Half an hour later, the train stopped at the tiny station of Primrose.
It was normally not a stopping point for a train of such obvious luxury as the one that the King and the Duke traveled aboard.
On this dreary winter day however, with a sky full of fluttering flakes of snow and ice crystals, the royal train pulled into the station and onto a side rail where it slowed and then came to a complete stop.
The village was tiny.
There were, at most a little over a hundred huts, all huddled around each other at the base of the mountains that surrounded them on three sides with the train tracks running along the open area of the fourth side.
As the Duke's men spread out into the village to secure living quarters for the King, the Duke, and his family, the attendants gathered the necessary things they would need to continue serving the needs of the royal family.
Talia gave Devin a quick bath in the bathroom and bundled him up in thick winter wear. They would have to make the short trip from the train station to whatever lodging the men could find for them.
Within fifteen minutes, one of the menservants returned to the Duke's rail car.
"Your Grace." He bowed within the doorway.
"Come in and close the door. You're letting in all the cold air." Cedric waved a hand, calling him in.
The manservant stepped in and shut the door behind him.
"Sir, our people have checked out the condition of the village. Due to the inclement weather, the town's only inn is mostly full. There are only a few rooms left."
He paused, as if weighing his words carefully.
"Normally, we would simply evacuate the existing guests and appropriate the rooms to accommodate the royal family. But it is snowing Sir, and they have nowhere to go."
"Hmmm. That would not be appropriate, even in good weather." Cedric shook his head. "How many rooms are left?"
"Five, Sir."
"How many rooms would our group need?"
"Sir, to accommodate all the attendants and servants, we would need at least thirty rooms. Our people would be assigned ten or more to each room."
"And the King?"
"Sir, the King would need a room for himself. The Countess would also need a room by herself."
"My only concern is for my mate and my nephew."
The manservant bowed. "We have secured the five rooms. Your Grace and your family can occupy one of those rooms immediately."
Cedric shook his head. That was not going to work if the temperature dropped much more and the snowfall intensified.
"Does that mean five people are occupying three of the rooms, leaving two rooms for the remaining three hundred attendants?" Talia's voice rang out from within the train's chamber where she was putting gloves on Devin.
The manservant bowed. "Yes, Milady, but perhaps we can have them remain within the train for the duration."
Talia shook her head. "That doesn't sound like a good idea. Once the train stops moving, there will not be any power generated and the interior of the train cars will quickly get very cold."
She turned her head and looked out onto the snow covered village.
"What is that large building over there?" She pointed to a structure that stood apart from the smaller huts that were obviously part of the residential area.
"That is a barn Milady."
"Send someone to go check it out. See if we can appropriate it."
"Yes, Milady."
"Barn?" Cedric raised an eyebrow. "That's actually a very good idea if the barn is not too dilapidated. It will stink to high heaven though."
Talia shrugged. "If the men do a bit of cleaning and lay down fresh hay, it won't be too bad."
Within half-an-hour, the manservant returned.
"Your Royal Highness. The barn currently seems to be mostly unoccupied except for a small family of pigs, a handful of milk cows with their calves, some horses, and a hen house with several dozen egg-laying birds."
"Is there any extra room for people?" Talia asked.
The manservant coughed. "I'm not sure Milady."
Talia turned to Devin. "Stay here with Uncle Cedric. I will be going to that little barn over there to take a look," she pointed to the structure in the distance.
Devin's eyes began to grow tragic. He was not happy that his Talia would be leaving him for any reason.
She bent over to give him a quick kiss on the head.
"I will be right back, I promise."
Devin nodded and looked over at his Uncle. Cedric narrowed his eyes.
"Why don't you stay with Devin. I'll go take a look."
Talia pursed her lips. As an animal nurse, she had seen all sorts of barns during her visits to care for sick animals. It would not take her long to determine whether the barn would offer adequate shelter.
"Devin is all covered up. He won't be cold. Why don't we all go together?"
Cedric thought for a moment and then nodded. The boy had been cooped up inside the train for over 24 hours. A nice little walk in the snow wouldn't hurt him.
He was also interested in how Talia was going to pull this temporary housing challenge off.
With the King having taken over one room and the Countess, another, it was obvious that three hundred attendants and guards could not possibly squeeze into the three remaining rooms at the inn.
"Call the guards. The Countess Talia, Lord Devin, and I will be going with you over to the barn to take a look."
"Yes, Your Royal Highness."
Within minutes, a cadre of a dozen guards had joined the Duke and his tiny family as they trudged to the barn, with little Devin holding their hands and scampering between Talia and the Duke.
The barn turned out to be fairly weather-tight. The double doors had been shut but not padlocked so they pulled the doors open and entered.
At the very front, there were five horse stalls with three piebalds and two black horses occupying them.
Immediately behind the horse stalls were the milk cows and their calves, and in one corner was the chicken coop with plenty of caged space for them to wander.
Towards the back, there was a wide stairway that led to the second floor. They headed upstairs and found fresh hay that had been baled and stacked all the way to the top of the ceiling to feed the livestock through the winter.
Talia looked around at the large two-story structure and quickly determined that it would be warm enough if they could secure all the areas of the barn that were a bit open to the elements.
Most importantly, it was fairly large and would be able to accommodate the entourage fairly comfortably, given a bit of cleaning and rearrangement of the hay.
From her estimation, the first floor had a twelve feet high ceiling and the second floor looked to be around fourteen feet high.
The attendants and guards could comfortably spread out on the second floor, taking advantage of the animals' warmth coming from the first floor.
"This would work." She looked around. "Find out how much it would cost for us to have the use of this barn. Tell them we will not disturb the animals that are staying here."
"Yes Milady."
The manservant went off to talk to the farmer who owned the barn while the guards stood about, keeping watch over the royal couple and the little Lord.
"I would feel better if you and Devin took one of the rooms at the inn. It will get cold out here, even if we managed to secure the place and keep the worst of the cold out."
"There are a couple of babies and a dozen young children among our attendants. There are also two pregnant women who need to be inside." Talia informed Cedric. "They need the three remaining rooms that are available."
He raised an eyebrow. There were pregnant attendants?
He knew all the married attendants and guards within his household and none of the women were pregnant. As for the unmarried attendants, he had not seen any who were obviously large with child.
How was it possible that she would know more about his own staff than he did?
Cedric shook his head. "They will have to make do with two of the rooms. You and Devin need one of the rooms."
Talia nodded. "Perhaps we can squeeze in as many of the more fragile older women in the same room with me and Devin."
Talia looked at Devin who was staring with fascination at the baby pigs snuggling up to their mothers for warmth. It was the first time he had ever seen a farm animal before.
"He is too young to stay out here in the barn with the adults and I need to stay with him so he does not become frightened and try to look for me."
Cedric nodded and reached out to touch her face.
"My biggest concern at this moment is to keep you and Cedric safe and warm. Secure a comfortable sleeping place for you and Devin first before you add more people to your room."
Seeing his worried face, Talia nodded with a reassuring smile.
It would only be for a short while until the blizzard blew past and they could continue their travels to the capital city of Faria.