Dial H for Heroics

Josie checked her kids out. They looked okay in their adventuring clothes. Elaine had geared herself up to fit in. The assistant had to meet the teacher if she had to take the girls to their lessons.

Jack staggered into the dining room, rubbing his eyes. Melanie pushed him along.

“It’s a lot of work getting him up,” complained the girl. “He mumbled for a good

while before he actually started talking, and then he wouldn’t open his eyes.”

“He just needs some coffee,” said Josie. She passed over a cup of steaming brew. “I think we’re ready to go. Can you take care of yourself, Jack?”

“I have to hit that house,” said Jack. He sniffed the coffee and grinned. “This smells so nice. Could I talk to you for a second, Jo, before you guys head out.”

“Sure,” Josie said. She waved the girls to get started without her. Elaine shooed them in front of her, taking one look at the bleary Jack before she left the room herself.

“What’s the problem?,” asked Josie. She leaned on the kitchen counter.

“The Society dropped by last night,” said Jack. He sipped the coffee. “I forgot to ask them about how to make phones work, but they told me someone else is also hunting the Montrose. He found out who some of them were before we put the hex down, and now he is using that to pick his victims faster.”

“I don’t know if that’s good, or bad,” said Josie. She weighed things in her mind. “There’s nothing we can do about it until he crosses us, and as long as he leaves us and the girls alone, I’m willing to leave him alone.”

“They said we have the same means to find the Montrose that he does,” said Jack. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.”

“All right,” said Josie. She brushed back her hair with her hand. “We need to stay on target. I plan to take the kids and Elaine out for their first lesson, then see if I can reach Kearnly from here in a reasonable time period. I’m a little miffed that I don’t have a Flash, or Ray, in my deck. What are you doing?”

“You don’t have a Flash, or Ray?,” asked Jack. The coffee made him straighten up into a full standing position instead of remaining slumped over like an ape.

“They’re not speedsters,” said Josie. It annoyed her that Jack had found something that could carry him around in a second with little use of power, but she hadn’t found one yet. Flash and Ray were pure blasters, while Quicksilver turned into a blob of liquid metal. Those were the three fastest characters she could think of off the bat. She needed to think and see if she could dredge up another speedster from her memory.

“That’s sad,” said Jack. He sipped at his coffee.

“How do you plan to spend the rest of your day?,” asked Josie. She wished she had another cup of coffee herself, but she couldn’t spend all day sheep dogging Jack, and take care of her own commitments.

“The first thing I got to do is find the address of Guin’s rival and swing by his house and take a look around,” said Jack. “There’s a chance he’s not showing his face because of what we did. The plan is to gather intelligence, do a little snoop de snoop. I might go by the building we wrecked, or check in with Linus. Then I’m going to try to map the route to the Dark Rider’s crypt so I can take him out before he becomes a problem.”

“Did you read the stuff Elaine found?,” said Josie. She had. It had taken a few

minutes to piece together the printing process.

“Nope,” said Jack. “How bad is it?”

“The Dark Rider initiates a Wild Hunt, and anybody he comes across has to join in,” said Josie. “I have to go. It’s obvious why they don’t want him called up, or let reach any place as big as Hawk Ridge.”

She left him cursing and having to get his own food. She stepped outside and locked the door. The girls fidgeted in place as they watched her.

“All right,” said Josie. “We have a few miles to walk. So let’s get to it.”

“Can’t you just whisk us across?,” asked Melanie. She made an arm gesture to emulate the teleportation they had done in the night.

“Wouldn’t you rather walk and build up your muscles for practice?,” asked Josie. The looks she received said no.

“I think a wagon would be good for long range travel out of the neighborhood,

Mistress,” said Elaine.

“Et tu, Elaine,” said Josie. She squinted at Jack’s assistant.

“I don’t know what that means, but I assure you that is not me,” said Elaine.

“One time, I will whisk you along,” said Josie. “After that, you’re going to have to either learn how to walk, or get a job and get enough money for horses for all of you.”

“That sounds like work,” said Melanie.

“That’s because it is,” said Josie. She looked at the girl. The other girls stepped back in case she was planning on turning the girl into a frog, or something worse. “You can’t sit and expect things just to fall in your lap even if they do sometimes do that. You have to put a little bit of time in to get things you want.”

