"We're in the area where Harriet should be," Sid said standing up in his stirrups. He looked around the plain without seeing any sign of her.
"The grass is pretty tall. She could be sitting down and we'd never see her," Cynthia said with a worried frown. Her butt hurt from riding so much, but she wasn't going to complain. Saving the Damsel had become very important to her and she wasn't going to be the weak link.
"I'm not looking for her. I'm looking to see if there's some sort of trail through the grass," Sid replied.
"What do you mean?" Cynthia asked.
"Look behind us," Sid said gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb.
Cynthia turned in her saddle and looked behind them. The wide open plain was filled with grass that had turned golden in color. The grass was dry and brittle. The horses had beaten down a swath that was at least six feet wide. She realized that a person moving through the grass would leave a similar trail though one that was not quite so wide. Puzzled, she asked, "How do you know this stuff?"
"Oh, you pick up a little here and a little there. Before long, you know a lot," Sid answered. He looked over at her and, giving her a big grin, asked, "Have you learned anything this trip?"
"Tons," she answered. She had learned so much during her two days in Chaos that it was hard to believe. She had learned everything from how to set up a camp and how to tend the horses. She had experienced first hand how miserable it was to ride through a rain storm. She had even learned that rather than throwing the core of her apples away that she could feed them to her horse. Of course that lesson had come with another one on how to hold the apple core so that the horse didn't bite her.
Nodding his head, he said, "We'll ride a mile and then check for sign."
"Okay," Cynthia said nudging the horse to a walk with her heels. This was her second day on horseback. There were still three hours of daylight and she was pretty sure that she'd spend all of them on horseback. She figured that she'd walk the rest of her life with bowed legs.
"I'm worried," Sid said. He was very confident that they were in the area where the Damsel was located. The great rift was a couple of miles to the east of their location. They had made much better time than he had anticipated. Cynthia hadn't complained once about riding the horse. If they were lucky, they'd find Harriet quickly and be able to leave without having to face the men chasing her.
"We'll find her," Cynthia said. She had not gone through all of this to fail.
"I'm sure we will," Sid said. He hoped that she hadn't gotten washed away in a flash flood through one of those little creeks that dotted the area.
They rode silently for a few minutes and then Cynthia said, "It looks like it is going to rain again."
"I know. That won't make our search any easier," Sid said looking up at the sky. The words were barely out of his mouth when he felt a drop of water hit him on the top of his head. Sighing, he said, "Time to put on the rain gear."
He looked over to see that Cynthia was already wearing hers. He pulled his rain cloak out and put it on. Cynthia was standing on her stirrups and asked, "What is that jagged line over there?"
"That's a creek," Sid answered glancing in the direction she pointed. All of the creeks ran towards the great gap.
"Maybe she's walking along the creek," Cynthia suggested.
"She'll get killed in a flash flood," Sid said.
Cynthia pointed and said, "Someone is climbing out of it over there."
"Let's get over there," Sid said kicking his horse into a fast pace. The string of horses followed him.
Cynthia was right behind him. She hadn't quite gotten down how to ride at a gallop and her butt was making painful contact with the saddle. Rather than try to keep up, she let the horse slow down to a more sedate walk. She said, "Riding this horse is going to kill me."
She arrived to find Sid bent over the prostrate body of a young woman. Climbing down from her horse, she went over to Sid. He looked up and said, "She's in pretty bad shape."
Cynthia knelt down and examined the young woman. She had cuts and scrapes over her bare legs. The rough edges of the grass had cut her legs. The dress she had been wearing was barely held together. The woman had obviously cut off parts of it to use as shoes. The evidence remained in the form of a few scraps wrapped around her one of her feet. There was a very nasty bruise on her forehead. Worried about the condition of the woman, Cynthia asked, "Is she awake?"
"She fainted when I arrived," Sid said cradling her in his arms. Gesturing to the horse with his nose, he said, "Get some watered wine."
