Chapter 21: Attacks...on Multiple Fronts
By breakfast time the next day she was ready. She boldly informed everyone that the Duke had sent his ‘slut daughter’ to seduce James... right in front of the Royal Family... and she wouldn’t have it.
“He what!??” Cherry asked as she got told the whole truth, that the word got out Cherry had stayed, and now everyone thought that they had a chance at James too. “She might be the kind to jump into every bed she comes to, but James isn’t like that, he’s a decent man.” She declared as even her mother admitted he was something special... but he was a man... and sooner rather than later his needs would over take his reason...if approached the right way.
“So, you’re worried that some outsider will get your favorite toy?” Cassandra asked, as Catherine gave her a dirty look for it. “If thats the case...I’ll go.” She announced as Cherry jumped to her feet demanding she stay away from James.
“You failed to get his attention, so why not?” She asked as Cherry was quick to say she had his attention just fine, but he wasn’t the kind of man to rush into these things.”I wonder how many others will show up out there, his house only has 6 bedrooms, so they might need to start doubling up.” She hinted as Cherry’s face burst into such a red tint that it might start flaming any second.
“I’ll go...” Cherry declared as John almost choked on his breakfast.” he’s my friend and my project, if anyone in this family gets him it’ll be me.” She declared as her mom cheered her on and John saw his chances at a quiet resolution of this matter going out the window.
“It seems my thoughts on the matter don’t count here.” he said loudly, as the entire room stopped dead. John got to his feet and threw down his napkin onto the table and announced that if ANY of his girls went out there and got pregnant that ‘they need never return to this castle again’ and even Caroline sat down with a thump. John seldom put his foot down around her, but once he did that was that, and he stormed from the room into his office and everyone looked around at a loss for words.
“Fine then, I was getting tired living here anyways.” Cherry decided as Catherine looked like she had something to say but she couldn’t get it out, and Cherry had her horse readied and she loaded what cloths she thought a working Adventurer needed, and was gone before noon.
Queen Catherine was walking on egg shells when she went into the office to talk to John later on and as she asked if he was serious, he asked if Cherry went anyways, and she agreed.
“Then thats what I wanted to know.” He admitted as she looked lost.” If she’s willing to give up on her Family, her Title and life here for a man, then its not a childish crush.” he said seriously as Catherine smiled really wide...it was his own test of her feelings...and she passed.
“And you were right, there’s no one in our Kingdom better suited for her then someone she’d change her entire life for.” He announced... like it was some great wisdom... and Catherine gave him a kiss and said she was proud of him and he didn’t look too proud at the moment.
Cherry was standing knocking on the door a while later and when the maid answered it she didn’t seem too surprised.
“Is my regular room empty?” She asked and was told it was.” That’ll do fine then.” She said and walked in looking all around and found Sherry laying around the living room on what was obviously a new sofa that just arrived.
“Hello, Sherry...” She said softly, as the other girl jumped up and smiled.
“Princess Cherry I presume? I must say I’m a bit surprised to see you back so soon.” She heard as Cherry made it very clear she wasn’t a Princess anymore, she was an Adventurer in training, and she’d earn her own way from now on...as Sherry’s face went white... and she saw the competition getting serious right before her eyes.
“What does your Father think of this?” Sherry asked and was just as astonished to hear it was all his idea, and that one way or another, Cherry was here to stay.
“Where’s James?” Cherry asked, as she was told the head cook demanded a smoke house for curing meat, and so James was getting a lot of stone for the construction, and the men were out back now measuring the perfect spot to put it.”And no one’s protecting him?” She asked and turned on a dime and went back out to her horse and in a minute she was away and Sherry saw she’d be asked to do more than sitting around and hiding from her father here if she was going to keep up.
James was working hard trying to get enough cut rock for the construction when a horse rode up and he saw Cherry back, in full Adventurer mode, and he just shook his head and smiled.
“Princess, I see your back.” he said stopping for a break, as she informed him she gave up being a Princess and she was here to guard him from animals while he worked, and he looked shocked.
“And the King?” He asked softly as she left him know John demanded it, saying if any of his daughters left the house and got pregnant they were being disowned.”Then you just need to..” James started as she asked him if he was a man or not....just like that...and he admitted he was.
“A real man would admit he has feelings and not ask a woman to do all the talking for him.” She demanded and got off her horse and watched as he finally got the work done, and they went back to the house together.
“So there really is a little bit of your mother in there somewhere.” James hinted, as they were putting the horses away for the day, and she admitted she knew he wouldn’t be pushed into things like her dad was, but he needed to know she was here to stay, and he admitted he saw that now, and they both felt they gained something that first day.
