133 – Karen Conspires

  The road rolled a little and finally the forest opened up to farm land, with a town ahead. The locals were out doing the usual winter maintenance on things as the group went past. Alex and Diana had been put on Karen’s horse, but its lead was still attached to the cart. Karen and Caspian still walked together ahead of the Caplan’s.

  As with most of the towns they had passed through, the main market was centered on the intersection of the north-south highway section of the Ring Road they traveled, and the spoke road that that eventually went into Skarg, and out to whatever was beyond. Karen immediately inquired for a livery stable to let the ponies rest. The little company then went off the main road into a stable on a side road. The hands were quick to help unhitch the ponies and get them under warm cover where they could rest and eat. Karen’s horse was put in a stall next to the ponies. The cart as put aside, with its tarp still secured.

  Steven got the money out of the cart, and took his family shopping. Alex and Diana stayed close to their parents, being a little jumpy concerning strangers. Karen and Caspian followed. They talked a little as they went. Then Karen excused herself to find an out house.

  Rox and Steven inspected the available vegetables and cured meats. Steven also looked for a little flour and other ingredients to make bread. As they purchased food, Steven also asked about tents, only to receive a general negative answer, but he could find more blankets.

  Karen’s senses told her that her contact out here in the field was in town. He had previously visited her in the meadow. She had been alone, and was able to give him a timeline of about when she expected the family to surface, and where they would go after that, if she had anything to say about it. They further worked out a set of basic signals from her to him, and the men with him. So far she had not really sensed them in proximity as they had traveled to this town.

  The Caplan’s and Caspian were in the north part of the market. The Scout was in the south west quadrant of the town. Karen finished her immediate personal business. Sensing that no one else was watching, most importantly Cyrril, she leapt to the top of the closest house and went to where the Scout was. Along the way she put her hood up, and pulled her scarf around her mouth and nose.

  The Scout was on the balcony of a house that faced out of town, when she alerted him to her presence by climbing down onto it from the roof. The Scout was a guild alumnus that had gone into the military. Also he was a norm, lacking magic or talents. The house was among a row of medium size houses, with smaller ones beyond it for a few streets, before the land gave way to farms and ranches.

  “Hello. Where are you men?” Karen did not worry about any preamble.

  “South west of here. You can maybe see the smoke from camp over the trees.”

  “Are they ready, and trustworthy?”

  “A few are a bit more reckless, but most of them are loyal. The ones that aren’t are still good men. Are things ready on your end?”

  “Almost. The parents are ready to head into Skarg and have it out; to stop this at its source. I just need one more session with the kids. Then they will be ready. There is still an awful lot that can go wrong.”

  He looked around as Karen spoke. “You know we could be put to death just for talking this way.”

  Karen scanned around. “Treason is just and excuse for the winners to hang the losers. Is anybody else in town, besides you?”

  “A few. They should be off the main roads though. They aren’t looking for you yet.”

  Karen nodded. “It’s too early to take them, and in town is a bit too public.”

  “That’s alright. Do you want any of us to put in an appearance, for you to put on an exhibition?”

  Karen shook her head. “No. I don’t think that will be necessary. Keep a watch, beware of the dragon. I think we will head in to Skarg on this highway. Remember to wait for us to all be having dinner and me to signal that things are ready.”

  “Yes ma’am.” He did not turn to see her leave.

  Karen chinned up and flipped over onto the roof above her, sticking to it with her psionics and then noiselessly made her way back toward the Caplan’s.

  Karen decided to meet them on the spoke side of the market. She walked out of a side street and started browsing the vendors. She had a bag of produce when Rox and Diana came up to join her. Cyrril was on Diana’s shoulder, curled up and purring. Karen could not remember the last time if ever, Cyrril purred for Caspian.

  Karen did not wait to hear what Rox might have to say. “I think we ought to spend the night in town. All of us could use a good sleep out of the elements. Especially those ponies of yours.”

  “I was going to bring that up over lunch,” Rox said as she looked over the produce on the stand. “Steven and Alex are around the corner and up a ways at a saloon. Caspian has wondered off. We came to find you, and here you are.”

  “And here I am.” Karen decided to take the direct approach and switched to English. “Roxanne, it appears you are determined to head into town, and have it out. If you are going to do that, I need one more session with both kids, and at least you.”

  Cyrril was evidently asleep and did not take notice as Rox changed mental gears. Diana had hers stripped, as she was not sure what Karen might be talking about, but recognized her mother going to very serious in her attitude.

