Chapter 5

Getting up early Dusty quickly went through his early morning routine.

While he had a weight bench, several hundred pound plates, and some dumbbells at the guild, here at his home he had even more weights and equipment. He had started on the designs for a few machines using pulleys and ropes to work different parts of the body.

He allowed the weights at the guild to be open for anyone to use, but he felt better if he supervised anyone who wanted to use his equipment here at the manor.

Soon after he finished his heavy weight training he started on his Muay Thai training by doing his stretches to limber up.

As Dusty went through the various practice moves he started adding a few of the moves and throws that he and Daniel had been working on lately. Daniel's records were so complete that he found moves in there that he had never thought about using before.

Whoever started those records really knew their stuff.

Even as he practiced his mind went back to his wife. He was missing her, but he knew time away from each other was needed as well. They needed to be individuals as well as a couple. But not too much time away he mused as he thought about it.

Dusty realized that she wanted to live out a few things in her life before she settled down, but he was already ready for them to start a family. But he knew it would be bad if he forced her to do something she wasn't ready for or didn't really want to do.

One thing that made him feel better was that she started working out with and started having him teach her Muay Thai. He thought it was cute she still called it "Moo-aye-tie" but she took her training seriously.

She would never be able to do the flips like Rachel did, or jump quite as high as he did with some of his moves, but she was determined and driven to learn. What she was starting to do was nothing short of impressive given how late in life she started learning. She was starting to be come even more dangerous than he would have thought possible.

Dusty found himself at times seriously fighting with her so that she didn't harm him. No one should improve as much as she did as fast, but she always seemed too.

One thing he realized he missed while she was gone was how she made it a point to give him such slow loving after a heavy training session. That was something he would never get tired of.

While trapped in his thoughts he almost missed noticing that someone was watching him from a safe distance at the edge of his yard.

"You're here early Charles," said Dusty as he continued moving.

"I wondered if you were going to finally notice me. I thought I'd get you to show me a few more moves and maybe spar with me. That Muay Thai of yours is pretty interesting. Maybe this time you'll take it easier on little me," said Charles with a smile as he started taking off his shirt.

One thing that never failed to impress Dusty was that no matter who he told about his fighting style they always called it "Moo-aye-tie", yet Charles always got it right. That was always a pleasant surprise.

Laughing as he laced up a set of practice gloves, Dusty and Charles started sparing. While Dusty could tell that Charles would never be a terror with this he was making vast improvements over where he was two years ago. Given time he might really be good.

Say twenty or thirty years?

But training Suzan and Charles like he was allowed him to help them improve their form as well as let Dusty think of alternate ways to show them something and it created new ways for him to do it as well. It was true that you learned more by teaching others than just doing it on your own.

After an hour, and right as the sun was fully up, Dusty and Charles called a break.

"Whew, am I at least getting any better?" asked Charles.

"While you won't be beating my wife anytime soon, I see drastic improvement over when you first started. You might even be able to hold your own in a bar fight now," said Dusty with a smile.

Laughing at that Charles started taking off his gloves. Dusty did as well.

"I need to go on a mission. I have something I need to do again," said Dusty.

"Is it for that mage's council again? You know they are only using you. They'll never care about you or your family. Once you're of no use to them any longer they'll throw you away. You should tell them where to stick it," said Charles in disgust.

Laughing Dusty said "Sometimes I really feel like it, especially when they keep secrets from me. If they want me to trust them they should be honest, because honesty is the only way to earn trust.

"And they always expect me to help and trust them because they tell me to, but often they send me off into harms way without telling me what I need to stay alive. It if wasn't for Melkin I would have died well before now. He is the only one of them who really has my best interest at heart."

During his conversation, Dusty noticed that Charles expression became unreadable before he started smiling again.

"Well and me, I'd never ever do anything to hurt you or put you in harms way. You're the only one who's on my level and I can talk freely with," said Charles smiling.

"You don't say? Well I'm glad I'm of use to someone for something," said Dusty smiling.

"So what do the old windbags want now?" asked Charles.

"They need me to investigate a few new weapons that aren't from around here. They are being used to fight wars again," said Dusty

"What are they?" asked Charles with a look of interest.

"Nuu uh, not until everyone gets together. You're welcome to sit in if you want to and you're welcome with us as well," said Dusty with a smile.