Cynthia went back to her horse and got one of the water bags with a knot in the strap that indicated it contained watered wine. There wasn't much left in it. She carried it over to Sid and handed it to him. She said, "She probably needs to eat."
"She's in pretty bad shape. We're not going to be able to travel tonight," Sid said disappointed at what that meant. Even two hours ride from here would simplify their lives significantly. He sighed and said, "We'll have to camp here."
As the rain started to come down in driving sheets, Cynthia said, "I'll set up camp. You take care of her."
As she took care of the horses, she kept glancing over at Harriet thinking that the woman must have gone through hell to look like that. She heard a gasp and turned to look. Harriet was struggling to get out of Sid's arms. Sid said, "Calm down Harriet Librarian of Cassandra. I'm Sid Jones of Earth."
"My Hero," Harriet said relieved and then went limp in his arms. Now that she had been rescued, she could rest.
Cynthia laughed and returned to taking care of the horses. After that little chore was over, she looked around to collect firewood. That was when it dawned on her that there weren't any trees near them. She wondered what they would do for a fire. They had two or maybe three hours until sunset. At least the rain had stopped. Although it had lasted less than fifteen minutes, it seemed to Cynthia that everything was soaked.
Using one of the swords that they had taken from the robbers, Cynthia cut down the tall grass. The tough grass was hard on the sword's edge. Sid had shown her how to make logs out of the grass. She would tightly bundle a bunch together and tie them together. The trick was getting them into a tight enough bundle that they'd burn slowly.
It was slow hard work, but Cynthia didn't mind. It gave her something to do besides watching Harriet sleep while Sid was hunting for some fresh meat. The young woman had woken once to eat and then fallen back asleep. She went over to where the woman slept to sharpen the blade. Running the rock along the length of the sword like Sid had taught her, she wondered where Sid was.
It was getting close to sunset when Harriet woke up without Cynthia noticing. She watched the woman sharpen the sword wondering why she was here with a Hero from Earth. Finally, she asked, "Where are you from?"
"Earth," Cynthia answered.
"You're a woman," Harriet said staring at Cynthia wide-eyed.
"I'm glad you noticed," Cynthia said with a smile. She definitely didn't feel very feminine wearing the leathers and doing manual labor like this.
"Heroes from Earth are all men," Harriet said.
"I'm a Hero Companion," Cynthia replied.
Despite her weakened condition, Harriet sat up in her excitement. She faced Cynthia and asked, "Do you mean the Hero that rescued me actually has a Companion?"
"Yes," Cynthia answered a little surprised by Harriet's reaction.
Waving her fists in the air, Harriet shouted, "This is so great! My Hero has a Companion!"
"Calm down," Cynthia said thinking that the woman was about to have a heart attack or something.
"Are you going to take care of his needs tonight?" Harriet asked excited at the prospect.
"Maybe," Cynthia answered feeling a little uncomfortable discussing the matter. With the pending attack the previous night, she had done nothing with Sid. After riding all day, she didn't really want to make love. She figured that she might give him a blowjob that evening if he wanted.
"Can I watch?"
Cynthia stared at Harriet totally shocked. She swallowed and asked, "You want to watch?"
"Could I?"
"Why would you want to watch?" Cynthia asked.
"Only the greatest Heroes have Hero Companions. I knew that Sid Jones was a great Hero, but to learn that he has a Companion is just so..."
Cynthia looked at Harriet wondering what the woman was trying to say. She had no idea why her traveling with Sid on this adventure was such a big deal. She asked, "Okay. So what does that have to do with wanting to watch?"
"It builds the anticipation for when I finally get to reward him for rescuing me," Harriet said looking at Cynthia as if she should know that. As far as she was concerned that was the whole purpose of having a Hero Companion.
"Oh," Cynthia said. She understood all about the how Damsels rewarded Heroes and it wasn't with just a simple kiss.
Harriet said, "Please let me watch."
"I guess," Cynthia said not knowing what else to say.
