Portals of Infinity: Book Four: The Sea of Grass (3 page)

It took a couple of hours for her to cry herself out. Several times when I thought she was done, I started to let her go and she just started up again. It was late morning when she finally settled down, and stopped crying. She wouldn't talk, or look up at me. She just looked down at the floor.

The innkeeper gave me a knowing look; "It's always rough when they first apprentice out," he told me when I settled up the bill.

"I had no idea," I growled softly and he laughed.

"I thought you said you were married?"

"I let the wife deal with them when they cry like that," I grumbled. I hadn't slept at all last night, and I was sure I looked it.

"Oh, well it usually doesn't last long," he smiled. "Have a good trip."

I nodded and gathered up Goth who was still sulking and left.

I took her hand and kept up a good pace as we walked through the streets towards the gate. I knew that the priests did everything they could to check everyone coming in. They always found an excuse to touch you, so they could tell if you were another priest or a champion. I was hoping that they didn't bother checking anyone on the way out, as it seemed pointless to do so.

But as we approached the gate, I could see that I wasn't going to be so lucky, there were four priests there and they were checking everyone. Oh they weren't obvious about it, but they were making sure to touch everyone. There were about a dozen guards at the gate, and probably more on the wall. The killing field around the city wall was at least a hundred yards, maybe more.

I thought about turning around and trying something else, but that could lead to more problems that I didn't want to deal with.

I looked at the people around me, there were several large merchant groups, and a lot of them had guards that were well armed. I picked a group from a nearby kingdom that we weren't on good terms with and sidled up behind them. I watched how the priests were dealing with the groups, there were three dealing with the incoming folks, and most of the guards were watching them.

When the priest turned to me, I just ran him through with one of my swords, spun him around so he was facing the man he had just talked to and I yelled "He killed the priest!" and I pointed while drawing my other sword.

There was a lot of confusion, a lot of yelling, and a lot of shouting. The people behind me all saw what I did, but the guards all turned to look, saw the priest with a sword sticking out of him, and a man with empty hands before him, and they attacked.

I grabbed Goth around the waist as everything slowed down for me and picking her up I started yelling "Run! Everybody run!"

The merchant group the one man was with drew their swords as they were set upon by the guards, a nice fight quickly erupting. One of the guards however was looking at me and yelling as well. So I ran at him and batting his sword aside with my own, I shoulder slammed him on my way towards the gate, knocking him back and causing him to lose his balance and fall.

I ran out the gate, and there were a lot of other people running in the same direction. I could hear more yelling, and I started to run as hard as I could as I shifted Goth around to in front of me, holding her with both hands now. I made it about halfway across the ground when an arrow flew by and I started swerving my course back and forth to try and throw off the archer's aim.

Risking a glance over my shoulder I could see that there were several dead at the gate, and a number of the guards appeared to be yelling and one of them was pointing in my direction.

Turning my attention forward I dodged along a broken course, as best I could. I was getting far enough away that as long as I didn't move in a constant arc, I had a good chance of the archers not hitting me. Of course some of the other people running around didn't look so lucky, and as I had outpaced them, a lot of archers went for the easier targets.

When I finally made it into cover, I slowed down and stopped, ducking behind a tree to take a good look. There were ten or so people lying on the ground with arrows sticking out of them. None of them looked dead however.

Six or seven of the guards were double timing it after me, but I wasn't worried about them.

"You okay?" I asked Goth.

She looked up at me and I could see she was scared. "W... wh.... what..."

I checked her over while she was stuttering. Then picking her up and tossing her over my shoulder in a fireman's carry I took off at a jog. I knew were I was going, and if possible I'd rather not deal with the guards behind me. From my point of view it would be a lot better if they went back saying they couldn't find me, than if they never went back at all.

Two

Outside of Barassa

The trip back to Hiland from here was about ten days. I had two soldiers with me, whose main purpose had been to watch the camp while I was in Barassa and to help with anything I might need help with. It took me a couple of hours to make it back to the camp I had left them at.

I got a quizzical look from each of them when I jogged into camp carrying Goth. I set her down and made introductions.

"Goth, this is Corporal Peers, and Corporal Joe. Corporals, this is Goth. I rescued her from a bad situation."

They looked at her and looked at me.

"William Sir," Peers said, "Shouldn't she be..."

"Peers," I interrupted and he stopped.

"Yessir?"

"This is neither the time, nor the place. Now, we need to move, so let us be on our way."

"Yessir!" They both said and cleaned up any signs of who we might have been quickly, and then we mounted up our wolats and left. I put Goth on Tom in front of me, she was small enough I figured that was easier.

Goth was quiet for the entire trip, I don't know if it was Tom, the corporals, riding through the forests, or all of the things that had happened in the last couple of days, but all she did was lean back against me as we rode.

