As they rode towards town, Sid wondered how he was going to survive living with three such highly sexed women once he returned to Crossroads. Harriet Librarian was on the verge of a sexual frenzy the likes of which he couldn't even imagine. Cynthia had turned insatiable. He knew that Sally would want her turn with him. He hoped that he would survive that much attention.
Harriet turned to Cynthia and asked, "What are you going to do after this adventure is over?"
Riding beside the Damsel, Cynthia answered, "I'm coming on Sid's next adventure. This was incredible."
"Weren't you almost killed?" Harriet asked finding it hard to believe. She wanted nothing more than to never see Chaos again.
"Well, yeah," Cynthia answered feeling her enthusiasm dampening a little. The side of her face still hurt a little even though a week had passed.
"Aren't you tired of the food?"
"Well, yeah," Cynthia answered. The best meal they had on this trip had been the steak of snake.
"Didn't you have to do a lot of work?" Harriet asked. She had watched Cynthia and Sid take care of setting up the camp every night. Cynthia worked just as hard as Sid.
"Well, yeah," Cynthia answered finding that her enthusiasm had nearly died.
"So why come here again?" Harriet asked.
"Because I got to be part of something special," Cynthia answered.
Harriet said, "I don't understand."
As they rode along, Cynthia said, "Sid and I read a story not too long ago about a man who went crazy. He adopted the Heroic code and went out to have adventures. The world he saw in his madness was magical while the real world was just so mundane.
"I don't even know what I was expecting to happen here. What I did find was that there is a little magic in this world. There are Damsels in Distress that need rescuing. There are bad guys who need to be dealt with using a firm hand. It is so different than where we live.
"Sure, there were times when it was really unpleasant. That first night here, I was terrified. I nearly died. Do you want to know something? For the first time in my life, I know that I am alive."
"Interesting," Harriet said. She rode along and said, "I read all of the stories about the Damsels in Distress. No matter how they described it, it still sounded romantic to me. I spent two weeks running for my life. I didn't eat anything for five days. It was horrible. There's nothing romantic about being a Damsel in Distress.
"I know that when I write my story about how I was a Damsel in Distress, other young ladies will read it and think it is romantic. There is nothing that I can write that will convey the true deprivation that I went through."
"Did you do it for the romance?" Cynthia asked.
Harriet shook her head and answered, "I did it to have a baby. I figured the romance of it all would make it worthwhile."
"Oh," Cynthia said. It was hard to believe that the women of Cassandra were willing to risk everything for the chance to have a baby. Looking back at her reasons for coming she could see that her motives had been kind of lame.
"What about you? Why did you come here?" Harriet asked.
"I wanted to see if what Sid had told me was true," Cynthia answered. She swore to herself that she would never doubt anything that Sid told her again. No matter how outrageous his stories had been, she now knew that he hadn't exaggerated at all. In fact, he had understated a lot of it.
"Oh," Harriet said.
"It all seemed so impossible; particularly the way he described the women of Cassandra. It sounded like a fantasy of some teenage boy in the throes of hormones — beautiful women willing to have sex with him at the drop of a hat. I still didn't believe even after I saw him go through the portal on his last adventure," Cynthia said.
Harriet smiled and asked, "Earth boys dream about having sex with women?"
"All of the time," Cynthia answered. She glanced over at Harriet and added, "Men would line up for a chance to be with you. On Earth, you are a man's dream come true."
"I'd love to visit Earth. There are a lot of men who would find their dreams coming true," Harriet said with a giggle. She could just imagine a line of men waiting for their turn in her bed. That was the subject of a fantasy story that would be a number one best seller in Cassandra.
"You wouldn't enjoy it," Cynthia said.
"I can promise you that you're wrong about that," Harriet said as images of virile young men worshiping her body flashed through her head.
"I don't know. You thought coming to Chaos would be romantic," Cynthia said.
Harriet frowned at the reminder and said, "Maybe you're right. It is still a great fantasy."
