Faro and Ware also rode; Faro was on a mule, a big-boned rangy black beast with brown rings around its eyes. Very odd he looked, too, perched uncomfortably on its back. Ware rode the kind of spirited horse she, as the expedition leader, would have been riding, had she followed the Queens suggestions. And, without a doubt, if she had, she would have been thrown a dozen times in the first day. Yes, she looked a little silly on a mule, but she would have looked even sillier falling over her horses tail, or black and blue from spills. She had too much sense to ride something like that when she did not really know how to ride. But she couldn't help but look enviously at the demon out of the corner of her eye. He looked supremely comfortable and elegant on his graceful beast; the horse was a rich chestnut, and he wore brown riding-leathers to match it. This was not a beast out of the Queen's stable, but rather, out of his own. Another indication of his wealth.
The three of them headed up the column of armed men. Amazingly, Adria had granted the entire expedition permission to bear arms within the borders of Mazonia. Xylina had wondered about that; it seemed very strange to allow so many men to carry weapons, with only herself to command them.
But perhaps Adria had a rival for this crystal, one that she had not seen fit to warn Xylina about. If that were the case-well, such a threat had not materialized during the last month. Perhaps a show of force had been more than enough to keep such a rival from attempting to turn the expedition into a failure before it started.
As Ware had told her, all the servants and guards were men, and all were personally bound to the Queen's service. Xylina had appointed Ware as her advisor, and Faro as her chief of staff-telling the former wryly that since she was going to be burdened with him anyway, he might as well make himself useful.
There were two dozen guards, three servants, and three carts bearing supplies, driven by the servants, plus themselves. As she had gone over the supplies they would need, Xylina had been able to point out that there were things they would not need to take with them. Tents, for instance; blankets and bedding, soap, most clothing for herself, in short, anything she could conjure. Ware assured her that conjuring would work for some considerable distance outside Mazonia. They would not need firewood or oil for lamps. They would not need replacement axles for the wagons, or foul-weather capes. Thus, they were able to eliminate some of the bulkiest and heaviest things and replace them with more food for themselves and the mules and Ware's horse, more weaponry, and medical supplies.
She hoped that they would not need the latter.
While they journeyed through Mazonia, they did not need to use many of their supplies. She was able to purchase fresh food wherever they stopped. But once they reached the border, there was no telling what they might meet.
The men seemed tame enough. They responded immediately to her orders, and to Faro's. She had asked him to spend a great deal of his time with them, if he could, to get to know what they were like. She did not think that Queen Adria had planted a traitor amidst them, but it was possible that one or more of them was unreliable.
At least they looked as if they knew how to use those weapons they carried, although as yet that had not been put to the test. So many of the men that Faro had trained had been totally ignorant of how to defend even themselves. Many had been favored house-slaves, or even husbands and concubines, and they had never needed to think about weaponry. They needed only to keep themselves attractive, raise the children properly, and tend to the duties they were assigned within the household. Faro had often said, in disgust, that it was a good thing his pupils had women to protect them, or they would have been helpless against any kind of assault. This did not appear to be the case with Adria's guards.
There were also several dogs, who would be useful on guard duty, and to sniff out devious trails, and perhaps in hunting. They were well trained, and did not run around getting in the way.
It took Xylina a while to realize that there was something odd about the three servants. Finally she broached the matter to Ware. "Those servants-they don't urinate. They never go to the sanitary trench with the soldiers."
Ware smiled. "They are normal for their gender. They prefer to use the trench privately, as the men do when they defecate."
"Their gender?" she asked blankly.
"They are female. I thought you understood."
"Female! The Queen sent other women along?"
"Not Mazonites. These are from what we call the Animal Kingdom, tolerated here in much the manner we demons are, because they serve a need that it might otherwise be inconvenient to accommodate."
Realization dawned. "Like the stripes!"
"Like the stripes," he agreed. "But less obviously different, in the body."
"Different?"
"Let me introduce you." He whistled, surprising her. In a moment one of the servants made an appearance in the tent. Now it was apparent that under the loose-fitting clothing was the body of a fairly well endowed woman. "Pattée, show Mistress Xylina your paw," he said.
The woman put one hand to the other and pulled off her glove. There was a-paw. It looked like the appendage of a dog, with stubby claws and thick underlying pads.
Ware glanced at Xylina. "Do you wish to see more? Her feet are similarly configured. It is done magically in infancy, among her people. Some have bird appendages, or goat hooves. It varies. But their torsos are normal by your definition, and the men don't seem to mind."
"No," Xylina said, taken aback. "No more."
"Pattée, cover and return to your business," Ware told the woman, and she did so without a word. "They can't speak," he explained. "Only with animal sounds. This is the way women are expected to be, in that culture."
"It's appalling!"
He shrugged. "By your definition. They do, however, made excellent sexual company for the soldiers. Such women are standard equipment on missions such as this. Your proper course is to ignore them. Certainly they will not cause you any trouble."
Xylina swallowed uncomfortably. "I'll ignore them," she agreed.
As for the men themselves, while Xylina had not gotten overly friendly with any of them, she had been able, through Faro, to learn quite a bit about some of them.
Most were "surplus" men-too rough and too plain to be desirable as husbands, not graceful or clever enough to learn the skills of entertainers, household servants, or craftsmen. That left them only one possible use: as common laborers or as guards. Faro had told her than these men were only too happy to be spared the lot of the common laborer-men who worked from dawn to dusk, and rarely lived beyond the age of forty.
But of the remainder, there were some surprises. Three of them were what Faro slightingly referred to as "used" men-those who had somehow displeased their mistress-wives. They had not had any skills beyond the ordinary-tending the household and the children. No one wanted them as husbands or even harem-slaves, since they were beyond the young and nubile age. Wanting to be rid of them, their mistress-wives had deeded them to the Queen; the Queen, in her turn, had ascertained that they had a certain talent with weaponry, and so had them trained as guardsmen.
"Somewhat the way you were," she said softly.
He nodded agreement. "They were not angry in the way I was, so were not relegated to the arena. But they do resemble me in having exploitable resources."
And there were two young and remarkably handsome men who hoped by their bravery on this expedition to catch the Queen's attention and be added to her harem-or even given supreme status as her husband. Queen Adria had not yet elevated any of her harem slaves to that position, and the young men of the harem were constantly hoping that she might choose one of them. These two had hit upon the notion that since bravery and strength were the prime Mazonite virtues, the Queen might well prefer a brave and strong man to sire her daughters, as well as a handsome one.