Sid returned to camp carrying two long strips of meat. Gathering meat in the wide open plain was difficult. Any game animals saw him long before he could reach bow distance. Smaller animals disappeared into the tall grass. He had finally come across two snakes sunning themselves in the creek bed.
He went over to the fire and said, "We're going to have to leave tomorrow."
"What have you got there?"
Sid held up the two strips of meat and said, "Steak of snake."
"Sounds delicious," Cynthia said rolling her eyes. There had been a time when she would have protested. After eating dried meats, sausages, cheese, and stale bread, any kind of fresh meat sounded good. She had just about reached the point where roast buzzard would have sounded appetizing.
"Yes it does," Sid said with a grin.
Looking through the remaining food stocks, Cynthia said, "We've got a few tubers left. There are some spices here. How about we make shish kabob?"
"That's a good idea," Sid said thinking that Cynthia had turned into quite the competent camper.
Harriet said, "I've never heard of that dish."
"It is chunks of meat that are speared on a long stick with tubers between them. You can cook them over a fire," Cynthia replied. She picked up the sword she had been using to cut the grass and said, "This is perfect."
"I agree," Sid said.
Cynthia cut the strips of meat into good sized chunks and threaded them onto the sword. She hummed to herself as she worked. She glanced over at Sid and casually mentioned, "Harriet wants to watch us tonight."
"Watch us do what?" Sid asked.
"She wants to watch me take care of your needs," Cynthia said.
"What?" Sid asked staring at Cynthia open mouthed.
"I told her she could."
Hardly able to contain her excitement, Harriet said, "This is going to be so good."
After a very interesting evening, Sid woke in the morning feeling very rested. He had no doubts that anyone chasing Harriet knew exactly where she was. Cynthia's screams must have carried for miles around. He sat up and looked at the horizon. Harriet's pursuers were expected sometime that day. From the briefing he figured that they would reach this camp site almost at mid- afternoon or sunset.
Cynthia woke up and stretched. She was feeling wonderful that morning. She must have had thirty or forty orgasms the previous evening. Who knew that performing like that in front of an audience could be so liberating? She hadn't even guessed at it. Smiling over at Sid, she said, "Good morning."
"Good morning," Sid replied.
Cynthia looked over at Harriet. The woman still looked like she was in pretty sad shape. She asked, "Should we wake her?"
Knowing that any advantage that they'd had by their early arrival had been lost, Sid shook his head. He figured that she needed the rest. He answered, "No. Let her sleep."
"Should I start a fire?" Cynthia asked.
"Yes. We'll heat some water for tea and have some cheese and sausage for breakfast," Sid answered. Rising from his bedroll, he said, "I'll check the horses."
Cynthia looked over at the edge of the creek bed and said, "I'll hit the creek before starting the fire."
"Okay," Sid said feeling the need to empty his bladder as well. He'd water some of the grass while she was doing her thing in the creek bed.
Grabbing the little shovel, a bag of water, and one of the little cloths, Cynthia climbed down into the creek bed. It wasn't much privacy, but it was a lot better than out in the middle of the plain. Of all the problems on this adventure, taking care of bodily functions had to be the most humiliating. Squatting in the middle of a wide open field wasn't her idea of an ideal bathroom.
The most humiliating part of the entire trip had been asking Sid to explain how to clean her nether regions after using the toilet. She had been shocked to learn that there wasn't toilet paper in Chaos. None of the stories she had ever read had covered that little detail. Out here she couldn't even use leaves since there weren't any around. The sharp edges of the dry grass would cut her into pieces. At least they had enough water that she could clean herself. Sid had warned her that if they ran low on water that she wouldn't even be able to do that.
After doing her business in the creek bed, Cynthia returned to camp. It was time to start a fire. As she struck iron to flint, she muttered, "Nothing is easy here."
It took her ten minutes to get the fire started. She knew that with time, she'd get better at it. Sid could do it in a minute or less. She piled on more loose grass and watched as the flames caught. There were only four of her handmade logs left. She knew that if they stayed there longer, she'd have to make some more.
Sid returned to the camp and said, "You did that well."
