Chapter 7: Travel
Day One
After they’d been on the road for a couple of hours, Devon unclipped out his PDA and pulled up the map function. “I thought we’d make our way almost due south until we reached the eastern shore of Loch Ness. From there we’d follow the loch southwest until we came to the southwestern end. There we’d go south again until we reached Glasgow.
“It’s about three hundred kilometers. I could make it in six days, but none of you are used to that kind of travel, and I intend to take it easy so we can stop early each day to train. We need to learn to function as a group and as Tess pointed out, all of us also need individual training.”
“I don’t intend to make more than twenty kilometers each day. Less if we need more training. So the trip to Glasgow will take a minimum of twenty days. More if we need more training or we need to forage along the way.”
“I hope to make Glasgow with our little family trained up enough to consider taking on the gym there, but one step at a time.”
“I also figured we’d stop at Loch Ness and restock our supplies of meat. The loch is brimming with fish, and Tess’ thunderbolt will make fishing easy. If we should have any problems foraging, Inverness is not too far from the northeastern end of Loch Ness and Ming Die and Poppet accidentally left us with some money.”
“That’s the plan. We’ll just have to see how well it actually unfolds. Are there any questions?”
“Oh and by the way. I don’t expect to catch any feral pokegirls on the way. Mainly because we are going to be working hard enough to meld everyone currently in the harem into a team and someone new would screw that up, but I’m not willing to walk away from something really special. So please let me know if you see any unattended pokegirls.”
***
Day Five
Winter had decided to give one last effort before surrendering completely to the coming spring, and Devon’s tent wasn’t designed to withstand a lot of cold. Therefore Devon had decided to forgo the evening training to search for someplace to shelter from the cold. The search so far had been without result and he was more than grateful to see a light up ahead as night started to creep over the land. Before approaching the dwelling, he decided to put everyone except Lamya into their pokeballs, reasoning that she looked the least offensive.
The house was a snug stone cottage with a small barn and a weathered looking grain silo behind it. Devon knocked at the door. A thin man, his beard shot through with gray, opened the door. He peered suspiciously at Devon. “Evening.”
Devon smiled. “Evening. I was wondering if I could use your barn for the night?”
The man looked at Lamya. “You a Tamer?”
“Yes I am.” Devon looked as harmless as he could.
The man stuck out his hand. “Ken.” He jerked his head in the direction of the barn. “Ye can bed down there, but it’s not the kind of place for a lady,” he said with a nod towards Lamya.
Devon nodded. “I’ll put her in her pokeball for the night.” Lamya looked askance at him but was apparently unwilling to argue in front of Ken. That was another reason he’d chosen her.
“Mind the hay. We’ve got a bad lot of mice.” A quick flash of teeth appeared through the beard. “And I don’t mean pokegirls.”
“I understand.” Ken shut the door with a thud.
Devon turned to Lamya as he reached for her pokeball. She argued, but he won in the end, especially once she saw the inside of the barn and realized that there really wasn’t room for two. The place was clean and most of the interior space was taken up by a rough residence for a handful of sleeping Chickenlittles. The hay storage was a tiny room that held the faint memory of summer in its scent.
After making his way quietly to the hay bin Devon pulled out his cloak and tried to get as comfortable as he could. The hay had thistles so it took a while. Eventually he dropped off to sleep.
The barn door opening woke him. He carefully kept his breathing slow and even. Slowly opening his eyes a fraction Devon watched as someone with a lantern came in and pulled the door shut. The air slowly filled with the scent of a pokegirl.
Devon spoke. “Good morning.” The pokegirl jumped.
“Ye gave me such a fright sir.” She lifted the lantern higher. Devon could see she was a Ladyien. “I’m sorry to disturb ye rest, but I have need of your help.”
Devon sat up and checked his watch. Three a.m. “What could you want at this hour of the morning?” A sleepy thought. The house had better be well ablaze.
