Bec grew slightly nervous when Glichon went upstairs, as the other soldiers immediately started leering at her. But Bichon growled and cracked his knuckles, which made them laugh.
“Oh come on,” one said. “Your sister might be cute.”
Bec swallowed but Bichon put his arm around her and pulled her closer. He nuzzled her hair with his nose and she blushed a bit.
“I’m uh…not his sister,” she said. “I’m Gorobichan’s sister.”
The soldiers raised their eyebrows and quickly backed away as Bichon glared at them.
“Don’t he ever say anything?” the soldier asked.
“Erm…not when he’s doing this. Now if you don’t mind…”
The soldiers laughed as Bec turned away from them, putting her arms around Bichon. She was really hoping he didn’t mind this, but he was smiling as he put one hand on her face. She had the veil over her face, so he kept it hidden with his hand. Her heart was racing as he closed his eyes and nuzzled her with his nose as if he were kissing her.
“Hey Gorobichan! Why you letting your sister’s boyfriend be the escort?”
“Oh I didn’t have much say in the matter. He’s related to the bride.”
Bec looked up and adjusted the veil again as a large and round soldier sat down with them. He smiled at Bichon and gave a shrug.
“Oh don’t mind me. Dad likes it that she’s with a guy your size.”
Bichon grinned and shook his hand as Bec peered over at him.
“So uh…how is our other relative?”
“He’s had better days. But he sends his regards…and wants me to let you know that a certain other relative is up in Lubada.”
Bec blinked, trying to remember where Lubada was on the map.
“Isn’t that in um…Carduan?”
“Yes. Seems the guy is in jail…and won’t be getting out for a while.”
Bec peered at him.
“Which relative is this exactly?”
Gorobichan lowered his voice.
“The one that’s a prophet.”
Bec’s eyes grew wide as he nodded.
“He’s the one that told us to keep an eye out in Solang. Found some mighty pretty girls at the slave market there.”
Bec raised an eyebrow.
“Girls?”
“From Monatuba. They send us female slaves…and thanks to the tip from our relative, we had enough saved up to buy them. Commander is keeping them in his harem for now.”
Bec peered at Bichon, who had an eyebrow raised. She then looked at Gorobichan and cracked a grin.
“I’m not sure if Dad would approve of you having a slave girl.”
“Ha. Dad would be disappointed that I paid for a slave girl…instead of just stealing one. Seems he stole two last year.”
Bec blinked and whispered to him.
“You mean…Dad was in Clomang?”
“Of course, he was. I’m kind of surprised he left. Guess those girls he swiped finally talked him into it.”
Bec gave a slow nod.
“Well um…you’ll have to send Dad my regards.”
“You’ll likely see him before I do. Still trying to figure out how to get my girlfriend out of the harem. Glichon says the only way to do that is to marry her.”
Bec blinked.
“Marry her?”
“Well soldiers aren’t allowed to take slave girls on the road. But we are allowed to have a wife with us.”
“But um…she isn’t interested in marriage?”
“She’s actually open to the idea. It’s her friend that doesn’t want to marry our cousin. She has another boyfriend…who’s almost as big as yours is.”
Bec glanced at Bichon, who gave a nod. He then gave a sly smile and rubbed his fingers together. Gorobichan raised an eyebrow but Bec nodded.
“Well seeing as she’s a slave girl…why don’t you buy her?”
“I already have the other one,” he said.
“Right,” Bec said. “And if you marry the other one, you should purchase a slave for her.”
Gorobichan gave a slow nod.
“Brilliant. I’ll uh…have to see what our cousin thinks of that…and see if he’ll give me a fair price. Them girls weren’t cheap.”
“Well um…you seem to be fairly well off,” Bec said. “You paid for our room…and also our passage to Fioska. I presume another relative is there.”
“That’s what we’ve heard anyway,” Geo grinned. “One that acts a lot like Dad…although he destroys property rather than stealing it.”
“He destroys property?”
“Ships in particular. Glichon’s heard stories about him for a while…so he’s the one footing the bill to send you there.”
Bec gave a slow nod.
“I wasn’t too sure of this friend of yours at first.”
“Well I wasn’t either. But he helped me rescue this kid over in Robbadong…and also recognized this boyfriend of yours.”
“Right,” Bec said, smiling at Bichon. “They’re um…old friends that met in Welvale.”
“He told us about that. Said Bichon here was a terrible liar.”
Bec blinked and looked at Bichon.
“You were lying?”
Bichon sighed and Gorobichan shook his head.
“Kind of had to,” he whispered. “They were killing all the giants…so he had to claim he was older.”
“Oh I see,” she said. “I suppose the um…giants were too much of a threat.”
“Well they were,” he said. “It was their size that helped them stay in power.”
Bec blinked.
“In…power?”
He cocked his head.
“Well yeah. All the giants were in the royal family…which is another reason we needed to wipe them out.”
YOU ARE READING
The Account of the Brides
AdventureBec is finally getting educated due to the Gruman occupation. But she realizes it's time to escape when she hears about the prisoners in the tower.
