“Not a bad idea, lady. Give me but a moment more—”
“Constable Ricard,” Warna could not believe her ears.
“We’ll have you fixed up and on your way—”
“Constable, I am not taking a small army to buy moon pads,” Warna snapped.
Silence. Utter and complete silence.
Warna blushed furiously. From what she could tell, so did Ricard.
“Stand your men down,” she threw her hands up in surrender. “If you can provide messengers…”
“Milo, front and center!” Ricard bellowed. One of the men dismounted and led his horse up to her.
“I’ve a message for the Priest Dominic, of the Church of the Lord of Light,” Warna looked up at the man. “You know it?”
Milo nodded.
“My compliments to the Priest Dominic. I’d like his advice about restocking the Healers Hall with supplies. If he could provide a list of all the items required, I’ll see it done.” Warna said.
“Wait for an answer,” Ricard commanded.
Milo nodded and mounted.
Ricard gestured to another man, who trotted his horse over.
Warna looked up. “There’s a clerk, one Ersal, who used to aid Lord Verice with petitions. My compliments, and would he call at his convenience and collect some pending petitions that Verice needs assistance with? Tell him to ask for me at the gate.”
“Off you go lads,” Ricard commanded, and both started off toward the main gate. “The rest of you, return to your normal duties.”
The men dismounted, leading their horses back to the stables, removing their helmets.
“As to the other matters, miss,” Ricard lowered his voice. “I could talk to my wife, m’lady and…”
“Yes. That would be lovely,” Warna figured the day couldn’t get much worse than what it already was. “There’s no rush,” she added quickly, with visions of mounted messengers being sent out across the land.
She turned back toward the Healing Hall. She’d change, return the coins, and find something to clean within an inch of its life.
That thought made her pause at the door then spin on her heels. “Constable?”
“Yes, miss?” Ricard called from across the yard.
“Where is the Second Barracks?”
By mid-day, Warnafelt better.
Not surprisingly, her escort of warriors all magically appeared to aid her in cleaning out the barracks. Their motivations were pretty clear, since they’d started discussing the reassignments of quarters before they were even done with the floors.
She, in turn, made it clear that the first ones to move in would be the supply clerks, and sent one lad running over to warn the Quartermaster to start packing for the move. “We need this all done this afternoon,” she told the Ricard. “Before Lord Verice returns.”
He didn’t disagree.
She had to do more supervising than cleaning this time around, firmly explaining that splashing hot water and soap around did not really count as ‘cleaning’. But the work got done as the day progressed and at a much faster pace than if she’d done it by herself.
The dogs lounged outside in the sun, occasionally raising their heads to watch the comings and goings. “You’re getting fat, you lazy things,” she said at one point as she went for more soap.
Brindle yawned, and rolled over to invite a belly scratch.
