Princess Rescue Inc (20 page)

Carefully
she checked the bandages and then nodded. “This damn crap doesn't heal,” she
muttered probing a puckered wound. “You keep pulling stitches too. I should
stick you in a sling.”

“Then
I'd be a pain in the ass,” he smirked.

“Or
your ass in a sling, or better yet a backboard,” she grinned back menacingly.
He grimaced but chose to ignore the threat. He knew when it was time to abandon
the field.

“So,
anything new?” he asked as she poked and prodded him. “How's the LT?” She
shrugged.

“Galloway
is fine. Resting as comfortably as he can. Not nearly as much a pain in the ass
as you,” she answered.

“I
heard about you carrying Deidra. Don't do something that stupid again,” she
ordered and shook her head at the futility of that particular order. He
snorted.

After
a moment she continued. “Depends on what you call new. From what we've got from
the girls.” She turned, nodding to the two princesses. “The calendar is broken
into periods and then into months.... Each has five that is Quintus...” She
turned and looked over to Zara.

“Octo
Quintus.” Zara replied with a nod. Her eyes were on Ryans and his chest though.

“That's
eight five day weeks in a mens or month,” he nodded. “Okay.”

“We're
in the beginning of early spring. Just made the seasonal cross over and missed
the worst of the March mud. That means we're heading into a short but semi
brutal summer period, about four months from now. Summer lasts about two
months, and then we loop out for a four month fall and an
eight
month
hard
cold winter. A white Christmas with about two or three meters of snow on the
ground,” she said wrinkling her nose. “That explains why they build their
buildings in stone so high off the ground.”

“Oh
joy,” he grimaced. “That's kinda weird. That means we're in an elliptical
orbit. A seven hundred and twenty day year. Nearly twice what it is on Earth.”
He bent over to reach for the tablet but she jerked him back upright.

She
slapped his good shoulder. “Sit still. You'll pull the stitches.”

“You
mean you'll pull them, manhandling me like that,” he griped.

“Bitch,
bitch,” she said, not looking up. He winced as she touched the cut on his shoulder.
“This I don't remember.”

“Got
it the other day,” he said. It was a small scratch; he'd picked it up freeing
Deidra from the keep.

“What
did it?”

“Guy
threw a dagger or something,” he said.

“Okay.
Note, don't do that. Let's get through one set first,” she ordered.

He
snorted. “So, you were saying?” he asked after a moment. To tell the truth he
needed the distraction from what she was doing. It wasn't just her that was
bothering him though, he had an audience in the princesses and wasn't sure he
liked it. Zara was staring, bright eyed, but Deidra's occasional look didn't
help.

“I
was saying don't do that,” she said smiling again as she re-wrapped the
bandage.

“Oh
you're just full of it today,” he grumbled and then sighed. She giggled.

“Maybe
a little, to much caffeine maybe,” she shrugged as she finished with the
shoulder. “But, as to the topic of the calendar. It's not exactly simple. We're
orbiting two stars and a gas giant. So things can get hectic. Mach five storms,
some wicked solar events, and the tides...” She shrugged. “Not to mention how
that effects weather in general.”

“Yeah,
I'd think the planet would have two summers or be too hot to support life.”

“You'd
think so. I'm guessing not,” she replied. She reached for his waist.

“And
what do you think you’re doing Doc?” he asked, voice rising as he batted her
hand away.

“I'm
checking your leg wound. Or trying to,” she said sitting back. “You mind?”

“
Yes,
actually I do. It's not like I drop my drawers when it suits a woman's pleasure
all
the time you know,” he growled.

Her
right eyebrow lifted and she grinned coyly. “Why not? Come on, it's not like
they haven't seen it before. Or better,” she teased, eyes full of mischief.

Doc
looked over her shoulder to the girls. Zara ducked away blushing. She turned
back and he was scowling.

“All
right, let’s go,” she sighed, motioning to him.

“Go
where?” he asked, humor finally restored.

“Over
there,” She waved absently to the bushes. “Just far enough to get some
privacy.”

“Gee
thanks,” he sighed.

When
they were finished he limped back to the fire. Lewis wolf whistled at him.

“Oh
shut up,” he snarled tiredly. Doc's manhandling was tiring. Every time she
checked him over it reminded him of the wounds. He got along fine as long as he
didn't think of them. Lewis giggled; glancing at Doc. Doc blushed but then
waved it off. She tossed the bloody bandage into the fire. That shut Lewis up.

<==={}------------>

“Did
they just do what I think they did?” Zara asked. Deidra shook her head but she
looked stormy.

“I
don't think they did,” Deidra finally answered and then her eyes lit upon a
peasant pocketing something shiny. The lad froze when he saw her looking. Her
eyes glittered. “Put. It. Back,” She growled full of menace and rightful wrath.

The
lad paled and pulled the cylinder out of his pocket. Gunny heard Deidra's growl
and turned. He saw the boy had palmed a round and caught the kid’s wrist.

“A
thief?” he demanded. The boy froze and started to shiver. The Gunny turned to
the others. “Everyone who isn't a Terran get's searched. Any of you who have
stolen something will regret it. I'll give you this one chance to return your
ill gotten gains and don't do it again. We catch you again I'll personally
stake you out in a forest,” he snarled.

The
peasants in their midst froze, eyes wide and suddenly frightened. The soldiers
looked up and turned on them with glares. Some hunched their shoulders turning
away, others immediately turned out their pockets and rags. Items fell to the
ground. Deidra snarled. So did Gunny.

“I
think from now on the peasants can follow but they will no longer be welcome
with us. We gave you food, water, and shelter and this is how you repaid us,”
Perry said coming over. “You can follow along but none of you are to touch
anything unless we tell you to.”

