Chapter 22

The Cutter family had also had an interesting week.

The trip to Clawton had been relatively fast on the new road. Trae had instructed the twins how to look after the cubs, and the girls found them a great source of comfort. Being stuck in the flatbed with their parents had also proved an interesting time.

The four of them had some very thought-provoking and eye-opening discussions. The girls often forgot that their father was a lot older than their mother was and had reared a daughter before them. They had found it hard to think of Kat as his granddaughter.

They often thought of him as a stodgy old man who just didn’t understand them. The arguments after the incident that got them expelled had strained the relationships between daughters and father. Several times during the trip they had to wonder just whom was the man driving the flatbed, as they learnt of his previous life.

Raymond, for his part, had felt as if an anchor had been removed from his neck. Getting out of Hilton and the pretentious society that he had been forced to deal with, was like taking back control of his life. He had never thought of himself as a social climber but he had tried to cultivate friendships to make it easier for his daughters to find good mates.

He felt some responsibility for putting his daughters in the position they had found themselves in. He had not discouraged them from associating with Collin and his friends. He had thought Dylan and Sven were suitable partners for them since they both came from rich and influential families.

He had begun to wonder about the influence Collin had on the two boys but hadn’t really monitored the time the girls had spent in their company and had ignored Vera’s concerns that the girls were acting out of character. Thus, he had been horrified when he found out that they had been acting like sluts.

Now that he knew the truth, he blamed himself for failing them just as he had failed his daughter, Trisha. He hoped he didn’t do it a third time with his next child. During the trip, he opened up to his wife and daughters about his first child.

He told them that he and Trisha’s mother, Reanna, had learnt that they were not compatible not long after Trisha’s birth. He had still been very young, and she hadn’t been ready to settle down. He’d not long started teaching in Wing City and had been working hard to establish himself.

Reanna felt that he was neglecting her and she had left him. He’d only had brief contact with Trisha and had never gotten to know his daughter very well as she grew up. Reanna had discouraged him, as she had married in that time. He had already moved to Hilton and married to Vera when he learnt that Trisha was pregnant.

His father had stepped in and taken Trisha in when she refused to tell her mother who Kat’s father was. When she disappeared, his father had kept Kat. Jim had said that Trisha had gone to Hilton with her new boyfriend but he knew little more, as he didn’t know with any certainty who the man had been.

Raymond, being a new father again, had tried to find her, but he couldn’t prove that she had stayed in Hilton. The ship she had apparently been on had no record of her and all traces of her vanished. He and Vera had both asked around but they and the Shields came to dead ends.

The fact that the city was still reeling from the consequences of Princess Teanna’s and her friend’s little crusade against evil didn’t help. There was a lot of shifting of political alliances, as at least a dozen of the older Lords and Ladies had died, as a result of losing their magical items in the four years before Trisha’s disappearance.

While only a woman could become the Queen and she is chosen by the items, several centuries before, the ruling families had campaigned that a son could inherit if the holder of a title had no daughters. Previously, the heir would be the closest female relative to the title holder. Not all ruling families had magical items, as it was the prerogative of the item, as to whom it went.

The changing of the inheritance rules had altered their society, but in most cases, women still controlled the families. The twins had been surprised to learn that Vera was related to Queen de Vaal. She told them that she was a great-granddaughter, but her grandfather had been one of the Queens oldest sons.

The fact he’d married a shifter hadn’t been well received. She wasn’t strictly inline to inherit since she was from a son. The twins learnt that their mother didn’t like her Aunt Martha very much. She was from a younger son, and they didn’t associate with her, nor were they were invited to a lot of the high society parties.

The family also discussed Raymond’s idea of starting a new University in Catton. Raymond had been surprised by Vera’s wholehearted support and the idea of moving out of Hilton. The girls had just wanted to get away from the rumours and snide remarks.

When the discussion turned to them being coerced, the girls told their parents that they still were not sure what had happened that night, as they truly had no real memories of it. Tamara tried to explain again to their father what they did remember.

She told him that they had tried to be careful and to act like ladies so that they didn’t embarrass their parents. They had understood their actions reflected on them. They had rebuffed the boys’ advances on many occasions saying that they were not ready to go that far.

They had kissed, cuddled and let the boys touch them a little over the months they had courted them but no more. While they had been happy that Dylan and Sven had liked them, and that they wished to be their boyfriends, they had still been virgins until that night.

Neither of them had any conscious memory of how they had ended up in the orgy. Their first real memories were of being dressed by the female Shields and being taken to the hospital with Francine and two other girls who also hung around with Collin’s group.