She ducked her head. “Sorry, sir. I had to wait until me husband went to sleep before I came out to talk to you.”
“I see.” Devon didn’t. However he knew that he was not going to tame another man’s pokegirl. The barn only had one entrance so she couldn’t be here to distract him from an attack. So why was she here? Better to let her talk before opening his mouth. He gave a wry smile. And dispelling all doubt.
“It’s me daughter. She’s not really me daughter, only she is.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Sorry sir. She’s a foundling. A feral pokegirl. A Ladyba. Turned up on our doorstep when she was just a wee bairn. We took her in and raised her as our own.”
Devon was fascinated with her accent. Thick Scottish brogues were few and far between nowadays. While the existing small populations did tend to isolate social groups, Tamers on pokegirl journeys tended to travel all over the place in search of new girls and seeking out gyms. This behavior tended to provide mixing that prevented the kind of complete isolation that resulted in the drift of language necessary for the development of heavy accents. Devon grudgingly admitted that while this was the way in the rest of the world, here was the Highlands of Scotland, a place known to be so stubborn that historically the men still passed along their feuds as part of their inheritance, even if the clan that the grievance was against had perished generations ago. After all, he mused, you never knew when one of them might pop back out of the ground.
With an effort, Devon pulled his mind back to the matter at hand.
“She’s seventeen or so now. Proud as can be and tough enough to back up that pride. That’s the rub. She’s beaten all the boys in the nearby villages and they are afraid of her.”
“I despair of her finding a husband. None of the local Tamers will have anything to do with her. Course they’re all a sorry lot or they’d be out on a Journey.” She spat. “Trash, all of ‘em.”
“She’s reaching an age where she’s going to start casting eyes at some man, and I’m afeared she’s looking at me husband.”
“You want me to Tame your daughter?” Devon had heard stranger things. Just not at three in the morning.
“I want her shut of me place. If it means going with you, then take her.”
“What about your husband? Does he want to keep her?”
“No.” The voice came from outside the door. The pokegirl made a surprised noise as it opened and a man stepped inside. Devon recognized Ken. Doesn’t anyone sleep at night around here? “Megan has got the right of it. She’s me daughter and it would be wrong. She’s needin to go, but I canna just put her out.”
Devon sighed. It would probably be so much easier if he could just say no. “I’ll see what I can do.” He checked his watch again. “Can it wait until morning?”
The pokegirl slumped with relief. “Aye. Thank ye.”
“Don’t thank me just yet. I said I’d see what I can do, and that is it. A Harris won’t make promises he might not be able to keep.”
Devon heard indrawn air from the pokegirl. “Harris? Any kin of Cameron Harris?”
“That’s my father. Do you know him?”
Ken answered. “Aye, that we do. He helped us out with a spot of trouble nigh on fifteen years ago. Since then he comes by every once in a while.”
The pokegirl looked at Devon strangely. “Cameron’s son? Why didn’t ye say so?” She tugged at his arm. “Come now, ye can sleep on the hearth in front of the fire.”
Devon let the Ladyien pull him to his feet and urge him in the direction of the house and warmth. “Tell me about your daughter.”
“Her name is Kathryn.” A helpless shrug. “What more do you need to know?”
What indeed. “I don’t suppose you have any raspberries?”
She smiled. “Aye, that we do. I happen to like them as much as any Ladyien. But I’ve got something better. I’ll give ye a jar of me raspberry jam.”
“Very good. I don’t’ suppose you have a second jar that I could purchase?”
She looked confused. “I suppose so, why?”
“Because I’ve already got a harem of three, and if I don’t give them any jam, they are likely to be slightly upset when they find out I’m bribing my latest acquisition with a whole jar.”
“Tis a good thing that ye care about the rest of your haremwives.” Megan favored him with a smile. “I can give ye two jars.” She cocked her head. “Are ye likely to see ye father any time soon? If so, I can also give ye a crock of blueberry jam to give to him.”
