The New Girl

Ciel head back inside the castle. Vera looks quite worried.

Arlo comforts her. "Don't worry. They were looking for you, but we convinced them to leave. They don't know you're here."

She looks relieved.

Anne is rather upset, though. "You made us lose an easy fifty Gold Pieces, Miss. Best add that to any fees we charge for hiding you."

Arlo scowls. "Come on, Anne; we did the right thing, plus you convinced that bandit to give you some Gold."

She looks over at Arlo. "We could have gotten more Gold, and you best remember the promise you made."

Arlo nods reluctantly.

The group sit down around the table and begin to discuss the terms of the protection contract. Anne thinks Ciel have already done enough and should collect the Gold now, but Arlo disagrees.

"How long do you expect us to hide this woman…forever?" asks Anne.

Arlo shakes his head. "No…just long enough to make sure they've stopped looking for her."

Anne sighs. "That could take weeks, maybe even months!"

Vera isn't sure how to respond, and the room suddenly goes quiet.

Ciel asked, "Those men said you were wanted for theft…any truth behind that?"

Vera looks surprised. "No…no, they're lying."

Anne looks Vera directly in the eyes. "And what if you're lying? Are you sure there isn't anything you left out of your story?"

Vera looks uncomfortable and a bit red in the face, which almost matches the color of Anne's hair.

Anne looks exasperated. "Oh, great…just great." She looks over at Arlo. "You let this lady wrap her little finger around you with some sob story. It's probably all fake."

Vera shakes her head. "No! It's…it's not all fake!"

Anne rolls her eyes. "What parts are true, and what parts are lies then?"

"Well…my name is Vera, and I am being pursued by bandits, I just wasn't honest about the reason why…"

Arlo looks shocked, while Anne feigns being shocked in an attempt to mock Arlo.

Vera continues. "I'm supposed to be married off to some nobleman I've never met. My aunt told me a few days ago. From what I hear, he's a ruthless man. My family is made up of merchants, and after a bandit raid on my village, I was forced to live with my aunt and her husband. Rather than let me further my training in the silk trade, like my father wanted, they saw me as a tool they could use to further their own political ambitions. They offered to marry me off to some nobleman who would open up many trade connections for them…and giving them a dowry of five hundred Gold Pieces."

She sighs. "When I found out, I was furious and tried to convince them they were making a mistake, but they refused to change their minds…so I stole the dowry and ran away. The nobleman is probably almost to the village by now. He won't be too happy when he sees I'm gone, along with the dowry."

Ciel asked, "How could they marry you off without telling you?"

Anne and Arlo look a bit surprised by Ciel's question.

"I don't know where exactly you're from, Captain, but this is common practice in most places," says Anne. "In fact, Vera's lucky they even told her in advance. Most marriages are political arrangements. Husbands and wives are generally strangers until they first meet."

Arlo nods. "It's true, Captain. Even some men don't have a say in who they'll marry."

Vera nods sadly. "It was either join a nunnery or run away. Obviously, I chose the latter."

Ciel said, "We'll honor the contract for one month; after that, we'll drop her off in a faraway village."

Vera looks worried. "No! That…that won't do. Can't we arrange something else?"

Anne laughs. "Like what?"

Vera thinks for a moment. "Forget about protecting me, just take the five hundred Gold Pieces as payment for training and accepting me as one of your mercenaries. If that doesn't cover the expenses for training, I'll work for you until it's paid off."

Everyone is shocked at her words and goes quiet. The silence is suddenly disturbed by Anne laughing so hard she nearly falls over.

"What? I can be useful," pleads Vera.

Anne has to restrain herself from laughing further. "Do you even know how to fight, lass? Or use a weapon?"

"Well…no, but I'm a quick study," Vera replies.

Anne looks at her seriously. "What if you have to kill someone?"

Vera doesn't know quite what to say and pauses for several moments before responding. "Well, I suspect that maight happen…being a mercenary and all. It isn't something I would look forward to, but I'll do what I have to."

Anne shakes her head. "What you have to, huh? Look at how long it took you to answer that simple question. In that time, I could have sliced your throat three times over."

Anne and Arlo look over at Ciel, "Well…we are looking for more manpower, aren't we?"

Anne looks at Ciel, shocked. "Are you really considering this, Captain? What is she going to do…talk people to death?"

Arlo interrupts. "You're the one always saying we need more mercenaries, Anne, but then you complain and turn them down when they ask for large amounts of Gold up front. Not only is Vera not asking for anything up front, she's paying us to let her join."

Anne sighs. "You forgot to mention the fact that she has absolutely no fighting skill whatsoever. At least those dolts we tried to recruit in Willow Dale had fought in a few battles."

Ciel says, "She could be useful…in her own way."

"Useful in getting us killed, maybe," Anne replies.

Arlo chimes in. "Anne, does this girl look like a mercenary to you?"

Anne shakes her head. "Of course not! And no one else would ever think so, unless they were crazy or blind."

Arlo nods. "Exactly. No one would suspect her. We could use that."

Anne doesn't know what to say and seems a bit confused and angry, a look Arlo is used to seeing and even has a name for…'confangry.'

Arlo continues. "I'm not saying we put her on the front lines…but remember that one time in Ramshorn when the Captain asked you to go into town and investigate discretely?"

Anne nods. "Yeah, so?"

"Well…you weren't very discrete, and you didn't really investigate so much as beat information out of people."

Anne shakes her head. "I got tired of everybody lying to me; I knew they knew where those farmers were hiding."

"Well, Vera would make an excellent spy for us. She doesn't draw much attention, and even if she did, no one would consider her a threat," says Arlo.

Ciel nod. "You make some good points, Arlo."

Anne speaks. "Hey Cap, if you're letting this little lady join, don't blame me if she ends up getting one of us killed because she can't fight."

Ciel look at Anne. "Actually, I will blame you…because you're the one I want to train her."

Anne looks shocked. Arlo laughs hysterically. Vera doesn't know what to do, so she gives Anne a half-smile.

"This…is…ridiculous," sighs Anne. "But you haven't strayed us wrong yet, Captain…I will do as you say."

Anne grabs a broom, breaks off the end, and hands it to Vera. "Here's your training staff, we'll start tomorrow morning."

Vera takes the makeshift staff and nods.

Anne narrows her eyes. "And don't be late."

Arlo says it's getting late, so he heads off to his quarters. Anne and Vera soon follow suit to their respective bedrooms. Soon, it's just Ciel and Redford, the advisor, who was listening to the entire conversation but didn't reveal himself until now.

"Captain, do you really intend to make that girl a mercenary?" asks Redford.

Ciel responded, "Yes."

"But why?" asks Redford. "You can't really buy what Arlo was saying about her being a good spy…it's obvious he just fancies her."

Ciel says, "She might surprise you."

"Let's hope so…because the mercenary life is not an easy one, especially for a young lass. I hope you know what you're doing."

Ciel nod. "I hope so too."

Ciel leave and head to bed. Tomorrow should prove to be an interesting day.