinking of such things…sex…and it’s…it’s where me head goes when I’m alone and sleeping but at the same time I’m scared, really scared of those feelings and falling into being Christiana more than I remember being Christian.

I’m scared of losing myself.

Who am I?

Who am I becoming?

And I feel kind of bad about second guessing all of that too because it’s not right being scared and disturbed over Megan showing me such an amazing time…it just kind of makes me feel guilty about feeling so scared about it all.

And the morning swims and the nursing that we’re all still doing helps but it’s not enough, it hasn’t been enough for when the candles get blown out and it’s time to lay down with my far too many thoughts.

And Megan’s still sort of confusing too because there’s still these looks between her and I that get excitement bumps from and it sets my imagination going as to the two of us together. And yet with some of the extra free time that we have not being in the alchemy tents we’re practicing with the practice blades more and I swear that she’s trying to hurt me when we do that.

It’s leaving be bruised and frustratingly looking to Nicole.

“I really don’t understand her, we were together and we…and it was good, it was better than good and she looks at me like she wants to be with me again and she does things like this…”

I show Nicole a bruise on my thigh while we’re in the baths.

“Well you were expecting anything else? Look Chrissy she very might want to have her way with you again and likely so from the looks that I’ve seen but at the same time you need the work, your bladework might be good against the untrained but for anyone that knows what they’re doing it’s pretty bad.”

“I know and I welcome the training but it’s still vexing.”

Nicole laughs. “Women are vexing even to other women I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard Jessa gripe that much. She’s not going to treat you less than you deserve just because the two of you have done the knuckle and vulva dance.”

I blush beet red. “Nicole…”

She just laughs and sinks still laughing at me under her bath water.

So instead of over thinking that and driving myself into the nutter’s shack I take some of that free time and energy to give Aiden some more help and to work at my magic.

It’s not something I’ve done a lot of but it is something I have done. You’re expected to do some things in the smithy or especially with the castles ferrier when you’re a noble and you have things to do with horses.

You need to know how to do these things because as a page and with a knight and a squire or a retinue it’s the pages that do the horseshoe work and the grooming and the tending to the feed and care of the horses.

I was starting to learn all of that too when all of this had started and one of the things that you learn first or are supposed to are the tools and what they look like and such…home it was also knowing what goes where.

So I’m not totally clueless in here and I get a few looks from Aiden that are surprised or impressed?

“Ye know a ting or three aye?”

I nod as I’m concentrating on magnetically levitating some of the cullet from one place into another place. “I was wealthy born; it was something we were told we needed to learn with the horses and such.”

“Oy then canna ye use a hammer and all then?”

“Not for smithing, but I can halfway hammer a nail in place.”

“Have ye ever worked wire?”

“No, I just know enough I guess not to be a pain.”

“Aye well I have sommin ye kin do whilst I do other things and it’ll be a large help t’us all.”

“I’m willing to learn.”

“Arite now come hither and I’ll show ye hoe to make nails.”

“Nails?”

“Aye, we need nails all the time it be one of the things a smith’d be making day in an out but it’s ‘prentice work and mine’s still abed.”

“Okay, I’ll make nails.”

I’ve never thought about making nails but it’s a thing we just had all the time and never really learned to make them at all. Aiden shows me how with first us taking long thin rods of hot, hot steel and we beat one end into a point and that point goes through something called a drawplate.

That’s just this thick square of metal fastened into a vice and once the hot metal is shoved through we pull it while it’s still soft enough through the hole.

It’s harder than it looks, a hell of a lot harder since I’m pulling hot metal rods through making a longer thin and nicely rounded thick wire like thing and it cools and it’s hard enough then to be made into nails.

He shows me how to use this chisel thing that you set onto one of the holes in an anvil and between that and the hammer it cuts it off at the right length making a two side bevel and then you take the small pliers and beat an matching two beveled sides on it and then you fold over the head end with a couple of hammer strokes and then drop the nail through another plate that it’ll fit into except for the lumpy head which you strike down to make the striking head.

And repeat…Aiden does it really, really fast and it takes me twenty tries before I can make a nail without muffing it up but one he’s satisfied with the nails after that he lets me do it on my own.

It’s actually welcome work though pulling the rods through the draw plate is really, really murder on my hands because if I don’t hold the pliers achingly tight with my little hands and then pull with all of the strength I have and all of the body weight that I don’t.

I never thought that this would be such a hard thing to do. I mean all of the things that I could do before it’s all different now…thinner and weaker and it’s frustrating and at the same time it’s me now or who I’m becoming.

Working metal is sort of becoming satisfying in the attempt at least.

There’s something more to it too when I’m a bit calmer and settling into a rhythm it’s the metal and all of the connection to the magnet force and it’s just this way that it seems to connect with me.

No wonder though with the things that I sort of remember Lady Blackhand doing that she had so much metal with her.

I finished working through all of the rods that we had there and I go back to working with my wand and seeing and feeling the magnet force in things and I stop from that and I get a piece of the cullet and go outside and I start to try and use the wand to latch onto the chunk of metal and sort of whip it or throw it.

That takes a while… I can reach it with the wand by extending the power to the chunk of cullet and then holding the lines of magnet force there. I can move it that way too and control the in and out by reeling in my power to me through the wand.

It looks very impressive to just be pointing at a chunk of wrought iron and have it floating around and such but to what I’ve seen this is.

I’m a five year old figuring out how to play with blocks.

Okay, stop Chrissy…breathe…figure it out, so far this responds well to logic. I close my eyes and breathe, not even thinking just breathing and letting the calmness sink in and then I let the power flow through e and the wand to connect to the chunk of metal and sort of just play, move it around, treat it like a new toy instead of doing magic.

I whip it around me, make in zip up and down and whip it around and under my legs and it starts to get fun. It takes just this…this whipping it ahead and a burst almost blast of power like blowing a seed through a straw only it’s power instead of air.

Voosh…I lose sight of the chunk of cullet as it heads out of sight over the lake.

“Oy it’s a good thing that you didn’t have that aimed at somun Chris.”

I turn and see Hawk there with Taylor and a trio of two wheeled carts with a pair of mules piled high with things they’re foraged and hunted and I see things that have been made while all of the things were going on in here.

It’s beyond silly that I’m so happy that they’re here and on te other side of the wall.

“Hawk! Taylor!” It comes out as a squeal as I hit another level of pitch that wasn’t possible before and I’m mugging them both.

Jessa hugs me back and she’s chuckling at me I’m sure and Taylor…he scoops me off my feet in an embrace and hugs me tight which is startling for sure and yet it’s making me really happy. Not like crushing happy but just this swelling emotional happy.

Taylor gives me another squeeze. “I’m glad that you’re alright there Chrissy, you an Nik were so damned scary brave comin in here without the knight an his squire showin.”

I blush but hug him back. “I had to, there was no one else and I knew some things to help.”

Jessa nods. “Still though could’ve been worse, you two did really good.”

I’m sniffling and wiping at my eyes. “You two did too, out there without all of the camp gear and stuff and foraging for us and hunting and doing the chores outside the walls…that was a really big deal.”

Taylor grins. “Well then we all did something good then didn’t we?”

I nod but I’m still smiling and I hug Jessa again and she grins and she looks at me. “Aright now how ’bouts we get all this t’where it needs going an we can catch up with Nik.”

Taylor nods. “An I’ve still the post t’do fer here too.”

I grin and take a set of reins and start heading for the main hall leading the mules on the way there and it just sort of has this right feel to it with us all being there together again even though we hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with each other.

I still enjoy the reactions of the villagers as we’re bringing things in to them and a lot’s going to the kitchens in the main hall and there’s a very celebratory mood too as the gates are staying open and it’s like this sort of cloud lifts off of the village.

I’ll admit, it was sort of getting close in here mentally.

And it’s something that I can see in the people here and not just all of the supplies and things being done outside the walls like in the fields and the gardens but it’s that closed in for too long thing breaking up here like fog in sunshine.

And with Taylor and Hawk here I’m smiling all the way through the unloading of everything and then I’m back in the kitchens of the main hall getting water heated and helping out with things there as I get roped into the kitchen chores again and at the same time volunteering to help because honestly I think I should really learn these things.

I do see there’s some looks as Taylor and Hawk both notice how I am with the people here and how they are with me. It’s sort of gratifying in a way to see then have this sort of impressed oh really sort of look on their faces as people call me by name or more often Wisdom or Wisdom-Chrissy.

Though it’s mostly the younger ones that call me that.

Hawk heads off with some of the others doing some of that post huntsmen…huntsperson things and likely off to the butchers and Taylor’s setting himself up with the stuff for the post and has his books out and his writing desk and there’s already people lining up so to as get letters written out for those that might be worried since the word of the sickness has likely spread along and such to other places.

Hopefully there’s just as much and just as fast a spreading of the word about the good that has happened here as well. A slow trade year will hurt folks here but a next to no trade year will be almost as devastating as the fever was here.

With the doors open there’s more stuff to be had, there’s milk lots of it from the milking bairns and while we had some it was a risk to bring over the palisade and had to be scalded before we could use it.

All the fresh milk and cream and even the soured stuff gets put into use. I’ve never eaten soured cream before nor have I had it with chopped chives of onion and some onion itself nor herbs.

Home soured was…well soured and it wasn’t seen really as food but here it is. Though when asking about it, it seems to be an elvish thing.

Yes elves.

I know next to nothing about them to be honest aside from the folklore and that they live in a great forested land up and passed the mountains of the dwarves and that it’s said they have powerful magic and that they are amazing archers and all the oldest of oldest tropes.

One new thing that I learned is that they are trade partners with the dwarves and that’s where some of the things that the humans here in these lands learned these things from.

Either way I like this sour cream, not in a ridiculous way but it’s a fine condiment.

And there’s no shortages of things being made with the milk and such and the churns are full with the children taking turns and so are the pots for the fresh cheeses and then there’s sweet barely scalded milk that we’re making this sweet rolls from and bread with.

Those invoke images of home, memories of that kind of light fluffy bread that gets made home, this isn’t quite as refined as that with the grind of the flour and such but it’s made wonderful with beet molasses added to it all and it raises and has this smell that just…it’s coming to be a smell I am really starting to know and get more familiar with.

It takes longer than one might think to get some serious baking done but a lot of that serious baking is all primer for the ovens and the hearths and the stoves and then the real cooking starts with the foods both hunted and foraged and things that were brought in from the further fields.

I’m still musing over the fact that people here use natural clearings as places to plant gardens and the like again it seems like a just fine idea to me it makes sense if you can do it and are looking to save both work and timberland. But home it’d be so frowned upon…father might have gone for it he allowed gleaning for firewood and that’s what we’ve been doing on the road with the bundles of wood, that keeps things clear and healthy but crops…it’s just not really done.

But there’s things like squashes and a whole bunch of those and some are for the main meal and some are dessert. There’s these really sweet ones that they have called Jacks and we hollow them out from the tops and the seeds get separated the guts go to one a chopping block and are chopped to a paste with a cleaver and a pinch of salt and then they scrape the insides out with a spoon and all of that goes to this pot of milk and are cooked down until their like this creamy sort of soup and some sugar is added and to the lot of it and some apples sliced and peeled and then it’s all mixed up with old bread and suet and eggs and the jacks are stuffed and then they’re set aside to cure and they’ll get baked off as pudding when the food is near done.

Some things though are such eyefuls to be when they start bringing in the meat and the parts and the sausage that is fresh made from the butcher…sausage like I’ve never seen with cooked down onions and boar meat and liver and brain and hearts of the beast as well as blood and cracked grain but the chopped fine guts of a squash and berries and bits of crab apples or other things.

I think I like the smell of the ones with just the meat and suet but spiced and flavored with pickles and dill, and I’m a little fearful of the blood pudding with grind of livers and brains with cracked grain and flavored with onion and pickled beetroots…it looks like an organ itself somewhat.

Then there’s things like potatoes and the ways we’re cooking them like boiled, mashed, scalloped and fried…oh fried done in a pan of fat that’s seasoned with onions and there’s carrots and beans and peas and all of those wonderful things all.

We actually see very little of the big portions of the meats the sausages are the main meat that we’re cooking…the rest if being smoked or salted or set up to be dried or brined. We’re eating the stuff that’s going to go bad fast unless you do something with it all and it’s supplemented with other things…lots of other things.

I swear by the gods I will never look at preserves and vegetables and milk and greens in the same way ever again.

Oh and of course there’s my fish.

I take a break with two steaming mugs of tea and head over to Taylor where he’s busy taking peoples post down and I sit with him and pass him a mug and then take the lap desk from him and smile and motion the next person up who’s waiting and he grins at me.

“Thank ye, I was getting a bit of a sore wrist.”

“I remember that feeling; all the practice with writing and then my clerking apprenticing did that with me as well.”

“Aye, but I’m just a simple keep lad, I’ve just been lucky t’have the privilege of me letters and me numbers t’aint like I’m used to doin this as a living.”

“I’m thinking that you are far more than just a simple keep lad, I grew up with simple keep lads and while they had some advantages to be sure they certainly weren’t doing the things that I’ve seen you doing.”

He just smiles at me as he’s taking a drink of the tea then he shrugs. “I’s jus takes life as it comes I was raised doing a lot of everythin and it just kinda stuck wit me is all.”

“That’s a good thing to have stuck to you, scrap iron and chains not so much.”

He coughs a little on his drink. “Pardon me but what?”

“I was learning to move metal and my power got away from me and I sort of got wrapped in things from the smithy.”

“Oi…careful thet coulda been dangerous.”

“Oh that’s for sure I hadn’t really thought or expected that at the time.”

“Aye lots of sharp metal there Chrissy.”

I nod and I blush some. “Well it had interesting side effects.”

Taylor looks at me. “Oh really then how so?”

“Megan found me.”

“An…oh…well they how’s that given things then.”

I really blush. “It was pretty amazing actually and stunning and not a thing that I’d have ever really considered happening for myself.”

“What ye never dallied?”

“No…I’d not worked up the nerve honestly though the interest was definitely building.”

“And from this end oh things?”

I blush some more. “It was amazing, it was scary and earth shaking.”

“Earth shakin’s good.”

I nod and drink some tea. “It is but my head’s still a little wrapped up in all of the preconceived things that goes with making love and being a woman. And it’s not really like that not with me and certainly not with Megan.”

“And ye were expecting what ye knew from those middle kingdoms and such then?”

I nod again. “I can’t really help it but her and Nicole and Jessa they don’t act like the way I’ve know women to act at all and I’m not used to sex just happening.”

“Oi…it does here iffa a woman takes precautions and it does here if they want it. It’s a thing we got from the elder races and such that whole off and odd notion that women are people and have needs and such as people and there shouldn’t be a double standard and such.”

I’m finishing up one entry into the book with my finger scribing magic. “It’s not like that at all home and I’ve been raised like that so I’m still sort of trying to wrap my head around that idea.”

He leans forward and slips his arm over my shoulders. “You’ll get used t’it Chrissy.”

“Have you? I mean have you dallied and how do you deal with the afterwards?”

“Y’do it wit respect, y’did each other a kindness, it’s a lonely world out there and all and we’re really only richer when we share it wit others.”

“Sharing myself’s not the same as sharing the world.”

“Oh aye it is really, a person’s a whole mess of stuff good and bad and all things in between and when all of you meets all of another person and there’s that spark there of connection t’is no sin to want to share that, or t’want to know someone deeper.”

I blush. “Well there was deeper had.”

“Oi…bad one there I oughta charge ye for that joke.”

I grin a little. “So even just sex is…okay?”

“Aye, contacts a need as is attraction too and it’s a healthy thing.”

“A healthy thing?”

“Aye how did her wanting you make ye feel?”

“Good…actually really good even with all the other things.”

“Exactly Chrissy and it’s returned too, there’s always too much of stuff to be true and it’s never a great idea to drop yer pants or lift a skirt fer jus anyone but at the same time there’s a great lot that’s good about being wanted and wanting someone just as is.”

I smile. “I think I’m turning heathen here with all my chastity falling by the way side.”

Taylor gives me a serious look. “Christiana it’s a whole other thing here and chastity’s fine if that’s your way but here we take having more than just one way to live very seriously.” He’s staring at me. “You’re a sorceress, you have the majik and seeing that as a thing they’ll never let you take back your place in your old realms, magic power and political it’ll both be a bane to you and they’ll try an stop ye, they’ll try and box ye and when they can’t I’ll wager that they’ll try and kill you.”

I look him in the face and the emotion there…the fact he looks like he actually gives a damn and that this worries him and that he’s thought about it is making me feel that sort of ow…clench feeling in my chest and my throat.

“I know…and if my sisters are alive it might fall to one of them but I have to try and win it back to stop that bastard who came and killed my parents and those I love.”

Taylor nods. “I know Chrissy I’m just saying you’ve a fuck of a tough row t’plow and ye may jus want to claim a little bit o joy out of life while and whenever ye can.”

He gets it….I think Taylor might even get it more than me and he tightens that arm around me as I lean into the hug and it’s not really even that man comforting a woman hug but it’s that friend hugging a friend and comrade in arms kind of thing.

“Thanks Taylor, this really helped.”

“Aye, I’m a good lad like that.” He grins and I give him a bit of a shove.

“Leave off ye need a break and I’ve got this.”

“Aye I sees that you’ve more than a few more trick then with the magic and all.”

I nod. “It’s improving all the time.”

He kisses my cheek before getting up and stretching and making things pop when he does it. “Good, it’s good to see ye getting yer feet Chrissy.”

I smile and he heads off and I can hear him speaking to some of the others about libations and if there will be dancing or not.

I smile and motion the next person in line to me so I can take down the news that they want to share.

……………………………….. The post gets taken down and the supplies are being put up and put down depending I guess on what you’re doing and people have been showing up from outside the village. Again it’s something that I didn’t really know about that there’s always those who live close to a settlement and aren’t in a steading just out there farming or whatever they do to survive and yet they still want to be free of people.

They’ve been cut off from town as much as the people here have and now that the all clear’s been flagged out by Sir Alaan we’re seeing them coming in now to see their kin here or for trade and celebration.

Megan and Sir Alaan are dosing the newcomers as their showing up and turning them away if they refuse not many do but a few do. Well you can’t make everyone trust or reason even with the marks of a knight-healer.

And there was still more dosing and more medicine to give out to those that were the sickest yet and getting some of the ones that were homestuck out and with the other villagers as things were building toward a celebration and not just a celebration but almost a bit of a country fete.

There’s games being contrived and I’ve only seen some of that and not been a part of it at all with like the racing of barrel hoops with sticks and target games for bows and knives and axes and a sawing a log contest and arm wrestling and most of all the dancing.

There’s going to be some more dancing here and there’ll be music too and there’s some getting ready for all of that and the women and the lads all making themselves proper.

It’s actually a full day’s work and into the evening when we’re done and ready and the tables are set out as best they can be and there’s so very much to eat and more than I even helped with as things came from home hearths and things came in with those that come in from the outer houses and all.

There’s torches and lanterns and best of all there’s candles in jars and glass dished of all shapes and colors and sizes and some even with scents brewed to them. It’s a really rustic and yet beautiful sight and so many here dressed in the gods day’s best and cheerful and happy.

One of the local girls gives me a laurel of flowers to wear on my head like so many of the other women here are doing tonight Nicole included and laughingly a few of the men too.
There’s laughter and the small children running and there’s music being played by volunteers with drums and tams and pipes and flutes and fiddles and all those country band things that I used to see at fests with my parents when we’d show to them.

Before too long though we’re all eating and laughing and there’s ale and ciders to drink and some raw wines made from fruit or berries too and stories being loudly told over and over instead of speeches and the things that I’ve seen at home.

I’ll admit that I’m blushing when the praise heads my way and people talk of me and I do a few stands and slight bows when there’s a few cheers and some clapping and I hoist my drinks a few times.

Choke cherry wine, blueberry wine, wild grape and even some made from pear from another village, crab apple cider (My favorite of the night), wheat beer, oat beer, barley and maple beer (My second favorite.) Spruce beer (Not so lovely.) and there’s others and I try a taste at least of all of them but I stick to the barley beer while eating and then with the cider the rest of the evening.

I clap louder for the others though as games are won and there

Nicole’s actually one of the best here, she tells stories of the things that people did here in town and it’s such an odd turn the way that Taylor backs her up with stories of those outside the walls and what they all did and between the both of them it gets turned away from what we did and they make it more about what the locals did, about how they worked so hard to save each other and get through the fever.

Making it pretty much the opposite of things that I know and was raised with. Raise up the people and not the nobility?

That’s worth a few more drinks, it’s just something that even as it’s so odd and not really done with Middle Kingdoms nobles it makes me happy here…I like feeling this way and with so many people feeling happy and feeling the cheer I partake a bit more than I thought I might and it’s with a bit of that liquid courage that I let Cedric come over first his cheeks a drink blushed red and I join him and the others out on the dancing planks.

It’s a sort of makeshift kind of stage and it’s wooden planks covered with spruce needles and it’s pretty well lit and I’m soon being spun around and there’s dances with Cedric and a lot of the other lads and men there and it’s not like close dancing but more like these rowdy pattern dances and group step things and there’s multiple partners and lots and lots of circles and spins and there’s fun things like whooping yells and stomping the feet which is fun because it makes the planks clank and clap and there’s hand clapping too.

I don’t know any of the dances or the names of the songs and it doesn’t really matter I’m cider fortified enough to lose my usual self-consciousness and have some fun and try and learn these things and even use my powers…learn the steps… Arc it all into my brain.

Yell with people, have fun, toss my hair back and forth, grip my skirts and sashay and sweep with them and move…get my blood going and pumping and my arms and my hips….there’s something visceral going on between they way I’m moving and dancing and the sway of things and the light bounce of myself as I dance and there’s also this sort of…people are looking, men are looking…Megan…with that look.

Pretty…I think I feel pretty and it’s not like this vanity thing that I’d expect from some of the girls and women that I was raised around but this sort of…a charge? I feel nice, I feel noticed and it sort of feels nice.

Then again I’m drinking past the limits of self consciousness.

I’m actually passed another flagon of cider and I’m halfway drinking through that when Sir Alaan is there and he’s drinking too and he extends a hand after he drains his flagon and they music shifts over to something less countryside and more courtly and fanciful and I’m biting my lips and a bit of a sweaty mess as I take his hand and we head back out onto the planks and the music is close enough that I think I can remember the way that people, that women danced this at home and with a little mental ignition it’s there and I slip into trying to do as I seen my eldest sister do and the dainty lift hand and the curtsey after his bow and then again and then the circle steps around and back and then turn around a full circle away from each other and snap both fingers with our arms behind our backs then into the dainty hand on the other side and a reversal of all those other steps and the spin away as well and the snaps and step back in and speed it up.

I look at some of the others and they’re starting to do the same and join us learning it all in that whole fanciful way. Nicole and Taylor stepping up and inviting people on the planks with us and soon just those looking to learn…there is a wedding coming up according to the post.

Alaan and I are actually smiling with them and at each other as we show them the dancing the way that we were taught even if I’m lighting my way through the different dances inside my head.

It’s kind of fun breaking these old class rules.

It’s very fun when we’re slowly starting to mix the two styles together…a few more turns, use the circle to switch a partner to the right and add a clap after the snaps as we step back towards our partners.

And then it’s late and the lights are burning low when the fiddles and violas start singing out that up close and personal waltz music and I’m finding myself really close and hands holding hands with Alaan once again and he’s…he’s very, very handsome and I’m feeling…and he’s so large, bigger than me in this good way and he’s smiling just from having fun but he’s looking at me…he’s looking at me in a way that makes me want to blush and makes me want to want things.

And then he makes me twirl.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 12

*Before…

It’s kind of fun breaking these old class rules.

It’s very fun when we’re slowly starting to mix the two styles together…a few more turns, use the circle to switch a partner to the right and add a clap after the snaps as we step back towards our partners.

And then it’s late and the lights are burning low when the fiddles and violas start singing out that up close and personal waltz music and I’m finding myself really close and hands holding hands with Alaan once again and he’s…he’s very, very handsome and I’m feeling…and he’s so large, bigger than me in this good way and he’s smiling just from having fun but he’s looking at me…he’s looking at me in a way that makes me want to blush and makes me want to want things.

And then he makes me twirl.

*And Now…

It never once really settled in to me that I was actually so small. I’m dancing with Alaan and he’s doing all the slow dance things that a man does and following is a lot different than leading.

But we’re not doing anything hard or fast so I can keep up.

But my heart…oh…this feeling of being turned…twirled and spun. Out than back in…into his arms.

He is strong, he smells good, and this is fun.

Oh I like dancing.

And I’m getting aroused.

I know I’m getting aroused I can feel it. Like with Megan with the flush under all of my skin and the ache in my nipples and how it spreads from there to my breasts or maybe from my breasts and ending and being focused in my nipples and then there’s the wetness…and that ache…that need to be touched and tasted…to feel something so wild.

And it’s changing too…maybe it’s Alaan and the way that he feels so right in the way he’s so handsome and muscled or the way that he smells too with that soap he uses and leather and hints of oil and steel from him being a knight and then there’s what I feel pressing into me as we’re closely dancing after he spun me out and pulled me in again.

I know exactly what that is and even as scary as that is I’m a woman and he’s a man and I have no idea if I could ever go back to being myself and likely not…likely even if there was a chance to reverse Aurora’s…Mother’s? Lady Blackhand’s spell that could take a long time.

And I’m a woman until that time or forever.

Sooner or later intimacy with a man will crop up…especially if this is the way that I’m felling now.

And as unromantic as it may just sound it’s also a very in my mind thing that there are a whole world of worse men then Alaan to lose my virginity to.

I bite my lip and I lean back into him as we’re dancing and press myself against him. I hear his intake of breath…part scenting me and part of it surprise and that’s…

Honestly it’s emboldening me.

I reach back and take his hand and step off and away from the planks and pull him along with me to his tents.

“Chrissy?”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s? Oh…I…are you sure?”

I’m drunk but not sloshy but it’s enough that I laugh a little because that really was… “You know that’s very cute and endearing coming from a knight.”

“Well it’s coming from a man that doesn’t want to take advantage.”

“You’re not, notice that I am leading you good sir.”

“I’ve noticed, you’re like your mother.”

I turn around and still pull him but I’m walking backwards because I know where to go because I can feel the magnet force of all the metal things that he has there. “Tell me this after we’ve been together and I’ll shock you.”

He actually grins a little at that and he opens his mouth to say something but we’re there and I step up and I kiss him.

This requires me to use both of my hands to get a grip on his tunic and to step as high as I can on the tips of my toes but I kiss him.

I like that he’s surprised.

And I would not be likely anywhere as bold it’s true for not the drink but I’m still very aware.

Feeling him all over again against me and the solidness he has I’m very, very aware.

We walk into the tent me going backwards and him leading and guiding me inside holding things out of my way and this isn’t his alchemy tent it’s his personal tent and it’s quite different than what I thought.

It’s heavy canvas and oilcloth I think and there’s brass fittings for the different things that he needs and it’s has a frame like his Alchemy tent of fitted pipes and there’s a snap in place floor like his other tent too. It’s warm and it smells of his things and him…leather and armor and beeswax candles and herbs and soaps and of other things that my nose actually finds pleasant.

The snap-in-place floor is such a great thing as it keeps the ground’s coolness or dampness out and makes it quite comfortable in here.

And of course there’s a bed and there’s.

I send a tendril of lightning out from a finger and I light the large candle on the small desk that he has for writing and he’s looking at me with this look it’s sort of awe? Wonder? Me?

It’s powerful too and it’s enough that I start to unlace my dresses stays and then he’s there and he’s helping me getting free of my clothes and then it occurs to me that I can do the same to…rather for him.

I’m familiar with the gear he’s wearing even if it’s not battle gear but just men’s things and as familiar as I am with it all it’s a whole different story taking it off of him because it’s completely reversed.

There is a part of me that gets this dry mouth swallow and a shiver as it all comes loose on my side and my dress tumbles off of my shoulders and slides over my breasts and the little cotton band that I have covering them.

Nerves, excitement, fear…and I swear that little flick through the cotton breast band of the dress falling down went all the way straight to my toes.

The air is cool and that raises chill bumps in a good way and actually makes my nipples ache all the more and I bite my lip and work more at pulling him free of his things. His coat of leather and plates falls with this sexy thud…I think it is?

It’s armor, it’s strength and protection and it means something.

Or it used to for me before all of this.

Shirt stays and then he’s pulling it up over his head and I work at his sword belt and take it off and it’s very heavy but I actually turn and set it on the bed…and assuming I’m on the bottom…I place it on his sword arm side.

Many knights sleep with their swords and as much as it’s tradition it’s just good sense.

And there’s things that still matter to me like that.

I turn to see this look on his face; it’s kind of surprised and sort of pleased. “You know about?”

I nod. “Yes, It’s important.” and looking at him I’m sort of caught by him early naked. He’s big, so big compared to me…muscles and tanned skin and hard looking and there’s hard won scars there too and I can’t help but to touch.

It’s a strange fascination.

I know who I was, but there’s just such a pull and there’s this feeling…Alaan’s looking at me and he’s has this expression that’s just tender yet wanting and…

Oh…He reaches out and he touches my face and it’s.

I…It feels good; it feels strange and thrilling and exciting.

He guides me but reaches out to me at the same time and then he kisses me.

Being kissed…it’s so very nice. It was nice kissing Megan and it’s really so very different being kissed by Alaan.

It’s strong, and I know it’s strange to talk about strength in kissing, but it’s this whole other thing. It’s powerful and strong and it’s being kissed with this male want of…of me and it’s as intoxicating as all the drink I’ve had.

My arms went up and around his neck.

His hands settle on my waist and hips and he picks me up and lays me down on the bed and he settles with me, kissing me more. He undoes the laces of my breast band and it comes away and I’m exposed to him and the air and the release from the cloth makes me gush a little down there…it was this little squeak of passion and thrill and excitement…his mouth comes over my nipple and it’s so hot…and so strong.

It’s is so good, powerful, wanton that his suckling makes my heart feel aflutter.

I push my chest to him and his other hand cups and squeezes, and I feel that mixture of his strength, his healer’s hands and then the calluses on his hands from the weapons work.

“Alaan…uhnn…”

That’s so inadequate.

But my eyes are rolling back or trying to. I’m panting hard, it’s not cool anymore it like my skins on fire.

“Alaan…please, please touch me…touch me.”

His hands run over my skin and it’s so nice, it’s so exotic to me. My mind isn’t thinking of anything else but how good this feels.

Then more kissing, more sucking on my breasts and my heart races faster and faster. I arch my hips and pull off my panties and kick them to the foot of the bed and ten reach for his undertrousers and pull them off his hips and buttocks.

He springs free and it’s pressing against me.

Hot and hard and big…so big.

I reach down and feel, it’s big and I can’t wrap my little had around it and it feels so huge. But alive and good.

Yes, good…very good and he gasps.

And it’s a good grasp, it feels powerful. Like that was just me, I did that…Made him feel that and there part of the old me clicks and that’s the few things and girls that I had thought of, that I thought about and I stroke him. I move my hand with his moveable skin and he’s getting unreally thick and hard and sticky.

“Chrissy, Chrissy have you been…been treated?”

“The potion?”

He nods.

“No.”

“We can stop.”

“Don’t you dare.”

“You don’t need it.”

“What…? I don’t understand.”

“Your mother she told me…that…that the lightning in her, in you kills male seed.”

“But my…how did she and my father?”

“Magic…but you’re safe.”

Part of these things, part of these things I want answers for. I have questions and he’s looking at me, giving me the chance to stop like the good ma that I’ve come to know and…and I want this man.

I use my arms and push myself up and I kiss him, I kiss him over and over and then he’s kissing me back and touching and I reach down taking hold of him and peel back his skin and guide him to my womanhood parting my legs.

I know I’m very slick, very aroused and still when he starts to enter and push inside of me.

It hurt; it hurt but inn this way you’d feel like if someone was massaging a cramped muscle. It was a hurt but it wasn’t what was built up in my imagination and it was sort of this good hurt, a good ache inside not this piercing tearing that was often the myth of virginity.

He move back and forth and his breathing was hot, he was gasping from the things he was feeling and I was too. Then there was this tight knot inside like just that, like something was tied inside with one of those trick knots that you yank on and it unravels….

Something inside me gave.

“Ugghnnn…Alaan!”

“Chrissy…oh…Chrissy, Christiana…so beautiful, so amazing…”

He sinks deeper and deeper now and I know it’s just a few more inches but it feels like forever.

We connect, our hips meeting when he’s all the way inside of me and that feeling is…it goes a long way in rightness? Like men and women have for gods knows how long together and fitting and flush.

He kisses me deeply, and squeezes my breasts just staying like that filling my up and kissing and the heat, his heat spreads. I feel it inside of me and it’s feeling better, less aching and cramped and more like heat in the cramped area and the rest of his attentions are heating me up and it’s making me wanton again, desireful.

I nod. After his last kiss I nod and he moves, I feel the stroke out and it’s good…startling and good then he sinks back in and I feel that crampy flesh getting massaged and then it’s more and more as I’m feeling less cramping, more feelings and the size and the shape and the hardness and the heat and then there’s that feeling like with Megan.

That beautiful shiver, that great feeling inside as everything becomes a flood as the orgasm hits me. It’s so deep though it feels like part of me wants to lose control and it’s like things inside of me re-cramp in this whole other way like I’m tightening up in pleasure more and more until I can’t anymore and my body weeps in just pleasure from my womanhood.

I have to touch him during that tightening pleasure, touch and grip…and to hold onto that powerful muscled frame and then my arms are pulling on Alaan’s and then there this point where my legs come and wrap around his waist and hips and I’m soon moving with him, meeting his thrusts as I orgasm over and over and it’s possessing…being there in the moment and it’s not like anything I’ve ever felt or done and I feel like I’m on fire and so very, very alive.

Alaan’s pace gets relentless and I know it’s not long but it feels quite long and soon, too soon he pushes into me hard and his feet dig into the bedding and I feel him swell and these hot, boiling hot pulses and he cries out.

Then he’s on top of me and he’s panting and I’m…I’m not done, I feel him inside and I squeeze and release and do that over and over and trace my fingers over his back and through his hair and he lifts his face from my chest and we share a tender look.

“God’s Chrissy, gods you’re amazing.”

I smile but I nod and my hair’s wet and I look at him. “It was, but please tell me we’re not done?”

He grins. “If you keep doing that definitely not.”

I kiss him again while tensing and un-tensing and rolling my hips getting more control over my sex and gaining confidence too. It’s gratifying in the extreme as Alaan thickens and hardens then I’m riding him even if I’m under him but it takes no time before he’s joining me and sinking back into me so sweetly and with such power it’s…it’s wonderful that he’s doing this to me and for me and he’s working for this.

It’s sweet in this erotic and stunning way, I feel sexual and powerful and wanted, lusted after and it’s so heady.

And it’s so much easier, faster for me to reach these peaks and highs as waves of pleasure erupt through my body leaving me feverish, crying out, wanting more even.

“More…Harder Alaan, harder…please…”

“Oh Christiana…you’re such a goddess, a princess…a nymph…magical...”

“Nymph?” I ask gasping.

He kisses me then breaks it breathily. “Not that barracks talk, but fey, sweet, daring, sexual…like the legends of the real thing.”

I like that, I kind of like that a lot.

“You…you’re so strong Alaan, a knight…a healer, a good man…I want to be with you because I want a good man to take me to all this…all this beauty.”
It says a lot that the sex is this good that, we’re not saying the harsh rutting talk…but caring things. Pillow talk I think they call it even if the pillow is on his floor.

Then he’s firing again with a hard hot heartfelt groan and he buries his face into my cleavage and I feel his voice resonating into his chest…and I have this... another surge of pleasure as his hot seed splashes my insides again.

It makes my eyes go wide again.

I feel him harden again right after. He moans too into me… “Oh gods, so much like her, so much like your mother…”

“I...I am?”

“Yes…I feel it, feel your magic.”

“What…?” (Panting.)

“She could do that, make me hard again…”

“Oh…you’re welcome?” (Breathy chuckle.)

Honestly I have no idea what or if I did anything but he’s on his third lance and I think that’s rare and he’s moving again and I still, I still am so deeply enjoying all of this.

He changes positions…moves my legs over his shoulders.

Oh good gods that was deep and powerful and I screamed when I orgasmed after that one and then he did again and filling me again and he didn’t flag at all this time and we moved again this time on my knees and I’m holding onto is scabbard using the weight of the blade as something to hang onto.

Another screamer…this time he was loud…and there was this sob? He’s holding me upright and panting I’m panting and he’s saying “Oh gods Chrissy, oh gods that’s…so amazing, so powerful…I never thought I’d ever be with a woman like this ever again…”

He rolls us over and he’s starting to flag and we end up being like two stacked spoons.

I’m shivering like a race horse and I feel his arms tightening around me. “Are you alright?” He asks.

“I’m very alright, that was amazing Alaan but I’m feeling so charged up, so emotional right now that I’m going to start crying and I really don’t want to because it was that wonderful and it was moving and.. and amazing and I didn’t know I was doing that thing that my mother did to you and…”

His arms tighten and around me and he presses into me. “And you’re saying and a lot. Cry Chrissy, you’re allowed happy tears…excited tears.”

Well that was it, just all these feelings and passion and excitement all comes tumbling out with the loss of my virginity…being so well lain and then there’s loving it too even though I never set out this way and it’s all lining up with Alaan and his care, respect, what type of man he is and I cry.

I don’t bawl but I push into his body for the heat and I’m crying and laughing a little too at it and it doesn’t last too long but it speaks so well of all of this that he’s this good to me even now…even after.

I can see how women can fall in love with a man like this, I likely could if my life wasn’t so complicated and this so still unknown to what will happen with my future and what I might have to face.

Sigh… no I’m not fallen for Alaan but it is such a very good thing, being with him. And this being my first man.

Not that I’m planning on a lot of men.

Alaan slips away from us and he gets blankets and tosses them to me and I smile and take them and unfurl them and it’s such a feeling with this and the after sex feelings both inside myself and physically too. I feel sated, sexual, and really sore too and awake but tired. It’s that half lidded feeling and I’m enjoying it.

I’m also enjoying the sight of Alaan naked with a small oil lamp he lights off of his candle and it has a burner frame like the ones from his alchemy tent and I watch him make us tea in two copper mugs and he brings them over and he pulls out a pack from near the bed and he has a canned jar and he offers a spoon.

“Beet jam?”

“Yes Please.”

I’m still not used to this and it’s one of the local gifts from here and it’s actually very good. It tastes well like beets but it’s a heavy fruity flavor but this dense texture that is mixed with a sauce that’s broke down with some of the beet and juices and cooked with something that thickened it a there’s a hint of citrus rind and spice both sparingly used. It’d be good with boar or rabbit or something gamey but it’d never grace the table of the nobility.

Beets? That’s poor food, might as well be a turnip.

I don’t care this is actually fabulous as we’re sharing spoonfuls of jam and drinking black tea after sex and it’s good.

It’s very, very good.

We actually have a mug and a half of tea and we eat all of the jam and then Alaan has me get up while he puts one of the blankets underneath of us because of well the dampness and we slip into bed together and pull the covers over us both.

Hot tea, sweets, and that post sex feeling of contentment blurring with blankets and tired ad being sore and Alaan’s body heat and then being held as we fit together like spoons again it’s very easy to fall asleep.

……………….. My dreams are scant and sleep is actually pretty deep and glorious. The bits of dreams I have are actually amazing sexual snippets and having jam and tea.

I wake before Alaan does like always lately and I’m sore but feeling good too. Not that sexy good but before but well rested and at the same time different inside. I look at Alaan who’s sleeping and smile a little to myself.

Definitely a milestone.

I try to slip out carefully and quietly but it’s like trying to get past Nicole and Alaan’s looking at me. “You’re leaving?” He asks quietly.

I nod and kiss him. “I’m awake, and I need to clean up so I’m going for a swim.”

He nods and he bites his lower lip and I kiss him again but hold both sides of his face in my hands. “Thank you, this was perfect Alaan.”

“I should be thanking you.”

“Then we’re even and we can look forward to another time.”

“Another time?”

“Hopefully.”

I get my clothes and take a blanket with me and slip out smiling and I hear him let out this big sighing breath. “Gods, these sorceresses…they’ll be the death of me.”

This, this sort of makes me smile; it’s a very, very odd thing that my mother and I shared a man in a roundabout way but I think I might have did her proud?

Yes, I think so if I’m any judge of the woman.

It’s that cool pre-dawn and I walk through the dew and head to the lake and set both the blanket and the clothes on part of the dock and grab my baskets and swim out to the lookout raft and…There’s a light there I see after I toss the baskets up.

“Oh I didn’t know someone was here?”

I see a young man one of the ones I tended early and recovered quickly. “Sorceress…I mean Wisdom, I mean….I…you’re..?”

“Swimming.”

“Naked.”

“Yes naked.”

“I…” He actually looks away. “I can watch another direction.”

I should consider it but at the same time I’m well covered by the water and yes it’s sort of fun that he’s truly wanting to look but not wanting to look. It’s still quite dark yet so I think I’m safe.

“Sentry?’

“Yes ma’am?”

“Do your duty; I’ve nothing you’ll not see.” Well actually he might not see anything but still…

I just turn and swim back to the dock and I do seven distances back and forth before stopping and tread water by the docks and use my fingers and hands to get some clean water inside of myself for a while until I’m very sure that I’m clean and I head back out to the raft and then I take a breath and go down the chain making light as I go and once more attracting the curious from a turtle to a frog to small fish. I wait a little while doing the arc’s between my thumb and forefinger and then tone it down then off as I head back to the surface.

It’s a little lighter and I can see him watching me. I wave and take a breath and head back down and this time I look for a rock to hold my weight down and swim out even further and I head out into the lake more and using one hand to hold the stone and the other for light.

Then there’s a current that I feel and swim into and it’s cooler, and I think it could be one of the feeder currents here that fills the lake and I cross it’s cool path and there’s fish there, a largish amount of them coming to see and are doing the swimming swirl around me and I just stop and take in the moment.

It’s just magical watching this like a whirlpool of silvery and greys and a few other shimmery colors and it’s nothing that I’d have seen if not for this.

I’m getting breathy so I let out a strong charge and pop…there’s that wave of lightning rippling out through the water.

Then I surface and I’m not too far away from the raft and I swim over and there a wuffle sneeze beside me. I look and the two otters are there swimming beside me.

“Oh now you show up.”

The female whisker bitey smiles at me and her mate swims I a rollover and water slaps his tail.

“Show off.”

I stop and get the baskets. “You two help or no fish for you.”

They follow me up to the raft and they follow back to the fish and they actually help gather them to me sort of like dogs. Ha, they know, they’re definitely smart enough to know where their easy meals have been coming from.

It takes a while to gather them all up and then they’re off with the two biggest fish of course and then there’s this feeling as I’m heading into the shore than then young man’s watching me.

Okay, I’m fine with that.

I know that it’s natural, I’d look, and even now I’d look.

And it’s not like I haven’t been doing this for a while now.

Then there’s this whole sorceress thing that’s come from this and well I guess it’s another thing that I’ve inherited from her.

I wrap my blanket around myself and it still smells a lot like Alaan and a little of sex and I pull it and get warm and dried off and then use it to dry off then I get dressed. I have most of it on by the time the others are out into the morning to do all of the things that they have to do in the morning and I get nods and cap of hood tugs.

“G’morn Wisdom.” One of the fishers.

“It is, a bit chill sir.”

“Fine catch ye have.”

“I wanted to add to the stores before we’re to leave.”

“Mighty kind.”

“Kind of you I don’t me to poach on your trade.”

“Aye well, yer not we’ve good fishin here.”

“I’ve noticed I was through one of the currents.”

“Aye ye, we’ve a few feeders from the underground b’tween the rivers and some of them be main rivers we’ve always been thinking.”

“Good place to settle, with the water and the vale.”

“Aye, it t’was these things thet me granfers thought settlin.”

“Well for me this place has been wonderful and I’ll always have The Corner as a piece of my heart after all of this.”

He takes one of the baskets. “Well it’s the same fer us. I dinna know what it was thet ye did in the alchemy tent but I know ye worked yer butt off and thet ye were wiping up sick and washin things getting hit and doing a whole bunch of work they ye really dinna have te do…hell’s lass ye dinna hafta even cross the walls.”

“I couldn’t not come here without good conscience sir.”

We end up at the main hall and he sets the basket down. “Inna case I dona see ye fer a while.”

He takes my had and this fisher man a fellow you’d never expect chivalry from takes my hand and he kisses my hand like we’re in a grand courtyard instead of the back porch of the village hall beside two baskets of fish.

I hear my father’s voice in my mind.

“You can breed title but not nobility Christian.”

I can’t help the smile that forms from this and I grip my skirt and I do what I hope is a decent curtsey.

It’s worth the smile I get back.

He gives me a tug of his cap and he’s on the way to do his own work and I head inside where it’s warm.

Oh course the fish are well received and I’m helping out and cooking and heating water and there’s breakfasts going out both from the kitchen in the way I imagine a tavern would do and also from out the back and that’s where I see Alaan again.

I give him a plate of fried fish with grain mash on the side and fresh bread and a scoop of farmers cheese and he takes it gratefully and I take mine too and I go and sit with him and he looks at me and there’s some blushing as we find a place at the edge of the back porch to sit and there’s a lot of glances our way.

There’s some giggles too from the women and young girls passing us.

He’s quite red faced. “They heard us.”

I nod and blush some too. “I…I was very loud I think and the walls of your tent are thin.”

“Well they’re cloth.”

I nod but I eat some fish, actually I shove some fish in my mouth. I’m starved with the sex and the swimming and this has been on my mind since we started the frying up. I chew and swallow then look at him. “I’m leaving soon, I have questions.”

He finishes chewing and he nods. “About your mother and what she could do.”

I nod. “Please.”

He eats for a bit more but he nodded and I eat too and wait until he gathers his thoughts and we’re done and he’s on his mug of tea before he starts.

“I was a squire when we met and she was in one of the battlefields I was helping at and she was healing.”

“She was a healer?”

“Well much in the same sense as me yes she was educated in it and she had great talent too as a surgeon.”

“Oh?”

Alaan nods. “She could move metal like you but she was older and she had a lot more practice in that and she could burn shut wounds and even skin. I seen her do a lot of the things that you do now like with the water and heating it and then there were other things…charms she’d lay to ease pain or stop pain I honestly wasn’t sure how she did some of that but now I think it’s because the nerves use lightning we cannot see to do such things”

“Oh, wow that’s something.”

He nods. “She said she travelled and studied. Where exactly I’m not sure of but nearly everywhere I have been or everyone that might have cause to know of her knew of her.”

I think to the sphere and if she could send me here she could do that for herself then travel might not have been a huge problem for her.

“And the sex?”

“I was young and she was drinking and she decided to take a shine to me and show me the ways of women and men.”

“So she was like the women here? A lot more free in their choices?”

“She was bolder than that…Aurora was a force of nature almost, she did as she pleased but she did it with honorable intent and conscience. As for the seed and sex issue I was panicking since I had no oil of vervaine with me.”

“Oil of vervaine?”

“It’s a herb, one where it’s cooked in oil then strained and when applied to sex…it kills a man’s seed.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I’ve never heard of such a thing is it common here?”

“Fairly much it’s from the elves but the dwarves use it quite much and with such it’s become a thing here.”

“And the immunity to illnesses?”

“The same conversation actually. She told or rather explained to me that she is always generating power, lightning through her body and that because if those energies anything like that either never would settle in or on her.”

“Then how did she have me?”

“Magic as I said would be my guess. She would have to do some sort of spell to have had you or perhaps once you grew enough inside of her you would have the powers that you have now naturally and she would only have to protect you for so long.”

He looks at me and Alaan gives me this honest shrug. “There’s a lot that I don’t know yet of magic and the workings of it.”

I nod. “You think this Lady Tatiana would know more?”

“Definitely, she’s very well versed in so many things and those that she’s not she hires those that are and keeps them close.”

“And she was my mother’s friend.”

“Aurora’s yes, for certain perhaps more.”

“More?”

“They had much the same senses of personal freedoms, and a lot of that she has shared with her people.”

“Can you think of anything else?”

“Nothing from my experiences, but she knew so many of the crafts.”

“Crafts like tradesmen?”

“Those but more like those with powers, druids and hedgemages and witches and mystics of all sorts Chrissy find some of them and they might be able to tell you more. Like anything I imagine that there are some inside secrets that only one with gifts would know or the like.”

I nod and I lean over and I kiss him lightly. “Thank you Alaan this helped.”

“I hoped it would.”

I smile and get up. “She was only an occasional figure in my life so anything I did not know is much more than what I did.”

“You’re both very much alike and not just in bed Christiana you are both very good women.”

I nod but sigh taking our dishes. “I hope so it seems that between both sets of parents I may have some very large shoes to fill.”

He slips off the porch and adjusts his sword belt. “You’ll do fine.”

I head back inside and there’s a few looks and knowing smiles and there’s some grins that make me blush and one of the ladies gives me this whole “wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more dearie” and some of the other’s grin and laugh but I see a few are just burning with questions… “A lady doesn’t tell.” I say and I head to the serving line but I look around and I slice up bread and leave a seven inch long half a loaf and cough several times and that sets them off all giggling and laughing. I’m still blushing as I’m pass out fried fish and spoonfuls of farmers cheese for the bread and Taylor’s there. “Good feed, it’s a fine way to end this off.”

“Ending? We’re leaving?”

“Aye, things are well in hand, and we needs to get you to where you need to go and finish our own duties.”

I nod. “I’ll be ready, it’s not like I have many things to pack.”

It’s kind of bittersweet and it’s getting very emotional as the food’s getting done and I’m getting repeated hugs from first the ladies I’ve been working with and then others and I’m tearful too because they’re tearful over me.

I have more help than I need packing at first and then I need the help as gifts come, the most of which are clothes and some of them are being handed down to me. There’s tops and skirts under things and socks and there’s new sandals and soft hide boots and a lovely heavy woolen coat that is very long on me like a robe and it has wooden buttons and a leather belt with loops and then there’s provisions and little gifts of little carved tokens and I use my memory trick to remember their names and what they gave me…every single thing, every little thing.

There’s lot of sniffles and kisses on cheeks and hugs.

And now I have two leather handled cloth bags of clothes, a draw string duffle and I’ve changed into some new clothes a set of woolen socks and then a skirt not too long to drag and then there’s my blouse under a nice tanned leather vest and my long coat of heavy wool with my dagger and sheath and a few pouches of iron ingots I asked Aiden the smith for.

He passes me a staff. It’s a good thick quarterstaff well dried and of hickory. “I think ye might be needing something like this.”

I take it and give it a few spins and then hold it in front guard position. “It’s wonderful.”

Yes I can use a staff, it’s literally the first weapon you’re taught in most arms training, long for reach and available plus if you learn staff then you’re learning a spear the most common of infantry weapons.

“Yeh kin use it I see.”

I smile. “A little better than a broomstick yes.”

We hug again and he walks me back to the others and we’re all set and the wagon’s hooked to the team of horses and we’re all ready to go and we start heading out of the village and the elders are there and we are shaking hands and then there’s Aiden and Megan.

I take his hand and we shake and he kisses it and I dip. “You’re staying?” I ask.

“We are at least another week just to be sure.”

“Fare you well then.”

“You as well sorceress.” He says it fondly.

Toss it…I step up and reach up and pull him down to a kiss, a long one that leaves the elders coughing and a few grins and him turning red and I break the kiss and there’s a few whistles from the others of the village and I move to Megan and she’s blushing and looking at him and she looks at me and then Alaan.