"I guess," Cynthia said. As much as she enjoyed sex with Sid, she didn't think that she'd like a line of men waiting to have sex with her.
"You might be right about reality not living up to fantasy. There's no way I'd come back to Chaos," Harriet said. She looked at Cynthia and asked, "What about you?"
She was silent for a moment and then answered, "I'll come with Sid on his next adventure."
It was approaching sunset of the next day when they finally reached a town with a bank. This wasn't the same town through which they had entered Chaos. One of the men who had attacked them was the owner of the stables. Sid knew that he wouldn't be able to sell the horses there so he had chosen a different town for their departure from Chaos. It had added an extra two days to their travel time.
Harriet looked over at the bank and saw that it was closed. Frustrated, she said, "The bank is closed."
Sid said, "We'll have to stay the night here."
"Okay," Cynthia said thinking that she'd enjoy another night with Sid.
"No," Harriet said in protest. She didn't want to wait another night before being with Sid. She wanted to go to Crossroads now and start rewarding Sid for his rescue of her.
"No sex tonight," Sid said looking over at Cynthia.
"No," Cynthia said in protest.
"No," Harriet said in protest.
"We can't afford to have the whole town beating down the door of our room when you start screaming," Sid said. He was pretty sure that her screams had scared off every wild animal within five miles of where they had camped the previous night.
"Drat," Cynthia said feeling disappointed.
"Drat," Harriet said just as disappointed as Cynthia. If she couldn't sleep with Sid that night, then she wanted to at least watch him with Cynthia.
"Let's get rid of the horses," Sid said. He rode over to the stables. The women followed beside him. Cynthia watched every one and every thing. She wasn't taking any chances. She didn't realize that her alertness and the bloodstains on her clothes advertised that she wasn't an easy victim.
After dismounting in front of the stables, Sid started removing his saddle from his horse. He said, "Cynthia, get your saddle and gear. We'll put it in a storage box for you. We'll sell the rest of the stuff."
"Oh," Cynthia said.
Seeing that he had customers, the owner of the stables came out. The fellow was tall and skinny with a wide smile. He looked over the horses and asked, "What can I do for you?"
"We want to sell our horses and four of the saddles," Sid said gesturing to the horses.
"That's more horses than I can afford," the man said shaking his head. He looked over the four poorer quality horses and said, "I can maybe afford those four. The other two are worth more than I have."
Sid was rather surprised by that announcement. Owners of stables were among the richest men in town. They had to be in order to buy and sell horses. If this was some tactic to negotiate the price down, he'd never run into it before. He asked, "You can't afford six horses?"
"Mister, I bought this place last week. It took nearly every pinch that I had. I've been boarding six horses since then," the man said scratching his stomach. He sighed and said, "I wish I could help you."
"I guess we'll have to go to another town to sell our horses," Sid said. He looked over at the horses and said, "I guess we'll have to stable them for the night."
Harriet was not happy about having to travel another four days to a week. She said, "Give them to him."
Although he could afford the loss of money that she was suggesting, Sid shook his head. He might own a kingdom, but he wasn't about to throw away any hard won goods. That wasn't the way that things worked in Chaos. It also represented a significant portion of the money that Sally had earned in this adventure. He said, "No."
The tall fellow scratched his head and said, "I'll go around and see if there's anyone that wants to buy a horse. I might be able to find a buyer or two. We haven't had any horses for sale around here for a while."
Nodding his head, Sid said, "Do that."
Harriet walked over to the man and grabbed his arm. Desperate, she said, "Please find a buyer. I beg you."
"I'll let you know what I find out in the morning," the man said rather surprised by Harriet's begging.
"Get your gear off the horses. We'll take it to the inn with us. He'll take care of the saddles," Sid said to Harriet and Cynthia. He went over to his horse and grabbed his gear. The two women followed his example. It was obvious that no one was happy about the situation.
