The owner nearly shit himself. He knew that he wouldn’t stand a chance against a noble. Brandt turned to his friends. “We’re not welcome here. Let’s leave.”
They gathered the girls and started to leave. As they were leaving, Rolf walked backward, his hand on his sword, making sure that nobody in the store tried anything stupid.
Once they were outside, they were all fuming. Niki said. “There are a lot like him in the city. They are afraid that your Uncle will take their businesses. The businesses were taken from their original owners. They were marched to Porfia to be slaves, except they never made it. Whole families, men, women, children, and babies, were killed two days west of here.
My family is hoping to recover the business that my grandparents owned. The Porfians want to keep it.”
Brandt looked questionably at her. James spoke up. “It’s true. We’ve all heard about it. Michael did one of his ‘staff studies’ on how Porfia took over Tantulus. There wasn’t a lot of blood spilled, but enough. When they killed, they killed entire families.
Prince Arken and Duke Harlold are trying to address the injustices without causing too many problems. It’s not an easy task. As you can see from assholes like we just met.”
“James,” asked Brandt, “do you think we can get a copy of that study.”
“I’m pretty sure that they kept at least one or two around. It’s about thirty pages. It’s pretty grim reading.”
“It may be grim, but I think we need to read it, so we’ve got some idea of what we may run into.”
Marta was still fuming. “I am so tempted to go back in there and give him a piece of my mind. Imagine what would have happened if he said that to Catrina and Michael.”
Brandt said. “Michael would have stood back and watched as my sister verbally flayed the skin off of him. You do not want to make either of my sisters mad. I should know.”
James smiled and nodded. “That’s a fact. Your saving grace was you could run faster than they could.”
That lightened the mood a bit. They resolved not to go into any more businesses. No need to repeat the experience that they had in the dry goods store. When they got back, they said goodbye to the girls. James went off to get a copy of the report from his cousin.
After dinner, they sat around in their quarters. Brandt started reading, and as he finished a page, he handed it off to Rolf. Soon the whole report had been read by everybody. When they were done, he looked around. “Ok, what do you think?”
Kelvin summed up everyone’s feelings. “These people profited from the slaughter of whole families. They may not have done the killing, but it was for their benefit. Skelous and his advisors got a much more merciful death than they deserved.”
All the boys nodded. Then they all looked at Rolf. “We’re going to have trouble. I can’t see any way around it. Some of those hotheads will try something. As we saw today, some of the Porfians think they’re better than anybody else and can do what they want.
I think that the best place for them to try is at the wedding. It’s what I’d do. Getting into the Palace is too tough. I think we keep our swords sharp, carry derringers. Everyone should have one, especially at the wedding.”
“Marta already carries hers.” Said, James.
Sensing an opportunity, Rolf asked. “That’s great James, how are you so sure of that?”
Everyone else looked at James to see how he would reply. “There are many ways a suave gentleman, such as myself, can ascertain those things. It’s not my place to enlighten you slugs on the methodology.” James then stood up and bowed. He was hit by several pillows and sat down laughing. That broke the slight tension in the room. Brandt knew that Michael and his father would start to make plans to counter anything that happened. He had his friends with him, and he’d do the same.
The boys then started planning. Brandt tasked Rolf to start seriously looking at security. He would talk with his Uncle, sister, brother-in-law, and Harlold about what they observed and the concerns. Kelvin, Starl, and Gabor would find out as much as they could about the various merchants. If they went out, they went out in a group and with guards. James would make sure that Marta talked to the other young girls about derringers and, if need be, teach them to use one. Brandt was sure that all the Nordian women had them.
Rolf let James know that they’d brought a number of derringers with them from Nordia. He had them and would give James what he needed.
Betrothed Again
Mike told his small group that he was pumped. Even though the others didn’t recognize the term, they understood what it meant. They were in the same state. They had the plans for the first blast furnace done, and it was going to manufacture. Marsha was going to be overseeing the manufacture with Normon’s help. Mike would also drop in to check on the progress and handle any problems. But this was Marsha’s baby.
Marsha was expecting the work to be done in three months. Mike was hoping for five. This was a big step up in technology. There would be teething pains there almost always were. It would then take them two months to get the furnace installed and another month to get the first pig iron out of it. Iron production would be critical. There were a lot of products that could be made from iron, and it would cause a manufacturing boom in Centralia.
Steel would also be important; people just didn’t understand how important it would be. Mike was going to work on getting steel going. High-quality steel could be used for many products. Without it, they could get things like railroads, but it would be better with steel. However, things like that were a long way off. He did hope that he could get steamboats on the rivers, though. That would be a major improvement. But first things first.
While Marsha was working on the blast furnace, Alan was in charge of transportation. It was a fairly complicated job. He had to get the raw materials to the site of the blast furnace. That involved getting ten miles of new roads built. That was half done. He also needed to arrange transportation for the finished product. There would be two barges that would move the pig iron and later both pig iron and steel from the mills to Centralia.
