by Pam Uphoff
The prince sighed. "You need to get over it. Treat me like any other green lieutenant."
"Hot tea or mulled cider to warm you up, Officers?" the old man finished with the fire, and dusted his hands off.
They all opted for the cider, and well worth it, although if it had been served by the pretty wench he'd spotted in the kitchen that might have warmed them up a bit more.
He was of two minds about being assigned the command at Fort Stag. He was a very young Colonel, and especially young to get an independent command. On the other hand, the post was remote and was mostly engineering, with a thin sprinkling of bandits. The most he could hope for was a thick sprinkling of bandits.
But it really was an independent command. All his fellow officers had been envious, and much partying had ensued. He'd gotten a bit tired of the jokes, at the end, especially the warnings about all the witches, wizards and gods that everyone seemed to have decided must haunt the region. He'd been glad to get out on the road.
"Pity we didn't get out of Karista two days earlier." Captain Robanik sipped his cider.
"I wonder if it's cold enough to snow up at the Pass?" The prince looked all bright eyed at the prospect of being snowed in all winter. He'd learn. City boy.
Remi hustled in through the back door, and hung his gear on the rack there. "It's coming down even harder, now. I'm glad we're on the Old Road."
He paused at the fireplace to soak up a bit of warmth, and took a mug of cider from the old man with thanks. "That's some stable boy you've got out there. Not to mention that chestnut gelding. Who owns him?"
The old man chuckled. "The stable boy, and no, he's not for sale."
Remi crinkled his brow.
The old man chuckled. "He's the son of a friend, out adventuring in the World. My stable boy eloped with my cook, so he's pitching in to help. He finds it quite amusing. Was he being bucolic?"
"Err, more like the village idiot."
The old man shook his head. "Boys. He knows his horses though."
Remi wandered across and sat down. "He's over six foot tall and young enough that he may not be done growing yet. Keeps a good clean barn though. The chestnut is worth a walk out to the barn, even in the rain."
There was a rattle and clatter from the front porch, then the inn was invaded by a flock of women. All young. Every single one worth a second look. Every. Single. One. All six. They took the big center table, giggling and chattering.
"I can't believe you won the toss." That one had strawberry blonde hair rippling down to her mid-back. Tanner recognized the cut and quality of her dress as the result of combining money with good taste.
"Ha! You know Mother made it a contest of skill and power." The brunette had her hair in braids wrapped around her head, for a clean elegant look. Apart from the hair color, they looked quite a bit alike. "The obvious fact that your triad had babies in it is entirely coincidental."
The redhead sniffed. "Ha! Two and a half years difference doesn't make us babies. Granny."
Strawberry blonde nodded.
"OldGodsItsThem." Garit moaned, and looked like he'd like to escape, or possibly just sink down and cower under the table.
Captain Barros looked from him to the women. "You know them?"
That caught the attention of the redhead, and she looked them over, eyebrows rising as she spotted the prince. "Oh, look what we've found!"
Captain Robanik gulped. "Old Gods! Introduce us, please, do I need to beg?"
"No, you need your heads examined." Garit sounded exasperated. "All right, let's get it over with."
"Garit, you're much too shy." The black haired beauty smiled wickedly.
The prince stood up, and the colonel didn't quite manage to beat the two Captains to their feet.
"Ladies, may I present Colonel Tanner Trick, Captain Wain Robanik, and Captain Drew Barros. Officers, may I present four of Lord Hell's children, Lady Azure, Lady Beige, Lady Scarlet and Lady Inky? Apart from the appallingly misnamed Lady Beige," he bowed to the strawberry blonde, "they're fairly easy to keep track of. And I believe these other two young women are Lady Yoderite and Lady Zeolite."
Ladies Yoderite and Zeolite also had a generous dress budget, the fabric of their gowns was fine and fashion sense shown in every drape and pleat.
The dark blonde, Yoderite, smiled. "And here I thought you didn't notice us!"