“That sounds harder than I like,” said Melanie.

“That’s because you’re lazy,” said Matilda. “You want a prince, but you don’t want to eat the heart of a dragon to get one.”

“That’s not true,” complained Melanie. “I just like to take the shortest line to get things done faster.”

“If I don’t have to do it, I won’t,” said Josie. “If I have to do it, I’ll do it as fast

as I can to get it done.”

“Exactly,” said Melanie.

Josie didn’t tell her that it was a quote from the laziest detective in fiction she had ever seen. That would be a little much.

“All right,” said Josie. “I’ll carry you to the Hall. We’ll see how the lesson goes

before I think about adding a wagon and horse to the expenditures.”

“All right,” said Melanie. “No walking.”

“If I drop you, I’m sorry,” said Josie. She reached for her watch as the girls processed the words and didn’t like the end thoughts. She called on Northwind, picking her group up and yanking them through the air on a swift wind.

They landed gently in front of the Hall. Josie switched back. The girls had various reactions but Beatrice and Laura looked sick, Angelica laughed, Matilda and Melanie were screaming for another ride. Alicia stood in place, unaffected by the trip.

“I think I will walk home,” said Elaine. “That was a little too exciting for me.”

“Let’s get ourselves together and go in,” said Josie. She pulled down her poncho as she walked toward the door. The girls came behind her, talking about the flight through the city. Elaine walked at the back.

Josie noticed the quest board only had a few notices on it. How long would it take to fill up again. The counter lady nodded when she saw the group approaching the desk.

“Mistress Fox,” she said. “Your teacher is waiting in the training area off the hall. Just follow the signs.”

“Bowman?,” asked Josie. What was wrong with the counter people in this world? They didn’t seem quite right to her.

“We haven’t found one yet,” said the counter lady.

“This is my partner’s assistant, Mistress Numera,” said Josie. She gestured at Elaine. “She will be bringing the girls to their lessons if I can’t be here.”

“That’s fine,” said the counter lady. “I’ll leave word with the other clerks so she can come and go with your children.”

“We’re not her children!,” exclaimed Laura. “We’re ducklings.”

“They’re my sisters,” said Josie. She looked around. “Let’s go, kids. The training area is that way.”

Josie led the way from the counter. She noted the adventurers gave her and her brood a wide margin in the hall as she followed the signs down to a courtyard at the back of the building. Sand had been laid down for people to fall on. She didn’t see anything like a bench. She guessed that anyone coming here was coming to fight and not sit around.

A man walked out on the courtyard. He wore a frown and a loose fitting training suit. One sleeve of his tunic was pinned up because there wasn’t an arm to keep it from flapping around. His hair had some gray in it, but he still looked younger than she expected.

“Are you the sword teacher?,” asked Josie. She kept her hand wave at his disability to herself, but she knew her doubt was coming through in her voice.

“Yes,” said the one armed man. “I’m Sir Darry Harp. I have been in both the army, and worked as an adventurer a number of years. Right now, I’m semiretired and living off the occasional odd job like this.”

“Do you know anything about teaching?,” asked Josie.

“I have taught some lessons to people over the years,” said Harp. He could see his joke burn up in midair. “I assure you that I know a little about fighting.”

“Let’s see what you got,” said Josie. “This is Elaine. She’s my second. One of us will be here with the girls for lessons.”

“Did they tell you about my prices?,” said Harp.

“Did they tell you I will light you on fire if you can’t do the job?,” said Josie.

“Because that should have been the first thing they told you before telling you not to waste my time. Let’s see what you can do. Then I will pay you a good wage.”

“Really?,” said Harp.

“Don’t haggle,” said Matilda. “Just show us what we should be doing.”

“All right,” said Harp. “There are practice weapons in a chest next to the door. Go ahead and get them. Try to pick something that you can use.”

The girls headed for the door. They returned with wooden practice swords. The weapons were held awkwardly by the new students.

“The first thing I should teach you is how to hold your weapons,” said Harp. “You want to hold the hilt with both hands wrapped around it. The hilt is the handle at the end.”

Josie crossed her arms and watched as the lesson continued.