"When is it?" asked Charles.

"We're meeting at lunch. While Rachel is pretty pregnant she wants to visit with everyone so we're going to their house to check in on her," said Dusty with a smile.

"Ok meet you there," said Charles and started off

Dusty smiled and then started gathering up all the equipment and putting it away. He was humming a Boston song while he did it. He needed to clean up the yard before he started off. While the servants always told him they would, he didn't want them to get hurt messing with things they weren't familiar with.

Besides he made the mess and he would clean it up.

"My god you're still so beautiful even though you're ready to pop!" said Dusty as he started to hug Rachel.

"Oh Dusty you still know the right things to say to women," said Rachel as she hit his arm before she leaned forward as much a she could to hug him.

Dusty had to admit that Rachel, who was always a beauty anyway, really agreed with pregnancy. She was wearing a yellow dress that, while it wasn't tight, it was snug enough and it was cut to support and lift her breasts.

Her dress was also short enough that it showed off her legs to mid calf and she was wearing comfortable shoes. She even had the pregnancy walk where she at times had to lean back and shuffle from side to side.

"So how's mother-hood treating you?" asked Dusty as they linked arms and started down the hallway to the dining room.

"Surprisingly good. I heard I would be more uncomfortable than I am. Since Daniel's former Nanny Dame Jolene came to help it's been much easier," said Rachel with a smile.

They talked as they headed further into the house. Rachel had insisted on walking to the door to meet Dusty. She kept on training with her sword up till a few months ago, even after she knew she was pregnant, though it was clear that her flips and high kicks were long removed from her practice.

Now at eight months she still looked to have part of her killer figure, except for the baby bulge and those some what large as expected breasts brought on by her pregnancy.

If she could keep those after she had her child she would give Suzan a real run for her money, as they were currently larger than his wife's. Her arms and what he could see of her calves and ankles looked to have not gained any weight even this far into her pregnancy.

"So how is Daniel doing as an expectant father?" Dusty asked.

"Can you please take him on a mission somewhere? I love him to death, and I love how he's trying to be helpful all the time, but I need to exercise and make sure that I'm in good enough condition to have the baby. But he's always underfoot trying to do things for me," said Rachel with a large smile.

"Oh the perils of Mother and father-hood," laughed Dusty.

"Just wait until it's you and Suzan's turn. I bet you're far worse. I'm waiting for the call from Suzan telling me if I don't send Daniel over to get you she'll have you buried out back with the flowers," said Rachel with mischief.

"Shows what you know, she loves those flowers. I'd be out by the creek bed," said Dusty with a smile.

They laughed as they entered the room.

Marie and Seth were already there from earlier in the day. Charles had just beaten Dusty there by a few minutes. Daniel was sitting looking uncomfortable while he waited for Rachel to return.

As she came in the door he started to get out of his chair.

"No Daniel, stay where you are. I need the exercise," said Rachel as she came around to where he was seated.

She pulled out a chair and sat next to him.

Rachel smiled at his obvious distress and leaned forward and pulled him into a kiss.

She put her forehead on his and softly said "You are too good for me, but you need to let me be me for a bit, ok?"

Smiling Daniel kissed her back before he turned to their guest.

"So what is going on this time?" asked Seth.

Smiling at the Rachel and Daniel Dusty started speaking.

He explained the report as shown to him. The others wondered if they would ever be allowed to read a mage's council report on their own without having to have it relayed through Dusty all the time.

"So we need to go investigate what is going. We need to find out where these things are coming from, stop them, and bring back the leader if we can or someone close enough to them for the mage's council to interrogate," said Dusty.

"What are the devices?" asked Marie.

"I think they are from my world again," said Dusty.

"But what are they?" asked Daniel.

"I think its hand grenades this time, portable mortars cannons, but on a far larger scale than what we stopped here last time, and tanks," said Dusty.

"What are grenades and tanks? And how much larger are the mortars kay-non's this time?" asked Rachel

She remembered helping Dusty track down the mortar launders before and seeing their devastation first hand. But those were launched from weird looking tubes put on the ground by one man

"The Mortars are on wheels. They can get some real distance from these. Where before they needed to be able to sight their targets, these work on the principle of you can be told where to shoot and never have to get that close.

