Chapter 12

We were up the next morning at the crack of dawn and ready to depart soon after we'd eaten and had something to drink. We didn't head out though, not right away. I had two things that needed taking care of before we could depart. The first had to do with Kola. While she could probably ride, Felicity didn't want her to do that just in case Kola got a dizzy spell and fell off her mount. That meant building a travois. Fortunately the saplings at the top of the knoll were long enough and thick enough to do the job.

The second issue had to do with Felicity. The young doctor was sticking with us, which made perfect sense since she really didn't have much of a choice in the matter. We were the only one's who spoke English that she knew of and she certainly didn't speak the local language. It was more practical and safer for her to stay with us, even with the ever present threat of danger hovering over us. The good thing was that we could make use of her and her grav bike. With its speed and agility she'd be able to scout ahead for us and locate places to camp and find water and she'd be able to spot any trouble long before it ever got close to us. I spoke to her about this over breakfast and she agreed, so while I chopped down the saplings, Felicity mounted up on her bike and went for a ride. While she did that I limbed the saplings so I could make that travois.

Felicity was back an hour later and she had a lot to tell us. Ahead of us lay a stream that broke the plain and flowed south-east with the lie of the land. She'd followed that stream to where it flowed into the sea and she had come upon a small village. The village was built on a slope of grassland within feet of the stream and the sea. She reported that there were about a dozen thatched roofed round shaped huts in the settlement and from what she saw they raised goats and other small livestock and grew vegetables and a couple of the residents fished. Other than that one village and the villagers that she'd spotted, there was nothing in between them and us except for rolling grasslands, thickets, and plenty of wild life. After a quick discussion we decided to head for the village to get information and trade for fresh vegetables and other foodstuff. At a slow walk we'd reach the village in roughly four days.

We didn't hurry. With Kola sleeping or resting on the travois there was no way for us to push ahead at any real speed. As well, we were hindered by the fact that we had a couple of extra strings of horses that needed to be led; a task that was being managed by inexperienced riders. After the battle Rory had rounded up eight of the small Mongol horses and I'd decided to keep them instead of letting them loose. I was certain that somebody out there would want them and while we weren't hurting for money there wasn't any reason not to make more. At least by trading the horses with someone we'd stretch our resources further. Instead we walked the horses and talked.

By the morning of the third day of our march Kola was up and about and wanting to ride again. Felicity checked her out and then gave her the okay. I had her ride beside me for most of the trip and I kept an eye on her. Even with Kola back on a horse we kept the pace slow and steady. I didn't want anything to happen to my mate. That night Kola decided to show me that she felt better. It started with a bath in the nearby stream, much to the embarrassment of our two unmated women.

By now I knew quite well that Kola was an exhibitionist who took pleasure in flaunting our pleasure and lovemaking and I had to admit that I enjoyed it as well. Still I felt sorry for Nimue and Felicity. Poor Nimue stood guard while Kola bathed me in the stream and I bathed her in turn, taking the time to tease and entice my mate towards pleasure all the while as Caitlin sat to one side and watched with anticipation of what would follow. Nimue was also on guard while Zahra and Rory mimicked our play a short distance from us. While the stream was no more than ankle deep at best and only a couple of feet wide, both Kola and Zahra made good use of the cold clear waters. The poor girl was still on guard when we finished in the stream and headed to our bed furs.

As for Felicity, she lay curled up in her bedroll off to the side of our camp, forced to listen while my mates took their pleasure of me and Zahra taught Rory another lesson in the art of love. I pitied both of them, at least for a moment or two before my own passion overtook me and I turned my thoughts to more pleasurable pursuits.

"So is that how it's going to be every night?" Felicity asked the next morning as she was pulling on her leather jacket.

It was after dawn and I had woken her so she could reconnoitre the village up ahead of us. It was about two hours away at the pace we were setting and I figured that it would be a good plan to check it out first before heading in. I hadn't expected Felicity to be so forward. Still it put a smile on my face and it certainly didn't embarrass me.