It was only when the Shields had touched them that they had become aware of their surroundings and felt sick. Everyone seemed out of sorts. The Shields had even taken the boys to be check, as they thought they had ingested something bad since many of them had thrown up after the Shields turned up.

Teresa told them that she remembered the doctor saying that they must have drunk a lot of Kaboo to be as out of it as they were. They had been able to tell the Shields that they had gone to the party with their boyfriends but other than drinking and dancing with the boys, they couldn’t remember drinking that much or getting undressed or doing anything sexual with them.

She had heard the doctor say that she believed that several men had intercourse with both sisters and that she had to put a healing spell on them as they had been roughly treated. The doctor had believed them when they had both admitted to not having had sex before.

It was only later that the twin’s had learnt that Collin had boasted about doing them both first before their boyfriends had a go. They were both mortified by this. Neither of them had been interested in Collin, believing he was Francine’s boyfriend. To learn that he had taken them so callously was something they were still dealing with.

Raymond and Vera were both sad that their precious daughters had been dealt with in such a fashion. Raymond said, “I still want to thrash those boys since I learnt of how they had used magic to rape you girls. It is only because Trae’s promise to see that they were suitably punished that I have held back from doing it myself.”

“How will Trae be able to do this, father, when you could not?” Tamara asked.

“Trae may just seem like a boy from the bush, but he isn’t Tamara. He wanted us far from Hilton and safe from harm. When the elite find out who and what he really is, he believes that we may be in danger. He doesn’t want them to be able to use us against him.”

“Trae believes that a lot of people will be unhappy with what he plans to do. For one thing, he has control of the new source of Quaz crystals and others will wish to take this control from him by any means they can. Plus, he plans to punish those responsible for the death of his parents and the raping of you girls.”

“Edward and Francine gave him the names of ten girls who may have suffered what you two have and Trae and Kat are determined to find the truth. This is why he asked me to stay my hand. You are not the only ones involved, and I had to agree to let him find justice for all of you girls.”

“Trae doesn’t believe that the guilty will accept their fate quietly and the danger his knowledge of the crystals holds is why he wants us and your grandfather safe. He said the valley we are going to is protected by strong shields.”

“He also asked us not to leave the valley unless his friends Tom and Paul are with us. He told me before we left that those pretty necklaces that he gave you two and your mother, have special spells attached to them to help keep you all safe. Please wear them at all times.”

The two girls looked down at their chests. In all of the excitement of leaving Hilton, they had almost forgotten that Trae had given them to them as going away presents just before they got into the flatbed. “Dad?” Tamara said. “Why has the necklace disappeared? I know I’m still wearing it.”

Vera had been reading a letter she found in the present Kat had given her and she chuckled, “Those crafty buggers. Girls, why don’t you open that present, Kat gave you.”

The girls had forgotten about the present, as they hadn’t had time to open it since Raymond had bundled them into the flatbed and they sorted out seating with the cubs. Tamara giggled as Kitty sniffed the box and pawed it, ripping the pretty paper it had on it.

When the girls opened them, they found they had both been given a very pretty carry-all bag with a long strap. They both opened the bags and pulled out small books. “What is this?” Teresa asked as she flipped the book open.

Vera chuckled again, “Apparently, your Uncle Trae decided that you should become Novices. They are your spell books. He put in the letter that Nala, Jim, Tom and Paul, will also help us to learn how to use the spells and that as we get better, more spells will appear in the books.”

“I have one too, and I suspect your father’s present is one as well. The stylus is for writing in the book and is also a wand. The bag can also hold a lot more than it appears, but it is limited. He and Kat tell us to enjoy the gifts and our new beginning.”

Raymond was looking at his wife stupefied and had to jerk the wheel of the flatbed when he realised he was going off the road. He then started laughing. He laughed so hard his family wondered if he was all right.

His statement, “I guess being related to a Queen is going to be interesting,” totally mystified them.

The family enjoyed staying in the back of the flatbed that night.

Trae had modified one of the doors so they could leave it open but to a passer-by, it appeared and felt closed. This was so that the cubs could come and go if they needed to go outside. They could see through glamours.

The family decided that Trae and Kat had stocked the hidden house so well that they had parked near the tavern in Kata but didn’t plan on staying in it. Raymond and Vera did decide to go for a drink and chat with the locals. The girls were happy with their new reading material and the comfort of the mobile home, so they stayed with the cubs.

Raymond and Vera were shown to a table and ordered their drinks. Raymond commented when the barkeep asked them which way they had come from, that the road from Hilton had been a very smooth ride.

The barkeep chuckled, “You sir, are not the only one who has appreciated it. It’s all I’ve heard for the last few days. They say the road to Clawton, across the pass and all the way to Pixville has been fixed. Many people wish to thank the Mage who had done it but none know who it is.”

