After our overloaded day, conversation at supper was subdued. Everyone was too weary and distracted to complain when Eu stole an extra sweetcake. In fact, given that none of us reacted, her eyes fell, she looked guilty for a moment, and then she quietly returned it to the serving dish.

Watching this behavior, I wondered whether half of her joy from sweetcake theft was simply riling us up. In that case, why had she stolen them before in the middle of the night? I was left shaking my head. I had no hope of understanding her motivations.

Swift wasn’t as tired as the rest of us. After all, she still had a broken heart. “Father, when will you be taking the mules away tomorrow? Will we have time to say goodbye?”

“I’ll be leaving before breakfast tomorrow. If you want to see them off, you’ll have to wake yourself up.”

“Why so early?” asked Grit. The timing of my departure directly concerned him as well. He’d need to be there as my squire-in-training to help me gear up and saddle HandEater.

“Well… there’s going to be some trouble.” I paused and looked around the table. “Let’s finish our meal in peace before we talk about tomorrow’s problems.”

Constance gave Progress a glare when she opened her mouth to speak, so she quickly shut it again and went back to pushing the food around on her plate. I had to admit, I wasn’t hungry either. I never was before a coming battle - and that’s what this felt like.

In any case, my children were still young. I didn’t want to interfere with their nutrition. “Please eat. Don’t worry about the things we can’t change.”

“Isn’t that exactly what we’ll be talking about?” Progress muttered.

“Just eat.”

Grit was the last to finish. He was in the middle of a growth spurt, so lately, he had been eating more than all of us. In fact, Constance had been arranging extra snacks for him during the day just so he wouldn’t make an embarrassing scene at meals.

“Now then. I have some good news and some bad news.” The children all turned to face towards my voice. The exception to that rule was Eu. She was too busy poking a fork at a radish that we’d forced onto her plate.

Constance tapped my hand, “Husband. Give us the good news first. I imagine that happy things will take less time to discuss. Otherwise, we may never reach the end.”

Grit gave a wary look over toward his sisters. “Is this about the horses?”

I chuckled. “No, of course not.”

“WHAT about the horses?” Swift asked, standing up from her chair.

“Nothing! It’s nothing of importance. Sit back down.”

Just because HandEater was courting Honey didn’t mean anything more was going to happen. Admittedly, she hadn’t chased him off, but that was just the first step. She was an old mare, so the chance of her foaling again was next to nil. Really, as long as they didn’t hurt each other, I didn’t care what my two elderly horses were doing - as long as my girls didn’t see it.

Luckily, Constance came to my defense. “So what IS your good news?”

“I’ve decided that Progress is old enough to stock the harvest preparations this year. That will be good training for when she’s running her own household. That will also free up some time for your mother, but you’ll all need to help her out.”

“Father, how is this good news?” argued Grit.

“Excuse YOU!” Progress snapped back. “I’ll do fine! I have some good ideas and Mother’s already approved them!”

“Really?” Grit’s eyes flickered over toward Constance.

“Don’t worry. She’ll do fine. Besides, I’ll be there to watch.” Constance gave him a steady gaze, and Grit’s eyes dropped back onto the table.

Progress, though, felt like she’d been unfairly attacked. “Why doesn’t anyone trust me?”

“Let it go, Progress.” Constance advised. “You’re just stirring up more trouble.”

“Hmph!”

“... and don’t ‘hmph’ at your brother. You're starting to sound like Eu.”

That stopped her cold. Progress turned her shamed face away, but I could tell that she was still fuming.

“So if that’s the ‘good’ news, what’s the bad news?” Constance redirected our focus.

“Right! Moving on … we’re going to have to be extra careful for the next few days. There’s some mercenaries operating in the area. Our serfs noticed them poking around for information.”

“Mercenaries? Here? Why? HOW?” Grit asked aloud.

His surprise was entirely warranted. A mercenary was equivalent to a soldier for hire. In other words, it was a dirty thing, despised by everybody. Since they didn't owe fealty to anyone, you couldn't really trust them to act rationally. Typically, these men cared about nothing except coin and their own appetites. As a job description, it wasn’t far removed from outright banditry, and the two strategies often blurred the lines.

Mercenaries were usually only seen in wars to shore up the numbers of your levies with more experienced troops. Between times of conflict, they were a nuisance. In fact, it wasn’t legal for a mercenary company to move about in the Duke’s territory without his permission. Since their only concern was themselves, they were known for routing easily when a battle went poorly - or ruthlessly looting both friend and foe alike even when a battle went well.

I tapped one finger on the table, trying to collect my thoughts. I couldn’t decide how much to tell my family and how much to keep secret. Obviously, the more my children knew, the safer they would be. However, the more they knew, the more they’d blame me and Eu if something went wrong. Eventually, I realized that I had to explain everything and hope for the best.

“Instead of ‘mercenaries,’ a better description might be ‘hired men’ since they’ve been hired for a specific job. Obviously, they aren’t his direct subjects, but in all likelihood, they were hired and sent here by Earl Triumph of Winnowheat.”

Constance could already guess at that much, but my children were left mystified.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

“It’s because of Euphoria and her magic. There’s a dispute among the nobility regarding who she should belong to. Since I passed through his territory to collect her, the Earl claims that she is his.”

“Oh!” Grit connected the dots pretty easily. Progress and Swift still looked confused, but I didn’t expect them to understand the political shenanigans used by the nobility. Besides, none of us were accustomed to my actions having such large consequences.

