The Angry Mermaid 34 or Y Morforwyn Dicllon 34

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A chapter in which Drustina our 'heroine' finds herself embroiled once more in preparations for war.

The Angry Mermaid 34

Or

Y Morforwyn Dicllon 34.

Mabina. The youngest daughter and Twin to
Drustan Her twin brother.
Grandpa Erin the twins grandfather.
Giana The twins grandmother
Caderyn The twins father.
Herenoie The twins wise and beautiful mother.
Morgaran The Twins oldest brother.
Aiofe The twins oldest sister. Famous for her beauty.
Tara The twins second oldest sister. Famous for her grace.
Feidlim Twins aunt (Caderyns’ beautiful sister.)
Mogantu Twins uncle (Married to Feidlim.) Chief of the Gangani tribe.
Brun. Twins 2nd cousin and the Acaman clans’ blacksmith.
Feorin. Twins second brother. Also training to be a blacksmith.
Rhun Feidlims’ son and Feorins’ favourite 1st Cousin. (Both red-heads.)
Arina Child of a Demetae fisherman, (rescued by Aiofe, Drustan and Mabina.)
Penderol Dumnonii Minor chief.
Udris Young Dumnonii warrior.
Dryslwyn High chief of the whole Celtic nation. Dwells in Brithony.
Bronlwyn Dryslwyn’s wife (and queen.)
Magab The moor who taught numbers.
Eric Saxon galley slave rescued from Corsair pirates.
Carl Another Saxon galley slave rescued by Drustan.
Torvel Celtic galley slave rescued from the same captured corsair ship
Arton. Turdetani Chieftain Holder of Gibral Rock.
Carinia Arton’s wife.
Isobel. Arton’s adopted daughter.
Appotel King of the Turdetani Tribe. (Southern Iberia.)
Bramana Queen. (Wife of Appotel)
Pilus King of the Capetani.
Shaleen Pilus’s queen and sister to Bramana.
Pedoro Lord Marshal of the Southern border region.
Lady Shulaar Lord Pedoro’s wife.
Taan. The scullery maid.
Isaar. Pedoro’s oldest son.
Ferdie Pedoro’s 2nd son
Sular Pedoro’s 3rd son
Gontala Pedoro’s youngest son.
Shenoa Pedoro’s only daughter.
Portega. Tyrant King to the west.
Portua. Portega’s grandson.
Jubail. Old Fisherman.
Mutas Magab’s younger brother and usurper.
Walezia King of Malta.
Alviar Megalomaniacal bishop of Carthage. (Hates Drustina.)
Ethelia Female healer who treats Drustina during her pregnancy.
Seripatese Drustina’s faithful horse.
Astos & Amitor Minor royalty who govern Alexandria. King and Twin Queen.
Meronee Nubian Queen of Nobatia The northern Kingdom of the Nubians.
Horam The Egyptian master Boat builder.
Muraa King Astos’s male partner.

The Angry mermaid 34

After breaking camp on the river bank, the courtier nodded and replied about the reason for visiting Queen Meronee and Nobatia. Fair exchange was no robbery, the Nobatian lock pilot was learning of ships and upper river navigation so it seemed only fair that he should educate this remarkable woman about his country Nobatia and its famous queen.

The passage to Meroe soon passed. With the pilot acting as an additional and willing crew the Mermaid filled her potential for a quick passage. At the cataracts, the pilot and the queen’s retainer showed the queen’s personal pass and the towing crews that operated with long ropes on both banks were quickly about their duty. Drustina and her companions arrived but a scant six hours behind Queen Meronee and her outriders ... and that after having loitered several hours cooking food and stopping at night for want of visibility. When the courtier arrived bowing profusely at Meronee’s court, the queen’s eyes widened with surprise.

“My God! You are here already!”

“Yes your majesty, truly this ship of which Astos wrote is everything he said it was. You will have crossed the desert at walking pace to conserve your horses in the heat but this ship moves as fast as a trotting horse. Might I respectfully introduce Queen Drustina, consort queen of Egypt and Lioness of Carthage?”

Drustina made to courtesy but Queen Meronee stood up from her throne, extended her arms and welcomed her forward.

“Good god girl. We are queens and your reputation precedes you. So you are truly the one who helped my cousin recover his throne.”

Drustina had the grace to blush and smile as she nodded demurely. Meronee studied her demeanour and wagged her head as she placed her arms on Drustina’s arms.

