MAYFLOWER

CHAPTER TEN

It was crowded, she grimaced, did what she had to, and used her pointed elbow to force her way through. It was dark, smoke-filled. She coughed and wiped her eyes. The place stunk of the worst of human odors. A hand reached out of the gaggle of bodies. She thought it would be another unwelcome touch and prepared to bat it away. The face that belonged to the arm showed itself. It was Ringo. He took her hand. "Over here."

"I didn't think you would find us, so I came looking. What a crowd, eh?" He used his shoulders to clear a path through the bodies. They sat at a table that had light from latticed windows. At the table were Martha, Connie, Brod and Blue. "Look, who I found." It was tight. She fitted in at an end. The table was laden with jugs of beer. A chorus of greetings came for her. The message from Ringo had said that the cohort was on leave. They would be drinking beer at a tavern, she had not been forgotten, and she was invited. No doubt, they wanted to know if she had met the King and Queen.

The men of the cohort wore cotton shirts that were buttoned low. Martha and Connie wore sleeveless dresses, that had a shade of color. She was greeted with smiles. The empty jugs of beer on the table could have helped with this. It smelled like chestnut beer. Had they been drinking it for her? "Well then, lass," Martha said, "what was the King and Queen like?"

"I'd never want to meet them," Brod scoffed. "To stiff and serious for me."

"Aren't you the King and Queen's Cohort?"

"Doesn't mean we have to like them."

Connie leaned across her and looked out the window. "Your wet. It's still raining cats and dogs out there." Glinda glanced at the window and for a moment thought of Font and his frog rain. Howbeit, it was only thick drops of rain. She smirked.

"You know," Blue said, "it always rains on this planet because they fouled up the terraforming."

"Shut up," Martha cut in, "I want to hear about the King and Queen."

Glinda hesitated, picked up a mug of beer, and took a long sip. "They questioned me about my village." She gulped. "And did not believe a word I said."

There was silence among the soldiers. "That ain't important." Ringo broke the silence. "We all believe you."

"So, what's to happen to you?" Connie asked.

"The cohort is always looking for more people," Martha added.

"I don't know," Glinda answered. "My one contact in the palace-fort has been avoiding me. The only message I got was that I must leave the Royal Apartments."

"What will you do?"

"I must return to Branston. I have a friend. He is a Royal Scout and missed the attack. He most likely has returned by now. But I want to see my father first."

"Your father," Ringo said, "have you not seen him yet? He is in the capital, isn't he?"

Glinda sighed. She did not really want to talk about it, especially to all of them. "He is, but I haven't been able to see him."

Their faces were full of questions but no one spoke. It fell to Blue to change the topic. "Our next expedition is to be to the Dark-Half, I reckon." He sucked on his cigarette and blew the smoke over the group.

"And why's that mister-know-it-all?" Brod scoffed. "Ain't nothing there even for dumb grunts like us."

"Not true, there is all kinds of ... well, real things there." He was prodded by Brod. "Secret stuff, of course, they won't tell us."

The conversation settled into the banter of soldiers. Glinda gulped down the chestnut beer. She was glad it had moved on from her. The time passed quickly. She listened to the stories and crazy theories, laughed along, and drank a lot. She offered to buy bear, but was refused, which was good as she had no money and was probably too young to buy.