Princess Rescue Inc 2 Snippet 1

Sitrep:
I finished Tales of the Reborn Federation 4 over the weekend, and it is in the hands of the betas. I worked on the cover art:

And we're running with that. :)

I also sent PRI 2 Hostage Rescue to Rea Tuesday. I'm going to be making corrections to PRI 1 sometime this week.

I've started to get caught up on projects, and start a laundry list of others. I've got a lot of print projects for Christmas, both as gifts and as decorations around the house and outside it. Plus my droid and other projects.
In other words, fun. :)

I also have a list of stuff to get ready for, including Thanksgiving prep. >:P Plus some stuff I've been putting off that have lingered on my To-Do list too long. (including this snippet!)

Anyway, on to the first snippet!

Chapter 1

Crown Princess Zara of the Ianua Imperium had been sent north with a small force as well as the Duluth survivors in order to take command of the newly conquered kingdom.

It was an unusual form of conquest, one that was thought to be easy for most of the adult force had gone south to invade her lands and had died or been captured. The remainder who had been left behind were old and starving.

The blond teenager had found that the task was going to be a bit harder than she'd been told though, not that she'd expected anything less.

It hadn't been as simple as handing over some supplies to the local dominus friendly to her sister Deidra, the Impertrix or queen. No, far from it.

She made a soft puttering sound with her lips as she considered what she'd taken control of. She was starting to regret her delay. Had she come sooner she might have been able to do more before the long snows hit. As it was she had a very short time to do what even Heracles would have run from.

Not more than an Annus, a year ago she had been blithely unaware of how much duty and the weight of command could haunt her. She'd been young and so naive, sheltered by some to allow her some semblance of a childhood. She had been aware of the dangers of politics but they had seemed a distant thing.

Well, she had grown since then, burned by the fires of war, yet unbroken. She had been reforged by her friendship with the Terrans, those strange people from Patria, the homeworld through the portal. She had them to thank for repeatedly rescuing her and her sister.

Their leader, Eugene Ryans had done most of the work in rescuing. He'd also negotiated with her late parents to help them when Duluth marched further into the Imperium unchecked. By opening up the Terran's tech a little he had given the Imperium the ability to crush the northerners. King Richard, his son and heir, and many of the higher lords had been slaughtered in the battle. Those that had remained had surrendered and bent a knee to her sister.

Deidra had also been forged in the fire of war. Eugene tempered her hot anger and Zara had to admit, they made a good team. He had been the one to broker the final truce. She had been sent north as part of the deal.

She knew the expectations of marriage but had discarded them. Sure she liked some like the young Dominus Siegfried, but not all were like him. She had made some friends in the Dominus whom had come with her party a short time ago.

That friendship had been forged in blood when beasts, bandits, and then attackers had come for their heads. They had fought them off and forged a brotherhood. It was tentative though, and she wasn't quite sure how far she could trust it.

It had allowed them to reach the capital and castle though, and although her people were still assessing the ruinous state of affairs it was going to be their base of operations for the time being.

Which meant they had to make the best of it, she thought with another puttering sound.

The castle had been looted. She had yet to explore it all but she had noted many precious artifacts were missing just from the ring of dust left behind. The same for paintings and tapestries that had once adorned the walls. She had no idea where they went. The Duluthians seemed careless about their cultural heritage.

She'd roll up her sleeves and get to work but it was getting cold. Sleeves or no, it was time to get back to work though.

~~~^~~~

Baron Farragut realized that if it was that bad in the capital, it would be worse abroad. He reluctantly took his leave to check on his domain. Other dominus did the same. Zara sent them home with kits that had been assembled. "I know it is not much, but hopefully it will help in the long run," she said to each of them.

The Baron was touched by the kit, especially when he took stock of it and noted there was a great deal about simple ways to implement the outlandish concepts from Patria. He vowed his support. Others did the same with the qualifier that they would be able to help and send tribute only when they got their houses in order.

~~~^~~~

Convoy master Bernardus left to return to the Imperium with a small guard force three dies, or days after their arrival. They returned light, with a small load of furs, salt, some rare metals, and material as tribute and trade goods. Since he was running light and now knew the passage he expected the run to be quicker.

In order to lighten the load he only took the carts and wagons, the carriages and their draft beasts were left behind. Bernardus was distressed at the state of the royal stables and warned Zara that something had to be done about the fodder situation or the beasts would starve in the long winter.

Given the parlous state of affairs in the capital Zara was in grim agreement. There was little she could do to rectify it though. She put her people to work though. Agnes and others complained about not knowing where to begin. Zara reminded them that they had a plan. They sat down to break the problems down into more solvable chunks.

Tacitus, her technical smith managed to get the HAM radio temporarily set up before the first snows hit and buried them. It took patience for her to get through to the capital. When she did she called in a report of the events she had endured, and was heartily glad to hear a scratchy report of another convoy on the road north. This one carried food and material. Her sister had rushed it to her after hearing some bad stories.

The convoy arrived two hafta after Bernardus's departure, just on the eve of a great blizzard. Some said it had been a gift from the Aegir, the Duluthian gods. She didn't care, she only blessed that her sister had the foresight and charity to send it. She was certain that it would make a world of difference in the near future.

~~~^~~~