Chapter 3
It was a quarter before noon local time (quarter to one Eastern Standard Time) when there was a knock on Sid's front door. Sid looked at the atomic clock with concern. He was supposed to leave for Crossroads in fifteen minutes and didn't want to waste time at the door. Rushing to the front door, he opened it to find Cynthia standing there. She smiled and said, "Hello Sid."
"Hello, Cynthia. What can I do for you?" asked Sid.
"I know that you are leaving for Crossroads in a few minutes and I thought I would see you off," said Cynthia. She smiled although she really wanted to rip into him. Even after their dates, he had not given up that nonsense about Crossroads and Chaos.
"Come in," said Sid holding the door open for her.
She came in and closed the door behind her. Unaware that she didn't believe him, he continued to rush. He took her coat and hung it up in the closet. He said, "Come on into the study. I only have a few minutes before I have to leave."
Amazed that he continued to pursue this fantasy, Cynthia followed him to the study. Once there, he offered her a seat at the desk. Looking at the clock, he said, "I have four minutes. I'm sorry that I can't be a better host, but I really don't have much time."
"That's okay," said Cynthia. She glanced at the clock and thought that in five minutes he'd have to give up his fantasy world.
She watched as he opened the desk drawer and pulled out a Sapphire ring. He slipped it on his finger and stepped over to the closet. Looking back at her, he said, "I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Wish me luck."
"Good luck," replied Cynthia expecting nothing to happen. She watched, wide eyed, as Sid stepped through the portal and disappeared with a shimmer. It reminded her of the teleporters in science fiction movies. Stunned by what she had seen, she said, "Oh my God! He wasn't making it up."
Rushing over to the closet, she looked to see if there was any kind of trick mechanism. There was nothing in the closet except her. The full import of what she had observed came crashing in on her. As if her stomach was on fire, she groaned and said, "There really is a Sally Caretaker. There really are Damsels in Distress. He really is fucking them."
She staggered back to the chair and stared at the floor trying to process what she had just learned. In a way, she felt guilty for not believing him. At the same time, she felt angry that he hadn't convinced her that it was real. Most of all, she was hurt that he was going off to be with other women. She broke down and cried.
Sid stepped through the portal into the small room. The door opened and he spotted Sally waiting for him. The room in which she stood was dark except for a spotlight that cast a soft light over her. She was wearing an ornate loincloth that hung down to her knees and was held up by a silver chain that was around her waist. Other than the loincloth, she was naked. She thrust her breasts forward for him to gaze upon. She was the most erotic sight that Sid had ever seen.
Awed by the sight, Sid said, "You are so beautiful."
"You are alone, my Hero?" asked Sally surprised to find him alone. She wondered where his companion was, having fully expected him to bring her with him. She had even prepared the computer to produce an identical outfit for her.
"She is waiting for me back on Earth," answered Sid as he stepped forward. The ornate loincloth was actually transparent with gold embroidery. With her long black hair, oriental skin, and Caucasian features, she looked like some sort of Egyptian Queen.
At the realization that she would have Sid all to herself, Sally smiled. In a sexy voice, she said, "Come to me, my Hero, and ravish me properly."
Sid followed her to the bedroom entranced by the way her outfit accentuated her walk. Her attire revealed more than it hid, but hid enough to drive him crazy. When they reached the bedroom, she reached down to the belt and, after touching it on the side, her loincloth dropped to the floor. It took Sid considerably longer to get out of his clothes.
Once they were on the bed, Sid did his best to feel every square inch of her body. After he had gently covered all of that territory with his hand, he covered it again with soft light kisses. By the time he was down to kissing the end of her little toe, Sally had come so hard and so often that she didn't resemble a human. Her legs hurt from shaking so much. Her belly was sore from clenching in the midst of orgasms. Her voice was almost gone from screaming so long and so loud.
To pass the time until she recovered, Sid sucked on her toes. When he ran out of toes, he sucked on her fingers, followed by her earlobes, and then her nipples. By the time he reached her nipples, she was once again screaming from continuous orgasms. Deciding that she wasn't excited enough, he moved between her legs and sucked on her lower lips. Her legs locked around his head holding him against her pussy with the effect that she nearly smothered him.
He was gasping for air by the time she relaxed her legs. Her lower region was a swamp from her natural juices. He went to work cleaning her up with long slow licks of his tongue. The effect was to set her off again and all his hard work went for naught as she flooded her lower region with more juices. As he went to lick that up, she croaked, "Enough. You'll kill me."
"I've just gotten started my Caretaker," Sid said brushing a hand over her stomach. Her whole body reacted to his light touch.
Holding a hand out, she cried, "Restorative."
