I needed to write an outline of how Tony and Pepper are going to go to Cumbria, so this chapter came from that outline. It should also make things less confusing for you to read, in the later chapters.


Tony sleepily washed his face and stretched languorously. He yawned widely as he did so and looked around his room. Then he furrowed his brow as he realized someone was missing from his bed.

"Pepper, where are you? You hyper-active woman..." he scowled at the bed, which was neatly done, except for his side. "How does she get up so early?"

Perhaps it is not that she gets up so early but rather that you wake up so late... hissed the Dragon slowly. And you are always late, Anthony.

He stretched again and looked out of the window. "Why Dragon, it is just eleven in the morning! What is so late about that?"

Hmmmm, mused the Dragon. Oh... I do not know... you could be late, for example, for a certain meeting that was kept specifically at eleven, so that you would be on time.

Then Tony realized with horror, that there was such a meeting and that he was once again late.

He now recalled, that Pepper, being an early riser, had gotten up before him and whispered to him, that she was sending messages to set up a meeting with Happy and Beatrice, to discuss their plan to take on Stane. He had sleepily agreed with her and she had kissed him and disappeared.

Tony swore loudly and quickly pulled on his pants as the Dragon whooshed around in his head, tsking loudly with mirth.

Late as usual, Anthony..., it hissed. He shook his head at it and pulled on his shirt, then pushed it rapidly into his trousers, buttoning them up.

"Do I need shoes? No! I don't!"

He looked at his hair, patted it down with his hands as best he could and raced out of his room. Tony ran down the stairs and then came to a grinding halt at the bottom.

Seated around his fireplace, were the meeting's participants. Happy sat on the settee, luxuriously stretched out and grinning widely at him. Beatrice was perched on a stool, with Pyotr standing behind her. Both of them smiled at him, Beatrice as usual, grinning at him mischievously.

Pepper was standing at the table, leaning back against it, looking relieved.

He nodded at them all, saying, "Good morning, sorry I am late, I apologize. I hope everyone has eaten."

Happy chuckled and Magdalene came with a tray of mugs containing something hot and fragrant. She started to hand them out and Tony took this chance to quickly step over to Pepper's side.

She shook her head at him and he leaned closer and whispered, "I am sorry, Pep. I am."

Pepper smiled and whispered back, "It is alright, Tony, you were just five minutes late."

Then he moved his lips against her petal-soft ear, feeling her tremble slightly and whispered teasingly, "You see, I was very exhausted because at dawn today, an Houri woke me with her soft hands and we made sweet love for two hours until the sun was shining in the sky. She wore me out with her beautiful body and her cries."

Pepper turned a bright red and he kissed her cheek, with a grin. "Anyways, that is why I am late."

She turned into his kiss and pressed her lips to his lightly and he felt her lips curve into a smile as she kissed him.

Then a gentle ahem was heard and they both looked left as Magdalene was right next to them, holding the tray of mugs.

Tony tried not to glare as Magdalene waggled her eyebrows at them suggestively, while Pepper smiled serenely.

She placed two mugs on the table and then turned but not before muttering softly, "The rate you two love birds are going, it is a wonder this house hasn't been set on fire with all the sparks. Especially from lamp-light man over here."

Pepper laughed, holding onto Tony's arms, while he scowled at Maggie's retreating back.

Then she let him go and he took a deep sip of the hot stuff, which turned out to be mulled wine. He made an appreciative sound in his throat and Pepper neatly adjusted his shirt's collar as he drank.

Then he turned back to the other people in the room, mimicking Pepper's stance by leaning back against the table. Tony cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

He looked at Pepper encouragingly, trying to get her to speak this time.

She looked at him and then spoke in her clear voice, "Thank you for coming here, today morning, on such short notice. We have called this meeting because Tony and I have some news and we wanted to discuss it with you."

Pepper took a deep breath and continued, "As you may know, I hail from Cumbria. I ran away when an evil necromancer overthrew the ruler of Cumbria and took the throne for himself. I..." she faltered here and Tony squeezed her hand lightly, "At the time, I was not strong or brave enough to face the necromancer. You know him, we have all met him in some form or the other."

She looked at Beatrice. "The necromancer is the one who taught Morganna how to summon the Demon Prince of Lust in Carinthia." Beatrice tightened her fists with anger.

Pepper looked at Happy. "Happy, the Chonsario and their undead Captain, the vampire Giurescu, they were Stane's men, sent here to find me and terrorize the Village."

Hereald stood up angrily and bellowed, "Why that yaldson!"

Tony raised his hands and brought them down, to gesture at Happy to relax. The big man sat down quickly, muttering angrily to himself.