Devon smiled, a bit ruefully. “While I’d love the extra jam, I can’t promise it would survive to reach my father. You see blueberry is my favorite and thus I can’t promise that at all.”
Megan dimpled. “At least yer an honest young man. Ye father would have taken it with a smile and a promise to try.” She broke off as Devon gave a huge yawn. “Oh, ye’ll be needing yer rest.” She hurried him off the warm cozy hearth.
***
Day Six
Devon sat at the table and enjoyed some eggs and sausage and idly watched a short pokegirl covered in white feathers as she tried to get into the grain silo.
He turned to Megan. “One of your Chickenlittles is trying to get into your silo.”
She glanced out the window. “Aye, ‘tis our little Abby. She’ll give up after a bit. She’s not smart enough to figure out the door much less the lock.” Megan looked behind her as the door to the family section opened. “Good morning, Kathryn.”
Devon turned to look as a Ladyba shut the door behind her. She appeared to be fairly typical for the breed, standing at a mere hundred and fifty centimeters and lightly built. The exoskeletal helmet indicated that she was feralborne. She was a good healthy yellow and her exoskeleton gleamed with health.
Kathryn settled herself at the table. “Good morning, Ma.” She gave Devon a quick look as she filled a bowl with oatmeal. “And who might ye be?”
“This is Devon Harris. He’s our guest this morning.”
Kathryn glanced at Megan and then gave Devon a longer look as he looked blandly back. A challenging glint came into her eye as he met her gaze. “It won’t work, ye know.”
Devon raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“There’s nae man has been able to tame me. Ye’re not going to be any different.” Her mother gasped.
Devon gave a small motion with his hand. Megan settled down without saying a word. “I think I’ll take you up on that.”
“Take me up on what?”
“You just challenged me. I accept.” He stretched. “I think I’ll start out without using any pokegirls.”
Kathryn gave him an incredulous look. “Ye think ye can beat me with yer bare hands? Yer daft.”
“I guess we’ll find out after breakfast, won’t we?”
The Ladyba glared at him, all four arms twitching slightly. “Aye. That we will.”
After the meal was over the two of them squared off outside in an open area near the grain silo. The Chickenlittle had wandered off. Kathryn watched amusedly as Devon pulled on a pair of gloves to protect his hands.
Devon knew that the fight would be difficult but not impossible. The Ladyba’s various dusts were oriented towards fighting pokegirls and wouldn’t affect him. It would help that he doubted Kathryn had ever received any combat training. If she showed any indications of any training, he was going to be switching to Maeve or Tess quickly. A trained pokegirl could kill a human quickly, even one such as he.
The one attack he could not let land was her headbutt. That had the potential to end the fight immediately as well as possibly cripple him.
“Are ye ready?” Kathryn was going to observe the niceties before the fight started.
“Yes. Let the fight begin.”
Kathryn charged, obviously going for the headbutt. Devon met her with a snap kick to the belly. Her armor stole some of the strength from the blow, but the air still whooped from her. More importantly, the blow stopped her charge. Kathryn then attempted to grapple. Devon crowded her, elbow strikes breaking her grip and as he broke free he landed two hammer blows on her chest, knocking her backwards.
He recovered into a strong horse stance, waiting. Kathryn charged again. Devon dodged her headbutt and she took to the air.
Devon moved towards the grain silo to limit her avenues of attack. Kathryn came in for another attack. Devon stepped closer to the silo and as she flew by he grabbed the two arms on that side and used her momentum to slam her face first into the silo. As she bounced off Devon reversed his motion and spun, this time driving her backwards into the stone wall.
As she dazedly slid to her knees Devon spoke. “Do you yield?”
“I dinna.” She shook her head and licked her bloody lips.
Devon’s powerful kick took her in the chest and smashed her against the silo wall. He kicked her several more times as she feebly tried to protect herself. She collapsed, gasping for air.
“Get up.” His voice was grim.
She shook her head slowly. “I canna,” she gasped.
