The Warrior Elf (8 page)

“Reminds me of someone else I know,” Chris said.

Theresa rolled her eyes.

“So what do you want me to do?” Kevin asked.

“I’ve convinced her to go see her parents and let them know she’s safe, but she’ll only go if I go with her and vouch for the fact she has something to do and somewhere to live. She’s afraid her father will try to force her into marriage if someone’s not there to back her up.”

“One question. Do I have to be there for this conversation?”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt her case if you were there, but I won’t ask you to sit through it. You can drop us off and come back a couple of hours later to pick us up.”

“Will two hours be long enough? They haven’t seen their daughter in how long? Four or five months?”

“I imagine two hours will be plenty, especially for the first visit. She thinks one hour might be too long, but she does need to pack her things.”

Kevin nodded. “Okay. One of us will be here to take you after dinner Saturday evening.”

Theresa shook her head. “No, Kevin. It needs to be you.”

Kevin raised his eyebrows.

“I don’t think her father will give me much argument, but it won’t hurt to have the fact that the Master Sorcerer is picking us up as an ace in the hole.” Then she turned towards Chris. “No offense, but you don’t have as much threat potential as he does.”

Chris smiled. “None taken.”

~ ~ ~ ~

While Kevin and Chris were on their way to dinner Tuesday evening, Chris asked, “Are you planning to go with Doreen to see Jared?”

“No. I’m not going to be pulled into the middle of that.”

“You can’t send her by herself.”

“Are you volunteering?”

Chris shook his head. “No way, but they’ve never even met. I’m not sure she’s ever been to Bushwell before. Someone’s got to go with her to help her get to the right house if nothing else. How about Rigel?”

“Why not Alek? He’ll already be there. He told me at lunch he’s going tonight.”

“He is going, but with you. He’s not going to leave you to go off with her. If you want him to go with her, you’ll have to go, too.”

“Why? All I’m going to do is drop her off and come back here.”

“And then you’ve got to go back, and he’ll insist on being here to go with you. No, Alek can’t do it, but Rigel can.”

“I hate to ask him to give up his evening off to escort her. You know she’ll treat him like a servant, and I have a feeling the conversation she and Jared are going to have isn’t going to be pleasant. Does it really need to be a bodyguard?”

“It needs to be someone who’ll keep her physically safe but stay out of the conversation. If not Rigel, who? Darrell? Karl? They’re officers here. Sending them would be almost as bad as going yourself.”

Kevin took a deep breath. “All right. Ask Rigel if he can do it, but if he does, we owe him for this one.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When Kevin introduced Rigel as her escort for the evening, Doreen was irritated. She’d counted on having Kevin with her to lend credence to her demands. Then, when she found out Rigel was only a guard, she was insulted, so she deemed him her manservant and treated him as such.

For his part, Rigel picked up on her attitude and played along with it, treating her with a deference that made Kevin cringe.

As soon as they reached Bushwell, Kevin told Rigel he’d meet him there in two hours. Then, after Doreen recovered from the energy field, Kevin turned to her. “If you decide to stay, that’s fine, but if you want to go back to Milhaven, be here with Rigel. If you feel you need more time to get this settled, you can come back another day, but as for tonight, two hours is it. If you’re not here when I come back, you’re on your own.”

Doreen humphed and turned towards Rigel. “Find out where Jared lives, and do it quickly. We have no time to waste.”

Rigel nodded, said, “Yes, ma’am,” and glanced around for someone to ask. A few moments later, he spotted the blacksmith shop. “Let’s head over there, ma’am, and I’ll see if the blacksmith can point us in the right direction.” Then he looked back at Kevin. “See you in two hours.”

As soon as Doreen turned to go with Rigel, Kevin put his hand on Alek’s arm and turned his key. When they got back to the office, Alek started laughing. “Rigel’s going to have fun tonight. I’m almost jealous!”

“Why?”

“If the man she’s meeting is used to being in charge, he’s in for a big surprise. Watching the two of them butt heads would be a lot of fun.”

“And here I was feeling guilty for making Rigel put up with her,” Kevin said. “Meet me back here in an hour and a half. We’ll go back a little early just in case this thing blows up.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When Rigel and Doreen got to Jared’s house, Rigel knocked on the front door and then stepped back as a young woman opened the door. “May I help you?”

