Lord Cilt and Madeline arrived first. They had borrowed horses from somewhere and

rode into town. Jack put down a ring for the horses so they wouldn’t wander up and

down the street.

Jack watched the sky as he checked with the chefs and waited for more of the guests

to arrive. A contingent of women and girls arrived from Jane’s House, including the

great woman herself. She chided him on acting nervous when he had faced down

monsters and saved the city. He replied he was waiting for the kitchen to explode.

He let the Ducklings and Jane’s crowd hang out while he waited. Elaine talked with

Jane and the future mated Cilts. They were all smiling, so he didn’t expect any trouble

from that quarter. Jane and her second, Hilda, were rough, but good people. They

hadn’t deserved to be dragged up north to be fed to a ghost in the hopes that

something bad would happen to the city.

He didn’t regret what he had done to Corle, and he told himself it had been the right

move every day he thought about it.

He nodded when he saw the Duke arrive in a carriage. The man had his four man

guard with him. The dialer greeted him and introduced him as Master Hent to the

others. He didn’t need Jane, or Cilt, doing something they would regret. One of the

men happened to be Captain Griff, who was introduced as Master Griff.

The Harps arrived next. He placed them in with the Ducklings and Jane’s crowd.

They knew the girls and Jane and Master Harp started talking about training for her

group.

The Rick showed up. He and Jack exchanged some words. There was something

going on in the duchy. They were keeping an eye on things, but they might need a

touch of the Josie before things were done. Jack assured him that when Josie got back

from her current mission, one of them would be in the duchy fixing things.

He noticed that Laura and Alicia glommed on to the elf. He suspected different

reasons were in play.

Guin and Linus arrived. Jack put them next to the Duke but asked them not to talk

business. He didn’t want a fight breaking out before the food started to be served.

He was sure Linus could take all of the Guard with one hand broken and tied to his

gigantic body.

Jack decided he couldn’t hold up dinner for Josie. He had to start serving. If she got

back before the dinner was over, her spot was ready at the head of the table.

The other person he thought would be there wasn’t there either. Bea looked around

for her boyfriend. The expression on her face was a bit stormy. The boyfriend better

show up or else from the looks of things.

“Josie wanted to be here, but she had to take care of something across the country,”

said Jack. He took up a spot next to her seat, and his at the right hand. “I hope she

will show up if she gets done before too long. I did tell her sundown, but since the

rest of us are here, I think maybe we can get started. We’ll have some food, some

drinks, maybe a band if I can remember how to do that.”

A young man in rough clothes ran down the street. He stopped to catch his breath

when he saw the party at the table. He walked the last of the distance toward them.

“How’s it going?,” said Jack. “What’s the hurry?”

“I was invited for dinner,” said the adventurer. He looked at Beatrice. She made a

face. Jack glanced at her, reading the face as don’t talk to him because he is crazy.

Jack grinned.

“I don’t remember inviting you, and I’m throwing this shindig,” said Jack. He put as

much movie cowboy twang as he could in his speech. “Matter of fact, I don’t recollect

ever meeting you before this minute. What’s your name, boy?”

“I’m Todd Fain,” said the younger man. “I am an assistant at the Adventurers’ Hall.

Lady Beatrice was kind enough to invite me to dinner.”

“Was she now?,” asked Jack. “Are you getting ready to take my Beatrice off my

hands and make an honest woman out of her?”

“We have talked about a wedding,” said Todd.

“And when will it be?,” asked Jack. “I would love to see my Elaine all gussied up for

another wedding after Master Cilt and Madeline’s. Maybe we should be talking about

a double wedding.”

“There is the matter of the dowry,” said Elaine.

“That’s right, boy,” said Jack. “Do you have a dowry? I can’t wait to see what Josie

has to say about that. She might explode in happiness.”

Beatrice put her head in her hands. Laura patted her on the back. She leaned over and

said something in a whisper.

“I don’t have one right now,” said Todd. “I am working on it.”

“That’s all right, boy,” said Jack. “Josie will take some of your fingers. You don’t

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

need them all.”

“Fingers?,” said Todd.

“Heck, she took that guy’s arm so he would teach fencing faster,” said Jack. He

pointed at Master Harp who waved with his metal hand. “Had to get him a metal

hand. You ain’t going to miss no fingers.”

Todd looked at the guests at the table. Some of them looked like they could cut off

fingers. He steeled himself. If that’s what it took, then so be it.

“He’s mocking you,” said Beatrice’s youngest sister. “He’s making fun of you for

showing up later than Beatrice. Sit down so he will serve the food.”

“Matilda Fox,” said Jack. “I cannot believe you are stepping on my game like that.”

“It was easy,” said the youngest with crossed arms and a smug smile.

“Sit down, Todd,” said The Rick. He pointed to the other side of Laura. “When you

meet Mistress Fox, you will find her less of a trickster.”

Beatrice scooted over to make room, and there was a chair for him to sit in. He sat

down. Their hands locked for a moment.

“All right,” said Jack. “Let me start getting your food and drinks.”