"Hand grenades are something you can throw at close range and create the same level of devastation as a sixth circle fireball without having to use magic. It's a way to create sixth and seventh circle mages on the fly without the user needing any magical power.

"Tanks are basically armored wagons that they use to roll over everything on the battlefield. They also launch projectiles like those grenade launcher we saw before Rachel," said Dusty.

"They are probably pretty heavily armored to prevent things like arrows and magic from heating them up to protect the occupants. The troops with the hand grenades could keep anyone from getting to close to the tanks and mortar canons making these people hard to stop. The question is what they have to gain from this," said Charles looking at Rachel.

"Yeah ... that's right," said Dusty as he looked at Charles strangely for a moment before the expression disappeared from his face.

Everyone looked around at each other trying to grasp what was just explained to them.

"Well we need to start off ASAP, oh as soon as possible Charles," said Dusty as he closely watched Charles face, but Charles just lightly nodded while he was lost in thought.

Dusty's eyes narrowed for a moment before he continued.

"We need to head home and pack. Let's meet back here in say a couple hours. Daniel I need you, Marie, and Seth. Charles you are welcome as well," said Dusty rising, but he could see that Charles was still lost in thought.

"Dusty what about calling Suzan or Lori to..." started Rachel, but trailed off at the violent shaking of Dusty's head.

She looked at him strangely for a bit but didn't continue. Everyone else caught that and also kept quiet.

"Ok everyone back here in two hours," said Dusty rising and then heading for the door.

Soon everyone else filed out and then headed to pack.

"Dusty what was that? Why didn't you want me to say anything about the phones? Weren't we talking about giving Charles one?" asked Rachel about an hour after Dusty left.

She had called his phone to talk with him.

"Something isn't quite right. Charles should be as shocked by what I tell you all as the rest of you normally are, but he rarely is. I need to start paying more attention to him. As everyone gets there tell them what I said and we'll keep our phones hidden.

"Suzan is out of contact for the time being because she's filling on for someone on a sensitive contract for the guild, but call Lori and tell her and Mark we're going. We should be ok without them, but if that changes we'll let them know," said Dusty before he signed off.

For the first time that Dusty could remember he felt a little uncomfortable around Charles.

Suzan and the other women spent the first day after the Earl's son Bryon was rescued making sure that all the captive children were in fact released as he said they would be.

True to his word the Earl made sure that the children were released that night and the following day it was announced that all who were imprisoned would receive fair trials. No one would be killed and all sentences would be short ones for those convicted and the sentences would be no more than several months of hard labor.

The people were stunned to say the least and were all looking forward to seeing if justice would actually be carried out as promised.

Suzan and the ladies were walking in the street the morning of the second day and a thin young boy, about ten, came up to her. He had sandy brown hair and bright brown eyes. The boy was dressed in a shirt that was little more than rags and badly torn pants.

"My father said I have you to thank for helping me Milady. He said he talked to you two nights ago and you gave him your word and you kept it to have me freed. Thank you," said the small boy before he raced off.

As he sprinted off Suzan didn't miss the open sores and burn marks on his wrist and ankles, obviously from where someone had shackled him with hot chains.

The knowledge that someone had done that to someone as young as he brought tears to her eyes and she was sure she did the right thing. Children shouldn't grow up like that.

Trying to change the mood the other women suggested an early lunch before they left the day after next. Since they were finished way early, they planned to take their time heading back to the guild.

Even though it was supposed to be low key apparently several people knew that they were both the rescuers of the Earl's son as well as the ones who help free the children of the commoners. People were buying them drinks and trying to celebrate with them. They found themselves pulled into more than one tavern they passed

The three women, Joi, Katie, and Lena, had no problems finding dates later in evening before they retired for bed. As expected of Suzan she made it a point to resist everyone who tried and the first night went to bed early.

During the second day though, not long after lunch, Suzan suddenly didn't feel so good.

She kept feeling dizzy at the oddest times, but as soon as the feeling hit her, it would be gone. She would sometimes suddenly giggle at the oddest things or seemed to be staring off into the distance at times.

The other three women were a little concerned a few times when it happened, but as soon as it happened, Suzan would looked shocked and it would soon pass, and Suzan would quickly be back to acting like her old self.