“I need to speak with Jared,” Doreen said. “Please inform him that Doreen, his betrothed, is here.”

The woman’s eyes lit up as she ushered them in and directed them to the parlor.

Rigel took a seat in a chair off to the side while Doreen chose one facing the couch and another chair. A little while later, a tall man with dark bushy eyebrows walked in, nodded in Rigel’s direction, and then looked at Doreen. “You must be Doreen. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I don’t see why not,” Doreen said. “I wrote to let you know I’d been rescued and was in Milhaven.”

Jared frowned as he sat in the chair across from her. “I don’t recall getting a letter from you. Are you sure?”

Before Doreen could say anything, the young lady who’d answered the door walked in with a tea tray. She set the tray down and poured five cups of tea. After she served Rigel, Doreen, and Jared, she picked up a cup and sat down on the couch. A second woman, older, walked in wiping her hands on her apron. She picked up the last cup of tea and joined the younger woman on the couch.

Doreen looked at Jared, expecting him to say something. When he didn’t, she said, “I’m here concerning the contract you signed with my father.”

Jared’s eyebrows rose. “The marriage contract?”

Doreen nodded. “According to the contract, you were to receive two of my father’s boats when we married. Are you still interested in the boats?”

Jared smiled. “After your father died and you were captured, the boats were abandoned property. Since they’d been promised to me in the contract, I took possession of all four of them.”

Doreen narrowed her eyes. “You had no right to any of those boats. Two of them were promised upon marriage, but we aren’t married, so you have no claim to those. The other two weren’t even involved.”

“Ownership of those boats was settled months ago. They’re mine now. However, since I did promise to offer marriage, we can still be married if you’re interested.”

Doreen nodded. “I’m interested.”

The older woman stood up, took off her apron, and handed it to Doreen. “Thank goodness! I’m sick of cooking all the meals around here. The kitchen’s all yours now.”

Before the older lady could sit back down, the younger woman grinned, pulled a dust rag out of her pocket, and tossed it to Doreen. “Welcome to the family! You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this day.”

Doreen frowned at Jared. “I don’t understand.”

Jared pointed to the older woman. “Let me introduce my mother, and the other one’s my sister. I have another sister, but she’s cleaning the fish market right now.” Jared leaned back in his chair and smiled at the women seated on the couch. “I told you things would work out.”

“Wait a minute,” Doreen said. “Have you told your mother and sisters that once we’re married, I’ll take over the housework?”

“Of course, as well as cleaning the fish market and dry goods store. I promised my sisters they could live here for free if they’d do the cleaning until I found a wife. Now they can spend their time looking for husbands.”

Jared’s mother smiled. “And I get to spend all my time playing with my grandchildren. Can’t wait for you to start delivering.”

Doreen’s eyebrows inched up. “Grandchildren?”

“Jared said the contract stipulated you have to have three children within the first five years of marriage. You’ll need to get started right away, just in case you have trouble getting pregnant.”

Doreen glared at Jared.

“That’s what the contract says, and your father signed it.”

“But I didn’t,” Doreen protested. “You expect me to keep house, do the shopping, cooking, tend to your store and market, all while having three children in five years?”

Jared nodded.

Doreen stared at Jared for a full minute. “There is no way I’ll agree to that. I am not going to be anybody’s slave. No.”

“Once you’re my wife, you’ll do as I say,” Jared hissed.

“I’ll never be your wife. I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on Terah!” Doreen stood up and nodded to Rigel.

“If you turn my marriage offer down now, don’t come crawling back later. There will be no further discussion.”

Both Jared’s mother and sister jumped up as his mother yelled, “No! You have to marry him! You have no choice! Your father signed a contract! We’ll take it to the district minister and make him enforce it!”

Doreen shook her head. “Before I came, I discussed this with Myron, the Master Sorcerer. He said no one was going to be forced to marry anyone against their will. I imagine his word will overrule your minister’s.”

Jared’s sister stormed across the room and shook her finger in Doreen’s face. “You can’t ignore your father’s wishes! You have to honor his word!”

