Chapter 13

The old road continued south for several days before it began a slow turn to the west. They came across four more crossroad villages, all burned out and abandoned. They could tell that the destruction was old. The forest had several years of growth into the remains. Andrew remarked, “This war has left the region in ruins. I wonder why the King hasn’t acted to bring this insanity to an end?” Nobody had a direct answer for him. They had set up camp at the latest crossroads and were relaxing a bit before heading to their tents to sleep.

Alba did comment, “Well, sometimes the men at the house would complain that the King was not acting normal. He wasn’t sending troops out to aid those on the borderlands.” She stopped at a thought, “The ones doing the complaining were some of the worst at tipping a girl too.” She shrugged and stayed silent after that. The look Adora had given her wasn’t friendly in the least.

Aston asked her what was wrong, “Wrong, I’ll tell what’s wrong. I hated having to sell myself to survive. Sure, I was property, but I didn’t have to like it.” Adora huffed, “She treats it like a badge of honor or something to be a whore.” Alba blushed now and Adora went on. “I have three children and she got lucky never having even one.” She glared at Alba and asked, “How many of the women and girls in your oh so wonderful house ended up with kids?”

Alba looked thoughtful and started to count then stopped. She looked at Adora and said, “The only children there came with the women that were brought in. Nobody ever got pregnant while working there.”

Brena cut in, “Did you have to drink or eat anything at least once a day that was given to you by the house owner? A morning tea perhaps?”

Alba smiled and giggled, “It was a bitter tea, kind of like you have had me drinking the last few weeks, except he added mint to it to make it taste better.” She giggled again, “He told us it would help us earn more money for him with fewer work interruptions for us.”

Adora grumbled quietly so nobody could make out what she was saying. When she stopped, she looked at Alba and said, “You don’t know how lucky you were to have an owner that cared enough to keep all of you on the Tanis extract. No babies to get in the way. Now, I have to wonder, will you ever be able to have children after being on that poison for so long.”

Alba looked at Adora blankly, “Tanis extract, what’s that?”

Brena spoke, “Tanis is a plant that when properly prepared will end or prevent a pregnancy. Your owner knew what he was doing Alba. Too large a dose for too long can be fatal.” She studied the woman, “How long were you at that house Alba,” asked Brena.

Alba considered a moment, “Just under four years, I think. He never keeps a girl for more than that.”

“Four years on a high dose, That’s not good Alba.” Brena looked down, “Take off your boots Alba, I need to see your feet.”

The rest of the party looked at Brena like she was losing her mind. Andrew asked, “Why do you want to look at her feet?”

“Tanis can do damage to the body that doesn’t show directly. Feet, on the other hand, will show discoloration and what looks like bruising, but isn’t.”

Alba pulled her boots off, then rolled the stockings down. When she had them off, she shivered as the air was chilly on her uncovered feet. Brena lifted Alba’s right foot and studied it closely. She set it down and did the same to the left. “Your lucky Alba. I see only the faintest traces. Put them back on,” she said pointing to the stocking and boots. “No more Tanis for you Alba. I can’t risk you dying from a toxic build-up.”

Alba asked as she pulled the stockings on, “Will I be able to have babies now?”

“I don’t know Alba. Sometimes such long exposure can make a woman sterile. In your case, there is only one way to find out,” said Brena

Alba got a wicked smile on her face as she turned to face Ledger. He on the other hand fully understood what had just been said, and knew a predator on the hunt when he saw it. Aston grinned and said, “Ledger, she is going to wear you out.”

Ledger was slowly backing away from Alba as she began sliding along the ground towards him. She whispered at him, “I. Want. A. Baby.” His eyes went wide, now he knew he was going to die. He would die happy, but he would die. He made his way to his feet and held a hand down to her. When she took it, he pulled her to her feet. Rather than make a scene, he led her off to their shared tent.

Blasco asked, “Are they going to make a baby tonight? How? Can we go watch?”

Adora dropped her head and shook it in disbelief. “No, you may not watch,” she said. That got her three, ahhs of disappointment from the children.

Now Sofia chimed in, “Can we watch you and Mister Aston make a baby then?”

Aston fell back he had started laughing so hard. Brena and Andrew both made the attempt to keep straight faces but failed as they watched Adora’s face go hot and red from embarrassment. “No,” was all she said. She stood up and walked over to the wagon and sat next to the horses. “At least you won’t laugh at me,” she said to the nearest one, Gren. Gren looked down and the woman and snorted into her hair. This left a mess as the horse had done the horse equivalent of a sneeze. Adora sat there, her mouth closed, eyes staring, shaking in near rage. She finally gave up and went to the stream and clean herself up.

