"If you're fool enough to allow these three into your company, you may take them with my blessing," the man grunted and stalked off. I realized then that I hadn't seen that many women among the Warlord's army, but then I hadn't seen much of it, yet. There had to be twenty thousand troops or so, divided into groups, each with an accompanying set of supply wagons. Our group was made up of the add-ins—the ones who weren't regular army, I guess. I figured that the Warlord had pulled in as many extras as he could, since the enemy was organized, now.
"Your names?" Dragon asked, as soon as the man was out of hearing.
"Tava," the tall one introduced herself. She had the black hair and Asian features of most of the Falchani I'd seen. The next one was five-eight or so, had dark-brown hair, didn't look completely Asian and gave her name as Hart. The third one was the shortest—perhaps five-five or five-six, also with black hair and dark eyes and identified herself as Nima. They'd brought their clothing with them, plus a rolled up tent and a few other belongings. Their horses had been left outside the breakfast tent, already loaded and ready to go.
"Have you had breakfast?" Crane asked, first thing.
"We have," Tava nodded.
"We will expect you to keep in shape and spar with the others when we stop in the evenings," Crane went on.
"We would welcome that," Tava bowed slightly, as did the other two.
Dragon lined us up in three rows of five after that and Crane, Caylon, Devin, Pheran Tiger and Turtle now rode in the first row behind him, then Veykan, Dragon Taylor, Crane Trevor, Rik and Drake followed in the second row, leaving Drew, Tava, Hart, Nima and me in the last row. I rode next to Drew; the other three women were riding at my side.
"How long have you been a warrior?" Tava, who rode next to me asked after a while. Crane had introduced all of us to the three women when we saddled up to continue our journey.
"That depends," I said. "If you're asking how long I've been fighting with blades, not long at all. I've fought before that, though."
"Crane will test you tonight," Drew got in on the conversation. "He will see what you have."
"Then we will thank him and offer to do for him," Tava nodded.
"He will not expect that," Drew replied while I sat there on my horse, wondering what do for meant. "He merely wants to know what your level is, so he can teach you if necessary."
"If he expects no more than that, then we are most relieved," Tava smiled. I think that was the first smile I'd seen on her face. That made me go Looking, although I didn't like doing that very much—it felt like prying. Those three women had been expected to prostitute themselves for whatever they could learn from the men of their company. I thought I might have a stroke when I got that information.
Lissa, calm yourself, Drew sent. Drake's mental voice wasn't far behind. I got mindspeech from Dragon, too, trying to calm me down. I was about to go give the ass-whoopin' to the man who deserved it.
We cannot interfere in that way, Dragon informed me. That is the Warlord's business and he is ignoring things of that nature at the moment. We cannot get involved.
Then maybe the Warlord needs the ass-whoopin', I snapped back mentally. Drew frowned at me. Yeah, I was being grumpy with dad-in-law.
We reached the river shortly after nightfall—the Warlord wanted to keep pushing until we reached it. I had no argument with that decision; I wanted a bath in the worst possible way. The horses were cared for first, the tents went up and then we all trooped down to the river, where a horde was already bathing communally.
At least the bathing was taking place past the point where the drinking water was dipped out and the horses drank. What freaked me out most was that everybody was naked and cleaning up and doing laundry at the same time. I backed up when we reached the riverbank—it was mostly men bathing and I'd never seen that many penises in my life.
"Come along, shy little flower," Drake laughed at me as he and Drew each grabbed an arm and hauled me along. Tava, Hart and Nima were already undressing to go into the water. Devin didn't like the circumstances either and was getting the same treatment from Dragon and Crane.
"You know those guys are farting in there, don't you," I hissed as Drew unlaced my leather vest.
"Or worse," Drew nodded as he worked on my laces.
"You could have kept that to yourself," I muttered.
"Come on, the current is carrying it away," Drake said in his best don’t be a wuss voice.
"Unbelievable," I said, as Drake pulled my leather pants off and hauled me over his shoulder. Yeah, the twins were already naked. I noticed that we got space when Drake hauled me into the water. Well, hauled is the wrong word—it was a big leap off the bank, dunking us under as we went in. Drew jumped in right beside us. I learned why we got plenty of space, too. Anybody with a full complement of tattoos got respect. They didn't get the tattoos unless they'd earned them and most of the guys around us only had a few. I hadn't seen Devin's tattoo before, either—she had a red dragon tattooed on her back left shoulder. It was really nice and about eight or nine inches long.
