Grantville Gazette Volume 86 # Walt Boyes & Bjorn Hasseler by Eric Flint

Author:Eric Flint [Flint, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

Laurel straightened in the saddle and looked back from the hill her horse just climbed up. The small wagon train was still making its way up on a steep, narrow forest path. Half of the dragoons had dismounted to aid in pushing the wagons up; the other half watched the forest for unwelcome visitors. The boys and girls from the comm unit had left the wagons and made themselves helpful. Marga and Roswitha were distributing drinking water among the soldiers.

They didn't expect enemies here, but Georg Kresse and his irregulars, secretly somehow allied to the USE, were not so trustworthy that they wanted to dangle a convoy full of expensive goods before their noses. Military intelligence told them the Vogtland rebel was roaming the Chemnitz area recruiting troops, so he shouldn't bother them this far south near Bohemia's border.

She turned forward again.

There was the city of Freiberg sprawled over the peak of another hill in front of her. Not as impressive as Erfurt with its thirty churches, its silhouette was still significant.

"We'll arrive early this evening, Frau Leutnant." Quellmalz's voice was soft, not fitting for an officer. "You'll sleep in a real bed tonight."

She smiled at him. "I'd like that, Herr Hauptmann. I think I'll need that after this week. May I ask you something personal?"

"Sure."

"The men told me you are from Freiberg. Do you still have a family there?"

"My parents are dead, but my brother David is a teacher at the gymnasium. You'll most likely meet him and his family."

"And you were called into the army instead?"

He shrugged. "Teacher or captain. The difference is not too big."

Laurel laughed. "You might be correct in this assessment."

"And you? What makes a young woman enlist in the army shortly after her graduation?"

Now it was her time to shrug. "I always was more interested in engineering than in Barbies. During my high school years, I was more fond of working under the hood of cars than talking about dresses or makeup. I spent my evenings with the big boys repairing radios and other gadgets instead of making out with them. I . . ." She stopped.

Quellmalz lifted his eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Do you know that I got married last spring?"

He looked at her puzzled. "No. I thought 'Miss' was a title for unmarried women."

"The marriage was annulled the next day. I caught Donny in flagrante delicto with one of the wedding guests."

"Ouch!"

"He was anyway too old for me. A real charmer and a distant cousin to boot. Maybe I wouldn't have fallen for him if I'd had prior experience."

"Well, I must say that the mating rites of you up-timers are an enigma for me. You know that most marriages in the here and now are arranged by parents?"

"Among nobility."

"Not only. Young women often only have a choice to marry a certain young man or become a—um—spinner?"

Laurel looked at him with wide eyes. "Spinster. But that is . . . degrading."

He shrugged. "Most of those marriages work well. For all, I hear, perhaps better than among you up-timers.

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