I shake hands with her and smile. “It was an honor spending the night with you Squire.”

There’s sudden silence and I take the chance to do the same with Megan and pull her down into a long kiss and that lasts until we’re coughed into breaking it too.

Alaan’s watching us the whole time and then I break the kiss look fondly at both of them and say. “Taylor are we ready?”

Taylor chuckles and cracks the leads and we start moving and I catch a seat on the back of the wagon waving and smiling as both Alaan and Megan are still looking at each other and I see Megan take her hands and stick them in her trouser pockets and walk away like she’s innocent.

I look over to see Jessa/Hawk looking at me. “Both?”

I turn sideways in the wagon and set my staff against my shoulder and my legs up and then grin at her as I innocently shove my hands into my coat pockets.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 13

*Before… Elizabetha Lyonnes

It all happens so fast doesn’t it?

One part of the night I was tired and bored to tears listening to my sisters bicker Angeline chastising Gracia for her flirtations and her demeanor. I’m good with words and myself for my usual.

“Elizabetha don’t slouch.”

“Elizabetha pay attention.”

“Elizabetha put away that book.”

Pfft gods and goddesses that. I hate that or hated it…given how everything had happened, has happened? I can’t help it that I am clever and that I am clever for a girl and that I have more interest in books and tool and the hows and why’s of the world then who was wearing what and what kind of lace so and so was wearing or just as bad who was buying what.

Angeline was so into that…is? I don’t know I saw other sphere’s leaving escaping with me so she might be alive.

But she was interested in the oddest things like harvests and bees and what was being bought for fests and other events…numbers which I’m fine with but numbers used it the most boring of ways.

I’m the youngest of us all and it was something that I both chaffed under because I’m a girl and there was so much that was just not done, especially for a noblewoman’s daughter which I hated or hate because I think that might always be the case and then there’s the advantage of being excused for the evening.

My maids frown on my leaving too early but I escaped every chance I got and retreated to my rooms and my stacks.

They frowned on that too and that I bought books instead of dresses unless I was forced to buy a gown for something. They frowned on my sitting up too late reading saying that squinting over candle light reading would give me crow’s foot wrinkles.

But mother and father approved, they might not have made it something known to all but they both were good that I was read and mother would read with me and well father was often busy but he loved learning and if there was a tome or a scroll or a book then he had the coins.

Always…

(Sniffle-Sob.)

I was well asleep though when they came and it was the screams and the earth trembling crashes that woke me as the siege weapons hit the keep and I could feel them smashing through my home and I bolted out of bed and foolishly went to a window and I seen the battleknights of the enemy coming through the holes they made in the walls with the ramming spears.

Large like a siege weapon called a bore they were twenty feet of steel all the way though with handles that were fitted with chains on the shafts. Like the ones used inside of a siege shed they were swung by those handles but with the force of a battleknight behind them instead of a half dozen men and they literally spiked their way through the stones and mortar until they broke through the walls.

I knew this was deadly serious then.

For a foe to have the knights to use a half dozen of these meant wealth. That much hardened steel would be dear in cost. Then they were through and there were troops flooding in as infantry and others and I ran from my window to get my things and it was just getting worse and worse as the moments passed and I gathered what clothes I could in a bag and I shoved some small books in there too…no not for reading, but they were small and easy to carry and I knew they might be valuable.

Damned copper clipping sister of mine.

I had just pulled my bag shut and belted my dagger over my night dress when I heard screams from just outside my door and they were of my maids and then the doors burst open and three men in colors I did not know came storming in and I grabbed my oil lamp and I threw it at them but over then at my ceiling and it shattered and it exploded in flames.

They were not very smart because they looked up at what I had thrown and flaming oil came down on them lighting tabards and men both and they screamed and they burned and I drew my dagger and ran passed the one that was burned worst and he grabbed me and I stabbed him up and under the helm.

Too hot sticky blood gushed out and he went limp and the other two swung steel on me and the first one missed and then they both had their swords keen…there was this sound like a finger on good crystal but louder and their swords snapped into pieces that turned on them and it was fast and it was scary and it was bloody and at the same time horrible.

I had never killed anything before and I had never seen men die either and in scant moments I’d seen both.

I still don’t know where I had the thought but I cut and tore the tabard off the one I stabbed and took his buckler and shoved the cloth in the space of the arm handle and I took up the shield to use to try and keep safe.

By the time I had done that Lady Blackhand was there looking fierce and she was crackling with power and rage unlike anything I have ever seen and she grabbed me and pulling me out of my room which was now very much ablaze.

Is it odd that even now that I have an odd satisfaction that my lamp was burning my books instead of the enemy?

She looked at me. “I have to get the others out that I can. I’m sending you to your grandparents to your mother’s lands to the east; you tell them what happened here.”

We headed out to an open spot as dangerous as that sounds to have been. I asked though. “What exactly is happening?”

“Your father’s lands are under attack, a man who calls himself The Gorgon…Lord Auron Kingsland is waging war on the lords of the middle kingdoms.”

“Why? Why now and why here?”

“Your father is a hero, he fought in the war against my father and other evils Elizabetha, he’d be a rallying cry if left unchecked.”

“And not because Lyonnes is witch-tainted?” I’m no fool I know that there are those that dislike our alliance with her and the fact that we are very liberal and progressive in the realms.

She glared at me. “Is that what you think of me?”

“No lady you’re my godsmother you’re family but I hear things past the spines of my books in courts and the fact that a lot of folks in the realms dislike you for how you raise women up and how father entertains the notions of women.”

She frowned. “Aye, the bastard out there is not alone. He’s too many troops here for that and he’s getting aid.”

I look out. “Civil war?”

“I don’t know but maybe.”

“So send me to the capitol.”

“No you’re too young I’ll send Gracia.”

“You’ll be sending an idiot.” Yes I’m younger and I’m still a child too but Gracia? Gracia was a professional flirt.

“The King’s court will be better suited for her, she can rally support while you can explain things to your grandparents and the kinsmen you have in The Riverlands.”

“And Angeline.”

“To her betrothed.”

“He’s so far north in the middle of the godsforsaken wilds and mountains.”

“He has power, he has weapons and battleknights and he’s an honorable man.”

I nod but frown… “I guess we’re getting out then.”

“Yes…” And she did magic and this opaque bubble formed around me and I could still sort of see through it and before I knew it I was flying out from home with arrows and crossbow bolts pelting the bubble and I screamed and hid and tucked behind the shield I still had with me.

But I still saw…

Father dead…The Rampant bathed in his blood, others dead or dying and as I was getting out of range other things burning, some of the other villages were on fire and I seen troops out and around them killing and likely worse.

And then I was out over our hills and into the eastern farms and some things were burning there too but it was getting less and less the further I got from home.

But it took half a glass for me to get far enough away that I could no longer see home burning.

It took me another half a glass to turn myself around and face forwards into what was coming. And what felt like a short time later it was becoming dawn when I passed over The Eastern Mountains and then I was in the Eastern Kingdoms and I barely recognized landmarks as I passed over things faster than any horse and I could see the home of my grandparents.

*And Now…
Green rolling hills and ponds and lakes and all interconnected ages ago from the large melt water rivers and lakes off of our mountains and naturally fed underground feeds, natural rivers and man-made canals all the way down from the lush hills covered with forests and farms and estates to these even richer fields that boast huge crops and fields all along the water there’s mills and vills and hamlets as well as smaller towns and then actual cities in the largest of the trader used waterways.

It’s a very beautiful place.

Then it’s not too long before I’m past all of that and heading to the coast. I saw the shift in the line of blue sky becoming the double line of blue and lower the darker blue.

The ocean.

And then I can see the shorelines and then just out about a mile from the shore and the beaches is…

The White Spire… out on the coast… City Island…that’s actually the name of this place the only city that is on an island here and not just bordering the water.

Home of mother’s house…House Petrel.

The keep is all of pale sandstone blocks as in the wall for the city but The White Spire as well…it’s is actually a beacon within a tower an ancient marvel and responsibility called a lighthouse.

The whole city as I’m coming down is both more lovely than I remember with there being the same sort of colors around so much here and stone homes great and small to weather all manner of storms and clay interlocking tiled roofs.

People are pointing, bells are being wrung and men at arms are running out of barracks into the courtyard armed with spears and crossbows and cutlasses.

The bubble breaks and I fall as soon as I try to stand and my legs are too numb.

I yell though. “Fetch Grandfather! Please now!”

*And Now… Christiana.

It is very much a different trip over the last two days.

With all of the things that I’ve learned from my time at Palfrey’s Corner especially with my memory trick I learn and really learn as we walk and forage and I’m shown things by Hawk and some by Nic as we go and I commit them to memory.

The first day was pleasant enough with blue and clouded skies and we and the horses were much refreshed from the time not traveling that we made good time and distance getting all the way back to the roadway or what passes for one hereabouts and we kept going only stopping to water the horses and make water ourselves as we ate what fresh goods we were given as we traveled.

Another strange learning experience happened though. I could feel something, just something in the air and I wasn’t sure what that was until the day wore on and the clouds thickened and it was like I could feel the changes in the air as it got closer and closer to raining.

Mercifully Taylor knew these parts and he found us a herdmasters bairn that was used to take livestock to market and we were only mildly damp by the time we got there.

It’s a simple enough thing two dozen tall poles as posts in the ground and there was a rook that was there of simple thatching and it was walled with sheets of woven rushes about four feet high to keep in the herds and keep out the wind somewhat but it was welcome and we stopped there for the night with us eating on the wagon and me using my bit of metal and water heating trick to boil us soup.

It’s fresh and dried mushrooms and some of that wild rice and there’s shavings he put it off of a slab or hard salted pork and some garlic and wild onion. Then an egg and some flour and some soda? Yes I think it was soda and some herbs and soon he had dumplings in there for us.

Is there better than hot soup and dumplings on a cold and very rainy day?

We bedded Nic and Hawk and myself under the wagon itself and Taylor up in the tail of the wagon itself on watch but more relying on the horses.

That morning Nic decided to see how much skill I had with my staff and she and Jessa went at me both and then Taylor took a turn and they with him and I had both my knuckles rapped a few tips and my ribs tapped as well.

Taylor was the best of all of us and I was better than Jessa and Nic was better than I was.

It was rather satisfying to actually not be the least skilled in something at least.

After all of that though Nicole readied her rigging and made sure that everything was well in order and she walked her Squire’sknight until we stopped for midday or close to our midday meal.

I helped her reload it to the wagons and to tune it and oil it as well.

“You’re good at this.”

“I was to learn it home.”

“Honestly Chrissy it’s easy to forget somewhat.”

I looked at her. “Have I changed that much?”

She shrugged. “I’ve no idea; all I’ve known is you.”

Jessa said though as she stopped to tie her laces, she always undid them when we were stopped and redid them before we left. “You’ve certainly changed since The Corner, for one you’re more experienced and you’ve more confidence.”

“Well I’m a lot more used to things and not falling over while taking a pee certainly has helped you know.”

We sort of chuckle at that but she looks at me. “Lots of things have changed, you bedded Sir Alaan.”

I nodded and I smiled and she made a bit of a face. “Aye and would ye have done that before?”

“I wasn’t Chrissy before.”

“But in your mind?”

“In my mind Jessa I was having fun and it felt good and this body, my body liked what it was feeling and smelling and I liked being with him. He’s a good man. And I’d have much rather bedded a good man than not for my first time.”

She looked at me. “But you’re okay with this though…bedding a man.”

I looked and I shrugged. “I’ve no idea how long I will be like this Jessa, it could be forever.”

She still made a face but just nodded and she headed off.

And I…I stayed with the wagon after that for a while because I was a little perturbed at her peturbedness at my choice of sexual partners and that I was okay with what I’d done and chosen.

Not mad though…Jessa had a whole war-quiver full of reasons to not like men or the thought of intimacy with a man and her own preferences and my birth sex were still unsteady things still in my mind and heart I’ve no idea what she’d have in hers.

So a good part of that afternoon was spent with me tumbling out my ingots and taking my wand and actually trying to do things with them and to float them and really just practice with doing what might just seem frivolous things but it’s training nothing formal but still practice nonetheless.

A good part of that was actually observing the magnet force, seeing it and moving it but seeing the relation it has with other things like the nails in the wagon or Nicole’s Squire’sknight and then closing my eyes and feeling these things and then trying to feel them in relation to me and each other.

It’s gratifying to have been able to reach out and feel the ingots and grab one from the air as it floated or to reach out and touch where I feel a nail is in the wood and it touch them every time.

I spend some time after that trying to reach out with those feelings and keep track of the others. Taylor’s the easiest since he’s driving the wagon and he’s carrying a goodly amount of steel on him and the it’s Nicole who is further away and taking point and sometimes flank on foot but she’s wearing her weapons and she’s wearing her armor and I can feel he easily. Jessa’s hardest she’s furthest away but she has the least amount of metal with her knives and hatchets and the arrowheads most likely what I could feel that and she moves fast.

I think I only found her when we she was stopped to forage or to drop off those bundles of wood or herbs or bags with berries or mushrooms or whatever else we found along the way.

I felt Blossom Vale before we seen it.

It’s this small little place where two really steep hills like cliffs came together and went a good deal in length. Sort of like a massive outcropping that was a couple of hundred feet high and mountain goat steep it was covered in a few evergreen but largely it was beech trees and a lot of wild apple trees but not crabs something called apple jacks and they were a small tart green apple.

Apparently the village gets its name from the apple blossoms and from the vale which is actually a miner carves pass through the two cliffs that was reinforced with brick blocks.

There was a gate and it cost a copper in coin or trade to pass and the fact that they did so with the approval of Lady Tatiana here without her taking the dragon’s share of it still baffled me. We stayed and we did post and we ate as guests of the headman after climbing a lot of stairs.

The village was on both sides and it was literally carved into the hillsides and platforms for the homes and cabins are resting on large logs or more seen mortar and cobbles. It’s a great idea for defense and honestly it’s very pretty here.

We did some trade as well part of that’s with the doings of the post and the rest is for our goods and we part with some things in return for some of the things from here. Apples, dried apples, cider, and a little brandy too but mostly we have are a half dozen casks of vinegar. I could smell it through the barrels.

It’s a grand thing to trade actually since it’s so immensely useful, tonics and curatives as a cleanser and disinfectant and even in the right solutions of water a brine for pickling, so it’s is one of the essentials here.
The meal was actually fine as well…apple vinegar pickled piglet with pepper and cider and it was hearth braised until it was glazed and crackling and sweet yet tart. Honestly it could have graced a nobles table. There was beans baked off and in this sweet yet not sauce and there was bread from the morning and cheeses and pickles…there was a goodly board set out of pickles. The only thing fanciful was the piglet and it wasn’t just for us but for the headman’s family and the innkeeper’s too the serving girls and the town forester who was really much more of a ranger like Jessa/hawk than a man who cuts timber and tends to the trees.

I helped of course and I heated water for the inn and lugged and loaded and carried things but not so much things one would assume with a Wisdom.

Though I was watched with kind smiles and the peeking of children.

That actually I was used to in my old life with people taking peeks of us especially the children as we’d ride by in the township on way to temple.

Though this time I tried to just be more of a girl and less of the noble and as I was not doing anything sorceress they seemed a bit less scared.

We moved from Blossom Vale out and we made some decent distance again and the weather was nice so we kept going and I lit the way as we went into the evening until we reached a spring that the other’s wanted to get to and we bedded down for the night.

*Currently…

I’m awake, I don’t know why even with the long days that I wake after just four perhaps five hours of sleep but I do and I sit up and look around and then I feel around with my “Magnet sense.”

I feel the others and I feel the wagon and it’s sort of strange doing this but it’s something that I think I need to hone. I get up and slip out of the warm tent and look around and I don’t see Jessa so I reach out and feel again and I can feel the metal that she wears up in a close by tree and I look over and up at her and wave.

She slips out of the tree limb she was on pulling her jacket and cloak with her after she was using it as a lookout pad. “Can’t sleep?”

“No, it it’s been something that’s been regular for me and not just nerves, I get four or five hours and that’s it I’m awake.”

She looks at me. “Useful.”

I nod and start adding some wood to our fire. “It is but it’s still odd and it’s still just one more thing for me that’s odd.”

“Like you and Sir Alaan?”

I look at her and she’s not being scrunch faced but just Jessa it was I think an honest question this time.

“Very much yes, being with Megan is something I could understand mentally, I’m young but not that young that I wasn’t looking and there’s part of me that is thinking about being with him like I said…he’s a good man.”

I put on the kettle over the fire. “But I’d be lying if I said part of my mind isn’t very confused by it too.”

She nods. “Good I was worried.”

“Worried?”

“Yes I was worried you’re not born to the life of a woman Chrissy, you’ve been magicked into it and you have so much to learn, to just know in your bones to be watchful and wary of.”

“I know, I thought that you were mad at me.”

“Why?”

“For being with Megan and then with Alaan.”

She gives me a look and she nods. “Some…maybe, there’s not a lot of women like me that are open. Even here there’s a sort of don’t naysay but by the gods don’t encourage them.”

I nod. “It’s worse elsewhere.”

Jessa looks at me. “And you being with him just sort of seemed you were taking it lightly.”

I look at her. “Like the noble that I am?”

“Somewhat, it’s…just…”

“I was made to be this and not raised as a woman.”

“Aye an I know it’s being jealous of me too. Not just did ye have y’thing with Megan but ye were with him and me and so many of us ain’t never had a gentle man to do gentle things for our first times and here ye just up and do.”

“Would it help that is a really big reason why I took the chance to be with him, that I know that he’s pretty rare a find and wanted to take control of my life a little…because the last thing I’ve had or felt lately is that my life’s in control.”

Jessa looks at me and moves enough to get the tea and she takes out one on the bits of clothe that we use for the muslin cloth and wraps them up and does a knot in them before tossing them in now that the water’s at a boil and I move the kettle away from the direct heat.

There’s a shared look and a smile there.

“Welcome to womandom then when your life’s made about makin choices that ye shouldn’t hafta make just because ye were born a girl.”

I nod and smile. “And here’s to changing that.”

She looks a little surprised at that but she nods and get mugs while I pour us some tea and we sort of just do that sip and enjoy the quiet for a while and she lowers her mug and she looks at me.

“You knew where I was and you’ve been sort of doing that for a while now is that a new magic?”

I nod. “Yes sort of. I’m learning how to work with magnet force which lets me move or repel things with iron and the like and I can sense that force and the metal on you.”

“Oh well shite that’s useful, can you do compass things without a compass?”

“Yes.” I close my eyes and point. “True north is there.”

“Dead on.”

I open my eyes and grin. “I felt out your metal but you’re hard to find sometimes because you don’t have a lot of it and you flit around the woods a lot faster than you do with me in tow.”

Jessa nods. “That’s on a cause of me not having you and Nic t’slow me up so I can do some proper ranging.”

“I thought it’d be rangering.”

She coughs on her tea. “Stop that y’know better’n that.”

I grin. It feels good to have this all worked out between her and I it didn’t feel right with the air not cleared between us.

I look at Jessa. “How far now until we get to this stronghold of your lady’s.”

She looked out at the woods. “We’ll be in the quilt soon then it’ll go faster.”

“The quilt?”

“Aye it’s how it looks from the towers.”

“Oh well I think I can picture that. So it’ll be faster?”

“Aye we won’t hafta stop to do the post ‘cause it’s done by the actual post riders.”

“Oh…so we’re really close.”

“Two day if we’re all on horses I’d say with decent weather we’d do four or five to put us into the stronghold itself and done with this trip.”

“What are your plans after that?” I’m trying not to sound too needy but at the same time the idea of being there alone is daunting especially since they all have lives and they all heave things that they would be doing instead of watching over me.

“I’ll likely spend some of my coin and get things taken care off and likely I’ll stuff myself and get good and lit then I’ll sleep for the first two days at the least.”

I grin. “That sounds good.”

“The tea smells good.” I look and Nicole’s up and she’s still looking bleary and we pour her a cup while she goes off to do her business and get cleaned up and she gratefully takes it as she sits down. “I’ll still be around Chris; I won’t leave you to founder.”

“Am I that obvious?”

Both of them are grinning and Nicole nods. “Kind of yes.”

Taylor’s the last to get up and he takes no time at all to wash up and get clean and we can hear him splashing from here and he’s still sort of dripping when he comes back but is running a comb through his hair slicking it back and then taking out the things for our breakfast and it seems like we’re lazy having more tea and just sort of watching him but it’s just sort of nice to watch him and not be doing things for once.

He makes porridge…a very good thing.

I’m used to some porridge and oatmeal from home and what they made at palfrey’s corner but Taylor makes something that’s actually pretty grand. He takes a bit of lard not much but just enough to slick the frying pan and into that goes some walnuts and hazels he’s just cracked and some wheat berries all pulled apart to be loose and chaffless and he pan roasts those a bit before adding in the oats and that just takes a few short stirs before the oats get toasted and then some hot water in a few pours as he’s stirring then he cubes up three apples and then it’s done and there’s a little pour of apple preserves over it.

This would be absolute heaven if there was a little milk or cream the preserves from Blossom hill have hints of spice in them and it’s so good. I like the mixtures with the sweet but the apple chop is just heated and not cooked so there’s that and the nuts too.

We all eat heartily and have good sized serving and then it’s packing up while Taylor tends to the horses and feeds them some and waters them and everything and then we’re back on the road. It’s earlier than usual about a half glass before dawn and I do my light arc trick until we hit the early lights and then I stick close and help with the bundles of the forage and the wood.

We go again with a pretty fast pace and after a few hours Nicole gets her Squire’sknight off of the wagon and the wires and pulleys tuned and then we set out again with her behind us but moving at a really fast pace too and the horses can move faster without pulling the load so much and I take a seat on there and I can track hawk as she goes on ahead at a run and I’m sort of amazed at the kind of ground a ranger can cover when they’re not having to wait for everyone else.

But how often has she done this trip, how well does she know the land and are there signs to read that others in her trade have left for her to read or see. I’ve sort of heard tales of them doing such. I know hunters leave signs for game and such but I have heard stories that rangers have almost an entire language out here in the wilds of signs and the like.

Part of her going so far ahead is freedom I’d imagine but too it’s her gathering forage but putting it in one area for us so Taylor and I can load it instead of a half dozen small stops.

It’s an hour passed midday when we come along to this tiny little hamlet called Rafton.

It’s literally built in a swamp and on stilts and rafts.

I’m staring at it as we’re coming up to it and I’m just… “I’ve never seen the like of this…”

Taylor’s grinning. “Aye, they’re inventive that’s for sure and it’s a good defense too.”

“I can see that it’s one hell of a moat. How do they live though?”

“Decent enough, you’ll see.”

We call out the post and we don’t dare bring the horses or the wagons or Nicole’s Squire’sknight and we’re met by a few villagers and there’s the usual things and greetings and we’re invited to go into the village and Hawk stays behind to watch our things and some of the young village lads carry our bundles for us.

It’s interesting and we’re doing post and we’re trading and a lot of that is the hunted red meat game and all of the coal and the bundles of firewood and here we pick up dried herbs and some fresh ones as well.

We don’t need as much in trade here since we’re getting closer into the lands where things are more settled and more available. But Rafton is very well stocked in its herbs and something I have not seen nor heard of before called yam?

They live on the water and they’re apparently developed a farming that uses the rich waters and soils here of this marsh to grow food on rafts with this technique called water gardening and all around the town there are all sort of things growing like climbing plants and fruits. They have quite a few things really but the wild game from the forest is still a trip of quite a distance for them to hunt it for themselves with most of their meat stocks being raised or fished or water birds.

Dinner was fried frog…

Yes frog, or rather their legs and I was very, very hesitant at first but willing to eat from just the sheer smell and well the way that they were received by Taylor and Nicole. They’re actually not bad at all once you get passed the idea of eating well…frog.

But I suppose you do anything really to survive when you have to.

Again there wasn’t much for me to do actually with my abilities as a Wisdom other than heating lots of water for them so they’re not using fuel so much and helping Taylor to write things down for the people there while he’s delivering the news. Alright to be fair writing and heating water are fairing big things when you look at gathering wood and other things to burn and writing is still something that not all can do or do well.

And by midafternoon we’re back on shore again and we’re heading out.

We get packed up and Nicole’s going over her Squire’sknight again and she looks at me. “Would you like to take it for a few miles?”

I look at her. “For true?”

“You said you were learning and I’ve seen you know what you’re doing when it comes to helping out and tuning the wires.”

“I would love to.” To be honest I’m very excited. “I hope that I actually can do it.”

“I think you can, it’ll be a start at least.”

We take some time and we get me in the harness which is a lot like a climbers harness and then there’s a torso bit and those are anchored by clip bolts to the inner frame to keep you steady and give you leverage but to keep you also supported as there are no seats. Then it’s adjusting the boots which are metal boots that you clamp onto your feet with plating that goes up to your knees and those are actually attached to the leg frames with bolts but there’s the rigging wires hooked to those parts.

So when you lift your leg it puppets the movement and the wires run through the pulleys below and those turn some of the gears and it all converts the power that you use so that it’s multiplied enough that you can move the legs.

I lift a leg and the wires pull in one set and whirl the bearings and the gears in some of the boxes that build energy and I step down and it pushes on a piston right under my footplate turning the motion into more energy through the various wheels…like a war bow with the wheels that make draw easier there are wheels and lines to make the pull of your legs easier and then the downward pushes run the hip gears that allow the swing of your feet and legs and they put more power back into the system so that the more you use it the smoother and easier it gets.

Easier not easy… I’m literally lumbering and it’s like trying to walk through knee deep clinging mud or much like that and my first few steps are teetering and Nicole’s telling me. “Use the harness turn your body with the pull of each step you’re the center of gravity for the knight.”

I try it and it smoothens out and it’s like leaning with each pull of the leg and then moving forwards. But by the gods it’s hard work even if once I’m going it gets easier it’s all I can do to pull the legs and walk and lean and I feel it in my things and in my stomach too and back.

Battleknighters are the best of the best, they aren’t just walking around in armor and mail with weapons like other knights they do those things too but there is only a certain type of knight that can do this sort of training all the time and it produces people who have extraordinary strength and endurance.

And the arms, I have to learn to move the arms for added balance too. The arms rigging is even more complicated with you shoving your arms into a frame and that frame moves with your arms and these end in gauntlets that have wire to them and a whole skein of wires that lead off to the pulleys small fine ones really that allow you to move the hands and fingers. The wires for the arms are in several pints all leading to pulley boxes with the bearings and gears that in turn push the pistons that make the arms move.

Really if you’ve ever seen the inner workings of something like a piano it’s nothing compared to the wire workings of a rig and as with anything with so many cables the all must be tuned so they have the right amount of tautness for the person in the harness.

And as hard as this is it’s such a thrill too. I grew up or well was growing up to learn how to do this. I had dreams of this and running The Rampant or maybe even a battleknight of my own well before the attack and my change and my magic coming through. To be able to be here doing this and then even just walking it around and then going on the march with it is huge.

I’m sweating like crazy and at there’s this part of me that just doesn’t care that it’s actually the most physically demanding thin I’ve ever done in my life because I’m so happy to be doing it.

I get really maybe five or six hundred yards before I’m running out of strength and my legs start to ache and to cramp up and I stop. Nicole climbs up and pops open the chest hatch. “Done?”

I nod my hair is soaked with sweat and I’m actually steaming a little. “Yes…ow…ow…ow…”

Oh gods I’m stopped and my thighs, my thighs are twisting and knotting up and Nicole looks at me and she chuckles. “Push through it.”

“Push through it?”

“Pain won’t stop sixteen feet of steel coming at you from another battleknight, you have to move and you have to get past it one way or another. So come on you can rest once we get it back up and onto the wagon and we can square things away for me again.”

“Dammit…ow…okay.”

We’re stopped or the wagon is and I’m trying to grit my way into taking those steps and it’s hard…really hard and Nicole’s not pampering me through any of this as she makes me walk it to the wagon and guides me through walking it backwards up the ramp and sitting in the throne.

Three tries and I nearly dump me and the Squire’sknight off the side of the wagon. It’s a really hard thing to do getting that machine to sit. I’m so tired by the time it’s done and Nicole’s nodding. “Good you did good.”

“I did?”

“You didn’t fall over at any point and you walked close to a third of a mile, for a first time that’s really impressive.”

“Well I grew up with these machines, well not one’s like these we don’t have these smaller ones.”

She nods. “They’re still very expensive to build about half the cost of a battleknight even here there’s a lot of battle knight houses that don’t use these of the Page-standards.”

I get out of everything and I feel so light…but floppy.

Nicole passes me a drying cloth and I wipe down and then we get her rigging sorted which is wiping it clean of my sweat and then it’s retuning it for her to use and we’re actually moving again while we’re doing that and when we’re don her and I both sit in the back amongst all of the things and we take a break and she rubs my legs and I hang onto to things trying not to make yowls as she works the cramps out.

“So do you still have an interest?” She asks me.

“I have to, my brothers are dead, my father is dead if I can get The Rampant back then I will pilot it. It’s my duty to and I don’t think Nic that I can be a powerful enough of a sorceress to fight a thing like The Bull with just my powers.”

She nods. “I’ve never heard of such a thing either even with your mother.”

I frown and sort of hunch. “Which means that I have much to learn and much to do one way or another or even both.”

We sit and we just sort of think or I’m thinking and brooding when Nicole looks at me. “Right well we can’t just sit here then I think that we need to get you some practice in.”

“Practice?”

“Yes your mage gifts have to be like anything else one has to develop and you need to stretch them and use them in order for them to grow.”

I look at her. “Alright…?”

“We can do drills.”

“Drills?”

“Well the first wizards and such had to practice somehow and you need to practice so we’re going to practice.”

“How?”

“Well we’ll work on control with those ingots of yours, we’ll work on aim.”

“Aim?”

“Yes, you said Lady Blackhand used metal things as weapons and manipulated them so we start with that and with concentration and strength.”

I give her the side eye.

She grins.

It took a little doing but I’m walking again with the wagon and Nicole took two nails we had and bent them into hooks and had me weld them to two of the ingots.

“Now when we see bundles set out for forage and the sack you’re going to send out the hooks with your magnet force to go and to fetch them and bring them back to the wagon.”

“Alright that’ll be useful too.”

“Indeed and it’s good practice in control and then there will be you throwing ingots with your power at spots I’m going to point at with a light patch from my mirror.”

“I think I can do that.”

“You’d best there’s few second chances in a fight.”

“I will definitely do my best.”

“Better, and the third thing?”

“The third thing?”

“You’re to float the cooking cauldron behind you at waist height about a yard from you at all times.”

“I’m not sure that I can do all of that Nicole.”

“If you gainsay it from the start Christiana then you will make it all the harder.”

I take a breath and I sigh and we get started and it’s hard…really hard because I’m tired and then there’s the fact if I don’t keep the magnet force squarely in my mind and feeling the cauldron it gets slippery and I drop it. I have terrible aim with the ingots as well hitting about one out of every five or six times.

Every time I miss I have to arc power between my hands for a full minute which means standing still because while I can do it between my thumb and forefinger I can’t do an arc between my two hands without standing still and concentrating.

And they’re not stopping so each time that’s a minute of them still going and getting ahead of me and it’s adding up as well as being tired and I’m getting a headache out of all of this too and my body is yelling at me for all of this abuse.

The easiest thing is actually using the hooks and doing things like floating bundles to the wagon and I can see that being a thing that I will be using a lot more too.

About four hours into it all I clue in enough that I get my ‘wand’ from my bags and I start using that to help me and it’s a lot more accurate to use that to fire at the patches of light and to control things.

We’re done the drills after another two hours and Jessa joins us to stop and rest and she’s treating her things and skinning some rabbits as it starts to get dark and we’re heading into this deep valley and Taylor’s looking for us to get to a good spring that has a waterfall and we’re heading down and down and out of the range of the sunlight so I’m playing lantern again and Jessa gives the whistle to stop us?

From behind?

She’s riding in the back of the wagon to clean things up and she’s dropping the meat and she’s standing at a crouch and she’s looking behind us and then we see these shadowy shapes coming out onto the road from the top of the valley road behind us and they are back lit by the lighter sky.

I see her reach for her bow. “Nicole! Wargs, Goblins!”

Nicole’s running and climbing the wagon getting to her rig. “What! Here!?”

I hear the howls of the Wargs and the horses are going wild and Taylor’s unsnapping hooks and he yells and slaps backsides and they take off running.

“Is that a good idea?” I ask/shout.

“Better’n them dying hooked to the wagon and better than them wrecking the wagon too.”

He’s grabbing his crossbow and he’s grabbing bags and dumping caltrops around us? “Stay on the wagon Chrissy we’re safer here.”

“Alright but I’m not staying out of this.”

“Good plan, but no lightning toward Nic.”

“Oh…yeah that’d be bad in her Squire’sknight.”

They’re coming I see then pouring over the crest of the valley top and the Wargs are howling and the goblins are screaming these horrible giggling shrieks and it begins.

Hawk’s losing shaft after shaft at them and I can sort of see some tumbles and falls in the darkness and I can see that some are just wounded and still coming and then Taylor is losing bolts too using a slur bow crossbow which is the easiest to use and to draw back using a small hook like you’d use for hooking bales of wool.

Whizz…fffp…arrows are whizzing past us. Some of the Goblins have bows.

That’s so not good.

I concentrate and I feel for things, feel their metal and pull that sight, that feeling into me and try to keep it going and it’s very strange and it’s very dizzying for the first few minutes but I sort of get mad at it and myself and force myself to focus and concentrate and I shove out a wall…I try and shove out a wall of my magnet force power between us and them.

I’m trying to get it away from us and to stop the arrows.

I do…Holy Gods of the Elohim it worked…sort of…all the arrows going through are hitting it and wobbling astray and so does three of Hawks and one of Taylor’s crossbow bolts.

And Hawk yells. “Chrissy! What did you do!?”

“I’m trying to stop their archers!”

“……………..okay…how far away is it from us!?”

“Five yards, it’s all I can do!”

I see her take out her axes and set them within reach and then she’s pulling two arrows and she’s breathing and waiting…Taylor loads his slur bow and he does the same with some of his metal bits I’ve felt on him pulling knives that look like they’re throwing knives and Nicole closes the hatch on her Squire’sknight and it reaches and with that metal out of scabbard screech she pulls the sword free of its sheath and she locks in her grip on the large shield and she stands.

“Now Jessa.” She says it and it’s boosted by the speaking tube and horn for the pilot to use and she sounds deeper voiced and commanding.

Hawk pulls back her bow as I feel my wall breaking from all of the metal the Wargs and Goblins are carrying and it snaps it apart from the strain. She does this deep breath and she fires two arrows at once taking the two lead Goblins in the chest and sending them falling off their Wargs and then she moves and Nicole steps off the wagon without the ramp and right onto one of the riderless Wargs.

There’s a screaming howl and almost a wounded dog/canine sound and a very loud crunch sound and I see her belt the other riderless Warg with the shield in the head with her shield and then she steps ahead and into them swinging her blade.

It might not be a full Battleknight or a sword that they’d use but it’s still very long, longer than any blade that a grown man could use and it’s heavy too, very heavy and sharp and she swings and it cuts through everything in its path.

Blood, bone, fur and limbs are in the air and she doesn’t slow down at all as she steps and turns and she continues the sword stroke into the stunned Warg and it’s not even a consideration as she keeps turning doing steps like in a circle swinging as she does with the shield and bashing another Warg and it’s rider off its feet and she keeps going with that turn until she made a full circle and she’s swinging the sword again and there’s another explosion of death and of gore.

Hawk’s back in place and she snaps off three shots more before tossing her bow backwards and grabbing her axes and she’s knocking spears away from herself and trying to get an opening with the Goblins and she gets one as a crossbow bolt nails a Warg in the skull dropping it and as it sinks it’s rider gets his skull cleaved by her axe.

Then they’re trying to get around us, trying to circle while there’s some trying to fight Nicole in her Squire’s knight and they’re trying to jab spears into the joints of the machine.

There’s a screaming howl beside me and I see a Warg and its paws are bleeding from the caltrops and the Goblin thrusts at me with his spear and I’m using my quarterstaff now to fight it off it’s fast and strong and it’s mad…not like angry but like psychotically violent and it’s all that I can do to keep it from stabbing me with all of the training that I have.

Gods it seemed like I was trained, I thought I was good and better than this.

Twice I get cuts in my woolen coat the thrusts are that close and I scream and point a hand at him and release power and send a bolt of lightning into his face. He screams and his head lights of fire and I’m that close I’m sprayed a little by the popping body fats.

I use lightning on the Warg next and shove and shove power at it and it falls away screaming and making that hurt canine sounds and as soon as it does there’s another two taking the place of the one that I was fighting and my staff is suddenly too busy for me to unleash more lightning and I’m fighting for my life.

Hawk and Taylor are fighting as a team and there’s Goblins now on the wagon with us having jumped off of their mounts as the Wargs are suffering from the caltrops and three times in that fight Taylor saves my life by putting a dagger in the back of a Goblin out of nowhere as we’re being swarmed….he doesn’t even pull out the daggers there’s just a move of his hands and as if by magic he’s got another nasty blade in his hands and there’s this almost frightening look in his eyes.

Hawk is just as ferocious and she’s not quiet either screaming war cries and she’s very, very good with those axes using them to hook weapons or body parts or to block blows with the back edge of them and she very often or it seems lands a blow as she’s blocking or hooking with one and striking with the other….and half the time she will hook and pull A Goblin off its balance or in a way that Taylor uses to kill.

I’m trying to not be a burden; I’m trying to calm the hells down and get my mind into the fight and see it like I was taught. Every move has a counter; every attack has a weakness…

And father would approve of Nicole because sometimes the best defense you can have is a good offence and she’s done with what was behind us…I never even seen it but it’s all carnage and she’s dropped her shield and she steps into my side of things and slams her sword in a thrust through a Warg and she turns and she uses the free hand to palm the face of another and it goes crunch and goo and gore goes everywhere and she steps away from the wagon and she turns and flicks the sword hard sending the impaled Warg shooting off of it and into a thick and sturdy tree.

One of the Goblins takes my staff from me and he’s too strong and he rips it from my hands and he’s on my with a jagged nasty looking curved short sword and I step in…I don’t have a choice really I have to get into his swing and then we’re fighting and he’s yanking me around and I’m scared to use lightning because Nic’s just that three yards from me and it might get drawn to her Squire’sknight.

His nails are claws and he’s raked my hands and he’s fighting to get clear enough to swing and at the same time he’s biting me and getting a mouthful of my coat and I pull my dagger and start stabbing him and blood’s going everywhere and he vomits Goblin vomit in me mixed with that blood from the wounds and we both fall over being thrown off balance. He falls away and he’s replaced by another one almost like magic but actually not… and this time I use my magnet force and fire my dagger as hard as I can shove from my hand and into his face sending his and it off of the wagon and there’s another and...

There’s this almost slowness to the scene as I’m lying there and Nicole’s huge sword sails over me a foot wide and shimmering in the light? And it hits the Goblin and it cleaves him in two and there’s this expression of it realizing what just happened before it falls apart and his lower torso explodes in a fountain of blood and Goblin innards and the innards of the innards.

Then there’s nothing.

It’s deafening the lull, the silence of the fight being over and Nicole’s machine has stopped moving for a second and then Hawk asks. “Chrissy are we clear.”

“Clear?” Oh…I reach out and I feel…feel for the metal and for movement and other than the rustle of a few bodies like they’re not quite dead yet there’s nothing.

“I don’t feel anything else, anyone else we’re clear except for the ones here still moving.”

Nicole asks. “Where.”

I get pulled up by Taylor and I start to point and I watch as Nicole goes over and she dispatches the ones that are still alive.

I watch as much as part of me doesn’t want to but I do ask. “Shouldn’t we take a prisoner?”

Hawk asks me. “Do you speak Goblin?”

I shake my head no and a gob of something falls free of it and it nearly makes me gag. “No I don’t.”

“No one does, they don’t speak anything that anyone that we know speaks and no one that’s been close enough to them to learn it lives long enough to learn it.”

“No one?”

Nicole slashes down with the sword. “No one.”

I look around. “I very much get why so many of the towns are so well defended.”

Taylor’s looking at them and says. “Sometimes but not this close to well-kept lands usually.”

“Usually?”

“Never, and this was a full raiding party, they carry no rations with them.”

“So they are camped close?”

He looks at us and he nods. “It’s the only explanation; there must be a murderhole close by.”

I look at him. “A murderhole?”

Hawk was drinking from one of our skins and she passes it to me. I take it and drink. It’s wild cherry wine from one of the places we were at. The liquor is welcome.

“Goblins live in the mountains, or under them, they hate the sunlight it hurts their eyes so they live in the darkness and in caves. We usually end up following their ranges and know where their territories are at but every once in a while they’ll dig, they’ll join cavern to cavern to underground streams and the like until they can get passed our lines and then they’ll amass a large raiding force…that place is called a murderhole.”

I take a few more drinks but pass it back because my body is wanting me to drink it all and that wouldn’t be a good idea. I look at the others. “So what do we do? Do we go and track them? Do we look to our wounds and the horses? Do we move as fast as we can and try and warn others?”

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 14

*Before…

“So they are camped close?”
He looks at us and he nods. “It’s the only explanation; there must be a murderhole close by.”
I look at him. “A murderhole?”
Hawk was drinking from one of our skins and she passes it to me. I take it and drink. It’s wild cherry wine from one of the places we were at. The liquor is welcome.
“Goblins live in the mountains, or under them, they hate the sunlight it hurts their eyes so they live in the darkness and in caves. We usually end up following their ranges and know where their territories are at but every once in a while they’ll dig, they’ll join cavern to cavern to underground streams and the like until they can get passed our lines and then they’ll amass a large raiding force…that place is called a murderhole.”
I take a few more drinks but pass it back because my body is wanting me to drink it all and that wouldn’t be a good idea. I look at the others. “So what do we do? Do we go and track them? Do we look to our wounds and the horses? Do we move as fast as we can and try and warn others?”

*And Now…

I’m looking at the others and they’re looking at each other. Then I fall down my legs give out and I’ve feeling sick and like my limbs are like lead and I’m really dizzy.

Taylor comes over fast and he’s looking me over and checking my pulse and my eyes and then he slips off really fast and he passes me a jar of preserves and a stick of dried and lightly salted fish.

“Sip the syrup first and slowly then little bites of the food you’ve got stripped blood.”

“Stripped blood…oh my sugars are low.”

He blinks at me. “Aye that’s likely it you’re the wisdom.”

I sip and they’re sour plums but the syrup is semi-sweet and I sip a little more and then take a bite of the fish…the salt will help me right now.

I look at them. “So what are we going to do?”

Jessa’s doing her bounty thing but says. “We could get killed going after them. We’re spent and we’re hurt and we can’t take Nicole’s rig into there most likely.”

Taylor says. “We’ve got to go by the time we get anywhere for word who knows what they’ll have done and we still won’t know what’s there or where there is.”

Then Nicole says. “We go, I can take the rig as far as we can with Taylor and Hawk up front and scouting and if you think that I’m going to be heard coming then we’ll stop and I’ll pin it up.”

Pinning it up is sliding locking pins into the gear boxes making it immobile as locks have been picked in the past.

I eat a plum…oooh really, tart. “I think that I can keep up with Nicole.”

She looks at me. “We can fit you inside with me for at least part of the journey, you’re spent with this over the training and you need to rest.”

I eat another plum…at this stage I’m hardly caring about the taste. “Right now you won’t get an argument from me.”

I keep eating and the others are bust with Hawk cutting bounty and Taylor getting things together for a very large looking fire…oh… “We’re going to burn the bodies?” I ask.

Jessa says. “Goblins are toxic to most things and they’ll do more damage than not if we leave them and we can use it as a signal hopefully.”

Taylor… “Aye nothing smells like burning Goblin and hopefully it’ll carry to someone who knows or someone will see it.”

Nicole’s grabbing bodies. “We’ll need evergreen boughs then too so it’ll whiten up the smoke. It’s getting dark.”

We all get a little quiet at that, I don’t think we though over much of going to hunt Goblins in the dark of night.

Jessa says. “At least we’ll have the moon for it.”

I finish the plums and drain the last of the syrup out of the jar. “I need to clean up. Taylor? Where’s that spring spot is it close?”

He nods. “Aye close enough for Nic to pull us there with her rig and we’ll likely have a chance of finding the horses there and we needs to clean up too before we go haring off after thet murderhole.”

It seems long but it’s not too long I suppose since they’re not likely to move anytime soon with the whole point of their camp being hidden and all. Hawk says as I help out with the salvage?...oh…looting the bodies….again no idea that was a thing…so I work at the Warg Saddles. “They’ll raid sometimes fer days straight until they get trounced or are chased they’ll not be expected back in a rush.”

There’s some money there too…they all have some to different degrees I guess and there’s Tin? But there’s coppers (some clipped.) and there’s a few brass coins and bronze ones both rare home and there’s some odd bite of silver mostly in hack-silver like bits. The rest are odd things like the odd bit of silverware and the like and a couple of fine looking pewter small plates and there’s a few good looking knives and daggers too and a few glass flasks.

I take a few of the knives and the daggers some have sheaths and I clean them as best as I’m able to. I will say this though they’d been using them and as bloodthirsty as they are they’ve kept them sharp.

Some are oil, some are hard drink and we don’t try any because of where goblin lips might have touched but we do take them as flammables.

We get Nicole to push the wagon to the small stream and the waterfall and it is a really pretty spot too with a spring coming out of a rock outcropping and a bit of a stream and a pool but there’s a made clearing and the area’s nice too with a decently large stand of spruce and fir trees but some cedars as well.

It’s a good place to camp and it would have been cozy too if we were going to stay here but instead we tie everything up and Nicole covers what we bury out of sight with her Squire’sknight and some large logs and then we’re off.

Taylor and Hawk scouting ahead and I’m cleaned up yet damp in the rig cage with Nicole like before and I brought a pad this time for my back so I’m not wedged against the back of the Squire’sknight’s cage and I ate some more and drank some tea and used to pot and once we’re going I drift off to sleep.

It’s sleep if you can call it that it’s mostly the attack on repeat and I’m woken by us stopping to light the bodies and then we’re moving again. I shouldn’t be sleepy but I’m very tired still and the movement of Nicole’s Squire’sknight is rocking me to sleep.

I wake when we stop again and I blink and rub the sleep out of my eyes. “Are we close?”

Nicole says. “Yes, we’re close according to the trail sign.”

“Okay, let’s get ready.”

We get out and we stretch and Nicole drinks and we both have a pee and we start going over our gear with Nicole getting things out of the pack cabinet in the back like the pins and some more armor.

Taylor slips in to where we’re at and scares the blessings out of the both of us and I’m already sending a dagger flung with power at his head and Nicole drew her sword. I stop the dagger in time.

“Gods and devils Taylor give a warning.” Nicole hisses and we’re both looking at him and I pull the dagger back. “You’re as quiet as a ranger you know that right?” I say as I slip the dagger back.

He just grins at me. “We’ve found them and they’re camped.”

Nicole blinks. “Camped?”

“Aye it’s in a hollow but there’s no cave thet we kin see.”

I look to them both. “No cave?”

He shrugs. “Not a one it’s decidedly odd for true.”

I look at Nicole. “Take the Squire’s knight?”

She shrugs and looks to Taylor. He nods. “There be a goodly sized camp.”

She stows her things again and we look at him and we follow or he goes and leaves markings for the trail and I’m behind him and Nicole’s slowly making her way closer and closer with her Squire’sknight trying to keep the sounds down to a minimum.

I’m nervous, fighting to defend ourselves is one thing and I still haven’t had time to process what happened with all of that but this, this is going through the night and it’s hunting trouble.

I cast out with my powers and I’m feeling for their metal and that of ours and…

Oh…there’s a lot of them and there’s a lot of metal with them, blades, and spears and other weapons and even some in some heavier armor. I do a quick count of them…and I hold my place until Nicole comes to me and she’s moving it very slowly now deliberate steps and we’re or at least I’m hoping that it’s enough that the noises of their camp will cover the sounds.

When she gets to me I say. “There’s close to three dozen of them and some of them are in some pretty heavy metal armors.”

I hear her say without using the speaking cone but through the vents. “That’s a lot, and it’s damned unusual for them to have been camped at all.”

“But not unheard of right?”

“Actually this far into our lands yes.”

“So what does it mean?”

“Death raid? I’m not sure since there hasn’t been Goblins doing death raids in decades.” She sounds unsure of what’s going on.

“What’s a death raid, I mean I think I know.”

“It’s bad news because it’s them killing as much as they can to weaken an enemy…but the real bad news of it is that it’s only a prelude to a horde building.”

“Horde…?” I so don’t like the sound of that.

“Several thousand strong or even more.”

“Oh shite.”

“Language young lady.” She scoffs at me. “But it still doesn’t track as Jessa would say.”

“Why not?”

“We never heard of any raids until now and we’re too far in good country for that not to have happened.”

I look at her. “So what does that mean?”

“I’ve not the faintest actually.”

I was going to say something but I notice Taylor’s sensations and he’s moving through the woods in the hollow and I can feel him sliding up behind Goblin sentries and there a movement of metal that’s fast…then another and another…heart, liver? And his last is cutting the throat.

“Taylor’s taking out sentries. He’s…he’s just a keep-lad is he?”

“He is, but he’s literally grown up in the company of fighting men and being low born and a bit of a drifter he’s got freedom that the lady uses.”

I can feel little bits of metal being cast out by his feeling. “He’s scattering out caltrops too.”

“Good, the better hampered they are the better.”

I start feeling out for Hawk but she’s even harder to find than Taylor is. “Do we even have a plan?”

“Distance, Taylor’s got his crossbow and Hawk has her bow and she’s likely finding the best place to use her bow at and then I’ll close in and go full melee with them.”

“And me?”

“Stay back and close to the mouth of the hollow and fry anything that might be fleeing past us or stun them but stay…”

I say as I find Hawk up in some trees. “Stay out of the way because I’m not trained enough.”

“Chrissy it’s true and you’re still recovering from the last battle we fought and you’re a good medic too plus…”

“Plus?”

“We’re leaving you with the flasks so you can firebomb them if you need to.”

“I throw like a girl.” I joke. Joke? Really I think that I’m picking up habits from them all.
Nicole chuckles which is kind of an eerie sound in the semi echo of the Squire’sknight’s chest. I take a breath and turn and look at Nicole. “I should get those flasks then.”

Nicole opens her chest hatch and passes me a cloth bag. “Here be careful though, that alcohol might go up fast with your spark.”

“I will…Okay I think Jessa’s ready.”

I can sense her out there by the metal profile and something that’s getting better? Like my head’s filling in the details and I can feel/picture her in the tree and she’s braced into two large branches with these metal sandals? Something on the bottom of her boots that’s covered in spikes and they’re giving her all the footing that she needs.

It’s all sort of there but it’s like everything is greywashed without color except the magnetic metals which seem to be brighter with how the quality of the metal is.

We wait a few moments and I’m cutting off strips of skirt and stuffing them into my flasks and tipping them upside down. The wick like this has to be soaked so you get a good flame. And I actually know what I’m doing with this since it’s one of the things I was taught with fighting in a castle and defending it. Even if I might not have been the one using them I had to be able to make firebombs to make them and so I could show others.

It oddly reminds me of how even the rancid fats and oils were kept in the lower levels because they could always burn or be boiled for defense.

I just get them ready when it happens. I don’t know what signal went off or was done but one of the Goblin’s near a campfire has a quarrel in his chest and he’s pitching over and then there’s long clothyard arrows from a longbow in the air.

It’s like she’s not even aiming just one after another drawn and fired into the air, but I suppose no one knows that these first shafts are even coming and it’s not like being around a campfire is exactly being evasively defensive.

