Chapter 14

Like so many other things in my surreal existence, the familiar warmth of morning kisses from each of my lovers sent powerful feelings through my body. Without a word, I parted Zetia’s lips with my tongue. After a playful moment, she accepted it and copied the effort, pressing back harder. Julie showed her own enthusiasm by reaching over and playing with my morning hardness. My wife twisted her hand and pumped me a few times.

“It’s in working order,” Julie assured Zetia. “Roll onto your back, Zetia. It’s your turn to start your day off right.”

Julie’s statement unleashed something primal inside of me. I helped roll Zetia over and slid on top of her. Part of me wanted to prove to Zetia she had made the right decision to join our family. We explored and played with each other, while I was careful to keep my weight off her.

Julie joined in, kissing my neck. “Zetia is beautiful. Just look at those hard and excited nipples.”

Zetia looked delicious. Her dark skin contrasted well with our white sheets, and when she arched her back, presenting her swollen nipples for my attention, I gave up being patient. Julie playfully laughed at the sight of Zetia presenting herself to me. My wife quickly slotted me into Zetia’s opening, and I pulled out all the stops. We made love and Zetia wasn’t shy in telling me what she wanted. I was kind and didn’t rush to get my own pleasure before hers. When we finished, Julie was hot and passionate, more interested in rough and fast play. She burst with pleasure and made much more noise than Zetia. We played around until my stomach protested its hunger and gurgled enough that Zetia got out of bed. She knew it was time to move on.

“We have to feed this monster,” Julie said, patting my sweaty stomach. We were all slick with perspiration from our vigorous activities.

I just grinned and rolled out of bed. By the time we were completely dressed for breakfast, I noticed our hair was a sweaty mess, and our faces had a flushed, satisfied look. However, because we were dressed in our armor, most people wouldn’t consider how we had really exerted ourselves.

Unfortunately, our ecstatic feelings weren’t lost in the face of the Wolf guarding our door. She sat mesmerized, not remembering to acknowledge us and stand up. Of course, like most inns, the walls weren’t sound proofed. She had heard everything. Julie stepped over to the warrior and whispered into her ear. “His body is superior - In all kinds of ways; you can’t imagine how drunk on our passion we get. I bet you wish you could bottle up his smell.”

The young woman blushed and nodded vigorously. “Is there a way to do that with magic?”

Julie whispered something else in a much lower tone, cupping the woman’s ear with her hand.

I didn’t dare ask what was transpiring between them. Internally, I knew with a certainty what my wife was up to and it embarrassed me somehow.

Zetia saw my discomfort and pulled me to her. “Von, don’t worry about it. Your wife knows what that woman wants, and she is a good planner. Don’t think that the warrior was assigned to our door by some random chance.”

Julie continued her whispering with the highly muscled guard, and I walked down the hallway towards the stairs. As we started down the creaking, wood stairs, I looked over my shoulder. I saw Julie pushing the young woman into our bedroom and closing the door behind them. “Oh, Moon Mother, the pheromones,” I thought. “The poor woman is going to go crazy.” Even though Julie had closed the door, I knew she was smiling.

“See, your wife is just sealing the deal,” Zetia said, a bit smugly, still guiding me down the stairs. “We want capable and trustworthy women to handle communications with the magic mirrors. Your other wives are busy building their new home on the butte. Julie’s task is to recruit guards for the wizard’s tower and her communications department.”

My mouth must have fallen open.

“Department is the right word, right?” Zetia asked.

I sighed and confirmed it with a silent nod.

“My mistress says she is multi-tasking, whatever that is. That Wolf was the last one on the list.”

“List?” I asked, as we walked into the common room.

“Sure, all the other female Wolves have committed to joining your Clan,” Zetia confirmed.

“I am so lucky they haven’t signed employment contracts for the mercenary company,” I thought. “Hajin would kill me. He will be mad anyway; these are his best men out of the training company. I’ll make it up to him with some tech gadget, maybe a wrist communicator like I gave Sparrow.”