Pepper said clearly, "The Menolestes attempt to take over Patait, Stane was behind it. And the Black Knight who came here recently, and kidnapped Tony, again Stane's henchmen."

Beatrice gasped and Pytor looked at her thoughtfully. He said quietly, "What do they want with you, milady?"

Pepper kept quiet and Tony knew she did not want to talk about her lineage and admit that she was the Queen of Cumbria. So he stepped in.

"Pepper was a witness to Stane's evil actions against the former ruler of Cumbria, may she rest in peace. And Stane wants her dead for this. Not only that, Stane is not content with only ruling Cumbria. He has some ambitious plans."

Pyotr nodded in understanding and Pepper said slowly, "You may have heard of the young lady who was chased here by some strange creatures."

They all nodded and Pepper said sadly, "Her name was Callgenia. She was a friend of mine from Cumbria. And she told me how the people are suffering under Stane. So I and Tony have decided... we have decided to stop Stane once and for all. We are going to travel to Cumbria and put an end to his reign."

Everyone in the room took an incredulous gasp and started talking at once. Magdalene who Tony knew, had been eavesdropping on them, from the kitchen, burst into the main room, exclaiming loudly, "You are going to face the evil that sent those abominations here! And killed that girl with fright! Are you two absolutely crazy?!"

Pepper just raised an eyebrow at her and Maggie flushed but did not back down. Happy stood up and said sadly, "I thought you wanted to get married."

"We do, Happy...", said Pepper softly, she took Tony's hand in hers, "we truly do but... this is something I have to do."

Tony squeezed Pepper's fingers firmly and she looked at him. "This is something WE have to do." he said firmly as her bright blue eyes stared into his. "We, Pepper, we are in this together. Till the very end."

She put her arm around him and held him to her side, smiling up at him with so much love that his fire roared within him.

"Thank you for reminding me, my lord." she said softly.

Tony looked around the sea of incredulous faces. "I and Pepper are going to free Cumbria from this necromancer's evil and we are going to come back and have a grand wedding, to which you are all cordially invited, in fact you are the first to be invited. But now, we need your help."

The three guests came closer, Happy nodding eagerly. Beatrice rubbed her hands. "What do you need?"

"First off," said Tony, "we need to map out how we are going to journey to Cumbria. Come around the table, please." Tony spread a map of the land, flat on the table, holding it down with some paper weights.

"Right now, we are here in Lorinthia...", he poked his finger at it on the map. "And Cumbria is all the way over here." he trailed his fingers upwards to the great patch of land.

Pepper said softly, "Cumbria lies on grassy flat land. I took two days to travel from it to the outskirts of Lorinthia and then another day to reach the Village."

Tony said, "You took the way past the Torquin Forest and over the pass of Chatrapath towards Lorinthia right? Landing right by the Lake."

She nodded and Happy said, "But you cannot go to Cumbria through that way anymore, Tony. The pass is thickly covered in ice and snow. Too thick to ride across."

Pyotr nodded and Beatrice added, "Even the girl from Cumbria, your friend, Pepper, she must have come from a different way. She came onto the Boglands, so she came from the other side of Torquin Forest."

Tony said quickly, "I am trying to avoid the Forest at all costs."

Happy asked curiously, "Why Tony?" and even Pepper looked at him.

"Firstly it is a very dark and deep forest. Difficult for the horses to navigate the thick undergrowth of trees. Secondly, it is huge! If something is in there, something of Stane's, we could easily get lost and never find our way out. I want open ground, so we have a fighting chance at whatever Stane throws at us."

Pyotr said, "I second that, Tony." and even Happy nodded.

Then Tony pointed at a spot on the map, towards the North of the Keep. "I have a way in mind. A way that goes through flat open planes. A way by the old ruins of Tristam, the house of the great lord Pillai."

While the others mused and rubbed their chins, Pepper looked at him quietly, blue eyes soft and he nodded at her, trying to tell her his thoughts with his eyes.

I know that way because I remember that is where the slavers took you, when they had kidnapped you from the Keep. That is also the first time you saw me as the Iron Knight.

A slow smile bloomed on her face as Pepper seemed to understand what he was saying. He watched as her eyes turned melting marble blue, the color that always captivated him.

The color of the sky when the angels have swept it clear of clouds.

So Happy said loudly and broke their staring spell, "So you will pass Tristam and then? Follow the path of the great river, Corinthian upwards?"

Tony nodded, moving his finger up along the mark of the river. "Yes, we take a barge here, to cross the river. Then there is farmland and we ride across it. We pass the springs of the river and finally enter the border of Cumbria, right near Lake Trinos."

