Chloë

by Marcus LaGrone

  Chloë’s ears rang as a squarely placed pulse rifle shot dropped the fourth. She turned and looked as the panicked horses scattered to find Raymond grinning back at her. “You okay?”

  Chloë rubbed her ears but smiled to him, “I’ll be okay.”

  “Crap shot, Raymond! The guy is gonna live,” grinned Heather as her armor sparkled and disappeared.

  Raymond rolled his eyes and laughed, “You’re welcome, Heather. Let’s tie the guys up and then round up their horses. I think it may be best for us to leave tonight.” Raymond made eye contact with the older Taik that had spoken out in the girl’s defense. “Is there going to be any problem if we take their horses?”

  “Don’t take too kindly to a guy point’n a gun at me, much less trying to kidnap two young ladies; take their horses! It’s the least we can do to help.”

  “You’ll need water! Food! Blankets!” came the parade of offers from the crowd.

  Chloë beamed at the outpouring of support and turned to Heather, “Hey, if you knew Raymond was getting ready to shoot, why did you raise your armor?”

  “Easy!” grinned Heather. “The armor also kills the noise of the pulse rifle.”

  “Yeah,” Chloë laughed as she rubbed her ears. “Yeah, that was kinda loud.”

  “Sorry, Lady Chloë,” apologized Raymond.

  Chloë smiled and kissed Raymond on the nose, much to the amusement of Heather.

  “That will shut him up!”

  Chloë giggled as she watched Raymond bite his lip and stare off into the stars overhead. She tried to help round up the horses; she was pretty certain that Heather was just going to scare them! With the help of the townsfolk, all three horses were quickly secured. As she led them back, she broke out laughing at the mob that was surrounding Heather. From would-be suitors, tomboys and town leadership, everyone was fascinated by the brash Highland girl. A sudden call in her direction of “and that’s her sister!” sent part of the mob Chloë’s way and she flushed horribly from all the attention.

  “Alright! Give the girls some room!” bellowed Raymond, and the crowd back off… a little bit.

  “So much for traveling incognito,” grinned Heather.

  “You are loving every minute of this, aren’t you?” teased Chloë.

  “Well, save for getting pinched. I hope I didn’t break the kid’s wrist,” grinned Heather.

  “And why, oh why, did anyone ever think you needed an escort?” laughed Chloë. “Now… Daddy’s little girl needs to calm down, graciously accept these people’s generous offers and then get her furry butt up on one of those horses.”

  Twenty minutes later they were finally moving out. Fresh water, provisions, a slew of blankets and an odd poncho or two and they were on the move again. Heather’s first few attempts at controlling the horse’s reins ended up in complete disaster: she didn’t like the horse and it was scared to death of her. Instead, Chloë’s share of the provisions were loaded onto the third horse and Heather rode behind Chloë on her horse. It wasn’t elegant, but they were moving!

  Chloë’s mind wandered as they carefully threaded through the countryside at night, “Heather, I know its rude to ask…”

  “Spit it out, silly girl!”

  “Um, does Gwen have any children of her own… you know…”

  Heather laughed softly as she shook her head, “Still hung up on trying to figure out whose is whose?”

  “No, not at all. I just feel kinda lonely for Gwen.”

  Heather smiled softly, “Don’t be. She may not express things like you and I, but she is still all there and is a wonderful person. Three, by the way.”

  “Three?” asked Chloë somewhat shocked.

  “Yep. Clover, Jasmine and Freya. Didn’t expect that, did you!”

  “No, not in the least! How did that happen?”

  “Second Mother can repeat the biology lecture if you missed it… it’s not that complicated…”

  Chloë laughed as she flushed horribly, “No! That’s not what I meant!”

  “Gwen loves and is loved. What more needs to be said?”

  “Nothing. That is just so beautiful and wonderful to hear. Your family… Our family is just the most wonderful family I’ve ever met.”

  Heather smiled, “If you want all sunshine and roses, covered in sugar, I need you to meet Uncle Penn’s family… oh… my… word…” Heather shuddered and laughed, “Gah! Let’s just leave it at that!”