Aston had watched and joined her at the stream to help her wash the horse snot from her hair. It was also all over her top, so she had to take that off to wash as well. She looked at Aston as he helped get her cleaned up, “Thanks, I was just shocked.”

“I can imagine,” he said.

“That girl is going to wear him out,” she said.

“Yep,” he said.

“To be honest, I was the lucky one. I have three children I love dearly,” she said.

“That you do,” he said.

“Sadly, after Sofia was born, I stopped being able to have children. Something in me broke,” she said.

“Oh?”

“So I don’t need that tea either. It tastes awful if you want to know the truth. It is nice to know Brena worried and cares, but I just don’t need it,” she said.

“You hope,” he replied.

“I know for a fact,” she said.

“Ok, what now for us?” he asked.

“I am going to wear your ass out tonight,” she said, her face taking on a look that made his skin crawl in fear. He knew he was about to get lessons on sex he had never imagined possible.

A few minutes later, Andrew and Brena watched as Adora almost dragged Aston to their joined tent. “I guess that leaves us with the first watch and putting the kids to bed,” said Andrew.

“Yep,” replied Brena.

Now Gil asked, “Can we watch you make a baby?”

Brena started to snap at the boy then stopped to glare at Andrew’s shaking shoulders as he tried to not laugh out loud now. She calmly said, “No you may not watch us make a baby. We have guard duty and you kids need to get to your beds.”

Gil whined, “Nobody ever lets us watch.”

Andrew finally lost it and started a loud laugh that would have woken the entire village had it still been standing. Brena glared at him, then got up to deal with the three trouble makers. She soon had them settled and returned to sit by Andrew in the growing darkness. “You had brothers and sisters Andrew, I was alone. Kids are an unknown to me,” she said.

“Maybe you will have your own someday,” he said.

“Maybe, but I want this mess we are in settled before I bring a child into this world,” she said.

“Brena, I think we need to build a new Merc’s company if we are to succeed in defeating the Blood Queen. I know we have some help a few weeks behind us, but we can’t wait for them to join us if we are to make it to the Cove before Mid-winter.”

“I know that I have to deliver this message before then as well.” She sighed and snuggled into him. “Andrew, I didn’t want to fall in love with you, but I have.”

“I know, I felt the same way at first too. Now though, I want to put you somewhere safe to keep you from harm in the coming war.” He looked around, listened to the night for a moment, not hearing anything amiss, he continued, “I love you too my flame hair vixen.” She sighed and they stayed on watch until the middle of the night, sitting in silence, each deep in their own thoughts.

When it came time for Ledger and Alba to relieve them, Andrew went to their tent to wake them. He didn’t need to wake them, but he heard, “I’m not sure it will come up for another ride Alba. You have drained me dry tonight.”

Andrew couldn’t resist, “Good, then maybe you will be able to focus while on watch tonight.” He walked away, hearing them scrambling inside the small tent to pull on some clothes. Andrew returned to the fire and Brena to wait for Ledger. It only took a few minutes and he and Brena went to their shared tent for the night. They made love once, then sleep claimed them both.

The next morning, it was a scramble to get the horses back in harness and everything loaded. A quick meal of boiled oats and meat and they were on the road once more. Aston had taken a few minutes to check the wheels and axles. He had been keeping them greased so there wasn’t any serious wear on them yet. The Brake shoes though were getting thin from his having to ride them so often on the steeper downhill slopes. He had a set that he could replace them with, but he would need most of a day to do the job. He brought this up during the pause at mid-day. Andrew said he wanted to be down to the coast road before they took any more time to stop.

“Andrew, I know we need to be moving, but if the brakes fail, we could lose everything here, including lives, I need to fix them.” Aston was adamant. “They’re slipping a little even now.”

Ledger walked over and joined the discussion. “Andrew, he’s right, we will lose a day, but save time later. I can see the wear on the shoes, they need to be replaced before we go any further.”

When the women were brought in, they all agreed, “Take time to fix the brakes,” they had all told Andrew. The rest of the day was a slow, steady run down the sloping road. Towards the end of the day, they came across another of the burned-out crossroad towns. This one was even older than the last. Aston summoned a deer to them and they had fresh meat for dinner and more for the frozen larder. Bloodrend complained about the diet of deer blood but accepted it. Andrew’s arm had finished healing after the stitches had been pulled and he worked the arm hard each day to rebuild the strength and flexibility. Brena had limited the dosage of Tanis for herself since the other women didn’t need or want it. Alba couldn’t safely use it anymore, and Adora didn’t seem to be able to have any more children after Sofia had been born. The pregnancy had been hard and the birthing harder.

