Chapter 16

Our guard unit reformed and after getting rations and water, followed the enemy to their own camp.

Ronka led us to the enemy camp. When we camped at night we had pickets set and changed watches every two hours.

When we arrived at the camp, the men came out and begged us not to slaughter their village.

I said, "I am your new clan leader, why would I slaughter my own people." I hoped this tactic would keep us from having to kill many people and save our own forces.

One of the men who had been at the fight said, "It is true. I saw him kill Ferd."

This was going better than I had hoped. "Call my people out to meet me," I told them.

While the people were assembling, I asked who the village leader was. I found out he was the man I had been talking to.

"What kind of shape is the village in, since we had to kill so many men from this clan?" I asked him.

"This village is in good shape, we only lost three men to the fight," Harl, the leader, told me.

I made introductions, and told them that we were the clan guard unit and we were here to protect them. I explained about the spring and fall training, and that they were expected to send men to be trained. They agreed.

I asked for a guide to any other villages in the clan. There were two more.

The next village we went to was also in fairly good shape. They had only lost four men to the fighting. The leader agreed to my leadership and to sending men for the guard training.

The last village was Ferd's and we were met with some animosity. This village had lost over half of its men in the fighting.

"Who will be the village leader since Ferd is dead?" I asked.

"I will be the village and clan leader," a big man said as he walked out.

Some of my men wanted to kill him. I stopped them and asked if he meant to challenge me for leadership of the clan.

"Yes, I want to challenge you, and I want to fight without weapons," he answered.

"I agree," I answered.

This fellow, Esdom, was over six feet tall, and outweighed me by ten or fifteen pounds.

I knew that I couldn't let him grab and hold me or I was in for a tough fight.

I stripped off my weapons and took any loose clothing off.

He approached warily. I am sure he was not used to being the shorter of the combatants. He got in range and I gave him a straight left to the face. I could see the cut under his eye.

He shook his head and rushed me to grab a hold. I tried to throw him and partially succeeded, but he had caught my arm and the throw had not broken his hold. Needless to say, I got snatched down with him.

This bastard was a dirty fighter, and tried to thumb my eye right away. I dodged and broke his nose with my forehead.

He blew blood in my eyes and caught my hair and tried to pull me off him. I kept my hold of him and we wrestled for a couple of minutes until he got close enough to bite a piece out of my left deltoid muscle. That hurt like hell and it gave me a shot of adrenaline.

I was able to throw him away from me. I got up and knew that I was going to have to fuck him up to win this.

He came at me again, and I took a poke at his head. He ducked and stepped to the side. I stepped forward and kicked down on his left knee. I heard the joint pop and dislocate.

He screamed and fell. "Do you want more?" I asked him. He shook his head.

I asked in a loud voice, "Are there any more?"

There were none.

Kimi came running up to me. She was squalling. "Oh, my beautiful husband, you are hurt. Come and let me clean you, and bandage your wounds."

Esdom was a dirty fighting son of a bitch. He had not only bitten a piece out of me, but had ripped my right ear lobe loose from my head. That doesn't count the scratches and bruises. No one really ever wins in a fight; they only lose less. Kimi had learned how to tend minor injuries from Lena. She cleaned and bandaged me up.

I asked her to see what she could do for Esdom. "Husband, I do not want to help him, I want to kill him for hurting you," Kimi told me.

"Part of being the chieftains wife is doing those things that you don't always want to do. Please see if you can help him." I asked her.

This village didn't have enough men left to be viable anymore. I told everyone to pack up their belongings and we would help them move to other villages where they could make a go of things.

I asked my guardsmen to tell them about their villages and help them to go with them if they wanted to go there.

Esdom was to go only to the next village. He and his wife and son got him ready to go and we took him in the cart.

Ferd had a wife who was to go with me to serve me at my village. I truly disliked this custom. Loci was a pleasant girl about Randa's age. Ferd had treated her poorly because she had not gotten pregnant in the two years they had been married. We packed up her things and put them on the cart and on Pet. Esdom was the only rider.

I went to drop Esdom and his family off. He said, "Ricky, I am sorry for what I did to you. I know that you are a good leader."

We went to my camp. It was a good trip, except that my shoulder was very sore, and my hand was very stiff where I had hit Esdom.

Kimi was so worried about me that she didn't want sex five times a night. She was very attentive to me and I loved her for her gentleness.

Loci also took care of me. She was a very good cook.

When I got home Kimi immediately took me to Lena and told her what happened.

Lena stripped me down and looked me over closely. She told me "Only Kimi's constant care and cleaning kept you from getting infected from that bite. Your ear will heal up after a while. I hate Esdom for hurting you, Husband," Lena said. She checked out my hand. "Ricky, you have to stop hitting with your fists. You have broken the bone in your hand," she said. She got a stick and made my hand into a fist around it and tied my hand to immobilize it.

When Lena finished with me I went outside and saw everyone standing around listening to Loci and Kimi telling about what happened during our war. Loci's contribution was to tell about my fight with Esdom. She was telling about how big and strong Esdom was and how he had never lost a fight.

Maggie came up to me and said, "Ricky, I am asking you not to fight like that anymore. Even if you win you could be crippled or die from infection later. All of my wives will agree that it is much better to kill anyone else if it means that you come back to us." All of my wives spoke their assent.

Loci was surprised. She said, "You must truly love Ricky."

They all looked at her like she was crazy. Sherry said, "Loci, we all love him very much. There are only five other men who are anywhere near my husband in my heart. My father and brothers are wonderful men, but Ricky is my love, and the father of my child."