That would be stage one. One barge was already under construction and would be finished in a month. That would be moved upriver to the site of the mills, fifteen miles north of Centralia. The other barge would be finished in five months. That would give them the initial transportation. One barge would be at the Mills to be loaded, and the other would be offloading at Centralia.
Alan also had to have the piers and loading equipment built. They’d use pallets, and they’d be loaded by the squirrel cage cranes, as Mike called them. Those would lift the pallets and put them on the barges. There’d only be one row of ‘pigs’ on each pallet.
Duke Marvon occasionally came up to the offices to see how things were going. He was delighted with the progress. There was a steady flow of people moving in and out of Mike’s offices and a lot more involved in getting everything ready. The Duke had heard from the businessmen, and they were pleased. The whole thing was coming together.
While Mike was working on his big project, Catrina was taking over more of Marvon’s duties. Illaria was working closely with her and Michael. She knew all the businessmen in the duchy and had a good handle on how well their businesses were doing. Who was in competition with who and what things might be of interest to them? She also had some word about what was going on in Porfia from her family in that kingdom.
Both of them had come to rely on her knowledge, and she enjoyed being part of their team. Catrina thought it was time to bring things to their logical conclusion. She and Illaria were sitting down after work while Jack was busy trying to do something with his blocks. “Illaria, what are you thinking about marriage? You’re of the age where you should be getting betrothed.”
“Catrina, I don’t know. I do want to settle down and have a family. I just haven’t come across a man that I find attractive, both physically and emotionally.”
“Really, no one, no one at all? Now be honest.” Catrina knew sh
e was broadly hinting.
Illaria looked a little shy. “Well,” she said hesitantly, “it’s true if you don’t count Michael.”
“Yes, but let’s count Michael, shall we. Would you be interested in joining our marriage?”
“Oh, yes, I would really like that. But I’m not sure about Michael liking me.”
“Oh, he likes you a lot. It just confuses him. When you give him a good look at your legs or your breasts, I can tell he’s most interested. He is funny that way. He’d certainly like to do more than look, but then he’s married to me. He loves me, and his upbringing is to be faithful to his wife. So, wanting to do things with you is very disconcerting for him.
If I explain it to him in simple terms, he’ll be more than happy to welcome you, as will I. What about your parents?”
“They won’t be a problem. I think my mothers have already figured out that this is a real possibility. Now how can we go about this? What should I do?”
The two women talked it through and decided that Catrina would bring it up with Michael. That evening right after dinner, Illaria took Jack outside to the gardens to play. He liked the gardens and grabbed her hand to go. He was making an effort at walking but was unsteady on his feet. He would go downstairs by sitting down on the step and then gingerly moving to the next step and doing the same. He’d started to talk, and his favorite word was ‘NO.’ So if somebody tried to pick him up when he wanted to walk, he used his favorite word and threw a little tantrum. If he knew that he needed to be carried, he was alright about it, for a bit. But he’d do his best to get down and walk. He would walk until he was tired, then he’d let somebody carry him. In those cases, he often fell asleep.
While they were gone, Catrina took this opportunity to talk to Michael. “Michael, Illaria is starting to look for a husband.”
“That’s going to be one lucky guy. If he doesn’t realize it, send him to me. Attractive, smart, and personable, what more can you ask for? Who’s the lucky guy? Is somebody helping her?”
“Yes, I am; it’s the least I can do. We’ve got the ‘lucky guy’ all picked out already.”
“That’s great; who is it?”
Catrina felt positively evil. She’d led Michael into this trap, and he’d walked in unsuspecting. “It should be obvious, dear; it’s you.”
Michael's mouth dropped open; he was stunned. Catrina sat there smiling like a cat who just had a saucer of cream. His mind finally started to get back in gear. He saw his wife’s subtle hand in all of this. OK, it wasn’t that subtle, but he was pretty thick on this topic by choice.
He started to review the situation. Illaria was already practically part of the family. Jack thought of her as a second mother. He enjoyed her company, and if he was honest with himself, he’d definitely like to take her to bed. Just thinking of that set off more internal conflicts.
Catrina just sat and watched her husband. She knew him well enough that he was going through various things in his mind. He knew it was a good idea, no it was a great idea if she didn’t say so herself. She just needed to sit and watch him work this out.
Finally, he said. “You set this up. Led me like a lamb to the slaughter. You know, this dual-wife thing freaks me out. But if I’m going to be freaked out, I guess being freaked out with you and Illaria seems good.
Ok, since this is all planned, what do we do next?”
“So, you agree?”
“Yes, intellectually, I agree. I have to get my morals in line. But I realize those are morals from a place far different than here. I expect that I’ll adjust fairly quickly. Just everybody, give me some time.
Back to the question, what do we do next?”
“Well, the next thing we do is the kiss test. I’ll give you a break today. But the next time I put Jack to bed, you and Illaria can sit here and, as you say, ‘make out.’ That should prove the physical attraction. But I’ve seen the looks you give her every time she gives you an opportunity to look down her top. So, I’m sure that you’ll both enjoy it immensely.