Hanging
their heads the peasants left the fires. Perry turned to the princesses. “Sorry
princess but we can't afford losing our gear.”

“I
apologize for my people's misconduct,” she ground out.

“Not
your fault. We'll all have to keep a better eye out,” Perry said turning to the
others. He nodded to Walters and the Gunny.

<==={}------------>

“Are
we seriously considering helping these people?” Perry asked in an aside to
Ryans.

Ryans
eyed the peasants. They had been slack in letting them have the run of the
place. Gunny had tried to warn him and he'd ignored it. They probably still had
a few things but he wasn't about to search them. “I'm having second thoughts.
Right now I want to get the princesses to their home and then get a free pass
through the Kingdom. We'll make it up as we go along from there I guess,” he
said with a shrug.

“Make
it up...”

“As
we go along. In other words, I'm not planning anything until we have more
intel,” Ryans replied with a sigh.

“Yeah,
there is that. But we do need a GOTH plan just in case the capital goes south
too,” Perry said.

Ryans
nodded in appreciation. He understood the importance of prior planning. Having
a Go To Hell plan was a good idea. “Good idea. Work on that with Waters and the
Gunny but don't let anyone else know.”

“Right,”
Perry replied with a knowing nod. “Loose lips and all that,” he said and moved
off.

Ryans
tried to draw the girls out, to get them to talk about the city but the
princesses were cold and distant to him. Young Zara more out of imitation of
her sister. She seemed hesitant about getting over whatever was bothering them
and seemed confused. He thought it was the intruding presence of a male but
wasn't sure. A sullen cloud hung around the two and the Terrans were hesitant
to poke their heads in lest a lightning bolt strike.

When
they arrived at the main castle they were impressed. The capital city was much
like London in medieval times. It was laid out like a Roman colony city,
straight streets arranged in a grid north to south, east to west. Most of the
buildings had walls of brick, stone, or concrete with second or third stories
made up of wattle and daub and concrete or brick pillars. Even some of the
roofs were slate or ceramic clay. It was an impressive lack of wood for a
feudal society.

The
central castle was a series of stone walls surrounding a keep that had many
cylindrical towers of various sizes arranged in an octagon. The keep was
elevated on a large hill, overlooking the town and surrounding countryside.

The
town was enclosed with a long, thirty foot high stone wall and wide water
filled moat. Three giant gates complete with gatehouses, draw bridges, and
fortifications were there guarding entry and exit to the castle. The Master
Sergeant eyed them with disfavor.

“Those
stone things on top jut out over the wall. Nasty, they would deter anyone
trying to get up and over the wall. I'm not sure we can bring the Strykers in
sirs, they'd fit, but the weight on that bridge alone...” he grumbled.

Perry
snorted. “Oh, I don't think that will be a problem.” He took his eyes away from
his binoculars to point out a great beast lumbering across the drawbridge.

“Ironwood,”
Zara commented. They turned to her. “It's a hard wood, hard to cut, very
strong,” she said in way of explanation.

“I
was wondering why you don't use more wood in your buildings,” Perry said. The
girls snorted.

Zara
rolled her eyes. “You saw the
basilisk
and yet you still ask?”

Perry
and the Sergeant nodded. “Point taken. I'd hate to be a lumberjack with them
around. Still, I'm not comfortable about having all our eggs in one basket sir.
If you catch my meaning,” the sarge said. Perry gave him a look then nodded.

For
the second time since their arrival they launched a UAV. The small robotic
plane circled the city from above, giving them a bird’s eye view of it as they
used a mapping program to generate a map of the city.

Within
the town the buildings were laid out in neat orderly lines, the streets were dressed
stone, complete with curbs and sidewalks. Dark smudges appeared to be openings
to a sewer system. Some of the older three story buildings were concrete,
brick, or stone. Many on the outskirts were fire brick with wooden or wattle
and daub thatched second stories.

Around
the outer wall were another series of roads and small houses. These roads were
dirt and gravel. The buildings were smaller; two story wattle and daub affairs
that felt more like slums. Laundry hung from windows and clothes lines all over
the place. Black and gray smoke poured into the air, both from chimneys and
from the various cottage industries.

“Early
industrial I'd say. Still medieval but they've got some stuff twisted,” Sydney
exclaimed, pointing to a series of water wheels along the nearby river. A grain
mill was centered between giant brick and stone buildings. “Granary I bet.
Flour mill,” he said looking the building over.

“Textiles
too,” Ryans said pointing to other buildings. One had its giant doors open to
catch the breeze. Bolts of fabric were being loaded onto wagons. One of the
beasts the natives called
branacks
was tethered to a wagon, it looked
back at the load behind it then snorted. It twitched a tail then went back to
chewing its food.

They
left the Strykers and other large vehicles on a low spot screened by bushes and
poplar trees. Max detailed a crew to wring the last drops of fuel out of the
trucks while they sat there. Perry detailed a couple guards to keep watch with
the UAV. They had strict orders to bug out if a large group approached them.

The
rest of the  group piled into and onto the light vehicles and moved
forward following the hummers. Perry watched the UAV feed as first the guards
reacted and then all hell broke loose in town. Men exploded from the barracks,
swarming to the gates with pikes and weapons. The drawbridge slowly creaked
upward, and the wood and iron portcullis groaned as it went down. Men and women
in their path screamed and ran for their lives, some trying to rush the
drawbridge but as it rose out of reach the group turned and flanked the moat,
running along its edge to the nearest gates.

“Slow
down,” Perry urged over the radio net. “I don't want to cause a riot or get
someone trampled,” he said to the lead LAV. The vehicles slowed so the people
could get out of the way.

“Nice
greeting,” the Sergeant snorted as they entered first row of dilapidated
buildings. “Real warm greeting,” he said sarcastically. Still he had a hand on
his MP-9 just in case.