by Mark Eller
* * *
Melna carried his single duffle as they walked to the house where she stayed. On guard for further attacks, Aaron carried his pistol in his hand the entire way. His eyes jerked at the least sign of movement, but no one approached. The only signs of life were two cats and one night watchwoman.
Melna's room, on the second floor, was huge. The bed could sleep three, and the walls supported four long dressers. Two knife belts hung on the bedstead.
Aaron paid little attention to the room's other furnishings. He was hurt and tired, and his head felt fuzzy. All he wanted was sleep.
Watching him, Melna raised one brow. "I always sleep on the left. The other side is yours, and if a single finger crosses the middle, I'll take it off."
Aaron nodded. After thinking the matter over, he figured what the hell, the room was blazing hot, and he had been prancing around half naked in front of her for hours. He stripped off his clothing until he once again wore only underwear. The way he saw it, Melna was a daring girl. His hairy legs wouldn't shock her, and he wouldn't get a lick of sleep while drenched in his own sweat.
Drawing back the sheet, he prepared to climb in when she stopped him.
"Let me put a proper dressing on your shoulder. I don't want to sleep in a pool of blood. Might be a bit hard to explain the stains to Daddy."
"Daddy?"
"Don't worry. Our family owns this place so he has his own room. We've been here for a week, and he hasn't intruded once. He never does."
She sat him in a chair, cut the old, improvised bandages off, and applied fresh ones. "You haven't been kind to this shoulder. This other scar looks rather fresh."
Great. If he continued to maltreat the same area time and again his arm would soon be no use to him. How many scars could be laid on top of old ones before his body rebelled?
Melna finally allowed him to crawl into the bed. She climbed in beside him, still fully clothed, looking less assured with this arrangement than she had been before.
"Remember, this is only because every other place is closed this late at night," she reminded him. "Tomorrow you sleep somewhere else."
"I don't expect you to take care of me forever," Aaron told her. The Gods knew he had enough troubles in that department with Amanda. He certainly did not want another caretaker.
"Better not. G'night."
Tired as he was, it took him a long time to fall asleep. He kept seeing the assassin's dead face staring up at him, seeing the black and misshapen neck from where his hand had crushed her throat. Despite a past vow to never kill a woman again, Aaron told himself he felt no guilt, not when the woman had been paid to kill him. He didn't feel guilty. He did not. He would not…but he did.
Melna obviously suffered from no revolving thoughts. Her light snores sounded almost immediately. Aaron eventually followed her into sleep, but it was restless, constantly on the edge of waking, and Melna kept shifting. Shortly after falling asleep for the sixth time, he woke when Melna shifted once again. Opening his eyes, he watched her sit up in the bed. Closing his eyes once more, he heard rustling and knew she pulled her dress free.
"Too bloody hot," she muttered.
"I've been wondering," he asked,"why were you outside my inn?"
"I wanted to steal your pants," she said. "I'm a clothing designer, or rather, I want to be a clothing designer. Using your pants, and their fastener, for a basis, I might have started a new fashion trend. My daddy might have been so pleased he wouldn't try to marry me off to the geriatric he picked out. I figured you wouldn't miss them too much. You had other clothes, and the stuff I wanted looked a bit old."
"They were made to look old," Aaron murmured. "It's part of the design."
"Stupid design. " She chuckled. "You'd be dead if I'd known your clothes were on the outside line. " She slid back beneath the sheet. "This is better. It was too hot to sleep before."
* * *
Aaron's wounded shoulder and cracked ribs ached. A dull pain still resided in his groin, and his good arm was asleep. Shifting his gaze to that arm, he saw Melna's head resting on his shoulder. A bare arm draped across his chest, and he remembered she had disrobed after waking in the night. When a slight rustling caught his attention, he turned his gaze in the other direction. A sword, held in the hand of a tall, well groomed, and gray-bearded man, hovered inches from his eyes. The man seemed angry.
Aaron silently vowed he would never again sleep without his gun near his hand--not if he managed to live through this day.
