Chapter 3

Early the next morning found Ayden and Michael riding out to the guild's grounds.

Knowing that it was a bit out from town, they started just before daybreak to see what was there between the town and the guild. Surprisingly there wasn't anything to see.

As they rode they thought back about the night before.

They found it strange that when they decided to go out and see a little of the town, and what their other options were for dinner, they found Maryanne and her cute friend Drava, both who were waitresses at the Tavern from earlier that afternoon, outside their Inn and appeared to be nervously milling around across the street.

Both of their faces lit up when the boys came out, and the girls quickly crossed the street as they waved at the boys and offered to show them around. Maryanne introduced Drava and both boys saw no reason to object to their offer.

The boys had originally intended to eat inside at their Inn, but later thought that since they would only get this chance to visit the town this once they would explore instead, but they didn't expect for anyone to show them around.

And to be honest it didn't really bother them that the girls sort of invited themselves along, and before the boys knew it they were now hand in hand with two attractive brown haired girls about their ages who were showing them all the sights in the town.

Ayden realized that Maryanne was actually built quite nice with a pleasant figure and she had a large belt around her that was cinched tight at her small waist and a mid length plain brown dress that showed off her nice legs.

Drava had long brown hair as well but a little shorter than Maryanne, but she also had a cute pixy face and small pert breasts as well as nice legs to go with her frame in a light green dress.

The boys of course purchased dinner for the two girls as well as themselves and tried to be gracious to their impromptu dates, but they kept trying to find different ways out of what they knew was going to happen at the end of the evening.

And as they predicted, as they headed back to the Inn where they were staying, both girls started to hint around that they might be available and willing to come up to their rooms and see what the inside of it looked like. They said that they didn't even mind if the boys were sharing a room.

Ayden diplomatically told the girls that they had a really early day tomorrow to see their sisters whom they had come down to see, but they appreciated their willingness to show them around, but they really needed to get to bed very early to be able to visit with them.

The girls looked a bit hurt, and Ayden and Michael looked at each other feeling bad, and they went to only hug the girls to thank them for showing the both of them such a good time.

But the girls, thinking that they were after something different, stepped into them and the two of them then gave Ayden and Michael a good tongue laden goodnight kiss as they tried to mold their bodies into theirs instead.

As both boys tried not to show shock by the turn of events, the girls each had a secret smile as they told them the boys that they would still be around town and to come find them if they changed their minds for more fun later.

While glad that they didn't hurt the girl's feelings, they weren't quite happy to leave the girls with the impression that there might be a chance for more intimate moments later.

But this morning they were now headed towards the guild to see their family.

As they rode closer they could see the guild now in the distance and it was an impressive set of varying structures.

The whole area was fenced in with a solid looking wall around it. There was some type of thin wire that gleamed at the top of the wall in the light, and the boys seemed to be sure that it was probably some type of razor wire that they were pretty sure that they didn't want to inspect any closer.

Standing at both sides of a solid looking gate were two female guards dressed in the guild's usual snug brown leather outfits.

As the boys rode up the guards seemed to be standing a little taller and had a firm grip on their pikes in their hands as the guards noticed them ridding out of the forest closer to them from the surrounding area.

The boys weren't sure why they held pikes in their hands when they both had swords they could clearly see strapped to their sides, but again they had no idea how the guild policy worked.

When they were close enough to be seen clearly Ayden and Michel got off their horses and led them by the reins slowly up to the two guards. They didn't want to appear disrespectful by looking down at the guards as they spoke to them.

The guards appeared to be slightly older than the boys, and Michael thought he would have guessed both of them to be in their mid to late twenties, and he was always a pretty good guesser of women's ages.

One of the guards, whose hair was a dirty blonde color, suddenly smiled big as she got a good look at the boys. Her hair was cut short similar to most men, but where she had bangs, they were very long in the front and appeared to be almost obscuring her vision as she looked at them, but something said that she wanted to give others that impression.

The blonde woman wasn't all that large in the chest, but she had quite the nice trim and very athletic figure on her that both boys noticed and it seemed to be balanced well. As she headed for them, she walked lightly, almost like a dancer might.

The closer she got the boys could also see that she had a cute button nose and a generous sprinkling of freckles on her face.

Meanwhile as her companion was trying to give the impression that she was looking straight ahead as the other guard approached the boys, they could clearly see her sneaking glances their way.

She had short black hair that looked almost as if it was slicked back by something on her head. From what the boys could see she had light greenish brown eyes and very full lips.

The dark haired woman also didn't have a "huge" chest, it was at best average, but it did have a nice swell to it, and she too looked like she had a decent athletic figure hiding underneath her guild vest and pants.

But while it wasn't hard to see that while she was trying her best to give anyone looking at her the impression of being at attention at her post, it was obvious that she kept being distracted by them.

