Chapter 2

Author’s note: [ and ] delineate mind-to-mind dialog.

We left town with a new confidence in both our minds, even if it was the same brain. Dammit, I would have been happy to hear an explanation of how that was possible, but I didn’t expect to hear one any time soon.

We had rigged up some special loops and hooks to make it easy to carry the lance and ax fastened to the saddle, but easy and quick to move to our hand at the time of need. Such a time was not long in coming. We had been riding at a gentle lope for about two hours and were well away from any town or village. Suddenly, there appeared ahead of us a fearsome sight—a lion who might well be hungry, judging from the way it was eyeing the horse.

The horse skidded to a halt and would have run away if Hippolyte had not kept a firm hand on the reins. The lion started to trot toward us, and the horse really became agitated. Hippolyte was confident that she would not be knocked from the saddle, so she took out her lance and kicked her heels into the sides of the horse. The horse was startled and its training took over.

The horse charged at the lion and the lion charged at the horse. I suppose that the combined speed had to be about 40 MPH or so. Hippolyte was now in full control of the horse, and it moved just the right amount at just the right time for her to drive the lance down the lion’s throat and into its body. I’m no expert on lion anatomy, but I’ll bet that she must have hit its heart.

The lion dropped in mid-stride and Hippolyte was forced to turn loose the shaft of the lance to keep from breaking it. Her reaction was, [Jane, that was wonderful! I’ll never doubt you again. I could never have stayed mounted when my lance was buried in the lion without this wonderful saddle and the stirrups. Not only that, the longer lance made it possible to kill the lion without it ever getting close enough to hurt the horse. You are a genius!]

[I wish I could agree with everything you said, Hippolyte, but I must say that I am no genius. All I did was to repeat to you my own experience with the saddle and what I had learned in school about cavalry weapons.]

[Well, be modest if you must, but I am going to purchase a longer sword as soon as I can find a suitable one. I can now see what you meant about having a longer weapon to reach a target on the ground. It will be a great advantage to be able to stay mounted and not have to drop to the ground to fight men on foot. Now, let us go pick up my wonderful lance and salvage that lion skin. I am going to enjoy wearing it in cold weather and when I want to impress somebody.]

I just stayed out of the way while Hippolyte skinned the lion. She said that the meat would taste bad, and I certainly didn’t argue with her. Again, it was her body, and she should know what tasted good and what tasted bad. She rolled up the skin and tied it on the horse’s back behind the saddle. The horse was not happy about the smell of blood, but Hippolyte easily won that argument.

The horse was as happy as we were when we came to a fairly large town. It must have had over 500 residents, counting the children, so it was almost large enough to qualify as a city in this day and age. In a short time, Hippolyte found a tanner who would finish tanning the lion skin and have it supple enough to make a comfortable garment. He said that he couldn’t promise to have it ready in less than two weeks, and Hippolyte went along with that. I had no reason to question the tanner, so we had to find something to keep us occupied for a couple of weeks.

Fortunately, the almost-city had a good inn that we could stay in while the lion skin was being worked on. As was usual, there was a tavern attached to the inn, and that was also the inn’s restaurant. Such a tavern was often the “gentlemen’s club” for the town, and this one was a good example. The first night we were at the inn, Hippolyte spent a good bit of time in the tavern soaking up as much local gossip as she could hear.

During the course of the evening, there was a lot of talk about a gang of bandits attacking almost any traveler bold enough to try to reach the next town. The situation was so bad that commerce was practically cut off by the brigands. Some of the merchants were starting to suffer at this stifling of trade.

Hippolyte asked the bartender, “How much do you think the merchants would pay for the heads of these bandits?”

Normally, such a question from a woman would bring out a roar of derision, but Hippolyte had the look of a warrior, and she was well armed. The result was that she got a serious answer from the bartender. “The situation is so bad that I think that the merchants would get together and pay as much a 12 silvers for each head. There are six known bandits, but there may be more.”

“Very well, I will make the town an offer. I will undertake to rid the road of these bandits if the town merchants will pay me 12 silver coins for each head that I deliver.”

The bartender replied, “I will act as your agent if you will pay me five coppers for every head you collect 12 silvers for. Is that agreeable?” The two shook hands on the deal, and the bartender immediately began to promote Hippolyte’s offer. In less than an hour, a number of merchants had agreed to the deal. I was sure that they never expected to see a single head, but it was too good an offer to ignore.

The next morning, Hippolyte saddled up and set out to hunt for bandits. She had made some effort to hide her weapons so that she did not look so dangerous. That was enough for two men to approach at a dead run while they waved clubs. Hippolyte chuckled as she drew her lance and turned her horse to charge at the men.

The men were surprised and skidded to a halt. They were too close now to escape, and Hippolyte caught the first one before he could get set. She speared him in the chest and flipped her wrist to extract her lance before it was wrenched from her hand. She quickly turned her horse and speared the other one before he could escape. Well, if the merchants would stick to the bargain, there was 24 silvers minus 10 coppers with only a few seconds of work, not counting the time taken to ride back and forth.

Hippolyte had brought along a sack to carry the heads in so that the horse would not be so upset. She chopped off the heads and rode back toward town after dragging the bodies to the side of the road and checking them for valuables. Damned if she didn’t pick up an additional 13 silvers and nine coppers between the two brigands. This was a very profitable morning!

We got back to town long before noon, and the bartender was amazed when two heads were dumped onto the bar. “How long before I collect my bounty?” Hippolyte asked.

The bartender sputtered a few seconds and said, “I will have it for you by supper time.” Hippolyte nodded her head and walked out to visit the armorer before lunch.

This merchant had all sorts of swords made of bronze. She looked through the complete assortment of longer swords until she found one that seemed long enough. This was a bastard sword which meant that it could be used with either one or two hands. She bargained for the sword, a baldric, and a scabbard. It took quite a bit of haggling, but a price was finally settled on. The total price was 15 silvers, so the 13 picked up from the brigands were already going to a good use. Hippolyte was quite pleased when she walked out with the sword hanging from her back.

We made another excursion after bandits that afternoon, but none showed up this time. Were they already avoiding us? We hoped not, but the trip down this road tomorrow would tell us a lot.

That evening, the bartender gave her the 24 silvers that had been promised, and Hippolyte paid him his 10 coppers. Several men came over to congratulate her on her good work, and a few bought her a mug of watered wine. Yes, without a doubt, this was a very good day.

We went out the next day with no further sight of any brigands. It may have been that they were avoiding us; or they just may have been taking some time off; or, the most likely, the number of brigands had been exaggerated. There was one more possibility, though. It might be that we had just not gone far enough down the road to find any more.