Chapter 23: Moving On

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein.

Pescara, Italy. April 1079

Luke had to admit that the March weather in Italy was far more pleasant than Britain’s. As they traveled north, Luke had been able to pick up ten more rifled muskets and had the women practice with them. It was no surprise when Morvarid found the problem of being pregnant and using a firearm; the baby didn’t like the loud noise and tended to protest by kicking or punching.

Despite the momentary discomfort of her child practicing its self-defense in her womb, Morvarid was adamant that she learn to use firearms properly. She realized that with the extended reach of the rifled musket, she could keep bad people further away from her and her child. But unlike the twins, even with practice, Morvarid could only hit a target out to 100 meters. The twins could reliably hit a target out to 200 meters and were dangerous out to 400 meters.

As they practiced, Luke was dismayed to discover that his eyesight was slowly worsening and figured that within a few years, he would need glasses. For now, he was okay, but objects far away were slowly becoming less sharp than they had been only a year before.

While there were reasons to stay in Italy, like the better weather or classical ruins, there were far more reasons to leave as quickly as possible. Between Brindisi and Pescara, Luke and the women had to fight off eight attacks by bandits and one by drunk Italian soldiers, which was where Luke got most of their muskets. Each one of the four now had four shots before they would have to stop and reload, and that wasn’t counting Luke’s handgun.

One of the biggest surprises Luke had was the difficulty unloading some of the captured loot. While selling small quantities of goods was easy, selling the vast quantities they captured from bandits was exceedingly tricky as the people Luke was trying to sell to became suspicious.

Ultimately, the group had two choices, leave the spoils behind or buy another wagon to split the loot. None wanted to leave valuable gear behind, so they bought another wagon in Bari.

After splitting the spoils and other gear between the wagons, they decided it would leave them too spread out if they continued like they had been traveling. To help protect themselves and do another good deed, Morvarid and the twins hired two young widows who could handle a team of horses.

The older of the two widows was named Clara, and the other was named Gemma. Clara was about 23 years old and had lost her husband and child to disease the year before. Before Luke’s group came along, she was reduced to picking pockets and was about ready to turn to whoredom to survive. Gemma was 22 and had lost her husband and children to pirates as they had lived near the sea. She hadn’t sunk as low as Clara, only because she had some savings, thanks to her former husband, who had a stroke of luck several months before the pirate attack. He had found a Roman shipwreck in shallow water and retrieved a small jar of coins. Those coins allowed Gemma to avoid becoming a pickpocket or whore although they were about out when Luke’s group came along and hired her.

The two women were hired as drivers, which allowed Luke’s women to transition into guards. When Morvarid gave birth, they would be able to help her. Both women were surprised when Luke refused to take them to bed with him, and Clara was hurt until Morvarid explained Luke to her.

“Luke will not take you to bed because he has four more women waiting for him in Britain.”

“Britain? Why would anyone want to go to that island when it is the home of heretics?” Morvarid hadn’t explained where they were traveling to when she hired the widows.

“That is where we are going. Luke’s wife is the Queen of Great Britain.” Morvarid flipped a British coin to Clara. “That is his wife.” Clara gasped when she looked at the portrait on the coin, for the woman was beautiful.

“This is his wife?”

“Yes. Luke was captured in Egypt by the Seljuk Empire in the Fatimid War and was held prisoner for two years.” Gemma had been listening.

“Is it true the British hate pirates?”

“From everything I have heard, yes.” Tears began to stream down Gemma’s face.

“I wish they would have come this way. Then, my husband and children wouldn’t have been taken from me.”

“What about Pope Gregory or Queen Matilda? Do they not defend you?” Both women snorted.

“No, they do not care about the poor. They only care for the nobility or wealthy merchants.”

“From what Luke tells me, Marion cares about all her subjects and frequently goes out of her way to help those less fortunate than herself. Look, I know you two only agreed to stay with us until the Alps, but I would like you to consider joining us in Britain. Luke tells me, and I have heard from other sources, that women in Britain can do anything. They have women in the military. Women work the trades and as merchants. Some women own their own farms or fishing boats. The British Navy also works hard to keep British waters free of pirates. In Britain, you can reimagine yourself and become almost anyone.” Clara and Gemma looked at each other and nodded.

“We will travel with you to Britain.”

“Good.” Morvarid was relieved that they wouldn’t need to find new drivers. “Let’s go tell Luke, and he’ll begin working with you on self-defense.”

As soon as they informed Luke, he began teaching Clara and Gemma self-defense. An hour later, they were exhausted and could barely lift an arm. Then, they watched as Luke and the twins went about the exercises. To say they were stunned was an understatement as they had never considered such moves possible.

From that point on, Luke would practice with the widows for an hour a day, usually in the evening, once they had halted and eaten dinner. Many nights, the widows fell into bed and didn’t move until the roosters woke them the following day.

For the first week, the widows didn’t know what all the training they were doing would be good for. That changed when they were ambushed by a larger group of bandits. Thanks to the large number of bandits, they survived the group’s firepower. Although most bandits survived the opening volley of musket fire, the bandit archers didn’t, leaving only the swordsmen.

The widows watched as Luke made short work of any bandit close enough, but he was only one man, and several bandits got their hands on Guzal. Using only her hands, she killed three bandits and used her sword to keep the rest of them back until Luke hit them from behind.

Once again, Luke had proven ferocious in battle as he had killed 20 bandits with his swords, and by the time everything was over, he was covered in blood, although none was his. The widows were in a daze as they helped collect the spoils of the battle. They were even more stunned watching the twins interrogate the survivors.

If the widows thought Luke was ferocious in battle, they learned what ferocious really meant when they watched the twins. The bandits who had attacked them had been living as highwaymen for years and thus were very hard men. The twins had them crying for mercy within an hour and singing like a canary.