With a bar on the door of their room in the inn, Sid thought he would finally get a good night's sleep. Although the inn might be noisy, at least he wouldn't have to spend most of the night on guard duty. Unfortunately, a good night's sleep was denied him. Locked in erotic dreams, the two women uttered groans, moans, and whimpers that kept him from sleeping most of the night. Unable to see them in the dark of the room, he could only imagine what they were doing. Unfortunately, he had an x-rated imagination and that made it even harder to sleep.
At first light, he sat up from his bed on the floor feeling exhausted. He ran his fingers through his hair and then shook his head trying to wake fully. His mouth tasted horrible. He stuck a finger in his mouth and rubbed his teeth. One of the things that he really missed was the toothbrush. After breakfast he'd dip his finger in some baking soda to brush his teeth.
At the sound of movement from one of the beds, he looked across the room at the two women. They were wiggling and moaning in their sleep. In a soft voice that wouldn't wake them, he said, "They must be having interesting dreams."
Cynthia opened her eyes and looked across the room at Sid taking in his rugged appearance. Sporting a week's growth of beard, he was long past the point where he needed a shave. She knew that he needed a bath. In fact, all three of them needed a bath. She didn't care about any of that. Looking across the room in the soft light of morning, she thought he was the sexiest man she had ever seen.
She sat up in the bed still dressed in her leathers. She yawned and then said, "I hope that we can leave today. I'm getting tired of wearing these clothes."
"We probably should have aired them out last night," Sid said before he thought about it. There had been a reason he hadn't suggested that. He didn't think that he'd enjoy a night knowing that there were two naked women in the room with him.
"How do you wash leather clothes?" Cynthia asked.
"You don't. You wear them until they fall off of you," Sid answered absently. He yawned wishing that he could wake up fully.
Cynthia said, "That's gross."
"I suppose it is by modern Earth standards. Wearing clean clothes every day is a relatively recent practice," Sid said shrugging his shoulders.
Cynthia thought about it for a moment before she said, "I guess I never thought about it."
"Visiting Chaos is a great way to learn an appreciation for history," Sid said with a smile.
"I guess," Cynthia said. It was definitely a great way to learn an appreciation for modern plumbing. She felt that if she had to squat over a hole in the ground one more time that she'd scream. Sid hadn't warned her that there weren't any bathrooms in the wild. She said, "I need to use the outhouse."
"Use the chamber pot. It is under the bed," Sid answered.
"You're kidding," she said staring at Sid in horror.
"Nope," Sid answered.
She said, "Why can't I use the outhouse?"
"I don't want us to get split up. I can't watch over you at the outhouse and over Harriet here in an unlocked room," Sid answered.
"Leave the room," she said knowing that she wouldn't be able to argue against his reasoning. There was no way that she was going to use the chamber pot in front of Sid.
"Okay, but bolt the door behind me," Sid said getting up. He shuffled over to the door and lifted the bar.
Cynthia barred the door after Sid had left the room. She turned and looked at the chamber pot shaking her head. Harriet stirred and started to wake. Cynthia pulled the chamber pot out from under the bed and lifted the lid. At least it was clean inside. She pulled down her pants and squatted over the pot. She muttered, "I'll never get used to this."
"Yes, you will," Harriet said. She had gotten used to a lot of things during her stay in Chaos. Getting used to the chamber pot had taken a bit of time.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Cynthia said feeling like a fool squatting over the pot. She didn't even have words to describe how ridiculous she felt doing that in front of someone else.
Harriet said, "I'll need that when you're done."
"This is embarrassing," Cynthia said.
"You get used to it. You'd be surprised at what you can get used to," Harriet said with a shrug of her shoulders.
"I hope that guy found a buyer for the horses," Cynthia said.
Harriet bit her lower lip and then asked, "Is he as good in bed as he looks?"
"Yes, he is," Cynthia answered knowing what Harriet wanted to know.
Worried, Harriet said, "I don't know if I can stand that much excitement."
"You can," Cynthia said with a smile, "After your first time with him, you will want more."
