Princess Rescue Inc (39 page)

“Long
term damage?”

“Well,
his trachea isn't too happy. He's got some scratches and bruising from the
stomach pump as well. The tissue in his throat was pretty swollen so I'm afraid
Lewis wasn't to gentle with the trachea tube.”

“At
least he's alive,” Ryans sighed. “When will he...” he said, walking with the
Doc to the hall.

Sue
shook her head and brushed the bangs out of her eyes irritably. “Give him a
couple of days. Damn it Eugene, I don't know what the hell to say. I'm not even
sure he'll even be able to move!” She threw her hands up in the air. He
grimaced. A lot of their plans were riding on Perry.

“All
right. Note to self, hell to the entire group, don't take food from strangers,”
he said. He grimaced as she snorted and then nodded.

“Did
you find out who was behind it?” she finally asked.

“Unfortunately
no, dead end. Literally,” he grimaced. “Waters checked, the guy was a new
recruit. Literally new, but he was obviously targeting Perry personally.”

“Think
it was Duluth?” Sue asked.

Ryans
frowned before he shrugged at the thought. “I'm more worried about our so
called friends.” He looked away. “Doc, do you know the history of the
handshake?”

“Um...
What the hell does that have to do with this?”

“It's
a roundabout thing, I'll get to in a second. Do you know the history?” he
asked, turning to her. She shook her head. “Way way back when people would
greet each other. To show that they were unarmed and had good intentions they
shook hands. They used their right hand to show that it was clean.”

“Um...”

“It's
an old custom Doc, going back centuries. What just occurred to me is that not
one, not one person here has offered to shake our hand. No one.” He frowned as
she blinked at him. “It makes it kind of hard to know who to trust doesn't it?”
he asked whimsically.

“Oh
that's just sooo good to know,” Sue snarled. Her hands shook. “What the hell do
we do?” she demanded. So much for sleeping tonight. She'd prop the damn chest
and chair up against the door. Of course that didn't account for any secret
passages... She shivered. On second thought she'd sleep in the damn camper.
Maybe... no, there wasn't enough room for Perry there. Fortunately Galloway was
up and filling in for him for now.

“We
take it one day at a time. But when I get a chance we're going to rough out a
better GOTH plan just in case it ever gets nasty with our friends.” He snuck a
look at some of the lords in the hall. They were drinking and talking off to
one side. Sue looked, then looked back to him nodding.

“Good,
and you're right, no food from strangers.”

He
smiled. “That a request for me to cook Doc?” he asked. She laughed.

“Something
like that. I'm just glad you can't burn water.”

He
mock scowled. “Cute Doc, real cute.”

<==={}------------>

Baron
Muchinson was angry about the failed assassination attempt. He was disturbed
that the gaijin had saved the fallen man and had stopped taking food from
others and returned to eating their own rations. He was vexed over the lack of
progress on his armor, and being thwarted in getting his hands on the new
weapons didn't help his fraying temper any. Perry had firmly told him no the
day before his unfortunate accident and he had not been pleased about being
denied such wonder weapons. He was also not used to a low born telling him no.

The
show the gaijin had put on a week ago had been an eye opening and nerve
wracking thing. He, like the others, had taken a mount and a few guards and
thought of the demonstration as a picnic, a time to converse with his fellows
while away from the eyes and ears of the castle. He hadn't been impressed with
the metal and strange material weapons the gaijin carried. Some sort of
modified crossbow he had thought.

The
animals the Imperium lords had rode to the hillside with their retinue had been
duly impressed by the noise. They panicked when the weapons had made their
thunderous noise, bucking and turning about, stomping one unfortunate steward
into gruel before throwing their riders. More than one lord had been unseated
unceremoniously and left spitting in the dust as their mounts charged off to
who knows where.

Of
course the gaijin and army men had smothered their laughter and helped their
betters to their feet and gone on with the demonstration. The man that had been
killed was beyond help.

