Chapter 7

"Did you get what you needed?" asked Lori as they left Chris's home

"Yes and no. I reported in and let them know what I found, but I know now even less about him than I did when I started," commented Dusty to Lori.

Lori realized that Dusty probably wanted some privacy to ask some questions. One being why Lindsey was here and another about Chris, and she was sure he didn't want an audience.

"Well thank god you came back when you did, we were running out of things to say to him while you were gone," said Rachel as she flashed what was lately becoming a rare smile for her.

Smiling back Dusty said "I'm glad too. They were in full pompous mode today," and as he and Lindsey both shared a quick smile and chuckle to themselves at that statement, and the other women were a little put out that they didn't quite get what that meant but Lindsey did.

"Let's have an early supper and compare what we know," said Marie.

As they filed into the Inn Lindsey's quick mind realized something. When she and Dusty shared a chuckle at what he said the other women looked confused. She realized that she could use that to her benefit.

When they sat down, they sat at a table that was large enough to seat six and Lindsey sat across from Dusty.

"So Dusty, tell me what stick do they have up their butts when you tried to talk to them. Did they spaz out on your or something?" asked Lindsey smiling.

"No not really, they just refused to answer my questions about Chris and they really acted like it some kind of state secret what he did for them. Sometimes that brain trust really gets on my nerves," said Dusty smiling back at her

As Lindsey nodded knowingly at him, the other women were looking lost among themselves. Stick and butts? Spaz? State secrets? Brain Trust? They were confused.

While they had no problem admitting as one that they had no idea what he was talking about, they didn't want to appear to be losing to Lindsey because she clearly did know.

"So Dusty, how are you adjusting to being here in our world," said Suzan suddenly. She was tired of feeling like the odd man out of their conversation.

"I'm liking it fine. I've found so many new and interesting things here that there is no way I would ever go back to my old life in my world," said Dusty to Suzan. It looked almost as if his eyes were twinkling.

As Suzan smiled back at him, almost for Lindsey's benefit as she watched them, she reached out and touched his hand as they smiled.

Lindsey was starting to get irritated by both his reaction to her and what he said. She still hadn't given up hope on getting him to eventually want to return to their world from this backwater one.

Right before she could start another conversation, where she could again exclude the other women from it, a man walked into the Inn and took a seat at a table not too far from them but closer to the door.

Normally Dusty wouldn't have given the man, or anyone for that matter in this world a second look, but he noticed that the man had managed to get Lori's attention, and she seemed to be trying to get an even better look at him, and that warranted him taking a second look himself.

No one ever got Lori's attention with trying extremely hard for it, and this man did it by entering the room.

Looking the man over Dusty thought he might see why, but he wasn't sure.

The man had a real rugged outdoor look about him.

He had muscle on him that could clearly be seen in what passed for a tank top in this world. It was hard to miss his broad shoulders or curly blonde hair and the full moustache and beard he was sporting. He seemed clean, like he was fresh from a bath.

The man nodded at their table while he was under their scrutiny, before he started minding his own business. As he turned back around to face the women Dusty realized that he had baby blue eyes. He absently wondered if Lori saw them as well.

Looking back at Lori he realized that she still seemed to be staring at him, and the other women were now looking back and forth between Lori and the man. Probably all trying to also see what the attraction she had to him was.

Only Lindsey didn't care about what was going on, but she seemed to be out of the loop as to why they were all so interested in the man suddenly. As far as she knew at the time Lori and Dusty were an item and the other women were spares for him.

Almost as if she suddenly realized what she was doing Lori, lightly jumped and tried to look around at everyone as if everything was normal. The only problem was she now had a light blush to her cheeks as she did.

"So Lori see anything interesting you might like to try. I mean from the kitchen, unless there is something else not on the menu?" asked Marie as she lightly joked with Lori.

While everyone else chuckled, Lori at first didn't get the joke, but once she did her cheeks turned redder as she opened her mouth to respond.

Before she could speak Suzan took pity on her and changed the subject to something else. And soon they started talking about everything they found out so far and Dusty brought them up to speed on his conversation with the council.

Throughout all of the conversations Dusty noticed that Lori wasn't carrying her side of any conversation that she was a part of and seemed very distracted.

Soon it was time to call it a night and everyone decided to get a start early on looking around town.

As they left Dusty noticed that the man was still sitting and enjoying dinner, and while that wasn't strange, what was strange was that Lori almost seemed to forget her normal innuendos to try and get Dusty up to her room as she absentmindedly headed to her own room for the night.

Dusty wasn't the only one who noticed that as even Lindsey, who through out the whole trip here had to listen to Lori's suggestive remarks, noticed that something was off with her.