"I hope so," Harriet said. Cynthia had looked positively wild when Sid was on top of her. She took a deep breath and said, "He took more than an hour the other night."
"Yeah, I know," Cynthia said with a sigh. Unable to believe how she had felt by the end of that hour, she said, "It was great."
Cynthia and Harriet watched as Sid negotiated the price for the weapons he was selling. It was an amazing example of bartering between Sid and the blacksmith. It took fifteen minutes for the two men to come to an agreement on the price. Finally, Sid handed the weapons over and the man handed over some coins. Sid put the coins in his coin purse and said, "Let's get over to the stables and see if the man found a buyer."
"If he knows what is good for him, he will have found a buyer," Harriet said in a growl. She didn't want to spend another day waiting to reward her Hero.
Cynthia noticed how Harriet was checking out Sid's crotch. The last time she'd seen a look like that was when a guy was trying to peak down her blouse. She was a little amused by how Sid shuffled under the intense scrutiny he was receiving. She said, "Let's go."
Sid led the way towards the stable. He noticed that there were a couple of men gathered at the stables. He hoped that was a good sign and that the men were there to buy the horses rather than try to take them.
"I liked him with the beard better," Harried said examining his clean shaven face. She felt that the beard made him look a whole lot more dangerous.
"It is better in bed when he's shaved. The beard scratches," Cynthia said. She whispered, "You don't want it to scratch when he's down there between your legs."
"I didn't think about that," Harriet said. Men on Cassandra didn't do that. She dropped back for a second and then leaned over to Cynthia. She said, "He's got a nice ass."
"He does, doesn't he," Cynthia said. She was beginning to appreciate how the women from Cassandra enjoyed looking at men.
"Ladies!" Sid said finding it difficult to walk naturally all of a sudden.
Cynthia giggled and caught up to Sid. She said, "There's quite a crowd over there."
"Yes," Sid said shifting his load to his other hand. He checked his sword to make sure that it would draw with ease.
Seeing Sid's action, Cynthia glanced at the staff she carried in her hand. She hadn't even thought about it until that moment. She didn't even remember picking it up; a clear sign that carrying the staff had become second nature to her. She said, "Maybe they want to buy the horses."
"I hope so," Sid said.
The tall fellow who owned the stables walked over to Sid. He had a broad smile on his face. Nodding to Harriet, he said, "I've got good news. We've got more buyers than horses."
"What does that mean?" Sid asked.
"We're going to auction them off," the man answered with a grin.
"How does that work?" Sid asked.
"I'll have the men bid on the horses starting at a reasonable minimum bid. Highest bidder will get the horse. I'll take two pinches per twenty-five pinches as my fee," the man answered.
"Two pinches out of twenty-five pinches," Sid repeated running a hand over his chin trying to decide if that was a far cut. It was less than ten percent. Looking over at Harriet, he had a feeling that if he rejected those terms that she'd kill him. He nodded his head and said, "Let's do it."
The tall man turned around to the crowd of men and said, "The buyer is agreeable to auction off the horses. The first horse will be that fine black gelding. Starting bid is one conch."
Sid, Cynthia, and Harriet watched as the price of the horse slowly climbed. This wasn't a fast auction such as one that Sid had attended back on Earth. It seemed that there was lots of moaning and groaning going on between each bid. Half the time, a person would bring up some negative quality of the horse before raising the bid. Sid listened to the bidding trying to determine what it meant in terms of how much money he would receive.
Much to Harriet's irritation, the horse auction took almost four hours to complete. By the time it ended, Sid had gotten a fair price for all of the animals. The auction wasn't over. A few of the men remained to bid on the better saddles. One went for more than Sid had expected. By the time the auction ended, Sid walked away with seven conches and three shells. He had expected to get less than seven conches for it all. The owner of the stables was very happy with his cut.
"Finally, we are ready to leave," Harriet said thinking that in five or ten minutes she'd be in bed with Sid.
"Not yet," Sid said afraid of how she was going to react.
