Chapter 10

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

The next morning was entirely different from the last one: this was purely business. Hippolyte had noticed that there were horses for sale in this town. That was a rarity, but not unheard of. Anyway, we went to see about buying a suitable horse to replace the donkey that was pulling our wagon. It was obvious that we would soon exceed the pulling capacity of the donkey.

On the way over, I said, [Mules are stronger than donkeys or horses. How do you feel about using a mule to pull the wagon?]

[I did not know that. I have only seen one mule, and I can attest that it tasted pretty good. You take over and see what you can come up with.]

We came upon the pen from the back side, and the owner was not around. I took the opportunity to look over the animals in the corral. To my surprise, there was a mule in there. It was a godsend if it had not been abused—that was what I was going to check before we bought it. Otherwise, we would buy a mare and breed our own mule with our male donkey as the father.

We went around to the front of the corral and found the owner. As expected, he ignored us and turned to Janos as the prospective purchaser. I whispered to Janos to keep the owner occupied while I took a close look at the mule. I took the opportunity to dismount and examine the mule without the stable owner paying any attention to me. Hey, this mule was in prime condition and was not very old. That made it perfect for our needs.

Meanwhile, Janos was explaining that we wanted to trade in our donkey on a horse. “What do you suggest. I want an animal that is already trained as a draft animal.”

I was carefully watching the stable owner’s face, and I could see the avarice blossom as he thought he had a pigeon ripe for plucking. “Good Sir, all of my animals are prime stock and trained as draft animals. Just take a look at that fine horse over there. Oh, yes, I know he looks a little misshapen with his long ears, but do not let that influence you. He is well trained as a draft animal and very strong. Not only that, he is bargain priced at 45 silvers.”

I almost choked at that, and Janos saw my reaction. “Hmm, I do not know. He looks more like 18 silvers to me.”

The stable owner erupted in faux exasperation. “What, you insult that fine animal with your offer. Very well, I will take the loss at 40 silvers.”

“Well, perhaps I might go to 19 silvers, if you really think that he is worth that.” The four men in the back of the wagon could hardly contain their laughter at the obtuse way Janos was acting. He was really putting on a good show.

Well, the bargaining continued for another 10 minutes before Janos feigned losing interest. “Oh, alright, I will let Hades go for 27 silvers.”

That was the number we were looking for, and Janos pounced when I nodded my head. He had the money counted out and was handing it to the stable owner before the man could react. Janos said, “Of course, that does include all of the trappings necessary to hitch the animal to my wagon. You are getting a fine donkey and its trappings in exchange.”

The stable owner kind of shook his head and came to his senses. He took the money and called for a slave to bring Hades from the corral along with the necessary trappings. The latter were the same as a horse would use, so there was no problem with the fit.

The mule was indeed well trained, and Janos had no trouble driving him away from the stable. As we were leaving, I heard the stable owner mumble to himself, “Thank Posiden that I was able to get rid of that misbegotten mule at last!” Here, again, I was laughing to myself until we got far enough away from the stable. This mule was a bargain at twice the price!

We all rushed to congratulate Janos on his performance. He had done an excellent job of acting the country rube until he had the price that was acceptable. He was basking in the glory of finally outbargaining someone on his own without the help or backup from Hippolyte.

We stopped to buy a few necessities, including some spoiled milk and some vinegar that I needed to make the armor for Inor. He had his own conventional armor, but he could hardly wait to swap that for the armor like the other men were using. Inor had been using a short sword and a full-sized shield, so he had a lot to learn about the way we fought. Hippolyte loaned him her armor and Janos loaned him his mace for the practice while I was making his armor. Fortunately, that was not a difficult procedure now that I had some experience.

The men donned their armor and practiced against each other with pieces of wood to simulate the maces. The blows that landed still staggered the men, but they were not injured because of the effective armor. This gave Inor a good chance to become familiar with how good the armor was and how to take advantage of it. As Jason had said, Inor was a good fighter.

On the second day of training, Inor said to Hippolyte, “I think that I have an idea on a way to improve our weapon. On many an occasion in our practice, I have noticed that a man leaves himself open when he tries to swing too hard with his mace. Suppose we add a blade to the end of the mace handle so that the mace could be used as a short stabbing spear.

“A blade about 6 inches long and 2 inches wide at the base would result in a murderous wound, yet would not make much difference in the other functions of the mace. I will tie a short stick to the end of my practice mace and show you what I mean.”

Ajax was the one sparring with Inor at that time, so he was the first victim of what quickly became known as “Inor’s tooth.” That was such a good idea that Hippolyte took one of the fighting maces and rushed into town to talk to a smith about adding the Inor’s tooth to it. The smith said, “Yes, I think that I could do that with a modified knife blade. Leave the mace with me and come back in two days. I should have something to show you then.”

When Hippolyte returned to the smith, he showed her the modification that he had made. The knife blade was welded to the metal of the mace so that it could not be knocked off. Yes, it could be broken off, but it would take one hell of a blow to do that. The smith made the same modification to the other maces. It was not exactly what Inor had originally described, but it was close enough. Everybody could hardly wait to try it out.

We completed our chores at the camp and made ready to leave. The men stayed in the wagon except when they were fighting, and that made our travel a lot easier. For one thing, we could now move faster because the mule had replaced the donkey pulling the wagon.

We had made a couple of modifications to our outfit while we were at the camp. Hippolyte was now dressed as a man and impersonating a rich merchant taking his goods to market in a covered wagon. I had installed a canvas cover over the wagon bed similar to the Conestoga wagon of the settling of the West in the mid 1800s. That way the fighting men were concealed. The canvas cover had another unexpected benefit in that it protected the men from the hot sun, and they appreciated that.

As the saying went, “the proof was in the pudding.” We had hardly left the camp when we were attacked by a gang of six bandits. I don’t know why they were making so much noise when they attacked. Possibly the noise was supposed to frighten us into abandoning the wagon and running away. Well, it had the opposite effect. We were warned in plenty of time to be ready when the robbers arrived.

Inor’s tooth was so effective a weapon that all six bandits were dispatched by the infantrymen, and Hippolyte never had any reason to join the battle. Not only did this battle prove that all of the changes had been worthwhile, but we managed to pick up 22 silvers and 57 coppers from the bodies. That certainly helped to pay for our troubles.