That night Andrew sat with Brena on watch and they talked. “Brena, is it normal for a member of the thieves guild to have the training you have?”

“Which training Andrew? I have learned from many different people while I was growing up.”

“The Herb Lore you have, how many were trained in that?” he asked.

She thought about it, “Not many. The few that did have knowledge of it were my trainers, but that is all they did. They were paid healers in the city most of the time when not working on guild business.”

“How about your fighting skills then. How many could work in the assassins guild? You’re deadlier with daggers and the tools of that trade than any I have ever seen,” he asked.

She was thinking about her former fellows, all most likely dead now. “None of them were trained to fight like I am. The rule was to avoid fighting if it could be avoided.” She looked at Andrew, “What are you thinking Andrew?”

“Brena, could it be you were being trained to be more than just the successor to your father? I think you were to be the bridge between the guilds Brena. You were to take up the mantle of the joint Thieves and Assassins. You could work as a leader in either. And your Herb Lore puts you in a different category there too.” He leaned towards her and gave her a quick kiss on the tip of her nose, “Brena my dear, I think you are more than any of us can understand. Look how long the temple in the Crossing held you, three days while I got things sorted out with Ledger. Then the delivery. Only trusted members are ever given that duty, and yet, here you are.”

Brena was thinking hard now. So much of what Andrew had said caused bits and pieces of the puzzle of her life to fall into place. Queen of Thieves! That was to be her title. A joining, not an alliance, a complete joining of the guilds, and she was to be the one to do it. No wonder they assisted her in escaping Planesguard. “Maybe Andrew, maybe. I don’t think I will know though for quite some time yet. There is still much for me to learn.”

“Same goes for me, Brena. I have some weapons skills, but I lack the training in full-on combat as we found in Pinesbluff. Something is happening behind the scenes that we are not aware of, and I think we are being gathered with those like us for a big job in the future, and I don’t mean just dealing with the Blood Queen either.”

Ledger and Alba came out and relieved them and they went to their tent to sleep. Andrew lay on his back in silence, thinking about everything that had happened. It had all started the day he decided he didn’t want to be a farmer. ‘A Farmer I Am Not,’ he thought. They both drifted off to sleep, both too tired for anything else.

The next morning came with a minor surprise. During his watch, Ledger had been picking at the road surface. When he had a small hole a few inches deep, he found a different material. It was like stone, but not at the same time. He found he could crumble it and it had small bits of gravel in it. He tried to get a feel for the material and got a shock. He could induce it to produce light, heat, and cold. The weave stuck to it without his having to tie it off. When Aston got up to take over the guard, he asked if Aston had ever seen this material before.

“Oh crap, not again,” said Aston. “We are on one of the ancient road cuts again. That means we may encounter some more of the old ruins I want to avoid.”

“Well, whatever it is made of, it takes enchanting better than any stone I have ever encountered, well, other than gems, that is.”

“Well, if you go gathering the stuff, stay away from any structure you find. They can kill you quickly.” Aston sat at the fire and poured some of the tea from the kettle that was next to the coals to keep it hot. Ledger went to join Alba who had gone to bed earlier.

In the morning while Aston was replacing the brake shoes, Ledger dug around and found more of the old roadbed. He had several hand-fulls set aside and would try to play with them later. For now, he reheated some of the fresh meat and spent time with Alba. He had found he enjoyed her company. He was learning a lot about the politics of the region from her, Men talked around whores. Some of what he learned would be trouble for them later he was sure. As he was finishing his search for the strange powered stone, Alba joined him. “What are you looking for Ledger?”

Ledger had been deep in thought and hadn’t noticed her coming over, so jumped, startled when she spoke. “What? Oh, sorry,” he said. “You startled me.” He held out a small chunk of the powdery stone for her to look at. “I found some of this last night and it has some strange properties about it.”

She took a pinch of the powder, the material was crumbling as she looked at it. She sniffed at it, then touched a little to her tongue. She grimaced and spit it out. “Nasty stuff. Can’t be eaten, that’s for sure. Taste like a type of stone that is dug up along the coast north of the Cove. A group of us were loaned out to the camps for a month one time. The dust in the air tasted sort of like this. This has something else added to it though. Alba stared at it, thinking hard, trying to remember if she had encountered this before. “No, I can’t tell what the other stuff is. I don’t think I have ever encountered it before.” She stared it the dust then grinned, “Stay right here, back in a minute,” she said, jumping up and running to the back of the wagon. She grabbed a small bowl and dipped some water from the barrel. She walked back so she wouldn’t spill the water all over. When she sat down next to Ledger, she said, “Dig a small hole I can use for mixing.”