When a glass with the green liquid appeared in her hand, she lifted her head off the bed and swallowed it down. With just enough strength left in her, she threw the glass to the side. It disappeared before it hit the floor. Weakly, she said, "Mount me, my Hero. Fuck me until I die."
Sid mounted her and attempted to do just that. Her orgasms resumed when he entered her. The time spent taking her to that point had also excited Sid close to the point of no return. Rather than hours or minutes, in was less than two minutes before he came. Sally didn't care by that time. She had gone into sexual overload.
It was several hours later that Sid woke to find Sally asleep beside him. She had never moved since he had lifted himself off her. His come was dried to a crust around her lower region. Propping up his head on his hand, he watched her sleep. He memorized her features wanting to never forget the peaceful expression on her face.
Feeling that she was being watched, Sally slowly woke and found Sid watching her. She stretched and said, "Two restoratives, please."
The restoratives appeared on the bed. She grabbed them before they could fall over. Handing one to Sid, she drank one down herself. A shiver went through her body as the magic liquid restored her energy. Smiling, she said, "My Hero."
"My Caretaker," Sid said after drinking his glass of restorative. He reached over to stroke her body.
"Don't touch me, yet. I'm too sensitive," said Sally with a shudder. Just the thought of being touched was sufficient to trigger a little orgasm.
Watching as a blush appeared on her chest, Sid asked, "What?"
"That's from the thought of you touching me."
"Wow."
"My lovely man, no woman in the entire history of Cassandra is as lucky as I. You know how to play my body like it was meant to be played. I am happy for your companion on Earth. She is the luckiest woman on your planet."
Sid said, "We have not done anything yet."
Shocked, Sally sat up and spun to face him. With concern on her face, she asked, "Is she okay? How could she not want to experience such pleasure?"
"It takes us a little longer to get around to that on Earth. Earth women are a lot different from the women of Cassandra."
"Different? How? Do they have tails?"
Sid laughed and shook his head at the image of women with tails. It reminded him of watching her from the rear as her loincloth swayed while walking. He answered, "They don't have tails. They just don't achieve orgasm as quickly as the women of Cassandra. What I did with you might have brought an Earth woman to a single orgasm. We have to make love to their mind for a long time before we even touch their bodies."
"Poor things," Sally said. She couldn't imagine many women surviving the kind of treatment that Sid had performed on her. Tilting her head to the side, she said, "Tell me about her."
"Her name is Cynthia..."
"You told me that last time. What's she like?"
"Why do you want to know?" asked Sid.
Sally blushed as if she had been caught doing something wrong. She answered, "I can't wait to tell everyone back on Cassandra that my Hero has an Earth girl too. They are going to be so jealous that I'm caretaker to such a virile man. It may be your pleasure, but it is my pride!"
Sid shook his head in disbelief. He couldn't imagine that an entire culture of hot horny women existed and that they had nothing better to do than to discuss the sex lives of the Heroes. Sitting up, he said, "You may be surprised to learn this, but I don't believe that I'm that great of a lover. There have been times when I've been with a woman and she hasn't had an orgasm."
"That's horrible. The women on Earth must be like the men on Cassandra. We have to work all day to have them get it up and then... poof... it's gone and we won't see it for another day," Sally sighed. She looked over at Sid and, with a smile, said, "You don't have that problem, my Hero."
"Do you want me to prove it?" asked Sid with a grin. He reached for her and proved that he didn't have that problem.
Later, Sally was wearing the same outfit that she had worn when she greeted Sid. It was a major distraction, but Sid did his best to pay attention as Sally briefed him on the situation in Chaos.
"You'll port to a town that is only a week's ride from the Jones Citadel. When you get there, go to the man who runs the Rooster Inn. You'll recognize it by the sign with a rooster on it. Introduce yourself as Sid Jones and tell him that Gerald Jones is your uncle. He'll give you a medallion. You'll take that medallion over to the bank and give it to the bank manager. He will ask you for your name and a code phrase. Once you answer him, you'll get Gerald's lockbox."
"What's the code phrase?"
"Oh, sorry. It's  Everyone in my family is a bunch of lazy bastards except for my nephew," answered Sally. She laughed at the expression of surprise on Sid's face.
Sid shook his head and grinned as he imagined his uncle saying exactly those words. Even here, his family wouldn't have a very good reputation. He laughed as he said, "You've got to love my Uncle Gerald."
Sally had heard many good things about Gerald. He was among the greatest Heroes of all time, if not the greatest. She said, "You're going to have to take everything out of his lockbox because everything inside will be destroyed when it is closed again. One of the items will be a signet ring. That will identify you as the legitimate heir of the Jones Citadel. You'll take that to Bixby in the Citadel, he was your uncle's right hand man."