"Yep," I replied nonchalantly, passing her a cup of hot tea that I'd brought her.

"And how does one get invited to the party," Felicity asked mischievously.

That did take me aback a bit, though not very much. After all, I'd been wondering when she'd say something and given the circumstances there weren't too many options open to her.

"Well," I said giving her a smile and a wink, "you'll have to speak to my mates about it. Kola's the boss and she has final say, although Caitlin has just as much of a say in it."

"And you just go along with their decision," Felicity asked looking at me curiously. I just smiled back at her and nodded my head and then moved the conversation along to what I wanted her to do on her ride this morning.

We were mounted up and riding at a walk when Felicity came back. The whole trip had taken an hour of which only ten minutes had been travel time. The rest had been her using my spy glass to get a good look at what was going on in the village. I had warned her not to get too close to it, fearing that she might spook the villagers or possibly get herself into trouble.

"There's not much different in the village," Felicity reported. "Mostly it looks quiet. I only spotted four men about. One was tending a cow and the others were sitting about on an overturned boat. One of those looked like he was working on a net."

"No women or kids?" I asked pointedly.

"None that I saw," Felicity responded, her gaze getting thoughtful for a second while she recalled what she'd seen. "Maybe they were in having breakfast."

"Not in a village like that," I replied firmly. "In a village like that, especially at this early hour, you'd have seen the kids outside doing the chores and the men either at work or out of sight, not the other way around. I think we have trouble waiting up ahead of us. I just hope others haven't suffered because of us."

We got to the village almost two hours later. When we did, I went into it all by myself and while the others raised a stink about it, I stood firm on my decision. If there was something wrong as I suspected there was, there was no need to get everyone involved. Besides, at the very worse they could come and rescue me. I went in with my sword and my shield and my blade weapons and left my bow and quiver behind. I even had my coif pulled up.

The village was exactly like the way Felicity had described it. There were twelve round shaped huts made out of intertwined sticks and wattle, all with a thatched roof. One of them was slightly larger than the rest. There was a fenced in pen beside one of the buildings that contained a cow and a calf. There was another enclosure that held some goats. Here and there a few chickens ran about. There were two boats present, one overturned by the village's edge and one sitting on the beach just above the high water mark. As for people, I only spotted the four men. They were all sitting hunched over on the overturned boat now and while they were wrapped up against the chill coming off the sea, I could tell that they were all big men. I also noted that there wasn't a dog in sight. That alone made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"We might as well get this over," I yelled out as I slowly walked towards the four men. "You've done a shitty job hiding your presence here."

Heads turned towards the man sitting in the middle of the group, but no voices were raised at my words. Then the man in the middle stood up. As he did he shucked off the skins and blankets that had been his disguise. I smiled as I got a good look at him.

The man was as tall as me and he was probably a few pounds heavier. He was clad in chainmail over which he was wearing a leather jerkin. About his waist he was wearing a belt that held his scabbard and longsword. He had a skull cap on his head. The man was ebony black with short cropped hair and a moustache and neatly trimmed goatee. As he stepped forward he drew his sword.

"So what is your name?" I asked the man, stopping a good thirty feet away from him.

"Aaron Johnson," the man replied in a deep gravelly voice.

I knew his name. He was on the list of top ten warriors on Game World. He didn't have a good reputation. I just nodded my acknowledgement and then glanced about the village. It was awfully quiet.

"Did you kill everybody in the village?" I asked pointedly. The big man just smiled at me, showing me his teeth. They showed whiter than white against his dark complexion.

"I guess we should get this over with then," I declared with a heavy sigh.

As I spoke the three other men stood up and shucked their disguises as well. They weren't as tall as Aaron or as heavily built but they certainly looked impressive. They all had swarthy complexions and long matted black hair and they were all wearing chainmail. One was carrying an axe, one was carrying a longsword and one had a crossbow. I decided he was the immediate threat so I dealt with him first.