For the first time since they started for this town Dusty left his room door open and Suzan snuck in and barred it from his side so they could finally have some alone time.

Someone else also tried to open his door in the middle of the night while they were making out, but who ever it was didn't knock, but choose to go back to their own room. Suzan thought it might be Lori, but Dusty was sure it was Lindsey.

The next morning they all split up and went their separate ways.

Dusty insisted that Lindsey stay at the Inn.

She wanted to go with Dusty but Dusty pointed out that she needed be where he knew she would be somewhat safe. As he had time to adjust to this would so far, she had not. Also they could over more area faster since they had all done this before.

She begrudgingly stayed behind, but she made sure he understood she didn't like it.

Because they really weren't in any danger they all went separate directions. Since all the attacks happened, or when the children went missing, were at night they felt pretty safe interviewing various people about what they saw during the day.

Rachel and Marie would walk around the outside of town, but staying in sight of it, looking for any signs of the creatures, and later they would talk to anyone they met.

Suzan and Lori would start in town talking to the people close to where they were staying.

The women opted to leave their armor in their rooms as they knew most of the men that they approached would be "very" forthcoming to them if they approached them in snug shirts and loose pants.

Dusty realized it on a different mission that men often would talk to the women more freely when he wasn't around than they did when he was with them. Any of the people that he talked to, if he felt they were holding back telling him something, he would later ask one of the women to talk to them as it often got better results.

Separating from them he started talking to various people on his own as he ran across them. It would take them all a while to talk to majority of the people and they would need to be interviewed at least twice by different people to make sure they got all the information they needed.

Soon it was time for lunch and Dusty felt his stomach growl, but he wanted to at least talk to the people in the last building in the distance, close to the stream, and since he was close already he would talk to them before he headed back to compare notes.

As he approached it he realized that he was at a mill. He could see the water wheel that was being turned by the water routed up to it. Also he could see the mechanism that was connect to it and in turned grinded what he thought might be grain.

Walking slowly he noticed that not too far away he could see everyone had stopped to take a break a little further up the stream in the shade, but the blonde man he saw the night before was a bit away from them doing what looked to be sword practice by himself.

As the man was closer to him than the rest he headed for him to interview.

"Greetings, may I have a word with you?" asked Dusty. He learned early on things like "Yo, Hey, and Howdy" only got him stared at. He learned what he needed to say to open a conversation, even though he still slipped up from time to time.

"How can I help you?" asked the man lowering his sword.

"My name is Dusty and I was sent her by the Mage's council to look around and see if I can figure out what is going on with the children and the attacks. You might have seen us last night at the Inn?" asked Dusty holding out his hand.

Taking it the man shook it and said "I'm called Mark. I saw you last night, but I've not run across any of the creatures, but I have been in quite a few of the search parties looking for them and the children," said Mark

As they talked further about different items, Dusty found out a few things.

One Mark was very intelligent, his father owned the mill, he had an older brother who would inherit it, and Mark hated working at the Mill. He craved excitement, but feared if he didn't get away soon he would be trapped here with now way out forever. But he had no real information on the children or the creatures.

"So how are you finding the sword to be?" asked Dusty changing the subject.

"I feel I understand the basics, I mean its use by everyone, but I don't believe I know enough to use it to travel with or earn my living with it," said Mark.

"We won't be here for long, but while I'm here a couple of the ladies I'm traveling with are expert sword users and quite good with them. I'm sure they could give you some pointers. For example," said Dusty as he took the sword from Mark.

Dusty's easy manner caused Mark to give up his sword before he realized that doing that to a perfect stranger might not be such a good idea.

"When you swing the sword you should relax you grip when you swing it here, but tighten it up again when you reach this point. That allows you get a greater range of flexibility and to get under someone's guard," said Dusty.

Looking shocked for a moment Mark asked "Are you also a sword user also?"

"No, but I've watched them often enough that I know what they do and how it works," answered Dusty smiling.

"Tell you what, how about I introduce you to them this afternoon? Say right before sundown? We can all have dinner together," said Dusty

"I'll be there. There isn't anyone in this town that isn't self taught and the chance to learn from someone who might be good doesn't come around too often," said Mark with a smile.

Parting ways Dusty headed back for lunch and to check on Lindsey.

But as he headed to the Inn he had a thought that Lori might enjoy Mark's company more than anyone else and it would make it easier later to tell everyone of his choice to be with Suzan.

But Dusty should have remembered the paraphrased comment "Men make plans and the gods laugh at them" because the meeting that night went far worse than he ever might have thought possible.