“You are more maid than man though, I think.”

“These days ma-am; yes.”

“I must tell you, I probably know more of your exploits in Carthage than Astos or his emperor in Constantinople. The desert routes across the great sand sea are still open and were always unaffected by pirates. Once my cousin had recovered his throne, he immediately advised me of the return to normality. There are bandits of course, but the camel trains are well protected now that order has been restored in my cousin’s realm. The trade between Carthage, Libeye and Nobatia is growing daily.”

“Drustina took the seat offered and spoke softly.

“Then you will know all about me.”

“I not only know all about you, I have a letter in my safekeeping from your sister Aiofe. When Astos advised me of your arrival in Alexandria and your intentions to visit me, I wrote to her and Magab. She replied by return and I have held this letter for you. You will see it is unopened.”

Drustina almost snatched the letter in her eagerness to read her sister’s words and as she read the letter, tears started to fall. The sight of Aiofe’s hand brought back an overwhelming yearning for the old times, the good times but they seemed gone forever. Drustina’s people called that longing for her land, Hiraeth. It was also a deep longing for her people, her family, and above all, her children. Hiraeth ... it was a Celtic word that conveyed much, much more than just a simple ‘home-sickness’. Drustina’s eyes continued shedding copious tears and Meronee squeezed her in a tight embrace.

“Take courage girl. She wrote to me to say your children are safe and being well cared for.”

Drustina whispered haltingly between scarcely hidden sobs.

“Yes ... she writes at length of my children in this letter also. I wonder why Astos did not ... why he didn’t write to tell her of my safe arrival?”

“He probably didn’t think my dear. Alexandrians tend to think of sea communications and orientate towards Constantinople. We in Meroe are more connected to this giant land of Africa and we have more reliable trading routes across the desert. Our communications with other African kingdoms are much better than Astos’s.”

“But Carthage is easily reached by sea from Alexandria.”

“Again my dear, Astos’s concerns tend to focus north to Constantinople. Carthage is under Rome’s influence. Astos relies on us for information coming north out of Africa, we rely on him for information coming south out of Constantinople. I must add at this point, you have caused quite a stir you know. Your name has spread all up the Nile and across the great desert. The title ‘Lioness of Carthage’ has a pretty good ring to it. Astos is a lucky man if he has fathered your child, and it looks as though he has.”

Drustina nodded happily as she self-consciously pressed the tiny swelling in her womb then led Meronee’s hand to her body.

“He has; here, feel my belly.”

Meronee felt the faintest of kicks then let out a little gasp and pulled back with delight sparkling in her eyes.

“Oh you lucky, lucky woman! I am so envious!”

Drustina gave a slightly bemused smile.

“But you are an absolute queen; can you not take whomsoever you please for a husband?”

Meronee frowned.

“There are none bold enough. I’m afraid I have a reputation for treating my men badly.”

A shadow flickered across Drustina’s face as it drove the smile away. Meronee caught it and grinned.

“No. Not like that. I’m not like the preying mantis that eats her lover after using his body.”

Drustina chuckled.

“I’m glad to hear it. I must confess, I was warned that you had a wild temper.”

Meronee sided her mouth impatiently.

“That’s men talking. They can be so stupid and insensitive. The only one with any sense is Nebu, the man who accompanied you up the river. I know I can trust him. I get impatient with some of the others.”

“Yes, he struck me as a kindly and intelligent man but he’s too old I’m thinking,” Drustina concluded as she recognised that Meronee was still a youngish woman, well one at least of child-bearing age.

“He’s too old and happily married. He and his wife are also good friends and mentors of mine.”

“Do you have to be married to the father for your child to be a legitimate heir?”

“Not if I choose otherwise, I can make the law as I see fit for I am truly an absolute ruler ...”

“But ...” Drustina finished. ‘There was often a ‘but’,’ she reflected.

Meronee nodded; acknowledging Drustina’s perspicacity.

“If the child is legitimate then there’s far less scope for strife and argument about legality if there is a proven father. One declared officially to be the father.”

“And what d’you mean by the term ‘officially’? I mean if you make the laws then where’s the problem?”

“It’s these damned bishops, they are gradually getting my subjects to change to their ‘three god’ faith thing and it gets harder for women to exercise their rights every year; even a royal woman ... even a queen.”

Drustina felt a familiar twist of hot anger briefly course though her heart and belly. The two parts that most made her a woman. The heart, where she felt emotion and the belly, where she grew children. Her unborn baby reciprocated with a knowing flip and kick even as Drustina calmed down again and found brief words to express her disquiet.