I got to see some of it in our last fight but here at a distance the sight of a longbow in action is well…I’ve never seen arrows go through people before or drive them off of their feet.

Five are down from her before they react and start screaming, Taylor drops a Warg with his crossbow. Then three more are dropped by arrows as they’re rallying and screaming out alarms.

They’re starting to organize and to look to the trees and two stragglers not grabbing things fast enough go down and this one in armor a bit bigger than the others with a curved sword is shouting something and he gurgles out something as there’s a crossbow bolt sticking out of his mouth from the back of his head and then Nicole’s on then move.

They’re turning to face her because they can hear her bamming and crashing as she’d building up to a run and some are growling and screaming but others are running and going to mount up onto Wargs to escape and more arrows are flying.

They can’t see Hawk because she’s out and in cover and the fire’s killing their nightvision but she has to be running low on arrows soon I know some had broken in the last battle. Some are getting away though some get past Nicole…two don’t…one of those she cleaves with her sword cutting through the Warg at its mouth and then blade just kept going shearing the Goblin off at the legs…the second she just ran at and then she literally ran over it a thousand pounds plus of steel stomping over it.

I’d never been able to get my leg that high but she could…and she just kept going and plowed right into the camp.

I’d have watched the carnage but I’m seeing three of them coming at me on Wargs and with a flick of my powers I fling out my daggers and keep them floating and I spark up the flasks and start with those…I don’t have to hit dead on just close and have them explode and burn.

As it turns out I should have wrapped them in metal and done it that way because two miss and one hits but only partly and I miss him with the next one after that and then I nail him with the last flask of alcohol in the face of his Warg lighting them both up.

Then there’s two of them now on me and circling and I spin the daggers around me trying to keep the Wargs from savaging me and I grip my staff in my hands.

Twirl and circle and use my staff to knock aside the spears they’re using and the Wargs lunge and I poke with the daggers and we do it again and again this little dance of ours and then they really must be getting mad because they throw the spears at me and it’s a lot different than an arrow though I don’t know why but I do the shield thing this time but like a shove and drive the spears into the ground.

That got them to draw their swords and I let loose with the lightning now that they’re holding very wicked and pointy lightning rods…I shove it out, I push hard and arc out two bolts with one hand and it’s hard but I keep focus…my friends fighting, and the villagers and all of the people that I know if we don’t stop them…cut down and then there’s fires and there’s screaming in my mind and home’s burning and…and…

The Goblins blow back off the Wargs and they’re burned and they lunge jaws frothing mad from battle lust and pain and I think and send the daggers into them as hard as I can and I drive the heel of my staff into the throat of one of them in a hard jab making it really driven in there and it rips the staff from my hands and then the other one is on me jaws snapping and claws cutting and tearing at the woolen long coat I have shredding what scant protection that it’s giving me.

And I’m going in and out of flashback and I punch, I punch and I kick and I scream and I get a hand on one of the handles of the dagger and I stab and I stab and I stab and I start to put the magnet force behind it and I think it clawed me as I drive the dagger into its skull so hard I snap off the blade.

(Pant…pant…) I get up and that last Warg is still choking on my quarter staff and it’s still trying to pull it out but I think that it was weight driven into the soft tissues. I limp over to one of the spears and pull it from the ground and I use it to kill the beast driving it through its eye socket and then I do the same to the Warg and Goblin that had been set on fire from the flasks who were on the grass burned into a slaggy blistery mass, the Goblin was actually welded to the saddle by the melting of his own flesh…and that was torn away in a sheet from it they were breathing still sort of still alive when I deliver the mercy strokes.

I breathe hard and I sense and “look” and try and follow the battle with my friends and all I see is two people and the Squire’sknight standing there and I think maybe that the were watching me. I “look” around for more but we’re alone.

I start to look myself over and my leg…my leg is cut and bleeding with four long pretty deep cuts on the top and outer side of my thing from the Warg and blood is running quite freely down my leg.

That’s when that familiar feeling comes over me from when I first met Nic and Hawk and I fire off a mini bolt of lightning off and up as I fall and darkness takes me.

……………….. “Aaaaah!” I scream and it wakes me and I’m being held down as my leg is burning and it hurts so bad!

I see Nicole upside-down in my face.

“Chrissy, it’s me, it’s me you’re safe!”

“Someone’s driving a spear in my bloody leg!”

“Nic just hit her again.” That’s Hawk and she’s bent over with needle and thread and a flask that smells very much like some of the apple vinegar from our wagon and she’s pouring it in my wounds on my leg and oh dammit to the hells…I scream and Nic’s holding me down as Hawk’s sewing another gash out of the four shut.

And she keeps going too…Taylor shows and gives me a clean bit of wood to shove between my teeth and he’s there and he stays close by with his crossbow still and Nicole she holds me down and holds me still as possible when I writhe from the pain and I sweat…and see colors, not fainting but my vision swims for certain.

It’s my first major war wound and while I never thought of not having one now that reality of really being hurt it’s here and it’s front and center.

I think the pain is keeping me going from the rush of it all. And as soon as my cuts are washed out and sewn up Jessa has those cloths that Tedric used to use and she layers then against my thing and then she wraps me in bandages really well.

I look at her. “Thank you.”

She passes me one of the cleansing cloths. “It’s being comrades, you’ll scar Chrissy and you’ll be awhile healing those was deep, not deep enough to hit gushers but they were deep.”

“Still, you saved my life.”

“It’s not about that love, never is.”

We look at each other and we do the arm clasping arm thing that warriors do and then Nicole and I do the same and she hugs me. “Uhhff…I’m fine…Nic.”

“You’re not, you look half dead.”

“But I’m alive.”

Taylor comes over and he passes me a large chunk of bread and a waterskin and some more of the dried fish. “Here, you’ll need the food, you burned off way too much with all of that…both of you I’ll do better soon.”

I share it with Nicole who I’m noticing is sheathed in sweat or was and she’s a little pale and shaky and she eats with me. “Rig sick?” I ask and she nods her mouth full.

See using a Battleknight is a very hard thing, you train and you train to do it but it’s so demanding that in long battles more than anything else they run so low on sugars in the blood and water too. Actually water’s a bigger deal that the food. Dehydration in a Battleknight can kill you and I imagine a Squire’sknight is no different and she’s fought two hard fights and trekked her and held me down…Nicole’s exhausted plain and simple.

We do manage to move a little. Jessa has this clean spot and it’s near the Goblin camp but it’s stacks of their firewood to make a structure to rest on for a back rest and boughs to cushion and we settle into that and we sort of doze together.

In and out and I see Taylor clearing bodies and using Nicole’s Squire’sknight to do so and I’m a little surprised by the fact he can run it and I’m mentally wincing about the mess the tensions will be in the wires if he didn’t adjust things first. You have to do that, yes you can work any of them but unless it’s tuned you’re running it off balance.

And it’s filthy…covered in dirt and blood and gore too. I look up at Nic since I woke with my head on her shoulder. “That’s going to be a lot of work.”

She snorts. “He’s good like that.”

“Oi! I heard thet, you’ll be cleaning yer own Squire’sknight my sweet dearie.”

Nicole gives him a thumbs up that turns to a middle finger as his back is turned. “Unchivalrous knave.”

I chuckle and it sort of hurts…okay it hurts my leg but lots of other stuff is hurting as well lots of other things.

Then Jessa comes back with cooked food, it’s rabbit and other things? All roasted and on a board that’s actually a large sheet of tree bark and she looks tense and terse.

“You okay?’

“Yes…no…They went on a spree in the time that they were here…not just a death raid but they culled everything they could.”

I take some hot rabbit and eat. “I don’t understand?”

“That game was stockpiled and I cut out all the iffy looking places from their arrows but they killed every living thing that they could, the entire hollow is dead and empty and a lot of the trees are going to die too.”

“The trees?”

“They’ve spiked what they having cut down.”

“Spiked?”

“Goblin metal spikes six or eight inches long and they hammer them into the trees covered in a poison and it’s already killed them they just haven’t died yet.”

“Why?”

She just looks at me. “To kill, to blight the world and to make things suffer.”

Oh…oh I so have a feeling that I’m missing out on so much in like lore and mythos and such. Goblins and Wargs and creature like them are stories, they’re things from decades on decades back or even longer.

Unless you’re here.

I nod and I eat. “Is there anything that we can do?”

Jessa shakes her head. “No, I’ll leave blazes and mark them and when we get to Serenity I’ll tell the Master Ranger and he’ll send people and contact the druids.”

“Okay…this is good, you sure it’s safe?” If it’s not it’s too late I’ve already eaten a whole rabbit leg.

“It’s fine like I said I cut out the bad portions, Goblin poison as it is; is pretty much just filth and their blood.”

“Eeew yuck.” I make a face.

She grins. “There’ll be more coming Taylor’s doing the salvage and I’ll see to the food.”

I sort of nod and reach for another bit of something I think it’s a smaller animal actually it looks whole. Honestly I could eat a boot with a little salt I think though it might be chipmunk or squirrel or something that sized. You know it’s bad when the food actually is beating out the pain in my leg.

I finish it and I doze while watching them. Hawk rescued pots? There’s things she boiled and washed and scrubbed and then there was a long fire built and not too far from us either so the warmth was reaching both of us just nicely and then she did other washing things off that Taylor dropped off and she was sewing pelts to make a…oh…we’re taking bounty.

I’m still very much unfamiliar with this whole sort of mercenary sort of thing and the life here.

I’m woken though by the smell of soup and there’s a pot between us of cast iron and a matching ladle and two bowls that I think are ours or Jessa’s and Nicole and I start eating sipping the broth and using a twig like a food spear to shovel the solid bits into me.

Meat…several kinds and organs too anything and anything edible from what she saved and then some mushrooms and a lot of wild herbs and some greens and salt and pepper I’m assuming is hers and some kind of tuber roots. It’s not refined at all or been cook low and slow or anything other than basic but it’s good, it’s really good and the broth is the most of it and there’s lots of it and after my third bowl I drift off again.

I wake when Nicole is replace by Jessa and again when Jessa is replaced by Taylor but only for a while and unlike my short usual sleeping I can’t keep my eyes open. Though Taylor smells like he washed and smelled like spruce needles.

I sleep without too much dreaming or at least for the most part before I get to that point between awake and asleep and that’s when things happen in dreams….first the ambush with the Goblins from before then the fight here and then the attack on home and it blurs together with me getting so angry and that mixing with the flashbacks and then I’m fighting with that Warg again.

I never thought that I’d be like that, be that wrathful and mad, just beyond mad and it’s…not what I thought I’d be like.

I thought That I’d be a lord, not a major one but one that’d be the third son that I’d have an estate in the country and likely be a knight with a holding over one of our villages and I’d be married to some girl of like station to mine and maybe we’d raise crops of some kind. Wheat actually we’ve good lands for it and I had simple thoughts of whisky making maybe…I knew I’d never be a huge warrior with rippling muscles and I’d likely like my brother Stephan a cavalier and do my fighting on horseback or some such thing.

Being Christiana and being orphaned and being a witch or sorceress was never even remotely in the cards and now I have done all of that, slept with a man…and woman and I have used magic over and over again and I have killed.

Up close and personally have killed not giving the order either.

I wake up and it’s not with a jolt but with a thundercloud of too many thoughts and images in my head along with the strong need to pee and I feel my leg out and it hurts, it’s not burning and I don’t feel too hot or too cold so I think I’m so far clear of infection.

I look to Taylor who’s awake like all of them see to do and he’s got his hand on the crossbow and it’s loaded. “I need to get up.” He nods and we get up with him helping me and I bite my bottom lip and use a hand to thump on his shoulder from the pain which just makes him smile a bit and he passes me a set of crutches.

Well they’re two staff sized poles with a fork in them that’s been padded with cloth strips and they’re crude but they work and I smile at him. “You made these?” he nods. “I hadda ye needed them ‘n all.” I lean over and I kiss his cheek. “Thank you Taylor, you all keep coming to my rescue one way or another.”

He just smiles and heads over to the long fire and it’s still lit with heavy coals from logs and I head off someplace private to…I see Nicole pointing to an area where I see our wiping cloths in the jar and I nod and hobble-crutch to go and do my business.

I don’t think that I will ever get used to this and crouching to do it either…nor the fact that it’s what it is…and by no means am used to it yet or even used to looking at it… (Sigh.)… I pull up my panties and muse. “At least my block and tackle aren’t getting jammed up anymore, there’s at least one big plus in all of this.”

I stop and fix my clothes and hobble-crutch my way to the fire and others and I notice Jessa’s missing. “Where’s Hawk?”

Nicole is cleaning her Squire’sknight. “She left for the other camp and to find the horses she was upset at being stumped.”

“Stumped?” I take an offered seat on a log by Taylor who set’s his coat on it to soften it for me I smile and he passes me another bowl of the broth skimmed out of the pot that’s been simmering I take it and blow on it before taking a sip.

Nicole stops rubbing oil into the joints of her Squire’sknight. “She couldn’t track them.”

And Taylor flicks a knife out from nowhere almost and he has a whetstone in hand and he spits and starts to sharpen. “Aye me neither, I looked hither and yon as we were looking to see what was done an all but there was no hole, and even more oddening is the fact thet there be no track from other places to here.”

I sip but I furrow my brow. “Did they disguise their tracks? Do Goblins have rangers?”

He’s still sharpening. “Nay, not a group of that size with gear to make a camp there would’ve been trail and clues and there would’ve been dead things…cause even if the goblins held t’their plan whatever it was the Wargs wouldna they hunt and eat anything they kin get their claws on an such and there musta been a force a hundred strong here.”

I do a sort of count in my head. “We didn’t defeat a hundred, maybe sixty or seventy right?”

Taylor says. “Aye t’is why we’ve been keeping a watch because who knows where they be or when they’ll come back from wherever they’ve been raiding.”

“I thought that they didn’t come back from a Death raid.”

Taylor points to what looks like salvage and things that have been cleaned. “They were plain raiding by the look of things.”

I finish my broth and move bottom schooch over until I’m close to the pot of things and it’s more odds and ends like things that are valuable and some of them are common things and some of them are…I pick up some copper pennies and they’re minted with a rooster on one side and a knight on the other. “This is Middle Kingdom coinage.”

I see Taylor nod. “We know and while coin of your realms still is around and abouts they have a goodly amount of it here.”

“But home is so far away across the mountains or under them it took me a long time to get here with a lot of speed from what she did to send me here.”

“Aye tis a mystery Chrissy.”

I look through and there’s a lot of copper coops and even a small pouch with fifty silver pennies called crows which is a good deal of money. How much? Well you can buy a yearling pig with three crows and that’s nothing to sneeze at considering a peasant family will sell a pig or two for monies for the year in addition to what they’ve sold with other things and they might make a total of ten or more crows in a year.

This was good hard coin they had,

I look through and they’ve a bit of a lot of things and then I see something…it’s ripped up some but it’s my favorite shirt. I know it because it still has the stain from the bit of fatty beef we had for that last supper in it and…

Taylor says. “That’s true fine cloth and it’s been unsoiled by them too though they took the buttons off of it. I was thinking of making handkerchiefs outta it.”

I’m moving it over in my hands. “My scent.”

“Yer what?”

“My scent must not have changed enough.”

He’s looking at me and I hold it up. “This is mine, I recognize it and it should of been in the castle washing as I grease spotted it that night at supper.”

I show them both the stain and I show them the tears. “There’s two pieces missing, and one group came after us at our camp.”

Nicole hops off of her Squire’sknight. “But you’re a woman now, you should smell different.”

I look at her. “I do but I still smell like my family and without any other explanation…” I hold up the money. “They were paid to come after me.”

Taylor spits. “Goblins as mercenaries, who in the hells would go so low…”

I look at them both. “Whoever launched the attack on Lyonnes that’s who…and these Goblins being here…it matches with something else that I’ve been trying to figure out.”

Nicole nods. “How did that force at Lyonnes get there without being heard or seen coming from a long ways off?”

I nod. “We all slept until the siege engines started firing…and now this?”

Taylor wipes off that knife. “We should get ready just in case then. They might come back here soon that other group and if not they will come after us for killing theirs and for you.”

I nod. “I think however they did this they figured I’d make for the lands of your lady and I think they might have been set ahead of us and were waiting.”

Nicole nods. “Sounds right but I’ve no idea how…”

I look at them. “I’ve no clue either but we should get ready in case…and so we can leave fast when Hawk comes.”

We get to work doing what we can and that’s not much really in truth and we’re getting tenser and tenser as dawn becomes daylight and I keep using my powers to cast out and to try and feel for Hawk or the goblins and I finally feel her and then the wagon and then I feel others with her…No…they’re not Goblins with Wargs they’re moving too wrong?

I push on with it until it’s goes into that greywashed stated and my sight seems to rush out towards them and I see Jessa on the wagon and she has a nearly a score of people in armor and weapons and horses and…I see…feel lances.

I sit down with actually being relieved when I feel them and the other’s look at me and I’m smiling. “She’s okay, it’s her.”

They look relieved too and more so when we hear a brass horn being sounded to ware the camp.

I’m nervous and tired and excited all at the same time as I see men and women on horse riding in and some of them knights and some of them possibly rangers or other adventuring types riding in.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 15

*Before…

We get to work doing what we can and that’s not much really in truth and we’re getting tenser and tenser as dawn becomes daylight and I keep using my powers to cast out and to try and feel for Hawk or the goblins and I finally feel her and then the wagon and then I feel others with her…No…they’re not Goblins with Wargs they’re moving too wrong?

I push on with it until it’s goes into that greywashed state and my sight seems to rush out towards them and I see Jessa on the wagon and she has a nearly a score of people in armor and weapons and horses and…I see…feel lances.

I sit down with actually being relieved when I feel them and the other’s look at me and I’m smiling. “She’s okay, it’s her.”

They look relieved too and more so when we hear a brass horn being sounded to ware the camp.

I’m nervous and tired and excited all at the same time as I see men and women on horse riding in and some of them knights and some of them possibly rangers or other adventuring types riding in.

*And Now…

They’re impressive even if after a first look they seem to be a few different groups all together and again I am struck by the fact there are women here in the group. There’s one that looks like a ranger with the woodswainish clothes and leathers along with some that look like warriors but seem to be close to the men-at-arms of different types than knights and such but there’s several knightly looking people in the group too.

And lances.

Which is really unusual because really a knight’s lance is a thing only usually used in Calvary charges and tournaments and it’s not a carried in the field weapon.

I’m staring at the diversity really at least a quarter of the people here are women. That’s a huge difference really when I was still sort of thinking that Hawk and Nicole were sort of exceptions. None of the other women were like them that I’d have met before. But this, this really speaks to a whole land of difference really.

I am so, so much farther from home than I thought that I understood.

Even more so as my eyes go wide and as one all of the lances shorten…and fall into each other with a sound like a half dozen sheathing swords.

How?

Oh…I think, I think that they retracted into themselves the shape, the shape would allow for it to do that but that’s something that we really don’t have home. I get up on my crutches and move a little to see them slide the now four foot or so weapon into a large leather sheath hooked to the front barding of the war horses.

I look up at one of the knights that was sheathing their lance and he gives me a nod. “Sorceress.”

“Sir Knight.” I do a sort of shoulder bob at him. “I’d curtsey Sir but I’m afraid I’d fall over and my Ranger-physiker would beat me.”

He smiles, okay he smiles like he never meant to smile and he’s trying to recover which fails as Hawk says loudly.

“Aye with an arra, like a switch.”

There some laughter in that sort of barracks kind of rumbly person kind of way. He looks at me and he dismounts and there’s a young man there pretty quickly to take the reins. He reaches out at me and…oh, yes I should light my hand.

No not lightning or dipped in oil and set on fire but the lady thing where you sort of lift your hand and for the gentleman to kiss it.

I do that and he does it and I’m blushing.

I know it’s still kind of sort of custom between men and women and…

And all of the women are looking at me as if I grew three more fingers or something.

“Sorry…? Did I do that wrongly?”

There some head shakes and he says. “Nay lady, it’s just not seen that much outside of places like court and formal things and even then it’s…”

Nicole is grinning. “A kiss is a kiss Chrissy and that sort of thing here is usually left to couples doing courtly greeting in public. Doing what you just did sort of implies…”

I look at the knight and I raise an eyebrow. “So was I just propositioned by you sir?”

He blushes. “No I…”

There’s some more laughter.

Nicole speaks up. “You lit to him Chrissy so the other way around.”

“Pardon?”

“You just propositioned him so to speak.”

I blush.

Then I look him over and it’s more pain and post battle bravado than anything else as I say. “Good to know.”

And that makes him blush again.

Really? I did that? I’m fairly sure that I did that and I was just sort of trying to be witty.

And yet…I do think I flirted.

But getting this man, this knight to blush and react like so it’s…it’s so strange and oddly…Gracia like.

No…no…I really do not want to be like her.

I love my sister and I pray that she is alright but she was very flirty and she used that far too much for my liking. I take a breath and I offer him my hand in the way of a handshake.

“My pardon Sir….?”

“Erik, Sir Erik Tempus.”

“Tempus that’s an interesting name.”

“My family are timesmen?”

“Timesmen?”

“We build timepieces, watches and clocks.”

“Oh…very nice I have always loved clocks and watches.”

He nods. “I never had the patient hands lady.”

“Christiana please.”

“As you wish.” He seems more relaxed and he shakes my hand and that seems better. “No offense Christiana but you’ve looked better.”

“I think I look better than the alternative though.” I gesture around.

“This is true.”

We stop shaking hands and he introduces me to others as they are doing things here and there mostly looking things over and the bulk of them are knights with the few squires here and there and some of them not young.

That’s actually not unusual as Squire is also a courtly title and it can be bestowed as one for services or deeds and it can be inherited as well so in some of these cases these squires might be close to what’s called a landed bondsman to some of the knights or even some of the nobles here in this area under loan or assignment.

It’s still surprising to see the mixture of women at arms here though and some of them are definitely from places or regions with a distinct common that has an accent all its own.

That’s a thing that’s more prevalent here than home in The Middle Kingdoms where even our peasants speak closer to the kings common.

It’s mostly though them getting ready to move us out and scouting around though there are some that spoke to Nicole and they left at a fast ride.

I look at her. “They left in a hurry?”

She nods. “I passed on that they seemed to have been tracking you by scent and that our back trail could lead to places that we’ve been to and some of those places could be in danger.”

I nod and frown. “I hate the thought of that.”

Nicole looks at me. “Given the only way I can see them getting here is through some kind of sorcery or witchcraft Chrissy my thoughts are troubled enough.”

I take a drink from a skin she passes me and it’s water with wine and it tastes quite bleech but it’s still welcome nonetheless. “I had the same thoughts, there’s just no other way right?’

“Aye it’s not Murderhole and this is definitely their base camp which means they moved from wherever to here.”

I add in. “And someone is making deals with them.”

“The same person that moved the troops that attacked your home.”

I take another drink. “I was thinking about that too, you can’t just move that many battleknights and siege gear than close without people knowing.”

Nicole adds. “Unless by magic, and they knew how to fight your mother and that she’d be there.”

I nod. “Which means an old foe of hers most likely.”

“But just for her or my parents too?”

Nicole nods. “Both? I think your father was likely seen as an ally and also a thorn in someone’s side since there is definitely nobility in play here with those kinds of forces.”

I sigh. “I don’t know enough about the bigger politics home for this and I know even less about the magic side of this too.”

She looks at me. “Which is why we get you to Sanctuary and to Lady Tatiana as soon as we can Chrissy you need to be safe and you need to get trained.”

I look at the ground. “I know, I might be the only one standing between whomever and who knows what else.”

I do notice that we’re have an audience of some of the people here and Nicole looks at them.

“Speaking for the office of Lady Tatiana I will trust you with this. Lady Aurora has been killed in action and lady Christiana is her heir apparent.”

Okay…Nicole has more weight that I would think as there’s nods and grim faces. Apparently it’s also who you’re a squire to as much as being one and I get nods and several people come up to me and shake my hand.

“I’m sorry for your loss…”
“She was a fine woman…”
“We will get you to safety sorceress.”

I’m a little moved and wipe at my eyes and I try for a brave smile even though I don’t feel so brave but more scared and tired and battered.

I’m used to the whole nobility thing and yet I’m not used to being talked to in that sort of way that my father was when people would speak to him of him having their support.

It’s humbling and it’s supposed to be that way.

It’s not too long after that Jessa brings the wagon up and we get things loaded including Nicole’s Squire’sknight and then the trophies and other things and then I’m being made comfortable and one of the women fighters passes me a flask. “Juniper spirits.”

“Oh, I’ve never had it.”

“Tis, strong sorceress it’d be a good salve to yer pains though.”

“Oh well in that case.”

I tip it back ready for the bite and I was not ready for the flavor which is strong but it’s juniper so it had that warming that juniper berry does and that very woodsy taste. I know some couldn’t abide it but it’s not that bad and once past that taste of the juniper that actual alcohol is refined quite well.”

I take a few swigs of it. “Many thanks…?”

“Tilly.”

“Tilly?”

She does a throat clearing cough. “Dame Tillisade Jarod of Sanctuary and the outer wardens.”

Oh… “So definitely Tilly, I’m Chrissy.”

We shake hands and she’s quite the size woman. Large arms like man or most men and good shoulders and she’s pretty if you can look at a warrior type as pretty, she’d never be a court flower and it’d ill suit her as well honestly.

“Well met Chrissy.”

“You as well.”

We get moving as Tilly keeps her horse close to the wagon and she passes me the flask now and then as I need it and after a while moving is getting to be a chore between the mild buzz I’m building up and the sleep and the pain. So for a few passes I float the flask between us and her eyes had that seeing majik look but not afraid of me but that still sort of in wonder but too old to give into it sort of expression.

“You knew my mother?”

“Nay, I’d seen her plenty being a knight of the realms but mostly in passing and such…and no I’m not that well experienced with real magic.”

“To be truthful Tilly neither am I. I had no idea I was Her child until very recently and she had to awaken my powers.”

She nods. “Must be hard.”

“It is but it’s also very frustrating knowing that I know so little.”

“Not so little from what I heard for someone your age you’ve acquitted yourself quite well in battle.”

I look over towards Nicole who’s sleeping. “Not as well as some.”

Tilly looks at me. “She’s Tatiana’s Squire.”

I nod. “She told me.”

Tilly shakes her head. “That’s not even close to it, Lady Tatiana only takes the very best of the best, people who are better than most knights and battleknighters would think of being from all fifty realms and beyond that and she…Nicole there is worth ten squire’s doing the exact same thing in the field.”

Nicole cracks an eye. “Trollshit Tilly, I grew up in these machines, my family builds them and I have that feel for them. There’s no one on a battle field any more of value that any other.”

Tilly looks at her and makes a face. “I’ve seen you fight Nicole, everyone here has seen you fight your skills are well above seasoned fighters in the same field.”

“I have the best teacher on Titan.”

Tilly nods.

I yawn and look at them both. “She’s that good, Lady Tatiana?”

They both nod and Nicole says. “King Wayland has called her The Champion of Titan.”

Oh…

“Oh well I’m certainly getting intimidated.”

I’m only half joking but the look they share says that I should be.

We’re quiet a bit after than but that bit of quiet is enough to lull me to sleep along with the alcohol and the motion of the wagon.

We break at the place that Taylor wanted to camp at and we water the horses and we make water and one of the older squires Quinland brings out food from his saddle baskets and there’s good cheese complete with a waxed rind and it’s wonderfully developed with some kind of savory seeds in it and there’s bread biscuits he calls them which is like a scone with a shortened bread sort of dough and there’s drippin’s of ham he has a we share out our jams from our stores.

And then we head out again.

I’m a bit more awake and sober after a good strong tea that was brewed for everyone and then we’re off and going again with a full escort and I just take things in as we go from the scenery to the names of the people around me to the things that they have and use and just try to rest.

My leg is getting itchy too so that’s keeping me up even though I am very tired and still sore from all of my hurts. It’s a very long day between the traveling and the jostling too but we’re making decent time or it seems that way to me.

Nicole is sleeping nearly as much as I’ve been too and a few time she looked unwell?

I sit up looking at her and get close and she opens her eyes. “Everything alright?”

“I don’t know are you alright Nic?”

“Exhausted, the rush from all of this got finished in my blood and it’s all catching up with me.”

I look at her and then at her rig and nod.

“You put in a lot of effort I’ll have to agree, I’ve never seen anyone actually operate as long as you did so close together.”

And that’s true too, operating a battleknight is a short term thing, activity’s done in bursts it’s why the wagons and the thrones and everything.

“I pushed it I guess.”

I look her over and I can tell she hurt herself.

“You tore muscles up?”

“I think I pulled things very badly.”

“And you didn’t get like this until you stopped.” That’s common enough with pushing it too hard. I’ve heard stories from the warriors, from the knights and my brothers but I‘ve never seen someone this laid low.

“You should see a healer.”

“There’s none to be had that could do this any good Chrissy not even at the stronghold.”

I huff… “My mother was said to know healing I guess that I’ll have to work to change the lack of then.”

Nicole smiles sleepily. “That’d be appreciated if you would.”

I smile back and I settle in beside her and we do this mutual lean on each other thing and use each other for soothing body heat.

Erik rides close enough at one point to share us some dried sausages that have been shared out and a strange looking biscuit.

“What’s this?”

“It’s a preserved biscuit.”

“Preserved?”

“Aye it’s not like a pickle but it’s been waxed.”

“Waxed“?”

“Aye brushed with a little bee’s wax just after they bin baked. I don’t know the all of it but in a tin they last a good month on the trail.’

I take four two for me and Nic each and I eat the sausage which was quite nice with a very mild flavor and just this side of salty in very fine way and there’s a nuttiness to them as well I like. I eat one of the biscuits as Nicole is waking up and starting in on the sausage and it’s very…lemony, it’s a fine flour the biscuit is pale but lemon has really been used in it with both the juice and a lot of the peeling and the peeling has been candied in some bits and grated as well that will actually do well for the biscuit in keeping it free of mold and pests with that fragrant oils in the biscuit and the peeling adds a lot of sweet to it and it’s very good…the wax I do notice and it’s not something you can pull off either it’s sunken into the dough and it’s made a thins seal against the air getting to it.

It’s not bad really the flavor of the cookie off sets that waxiness and then the chew does as well.

I look at the second one then at Erik. “Are these common?”

“Middling so I would guess.”

“It’s a good idea, if I ever the chance I could see this done with stores.”

Nicole swallows. “The lady has done so.”

“Oh? Do you know how?”

“Wax freezes really well and it keeps the moisture down when things are thawed.”

I nod. “They’d get very solid.”

Nicole nods. “Since you’ve done stores work before I’ll have to ask if you can get a peek when we’re at the castle. It’s really amazing.”

I nod and then take a hot drink that gets passed to us from one of the riders to Erik and the to us in leather jacks and it’s mulled cider from our stores that someone had heated up somehow and I’m very impressed since the rider was riding with three handles for the jacks in each hand and I don’t think that he spilled either.

I am not that good on a horse and I am noble taught I had a pony when I was six and started then.

I’m very glad for the dink and sigh contentedly pulling the leather jack close for the heat and Nicole matches me and Erik smiles and rides up the group sipping at his own cider.

We’re woken up when we stop and it’s in this stone place built onto a hill it’s like someone carved into it the hill and lined it with logs and mortar and pitch and moss and there’s even a rook over parts of it too that looks like it’s thatch but it looks like shelter.

I get out first and it’s a rough go at first with the aches and pains and some lip-bit curses before I’m on my crutches and Nicole is slow getting out and she still looks tired and like it hurts for her to move I hobble along with her and the others are doing the camp down chores.We have a view, we’re clear of the forest or this part of it since I can see trees in the hilly distance but we can see for leagues at least and this is actually on a road and it looks like it’s been used for traders and caravans and herdsmen. It’s really just a big stable like pen in the far back with a few extra stalls and near the front there’s a nook that looks like it’s for sleeping in and there is a hearth that looks used and a room that has a door to it and there’s a drain and a stone basin there and a set of wooden jakes and a bucket of ashes or for ashes.

“Well we’ve jakes and a wash that’s good.” I say.

Nicole nods. “These are free bairns.”

“Free?”

“They’re good for traveling on the road as shelter for people and animals and if people can rest and such they lose less stock they’ll come this way more.”

I nod. “And not to mention if you plan your routes right that you can stay for free.”

She nods. “Aye and that’ll draw some as well just for that.”

“These lands are quite rich then?”

She looks at me. “Rich and wild and far out of the way.”

I nod but still I cannot help but think that there’s things here we should be doing home.

As we’re wounded it’s us just watching things really more that helping as some riders were sent out and the rangers too and then Nicole and I are using the jakes and I volunteer to clear out the hearth and get it lit and going and I we do that with Taylor bring in bundles of wood and some of the things from our stores but the knights that stayed are taking fire from the hearth and they’re lighting torches and lanterns and candles and they’re going inside to get the place filled with heat and I help with me taking some of my water heating tools and getting them white hot in the air and throwing off heat.

That takes a couple of glasses as we get things heated and the others come back with things for the floor to be covered in for the animals and they’re been fed and watered while we’ve been waiting and we’re just getting them in as it starts to get grey in the air with a high sort of fog and mist and then it begins to rain.

The hunters and the rangers are the last to get in with foodstuffs for us all and I help with the cooking as Taylor sort of takes to doing that and we do up herbed and salted game birds in the pans and we do a pan of cider cooked rabbit with herbs and then we have a broth that we’re cooking of the offal bits that we can have from the rabbits and birds and again with the herbs and with that we have flour dumplings and a few vegetables. And well of course we have a dessert that I make with some of the cider and oats mixed into a porridge and then I pan it and add in some chunks of apples themselves a bit of our sugar and a pinch of salt an egg and then put it to cook as a sort of pudding…half-done I pull it and pour apple jelly over it and then just before its done a few more oats and they get crisp.

And of course we have kettles of good tea on as well.

It’s eating and drinking and talking even as we’re keeping watch and we’re getting warm and dry and I sit and listen as we’re trading stories.

When it comes to our little war we just fought Taylor does the telling and he’s…he’s a silver tongue with that and he’s even up and talking and doing actions the we were doing and when he’s talking about my part which I had no idea he had seen it makes me blush when they hoist their jacks for me as well.

Then there’s breaks as we switch watches and Nicole and I am off for bed and I heat my water heating metal just enough to run them over the bedding and get them nice and toasty and with a properly made bed here or a proper pallet I’m off to sleep in no time at all.

It’s foggy and misty in the morning and we all get ready and eat as the last watch gets some sleep and we wait for the sun to get some more strength and then about two or three glasses before midday we head out refreshed and washed and fed and with some proper sleep into us and I feel much better in fact aside from the ache of bruises and my itching leg.

It’s has a fresh dressing on it just in case but the wound itself has clotted and is getting to that point where the stitching is slowly coming together. That is faster, Alaan was right I do seem to heal faster it’s only barely been two and a half days and it’s that far along.

Nicole looked at me as she was helping me. “Well that’s useful.”

“Alaan said as much but I wasn’t sure.”

“Makes sense.”

“It does?”

“With the forces that you have running through you you’re still human Chrissy so there has to be things to offset those stresses yeah?”

I nod. “Okay that does make sense, but I will be more comfortable when we’ get to where I can get some proper training.”

“Soon we’ll be there soon.”

“I thought it’s be a lot longer.”

“It would have but we’re taking the steam road judging from the road we’re taking.”

“The Steam Road?”

Nicole nods. “It’s something from the ancients that we’re trying to recreate with the help of the dwarves and right now there’s but a few of these roads but it’s changed things a lot.”

“I still don’t understand.”

She actually grins. “You’ll see.”

Oh it bothers me for a good three hours before I get that she’s not going to talk and that she’s much more intent on writing things with a inkwell metal quill in a book than paying attention to me trying to get the answers out of her so after all of that I take out my wand and ingots and start to practice some getting loots and even some with my daggers and try to keep busy.

I use my “sight” now and then too to feel everyone and track them and to get used to things with it in my head and the way that they feel.

And that’s when I feel it.

All this metal lines of steel and something huge also of steel or iron and then the metal and feel of many battleknights and even the hug of living electrical power in places and I get up and stand in the wagon and hang onto Nicole’s Squire knight as I see this walled township with a very large keep coming into sight just as we crest the hill we’re on and there’s lots of roads but there’s one that is straight like an arrow with two almost endless lengths of steel in it heading north by north west.

The township is very much closer to a city and it’s busy with caravans and lots of trade and there’s several trader roads that converge into this crescent road the goes around the city’s south side and there’s land set out for traders to camp and some free grazing lands and it’s just very much more than anything that I’ve seen here.

One of our riders sounds a horn with long clear notes and we get two notes back and we head down into that valley and we’re met with an escort of knights and…oh two full sized battleknights shaking the ground as the walk beside us all twenty feet in height and covered in enameled steel plating and each bearing the longsword of a battleknight all sixteen feet of lethal edge steel that weighs close to fifteen hundred pounds and sometimes more.

It’s a stunning thing to see really when you’re down close to the ground and these huge metal giants are striding beside you and their swords are out in and in hand moving with the sweep of their arms and I can’t help but to stare and watch them and these two are well trained too with the steps almost being in tandem.

I look at Nicole who is watching as well. “Why the escort?”

“Mission Horn.”

“Mission Horn?”

“The horn that was blown is sort of like something that is like being on royal business but while Lady Tatiana is called Lady she’s a knight marshal a commander and has no actual royal title.”

“Oh well how does she keep the nobles in line then/”

Nicole gestured at the battleknights. “Force for the worst and trade for the rest it’s been well established in these parts that it’s far more profitable to not fight her on things.”

I nod. “Especially since she has the backing of the dwarves who you said mint the local currency.”

She nods. “Yes and no she has that backing and it’s the strongest coin in the realms but a lot of others still mint their own coins it’s popular to mint tin pennies and coppers and bronze coins still and some of the bigger titles do the bigger coins but pennies are the bulk of trade in most places.”

I’m looking close at the township as we get closer and there’s one thing that strikes me and that’s the building and the outer wall is squared flags and not stones and mortar and it looks like a manable wall too.

“So we’re the mission?”

“Well yes but only we know it, this way things are given priority but still kept close. You’re important Chrissy that’s for sure but there’s no need for us to announce it.”

“Well why even blow the horn then?”

“To stop the rhino.”

“The what?”

She gets that grin on her face again. “You’ll see.”

The gates are open already for the civilian peoples and there’s local guards making way for us and giving us the road though people are moving from this street of their own accord as would most towns that are used to having battleknights around and I can see a lot of the side streets are wider and are in use too off of this for the various market goods and such and the shops along this main street are well chosen as places not to be too upset with a twenty foot tall war machine going past it.

Nice wide streets too, they’d not just have walking room but fighting room too and I’m country bumpkining this here in this town. There’s strung electric here on this street and some of the biggest side streets and there’s a lot of glass, not just the glass works of the illuminators guild but windows, there are a lot of glass windows here and home that is a luxury, it’s a rich or noble thing to have windows.

And slate tiled roofs…I see not a single wooden shingle or bit of thatch here either and while a defensive dream it’s hugely expensive.

And then there’s the signage.

There are signs with the written word on them just as much as a shape cut out or a drawing on them and it’s a thing that you’d only see in very wealthy places.

Then there’s the smell or lack thereof.

There’s cobbles in the side streets and bricks in many places and for the main road like this one there’s flagstones and I look around and around and it’s all paved one way or another and I can see drains and the streets have gutter ditches of clay half pipes.

“This town has plumbing?”

Nicole nods and smiles. “City life as they’d call it but yes most fortified towns have plumbing and the like. It’s part of Lady Tatiana’s boons under King Wayland and that’s several troops of dwarven tradesmen mostly apprentices and masters that are half retired coming here for something to do and for some travel out of their realms and experience for their guilds.’

“You know a lot about that.”

“I’m one of her squires I’ve been lucky to have been in service the last time that they were here.”

“This alone makes this place richer than Lyoness’s keep town.”

She shrugs. “Threshold is a rich town in truth anyhow with the trade from everything south ward for the realm ending here before it goes to other places and markets and the steam road has tripled trade.”

“Tripled it?”

“At least and it will do moreso still as it grows.”

“Dammit Nic now I’m curious.”

Taylor laughs from the wagon’s seat. “Well you’ll see it soon enough Chrissy.”

Even Jessa/Hawk joins us by jumping onto the wagon and she’s grinning.

I look at her. “What are you grinning about?”

“Being back into civilization.”

“I thought rangers loved the wilds.”

“Aye we do but it’s more like we love being free and here in a place like this I know right down to my bones that my old life won’t be creeping back up on me and that I’m safe.”

“I can see that, even to me this town is above and beyond most things I’ve seen. Pluming and sewers and literacy so common and slate roofs and glass windows.”

Jessa nods. “Home only the great lords had glass for their palaces, even few of our nobles where I lived had glass widows it was far more common to have cloth ones with scented oils.”

I nod that is a thing home too. It’s white cotton and it’s usually greased so light passes through and some air but not rainwater.

“I didn’t know about the scents though, commoners do the clothe windows home though.”

Hawk nods. “Spices or fruit oils are the most common and some of the temples will use lavender to ward off insects.”

“Ah like lemoned oils or rosemary.”

She nods. “That’s a thing even is the stronghold where they keep records and books just to keep things clear of bugs that’s get into the paper or parchment or vellums.”

I can’t help but look at some of the shops as we pass with mostly food halls and taprooms and the odd small inn on this street but with also butchers and grocers and all sorts of sellers of traveler goods that might catch the eyes of traders or travelers or even men at arms as there’s several shops dedicated to arms and armor and the like.

But there’s so much here that would drive my sisters to their purses from just the sheer variety of things to some fanciful shops that make ladies things to bookbinders and copyists and sellers.

Myself I’d like a few things maybe… a real sword nothing big but I’ve carried one for years, some new clothes, boots…I’d like some proper boots for myself now and maybe a few tomes to write in and the like.

But unless I’m granted funds in advance of my title being returned I will have to find a way of earning coins because I have nothing really of my own.

We’re a quart glass getting to the castle or the fortress for the town and it’s a mighty big construct when you get up close to it and there’s a gate big enough for the battleknights to get through and us as we’ve been going and I look at those walls and they are thirty feet thick and I am sure that they have structures inside of them to defend with. I can see three side sliding portcullis style fences in the walls and finally what looks like steel doors and looking behind us I think part of the road pulls itself up and to like a drawbridge.

“This place is really well defended is there that much trouble here?”

Taylor says from his seat. “There was quite a long time ago, we had roving bands of mercenaries with battleknights on occasion but back in the days of grandfathers we had much more trouble with Troll kind here and not only them but Goblins and Hob’s and even Orc’s.”

I look at him and the others. “If this area was so rife with monsters then why even come to these realms to settle?”

Nicole shakes her head. “No this was literally in my grandfather’s days Chrissy we had some of the witch knights in the mountains.”

I bite my lip.

Witchknights were like boogey men and they supposedly traded their souls for the power to do magics and were bound into service to the darkness.

“Like my grandfather…” I say quietly.

Nicole shakes her head no. “No, Rory Blackhand was something else.”

“How do you know?”

“Because Lady Tatiana had told me once that he used to make war on them, and that the ones that lived in the deep dark places of the mountains were the last of them after he’d killed most of them.”

“He fought them why?”

Hawk says. “Not fought, killed and raided…those things amassed great wealth raiding humanity and he took that and their treasures and such and he destroyed the opposition too so when he went at the kingdoms he wasn’t fighting two fronts.”

“Are there any of these Witchknights left?”

Nicole nods. “We think so but we haven’t seen any in a long long time.”

Jessa nods. “We think maybe Stonewood, where there have been trolls and the like there has always been one or more keeping those bastards in line.”

I nod… Stonewood is in the middle of the north far passed High King Boen’s personal lands and the capitol it’s a realm that something great and magical in a dark way had happened and every living thing at that time had been turned to stone.

It’s actually just bordering the edges of my grandfather’s lands. Those lie past The Great Central Mountains and in the far north east of the continent.

My oldest sister was betrothed to Braitheholde and his realm was in those mountains between the two places and in a place where he could watch over the evils of both.

Braitheholde was one of grandfather’s first foes and it had several valleys and villages and caers and he burned them out and he killed hundreds and forced the entire family to flee. They had only gotten it back during the war and had to take it back from Rory’s forces.

Father was there.

I remember him telling the stories when we were gather around the fires and it being just us men in the lodge or his map room.

One of the reasons why Angeline was arranged to marry was that “The Rampant.” was built by Braitheholde. Every Lyonnes battleknight had come from them in fact even the ones they had or we had that were reconditioned and rebuilt from being the enemies had come from them and their expert knowledge.

I sigh looking back and seeing several battleknights and squire’sknights as well as lots of men-at-arms here doing various tasks and there being a lot of other things here too going on like what looks like escorted traders with wagons of goods and warehouses for it all.

“Given what’s happened home I’m glad of this.”

Nicole says quietly. “Me as well but I’m not that sure of how good that will be if they can travel by magic or witchery.”

I look at her. “I really hope that your lady has some ideas as to that.”

We’re stopped and there’s several knights and some look like cavalier types with the better armor than most and some could be land fighters too from the look and a large man with a very large hammer with that war spike on the back comes to us and Nicole gets up and goes to him and she hops off of our wagon with a wince and then she gives him a bow.

“Sir Gideon, we have come in need of the Rhino. We need to commandeer it to take us straight away to Sanctuary.”

He looks surprised. “I’ll need t’know will this last past some drink and privacy?”

Nicole nods. “Yes sir, but we will need to make haste.”

He nods and sort of grunts and offers the arm sweep. “All of you come with me then.”

Some of the ones with us look surprised and we get off of the wagon and we follow him to a large hall that looks like an office and he heads to a bar. And I see two of his knights take up places outside the doors.

I was looking and he noticed. “We have loose folk abouts doing trade and whatnot just best to keep ears away.”

I nod and he’s looking at me. “You look kinda like.”

I nod. “She was my mother.”

He catches the was… “Pity she was a fine woman.”

I nod and he offers me a drink gesturing at his bar. “Yes please Sir Gideon.”

“What’s the ladies pleasure?”

“Anything Sir it’s a kindness.”

He pours me a brandy that has a very nice smell to it and he was more than generous with it as well and soon there’s drinks all around.

He looks to me. “Your Mother be news enough but I’d venture there be more with the Third Cavaliers being with you.”

I take a drink and a breath and look to him and then the others and start to tell the story of Lyonnes falling and he has little knowledge of it but he’s nodding at things happening and we go all the way through to up to the Goblins and their campsite and what we’ve figured out including where they came from and the thoughts of them being paid by The Gorgon or someone in his hire with coin taken from home.

It takes a glass but before ten minutes has past he send word to get The Iron Rhino made ready and once we’re done talking he looks to me and the others.

“I’d offer you hospitality Lady Christiana but tis would be best if we get you on your way to where ye needs being. Lady Tatiana will need to know everything that’s gone on and we daren’t tarry about something like this.”

“I completely understand Sir Gideon and it would be an honor accept your hospitality in word alone and be all the gladder for having it.”

I’m getting looks from everyone and Taylor’s grinning and then so is Sir Gideon and he smiles. “As caring as your mother but with some fine courtly manners from where ye have been growin up.”

I blush and smile into my brandy taking a drink then saying. “Thank you I’ve had good teachers.”

He nods. “If there’s any small things you might need.”

I look to him. “A wash and the jakes and maybe a quick peak or talk with your healer?”

“Done!” He looks to another one of his knights. “Jasper, take her ladyship to where she needs while we make preparations to get the Iron Rhino underway.”

We’re led by this knight who takes us through a series of hallways and stairs to a room that has a large bathing area and it’s quite fancy and it’s…I see sinks and there’s stalls and some stalls with plumbinged jakes and other things that are taps with hot and cold running water and home we had running water but not hot…they must have a boiler here and there’s a lever on the wall that lights a large illumination glass in the ceiling a recasting that light out more with mirrors.

And Tilly shows me the great wonder that is a shower.

Oh by the gods that feels good and it’s not a bath either and I wash and I am careful of my leg which is still very sore but I can lightly wash it and rinse it off without breaking the sealed stitching.

Washing my hair feels amazing like this and not sitting in water that keeps getting dirt and bits of yourself in it is very nice.

I hear the others doing the same and I hear Nicole groan and gasp from the heat and I join her once I’m mostly done.

She had a dagger in the shower.

“Hey it’s just me, are you always armed?”

“Always, it’s part of the training Chrissy and you just don’t step into a shower with someone else.”

“Sorry I wanted to check on you and bypass the whole I’m fine bits.”

She looks at me.

I look at her and she’s got those red marks of pulls and she has bruises too a lot of them and that’s from her fighting and pushing it. And those have to be really deep muscle bruises.

“Let me wash the hard to reach places.”

“Chrissy.”

“You’ve done as much for me.”

We get cleaned up and as much as I had a thing with Megan I’m not having the same reaction with Nicole. There’s wonderful even beautiful stuff about her for sure but she’s just Nicole to me and she is not inclined to that sort of thing.

The healer is out and waiting for us with two women from this keep and there’s towel and some clothes and the healer smiles at me and she says. “You’ve a fine set of gashes there can I look to them?”

I nod. “And the Squire here she’s in a bad way.”

She looks Nicole over. “I can see that and I’m wondering just how simple or stubborn she is that she’s on her feet in that kind of condition.”

“I’m fine, well not fine but I’ve had worse.”

“Worse what you came back from the dead did you?”

Nicole purses her lips. “Can we get this over with?”

“Fine then come here first…battleknighters as stubborn as all that steel that they move.”

She’s kind of like that sort of a mixture between sweet and huffy and she doses Nicole with a pain potion and gives me an extra one for the road and she applies a nice smelling spiced balm to Nicole’s hurts and gives the jar of it to her and then she works on my leg and she applies new padding and bandages and then she and the ladies escort us back to where we need to be.

It just took about a glass and where we needed to be is…

Well if anything I would have called it a boat dock but instead there’s these rails…on top of wooden mining like timbers and then there’s The Iron Rhino.

I’m staring even as I’m walking and watching people loading things onto it and it’s simply amazing. I’m feeling it out with my magnet force and there are hundreds of parts all around a boiler and a furnace.

Oh instead of steam making the wheels of an electric power generator move and provide illumination this moves parts and more parts until it’s moving wheels that are concave metal that hugs the curves in the tops of the rails…and I suppose weight helps keep it on there as well and it’s just.

It’s amazing all steel and enamel and all those parts and then this big beveled plow like part in the front and then linked platforms and sections like coaches are there and I’m watching as the Third Cavaliers are getting their mounts into stable cars and then there’s our wagon lashed down to a flat one and then there’s several that look to be cargo and two that have battleknights on the full sized thrones and there’s two of those flat beds or sections with what looks like older battleknights in need of repair.

I’m staring stunned at the whole thing and Jessa gives me a nudge. “C’mon we’ll be holding them up enough. Let’s get aboard and get you out of here and on your way to Sanctuary.”

I think I’m in stunned shock as I let her guide me to one of the coach like parts where everyone else is and I’m still staring since we have nothing like this…even remotely.

I sit and exhale and look around before there’s this sudden jolt and we start moving.

I can’t help it I’m out of my seat once we’re moving and we’re getting faster and faster as this huge iron beast gets up to the speed of a fast gallop and I’m leaning against the frames of the glass windows in the coach and then there’s a latch and I open the window and stick my head out and it makes my hair whip sideways and I’m smiling like I haven’t in a while.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 16

*Before…

I’m staring stunned at the whole thing and Jessa gives me a nudge. “C’mon we’ll be holding them up enough. Let’s get aboard and get you out of here and on your way to Sanctuary.”

