"Both Apostle and Aulfrey are saddled," Cory came into the house. "are you packed?" He asked. "I heard mortars this morning."
"So did I." Artie stated. "I've left the pantry open, so when they take the house, they won't kill the door. I've removed and cached the solar panels." She paused, considering how to do this, but then decided that the easy way was best.
She opened the oilcloth package on the workspace.
"Pretty." Kronos peered at the three swords, one a broadsword that he could weild, but he doubted she could, a short sword, the grip rewrapped for a small hand, and a gladius. "What did your family do that you needed those?"
"My grandmother married a man named Adam Russell against the wishes of the group she worked for, called the Watchers."
"He was an Immortal," Kronos realized. "named Methos. The broadsword was his?" Artie nodded.
"Grandmother Russell adopted two children, and they taught them well. Father went away to college and came back with nasty ideas, but he was a Watcher, he taught both John and I how to use the swords that were our birthright." Artie stated. "I haven't kept up as much as I should have, Obadiah had very certain views of things a woman should and shouldn't do, even further than Father's. After I got out of the hospital, I couldn't physically lift a sword, and by the time I could, I only rarely had the time to practice." She explained. "The broadsword is for you, Kronos."
"Kronos?" He asked, suspicious, then he saw her smile softly. "You knew?"
"About four years ago Adam stopped by for a week. He said that he'd recently had a run in with some old friends, and while the majority of his wives' families had died out or bred out, there was me and John, over in New Bern. we were, he thought, potentially in danger. He warned me, gave me a sketch. When Jonah introduced you at Black Jack, I knew you. You haven't done me any harm, and who knows who might be with New Bern. I know you have your own sword, but think of this as a gift. As back up. As the hope that family will survive this coming battle."
"Family?"
"You are Grandfather's brother." Artie smiled. "That makes you my Great Uncle." He started.
"Impudent youth!" He grinned at her. Now he got why she seemed familiar, had that hint of Methos around her, hint of Watcher. "You ready to go?" Artie nodded.
"I heard that you needed all hands on deck?" Jake Green looked at Artie Price, whose hands held the bow that he'd once seen her use to take down a deer at 500 yards. She sat the buckskin like she'd been born to the saddle, which considering that she'd competed in barrel racing before she got married, she had.
"Who's that behind you?" Jake asked, and Artie waved the man forward. Jake saw the scar through the man's eyes, the familiarity on the chestnut that was Artie's other horse, she was sitting on Apostle, the blood chestnut was Aulfrey. He also held a weapon, a rifle that had been sawed down for better spray.
"Jake Green, meet Cory Bell. Jake, Cory's a friend of mine, and when I left the farmstead, he said he'd come with me."
"You up for a good bit of fighting?" Cory's face lit with happiness. He looked like a brawler, a man who loved a good spot of violence.