Chapter 28
I do not own Claymore
It was late morning by the time Roald, with a look of stunned amazement on his face, and Riful, with a look of smug satifaction on hers, arrived at the millyard.
All the packing boxes had been retrieved and opened, the contents inspected and assorted by that which required further heating and quenching and that which was finished.
The tumblers were already heating up to be quenched while the bow staves were ready for delivery.
Sheila was admiring the subtle colors left by the casehardening process, when she realized there were far more bow staves than she had originally ordered.
At the look on her face, the shop foreman grinned and said cheerfully,"The boss told us to make a few more of these, he said you wouldn't mind."
"And what if I did mind?" Asked Sheila, "I asked for twenty-five to be made, I see nearly double that amount. Not that I really care, I kinda figured he'd see a market for these and make a few extras. I just like to be kissed before I get screwed!" She grumbled.
The shop foreman looked very uncomfortable and stammered, "S...Sorry miss, I thought it was okay."
"It's not your fault, you just work here. Roald made that decision, not you. I'll bet he'll put his name on them too. Even though they're my design, he'll doubtless claim credit for them!"Grumbled Sheila.
By the end of the day, the job was finished and Sheila carefully loaded the extra horses with the bow staves and tumblers.
When she was finished, she nodded at Teresa and Riful then mounted her horse, Teresa mounted up and Riful said a quick good bye to Roald before mounting her own horse.
She smiled to herself as they rode away from the bustling millyard and Teresa remarked quietly, "I take it you enjoyed yourself?"
Riful smiled wickedly and replied coyly, "He was mildly amusing and came well equipped. Yes, I enjoyed myself, you could say."
Teresa merely smiled at her reply.
Not paying attention to their chatter, Sheila rode along, lost in thought. She was wondering if the Rabona city armory could make all the wrought iron tips that would be needed for the bolts.
She didn't feel like dealing with Roald anymore after his little performance earlier.
Riful's voice breaking into her train of thought caused her to grumble, "What?!" in reply.
Riful looked at her in surprise and said crisply,"Don't take that tone with me, young lady!"
Sheila glared at her briefly then said testily,"While you were out scratching that itch with Roald, he was not only screwing you...He was screwing me! They made a bunch of extra bowstaves and tumblers and will doubtless, take credit for my design. In short, I got screwed and didn't even get to enjoy it."
Riful looked surprised, then sighed and said quietly, "If you like, we can go back and I can put some fear into him."
"Don't do that!" cried Sheila, "It's only money. We need you to remain dead to the organization, if you go back and scare him, he could report you to the organization and our efforts at hiding you will be all for naught. No, it's okay, really, it's okay!"
They rode on in silence and after a while, Riful said softly,"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about what happened to you back there, I should've been more alert."
"It's not your fault really. I was a little too trusting and just wanted to get my arbalests made, we'll have to wait and see what he does next. I just don't see myself rushing to his aid next time around." Replied Sheila.
The ride back to Rabona was mostly uneventful, except for when the trio bumped into a pair of warriors they'd met before. Patrice No. 24 and her presumed lover, Claudia No. 36.
Stopping to water their horses, the trio had dismounted to stretch their legs a bit, when the two warriors emerged from the dense brush near the watering hole with their sword hands hovering near their sword handles.
Teresa looked at them with almost insolent casualness, she was clearly not impressed.
Sheila smiled at Patrice and said cooly, "You may as well relax, we're not interested in fighting you two. If we were, you'd be dead already."
Claudia glared and tugged on her sword handle. There was a loud 'Clang!' and her claymore went flying while she stood there with a stunned look on her face, her hand stinging from the shock of being disarmed so quickly.
Teresa merely smiled as Sheila rehung her own claymore while saying bluntly, "Don't be an idiot!You have no concept of how foolish a move you made just now."
Patrice said quietly, "You've been training, I don't recall you being so fast with your sword before."
Sheila smiled at her former training companion and replied,"I've had a few very good teachers. That, and a bunch of yoma killings and fights with awakened beings, will sort out a slow learner fairly quickly."
"I'll bet it did, that trick with the unhitching, slashing and rehitching your sword all in one move, was not taught during training. You learned that from someone, a powerful someone!" remarked Patrice.
"You could say that!" replied Sheila with a grin.
Claudia, having retrieved her claymore from the brush where it had landed. Slowly rehitched it and worked her sword hand while waiting for the tingling sensation caused by Sheila's sudden move, to go away.
She said quietly, "Are you all responsible for killing the monster at the millyard and burying that young warrior's remains?"
"And if we are?" Replied Teresa cooly.
Claudia said quietly, "Then I owe you my thanks...That warrior was my cousin Friede No. 40, it was only her third assignment."
Teresa's silver eyes narrowed and she growled, "Those bastards may as well have sent her to be executed...She never had a chance. It took the four of us to kill it and afterwards, we found her body. We buried her and left her ascot where it could be found by the organization's men."