I think I’m in stunned shock as I let her guide me to one of the coach like parts where everyone else is and I’m still staring since we have nothing like this…even remotely.

I sit and exhale and look around before there’s this sudden jolt and we start moving.

I can’t help it I’m out of my seat once we’re moving and we’re getting faster and faster as this huge iron beast gets up to the speed of a fast gallop and I’m leaning against the frames of the glass windows in the coach and then there’s a latch and I open the window and stick my head out and it makes my hair whip sideways and I’m smiling like I haven’t in a while.

*And Now…

Rattatatatatata-chunk, chunk, chunk…

The sound is almost hypnotic.

The motion the sound and the power in the Iron Rhino and I mean that literally as it’s getting into sunset and I feel a wave from the front and there’s power that flows past and under me and there are illumination bulbs coming to life inside little brass cages and I look around as are the others.

Well I feel better for not being the only person impressed with this.

I look around for a few more moments trying to take it all in and very much failing because there’s too much from the illuminations and all of the glass and the windows to the fine works on the bench seats.

I sit down beside Nicole who is looking out the window and actually pretty awake.

“This is pretty amazing.”

She nods. “We were headed here by the way.”

I nod. “But the fever.”

She nods. “I had a duty to my people and that comes first before title.”

I smile. “Honestly I would have likely insisted on staying anyway.”

She looks at me. “How are you doing though, I’m sorry but I’d think that you’d be having a much harder time with being made into a girl than this.”

I sigh. “Honestly I’m trying not to think about it, that’s not working of course but I’m still trying.”

“I thought you’d be a lot more upset.”

“I think I’m in shock or that I’m bespelled.”

“Bespelled? By your mother?”

“She could fly and change my sex with magic so I’ve been thinking that she might have foreseen a side effect of all of this and did something so that I could function.”

Nicole looks at me. “I guess that’d make sense you’d have to function as a girl and not be acting out all the time.”

I grin. “A girl running around ranting about finding her cock would be noticed and I wouldn’t be talking about a rooster.”

We both end up laughing at that and yes I giggled a little in that and we finish by smiling at each other and then there’s the rhino’s carriage page coming down the middle of the car with a wheeled tray with tins of sweets and two big pots of good tea and then there’s long cutting boards with bread cut into neat slices and butters and potted meats or jams.

We get served some tea in enameled flagons with teapot like lids and we take napkins and we get some food and Jessa joins us too.

The tea is very good and a nice change though different that what Alaan had but this is still lovely and the bread, the bread is rich and brown and I can taste the savoryness of it having rye? I think it’s rye but there’s this sweetness too that’s concentrated in the top and I have two slices with just butter.

Jessa and Nicole have the potted meat but I’m content with just a good tea and bread and butter right now and the bread is that good and fine that I chew it slowly and savor the feel of it.

“I am never going to look at the same things ever in the same ways.”

Jessa smiled around a mouthful of bread with something that was I think rabbit in fat and gel and onions and spices. “Well we’re getting all that gilt rubbed off and we’re seeing the good steel neath it all.”

I look at her and smirk. “Well at least I’ll still be shiny.”

We eat and laugh a little more and then we’re sipping tea and just watching out the windows and the landscape or what we can see of it is changing. There’s less trees and what looks like settled farmland and I see lights and then their gone…a village or a town close to this steam road and we passed it by so fast and I watch it as those lights fade out of sight.

It’s like that a few times too it’s scary and amazing at how fast we’re going.

Not that I haven’t go faster but that was Lady Blackhand’s power that did that and this is different this is carrying soldiers and weapons and battleknights and cargo even and we’re now going faster than a racing horse and it’s non-stop, barely slowing and that’s a huge thing.

“People home would lose their minds over this, the nobles would love this and they’d hate this.”

Nicole says. “It’s that way here in some places certain lands forbid it and some want exorbant rates to have the road go through so it’s limited without The Lady doing something like claiming the needed land on behalf of the needs of the realms and she won’t do something that underhanded.”

Jessa… “T’is a dwarven thing really I’ve seen these in use when I was in their realms but the keep them mostly inside their realm.”

“Inside…like the mountains?” I ask.

She nods. “Aye, they life on the surface too and all but the great dwarven realm itself is under the mountains.”

Nicole… “It’s extremely easy to fortify a mountain really.”

I nod too. “That makes sense and I heard that they are inventive and mechanical and secretive.”

Jessa shrugs. “They’re far more of a community than humanity, they share more and they’re an old race too.”

I look at her. “But this is an ancient human idea.”

She nods. “And they know it and recovered it somehow.”

I look at her. “But it’s human knowledge.”

She actually grins at me. “And that means what? They’ll out live us by thrice on the average and what do humans do with what we have most of the time? And frankly they’re dwarves and not humans they have no obligation to us as a race.”

I’m…okay that’s disturbing in a way.

This would not go over well home we’re all human home and the idea that we’re not at the center of things as a race seems odd to me.

Even disturbing and scary a little.

The girls look at me like they know what I’m thinking and Nicole says. “We’re allies though, there’s worse things that human and dwarven and elven politics in the world.”

I look at her. “Will there be elves there too?”

She shakes her head no. “Elves rarely show here or anywhere really they keep to their lands.”

I nod. “They try and keep out of everything from what father said, they didn’t even get involved with the battle with Blackhand.”

Nicole nods. “They’re extremely long lived and they have tight defenses as well on their islands.”

Elves here on Titan live on islands out far past where it’s safe for most boats and from what I’ve hear it’s guarded by rocks and almost a labyrinthine series of reefs and rocks and as far as I know they’ve never been invaded.

There’s lots of rumor styled knowledge about them but very little actually know or known by us really they do trade and a lot of the trade is medicines and cloth as far as I know but they’re known always said to be mystical beings.

I look at Nicole after another drink of tea. “So did the dwarves get involved with the fight against Rory Blackhand?”

Nicole nods. “Some, there were volunteers and then there were specialists involved.”

“I didn’t know that it’s not in a lot of what I’ve read.”

Jessa says. “There be a lot that isn’t writ, the royals have reasons fer keeping tight lipped about the goings on there an all.”

“Oh?”

Nicole nods. “There’s always such with some of the particulars in a big event like that.”

I nod actually looking at things I’m pretty sure that I’m one of those secrets. “Are there many dwarves in Sanctuary?”

Nicole nods. “There’s a fair amount especially in Boot Town?”

“Boot Town?”

“It’s what we call the under town.”

“Undertown?” I am pretty confused.

Nicole nods. “The dwarves helped build the city and fortress and not wont to waste they build a whole mass of the city works that are needed and the tunnels for those and then they built out and around from that and all of those workers hooking up things and whatnot built homes close to their works and those being dwarves much of the time it became a regular part of the city.”

I blink… “So there’s a city under the city?”

Jessa nods. “Aye and it’s all smaller tunnels than the streets so it’s foot traffic only hence it’s called Boot town.”

Nicole grins. “You’ll see soon enough.”

I roll my eyes. “You like doing that.”

She nods. “But I wouldn’t want to ruin things for you.”

We pass another two towns or settlements really close together and one looked like it was fortified with a castle. “We’re getting close, things are getting closer together.”

The girls nod and Jessa says. “It won’t be too long now.”

I look out the windows and there’s more lights, and the lights themselves are in little pockets but there’s no more darkness of any length between them anymore. We have to be getting close because it’s like those little pockets of family like houses or large farms or even possibly estates or some such and right now they’re all really close together.

Not close, close but at these speeds it sure seems impressive.

And then things level out…like they go flat and they get darker as we hit this large flat stretch of plains and it’s man made. I can tell it’s that flat and there’s not a hint of anything to break the skyline either and even with the lights on I can see stars out in the sky through the windows.

It’s not a big plain three miles or so and then we’re going uphill some and that’s when I see it.

Sanctuary.

It’s built up on this huge mound maybe three hundred feet and all of that’s flagged with stones at an angle and I see roads and gates and walls and it’s a fortress city with really large walls with big squared off towers that are topped with roofed guardhouses that have pennants blowing from the tops of them.

Even at night I can see this as the city gives off this glow of light and I can feel the electric running through the city in the distance and it all seems so grand…in the distance close to the middle I see other walls and towers and in the center this large dome of white stone unlike anything I have ever really seen.

I inhale some. “How…how is it round?”

Nicole grins and says. “We can ask.”

Jessa says. “It’s mesh over a metal frame then with layers of rock plaster laid over it all ties together between the layers with wire ties.”

“Oh…well that’s all sorts of wonderful really.” I know it sounded sort of odd or something to say but honestly it sort of is the way I’m feeling…that and in shocked awe.

The Iron Rhino pumps along and I realize we’re going around the city not and we’re facing the east side of the city and there’s a break in the walls that’s like several levels or tiers instead of the flagged sides of the mound and there’s the city gates by the look of them and what also looks like the main trading road then across that road and what looks like a caravansary market is another series of warehouses and docks and rails like we’d seen at the City of Threshold and I see another Iron Rhino docked there and with a much longer trail or whatever you call the carts that they pull and even for night it is busy with people and traders and laborers unloading things and I can see a few Battleknights here on a watch and a few Squire’sknights as well.

We’re pulling to a stop and I look over at the tiers the look like the main way into the city and I can see a large road for battle knights and such there and what looks like two tunnels like entrances as well but as open as this is I can see it’s different levels are well fortified and manned.

Jessa says. “These are The Steps they’re the entry part to the city fortress and their named for the tiers.”

I nod. “I think I puzzled that part out but I’m not used to seeing things being this bust at night.”

Nicole’s getting up and I give her a hand doing so and she’s wincing because of sitting and stiffening. “The Rhino’s have helped with trade some but there’s always a trader caravan or three in here and the trade areas are often quite busy as well as the night trades.”

“Night trades?”

“Butchers, the meat markets getting ready for the next day the bakers and all of the ones that collect the trash in the city.”

I blink. “People collect trash, like rubbish and why?”

The girls just looked at me like I’m slack witted.

Jessa says. “It keeps the place clean an free of filth surely Lyonnes did the same.”

I nod. “Father used it as punishment for the drunks and n’ere do wells.”

She looks at me. “Here it be a job, gathering an sweepin and sortin.”

“Sorting?”

“Aye burnable versus not an then there’s the glass an metal for the cullet merchants and then there’s the compostins.”

I shake my head. “We had some of that home, we reused everything we could but that was for the castle and such and not so much a thing done in the town I think that the villages were different though and used all that they could.”

They both nod and Nicole says. “With the population here, we need to keep things as clean as possible to guard against pests and diseases that can so come in easily with trade.”

I nod and just watch with them as they’re unloading our things and the horses and the wagons. Taylor’s grinning as he’s greeting people and he seems to be popular and very known at least and then again there’s Nicole who I can see people here know as well but they’re giving her more of a quiet respect and it’s more than some of the knights here are getting.

But then thinking on it her Lady Tatiana rules here and she’s one of her squires so that must mean something.

And I’ve seen her battle.

And she was out there with just her and Hawk and Taylor and I’ve seen them battle too.

I’m not sure just what this means that I’m in their company but I am glad that I am.

I hope that holds after I meet The Lady of this place too.

The wagon is readied and the horses seem excited in that way that they get when they’ve been on a trip and are close to their home and I’m kind of smiling at that for them and soon we’re on the wagon and we’re getting our escort with the knights that came with us from the battle site and we’re quietly going through the city and I’m watching and looking at so, so much.

There’s a lot of white here, bright tones elsewise and there’s roofs of tiles and again the drainage ditch half pipes I saw at Threshold and a lot of things that seem like how things are done here too.

Except there are electric wires in the air on poles and they have lights like lamps in the streets that we had in the town home but those were heavy brass and leaded glass hanging from wrought iron and we only lit those usually in winter’s dark.

I see wires going into buildings.

Granted these seem like well to do places and they seem to be merchants and the like but there are still quite a few of those really and it’s very strange to see electric illumination coming from windows.

It sort of makes the city cheerful in a way.

It certainly makes it active as we pass places with people doing things inside of all sorts and even having fun in what looks like the commons of taverns and inns and the like.

It’s so odd to be able to see through these large windows into places.

And I do a little “Oh…” as we pass a place with these odd letters carven in the top frame of the window that’s a good banner size and I can see women there with tied scarves around their hair and with trays of fresh baked things being set out and I can smell the breadiness and the different sugary offerings as we pass.

“Those look so good.” And yes I ate of the train but I’m still young.

Taylor laughs. “Well you’ll be in good shape Chrissy because the keep’s kitchens will be doing the same things right now.”

“Really, even the sweets.”

“Aye, there be sweets there as well.”

My stomach growled for me and he and Nicole and Hawk all chuckle as it does.

There’s really though so much to say here about here…there fountains I can see and a public garden and more buildings and more buildings and now that we’re further into the city I can see that some of these buildings are quite large and even some look to have walled yards and courts of their own.

I have been to other close by lands home and I have seen towns that have some of these things but not a place with just so much.

“This is a rich, rich place.” I can’t help it but to say it.

Nicole nods. “While we’re a confederation of fifty some odd loose kingdoms and territories Sanctuary is the capital we’re the center of trade and of justice.”

I nod… “And paid by The Dwarven King to keep the peace.”

And Hawk says. “We are very close neighbors it’s different than in other places where they’re further off.”

It’s us passing what looks like an Arena the makes me quiet and there’s Battleknights there as part of the pillars in the front and there’s wall pennants and there’s even weapons and there’s parts of them in alcoves or on display on stone blocks….I just stare I’ve never seen anything like it.

Nicole says. “That’s the Arena of Champions; it’s one of the oldest Battleknight dueling arenas in the world. We hold games there and contests but it’s also where squires test their skills against each other and where we do the testing and awards of going from a Squire’sknight to a Battleknight.”

I am just… “Wow…and the things are?” I’m gesturing at the trophies?

“Trophies from tournaments and challenges especially famous duels and the like but there’s also guild trophies too.”

“Guild trophies?”

Nicole says. “Like my family we build Battleknights and we are part of a guild for it. There’s eight such guilds here in the city two more in the territories and then sixteen with the dwarves and there’s betting and prizes and honor and such all fought over in competitions here.”

“Really?... There’s…I thought that only nobles and knights could use a Battleknight by law?”

Taylor chimes in with. “Nay not in these lands it is whoever it owns it, they can be willed to folk even and such but the cost and upkeep and such for a battleknight sort of usually renders the point moot anyhows.”

I nod. “I saw the books at home and it took father twenty three coppers a month for The Rampant to keep it clean and oiled and that’s without it being used.”

Hawk nods. “An that’s cheap since I reckon it was a duty in yer house.”

I nod. “My brothers and … would tune and polish and clean to learn but everything else was father and then our master smith’s doing.”

We pass by several huge buildings too set up close to the arena and I can hear machines and Battleknights and the like moving around in behind the walls and the sounds of metal on metal and metal meeting grinders and all the sounds and the smells of heavy industry.

One place has Nicole’s shoulder flash of an anvil and a sword resting on it with a large M over it and it’s not a shield but like a round.

“Your home?” I ask.

Nicole nods. “It is.” She’s smiling but she makes no moves to go there.

“Been awhile?”

“Near a month but they’ll know I’m here by the morning.”

I nod…There’ll not be that for me.

I’m not even sure of the condition of my sisters.

And like this I have no idea how they’d take that news…the news of me.

Nicole actually takes my hand and she holds it and honestly it helps.

And then we’re there.

It front of the castle.

It’s white stone and it’s huge…eight sides by the look of it with high walls that look very thick and maybe thick enough for Squire’sknights to work on…The in the corners of the walls they have a bastion tower that I can see rising up it three separate sections each one a little smaller than the last with enough room for a little rim of a wall and soldiers…likely archers.

And I can see a keep the same way but a much larger section of space and that’s actually what looks like castle fine work with yards and small walls and archways leading in with glass doors that are shining light and again three sections of keep building each many stories high and then there’s that done on the top. I can see the outer walls of the keep have decorations and flags and long tapestries mounted breaking up the white but I can’t really get great looks at them.

Then we have call outs from our escorts instead of the horns and as we’re getting closer there’s a section of the wall were their gate and archway designed barbican is and I’m watching as the portcullis is going down.

And they’re not closing it either it’s going from being in place to sinking underneath the flagstones.

“That’s different.” I say as we’re passing through.

Nicole’s… “Harder to get through the gate goes up and supports can be placed under it to secure it in case of siege.”

I look around. “This place is huge and there’s more military might here than I’ve ever seen who would lay siege to this place? Who could?”

Taylor’s… “I wouldn’t ever want to know but it’s always been like that with The Lady.”

I nod and look around a little more taking things all in…there’s even at night a lot of soldiers and activity and there’s Squire’sknights and I see no less than seven Battleknights and that’s just from where I’m at and then there’s siege weapons….

I get a chill at seeing them and there’s not images but images from my memories and I’m sort of drifting back there to the night of the attack.

I know where I am, and I know that I’m with my friends but my chest is getting tight and my heart’s beating faster and I can feel the shaking my body is doing.

My face is wet too and now I’m crying.

Nicole’s looking at me. “Chrissy, Chrissy look at me…breathe…look at me and breathe…”

She gets in my face, not to be aggressive like I’ve heard it said about being in another person’s face but to literally be in my face so that I’m focused on her, that I can’t help but to focus on her and she’s breathing and it takes a few seconds for me to get where I’m breathing along with her too.

It still makes my chest hurt in a way and feel tight and so…it’s like being not in control but knowing it and feeling it and there’s this…

It’s a dozen screams trying to get out of me and it’s echoing around inside of me instead and it’s freezing me up and I just can’t breathe right and I want to cry.

I am crying, there’s still tears running down my cheeks but I want to cry like fold up on myself and cry and just…

Breathe, breathe, breathe…c’mon I have to just keep breathing right?

I hate this…but I’m feeling myself catching myself.

It’s what it’s like actually, that getting a grip after you’ve had a near fall.

The hammering of my heart slows.

“You alright?” Nicole asks.

“N…No… I…I was okay right, the Goblins, the Wargs, being wounded…then I see the siege engines and I…”

She pulls me close and into a hug. “Chrissy, those things broke your home of course it’s going to be different.”

I can’t help the tears that are flowing harder and harder until I’m bawling hard.

I sort of feel our wagon stop and there’s voices and talking but Nicole doesn’t leave she’s staying right there with me for quite awhile before I hear a strong woman’s voice…not a hard voice but deep, soft…like a voice that’s like good port.

“Make a little room aye.”

I feel Nicole shift and pull us both over a half foot then someone sit beside us on the opposite side of Nicole. I feel a large and muscular arm slip around me from her and she does that one armed hug and lean.

I feel a breast… (Sniffle-cough-laugh.)

I look at her.

She’s huge…seriously the biggest woman I have ever seen with long silvery white hair that’s been tied back pretty at the momently with a strip of tartin cloth and she’s must be close to seven foot… but she’s sitting so I’m just guessing and she’s broad shouldered and thick thighed…big arms and huge breasts that are very prominent and full…and she’s actually beautiful…not in this delicate way but so very much in this powerful womanly way?

I’m not describing just how impactful she is.

Big silvery grey eyes with no blue…? Pointed ears…I can see pointed ears tips peaking through the hair…gods and elohim she has a lot of hair.

“Are you an elf?” (Sniffle.)

“No, I’m not an elf.”

“What are you?”

She looks at me. “I’m your friend Chris, I’m Tatiana Whitehall, Knight Marshal of The West and Commander of Sanctuary and it’s company The Silver Swords.”

I look around and it’s just her and Nicole, Jessa and Taylor.

I take a stuffy nosed breath. “Prince Christian Lyonnes, and heir and…and daughter of Aurora Blackhand….”

I was not very sure of that… of this and her.

Nicole coughs. “We’ve been using Christiana or Chrissy.”

The woman breaks into an easy smile. “I like that I’d wager your mothers would have too.”

“You knew my mother?”

“Deidre? Nay just what Aurora had said, fine person by all account though.”

(Sniffle-sob.) “She was…” I gesture hopelessly at my face. “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I’m….” (Sniffle-whine.)

She nods and pulls me close. “It’s a ‘cause yer here Chrissy, yer journey’s done, yer safe.”

…..

I…

(Sniffle-sob.) “Safe?”

She nods and squeezes me hard enough to make me squeak. “Aye…safe.” She lets me go and slips off the wagon and I was right she’s nearly seven foot tall and built with muscles and yet she’s still beautiful.

“Now you and Coley look dunn in, let’s get ye both to the healers.” She stands with us until we’re down and she walks with us as we’re heading inside keeping pace and a coupe of pages open the doors for us and we head into warm lights of the keep.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 17

*Before….Angeline

I remember looking around and seeing just him and me and then my strength went out and I fell.
I thought that I was dying as the battleknight walked towards me shining in the sunlight.
Light brown enameled plates trimmed with brass and with some very old fashioned designs to it and the coat of arms a bears head and swords in gold on a shield with red as the color for the field.
The rig, the battleknight looked old but the coat of arms looks new…gold leaf? It was shiny.
The rig cage opened and this man jumped out and he was wearing brigandine armor and a woolen cloak that he took off and wrapped around me. He had long wild and unruly curly brown hair kissed with sun fade and this thick but not too long beard to match.
He pressed a skin to my lips and water had never tasted so good.
“I saw the light lady what happened.”
(Coughing.) “Lyonnes…it’s fallen, I was sent here by a friend…an aunt.”
“Lady Blackhand.”
I nodded.
“And you would be lady?”
(Coughing.) “Angeline…Angeline Lyonnes….eldest daughter…”
He looked surprised and maybe a little frowny?
“King Wyatt Braithe my lady, your husband to be.”
And that’s when I fainted again.

*And Now…

I think that I was fevered because I felt like I was both shivering and burning up and I think that I woke through part of what seemed like a journey but I’m very unsure.

Shock?

Very likely.

And I think I remember being manhandled and it ways that as a lady that I’d likely have protested even if I am not blushing maiden.

Well technically I’m to be considered a maiden. I’ve never shirked my duty in keeping myself from the carnal pleasures of the man and woman equation…unlike my sister Gracia.

Grace was well…she was one of those noble girls that thought that beauty was more important than most things and that it was going to keep her honor from being besmirched.

…..fur…I smell furs and treating oils and I smell wood and it’s strangely fragrant and I’m warm and my arm hurts.

I got to rub it and I feel bandages and the stub.

Oh…dammit right.

I’m maimed.

And that…I’m here in my betrotheds castle I think and right now very much at his mercy and beyond because of the loss of my home and family and being damaged goods he doesn’t exactly have good reason to treat me in any sort of regard.

I have my name and title but I’m grown enough to know that just might not mean a bloody thing.

I open my eyes and I’m in a bed that’s fair sized and it’s carved from heavy timbers and stained and polished with animals and knights and bears. I’m on a mattress that seems quite heavy and thick but not feather bed soft and it seems to be softened by the layers of woolen blankets and quilts.

I sit up and there’s this semi chill in the air and I look around. I can see there’s a battle with the frost at the windows and that they’re shuttered with a small space for a hole to peep from and I can see racks of weapons and body torso like things you’d use for dresses but with armor on them and there’s oil lamps on the walls that are unlit and a small fire in a hearth…I see a small table set before a nook with a seating bench and behind the bench in the wall are bookcases.

He’s at the bench leaning over the table asleep using his arms for pillows and he’s dressed in a red woolen tunic over a simple linen work shirt and he has his gambeson draped over him like a coat and a blanket both.

I can’t help but to start coughing as I wake and shift. I notice I’m wearing one of his shirts and it’s a brown linen plaid and it’s almost a robe on me. Thank the light I’m still in my underwear.

He lifts his head and he’s staring at me. “Hello.”

He looks like some wild man of the north rather than a king, I see no crown either on his head.

“Good morning your majesty.”

“Wyatt.”

“Excuse me?”

“My name is Wyatt.”

“But you’re a king.”

“And you’re my betrothed; I think that gives you some dispensation.”

Oh…well he sounds educated though.

“Wyatt it is then. I am Angeline Lyonnes.”

“Should I call you princess?”

“No…if you’re going to keep to us being betrothed then I should think that you can call me Angeline.”

He blinks looking surprised. “Why would I not keep to the betrothal?”

I hold up my stump. “I’m not whole; I’m likely landless and much more likely penniless you are a king so you have no real need to keep someone like me around for marriage.”

“Angeline…you survived, you survived the attack, the loss of a limb and the trip and those trolls. You are not your wounds and I’d never treat you as such.”

I smile…and I’m blushing.

Courtiers are one thing; I have always been able to handle men like you’d meet in court with cool detachment.

But meeting a man that is honorable and genuinely nice.

It’s something I’m not good with.

Wyatt gets up and he stretches and I wince as I hear things crackle in him and pop and he goes to the fire and he takes off a camp pot that is there on a swing plate and he gets two clayware jacks from a cupboard built into the hearth and he pours out something the color of mud and smells acrid and sharp and a little foul?

“Coffee?”

“Coffee? I…I’ve heard of it but never had it.”

“Really?”

I nod but take the jack he offers. “I’ve no cream here but I have sugar if you’d like.”

“We don’t trade…we didn’t trade for such things too much and my father said that it was far too expensive to bring in from other traders.”

I take a sip and it’s hot but not too much and it’s bitter and acrid and tastes just…it’s not tea.

He smiles at me and this close and not in shock or mortal danger he’s actually not bad looking. “I am unused to young men with beards.”

He nods and passed me a dish with sugar in it and a spoon. “Sorry it’s winter here and I tend to let it grow out to ward off the chill. Should I shave?”

“I wouldn’t presume…” Dammit he has me blushing again.

He has this look to him that is earnest as a bear cub.

Not that I’ve ever seen a bear but still.

And I am so not good with this.

“Maybe I will shave.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Maybe I want to; it’s not every day that I am within sight of my betrothed. I’d have made myself fancy when the time had come for me to go to Lyonnes and meet you.”

That’s an appealing thought, Wyatt but not like this but in what he’d do for court.

Okay…this coffee is better with sugar.

But twice I reached for something that I could not reach for.

And I think that I might need to cry.

“Is there a jakes? Or a bathchamber?” (Sniffle.)

“There’s both, here let me so you.”

He…he walks away from me and he’s not helping me from the bed or even taking my mug.

That’s sort of…I don’t know? Insulting? Boorish?

And he’s watching me.

I take a breath and another drink of the coffee and it’s kind of growing on me and it’s certainly clearing my head. I set the coffee down and I get out of the bed and again I sort of ended up trying to use something that wasn’t there.

Dammit just getting out of bed.

And he doesn’t help me.

I take a seriously chill shocked breath as I put my feet on the floor and there’s several rugs but I can feel the cold still. This isn’t the warmed stones of my father’s house; there are no pipes of hot water from the boiler’s here.

I’m a little shaky getting to my feet and he does almost move then. He was prepared to come and catch me.

Hmmm…he’s not hovering or coddling me.

I bite down on that bit of spoiled girl in me and let the practical me out. That’s actually the real me the one that’s always had a thing for just things being real and truth over flattery.

Life’s damned confusing as it is people make it a hundred times worse and I’ve no tact…I never have. Social situations have always escaped me. Oh I can handle myself mostly because mother and my tutors helped with that and I know what to say sometimes…usually like filling in a crossing words puzzle.

I am better with numbers, with facts and truth.

Wyatt’s being true I think.

I walk and go with him to the doors and then to this other room that’s like a small common room or a receiving room and it has a few other doors here and a few couches and there’s some nice paintings displayed on the walls here.

I mean nice by they look like something and the colors are close to what you would actually see.

All of that subjective art stuff is beyond me as well.

“The smallest door is the bath.”

“Thank you.”

I head inside and it’s lit by several really large candles in round glass bowls that help to make more light and they look like they’d last a very long time and they’re scented with lemon oils and make the place smell decent.

There’s a large stone sink with two water pumps and a similar bathing tub that is crude and just some big rectangle but it looks very big and there’s a real porcelain toilet like from home there in an alcove along with a roll of fine, fine thin cotton paper like gauze?

It takes me a little doing to work things around…and some cursing which I didn’t mean to do.

I look at the roll of paper again. “Interesting wipes.”

Wyatt talks through the door. “It’s toilet paper, and we get it from the dwarves.”

“Dwarves you’ve met Dwarves?”

“Yes we have some living here.”

“Really, I’ve never…what are they like?”

“Well you’ll see once you have a chance to meet them when you get to have a tour of The Hold.”

I’m actually very interested in this. And I’m interested in Braitheholde. Why here of all places I mean beyond the fact that he’s a king or well his father was and he must have died since our betrothal had happened but this place, it’s so remote and so far away.

I know it was a key player in the battle that saw the defeat of Rory Blackhand but I know father and mother…knew…regardless either one wouldn’t send me to marry for just honor.

And I will admit the dwarves being here changes everything.

You never see dwarves leave their mountains, you never see them in The Middle Kingdoms just their goods.

Wiping was interesting and required me holding the shirt with my chin and then I flush the toilet paper away and go to the sink to wash.

I like the soap, it’s a common enough one really made from fats with some other things but this is also brewed and set with lavender flowers in it and it’s quite nice.

I try and find things to make myself look more presentable and I hear noises of people out passed the door and I call out. “Your Majesty?”

And that brings some laughter and I heard women’s voices.

“My chamberlain, matron of walls and the seamstress are here with some things for you Angeline.”

I peek out and I see two older women and a crate box of things and a barrel with wheels and this woman that’s really strong shouldered despite her height and wearing trousers and a blouse but with a vest and tools and a pocket watch and she…she has a beard.

She’s a dwarf.

And she looks like a short human that is quite stocky, her arms are longer than ours would be but not much and her legs are shorter but not what the stories would say and her hair is in a pair of braids down the front where a man would have sideburns and another pair behind her ears that are pulled behind her head and tied almost like a head cloth to keep things neat.

Her beard is fine and soft and short and trimmed close and neat and it’s a shiny soft brown.

I come out and Wyatt introduces me. “Angeline this is Sally my chamberlain and Kate my matron of walls and Mistress Bette Lacecraft.”

Mistress Bette is the dwarf.

I attempt a curtsey and they wave it off.

Sally looks at me and she’s a greying haired woman in trousers? And she has a vest of soft leather sewn into a cord and quilt jacket and she carries a satchel with what looks like writing gear and books for her work and a very large knife.

“Nay don’t be stressing about fine manner M’lady with the likes of us.”

“I’m sorry I was raised to do so.”

The one called Kate a hard looking dark brown haired woman of little breast and strong looking features dressed in trousers as well and another quilt mail jacket says. “Manner are fine princess but you’re still recovering it’d be ill mannered to ask you to do so.”

Okay Sally seems commoner backgrounded and Kate seems educated, like nobility or maybe an officer.

I nod and we shake hands and it’s my first time for really doing that and I offer my hand to the dwarven woman who shakes my hand and her hands are quite soft and she has except for the callus marks of one that works with needles and thimbles and such.

I was my father’s chamberlain of sorts and I knew all of our tradesfolk.

“It’s very nice to meet you Mistress Lacecrafter.”

“And you princess.”

She has a sort of accent but she speaks kingdom quite well.

“Please call me Angeline.”

“And you can call me Bette then and thank you for the honor you do me for the informality.”

“And you as well.”

Sally just looks amused and Kate is looking me over and more than my arm it’s the weigh and measure that soldiers have.

I look to her and sit and try to do it gracefully as I can right now and ask. “Matron of walls, I’ve never heard of such a thing?”

Kate looks at me. “It’s a hard place here in the northern lands and there’s a lot of times when it’s just the women folk here to defend things in an all-out battle or when there’s more wounded than able men. King Wyatt’s father appointed me to be their trainer and captain…or rather matron.”

I nod, it’s very odd and yet it’s very wise really given where we’re at. “Can I ask? About the trousers?”

Sally laughs. “Aye tis a good idea really, we took some hints from the dwarven folk and if your job would be easier with them than a buncha skirts then ita just makes good sense t’not hobble yerself.”

I bite my lip and I look at my legs. “Could I have some?”

They all smile and Sally laughs. “Aye we’re here t’get ye kitted up.”

Wyatt comes in…he had slipped out and he has my coffee and a tray with mugs on it and more coffee in the pot he had and there’s some slices of this dark cake. It’s molasses cake and home that was something we had for the men and the guards but it was never a thing we had at our table.

And I love it actually. Simple and moist with a nice sweet flavor that goes good with tea and you can even not bother frosting it or can if you like and all of that.

I almost make a moan around that first bite too, I’m hungry and this is good.

And a king just served the four of us…

The others called him majesty except Kate who called him my liege and I’m fairly sure that maybe they could be doing this around me.

I hate that I do that and make people uncomfortable.

He takes a coffee with him and he slips into the bathroom.

Mistress Lacecrafter looks to me. “Well we should get started with your measures then princess.”

***……………….. It takes some time and a lot of things are me trying on used clothes? They’re finery still for the most part and different things and some I’m told were the clothes of the queen who’s not alive to wear them and they are too nice to throw out or give away.

And that idea suits me actually.

I am sixteen years and I have or had maybe three hands of dresses and gowns to my name from fancy to common-day, and for all the seasons too.

Gracia had literally a room for her clothes instead of a simple closet…why own things that you will never wear?

I get measured and Mistress Lacecrafter does that extremely accurately with all my parts and curves and standing and sitting and how round things are and how long my fingers are and all of that…even my feet and my womanly parts.

But I get some clothes that fit me reasonably and others and underthings will follow and they are all offering me hand-me-downs of my own as well and Kate is testing my grip and my heft with these weighted handles? I don’t know it has something to do with me and weapons?

“Me fight?”

She nods. “It’s the law here, Everyone fights, Nobody quits.”

“I’ve just the one hand.” There’s a lump and it’s still raw the loss of it and it hurts…my hand that isn’t there hurts. I’ve heard barracks tales of such a thing or even workmens accidents but I thought…I mean I thought that I was immune.

“Then we will get a buckler to be strapable to your stump princess but everyone fights.”

I nod as she’s staring into my eyes like she’s dead serious.

I take a breath. “Nobody quits.”

I say that and she nods as do the other women and I think that I won a little bit of respect here or something.

I am so unused to plain speaking people.

And then Wyatt comes out from the bath room and he’s washed and he’s cut his hair and he shaved.

He looks like one of those… he’s still sort of tanned or slightly dark complected and his hair is almost black from being wet and his face has that nice cheekbones with the hint of possible dimples and a strong but not jutting chin and without the beard to distract from his eyes…deep breath Angeline.

You’ve seen handsome men before.

Actually no I haven’t not like this.

And his shirt is off and he’s still drying off and he has the body of a battleknighter. Sculpted and powerful with all this muscle but it’s not just muscle for the sake of having muscle it’s from working in a rig all the time and then wearing armor and doing all those other things.

And his abdominal muscles lead down and down and to his waist and I can see that spot…that place where his trunk meets hips and pants and teases me with all of that.

I am usually not this mentally poetic when it comes to men but I have never really seen a man like this and I have certainly never seen a man like Wyatt up close.

And he sort of blushes some too which is nice since I am used to a different sort of noble and he excuses himself and heads into his bedroom.

All of the women are smiling and grinning at him as they watch him go.

Even me a little. “I do not know what I was really expecting about him but this has all been very surprising to me.”

And I add. “In a good way, with all of you too.”

Wyatt comes out with an armful of armor and slips past us. “Excuse me ladies, princess.”

I cannot help but to watch as he passes them to a burly looking man in armor who gives us a head-bob and the process seems to continue.

I look at him as the armor is gone and the weapons are gone and now it’s his clothes?

“King Wyatt? Are you traveling somewhere?”

He stops and he looks at me like he’s surprised. “Oh…sorry princess but you arriving caught us really not prepared so I’m moving out and these are your quarters now.”

I blink.

“Mine? How so?”

“There’s only one royal suite and this is it so you should have it.”

That can’t be.

“Only one in the whole castle?”

“Holde Princess this is a Holde not a castle.”

“What’s the difference, I though holds were part of ships.”

“They are and my people and my charges are first.”

“But you should have the rooms then you’re the King.”

“Angeline, I have my manners and my pride I’ll be staying in the knights barracks with the men as I always have.”

Oh…yes Wyatt being king is a new thing here.

“You didn’t have your own rooms?”

“No I lived here until I was nine and when I hit my tenth birthday I was sent to the pages to live and train with them.”

“Oh…”

I’m unsure of what to say really, that’s so outside of my experience. I mean my brothers well the oldest two were sent away for a couple of years to squire in other peoples lands but that was different.

This was sending your noble son to sleep with the…well they were pages and squires so they’d likely be not the same as living with commoners in commons barracks.

I’m cringing a little inside at some of that. I am not the sort of woman to judge on title it is just though where I come from nobility is a separatist kind of culture.

So often I met spoiled men no more than brats with titles and coins that though they were born better.

Okay…now that I’m thinking about it. It’s a good idea to do that if you wanted loyalty.

And not just from your knights but from the ruler to his knights, they all would have grown closer.

I look at Wyatt and smile. “I’ll accept your gracious offer your majesty.”

He nods and we lock eyes for a minute and for that minute I can’t help but get lost there. He is very distracting, I forget about my arm for a little bit.

And then he’s all moved out and the ladies help me move things in.

He left the books and the other odds and ends there and that was nice I suppose and it will help me get to know him more and his family.

There’s some good reading there by the looks of things and some of what looks like journals and family histories and things that will definitely help me.

I look to Sally. “Is there a chance that I could see The Holde?”

“Aye widcha like fer us t’do or would ye want The King t’ show ye about?”

“Would I be a bother to any by asking? Or should I wait?”

Mistress Lacecrafter says. “King Wyatt will very most likely give you a tour of The Holde, but I think that he is waiting for you to be better rested.”

“I don’t think I can be more rested, I’m injured and I’m in a bad way in other respects so I don’t relish the thoughts right now of having too much to think on. He’d be doing me a kindness.”

All three nod and then Kate gets up and with a dip she heads out and then other two are still there with me until Kate comes back with Wyatt.

He’s looking at me and he’s doing that awkward rubbing at his face and chin or habitual like from when he was wearing his beard.

“You wanted a tour?”

“Please that would be nice.”

“Are you sure that you’re up to it?”

“I’d rather be up and doing than sitting and thinking and reliving things.”

He looks at me and he looks like he’s going to say something but he just nods and says something else. “From Top to bottom then?”

“Alright.”

He offer’s me his cloak and I try to slip it on and fight with it a little. I’m not used to doing things with one hand and it is very frustrating just dealing with then clasp is…I use my teeth very unladylike in the end and Wyatt looks like it never happened or that I didn’t do anything wrong.

That’s when we set off on the tour of Braitheholde.

I will say there is a lot of stairs here and yet the halls are cold they’re thick and they’re sturdy and at just about every landing we come to that is on an outside wall there is arrow slits. They’re stuffed with a padded lid to keep out the drafts but there it is, the place has places to shoot from all over and those landings too…they have doors.

Big full doors with a drop bar on a swivel and a bolt thing that fits a hole in the floor and they reek of some kind of very minerally smelling grey paint or shellac that’s on them? I touch some with my hand and I know this compound.

“Fireban?”

“Yes with most of the doors here and the timbers in case of accident or siege.”

Fireban is a dwarven invention that has been around for ages it’s a type of shellac that has a kind of glue and clay mixture in it. It does not burn well at all and as it gets hotter it actually bakes into a ceramic like glaze. It’s fairly expensive but not uncommon and many places like smithies have it.

We had it home both in the kitchens and our smithies on the walls.

And each landing has two doors…and so do some of the corners in the halls.

There are a lot of doors here.

There’s mounted weapons too here and there looking like decoration but also not…a shield and two spears usually and there’s a pennant too there but it’s a repeating pattern.

“You could literally fight your way through this Holde and arm those that aren’t couldn’t you?”

Wyatt nods. “We have in the old days of my grandfather and his grandfather.”

I look at him. “Why?”

He looks at me. “Why what?”

“Why be here at all?”

“We have a duty, unlike the middle kingdoms my ancestors ships came down in places close to here and after Stonewood was a thing and barely any survived it and we were here buried deep in the caves trying to survive when my ancient ancestors found the dwarves that were out here in their outpost or the other way around and oaths were formed and bonds in blood and battle.”

“So allegiance?”

“More…we watch The Moors on the other side of these mountains and we watch Stonewood too.”

“I know the Moors that’s where our parents fought The Witch king.”

He nods. “Stonewood was part of the elvish realm during the war of ages when the gates were still going and there was some terrible thing that happened there and a huge battle that destroyed their realm and caused the great forest it was to turn to stone and as it became the haven and home to a great evil.”

“They haven’t run out of troops and the like?”

“It has an ecosystem Angeline, it’s brutal and hellish down there but it had evolved into a sort of living place for all manners of evil.”

“Oh…”

“And they trade…”

“Trade? With who?”

“Whoever dares, Rory Blackhand made pacts with them, there still sometimes hunt the Moor’s in the far northwest sweep of it and then of course they raid others, dig and raid in the under-realms and more often than not then eat each other off.”

I swallow. “Does the High King know this?”

He nods. “He does as do many others but in many lands what happens here is too far removed and it’s fanciful tales….For me to get to you by horse from here to Lyonnes would have taken me a month or better travelling Trolls never travel far except in large, large numbers and with the promise of food and Wargs and Goblins seldom travel further than a few days from where they feel safe…We are one of the buffer zones, one of the places that keeps these monsters from expanding their places and to come at the rest of humanity.”

I’m frowning as we walk because I don’t like the idea of not knowing something and at the same time if someone came to Lyonnes and told me of life here I would just have thought them spinning tales.

“This sounds like an important post then.”

“You sound like you have questions?”

“I do, like why Braitheholde wasn’t attacked and Lyonnes was?”

“Vulnerability, we’re very hard to attack and to break by design your realm was not by the sounds of it.”

“No…we fell fast.”

He nods as we go and he’s in thought. “I’d say that it might be political, your father was quite the social rebel from the things that I had heard from my parents when we were betrothed and the alliance to lady Blackhand and having her given the title of lady and even some small lands well that was likely seen as an affront to many.”

I look at him. “She built a town, well a village for women and midwives.”

He nods. “Witches too and many though, even if not actual witches they were women living free of men.”

“They were under father’s rule.” I say and maybe a bit offended.

“There are those that wouldn’t see it that way Angeline, they’d see her hand in ruling there.”

“But that’s not true she was barely around.”

“That wouldn’t matter.”

I sigh… I know this to be true as well and I do know that there were some that did not trade fairly with us because of Lady Blackhand and her not being liked.

“I just wish that I had answers.”

He nods. “I’ve sent messengers and birds.”

“Will they get through?”

He looks at me. “I sent several, no offense princess but in many ways your world is more dangerous than mine.”

I shake my head. “It’s not my world; I never did well in these things that would be my sister.”

Wyatt actually smiles at that and he opens a large door at the end of this hall we’ve been walking it. “That’s a boon to me then Angeline I’m a knight and a warrior not a politician.”

He does this grand gesture as he open the door. “Be welcome to the garden of the clouds.”

Oh…

We’re on the roof, but not the roof. It’s the old roof if I am to judge and there’s new walls of stone and there’s a copper roof on the inside that shines like new and all around us and even in the ceiling there are windows, big windows with very clear glass in them and there are three panes here and it’s warm and it’s incredibly bright in here and inside the place is a garden.

Oh there’s some herbs and flowers and what you might find in a regular garden but far, far more do I see stone boxes and buckets and planters full of peas and beans and there is lettuces and chards and here and there I see bushes with berries and things that climb and there’s these small short apple trees and plums and pears that are only six or eight feet high but bush out very much and some are bearing fruit and others not so much.

He has two, two lemon trees.

There’s planter pots hanging from chains with finer chain nets around them like a skirting and in them I see melons and cucumbers and small pumpkins and squash anything that throws vines and climbs.

And in between the windows in places there are racks and tables for tools and for drying things.

I wander…look out the windows and I can see the world…this place is vale on vale of snow but I can see some stone structures here and there peeking through the snows in places, trailing wisps from their chimneys. Further out I can see the world below the peaks and I can see this grey-green-brown expanse and eventually a thin line of deeper grey.

“Those are the swamps? The Moors?”

He nods. “And behind them the sea.”

I sigh. “That’s too far by any means to hit open water to get a ship out.”

These swamps, the only reason that I’m seeing an end to them is the heights I’m at. The place could swallow Lyonnes it’s is huge.

“Are there beasts in there?”

“Yes, there always has been I think but there are more since Rory Blackhand’s days. Though nothing like the clans of Goblins and the Trolls that abide in Stonewood. Mostly beasts and a few tiny tribes of creatures.”

“Creatures?” Just the thought gives me the shivers.

“Fenn trolls, Gillans, Tainted tribes of men…”

“Barbarians?”

“Worse than that but yes.”

“So no one lives there?”

“Not since Blackhand himself secure in the knowledge that such a place was defending him.”

I nod. “Father fought in The Rampant then, how did they get to the citadel?”

“Hard, hard work they built a huge causeway.”

I look. “I don’t see it.”

“We…they pulled it up after them when they burned Thornguard down.”

“Oh well…that must have taken a lot of work.”

He nods. “There were thousands of men and others there from the records of such and much of the work for that army was done out of Braitheholde.”

“A wealthy time then?”

He shrugs. “It was but that was also a hard time too, it taxed our resources greatly especially when winter came.”

I move from the view. “I can’t even imagine this place must have been full to the rafters.”

We start walking and he nods. “And every hall that could spare the room in these high valleys.”

He leads me out those doors and down some stairs to another series of halls and stairs and here I can see other things like rooms and some offices and more of the same until we go lower than we started at and we’re in the main halls of The Holde.

The halls are decorated some and still it’s designed for sectional fighting but I get to see bigger rooms and sections here with the library and there is a map room (Both small) and the room for the messenger birds and another with some electric equipment…that I wonder on and it’s not a power maker but there are wires and many, many things that I have no idea about and there are two dwarves there both men and they’re doing things with tools and taking notes.

“What is that?”

“That is a marvel from the ancient days that is called a ray-dee-oh.”

“Ray-dee-oh?”

“In the ancient times our peoples used them to talk instantly over distances we’ve been trying to repair this one and make it work for close to forty years now since we gained it. There’s tales of the High King having such a device and we hope to bridge the gap between places with such a thing.”

I look at him. “The High King does not have such a thing otherwise he would have sent others remade from the plans of his out to the realms.”

Wyatt just looks at me. “…..yes, yes of course he would.”

I nod. “Still this is an incredible effort.”

He nods and we move on.

There is a lot here that is like a fortress I would assume it’s very castle like but there are fewer fanciful things here that I am used to seeing and at the same time there’s things I am not used to.

Like the barracks for the knights and the soldiers being inside the keep…The Holde and not in outbuildings, the fact that the dining hall is communal with a table for the king and the queen and their knights but there’s no wall nor a raised dais to make it a high table and there’s the oddest thing I have ever seen and that is a counter along one wall between the kitchens and the dining hall and they serve food from it….and people come to them and get their own.

I see people doing this and men in knight’s jackets with their crests in line with the commoners and not just the warriors and they are holding trays with dishes and cutlery and bowls and they are being served all the same.

The only ones being waited on by people here are the walking wounded.

There are people here hurt, scarred and burns and some are bandaged and others are doing duties or eating with some and…I see missing hands and legs…but there’s metal fitted fake limbs? I see a leg with moving metal pipes and springs but with what looks like a foot that has been made to move?

“You…there are a lot of people hurt here, still doing things here?”

“Everyone fights, nobody quits.”

“I…” I try and find some words for this, there are people here that would been either pensioned off or cast out from service.

I look at my hand, or the lack there off. “Is there a device that could be used for myself…?”

He nods. “Some, but they are not the same Angeline. We use what we know of the battleknights to make things that make things easier but to actually make a working hand is well beyond us or even the dwarves.”

I nod. “Still perhaps when I’m more healed I can get something that would help me, a hook perhaps.”

He nods. “A hook is the most common.”

I wipe at my eyes…I’m scared, I’m scared for my loss and scarred by it too and it’s throbbing and I’m sort of cradling it and Wyatt lets me lean on him and that’s a big help and I notice that there are some…the injured first getting up and standing and they’ve stopped eating and they’re looking at us, looking at me.

Wyatt whispers in my ear. “They’ve only heard the scantest of rumors Angeline, and now they’re seeing all of you.”

I nod several times and I swallow a hard lump full of wanting to cry and tears and I stand and look at them and I take a breath. And stop cradling my arm…my stump. “It’s new…and I am sorry if I’m being…My home fell, they came with stones and engines and…I want to do right by you…by all of you.”

Someone started clapping and those like me began to tap cups and jacks and flagons.

I have a lump in my throat from something else now.

There’s the sound of steel being pulled and there’s a man in mail and leathers with an eye-patch and a mechanical leg both on his right side. A knights jacket with his coat of arms (A wreath made of silvery thread and a flame inside of it.) on the sleeves and the right breast and he comes over and in front of the pair of us and he looks me in the eyes and I try to meet his look and there’s…respect maybe?

He takes a knee which looks really hard to do and like he has done this with a lot of practice and he offers me the hilt of his sword. “You’re home now Princess, I’ve not renewed my oaths ever lady but for someone like…someone like so many of us…there’s never been such a thing. And if you’ll take a battered blade like myself then I’ll swear my oaths all over again.”

I take the hilt…I…he’s right, I’ve never seen a noble that wasn’t hale and whole that wasn’t hidden away with shame or the like. You have to look perfect…I’m not perfect…before they’d called me scattered or even addled my Aunt Aurora said I thought and learned differently.

The blade is heavy, I’ve never held one before and it’s the weight and the length that makes my hand shake until I figure out how to hold it or I think that I do.

It’s the oddest thing really I was raised in a castle, we had men at arms and knights and this is the first sword I’ve ever held. It’s a weapon, you can feel the balance the more that you hold it and I’m very aware of the edge it has too.

I take a breath and tap his shoulders like I had seen father do.

“Battered but not broken?”

“Yes princess.”

“Everybody fights?”

“Yes princess.”

“You’ll help me then?”

He looks at me like I gave him something… and he smiles. “Yes princess.”

“Then I’ll be grateful Sir…”

“Sir Roland of Martel princess.”

“Rise Sir Roland of Martel and speak your words.”

He gets up and I have the urge to try and help but I hold off and let him do this. It seems to be the way here. He gets to his feet and he takes a breath and he says.

“I am a knight.”
“I wear my heart on my shield.”
“I carry it to rise up against evil.”
“I carry it to defend the helpless.”
“I am a knight.”
“My blade is to speak to justice.”
“I carry it for the weak.”
“I carry it for others.”
“For my blade does not belong to me.”

“I am a knight.”
“My words are my own but my service is yours.”

I swallow and nod…that lump is in my throat again because he just swore to me. It’s my first and it’s one of those things that you can’t truly feel until it happens to you. I saw my parents doing this but I have always felt leagues away from being like or even as competent as either of them.

And he’s not the only one either as more and more of these veterans like him come lining up to take oaths with me.

Wyatt’s comes to my rescue by getting closer. “I know this is a lot, and it’s scary but as much as you’ve lost Angeline most rich folk, most nobles they’ve never lost at all.”

He presses close, very close. “Lean on me as you have need to.”

And I do.

I need to lean on him and I do just that and his hands slip to my sides and he steadies me, he sometimes helps me with lifting an offered weapon that I am just not able to lift and my arm hurts my good one and my amputated one by the time we’re done and Wyatt helps me with the ale jack I’m holding since my hand is trembling from the strain and I drink and then hold it for him.

