I walked back to where Petra could see me and waved again.

Then I started checking each of the buildings. There was no one alive in the town. I didn't find any other animals. Other than insects. I found six bodies. There were probably more, but I wasn't interested in looking more thoroughly.

I walked back to the stables and looked around. I found the horses' tack. I knew almost nothing about horses, but I knew you put the blanket on first, then the saddle, and I knew horses tried to play tricks to keep from tightening the belly strap. I tossed a blanket over the horse and it was way too large. I took it off, folded it, and then it was just perfect. I arranged it then picked up a saddle.

The saddle was heavy, but I managed to throw it over the horse's back. I reached underneath to find the belly strap and decided this was a girl. I thought. I tightened the strap, then waited for the horse to breath out and tightened it once more.

I swear she gave me a dirty look. I put a bridle on her. Or halter. Or whatever it was that had the bit. The horse didn't want me to insert the bit, but finally I got it arranged in what I thought was right.

I saddled the second one.

I thought about bringing hay. Or grain, or whatever I could find. I left it.

I grabbed the reins and led both horses from the stable. They were very docile and followed obediently. They were much better behaved than I tended to be.

I walked the horses all the way back to the waiting women. "Look, Mom," I said. "They followed me home. Can I keep them?"

Petra stared at me but Erika looked especially pleased. She walked up and examined them, adjusting the tack.

"You stole two horses?" Petra asked.

"I'm fairly certain their prior owner won't be using them again." I said. "I found six bodies. I didn't examine every building that thoroughly."

"Oh hell," Petra said. "I wouldn't suppose Vincent was one of them."

"I couldn't have told you," I replied.

"How did they die?" Andrea asked.

"I couldn't have told you that, either. I can tell you that I've never seen so many maggots and flies in my life."

"Ewww," said Beth.

"Tell me about it." I turned to Petra. "You aren't going to want to kiss me until I go brush my teeth. I got a little sick. Does anyone have like a case of breath mints?"

"You seem pretty cavalier about it," Petra said.

"I already did the whole sick thing and the freak out thing," I told her. "This is my dealing with it thing."

Erika was still checking out both of the horses. "Can I have one?" she asked me.

I was still holding the reins. I handed them to Petra. "That's not my decision," I said. "I decided it would be cruel to leave them there. They would starve to death. I don't know the first thing about horses. Now they're Petra's problem."

"I know about horses," Erika said. "Petra, I'll take care of them."

"All yours," Petra said. "Unless someone else knows how to take care of them. This is the closest I've ever been to one."

"Was there any feed for them?" Erika asked.

"Bales of something. I don't know if there was anything else."

Erika climbed onto one of the horses. "I'll be right back." She collected the reins and turned the horse back to the village.

Petra sighed. "We should all go." So, leading the second horse, the five of us followed after Erika.

Erika saw us following, and she waited at the edge of town. "Were there any bodies in the stables? I forgot to ask."

"I didn't find any," I said. "There are two in the smithy." I pointed. "I found one or two in these other buildings." I pointed. "I didn't check any of the farms. I bet they have chickens or something that need feeding, and there might be more animals. But again, I don't know the first thing about chickens except they taste nummy."

Petra and Andrea exchanged looks. "We have to search the entire village," Petra said. "Beth you're with me. Karen and Felicia. Andrea, can you keep guard over Erika? If anyone sees anyone alive, make a lot of noise and head for the stables. Pop home if you need to for your own safety."

Karen and I backtracked to the farm we'd been tromping through. There was a small farm house, a small stable, and something that looked like a chicken coop, but the creatures inside weren't chickens. I didn't know what they were, but I decided they looked hungry. I had no idea what to feed them.

We checked the stables first. Inside we found two animals that looked sort of like cows. Or oxen. They were huge. I found hay and a bucket for water. I gave the bucket to Karen and asked her to see if there was a well somewhere.

I fed the oxen. Or cows. Whatever. Karen came back in. "Hand pump," she said. She handed me the bucket. I dumped it into one trough then followed her outside and helped her fill the bucket again. She ran inside and gave the other ox some water.

"I don't want to go inside," Karen said. "I think we both know what we're going to find."

"I know. I'll go. Scream if you see anything alive."

We walked to the door of the cottage. "Hello!" I said. There was no noise. I opened the door. "Hello!"

I heard the buzzing. I turned to Karen. "Stay out here. Do not get between me and somewhere to throw up, just in case."

I held my hand over my mouth and nose and stepped inside. It was a one-room cottage and there were two bodies on the bed. I looked around briefly then closed the door behind me.

"Two bodies," I told Karen.

We returned to the stable and asked Andrea which farm we should check next.

I entered into a total of four farm houses. There were bodies in three of them. They all had chicken coop things, but no more oxen. Maybe they shared the cow-oxen.

When the entire village had been searched, we met back at the stables. Petra had been crying. "We knew these people," she said. "Not friends, we didn't speak the same language, but we knew them."

"We can't leave the oxen and chicken-things locked up," I said. "I don't know what to feed the chicken-things. Some predator is probably going to catch all of them, but even that's better than letting them starve to death."