Then we go talk to her parents. They’re sure to have already figured this out. I’ve let my mothers know, and they’re all for it.”
Mike was once again almost embarrassed by his wife’s frank discussion of the whole thing. If he had time to think about it, he’d realize that all his friends back on the home world would have been supremely jealous. Married to two hot babes. Who can complain? Mike didn’t think that way for a while; he needed to work through this.
The next day while he was at the office, Alan and Normon noticed that he was distracted. They assumed that he was thinking of some new project. Not how was he supposed to ‘make out’ with Illaria that evening?
That evening Catrina took Jack to bed and was going to read several stories. Both Illaria and Mike were nervous. Illaria because she could sense his nerves. But he embraced her and kissed her on the lips. At that point, basic attraction took over. The pheromones had been acting on both of them for a while, and soon the kiss turned passionate. Mike realized that he was almost as strongly attracted to Illaria as he was to Catrina. Soon their hands were wandering all over each other, with the predictable result.
Catrina came back to find them both flushed and their clothes not exactly as they were. She was very happy. “Well, it seems like the kiss test went very well indeed. Now we just need to inform the parents and set the date.”
After that, things settled into a routine where Illaria was part of the family. Just waiting for the wedding to take part fully in all the activities. Her parents quickly agreed to the match, and Catrina’s parents' only question was when they should show up for the wedding. Her grandfather only inquired about more great-grandchildren. Mike was getting used to the idea. It seemed practical, and they got along very well. Catrina had been right; Illaria was the perfect addition.
Illaria’s mothers and the Duke's wives, along with Catrina and Illaria, went into planning mode. Illaria and Catrina spent time discussing important things like rooms for the children. Jack was almost weaned and would soon be moving into his ‘big boy’ bed and room. The women were talking to him about it, and Mike was encouraging as well.
Catrina and Illaria explained that they expected that Illaria would be pregnant soon. They were both looking forward to it. Mike was slowly starting to accept the idea of a second wife. However, it was hard for him to wrap his head around it. He had two very intelligent, extremely attractive, and affectionate women. It could be worse; well, if he was honest with himself, it was pretty damn good.
Preparing
The morning after their meeting, the boys spread out to do what they’d agreed to. James took Marta aside and told her about derringers for the other girls. She fell right into helping him; he was serious. She might flirt or more with him later about this, but now she needed to make sure that her friends knew how to use the derringers. Prince Brandt and his friends now felt that there might be a need. She remembered standing at her mothers’ side with a sharp knife in her hand when the assassins had attacked them in their own dining room in their palace.
She found her friends. “You need to have derringers and know how to use them. As you saw yesterday, we do have people who really don’t like us. We must be prepared to defend ourselves and our friends. I saw Princess Catrina shoot an assassin who was sneaking up behind Count Michael while he was fighting another one. Saved him.
James will have them for us after lunch, and we’ll go practice with them, and then we’ll carry them with us.” Marta then showed them hers in her lace garter holster.
The girls all felt that if Princess Catrina could do that, they could as well. The only two who were a bit hesitant were Pindar and her sister. When they told their mothers, they were surprised to learn that they already had the little guns and were most supportive of them carrying them.
Brandt found his Uncle, Duke Harlold, Prince Roddrick, Prince Mathias, and Colonel Dedessus sitting in an office going over things. Brandt went in and told them about their experi
ence at the dry goods store. “Not only were they rude, but I also actually thought that they might threaten us. There is a lot of bad blood among the Porfian merchants. They have the funds and the motive to cause a lot of trouble. We should look to security at the wedding.”
The men discussed that for a bit and were soon joined by their wives and fiancés. It was agreed that they needed to take security seriously. Dedessus summed it up. “I know exactly who this shop owner is. One of Darvin’s group, and I suspect his inner circle. He wouldn’t say what he said in front of us but felt that he could do so to a group of young people.”
“It may also be that they are getting angrier and desperate as they see their position here slipping away.” Added Elizabeth.
Dedessus agreed that they would take young Rolf through the security arrangements in the morning and that the next afternoon there would be a meeting of the committee trying to come up with equitable solutions to returning businesses to local control. Prince Brandt and his friends would attend.
That afternoon, Marta and the other young women joined James at a hastily set up firing range for the derringers. There was a table set up with the derringers along with powder and shot. Targets were set up at five feet behind a line.
The young women were very attentive on how the little guns were cared for. They took the safety instructions to heart and then practiced loading them. When James was satisfied, he took them to the firing line for practice. Marta didn’t need any coaching. She was part of the Nordian nobility, and all the women had derringers and knew how to use them. The attacks on the royal family had seen to that. Pindar had a bit of a problem; she held it in one hand and looked away. James got her to hold it in both hands and actually look at the target. After a few tries, they all were able to hit the target.
As they were going, Marta gave him a little peck on the cheek and whispered in his ear that she felt that after a long day, her garter holster would need adjustment, and he could help. James was all for that.
The Porfian Princess: The Chronicles of Cornu Book 4 Page 26