I don’t know, I seen my mother do that with father it seems a married thing.

He drinks and I stare, he is very handsome fresh shaven.

And he’s plain spoken; he isn’t some gilded court man with titles and nothing done to earn them.

I blink and look at him. “Perhaps we should be wed as soon as we can.”

He looks at me and stares and I think that he’s looking for something but I don’t know what?

I say. “I need it Wyatt, I need you and your house and your men and I need to not be a lone and to not be vulnerable and I need someone that will see me instead of this wound and not be scared or ashamed that I am not courtly witted or much more than plain.”

It becomes evident that I’m rambling when he tilts his head and slowly smiles some and says. “Breathe…Yes, yes we can do this as fast as you want Angeline and we can go as slow as you want as well.”

Then he kissed me.

I am plainish, I am good with facts and numbers and things in front of me and I am bad at court things. I know this, I know that for a woman and a noble I am odd enough that I was likely to be a spinster.

Girls like me do not get kissed by Kings, not even in wondertales.

It’s good, it’s scrambling me enough that I am bending my arms at my elbows over and over and I do that and rock on my heels because…I don’t know why I do but I do and it helps me…I do it when my head locks up over things and it’s doing it right now because I think my heart is leading the way.

He breaks the kiss and I’m still doing it and he looks at me and he has this kind smile there. I bite my lip some though. “Sorry…”

Wyatt is still looks happy and kind and it’s like he’s seeing me. “For what?”

“I…I’m not what you think, I’m odd…I do things, sometimes like this.”

“I still don’t know what’s wrong with that?”

“I…you…you don’t?”

“No, I don’t. I do not care in which way thet gods have touched you Angeline. It does not matter here.”

He gets this serious look. “You know what we say here?”

I nod. “Everyone fights, nobody quits.”

He nods. “And Everybody counts.”

(Sniffle.) “We do?”

He nods and says in that low common romantic. “Aye, you do.” And then he kisses me again.

***……………….. Things go fast after that in a hurry. We retired for the night after announcing what had happened home and that Wyatt had every intention of still keeping to the arranged marriage even if things had changed.

I love the fact that the people were all ‘Of course’ about it.

It was hard sleeping but I did once the adventure of it all had run dry in my blood. Then I had some of the healers come with medicines and such for a willow-tea concoction that had a good deal of chokecherry brandy? I have no idea what a chokecherry is but it helped with the pain.

Nightmares woke me.

Wyatt came in through my door fast with a large knife in hand to see if I was okay and not in danger.

That made me scream all the more from fright and surprise.

He blinks and he looks at me and then at my shuttered window and then at me. “You’re alright?”

I nodded. “Yes…I had a nightmare…what’s out there?”

“Nothing but how you came to us I wasn’t sure.”

“Oh…Oh well damn you really had me scared there.”

“As did you when you screamed.”

I nod and I do the struggle of sitting up and again I’m faced with the reality of how much I used that arm for that I just can’t do now.

Wyatt looks at me and he looks like he’s going to pace or start.

He looks like he actually needs to do something and he doesn’t know what.

And by the gods I know that feeling too.

I take a breath and then swallow.

“Lay with me.”

He looks at me. “Angeline?”

“Not like lovers…not yet but just…just come over here and hold me please. I need something that’s reassuring and you’re reassuring to me. I need that or I’ll start going madder than I already am.”

“You’re not mad, you’re recovering.”

I stare at him and I could say things but I don’t know what to say instead I hope that I’m doing the right thing and I extend my good arm. “Please.”

He sighs and he slides onto the bed an we move around and adjust the sheets and his dagger and he slides that actually into a space in the headboard.

I’m sort of wondering hard about the life that I’ll be leading when daggers at the ready are a thing in bed and then I’m surprised at the sensation of Wyatt’s arm coming around me and him settling close and holding me.

I’m surprised that he’s doing it.

And I’m surprised at just how good this feels.

Sleep’s coming up on me fast now that he’s there and it feels somehow better but there’s still…

“Wyatt?”

“Mmm…” He sounds drowsy.

“You’re getting no prize.”

“Why do you say that, I told you the arm’s not a thing?”

“It’s more than that, I’m off.”

“Off?”

“I am bad with people, I’m literal far too often and I don’t do well with things like jests and flattery and all these social graces. I’ve never been…I have to think hard at things and dig for every word sometimes and even them my brain doesn’t work like all the other’s that I’ve seen around me.”

“You seem fine to me?”

“Well I’m not…I’m far from a bargain and even further from a prize.”

“You are too hard on yourself.”

“Aunt Aurora said that I had a different brain but the other healers said that I was touched…and not in a divine way. If I’d not been born a noble I’d be the village idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot.”

“No, I know that now, after a long, long time but I’m graceless.”

“You showed a lot of grace today.”

“That was easy and that was different that was swearing to something and telling the truth I’m good with telling the truth.”

“Some men would treasure that.”

“No, no they haven’t…if I can’t say the things that are coming through my head and I know that they won’t be received well I just shut down. I shut down because if I don’t. I will say something that’s true and that gets people angry. It makes men angry.”

“Not this man.”

“It will.”

He turns me over and he looks at me and it’s hard to tell what is going on in his mind but he looks soft right now. He looks nice but I’ve been….

Wyatt kisses me.

And it’s one of those wondertale kisses that’s soft and sweet and him lightly touching my face and it’s wonderful and scary and even more wonderful as things keep going and I suddenly feel it.

That need and heat and wantonness that I heard the keep women home speak of and my mother and my sister…that actual thing that is supposed to happen when a woman is attracted and wanting her man.

I have never felt this before.

It’s burning me up and swallowing me in this good way…in this best way…it makes my foot kick the bed over and over in this happy but my odd way.

The light kicking helps me…usually it’s tapping my feet, or rocking on my heels or bouncing a leg when I’m sitting or I used to tap my fingertips to a surface over and over it was like all the activity made things better inside…Aunt Aurora helped me with finding out that doing that was okay and that it helped me deal.

And according to her it was all normal.

But I’ve never felt it.

But right now I feel normal and powerfully so and I fight and struggle to get out of my nightdress.

“Angeline?”

“Help me get out of this Wyatt, I’m aroused and it’s too hot.”

And as soon as I said it I’m blushed really red but I can’t put the words together prettily like my sister.

He helps me out of it and I get out of the rest and I’m nude in front of him except for the bandages on my stump and he looks at me and it’s a nice way I think of being looked at.

It’s at least not like he’s seen this all before even when he’s likely have.

Some men would be far too smug looking.

And I believe my mother when she said if you see smug outside the bedroom you’ll see it inside of it and those men are the worst of lovers.

He reaches up to touch me.

“We’re not married yet.”

“I know, but I want this, I want you Wyatt because you make me feel happy and you make me feel safe and you arouse me and I do not want to wait. It’s just a ceremony for the public and for the barristers or the priests to sign. I want you now while I’m feeling this way…you make me feel things I’ve never felt and never thought that I would.”

He actually sits up instead of touching me and he’s blushing and then he’s kissing me and we go from there until we’re doing more and more and we roll over, or he rolls me over and then it’s.

It’s us making love.

Out of wedlock, but most of the people that are together did this before they were wed from things that I’ve heard and I am marrying this man.

And it didn’t hurt…not really, it was a shock to be sure but with how aroused I was and how ready it went very easily inside of me and…and…it just got better from there…even the times I hit my stump or bumped it or leaned on it the wrong way didn’t shake the way that this felt.

Nothing in my life actually made me feel so focused on a person before.

The length, his heat, the velvet flesh but iron hardness.

The fact we’re doing it is better than any of those coping actions I do…it’s so pure and good and it’s not just good but it’s getting better.

Oh, oh I think I like sex.

And Wyatt’s a battleknighters…all that muscle and power and strength and all that endurance…I’m take, taken in the best of ways and I really try to keep up and give back…push back…do things even if I’m a virgin and I don’t know what I’m doing.

And the floods of the pleasure he takes me to…the first time it happened and I had what mother and my sister called The sunrise I instantly got the metaphor…and I do not get those very well.

But it was so much pleasure it was like heat and light and more…it was radiant inside of me like a sunrise.

And over and then he fills me with is hot seed.

I honestly, honestly like Wyatt, I think I might be falling in love with him.

Then there’s this feeling that I might…I might welcome his child.

I will certainly welcome trying.

And we keep going hard for him to show me several sunrises.

And he fills me with seed twice more.

And afterwards…after all of it I feel like a barn cat in then strong sunshine.

Happy and satisfied and boneless aching and sweaty.

And Wyatt pulls me ever so close and holds me tight.

***……………….. We slept in four glasses past dawn and we made love again.

And I found out that making water afterwards hurts a little.

And then we wash and we dress and we had to separate for that and Sally comes and she helps me get ready and she has a grin that I think that she knows all of what happened.

I’m blushing as she gets me dressed and that’s mostly showing me how as opposed to actually doing it for me. That’s strange but I deal with it. I chin my blouse together at the top one layer over another until I can do the first button. The trousers are even harder but the same with me pulling the drawstrings and holding it and then tying it off. Sally grins at me and I look at her.

“I did it wrong?”

“Nay I just never seen anyone one hand loop knots before.”

“I…I don’t know any other way to do it.”

“It doana matter lady, here’s yer belt that’ll be easier.”

It’s a war belt, a sword belt only with no sword just a sheath and a really large heavy knife. Then there’s a leather jacket she brought me that’s heavy and it’s armor with layers and quilted cloth-mail under it and it has a sort of corset like set of ribs in it that fit over my middle once it’s zipped and buckled.

I look at her. “Is this really needed?”

“Aye, they kin come hard anytime lady and it’s always prudent to take some care and it’s a fine coat lady fitting mail for ye.”

I sort of look to the sleeve with the stump. “Too bad for this though I think it ruins the look.”

She smiles. “Well we’re getting ye a fitted prosthetic fer thet lady and I think it’ll be a good one.”

I look at her. “A prosthetic arm and hand…will it work?”

“Nay, not without other kinds of doings but until something like thet comes along we can get you a nice looking one that you can use as a good fist, or maybe put a blade to or a buckler.”

I don’t say it because I already know. “Everyone fights”

“Aye, nobody quits.”

I take a breath. “So my needs and plans for the day are?”

“Well we never made the plans as to being formal and such but we’re getting a start for the wedding and we’ll put that together in a day or two once all of the guests that can make it show up and all.”

“That’s fast, with all of this snow.”

“Aye we’ve fast sleighs here and the likes our rangers get around pretty fast.”

“Do I need to supervise things?”

Sally looks at me. “Iffin ye want but tis not the first wedding we’ve had hearabouts.”

I nod. “I’m grateful especially since I don’t know the local customs for this.”

She nods and she passes me this hook for my boots so I can pull them up with the one hand.

I look at her. “Honestly I think I might want a simple hook first.”

She nods. “Aye then that we can do right away. And then dance lessons/”

“I know how to dance.”

Sally taps my big knife. “Not that kind of dancing Lady.”

“Oh…”

We head and we get to the armory and there’s not just the making and care of the armor of the keep but I see a shop where they’re working and caring for the prosthetics I seen before and I get fitted with a hook.

Well it’s first a woolen sleeve like a sock and then there a harness like this really thing vest and that is actually to brace the fine spring coils and eye hooks that connect the leather and wood sleeve that goes over my stump and holds it all in place.

Then the hook gets just screwed into place.

It hurts, it hurts and it’s aggravating but I’m told with the padding and the sleeve unless I bash it end on hard it won’t bleed. I tell myself that it’s like new boots and there will be pinching until I get used to it.

And it doesn’t look that bad with the leather armored coat on.

Looking it the mirror though I surely do not look like Angeline Lyonnes.

I thank each of the men there doing the job and the leather worker he’s…he has a chair with wheels and the look of a man with a broken back but still with purpose.

Broken but still more than needed.

I head off to break my fast and to get to my dancing lessons.

***……………….. It turns out that I can do a lot with a hook, like I can pull dishes to me; I can use it to gently hold my bread in place as I grease it.

Boar grease and bacon fats with ground browned off onion…butter when you don’t have butter.

Because the butter stays in the kitchen and it gets used for just the pastry cooking and the like for all of those in The Hold.

And even Wyatt eats the grease.

And I’m coming to like drinking coffee more.

And Wyatt and myself and all of the staff don’t eat at some high place but with all of the others getting a board of things from the counter as they’re served up.

Bread with grease, oatmeal with dried fruit, blood sausage and fluffed eggs…they’re just a bit of them and they’re all yellow but they’re like little clouds and are very good.

And post sex…I eat everything I way given which is not my usual way of things but I have an appetite.

And then it’s off to Kate’s halls and she’s got an office just off of the main courtyard and it’s small with a bed and a jakes attached a very small quarters for an officer but it’s quarters for a woman officer and that’s an extremely rare thing.

My first lessons are pretty much learning all of the things that I don’t know and can’t do including not tripping over my own two feet and not nearly passing out from exhaustion by using a Hauk… that’s a practice blade and then other things too.

It felt like forever and she just smiles. “Look it’s not that bad you’re no more raw than any other woman that I’ve trained.”

I’m panting. “Oh…we’re all this bad?”

“No I’ve seen worse Angeline, you’re stubborn and it helps. You’re also decent with details so there’s that that’ll help you learn.”

She gives me a sheet that has ink drawings of exercises. “Do these, do them every morning before you wash and then again before you bed down.”

Then she passes me this squeeze-spring thing that looks like open shears with no blades.

“What’s this?”

“It will help you strengthen your grip.”

“Oh...and I need to do that?”

“With one hand the sooner the better even if it’s just for the everyday.”

I nod and I look at Sally who had left but now she’s back. “What’s next?”

“Chores?”

“Chores?” I raise an eyebrow this should be interesting.

It actually was but it was hard too. I find out that there’s things that are all set up in rotations and that even all of us that have no defined job as of yet we fill in the gaps as best as we can.

So I clean stables and use my hook a lot for that and I’m aching from all of the carrying of things and of the shoveling of the straw and the manure and other droppings. I had to use my hook to steady the shovel handle and then lift.

Over and over and over.

It hurts.

But it feels good because it feels useful.

And… there’s the other thing.

Hearing people say time and time again… “Lookit she t’aint turned her nose up at doin the same as us and even wit her hurts and losses.”

It sounded like pride in me?

I had that at home from my family and those close to us but I was never sure of the common folks or some of the keep folks even since I was the odd spinster princess.

This feels good.

Good enough that I don’t mind the blisters.

Although when I’m done it is for the day and I am more than glad to retire to a long bath and Sally brings me strong dosed tea for my pains and she stays to wash my back and my hair.

And then it’s dressing again only this time it’s the under wear and then my harness for my hook and then my dress over it so as to hide some of that and that I look sort of pretty.

Well as pretty as a woman with a hook can be.

Which I think I might have been wrong about when I meet Wyatt in the main hall for our evening meal and since I hadn’t seen him since breakfast we have lots to talk about.

He was working with the Battleknights in the shops doing repairs and upkeep and then he was in arms training with the warriors and other knights and then he was doing some of the kingly paper works with the lists and tallies and the reports.

And the evening meal is court of sorts too with stories told and questions asked about things and I listen as it’s plans for the battleknights and they all have specific names and then there’s talks of costs and the markets and what is getting short here and there and things outside of The Hold.

And Sally reads from letters and dispatches that aren’t labeled as private for Wyatt.

Which is something we never did but it’s like we’re letting everyone know very much a lot of the working of what’s going on and then there’s often surprisingly enough people, well men and knights that offer suggestions or to even help with something that comes up or even to just go and do whatever the thing it is.

The thing is it’s still very much the knights and it’s still very much the officers and Wyatt is very much commander and king but the people they feel I think very much more included in things here.

Like this says it’s their kingdom.

And then there’s some games and then there’s some more stories and some music and then a little dancing and then when I’m yawning Wyatt has one last drink with the folk and then he walks me to our bed.

Yes our bed…he does go to leave to head to the barracks but I reach down to his hand and hold him there and walk him into the quarters again.

And yes we make love again.

I’m hurt and sore and I have blisters and aches but I’m dosed and well into my third cup of wine and that’s more than enough to have had me thinking of before and that gets me wanting.

And Wyatt is a man and apparently it took very little for him to be thinking of me that way as well.

I well and truly like sex.

***……………….. It was very embarrassing to wake myself with how hard I was snoring.

And today went a lot harder than yesterday.

I’m unsure if I will ever feel charitable towards Kate ever again. She works me so hard and it’s all just exercises but seriously, this is this almost torture.

I will have much, much more respect for the stablemen and their tasks from now on.

And we have reindeer.

Which I thought were only in wondertales and such.

I got to feed the reindeer.

And we have cows and we have goats and pigs and chickens and we have this huge, huge kennel too.

Wyatt stays the night again but this time no sex.

He rubbed my hurts and I fell asleep on him.

***……………….. It’s just over a week and the arm still hurts but less so.

I still have bad dreams and nightmares.

I still wake feeling like my arm is still there.

Wyatt holds me and he comforts me and he’s very, very kind.

Kate has me finally working not just in the morning but in the late afternoons now too in a storeroom with ten other women and I’m learning how to spar now that she’s worked the office out of me.

It’s nothing close to what soldiers are capable of or what the knights do but we’re all slowly learning arms and what’s easiest to use and how to stay alive. How, just how important a spear is.

And we’re starting to learn to use a crossbow, well a small one called a slurbow but it’s for inside defense mostly and I can pull and lock it with my hook.

I just need to learn how to actually hit something.

***……………….. It’s just past me being here a fortnight when I hear the horns.

Wyatt’s out of bed dagger in had and checking the windows before I’m even up.

Then he’s getting dressed and he’s heading off fast and I’m trying to do the same and Sally’s running in to help me.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s an attack at the second black wall.”

“Second black wall?”

“Aye it’s a wall in the second pass that closes off that vale to Stonewood.”

“Is it close?”

“Aye about’s twelve miles.”

“Can they hold?”

“We don’t know, but they’ll try.”

We’re getting into my things fast and then it’s the harness and my armor then there’s my weapons with the knife and then Sally has my slur bow and a quiver. I look at her. “Will they get here?”

“Aye they might?”

“So I’m to do?”

“Get seen, get to the walls and to the scope house.”

“Scope house?”

“The corner towers, there’s telescopes.”

“Oh…I’ve never used one.”

“No time like the present Lady.”

We head out and I feel it first the thump and vibrations and then there’s this whole thump and rattle of things as the battleknights are heading out at a fast pace and increasing with each stride that they’re taking and I see several more coming out and a dozen are out through the gates and I see another set of doors open and Wyatt’s Battleknight comes out to follow them and I run along the walls as far and as fast as I can to see him off.

Once he’s clear the gates he picks up enough speed that he passes the ones ahead of him and they head for this large outcropping fortress tower.

I get to one of the corner towers panting. “Scope….?”

I get shown to a large brass and glass thing on a turret… I’m seated…yes it’s that large and I see Wyatt and his knights keep going until thy pass from view several miles out.

And then it’s waiting and watching.

And agonizing…until I hear another series of horns getting blown.

I look to a soldier. “What was that?”

“They’ve engaged, they’re there Lady.”

It’s torture to wait and I want to see, I want them to be okay.

Please Wyatt come back to me.

It’s a full glass when I hear this other horn blow and there’s a cheer from the people.

I look to the soldier. “We won?”

“Aye, there’s still danger and might be stragglers but they’ve been sent packin.”

“Wounded, dying?”

“Almost always.”

I get up and head out. “Sally! Do we have healers!”

I hear from below. “Aye we’re making ready!”

“Get the dogs and the sleds ready all of them and all the pages we can spare and anyone that we can spare to sew wounds and bandages.”

“Lady?”

“We’re going to them, there’ll be wounded and those they can’t move!”

“Lady it’ll be dangerous for them!”

“It’ll be dangerous for us, I’m going too!”

“Lady that’s not a good idea.”

“No it’s not but we’re not losing lives we can save by being there fast.”

“Angeline there’ll be stragglers there always is!”

“Everyone fights!”

The courtyard answered back…. In a shout of many voices. “Nobody Quits”

I hear Sally yell. “Aye Majesty!”

I’m not queen here yet but it’s what it means.

***……………….. It’s chaos getting things ready and then there’s the dog drivers and there’s squires and pages and the gear for healing and for surgeries and we have every sled we have with some that are going to be emptied of the younger lighter fighters and I’m well aware I’m taking the young with me to fight.

Then we’re off and it’s fast…fast as any horse that I’ve been on and I am holding on for dear life as I’m headed out with them as the miles are speeding by.

There’s shapes I can’t really see well running to us, some headed to other places and I hear a horrible war scream and I see this filthy creature with furs and yellow-green skin with armor and weapons getting through and it hurls a spear at us missing and I try to aim and my ranger driver yells. “Now fire!”

I fire and it’s good he had a better eye for my arm than me because I drop the horrible thing.

“Congratulations Lady you killed your first Goblin.”

“Thank you for the word Ranger!”

I see others doing the same things and there’s others from our side chasing those on foot as we’re pulling up to this walled fortress…literally a huge wall with sections that look like the buildings for it and.

I take aim and shoot a large Goblin as we pass close by and it’s fighting axe to nasty sword with one of our soldiers. It doesn’t kill it but it does sink deep and it turns to see me and our warrior literally guts it with a sweeping swing.

I was past before I seen too much more.

And there’s these huge, huge grappling hooks of giant stone trees that have enough of the right branches and size to hold weight…and they have large chains that are hooked to it and I see Battleknights there pulling these chains up over the walls.

There’s dead Trolls a good two dozen of them, hundreds of Goblins and other things, things that might have been men.

Blood everywhere soaking and freezing in the snows and it’s a horror to see.

There’s an advantage to my oddness, and that’s I am easy to let myself slip into this hard rationality.

I look until I see wounded as big a knot of them as I ca see and point to there and I’m off and running to help and then it’s just chaos.

There’s blood, so much blood and I’m helping as much as I can and that’s stanching wounds…tying tourniquets and sewing…I’ve one good hand and years of experience doing embroidery and such things and it’s not pretty and it’s not elegant but it’s everything we can do…I can do.

Those we can sort of make stable we do and send off first.

Then the rest.
And it’s getting lighter until dawn strikes and in the blood and the cold and the smell there’s this sound.

I think they’re dwarven pipes and that they’re playing out as the sun rises and we’re still here…still alive and that sound echoes out over the mountains.

And angrily I hope down to Stonewood.

I see people slowly stopping as the song is played for a few seconds and there’s this look, some have tears and then we’re back at it until we’re relieved.

I see Wyatt and he sees me and we’re running to each other.

We grab each other and we kiss…he doesn’t even ask.

He just broke the kiss long enough to stare at me then he kisses me again.

We stayed the night there, shoring up things, talking to the wounded that wouldn’t leave their posts. There’s eight house towers in the half mile of wall. We stop, we have a coffee or a hot wine with the men there and Wyatt sent for stores of alcohol and we all have bacon and crocks of beans and bread and real butter…nothing too good for them.

I’ve never shock so many hands and have people look at me in literally blood stained trousers and the armored coat and then the hook.

And I’ve never been so well received I don’t think.

There’s nothing in my heart like a soldier sharing his bunk while wounded and resting and we’re sharing a jack…literally passing a large jack around between four of us in the room full of whisky and hot coffee.

I’m good and drunk half that evening.

I’ve eaten bacon chunks off a stick from over a fire with my fingers.

I hear much to my blushing stories of my two shots and my speech from the wall which I’m having to insist wasn’t a speech but Sally and I yelling at each other.

And all that drink, and after everything that happened Wyatt and I make crazy almost wild love that night.

I’m drifting off literally exhausted as he holds me. “Thank you.”

“Mmmm…?”

“Thank you for coming Angeline.”

“This is home now Wyatt, you’re my home.”

“I love you Angeline.”

I roll over and look at him and I don’t read people well but thee look in his eyes is so truthful.

“I love you too Wyatt, I never though life would be like this, could be like this but it is and I’m happy.”

He tenderly kisses with me over and over until we fall asleep in each other’s arms.

***……………….. We walk home in the Battleknights and I’m riding inside with Wyatt inside and we have our own train with the dog sleds and then the sleds from the Holde and we’re taking everyone that needs to be there to heal and as we see the walls there’s cheers.

And then there’s the pipes playing us all home and there’s people there…all that can be spared there standing to greet us.

And Wyatt open the front hatch and wraps an arms around me.

“Welcome home Angeline.”

He points to the pole where the flag of Braitheholde flies and there’s a second one there now new and on it is the gold on cream flag with the wheat sheaves and the rampant lion on it.

The Flag of Lyonnes and its flying at an equal height to his own.

I’m not sure I can say just how proud this makes me.

***……………….. It was three days later when there’s bells being wrung I’ve never heard. I was reading the books between doing all of the other things that I’ve been doing and Wyatt comes for me smiling. “The Boats are here.”

“The Boats?”

“Aye, the underboats the dwarves are here. Would you want to come?”

“Yes! Very much!”

And I finally see the deep below.

That’s this huge series of stairs that lead deep, deep and almost fearfully deep into the mountain. Down and down until we get to this large underground lake and there’s dwarves here…in the mountain for The Hold we have dwarves here and they live in certain spots doing some mining and other work in this treaty trade and at the bottom there’s a cut right into the rock a small sort of like township and storehouses and there’s boats.

I’m more than unnerved by the lake and the blackness but it’s not my world…ten minutes down on the way here and I was sure of that.

We’re so deep.

But it’s actually fascinating enough to stem my discomfort for too long as well since here; here we have some trade good going back and forth from this place. And the mining is the key here, they want our steel and they mine it and we get a percentage from it in the treaty deal and we use those funds for trade.

And this time there’s gifts, gifts for our wedding which will be at the end of the next fortnight.

Fruit, vegetable that we don’t have, crocks of butter and cheeses and drink and I’m very much at home with the tallies and this work as I help Sally and Wyatt with the counts and I learn and use a few likely badly turned words of dwarven to thank them or ask things of them and thankfully they all speak common if it’s very accented.

And there’s some news.

Gracia is in The Capital in Valhalla and guesting with The High King as things are being found out by The King’s Guard with what happened home. I worry for her at court, if she sees the court there for all I’ve ever heard is that it’s a dangerous place as much as the place is the diadem jewel for all of the lands of men.

Elizabetha is in The Eastlands at the home of our maternal grandfather and she’s safe on City Island in his care. I worry for that because they have had a very odd reputation with things as they can be on the coast.

From what I remember of the east it’s very complex with a lot of small houses and family politics and things but it’s also some of the richest lands there are too and the people I met there were decadent in their own ways.

Wine and alcohol country and all that comes with it. I remember that I saw a lot of swelled bellies in some very young women there. I also remember that grandfather was very odd too.

But then again most people are to me.

There is just tentative word about Stephan they think he’s dead too but we’re not sure of that but I know Justin is dead for sure with him having died with father in the attack.

And then….then I get word from this Lady Tatiana that she will be coming to my wedding?

I show the letter to Wyatt and he stares at it looking shaken. “What? What’s wrong is she a bad person?”

“No…no she’s famous sort of, she’s The Knight Marshal of The Free Kingdoms of The West. And she’s blood-sister to The High King.”

I…

“Why would she come here?”

“I don’t know, all I can think of is that it might have to do with Stonewood…or that she was sent by King Wayland the dwarven king for some reason. She doesn’t leave her lands unless she’s coming to fight and brining her army with her.”

“But she is coming to our wedding?”

He’s looking at the letter again. “Aye and with just a small company and she’s coming by boat over the lakes. Maybe this is something from my parents? They knew her I think or at least a little.”

I look at it again. “But it’s addressed to me, how does she have anything to do with me?”

He looks at me. “Likely word has spread of you through the boats and the like or even birds of what happened at Lyonnes.”

I nod and take a breath. “What should we do?”

“Make room, and send a reply welcoming her. This is something that I never thought that I would have ever thought would have happened in my life.”

I look to one of the dwarves and he smiles at me. “I’va writin desk in my cabin lady iffa ye doan mild setting feet on the poor thing.”

I smile at him. “Thank you captain, I would be honored. And that poor thing I’d wager is a welcome sight in these parts when you show up.”

I get escorted onto the boat and it’s more like a barge with all sorts of dwarven things to it and I’m a little fascinated by the railing which is wood but it’s carved in this sort of a triple braid like way. It looks uniform and it looks by hand and it’s just a pleasure to touch it.

And by escorted I mean with all the manners that a lady would expect. It’s very nice and it’s at the same time very charming too. They don’t bow to me but they give me a head nod and a pull of the forelock or a tip of a cap and nice smiles.

They’re a swarthy lot with the beards and all of the hair and a lot of them have tattoos and they honestly have a smell to them that sort of is good. It’s of leather and of earth maybe, dried fruits and tobacco and of good alcohols.

And they’re neat though, everything is all squared away so tidy and done with care.

That’s soothing.

He lets me have use of his cabin which is an office and a map room and the like and he gets me paper and a fountain pen and that’s a treat since father had but three of them and they were gifts from The High King.

I draft my letter and take my time doing it with the best hand that I can and I finish it and he passes me a tube for it. “I will see thet it gets to her hand personally princess.”

“You don’t have to call me that Captain.”

“No lass I doana but yer a fine lass by word that I’ve been hearing from trusted lips and what I’ve seen from me own eyes.”

I can’t help but to blush at that. “Thank you Captain.”

“Malcolm ye kin call me Malcolm.”

“I will thank you.”

He escorts me off of the ship and I stand with Wyatt as he’s shaking hands and patting backs as the dwarves are starting to ship off and I hear this sound of an engine? Or engines from the boats and they fire up electric lights that shine outwards and you cannot see the decks anymore because of the glare and they all pull away one by one and we stay until they’re out of sight.

I look at Wyatt.

“Can we go and see the sky again please?”

He takes my hand with a smile and he head for the big counterweighted cage called a lift.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 18

*Before…

I look around and it’s just her and Nicole, Jessa and Taylor.
I take a stuffy nosed breath. “Prince Christian Lyonnes and heir and…and daughter of Aurora Blackhand….”
I was not very sure of that… of this and her.
Nicole coughs. “We’ve been using Christiana or Chrissy.”
The woman breaks into an easy smile. “I like that I’d wager your mothers would have too.”
“You knew my mother?”
“Deidre? Nay just what Aurora had said, fine person by all account though.”
(Sniffle-sob.) “She was…” I gesture hopelessly at my face. “I’m sorry; I don’t know why I’m….” (Sniffle-whine.)
She nods and pulls me close. “It’s a ‘cause yer here Chrissy, yer journey’s done, yer safe.”
…..
I…
(Sniffle-sob.) “Safe?”
She nods and squeezes me hard enough to make me squeak. “Aye…safe.” She lets me go and slips off the wagon and I was right she’s nearly seven foot tall and built with muscles and yet she’s still beautiful.
“Now you and Coley look dun in, let’s get ye both to the healers.” She stands with us until we’re down and she walks with us as we’re heading inside keeping pace and a couple of pages open the doors for us and we head into warm lights of the keep.

*And Now…

It’s warm and it’s very bright inside as we walk inside and I would have to call this a palace really…It’s built like a fortress but the insides are well made with paneling and tiles and the squarest flags I’ve ever seen.

And it’s extremely well lit with all the electric tickling at my brain and my magic and then there’s the whole place is well cleaned and polished really well.

This would in itself made mother happy, I’ve seen our books, we spent a good deal of money on cleaning things and the like. It makes me happy too sort of because it smells good in here with a lot of citrus scents.

And with all of that there are these wooden floors raised six inches over the stone flags because there are Squire’sknights inside here at least here on the ground floor. I count ten in the first few minutes we’re heading inside.

This place is rich…and this place might be impossible to take.

We get to a set of sweeping stairs and there’s another thing built in the center like a pillar but not it’s a device. It’s with flat chains for cogworks and there’s rails and I think it’s a lift.

There’s movement in the chains that are moving I think the lift thing is starting to come down.

I look at Nicole. “Coley? I’ve never heard that as a short name before.”

She does a tired head nod to the lady.

“She gave it to me.”

I look to The Lady. Honestly she’s beautiful in a way that I don’t know if I’ve ever seen.

Tall, so tall with all these muscles and with all of these there’s all these curves and I am sort of catching myself staring at her one part Christian and another part Chrissy who’s been with a woman.

And there is this awe too with just her in general.

Then we head inside and up and she’s looking at me, The Lady that is. “I gave Coley her name because it stands out; we’ve only one squire and several Nicole’s, that an Coley’s cute sounding.”

I look at Nicole who even as she looks so hurt she’s blushing.

Going up is fast, we’re up three floors then the doors open and there’s these people waiting for us and there’s these pages with the same order as Alaan, The Order of The Dove. And they have these chairs with padding with wheels with rails and Lady Tatiana helps Nicole into one as she looks at me.

“You too, you’re walking wounded.”

“I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not, you’re still wounded and you’re a lot more exhausted than you think.”

“Lady…”

“Christiana T’was not a request.”

“Oh…”

I sit in the chair and it does feel nice and it’s different to be pushed and there’s a bit of wonder that such a kind of chair exists. In a place where the wheels could work this could so help those crippled. I look a little at the page who is pushing me and he’s sort of staring and I caught him staring and he looks up fast and he’s blushing.

What a strange thing that is since he’s really my age or maybe a little younger or older.

Is it because I’m a woman now or is it because I’m the new sorceress?

We’re wheeled to a set of doors with the seal of The Order of The Dove.

I look to Lady Tatiana as we’re let inside by another page there at the door and we’re being wheeled in and it reminds me instantly of the details I’ve heard of from stories that Old Tedric used to tell of a few of the hospitals that he had worked before coming to work for my parents.

“Are you of the order Lady?”

“Nay though I fund them and give them space there’s a dire need for those who can bring medicines and make then and save lives.”

I nod. “I know one of the Order quite fondly. A Sir Alaan.”

She looks at me. “Fondly?”

And yes it’s that kind of look, the kind that’s shared between women and I’m…well I’ve had a lot of immersion in this side of life now and I made that choice as a woman and I look back at her in that same sort of way with a bit of a shy and fond remembering. “Yes Fondly.”

She raises one of her eyebrows in a fine arch and smiles a little but the expression is one that I can barely guess at…amusement perhaps?

“We’ll have to have a talk over a drink.”

I nod. “I would like that.”

She changes her expression. “We’ll have to get you the draught.”

The what now?

She looks at the page pushing me and he does a slap to his left arm before leaving and I have no idea what that was about and I look at Nicole who’s getting helped to a bed and there’s a female page helping her. Nicole’s saying. “It’s our salute, a tap to the shield arm.”

“Oh well that’s different, what if it’s the other hand?”

Lady Tatiana… “We went with what was most common.”

“Oh…well that makes sense. No bowing?”

The Lady shakes her head. “I’m Lady but my rank is Lady Marshal so my rank is a military one more than a noble one though I hold titles here and there.”

There’s this robed woman that comes in with another two pages and she snorts. “Titles here and there is like saying there’s just a few flies at the dung heap.”

They look at each other and there’s a shared smile of friendship there.

“Christiana of Lyonnes I present you to Knight Captain Diana Lunari head of the Order of The Dove and head instructor, knight mistress and surgeon apothecary.”

I move to rise and she waves me off. “Stay down Wisdom that’s an order from one healer to another.”

“I’m not a real Wisdom.”

“That’s not what Sir Alaan sent in with his messages to us; he spoke very highly of you.”

I blush.

Lady Tatiana chuckles and does Nicole who winces right after she did it.

“Thank you I just did as I had learned and I had a lot of help from Sir Alaan.”

“That was his job but it’s good to hear that his years here haven’t gone to waste.”

I nod. “It’s a very noble thing that he and others are doing.”

She shrugs. “Needed more than noble not every hamlet or steading or village has those that are skilled in healing and the like. Healthy realms tend to be more peaceful ones.”

I nod again. “I’ve learned a great deal of things since coming to The Free Kingdoms.”

Lady Diana smiles. “Well learning is of the good.”

Lady Tatiana says. “Well I’ll be off both of you listen to the healers and Diana; Christiana need to have her Moonsilver as well.”

She nods and she points to another bed while looking at me. “Get over there and pull the curtain and disrobe I’ll be in presently there’s a folded robe at the foot of the bed.”

I swallow a little, getting undressed in company even behind a curtain with those I don’t know is daunting but one thing I have learned and that is not to fight the orders of a healer.

I’m stiffer than I thought getting out of my things and my leg still looks bad, it’s healing but it is a mass of the angry healing tissue and then there’s all of the blues and purples and yellows of the flesh recovering from all of it’s rough treatment from the bruising and the like.

I am wishing too that I had a chance to really bathe as well. I smell like the road as much as other things even if I had had some chance to clean and that’s making me nervous too and I sort of carefully sit on the bed and wait until Lady Diana comes in to see me.

I hear Nicole wincing over and over as they’re doing whatever and I heard Lady Diana tell the pages. “Get her a pain draught and then into one of the salt baths and then to the needle room.”

I hear them say. “Yes Captain.” And I hear them leave in the wheeled chair again and then she slips in to my little sort of curtained off space and she has a note board and a mechanical quill and then she’s looking at me.

“You can take the robe off.”

I slip it off my shoulders blushing and she starts with some sort of thing that has tubes going to her ears and a metal disc and she’s listening to my breathing and my heart and then looking at my eyes with a glass from her pocket and she checks my tongue and my scalp and then she looks at my leg.

“Decent field work but that needs to come out as you’re healing so fast.”

I nod. “It’s been itchy and I’m very not sure of what to think of this fast healing lady…uhm Captain.”

She goes and gets a tray full of things that look like Alaan’s sort of things and she starts to clip and remove my sutures. “Well I tend your mother a time or twelve and from my studies afar I have made guesses that your magic tells your body that it’s damage in a better way that ours and that instead of it just simply repairing itself on automatic like we all do. The magic tells your body in a much more focused way in how to heal, much like the elves.”

I blink and I wince as some of the sutures sting as she’s tugging them out and wiping away the little bits of blood that starts to seep out. She’s using slips of paper to do that and she’s looking at them.

“Elves Captain?”

“I studied and lived with them in The Solari isles for a time and I have seen their magic and it’s been explained to me that way.”

“Elves have magic?”

“Oh yes most of them do actually, they’re an entirely different kind of being than us and they can use their powers to heal by speaking to a body and telling it to heal and so much more.”

“Oh I had no idea; I’m very new to all of this.”

“So was I, and so was your mother.”

“Could mother do that?”

“No, though I believe she was still trying to learn it. But it takes time, time that she wasn’t willing to take to learn or master such a thing.”

“It’s that complicated?”

She nods and she’s washing my wound out with some scented chemical water of some kind and she smiles. “It is and the elves have little use for those not willing to take the time to sit and stay and learn. And well this is good you have no infection and that leg will be on the mend even faster now with those stitches out I think and I’ll salve it up and bandage it after you’ve had a shower.”

“A shower?”

“Like a field wash rig only with plumbing.”

“Oh…well yes I do stink.”

She laughs. “You smell, there’s a difference between smell and stink.”

I nod. “I’ve been exposed to some of that.”

She looks at me smiling. “You’ll do well here. I’ll call in a page to help you and then I’ll call the seamstress for your measures and the like and you can get whatever kit Lady Tatiana has ordered up for you….and… I’ll go and measure your Moonsilver out.”

“Will I need it? Alaan said something about my magic?”

“You’ll need it, your power works on your will and wants sometimes and if you find yourself in love with some fellow then his seed might pass the gates of your power and you’d be a young mother.”

I swallow hard. “I’ll take the draught.”

She laughs. “Good woman, a child or more is fine but only when a woman is ready.”

I nod.

I’m woman enough now to get that there’s that old men’s view of if she’s old enough to bear then she’s ready.

I’m old enough physically but I am nowhere near ready and it’s come to my mind more than once that if I’m not even with my changes then there’s a lot of young women not ready either.

And that and Jessa’s thoughts about pregnancy as a weapon towards women rings true too.

The girl page that she sends to me takes me to where I can get showered and cleaned up and they give me some privacy and it’s definitely a healer’s sort of thing with the tiles and the uniformity but there’s soap there and it’s…oh it is sort of sandy and there’s some kind of crystals in it and it fizzes once it’s wet on my skin.

And there’s brushes and sponges and washcloths and a back scrubber and I actually go to work and I scrub very well and get rid all of that road and every ounce of Goblin and Warg.

I’m gentle with my wound but I feel better and that soap felt wonderful lathered into my scalp.

It doesn’t have a smell that I know but it is pleasant and it’s mild too.

I feel better, a lot better despite my leg.

And it was still very much a different thing than I knew being a woman and feeling the way that the water moved and ran down my body and the soap suds slipped off of me and the like.

The shower was though wonderful, it’s such a luxury to have hot cascading water rinsing me off but also working its own powers on my sore and aching body.

Then it’s out and into a fresh robe and underpants of stretchy cotton that clings and they get my leg bandaged lightly with some salve to help it and then there’s a woman that is there to take my measures.

And then there’s a vial I’m passed.

I look at the page. “This is?”

“You’re Moonsilver.”

“Oh, do I drink it?”

She nods.

I unstopper it and I don’t smell it but drink it with the mindset of this is a medicine so it will likely taste foul.

I was right.

It tastes like soap and oil but not just oil it tastes very like oil that had come off of a sharpening wheel. There’s a very dirt like mineral taste that has metallic notes to it and it is really bad, bad enough I shivered three times and fought my gag reflex a little as I get that feeling like when something bad is trying to come up and it settles sort of in the back of your throat and the hinge of your jaw.

After that the page walks me out and to the lift and then two floors up and through the halls until I’m at a large room where Lady Tatiana is seated behind a large horseshoe desk that had a lot of things on it and some of them I’m unsure of what they are but this is definitely an office.

There’s bookcases and maps and a round map…oh that, that looks exquisite and expensive made of stone but carves or rather engraved with the world and there’s so much more world there than I knew really existed.

Father would have loved all of this…and now I have a lump in my throat.

She looks up and the page closes the doors after I pass through them and I come closer as she beckons and she offers me a seat.

I sit and try to arrange myself and the robes to be lady like and semi presentable even though I’m just in the robes and underpants and bare the rest of the way.

“Would you like a drink?”

“Yes Lady.”

She gets up and she goes to a bar and she pours a drink of golden liquor for herself and I and I take it when offered and I can smell whisky.

It smells like very good quality and I am grateful that she only poured me about a quarter of what she’s having.

I take a sip and try to be like father was with it and the men and I nearly can’t because I am unprepared for the burn of it but I do and I try to taste the things I heard the older men father used to drink with said.

I really don’t know whisky though that much.

And I cough a little. “Sorry Lady I’m not used to this.”

She drinks and she nods. “It’s fine, I just figured you could use something with some strength to it.”

I nod and have another sip. “Yes actually this is rather bracing…in a good way.”

She looks me over. “So, we have decisions to make.”

I nod, it’s quite fast to be getting into this but it seems like it’s the way of things in these realms.

“I need to find out what happened Lady, I need to get my sisters with me and I need to take back Lyonnes.”

She looks at me. “For your sisters, you’ll never be heir.”

I look at her. “There’s no changing back?”

She shakes her head. “I’ve no idea but you have magic and no one will allow you to rule in The Middle Kingdoms with magic. You might have to forswear that and forswear that for your children too.”

I nod. “The others and I talked about that some. But my sisters could rule.”

She nods. “But we still have to find out who and why and how.”

I nod and take another sip. “I’ve no proof but there had to be magic done, it’s the only way to have moved in an army with battleknights without us having heard it coming from a long way off.”

She nods. “This is what I was thinking too.”

“But lady who could have done such, magic is so rare; mother was literally the only sorceress that I knew of.”

She smiles but it’s a bit rueful. “Your realms don’t let magic grow, humans have little power in their bloodlines but there is magic in this world and in other races and even in other nations Chrissy.”

I nod. “The Captain spoke of The Elves but I can see others.”

She nods. “And there’s different kinds of magic not just the adept powers that you have.”

“Adept?”

“It’s your lightning; you’re what was referred to in the olden days as a Stormbringer or a Stormsinger. You have a mystical affinity for lightning.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“You wouldn’t you’re not even an apprentice.”

“I need to fix that since I’m not going to be a knight…not that running a rig was ever in my future.”

“You can do both.”

“Both? I’m too small to use a rig like this.”

“No you’re not and your powers will let you move metal.”

“I cannot move a battleknight.”

“But you can move the rigging and you can learn to use your magic to make yourself stronger.”

“Stronger?”

“Magic runs through you, lightning runs through you and it runs through everyone controlling nerves and muscles. I can teach you how to do those things at least and a few other things.”

“You know magic?”

“I have some magic but mine is innate but I’ve been around and seen things and I’ve known your mother for a long time, we should be able to put something together.”

I look at her. “What kind of magic do you have Lady?”

“Just magic Chrissy, it’s born to my blood.”

“Oh…so I…I don’t understand am I to learn this other magic too?”

She nods. “I can show you the basics, and then hopefully we can get you some teachers for the actual magic.”

“I thought that I was doing actual magic.”

She looks at me and she says. “Feel this out with your powers.” She holds out her hand and a ball of light forms in her hand and it’s like a bulb from the electric lights without form but with form since it’s a ball and it’s light but I feel no electric power doing it.

“Oh…oh what?” I’ll admit I’m awed.

“It’s a light spell, and you can do it too once you learn how. The same part of your brain that controls lightning will let you shape the same forces within you and around you.”

“Oh that’s amazing?”

She looks at me. “It’s a very basic spell, one that a lot of folks can do if they can do magic.”

“How?”

I want to learn this.

She looks at me and she pours us both another drink and she does the same measures and I have another bracing sip. I’m feeling it start to work too. It’s not a lot of whisky but I’m pretty slight for such things.

Tatiana looks at me. “Can you see in the electric yet?”

I blink before understanding. “Oh yes, I call it the magnet force.”

She twists her mouth up. “Okay that’ll do, now do that.”

I look into the magnet force and I see…oh wow the room is very alive with all of the electricity flowing through the walls and the devices and everything that she has.

And Lady Tatiana’s nerves are alight with lots of power, like there’s more electrical power inside of her than a human.

“Lady you’re…?”

“Brighter?”

“Yes…”

“Your mother said that too, I’m not human and with what I am I have more power flowing through me.”

“I see…”

“Do you?”

“I…?”

“Look at me, look outside of my lightning ignore that and look at the other light, the other tones inside of what you’re seeing.”

“I’m not sure how to.”

She moves and the light she made goes out and then she holds her hand up. “Okay power requires molding usually it’s how we interact with it so if you watch the nerves of my hand closely you will see other energy flowing along my nerves in my hand as I call the light forth again.”

“Okay…”

I watch really hard and it’s very difficult to see but it’s there…I see her nerves flare like there’s feeling involved in them and then as she’s making the ball of light I can see this light, it’s sort of white-like and it’s hidden against the electric blue until it is leaving her fingertips and then it’s definitely this sort of pearl color of white.

“Oh…I see it…”

I look at her hand closer and I look at my hands and run a lightning tendril between them. “So this, this is how I can work with lightning?”

“Yes, yes your actual magic is what does this. Now being an adept you have such a strong natural affinity that it’s like an innate ability.”

I nod but I concentrate on the flow between my hands and I concentrate and concentrate and I try to hold the feeling of that flow going and reduce the actual electrical power used until it’s barely there and not actually visible except for by magnet sight.

And there’s a brighter yellow tinted white flow going from one hand to another.

I hear Lady Tatiana say. “That’s it, that’s your mana, your magic.”

I nod… “This is hard it’s like this shadow that’s light and I’m trying to feel the heat of it.”

“That’s because lightning is powerful and it has such a strong flavor to it, that it’s overpowering the feeling of just your mana.”

“So what is next?”

She waves her hand in front of me and I stop. “Next is getting you roomed and settled and you need some sleep before we continue with any kinds of lessons Chrissy.”

I sigh…I was really sort of excited to learn how to make light but now that I’m stopped I’m feeling more tired.

“Yes Lady.”

“Good now come with me and I’ll see that you’re quartered.”

She leads me out after she downs her whiskey and I down what’s left of mine in a nearly too big coughing gulp and we leave her office and take a set of stairs rather than the lift down since we’re only dropping down two stories and we walk through various hallways and I’m doing my memory trick to learn the place and we come to a hallway that looks like a wing.

“This is the Squire’s hallway for the girls, I’m not putting you with the pages since you have powers that could be dangerous yet and you’ll still need help with things in the day to day way so they can help you and they’re squires so they can handle themselves with the danger if any comes.”

“Is Nicole quartered here?”

“No Nicole is a floor above being a senior squire to me but she’s going to be a few days at least in the infirmary.”

“Oh…good she really over did it.”

“Battleknighters, we very often bring about our own deaths.”

I nod and I notice a few looks as some of the Squires that are here in the wing are looking me over. It’s sort of a relief to go inside as she opens the door to my room and passes me one of the keys on a cord she has.

“Your key, and I see that your kit is here so I’ll leave you to it.”

I use my robe and try a curtsey and she smiles. “We’ll work on those things as well if you like.”

I blush. “Please if this was to not just empower me but to hide me it’d do well for me to learn more of the ins and outs of womanhood.”

She gives me this smile. “Aye that will come soon enough.”

The Lady Tatiana leaves and I’m left to my room and it’s actually very nice but it’s also Spartan right now. I’ve a bed and a closet and a small wardrobe cabinet and there’s a desk for writing and reading in one corner that has a bookshelf over it all are bare and everything is pale and very light grey from the tiled flooring to the walls and even the bedding.

I chew on my lip. “Oh I can see a certain level of clean just enforced by the colors here.”

I see my things from before there too and the clothes have been cleaned and laundered and the rest just left for me to deal with and I have been given under things and socks and breast bands with hooks in the back to be adjustable. I get into one and that sort of feels less naked and I start putting my things away.

I have under shirts of some sort of light linen with thing straps and I have tunics to go over those and pants as well as some leather shoes with laces. There’s no dresses or skirts which is just as well since it would likely be easier to do the work that I’ll likely be doing without them.

And they’re nicely made with a light sort of blue-grey color to them and sturdy too they don’t look freshly made for me but like uniforms from the fortress stores that had been taken in for my size.

I just get things settled in when the first cramps hit.

I go and I find the jakes and try to relieve myself but nothing comes of it really I don’t have to use the bathroom and I don’t have to vomit but they’re just getting worse.

Steadily and there’s a couple of squires there washing up when I come out of the stalls.

Yes, the jakes are that big they have stalls and porcelain duty bowls with water flushes and I look at them and they’re looking at me.

One of them says. “Are you alright sorceress?”

“No, and I’m not really a sorceress yet…I’m Christiana or Chrissy for short.”

Another one looks at me. “You look like new cheese.”

“That’s funny I feel like my insides are curdling and being cooked on a stove top.”

The first one looks at me. “Potion?”

Oh…

Really? That fast?

I nod “I just had it not too long ago.”

They both wince. Then the second one says. “Alright come with us we’ll help. I’m Anoelle and my friend here is Kari.”

“Well met even under the circumstances of the way that I’m feeling.”

Kari looks at me. “It’ll get worse.”

I look at her and I sort of want to cry. “Worse?”

They both nod and they have looks of sympathy.

I’m nearly in tears by the time I get to my room.

Anoelle and Kari both stay and I don’t know them, I don’t know them at all but I so needed them and I cry as the cramps start getting worse and worse and I feel the cramps leading to this feeling like I’m sort of wetting myself and there’s blood.

And I panic, I cry.

I know what the blood is, I know it’s the women’s mark days’ thing and I knew that I’d have to face it.