  “Pardon me, are you girls going to be able to stay awake a while longer?” interrupted Raymond.

  Heather looked and Chloë and they both nodded and replied, “Sure!”

  “How are you doing, Raymond?” asked Chloë.

  “I slept this afternoon while you two were laughing at the customers, so I’m doing quite well.”

  “Er.. sorry, that was kinda rude,” murmured Chloë.

  “Yes, yes it was,” replied Raymond evenly before turning and sporting a grin, “But humans are awful funny to look at!”

  Both of the girls laughed at that. Heather, a little too much so: she had to fight to keep from falling off the horse!

  Around ten o’clock they stopped at a stream to water the horses and Raymond went about trying to unshoe the beasts. He didn’t have proper tools for the job and that complicated things. Heather advocated just cutting them off, but Raymond was concerned about leaving partials of nails left behind. But with Chloë holding a horse’s head, Heather and Raymond working together were able to remove them with some creativity. Heather wanted to toss the shoes in the stream, but Raymond opted to put them in the beasts’ saddle bags: prefit shoes would be much easier and cheaper to replace.

  “Okay, if we aren’t going to let them run wild, why are we taking their shoes off? Don’t they have better traction and things with their shoes?” asked Chloë.

  Raymond grinned in the pale moonlight, “More importantly, taking their shoes off makes them harder to track. Come on, I’d like to get a few more miles under us before we stop for the night. We are going to head upstream a bit and then a bit more overland.”

  Chloë nodded with understanding and then laughed as the comedy of errors that was getting Heather on the back of a horse, repeated itself.

  38

  Chloë stretched as the morning light flickered through the trees and a playful butterfly danced on her nose. She giggled lightly as she pushed the energetic bug clear and sat upright. The blankets given by the townsfolk had come in very handy as the night air had gotten quite cold and they had been adverse to building a fire that night. A quick stretch and she started to get up. A subsequent glance to her side showed Heather’s bedroll was vacant. A slightly more panicked glance revealed Raymond’s was likewise vacant. She sprang to her feet as fear started to rush over her; what had happened to them? She was about ready to call out in terror when suddenly a sound drew her attention: something close, just behind the large sprawling False Oak. She bit her lip and swallowed her fear as she dared a quick look… the fear quickly faded as she caught sight of Heather and Raymond kissing!

  “Raymond, get your filthy paws off my sister!” Chloë half barked, half laughed.

  The startled pair quickly turned to face Chloë: Heather fell over backwards laughing while Raymond tried to protest, “She started it! I mean, really!”

  Chloë marched over, caught Raymond’s tail and gave it a sharp yank. He howled in protest and Chloë finally let go. “No more of that until you are willing to risk getting caught by Father. And I mean Llewellyn! Once we get home if you want to buy her a nice set of bells on rings, I’ll leave you two alone. But until then, you mind your hands, mister!”

  “Oh! Bells on rings! That does sound nice,” teased Heather as she lay on the ground enjoying the show. “You know, I think he’s going to have a harder time with First Mother than Father.”

  Chloë glared at Raymond, “So long as you are employed by the Crown Prince of Amseterval, you keep clear of my sister. You find a new job and I’ll let you buy bells on rings for
Heather.”

  “Hey, previously you just said he only had to risk Father, now you are piling more terms on him,” protested Heather with a grin. Someone was having too much fun!

  “As soon the opportunity presents itself, I will resign my commission. As far as new employment, the only current offers are with Watzkel’s unit, but I will make my services known in the Highlands if that is what it takes.”

  “Wow!” grinned Chloë. “You really are hung up on Heather!”

  Raymond’s ears flushed and he swept his tail back towards Chloë, “Um, just go back to yanking my tail. It was less annoying…”

  A quick breakfast, or what passed for breakfast without the heat of a nice stove, was quickly put away along with a flavored drink given by their previous hosts. It was tart and sweet at the same time and Chloë found herself liking it in spite of it being slightly sticky.