"Want a tattoo?" Drake whispered in my ear.
"Nope. You guys have enough for several people," I smacked his chest. "Are we getting clean or what?" I tried to get the soap away from Drew, who grinned and held it over my head. I was scrubbed. By both of them. Of course, they expected help getting their hair washed and combed out.
"There," I finished braiding Drew's damp hair after we climbed out of the river. Drake's had already been done. I kissed Drew on the back of his neck, too. He grinned at me.
"Let's go find dinner," he said.
"Lissa, I'd pay if you'd make biscuits," Crane didn't like the flat bread he'd gotten with dinner. He, Devin and Dragon had beaten us to the cooking tents.
"Do they have anything to use as leavening?" I asked.
"They have baking powder," Crane said. "I just don't think they know how to use it."
"You think they'd mind if I used their portable kitchen?" I asked. "I made Gardevik biscuits in a skillet over a campfire."
"Come on," he stood and led the way. I found everything I needed in the camp kitchen and about forty-five minutes later, Crane had a skillet full of biscuits. I gave the cooks a few, since they'd let me use their supplies. Crane was more than happy and hauled the skillet out to our table, the handle wrapped in a thick pad.
"What are those?" Tava asked. She and the other two women were sitting at the end of our long table.
"Biscuits," Crane grinned and offered them one. They used the bread to dip up their stew.
"These are wonderful," Hart smiled happily. There was enough for everybody to get one and Crane to get two. The skillet was huge.
"If you have honey to go with them, they're even better," I said.
The following morning I was hauled away early—the cooks had come calling, asking me to show them how to make biscuits. We made biscuits and Crane got as many as he wanted, with a little honey. I also learned that we'd be getting close to the mountain range by nightfall and things were going to be tighter, security-wise, after that. Until now, we hadn't done any night guard duty, but each company would be asked, so our time was coming. Dragon talked to us about it over breakfast.
"Guard shifts are four hours long," he said, "two shifts per night. Six companies guard the perimeter every night and walk a portion of it. You're responsible for getting to the perimeter on time to relieve the previous watch. Do not fall asleep—it will be strokes if you do."
"And you made me come here," I grumped at Drake. Dragon cleared his throat. Time to shut up.
"If you see or hear anything suspicious, alert the others," Dragon went on, ignoring me. "Your superior on the night watch will decide whether it bears further investigation."
"Don't worry, Gavin is exactly the same," I told Devin later. She'd explained that Dragon didn’t mean the chastisement personally. He'd chewed me out after the meeting because I wasn't treating everything more seriously. Considering I hadn't volunteered for this assignment to start with, I thought I was displaying amazing restraint.
"If that were one of my boys, I'd force them into a sparring match and drive them into the ground," Dragon grumbled, pacing. Crane and Devin watched as he vented his frustration. "If I pull her onto the sparring square, she'll just block all my blows and yawn while she does it."
"Dragon, she isn't military and hasn't ever been military," Devin said. "This is all new to her. If you wanted a specific behavior from her, you should have been talking to her from the beginning instead of jumping her now, when she interrupted you."
"I've given Drake and Drew a dressing-down; they should have been giving her instruction," Dragon muttered.
"You get the second guard shift." Crane had been sent to hand out my assignment—Dragon was still seething, I figured. I just nodded at the former General. Drake and Drew were pissed at me, too, since Dragon had yelled at them after he yelled at me. Well, the end of this little vacation couldn't come soon enough. I set my internal clock for half an hour before I had to relieve the first guard, who happened to be Drake. He, Drew, Rik and Pheran had all gotten the first shift. Pheran Tiger was point man on that shift for us. I was going out on the second shift with Tava, Crane Trevor and Dragon Taylor. Dragon Taylor was chief cook and bottle washer on the second shift for us.
"Lissa, if you see or hear anything, let me know," Dragon Taylor was driving his point into my head, almost. I wanted to tell him I got it the first time, but my mouth had gotten me into trouble to begin with. I just nodded and went to walk the perimeter.
Each of us had a hundred yards to guard and we walked that hundred yards. The second shift is the hardest—the time when most people are sound asleep. Or, if they're awake, wanting to be asleep more than anything. Except for vampires.