But it hurts, and it smells and it’s sticky in a not just blood way and the there’s this whole thing of me learning how to use the catch pads and the linen roll and getting it inside sort of which feels so wrong and I’m not really able to talk about why it’s so upsetting except that it’s my first time.

And I just sort of cry curled around a skin filled with hot water and a strong mug of willow tea to try and dull it and the girls both explain that it’s worse because it’s Moonsilver and that it’s doing extra to me as it’s taking hold and making my menses come to a stop.

All night, they are with me all night and I go through changes of pads and vile cramps that feel like my guts are twisting and that I’ve been street rolled and had someone take a blackjack to my kidneys and it’s all like this massive…huge menstrual event that hits like a bout of sickness.

They had to leave at morning bells and they left me with changes of things to use and it just kept happening and kept going only this time I was by myself and that was a scary and horrible feeling that brought all sorts of panic and things to the surface.

And when I could sleep my dreams were vivid and vile.

Blood and the clothes and chunks of things…clots and then even this thing where something that might have been a small tiny, tiny child….I woke screaming at that and unleashed a flash that scorched either wall as I lightning arced from each hand.

Some other squires came at a run and I’m pulling in my powers and one of them looks at me and them at the walls and I see her swallow but she doesn’t leave. “Christiana are you alright?”

“I…I had a nightmare.”

“We heard, but are you alright?”

I nod. “I had a really, really bad dream about…” and I gesture turning red at my nethers and there’s blood, blood seeped through and on the bedding and I get even redder and can’t stop the tears starting to run down my cheeks.

One of the other squires whispers to her and she has this Oh… face.

“Bad dreams often come when you’re dosed, it keeps you safe but as it takes hold it really messes with you.”

I nod and sort of pull my legs up. Something squished and made fresher tears come hard. “I was so unprepared for this.”

The one that’s been talking so far nods. “It is never what any of us think it will be and not even having gone through you mark for years prepares you for how the Moonsilver will hit you.”

I cough. “Like an Iron Rhino.”

That got some chuckles from the girls that are there and I get up and try to take some of the not showing blood parts of the blankets and cover myself and get some of the cloths and the other things and new underwear.

“Where can I find the baths and then the laundry?”

The speaker smiles at me. “I’ll show you, I’m Kate by the way.”

“Christiana but you already know that though I usually go by Chrissy.”

She looks at the scorches on the walls. “That’s very unscary for a woman that can command lightning.”

I sort of grin and blush. “I’m not as harmful as I appear trust me I’m not I’m just really new to everything especially my powers.”

She nods and she leads me to the showers which thankfully are opposite the jakes and I get cleaned up.

I cry in the shower, it’s running out of me and down the grate and there are little clotted bits and it’s sort of washing in spots on my feet before getting washed away and that is not helping me mentally in any way.

And I keep repeating it to myself that… “At least it’s not a bath; at least I’m not sitting in this.”

When I come out Kate passes me a hot leather jack of willow tea and it’s acridly strong and I guzzle it as fast as I’m able and I get dressed and then drop my sheets down the stone tube/chute to the laundry.

“We don’t do that ourselves?”

She grins. “Well I don’t any longer, but you may if you’re going to be a page.”

I nod. “I’d like to get some training in, I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to be by the time I’m done but I’ll do the work, I’m not scared of the work.”

“Given the rumors I’d say you’re not scared of much.”

“Rumors?”

“Goblins, Wargs… I heard your ranger has dropped off a very hefty bounty collection, enough it made the rounds and then stories of some of these other things like you and that village and walking into a sickness with more duty than fear.”

Kate is looking at me and so are the other two squires and I’m suddenly blushing because I’m used to praise somewhat but I’m not used to this sort of praise.

Third sons get some notice and then there’s perfunctory praise but getting it from peers and getting it from pretty girls is a whole thing that I’m not used to….at all and I am still enough of my old self that womanly praise is still a very blushworthy thing.

And they are pretty too… Okay Kate is and she’s tall and leggy and lean but strong and fit looking with long blonde hair and brown eyes.

I don’t know her friends yet but one is really exotic looing with softly dark skin like a southerner but she had long straight black hair and green almond shaped eyes that I’ve never seen before and she’s slender and fine featured.

And the other is this doe- like beauty with chestnut hair and eyes with freckles in a tanned face and long lashes.

I am unaccustomed to being around such beautiful women.

Discounting my sisters and my mother of course.

I look at the three of them as I’m dressed and I’m hopefully not going to bleed through things again. “Thank you, all of you I’m sorry to keep you from your rest or your work and studies.”

Kate shrugs and she takes a bit of something from the doeish looking girl and passes it to me and it’s this hard candied ginger and I take it and pop it in my mouth hoping to ease the nausea.

I am chewing it and it’s hot and pungent and I suck down the juices and look to her and offer the road sign for thank you since it would not be good to speak with my mouth full.

She nods and says quietly. “You’re very welcome.”

Very polite, I should really try and keep to my manners as much as possible here.

Kate looks at me. “Take some spare changes and then come with us it’s time for your first duty shift.”

I swallow the ginger. “Ah you were sent for me?”

She nods. “But we came early when we heard you.”

The svelte exotic one. “We have all been there as well.” She has an accent I can’t place.

“Many thanks all of you I was Very not prepared for this.” Even though I emphasized Very it really pales to my feelings given my start before all of this.

My comment did earn nods and chuckles from all three and once I have extra pads and rolls for inside…of me and two pairs of underwear in one of my shoulder bags I follow Kate and Tana the doeish girl and Anika the exotic one and we go through the fortress complex until I arrive at what smells like the kitchens.

Actually kitchen work for pages is not uncommon.

Even if you have an unpracticed hand in the kitchens there is always peeling and sorting and washing to do.

Kate and the others shake my hand and that’s still a thing that I have yet to get used to with women doing that and I enter and it’s huge with lots of metal everywhere and tiles and there’s oven at the far sides and they are actually raised on a dais and there’s slides for the finished things to come down and there’s a wheel with hinges that I can see these trays of proofed dough that are carried up to the bakers and they take them off and put them in the ovens and that’s a marvel in itself and there’s so much more.

I hear a voice and there’s this very big man there looking at me and he’s clean shaven and he’s bald with a bandits head cloth on his head and he had a tunic with what looks like the rank of sergeant on his sleeves.

“You girl, who are you!?” He’s loud and so is this place.

“Uhm…Christiana Lyonnes sir.”

“I’m no knight don’t call me sir!”

“Sorry sergeant!” I say it loudly back.

He looks at me. “Good a fast learner, you’re late!”

“Sorry sir I’m in my potion time.”

He stares at me and he nods. “Fine you’ll make up the time later.”

I blink.

Home…well home there would have been much more consideration. Then again I’m not home. Home is ruins and ash until I get back there.

I set my jaw. “Yes sergeant!”

He looks at me up and down. “Show me what you can do get on the prep line!”

He points and I go over and it’s sorting and washing vegetables and peeling and chopping and dicing and I learned a lot from the women in the villages. How to angle the knife, how to spin the vegetable, how to chop onions by leaving the root tail on and it will hold it together to let you make all of the cuts to dice it.

I’m doing all of that for an hour and then he has me show two younger pages what I’ve been doing and then I’m on the cooking line.

I’m surprised that it’s morning still it feels later and we are actually doing large mass servings of things as people are coming in and it’s busy work and I’m not used to the environment and we are cooking lots of ham and there’s other meats and then there’s some other things being made like potato-scrap… that’s with chopped diced potatoes that are boiled for a few moments to get softer and then placed on this large flat cooking sheet with fire beneath it like a huge massive pan that is apparently called a flat-top grill or a flat-top and we add salt and pepper and diced onions and there’s all sorts of variations on it as it seems to be a staple.

There are some with peppers? I don’t know these things and some with a pickled beef that we shave and cook and then there’s a milk and flour and pepper gravy that we do with crumbled sausage.

I make more whipped eggs that I ever have only they call them scrambled here and then there’s griddle cakes…different kinds of griddle cakes and the staff and pages and students and not dozen of people but a whole village of people are here to break their fast and then we’re done.

I’m hot and sweaty from the heat and I’m…I’m actually hungry.

The sergeant looks at me. “Go we’ve others coming in for the rest and you’re wanted…” he’s looking through a sheaf of papers on a flat tally board with a clamp. “You’re off to meet with the new pages.”

“Yes sergeant…what about the dishes?”

“That for those on punishment details.”

“Oh…”

He passes me a split foot long loaf of bread and it’s stuffed with scramble eggs and some bits of ham and some of the scrap-potatoes and I take it.

“Thank you sergeant?”

“Sergeant Caldwell.”

“Thank you sergeant Caldwell. Uhm…which way do I go.”

He gives me directions and I memorize them and I eat as I’m going at first self-conscious but less so as I see a squire go past with gear in hand and he had a large slice of toasted bread in his teeth.

The food doesn’t last I hadn’t eaten anything since getting here really and the ginger seems to have helped and I’m really hoping that I’m passing through the eye of the storm with this Moonsilver thing.

I think I like these green pepper things very strong but kind of sweet in a cooked onion like way.

I end up going outside into a courtyard that’s not the one I arrived in and I add it to my mental memory trick map and I see that there’s several ranked people here and no knights and there’s a goodly number of pages here and most of them are my own age or close to it and there’s a large number of women…girls we make up at least a quarter of the group.

This is Corporal Crowe’s class and it’s Fitness and basic combat.

Corporal Crowe is black.

Well not black but he’s deep brown skinned like I’ve only read about if the deepest lands of the great southern jungles and he smiles a lot and he’s middle aged and has short stubble for hair and a trimmed beard and a bit of an accent that lends a strange cadence to his speaking that’s pleasant.

I’m trying hard not to stare too much and I am sort of relieved that I am not the only person here who had not seen a black person before.

There’s sprints back and forth across the courtyard touching the ground and then there’s calisthenics and push-ups and sit-ups…. (Ugh for those the way that I’m feeling.) and then there’s rope jumping and there’s stance-shifting…that’s when you assume sword and shield first stance and then switch it all it the other way and repeat and repeat and repeat and there’s all sorts of exercises and there’s even weights.

I’m fitter than most, I’m fitter than most with all except two of the boys and that is a shock. I’m close to being as strong as both of them as well and they each have a foot and fifty pounds on me.

There’s whispers of…. “Sorcery.”

The thing is they’re right, that since I have changed I get less tired and I am stronger than I used to be and I know it for true now as I have outdone myself in every single thing that I used to be able to do.

I’m still breathing hard and I’m still dripping in sweat and there’s one girl page that is better than some of the boys and came close to being as fit and strong as me.

But compared to Christian I’m fitter by quite a score.

Some of the lads have faces that say that this is not a happy thing; they’re not pleased at me even being here or equaling them.

The other girl either.

The other girls here aren’t close to them so there’s this sort of semi arrogant kind of contempt some of these lads have.

This is not the attitude of most of the people I’ve met since leaving home.

I’m getting that there’s political training of pages and squires and fostering people here since some of these people don’t seem like they’re like a lot of the others here.

And then comes the basic combat were we’re paired off against Corporal Crowe’s two minions.

Two dwarves.

Actual dwarves.

I’m surprised at the height I was expecting shorter and I was expecting dirtier or in heavy armor and weapons and the like from stories I suppose, but these two are young and they have clean clothes and tunics for the fortress and The Lady and they’re as well kept as any soldiers should be in a castle or a keep.

I was right about them being minions.

And Corporal Crowe is a bad, bad man.

We are set to spar with the dwarves in bare handed combat and we’re to do our best and that is honestly not good.

I am not well trained in hand to hand without a weapon and what I know pales with what I know and we’re all run through once and really fast.

It’s fast because not one of us has stood against these dwarves for more than a minute I think and we’re all tripped, thrown and even bounced off of the mats.

And then it’s all of us in groups of four and Corporal Crowe orders us to keep them from crossing the little courtyard and keep them from drinking from the rain barrels over there.

There’s four groups of us and we go at the two dwarves and it’s just a farce really we’re trying and the boys are all angry and fired up and the dwarves are doing things as before but with feints that work and jabs and I get this fist propping up a thumb in some soft spot under my arm that made me yowl like a cat.

And that has me clutching my side and that has me off balance and like he’s the cat and I’m a glass goblet he pushes me over to the cobbles.

Ow…

None of the others fared any better and we’re panting and groaning and Corporal Crowe is writing things down on another tally board and I’m in pain but I’m impressed because even if he’s literate in his own language he’s likely writing it in Kingdom common which means he at least knows two.

Then he grinned at us. “Alrigh...tee, we see now how you all can do the basic tings. Now I know jus what-choo can do an not do and we will do these more and more until you show me dat you’re all not a bunch of young goats.”

I think that he means kids but we were as silly as spring goat kids.

He waves us off. “Alrigh…tee be off now and shower and clean up with yourselves and ye have dinner then the lot of you are to go to the wing of scribes.”

I sort of blink and I look around and we’ve spent a good two glasses here doing things and by the time we get cleaned up it will be close to high-sun or noon or whatever they call it here.

I gather my things and I’m getting some looks and the other pages and I part ways when I get to where I have to go for the first years squires wing and I think I can hear mutters and cussing from the boys as soon as I’m out of their sight.

Sigh…

And I have no idea how to hand that.

I get back to my room and then gather my robe and things and head to the showers and get clean.

I leaked a little during the exercises past the pad and the plug cloth…well it made me gag some at what was on it and stuck to it and I washed really well.

Oh..?

Oh it’s done, it’s stopped?

I cup water splashing and use a cloth to make sure and other than cleaning out some bits and things left over from this I’m done.

Which is surprising but not that much since I was told of how I heal faster and this shower is definitely proving the case as my leg wound is closed…it’s still itchy and tender but it’s just an angry red line of scarring now.

I don’t re-bandage that either. I’ll just be careful because it’s still tender when I press at it gently.

And as odd as this all is it has improved my mood greatly and I head off to my room to change and to there’s a package there and a note.

I open the note and it has what looks like The Lady’s signet on it actually burned lightly into the papers like a watermark or like my power writing burning trick and it says.

{I’ve heard you’ve faired middling well with the Moonsilvering, it’s a hard thing but it only lasts a week so take heart. Today you’ll start some of the classes I think that you need for all of your training and I’ve sent you some fresh books for taking notes and some other things to help you study. I will see you this evening at the sixth glass at my office.}

A week?

Well I shall have to tell her that I’m done.

I am so glad to be done.

I unwrap the paper and it’s this sort of black waxed paper that some merchants use to store their things and wares and I save it and the string that wraps it in a space in my desk.

I look at what she has sent me and it’s making me smile and get a little misty in a happy way. There’s a set of two books lightly bound with hard covers and cloth and there’s fresh virgin pages and a mechanical pen and a bottle of ink and an eyedropper to refill the pen and there’s a shoulder purse in the colors of The Lady to carry it all in. (Light blue with a with a circled cross as part of it in front of a sun and two flanking weapons one a claymore held by a mantled eagle and the other a hammer that has a crown hovering over the hammer head and the sword is on the left.)

It’s a fine, fine gift really and likely expensive.

I think the central sun and the circled cross in front of it is her personal standard and the rest of for the whole place? I think you read it that she’s allied to both The Dwarves and then actually The Middle Kingdoms because the flag of The High King is the eagle mantled over a claymore.

I fill the pen and place it carefully in the box it comes it and then I put the books it the bag and I make sure I look somewhat presentable and I head down to the mess hall.

It’s still informal here in the mess hall barracks sort of way and I head to the line and I see that it’s a lot of serve yourself for many things and I get the largest tray that I can find one that I see the men and boys using and I get my jack and my cutlery and then I step into line.

There’s so much here and I get myself some salad greens and raw vegetable bits then there’s ground meat patties in gravy and potatoes baked in milk with onions and chives and something called pasta? I get some of that and a baked chicken leg and thigh then there’s cooked vegetables. I have to ask since I have never seen nor eaten a cauliflower not a broccoli before and I even try these tiny baby turnips cooked with their tops and I’m getting looks as I take a bowl of the stewed greens that they have even here and I manage to find room for a small bread loaf and a few squares of butter and I balance a bowl of a baked pudding and get my leather jack full of broth and head to find myself a seat and I see Taylor and he waves me over.

I’m getting stares at all of the food I’m carrying.

Taylor laughs as I settle at the bench he’s sitting at with what looks like some young men from the fortress and most of them look like workers here in the fortress.

“You’re starving I take it?”

“I barely was able to eat all of yesterday and all I’ve had since coming here is some whisky and a sandwich this morning. I think between that and the way my magic is healing my body I’m half starved.”

Taylor nods and I’m getting looks.

One of them a nice looking very dark haired fellow with a beginning of an afternoon beard and a large frame and heavy thick muscles says. “So it’s true Taylor brought in a sorceress.”

I set my food out in a semblance of order and start to butter things. “I’m the daughter of Aurora Blackhand and I have magic but I’ll not claim to be a sorceress yet.”

That gets me a few looks and a couple of nods.

Taylor says… “I heard they have you doing some page training?”

I nod. “Given what happened and what we faced some proper training seemed like the best thing and I think the lady has other ideas for me with regards to my magical studies.”

Taylor introduces me around with some nods and the closest offer hands a little shyly but they seem to be open minded at least enough to not get up and leave the table.

The big dark haired one is Garret and he’s a smith and a battleknight armorer.

And he’s handsome.

I cannot help it.

I am me now, and he is a large man with a lot of muscles built so very thickly from his trade and his body and just the shape of it is giving me thoughts. Thoughts I’m not used to having still.

I feel a trickle… and I excuse myself and take my napkin with me to the jakes and then stuff it down and jog to my room and then get re-padded and get sniffly… “Not done yet apparently dammit.” and head back down with my bag of spares.

I steel myself on going back inside and make my way back to my table and I sit back down.

Taylor shoots me a look.

“I took the damned potion.”

There’s a lot of nods around the table and some winces of sympathy and very thankfully it doesn’t become a topic pf conversation.

Garret though.

Oh my light…that’s why…I can remember the women in the village speaking of their mark-time and that some of them get very easily aroused…and weepy and moody.

And I think that I’ve been hitting all of those points.

I am eating and he’s watching me and the others are too even though there’s small talk going on of who’s with who now and some of the trade that’s coming in or what’s due to come in and what some people are looking forward to seeing here or in the markets in the city.

I manage to piece together that shrimp are a sort of shellfish though I’ve never had them and that tuna is a large fish and that it’s very favored here apparently as recipes of how to have it is being spoken of with reverence.

It’s amusing that we’re talking about food while we’re eating.

The food I’m eating…I’m making mental notes at the potato and the meat patty dish because I think there’s more than meat in it and it’s filled out to be more and this could save money, it could feed people like some of the things that I seen this morning.

I melt a little at the bites of the vegetables in the melted butter, real butter and it’s strong but it’s butter strong and it’s heavy with salt in it and it’s absolutely heaven.

Especially with the bread to sop up the juices.

I’m not partial to this cauliflower thing and I like the turnip very much but I really like the broccoli.

The greens are almost like home to me now and I think I’ll have them on my table as much as I can in the future.

I am still getting looks but they’re head shakes and smiling looks as I clean my plates literally using my bread to polish off all of the bits and I even chewed the ends off of the chicken bones.

I do that anyways, I always have where the cooking has made them soft…chomp through the softness and then enjoy this sort of grind up marrowness and yes if able I suck out some of the marrow clear of the bones.

I’m getting looks.

I look at them.

“What you’ve never seen anyone do that?”

Garret says. “Not anyone highborn, and I’m going to assume you being the sorceresses daughter means that you’re a sort of highborn person at least.”

I take a drink of broth. “I am but I’m not highborn here I’m a guest and at the mercy of this land that The Lady and this is not some high table so…”

He holds his hands up. “No, no I didn’t mean offence by it, it’s just highborn and low live extremely different lives.”

I nod. “Oh I’ve learned that in spades and I’m still learning that I’ve seen things here that would never happen home including this, most noble folks wouldn’t eat with anyone save themselves unless on the battlefield…not even hunting.”

There’s some nods at that and Garret looks at me. “Well it’s here too, not here per-say but in some of the other lands in The Free Kingdoms. There’s a whole lot of nobles being nobles.”

“Well I will try to be a credit to my host and to my friends here and try to not be one of those lot. I had some of those types in class with me for basic fitness and combat.”

There’s a couple of chuckles. “Corporal Crowe…” several of them say.

I nod. “Apparently the few bits of things that I was trained in wasn’t all that much training.”

There’s some nods and I push my dishes away and I take my pudding and a spoon and tuck into it. It’s really good and it’s barley I think that’s been cooked in milk and eggs stirred in with dark sugar and butter? I savor it and It’s really well made and…or…well sometimes I had heard from the village women that we crave sweets at the time of our marks.

Garret looks at me some more. “So this training is going how far Lady?”

“Not Lady, Chrissy please.”

He raises an eyebrow at that and I sort of smile and blush.

Seriously I am feeling the attraction; side effect of this time for me or whatever the cause and he meets my eyes and he looks away to his food and there’s a blush too from him a little which makes this all the more…interesting.

Oh Gracia, I think perhaps I might just get you a little more…this is fun in this sort of little thrilling not knowing dancing on the edge of something way.

He coughs and takes a drink of his drink.

Then he tries again. “Chrissy then, so how far will this training take you?”

“I don’t know but before my powers had been awoken I was learning these same things but more towards the stewardship lines of things and some arms training. I would like to be at least competent so I don’t have to rely on others or my magic.”

“Why not your magic?”

“My mother’s powers failed to save her or protect her in the end.”

Garrets face clouds and he says. “I’m sorry. The sorceress was a nice sort from the little I did know.”

I smile and eat. “This I keep hearing, I wasn’t very close to her really. I was sort of fostered out but she was still like family to me. And honestly I think the Free Kingdoms and The Middle Kingdoms suffered a loss when she died.”

There’s some nods at the table and I sigh after the last bite of pudding. “I have some very big shoes to fill and likely with the state of things not long enough to fill them in.”

There are a lot more nods and the topic shifts to them talking about people and things that might come to stir up trouble or are working at it even now that her very presence might have curbed.

I don’t know any of the names but there’s some opinions and they’re not favorable ones about some of these nobles and such because apparently there’s as always some that see the lands of their neighbors and covet them.

I’m committing all this to memory.

And apparently mother’s powers of flight were well known here at least and the thoughts of her being able to travel so far and so fast and stay well out of weapons ranges had curbed a lot of ill behavior.

Garret looks to me. “Well any help you might need from me as long as I can do it within the scope of my duties I will do it.”

I nod. “Do you weapon smith as well as work on the rigs?”

He nods and he sort of straightens with this sort of intensity. “I’m a rig smith; I forge blades sixteen feet at a time.”

My eyes widen at that.

“Forge?”

“Yes.”

“With a hammer and an anvil and not by casting and cutting?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

I’m asking how because forging a sword is an art and forging a battleknight sword is unheard of. Well not unheard of it’s just incredibly rare. The Rampant’s sword was forged and it was the envy of many, many nobles and battleknighters.

See most battleknights they have blades but they’re poured steel and cooled just right then they’re cut and ground down and sharpened and they are still exactly what they are but a forged battleknight blade it’s stronger by a good measure and much more importantly it’s lighter.

And in a battleknight that means hitting faster, hitting more often and fighting for longer.

And that, that can mean a whole battle.

He looks at me. “There’s a thousand little secrets to it Chrissy but in the rough scope of it it’s with a rig itself and with great care and difficulty.”

I look at him. “That’s as impressive as any sorcery I have ever seen or heard of.”

I’m serious too, if he’s doing this as his trade garret could literally go anywhere and be treated like a noble himself and likely have title for service too.

I look at him as we’re getting all of our trays like the others and heading to the wash stations for them. “How is it you’re here? Your skills are in demand everywhere?”

He smiled and nodded at Taylor. “I’m a keep brat just like he is. This is home and those knights going out there to keep the peace of the realms and to fight for contract for the peace of the realms are a real source of pride for me.”

I love not just his smile but that smile. You know that one where it’s love of land and of flag and of doing, being part of the right thing and feeling so happy about it? Garret’s wearing that sort of smile and it makes him seem…happy, and heartful.

Loyal.

Oh gods loyal is something that I am seeing as such a good thing because he could have left, he could have sold his skills to some terrible lord with deep chests.

He stayed for honor.

That’s very attractive.

I get my dishes in the right tubs and then see the other pages that I was with before and I walk to join them as they are heading to the wing of scribes.

I get a few dirty looks from the boys that seem still non-plussed that I am with them but the girls actually wait for me and that one girl that was close to me in the physical training extends her hand.

“Leslie Goldendale.”

“Christiana of Lyonnes.” Yes I use of in my name here, as in where I’m from instead of my last name just in case.

She furrows her brow thinking. “I’ve not heard of that house?”

“I’m from The Middle Kingdoms.”

Her eyes widen. “For true?”

“Aye for true, please don’t be offended though I’ve never heard of Goldendale or any of the houses in The Free Kingdoms really.”

She nods and we start to walk. She’s…she’s not what one expects from a noble girl really there’s a lot of certain breeding and Leslie isn’t fitting to type. She’s tall like a boy and she has strong shoulders too and her hair is short. She could pass for a lad in the right clothes but she’s not what you’d call ugly instead she’s a handsome girl.

“Oh I’m very local my father is a lording and we’re only a day’s ride from Sanctuary.”

A lording is either a lord by inherited title or bestowed and that’s a rare thing but usually it’s from being a knight who has been awarded lands or bought them and had the lands recognized by the ruler. Now this being Free Kingdoms that might not be even true or needed.

“That makes things easier I’d think?”

She nods. “It is, and I’m often father’s proxy here in the city for errands and such now.”

“So you’re here for that or to carry on the tradition of knighthood?”

“I’m here for both, I’m his only child and after a good long argument between him and mother I was allowed to go.”

“Argument?”

“Mother wanted me to marry, and father was fairly blunt that because of our small station and my looks that I’d be at someone’s mercy and that I deserved better.”

“What’s wrong with your looks?”

One of the jerks ahead of us laughs. “Nothin if yer looking for a giant cow for a bride.”

I glare at him. “Well I know why you’re here then it’s because a lance in your hand makes a good distraction from your tiny manhood.”

He stops and spins. “What did you say to me witch!?”

I step right up to him and look up and into his face. “I said you’re a bully and you’re here to make your manhood look bigger since your honor’s not doing the job Crandell.”

That’s his name, I remember it from training.

He hauls back to strike me and I stare at him still.

“Go ahead; I’ve waded through the blood of Goblins and Wargs to be here I’m not afraid of some cad that dishonors his pledge to the code.”

He lowers his arm and he glares at me and I can see one of the other boys tugging at him.

He leaves ahead of us storming off.

Leslie looks at me. “Thank you, I think he doesn’t like you but thank you. No one outside my family has ever really spoken up for me like that. It’s a…it’s a thing that I’ve had to live with…being…ug...”

“Being handsome, you’re a handsome woman Leslie and I’m glad to know you.”

“Handsome do you mean manly?”

“No I mean handsome in that dashing of ways.”

She blinks and smiles and we start walking and then we’re heading into what looks like an actual classroom and she lets out this happy little sigh. “Dashing.”

We get seats and there’s an old scholar there that looks like he’s seen a lot of time away from the books but he’s wearing the teaching robes that are so common with the type. My tutors wore them but nothing this nice. Rather his aren’t nice but they’re clean and neat like well-kept while my tutors were his only ones and while he only wore them while teaching they were getting threadbare.

This is the first time I’ve been in a classroom and I’m excited the scholar has a stage and even that has a raised alcove with what looks like a private area for their work there’s giant slates up on the walls and instead of tapestries there are maps here, all kinds of maps and there’s even a large cabinet with glass doors, one glass door for every seat here and in them I can see mapmakers tools.

Oh…oh well that’s sort of exciting.

Maps are wonderful creations, and good maps are almost treasure.

The scholar is sipping a drink in a jack and he’s smoking a pipe and waiting for us to take seats and once we’re settled he starts.

“I’m Sir Mallory and I am your instructor in the teaching of Heraldry, Realms and Geography. Here you’re going to learn the lands from map to tome and the who’s and the why’s of how the Free Kingdom’s work and the lands beyond them.”

It’s interesting right from the start because none of this is old to me and the way he’s explaining it that the lands change depending on who is ruling and what they do changes and has change the geography and then there’s the fact of the physical resources of the land determining wealth and status as well as defense in times of unrest.

I have my book out and I’m writing notes and the key points and the hour passes quickly.

Crandell and his two friends are complaining about it being boring when I’m seeing all this interconnection or the start of it.

Then it’s Mathematics in another room Dame Salana a southern woman with not just the robes of a scholar but she wore a matching veil over the lower part of her face and she has several sashes with daggers and she carried a Southlander blade.

She spoke loudly and with authority.

Kenneth Martel does several ignorant yawns as she is telling us to start to chart multiplication tables and then there’s a math legend that we have to copy with all of these short hand symbols that we are to know and to learn.

“Page Martel am I boring you? Are you a master of equations that you do not need to know what I will try to teach you?”

He gets this look on his face. “I know my numbers and I don’t need to be wasting time doing this I’m here to get my shield.”

She turns away and she goes to the slate and using chalk she starts to write. “You are under siege while on a mission you and the people under you have five containers of rice and beans measuring… (She draws dimensions.) not at a rate of the barest rations of two ounces or rice and two ounces of beans and those rations alone how long will it be before you and your men run out of food?”

He huffs. “That says little what ranks and titles are the men with me?”

She looks at him. “You failed you and your men are all dead.”

He scoffs… “That’s bullshit Lady….” He says lady like it’s a slur, like he’s offended by her for being a woman and over him.

Bennet who I think is his brother and Crandell are both snickering.

She tilts her head. “That earned you two punishment points and one for each of your jesters.”

She says loudly. “As soon as you put yourself and your rank or title and that of others ahead of others in a situation like this you have lost the battle you fostered an immediate type of morale that will have them defeated and you’d be lucky if they didn’t hang you and the people that you were holding in regard over them.”

Kenneth looks mad and he looks like he’s going to stand up. “Stay down page Martel because I would not be adverse to add to your punishment by taking you to task in the practice courts.”

I’m not sure if it’s just me but Dame Salana just gave off this air of danger.

He sits down red faced and jaw clenched and she looks to the rest of us.

“Mathematics is one of the most powerful weapons that you can wield as rulers or serving them it will let you build things rightly and true, forge your blades and armor, feed your people, ensure good commerce and trade there is nearly nothing in the world that a strong and secure knowledge of mathematics will not see you towards making better.”

She turns to the slate and back to us and asks. “Now do any of you have the answer?”

Several of us raise our hands.

It was actually an interesting class.

Leslie grins at me as we head to yet another classroom… “And here I thought that numbers would be boring, I’m actually sorry that it was just a half a glass long.”

I nod. “I could have listened to more; she made me want to listen to more. My sister Angeline was really good with numbers being our steward almost and quartermaster and she had a real knack for numbers. I think that she would have loved this.”

We enter yet another classroom and this one is decorated with all sorts of things that are from my first guess Dwarven and there’s a large dwarf there not tall and large but he’s wide and he’s blessed with a wealth of girth. He looks like the drawings I have seen for the most part.

“C’min Lairds and lady t’be and get yerself a quaff and a dram of the waters and some bread. I’ma Duran Quait ana I’ll b’teaching y’all about dwarves.”

Oh that was thick.

And we’re looking around and one of the quiet boys goes over and there’s a table with things and I see him take a tiny glass of what looks like whisky and he drinks it and he takes a slice of this rich and dark looking bread and butters it and sprinkles salt on the bread and he gets a mug and he pours himself a deep dark ale.

He walks to the seats but says around a mouthful. “Take a shot and get a bite to eat and have a stout.”

Oh… and he’s new, well he wasn’t in the physical training class from this morning but joined us at the start of the afternoon.

I look at Leslie and we head over and it’s shots of whisky one for each and there’s stout to drink and bread and butter and salt.

The whisky is good, the bread it so, so flavorful and strong and so is the butter and the salt just makes it and then this heady dark stout that is good too.

We all get seats and even the three trouble breeders are calming down and being not quite so bad.

Duran Quait takes out a box. “C’min get yerselfs a boo’k these be yers iffa ye want and they’re librams that show yet words in common and then the word in Dwarven.”

I look at them as we take them and it’s a legend for language and it tells you the written in dwarven and it tells you the sound it makes and for the letters in the front and then after that it does that for words and even further for phrases.

I’m going to learn Dwarven!

The rest of the class is him taking our names and writing them out and teaching us how to say each of the names. It goes fast but it goes easy with this literal taste of dwarven culture to go with it.

All of this is making me happy.

We’re heading off to writing and Literature and we’re all getting along much better and I look to the quiet boy that took the lead in our dwarven class.

“Thank you for the help there Duran Quait has a very thick accent.”

He nods. “I’m used to hearing it, I’m a Booter.”

Crandell huff’s slipping back to being ignorant as he passes us.

“That’s the underground part of the city?”

He nods.

“I’m Chrissy.”

“Stormer.”

“Interesting name.”

“It was my grandfathers he was a marine.”

“Oh…well I think it suits you.”

He shrugs and he gets the door and he holds it open for all of us women and that was mannerly and nice.

Again he’s good looking.

Dammit…these feelings are quite distracting.

Lean and yet very muscled under his tunic and blonde haired blue eyed and clean shaven in this almost a baby faced way and he has his hair which is long pulled back in a horsetail.

He’s very cute in this really good way; I can see the handsome man that he’s going to become in the years to follow.

And apparently my nipples can feel it as well.

Ow…

Writing and Literature is being taught be Sir Halloway and he sincerely looks like the scholar that his robes say that he is. Thin and with spectacles he tells us about handwriting and how important that it is and then how much that a good education in literature actually is especially when trying to hold conversations with those that are educated or to just know things and then we’re all brought up to the slate boards to write and practice our penmanship there first.

I am not as skilled as a scribe as I thought myself to be and neither are any of the others when we see how elegant Sir Halloway can write.

And he gives out books for us to read through thin and yet full of poetry. “Read well and pick one to read out loud to us all for the next class.”

Oh…oh speaking in public.

Not my strong suit.

The next class is Agriculture and it’s Sir Mallory again but in a different classroom and it’s sort of boring as he starts the introductions as to why we are learning about farming and crops and all the things to go with it

And then we’re done for the day…I have one glass to get to my rooms and get cleaned up and then head to Lady Tatiana’s office to meet up with her.

There’s more blood in the things and the pad and I need to wash some more but my underwear was fine and I use the jakes and get cleaned up and then get some more clothes and such and kit myself for this whole damned woman’s mark experience and I head off to go to Lady Tatiana’s office.

There’s a couple of squires outside and they ask me to wait and show me to a bench and one even offers me a cup of tea which I’m grateful to have and sip at it and wait as there’s obviously some business going on and there’s other’s showing up and they have what looks to be a rolling rack of dresses and gowns and other things and the women are looking at me and I’m blushing as I realize that the size of most of these things are sized for me.

Finery female finery and all the kit to go with it from the clothes to the shoes by the look of it to scents and cosmetics.

Oh… oh I was not, definitely not expecting this to be happening and so soon.

I’m not sure that I’m ready to be my sister Gracia just yet.

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 19

*Before….Gracia

Valhalla…

Named after the home of some of the lost gods or such.
The Capitol city of the High King and it’s built in these huge levels with like a star or a sun at the bottom and then it rises in huge, huge tiers and adorned with these fancy buildings all smooth and lit up and there’s the glitter of so much light and so much glass.
It looked like a fancy gigantic cake.
I…it…was headed for the palace…the castle called Whitehall…and I barely got a look besides it being huge almost a small city with towers and tall buildings all of its own before I crashed into a fancy garden with flowers and trees that looked decorative and in the end a gazebo of fine wood.
The soldiers came running with fancy spears and some with swords and some with crossbows and I remember seeing a man with a very nice uniform on like the others but with the best embroidery I’ve ever seen and he loomed over me with a dagger at the ready.
“Who are you girl and what sorcery be this!?”
“Gracia…Princess Gracia Lyonnes…my father…my…The Lion has fallen…”
It’s all I could get out.
This man his expression changed to shock then concern and things faded to black as I hear him yelling though he seems far away.
“Get the knight captain! Fetch a healer!”
And that was how I'm here, crying...so very far from home.

*And Now…

I remember healers and I remember there being to many people and then there’s too many questions all coming at me at once and then there’s all of the blood still on me and I remember getting sick over some sharply dressed man with ribbons and medals who was being very sharp with me and calling me girl and asking me questions and shaking me.

I know that being visibly sick in front of people is just not the thing to do but I couldn’t help it with everything that happened.

Bloody rude sod.

It was in the back of my mind satisfying though.

And waking up I’m not in a set of royal quarters but definitely the chambers of a healers ward.

Though I do seem to rate my own alcove.

The bed is metal and enameled white and there’s white fine linens and I’m in a sort of dressing gown.

It’s a little distressing to be here.

It’s a little distressing to not be wearing underwear.

“Hello…?”

“Hello excuse me is there anyone there?”

I see a nurse come in. I am going to assume she’s a nurse since she looks the part with the whole brown sturdy looking gown and wimple and sensible shoes.

I catch myself from saying anything about the clothing since I have none and I am unsure of my fortunes just yet.

Home is gone, everything might be gone and it’s burned.

Tears start coming and I’m wiping at my eyes and that’s when I notices that my hands are in linen gloves and that they stink of medicine, ointment of something really smelly.

She does a curtsey. “Princess you’re awake are you alright are you in pain?”

(Sniffle.) “No…Not really in pain it’s just…just everything’s gone…and…and…and they killed my daddy!”

I start to cry and I can’t really stop it and I want to stop it because I think I cried and slept enough it’s just it’s all coming back and the more that I cry the more that I hurt and the more that the tear soaked life that’s in front of me becomes this whole flashback of what has happened.

I think I hear her squeak and there’s footfalls of her running away.

There’s others that come an go.

Healers that dose me.

And I sleep.

Sleep, cry, wake repeat, repeat and repeat.

I’m numb when I wake the next time.

I find my pillow and curl around it until someone comes and it’s a man in brown and he looks older and two nurses and there’s a man in armor that looks quite regal.

He’s not the fellow that I vomited on thankfully.

I’d imagine him to not be very impressed with me.

The man in armor comes over and he’s tall and he’s handsome and that armor looks very keen and fashionable with all sorts of engravings and inlays. Tasteful though it’s complex more than it’s gaudy.

He’s definitely not a fop.

He sits on the edge of the bed and he takes out a flask. “Here princess drink this.”

It smells like brandy and I drink it, I drink all of it and I think that it surprised him.

(Sniffle.) “Th…thank you Sir?”

“Lord Charles Bonham.”

I just look at him blearily through my tears and he dries them with a handkerchief that he pulled from a bracer.

“I’m the Captain of the High Guard Princess.”

Oh…well that makes sense. The High Guard are the guard that was established by The High King to bring peace and justice throughout the realms. This…me…all of this is definitely his business.

He’s also like a general in reality, the rank of Captain is just like traditional.

He’s also fairly young too, for a job like this. I mean he could have inherited it but I’m not sure if that is likely.

He’s fairly earnest when asking. “Princess would it be too much to ask what had happened at Lyonnes?”

I shake my head. “No, but I…I think I’d like something bracing first.”

He nods. “I understand that.” He looks to the nurse. “Please fetch some hot tea, and some brandy to fortify it with.”

She does the curtsey and she leaves pretty fast and I’m looking at him and then I’m looking at myself.

“Where are my things Captain?”

“I believe they’re being held for you someplace.”

I look at him. “There was a sword and other things there they’re important.”

He looks at me intrigued. “In what way princess?”

“We had guests the night of the attack, one was a young man a young knight and he saved my life.”

The young Captain looks like he has questions a good many of them but he’s patient and thoughtful and he just sits and he listens.

“When the attack hit the point when they started using siege weapons there was a trebuchet missile that crashed through my walls and I knew it beyond any mere chance but he pushed me clear Captain Bonham and he was killed by it. I stayed until his last seconds and I had to bring his things as best I could with me…his people deserved to know what kind of a hero he was.”

I see him lower his eyes some and he swallows a little and I can see that there’s some blood on the man.

Not literally but he’s seen it, he’s seen the horrible up close and fought with that devil too.

He’s a fellow soldier respecting what another died for.

He’s about to say something when I hear voices and I can hear someone yelling. “It’s awake is it; well clap the wench in cold wrought iron because all of those Lyonnes bitches are witches!”

I…

How…

“Who! How dare he!” I screamed it and with everything that has happened instead of bursting into tear I’m madder than a hornet’s nest that was just shaken up by a drunkard.

I get up and The Captain looks surprised by that and I drag the sheets with me and he’s following me as I storm to the source of the voice.

I’m robing myself as best I can with the sheets and I go through a set of double doors out into a hall and then down a set of steps to where there is an archway and a courtyard and that’s where there’s several noblemen in various kinds of dress and some in armor and one of them is in armor and wearing a robe like one of those temple folk wear.

There’s Highguards keeping them from entering here.

They all look decided unpleasant and they look very unhappy to see me and I am not happy to see them either as I push past the two Highguards

“Who names me a witch?”

He turns and he looks at me and there’s a couple of knights that move and stand with him. “I do, it’s well known and documented that Lyonnes had been bent by the Blackhanded witch, it’s known too that you’ve been harboring other witches too.”

“Well known by whom? And who are you, I demand to know the name of the man that slanders me and my family!?”

“I am Lord Byron Dempsey and It’s well known by everyone.”

“Oh well I’ve heard of this everyone ever since I was a small child but never seen them surely you have a much more credible source than an invisible friend.”

“You dare talk to me that way; you’re nothing but a landless child. The lion has fallen and you are nothing.”

“No sir I am not nothing I am a daughter of Lyonnes and I am one of its princesses and I will make sure that justice is done.”

“You arrived here by sorcery! You’re a witch in your own right and you deserve to be locked up before you poison the mind of the king and those around you!”

He steps in and he punches me in the face and he sends me back flying to the stones and I taste blood.

The Highguard shove him back hard and fast and they pull swords as does two of the men with this Lord Dempsey.

Captain Bonham stops and kneels and he offers to help me stand. “Princess are you alright?”

“I’m fine…” I grit my teeth…and I take his help up and my face is screaming with pain and heat and I know that this will be a horrible bruise and I can feel that feeling as it’s fixing on swelling.

The captain glares at Lord Dempsey. “The princess is right, you have no cause for your blames or your accusations, and now you have struck a woman and a fellow noble and she has cause to cite you.”

“The little whore would do well to know her place and you as well bastard. She is a deviless and she’s a danger to this court you can see it right in her eyes.”

I spit some saliva and blood out like one of the guards had taught me.

Yes I’m the bad daughter; I’m that one that was grounded for a week for trying chaw.

“Yes you can see something in my eyes alright and that’s revenge. See those bastards might have killed my father but I’m still alive and my sisters are still alive and that’s where you make the biggest mistake….you and the men that attacked my home.”

He blanches and he honestly looks like the sort of man who’s never had a woman speak up against him.

“And that mistake is?”

“You have us daughters left to deal with and it’s the female lions that you really have to look out for in a pride.”

“You speak brazenly witch.”

“I’m no witch but you give me a sword and I’ll show you that I’ve already taken the manhood right off of one man this week.”

We’re locking eyes and he breaks first and looks past me to the captain.

“You can’t protect her forever bastard, I’ll have satisfaction and so will The Lord of Light over this slatternist’s unnatural family.”

He spins and storms off and he’s taking his entourage with him.

I stay glaring at him until he’s well out of sight and then I unclench everything inside me that I had that I locked up to stay on my feet.

I’m covering my face with my hands and that really hurt.

“Why? Why is this all happening?”

Captain Bonham leans over my back in a protective way and slips an arm around my shoulder.

“There are folk that believe in their own ways and their own ways alone and he is one of those I’m afraid he and his Lord of Light don’t seem to have the same place of respect for women that I do.”

(Sniffle.) “He was so mean…”

“I’m afraid he meant to be and more, he wants you tried most likely.”

I look at him shocked. “Tried for what?”

“Witchcraft.”

“Is he warped and cracked I’m no witch!”

“There are many that will see it differently, Lyonnes was rich and some say that a lot of that was from Lady Blackhand and her coven.”

“Coven?”

“Yes she is known to have a coven.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know the name of it but it’s a walled place up on a hill that is full of witches.”

I stare at him and I’m honestly drawing a blank.

He’s looking at me.

I stare back.

“You honestly don’t have a clue do you?”

“No, of what witchcraft?”

“Yes there been rumors, lots of them Princess.”

“Well they’re lies.” (Sniffle.)

He goes over to help me and I hurt, my hands and my face really hurts and so does my neck. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m crying because it hurts so much and he’s really kind as he walks me back inside and two of the nurses are there with a chair that has wheels and one of them is clucking at me and the other she well she sort of looks afraid of me?

Afraid of me?

They wheel me back to where I was and the nurses help me into bed and one goes for Maister Taen and commander Charles is speaking to the men he has with them and they leave in a hurry and it’s not too long before there’s an incredibly handsome man that comes in with long blonde hair that’s tied back and a kind smile.

“You my dear are a most unruly and welcome patient.”

“A welcome unruly patient?”

He has some ice brought to him. “Very much, people like Lord Dempsey are not my favorite people.”

I shiver as he applies the ice and he smiles at me. There’s a lot of handsome men here, this fellow included. “Why?”

“Oh he and his have no sense of history, and quite honestly if they had their way would cast away a whole lot of learning and leave us in the times darkness all over again.”

“Wow…why?”

“Power and fear.”

“Power and fear, there’s this whole method of getting people to do things out of fear and Lord Dempsey and his ilk are very good at milking that.”

“I’ve a bull in Lyonnes he can milk instead.”

He chuckles. “I’d wager he wouldn’t know the difference.”

I smile a little a wince. “I’m in deep trouble aren’t I?”

“You certainly are.”

Oh great, he wouldn’t even try to say things to make me feel better.

“What would you do if you were me?”

“I’d get yourself to see the King before he has to deal with the this in a bad way.”

“Deal with me in a bad way?” I know he said this but I know what he meant by that and that was me correcting that.

He looks at me and he takes the ice off and he brushes back hair and he sighs. “He’s a wealthy man with a lot of properties in the city, and he’s allied to The Temple of light who have a very, very strong dislike of witches and folks of the educated or powerful female persuasion.”

“So they hate women.”

He nods. “And he will use how you arrived combined with pressure that he will put on his tenants or at least to bend the ears of and then there’s the church who will back him and fast.”

“Why?”

“Ah that I don’t know, not outside of hatred.”

He puts the compresses back on. “There is a push to change things here in the city, and in the kingdoms there are lords and other nobles that dislike things changing out an away from them.”

“Excuse me?”

“Power’s been shifting to the people, there’s a good number of nobles that fear that as loss of power an as theft.”

Oh…

Oh…and more than oh.

“Father was part of that, nobility was far more than a birthright…he’d say stuff then, with people.”

I look at the windows. “He had folks over all the time, other nobles, but others too.”

He nods. “Right then, now we know part of it at least, now we know that there was a reason.”

Lord Charles says. “And while Dempsey’s a coward it’s likely he’ be seen as able to deal with a battle shocked girl.”

I look at them both.

“Then I need to see the King.”

I look at Lord Charles. “Can you do that for me?”

“I’m not sure, I can take you. But to get you an audience will be another matter, and there will be those who will see you and definitely pass it on and those people will certainly demand things especially the Priests of Light.”

“Demand, demand what?”

“To be present in the talks so that you don’t witch the king.”

“I’m not a witch.”

Maister Taen shakes his head. “You’re an educated woman you might as well be.”

“I’m not, not really I’m the family strumpet!”

Master Taen gives me a smile. “Hardly Princess and don’t give them ammunition either.”

I frown.

Now what do I do?

I look at Lord Charles. “But you can come and go yes?”

“Yes, yes I can but even a letter might not do you the best of good.”

“Why not? Not that I’m any really good at writing letters and the like.”

“There are spies in the court and they would see a scroll or a letter being read.”

“Oh….”

Lord Charles says. “You’d have to be invisible.”

“I’m not witch I can’t do that…..oh…oh, oh, oh…I can do that though.”

The two men look at me and I get out of the bed.

“Sir and Maister I have a plan.”

Lord Charles looks at me. “And that is?”

I smile at him.

“Who’s you slightest and shortest knight with you.”

.................... It’s two hours later and I’m dressed as a man. Not just a man but a knight and I’m layered in armor and cloth and quilting and chainmail and plate armor and I’m sweating like a pig and this weights so much it’s insane but at the same time it’s invigorating.

Crazy too, I’m impersonating one of the High Guard.

This can’t be remotely legal.

And I used to think that a lot of the full on court kit with the corset and the petticoats and the layered skirts was completely too heavy but this is nothing compared to what I’m wearing.

Hose and a cod piece and then over that soft linen pants and over those leather half pants that have buckle bits and things and even these things that actually look like hinges with pins.

And that’s just my bottoms.

Up top it’s the same a light tunic of sheer cotton and then linen but after that I’m wearing a jacket if quilted cloth and leather sleeves that had shining chainmail over it. Oh and then there was the whole chainmail head thing and a head and that let me have the helmet on.

People wear this and fight?

Half-suit chain and quarter plate?

Well the best of it that there’s no way that I look like a woman, I didn’t even look like one when I looked in the mirrors of the sick room.

I was so bulked out with everything and my curve was all gone and I felt like a bit of pressed meat to be honest and then there was that damned codpiece and that was awkward and chaffing and I needed to re-adjust a few times.

And then there was the fact of wearing weapons too.

I passed.

Which was good and I walked with Lord Charles through the grounds and I tried to do as he did. Back straight, big strides, holding onto my pommel like a gentleman lord’s cane and step sideways and turn to face and half a bow towards all the women and not just the ladies and give the right of way to higher ranks than myself.

I’m so not used to doing either.

I’m a spoiled vain little princess who has lost everything that I have and had been beaten up by a zealot to go on top of everything else.

Oh and I’m being accused of witchcraft.

As things turn out I’m actually already on the castle grounds and that in itself is dizzying in scope and scale.

The whole place is built into three terraces with long shapes that I guess are supposed to be shields and they don’t start until the very end of the one before it like almost overlapping scales and it’s a castle as far as I can tell as much as a palace with a tall wall between levels and then a wall that tops the next level that’s pretty defensible looking as much as it seems fancy.

Like there’s four like mini-keep things Commander/Captain/ Lord Charles says are bastions and that they house Footmen and archers as well as the four thrones.

Yeah each one of these bastions has a large throne for a resting/sitting battleknight in each direction and these aren’t The Rampant these things are as big but they’re enameled and as pretty as fine china with designs of their houses and the like.

But still that’s sixteen rigs right here plus footmen and archers and that’s just here.

Small wonder this is the seat of the kingdom….you’d never take the place.

And it’s a lot of walking.

No horses allowed in here except for these small coaches that look official and apparently they’re not for the troops.

“I know we’re doing this to hopefully save me from a burning but I’m not that unsure that the weight of all of this isn’t going to kill me Commander.”

“It’s the price of being a knight, it’s a lot of work and very little ease.”

We finally get to the third level and it’s at least a few hundred steps up the rise for us and I’m sweating and aching and coughing as we get to the final leveled off parts of it and Commander Charles takes us off to the side where there is a fountain in an alcove and dippers on a marble shelf.

“We have a few of these secreted away from the foot traffic, being a knight is thirsty work sometimes and it’s always good to have free flowing sources of water close at hand.”

I nod and look around before taking the metal bucket off of my head even though I’m still in the mail hood and helm/head cloth.