Pepper exclaimed, "Why, that will bring right at the back entrance of Cumbria castle!"

"Exactly! And from there, we can study the lay of the land, see what patrols or guards Stane has kept for the Castle and sneak in through the sewers. If we pass the front of the Castle and try to enter those sewers, we are sure to be observed."

Happy rubbed his forehead. "But Tony, this way is longer than the others. You will reach the border at the Lake in three days."

"Yes, Happy and we can use the next day for planning a way in. This route may be longer but it is safer because I have a strong feeling that Stane will not send any of his minions by this way."

Pepper asked curiously, "Tony, how you be so sure? After all, the Black Knight, the stick creatures, even the Chonsario, they have all entered Lorinthia somehow. Who is to say something else of Stane's won't cross our paths?"

Tony looked around at the group and triumphantly said, "I mentioned we need to cross the river. Well, the crossing is a heavily guarded gate. There are at least 10 guards each, from King Leoric's and King Tennyson's armies, because of the shared border between the lands due to the river. No one can just cross it without some alarm being raised. I am sure Stane knows this and that is why all his minions have come to our village by the trail taken by Pepper. Only the stick things came from the Boglands because they were chasing poor Callgenia through the forest. The guarded crossing is why I have faith in this route."

Happy whistled and Pyotr said in wonder, "If horrible creatures such as those would have passed the crossing, there would have been a fight and the alarm would have been raised. They wouldn't have been able to sneak in undetected. You are right, Tony... the crossing would guarantee an undisturbed route to Cumbria."

"But Tony," asked Pepper with worry, "You mentioned these are royal soldiers. Why would they let us cross? We will be travelling with weapons and armor. Surely they won't let us pass just like that?"

Tony smirked. "Good question, Pep and that is why we will get our good friend, the Village Headman, to write us a sealed note, saying we have been summoned by the ruler of Cumbria and have the right to pass bearing arms."

Beatrice clapped her hands softly and Pepper looked at him with a smile. "Tony, you really have thought of everything."

He preened slightly as others chimed in their agreement. Happy punched him lightly on his arm. "So Tone and Pepper, when do we leave?"

"Yes!" said Beatrice excitedly, "When do we leave?"

Pepper bit her lip and Tony looked at her, passing this duty to her.

She spoke softly, "The truth is, Beatrice, you aren't coming with us." Beatrice made a sad noise and Happy shrugged, saying, "This one isn't for kids."

She scowled at him but Tony said, "Happy, you aren't coming either."

"What! Tone! Come on! You need me on this one!"

Beatrice and Happy started arguing with him and Pyotr just smiled sadly at them. Pepper whistled shrilly, causing everyone to stop talking.

"One at a time! Happy, you go first."

Happy looked at them in angry goldfish mode, eyes furrowed heavily, mouth wide open with shock. "I am an experienced fighter. I have fought those stupid horsemen with you two! I have fought that horrible woman with the skeletons and the what not! And..." he looked at Tony meaningfully, "I came through at Patait bringing the cavalry. How can you say I shouldn't come?"

Pepper said softly, "Happy, we aren't saying you should not come because of your skills. You are an asset to me and Tony. But.." she took his hand, "You have two small children. And Stephanie. If something should happen to you..."

Happy face fell and Tony clapped him hard on the shoulder. "My friend, you are one of the bravest men I have ever met and you are used to handling massive things between your hands but... your family needs you, Happy. More than me and Pepper."

He nodded sadly.

Beatrice said firmly, "Okay now, what is your argument for me not coming? I do not have a family."

Tony was distracted by the way Pepper was looking at Beatrice. It is the way she looks at me when she is dominating me: coolly with firm lips, trying not to smile.

Then she spoke in a low firm tone, "Beatrice, you may not have a family but you are in a relationship, right? And plan to take things further?"

He felt a tingle wash over him.

That voice... oooo... that delicious tone... I remember it from... when she tied me to the bed and moved that luscious mouth of hers all over my hard-

He came back the present with a start when Beatrice asked loudly, "What does that have to do with anything? My fiance is perfectly happy to come along with me."

He looked between the ladies with confusion. Pyotr said softly, "Tony, we are engaged, me and Beatrice."

Tony couldn't help but exclaim, "What the Hell!" loudly. Pepper pinched him lightly.

Beatrice gave him a naughty grin. "Aye, Lord Stark, I understand your shock, I had first set my sights on you and wanted to stake my claim but...", she grinned at Pepper who glared at her in warning.