We stopped as the sun started to set and made camp. After we had dinner Goth finally started to open up.

"Where are we going?" She asked me.

"We're heading back home, to Hiland."

"And then what?" She asked looking a little worried.

"I'll see about finding you a place to live, I know several people who have children your age, you'd be happy there."

"Why can't I just stay with you?" she asked.

"Because I have to travel a lot."

"I could go with you," Goth said looking hopeful.

I shook my head, "I get sent to a lot of places alone Goth. Many of the places I go to, and things I have to do, are very dangerous. I won't even bring other adults or even soldiers with me most of the time."

She pouted a bit.

I sighed, "Goth, you've had a rough life these last few years. You deserve the chance to just have a normal life and grow up without fears or worries."

"But I won't have any fears if I'm with you," she said looking up at me hopefully.

"No, but I will," I sighed. "Go to sleep, we have to get up early in the morning and we have many days of riding yet."

She looked around at the bedrolls we had laid out. There were four of them of course.

"Which one is yours?" She asked looking at them.

"The one I set my pack by." I pointed to the one next to it. "That one is yours Goth."

"I don't want to sleep alone," she said looking around the camp into the darkness.

"You won't be, I'll be sleeping right next to you."

"Okay," she said and yawned, then went and got in her bedroll, but not before moving it right up against mine.

When she was finally asleep I looked up at Corporal Peers. "Okay, ask."

"Where's her mother, dead?"

I sighed and shook my head looking at Goth. "Her mother is a pampered slave of a rich man who has a stable full of lovely women who she claims he treats very well, both in and out of bed."

"You couldn't save her?"

"Oh, I could have. Problem was, she said she preferred the life of a slave and didn't want to be rescued."

"What about her daughter?" He said looking shocked.

I lowered my voice, "She said her daughter was my obligation now and that I'd probably do better by her then she had."

"Wow, that's pretty cold." Joe said looking at her.

"Yeah, I know."

"What did you save her from?" Peers asked.

"A nasty tavern where they were whoring her out when they weren't working her to the bone."

Peers sat back and blinked. "I can't... they did that? To a
child
?"

I nodded.

"I have a daughter a few years younger than her. I can not understand how any male could do such a thing."

"That's because Hilanders are a decent people," I said. "Barassans are not," I spat in the fire. "I'm going to sleep, if any of you have any ideas on what I should do with Goth, let me know. This whole situation is new to me."

"It's new to all of us," Peers said and Joe agreed.

I sighed and nodded and crawled into my bedroll. I woke up sometime later at night when Goth woke up and crawled into mine with me, and snuggled up against my back. I curled my tail around her and she fell back asleep rather quickly.

The rest of the trip back progressed rather well, Goth started to talk to Peers and Joe the next evening and rarely stuttered anymore. She asked questions about what Hiland was like, what Feliogustus was like, what the Corporals did when I wouldn't go into any details about what I did. We reached Rivervail after more than a week of travel and spent both the afternoon and evening there at the local garrison. Goth was surprised to find out it wasn't the main Hiland city. I told her we'd be there in a few more days, and that there was a small town between the two that we would also stop at.

I took her out and bought her new clothes, a brush for her hair, and another for her fur. After almost a week of real food, she was starting to look a lot better than she had when I first saw her, but I suspected it would be weeks, if not months, before she looked like a normal healthy child should look.

When we got back to Hiland I took her with me to the castle, Rachel met me at the door and we embraced and kissed. I smiled at her, and looked her over; I always did whenever we'd been apart for any length of time. I still couldn't believe I was married to her.

"So how did it go?" She asked.

"About as expected."

"Who is your new friend?" She asked curiously, looking at Goth who was standing behind me, holding on to my tail and looking a bit nervous.

"One of the unexpected things," I said softly, then took a step back so Rachel could see her. "Goth, this is Queen Rachel, she is the ruler of the country, and my wife. Rachel, this is Goth."

Goth looked a little nervous and made a little curtsey like gesture that I'd seen other women do when meeting someone important.

"Goth, welcome to Hiland. What brings you to my country?"

"H...He does," She said and pointed at me.

"I rescued her," I said kneeling down and giving Goth a hug and looking up at Rachel. "She doesn't have any family anymore. I was hoping to find her a new one."

"Hi William!"

I looked up; it was Jeeza, our master builder.

"Jeeza, what brings you here?" I asked standing up and touching palms.

"Talking with her Highness about the river dam project. I couldn't help but overhear your problem." Jezza walked over to Goth and squatted down to her level. "Hello, Goth. You know, I have a daughter your age, as well as a younger one. Want to come to my house for dinner and meet them?"

Goth looked at me, and then looked back at Jeeza.

"I could bring you by myself, Goth," I told her. "Wouldn't you like to meet some girls your own age?"

Goth nodded slowly.

