Tangle in the Dark - Kassidor

Their hosts were maybe in their fifties, there were threeyoung men and two young women and three small children. Itlooked like the two daughters had husbands and the son wasstill single. He was probably no more than seventeen, but thenso was one of the soldiers. Patass was probably twenty eightand the sergeant might be trying to deny forty. The oldest twokids went with the daughter who was almost thirty, the otherchild with the younger daughter of the house.The home had three wings around a central courtyard, andin good weather, like this evening, the courtyard was thedining room. They sat at a fine cedar table on heavy trestlelegs. They sat on ornate wooden chairs with sewn cushions.They weren’t stingy with the wine and the soldiers wouldobviously take all that was offered. The younger daughter,who was probably over twenty one, was only too happy to getanother amphora.At this point Ava was ready to say ‘keep pouring honey’and drink all they would give her. It would make what was tohappen later a lot easier. The daughters had already had acouple cups, the patriarch was probably on his fourth and thesergeant had probably already lost count. Of course if theywere all drunk, things were more likely to get ugly weren’tthey?The daughters came over and visited with her, completelyignoring the fact that she understood not one word of whatthey were telling her. They told Ava all about their children,the times their dad had cheated on their mom, the times their390