He dug the hole a few inches deep and wide, “Will that work?”

“A little bigger please,” she said.

He widened the hole and looked at her. When she nodded, she grabbed the pile of dust and dropped a large handful in the hole. She slowly added water to the dust, mixing it with her free hand. She was careful to not let it get runny, she wanted to be able to shape it, like a mud pie. When she had it the shape and stiffness she wanted, she said, “Now heat the area around it. We need to cook the moisture out of it without overheating it.” He complied and the mud was soon dry. When she tried to pick it up, the mass fell apart and crumbled to dust again.

“Darn, now why did that happen?” she wondered aloud.

Ledger picked up a small pile of gravel that had been mixed in the powder and dropped it in the hole with the powder. “Try it again with this mixed in. It was part of it before.”

Alba went about mixing the power and gravel together and this time when he cooked it, it held together when she picked it up. “That is weird. I wonder how the gravel is holding it together like this.” Ledger had just watched the woman having fun playing with the mud as a child would. He watched as she tapped it and it gave off a faint ringing sound. “See what it will take now Ledger,” she said.

Ledger considered what to do that was the least destructive. Light and levitation. He started it glowing and then had it float out of Alba’s cupped hands. He felt how the weave was working when he suddenly felt a pulling from the material. It was pulling energy in from the weave without his help. It grew brighter and began shaking in the air. He tried to snap the link to the weave but he wasn’t able to make it release. He grabbed Alba and dragged her away, yelling at the rest to take cover. Heads popped up all around camp and everybody dove for whatever safety they could reach. He had Alba behind a large tree when the object exploded. It sent shards slamming into everything in the open. This included hitting all the horses, giving them several cuts each.

The horses started screaming in terror from the noise and sudden pain. Aston acted without thinking, diving into the frightened animal’s minds, forcing calmness on them. They all went silent for the most part, snorting and whining rather than the loud screams. None of them had bucked or struck out, so they didn’t have any other injuries. Aston and Brena grabbed their respective kits and began seeing to the injured.

Andrew, fighting to remain calm walked over to where Ledger was holding a crying Alba. “What did you do Ledger?” he asked quietly.

Ledger saw the damage he had caused and sagged, “We were experimenting with the old roadbed material. It did something I’ve never seen before. When I gave it two low-level enchantments, it suddenly started drawing more and more power into itself. I tried to sever the links, but I couldn’t touch it. It just built up until it couldn’t hold any more power and exploded.”

He looked around and went on. “I didn’t do it on purpose Andrew, I really didn’t.”

Andrew just nodded and went to check on Adora and her kids. They had been far enough back and near a ditch that they had been safe. He checked with Aston and Brena.

“None of the injuries seem to be life-threatening, but we will have to take it easy and go slower for a few days so the cuts can heal,” said Aston. “What the hell did he do?”

“He was experimenting with the old road material. We now know it is dangerous to apply power to any relic of the old days.” Andrew moved over to Brena to make sure she was alright. “Brena, I think Alba will need help, she is the one that figured out how to bond and shape the old material. She is blaming herself. Ledger, on the other hand, is terrified of what happened.

Brena went over to were the two where sitting. She sat and asked Alba what had happened. Ledger decided he would leave the women alone to talk. He wanted to know what had gone wrong. He looked at the ground and spotted several bits of the scattered material still glowing. When he tried to pick one piece up, it crumbled to dust. The dust continued to glow for a few minutes, then faded as the dust continued to break down into finer and finer material. As it faded, the palm of his hand began to itch. It took him a few seconds to figure out that the dust had gotten so small, it was able to pass into his skin.

‘Oh not good Ledger, this is not good at all.’ he thought.

“Aston!” he shouted, moving towards the horses, “Get every bit of the dust-out, it is breaking down and can get in the body!” His hand was starting to feel like it was burning, yet he couldn’t see anything wrong with it.

His shout had Brena and Alba moving towards him to see if he was all right. He had settled to his knees as they watched, holding his hand away from his body. Ledger knew he had to get the old roadbed out of his hand before it could spread further up his arm. He focused on the weave and saw ten’s of thousand’s of faint lines running into his hand. Some had worked it’s way into the veins and had started spreading up as he feared it would. He could only think of one thing to do. With his other hand, he grabbed the invisible lines of power and pulled them away from his hand. The lines pulled away, bringing the particles with them. ‘New, something new,’ he thought briefly. All the lines came away and vanished. He was certain he was safe for now. ‘Now for the horses.’