  “Lemonade,” grinned Heather. “Fun with citrus trees! If we had stayed for lunch at Trevor and Gillian’s place, I’m sure they would have made some fresh for us. It’s a human old world thing. Quite tasty!”

  “For being in a stale wineskin, it actually is quite good,” agreed Raymond. “I take it the wineskin will need a serious washing when we are done, less it become ‘unpleasant.’“

  “Yep yep! Hey Chloë, can I ride on the back of Raymond’s horse today?”

  “Um, that means neither of you will be paying attention to the path… I’m going to have to go with a ‘no,’ dear Heather.”

  “Aw!” grinned Heather.

  Chloë just laughed. It was obvious Heather was having fun at Raymond’s expense, but Chloë was certain there was an honest and sincere level of affection on Heather’s part. Suddenly Chloë felt serious, “Raymond, you aren’t playing the tease are you? You aren’t toying with Heather, are you? If you break her heart…”

  Raymond bowed formally to Chloë, “Lady Chloë, I have no others in my life, if that is what you are asking. I do not know how serious we are, but I am serious enough to not wish any hurt to Heather.”

  Chloë smiled, “That will do fine… Lady Chloë? So, what is my name?”

  “Chloë of House Stratford.”

  “The Crown Prince of Amsterval might disagree…”

  “Then he might want to take that up with the rest of the Altshea Confederation: he will find himself alone in that regard.”

  Chloë gave Raymond a quick hug and laughed, “Okay, enough serious stuff, let’s see if we can get Heather on the back of a horse, any horse.”

  “And in less than twenty minutes! That would be a welcome change.”

  “Hey!” protested Heather.

  39

  Clouds began building as the day wore on. The bright and cheerful morning soon gave way to a heavy overcast with distant sounds of thunder. Raymond distributed the two ponchos to the girls as the threat of rain increased.

  “This must cause terrible flashbacks to your arrival in the Highlands, sorry,” offered Heather with a quick hug to Chloë.

  Chloë just shook her head and grinned, “Not at all a thing alike! I have food, proper clothing and, most importantly, I am traveling with friends.”

  A brief chirp from Raymond’s saddle pack made them all tense up. With a second short chirp, Raymond dug through the packs and produced the emergency radio from the life pod and clicked it on. A recorded voice repeated over and over, “75258863… 75258863…”

  “What’s that?” asked Heather with more than a little curiosity.

  “The number is the start point for the secure communication with Watzkel’s unit.” He worked quickly to type in the number into a small device and then plugged it into the port of the radio. “Radio, strength 5. Team, strength 3. One complication, resolved. ETA, original schedule.”

  Watzkel’s unmistakable voice soon replied, “Radio, strength 5. Team, strength 24+31+45. Two complications, both pending. ETA, original+4 hours full. ETA advanced team, original schedule.”

  “Understood. Dustoff?”

  “Dustoff confirmed, plus four.”

  “Dustoff plus four hours?”

  “Negative. Dustoff plus four options.”

  “Confirmed and out.”

  “Out.”

  “You go through that complicated encryption thingie and you still talk in vague terms,” murmured Chloë nervously.

  “Actually once we get closer, we’ll shift to the blackbook, a one time pad, and then we can speak freely. None of us knows if the regular security on these things is that good. Look whose ship they were on after all.”

  “So, they are split in three groups, ran into two bits of trouble and there is one rescue vehicle at least with four more other ways to leave here,” parroted Heather.

  “Exactly.”

  “Um, what are the odds that someone from the town is following us? I mean the bulk of them were nice and all, but it only takes one…”

  “Odds are a hundred percent,” interrupted Raymond. “That is part of why we lost the horse shoes last night.”

  “You knew we were being followed and didn’t tell us?” asked Heather.

  “And how well would Chloë have slept?”

  “Good point!” laughed Heather.

  “Besides, with the coming rain, we are going to be even harder to track.”

  Chloë sighed, “I wish you two would stop treating me like a pampered princess.”

  Heather nodded, “Yes. Yes indeed. Raymond, she’s my sister, tell us both what we need to know. Need to know if something bad happens to you!”