“Then I win.” She slowly nodded.
Devon pulled a pokeball out of his pocket and pressed it to her chest. She dissolved into light and was absorbed.
He turned to see Megan and Ken watching him from the house. Devon trudged tiredly over to them. Megan gave him an incomprehensible look. “What are ye that ye can fight a pokegirl and win?”
“Sometimes I wonder myself.”
***
Once he had the two jars of raspberry jam and two jars of blueberry jam (fer luck, he’d been told) safely stowed in his pokepack, Devon headed south. After he’d been hiking for about an hour he stopped and let his pokegirls out. He tended to Kathryn’s injuries while introducing her to the rest of the harem, spraying her liberally with a potion.
Maeve started in on her immediately. She had things to say about Kathryn’s size, speculated on her fighting abilities and so forth. She was just working up a good head of steam when Kathryn leaned over to Devon.
She whispered to him. “Do I have to be puttin’ up with yer bunny’s attitude?”
Devon whispered back. “She’s pretty tough. If you think you can control her, be my guest.”
Kathryn sniffed. “I know the type from the village.” Squaring her shoulders she marched over to Maeve. “Ye shut yer mouth right now.”
Maeve stared. “I’ll do no such thing, you little pipsqueak.”
Kathryn flourished her upper right arm and threw a glittering yellow dust on Maeve. “Ye’ll nae be takin that tone with me.”
Maeve screeched as her ass rapidly grew to a circumference of a meter and a half. The sudden weight pulled her to the ground.
Maeve scrabbled for her khukuri as she heaved herself back to her feet. “You bitch, I’m going to cut you for that.”
Kathryn opened her wing case and lifted into the air. “Ye need to be watchin’ yer tongue!” More dust billowed around Maeve, blue this time. She yelped as her breasts grew to two meters in diameter blocking not only her access to her khukuri but incidentally her view as her breasts became bigger than she was tall.
“When I get loose, I’m going to kill you! You have to sleep sometime.” Maeve’s voice was vicious.
“I dinna think so. Our husband wouldna let ye do such a deed. I dinna think he caught me with his bare hands just so one such as ye could cut me throat in the wee hours of the morning.”
Kathryn circled above the now immobile Maeve, berating her in a loud and penetrating tone.
Tess leaned over towards Devon. “Where did you find her?”
Devon shook his head bemusedly as he watched Kathryn putting Maeve in her place. “She just fell into my lap.” He smiled broadly. “I just think I found my alpha.”
Tess gave him a look. “Maeve’s not going to like that.”
“Not my problem. She hasn’t been doing that good of a job. Her needs have always come way before anyone else’s.” He smirked. “Besides, if she has issues I’ll just let her take them up with Kathryn.”
Lamya was staring at Devon. “Did she just call you our husband?”
“Yes she did.” He shrugged. “Since the fall there have never been enough human women to go around and Scots are rather informal about these things so pokegirls became our wives. The church goes along with it, if only because your local priest has a wife or two at home who would most likely take umbrage over being demoted to just a pokegirl. Many of them would express their displeasure traditionally, which involves the use of skillets and golf clubs. As golf clubs are most useful when they are straight, most men try to avoid that.”
So pokegirls with a man are his wives and the members of a Tamer’s harem are known as his haremwives.”
“So you are our husband?”
“After a fashion. Outside of the Highlands most people won’t recognize us as being married. In fact they think we’re a bit touched. Here though, if a man has no children his pokewife can even inherit. It’s against the law of Blue, but out here no one is really a part of Blue and doesn’t care.”
“I’ve got a husband!” Lamya swept him up into a hug. She finally let him go. “Husband,” she said, obviously relishing the word. “Are we going to make camp here?” She gave Maeve and Kathryn a wry look. “It may take them while to work out who’s going to be the alpha.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Go ahead.”
Tess smiled as Lamya busied herself with setting up the camp. “Looks like you need to get your stick, my lord. It’s time for your next sword lesson.”