Jack walked into the apartment and his servants were starting the supply process. He

looked down at his watch. It was loading up super slowly. If trouble broke out, he

only had enough juice for one or two minutes of persona to handle it.

He started bringing plates to the table and giving them to his adopted family and

guests. Angelica looked like she had gone to heaven. Apparently they didn’t have a

lot of variety in Hawk Ridge for someone who liked food.

It took a few minutes but he had given everyone a small starter plate. He went back

to the kitchen. The second course was being readied as he walked in. He decided to

give the servants a couple of minutes before he started trucking the second course out

for everybody.

It took a bit but he worked out a system where he was bringing out plates and sending

them around the table to those who wanted them, and then getting the next course as

the current course was being finished. He even handed off some plates to neighbors

who had drifted too close to the setup.

He did this for a few hours, asking about the food as he went. He noted that the

people were talking about things and he eavesdropped where he could. One snippet

was he had been joking about the fingers, which he said no he wasn’t before he

moved on.

Finally, it was time to serve cake, and ice cream. A band of bedraggled fighters came

up the street. They looked at the table and gave a collective sigh at being too late.

“And who might you be?,” asked Jack. He checked his watch. It was almost full since

he had been moving around and working the whole time without using it.

“I’m Eric Fass, and this is my group,” said the leader. “We were invited, but we’re a

little late.”

“Everyone else has eaten,” said Jack. “Grab some places. I will bring you out some

food, while I get the desert for everyone else. It should be a snap.”

The adventurers mixed in with the guests. They knew some of the people there and

it was easy to talk to them about their adventure. Plates full of food appeared in front

of them. They looked on in amazement as Jack moved on with the cake and ice

cream.

Eventually the crowd started to disperse. The Duke was the first to go, calling on his

men to leave with him. Jack sent him off with a handshake and a smile.

Jane and her horde got a care package to take back with her. She and the Harps

arranged for a training schedule for the women. She wrote him a marker to cash at the

Exchange when he needed to be paid for his services. He blinked at the number on

the paper.

Todd tried to get up to go, but Jack told him to sit if he wanted to keep his hands.

The Rick left next, stepping out of the ring. He gave Jack some pointers about battery

chargers that didn’t need people to sit in them. Jack gave him a basket to take back

to the duchy. The elf left with an accompanied sigh from Laura.

Josie came out of the apartment a few minutes later. She nodded at Guin and Linus.

She turned her full attention on Todd.

“Sit down,” said Jack. “I’ll get you a spread. Tell me about your adventure when

you’ve eaten.”

“This is Todd,” said Elaine. “Beatrice’s friend.”

“I’m pleased to meet you,” said Josie. Her tone didn’t sound pleased. “Thank you for

coming to dinner.”

“I already told him we needed his fingers if he wanted to marry Beatrice,” said Jack.

He came out with a big plate disguised as a tray and set it down in front of Josie. She

looked at the pile of food.

“What is this?,” asked Josie. She waved at the tray. “And no, we don’t need your

fingers, Todd. What good would they do us?”

“This is your dinner,” said Jack. “It’s the same as everyone else got. Eat up, and if

you eat it all, I will get you a piece of cake and some ice cream.”

“I’m on a diet,” said Josie.

“It’s Thanksgiving,” said Jack. “Eat up. Bea, if you want to take your boyfriend

somewhere to hang out for a while, that’s fine. Bring him back in a few minutes so

we can have the family chat.”

“Can we stay for the family chat?,” said Matilda.

“Do you also have a boyfriend we have never met, and need to lay the ground rules

for?,” asked Jack.

“I can get one,” said Matilda.

“When you do, you can sit in,” said Jack. “Until then, this is grownup stuff for

grownups.”

“This is a lot of food, Jack,” said Josie.

Elaine ushered the girls away from the table. Jack smiled at her as he watched her go.

“You almost missed it,” said Jack. “As soon as I take the stuff down, I won’t have

another dinner like this until Matilda is out of the house.”

“How did your trip go?,” asked Guin from his end of the table.

“The Montrose are sending women across the border,” said Josie. “We destroyed one

of their way stations, but there are plenty more out there for us to find and put down.”

“The King will not like this border trade,” said Guin.

“They had women in chains waiting for their buyers,” said Fass. “We cut most of

them down and burned one of their buildings. We lifted the women where they

wanted to go. A lot of them had places to go back to when we got them out of there.”

“Not like Jane’s Amazons,” said Josie.

“This is excellent,” said one of the fighters. “Did you cook this?”

“I asked some guys to make some things,” said Jack. “I’m glad you like it.”

“This war is expanding outwards,” said Guin.

“It’s only going to get worse if the nobility is committing treason to run this

enterprise,” said Josie. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the Duke, but some

of his peers are behind the scenes. Not just the ones Jack stacked up at the former

Duke’s former mansion.”

“If this turns into a Royal Crusade, there could be a lot of collateral damage,” said

Guin.

“I’m more worried about what the Shemmarians need with women that they steal

them,” said Josie. “I think if we figure that out, we’ll know enough to cut some of this

off at the core.”

“That means going into their lands and asking questions they might not want to

answer,” said Guin.

Josie shrugged.