"No, M'lady, I flee from you." The Prince seemed quite matter of fact about it.
The colonel was wondering if he'd look like a pecking hen if he went around kissing all their hands, but the moment for that seemed to be sliding past quickly.
Lady Scarlet whispered something in Lady Inky's ear, eliciting giggles.
"We'll have to draw straws." Giggles all around.
A man walking down the stairs paused to eye the assembly, then slipped back into the kitchen.
A few minutes later he was back out with wine glasses and bottles.
He glanced at the bevvy of women uncertainly. "Harry said to tell you that this is not the special wine." His voice was high and soft, with a touch of Auralian to it.
Eunuch. The colonel thought, not liking him anywhere near the prince. Not that the Auralians had tried anything in the last dozen years, but . . .
The women sent him back for four more glasses.
The old man brought out three trays of what, in another setting, he would have called canapes and the young man brought seven more glasses and another bottle of wine and even the curbs got a taste. It was excellent, reminded him of some he'd had at his most formal congratulatory party at the home of the legendary General Rufi Negue.
The Auralian returned with a battered guitar. Tanner winced, but the fellow was actually quite good, playing softly in the background. His singing voice was a magnificent high tenor, but he kept the volume down and was simply excellent background.
What had started as a miserable ride in the pouring rain was quickly turning into a dinner party, and as various people sat and chatted, dishes started appearing.
The colonel found himself chatting with the brunette. Good looks, good fashion sense, intelligent conversation . . . I need to query Prince Garit about her antecedents. This one could be the one.
The stormy darkness made it feel later, and the party was winding down into dessert when a flotilla of wagons arrived, and wet drovers and a trio of irritated but well dressed merchants filled the rest of the tables. The young women sought their rooms shortly thereafter. The captains cast wishful and speculative looks up the stairs, but restrained themselves from active pursuit.
The colonel took a turn outside; the privy had a covered walkway to it, but with the wind blowing he still got pretty damp. Hope it doesn't freeze . . . surely it's too early for that. He hustled back into the inn.
The mood had changed in the Main Room. The guitar playing had stopped, and the musician was serving the wet drovers, and the querulous merchants. They apparently had tried to beat the rain to the crossroads, wanting to get onto the Old Road before the rutted dirt road from someplace called Horseshoe turned to mud. They hadn't made it by two apparently miserable hours.
"You need to be a bit cautious around those women," the prince was warning the other officers. Tanner had noticed that he had barely tasted the excellent wine, and had remained aloof from the women.
Tanner eyed him. "Lieutenant, is there a reason for your reluctance to socialize with the young ladies?"
"Yes, sir. I've come to realize over the last few weeks that you do not believe in magic, so I suppose pointing out that the ladies are all witches is hopeless?" Tanner nodded, and the prince sighed. "How about, they come from a very different culture, and should be considered hazardous, and possibly outright dangerous?"
"Prince Garit, I understand that there are gates to other worlds, created by magic users. I am quite certain they weren't made by a bevy of beautiful young ladies. I suspect a well organized group of wise men crafted them at the behest of the King. As for any danger these young women repres
ent, you're the only one here I'm really worried about, and you don't seem to be the least bit tempted."
The prince shrugged agreement. "I doubt they'll hurt the captains very much, and I suspect the captains will enjoy every minute of it. They're . . . a bit too hungry for my tastes."
He's assuming I've got better sense? Ha! With that lot, it's the opposite. A man would be a fool to not want any one of them. Especially Lady Azure. "Hungry? They were certainly all outspoken and self confident, but hardly . . . Old Gods, they all had the air of virgins. Forward, but not knowing. It is obvious." He waved off the issue. "So, what can you tell me about their families?"
"Well, the four sisters . . . their mother is from around here somewhere. And Lord Hell . . . " The boy hesitated. "He lives, they all live, in Karista. Well, actually he's got an island out on the Bay. They must be here visiting family. They're a very old family, well to do, as you can tell from the girl's clothing."