“Why the sour look?” Zetia jokingly asked.

“Hajin.”

She covered her mouth, trying to hold back a laugh. I didn’t think it was funny.

“He is on Convey. Don’t worry the training master won’t take your head off,” Zetia said, half-lying. “Lady Derwen does sponsor his training company, and it is her business.”

“Still. He works hard to keep that mercenary company the best in the world,” I said.

“Julie said you’d over think this,” Zetia persisted with a smirk.

I shut up. She was right. I locked my concern up and threw away the key. One of my wives got me again.

The common room had a few Wolves sitting around eating breakfast. The few maids in the room were sitting with our men, keeping them company. At least a dozen locals were milling around, too. Most of them were playing a game of chance round a table. Zetia and I ignored them, found a table and ordered breakfast. The innkeeper talked with me for a few minutes, praising the orderly men under my command. Of course, he wanted to know what our plans were. I suspect he had reasons for asking, but I didn’t respond to the casual inquiry. He was smart enough to let the question drop. Instead, our conversation turned to mundane and safe issues. I wanted a simple day with no drama. Our mission with the Count had already turned into more trouble than I had expected. By the time the innkeeper ran out of pleasantries and small talk, he summoned a pair of servers who quickly attended our needs.

A spark of energy ran down my spine when I felt Julie’s aura enter the room. All of us turned to see my wife talking into her PDA. Obviously, she had given up hiding the communication function of the tablet. I didn’t like it, but in my heart, I knew we were kidding ourselves that knowledge of the ‘magic mirror’ could be hidden long. Julie clearly intended to maximize the tool’s benefits and not worry about the observant patrons of the inn. However, it was rather funny to watch the reactions on everyone’s face to her string of words. At this point, few could understand Universal Common unless they had arrived with the shuttle. I chuckled. “Well, maybe a few temple women would understand bits and pieces.” Julie’s words flowed smoothly, unlike the harsh sounding language used on Haven. “Some of these people will later claim she wove a spell with her incantations,” I thought, which turned my face into a smile.

“Look, Merritt, the count is now six, don’t expect miracles. It has only been a few days since we landed on Haven,” Julie said. “You want the right sort of women to live on the butte? Besides, these women are already predisposed to our husband and have established a basic trust in him without nanomites.”

“Of course,” Merritt responded smoothly. “You just hadn’t updated us on your recruiting effort since introducing Zetia.”

“I told you we ran into slavers. We’ve been busy. Look, I’m late for breakfast, all my love, sister-wife,” Julie said with a puckering kiss to the air. Ending the call, Julie clipped the PDA to her waistband. “Merritt was highly social and quite the organizer of my love life on the starship, so it’s no surprise she is the one pushing Julie,” I thought.

I didn’t say a word about Julie’s conversation when she sat down with us. Zetia passed Julie a piece of cheese.

“Who called out my name, mistress?” Zetia quizzed Julie.

“Merritt was asking how many more worthy women, like you, I have found. She is a dedicated organizer that one, always trying to measure up to her sister’s brilliance. Don’t get me wrong, she has her own skill sets. Yet, I swear, Merritt has a singular passion for checking items off her do list.” Julie announced between bites of cheese.

“That is a concise observation,” I responded, not wanting to expand that discussion. “Did Merritt say anything else interesting?”

“Not much. She is getting along well with Swarta and your other village wives. And she adores your children,” Julie answered. “Mostly, she has provided modern first aid lessons to the healers. You know she has that sort of interest, in addition to medical technology.”

Julie gave us more details of her conversation with my other wife as she ate. Afterwards, somewhat refreshed, we went outside and checked on our animals. Not surprisingly, Scratch had already ensured all our mules were getting proper treatment. With no word from Count Vee about his expectations of us, I decided to walk around the city. Julie gathered her cadre of female Wolves to accompany us as an escort. She didn’t fool me. Julie was setting an expectation that they should be around me. I only hoped this wouldn’t create a rift among the rest of the Wolves, as if I was giving preferential treatment to women.