Quickly I reached across my body with my right hand, shoving it into my belt, which had been obscured by my shield. As I did, the crossbowman raised up his weapon with the intent to use it. I was quicker. My hand came back out and as it did I took aim at the man with Felicity's pistol. That caused everyone to gasp with surprise. Then the pistol barked loudly in the still of the early day and my shot slammed into the crossbowman's right eye and continued through his skull and out the back, taking his brains with it.

"No!" Aaron Johnson cried out in dismay.

I didn't even reply. Instead I brought the pistol about and with two quick snap shots I dropped the other two men. That left Aaron. I smiled at him as I brought the pistol about and centred the weapon's sights on his chest.

"You're not allowed to use firearms," Aaron growled, shifting his feet and clenching his sword in anger. "It's against the rules."

"Not really," I replied giving him my best smile as I spoke to him. "The rule is that no firearm can be brought into Game World intentionally. I didn't bring this weapon into this world so I can do whatever I want with it and today I'm going to punch your ticket."

"No," Aaron shrieked in anger. As he cried out, he raised his sword over his shoulder. Then he started to rush me. I let him get ten feet while I adjusted my aim. Then I squeezed the trigger and that was that. The round hit Aaron in the throat just above his chainmail. The impact of the round staggered him and he faltered. As he did, I slipped the pistol back into my belt and then drew my sword. I had no intentions of wasting another bullet on this guy.

Slowly I stepped forward, bringing my sword up and about as I did. Aaron was still standing, but he was doing it on very shaky knees and it was obvious that he'd be dead in a second or two. He was coughing and blood was coming from his mouth. I just hurried things along. Instinctively, he tried to parry my strike and I let him as it drew his blade away from where my next blow was heading. As I disengaged and shifted my stance, I brought my blade back up in a backhanded sweep that cut Aaron's head from his shoulders. Then I stepped back and watched as the big man crumpled to the ground.

"Thanks," I said to Felicity when my party finally joined me in the village. I had just handed her back her pistol. There were five rounds left in it and that was it. We'd have to get around to training her on other weapons. Those bullets wouldn't last.

"No problem," Felicity responded with a smile. "I'm glad to have been able to help out."

We found everyone in the town dead. Most of the men were piled up in the big house as were the children and some of the older women. It didn't take a genus to know what had happened to the other women. We all just sighed heavily and then got to work scavenging what we could from amongst the various huts. By the end of the day we had refilled a couple of panniers with roots, dried fruit and berries, and some fresh greens. We also found some smoked fish that we packed up to take with us. When we were done I had the women take our mounts and the extra animals down the beach while Rory and I dealt with putting the torch to the place. As an after thought I had Caitlin put a lead line on the cow. I figured we could take the cow and calf with us and trade them when we got rid of the extra horses.

That night we end up camping on the beach a couple of miles to the east of the village. We made a simple camp and ate some chicken that we'd liberated from the village. It was a good meal if a bit muted. None of us were in the mood to either talk or celebrate. There certainly wasn't a recap of the previous night's escapades. As such I took the first watch. Thankfully nothing came about to bother us that night, because if something had, it wouldn't have survived. My people were pissed off once more and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.

The next morning I sent Felicity out once more with her grav bike and my spy glass. This time she was gone only half an hour before she came whizzing back at a couple hundred miles per hour. Felicity report to us that she'd found a small port. There was a fair sized river up ahead and where it emptied into the sea, there was a walled village. The wall was more of a picket fence than anything else and from the way Felicity described it, it sounded like it was built primarily to keep animals out rather than a defensive feature. She also reported that there were several boats pulled up onto the beach and a couple of large ones that were tied up to a jetty that poked out into the waters of the sea. That got my interest. It had always been in my plan to take a boat to other lands in an effort to force the bastards running Game World into chasing after me. Now the possibility of doing so was presenting itself to me. Unfortunately, I was now encumbered with goods and followers and I needed to think about that before doing anything. Still the village sounded like a great place to visit, if for no other reason than to replenish their supplies.