Free Princess Rescue Inc by Chris Hechtl

perspective,” Perry said
shrugging. He set his empty MRE tray aside.
    “What?
That women can’t fight?” Doc waved a hand to the female soldiers in the group.
    The
men exchanged amused looks. She ground her teeth together, drumming her fingers
against her hip until finally Ryans owned up. “Sexism is ugly, but it was
pretty well established before the industrial revolution Doc. Women don't have
the upper body strength to hold a shield wall, use a bow, or fight with a sword
for long. Women were thought of well...” Ryans shrugged.
    “As
brood mares and maids,” Doc practically snarled. “I'd think we've come a ways
from that.” She gave the men a look but they were busy looking elsewhere.
“Though sometimes I wonder.”
    “It's
easy to backslide Doc. It's an established pattern,” Ryans said with a shrug.
“Which makes my point. What the heck is happening here? Both sides are medieval
cultures. One seems a mix, the raiders look a lot like Vikings or Normans.”
    “Well,
for one thing, this isn't Earth remember?” Doc said dryly.
    “What
made you get that idea?  The gas giant in the sky or the six legged
critters and funky plants Doc?” the Gunny asked innocently.
    She
gave him a dirty look. “Yeah, yeah. I mean, you can't expect things to be just
like on Earth. This place is different. Different environment means different
variables for social development. For all we know this could be normal.” She
waved a helpless hand. “For them I mean.”
    “But
in the end it all boils down to the lowest common denominator Doc,” Ryans said
shaking his head. “In a feudal society the men fight and take care of the farm.
Which reminds me, if the women are here... who's minding the farms back home?
Is this all they have? Do they go around doing this? Or is someone sitting at
home? Were they driven from their homes? If so by who or what?”
    “Or
is this an all hands on deck like the Mongols,” Perry said shrugging. “According
to what they taught us in the academy ancient armies had followers.”
    “Groupies,”
the Gunny said with a snort.
    “Wives
and children of the soldiers. Also support personnel. Though these...” He
shrugged. “We don't know if they are fighters or not. Or auxiliaries.”
    “Men,”
Doc growled, getting up and leaving.
    They
watched her go. “Something I said?” Perry asked then shrugged.
     
    Frustrated
with the situation Princess Deidra, seventeen year old and oldest of her
siblings tried to glower at the Duke. Duke Emroy was a good man with a good
heart. Father had sent them here for her to learn more on deportment and to get
her away from a lowly knight that had been courting her.
    Of
course you couldn't just send the future of the royal bloodline to just anyone.
Emroy was a most trusted vassal and had of course traded his own wife and
family in return for the care of the princess. Which he had just pointed out to
her. Tired as he was, he was still stubborn and determined to protect her
welfare whether she wished it or not.
    “Father
will come sooner with us here my Dominus,” she ground out between her teeth.
She was certain of that. Obviously the duchy wasn't as secure as everyone had
thought it was. The reports of the Duluth harvest being meager had driven them
to war, one that had caught their people by surprise obviously. Who would have
thought that King Richard could marshal his forces and move them so quickly?
And in numbers that scarcely could be believed!
    “Or
if we fall your father will have to deal with you and your brother and sister
as hostages. No your Highness it is decided. You must away before the army of
Duluth despoils my lands. Already reports are in that the wall garrison has
fallen. There wasn't time to... enough,” the old man said waving the discussion
aside. “There is no time Deidra, I know you're aware of it. Take Zara and
Balthazar and get them away as quickly as you can,” he said.
    Deidra
bit her lip. She was a warrior princess, she wanted to