Not having said anything before hand about dinner plans and his guest, Dusty caught everyone off guard as he called out to Mark and waved him over to their table.

Mark walked up next to him and shook hands with everyone at the table except Lori. Lori refused to even acknowledge him except to nod his way when Dusty introduced her to Mark.

Dusty was struck by how cold Lori seemed to be acting towards Mark, but what was even stranger was that she didn't comment much at all that night. No sexual comments for him or joking around with the other girls.

She was acting almost like she was the first time he met her.

But Mark didn't seem to notice as once he was introduced to Suzan, Rachel, and Marie they started talking about weapons and their usage. Mark was really interested in asking the three of them questions and seeing them in action.

Even though Dusty was the one to bring him there, he felt like odd man out or a fifth wheel while they talked, but he started to speak with Lindsey about what had happened since he was last in Indiana.

What was missed by Dusty was that Suzan, even though she was talking to Mark, didn't miss the fact that Lindsey's face lit up when she started talking to Dusty about their home and as she did she had his undivided attention.

Lori seemed to be bristling the longer both conversations went on that she wasn't a part of.

Soon it was getting late and they all needed to call it a night.

Mark agreed to come back early and do some weapons practice with the three of them first thing in the morning. While normally he would be at the Mill he told them he would tell his parents he was getting some limited training and would be late a few mornings.

When Rachel suggested that he might stay over and talk to her for a bit in her room, Lori stood up, slammed down her empty plate on the table with out saying a word, and left the dining area headed for the stairs leading to her room.

Everyone was quiet until she left, and while they all noticed what she did, Mark seemed to ignore it as he thanked Rachel for her offer and said that he needed to get home and talk to his parents. Rachel told him that the offer was open any time.

That night Dusty thought Suzan might visit, but she never came and he fell asleep while he was waiting.

Early the next morning found the four of them practicing and teaching Mark some of what they knew about swords and staffs.

Mark seemed to be a quick learner and Marie praised him for his usage. While she was a staff user primarily she had been an assistant instructor with her father and was versed in the usage of various weapons, including the sword.

When Marie commented on his ability to keep his sword relaxed when needed, Dusty smiled as he went through his own training.

Eventually Mark noticed what he was doing and asked. Dusty told him it was Muay Thai fighting, but he wasn't surprised when Mark called it Moo-ay-Tie like everyone one else.

Not too long after they started Lori came out and watched everyone. Having missed his training with her the night before Dusty asked her if she wanted to do it now.

Missing was her jovial nature and her comments. And quite a few times she appeared distracted and Dusty had to correct her on things she got wrong. It was obvious to him that her mind was elsewhere and so he called a stop to it before one of them got hurt.

Mark seemed impressed that Lori and Dusty could do magic, but Lori seemed to be ignoring him as he spoke, and so Mark switched to exclusively talking to only Dusty.

Lori eventually left and Dusty invited Mark back to dinner with them. Dusty said that he realized Mark must sometimes have dinner in town and it didn't make sense for him to sit alone while they were there. Mark accepted.

During the day they interviewed more people.

Even though it was a large town they had roughly something like 15,000 people to see spread out in the town and the surrounding countryside. At night they had dinner and compared notes.

Chris never seemed to be around. It was like he was avoiding them while they were there. Marie voiced the concern that Chris might feel like his toes were being stepped on by the council sending them there. Dusty didn't say anything, but he did keep his eyes open.

They had a setup a pattern for their days that week. Dusty noticed that the few times Mark tried to speak to Lori her comments were often short and to the point, and she didn't expand on them. Eventually Mark quit trying to draw her into the conversations.

A couple times she got short with Mark for apparently no reason, but he took it in stride and refused to rise to the bait.

Sometimes he did ask his own questions in response to that right after she did this, and that only seemed to make Lori angrier. While his questions back to her weren't malicious, they did seem to be worded in such a way to make Lori think about her uncalled for outburst. Almost all of the time when he did it stunned her into silence.

Sometimes Dusty thought Mark was refusing to respond to her any other way as some form of Passive/aggressive approach to her showing off. But he had to admit no one else did this to Lori and he was sure she didn't know how to handle it.

Dusty was amazed how well he took her abuse though, because he was sure that he would have done it differently, but last year when he met her he had to admit he put up with a similar attitude from her for so long because of his intense attraction to her.

Once Dusty thought she was going to have a stroke when Rachel and Mark started talking and Rachel asked if Mark had anyone in his life and Mark said not currently. That he had a few girlfriends and a few were interested in marriage, but he wasn't ready yet and wanted to do more with his life than work a mill day in and day out.