Being careful, he reached across his body with his sore arm. The sword withdrew, giving him enough room to shake Melna. She murmured sleepily and snuggled deeper into his shoulder. Aaron shook her again, more firmly.
She opened her eyes. Gasping, she rolled onto her back to put the correct distance between them. Bare to the waist, Melna shook her head before giving him a wry smile.
"I'm sorry!" she said, and then the other figure caught her attention. Her eyes grew huge.
"Daddy?"
"Be quiet, girl," the man growled. "I always knew you were too wild for your own good. I told your mothers they let you go your own way too often back before your birth mother died and the others shoved you into my care. They said girls will be girls and you would come around in time. Well, they had their say-so, and now I'll have mine. My daughter will never raise a fatherless child."
Aaron cleared his throat, preparing to speak, but changed his mind when the sword pricked the throat he had just cleared.
Not caring she was close to naked, Melna sat up and glared at her father. "Damn it, Daddy. Nothing happened. All I wanted was his pants. They're fantastic. We could make a fortune if we learned how to make their fastener."
For some reason, Aaron didn't think she had advanced his cause.
Shifting downward, the sword poked at an already sore area of Aaron's lower anatomy. "One more word and you'll only have the one child from him. You'll marry him decent, girl, and a sad thing it is too. I had other men in mind for you. I had men of means and character and ambition picked out, but now you'll get a rag-a-bout with nary a penny to his name."
"Old men with a dozen wives each," Melna spat.
Aaron sweated as the sword pressed downward. The point had definitely made its way though both the sheet and his underwear.
"Besides, I'm nineteen, nearly at my majority here, and five years past it in lots of other places. You can't--"
"No more from you," the man ordered. "Boy, you married?"
Aaron nodded silently.
"How many?"
"One," he answered in a quiet voice. "We need to talk. You're making a mistake."
"Shut up!"
With nothing between his privates and the sword's point, Aaron shut up.
"One wife," the man said with disgust. "Just as I suspected. Can't be worth much if you've only one. Today is your lucky day, boy. I'll make the most of you. I'll see to it you become somebody no matter how miserable you are along the way."
Footsteps sounded on the stairs.
"Looks like they finally made it," he grumbled.
A group of several women entered the room. "Is the sword really necessary?" the lead woman asked. She took the lack of an answer for a yes. "Okay, let's start. Boy, what's your name? Now don't lie. The wrong name won't mean you didn't get married. It'll only mean you're willing to lie to the Lady and Her Lord."
"Aaron Tur--"
"Good enough. Melna, will you marry Aaron for the duration of this life, bear his children, and swear to protect him in his trials--such as this one here? Will you forsake all other men and those women to whom he is not married, so help you, in the Lady's name?"
Melna looked at Aaron, turned her eyes to her father's angry face, and then glared at the other two women.
"Mothers," she said. "I don't want this. Nothing happened. He needed a place to sleep, and it was so hot we had to disrobe. That's all."
"Answer the question," one gray haired matron snapped. "You've had your way long enough, child
. Feel lucky your father holds the sword. I wanted to skewer the young man before he woke."
"I would have been luckier if you had," Melna answered. "Then I wouldn't have to marry a man to save his life. " She touched Aaron's arm. "I'm sorry. You're not at all my type. I like big men with hairy chests and lots of muscles."
"Decide," her father demanded.
Licking her lips, she looked at the sword pressed against Aaron and then once more at Aaron's sweaty face. "I really wanted to love the man I married. Yes. Yes, I so swear. I swear to the rest of life, and the children, and the forsaking, and everything else I might have forgotten. Aaron, I'm sorry I got you into this."
"Aaron," the priestess asked,"will you marry Melna for the duration of this life, protect her from her enemies and give her your children? Do you swear to give her respect as your equal and accept a place in her household if she so desires?"
An easy decision. The sword felt very sharp. The hand holding it had increased the pressure.
"Yes. "
"I pronounce you married in the eyes of the Lady. What the Goddess had joined cannot be torn apart. May your love only increase from this moment on."
