Josie smiled as she gathered her ducklings, assistant, and partner up after breakfast.

She considered whisking them to practice but Jack looked like he needed to walk off

his problems. He did seem to cheer up after the small amount of food and juice he had

sampled before they left the hole in the wall.

They had a small worry that they would be yanked out of place now that their major

quests were done. Josie didn’t think that would happen. The Montrose quest was too

big a replacement mission. The smaller ones she had left like finding an archery

teacher might be something the Society would let slide, or find someone else to

handle while they sent Josie and Jack home, but open warfare on a continent spanning

organization would be big enough to keep them in Hawk Ridge she felt.

She could be wrong. She didn’t know enough about how they felt about things.

Human trafficking might be something they put up with until they sent someone to

rip it up by the roots.

The talk she had with Jack indicated they wanted their own quests done before

anything else, but understood that sometimes you needed your own brand of justice.

Maybe she was giving them too much of the benefit of doubt.

She decided that she would stay on as long as she could. The ducklings needed her

for a bit more in her opinion. She doubted Elaine wanted to be stuck with

fosterchildren just because they were sent home.

They stopped by the Silver Coin to check on the wagon train coming into town. No

one had seen them at the casino yet. Jack nodded at the report before they started to

the Adventurers’ Hall for the girls’ fighting lesson.

Jack didn’t show signs of checking on the rescued women, but Josie gave him an hour

before he broke from the group and went looking for them. He would make sure they

had changed course on their own before he gave up on them.

She wondered how many elixirs he had drank while chasing the Dark Rider. A bigger

consideration was how long it would take for him to get back up to snuff.

She supposed she could use Zatanna to fix things if she needed. Magic could do a lot

to help them, but she realized that it only worked for specific ends. Cursing the

Montrose had been the biggest thing they had done, and she thought it had worked

because the Angel represented unimaginable power.

Too bad they couldn’t kill them all the same way.

“Do you think Guin can do anything about the bank?,” Josie asked Jack.

“I don’t see how,” said Jack. “He would have to take everything over and put his own

people in charge. I don’t know if he is that ambitious.”

“I would like to raid these people,” said Josie.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Jack. He shrugged. “We need access to their

pipeline so we can pull everything up piece by piece.”

“All right,” said Josie. “Where do we get started?”

“We should see if they have real magic on their building,” said Jack. “Then we need

to start looking for their members. I feel that once we start wrecking their executive

board, we can spread out.”

“It still looks like a big job,” said Josie.

“If they stop doing business with the Montrose, there is a chance the writing will

fade,” said Jack. “The curse only works on people who do business with them. If

people stop doing business, they might be able to get clear eventually.”

“I hope not,” said Josie. “I want them to be permanently marked until I can get to

them.”

“Curses always have outs,” said Jack. “I’m more worried if they track us down and

decide to try to take action against us, or the kids.”

Josie frowned. She knew that the girls could be in danger. It made the decision to

teach them swordsmanship better than she had thought.

They reached the Adventurers’ Hall. Josie ushered her entourage inside. Maybe she

had done too much already. How many of these mercenaries wanted to match up

against her and her dial? How many would she have to put in the ground to keep her

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ducklings safe?

When did she become such a mother?

The girls led the way to the practice hall. Their teacher smiled as they grabbed

wooden practice weapons to get started. The master noticed the new addition but

merely directed the girls to extend their arms and try to knock the practice dummies

down.

“How’s it going?,” said Jack. “I’m Jack.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” said the one-armed man. “I’m Sir Darry Harp. Your wife was

formidable enough to persuade the powers that be to pull me out of retirement to

teach your children.”

“Oh, no,” said Jack with a smile. “Josie isn’t my wife, and these aren’t my kids.

Thank goodness. They are a heap of trouble.”

“What did you say?,” said Josie. She turned one eye on them while watching the girls

practice with the other one.

“We were talking about how we’ve been friends for ages,” said Jack. He waved a

hand at her. “Go back to watching the kids.”

“I apologize,” said Harp. He smiled at the other man. “I suppose I assumed you were

together because of your clothes being so strange.”

“It’s fine,” said Jack. “Are the girls learning anything?”

“Some faster than others,” said Harp. “I notice you don’t carry a sword.”

“I have some training with something like a crossbow, but I noticed that you don’t

allow that sort of thing inside the city,” said Jack.