“By the Gods! Are your Coptic bishops at it as well? Demeaning women and demoting them to lesser status? I killed the last bastard who tried to demean me because of my womanhood.”

“Who was that?” Meronee wondered uncomprehendingly.

“That Bastard Alviar. The one that Rome despatched to Carthage. He had me declared to be a monster, a blasphemy because of my duality.”

“I thought he died of complications from a blocked throat.” Meronee offered.

Drustina let out a brief cruel smile but the ever aware Meronee caught the hard glint of angry despair flicker briefly behind Drustina’s cold grey eyes. Meronee wondered how such large innocent eyes could somehow show blue when the girl smiled happily and yet then glitter with a cold grey malice when the girl was angry. Drustina spoke softly of her murderous actions that day.

“Oh they were complications alright, and it was certainly a blockage of his throat, but doctors don’t always get it exactly right. I choked him. He deprived me of my children; he deprived me of the life that sprung from me so I deprived him of his life.”

Meronee studied the young girl before her and found a steel that was hard to define or evaluate.

‘This young girl will need watching,’ she concluded, ‘if only to protect my own slumbering body’. Here indeed was a killer and Meronee knew all about killing for she had been forced to kill the very uncle who had killed her father. Meronee had murdered her uncle to legitimise the succession again. The Nubian Queen had walked a walk if not as brutal and violent as Drustina’s, it had certainly been every bit as devious and intriguing. Of danger and death, they were both on more than nodding terms.

Meronee found herself beginning to respect the strange girl before her. As they continued talking, that respect soon grew into a close bond of friendship, so much so that by the second day, Meronee found it in herself to discuss the issues of the Alwa trying to raise taxes for traders using the river. Drustina confessed that she had not much experience in statesmanship as she explained.
“Of treaties and agreements I know very little, I must confess as a boy, despite my successful participation in wars on several occasions; once the fighting was resolved, I left it mostly to my older sister Aiofe to address any issues affecting our progress or circumstances.”

As Meronee read the new reports she frowned, her army was making poor progress through the middle kingdom of Makuria and the Makurians were getting nervous. They were ready to accede to the Alwan demands but still they prevaricated while Meronee’s army came closer every day to the Makurian capitol of Meroe.

Soon Meronee would have to be departing her palace to meet with her army just north of the junction between the great rivers of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. They had successfully crossed the river at the fourth cataract at Gebel Barkal and were making slow but steady progress towards the sixth cataract.

Drustina watched the queen making preparations and she stood looking over her shoulder as a long list was ticked off and items or situations reported by assorted courtiers and military men. By early evening, as the light was quickly fading, she yawned, brushed the reports aside and sighed to Drustina.

“Well there you have it girl. A day’s work for a queen, see; reading nothing but papers as we prepare for war. I sometimes think an army consumes more paper than arrows, spears and swords.”

Drustina nodded, she had not had much to do with the preparations to attack Carthage for she had been preoccupied with the guerrilla war and gathering information. It was not until the actual fighting proper started that she had had much to do with organising troops, platoons and armies. Drustina could offer much help on the actual fighting and tactics but offer little by way of logistics. As they finally ate dinner at the council table she explained this to Meronee and her generals. Meronee smiled patronisingly and showed Drustina a compressed list, in Latin of the salient issues to do with logistics. Drustina took the list and nodded comprehendingly. It all made sense but to see it laid out and itemised, made for much easier memorising. She thanked Meronee and gave her a peck on the cheek as she excused herself from the queen’s presence and went to her chambers. There she met Arina and they studied the list.

“I didn’t think it could be so long,” Arina remarked.

“Count it as one of our first lessons.” Drustina replied as she started committing the list to memory. She compiled some simple words as mnemonic acronyms and spent the rest of the evening memorising the items. She fell asleep with the list falling from her hand. It had been a long and tiring day.

o 0 o

“Come on lazy bones! If you want to learn the lessons of Queenship you’ll have to learn that a monarch rarely sleeps more than her subjects. Come on! Get up; there are affairs of state to see to!”

Drustina stirred with alarm for an instant and her dagger flashed free of the blanket before she realised the person who had rudely awakened her was none other than Queen Meronee herself. She slid the dagger discreetly back down her side and Queen Meronee stared at it questioningly. The dagger was still plainly visible for Meronee had just tugged the bed cover from Drustina’s body.

