Chapter 4

"What do you mean what?" Fox asked in disbelief. "You just killed 5 men so fast that I know I missed at least one of them dying. And you're not even reacting to it."

"I have killed men before and will kill them again," Mathias said simply. He ripped the tunic off one of the men and wiped his Katana clean, sheathing it before he picked up his Wakizashi and repeated the process. "What do we do with the bodies?"

"We take them back to their camp. You collect any possessions or mates that you want and then leave," Fox explained. Mathias was not so sure now that killing them had been the best course of action.

"Do you know if any of them had mates?" Mathias asked slowly, realising that he would now be responsible for them. In this time, the men did the hunting and the women the gathering. If a woman didn't have a man to hunt for her, then she could easily starve.

"No, I don't," Fox said as he looked around. "I will run back to camp and gather men so that we can get the meat and the bodies home in time for your mating ceremony tonight."

"Go and be careful," Mathias said as Fox took off at a run. He was soon out of sight and Mathias busied himself with extracting the spears from the Elk.

Not three hours had passed before Buffy let him know that Fox was back. And he had company. Fox came into view with Bull, Bear and 10 other men. Mathias saw Fox point at the bodies of the men as they walked towards him and he heard the end of the talk they were having.

"When they tried to kill him, he just up and killed them as easy as breathing," Fox said.

"I doubt it was that easy but they are still dead," Bull said as he walked over. "Hello Mathias. I see you had a disagreement with some of the men from a nearby camp. You ok?"

"I'm fine. These men didn't know anything about fighting with a spear," Mathias replied. "Did you come to help me carry these men and the meat back to your camp?"

"Yes we did. You're not to carry a thing either. I have been told to make sure you don't by both Tee and Tia," Bull replied with a chuckle.

"You sure?" Mathias asked. He wanted to help but didn't think he should get Bull in trouble with his mate and daughter.

"Quite," Bull said and he was. While they had been talking, the other men that had come had skinned the Elk and cut them up into chunks so that they could be carried home easier. Five men also each had one of the dead men slung across their shoulders in what would later be called a fireman's carry. The whole procedure had been watched carefully by the dogs. Not half an hour had passed and they set off back to the camp with their load.

Their return to camp was far from sedate as everyone wanted to see for themselves that Mathias had killed 5 men. Once the novelty had worn off and the bodies deposited at the edge of camp, Bull took Mathias down to the river to wash.

Since Mathias had been in the army, he was not shy about stripping off to wash and did just that when Bull did. Washing basically entailed getting wet, rubbing the dirt off with your hands and rinsing. As Mathias and Bull washed, the dogs sat on the bank and dozed.

"After today I won't have any worries about you being able to protect my daughter or feeding her. No one could beat you in a fight and no one can sneak up on you with your wolves watching," Bull said as he washed. "My only concern is that you will treat her bad or something unforeseen happens and you die and she is left alone."

"I thank you for your thoughts, but I am not sure how to reply," Mathias said after a moment. "I cannot fight that which cannot be foreseen but I promise to do everything I can to protect my mate, your daughter."

"That is all I expected you to say. You dress differently to us, your have strange weapons and horses and wolves listen to you as if you are one of them. I don't know why I think this but I believe you will one day be the head of your own camp and be a wise and strong leader," Bull said.

"I thank you for your confidence and will try to live up to it," Mathias replied. "And I'll take good care of your daughter," Mathias said as he rinsed off.

"With what you have to offer, I'm sure you will," Bull said with a haughty laugh as he rinsed. Mathias blushed but didn't say anything as he got out of the water. They stood on the bank and let the sun dry them before they dressed again and walked back into the camp.