"Indeed." The colonel finished his pie and chased it with his last sip of wine, and headed for bed. Harry had handed out labeled keys at some point in the evening, and he looked at the label on his.
"Officers, goodnight. Should there be an emergency, you will find me in room one." With a general shuffling of chairs and feet, they headed upstairs. The inn was larger than it had looked from the outside, with two ells off the back. Room one was in the north hall, first on the left, and everyone else's were also on the same hallway, curbs next door to their charges, and the prince just the other side of Remi, with Captain Robanik beyond him.
The prince rolled his eyes when he saw the colonel watching him. He closed his door and rattled his key loudly when he locked it.
"You need to relax and just treat him like a lieutenant." Robanik closed his own door.
Tanner nodded glumly, and vowing to stop acting like a royal babysitter, closed and locked his own. A gust of wind rattled his window. Hard to believe a day like this had been so thoroughly enjoyable. He crawled into a clean comfortable bed and fell asleep dreaming of an elegant woman with warm hazel eyes.
***
By morning the rain was turning to sleet, and the temperatures were still dropping. Flare cooked porridge and stewed fruits and started a huge pot of chicken soup for lunch.
Everyone took one look outside and decided to stay another day.
"Two most likely. The wind is still from the north. This storm is coming right off the ice cap." Xen said. "If you need me for anything, tell Harry. He knows how to signal me." He scraped the bowl and licked his spoon. He peeked out the kitchen door and made a choking noise. "OhMyGod. What are the Sisters from Hell doing here?" He stepped back to let Harry through.
"Eating breakfast." Harry grinned wryly. "They had so much fun talking to the officers last night they decided against going home."
"Oh. Poor lucky bastards. Anyway, here's Gisele's green stuff. She said to refill it half and half with white wine and maple syrup, as you use it." He handed Harry a small green bottle and ducked out the back door, and she could hear him cheerfully cursing the slippery footing.
The three waifs were still eating porridge, and she whipped up some warm eggnog—without the alcohol—for them all, and more for the customers.
Kipp looked amused. "I feel like I'm getting treated like a ten year old. I'm thirty-five, which I strongly suspect is much more than double your age."
She grinned. "A woman never tells her age. And you were tired enough yesterday to look a bit waifish, so you're going to get treated like one."
She took an opportunity to pop out behind the bar for a few minutes to see the guests Xen had called the Sisters from Hell. All pretty, all eyeing the Army Officers while pretending to be Good Girls.
Being from Rip Crossing, she'd seen it all.
Sisters?
Well, she'd seen, and in fact was part of, a family with, umm, somewhat uncertain parentage. Or at least varied. Even the Rip Crossers were pretty good about keeping the mothers straight. She could only recall two times when women had gone to Lady Rustle to straighten up a mix up about which baby was whose. Checking who the actual father was, was more common. Just to keep half brothers and sisters from forming romantic attachments.
So the wide variance in hair color wasn't surprising. She finally decided they must be two sets of sisters, all close in age. The oldest might be twenty. None as young as her own fourteen years. She couldn't figure out which set of sisters the elegant brunette belonged to, she resembled both. Cousins, perhaps? Not that it mattered. They laughed and eyed the officers and three of them seemed to have some advantage over the other three, and they were rubbing it in.
With nothing to do but sit out the storm, most of the guests wound up in the main room. The drovers and merchants had been up late and gotten well chilled. They slept in late, showing up for a hot breakfast late in the morning. Two of them hustled out to the barn, and returned to report all the horses fine and all the wagons covered with a thin layer of ice.
Flare worried a bit about Xen. "He hasn't come back." She told Harry as he passed through.
The old man chuckled. "He's not about to be played with by witches."
Flare blinked. "Oh, is that what they are?"