“D’you sleep with that at your side all the time?” Meronee asked.

Drustina nodded and turned red with embarrassment. Meronee sat on the bed beside her and looked thoughtful before responding to her discovery.

“I’m not surprised. Your sister Aiofe wrote of the troubles and dangers you’ve shared. Does your companion also sleep thus, armed for combat?”

Drustina nodded again, still too embarrassed to speak. It seemed as if her being discovered always ready to defend herself, had cast aspersions on Meronee’s hospitality. The queen stared into the girl’s face and recognised a weary maturity that belied Drustina’s nineteen years. This caused a wave of sadness to replace the playful mood she had enjoyed as she had originally slipped quietly into Drustina’s chamber ready to tease the sleeping girl. Meronee stroked Drustina’s cheek and nodded slowly.

“I understand girl, it was thus for me when my uncle tried to steal my birthright. He was influenced by the bishops and thought it was his right to usurp my throne. He never lived to learn that it was not his right but the bishops realised they had upset a tigress when they tried to demean my rights in favour of his. I still keep the bishops at arm’s length and that with a sword in my arm to boot. Never trust the religious men Drustina. They hold their gods more valuable even than life.”

“That, I already know,” Drustina almost whispered. “They were plotting to kill me and my unborn children. Life springs from our bellies, women’s bellies! The most precious gift that can be bestowed upon a tribe or a clan is a new baby but still, the religious men demean it yet. Now they spout some claptrap about original sin and how a newborn child must be brought into their church, their dominion and their clutches before it can be called one of them. What is this ‘original sin’?” Drustina continued.

“Having been told that it was born in sin, from then on the child is doomed to learn all sorts of evil. These priests have men set above women, priests set above men and their god set above priests. I am a Christian in name only, simply to legitimise this child inside me. Just how demeaning and disrespectful to my motherhood is that? Denying my children their fundamental birthright to belong to their rightful clan unless they undergo some sort of superstitious ritual involving water and bread. The child is born in blood and pain!”

Meronee listened sympathetically then nodded as she held Drustina’s scarred arm and fingered the angry slash inside her forearm.

“But the priests; they fear this, your sword arm. Few of them are fit to wield a weapon.”

“No. You’re right, but they hide their power behind superstition and evil then get others to do their dirty work. To get my revenge I had to do my own dirty work and very dirty work it was.”

“But a job well done and very necessary.”

“I’m not proud. I choked an invalid in his bed. Better if he had faced me with his sword.”

Meronee studied the girl’s face where the intensity was evident then she put her proposal.

“Would you accompany me with my army?”

“I am nearly five moons gone with my child. I’ll not be much use at your side, slow and big bellied as I am soon to become.”

“No, but your reputation will put fire in my army’s belly. The stories of the Lioness of Carthage have travelled the length and breadth of the great desert plus the length of our mother river.”

“And all of it grown exaggerated with the telling I’ll wager. I’m not some sort of miracle worker.”

“No but you’ve met and faced superior numbers in battle on several occasions and won through each time. This I know to be true from several different trusted sources. Despite your youth, your knowledge is priceless and I am fearful of the coming battle. My army is facing double the foe. Your experience of battle and tactics will be of enormous use.”

Drustina sighed. ‘It behoved her to help this woman in battle just as she needed help in statesmanship’. She slumped slightly as the thought of yet another battle grew bleakly in her mind. Reluctantly she started to dig for information.

“Have you made any plans of battle yet or is it all just logistics and table talk.”

“We must face them before the next flood returns for then the river is impossible to cross except by boat.”

“So we have two issues in the first instance. Mobility and choice of battlefield. Have you sent scouts to look for a suitable battle site?”

Meronee regarded Drustina with some admiration.

“You see, already you have exposed our first weakness.”

“Which is?”

“We have no information of the land except for the river valley.”

“Then might I suggest you get a move on. The first to arrive at a suitable place can usually pick the most advantageous site provided he has good local knowledge. That need also exposes your second weakness ... lack of mobility. You need more Cavalry.”

“We should have that knowledge; the land from here to Khartoum belongs to the Makurians.”

“But cavalry are ruinously expensive. The horses need mountains of hay and corn. All that has to be carried through the desert.”

“Not necessarily. They can follow the river and the food can be carried in ships’

“That will be slow.”