***
Day 9
They’d reached the northeastern point of Loch Ness without any further incident and the rest of the group waited while Tess scouted for a place to do some fishing.
Kathryn had proven to be a godsend. She’d taken a firm hand in the domestic duties, assigning each pokegirl to the place where she could do the most good in setting up or taking down camp. She’d even had a hand in the watch and taming schedules. Her own duties involved the fire and cooking.
After three days Devon had become mildly concerned that they were going to put on weight during their little trek. Even Maeve had become more accepting of the Ladyba after eating some of Kathryn’s camp biscuits. Their forward progress had slowed a little with all the foraging she had them doing for gleaned berries and straggly spring herbs, but everyone agreed it was worth it.
With their camp going up more efficiently, the evening trainings had also improved. The battle training was starting to click, and everyone’s morale had improved as a result. Things were still just getting sorted out, but the prospects were excellent.
Tess came winging in to a landing. She didn’t look happy. “We could have a problem. About a kilometer ahead there’s a rocky inlet. There is some kind of huge pokegirl there and it looks like she’s attacking someone. I couldn’t get close enough to tell without possibly spooking whatever it was.”
Kathryn gave a shiver. “It’s the monster.”
Maeve looked at her quizzically. “What monster.”
“There’s been a beastie in Loch Ness since before the fall.” She made a sign against evil. “It takes children and the innocent to feed on.”
“Enough of that.” Devon scratched at the beard he’d decided to start growing. It itched. His voice was brisk. “If it’s still attacking someone when we get close, we’ll try to intervene. If not we’ll reevaluate the situation. Tess, I want you to stay close. Kathryn, drop back about twenty meters and make sure something doesn’t sneak up behind us, but close in if necessary to keep us in sight. Let’s go.”
Devon trained his binoculars on the creature below. It was almost eight meters long but was obviously a pokegirl. He trained his pokedex on it. “Sharptits the vicious fish pokegirl. Extreme caution recommended. Sharptits has a sighting bounty, a confirmed kill bounty, a capture and taming bounty as well as a Royal Curse bounty.”
The Sharptits was feeding on what looked to be the remains of a Lambchop. Another pokegirl body was lying not too far away. Devon wasn’t sure what she was, and the pokedex didn’t give an entry, which meant that the pokegirl was most likely dead.
Maeve was staring intently at the creature. “Can I use the binocs?” Devon passed them over. She looked briefly through them and went pale. “Oh no.”
“What is it?”
“That is the bitch that killed Hank and my previous harem. She’s got a purple blotch on her right shoulder.” She looked sickly at Devon. “We’ve got to do something.”
Devon frowned. “That means we just can’t walk away and report the sighting. All right, we are going to kill this thing.” He looked around the little group. Faces were tight, but that was to be expected. “Here’s what we are going to do.”
***
Devon had expected to silently climb down to the group of large rocks at the neck of the inlet, but the rocky slope had other ideas. The incline crumbled out from under his feet a good three meters up and he slid on his butt the rest of the way in a shower of small rocks.
He had a perfect view of the creature as its head whipped up to stare at him. Before he slid behind the rocks he got the opportunity to watch it transform into a six meter tall pokegirl who began lumbering towards him with her arms outstretched.
He could also see the faces of Lamya and Maeve staring at him with horror from the rocky slope on the other side of the onrushing beast as the plan started to unravel.
Devon squirmed as far down as he could and looked up to see a clawed hand reaching down. He struck quickly with his khukuri and was rewarded with howl of pain and a shower of blood as he hacked off a finger. The Sharptits screeched.
The rock next to Devon suddenly rocked and he was showered with fragments. Just lovely. The Sharptits is using Metalclaw to carve her way to me. Maeve dear, it’s your turn. Please be prompt.