Doreen slowly shook her head again. “This is not what my father wanted and it’s not what I was promised. No one said one word to me about children, and your business manager assured me I would have servants to handle the housework. All I was supposed to be responsible for was giving directions.”

Jared shook his head. “With all these mouths to feed, I can’t afford servants.”

“Well, you’ll have one less mouth to feed now.” As Doreen turned towards the door to leave, she looked back at the younger woman. “I hope the man you find to marry will be more trustworthy than your brother. Good luck.”

~ ~ ~ ~

When Kevin and Alek got back to Bushwell, Kevin spotted Rigel and Doreen standing beside the blacksmith shop. Doreen was clearly angry and Rigel seemed to be trying to calm her down.

When Rigel noticed Kevin and Alek, he nudged Doreen in their direction. She closed her mouth, but her fists were clenched and her eyes were spitting fire. As soon as she reached Kevin, she grabbed his arm and demanded, “Take me to Jana’s. Now.”

Once Alek and Rigel had their hands on his other arm, Kevin turned the key and left for Jana’s front yard.

Even though she was a bit unsteady from the energy field, Doreen drew herself up straight, staggered up the front steps, jerked the door open, walked in, and slammed it shut behind her, all without saying one word.

Kevin raised his eyebrows at Rigel, but Rigel tilted his head towards the key and left his hand on Kevin’s arm.

After they were back in Kevin’s office with Chris, Rigel grinned. “That girl has spunk.”

“I think I might call it something else,” Kevin said. “I take it the wedding’s off?”

Rigel nodded. “But she’s the one who called it off.”

“Why? What happened?” Kevin sat down at his desk.

“Have you ever met Jared?”

Kevin shook his head. “Never heard of him before Doreen.”

“From what the blacksmith said, Jared’s family lived in a small settlement while he was growing up. His father owned a small fishing boat and took his catch to Bushwell to sell to the owner of the fish market. When his father died, Jared took over and started doing the same thing, but it didn’t take him long to figure out he could make more money by selling his fish himself, so he set up a market of his own. Before long, he bought out the other market. Then he bought out the dry goods store and hired the man who’d owned it to run it.”

“Sounds like good husband material,” Kevin said. “So what happened?”

Rigel told them about Jared’s arrangement with his mother and sisters.

“So he was expecting Doreen to take over the work of three women?” Chris asked.

When Rigel nodded, Kevin laughed. “Bet that didn’t go over well,”

“It gets better,” Rigel said. “Jared told Doreen the contract obligated her to have three children within the first five years of marriage.”

Alek let out a low whistle and Kevin shook his head. “Is he crazy?”

Rigel laughed. “In my opinion, yes.”

“I bet Doreen had a fit,” Chris said with a chuckle.

“Not really. She didn’t cry or even yell, but she did tell him she wouldn’t marry him if he was the last man on Terah.”

“What did he say to that?” Kevin asked.

“Not much really. He told her it was her decision, but if she turned him down now, there would be no further discussion. But his mother wasn’t willing to let it go. She jumped up and started yelling at Doreen, saying if she didn’t agree to the marriage, they’d go to the district minister and get him to force her to marry Jared, that they had a contract.” Rigel glanced over at Kevin. “That’s when your name came into it. Doreen told Jared’s mother she’d already spoken with you and you’d assured her no one would be forced into any marriage, and she felt sure your word would overrule that of a district minister.”

Kevin laughed. “I did say that, but only because she wanted me to order Jared to marry her.”

“So why was she so angry if she’s the one who called it off?” Alek asked. “She looked ready for a fight when we got there.”

“She’s convinced Jared and his business manager lied to both her and her father. She’s also none too pleased he’s taken the four boats. She was under the impression the contract said her father was giving Jared two boats as Doreen’s contribution to the marriage, but the other two were supposed to stay with her father. She’s not sure whether Jared changed the contract after her father was killed or if he just took them since there was no one to stop him, but she wants the boats back. I told her I doubted she’d be able to get them all back. She might be able to get two of them if the contract specified two and she could prove the other two belonged to her father, but since Jared offered to marry her and she’s the one who called it off, there wasn’t much way she’d get the two her father promised him in the contract. That’s what we were talking about when you got there.”