"That sounds easy enough," Sid said. He figured that it was going to be a lot more difficult than it sounded. He asked, "Is his signet ring the only ring in his lockbox?"
"I don't know. I'm sure that you'll recognize it when you see it, though."
Sid licked his lips and wondered about that. Disturbed, he said, "I guess I'll have to see. What else will I inherit?"
"Your uncle's balance of forty-six thousand conches will get added to your account."
"So much?" asked Sid shocked at the amount of money. He wondered how his uncle had managed to acquire so much. Shaking his head, he said, "He should have used that money for himself. I don't deserve it."
"It's not that much considering that he acquired it over a lifetime of adventuring. His citadel is worth much more than that. If I'm not mistaken, he's got little caches of money, weapons, and property spread all over Chaos," answered Sally with a smile. She had a very good idea of just how much stuff Gerald had hidden, but she wasn't going to let Sid know. Gerald had wanted him to discover things on his own and she, like any of the caretakers, would respect his wishes.
"I'll try not to use his money," Sid said.
"You'll need at least a thousand conches to buy and equip your army."
"You're kidding? A horse is a conch. Why will I need a thousand conches?"
"Well, let's say that you have an army of a hundred men. It costs two quid a day to hire a regular fighter, one shell a day for a skilled fighter, and two shells for specialists. I'd suggest that you get about sixty regulars, thirty skilled, and ten specialists. Don't forget to include a healer or two. That's a little more than two conches per day as wages for your army.
"Of course, you'll have to feed all of them. That'll run you about three pinches per day per man which is another twenty shells per day. Let's see, you're at two and a half conches a day at this point."
"Two and a half conches per day?" Sid asked.
"That comes to about seventy-five conches per month. You may be in the field for anywhere between one month and a year or more."
Sid listened to her with an open mouth while wondering what else he would have to spend money on. They were still short of a thousand conches. He asked, "Anything else?"
"You'll need to buy some supporting equipment. Wagons, horses, and other supplies will run you another two hundred conches depending on what you get. You'll have to provide weapons for some of the men, that'll run you another fifty conches or so."
"Wagons?"
"You'll need something to carry supplies. You know, things like medicine, food, water, ropes, weapons, blankets, tents, clothes, and cook gear," Sally added.
Sid shook his head and said, "I'm not the right guy to lead an army. I've never given it a thought."
"You'll do fine. Your biggest problem is going to be logistics and you can hire someone to help you with that," Sally replied. She could understand his concern. Most Heroes ultimately ended up leading a small band of men, but it was a slow process by which they grew their troop.
Sitting back, Sid thought about the nature of the war that he was about to join. After a few minutes, he asked, "Are we talking about a war in which army faces army? Or is it a guerilla war?"
"A guerilla war?" she asked unfamiliar with the term.
"A guerilla army is a small highly mobile group that strikes the enemy in a quick engagement and then retreats before the enemy can mount an effective defense."
"Ah, a raider war," Sally replied once she understood what he meant. She was silent for a minute considering his original question. She was tempted to answer that it was more of the latter, but there were problems with that answer. Finally, she said, "The area involved is about the same size as South Dakota. Slaves are on farms that are spread all over the countryside. You won't be fighting an army when you are liberating slaves, but liberating slaves won't end slavery.
"There are over sixty large cities whose major source of income is the slave trade or the products produced by slaves. You'll have to take control of those cities at some point in time. That'll involve army against army."
"I'll have to lay siege to a city?" Sid asked thinking about the impossibility of the task ahead of him.
"Yes. Actually, you'll have to take several cities to end slavery."
Rubbing his face with his hands, he asked, "How much time do I have to prepare?"
"Ten days," Sally answered.
There was too much to learn and too little time. Sid wondered if he was up to the task of leading an army. He wasn't worried for his own safety, only that of the men whom he would be leading. Nothing was more dangerous than an incompetent leader. Looking over at Sally, he said, "Let me see what I'm up against."
Sally brought up a map of Chaos and began pointing out the major locations of interest. She began by identifying the town into which he would port. It was a minor cattle center where cattle from outlying ranches would be bought and sold before driving them to a much larger town a month away where they would be slaughtered for their meat and hide.
She then showed him the location of the citadel. To get to it, he'd be passing a number of cattle ranches. The men working on them would be tough and independent. If there had been any recent cattle thefts in the area, they'd be suspicious of all strangers and he'd have to be careful. It was not unknown for them to act without giving the stranger a chance to explain his presence.