Maeve jumped down the slope and started running after the Sharptits as soon as it went after Devon. She prayed that Devon’s plan was right and that by hitting the pokegirl from all sides they could hurt it and keep it confused long enough for Tess to get into position without it fleeing into the loch. He’d said that the biggest weakness a Sharptits had was that it was fairly stupid.
Stupid or not, the bitch was digging her way to Maeve’s Tamer quickly enough. Maeve charged her mega punch and accelerated. You’re not going to get my Tamer this time you whore.
The Sharptits bellowed in pain as Devon heard a sharp cracking noise. Suddenly Maeve’s face filled his view. “Come on, lover.” She grabbed his hand and pulled.
The Sharptits was down screaming in pain, clutching its right leg. The knee was bent to the side at an impossible angle.
Devon and Maeve ran around the creature. It lashed out at them, only to flinch as a mystic bolt smashed into its face. Devon and Maeve kept running.
The Sharptits transformed back into its water form, reabsorbing the broken knee, and crawled after them. Suddenly it ground to a halt as its breasts grew to the size of carriages as a billowing cloud of bloom powder engulfed it.
The Sharptits thrashed and screamed its rage at Kathryn circling high out of reach. It opened its mouth and vomited a water spear at the Ladyba, striking her squarely in the chest. Kathryn spun in midair, recovered and climbed back out of the cut.
Another mystic bolt smashed into the Sharptits, distracting it as it launched another water spear at Kathryn’s retreating form.
It turned and began hunching towards Maeve and Devon’s distant forms. Mystic bolts pounded it as it crawled.
A slender loop of cable settled out of the air over the Sharptits’ head and tightened around her throat as Tess pulled it taught. The creature reached up to grab the cable and froze suddenly, keening in pain as the high amperage current of Tess’ thunderbolts pulsed down the cable. Its body bent in an arch as its muscles contracted. Bones shattered beneath the strain.
Devon and Maeve watched as the cable began to glow under the flow of current. Steam began oozing out of the ground around the Sharptits and slowly things became quiet. The cable, intended for fishing, melted under the load spattering the area with drops of liquid steel which hissed as they hit the Sharptits’ body or the sand.
Lamya slammed another mystic bolt into the Sharptits. It didn’t respond.
Maeve waved her arms over her head screaming in victory. Devon looked at Tess as she hovered overhead. “Would you go bring Kathryn back please?” She nodded and went winging away.
Devon grabbed Maeve’s arm and she turned to look at him. “We’re going to need proof that we killed this Sharptits. Why don’t you get its head?” She grinned, nodded, and scampered off.
Devon turned back to see Lamya poking at the unknown pokegirl. She looked up at him. “I don’t know what she was, but she’s pretty mangled.”
For years afterwards the dream of what happened would still occasionally wake him in the middle of the night. It was always the same, always as it had truly happened. Lamya was looking up at him with a sad look on her face. Behind her was the dead pokegirl. Devon could only watch as the crisp black and gray outlines of the dead body blurred and it appeared to dissolve into a liquid which darted forward and engulfed his Enchantress, surging up her legs and over her body. Time always slowed down at this point so he could watch the horror cross Lamya’s face as she realized what was happening as the stuff crawled over her chest and engulfed her head. She collapsed, thrashing violently and then became still. This was where the nightmare always ended.
Devon ran over and almost danced in place screaming for Tess, Maeve, Kathryn. Anyone. He knew better than to touch Lamya, but it was so hard not to.
The liquid soaked into Lamya’s body and disappeared. Devon crouched and stared at her. She took a deep gasping breath and her eyes flittered open. They were solid black. “Lamya?”
“I’m all right.” Her voice sounded impossibly calm. “Everything is going to be fine.” She smoothly slid to her feet. “I understand now.”
The hairs stood up on the back of Devon’s neck. He stepped back from Lamya and unclipped his pokedex. “Enchantress the sexy sorcery genius pokegirl. Lamya Harris the property of Devon Jamie Harris of Highland County Scotland. Enchantress is the evolved form of Witch.”
