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"What is this nonsense," Blackthorne said disgustedly. "It's all conflicting and it's all garbage. They're going by the secondary road, they're going by the main road, they're stocking up. Thorburn would be a fool to attack me and he's no fool."

"What if he's going to train his women?" Ian said. "He wouldn't even need to hire more mercenaries. He could double his troop strength merely by training them."

"You think he can train women to be ready to fight in two months? It's nonsense. No five women is worth one man. The only thing they'd be good for is stabbing you while you've got your cock between their legs."

"They've started some new kind of training, Lord. I hear it started first on Frang's property and now Thorburn is starting it as well. I'm told Ladies Ailene and Isobel have excelled at the new training. They were able to defeat fifteen of Bjarkë's best troops, then twenty of Thorburn's. If the new training works for men as well as women, they may not need more soldiers. Perhaps we need more troops, Lord."

"You'd have me waste my money hiring more troops when you can't do enough with the one's we have have. Sounds like I need a new commander instead of more troops. It's a bunch of lies. Two women beating thirty-five men. They're flooding me with misinformation trying to cause me to panic. It seems to be working. You sound like you're panicking, Ian, I'm not. Why haven't you been able to ambush them again? They go to market almost every week."

"They never take the same route twice, Lord. The only time I know where they are for certain is right beside the two farms and in town. When they're close to the farms, additional soldiers can be rushed to their defense and you told us not to attack them in Dervaig. Plus, they usually travel with at least thirty men, more when they've joined together. When I try to arrange ambushes along all possible paths to Dervaig, we're spread too thin to attack."

"Some of this information has to be right. Someone has to know what the hell they're planning. They can't be planting false information with all my spies."

"We're trying to correlate who's providing the right information now. We keep track of who tells us what, then send out scouts to confirm which report is most accurate. Once we know who's correct most often, we'll plan to use their knowledge instead of trying to decipher which is good and which is bad."

Today, Isobel was training four women; yesterday was three. Meghan was helping the newest one with her stance, while Isobel showed the other two the first two positions. All the men and boys had advanced to the point where she no longer had to work constantly with them. One of the most advanced students who'd come with Ailene and Bjarkë from the Keep was working with them, running the many drills. Isobel could concentrate on the women. Meghan heard another woman wished to join as well. They worked hard for two hours, until the new students were aching and could no longer stand. Isobel sent them to the house to apply the liniment balm and to rest for a half hour before they had to resume their duties. Then she worked Meghan for another hour. Already she'd toughened up enough to withstand the extra work.

When Meghan was panting, Isobel sat her down for a brief rest. Lowering her voice, she said, "Tonight, you need to signal for a special meeting. I want you to tell your contact that we're now training four women with a fifth about to join. This is easily confirmed with their other spies. The false information you must provide is twelve soldiers are leaving for the Keep tomorrow along the main road. It is not their route, but we want false information to be spread. I suspect they'd try to ambush them if they knew which route they were going, so they mustn't know."

"Aye, Lady Isobel."

"Do you think you have the energy to practice for another half hour?"

"I'm already getting stronger and need less liniment than before," Meghan said, "so let's continue."

"Good. You're progressing quickly, Meghan. I hope to put you on the battleground soon."

"Thank you, Mistress."

"Bonnie, I'd like your help arranging my hair, please attend me in Thorburn's room."

"Yes, mistress."

They both went upstairs and Teárlag locked the door.

"Sshh, I need you to get another message out for me tonight. Come fix my hair while I tell you."

"Is it important?"

"Very important. Thorburn is building up his forces. Twenty fighting men are coming from Lady Luck Farm tomorrow, to start work with his soldiers."

"Do you know their route."

"Nay, no one knows which direction they'll travel until the last minute. Both Frang and Thorburn know there are spies about and don't make a decision on the route until the last second. When one is finally picked, it's a surprise to everyone. When they must use the carts, they have to travel by some road, even if relatively unused and overgrown. It's why so many man travel with the carts, but mounted men can go anywhere. They're as likely to use a deer path as a road. Still, it might give Blackthorne an opportunity to weaken Thorburn."

Bonnie was silent for several minutes, doing Teárlag's hair. "Do you find it funny that we're planning to ruin Thorburn right in his very own bedroom?"

Teárlag smiled into the mirror. "It is rather amusing, isn't it. I like to imagine the look he'll have on his face when he finds I've betrayed him as he's shoving his cock into my mouth. His big, fat cock. I'm so sick of his big cock. My jaw hurts. I'm almost relieved when he fucks my ass."

They laughed.