"So what brings a couple of fine strapping young lads like you to our neck of the woods?" asked the female guard with a smile once she reached them.

"Well, our sisters are members here and they mentioned that while we were visiting we might be able to drop by and see them this morning during training, if we came early enough that is," said Michael with a deep dimpled smile

"I'm sure they just wanted to prove how badly we've let ourselves go since we've last seen them, but I'm willing to watch and learn from the best if I can get the chance," said Ayden with his own dimpled smile.

While the smile from the first guard seemed to get wider when they smiled at her, the second guard didn't even try to pretend any longer she was looking off into the horizon when they did that. She turned and directly smiled at the boys as well.

"So who are your sisters?" asked the first guard still smiling.

"Gem and Haley Griffith. Ariel Griffith is our cousin," answered Michael.

"Ahh, makes sense. I can see the resemblance now that you point it out. Hold on we need to get permission before you can enter anywhere but the guild visitors areas," said the first woman.

Without another word the first guard turned and started to escort both of them to a nearby building.

The second guard stayed at her post, but after a few seconds she turned and watched both boys as they also headed further into the compound. She somehow seemed to give the appearance she was stopping just short of licking her lips as she watched them for a few moments before she turned back around to do her duty and watch the gates.

As they headed for the building they could hear the sounds of early morning practice going on in a nearby arena. There was a wall that shielded the area from being viewed by the visitor building, but if you went around the long side where the stables were you could easily see into the arena and across to the office and dorm areas.

While they were heading further into the guild a young girl, who looked to be about twelve or thirteen came out and took the reins of their horses and lead them off towards the stables to be stabled while they were there.

"Wait here a moment and I'll be right back," said the first guard with a large grin as they entered the vistors building and she placed her pike against a nearby wall disappeared down a hallway.

Both boys took seats, and from the windows they could look out over the guild grounds. They could see the different buildings, stables, and the general arena from where they were. Everything seemed clean, neat, and orderly.

After a few moments, a much older lady, who looked to be around her mid to late sixties showed up in the hallway off to the side of where they were. It was the one that the first guard had disappeared down. She stood and looked the boys over for a few moments before she cleared her throat and spoke, and as she did she caught them off guard.

"I had to see it for myself. You both are certainly his grandchildren. God how many times have I wished that I hadn't talked your grandmother into trading area's with me on our travel of discovery all those seasons ago.

"I did it at the time because I thought the southern area would be so boring and that there wasn't anything of interest there. I couldn't have been more wrong," said the older woman as she smiled wistfully at the boys.

Confused, both of them stood up and smiled at the older lady.

"Anne-Marie, this is Haley and Gem's brothers Ayden and Michael. They asked if they could watch the girls practice and I believe get a small viewing of the grounds," said the first guard as she kept staring at the boys, but now with a deeper intensity, and at the same time still displaying the large smile that she had from before.

"Hello Ayden and Michael. The girls already told me you were coming so you're expected. Regina, lead them to the arena and let them watch, but keep them in a lightly populated area, though something tells me it won't be lightly populated for long.

"Boys as long as you don't disturb their drills and practice you are welcome to watch. But I'll not have you doing anything to distract any of them," said the older woman sternly, but she was warmly smiling as she said it.

Smiling the boys said they would do their best to keep from distracting anyone. Regina, while still leaving her pike against the wall, led the two of them out to the arena, but decided to link her arms in both of theirs as she walked and took turns at smiling at them.

Anne-Marie stood and watched them leave and just shook her head as Regina did this.

While she realized that all the wishing in the world wouldn't help, she often wondered at times if Brianna's life wasn't either charmed or blessed from the start to have caught Aric as she did and later had such a family by him.

Not to mention because of that choice Brianna was now getting to relive a second youth because of her choice of a husband. It was something hard to not wish had happened to her sometimes. She often wondered if she had met Aric first if this would have been her life.

"Here you go. You can sit here and watch. Just remember don't do anything to intentionally disturb them, and I'll send word that once they are done that you're here to see them.

"Later on, if either of you would like a more private showing of the grounds, or say a room or two, you can tell anyone you need to find me. I'm Regina Williams. My friend Carey Frost from the gate and I would be happy to show you lots of new things," smiled Regina as she gave them both the most intense look she could.

Reaching out she touched Michael's face and let her hand trail along it as she walked away.

She looked back over her shoulder once to make sure they were watching her, and her hips then took on an a heavily exaggerated swagger that was hard to miss with her light steps.

"How long do you think it will take," asked Michael absently, a few minutes after they both turned back around and took a seat in the stands so they could start to watch the girls practicing.

"Are we taking bets? I say about 15 minutes," said Ayden dryly frowning with no humor.

"I think twenty tops," said Michael in an equally dry voice.

They were both wrong.