When
the shocking demonstration had finished he had like his fellows tried to bribe
the gaijin to get a weapon of their own but had been cruelly denied his just
due. Now he had to think of something else and thinking was not his strong
suit. Mother had done that for him for far too long he realized. She'd told him
to go off and play and let her focus on the workings of the court. Now she was
dead and he was finding himself leaning on the Duke far more than he probably
should. He realized his failings, knew he was a man of action. “Someday,” he
muttered darkly, looking up to the window of the room where the gaijin
lieutenant slept. “Someday,” he growled and stalked off.

<==={}------------>

Gunny
Paris studied a teen with moderate to severe acne scars. Puberty had definitely
not been kind in that regard, though the lad had a strikingly buff body. The
kid was good, smart; he rarely made the same mistake twice. He adapted to the
new tech like a fish to water, sucking it up. “Tiberius right? Think he's for
the officer candidate program?” Waters asked nodding his chin to the lad as
they watched Paterson put the latest group through their paces. Another platoon
was marching around the quad, working on their drilling skills.

Paris
shrugged. “Beats me. I'm just the hired help. I think we should bump him up to
squad leader and see how he hacks it.”

“He's
quiet,” Waters observed, watching the lad help one of his team mates on the
improvised obstacle course. “But he does show leadership potential,” he
admitted as the other kid got over the wall and kept going.

“Yeah,
that he does. He doesn't jaw at you or anything, just listens intently,” the
Gunny said. “Worried he's a spy?” he finally asked, staring at the lad.

“No,”
Waters finally said. “But it's something we have to be on the lookout for. I
think he's just a smart cookie. Someone told him to keep his ears open and his
trap shut if he wanted to survive this I bet,” he said.

“Maybe,”
Paris replied reluctantly.

Waters
turned away. “Make him the squad leader. Let's see what he can do.”

“I
hate rushing this shit,” the Gunny sighed. Twenty two hours in a day, five days
in a week... they didn't have the time they needed to not only get to know the
kids but to let them get to know and trust them. Trust in their leadership and
teach them to listen.

“We
work with what we've got. Squad leader,” Waters said with a nod. “I'll deal
with the paperwork.”

“Right,”
the Gunny replied. He didn't envy Waters; the Master Sergeant was also trying
to deal with the so called officer training program. So far most of the
candidates were nobles or sons of nobles with delusions of grandeur and no
interest in following orders. All they wanted to do was rush off for glory and
loot. Having an upstart in their ranks could get interesting. It'd be hell on
the kid but if he was tough he'd handle the hazing and come out even stronger
than before.

<==={}------------>

Ryans,
Sydney, Zara, and Deidra discussed Herod the Great. The kids were a quiet audience,
watching from the sidelines. Zara explained that he was a former Roman slave
who survived when the town was laid waste by disease and people fled into the
wilderness. When a new crop of people crossed over he used his knowledge to
become their leader.

Deidra
was annoyed with Zara; the girl was spending entirely too much time with the
gaijin. She'd come in to berate them all for wasting their time but had become
intrigued by Sydney's teaching and her sharp tongue had been quelled.

Zara
was dressing too much like the gaijin these days. Without the sharp guiding
hand of Druzilla or nana she was flouting traditional garb and makeup. She
sometimes borrowed an outfit from the gaijin Paterson. She even washed her
outfits in the gaijin's machinery. It was both amusing and vexing all in one
package.

“It
was he that united the various cultures into one group by outlawing slavery and
banning a state religion. He also wanted democracy but was made King,” Zara said
proudly. “He called it emperor but others changed it to King.”

 “They
needed a strong central leader,” Ryans noted with a nod.

Sydney
looked amused. “Yeah, I can see that I guess,” hHe sniffed. “People always
flock to power though.”

“True,”
Ryans nodded. “Also to the security and comfort of having someone in charge who
knows what he's doing. Who has the bigger picture.”

“So
is this where the whole marriage thing comes in?” Sydney asked. The princesses
stiffened.