Lamya smiled. As Devon watched, her eyes cleared up, blue swimming out of the darkness. “I think this is what you are looking to find.” Suddenly blue and silver liquid flowed out of her body, seemingly rising right out of the skin shaping itself into a suit of armor that covered her whole body.
She turned her head slightly to look straight at Devon. “Husband, try the pokedex on me now.” Her voice now came from a speaker inset in the helmet of the armor.
Devon activated the pokedex as Maeve came running up, her khukuri ready. “What the fuck?”
The pokedex spoke. “Battle Enchantress the heavily armed Enchantress. Battle enchantress occurs when a dying Zeromer bonds its nanotechnology to a nearby Enchantress. Battle Enchantress possesses the strengths of both Zeromer and Enchantress.”
Devon slowly put the pokedex away. The armor flowed back into Lamya’s skin. Lamya looked at him beseechingly. “It’s still me.” Her eyes grew wet. “Husband?”
Devon took her into his arms. She clung to him and cried with relief. “We’ll get through this too, Lamya.”
***
Day 36
“Devon?” Tess’ voice. “My lord, could you come out here please?” Devon glanced at his watch. It was just after six am. Normally he’d already be up but last night he’d had a very intense Taming session with Lamya and Kathryn.
As he stretched he realized that he was alone. Everyone else must already be up. A faint frown crossed his features. Lamya usually woke him up when she got up, if only for some quick Taming. He shrugged. Her libido appeared to be in flux since the loch and he supposed this was just one of those things.
After the incident with the Sharptits, they’d retraced their steps and claimed the bounty at Inverness. Then they returned to the loch and spent the better part of two weeks training and smoking fish.
He was pleased with the training. Everyone had improved a great deal. All of the pokegirls shed some fat and become sleeker looking. He’d even put on some more muscle. It had helped that Tess was far stronger than he would ever be. She was constantly pushing his limits in training.
Now they were only a couple of days out of Glasgow. Devon was looking forward to a hot bath.
He slid on some shorts and crawled out of the tent. Maeve helped him to his feet. “Morning, lover.” Her arms went around his neck and she rubbed her lips against his.
Tess reached around him from behind, took his hands, and pulled them behind his back. Maeve let go of him and stepped away, smiling. Tess settled down to the ground, pulling him with her. He sat awkwardly. Lamya appeared and sat down on his legs. She gave him a weak smile.
Maeve straddled his waist and settled down comfortably. “Kathryn?” She came into view carrying a small leather case and a cup of water. She handed the case to Maeve. She then turned to Devon.
“Good morning, husband.”
Devon kept his voice pleasant. “And a good morning to you, Kathryn. What is going on?”
Maeve patted him on the cheek. “We have to fix something, lover.” Unzipping the case she took out a small cylinder and a brush, both of which she handed to Kathryn. Then she pulled out a straight razor and strop. Devon became very still.
“We’re rather fond of most of you, Devon.” She smiled prettily. “But the beard is just terrible. It is bright blue, you know, like your hair. And it just hides your pretty face. We tried hinting but you ignored us.” Her tone turned businesslike as she opened the razor and gave it some strokes on the strop. “So we had a little talk, just us pokegirls.” Devon noted idly that she seemed quite proficient.
“So here’s the deal, lover.” Maeve poked him in the nose with the razor. “I’m going to shave your beard off. How much of you that isn’t beard that I remove is entirely up to you. The more you struggle, the more I’ll probably accidentally remove. I don’t want to carve bits of you off, but I really do hate that beard, so it’s a chance I’ll just have to take.”
Kathryn went down on her knees and began to lather up his face and neck. “Now ye just hold still for Maeve and it’ll all be over soon.” She gave him a smile. “And ye remember that if ye go back to shaving this’ll nae have to happen again.” She scooted back. “He’s ready, Maeve.”
Devon held himself motionless. He didn’t bleed much and the girls stopped it fairly quickly.