Tony looked sideways at Pepper with fascination. She's practically fuming... I must know more.

Beatrice continued slowly, "Let's just say you were already claimed and most possessively."

She shrugged casually. "I was devastated, of course and troubled Pyotr to let off steam. But then," she hugged the shy blond man and kissed him loudly with a smack. "That's when I realized he was the real treasure."

Tony did not know what to express more shock at: Beatrice admitting she liked him or her engagement or that Pyotr was the man for her.

He shut his mouth and murmured in awe, "My congratulations, Beatrice, Pyotr is a wonderful man."

Pyotr flushed and Tony looked at Pepper mock sternly.

"My lady, we are going to discuss my claiming and possession at length." He whispered to her, making sure to touch her ear with his lips. He felt her slow smile and slight nod.

Before Beatrice could continue arguing, Pepper said gently, "Beatrice, you and Pytor are starting your lives together. You are finally free from poverty and manual labor. You have a wedding to plan. We cannot ask you to give all that up to get into a fight that has nothing to do with you. Besides..." she took Tony's hand, "If anything should happen to Tony and me, then you will get the Inn."

Beatrice gasped and Tony tightened his jaw.

This is a possibility I have to accept.

Yes, hissed the Dragon sadly.

But if something, anything happens to Pepper... I will follow her into death. You know that, Dragon.

I do, Anthony and I will not stop you.

He felt a soft hand stroke his jaw and he looked at Pepper, who was smiling softly at him. She seemed to have guessed his melancholy thoughts and was trying to comfort him.

Tony nodded at her and she continued, "Beatrice, stay here, take care of the inn, please. You have worked harder, than I, for it."

Beatrice looked down at her hands and said quietly, "I am not pleased about this, Pepper. I do not want to let you go without some help from us."

Tony said slowly, "I understand your feelings, Beatrice but we cannot, in full conscience, take anyone with us and guarantee their safety. And Pepper is right. You have to take care of the inn and Pyotr. He is a very handsome man and a prize. Some other woman might snap him up in your absence."

Beatrice narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. "No one would dare to... unless they want to meet their maker."

They all laughed at her threatening demeanor and she sighed and leaned back against Pyotr. "What if, my lord, we do not come with you immediately but we come as backup?"

Happy immediately pounced on the idea. "That's a good idea, kid. Tony, Pepper, if you do not return in a week, we travel to Cumbria. What do you say?"

He could make out Pepper did not like the idea but Tony knew a bit of backup wouldn't hurt. Still I do not want anyone to follow us into a trap... especially if we are already dead.

"Happy, make that two weeks." He shrugged as Happy said, "Come on Tony!"

"My dear fellow, we are going to reach Cumbria in three days. It doesn't make sense to come after a week."

Pepper said softly, "I know you guys want to help but please be careful."

The meeting came to an end. Beatrice and Pyotr left. Magdalene needed a ride to town, so she went with them.

Happy lingered, looking between them sadly and Pepper caught his shoulder. "It is no use making puppy eyes at us, Happy, we are not going to change our minds."

Happy nodded and then muttered darkly, "I don't suppose, you fine folks are taking a cart on the journey?"

Pepper giggled loudly and Tony looked between them in confusion.

Happy said wryly, "I could hide away in the cart and come with you guys. Just like Pepper did when we went to Carinthia."

Tony said with a grin, "I would catch you in a day, Hereald. All our food would disappear."

Happy smiled back and sobered. "Are you planning to take food? Won't that weigh you guys down, especially with the armor?"

Pepper said, "We may take some dry food but from what Tony tells me, we can buy food from the surrounding farm land and use that as we go inland."

"Besides there is always the river." Tony added.

Happy nodded and left.

Pepper and Tony slowly entered the quiet house. Tigliath sauntered after them and went to lie down in front of the fireplace.

Tony walked to the table to close the opened map and place it carefully back in its place on the bookshelf. Pepper stood by the table and looked at him with a smile.

"Tony, I am glad I listened to you and we told them about Stane and Cumbria. Now I feel bad for suggesting we should have just left without saying anything."

He touched his nose to hers and said, "My lady, sneaking off at night is your forte. I doubt anyone would have noticed."

She flushed at that and he nuzzled her slowly, whispering, "The house is empty, even though it is very early in the morning..."

"It is lunch time, Tony Stark..." she whispered back with a smile.

"For those of us who wake up at this time, it is early morning. Now... what should the Lord and Lady of the Keep do?" he said and lowered his lips to hers slowly, closing his eyes.

"I know just what to do..." she whispered against his lips and smiled.


Two more chapters for this week, Sun and Monday.