Ryans
sighed and rubbed his brow. “Sydney...”

“What?
Oh bollocks, I put my foot right into it didn't I?” he asked looking at the
girls.

“Typical,”
Ryans snorted. “Sorry ladies but we're ignorant of the custom and he's...
curious.” He glanced at Sydney who nodded. “So am I for that matter.”

Zara
gave both men a look as Deidra looked away, then brushed her skirt and got up.

“If
you'll excuse me,” she murmured as they got up. She left without a backwards
glance.

“Did
I hit a nerve? I said I was sorry,” Sydney said.

“Yeah,
I'll say,” Ryans sighed.

“So
what's this about? We can't keep going around stumbling in the dark. Toes get
trodden on enough here as it is,” Sydney said. He for one was heartily sick of
the crap.

Zara
frowned then nodded. “Herod...” she cleared her throat. “Herod saved a woman's
life. She was a new immigrant and was pregnant. Her husband was dead.
basilisk
.”
She frowned. “He married her and instituted Vitas Sodalis...”

“Ah.
Okay. So that explained it.”

“She
had twins, Herod named them Romulus and Remus.”

Ryans
nodded in appreciation. “Right out of Roman mythology. Cute.”

“Yeah,”
Sydney nodded. He opened his mouth but the exasperated look from the princess
made him close it. “A story for another day I suppose. You were saying
princess?”

“Yes,”
she nodded smoothing the wrinkles in her skirt. “I was saying that Herod had
two boys. They grew up. One day they saved a pair of sisters.”

“Ah.
I take it...”

“No,
they didn't marry,” Zara shook her head. “They were too young their father
said. But they joked about it. Then, well... there was an accident and the
girl’s father was killed building the outer wall of the capital.”

Ryans
eyed her. “Herod had the women move into the keep as part of his household.”
Zara shook her head.

Sydney
frowned. “Ah. And then?”

“No...
Actually it was during a trip to a nearby land. Duluth actually, Remus met the
Dominus and they tried to force him to marry their... ah... ugly daughter.”

Sydney
snorted.

“Tried
to cement the two Kingdoms and get a line in on the Imperium throne. I take it
that didn't go over well?” Ryans asked amused.

“No,”
Zara looked like she was ready to giggle. “No, She was fat and ugly... like a
basilisk
.
Or so I was told.”

“Oh
boy, Yeah...Talk about a diplomatic mess in the making,” Sydney sighed. “Hell I
for one wouldn't want to wake up next to that every morning!”

“Right,”
Zara nodded, giving him a quelling look. “He got out of the marriage by
insisting he had saved the life of a princess in his own land and was betrothed
to her. His father had created the precedent.”

“Ah,
he talked his way out of it. Cute.” Sydney said softly. “Bet you wish you were
that smart,” he said eying Ryans. Ryans didn't rise to the bait. He'd made it
clear the diplomatic immunity negated the Vita Sodalis but apparently the Queen
had ignored the message.

“Yes
well, when Remus sent word and word of the Dominus's daughter Herod reluctantly
agreed. However when Remus came back he was wed to Sejini. His parents
insisted,” she grimaced.

“Ah.
And therefore his brother and her sister...”

Zara
nodded. “They were also wed. And that didn't go over well with Romulus or his
new wife. They fought quite often it was said. Romulus was quite bitter with
his brother for the marriage as well. He had fallen in love with another and
wasn't happy about being forced into a loveless marriage.”

Ryans
winced. He could relate. “Ah.”

“When
Herod died the Kingdom was split in two. But Romulus was quite angry still.
When he had had enough of his wife's sharp tongue he cut it out in a drunken
rage one night.” The men winced at that.

“He
sent it to his brother. Remus went to war at his wife's urging. It was to save
her sister. The war was brutal and lasted several years. Hasana and her
daughter fled the castle through a secret passage when it was under siege. They
met up with Remus who used the passage to get in and kill his brother.”