A Brother's Price

sisters. “My sisters and I have re-created this battle, just like this.”
    “But you’re a boy,”‘ Princess Zelie said with puzzlement tinged with contempt.
    “Yes. I find it depressing sometimes,” Jerin admitted.
    “Why?” Quin, or perhaps Nora, asked. The two looked very similar and all the girls had shifted since he’d been introduced to them.
    “There’s lots of things I would like to do that I’m not allowed,” Jerin said.
    “Do you want to play?” the other of the two asked.
    “We’ve already picked troops,” Zelie reminded the others.
    “You don’t have Peatfield,” Jerin pointed out. “She was held in reserve for most of the battle. I could play her troops.”
    They consented after a quick check with their history books to confirm Peatfield’s existence and the strength of her troops. Almost seventy-five thousand women clashed in the woods alongside the Bright River, leaving nearly ten thousand dead or wounded. It was attributed as a brilliant win for Wellsbury. but luck had played a large part in the victory—Smythe’s misunderstanding her orders and withdrawing just as Wellsbury attacked, for instance. Though in truth, the garbled message she received hadn’t been the true orders issued. Peatfield’s orders too had been waylaid, and thus her reserve troops never entered the battle.
    When played without the sleet, the exhaustion, the lack of food, the poor visibility, the sniper attacks, and the Whistlers confusing enemy orders, the outcome favored the False Eldest’s forces. It surprised him, thus, that the royal sisters kept to the same attacks and retreats of the original battle.
    After watching for several minutes, he faked a retreat up Granny Creek, crossed over Blue Knob, and took out the overextended left flank of Wellsbury’s force. Zelie shrieked with dismay and literally had the army fly to protect her tin general.
    “No, no, no, you can’t do that.” Jerin laughed as he caught a tin soldier that was flying miles across the landscape to land in his path.
    “Yes, I can.‘” Zelie pushed his hand away to thump the soldier down. “I just did!”
    “No. you can’t.” Jerin struggled to stop laughing. “That’s against the rules.”
    “You can’t talk to me that way!”
    “Good heavens, why not?”
    “I am a princess of the realm,” Zelie explained in perfect princess tones.
    Jerin covered his mouth to hold in a crow of laughter. She was so delightful using the adult deadpan. “Your Highness, the point of the rules is to mimic battle, so you can learn how to fight one without getting everyone killed on your first charge. Your tin soldiers can only do what real soldiers do, because you must learn what your real armies can do. If you cheat, then you’re not only cheating on me; you’re cheating yourself out of a chance to learn, and you’re risking the life of every woman you’ll ever command.”
    “But you cheated!” Zelie cried.
    “Oh, there is cheating and then there’s cheating. What I did, real soldiers could do, that is, pretend to run away and then attack elsewhere. Real soldiers, however, cannot fly across the battle, willy-nilly.”
    Five serious faces considered him. “So it’s all right to cheat sometimes?”
    Oh, dear, Ren probably wouldn’t be happy if he perverted her youngest sisters. Still, Whistlers never found a little cheating to be harmful.
    “My mothers always said,” Jerin said carefully, “that those who are completely forthright are often at the disadvantage of those who are corrupt. Here.” He picked up three of the earthen cups that held the cannonballs, passed the cannonballs out to the princesses, and turned the cups upside down. He picked up a marble and showed it to them. “‘We’re going to pretend your cannonballs are coins. I’m going to put this marble under one of the cups, and shuffle them around. You bet your ’coins’ on which cup that you think the marble is under. If the marble is under the cup, then I’ll match the number of ”coins’ you bet. If the marble isn’t under the cup, then I get to keep the ‘coins’ you bet.“
    He made a show of placing the marble, palmed it, and allowed them to win the first pass by palming it under the cup they chose. After that, he left the marble pocketed and began winning all their cannonballs. Eventually, one of them remembered what had started the game.
    “Wait!” Selina squealed with surprise and dismay. “You’re cheating! Aren’t