"Fine, it's settled, Will and I will bring Goth and come by for dinner tonight Jeeza," Rachel said smiling, and Jeeza suddenly looked a little panicked, "Umm, Your Highness, on such short notice...."

"Jeeza, just tell your wife you invited a couple over to visit, don't tell her you invited the queen," Rachel laughed, "I'd rather have a regular meal, than a fancy one. This isn't an official visit after all."

Jeeza nodded and smiled, perhaps a little weakly. "She's going to kill me when you show up you know."

"I'll be sure to pardon you before we leave then," Rachel said. "Now, let's go inside, Will, Goth. We'll see you later, Jeeza."

Jeeza nodded and left, and I followed Rachel inside, with Goth still holding my tail as she followed.

Once inside, one of the maids took Goth in hand and took her to the bathroom to get her cleaned up for dinner while Rachel and I spent a little time cleaning each other up. I think the maids didn't like not being able to help, but personal time was hard to come by for the two of us sometimes, so we took what we could. I related Goth's story while we helped wash each other's fur.

"That's sad about her mother," Rachel told me as we were drying off, "but she'd probably already written her daughter off as dead. Maybe if she'd seen her she would have connected with her again. After hitting bottom as a slave, being a rich male's sex toy was probably an improvement for her."

I shook my head, "I don't get it."

Rachel shrugged. "Some people are always willing to do as they're told, if it means safety and security."

"But she's a slave now, sooner or later, he's going to sell her."

Rachel nodded, "Probably. But it was her choice, and she made it, so it's not your concern anymore."

"Still," I started.

"William?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up," she said and poked me in the chest with a finger.

"Yes ma'am!"

"That's 'yes, Your majesty'."

"Yes, Your Majesty," I purred.

"Bett... Eeek!" She jumped as I pinched her.

"I know where you sleep buster," she grumbled at me, but she was smiling.

"And I can't wait to meet you there," I rumbled deep in my chest.

"Damn, too bad we have to go out for dinner..." Rachel sighed.

Dinner at Jeeza's house was rather good. Jeeza's wife Sara was rather shocked when Rachel showed up, and apologized profusely for not having expected the Queen for dinner. But Rachel put her at ease rather quickly, and Sara moved on rather quickly as well once Rachel told her not to worry. She did shoot her husband a few nasty looks however, and he definitely looked guilty.

Goth and Jeeza's daughters got along rather well, Jeeza's oldest, Mara, was a rather friendly and engaging young girl. Sara also liked Goth, and Goth liked her as well.

When Jeeza asked Goth if she would like to stay the night, she looked torn.

"Goth, stay the night, its okay." I told her, "I'll be in town for a few weeks; I'll come by and visit okay? Jeeza knows where I live; it's not very far away."

"O... Okay," Goth nodded, I could see she was having a hard time choosing, here was a family with children her own age, but I was the one who had saved her. However, I think Rachel being the queen intimidated her a little, and she knew I lived with Rachel.

I smiled and gave her a hug, "I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon, and we can talk. Okay?"

Goth nodded.

We said our goodbyes not long after that and headed back to the castle. I felt a bit better about things with Goth staying with Jezza's family. She was still a pretty fragile girl after what had been done to her, and neither Rachel nor I had the time to spend helping her cope. I just hoped that whatever damage had been done could be healed.

"Ah William, you're back!" General Holse said as I entered the council chamber with Rachel the next morning. "How was Barassa?"

"Well fortified, with a large army," I said, and walking in I took my seat next to Rachel after she had sat down. "I don't see us moving on it for years, if ever."

Holse nodded and the others nodded as well.

"I hear that they're a bit short on money these days," Rigel, a new member of the council asked looking up at me. His position was a new one; it was his job to gather intelligence on our neighbors. "Is that true?"

I nodded. "Three of the four slave markets were barely in business. With many of the neighboring kingdoms having cut back on trade, they don't have enough slaves to export to the foreign kingdoms that sail into their ports."

"I'm sure our eastern border's increase in troops and security hasn't helped them either," Holse said with a laugh. "We've taken away a good third of their source for new slaves."

"Which means if they're short on money, it will be harder for them to pay for troops to come up here and attack us," Rachel said and everyone turned to nod at their queen.

"So with our biggest threat held at bay for now, what are your plans, your Highness?" Councilor Ceras asked. He was Wreth's replacement.

"I want to push forward on Diament's project," Rachel said looking at the others. "That will be our first priority, if we can turn those grasslands to the northeast into fertile farmland, we can not only support a much larger population, but we can sell off the excess to our neighbors.

"Second is to continue developing our army, now that we have replaced all that we lost in the last war."

"Your Highness! What about ship building?" Sorin our port master asked.

"I will let you start one ship this year, and it had better not be a big one. We're not equipped to compete on the seas with anyone right now."