Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Helena kept crying as she held me closely. “David, we... by the Son's Light... there... there's no going back now.” She sobbed. “My mother... is going to be so angry.”

“As angry as your father?” I asked and she took in a sharp breath.

“My father!” Helena gasped and she took several deep breaths to try to calm down. “He... he's going to...”

“...do nothing.” I said and she gave me wide eyes. “We're going to let the staff tell everyone and not say anything ourselves.”

“But... he'll expect...”

“When the baby is born in...” I looked at Sara with a question on my face.

“...eight months if it's healthy and magical. Ten months if it's healthy and normal.”

“...eight months, we'll send notices to the Mages Guild, the castle, and the nobility.” I said.

Helena wiped at her face and then touched her belly. “Eight months.”

“I haven't failed an infusion since I was a child.” I said, my voice full of confidence. “I'm actually tired right now.”

Helena caught her breath and rested her hand on my chest. “You're tired? You're never tired.”

I nodded and held a handout to Hope. She handed me my bandoleer and I took out a general health potion, something I hadn't taken in years, and drank half of it. I felt my energy surge back and gave the rest to Helena. She drank it and closed her eyes as her own energy replenished.

“Sara, you know the procedure.” Helena said and handed me the empty vial.

“My lady, I'll write up the information right now!” Sara said and took Hope's hand. “You need to learn this, too.”

Hope nodded and the two of them left the room. After a few minutes, Helena let out another little sob.

“We did it.” Helena whispered, her voice full of wonder as she rubbed her flat belly. “I've fought against this for...” She gave me a sheepish look. “I'm not against having a child with you, dearest. Not at all. I just wanted to be married first, so the baby would have our family name.”

“We're staying as Henriettas.” I said and she looked surprised for only a second, then she rolled over to get close to me and gently kissed me.

“I love you so much.” Helena whispered and climbed on top of me. We made love again, this time only to make ourselves feel good, and she no longer had to worry about getting pregnant. She pretty much let herself go and exhausted herself again.

I didn't offer her a potion this time and let her fall asleep. If she wanted me to devote the main work crew to making tables and workbenches and me to brew potions to make a lot of money quickly, then I needed to get started right away.

I slipped out of bed and dressed in a casual outfit that had a shirt with the Henrietta Family crest on the front pocket, and left the bedroom with my bandoleer over my shoulder. As I was going down the curved staircase in the main lobby, the front doors opened and the new house staff and guards showed up. They were dressed in the proper uniforms and carried several bags each.

“My lord.” They all said as one.

“I'm glad you're all here.” I said and they all smiled in response. “You know where your living quarters are, so get settled. Don't fight over which rooms, since they are all identical. The kitchen staff are off in the right wing of the house near the huge kitchen and the butlers and maids are in the left wing of the house.”

“Yes, my lord.” The cooks and maids said as one and there was a slightly sad face mixed in there.

“The one exception is the kitchen helper. She can stay with her mother on the maid side, as long as she gets to the kitchen on time in the mornings.”

“Yes, my lord!” The young woman said a little loudly, because she was so happy.

A few people laughed and her mother put a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

“Thank you, my lord.” The mother said, gratefully.

“The guards are stationed in certain spots in the house and on the grounds. Some are night positions only. You need to check the map in the guard quarters for the locations and you can decide among yourselves where you want to work. I'll be by in the morning to brief you all on the defense operations and the equipment you'll all have access to.”

“Equipment?” One of the guards asked.

“Weapons of all kinds and light armor, as well as emplaced heavy ordinance.”

They all stared at me with their mouths open, shocked.

“You can relax. It's not going to be necessary to operate them right now, since a mage or someone with magic active are the only ones that can activate them.” I explained. “I'm not expecting any kind of attack; but, I spent too much time on the front lines of the war to not be as prepared for everything as possible.”

They all took deep breaths and relaxed, I assumed because I had eased their fears of an imminent attack.

“We already have four guards on the property; but, they are from the main family and we haven't asked them to transfer to us permanently yet. If they choose to do so, they will be senior and will get their choice of jobs first.”

“That's fair.” One of the guards said.

“The Lady of the House's personal maid is in overall charge of the maids for the time being, since she has the most experience. If you have any questions, go to Jill if Administrator Lannin is unavailable.”

“He really just wants to run the whole house?” A woman asked.

“He's a great administrator and manager. He can handle any situation as long as he has backing.” I said.

“He likes you and wants to help.” She said with a nod. “I think we all do.”

“I'm in it for the easy money.” A workman said with a laugh and put an arm over his wife, who was also the mother of the young woman. “Oh, and a bench. Frank can't shut up about how great it is.”

The couple other workmen laughed at the old joke. They had chosen to live at the estate as well.

“I'm glad for that, because the Lady of the House has declared that the primary work crew will be making those workbenches and also ornate tables like the ones in the dining room and meeting room.” I said and the men let out low whistles. “Yes, she wants all ten men working on them to make as many as possible for sale.”