“Well might I suggest we make haste and start the cavalry off immediately to make our own surveys? They can also check out the land and provide rapid intelligence. I will be taking my beloved Mare Seripatese in my boat.”

“But what can these cavalry achieve? Their numbers are small.”

“They achieve surprise and they are a fast striking force. Especially if they are archers. They are lightly clothed and very mobile.”

“Archers!?”

“Yes. You have Ta Seti; surely some of these can ride?”

“Well, yes... I suppose there are some riders amongst them.”

“Then pick them. They can practice mounted archery as they ride south. They are on horseback so they will be faster than the main body. Just one squadron of mounted archers, that’s all I ask.”

“Very well then Drustina. I bow to your knowledge. Can you organise it?”

“Yes.” Drustina replied with a finality that belied her feelings. “These men will help us spy out the land for if these Makurians are as timid as they seem to be, I doubt they’ll even find the courage to help us plan the battle.”
Meronee nodded then added.

“They are supposed to be our allies in this. Raising the river taxes on the upper reaches affects them far more than us. We at least can trade freely with Egypt and Makuria.”

“So why go to war?”

“If we let the Alwans get away with this then there’s no stopping them. The rules concerning the river have always been a matter for treaty and discussion for its entire navigable length. There are tribes and nations far to the south who depend on trade for their very survival. This great river has been our mother umbilical cord since we first came here from the south. The Nile connects us to our mother roots, indeed she is our mother and she provides water and food and information via trade.”

Drustina nodded. She had seen the bleak barren scorching deserts on both banks and marvelled that the river never seemed to dry up.

She wondered silently as she tied her sword belt, ‘Just where did all the water come from?

After breakfast, Drustina and Arina went outside and in the palace courtyard they already found preparations well advanced. Queen Meronee was preparing to join her troops. They would depart from Meroe after the noon heat had cooled. Drustina and Arina spent the morning ensuring that their mounts and weapons were in good order as they ran a desperate check to gather as many Ta Seti as could ride together to form Drustina’s fast squadron. After a morning’s hectic trials she had gathered two hundred riders and she immediately despatched them south along the river as fast as the accompanying river craft could keep up. Fortunately the moon was full and the food supplies could navigate by night while the horses and men rested. The next afternoon Drustina and Arina joined their beloved Mermaid and set off southwards up the Nile. In addition to their own horses they also had some extra crew and a local pilot who knew this stretch of the river. The following morning they caught up with the mounted squadron and Drustina was pleased to see the chosen men practicing their newfound skills even as their column kept up its southerly march. She passed them in the faster Mermaid and continued south as fast as ‘The Mermaid could go.

At the sixth cataract the learned that Meronee’s army had not yet reached the rendezvous but they could not wait. Drustina’s part was to travel to the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile then step ashore and reconnoitre the land in anticipation of the battle. They arrived just after darkness had fallen and, with the aid of their loyal Nobatian crew, they secreted the Mermaid under a stack of palm leaves and corn stalks. The next morning they set off on horse to reconnoitre.

After two uncomfortable days Drustina concluded the best tactic was to somehow use the river as an asset in their tactics. The best opportunity was to somehow draw the Alwan forces into the wedge of land where the Blue and White Niles conjoined just north of Khartoum. Drustina felt they had found a perfect ridge, not very high but steep sided to the north and long enough to prevent free movement of men and horses within the peninsular. It was a scenario similar to the Isthmus of Carthage. As she tried to envisage a viable tactic with the limited number of men at Queen Meronee’s disposal, Drustina’s heart ached for her older sister Aiofe to be there; to spot that little feature or circumstance that could give them the crucial advantage. She spent another two days just searching for any geographical feature that would lend them that benefit but found little else other than the ridge and the rivers themselves.

It became more and more apparent that the trick would be to lure the Alwan forces into the ever tightening wedge of land and close the gate when they had passed the ridge. When the Alwan forces realised they were hoodwinked into the triangle formed by rivers and ridge, Meronee’s forces would be able to concentrate mainly where the two rivers cut through opposite ends of the ridge and fight the Alwans on the river banks. Then the few Nobatian ships that they had managed to drag up the cataracts would be able to fire arrows into the flanks of the Alwan forces as they fought facing Meronee’s modest forces. It was a principle based on the palisade battle at Carthage but Drustina could think of nothing better. She desperately wished that her sister had been there to think up some more original and advantageous plan.

