Chapter 3

The stool legs were still in good condition and near enough to the right size to be used for batons. That evening I started training Martino on using the cudgel. He was strong and agile enough that even at the age of 42 he had the potential of becoming quite skilled with it. The main thing that he had to learn was not to try to make every blow start with an overhand swing. Beyond that, all he really needed was practice, practice, practice. That was one of the main reasons for the popularity of the cudgel.

When Martino got too tired for more practice, I sat at a table and drew some sketches of what I wanted for the blade of Mara’s stabbing spear. I had the design worked out by the time I needed to go fetch Mara from the bordello. There were no big items of excitement this time, so we walked home without any more than the usual caution.

On the way home, I told Mara of my adventure with Giani, and she was appalled at his treachery, but she was not worried because she expected me to win every fight I engaged in. I hoped that she was correct.

Once we were upstairs in our bedroom, I showed her the stool leg I wanted her to use for her baton. She was interested in it, but the main thing she wanted to do was to hurry on to our fuck. As far as she was concerned, all of the fucking that she did during the day was just work, but what she got from me was love. I was thrilled when I worked that out!

We had our usual bath and got into bed. Mara was at last in the mood for a more extensive love-fest than usual. Despite her full days of fucking, she had never had a chance to experience much in the way of foreplay. I was delighted to begin her education on that. Could it be that she finally felt like she had a lover whom she could depend upon?

Mara had her first ever experience with multiple orgasms that night, and she was thrilled beyond words. She had heard of them, but she was dubious—no more! Now she wanted all of those that she could get, and she could hardly wait for her next chance at it. Unfortunately, I was used up for this night, so she would just have to wait. We cuddled and went to sleep.

I had another one of those strange dreams that night. This time I was ready when Mentor showed up. He opened the conversation with, “Hello, Doug. Well, I saw that you had a very interesting afternoon. That was a spectacular demonstration of your skills. We have decided that you can go a long way toward paying for these experiments by becoming a public figure on our version of TV. We don’t have that much excitement under normal circumstances, so your adventures will be well received. I hope that you don’t mind.”

“No, I don’t object to you broadcasting my fights, but I hope that you are more circumspect with my love life.”

Mentor laughed. “Don’t worry about that, my friend. Our society is going through one of those periodic phases of prudery, so your sex life is safe from public scrutiny, though that may not be true in the future.

“Now, on to more serious matters. That stabbing spear that you have designed for Mara is very intriguing, and one of our more talented engineers has made one to test it. He is quite proud of his work and would like to make one for you to use in real situations if you are interested. Because of the flexibility of time travel, he could deliver one to you immediately. Do you want it?”

“Yes, I would definitely like to have one. In fact, can he make three of them? I would like to have one for Mara, one for me, and one as an emergency spare. Is that possible?”

“Yes, you will find them beside your bed when you wake up.”

“Excellent! I will probably need to use it tonight when I meet the two thugs who are pushing the protection racket.

“Oh, before I forget, do you have a drug that can prevent STDs (Sexually Transmitted Disease)? If you do, please send us a supply for Mara’s protection. Also, please send her a pill to temporarily prevent pregnancy. I can’t help worrying about that, considering her current employment.”

“Very well, that will be no problem. You will find them in the form of small pills in bottles beside your bed along with the spears. I must go now. I will contact you again tonight to find out what you think of the spears. Goodbye for now.”

I dropped off into normal sleep and woke up the next morning feeling great. I checked for the gifts from the future as soon as I kissed and untangled myself from Mara. There they were, three batons and two bottles of pills. We climbed from the bed, and I showed Mara the batons and how they transformed onto spears.

The blades were invisible becase they retracted completely into the baton. At that point, the only sign of the blade’s existence was the hole in the end of the baton that the blade projected through. At the other end of the baton was a button that extended or retracted the blade as appropriate. There was also a small lanyard and strap for the wrist so that the baton could not be lost. As nearly as I could tell at this point, the baton/stabbing spear was perfect. Mara agreed. She wanted her first lesson right away.