“Once the Duke gets back from Kingseat, I can present Euphoria to his service and he can make a decision. However, in the meantime, she’s nothing more than my daughter - so she’s my responsibility.”

Constance patted my hand, “We don’t need to know the past. Tell us what we should do.”

Of course, she already knew the whole story, so she was actually speaking for the children. But, she was right. Understanding all the intricate details wouldn’t help them at all. On the other hand, I could see Grit mulling over the situation in his mind. He was probably coming to the same conclusions as me. This was our problem … until it wasn’t.

“I’ve already doubled the watch on the stables tonight. I don’t expect them to try to steal our horses.”

“The HORSES?” Swift squeaked out, tears in her eyes.

“Stealing a horse is a death sentence no matter how far they run. But with hired men, you never know.”

“They might steal our horses?”

“That’s why I doubled the watch. Besides, Honey and HandEater would stomp them flat.”

“But… but… that’s not right! Our horses are innocent!”

“All except one…” added Grit.

“We’re all innocent! We haven’t done anything wrong!” I corrected them both.

“At least, we are in this ONE case…” objected Constance with a note of warning in her voice.

“Right … uhh … we’re all guilty compared to the glory of Heaven.”

Constance gave a nod, pleased with my quick recovery. Obviously, I hadn't intended to undermine her lessons on morality.

“But… in this case, Euphoria is a subject of the Duke, not the Earl. As a free squire AND as her father, it’s my job to protect her.”

In the meantime, Eu was still poking holes into her radish, but she raised her chin when I mentioned her. “You protect me? I protect YOU!”

“Uhh… what?”

“I have a sword! Bad man will be like this radish!” She gave it an especially vicious poke to demonstrate, but it popped off her plate onto the floor.

We all stared at the radish as it rolled to a stop.

She tried to gloss over her failure, pointing her finger at her escaped target, “He will be like that! Except he won’t bounce!”

I shook my head, “Euphoria, you’re too small. You should run and hide.”

“Pfft! YOU should run and hide!”

I screwed my eyes shut. This foolishness wasn’t helping us at all!

Constance patted my hand again, “Just tell us what to do.”

“Right! First off, unless you’re with me, stay inside the house. Even during the harvest. There are only two ways in - the door in front and the door in back.” I didn’t mention that Swift and Eu could also fit through the windows. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that. “As long as these men can’t get in, you’ll be safe. They can’t lay siege to our house without our serfs going to get help.”

“What if they attack the serfs?” Grit asked.

Naturally, my answer was heated. “Then, that’s my duty and those villains' lives are forfeit!” Only a savage would attack non-combatants, but that was exactly the type of men we were talking about. If my subjects were threatened, I’d be forced to sally forth to protect them. Plus, in that case, the serfs would take up arms to avenge themselves as well. No matter how many mercenaries there were, it would be a one-sided battle.

“If it comes to that, do you want me to go with you?” Grit had a dark, angry look. He knew the responsibilities of holding land.

“No, unless they are fools, they’d only try something like that as a distraction. Your job is to protect your family.”

“I will protect!” Eu insisted angrily.

“Yes, dear. You’ll have your armor and … you need a better sword. Something shorter.”

“I want MY sword!”

“It’s too big for fighting indoors.”

“I want MY sword!” She thumped the table with her fist.

I shrugged. It didn’t really matter. She wasn’t big enough to be a serious fighting force no matter what weapon she was holding.

“What about us?” Progress thankfully pushed the discussion along.

“Your job is to run and hide. You’ll each have a knife, but I don’t expect you to use it. Your best strategy is to run to the storage room and barricade the door. Obey your mother and try to stay quiet. As long as they can’t find you, help will come.”

“I won’t run and hide!” Eu objected and I saw Swift nodding in agreement with her.

It was nice to see how brave they were, but I could tell that this was going to be a problem. I rubbed at my beard and settled back into my seat. How could I convince these two knuckleheads? “If you don’t escape, you’ll force your mother to put herself in front! You want her to sacrifice herself? No! Your job is to protect her by staying out of trouble!”

“Mother is stronger than anyone!” Swift insisted.

Constance laughed. “I’m glad you have such confidence in me, but that won't work. Swift, I know when to run and you should too. I’m no warrior. That’s your father’s job.”

“... And mine!” Grit said proudly.

“Right! Grit, your job is to protect the house, but DON’T protect the storeroom. Instead, you are a distraction. Defend the big bedroom as if your sisters are hidden in there.”

“A distraction?”

“Your job is to slow them down. Fight if you must and don’t be afraid to retreat. Just fall back into the bedroom and hold the door against them. You have an advantage because they actually don’t want to hurt you. In fact, if they harm any of us, that will be a crime and the Earl, as the one who hired them, will have to pay reparations.”

I saw him chewing at his lip. He knew just how little reassurance that was.

“Any questions?”

There were none, but I caught a smoldering look from Eu.

“Please Euphoria, just do as I say? Run and hide! It’s my job as your father to keep you safe.”

“You are … smarter than a radish.” She pointed again at her example, the mangled vegetable lying on the floor.

“Umm… thank you? Will you obey?”

She thought about it. “I will obey … unless I don’t.”

“I need you to follow orders. Are you a soldier? Soldiers follow orders.”

“I will obey … for now.”

I sighed. It was clear that this was the best I would get from her.