  “My apologies, I did not mean to offend…”

  “Well, you can start by apologizing for the ‘my apologies’ crap,” grinned Heather.

  Raymond laughed, “Yes, dear!” He smiled at the pair of them as he rearranged his wool blanket for protection from the elements. “Two separate groups followed us from the town. One seems to have been thrown by the horse shoe stunt and has returned. The second team is still out there. Just a pair of guys on horses.”

  “So they are probably going to try to spot us and report us in… take a finder’s fee and quit with their noses clean,” suggested Heather.

  “That is a very good guess.”

  “Hey, I don’t like this. If it is only a pair of people, why don’t we just go talk to them? On our terms,” offered Chloë with a flash of teeth.

  Raymond let out a deep sigh, “Heather, oh my darling Heather… what have you done to Chloë?”

  “Not a thing! Any of my sisters would have made the same suggestions!” grinned Heather proudly.

  “You have no brothers, right?”

  “Nope, fourteen sisters though.”

  “Had it been fourteen brothers the very fabric of the cosmos might have collapsed…”

  “My brother-in-law, Gavin, he’s a High Silver!” interjected Heather.

  “Too much information…” sighed Raymond as he looked at his two charges. “Okay, we’ll pull up to that next ridge and lay low, take a break for a few hours. If, if, they show themselves, we’ll work out something. Otherwise, we pack up and continue as we were.”

  “Sounds like a plan!” beamed Heather.

  “Sounds like fun!” chimed Chloë.

  “Now I know why you two needed an escort,” grunted Raymond with resignation.

  40

  Two hours of waiting produced no signs of the pair, if they were even still out there. It did, however, produce a bit of rain. It wasn’t a bitterly cold rain at least, just cold enough to be glad for the ponchos and an extra blanket… It was going to be a long day, but at least the odds of being followed plummeted as the rain wore on.

  Night came none too early; they were all quite tired. Raymond made a quite functional lean-to, slightly below the local horizon but on a large enough berm to not be in any suddenly developing streams. The thunder picked up but most of the strikes were cloud-to-cloud. Most. Chloë found herself snuggling up to Heather as an occasional strike hit closer to home. Heather cringed in time with the blasts, less nervous than
Chloë, but still not comfortable with the night’s light show.

  “When I was scared by storms, I used to always go and snuggle up with Second Mother,” offered Heather blankly.

  “How long did that last?” asked Chloë.

  “Up until about a month ago,” replied Heather sheepishly.

  “A thunderstorm is worthy of respect from everyone,” offered Raymond.

  “First Mother has stories of meeting Father… him standing on the roof during a thunderstorm, daring it to strike him… he… he was scared… scared of living… scared of ever losing a loved one again. First Mother knew she had won him over when he would come down off from tall buildings for her.” Heather smiled as she read the confusion on Raymond’s face, “Father and his childhood sweetheart were ripped apart by family and unfortunate circumstances. He spent most of his time with the Shukurae running from the heartache, running from life. It was the Shukurae who finally set about trying to find someone special for him again. They were the ones that introduced Father and First Mother. Father never wanted to kill all those people on the Bervik lands…”

  “But when you think you’ve lost everything, you will fight that way too,” finished Raymond with a smile. “I look forward to meeting your father. I honestly do.”

  “I think you will find he likes you,” grinned Heather.

  “Okay, if you two want to kiss, I promise not to look,” laughed Chloë.

  “We have trouble,” whispered Heather as she gently shook Chloë.

  It was still dark and the rain had not let up. Chloë peered out into the gloom but could see nothing. “Um, is it the the two guys Raymond spotted from before?”

  Heather shook her head, “Don’t know… ask again in ten minutes! Go with him and loop around. I’ll stay here as bait.”

  “I don’t like that idea,” murmured Chloë.

  “When I teach you Live Steel armor, I’ll let you be bait.”

  Chloë mustered a small grin, “Fair enough!” She grabbed her poncho and carefully snuck off with Raymond into the blowing rain. Well, at least the lightning had mostly abated, it would make their departure more secure.