"We should bury the bodies," Karen said.

"You go in there and tell me you want to drag them outside to bury them," I told her. "After you have dragged one, I'll help."

"There aren't enough bodies to account for Vincent and his men," Petra said. "These are the villagers only."

"People died in their beds," I pointed out. "That suggests either illness or deep surprise."

"Or they went there with their wounds to die," Andrea suggested.

"Oh shit," said Beth. "Illness. Plague."

"I don't think so," Petra said. "No one ever gets sick here. We've never been able to make anyone sick and I've never been sick here. I've never seen anyone sick. I don't think this world allows it."

"Have you seen horses before?" Beth asked.

"No."

"Maybe it takes a different vector," Beth said. "An equine vector. Or maybe if they had horses, they had other animals."

"We're not going to figure this out," I said. "Not without a forensics team." I turned to Petra. "Know any good cops that might be candidates?"

"How about the one that helped you?" Petra asked. "That lady cop."

"I liked her," I said. "She was kind to me."

"It's taking two months to get someone able to come back and forth," Andrea said. "I think any evidence is going to be gone."

"What if we summoned her here?" Erika asked. "Once she had the basics down. Enough to walk around. She doesn't need to open doors."

"If Petra and I are the only ones who summon her, she won't recognize Petra even if she sees her. I'm the only one at risk."

"Risk of what?"

"Getting arrested," I said.

"It's not like she could keep you," Erika said.

"I don't want to run from the law for the rest of my life," I replied. "There would be no evidence of foul play, so she'd have to let me go." I turned to Petra. "Would you let rot in the clink?"

She laughed. "I'd bake a cake with a nail file for you."

"I was thinking of a good lawyer."

"What do we do here?" Andrea asked.

"We feed the animals," I said. "And leave them in their cages. Evidence."

"We're taking the horses," Erika said. "This one is Prancer. That one is Softmouth."

I watched Erika approach the chicken coop. She eyed the animals warily. "If these are like the rabbit from Monty Python," she said. "I am so out of there."

"Three shall be the number of the counting," I told her.

"Yeah, yeah." She opened the coop door, stepped in, and closed it behind her. The animals immediately ran over to her, looking for food. She steeped inside their hut and came back out holding a burlap sack. "Grain," she said. "I don't know how much to give them." She looked around for a trough, but there wasn't one, so she spread the grain around on the ground. The animals immediately went after it. I watched them for a bit. They were pretty polite little things.

"Petra," I said. "They're cute. Can I keep one?"

"No."

"I promise I won't teach it to poop on your pillow."

She turned to me and her lips quivered for a moment. "I already let you have a pony. Be satisfied."

"Uh uh," I said. "Erika got two horses. All I want is one little chicken thing. I bet they can learn tricks."

She was having a hard time fighting back the grin.

I turned to Karen. "See? Mom plays favorites. She gave Erika two horses. But we ask for a little chicken thing and she says 'no'." I paused. "I bet she loves you better, too. I bet if you ask for a chicken thing, she'll let you have one. Heck, she let Erika have two horses, I bet you could get two chicken things." I looked at them critically. "Maybe we could get a boy chicken thing and a girl chicken thing, and then we could have little baby chicken things. They'd be chicklets. Speaking of which, I still could really use a Chiclet."

Petra turned away, but I think it was to hide the grin.

Once Erika figured out how to feed the chicken things, whatever they were, the rest of us spread out in twos and fed the rest of them at the other farms. We gave them water, too.

After that, we headed back to the castle. The original plan had been to pop back, but we couldn't pop the horses there, so we ended up walking. Erika rode one of the horses. I couldn't have told you which one. She tried to entice Beth up on the other one, which got her nowhere, but then Karen walked over and climbed up. "I don't mind riding," she said. "I like horses."

We reported in to Renea. She was as disturbed about things as we were but liked the idea of trying to recruit a police officer.

"Cops work strange hours," Erika pointed out. "How are you going to catch her asleep?"

"Leave that to me," I said.

Dating The CopI popped home. I still had the paperwork from the break in. I found the file, pulled out Sally's business card, and called her.

"Sally Nelson," came the familiar voice.

"Sally," I said. "This is Felicia Conner. We met several months ago when you rescued me from a break in."

"I remember, Felicia," she said. "How have you been?"

"I've been good," I said. "I moved into a more secure building and don't have too many nightmares about it."

"That's good," she said. "These things can be disturbing."

"Look," I said. "It's been months, I'm sure there isn't going to be any further investigation, and I feel like I never properly thanked you. Will you let me take you out for a drink? You were very kind, and I want to say Thank You when I'm not hysterical."

I heard her hesitate. "It would mean a lot to me," I told her.

"Okay," she said. "Sure. That would be nice."

"What is your schedule like over the next few days?" I asked.

"I'm off until Tuesday," she said. "I'm free tonight."

"Perfect," I said. "Eight PM? Where would you like to meet?"

"How about if I pick you up?" she offered.