Harry nodded. "Two triads. One was buying the other dinner in payment for losing a contest. Which Triad gets to advance first, most likely. Unfortunately they've decided the Army Officers are cute, and the chase has begun." He slanted a glance at the three waifs. "Kipp, you be careful around those women."
He nodded. "They're a bit too, umm, cat-like for comfort."
Flare shot him a puzzled look.
"Wildcats like to play with their food before they kill it and eat it."
She snorted. "They won't kill anyone. Not if they're anything like the Ash witches."
Little Bug was looking puzzled. "They aren't witches. I looked, they're beautiful." She sounded a bit wistful. Flare guessed she was ten or eleven, on the cusp of puberty. Nick had dragged a blanket out of their room and had curled up in a corner and fallen asleep again. Eight years old, at a guess.
"Just because they're beautiful doesn't mean they can't do magic." Flare said.
"Are you a witch?"
"No. I'm just plain and ordinary."
The little girl looked at her thoughtfully. "No you're not. You're as pretty as they are, you just don't dress fancy and put stuff on your face."
Kipp nodded. "Exactly, young lady. Especially with the striking hair color."
Flare blushed, one hand going to her hair. She kept it braided and in a bun, because she thought it looked dyed. Especially in bright light. Her stepfather used to just laugh and say he hadn't seen properly purple hair for centuries.
"We can probably start serving lunch, any time." She changed the subject firmly, and started assembling trays. Bread, butter, cheese, and the thick creamy soup.
Kipp went out and played his guitar after helping serve, and Bug helped her stir cookie batter, keeping one eye on Harry. He sat and talked quietly to Nick, and examined his ankle. "If you'll let him help, Xen is very good at fixing this sort of thing."
Dirty dishes got washed, dried, and put away, Harry produced some beautiful fresh cherries from somewhere, and when the pies came out of the ovens, roasts got rubbed with spices and put in.
Warm drinks circulated, most with very little alcohol in them. The men played cards, or chatted with the women.
***
Lady Azure was the sort of woman he'd always dreamed of. Strikingly beautiful, well mannered, well born, with taste and poise. And a look in her eye that said her husband was going to be a very happy, but possibly exhausted, man.
He knew damn good and well he was bragging, as he mentioned his family connections, dropped hints of his wealth, and, well, he knew damn well he was a good looking man. It was time for him to marry, and he'd found the perfect woman. He could woo her while he was stationed here, near her family's country seat, and they could marry when he returned to Karista and a more civilized assignment.
<
br /> Now she was smiling alluringly at him and worrying about the inn's larder. "This storm is so early, I'm worried they might not have laid in a good supply. I looked in the store room there," her eyes shifted to the unobtrusive door beside the fireplace, just behind their table. "It's nearly empty, but there's a trap door. I'm half minded to take a look at Harry's basement."
He doubted they could be short enough on food to have trouble with a single storm, but as an opportunity to be alone long enough for a kiss . . . "Need someone to lift the trap, and hold the lantern while you take inventory?"
Her eyes brightened. "Certainly. Come on."
Remi had overheard it all and raised an amused eyebrow. He didn't stir from his seat. Robanik and Barros had their attention fixed on two of the other women, Prince Garit was surrounded by the other three women. None of them noticed when he picked up the little candle globe from their table and followed Azure through the door.
The room did indeed have only a half empty bag of potatoes in it. He lifted the trap. It was hinged, and he let it down quietly and lowered the globe. Steep narrow stairs, almost a ladder led down and he led the way, reaching up from the bottom to take her hand and steady her as she followed.
She hugged his arm to her, and peered through the dim light. "What is that, over there?"
Wooden crates, looking very un-food-like. Not much else. The basement was a maze, not so much of rooms, as walls and pillars to support the floors above. He set the globe down on one of the crates and Azure looked up at him anxiously. "I hope he's got food stored somewhere else."
He looked at her. She was tall enough he only needed to bend his neck. He kissed her.