One of the men barked a laugh and rubbed his hands together. “This is going to be fun.”

“We need to build a lot of capital as quickly as possible, so I'll be brewing general health and healing potions for sale, too.”

“Oh, wow.” The young woman said. “You're allowed to sell them without a license?”

I smiled at her. “I'm starting at the academy in two days and students get a provisional license to practice.”

“That's sneaky, my lord.” One of the maids said with a huge smile.

“It was Lady Henrietta's idea.” I said.

“I knew she was a smart one.” The maid responded and a few of the others nodded.

“If you have any problems, Administrator Lannin's office is next to the den. If you can't find him, just wait for a few moments. His son is always running around and will know exactly where his father is.”

One of the workmen chuckled. “Gerald's a good lad and he's the best gofer I've ever seen.”

A lot of them nodded in response. I was about to dismiss them when Sara and Hope came out of Lannin's office and saw me on the stairs. They rushed over to me and Sara held the documents up.

“My lord! It's done!” Sara exclaimed. “Gerald will deliver copies to the guild and...” She stopped talking when she saw everyone in the lobby near the front doors. “Oops.”

The maids in front, the closest to her, saw the official documents and immediately recognized them.

“THE LADY IS PREGNANT!” One of them yelled, then pandemonium ensued.

Sara and Hope were surrounded by the women and the men surrounded me. My two maids were verbally pestered with hundreds of questions and I did my best to not listen to them while I was given pats on the back, both of my hands shaken, and congratulated dozens of times.

“It seems you're a powerful mage already!” One of the workmen said. “Only a strong magic can overpower a woman mage's defenses enough to get those little swimmers in! Ha ha!”

I wasn't sure what to say to that, considering Helena fully cooperated. Since she was the only mage I had sex with, I had no idea how it worked for other married couples. It was then that I remembered Helena's words about how rare it was for two betrothed people to actually love each other.

So, this is what she meant. I thought and accepted the man's praise without saying anything. When they don't like each other in a prearranged marriage, the man has to try and overpower the woman to let her accept his seed. He has to earn it or she won't take it, otherwise.

That made me think about the nobles and mages. They held their family secrets and their mage secrets pretty closely, fought off any outsider that tried to come in and take the secrets or one of their daughters. It was almost funny that Grand Mage Henrietta had completely ignored the fact that Helena had worked hard to get me to come to her family, instead of the other way around.

He assumed I wanted whatever secrets he's hiding. I thought as the congratulating came to an end.

“I knew I was going to love working here!” The young woman said, excitedly. “A baby! We're going to have a baby in the house!”

“In eight months.” Her mother said and everyone fell silent.

“Truly?” One of the other maids asked, her voice unsure.

“The infusion happened right away.” The woman said and held up the document that said so. “It happened RIGHT AWAY!”

That set everyone off again and more questions came for the maids and more congratulations came for me. I accepted them silently and nodded in return as the maids did their best to answer the questions without telling everything. In public, anyway. I was sure that as soon as I was out of sight, the questions would get much more personal.

Administrator Lannin came out of his office wearing his night clothes and a robe. “You all need to get to where you're going before morning rolls around.”

That made a few people laugh. A few of the workers pat his shoulder on the way by, making him stagger slightly, and the maids all bowed their heads as they passed him. When it was just Sara, Hope, Lannin, and myself left, Lannin came over to me.

“My lord, congratulations.” Lannin said. “Thank you for choosing us all to watch your child grow up.”

“Children.” I corrected and Sara and Hope gasped. “Helena wants a family and I'm going to give her one that she can be proud of, as is my duty.”

“My lord.” Lannin said with a huge smile, shook my hand briefly, and walked away. “I love working here.” He said as he stepped into his office and closed the door.

Sara and Hope walked over to me and handed me the documents.

“I'll be a witness whenever you need me, my lord.” Sara offered, quite unabashedly.

Hope blushed for a few seconds, then she looked into my eyes. “I'm glad that I have a brother that can give his wife what she needs.” She said and took my hand to shake it. “I'll be a witness as well, since you... um... performed your duty without...” Her face flushed red again.

“You're lucky we left the room as quickly as we did.” Sara said with a happy expression. “There's no way my lady would let that be all they did.”

“What? Why?” Hope asked.

“The first time was only work.” Sara said and shook my hand as well. “Then they enjoyed it.”

I nodded slightly and Sara let my hand go.

“Let's get to our room and prep for tomorrow.” Sara said and took Hope's hand. “It's the first full day that you can teach my lord as much as you can before he has to go to the academy.”

Hope nodded and they left me on the stairs as they went up them to the personal maid quarters. I didn't wait for them to disappear from sight before I went through the house to get to the basement door. I greeted the guards there and told them about asking them to transfer over permanently. I wasn't surprised that they both accepted and I thanked them before I went into the basement to start work on brewing potions.

I would need a lot of them if I was going to sell as much as Helena suggested I would.