Raymond did, but he decided not to say. He asked the barkeep, “So how long do you think it will take us to get to Catton from here?”

“Well, it used to more than a week from here as you had to go so slow. If you have a transporter of some description with good batteries and don’t have to stop often, it can be done in a full day of light, but most people have said that they took two days. Even those using lankys reckon that it can be done in four to five days now.”

“Had a merchant who said that he had missed the wagon run from Catton with the Rangers, say that he only took that long. He said that his wagons had left two days later than they had. He even made it in time for the markets in Clawton, he was very happy,” the barkeep told them.

Raymond thanked him and smiled. He wondered if Trae knew how happy he’d made a lot of people by fixing the roads he had. From what he had learnt about Trae, he would probably just shrug it off as something that needed doing.

When the family arrived at the de Vaal estate the next day, they were warmly welcomed and told they would be staying for lunch. The cubs were fussed over and gave every impression that they had expected to be so welcomed.

Dalila and Ewin where happy to hear that Edward and Deirdre had settled in and both been accepted for the higher classes. The Cutters told them about how Trae had found Collin in the flat with Francine and that Collin had been using coercion spells to control her.

Francine had promised to behave after Trae removed the spells and she had even come and helped them pack with Edward and Deirdre. Trae and Kat were going to keep an eye on the three of them and Raymond said that he felt they would be fine under Trae’s watch.

The family decided to keep going, as they believed they could get over the pass by nightfall. They were itching to get to Erin Valley. Ewin commented that since they had the flatbed, he was quite sure that they would be, after all, Trae had fixed it and fitted it out.

Raymond agreed that it was a marvellous transporter to travel in and it motored along at 50km/hr making for a fast trip for the family. He had even let the girls have a drive of it. Both of the girls had been delighted to have their turn. He had only let them drive an hour each but it had been nice that he could cuddle with Vera while they did.

He had thought of her resting in the back, but Trae had recommended that it wasn’t safe if anything did happen to the flatbed, like the driver having to brake hard. He had also insisted that while driving they wear the restraints that he had installed.

Vera had agreed, so she sat in the front section with them. She had told Raymond that the drive, while tiring for her, was a darn sight better than any trip she had been on before, so he stopped worrying quite so much. She enjoyed the cuddling as much as he did.

They let Teresa drive away from the de Vaals, and she handled travelling through Clawton like a pro.

Their first site of Erin Valley stole their breaths and their hearts.

“We have come home,” Vera said with a soft sigh. Raymond felt a slight tremor go through him as he too felt that they had indeed found a lovely place to call home. That Trae and Kat wished to share this place with him and his family, humbled him.

“Dad?” Teresa asked. “Why are there so many houses if only four people live here?”

Vera answered, “I’d say that Trae had every intention of us staying. I bet that one of those new houses is for us, and the other is for your grandfather when he turns up. I believe Trae and Kat’s house is the one behind them near those huge barns.”

They carefully motored down the steep access road. As they approached the two new houses, a young man waved at them and pointed to one of the wide carports to the side of one of the homes. Raymond drove in and the family piled out.

They had to laugh as Kitty and Sampson bounded up to the two young men who approached them and nearly barrelled them over in their excitement to see them again. They two young men happily hugged and roughed up the cubs as they had missed them too.

Vera chuckled quietly to herself when she noticed the twins checking out the two young men. She had a sneaky feeling that she was looking at her two sons-in-law to be. They were both fit and tanned, and they wore their buckskins like second skins. They were ruggedly handsome and seemed very much at home in this environment.

She was suitably impressed at how they greeted them and amused that they didn’t go gaga over the girls. She suspected Trae had told them to behave like gentlemen and that was what they planned to do. She could tell they weren’t immune to the girls but they did try hard not to stare at them.

“Oh goodness,” she said and bent over as she grabbed her tummy. Paul surprised everyone when he lifted Vera up and placed her back in the flatbed. “Sir, I think it would be best to drive down to Trae’s house,” he said to Raymond and got in with Vera.

Raymond didn’t think to question and hurriedly got back into the flatbed. He carefully backed it out and slowly drove down to where Paul said to park. “I’ll take Lady Cutter inside and get her settled. She will probably be a few hours as she has only just started. Why don’t you take the flatbed back to your house and get it unpacked.”

Raymond agreed after Vera said she was happy for Paul to take charge of her. He drove the flatbed back, and Tom took over keeping the family busy, while Paul did his thing. Tom told them Paul had a way with pregnant animals and he was sure that Paul would have no trouble helping Vera.