After having run her ideas past Arina they journeyed south to Khartoum to meet the Makurian king and his advisors. Drustina was invited to attend a council meeting but what they saw and heard didn’t encourage her. All the courtiers and all but three of the generals were for acceding to Alwan demands to raise the river taxes. Drustina realised that the best hopes for support lay with the three dissenting Makurian generals.

She slipped away from the meeting after failing to persuade the Makurian king to muster his army and meet Queen Meronee at a suitable rendezvous where their combined forces could have best effect. After this disappointment she decided to try and discover what could be levered from the three dissenting generals; the only men around the Makurian council table that seemed to have any backbone. To do this they would have to use subterfuge because Drustina had little idea of the political situation in Makuria. That evening the pair decided that Drustina would make noises in their apartment under the pretence of them both occupying the chamber while Arina would slip away to find any of the three dissenting generals.

She eventually found the youngest general, a short thickset man with a bright intelligence flickering from under heavy brows.

General Tuk was a man of somewhat simian build whose appearance belied the sharp brain that clicked away between his ears.

Their re-acquaintance was an inevitable occurrence for he had agreed with his two other colleagues to find out more about Meronee’s army and her preparations to tackle the Alwan oppression. General Tuk was doing exactly the same as Arina, looking for their potential allies. He met Arina by chance in the palace park as she wandered seemingly casually through a cool glade beside the river. It was a fortuitous occasion for both realised they had been seeking ways to make a more private contact. General Tuk was surprised by Arina’s sudden and ethereal appearance in the moonlight.

“My God girl, you startled me!” He growled as he re-sheathed his sword.

Arina also let her half-drawn sword return easily to its scabbard and she smiled invitingly. It was a remarkably fetching smile and very attractive to the powerful Nubian for he had never seen a girl with rich titian red hair and emerald eyes before. Had he not known better he would have mistaken her for some strange ethereal river spirit. He had not see Arina before for Arina had not attended the conference earlier that day. All he had was his army intelligence reports describing the two strange but famous Celtic visitors.

“You’ll be Arina, the Queen Drustina’s servant, I’m thinking. My name is General Tuk.”

“You have my name right good sir but I’m not Drustina’s servant; I’m her companion in all things including battle. She wishes to meet you privately.”

“Then make it tomorrow morning here while the river mists still linger.”

Arina nodded and spotted a figure approaching along the river bank. She caught Tuk’s eye then nodded and wrapped her slender arms around his thickset neck as she whispered.

“Pretend we are making a tryst and you are savouring the erotic Celt with the exotic colouring.”

“Clever girl,” he murmured, “and a quick thinker,” he added as one of the Palace guard captain’s approached.

The captain snapped to attention and threw a smart salute as he recognised his commander.

“Good evening general sir!”

Then the captain’s eyes fell upon the exotic girl in the general’s arms as she threw her most fetching smile at him. He smiled back when she softly returned his salute with an inviting smile and melodious voice.

“Good evening Captain." She greeted him. "Enjoying the evening air.”

“Why y- yes ma-am.” He stammered.

“And isn’t it a beautiful moonlit evening?”

“Why certainly ma-am.”

The general turned and smirked at his captain.

“Haven’t you a patrol to complete Captain?”

“Yes sir!” The captain replied as he turned and marched proudly away. However, he was curious and suspicious of the General’s attachment to the Celt.

General Tuk had something of a reputation with the ladies and he had certainly chosen the pick of the bunch that evening. The whole of the captain’s company had been agog with the news of the two exotic Celts, for they were on palace guard duty that week.

When he returned to his command room he discussed his concerns with the Chief of Staff.

Once the captain had departed Arina released her sensuous embrace and General Tuk sighed as he courteously unwrapped his own powerful arms.

“The man who win’s your heart will be a very lucky fellow.”

“Why thank you general. That’s a lovely compliment. I would like to dally but needs must when the devil cracks his whip.
Tomorrow morning then, here at daybreak, the sixth hour.”

“It will be a pleasure my lady.”

They separated and the general’s eyes lingered wistfully on the delicate figure as she trotted lightly away.

‘If only our other generals were as brave as she and her companion.’ He thought.

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Comments

Thank you

Thank you for another nice chapter. You have achieved a very good balance on characterisation, friendship, learning and subterfuge.

The Angry mermaid 34 or Y Morforwyn Dicllon 34

Meets the Queen, then goes to battle. She NEVER does take it easy.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Better and better

This saga keeps getting better and better

Much Love,

Valerie R