The tour was uneventful, mostly because we didn’t try to enter the walled part of the city. I doubted the Royal Guard would let strangers in without some type of pass, so I avoided walking towards the guarded gates to the harbor. Yet, I took time to commit the view to my memory. The old part of town possessed splendid walls, six times taller than the tallest native, and thick enough to stand up to siege engines. The fort’s main gate with its magnificent tower was a citadel of strength. Beyond the iron gates was a large courtyard or drill field; the inner buildings around it were probably barracks. I knew from Webster’s satellite surveillance that the fort had an enormous capstan that blocked unwanted ships from the harbor. A great iron chain that in times of need would protect the harbor of the inner-city could be pulled up from the seabed. However, the city had outgrown its original roots, and most of the population lived outside of the protected inner part.

By the time we had stretched out our legs and felt the pleasant burn of warm muscles, we had returned to the inn. Sadly, there was nothing to do but wait until Count Vee needed us. Somehow, I had expected Conquest Point’s envoy to arrange an immediate audience with the Princess. It didn’t happen. We hung out at the inn until mid-afternoon, when two familiar lancers entered the common room. One I liked, one I didn’t.

“Lord Solon, please come with me,” the junior officer announced across the room. “The Count is waiting in his carriage for you.” The other lancer winced at his squad leader’s poor choice of words.

Zetia jumped to her feet and put her hand on the hilt of her sword. Julie got up a lot slower, but with a burning rage that could hardly believe the man’s disrespectful tone. The room went quiet waiting for my reaction. I thought of all the things I could do to put the stuck-up noble in his place, all of them would have felt satisfying, but none of them were worth cleaning up after. The officer was my age but lacking in any manners or polish.

I stood up and put my hands on the shoulders of both of my companions. “Let’s go see what his boss needs from us ... We don’t shoot messenger boys.”

“You have the patience of a granite mountain,” Zetia exclaimed.

“Our man has a long fuse, but a big bang,” Julie ventured.

Zetia relaxed a moment. “Definitely, he has a big bang.”

They both laughed. I tilted my head and waited for all of them to precede me to the door. Outside, the Count stood at the foot of his carriage, looking very pleased to see us. He wore his finest courtier clothes. A number of lancers were prancing around the road, burning off some of the excess energy of their high-strung black stallions. The people around the square had stopped their daily routine to watch us. The noble’s carriage, escort and expensive horseflesh made the crowd interested enough to pause their day.

Count Vee eyed the three of us. “Lord Solon and Lady Julie, it’s wonderful to see you. I’ve just been notified Princess Wyrd will see us now.”

Julie gave the Count a slight curtsey. “Lord Count.”

“Okay, we’re ready to assist you,” I volunteered, resting my hand on my sword.

He looked at Zetia. “You won’t need a bodyguard where we are going.”

Julie stepped forward into his face. “Zetia has been elevated to more than a bodyguard. She is now my assistant, a lady-in-waiting if you like. Indeed, she is more than an oath taker. Zetia has become an intimate member of the clan.”

The Count raised his eyebrows at Julie, instantly understanding the inference. “I see. Well, let’s be off then.”

Zetia’s smirk wasn’t lost on Count Vee. He took my wife’s hand and guided her into the carriage, and then he did the same thing with Zetia.

“Congratulations, Lady Zetia,” he said with a joltingly sweet tone, even sincere, as though he wasn’t truly surprised at the news. Her smile broadened at the polite gesture.

When the women were in the carriage, he turned to me and leaned forward. “What a wife. Seeing how she treats you makes the stories I’ve heard about you so much more believable. The father to babies of Lady Derwen and her sister, a virtual hero to the people of the west coast of Convey, an innovative shipbuilder, a killer of legendary monsters, I think a man can’t go wrong hitching his horse to your carriage. Thank you for being here, after our successful mission I’d like to align our houses in a closer relationship.”