"Thank you," Cynthia said.
Taking a seat, Sid unpacked their breakfast food. He asked, "Are you enjoying yourself?"
"Am I supposed to be having fun?" Cynthia asked looking over at him with a smile.
Sid laughed and said, "I know it is tough living out here like this. It seems like everything takes three times longer to do and there's never any chance to really rest. I grumble and complain to myself all of the time. Still, there are times when I really enjoy it."
"You don't seem to have any problems with the rough conditions," Cynthia said.
"I do and I don't," Sid said. He handed her a pot that he had filled with some water for tea. He said, "It takes me a day to remember that I have to relax and take my time doing things. You can't rush or push things too fast out here. It takes time to start a fire, wait for it to burn down enough to start cooking, and then prepare the food."
Gesturing to the cheese and sausage, he said, "The food doesn't come in cans. It gets old and spoiled. There are times when I'd kill for fresh eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast. Still, having cheese and sausage for breakfast isn't the worst thing in the world."
"I guess you're right," Cynthia said. She looked over at the pot of water. It wasn't anywhere near boiling.
"So are you having fun out here?" Sid asked.
Her butt hurt from riding the horse for two days. Her face hurt from where she had been hit. Every muscle in her body was sore. She was hungry. There were a thousand things that had to be done. Despite all of that, she was enjoying herself. Smiling, she answered, "Yes."
It was nearly mid-morning before Harriet sat up and looked at the pair. As a shiver went through her body, she said, "Last night was so intense. It seemed to me like you went on forever. I can't wait to reach Crossroads. I'm going to tell everyone on Cassandra what a stud you are."
Sid shook his head and said, "We're going to have to get ready to go. I want to pack all of the loads as if each horse has a rider."
"Why?"
"As far as I know, there are three men pursuing you. If we get into a position where we have to talk to them, I want them convinced that is seven of us against their three," Sid answered.
"There are only three of us," Cynthia said.
Grinning, Sid answered, "I know that. You know that, but they don't know that."
Cynthia frowned and said, "All they'll see are the three of us."
"That's right," Sid replied, "The question they'll be asking themselves is — where are the other four?"
"There aren't four others," Harriet said.
"They don't know that," Sid said with a grin. He gestured to the broad plain and added, "They could be anywhere. For all those three will know, our four men could be armed with bows that are aimed at their backs."
"Oh," Cynthia said, "You're going to bluff your way out of this."
"Of course," Sid replied.
Harriet said, "That doesn't seem right."
"Right has nothing to do with it. We're outnumbered. We have to do what ever it takes to live," Cynthia said prompting a look from Sid. She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I learned my lesson the first night here on Chaos."
Sid nodded his head and said, "I'll ride forward keeping an eye out for her pursuers. When I spot them, I'll ride back and we'll decide what to do then."
It was late in the afternoon when Sid spotted the three men on the horizon. It was too late in the day to take evasive measures. They'd catch up before the morning came. He rode back to Cynthia and Harriet.
Coming to a stop in front of the women, Sid said, "Let's dismount. I want you two to stomp on the grass like you're a bunch of people running around."
By the time the three men arrived, it looked like a whole army had dismounted in the area. Sid strode out and met the men. They were not very well armed. Only one of them had a sword. Two of them had clubs. They looked like they had seen some hard times and were barely standing. Sid imagined that walking at a fast pace non- stop for two weeks had taken its toll. Sid realized that he could probably take all three of them, but even sure things weren't necessarily guaranteed. He said, "Greetings."
"We're here for the cock burner," the man with the sword said dispensing with any civilities. He was tired and wanted to get this whole affair over.
"She's mine," Sid replied using the strongest argument possible to convince them that they didn't really want her. He had basically told them that they would have to kill him to get her.
"Give her to us," the man said resting his hand on the pommel of his sword.
Sid smiled and said, "Before you go for that sword of yours, you might want to count the horses."
The man looked over at the horses and then back at Sid. He wasn't particularly impressed by the fact that they had a lot of horses. He said, "So what?"