Sid examined the map taking in the natural features of the land. The area in which slavery was being practiced was basically a large rectangular region to the southwest of the Citadel and was slowly spreading. The area was filled with a large flat plain. It was bordered on the northern and eastern sides with rolling hills. The southern and western sides were bordered by a swamp. The geography dictated that the region with slaves spread towards the citadel.
This was going to be a long stay in Chaos. He'd take a day just getting his Uncle's stuff from the bank. Then it would be a week ride to the Citadel. Then he would have to claim the citadel. Even then, he wouldn't have started on the adventure yet. There would be at least a week of meetings with the other heroes before they left to rescue the damsels. It would be a little more than a month's ride to the closest place that practiced slavery. The war would start and he had no idea how long it would take to conquer a region that was a quarter of the size of South Dakota.
He sighed and said, "This is going to be a long trip."
She said, "I know you'll do great."
"I'll miss you," he said.
Sally knew that it wouldn't seem that long to her, but she wasn't going to let him know that. She smiled and said, "I'll miss you."
Sid shook his head and said, "I'll do what I can to come back as quick as possible."
"Don't rush. Every engagement has a time and a place. Rush the time or fight at the wrong place and you'll lose the war. There are times when it is better to retreat than to fight."
Gerald had said the same thing to him many times. He said, "Keep the big picture in mind at all times. The first side that loses the big picture loses the war."
"Your uncle taught you well," Sally said.
Sid woke with Sally snuggled close to him on the overlarge bed that would make a king size bed color with envy. He stared at the ceiling thinking about the adventure on which he was about to embark. For ten days he had military tactics drilled into his head and feared that he had not retained even a fraction of what Sally had taught him. He hoped that it would all come back to him once he stepped through the portal.
His agitation must have conveyed itself to Sally because she woke and stared at him. Rather than greeting him with the typical good morning, she said, "Relax, you'll do fine."
"I'm finding it rather difficult to relax at the moment."
Sally reached down and fondled his cock. When it grew rigid under her fingers, she smiled and said, "Yes, you seem particularly stiff this morning."
"I am now."
Sally laughed and climbed atop him, taking an initiative in how they made love that she had never taken before with him. She used him in the manner that women of Cassandra used the men of Cassandra. Each movement was designed to trigger an orgasm as quickly as possible, but it didn't take her long to lose control. The men of Cassandra were not able to sustain an erection for more than a minute.
Orgasm after orgasm washed through her body. Sid was just along for the ride, watching in amazement as she pleasured herself. When she passed out, he was far from reaching a climax. He rolled over; taking her with him so that she was beneath him. He thrust into her until he came with a roar. He slipped off her.
He was then left with the problem that he needed to go to the restroom, but she was unconscious. With his bladder full, he stood up and walked around the room hoping that the motion would relieve some of the discomfort he was experiencing. To his surprise, a small door opened to a bathroom complete with a urinal. The presence of the urinal was a surprise as it was the first gender specific item he had seen in the apartment.
As he pissed, he wondered about the fact that it was the first time that apartment had responded to his need without involving Sally. He muttered, "It's good to know that whatever controls this apartment will step in when she's unable to function."
"It sure would be nice if this apartment could talk," he commented while shaking the last drop off his cock. The sudden flushing of the urinal took him by surprise and he stepped back. Laughing, he said, "Actions talk louder than words."
After washing his hands, he returned to the bedroom and watched Sally Caretaker sleep. He knew that his time with her was limited and that soon he'd be heading to Chaos. It was with mixed feelings that he considered his departure. It would be as long as a year of subjective time before he would be able to enjoy being with Sally once he left.
His desire to stay was countered by thoughts of the adventure. He mentally reviewed the descriptions of the Damsels who had been enslaved. Every one of them was a beautiful woman and he doubted they would be used as field slaves. There was nothing nice about the experiences to which they would be subjected as house slaves. Brain numbing work, rape, and beatings were all possibilities. It could take as long as a year to rescue them. The idea that they would be miserable for such a long period of time was disturbing.
It was an hour before Sally woke. Looking over at Sid, she saw the introspective expression on his face. She knew he was going over their plans for the upcoming adventure in his mind, searching for any items that he may have missed about what to expect. It pleased her to know that he was doing everything in his power to return alive and successful.
Growing up as a young girl, she had this image of swashbuckling Heroes charging blindly into danger. The reality was just the opposite. She had learned that Heroes spent years training, worked with complete dedication in planning, and were patient in executing those plans. Heroes who survived adventures were not only strong, but they were smart. The ability to imagine all of the things that could go wrong and to come up with ways to counter them was critical for the survival of a Hero.
Sid noticed Sally watching him. He smiled and asked, "What's on your mind?"
"Oh, I was just thinking how lucky I am."