"What do you mean, not yet?" Harriet asked in a screech of frustration.
"We still have some business to transact at the bank," Sid said.
Inside the bank, Cynthia was surprised to find that Sid had put her at the front of the line. The clerk looked up and asked, "What can I do for you?"
"We need to deposit some money and rent a storage box," Sid answered as he set some coins on the counter. He quickly divided the pile into two parts. He shoved the one pile forward to the man behind the counter and said, "We'd like to open an account with this."
The man swept the coins into the slot before he said, "Put your finger in the hole."
Sid gestured to Cynthia and put the rest of the coins into money purse. She shrugged her shoulders and stuck her finger in the hole. It felt like it took a blood sample before the area around the hole started to glow green. She removed her finger and looked at it expecting to see a small puncture mark. There wasn't one.
"Your account is credited with four conch, one shell, and two pinches," the man said. It wasn't a particularly big deposit, but he'd seen smaller ones. He asked, "What size storage box do you want?"
"An arm wide, a foot deep, and a woman in length," Sid answered using the same measurements as his box.
"That will cost two shells a year," the clerk said.
"Take it from the account that we just created," Sid said to the clerk.
Turning to Cynthia, the clerk asked, "Is that to your satisfaction?"
"Sure," she answered not understanding what Sid was doing.
"You'll need to pay for the box since it will be keyed to you," Sid said in explanation.
"Oh," Cynthia said.
The clerk pulled out a box and said, "Stick your finger in the hole."
Cynthia stuck her finger in the hole. Again, it felt like something had taken a sample of her blood. The light around the hole turned green. She said, "It is like it takes a blood sample, but I don't see it."
"I know," Sid said.
The clerk said, "We'll go to one of the rooms and set up the box."
"A double room," Sid said. Seeing the look from the clerk, Sid said, "I have things to put in my box."
"Of course, sir," the clerk said taking note of Sid's appearance. Sid looked dangerous enough that he figured it would make sense to make an issue out of the lack of privacy that would be afforded the young woman.
Inside the room, Cynthia was instructed to put her finger in the hole on the wall next to one of the tables. A box appeared on the table making a sharp noise. The clerk opened the box and said, "You can put items in here, but don't put anything living inside. The result is not good. The box will disappear when you close the lid."
"Thank you," Sid said waiting for the man to step out of the room. Once he was gone, Sid stuck his finger in the hole next to the empty table. His box appeared on the table making a loud crack. He opened the lid to his box. Turning to Cynthia, he said, "Put everything except your clothes into your box."
It didn't take Cynthia long to put her stuff in the box. She was about to close it when Sid said, "Wait. Here's your coin purse."
After he tossed it to her, she said, "There's money in it."
"Of course, I only deposited some of your money to cover the cost of the rental of the box," Sid said.
"Why not all of it?" she asked.
"We won't get any money out of the bank unless we actually need it. You'll need a little money when we come back here to buy a hat," Sid said with a grin.
Cynthia laughed and tossed the coin purse into her box. She asked, "Can I close it now?"
"Yes, you may," Sid answered while continuing to disarm and load his goods in the box. Once he had removed everything, he turned to Cynthia and asked, "Is there anything from here on you?"
"No," she answered.
Sid looked at Harriet and asked, "Do you have anything from here on you?"
"Nothing except my clothes," she answered halfway convinced that he was dragging this out. She was ready for Sid, particularly after watching him make love Cynthia almost every night for a week. Her desire was so strong that it was almost painful.
Smiling at the two women, Sid said, "When I close this box we will go to Crossroads."
Impatient at the delay, Harriet said, "Close it now."
Sid closed the box and the room transitioned to the portal room on Crossroads. Harriet spun to face Sid and said, "Now you're mine."
"Not yet. We've got to visit the healing chambers first," Sid said opening the door. Sally grabbed Sid and led him over to the healer. She kissed him before closing the door on him.
Frustrated at yet another delay, Harriet stomped her foot and said, "I want him now!"
Lazlo Zalezac