Free Homage and Honour by Candy Rae Page A

whilst Beth was to
remain with the beginners until she could be promoted to join in
with the majority.
    After
arms-class their formal lessons for the day were declared over, the
authorities, after a century and a half of training youngsters,
realised that they would have had enough by this bell-time. They
were told that, as term progressed, more classes would be added
until their timetables were full.
    “Use the time
to get ready for tomorrow,” advised Rhian, “and have a hot bath. It
will help.” Rhian knew that all their muscles would be aching, “and
use the green salve,” she added for good measure.
    “I feel that
I’m going to die,” moaned Hannah as they left the salle.
    “Me too,” Beth
was as white as a sheet, “I didn’t realise I could hurt so much and
still be alive.”
    “The
Weaponsmaster and Ryzcka Ranolf are right though,” said Tana, “a
hot bath will make all the difference.” Tana was also aching,
“we’ll all be sore and stiff tomorrow. Best thing is to keep moving
lest the muscles tie up. We should all go out for a ride this
evening.”
    “You’re
joking,” exclaimed Hannah.
    “Not in the
least,” answered Tana cheerfully.
    Jess and Hannah
looked at each other and groaned, but after due consideration,
decided that Tana had the right of it and joined her.
    Beth groaned
too but decided she couldn’t face another ride. Next morning she
wished she had.
    The second
evening the four girls who were already becoming known as ‘The
Quartet’ went on an evening run then did muscle relaxing exercises
in the squashed privacy of Tana and Tavei’s cubicle. They continued
this self-imposed regimen during the days that followed. It made
them fitter and more supple but it didn’t do much to make Beth’s
sword-work any better.

     
    * * * * *
     
     
    Nemesis (2)
     
    Lady Eloise,
Duchess of van Buren was in both a quandary and a state of nervous
collapse. The most important of the wedding guests were approaching
at the manor gates and her husband was not here to welcome them. He
had sped off to the ricca fields that dawn in response to an urgent
call from the Chief Overseer and she had heard not a word from him
since.
    Custom and
protocol demanded that it should be the Lord of the House that must
welcome honoured guests and not the Lady.
    The Brentwood
family had arrived the previous day and Eloise had housed them in
the Dower House, some miles from the manor proper. The
Crown-Prince’s party was to lodge in the manor itself and Eloise
and her servants had been working hard to prepare the
accommodation. It was no mean feat to arrange suitable rooms for
the numbers expected and the manor was not the largest of the van
Buren residences.
    What was she to
do? Her son Raoul was with his father and neither knew that the
Crown-Prince had arrived sooner than expected.
    Her daughter
was bobbing with excitement at her side and Eloise hushed her with
a look.
    Her
uncle-in-law limped towards her, calming her, settling the nervous
servants. He even went as far as to prod the younger Eloise with
his walking stick. Eloise stood still immediately.
    “That’s
better,” he growled, “don’t show us up girl.”
    He addressed
Duchess Eloise, “since my nephew is detained, I believe I’m the
only one of the family here to do the honours.”
    “Would you?”
gasped Eloise with relief, “I don’t know where Raoul has got to and
this marriage is so important to him.”
    “I’ve been
watching my relations doing this for years now, first my
grandfather, then my father, brother, nephew. Nice to get the
chance myself before I’m too old and stiff to manage a bow without
falling over.”
    He looked at
his mother, the Dowager Duchess Anne and laughed, it was an old
joke. He was fifty-six, his mother eighty-one, he walked with a
stick and she had none, being as spry as she had been at fifty and
contrived to look very like her great-granddaughter, despite the
difference in age.
    It was a large
party approaching