I pointed out that we had to eat breakfast right away so that we would not inconvience Martino. Mara reluctantly agreed, so we hurried down to take care of that. I took along the bottles of pills. Fortunately, they only needed to be taken once a month, and we had a year’s supply of each. Mara was reluctant about taking the pills, but she finally did because I kept insisting.

She rushed through breakfast and kept nagging me to hurry up. Finally I finished eating, and Mara dragged me back into the bedroom so that we could begin practice. She took off her dress because it was in the way of free movement. Mara never wore underwear except in the coldest weather, so she was completely naked as I had her go through some warming up exercises. She did the exercises as I directed, but she insisted that I strip and do the exercises with her. Was she getting even with me?

Finally, I showed her how to use the lanyard to make sure that she never lost the baton. I also showed her how to hold the baton so that she was always ready to strike. Of course, she kept wanting to swing her arm overhand as if she were chopping a piece of wood. That was a tough habit to break, but it looked like she had conquered that tendency at last. We had time to spend a few minutes on lunging practice before she had to get ready to go to work.

We got dressed and walked to the bordello. Mara proudly wore her baton on her wrist during the whole walk as if she were daring someone to give her a hard time. I asked her how she was going to decorate her baton to make it look more lady-like, and she said that she had not yet decided. I suggested that she decorate it to look like an erect penis, and that caused her to break into gales of laughter. She laughed so hard that I thought that she might fall down!

She was still giggling at my suggestion when we got to the bordello. Of course, she had to show off her new toy and told the other women my suggestion of how to decorate it. Well, that produced the kind of laughter that she was expecting, and she was very proud of herself. When asked, I admitted that I would probably use it when the two thugs showed up to collect from Madam Orsa, and all the women wanted to be around to see me in action. Dammit, was my reputation getting out of hand?

I hurried back to our bedroom to get in some practice with the baton. I figured that I needed it, since I would be using it in an unfamiliar manner tonight. I ate lunch a little early to get out of the way. Sunday was usually a busy day at lunch for the restaurant.

I went upstairs after lunch and donned all of my armor. I thought that I might need it tonight, especially if more than two thugs showed up, so it was a good idea to practice while wearing it. At first, I did feel restricted as I moved while wearing the armor, but I was able to ignore it after about half an hour of practice.

I needed to know how much I would be impeded after I got tired, so I practiced every kind of move I could think of over a period of about two hours. That was not enough to slow me significantly, so I quit worrying about it. Martino had some free time, so I helped him work out with his cudgel. He was catching on fast, so I could see him taking care of himself within a reasonable time.

That afternoon a man, Carlo Bellini, stopped by the restaurant to talk to me about a job as a bodyguard. This was a one-shot proposition and was scheduled for the next Thursday afternoon, starting at about 2:00 PM. He owed a money lender a substantial amount of gold, five Troy pounds. He had borrowed the money from the Knights Templar bank in Silano, and he wanted a bodyguard to make sure that he made it that far alive and in one piece. After some negotiation, I agreed to take on the job. The contract was settled with a handshake.

I relaxed some more, but got bored so I left word that I would be in my bedroom doing some more practice in case anyone came looking for me. I practiced some empty-hand moves until supper time, and I went back down to the restrauant for an early supper. I wanted plenty of time for my supper to settle before I had to fight.

After supper, I donned my armor again and picked up my baton. I fastened the lanyard to my wrist and headed for the bordello. When I arrived, there had been no sign of the protection thugs, so I took a seat in the waiting room and talked to some of the other men who were waiting their turn. Not surprisingly, I found that the majority of them were waiting for Mara.

I saw no reason to hide it, so they soon all knew that I was her boyfriend with benefits. That immediately made me the object of considerable envy. All of the envy was good natured, so there was no problem.

This was a good place for me to be as it turned out. I made several contacts which might lead to more bodyguard jobs, and that never hurt. I certainly did not begrudge my time spent in the lobby of the bordello. Madam Orsa was happy to have me there because it helped to keep the customers patient and entertained.

Finally, the protection thugs showed up about 9:30. For some reason that nobody was ever able to explain, this was a slack time in the bordello’s business, and all of the women were sitting in the lobby. They came marching into the bordello as if they owned the world and everybody else knew it. They marched up to Madam Orsa’s desk and demanded “their” money.