"Won't have any choice but to increase," Melna muttered bitterly. "There wasn't none to start with. Thanks a lot, Daddy."
Stepping back, her father handed the sword to one of his wives. He paid the priestess, waited silently until she left, then turned back to Aaron.
"Now, sir, you will stand and take your beating. You may be my son-in-law, but you are still a scoundrel. I will have satisfaction."
Frowning, Aaron pulled back the sheet and stood. He heard a gasp from one of the women as he picked up his clothes and put them on.
"He's all over bruises and bandages."
His shirt's fabric hurt as it slid over his bandaged shoulder. He winced and felt grateful the damage was in his left shoulder. When he drew in a deep breath, a sharp pain shot through his ribs.
"Go ahead and fight him, Daddy," Melna said bitterly. "He's knife cut, and beat up, and is lighter than you by fifty pounds, but he killed a guild assassin last night. I saw it happen so you can't tell me he's lying about it. That's why he needed my room. His inn kicked him out."
Her father grunted. "More lies. Come, sir, I tire of your stalling. Act a man."
Nodding, Aaron calmly ripped two pieced from the unused remnants of bandaging sitting on a night stand by the bed. After wadding up two small strips, he put them in his ears. The others stared at him as if he were crazy.
"Put your hands over your ears," he told Melna.
"What?"
"I married you. That means I must protect you as best I can. Cover your ears with your hands."
"Sir," her father barked.
Hesitantly, Melna raised her hands and covered her ears. "I can still hear most everything."
"Just keep your ears covered. "
Picking up his holstered gun from the nightstand, Aaron looked at Melna's father. He pulled the gun free of the holster. "I've had it. In the last few months I've been challenged by scoundrels, injured on a ship, attacked by pirates, and I've a dead assassin on my hands. Now, because of your inability to listen, I've a wife who wanted to marry me no more than I wanted to marry her."
His eyes narrowed, and his lips thinned. Linley took a half-step back before he firmed. One of his wives gasped, and Melna paled.
"I will not take a beating I do not deserve, especially not when I'm in no shape to fight. " Stepping forward, Aaron leaned down to pick up his duffle with the hand holding the holster. "I'll be at the inn," he told Melna. She still had her ears covered, but her unhappy eyes said she was not pleased about it. "I'll be in the major's room until they kick me out."
Eyes glaring, Linley shook off his initial fear, clenched his fists, and stepped forward.
Aaron pointed his gun and pulled the trigger. A water pitcher shattered.
The room suddenly stilled. Melna's eyes became huge, and her hands pressed tighter against her head. She wasn't alone. Too late, the other women followed her example. Aaron allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. The gun's explosion inside the small room had set their ears ringing.
Linley stood still, a shocked expression spread across his face, too proud to cover his ears.
"The next bullet will hit you in the right knee. Move aside."
Aaron doubted Melna's father heard him through his deafened ears, but it didn't matter. He understood the message when Aaron gestured with the gun. Linley stepped to the side.
"Thank you," Aaron said politely. Brushing by the group, he headed for the door.
They had better not try to stop him. Aaron wasn't in the mood.
Chapter 14
Melna found him staring at a plate of three eggs over easy in the restaurant next door to the inn. Pulling out a chair, she sat down and gestured toward the eggs.
"Are you going to eat those?"
"No."
"Good. I'm starving. " She dragged the plate over to her. "I looked for you at the inn, but the clerk said she sent you away. Daddy was sure surprised when you left. So, what was the thing that made the noise? Never mind, I'll find out later. Right now I have to let you know I told Daddy I'm going to develop designs based on your pants, and he could just go hang himself for all he would get out of it. As far as I'm concerned, he really can go hang himself. Anyway, with a little business sense, we should be okay without him. I know how we can get started if we can get some front money, and I know who to approach for it."
"The zipper is patented," Aaron informed her. "The patent has been filed in every country with an ambassador stationed inside Isabella. It's probably been filed in a few dozen other countries too?"
