I took one look at the new archer and thought, Why didn’t Scott fuck him yet?
He was tall, broad-shouldered, heavily muscled. He had long crimson hair and unseeing eyes. His body turned in my direction, but his head, or his eyes, didn’t look at me. I had asked him to take off the blindfold and was shocked to see that he was, indeed, blind.
“You’re from a parallel universe,” I said, repeating what Scott had told me. “And you’ve come here to raise an army and find the savior of your civil war.”
“In short, yes.” He had a resonant voice, almost as deep as those voices you hear in trailers for new movies.
I leaned back in my chair, though part of me wasn’t quite comfortable with him yet. Maybe it was the fact that he was blind; maybe it was the magic oozing from him in waves that buffeted against me. Scott told me that he was seeing through my eyes, so I was conscious of looking around the room, giving him a sense of the area.
“Tell me about your civil war.”
“Lord Muir wants to take over North Hampshire. Queen Lacey and her consort refuse to give up – in fact, Queen Lacey was in the process of choosing a warlord to fight against Lord Muir and his cronies when I left.”
“You’re a royal archer, so you would fight with the queen, then, right?”
“I am the Swordking first. I fight for no one except the people who request it of me.”
“Can you explain that?”
“Certainly.” He settled back in his chair, getting comfortable with his story. “We have many classes and castes. Swordsmyn are mercenaries for the common people. Someone approaches with a problem that occurred to them. We listen and decide whether or not to take the case and exact justice.”
“You don’t have courts?”
“We are the court.”
“Judge, jury, and executioner?”
“As necessary.”
I wasn’t sure if I liked that. “You do understand that you don’t kill anyone here.”
“I was informed of that when I showed up. Primus provided me with necessary arrows.” He frowned. “They took some getting used to. They don’t have the same weight.”
“I’m sure.” A rubber arrow in the eye was still a killing blow. “Okay, we have a few rules.”
He nodded slowly.
“One: Respect the team. That includes my husband.”
“Have I disrespected him? He wanted to look at my tattoos, and I allowed that.”
“No, you didn’t disrespect him that I know of. Two: Don’t hurt anyone on this team. If anyone gives you grief, you come to me. Don’t take it into your own hands.” That rule applied only to him. I was afraid, that with his attitude, he would go beyond mere discipline to haul off and start smacking the kids around. This guy was big. I knew that some of the kids like Teddy, Troy, or even Kenny could handle themselves around him, but it could get way out of hand fast. “Have you handled teenagers before?”
“As Swordking, I receive the apprentices no one wants.”
“I’d think you’d get first crack at the apprentices.”
He smiled. “My rule.”
“Fair enough. I want to make sure you’re not going to go all vigilante on me. I already have one of those and luckily he’s calmed down enough so that he’s not killing people.” Making them disabled, yes. Killing them, no.
“I can swear fealty to you, if that will ease your concerns.”
I shook my head. “No, that’s not necessary.” Though I admit, I thought about it.
He inclined his head. “I am your humble servant. Yours and your husband, Scott’s.”
“Appreciate that. I know he will.” I got up. He did too. “Welcome to the club.”
I looked down at my hand, and he caught my hand in his. “Thank you, Grimaulkin. When can I start?”
“As soon as you’re able. Maybe you should meet Dmitri, our Olympic archer. You two could go to the range and have a little Robin Hood sparring duel.”
“I would not want to embarrass him. Or myself.” He turned and left my office, his spicy wooden scent going with him.