"How did you and your cousin Friede get mixed up in this?" Asked Teresa.
Claudia thought for a moment, then asked her own question. "How do I know you won't relay my answer to the organization?"
Teresa chuckled, "Seriously? I could be asking you the same question. Did you report our encounter in that alleyway or did you conveniently have a 'memory lapse'? Hmmm?"
Patrice grinned, "Touche! She has a point. No, we did not report our encounter with you guys. We figured the questioning and the likely punishment we'd get wasn't worth it."
Claudia said quietly, "Our village was attacked by several yoma and we hid while our parents fought them. Somehow, one of the yoma was killed and that made it even worse. They went crazy after that and killed every adult and older child they found. The next day the men in black showed up and took Friede, myself and one other girl. They sold her because she was too old for implantation, while we were taken to the east."
Teresa looked over at Riful and Sheila, "Maybe there really is something to what Miria said about the pattern of yoma or awakened being attacks and the sudden appearance of men in black, who then take all the young girls."
"That certainly is my story and Sheila's as well, I'll bet Patrice has a similar story to tell..." Said Riful who had been listening quietly.
Patrice frowned then said, "Claudia pretty much told my story, word for word. I won't bore you with the gory details, but I've heard similar tales from other girls about their joining the organization."
She looked at Teresa and said, "Of course, we don't let the men in black overhear us talking among ourselves about these things. They would frown upon it and wouldn't tolerate it. Still, we do form friendships based on our mutual need to survive. I met Claudia here during training, after Beanpole here left with you."
Sheila rolled her silver eyes as Teresa and Riful snickered at her trainee nickname and remarked, "I think I'd much prefer being called 'stretch' rather than 'beanpole', if you insist on saddling me with a stupid nickname."
Patrice smiled at her and said cheerfully, "Sorry, but when I first saw you, it was right after implantation and you were the tallest, skinniest girl I'd ever seen. Naturally we came up with 'beanpole' and while you're still the tallest girl I've ever seen, you are definitely, not skinny anymore!"
Teresa chuckled at Sheila's look of surprise and commented,"You may not have realized it but you really do stand out, you're taller than even Captain Galk and you have looks to go with your height. In short, you're really well built."
Claudia remarked solemnly, "Go ahead and say it, Sheila...You're built like a brick shit house."
Sheila's face reddened as the others shared a laugh at her expense.
After wiping the tears from her eyes, Patrice said cheerfully, "It was a pleasure seeing you all again and catching up. Things you all said have given us much to think about in regard to the organization.
This Miria you speak of, she must be quite the leader to have warriors like you on her side."
"It isn't so much as she is a leader as she has a mission in her life. Miria has explored this island more than just about anybody, gathering evidence and facts to support her arguments. She recently revealed much of this to us and her revelations answered a lot of those little questions hiding in the backs of our minds, questions we all tried to ignore." Replied Riful.
"Such as?" Asked Claudia.
Sheila chimed in, "We just left the biggest millyard around. They can make all sorts of things out of iron and steel with some really big machines they've built."
Sheila unhitched her massive claymore and held it out.
"Yet, in spite of all their machinery and the skilled craftsmen working them. They could not duplicate this sword, nor can they make a metal as hard as this."
Sheila looked at the two warriors and asked, "Have either of you ever heard of one of these bending, breaking or even getting chipped? How many times have you accidentally hit something while fighting a yoma or an awakened being? Plenty of times I'll bet, I know I've cut down more than a few trees by accident while fighting in a forest."
Gesturing at Teresa, she said, "Teresa has probably fought more than most of the new generation of warriors combined, yet her sword looks very much like a new one except for the well polished handle, side by side they'd look very much the same. If anyone could break one of these, it would have to be Teresa of the faint smile."
"And your point in all this?" Asked Claudia.
"My point? My point is that these swords could not have been made here, they had to come from somewhere else. Miria claims that even the organization lacks the means to make these blades and that millyard certainly couldn't, we checked it out pretty thoroughly."
Claudia mulled over Sheila's last remarks and said, "Now what? Do we just go our separate ways now, after hearing all this?"
"Yes we do, you go your way and we'll go ours.
You'll keep this meeting to yourselves and you'll keep a low profile. You'll continue to be good little warriors and you'll keep your eyes and ears open."
Admonished Teresa.
With that said, the clandestine meeting broke up and the trio remounted their horses to ride away. Before they departed, Patrice remarked candidly, "You guys might want to use horses that don't have the cathedral in a circle brand on them. Everyone knows that represents Rabona, the holy city. It wouldn't be hard to figure out where you all are staying."
Teresa grimaced once more and muttered, "Wait'll I get my hands on that idiot stable boy!"
She grinned at Patrice and said drily, "You're not the first to make that observation and likely, won't be the last!"