Her face fell. "But I've never seen them before."
"They never caught on much outside of N'Ark. People are most comfortable with the things they know. As best I remember, there's some small trade going on with Charlemagne and Pictland, but it doesn't amount to much."
She sighed. "I can't believe I got myself married for chasing after a pair of worthless pants. Are you aware I know almost nothing about you? I don't even remember your last name. Doesn't matter. Anybody who marries into this family becomes a Linley. So, what do you do for a living?"
"My last name is Turner," Aaron said. "I don't care what name you use, but I'm not changing mine. As for what I do, I do a lot of things. Mostly I run things. My favorite job was running a store."
She drummed her fingers on the table. "Maybe Daddy can find you something that pays better. Give you a company or something. You impressed him there at the end. So, tell me about my co-wife. Will I have a hard time getting along with her?"
"Her name is Kit," Aaron said. "She's a few years older than you, and we have three kids together, two boys and a girl. You won't have to deal with Kit because I haven't seen her in a long time. We agreed to live separately since she only married me to be with my first wife. That one died."
Melna gave him a strange look. "You must have married pretty young or lived an unusual life if one of your wives died already. I'm glad you don't see Kit anymore. It means I have you pretty much to myself. Besides, I don't go in for girl on girl stuff. I only like men. Do you have any lovers?"
"Yeah," Aaron admitted, though he really wasn't sure if he still did. Amanda was probably ticked at him. Hopefully, she wasn't still waiting for his return visit. "I had a lover until this morning, but we weren't very active. Only twice. Melna, I'm not as young as you think. I turned thirty-eight three weeks ago."
She appeared startled. "Really! You don't look it. I'm nineteen and never had a male lover despite trying really hard a couple times. Truth is I never even had a woman lover because, like I said earlier, I don't go that way. Thankfully, Daddy gave me a good education, and I can do a lot. So like I said, we should get by. Okay, look, you said you're leaving soon. Until this morning I planned on going to the Isles with Daddy so he could buy into a canning factory. That's a no-go now that we're married, unless you take Daddy up on h
is offer to train you to something better. What were you planning before?"
"I'm going south with Major Fitzbeth tomorrow on a caravan heading for Elga. Our final goal is just short of the Chin border."
Melna smiled relief. "Daddy's on the same caravan. In fact, the Chin border is only fifty miles from the Isles. There'll be lots of time for the two of you to get to know one another."
"I'm looking forward to it," Aaron said
"Liar," she laughed.
* * *
Melna arranged for Aaron to meet three of her siblings over lunch. The idea didn't fill him with joy. Quite the opposite, but he sucked it up and went because when a fellow married certain obligations went with the ceremony. One of those was meeting the in-laws.
"This won't be pleasant," Melna warned as she led him into the house's dining room. The room was large, warm colored, and comfortable. The table appeared to be expensive walnut, and the chairs would have suited royalty. Those sitting in the chairs gave Aaron instant chills.
"So this is him," one sister said when Melna showed Aaron to the table. Pushing thirty, her face seemed unnaturally pinched. Frown lines marred the corners of her mouth.
"This is Aaron, my husband.," Melna replied. "Aaron, sourpuss over there is my sister Aldna. Beside her is Neva, and across from them is my only brother, Jonathan."
"Hello," Aaron said, without much hope. Of the three, Aldna's indifference seemed the most welcoming. Neva bore every sign of a bad tempered shrew, and Jonathan struck him as an opinionated dandy without substance.
"So you're the fellow what's screwing my sister," Jonathan said. "About time somebody got around to it."
"Jonathan!" Melna snapped.
"He's only being honest," Neva put in. "You're two years past your prime. I was married at sixteen, and none of the others waited so long."
"How many others?" Aaron asked as he sat down. He hoped changing the subject to something blandly neutral would quiet the mood.
Aldna's stare was judgmental as servants bustled in to set down plates. Each gold embossed plate held one ham sandwich, quartered with the crust cut off.