"You might want to ask yourself where the men who were riding them are," Sid said. He wasn't going to mention that he had killed them two nights earlier.
That gave the man pause. The shorter of the other two men looked around. Belligerent, he said, "I don't see any one."
Sid ran a hand along the strap of his quiver and said, "All of the men in my party are carrying the same weapons as me."
The shorter man recognized the threat and looked around again. Worried, he said, "I don't see any one."
"You won't see anyone else until long after you're dead if you don't drop your weapons," Sid said.
"I want the cock burner," the man with the sword said. There was no way that he was going to return to his brother and explain that he hadn't been able to kill the woman who had damaged him for life.
"She's mine," Sid said staring the man in the eye. He had a feeling that they weren't going to get away with the bluff. The man was just too stubborn to reason through the situation.
In the blink of an eye, the man's hand shifted from resting on the pommel of his sword to being wrapped around the hilt. His draw was fast as lightening. Surprised at how fast the man was, Sid drew his sword while stepping back to give him a little time and space to react.
Seeing that the man had beaten Sid to the draw, Cynthia decided that it was time to improvise. She shouted, "Shoot 'em boys!"
Ducking, the two men with clubs turned around to see if there were any arrows headed their way. When they realized there weren't any arrows flying through the air, they turned back to face Sid. Sid was standing where he had been, but the man with the sword was dead at his feet. They knew he was dead by the space separating the head and the rest of his body. Holding his sword out at the two men, Sid said, "Drop the clubs."
The two men looked down at their clubs and then at Sid's sword. There was still blood on it. They hadn't even seen him attack, but they didn't need to see him in action to know they didn't stand a chance. Their companion could have taken both of them in a fight. After those thoughts had a chance to percolate through their brains, the two men dropped their clubs. The taller one said, "You're the boss."
"We don't want any trouble," the smaller man said holding his hands out to his sides.
"Your knives, too," Sid said gesturing to their belts with his sword.
The two men carefully removed the knives from their belts and dropped them on the ground. The taller one looked down at his knife knowing that it would be the last time he saw it. He said, "We're unarmed."
"Good. I suggest that you guys start walking in that direction," Sid said pointing off in the direction of their old camp. He watched the men walk off before going over to the body of the man he had killed. He went through the man's possessions and found five shells and a couple of pinches. There wasn't much else of value. The pack didn't even contain any food.
Sid picked up the sword and knives. He carried back them to the horses. After packing the weapons away, he said, "I guess we'll watch them walk for another hour or so."
"Why didn't we just ride around them?" Cynthia asked. Only now that it was over did she stop to consider that option.
"We could have if we had met up with them earlier in the day. As it is, we'll get about a three hour ride from here before we need to stop for the night. If we had ridden around them, they would have followed us. Even on horseback, we can't travel twice as fast as a man can walk for very long. We ride three hours, they'd catch up with us in six. We'd have woken up with our throats cut. At least they are now unarmed," Sid answered thinking that he'd have a long night on guard duty.
"Oh," Cynthia answered.
Harriet said, "That was rather frightening."
"I don't like doing that," Sid said. He hadn't wanted to fight the man with the sword. He would have much preferred to disarm him and then send him off like he had done with the other two. What little he had seen of the man's fighting skill had convinced him that the man was a lot better than his initial estimate had suggested.
Harriet said, "You were very impressive."
"Shoot 'em boys?" Sid asked looking up at Cynthia with a wry grin on his face.
She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I couldn't think of anything else to do that would help you."
"It did manage to divert their attention away from me," Sid said. Even the guy with the sword had hesitated a fraction of a second until he realized that the true danger was in front of him. By then, it was too late. The advantage of his fast draw had been nullified.
"Just doing my job as Companion," Cynthia said with a grin.
"Speaking of which, can I watch again tonight?" Harriet asked.
"Of course," Cynthia answered brightly and earning a sidelong look from Sid.
Lazlo Zalezac