It took about ten minutes before the first woman drifted over and before they knew it they were surrounded by women who seemed to believe that the boys had the most important things to say, even though all they wanted was to be left alone and watch their sisters.

If these women were supposed to be doing morning training and drills then they had no idea where they were coming from, but they both wished they would head back.

Both boys were bothered by all the undue attention, but they tried to stay polite. It had always bothered them to have girls trying so hard for them.

While some might be happy to have so many willing bed mates, but since they were trying to live up to their promise to their parents, it made them more aware of the fact that most women didn't really want to know them, but only wanted one thing form them.

Soon Ayden had an idea and started asking questions about the guild and what was going on below them. All the women seemed happy to answer any questions asked of them. This way they could learn more about the guild and it would make the time seem to pass more quickly.

One thing they noticed before the women arrived was that their family, while they were comprised of a squad of four girls on their own for missions and jobs, seemed to be some form of leaders of other larger groups.

They were blown away to see Gem barking orders and inspecting the other women, some well older than she was, as she eyed them critically and instructed them during drills. It was clearly obvious to them that shyness was no longer one of her problems.

But like Gem the others seemed to be doing similar things with their groups as well.

There were of course other groups besides those four groups during drills.

Michael counted about ten separate groups containing twenty women each. That meant there were easily two hundred women training below them, not including the ones doing other things in the compound, such as now seated around him and his cousin.

As the early morning went on the four girls also appeared to finish the drills and then joined with the others doing some form of sparing with weapons.

Michael and Ayden were impressed to see how well they girls did, including Gem.

When she left she was barely average by their grandmother's standards, but she was clearly holding her own against other far more seasoned fighters. She was currently demonstrating the correct way to use a staff against two different fighters at the same time.

While Ayden and Michael kept up their training they were curious where they now stacked up against her. She may actually be better than they were, but they weren't entirely sure.

As they looked on and still spoke with the various other women, they saw their cousin Ariel using twin swords for her practice with Beth, who was using her own twin swords.

Both of their practice swords were swiftly moving in the early morning sun and they hit together so quickly that it was often almost one long continuous sound as they hit.

The swords weren't the only things that were impressive as the two of them went through different kicks and arm blocks as well at the same time. The two boys were impressed as always by their skill growing up, but now they seemed amazed by what they could do. They knew they couldn't take either girl if it came to a weapons fight.

Ayden then whistled as they continued and then smiled. He was impressed that they seemed to be in a world of their own as they worked out. He realized that most of the other women around them had stopped and were now watching the two of them as well in admiration.

As Michael watched he noted a few things that he saw they should work on in their own practice as well, but he wasn't sure he could put it in enough practice to keep up with their speed. He just smiled as well as he watched.

They eventually noticed Haley off to the side with a different group and she was fighting three women at once with a single sword in her left hand and waving her hand for a fourth to join in. They knew she was always good as a child but presently she impressed the boys the most with her abilities.

She had similar kicks and blocks that were currently being used by Ariel and Beth, but she skillfully used them to keep the other women off balanced and away from her. They were at times having a problem keeping up with her, but the entire time she made it look easy.

Both of them whistled softly at the same time as they saw her working out.

The women around them looked at them questioningly but Ayden said that it was his sister and Michael's cousin and they were just so impressed with her abilities, and that she might just be able to fight on par with their fathers and aunt Rayne now.

The other Sisters then started to brag on her and say how good the four of them were and how hard it was for any of them to beat any of the girls. Only the upper level Sisters and the Eight Blades really seemed to be a valid challenge for any of the four of them at this point.

Soon morning practice was over and the groups below started to disperse. And to the boys dismay the crowd seemed to get even larger, if that was possible, where they were. They often tired of this type of reaction when they went places.

Slowly moving their way into the group, Gem and Haley found the boys talking to the various Sisters who came to meet them.

The boys were still trying to politely refuse the various different requests for a further guild showing that would somehow start and end with-in different various Sisters "rooms", even if it was against guild policy for them to have men there. Some were even willing to work out some form of a schedule for their time

Smiling as they grabbed the boys by the hand the two girls made their apologies as they drug them behind them out of the groups.

Once they went down the steps and reached the outside the building, close to the lower doors, they could see Ariel standing by the doors grinning big at them, but Beth had such a scowl that both boys thought they had somehow done something to offend her.

"Hey Beth, you all said that we could come visit you all today, was that not right?" asked Michael in concern.

"Visit yes, but not with the intention of lining up new bed mates. Those women shouldn't have cut their practice short on your account," said Beth tersely.

"Whoa, there was no one there when we went up to our seats. We were just quietly minding our own business when they showed up. Would you have preferred if we scared them off by telling them we were here to only see you, and your bed was the only one we both were interested in?" asked Ayden with a large smile as he tried to pick on Beth a little and lighten the mood.