He passes me a dipper of water and it tastes so cool and sweet and I try not to gulp it but I halfway fail at that and I choke some and he smiles and looks at me.

“It’s been a while since I had a Squire.”

I have another drink. “Are you even old enough to have had one?”

He nods. “I am and he’s a fine young knight now, but I did have to wait until I was older than when I first gotten my shield to do so.”

I look at him. “I was just joking.”

He smiles. “Well you might just have magic then since I was what the call a prodigy. By the time I had gained my shield I was the age of all the squires in my years that were looking for knight masters so for another three years I worked with the Knight Captains in training the pages instead.”

Oh well that is astounding actually.

“So you were placed into the High Guard because you were an elite warrior and you’d be in the company of elite warriors?”

He nods. “Something like that.”

Oh I can tell there’s more.

I watch him watching the sun and he nods. “The King will be eating now so if we move quickly we can catch him just before he takes his cup.”

“His cup?”

“His Highness takes a glass of whisky after his meal and before his fresher.”

“Fresher?” It’s like he’s speaking another language.

Commander Charles shrugs actually. “I’m unsure the details but after such he seems to have bathed and he is drinking Kaffet.”

“Oh…well that sort of makes sense. I like a brandy after a good meal and if I was going to relax it would help but a bath and a Kaffet? That’s like tea right? Well that might just set me to rights to face the afternoon’s ordeals.”

He nods. “We should go we need to make haste.”

I pull the metal bucket back on. “Haste? I think you might as well call me a racing snail.”

He’s chuckling as we head off with him in the lead. “Racing snail, that’s clever.”

“I’m glad I could bring you some mirth, perhaps if being a princess doesn’t work out for me then I can be and entertainer and tell jokes and juggle.”

“As brave as you are I’d say you’re better suited to being a fire breather.”

“I’m actually more of a sword swallower.”

Oh gods it’s a struggle not to laugh as he reddens at that as my words catch up with him. I do adore men and I do adore teasing men. It’s just in my blood and not all of this wars and armor and manly things that weigh me down and make me sweat and chafe.

But I’m a Lyonne.

And I’ll be dead and damned before I let Lord Byron Dempsey slander and malign my family’s name.

And that of my real and my people.

We pass through a small walled garden gate and that leads to a side stair that climbs part of the actual castle itself and as we pass through the guards and are yet climbing another set of stairs I hear and see a commotion and there’s a set of the High Guard escorting a carriage from the palace hospital and there are many men on horses and some with flags and pennants trying to block it’s way and keep it from passing.

Then there’s another two groups of High Guard on horses leaving from other smaller gates and they’re getting pursued as well by these people making even more chaos.

“Remind me to bake a thank you cake to the young knight that lent me his kit and the ones lending me such aid.”

“You bake?”

“Actually yes. I’ve not much of a hand for needles and no head for figures and books but I can feed a man and I can feed him well.”

“Well that’s a good skill but one not too practiced here with the noble ladies.”

“My mother said you have to know it so that you’d know that the staff was doing their jobs….plus.”

“Plus?”

“Well there’s a fine art to boiling oils and sugars and the like for use on the walls.”

He stops and he looks at me. “Too true, your mother was expecting a siege?”

I shook my head no. “No, it’s something that she got from home in the east and defending against sea raiders which she had been raised to do since she was a girl.”

He nods. “Gods grant me to not be struck with boiling sugar. That’ll take flesh with it.”

I nod. “But refined or pearl sugar is useful for stopping bleeding too.”

We’re walking again and pass through several doors and in and through some halls and up some more stairs talking as we go.

“So you’re trained as a healer then?”

“Not at all the closest to that would have been my baby brother who worked with our various masters in the house from the stores to the apothecary.”

“I’m sorry for that loss.”

“He was a good boy, the youngest son so he did everything that he could to be useful.”

Commander Charles nodded. “That’s often the case really, and it does speak well of him. I’m a fourth son and my brother before me seeks to drink and dally his inheritance away in the dancehalls here in the city.”

“And you didn’t?”

“I was too young and when he had provoked a duel that he was too drunk to fight with some local rafes I was literally forced to fight for his life.”

I look at him. “Sorry to hear that.”

He shrugs which is impressive a thing to do in armor really and he smiles. “The whole thing was seen by the captain of the watch in that block of the city and it was that fight that had him write to the training master and to have me sent her to become a page and then more.”

We end up coming out into a large marble hall with alcoves all along the place and gates behind each of those and that’s close to a dozen gates that can be closed in this hall.

And there’s guards, not guards but knights there on duty and I am very sure of where I’m at now.

I’m in the royal wing now and while it’s not the throne room it’s likely the route to the offices and the like and still guarded and still very important.

We stop and there’s two knights there and they look older and they look like very daunting people with what looks like serious armor and the kind that’s not for show either and they look at him and then to me and one of them slips inside and he’s gone for a few tense minutes.

He comes out and he looks at me and gestures with a gauntleted finger and I walk to him and he opens the door to me and points. “You go lad and talk to him, tell him what you need to and I have a message for Commander Bonham.”

I take a breath and I walk in and to where the knight had pointed at and there’s layers of screens set up like walls here and some of them have rugs over them or tapestries and these almost make like adjustable servants halls or places for guards and spies and all sort of things.

I come out through the maze of these screens and the last ones were very nice like hardwoods and or glass with designs and made to compliment the room and the look of a study or an office.

I swallow a lump of fear because there he is.

High King Boen Whitehall.

He’s a big man even for his age with that frame that speaks of a former battleknighter and a man who has seen lots of battle. His hair is light brown and shortly cropped and filled with greys and he is writing away at a stack of papers and there are many books and things on his desk.

He looks up at me.

“Princess Gracia…I’m glad that you’re alive and well and I’m impressed that you made it here and dared such.”

I walk in and take off the bucket helm.

“I didn’t have much choice My King, Lyonnes was attacked and burned my father and brother and mother all murdered and on coming here of all places to get to safety I’m under attack and I’m accused of witchcraft as is my family.”

He takes a drink of something in a mug and he nods.

“There’s a growing force of nobles that have a lot of support in keeping to or reviving the old ways of power and command Princess. These men have the church of The Light and the Clerics of the Lord of Light behind them and that holds a lot of influence here in the city as well as court.”

“How?”

“The priests tell things to their followers who will not gainsay the word of their god. The nobles that are allied with them perform favors to those clerics and to those in their lands to convince people of they are the right side.”

“But they’re lying.”

“They’re not actually. Your father was in arms and a compatriot of Aurora Blackhand who was well known for travelling through all of the kingdoms and gathering witches and she has been building a kingdom of them with a coven town..”

I look at him. “What Haven’s Hill? That’s a home for women and yes a few with power that needed shelter from being abused or hunted or killed.”

He looks at me. “I know that and you know that but there were many of those rescued women that were hedge witches and midwives and worse educated women who might have known more than the local lord or the local clerics of The Lord of Light.”

“If you know this then why can’t you stop them?”

“Honestly there’s too much power and there’s too much evidence they have of wrong doing.”

“Evidence?”

“Potions, poisons, magic. They’ve been found and there’s being sworn reports.”

“Magic isn’t forbidden is it?”

He looks at me. “It’s not yet but every month there are those in the courts with petitions to label all non-clerical magic as witchcraft and it’s gaining support.”

“But you’re High King?”

“And as such I can affect how laws are made and passed but even if I strike down a proposed law or set of laws this does not decrease their sentiment. And every time that I do this I earn enmity.”

“So what do I do about my losses?”

“I don’t know honestly Princess I could try and take this to the courts and argue it as your father was a good man and he served the realms well against our foes. But The Gorgon he has the backing of the Church of Light and the nobles here and they’re claiming that the lands are forfeit.”

“But they’re lying your majesty.”

He looks tired and he looks sad too. “I know, and then again they actually were not. I have no evidence save my time on the battlefield with your father fighting Aurora’s insane father a man that could and did wield power and who nearly rendered all of the kingdoms to ruin with his mad plans.”

“So the fact that he fought is…”

“Cancelled out by Aurora being close to your family.”

“How do I stop them?”

“You can’t.”

I’m crying and I’m frustrated.

He gets up and he comes over to me and he actually gives me a hug which is shocking given he’s The High King.

“I’ve sent for help if they’ll come…I know what’s going on and what will happen if those that want you dead and charged for witchcraft get here first.”

I nod and swallow and he walks me to his desk and a seat in front of it and I sit after taking out the sword I had with me and reminded of that I take out an envelope too.

“If I can only do one thing out of this entire horror story then can I beg you to get this blade and these belongings to the family of Sir Shane Winterbrook he was a knight cavalier who was at our castle when the attack had happened and he died saving my life.”

The High King nods and he looks at me. “Please if you’re able tell me the story. Tell me how Lyonnes fell.”

I tell him what happened and it comes out haltingly at first and he pours me a whisky of my own and I’ve never had the drink before and it’s smooth like a brandy but there’s more fire too but it’s a good fire and it has all these notes like woods and vanillas like from wine’s stored in oak and there’s other flavors as well that I don’t know but it sort of goes down very well.

It helps.

I think that I could drink some of this more often.

It’s a long story and to not just do justice to home I tell everything I know of Sir Shane as well from the time he came to our castle and court to the sword dueling in practice he did with my father and older brothers and the light jousting he did with Stephen.

I want The High King to think well of the man.

I’ve a second whisky going when I can hear the commotion outside in the halls and I can hear someone shouting.

“We know the witch is with the king and his immortal soul is at risk every moment that he is with her!”

I don’t hear what the guards are saying but I hear more shouting.

“Move sir knight or The Lord’s Light will punish those that thwart his will.”

There’s some more sounds and there’s the sounds of steel now on steel and The High King moves and he goes to open the large double doors at the end of the room and I see some of the men that were with Lord Dempsey but not Lord Dempsey himself but there’s others there and some look like holy order fighters and knights and they’ve squared off against the Kings Guard and there is a man in robes that looks like he’s been eating and shitting lemons his whole life and he glares at me.

“There’s the witch and she’s full of deceit look at her and how she’s charmed one of the High Guard into giving her his things.”

There’s some men moving forward and they stop when The High King moves in front of them.

The priest and even some of his knights look ready to do violence to him and they stop short.

“The King has been charmed by the whore!”

The High King says. “I have not been charmed, not manipulated.”

“You cannot know this to be true your highness; her powers have already run over you.”

“But not over me and mine human.”

What?

Oh I had the same thought as the cleric.

He spins on his heels to face whoever just spoke and I look too and see this woman in a simple white dress…no it’s not simple it’s elegant, it’s white within white and there are flowers inlaid like embroidery but so fine there’s no stitches to be seen and the dress is tight to her waist but the neckline is deeply and almost indecently plunging showing tanned flesh and revealing a modest sized but indecently covered pair of perfect breasts and she’s just stunning.

She has the most amazing hair as well long and golden blonde falling in these impossible waves and totally unrestrained yet tamed and styled.

And she has the face of an angel.

An angel with pointed ears.

“Demon elf this is human business!”

She looks at him.

“Cleric Quintin Solemn is it? You know your histories do you? You humans live here landed for safety by the graces of us the elder races. It was we that showed you how to survive here and clothed and fed you as the wars raged when the gates had fallen. You seek grace seek mine and that of my people for that is what grace truly save you.”

He literally purples with rage.

“Heresy!”

She looks at him like he’s an angry toddler.

“Swear it then, swear that I’m a liar by so moting it? Put power behind your claims. Call me a liar, call the king a lair swear to it with power before the gods including your own then if you are so passionate.”

Some of the holy knights pull blades on her and there’s the ring of steel drawn as Commander Charles is there and he’s in just his clothes that he wear under all his armor layers and he’s soaked in sweat like he just…oh I think he ran to get this elven woman.

I look at her. “I’ll swear, I’ll god swear that I’m not a damned witch and that I never charmed the high king.”

He turns and he looks at me and he looks incredibly mad.

“I’ll be the one demanding the swearing By The Light!”

She says. “Then do so, but you first. So mote it and shall we see what happens?”

See…

See when you so mote something you draw blood on yourself and you say your oath or your truth and you say so mote it be. And if you break that oath or you have been lying then the gods who have very real power will strike you down and they will boil the very blood in your veins.”

I don’t know how it works but it always has worked this way.

It’s one of the reasons that the gods have followers and legitimacy.

He looks at her and he looks at me and he looks at The High King.

“I swear by The Gods and by The Lord of Light that I am working in the feverent belief that witchcraft and unnatural magic is at threat to our world and our kingdoms and that I am trying to save us all…so mote it be.”

Dammit.

I was really hoping that he’d burst into flames.

The High King looks at all of us. “I Boen Whitehall High King of the realms of man hereby declare myself free of witchcraft and charms and am untouched by such arts before the people here and the eyes of the gods….so mote it be.”

The Cleric looks at me and so do the others.

I take a breath. “I Princess Gracia of Lyonnes swear to those here and before the eyes of the gods that I am free and clear of any witchcraft and I am not witch and never have been…so mote it be.”

They’re staring at me and I stare back at them and then I take a drink of my whisky.

No more than a drink I drink it all the way down and I fight the burn and the urge to cough.

“I swore, The High King swore, you swore your grace and if we’re not lying and you’re not lying priest then maybe you should take your fellows with you and maybe find out just who’s been lying to you.”

He glares at me. “There’s been evidence found of witchcraft and of collusion by your father and mother with the witch Aurora Blackhand and as to such your family has been judged and found guilty and wanting.”

“Not by the law you arserag.”

“The laws of the gods supersede the laws of mankind!” he shouts at me.

I shout back at him. “Then let your precious Lord of light himself come down to the courts and make his presence known personally instead in having someone like you do it!”

“Someone like me?! I am the voice of the Lord of Light!”

“You’re a man and men create the laws of men! You can’t just decide it’s against your faith and that people are against your faith because they don’t believe the same things and be allowed to do whatever your church dictates to them!”

“You’re a child and a woman!”

“I know the law!”

“You have no business speaking the law you’re a woman!”

We’re shouting and tensions are high with this cleric and the nobles with him and the knights and holy knights with him and the King’s Guard and Commander Charles of the High Guard and myself of course and The High King himself and of course this elven woman…lady…princess?

That is until more of The King’s Guard shows up and the very nasty men and their even nastier zealot are really outnumbered.

The High King says. “There is no law that grants men rights over women in these realms she is entitled to speak her voice.”

The cleric scowls. “That too will change; it’s an affront to the gods for a woman, a craven thing to speak of the laws on man and in full insult to the laws of heaven.”

High King Boen looks at him. “You are welcome to try to change them sir this is why we have the courts of law and the courts of the upper councils.”

The cleric draws himself up to his full puffiness and he glares at me and I glare back and he does the same to the High King and he says. “Are you going to refute the finding by Lord Kingsland and return the tainted lands of Lyonnes to her?”

“No, as you said there is enough evidence.”

I choke out a sob.

The cleric looks even more puffed up.

The High King says. “I will however put this before the Upper council courts to debate over and will abide by their decision.”

I pull off the ridiculously heavy chainmail hood thing and wipe at my bruised face. “And what if I contest this decision that they’re making.”

The High King looks at me. “You can, you will need votes and an advocate.”

The elfin princess says. “Or a champion.”

The King nods, the cleric laughs at me. “You’re welcome to try.”

I look at the others….my shoulders slump and I know that the elf cannot help since she’s an outlander and her votes will likely not help and Commander Bonham won’t help or more to the point her really can’t give his position with his rank.

I have no one here, and I know no one here either and I have no money to campaign with and no favors owed that I know of.

The Cleric turns on his heels. “We will see all of you in the courts, and we shall truly see how The Lord of Light bestows wisdom amongst the people.”

He sweeps out and I sob and fall down and start crying.

The High King actually kneels and his hand is on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry Princess, I have to be neutral, I have to keep the peace of all our kingdoms together.”

I cry and I wipe the tears away but it’s so hard to try and fight them and to try and to stop crying and I look at him.

“So what can I do?”

He looks at me. “The reports have said that your sisters have survived hopefully. I will send messengers to your family and I can try and to use that to delay the debates in court until you are able to come together and to face them together. Hopefully they will bring you aid and votes as well as any lord and noble in the United Kingdoms of Titan has a vote in court as long as they are directly present.”

Commander Bonham says. “It will give them time to build their cases and gather allies as well.”

The elfin princess says as she’s pouring herself a drink of whisky.

“And we can use that time for our champion.”

I look at her and she passes me her glass and I take it and I drink and she raises an perfect eyebrow at me.

“You would drink from the same glass as one not human?”

I nod. “Actually given how my lot seems to behave I’m just grateful for the aid.”

She smiles at me. “I dislike bullies and cowards and especially ones that hide their racism and bigotry and sexism behind cheap displays of faith.”

I blush a little. Her smile and her gaze is powerful, she’s just…she’s an elf and that’s definitely hitting home with me. I have no idea how to behave around her but I think I’m crushing on her as a person.

It’s not like a romantic thing, but she just seems to be one of those people that you meet in life that you meet and can’t help but to think of with a whole feeling of wow.

I take another drink and pass it back and she takes it and she turn the glass so she is lined up with my lip prints on the glass and she drinks from the same spot.

I don’t know if it’s like a thing with elves or if it’s just a gesture of good faith but I’m actually happy she did it.

I wipe at my eyes. “You mentioned a champion, why?”

The High King says. “If you can challenge a lord’s vote then you can have it stuck down from the roles if you beat him or his champion in a contest of arms or a joust or defeat him in the battleknight arena. It’s long held as an ancient law that the winner has the favor of the gods on their side on that matter.”

I look at them. “But who would champion me? I know nobody?”

The elfin princess looks at me. “Come with me and I will explain this to you.” She looks at The High King. “To save you from further troubles that might come your way I would be very humbled to guest the adopted niece of Aurora Blackhand in The Grove.”

I look at her and I look at the High King and he looks at Commander Bonham. It’s tha commander who says. “It’s your best bet Princess Gracia for security, they will and do have spies here and they might actually try something while they are waiting to debate this while your family gathers here to face the charges. It would render it academic if they could do that and Lyonnes is a rich prize and one that they won’t want to part with.”

I’m a little more than confused at this point but I get that they might try things, there are always spies in the realms and between them and there are reasons why nobles need to have guards.

But there’s a good chunk of this that I think that I am missing.

The High King looks at me. “I will keep you safe her but in all honesty I would trust Lady Aliantha with my life.”

Aliantha…

That definitely has a very elfin sound to it and just a lady? Well that could mean more than just a ladyship or a lordship.

I look at all of them.

Honestly I want to as much as I have really no choice in the matter either.

“I accept, I gratefully accept Lady Aliantha.”

She finishes her drink. “We should be off straight away then there will be no dallying with your enemies in looking for their next bit of foulness.”

She offers me her hand and she pulls me up armor and all and she did it with one hand.

“You’re strong would you be my champion?”

She shakes her head. “While I would gladly stand beside you on the battlefield this is politics and I’m forsworn from taking a direct hand.”

I blink. “Then what was just that?”

“That was me calling out an overblown arrogant troll of a human and seeing that he had to follow the rules.”

“Oh…”

The High King shakes my hand. “Princess it’s been an honor and I will fight to see that sanity prevails over this rhetoric. And I will return the sword and those items to the Winterbrook holdings his family will be glad for them and the news I imagine.”

I try a courtesy but it’s hard to do in this get up and I look at Commander Bonham. “Sir Charles should I return this now?”

He shakes his head. “No I’ll go with you to the grove and collect it there.”

He leads us out and we just get out of the royal wing we were in when we’re flanked by several of the High Guard and they fall in around us all the way to a carriage that is flanked by two hooded riders in these thick richly deep green tabards and the rest is plate armor like I have never seen before so form fitting and so ornate looking and they’re well-armed and I notice that we do have an audience.

There’s castle folk and there’s courtiers as well and numerous other well to do’s here looking and watching us and I can feel eyes on me and I can see some of the ones that were with the cleric and they seem to be glaring at the lot of us.

I’m getting a lot of looks since I’m no longer wearing that stifling chain hood thing and the bucket helmet and people are whispering and pointing.

There are lady knights but they are very few and there hasn’t been any that I know of in my lifetime and there has never ever been to my knowledge a princess wearing armor so there is that.

And I’m with elves.

And according to nasty rumors a witch or bespelled.

Well hopefully the swearing by the gods will take care of that one.

As to the rest.

Well I never did like just being one of the crowd.

I’m helped into the carriage and then we head off and it is a lot more comfortable and thankfully cooler riding in this as it was killing myself to hike through this place.

Lady Aliantha leans forward and oh…well she is braless and they’re perfect and I can see completely down her dress.

“May I princess?”

“May you what?”

“Tend to your hurts.”

“Oh…yes please you’re a healer?”

She nods. “Yes it’s part of the way, this much I can do/”

“The Way?”

She touches my face and it tingles and suddenly it feels cool almost as if someone had pressed a cool washcloth to it and the pain is gone and she sits back.

“The way is elfin magic.”

“Oh…Oh I just had magic done to me?”

She nods. “You could call it that.”

“What is it them if not magic?”

“Communion really, see the entire basis of elven life is the fact that we have a connection to life, and we have fostered and strengthened that connection for ages upon ages. I didn’t so much heal you as to share my life force with some of the cells in your body in order for them to heal faster and do the things that they need to do like reduce the swelling and the like.”

“That really sounds like magic to me.”

She smiles. “Then please think of it that way Princess.”

I nod. “Gracia you can call me Gracia or Grace.”

He smile gets even brighter. “I will, you do me a great honor again.”

I grin back. “Yeah I’m good like that.”

She actually laughs and it’s surprisingly a human sound and she just sort of shines.

“Are all elves like you?”

She shakes her head. “No, but I have ties here so I was asked to come to The Grove and be ambassador.”

“Ties?”

“I was actually born here on this continent.”

“Oh and that’s why?”

“That and I lived here until my people had returned to Elvenmere.’

“Elvenmere?”

“The Continent that we live on, it’s our home here on Titan.”

“Oh…that sounds like this could lead to lessons.”

She nods. “There will be lessons.”

“There will be?”

She smiles and she nods. “I would be a poor hostess and protector if I did not share things with you while we do other things.”

“Things with this whole getting a champion for my family.”

She looks at me.

“Things in line with teaching you how to be a champion Grace.”

“Me a champion, I’m just a girl and I’m no knight.”

She looks at me. “There are many more ways of fighting in the world Grace than just those taught by the men that train knights and soldiers. You don’t have to fight like them Grace you just have to win.”

“Me…?”

She smiles. “Yes you.”

“You really think that I can do this?”

Lady Aliantha looks at me. “You survived an invasion in your lands in the middle of a night and then lived through the journey here and all of the things that have targeted you and befallen you since and even showed great cunning and courage in getting to Boen. You are more powerful than you think Grace, you have great fire and great mettle you just need someone to show you how to forge it.”

Boen…

She called The High King by his first name.

That says something doesn’t it?

I’m thinking and we’re going from the palace and it’s huge, and it’s pretty and it’s very white washed and painted too. There are great pains taken to make sure the great capitol looks literally bright and shining.

I gawk, even with all the frippery and show here there’s things that make me feel like I’m from a backwater.

There’s illuminations here and there and everywhere and they’re used to light the streets from what I can tell. There are buildings all over the place and there are many that are seventy or eighty feet tall and they’re not guard towers or forts but just buildings of some kind and as we get lower and lower into the city and the levels the tighter the building actually get.

Aside from the main streets that we are on and having room to move the lowest level is almost claustrophobic to me.

I have also never seen so many kinds of people before in my life either.

I’ve seen some of them in caravans and a few as traders but not like there being vast numbers of them living and working here.

It smells here too, people and foods and everything else and there’s a noise too the sound of a crowd but it’s not like crowds from home…this is a crowd where common is likely the most common second language and the common that is spoken here it comes with an accent.

And I am now very firmly rooted in the fact that I am very much a bumpkin, I am or was a rich bumpkin but I am not well educated and I am definitely not very worldly.

I look at her. “Lady can you teach me this as well?”

She nods. “I would be proud to teach you more of the world.”

We ride all the way to the outskirts of the city passed its great wall and we’re in some outer ward and there are walls here dividing things here like in neighborhoods or what seems to be other places that look like embassies to other places and nations maybe.

We come to one that has very large trees towering up and over its outer walls and those walls are covered in mosses and ivy and it looks almost like the walls for the embassy ward are failing at holding back the forest…The Grove behind them.

The locals seem to give the place a wide berth.

And we get looks upon stopping here and the gates open and it’s a forest but like a hallway going in from the gate… seriously the trees are in neat rows here and they’re grown close together and the canopies are arched together and it just looks so much like a large arched hallway.

I’m helped out and down by Commander Bonham. “Princess welcome to The Grove.”

I look at him. “I’m a little scared.”

“Don’t be, I lived here once and trained in languages and other things. It’s a very strange place and very different but it is a safe place.”

“Will I see you again?”

He smiles. “Well barring battle and missions I think there will be a good chance of that princess.”

“Grace, you of all people should be allowed to call me Grace.”

He blushes and he shakes his head. “No Princess I can’t it just isn’t in me.”

I smile at him and I take off the armor and the layers and he is helping me out of them and I pass them over to him. “Please thank everyone involved in helping me.”

“I will, we’ll all be expecting cakes.”

I tip toe and kiss him on the cheek. “Done.”

He blushes and it’s very nice to be still able to do that after everything.

Well maybe it was because of everything that we just had been through.

Lady Aliantha walks me inside and her two knights stay and close the gates.

It’s so odd here and quiet and I exhale.

“You came to us very fast Lady thank you for that.”

“Not so much I do have an office in the palace.”

“Oh well that makes more sense. Will I be taking you from your duties?’

She shakes her head. “Not really, there’s not too much call for elvish wisdom by the current congress of lords.”

I look at her as we start walking through the tree hall. “And that’s on purpose?”

She nods. “The humans are edging towards a civil war Grace. The people that attacked Lyonnes did so because your father was a member of a group of nobles called The Meritas.”

“I’ve never heard of it?”

She nods. “It’s an old order but one that has been cut down a lot various generations. The Meritas is about Merit. It’s about what you do and what you say and not who nor what you are. It’s a group that seeks to change the laws to reflect that and those in power, those with privilege are hard set against such ideal.”

“People being equal doesn’t seem like a concept that others seem to want to think about. Nobles have money, nobles have power and privilege and they won’t want to lose any of that.”

“Some will always think that raising up others in fairness is taking rights from them Grace.”

“Father died for that?”

She nods. “I think so; Aurora was a member of The Meritas as is Boen and others.”

“What about her father?”

“Rory was a warlord; he was far more of the being so much more special than the others around him he sought to rule. He was one of the rare human males that could wield power and there are many that think that power was bestowed.”

I stare at her. “Bestowed?”

She keeps going and we head into a turn in the hall of trees. “In the most ancient of times grace there was a war in the universes, there were things that sought dominion over all life from other universes and these beings were not defeated not by the peoples of magic nor of the peoples from the ships and they were only sealed off by both sides when the gates were destroyed, sealed off from getting through and devouring the rest of us. There’s still stragglers on this side of things and they all seek to feed and gorge and burn and take and to devour all live and when they are not doing this they are seeking power by any means to find a way to bring their breather through.”

I’m looking at her. “I…I was never told this…it’s…”

She turns and walks backwards looking at me. “It’s ancient faded history to your peoples, but it’s reality to mine. These things they passed power to The Witchkings in the far west and they razed this continent in ancient wars and I believe that Rory Blackhand had done so as well.”

“And all of this with my family?”

“Those dark powers would like nothing better than a war between men, they would love nothing better than to see good fail and fall because the weak, the greedy, the vain will not see their blades fall on them until it is too late.”

I look at her. “Is this why you want to teach and train me?”

She smiles. “Clever and brave as well as Grace you have great merit already. These realms would do well to see you riding through them as a champion.”

I…

“But…but…”

“Yes Grace you have a fine butt.”

I blush.

“That’s not what I meant! I’m a flirt and I like to drink and dance and I’m…I’m the family layabout.”

“That’s not the Grace that I seen, I saw you champion yourself, I saw you champion your dead and I think you are wonderfully strong. And besides a true champion can’t be all black and white they need a sense of fun and humor along with the sense of honor and fair play.”

I…I just…I just blush harder and shut my mouth and look her in the eyes and I nod.

And when we come around the corner my mouthshutting fails me.

It’s unlike anything that I have ever seen.

The embassy is built around trees but to say just trees doesn’t really do them justice. They are huge ten feet across and they rise up at least a hundred feet and they form this thick canopy that sort of lets the light in as much as it seems to create its own from something glowing up there.

There are cellar buildings for each tree and the roots seem to have grown over them and around them and there are stairs that curve around each tree heading up to the crowning place where the branches all seem to come out from the trunks and there on large platforms are these villa houses and each is connected by bridges and walkways as solid looking as any stone work all from vines and branches and planking all grown together in this simple yet unbelievable breathtaking complexity.

And some of those buildings are literal villas large house with two or three stories to them and there’s even what looks like courtyards that are like the walkways but even bigger with limbs and vines coming together from multiple trees to join to the flooring and the craftsmanship in the work, in the wood it’s so simple and so elegant.

And this is just an embassy.

Lady Aliantha comes from an entire continent like this…maybe but at least a culture like this…and all the people outside of here seen is likely just dense trees.

And now I’m crying.

It’s not just all that happened but it is…it’s that and it’s hope.

From the first time that I had everything taken from me I have hope.

Lady Aliantha takes my hand. “Come you need rest and you need healing.”

I go with her and it’s stunning and more so when we get actually up there and she leads me to her home and it’s very large and it’s lovely and I see elves, elves everywhere and they see me and I get smiles and little lifted hands in like a sort of casual wave and everyone seem either happy that I’m here or neutral about it at least.

And I’m not the only human here either, there’s silk islanders here and southern people that are of all those different shades and manners of dress and clothing.

There was a woman just wearing silks but they were so thing they looked like gauze and she was carrying a tray with books and things on them and there’s just so much here.

It’s peaceful inside her house though.

Sparse too but not sparse? It’s like the home itself is most of the decoration and everything else looks like it’s for something or they are displayed gifts.

She has a mixed staff as well.

Or they could be other guests.

She slows me to my room. “This is yours, it’s simple but I think you’ll get used to it.”

“I…thank you…”

She nods. “Come we’ll get you bathed.”

“Oh communal baths?”

“No, healing ones…you need to heal Grace.”

“Oh…” I take a breath and I follow her into what still looks like a fancy bathing place and there’s a pool in the floor and it’s steaming and there’s some other elves there too and they’re pouring something that smells very floral and otherly into the water.

And otherly is as best as I can maybe describe it. Maybe like something from an apothecary but better or more refined.

They undress these two other elves and they’re women and they are astoundingly lovely, lithe and thin and skin free of hairs or blemishes with smallish breasts but they’re not human breasts. They’re actually and literally as close to perfectly symmetrical as I have ever seen.

One of them says with an oddly lilting accent. “May I measure you?”

I nod but swallow and she uses a beaded line and she writes nothing down and she smiles and another one passes me a bowl mug of something hot. “It is bitter and earthy, you may find it unpleasant and off-putting but it is medicine.”

I drink it and it is horrid.

Bitter like chewing bark or dandelion stems and there’s an earthy taste too like mud. It’s really hot too so I drink it fairly quickly since in many cases things like this do not get more pleasant as they cool.

They lead me to the steps to the bath and enter it with me and I see Lady Aliantha undress and that takes all of her shifting her shoulders and her stepping out from the dress….and Lady Aliantha might just be Lord.

Where she should have a woman’s cleft she had a cock.

I…

“I…what?...how?”

She smiles without a hint of modesty or blushing. “Here with my people there are some of us that are not aligned to the way that we are born, there are ways that we can fix that as best as we can for ourselves and we live as the gender that we are rather than the sex that we were born as.”

“Oh…”

I look at the other two women and they actually don’t seem to notice it and I feel very strange really.

“So you live as a woman?”

“Yes by human standards, for my people I have always been a woman and before that a girl.”

“How did you know?”

“Like other do, you just know. Things that are typically sought after and enjoyed by men never held much connection for me and when that was certain enough I began my change.”

“How?”

“Medicine and magic as you call it.”

“Are you going to become a woman…a female I mean?”

“I cannot unfortunately, there’s no one with magic of our kind that is that strong anymore. One would have to reach deep into oneself as one could likely go and rewrite oneself and know how to rewrite oneself.”

“Oh…I’m sorry if I am staring?”

She waded into the water and shrugged. “Every human has always had this reaction or worse Grace. Do you still want to stop after knowing this about me?”

I look at her and I’m surprised by how fast my answer comes to me. “Your merit really doesn’t have a damned thing with what’s between your legs, if that’s going to apply to all of us then it should apply to all of us.”

She smiles and she actually sits in the water and I do the same and it’s really hot and the smell’s going to my head and making me sleepy and not sleepy…my skin tingles and they’re all washing me and touching me and there’s feelings like what she did to my face but in different ways all over in all these places that were “healed” but not healed all the way and I almost fall asleep.

Almost it’s too surreal to fall asleep yet.

Then they wash me, really well and with these great sponges that have different textures from rough to really soft and they’re washing each other too and I help, and washing them is a very heady and odd experience. At most I have washed my sister’s backs and my mother’s backs this is way more personal.

And I’m getting upset.

Thinking about home is coming fast up inside of me and thinking of my sisters has me filled with worry because what if they’re going through things as much as I have been.

Oh gods if it’s not in a book or on an abacus Angeline will not be able to handle it!

And then it’s my brothers, and Father.

Not Father but Daddy.

I can’t stop it.

I can’t stop it or shut it off and I am losing my mind because everything is melting away to that horrible night and seeing Sir Shane die over and over again and feeling it…the vibrations and the splatter of his…of him and I scream.

I somehow know that they’re moving me, but part of them moving me is those men that tried to kill me and some of it is Bryon Dempsey and some of it’s the cleric Quentin Solemn and his hate filled people and I’m screaming and I’m screaming and it keeps going.

And getting weirder…things that I hate about myself coming to torture me, all my mean words all the things that I never should have done to people or said to people.

I scream and I cry and I hate myself, I hate myself with a hate that brings up vomit and bile and I can’t stop shaking.

It’s the tea; it has to have been that tea.

Oh hellfire blood and bloody ashes it’s going to be one of those kinds of cleansings.

Oddly enough that whole realization helps, it helps me hold on and ride it through it in these lucid seconds when I wake gasping and they’re giving me water and I’m sweating and likely other things too.

The last thing I remember out of all of that experience was seeing Daddy getting killed in The Rampant and then seeing this red light…there was this unclean red light coming from within the sealed up rig cage of The Gorgon.

I know I didn’t see it then.

I’m seeing it now.

I wake up sitting bolt upright in the bed in my room and I’m on a wicker mattress and there’s a padded bedroll on it and it’s amazingly comfortable and low key really and I’m in what I’m sure is the room that Lady Aliantha had shown me.

I’m naked, but the sheets are so nice.

But that isn’t stopping me from needing to use the bathroom and I slip out of the bed and I look around and see a note on a low table on part of my room and it has a map of my room as to where my jakes are and where my clothes are to be found and I use the jakes and they have plumbing here and they has a bath and a sink as well as personal things for me to use like a tooth scrubbing brush and a paste that tastes well and there’s lotions and soaps and all of those things and then there’s my closet and dresser.

The clothes are almost men’s wear but loose and with fine, fine cloth and a nice blue grey that matches my eyes.

There’s nothing really constricting, there’s no bras either, no corsets and no hose, just loose clothes and underpants and a very comfortable camisole like thing that is of stretchy clingy cloth that’s really thin.

I follow my nose to where I might find food and there’s a kitchen like place but it’s partly outside and on the edge of one of the courtyards they have up here and there’s a silk islander there and he looks old and he’s making food and he smiles when he sees me and he nods.

His voice is gravelly and full of light humor. “I will make you tea; tea is good after such an ordeal and a slumber.”

I nod and put my hands together and bow as I think I saw my mother do with one of their traders.

“I would love a cup of tea, and the food smells amazing.”

Lady Aliantha is there with some others and they are all around her and they are dancing and it seems strange.

Oh they’re not dancing they’re getting into position.

They they’re fighting and it’s all hand to hand but it’s acrobatic and it’s amazing and she is pure poetry.

The old man sets tea beside me and it’s foamy and green but it smells amazing. “Thank you Sir.”

He shakes his head and a finger. “No, no I am not a sir; I am not of noble birth.”

“Then what would you have me call you?”

He smiles at me and drinks his own tea. “You can call me sensei.”

Sixteen Feet of Steel Chapter 20

*Before… Elizabetha

And then I can see the shorelines and then just out about a mile from the shore and the beaches is…
The White Spire… out on the coast… City Island…that’s actually the name of this place the only city that is on an island here and not just bordering the water.
Home of mother’s house…House Petrel.
The keep is all of pale sandstone blocks as in the wall for the city but The White Spire as well…it’s is actually a beacon within a tower an ancient marvel and responsibility called a lighthouse.
The whole city as I’m coming down is both more lovely than I remember with there being the same sort of colors around so much here and stone homes great and small to weather all manner of storms and clay interlocking tiled roofs.
People are pointing, bells are being wrung and men at arms are running out of barracks into the courtyard armed with spears and crossbows and cutlasses.
The bubble breaks and I fall as soon as I try to stand and my legs are too numb.
I yell though. “Fetch Grandfather! Please now!”

*And Now…

I’ve never had crossbows leveled at me.

It’s honestly terrifying when you have that happen and you know what a crossbow can do to a body.

I raise my arms and crouch lower. “Peace, peace I’m the princess! I’m Elizabetha! Lyonnes has fallen; Kingsland The Gorgon has razed us!”

They’re still pointing they’re weapons until I hear a loud voice bellow out. “Weapons own you lot, that’s Lady Deidre’s youngest daughter!”

One of the guards says. “But she came from the sky sir!?”

“And she said Lyonnes has fallen! Do you have a faster way to get here from there?”

I look and see this big man in chain armor and with a big fur made into a sleeveless long coat. He’s massive and brawny with lots of greys and a big beard he is carrying a huge broad blade that looks like it’s a good quarter of my weight.

I’ve no idea who he is but he seems to be in charge.

They pull back but they’re all looking at me like I’m something they’re all afraid of. To be honest I understand that. Aunt Aurora was rare, very rare really and she had real power. And there were others, there were women with power…but nothing like her. And she used that power; she used it for the realms for things that helped everyone. But she, she also stood for her sisters.

She gathered them up and saved them from being taken…tortured and burned.

This drove the people that hated any kind of woman with power with power men didn’t have…that they couldn’t have or own…Mad.

It wouldn’t do.

I thought though that we’d be safe. We had walls and Lyonnes had as a realm outer walls too. She had made them a long time ago. It was long before I was born too… leagues on leagues of it. How I had no clue but she did and all my life we had a dozen feet of stone as the first safeguard.

And we had troops and knights and cavaliers…we should have been safe. I thought we were safe.

I was wrong.

And these troops, these soldiers are looking at me with that look of fear and even hate.

The huge man comes down fast and he pushes through the others and he offers me his hand.

“Here princess allow me the honor.”

“My legs are asleep sir, I’m sorry.”

There’s tears running down my face. I…I see the men around me and then the attack again and it’s trying to like swallow me up…this memory.

I can’t breathe, I am breathing but I can’t breathe and I feel my heart racing harder and harder.

“I…I…I’m sorry…” It’s like I’m choking and this big man his hand reaches for this rag and he tells me.

“Breathe princess, breathe through the cloth. You’re havin a fear attack an this will calm you down.”

It’s hard, I can tell there’s something on it an can almost feel it in my lungs and I keep breathing as he’s rubbing my legs and eventually I calm own enough to breathe again.

The smell though it’s sword oil, leftover wipings of a whetstone not something herbal or a drug I lower it and look at him.

“Thank you sir, I think I just lost control…it’s…it was horrible.”

“War is princess, war is.”

He helps me up and says. “I’ll take you to your grandfather now princess, but it’ll be a shock.”

A shock?

“There’s been illness in the lands, it’s spread fast too.”

“Oh gods and goddesses. Please sir take me there.”

The guards and people part and the big man he helps ne up and we head into the manor. The house itself is large and it’s wood and stone and mostly stone to withstand the stones but the wood is here for warmth for the Eastern lands might seem more temperate but there’s a cutting moisture that dogs the coast and stone id far too close of friends to that sort of thing.

Illness is a fact of life and no matter how learned we get or how advance we seem to rise it’s always there and it always raising it’s ugly head.

I’m not as ill-informed as some of the people that are there doing prayers and whatnot or waving fumes and vapors in censers and clogging up the good air at least in the halls.

I still don’t like it though it stinks.

There’s some folks looking at me and they’re staring and while not talking or whispering right there in front of me they are whispering because of likely who I am and how I arrived here.

It’s not making anything that just happened and what I went through remotely better.

But I’m not going to cry.

I can’t.

There’s too much riding on my shoulders right now even if none of it is fair or wanted.

I look to the big warrior.

“There needs to be messages sent out sir, as fast as we can send them so if you can will you gather runners and riders?”

He looks at me sort of askance.

“Ye be taking charge princess?”

I look at him. “Is there no other here?”

The look he gives me says it’s right now just him.

He says quietly. “Nay, there in truth is not.”

I look at him again. “Your name sir?”

“Sir Vanner Argile, Lady.”

“Argile, of the pirate family?”

There’s some families like the Blackhand’s that are infamous in their own right and Padraig Argile and his family are well known pirates here in these waters on the eastern coast and when not pirating they’re smuggling in throughout the canals and the waterways her.

“Aye the same family, it’s a long story princess.”

“I’d say sir from pirate to knight.”

He nods and he then turns and he knocks on the door to my grandfather’s room and it takes a few minutes before there was a woman that opened the door in a mask and she looks to be in some kind of thin muslin over robes that look like they’re easily done away with.

She looks at me and Sir Vanner says. “She’s the princess of Lyonnes she’s here to see her grandfather before he passes.”

Passes…

Oh well that says a lot.

And Grandmother had passed given the draught of long nights when she took with dementia just a few years back.

The nurse looks at me and she nod-curtseys. “If the princess would come with me she needs to be attired and prepared first.”

I look at her and I know she doesn’t mean that I need a bath or that I need to get changed into presentable clothes but in the way that she is currently.

The room she takes me too is definitely a servant’s waiting room adjacent to my grandfather’s room where they’d wait to do things or to hear him or grandmother call for them and be there fast.

It smells of soaps here harsh and strong and boiled antiseptic herbs and of alcohols and of things like iodine.

I see robes there for me to use and I am filthy so I get out of the things that I am wearing and I wash off.

The harshness and the astringentness of it all really cuts into my brain slicing through the fog that is threatening to swamp me since things are slowing. I’m sure that I’ll have fits and faints later when all of this comes back on me.

But there’s duty, and there’s….

There’s things that need doing that I can and have to focus on before I let my losses break through on me.

The nurse helps me with salves? I have a surprising amount of scrapes and cuts and ember burns and bruises. I can’t remember getting any of them and she helps me with my hair too.

The host of pins I usually have to keep it in place while I sleep is mostly gone and it too is in a mess.

I’m led into Grandfather’s new room?

He has a couple of nurses with him and a physician I think from his patches of the guild he’s wearing. I come in and his eyes are bright and burning with awareness but he’s thin, thin like the sickness has ate away at him since the last time we seen each other.

I do a curtsey as best as I’m able and he waves me off and waves me closer as a coughing fit takes him.

It lasts several moments as he brings up blood with his cough, it’s not old blood either and it’s a little foamy from the air mixing with it. I come closer and I wait until he can get as close to breathing as he can.

“Lyonnes fell?”

“Yes, grandfather.”

“And your mother?”

“Dead sir, along with my brothers and father.”

“It’s just you and your sisters?”

“Yes I think so. I think Lady Blackhand got them out as they did me. She sent them to different places though for our safety.”

He wheezes and he’s being given some foul smell syrup mixed into brandy and he coughs some more before telling one of the maids. “Send for Sir Charles, I need him here now.”

He looks at me and he gestures to the physician. “My good bottles.”

“My Lord, that’s unwise in your condition.”

“I’m bloody dying and we all know it. I’ll be damned if I’m not having a drink with my grandchild before I pass off.”

There’s a look between them a staring contest and he has a grudging look on his face as he goes to a chest on a side board and he takes out a bottle of something deeply brown and it has a very fanciful label on it that I have never seen before and grandfather gestures for me to take it and the doctor gets two glasses.

He tells me how to open the bottle, there’s a very certain way you should like with wines and this is strong, stronger than brandy, stronger than anything that I have ever smelled.

“There is rum and there is good rum. I pray that you learn the difference through my collection. Now pour and you tell me all that happened.”

I pour with shaking hands it’s heavier than you’d think or it’s my nerves and it’s strong.

But as much as I’ve never had but water with some wine I did learn tastes. You don’t get drunk as you spit it out and my nose is getting molasses and vanilla from good oak and there fruitiness there too in its depths and spice too…not hot spice but warm spices and I can taste hints of allspice berries from the far south and nutmeg or mace on my tongue before the sheer power of the drink sucks the air out of my lungs and brings tears to my eyes.

It’s so strong, so very, very strong.

Part of me is grateful for the heat soon flooding me and the effect it’s having on my nerves. I’ve no more than a half inch poured for myself and I’m sipping at that and I poured three times that for grandfather who’s sipping it.

It’s strange and surreal and tugging at my heartstrings that he’s doing me this sort of honor.

By and large this is a drink shared between men.

He gestures for me to start and I have another drink and I slowly start telling him what happened, from as much detail as I can remember.

It’s not hard to remember.

Some of it is etched on my mind forever and I’m getting a little more poured into my empty glass by Sir Vanner who’s there now as well as Sir Charles? There’s some servants here too all dressed for the sickness and all with drinks now too and he gets me to tell it all over again.

This time there’s tears shed by me and my voice is getting raw and I’m angry and I’m a little drunk too that much I know…or think I’m drunk.

Actually if you realize that you’re drunk then you’re likely even drunker than you realize.

Yes definitely drunk.

But I’m not drunk enough to not hear grandfather say.

“I’m making Elizabetha my heir.”

There’s some looks and but people actually hold their tongues except for Vanner.

“You’re putting her in harm’s way.”

“She’s already in harm’s way.”

“She’s a girl.”

“She’s old enough to be married in some realms.”

“Barbaric ones.”

He glared at my grandfather. “Look you old fool there’s enough vultures circling as is with you on yer deathbed. You might as well be signing this gels death warrant here an now.”

“I can do it.” I say.

He looks at me. “Nay ye kinna not.”

“I know myself and I can do it.”

“An ye have no idea what your grandfather does do ye and who have long wanted him dead and who wants his powers.”

I stand up in his face. “I’m not a simpleton; I’m not a coward so bloody well teach me!”

My grandfather laughs into a very bad coughing fit….he gets so very, very pale.

I look at Sir Vanner and Sir Charles.

“I’m the only one here. I’m the only one that can be heir by blood. I know that The White Spire is the symbol of justice here and that we enforce trade laws on the water ways here and I know that that’s worth more golds than I can fathom and I know that’s going to bring me enemies…but by the gods those same enemies, those same kinds of men burned my father’s kingdom to the ground. I’m well aware of the danger.”

I sit down because all the air I used from that tirade just dizzied me.

And they’re both staring at me and Sir Charles nods and stokes his beard and Vanner just looks angry with me. Angry and man frustrated in the way that they get when a woman tells him something sensible and he doesn’t like it.

But he nods too.

Then so do the others.

And I slide in my seat a moment in relief.

Even if I had the support of the two knights it wouldn’t mean much without the support of the senior servants and staff.

Mother always, always said… “Nobles might rule a place but it’s the people that run it.”

I will need all of their help.

The ceremony is pretty simple and Master Thaddeus the physician proclaims grandfather of sound mind and the will is drawn up with making me Lady.

It sounds strange but Grandfather is a knight a landed Lord only. As Commander of The Fortress of White Spire or just Whitespire he’s afforded the extra rank and title of Marshal.

But not just only. City Island is in the center of the largest trade port in the east called Rosetta. Rosetta is a city that was spawned by many small islands itself that were at the mouth of five different rivers and each of those large enough to accommodate boat traffic and trade. Trading houses and warehouse begat trade houses and then owners to keep an eye on their profits and that became gentrifies over and over until it’s a huge city in a huge bay and the first line of defense has always been this island.

Once naval base and castle it’s home to the largest lighthouse on Titan as we know it and it’s a title of tradition.

Lordship only nothing higher and there’s other lorded houses that are long term sailing men at arms and allies here that owe allegiance to The Seat at Whitespire.

It’s whitening me with fear as grandfather has his blade brought to him and I’m dubbed, and knighted…taught my oaths to swear.

“Gods of olde I call thee…”
“My sword is by my side…”
“I seek a life of honor.”
“Free from all false pride.”
“I’ll cast off to fate with a bold mighty hail…”
“Cover me with death should I ever fail…”
“Honesty…Bravery…Dignity…”

And everyone in the room holds high a glass even without something in it and chants.

“Hail…hail…hail….”

Then grandfather is looking at me, staring and wheezing with blood on his lips.

“Show tolerance and mercy….” (Coughing)
“Show patience and charity…”
“Uphold the balance and the laws…”
“Administer justice on land and sea.”
“There’s salt in blood and in the sea and not a gleam of it in gold.”

He wheezes and he looks at me. “Repeat it.”

“Show tolerance and mercy….”
“Show patience and charity…”
“Uphold the balance and the laws…”
“Administer justice on land and sea.”
“There’s salt in blood and in the sea and not a gleam of it in gold.”

He nods. “Do you understand it?”

I nod. “I do.”

“Do you swear to uphold it?”

“I do.”

He looks at Sir Charles. “My signet.”

I see Sir Charles turn from the fireplace and he has grandfather’s signet in tongs and it’s hot and now I know why it’s made form steel and not gold.

I’m near panic but I’m enthralled by it too.

It’s such a strange thing, such an alien thing for me…for any woman.

Grandfather fall-sits and wheezes. “Take it.”

I reach out and I can feel all eyes on me as I take the ring face down into the center of my palm and I can hear my skin burning and cooking as it’s branding me.

I vomit into my mouth and I swallow it.

A feat I assure you that only happened because I was drunk.

I’m shaking with pain and shock and nerves as grandfather reaches over and folds my hand close and he holds his over mine.

“Those are your oaths and this ensures that you’ll remember them.”

I look him in the eyes and I start to cry with the pain and he just holds my hands and he stares so hard into me.

This is the last thing that he’ll likely ever do and he chose me.

There are…well I don’t know why he’d chose me except for that I’m his blood…and I’m here.

But a lesser man would have married me off first.

A lesser man would have given this to someone outside the blood even.

The power of this is what’s somehow keeping me going.

And years and years of reading stories.

I watched as the physician set grandfather down on the bed yet propped up now and listened to his lungs and made him comfortable as possible. We all seen the look on his face though.

Time had caught up with him…now it was they waiting.

Grandfather looked at everyone there.

“Leave us, my heir and I have much to discuss.”

There were some protests but his eyes still held that strength of personality there.

They left but only after the physician had salved and bandaged my hand.

Grandfather looked at me and he sighed.

“Now, now for the secrets of this city Elizabetha.”

I nod and dry swallow all of this important enough to sober me a lot.

I would speak of the things that he told me but much of it was history and gossip of a proven sort on who to trust what this family was like and that family was like and some of the secrets he held about the City of Rosetta.