Chapter 22: Earning a Living, One Heart Attack at a Time
They walked in together and James announced that he was sure they had enough stone for the meat house now and the cook thanked him.
“Now if the employees bunkhouse was finished,” he hinted, as James asked what he was talking about, he walked through it himself and it seemed fine to him. “ During the last hard rain we watched it carefully, because Winter will be coming soon.” he hinted as James agreed.
“The wind blows through cracks around all the windows and doors. It’ll take a miracle and a LOT of firewood to keep people from freezing when cold weather comes.” he mentioned and walked away and James looked tired thinking he had more work to do.
He walked out back and told the crew to check the bunkhouse too and let him know how best to make it more wind proof and warmer and they agreed as they seemed to be getting the little 8 foot square smoke house done in a day, and James was happy with that.
The crew decided that the bunkhouse was usable, barely but to make it more wind proof for winter it needed another layer of wood, running the opposite direction from the original walls so the cracks would all be covered and they could even do a more ‘finished’ look to it making the entire thing look better than a rough building people just happened to live in.
James dropped two more bundles of Oak there for them and they went to work on that and when it was done it looked as nice as the main house, and it didn’t cost him that much either since he was a regular customer now.
“Now if someone just did some hunting,” James heard, as he turned to see Sherry there with a bow and quiver, smiling.” Any ideas where to look?” She asked as James just laughed and ask if she was any good with that, and she fired a shot into a post 30 feet away and a second one that actually touched the first, and she just waved her hand that direction and James agreed that was good enough.
“We should ask Stanley, he’s my farmer, he got a nice pig last week that was eating his garden.” James added and they went for a ride to talk to him and see how that happened.
The story was...Stanley caught a small pig eating the green pumpkins and rushed in and killed it with a hoe, and that gave them enough meet for a while and saved them some cash, as James agreed.
“Next time you get something big, we now have a smoke house at the main house, bring it there and we’ll cure it for you.” James offered, and Sherry added...for a small donation...as James gave her a dirty look, but Stanley just laughed saying it was only right.
“Now about the pigs, we’ve seen a small group over there.” He said pointing to the tree line about a hundred yards away. “There are some deer too, large ones, more than I could drag myself, so this pig was a Gods sent for us.” he admitted and James said that they were just thinking of doing some hunting and needed as much info as they could get.
“My brothers asked about hunting here,” Stan’s wife asked, walking over,” and we said we didn’t know what rules you might have on that.” She hinted, as James said if they were hunting for themselves, fine or to help his friends here but no commercial hunting, that would ruin it for everyone.
“If they take down a big pig or a deer,” Sherry added quickly,” drop a bit off at the house for taxes.” She said with a wink and Stanley laughed and agreed, and they rode out to the woods to check it out as James asked when he appointed her his negotiator, and she laughed saying he needed one.” People don’t expect to get anything for free.” She added and even he had to admit that was true.
They stopped by a crossing in the stream where a lot of footprints were using it from the fields on one side to the woods on the other. James got off and saw some deer tracks and put one finger inside one and did a search, and when Sherry asked if he saw anything he admitted that they just crossed here, and one was watching them even now.
She looked very carefully around and maybe 30 yards out she saw a set of horns moving behind some brush.
“Don’t move...” She hinted as James pretended to keep checking the track and after a little careful calculations an arrow went flying, and immediately after crashing was heard,as the deer ran into the woods at top speed. She rode across the stream and stopped where she had seen it and not 5 steps away was a puddle of blood, a big one.
“Good shot.” James said as he rode over too and she pointed in the direction it ran in.” When did you learn to hunt?” He asked as she reminded him her dad was a hermit, and every member of his family had ‘hobbies’ to keep them busy since they weren’t allowed out for any other reason.
She walked along slowly looking for a while turning here and there, then cheered and pointed and James rode over to a nice buck laying there with her arrow in it.He got off and tied a rope to it and around the horn on his saddle and they walked slowly back to the house, and the cook was impressed saying they would eat well this week, and a lot cheaper than buying everything in the castle.
“The Hunter Guild jacks up prices really bad.” James heard as Cherry came out to see. “ I thought you knew that much.” She added, as Sherry nodded saying it was standard for any guild, and James just said he bought stuff because he just couldn’t be everywhere at once, and they left it go for now.
“Delegation...” James heard, as the cook started cutting up the deer and waved them all away so he could get it done.
“ A Noble doesn’t do everything himself.” Cherry mentioned as Sherry agreed.
“But I cant afford to pay to get everything done.” he insisted as the girls looked tired trying to help him see the truth.
“ Don’t worry, we’ll teach you how its done.” Sherry said leaning on Cherry’s shoulder, and she agreed and James started feeling like he was back in school again.
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