His thankful confession totally blindsided me. The odd note in his voice made me watch his eyes. Count Vee waved me inside the carriage, and then the four of us departed. Zetia spent the rest of the trip in abstraction, her eyes wandering over the streets and population. I was generally disinclined to hold a tedious discussion with Count Vee, but Julie carried our conversation with a natural grace. The more time I had with my thoughts, the more I felt a growing bafflement at the Count’s intentions concerning the Solon Clan but without more information, all I found were dead ends to my thinking. All my instincts cried out for more data.

Unable to shake off the attention of Julie and the Count, I joined in the discussion. “Count Vee, why did it take so long to get an audience with the Princess Chaney?” I asked.

Sniffing in the air, he paused to comment, as if something was distasteful. “She wouldn’t see me yesterday. Princess Wyrd Chaney’s staff gave no reason for turning me away from her manor. I can only guess the recent battle was too fresh in her mind.”

“Go on,” Julie encouraged, patting his knee.

He shrugged, waving his hand like he was dismissing an idle thought. “After breakfast, a messenger from the 1^st Providential Regiment pressed a note into my hand. The message claimed, ‘my sister will see you now.”

“The commander of the regiment favors us,” Julie assured him.

“Yes, I told you we made a friend with the half-brother,” he responded. “He must have put in a good word about us.”

“But, you were expected. She knew an envoy from Conquest Point was coming,” I quizzed. “You corresponded.”

Julie interrupted. “Hospitality and small concerns aren’t at the top of the list of things to do when your holdings are under attack.”

He sighed. “A renewed trade agreement is more important to us than her.”

“I see,” I said, almost at once. He slumped, while the color left his face.

“The food problem in Conquest Point is more a crisis than I had thought.”

Julie and the Count’s conversation flowed more into trivialities, taking away the awkwardness and my interest. Zetia examined our faces, then went back to staring out the window. She knew it wasn’t her place to add anything or question the Count. In the fullness of time, I was sure she would know our minds better and wander into the province of politics with us. It was a messy situation. We were there to help keep the interconnected pieces together. Derwen’s merchant fleet needed Conquest Point’s secure harbor and market. The leaders of Conquest Point needed a secure food source to supplement their requirements. Juniper Hills still needed Derwen’s support and logistical aid.

We rolled into Princess Wyrd Chaney’s estate and found it a beehive of activity. Men in red coats trampled the lawn, setting up tents. The majestic manor house sat comfortably on a low hill with a number of lesser buildings dotting the estate road before it - a stable, carriage house, storage sheds and servant quarters.

“Those men are servants of the Royal Guard, retired warriors that are loaned out by the king to provide another level of protection around the Princess,” Count Vee explained.

“The king spies on his daughter?” Julie asked.

“You see right to the heart of the matter,” he responded, looking impressed at the comment. “They are conscientious and diligent in their care for her royal highness. A wonderful fiction, she was bred to appreciate and accept. The king has many children and all those with power or estates have some sort of royal presence to assist them.”

“Palace intrigue 101,” I added. Julie smiled at me.

Frowning, Zetia looked out the window. “What are the tents for?”

We all looked up from our contemplation when Count Vee’s retainer opened the carriage door. We quickly forgot about the tents. The Count stepped out under the shadow of a tree. The noble turned, offering his hand to my wife. A couple of housekeepers moved off the step of the house towards the carriage, their aprons fluttered in the growing breeze. A few red coated men gathered around the household maids, forming a line like an honor guard. I heard one of the men formally welcome the Count. The men in the red coats looked rather dubious as fighting men. They were well beyond their prime. “Not much of a last line of defense for the mansion,” I thought. The daggers hanging on their belts looked more ornamental than sensible weapons.