Like the Lords before us of Whitespire had conspired to build within each of the stone bridges that crossed the city and led inland gates that would rise out from the water and where to look for those secret doors to the mechanisms that had been made to block easy invasion from the ocean.

He told me of the double secret of Whitespire itself and that is that there is a signal that is an end of the world distress call and that is to the elves that had actually built the Whitespire.

And that beneath in unknown to all but the Lords of this place was a warthrone and on it was a battleknight, a very old one that was enameled in the same white as the spire itself. There was as of yet no one that he had trusted with this treasure….yet but he had given me a very short list of names.

Names that I had committed to memory.

Then all that was left was the waiting.

And watching him slowly fading out as his breathing had gotten worse and worse and to the point that I could hear him drowning inside of himself.

I moved at one point to sit on the bed and to pour him drinks, tiny sips of his good rum whenever he wanted a drink, hoping that drink would kill the pain, he was in.

It’s a hard way to watch someone die.

Two hours before dawn he passed away he took three big sips and he exhaled this long, rattling tired sigh and closed his eyes.

Then he was gone.

And I was alone.

I got up and opened the door to tell the others and then I moved out to the other chamber and washed and washed and I started to cry and to cry as it was hitting me that I was very much alone right now and that I had just been through hell.

I was very aware when I sank to my knees and couldn’t stop crying.

It’s just that I wasn’t very good at doing anything about it.

The maids I think cleaned me and dressed me in other robes and then I ended up either falling asleep or passing out from all of the shock.

………………
………………
………………

In the end it was my hand that woke me.

Out of the sleeping and crying and more sleeping and likely crying in my sleep.

My mouth tasted absolutely vile and dry, my head pounded, my bladder hurt more and more as I wakened and I slipped out of the strange bed and looked around until I found the private jakes.

I hurt inside and out.

My first hangover on the end of escaping a battle with my life and standing vigil for my grandfather and getting literally branded and made heir.

Nerves took me right after that into dry heaving.

And another crying fit that I could ill afford the loss of moisture for.

There was a knock and I coughingly croaked. “C…come in.”

Sir Vanner came in and he looked like he’d had time to bathe and shave. “Yer up earlier than I thought.”

“Hangovers and branding and needing to use the pot trumped how exhausted I feel.”

“You look like shite Lady.”

“Oh thank you ever so much sir knight that’s just what a princess wants to hear in the morning.”

“Evening actually Lady. And you still look like it so bandying words won’t help ye none.”

I push off from the pot seat and pull they chain sending water to flush my leaving away and straighten up with an effort.

“How are they taking the news?”

“What news?”

“Of grandfather.”

“We’re leaving that to you Lady, seeing how you arrived and it becoming scuttlebutt around there’s a lot more going on out there than even I thought would be happening.”

“Like?”

“There’s some priest and some nobles in the main city are accusing ye of witchcraft.”

“Oh…well that’s rotten, and unfounded.”

“Still Lady it’s getting some force to it, you’re looking to get accosted from these folk.”

“The nobles have any claim to my seat here?”

“Aye some are the once families of former members of City Isle.”

“Former?”

“Aye some never stay when they can rise elsewhere than just being a paltry knight under yer command.”

“Can we seal off City Isle?”

“Aye why?”

“Then let’s do that and I want the lords and knight under my command here called to the castle in the morning.”

“An when will ye be openin City Isle Lady?”

“After I have a meeting with the lords and knights here and the heads of the guilds after that. I will need their goodwill.”

“Sealin the Ilse is goodwill?”

I look at him and it hurts to do so somewhat. “We’re already looked at and treated differently out there in Rosette with the higher nobles aren’t we?”

“Aye…”

“Then we honor our closest first, we mourn as an Ilse in private first and that will give me time with them and it will give us some time to go over the books and for me to get to know more of what’s going on here.”

“Thet won’t go down well in Rosetta.”

“It won’t have to. I’m not going to let them bully me; I’m not even going to give them the chance to not until I have allies at my side and true friends at my back.”

He looks at me.

Sighs. “Are ye going t’go back t’bed then?”

“I can’t really afford to….So do you know any hangover cures so I can get things done?”

“Aye commat with me Lady.”

I get my feet into slippers that were left for me and I follow Sir Vanner out after securing my robe and feeling quite undressed and a little self-conscious I am led to the kitchens where there’s staff working and doing things and we definitely get looks as we come in and I’m getting stares from some of the staff there that I haven’t met.

I’m going to have to change that, mother wouldn’t approve of me not knowing.

I bite my lower lip thinking about her, thinking about what I’ve lost and bark my knuckles on purpose on the archway wall coming in. Pain to distract from the pain.

“Our Lady is a bit hung over after quaffing the old demon rum with our late lord.”

There’s some nods and one of the older cook-maids concocts something from what looks like bulbous roots in a thick liquid and a bottle of chemists water which my mother used to treat gas with.

I stared at it a little concerned until I smelled it. “This is ginger?”

She bobs a curtsey. “Aye milady we get it somewhat fresh from the Chaikanese traders.”

I drink it slowly it’s really potent stuff but I feel better or at least more settled now that I’ve had some and my stomach rumbles in a very unlady like fashion by the time I consumed the glass.

She looks at me. “Milady is hungry?”

“Very, I haven’t eaten since the night that Lyonnes fell.”

She gives me a concerned look and an appraising one. “We’ll need to get you fed then, no offense Milady but the coast is too wet and cold and damp for a girl with no meat on her bones.”

“Honestly I agree, is there any food leftover from the evening meal?”

“We can make you whatever you like milady.”

I look around. “First maybe could I have a few of those biscuits and some butter and molasses?”

She nods and she and the others fetch some and I take a seat at one of the counters and I get a few smiles.

I’m not a fussy one really, none of us really were raised to be and I like molasses because I learned to in a book where there was a lot said of it including the fact it has minerals in it that are good for things like anemia. I’ve never had it and that’s sometimes rare for girls like me that get their menses and don’t eat properly but fashionably.

I eat what’s made or easily made.

There’s broth made from the leftovers from the lamb that was cooked for the evening meal with vegetables and barley and heavy with onions and some other things that I don’t know and there’s plenty of bread too and I have that with it and there’s lots of cheese that we have here many I don’t know and I eat it all and wash it all down with a very heavily sugared flagon of stimleaf tea.

Sir Vanner’s looking at me as he’s sipping his own tea and was eating a thing slice of bread with preserves on it.

“Feel better Lady?”

“Yes much now I need clothes and a seamstress if we have such things, I will need clothes.”

The cooks-maid I was talking to says. “I can send for them right away milady.”

I smile at her. “Could you send them to the offices? And send for Garret the chamberlain if he’s willing to see me?”

She nods and she scuttles off and I look to Sir Vanner. “Can you escort me to my offices, I am afraid I actually have never been there.”

“Aye but careful doing anything Lady too much too fast won’t do the rest of us good.”

“Nor will me wasting time when there’s enemies out there seeking to slander me and mine.”

He and I lock eyes and while I’m not used to being as forward and aggressive as my mother I have a still throbbing brand of my oaths in the palm of my hand and I need to do things.

I need to know the fortress and my people in it.
I need to know our accounts and who our suppliers are and what our bills are.
I need to know who owes us.
I need to know what all my post entails.
I need to get the service for my grandfather set.
I need clothes.
I need flags and standards.
I need to know who’s starting the rumors.
I need to know who my enemies are now.
I need to know who my enemies were for Lyonnes to fall like it did.

I don’t need to out stubborn the man I just have to let him see all of that that’s piled on top of me and the strength that weight has.

I take a breath and a drink of my stimleaf tea. “I’ve a duty to you as well Sir Vanner, I will get some rest but I have things to do that really and truly need to be underway.”

He sighs and seems mollified or at least somewhat.

“What do ye need then fer me t’help right now?”

“See to us being closed up and see to the men at arms. And I have a list of names.”

“Names lady?”

“Yes, people I want called here; called to speak with me it’s important.”

I write them down on a kitchen tally sheet then pass it to him.

He raises his eyebrows. “I know some of these names…most of these names I was scouting them with your grandfather.”

We lock eyes…he doesn’t know.

“Can you do it?”

“How soon?”

“As fast as possible, I’d like to steal a march with this if we can.”

He nods and sighs then sketches a bow. “To your offices then Lady.”

I take another drink and take my flagon with me and he takes me through the halls to where the offices are.

Alright they’re fairly easy to find since they’re just a floor down from the rooms I was in.

Garret is there waiting for me as is a tea set on a rolling trolley and I can smell various offerings.

I look to him. “I’m sorry to keep you from your rest Garret.”

He offers a smile, he’s known us since we all were little being tha chamberlain and all.

“I’m the chamberlain Lady Elizabetha; I’m well acquainted with much later evenings than this.”

“You’re not opposed to me inheriting?”

“Lady I knew Lord Petrel all of my life and even if I had not seen him swear you in and you take that brand of faith on your hand as you did I’d still not gainsay it.”

I smile because that makes me happy and that is something I will need to keep me going.

“Alright shall we get started?”

The office is fascinating to me since grandfather has it filled with wonders and trinkets but there’s things that are just as fantastic and just as practical like his globe and that he has maps on the wall of the coast in great detail under glass as well as of the east here and one of the continent as well and I see a collection of books too many with titles that talk just about a region or even a product or a region.

I will fully admit to being a worshipper of books.

I can see the interest and the practicality of a book called the practices and politics of sweetness.

It’s a book about sugars of all kinds and where they’re from and who makes them and the way that it’s moved and traded and shipped.

See that’s part and parcel of grandfather’s job and that’s taxes and contraband in this region for The High King, prevent thieves and pirating both in the local waters and on the rivers as well up until the point that The City of Rosetta’s territory ends and that of the local lords begins.

Garret and I go over the books and there are multiple books for each of the garrisons and the keep and then the subsections of the keep like the smithy and stables and the kitchens and what we use as well as for the jail/prison for city island and for our three dry dock and repair yards and for the boats that we maintain for The High King and then there’s ones for each of those boasts as more.

We drink tea and nibble as we work and I’m not meticulously pouring over things yet but I am getting familiar with things. Moreover names and captains and the various owners that falls under this office.

I leave what’s working good of fine well enough alone except to leave those book in a pile and a thought to write then each letters thanking them for their good service and their good jobs and to actually have a certificate of merit good words and something official to go with it is good for moral.

Father was actually pretty good at those things just little things that some folks could be proud of. I’ll give it more thought though later.

Then it’s the problem ones and the flagging books that seem to have problems and those, those I will go over in further depth to see what we can do to turn things around.

I have the feeling do to my age and my sex I won’t be forgiven very much by those that are already seeking my fall.

Auron Kingsland, The Gorgon, The Iron Bull had attacked us and while I don’t know why I do know we were wealthy, and we had favor from father’s part in the war and with Aunt Aurora aid we were only getting to be more and more prosperous and educated.

I don’t know how things happened but I’m sure that with him in control of Lyonnes grain lands and our other resources that there will be financial pressures he’ll use. The price of grain effects the prices of flour and that effects other trade greatly as well as the best trade routes from the southern kingdoms of Titan pass through Lyonnes to the rest of the north.

He and his fellows might have planned this along with grandfather being sick and being sicker. If he has then me being here has thrown off the plans of his allies here and this is why they might be already rallying against me using my sex and Aunt Aurora against me.

Scare the young girl; make me look foolish or worse and other things to discredit me and to make it seem that there might be a legal reason to challenge me before the courts.

I’m almost to my teens just actually shy of my birthday and in some places I’d be wed already, in some places I’d be expected to know at least something of running a household.

I’m the third daughter, marrying was likely going to be my fate and I would have to know things.

And father would have found me at least a place and a man that both he and that mother could have tolerated.

So it’s yes something huge…this whole thing is huge and scary.

And I’m young.

Really young to be doing this and I shouldn’t be doing this but…I really have no choice.

Soldier on.

I’m a Lyonnes for the gods sakes.

My mind is turning all of these things over and over in my head and I see Jemma my Grandmother’s maid there waiting in the doorway and I smile since she’s still here and wasn’t turned out when my grandmother died as some people do.

“Jemma! Hello it’s good to see you can I help you with anything?”

She curtseys and blushes even at her age. “Y’see Princess I was the maid t’your grandma and I have been allowed t’stay on in some regards but I was wondering if I might be of service or something that’s just more than dusting/”

“Done, I’ll be needing your skills and your knowledge that kept my grandmother so sharp and keen.”

She brightens with praise but stops when I hold up my finger. “First get a suitable replacement one of the local older orphans or foster care girls from the Temple of Sea and Stars.”

They both look at me. “Temple?”

I look at them. “Is there a problem?”

Garret shakes his head. “No it’s just your Grandfather was a very secular man and your grandmother wasn’t terribly faithful either.”

“But we’re not on unfavorable terms with the Temple of Sea and Stars are we/”

Garret shakes his head. “No lady, but Rosetta and her nobles favor The Temple of Light as per in the capital.”

I nod. “Do you know who’s running the Temple of Sea and Stars here on City Island?”

“I can find out, it’s a strong church to be truthful with all the seafarers and fisher folk.”

I nod. “As it should be can you find out as soon as you can and invite them to breakfast with me?”

Jemma nods. “Be there anything else Lady?”

“I need clothes, so anything of my grandmothers and my mother’s things here can you have them out and cleaned and aired and have the seamstress in so she can take my measures and I can have the adjustments made accordingly?”

Garret looks at me. “Not new?”

I look at him. “I’ll re-use what we have and buy things when they’re needed but not until then and we can cut and sew and dye cheaper. Besides it’s not so much what I’m wearing as how much it’ll look like it costs and who made it in these cases.” I give them both a wry smile. “Gracia was very up of the makers of clothes and such even in Lyonnes and especially with the truly famous ones.”

They nod and she leaves and Garret looks at me. “I think you’ll do fine Lady.”

I pour myself some more tea and I get a scone half and add a little butter and some berry and port jelly and eat it down fast. “I’ll have to be.”

I ask him to get some paper and envelopes and I start writing letters out to my other lords and knights here on the island and with it the death announcement of my grandfather and my taking things over here.

I write one for the King’s governor in Rosetta and several to be sent to The High King and I’m doing several in the case of some of my letters not making it there. I’m also sending a report of who and what happened and everything that I had seen and gone through when Lyonnes fell and I tell him that I have been sworn in by my grandfather and all his state secrets have been passed onto me…I even ink my palm and do one ink print of my palm and my brand to be send along with my message and my report.

It’s I’m sure not exactly right but it’s one of the claims that I can make that’s my hand and it has the brand of the seal on it.

Garret looks at me and he nods. “It is different but that should suffice Lady.”

“I hope so; I want my rule here to have proof to it.”

“You think you’ll be challenged?”

“Sir Vanner thinks so; he told me that there were rumblings of witchcraft out there in the city from some people already with word having spread about how I arrived.”

“And this is why you sealed the island?”

“Yes, I will use this as an Island thing now for mourning and getting ready for the funeral but I don’t want us flooded with so called we wishers that aren’t here for that but to spy or cause trouble.”

“You thought of that?”

“That and truly I want our people to be first and not for our lords and knights and captains to be treated less than those from Rosetta.”

“The governor will not like that.”

“He’s the governor of Rosetta not City Island or Whitespire.”

He’s nodding and there’s a bit of a smile. “You remind me of your mother, she’d have taken charge like this.”

“My mother did…during things in the castle.”

He reaches out and squeezes my shoulder which does start me crying some more for a while and he makes me some more tea this time with some brandy in it.

“You should sleep Lady it is getting late again.”

I nod and wipe my eyes clear. “As soon as I finish these other letters.”

I write letters of summons to the names of the folk that he had considered as possibly being worthy for consideration for using the Battleknight underneath the White Spire.

I don’t know any of them but one does stick out since they’re a squire.

The rest are knights and after asking Garret most are older men but Squire Daniel Hollander is just under a score in age and he never completed his training according to what Garret had heard.

“Why did he not finish?”

“There were rumors of a scandal but nothing of what it was.”

“So why did grandfather think him good enough to run a Rig?”

“Capital training Lady they only accept the best to begin with, the lad would have had skills to spare really.”

I drink my tea and brandy and nod thoughtfully and finish my letter of summons for him and the others and then it’s sealing them and there’s somehow this feeling of ceremony when I’m pressing my ring to the wax and then sealing each message into their oilskin and clay tubes.

I stay up enough just long enough to see The Courier Knights ride in and they’re looking actually pretty grim as they see just how many I summoned and that it’s me that summoned them.

They don’t naysay me except to ask to see my seal and my hand and I get respectful bows.

Courier Knights aren’t controlled by any kingdom they’re an ancient sect of riders that came from ancient past of our ancestor’s ancient pasts and they have sworn vows that keep our messages safe and keep them steadfast and true.

It’s considered as vile a crime as attacking holy pilgrims and hospital temples and the like.

Oh it’s been done but it’s a high crime, and it brings their order down whoever does it and other forces too.

It does cost me, it costs us a goodly amount of money to send things by them and to the capital itself and several times over…and by different routes.

It costs, it costs and it also highlights just how important this is.

They seem to know this too.

And then I’m with Garret up on the walls and we’re listening and watching as it gets close to midnight here and we’re locking up City Island.

Now we can’t actually lock it up not in a total sense but we have large wrought iron gates that separate the docks from the main streets and they have gates and when we do lock them up we have guards and keepers stationed at those gates.

Of course there’s a hundred other ways most likely to get on City Island but none of them are right now legal.

I sigh as we get the last flare fired into the air from the last gate.

“Well now I’ve done it.”

Garret nods. “You have made a mark Lady none would expect this from you, not at your age.”

He offers me an arm and he escorts me back inside the main keep of the fortress and then to my rooms where Jemma is waiting and she helps me like some of my mother’s maids did her and that’s with things like helping me with my bath…I can bathe myself but having someone to wash your back and to help with your hair is nice, it’s more than nice and once I’m dressed into a night gown and she’s brushing my hair she has one of the other girls there using boiled heavy ceramic plates to warm my bed and another is showing me the clothes thus far.

Thankfully I have what looks like an appropriate black mourning gown with a hat and a veil that comes off of it and long gloves and even a parisole. She has set out something that is an aqua velvet dress with a hood like a robe for my breakfast with the representative of the Temple of Sea and Stars.

I’m not Gracia to coo over clothes but this is a good start.

The thing is I really don’t know this material from that material and the names of the stitches.

I can actually tell you how to use oil nuts from the southlands in varying applications but this I only know what I know from my sisters and my mother.

I do take the time to try them on and to thank them for their hard work.

Jemma pins my hair into place to keep it neat and then my night cap to further safeguard it and then they leave me to try and sleep.

Even though I know there will be nightmares I still sleep.

My dreams are hazy and blurred like smoke in my eyes and I think that I can even smell it and I see things all over again.

Soldiers rushing in, siege weapons and flames and the screams of rage from the attackers and the screams of fear from my people.

I see my Father dead in The Rampant.

I see my Mother dead on the grand staircase.

I see my brothers dead in the courtyard.

I see Aunt Aurora dead from being crushed by The Gorgon and his hand from his Battleknight reaching out to me and breaking through stone and glass to crush the life from me.

I wake screaming and tangled in my dressing gown and fighting unfamiliar sheets and one of the maids comes in and she’s staring at me and I fight myself free of the blankets and fight to not get caught up in over breathing.

Every time I close my eyes to get a hold on myself though I see flashes of my nightmares.

“Are you alright M’lady?”

I look at her. “No, it’s nightmares of home falling.”

She looks at me with some uncertain sympathy.

I let out a sigh along with one on the inside. We’re so different she’s trying to understand but I’m several years younger than her and I was raised in completely different circumstances and now I’m her employer.

And I thought that I was the odd-girl-out home being the bookish one.

I look at her. “What’s your name?”

“Milly M’lady.”

“What time is it Milly?”

“Near dawn M’lady.”

I breathe and lay back down but not to sleep I’ve had close to five hours and the fortress will be readying for the day and there’s things to do.

“Can you get me some Stimleaf tea and I’ll be getting ready too.”

“This early M’lady?”

“We’ve much to do and we’ll be having visitors for most of the day. I want to get a march ahead of things on the day.”

“Yes M’lady.”

She’s giving me this look like she thinks I’m mad for being awake this early and not playing to my titles and upbringing by sleeping in.

She leaves and I lay there for a bit until I can hear maids coming and then I get up and I make my own bed and straighten it up and I’m taking off my night-cap and pins from my hair and have changed my small clothes.

I take a minute to look at myself in the mirror and I sigh.

Very much too young looking and very much too thin and no breasts to speak of even though I started bleeding early for some women.

It’s not like I’m man crazy either, actually very little.

But the world is what the world is and there is a certain level of authority you get as a woman when you at least have something there up top.

I scrunch my face up.

I’m a long time away from cleavage.

Sigh.
Some of the other maids nod at me knowingly and they offer to help and I don’t really need it except that they brush out the hooded dress and make sure it’s wrinkle free and they help me with my hair and my cosmetic.

And then I’m off downstairs meeting Milly as I go and take my tea from her and she looks embarrassed that I’m already moving and out of my rooms and I can see from the height I’m at when I reach the stairs to go down to the main floors of the keep that there are people already lined up outside the gates and they seem to be already upset.

I’m met at the ground floor by Sir Vanner who looks like he’s gotten zero sleep and there’s a glare from him as he’s drinking what smells like heavy thick stimleaf tea.

I don’t mind that look, it’s honest.

And given his beginnings and his previous statements since we’ve met he’ll be blunt and honest with me and not mince words or snuggle up to my posterior.

“Morning.” I say after drinking some of my tea.

“Aye, it’s morning and you have a lot of explaining to do out there or I bloody have to. There’s people that are irate wit ye for closing up the island.”

“Do you have a list of names?”

“Aye…”

“Can I see it?”

“Aye…”

He passes me a scroll and I look it over and I ask him about a few names and there’s some rich folks and people that would be upset by the interruption of things and some that neither of us know that seem to think that they have a reason to be at the main gates to voice their grievances.

I head to the gates and keep the scroll in hand and I look to the assembly that’s there.

“I’m Elizabetha Lyonnes Princess of Lyonnes and now heir to Whitespire and Lady Marshal of City Isle.”

There’s a lot of murmuring and I hold up the signet and I show my palm.

I then take the scroll in hand. “Due to the passing of my grandfather I will require the attendance and counsel of the following knights and lords and people that was on a list that was passed to me by my grandfather.”

I list off the names of the one that I want to come through the gates and as I’m doing so I see the entourage of the Church of Sea and Stars coming and I give them a bow. “Merrows and Maids you are expected if you will please pass through the gates I will attend with you shortly.”

They bow back most of them are in simple grey-greens or blue greens and there’s some woolen knits like netting and the like that are inspired with wool knit sea shells of different kinds at some of the know points.

Some are actually carrying containers and boxes and baskets with them.

The amount of respect that they’re given is something that I’m thankful for.

We live on the water, even those with interests in Rosetta live on the water here and while The Temple of Light might be powerful in the kingdom this is still the coast.

I look at the others.

“Those of you here with questions I want to say this first and hopefully it will answer some of the questions that you have.”

“I closed off the island for us all. We’re in grieving and my grandfather knew all of you and so many more and he served all of you for decades on decades. I’m taking us out of the mainland politics for a few days. Let them do whatever they want but we’re lost Our Lord Marshal and I want us to have the time to grieve that loss as a people first before the circus begins.”

There’s some stirrings still and one older and stern looking fellow steps forward. “And that’s it we’re supposed to just suspend business whilst this is going on then?”

I look at him. “Not at all, but I will be using the watch to escort supplies and deliveries through the closed gates and we’ll be keeping those not from the isle from setting stray feet on the isle.”

One of the others says. “That sounds paranoid and daft.”

I look at him and I set my jaw but wipe at my eyes.

“Well this news has only gotten out recently and sent to the High King in Valhalla but My Home Lyonnes has fallen if that’s not made the rounds as of yet and that was done in an attack by one of the mainlander lords and one of my grandfather’s own here has told me that there are those already speaking ill of Lady Aurora and of myself for escaping the same fate as my family through her own sacrifice.”

He’s staring at me and he looks like that’s a lot of news.

“Plainly spoken good masters and merchants I want time. And I want security too and honestly a chance for us as a people to have our time first without the machinations. I want to keep spies out and us together.”

Another asks. “What are you plans Lady Marshal?”

Oh that definitely helps with him using my full title.

“I’m going to speak to the clerics, I’m going to get anointed by them like the old Sea Lairds used to and clear my name before it’s slandered and I’m going to plan grandfather’s funeral and his wake.”

I wipe my eyes again. “If any of you wish to stay until after I’m done counsel with my knights and lords and with the clerics and speak to me then I will definitely do so and I’ll do my best to make sure that you’re as comfortable as I can offer at the moment.”

There’s some muttering and talking and nods and I give them all a bit of a curtsey and head off to meet with the clerics and I gesture to my knights and lords to follow.

“Gentlemen I will be indebted to your counsels while we are doing all of this. I will be depending on your wisdom, honor and charity.”

It’s so very strange now being in my mother’s shoes and playing hostess as we enter the great hall all together and there’s a table that’s set that’s very, very long and looking at I see it’s tables placed end to end to make a long, long table.

I count out the seats and my guests and I look at some of the lords and knights.

“Alright sirs if you please can you help us move the tables I think we’ll get much better use out of these if we set them up as a square until I can make something more suited to a council space.”

One of the oldest is gesturing to what might be a son, grandson or a squire and he looks to me as the men all move to get the tables in order and some of the others with the clerics are moving the table cloths and the dishes and such as they were set out.

“A council space, you’re intending on a council?”

“I’d be foolish to make many decisions here without advice.”

“That’s true but who do you have in mind?”

“I’ll want some of you or all of you if I can have someone that you’d trust this to if you don’t want to be involved. I want someone from the church here as well as some of the people that are key guild folk here on the island.”

“None from Rosetta?”

“Do we have the power to affect their policies?”

“No.”

“Then why should they have that power here?”

Some of them stop working and are looking at me.

I look back at them.

“Who enforces the tariffs? Who braves the guilds that operate in the shadows and will slip a knife into you or your kin for golds? Who stands ready against pirates and buccaneers and storms and hurricanes not those pretty folk that get our island sheltering their harbor it’s us.”

I just gave a speech, I opened my mouth and my mother came out with all her headstrongness.

The old fellow says. “You’re one of those pretty ones.”

I look at him and pass him my upturned signet branded hand.

“I watched my home burn very unprettily sir and I took my oaths and gave of my flesh and I’ll do that again and again and again sir.”

He’s staring at my hand and he’s staring then into my eyes and there’s something there.

Something that says he’s seen bad things too.

He takes my hand and he shakes it twice and then kisses it in a bow that looks like he doesn’t do often.

“Lord Henry Whitaker at your service Lady Marshal.”

And with that a lot of the mood changes and I’m taking introductions and hands with the firmest handshake that I can give followed by the politeness and I let them look as much as they need to at me and at my brand of office in the palm of my hand.

It’s a struggle with my nerves really.

This is that iron clad kind of ovaries thing that my mother would actually have reveled in doing.

And part of me does like and want the respect that I’m getting.
Then the tables are set and the dishes and such are placed back and we all take seats. I’m in the middle of one of the tables and it’s still sort of the head but not as blatantly the head of the table as it would have been.

Plus it’s much easier to talk and hear each other.

They look at me and I look at them and then I look at the Merrow. A Merrow is the title of a male cleric of The Church of Sea and Stars. If there’s any other titles they have I don’t know them.

“Perhaps we should get the fact that I’m not evil nor a witch or a liar proven and out of the way and witnessed first?”

The Merrow nods. “As you wish Princess.”

“Lady Marshal now Merrow…” I let it trail off in hopes he’ll tell me his name since I don’t know it.

“Finn, Lady Marshal.”

“Finn?”

“Two ens, like the actual name and not the fish part.”

That gets some chuckles and it seems to be a joke with the clerics.

“Alright so what should I do?”

“Just leave everything to me.”

“Okay then.”

They actually start by getting a formal document drawn up with a scroll and all of the waves and star borders on it and he brought with him a scribe for it and then the tests start.

Holy water to drink and to have my hands and feet washed in as well as after that for consecration my face and then my hair. There’s chanting in a language I’m unsure of with the last part of that and then there’s the test of their symbol which is actually a finely made compass and with a sextant in relief on its backing and a series of stars on the cover of it and he does something that makes it shimmer from silver or steel to almost that sunlight on a blade reflectiveness and there’s head bows from some of the clerics and they exchange looks and a few of the knights that seemed up on the faith as well.

Merrow Finn leaves the compass around my neck. “Tis yours Lady Marshal.”

“Mine?”

“Aye, you’re not just here and heir but you were sent here.”

“I was sent here by my Aunt Aurora.”

“Aye in physical terms but a holy compass shines brightly on where it was meant to go.”

“And it shone here?”

“Yes and brightly, and not just brightly but entirely.”

“I don’t know what that means?”

Lord Henry says. “It means Lady Marshal that you were meant to be here and that it’s the will of The Sea and Stars that you’re here now.”

I hold the compass and it looks normal now and I look to them. “I was meant to be here?”

There nods.

I look at the Maid cleric that’s acting as our scribe. “Perhaps we leave that part out.”

Merrow Finn nods. “Wise given what you had said to the merchants and guilders and nobles waiting out by the gates.”

“More like scared.”

He smiles at me. “Sometimes it’s wise to be scared.”

I look around and there’s nods from more than a few now and I exhale a breath that I didn’t know that I was holding and then there’s more shaking hands from these men.

Gods and waves and stars even the squires they brought here are older and bigger than me.

We finish the scroll, well actually scrolls and the scribe has started to make three more copies so one will be at the temple, one sent to The High King and one will be for me to show to people like The Governor of Rosetta.

I slip out to the kitchens while they’re doing that and send in refreshments at least and I take some time to sit in one of the larders and shake and hold the compass in my hands and have a nervous cry.

Bless the staff for looking in on me and Milly for stopping by fast as she found out with a strong cup of tea to set my nerves right.

Then it’s getting the food set for this gathering and I’m deferring to what the head cook said that my grandfather and grandmother would serve to these knights and lords and clerics.

Lots of pickles enough that there’s serving platters with the variety and most of these are familiar but some I’ve never seen before.

Bread deep and dark made with rye and caraway and black pepper scraped with fresh bacon fat and sprinkled with salt on the slices.

There’s a seaweed they call laver in a pot boiled to be used as a topping for the bread.

And then there’s this dish that I’ve never heard of that this really hard sea biscuit that will or would break your teeth but they soaked it in small beer and then it’s squeezed out leaving this odd flaky mush with this sort of beery yeasty flavor and they fry it all up in a pan that they cooked all this salted pork that they call scruncheons and they had taken out the meat to just use the hot fats and then there’s bit of smoked but not salted codfish and it’s all made into this hash that is finished with the pork bits.

It looks a mess but it actually smells good?

Not good like I know it but good in that way that this is sort of local and its marine-soldier and sailor foods.

And as it’s morning meal there’s scramble of eggs and more scone-biscuits and molasses and there’s some slab rashers of bacon.

I look out the window to where there’s still people waiting and I look to the cook staff. “Have some of the workmen bring them out a barracks table and put out some biscuits and bacon render with molasses and some of the bacon and a pot of porridge and the like along with a warmer pot of stimleaf tea and hot-sully.”

Hot-sully is local and it’s a blend of roots that is some wild local kin to what coffee might taste like and it’ll wake you up the same way and it’s boiled with a cinnamon stick and again molasses.

Yes molasses in very common here on the coast and especially here in the east with it being able to be made from local things here like the grapes with the east being the best wine country for the kingdom itself as well as there being much brought if from other lands as well with all of the port traffic and it’s cheap.

The grape molasses is a side product of making wine along with others like vinegar and some stronger alcohols and it’s here so much because it’s very easy to sell locally as a replacement for sugar.

I leave them to take care of my outside of the gate guests that are remaining and I head back into eat and talk with my counsel.

We go over what each one of them does and their responsibilities and that takes a good while as all folks like to talk about their jobs and it takes a few slipped in questions and a few pointed ones to find out some of the things that I want to find out about the state of things on My Island.

Well it’s not mine but it’s my charge now so really it is in all but the high court of the king way.

Which leads me to having a letter delivered to me by a Courier knight from the Governor of Rosetta summoning me to his steading to discuss matter of import at my greatest urgency.

It was worded very nicely like that too and I read it out to the counsel and then look at them.

“Seems I’ve been summoned.”

Lord Henry says with a look on his face. “They’d never have sent that to your grandfather, he’s trying to intimidate you.”

I look at them. “Well then I should craft a response, what would my grandfather have said?”

A couple of them raise their middle fingers at the direction that Rosetta lies in.

And we all have a chuckle at that.

I get a pen and I write my own message back to him.

…… ‘Governor Dunwater, I have received your message and unfortunately as I am busy with matters of mourning for my family and the duties to my office and my faith I am not able to come to heel at the moment however if you wish to come and seek an appointment to see me I will try and make time for the Civilian administrator of the city of Rosetta…… Warmest regards Princess Elizabetha Lyonnes, Lady Marshal of Whitespire and City Island.’….

I even made sure to use a large C with writing Civilian.

I sign it and seal it and pass my reply back to the Courier knight who nods and he takes it and goes.

I look at the knights and lords with me and the clerics.

“Now, let’s talk about what we need to work on and some of the things that I would like to see implemented as soon as we can.”

They nod but one of the lords is talking around a mouthful of bread and laver. “I’d be keen on your thoughts to M’lady.”

“Schools for one. I want to open some free schools here on the island and have some of our children attend.”

Someone else says. “That might not be popular it’ll be taking children away from their chores and work.”

I nod as bad as it sounds the work of chores and even jobs is a part of life. Even as much as I don’t like some of those jobs it’s a reality.

“We can start it though, we can have it for free and those that want to learn can come and learn.”

The first man that’s eating says. “What if it doesn’t take?”

I pour myself a drink of Hot-Sully and look at them. “It might not here but it did in Lyonnes.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Free schooling…that almost sounds like a waste of money.”

I drink and then set down my mug.

“Nobles are the stewards of the people, we take care of them and they take care of us as well. My father always said that a man or a woman could work with more heart when they were more equal. That everyone deserved to know enough to not be cheated and learned enough to read the laws instead of being told, and of having the right to write and save their own lore and stories, or to see their sons and daughters have that right.”

He looks and me and he nods. “It worked out then?”

“Until the attack it worked quite well and our folk did a lot better by their own rights and contracts.”

“Contracts? That’s pretty advanced.” He says.

“People with a will learn fast especially when it comes to crooked landlords and unscrupulous merchants that try to sell folks or trick folks out of their hard work. And it did that exactly, it cost us some business I think but then people were getting what they had agreed on in more than taking just words or being told what they had signed had written on it.”

Lord Henry looked at me. “That’d likely have been one of the things that might have gotten him killed Lady.”

I nod slightly. “It wasn’t a popular thing with some of our guests but what killed my father and scattered my family was a treasonous lord or lords. They didn’t kill The Lyonnes instead they left its daughters alive. A mistake you shouldn’t make with Lions.”

There’s some nods and a couple of the knights thump spoons on the table and I take a breath.

“Alright I want to talk of defenses and of the two light ships my grandfather has had loitering inside a warehouse and about then funeral.”

It goes for another two hours and Garret comes in with some of the books and to do some scribe work as we hammer a lot of things out.

Like the funeral plans for our folk here tonight.

And getting the chapel/temple here in the fortress itself cleaned and re-opened and ready for the service as well as making it a fully working place instead of just the once a week services.

Preparations too for a wake after the services.

Then talking about who should get which of the two boats that grandfather had in reserve. They’re not large boasts and they need their masts set to and the spars and whatnot but all of the parts were there.

We did decide that though and that there’s some captains in our fleet that deserve their own commands now and we went with that since they have been performing good service on older vessels and this way we actually get to shift the lines of command and promotion.

I’m even getting a lesson from several of the lords as why forward momentum is good for the realm and for the island and morale.

I do listen as it really mirrors my thoughts and feelings on those merit certificates as well that I had been thinking of last night?

Was that last night?

Gods, Sea and Stars it seems more run together than that.

I’m relieved when we’re finished and I see them all out and to the gates. And there’s some of the ones that had stayed and waited to see me and they seemed to take note of the way that the knights and lords were speaking to me and some of them left with what I would assume are their local lords or at least are familiar with them enough that this is happening but some are still there and I can see that the food and the refreshments are gone and there’s still a good dozen or so people remaining.’

I look to them. “Gentlemen, masters, good merchants I hope that my hospitality hasn’t been lacking?”

Most of them are thanking me for that and they look like they might have a different less angry reaction than this morning.

I move to the table and actually take a seat on the bench that’s with it. “You have concerns, please let me hear them and perhaps I can do something about them.”

There are some of my men at arms for here now with me and Garret too and we sit and we talk and they’re concerned at how long we’ll be closed and how things are going to come through the next few days.

I explain that the docks will still be working only we will have the gates to the streets closed and guarded and that it will be business as usually for those with long standing business here.

And the rest is talking about the funeral and the services and when they can come to pay their respects and it goes pretty smoothly when the respect thing is taken care of.

When they get that I’m wearing a holy symbol of the long held local temple and faith.

That the local knights and lords weren’t arguing nor gainsaying me.

It’s all a good thing.

And I’m not holding the fact that they shouldn’t assume a woman can’t do this job to heart in a bad way nor my age either.

The world is the world and they are just reacting as they would if anyone like myself took this position.

Though with some of their reservations about what Governor Dunwater might do or say now that I’m in command and that I’m not blindly doing as he wishes me to do since I’m so young and whatever else that man might think.

No currently I’m not thinking too highly of a man such as him given thet tone of his message and that he seemed to expect me to come at his beck and call.

I get myself some of the last dregs of the Hot-Sully and I smile at them all. “I think we will be fine. He might be The High King’s Governor but I am still a Princess and not a stranger to games and petty politics. If he thinks that he can bully me he’ll not only find the princess but he’ll find a Lioness and the new Lady Marshall as well.”

I show my brand again and now I’m up close and I am really getting why the branding more than just the passing of the ring and the title.

As much as it hurt, as much as it still hurts there’s definitely this social weight to it as well.

Every Lord Marshal of Whitespire and City Island before me has born this.

By the time they are done it’s past time for me to be getting ready for our services for my grandfather.

I get bathed and changed into the funeral dress and then I head to the great hall where he’s laid out.

The clerics and the healers and nurses did most of the work and Sir Charles is there and we shake hands and he kiss bows and I curtsey and then we do the final details.

He’s wrapped in muslin but so fine as we can see him still through it. He’s been treated…washed and cleaned and he’s been anointed with oils and spices to an extent and then it’s getting his casket ready.

There’s bottles of water and rum for his journey and comforts, a sack of jerky, salt pork and fish and hard tack biscuits as well. A good knife, a compass, a marlin’s spike and a measure cup of pewter of a chain as many mariners wear.

He had to be dressed in his armor and that's a personal thing, a family thing and as his granddaughter in place of my grandmother, in place of my mother and as a woman of his family for his plates and other parts.

I'm fitting it snugly as I can remember. He’s thin from his sickness and I’m quite small but I do it anyway and I let myself cry as I’m doing it too. I’m reliving and mourning the times when my mother would help my father and my older brothers into their armor. I do his stays and pins and make sure everything is straight and pristine.

I place a fine sword and new shield with him as by rights and tradition those he had are mine…part of my inheritance.

Then there’s some prayers and the lighting of candles and we start….

The household here first before anyone else, their families and the men at arms that aren’t on duty.

There are long tables once more set up with a place for candles to be lit for him and there’s another set up for gifts for the family and this house and the wall closest to the kitchen has a table set out with drink not anything like what we’ll have at the wake but enough to have a drink of something strengthening or something hot as we have tea, coffee, Hot-Sully and a thin but bracing broth.

The broth was made by the clerics and they are actually there to act as servers so the household doesn’t have to.

Then with my knights and lords of City Island with them coming in in their blacks and their funeral garments and their families.

I am meeting a lot of people, and I’m shaking hands and returning bows and all of those things that would be done home in court.

I show my brand to all, I wear the signet openly as well as the blessed compass of Sea and Stars.

I do sit sometimes between things since it’s taking several hours and hours just for that and by the time my knights and lords are done and we have a few short words between and for ourselves and a few simple prayers we let the rest of the folk in.

I’m flanked by my lords and knights as my advisors as people come in.

And all of the peoples…we have doors bolted where we need to and guards in place of n’ere do wells and worse but I have our gates open and anyone on City Island can come and see him off, have a drink, light a candle and do and feel what we need to.

Us…as islanders, Us as a people…Us first.

And until this was actually happening I had not one soul tell me that no one had done this before.

The people tell me though.

They’re hesitant at first but they do come and talk to me.

I wish that I was better with memorizing things or better at faces because there are so many people.

But the more that they talk to me, they more that they open up and talk to me.

And I get one of the scribes to be close.

And when it seems important, when it’s a concern of theirs, or rumor or just a good story I get it written down.

There’s drains on certain streets that need fixing, there’s cobbles that need replacing and holes in some of the streets, there’s sailors that are wandering between berths that are sleeping in the streets and sometimes unsavory.

Market prices, costs of things, wages by the king’s rote not being paid by times.

Pleas for clemency for those with family in legal trouble and in the jails.

It’s a funeral but it has become in at least part hearing petitions.

I try something new with that.

I ask their addresses for each complaint and how to find them and the hours they work and were that is too.

I want to know, so I can call on them, or send word or letters.

Which brings me around again to talk about schools and getting folks interested at least.

Ninth glass of the evening we close things down…see folks out. More handshaking, bows, curtseys.

“It’s late and we all have to work on the morrow unless we’re working tonight. I want to have grandfather and all in the fortress and hopefully on the Ilse settled for the eve before midnight, we’ll have the last day for ourselves tomorrow starting at the ninth glass.”

It does take the best part of that time between seeing everyone out and letting the troops that have changed the watch to come and mourn for their own selves.

I’m more than grateful when Molly and Jemma have my bath ready and are helping me out of things and crawl exhaustedly into my bed.

………………..................................................... Of course I have more strange dreams and nightmares.

Nightmares again of things at home and the attack and people being killed and my home destroyed.

Nightmares of people here in the crowds being assassins and us being under attack. Faceless men in hoods with knives and daggers and crossbows and things and that sort of feeling that I don’t know when an attack is coming from.

Dreams of home, dreams of things that father did and mother did to deal with recaltriant people that were less than amenable.

Little lessons they both taught us, things that they said one way or another but they said a lot and that was that we depend on our people and that we are their protectors from others, others that would balk at using their powers and positions and strengths against those less fortunate.

Like The Gorgon had.

And some of the dreams are just blurry remembrances I think. I woke a few times to make water and one of the night maids that I still have to learn or remember the name of made me tea with brandy and as soon as that went down so did I back again and I actually slept so soundly I remembered nothing else until it was half-and past the seventh glass.

I get up and bathe and I use the cold water for my bath only from the taps and I use that to wake myself and go through my morning ablutions and I send the maid off for a strong mug of stimleaf tea while I get into a very simple dress and leave my hair loose to dry and I head to the kitchens and meet my maids once more on the way there.

I take my meal in the common hall after a stop into the kitchens to ask for some breakfast and to tell them that everything smells lovely already and then I head out to sit with the staff and drink my tea and send for Garret.

He has a sheaf of letters that is as thick as a book with him all tied together and I look at him.

“Funeral correspondence?”

“Much of it yes and a reply from the governor.”

I hold my hand out and he passes it to me. “Sir Vanner has returned as well Lady Marshal with those from the list that you gave him.”

There’s an unusual sound in his voice?

I read over the letter.

‘While I am saddened over the loss of your grandfather I would be remiss in my duty to question his decision to pass along his position and title to a young girl such as yourself. I understand that you are scared and wish to pull the world in around you but there are many people that have voiced their concerns over you even being here and the company that your family was said to keep as well as the manner that you arrived here in.

I had only wished to conduct business with you as an older peer. You will need the friendship and the guidance and the wisdom of an older man’s hand to make your way through the position that you have inherited.

I do not wish to formally send letters questioning the decision of a sick old man but as a responsible ruler I cannot put my charges at risk. Thus I encourage you to come and meet with me despite your fears and reservations and learn just how strong an ally I can be.’

The rest is his signature and titles and he has it seems an impressive amount of them and I set it aside with a sigh.

“That was really borderline offensive honestly. I think my last reply might have miffed him somewhat.”

Garret coughs into his teacup that he had acquired as I was reading.

“Perhaps lady.”

I sip my mug of tea. “You had reservations about the people I sent Sir Vanner for?”

“Reservations no but I am confused by one of them.”

“Which one?”

“Squire Daniel Hollander, Lady…I think that there might be a mistake and that’s why the Squire retired from Valhalla.”

“And that mistake is?”

“He is a she?”

Alright that gained my attention.

“And you are sure of this?”

“She is here in a nice if not country fashioned dress to see you in Lady.”

“Oh…well there are very, very few lady knights in history that would indeed make a scandal.”

I look at him. “What time did Sir Vanner arrive?”

“Nearly a glass ago, they’ve been resting from the saddle and having Hot-Sully and the likes since the horse have been taken care of.”

“Call them all in Garret we’ll break fast together.”

I call over one of the maids and ask her to tell the cooks that we’ll have a dozen joining me for my morning meal and I finish my mug of tea and stand for them as they’re coming in.

Most of them are knights or squires and some of them look like they have seen better times or they’re older truly country knights that inherited their kit and were trained and knighted under some out there country lord.

One of them even had workmens or builders boots on his feet instead of riding boots and he looks more like a mason or a logger than a knight right down to that stoic heavy build and broad shoulders.

And there she is too…tall even with her boost from her boots and in a dark grey charcoal colored dress of good linen with very simple seams and hems. She wears a sword but it’s a shorter sword with a straight blade and a hilt much like a longsword would have.

She looks nervous, actually she looks like she’s terrified and that she is trying so hard to look like it’s okay for her to be here.

I know that feeling.

She’s looking at me and then she’s looking at my compass amulet and I hold my hand out palm up for all of them to see and they’re all looking at my brand and then at me all over again and I’m going to say Sir Vanner might have said things to them but they’re still looking and staring for themselves.

And when she does she finishes by looking at me and we lock eyes and I can see all these thoughts and hopes in her eyes?

I smile and nod a little just for her.

She smiles and blushes and she has to fix her hair because of that and she’s as fair and corn silk blonde as I’m raven tressed.

“Sirs, Squires I will get right to the point when I was sworn into my office my grandfather had imparted secrets of state to me and amongst some of these secrets was the recommendation of all of your for select service.”

One of them looks at me. “Select service?”

“Yes, and that will remain secret until I meet and know you each some more and that I can see your skills for myself.”

Alright I’m sort of not being totally truthful here and it was and is for the battleknight that has been secreted away but they all look good to me and I will need my own people.

That gets some nods and then the food arrives and I sit with them and I eat and ask them their personal histories. Most are as they seem. Country knights just having have just enough blood and title to get training but not enough funds to actually run a fiefdom and instead work on family lands and steadings using their small yearly purses to do whatever good that they might be able to do with their stipends from the High King none really have local lords of any effect that had claimed them.

Too poor to tourney either though several say that they do train when they can.

And she’s quiet for the most part having only spoken enough to say that she keeps training as well but things had happened while she had been training in Valhalla that had her sent for home.

There’s a lot of looks at her for that from the others, most don’t know the story but I can read on faces that her sex is very, very much a factor in their thoughts.

I look at her. “You’re sworn not to tell more?”

“No lady but it’s personal and I don’t truly wish to speak of it here.”

She says that but there’s an almost plea in her eyes for me not to command it.

I eat some more skillet bread I’m partial to it as it’s slices of bread cut this and then just fried crisp with a little bacon fat instead of just toast done of a rack over a stove fire.

And there’s this marmalade that has these exotic little oranges in full segments called tangerines and there’s kumquats in it too and lemon peeling that is very much my favorite this that we have on the table right now.

Though I do like bacon and the ham as well as egg scramble I’m still waking and craving sweetness.

“You will speak to me about it in private then?”

She does a hard swallow and she nods.

She looks very scared though.

I get up and I gesture for her to follow. “Come with me then.”

She gets up and she excuses herself and she follows me and she really looks nervous and I take her into the chapel for the Church of Sea and Stars and some of the clerics are looking at us and I ask. “Could we have a few moments alone maids, merrows?”

They nod and slip out and I take a seat on one of the pews and I look at her and she sits after I gesture to the one across the aisle from me.

“So you were caught up in a scandal there and it was with the mix up in your names? You are Danielle and not Daniel and they took unkindly to that?”

She shakes her head no.

Which has me raising my eyebrows.

“Married man?”

She shakes her head no.

“They found you with a woman?”

She blushes and stammers. “N..nn..no.”

I adjust my seat and look at her and gesture for her to say something.

She stares at me and her head hangs down and she looks so ashamed and fat tears even roll out from her eyes.

“I am by birth Daniel Hollander L…Lady…I am born wrong, I was never meant to be some lad…some man and I have been tortured with it all my life.”

I’m staring… “You did magic?”

She shakes her head. “There were Elves there, elves in Valhalla at the embassy there and I learned from them…and when I learn from them I found out that the way that you were born doesn’t have to be your truth…they…they have herbs and those make a potion that brings out your traits of the opposite sex if that’s your need…”

“Oh…” I honestly don’t know what to say and she’s not looking at me but instead she’s staring at the floor and she’s crying and sniffling and she’s still talking. “I had to…I had to do s…sss…something L...llady if not I would have gone fully mad. I couldn’t just go on and just live…I would have taken my own life.”

I reach over and I rub her back.

“So you did and they found out and they kicked you out?”

She shakes her head no.

(Sniffle.) “The…the elves that were there they stood up for me, they said it was common in their lands and that sex, that gender had little bearing on goodness or honor or duty or doing your duty. (Sniffle) and I was allowed to stay but so many of my instructors, of the lads there were just so hateful and word spread and spread and spread until I left because I wasn’t ever going to be chosen…and I was just tired, tired to death of being a freak.” (Sniffle.)

I keep rubbing her back. “And your family?”

“They hate me and they don’t, they keep me away from folks and them and I have a little cottage where I have enough to live decently but even there I’m a pariah.”

I look at her and she is so damned sad and she’s so damned defeated and like me she’s had so much taken away from her.

I reach over and take her chin and turn her face to me and I look her in her eyes.

“Dani, Danielle can you do your duty? Can you fight and defend and care for me and mine?”

She has fresh tears, different tears and he face is so full of desperate hope.

“Yes…Oh gods and Goddesses yes L..ll..Lady.”

“And you are fine with the history of my family, that I am a Lyonnes and my family includes my Aunt Aurora the Sorceress, Lady Blackhand.”

She nods.

“You will serve me as my knight as a princess of Lyonnes?”

She nods.

Yes as my knight, I still have my title. I might not have my family’s lands but I do have my title.

She nods.

I let go of her chin and I stand up and offer her my hand. “Then I accept your service Squire Hollander.”

She shakes my hand and she’s still crying and I smile and say. “Now let’s go and announce this before the others and with legal witnesses and make this official.”

We head out to the others and Dani is walking different, taller like some weight was taken off of her and the others rise from their seats at our return and I take my seat and I can feel myself smiling as Sir Vanner and the others are looking to me.

I can see the start of things, then start of things here and home.

I will have my own knights and I will live under my own standard as Lady Marshal here and it will still be a Lyonnes standard. I will build my Lions and my house and one way or another I will take my house back home.

There’s so much yet to do with the messages and the rest of the funeral and then dealing with everything else that will come with being here.

But it’s started.