  “How long will it take and what do you need to tell them?” Rox answered in English.

  “This is not for open discussion. I just want you to know how serious this is.” Karen started toward where she sensed Steven and Alex. Caspian was elsewhere attending to personal business.

  Rox and Diana followed Karen.

  “Does Caspian need to be involved?”

  “No.” Karen closed the discussion with that final statement.

  Karen mentioned this subject to Steven while waiting for Caspian to find them. The conversation was held quietly sitting around a side table, in English. Karen sat to Steven’s right, with Rox on the other side, Alex next to Rox and opposite Karen. Diana sat opposite her dad, and next to Alex. An open seat was between Diana and Karen, opposite Rox.

  Steven was a little leery of Karen doing to the kids what she had done to Rox and him, insofar as what information she might put in. On the other hand it would be faster than trying to retell it.

  “My main question is what do the kids need to learn?” Steven had held this card to this point, in a bid the get Karen to simply come clean.

  Karen recognized this, and it went against everything she was professionally and personally.

  “I’m not going to play power games with you, Steven. If you want I can put the same information in to you as them. Same manor of input. Same triggers for recall.”

  “All I want is for you to tell all, Karen.”

  “After the job is done, Steven. I’ve already told you most of it anyway. That is why you want to turn here back into Skarg.”

  Steven was about to say more when Karen put her hand on his shoulder and psionically dope-slapped him. This was the equivalent of giving him a sudden onset hangover.

  Alex started to get up for Karen. “Don’t touch my daddy.”

  Karen turned to Rox, who put her hand on Alex to push him back into his chair.

  Karen looked across the table at Alex, and back to Steven in deadly seriousness. “Settle down, both of you. The town sheriff and one of his deputies are at the bar, as are two Krogg militia men. If they really understood what we are discussing, they would take the lot of us out to the corner and hang us without a second thought. So just settle down.”

  Diana broke the temporary tableau. “So what is going on?”

  Rox answered. “We are probably going back to the city, and fight the king and queen there, so that they don’t try to kidnap you again. Karen needs to tell us how to do that. She is going to use her mind powers to talk directly to your mind, kind of like the spell that put the language into your minds. You won’t be able to remember all of it until you need it. Now as she said, settle down and eat your lunch. Especially you, Steven.”

  Sitting between two vehement women, and with his head pounding like he had been on an all-night-bender, Steven backed off, and returned to eating his lunch.

  “Fight them, like Gohan against Cell?”

  Karen did not begin to understand the reference. Rox understood it, having introduced Diana to the manga, after the anime had begun overtaking all Diana’s attention. Since then Diana had gone through a quarter of the county library’s manga, and assorted other books, many above her grade level.

  “Yes, Diana. Similar to that. But that is not something to discuss here and now.”

  Alex changed gears. “Similar to Cable, and his adventures?”

  Rox nodded, as she took a bite.

  Alex seamed happy this. “Cool.”

  Rox and Steven shared a look about the innocence of their son, and what he thought was cool.

  Before too much longer Caspian arrived and first ordered some food from the bar, then brought it over to the table to join in, taking the open seat between Karen and Diana more or less opposite from Rox. He could immediately sense that there was some stress between the people here, but could not place it. As he settled he noticed that Cyrril was still curled up asleep on Diana’s shoulders, and purring.

  “No wonder it was so hard to sense him. Did you put him to sleep?” Caspian spoke in the local language, and looked at the girl with amused curiosity.

  “Maybe. I’m not sure. I just wanted him to stop moving around.” Diana answered in the same language, but did not answer more as she ate her food.

  Outside the last wave of the storm moved over and started to rain.

  Rox did not look up from her meal. “We are staying the night here in town. We will head out to Skarg in the morning. Once we are done here, Karen and I will go get our loggings.”

  As they finished, Karen touched Steven, soothing the psionic slap she had given him, relaxing the headache. It dissipated quickly. After taking their dishes to the bar, the two women went out into the rain, and back to the livery stable taking the groceries with. These were put in the cart once they arrived.

  The two women checked the ponies, and horse. They then inquired about staying in the stable. The Stable Master had a small bunkhouse attached to the stable. It smelled of animals, from proximity, but was warm with a few stoves, clean, and had more than enough space.

  Shortly Caspian, Steven and the kids showed up, and were put to work unloading the wagon and taking the gear to the bunkhouse where as much as possible was set out to dry out and warm up.