“The city guard is afraid that anyone with a grudge and a bow could shoot a target

and get away before they could arrive at the scene,” said Harp. “Blades are close in

and there is a chance an attacker could be hurt during any duel that might occur.”

“I can see that,” said Jack. “Still, someone really good could escape a duel without

an injury easily.”

“The local guard is mostly used to breaking up fights and patrolling for crimes in the

street,” said Harp. “If someone broke into your home and committed a crime, they are

mostly useless in finding out what happened.”

“Don’t do it, Josie,” said Jack. “We already have the rest of our quests to do. Don’t

add on to the list.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Josie. She frowned at him. “I am

perfectly capable of letting sleeping dogs lie. I am not going to decide to root out

corruption in the local police.”

“You were thinking it,” said Jack. “I could see it in your eyes.”

“Yes,” said Josie. “We could spend x amount of years rooting out every criminal in

the city and getting rid of them, and trying to be better than the Guard, but just getting

rid of the Montrose will be a big enough job for us.”

“That’s reassuring,” said Jack.

“On the other hand, any Guard attached to Montrose will have to go,” said Josie.

“That’s the nature of the vow.”

“You will make a lot of enemies with this,” said Harp.

“That’s why we need the girls able to defend themselves,” said Josie. “We won’t be

here when we get done with our quests.”

“Understood,” said Harp. “I expect to see some real progress in the next few days.

Then we can try sparring.”

“Sparring is okay,” said Jack. “Who do you think is the best right now?”

“The middle girl,” said Harp. “She is already better than most adventurers in technical

issues. I just don’t trust her judgement on defending herself.”

“That’s something she will have to work on, I guess,” said Jack.

“Who will they be sparring?,” said Josie.

“They will work against each other at first,” said Harp. “Then I will see if I can get

some adventurers to work with them until they come up to snuff.”

“Sounds doable,” said Josie. “I’m sorry I don’t have a fixed timetable for you. Jack

and I might have to leave suddenly. We will leave a fund for the girls to continue

their training.”

“We’ll see how things go,” said Harp.

“We should try to get you a prosthetic arm,” said Jack. “Do they have that here?”

“A prosthetic arm?,” said Harp. “I don’t think I have ever heard of that.”

“He’s talking about an apparatus to give you a hook for your missing arm and hand,”

said Josie. She glared at Jack. “You could be a little more sensitive.”

“I have seen those,” said Harp. “They looked ungainly and clumsy.”

“Let’s say I knew a guy who knew a guy,” said Jack. “And let’s say he could make

you an arm that would operate like a real arm. Would you want it?”

Josie rolled her eyes.

“What would I have to do for such an arm?,” asked Harp. He frowned at the strange

man in front of him.

“Uphold the greater good to the best of your ability,” said Jack. “Simple hero stuff.”

“Being a hero is a lot different than being an adventurer,” said Harp. “There are a

lot of other considerations involved.”

“Think about it,” said Jack. “I will be glad to talk to my guy if you want a

replacement arm.”

“Jack, why don’t you practice with the girls?,” said Josie. “They need a live dummy

to practice on to get better.”

“I’m no good with a blade,” said Jack. “We talked about this.”

“It will be fine,” said Josie. “They’re little girls. They can’t really hurt you.”

“Four sisters,” said Jack. “I know you’re lying.”

“Don’t be a coward,” said Josie. “Elaine likes you. She might want to see your

manlier side.”

“I never said that,” said Elaine. “I don’t see how this will improve the girls’ morale.”

“If they can beat Jack, then they can work up to better targets,” said Josie. “If they

can’t, they can work on their methods until they do.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Let’s see what I can do.”

He went to the storage chest and picked out a light facsimile of a sword. He swung

it to test the weight and speed of the thing. He probably couldn’t break a bone with

it, but he could sting on impact.

“All right, girls,” said Harp. “Form up at the edge of the practice area. We’re

going to try a melee against Jack.”

Jack walked down to the other end of the cleared space. He glanced at Josie and

shook his head. She smiled and waved her fingers at him. He closed his eyes and

took a deep breath.

“We’re going to try a three minute round,” said Harp. He walked around the edge

of the cleared rectangle. “The object is to push Jack out of the box. Jack, you have

to defend yourself for the full three minutes. Everyone ready?”

Both sides nodded.

“Let’s begin,” said Harp.