Chapter 6

This first night on the road for Betty was one she would not soon forget. She had played with herself often enough, but she had never experienced the levels of pleasure these two women had given her. They had slept most of the night after rendering Betty a quivering orgasmic wreck, but morning came and they knew they had to get a move on if they were to stay ahead of the bounty hunters behind them.

Aco figured if she waited, she could take them down, but she didn’t want unnecessary blood on her hands. She figured she would have more than enough of that before this trip was over. She was more worried about Robin and Betty’s safety. Robin could defend herself in a fight, but Betty had no combat experience whats-so-ever.

As they exited the tent, Robin looked around, did not see anybody, said it seems clear. The morning air was cool and the sky was clear. A light breeze from the west carried a hint of moisture that warned of possible rain in a day or two but was otherwise refreshing. Aco and Robin began their exercises, Betty watching in awe as Aco began her moves and contortions. Robin had managed to improve her flexibility but still couldn’t match Aco. Betty started trying some of the simpler moves and ended up falling on her ass several times. She didn’t have the balance yet to manage some of the one-footed stances.

Aco finished her basic moves and began coaching Betty in the simpler exercises. The girl would need a lot of work, but she should be able to perform some of the simple moves soon enough. Robin helped hold Betty steady while Aco would gently pull a leg or arm up to stretch it to its fullest extent. They worked for an hour then took a quick bath in the stream.

“Robin,” asked Betty, “Why are those hunters after you? The one in the blue coat seemed rather upset with you.”

Robin looked at Betty as she rinsed herself off, “A blue hat. That is the bard guild enforcers. They must have figured out who did in that raping bastard, Bragger. He didn’t suffer anywhere as much as he deserved for what he did to me and many other young girls.” She scowled at the thoughts of the damage he had done to her insides. “I will never be able to have children because of him.” She pushed most of the water off her arms and legs, then worked on her torso. “They want me alive more than dead. If they take me in, the reward will be much greater. We need to move, even though we are going the direction they need to go.”

Aco returned from the bushes and said, “Grab a few bites and let’s finish breaking camp and get rolling. I don’t want to risk getting ambushed by them.” Aco took a few sticks of dried jerky and began chewing. Betty went to check on Spots and found he was contented. He was able to reach the stream and there was plenty of green grass he had been nibbling on all night. She removed the hobbles and lead him back to the cart. He turned to her and his eyes said it all. ‘My lot in life, to be ridden or to pull a cart.’ He snorted and waited as Betty got him in harness. She knew he would need a good brushing this evening and better feed than she was currently getting.

It took an hour to get all of Betty’s clothes out of the stream and wrung out enough to take along. Even after soaking all night, they could see pest working their way out of the seams of the material. Betty looked at the bugs and shuddered in disgust. “How is it I never noticed them all over me before?” she asked.

Robin answered without looking at the girl, “They were part of your life, so you didn’t think anything of them.” She paused, then went on, “I can almost bet your father would have had you shaved and cleaned up before he started whoring you out.”

Betty remained silent, thinking about what Robin had just said. When she did speak, it was a bare whisper, “He might have at that. He never forgave me, I didn’t do anything except being born, she died from an infection from childbirth. He blamed me for her death.”

Robin turned her head now to face Betty. “Some men can never get over the loss of the woman he loved. The pain is too deep, too hard to accept.” Betty was weeping quietly as they walked. She was started when Spots started trying to increase his pace. She pulled back on the reins to slow him down.

Both noticed that Aco was looking around, listening hard to the noises around them. Betty caught a flicker of motion of Aco’s left arm and she had a mask on now. It was a tight-lipped frown. She brought up a finger to say silence. She continued to listen as they walked. Without warning, she drew her weapons and jumped into the brush on the right side of the road. Robin turned and faced to left in case another attack might come from that direction. When nothing happened, they stopped and waited. It didn’t take long for Aco to reappear. She had a freshly killed doe under one arm. Now her mask was a wide smile. “Dinner anybody?” she said.

Betty dropped the reins and went over to examine the doe. It was small but well fed. The summer had been a fairly good one in this region. “Aco, take over keeping Spots in line, I need to dress this right now before it starts to spoil.” Betty went to the cart, looked around then asked, “DO we have any rope?”

Aco dug into one of her bags and pulled out a tightly coiled line of medium woven rope. It would be more than strong enough to handle the doe. Betty thanked her and got one end loose, then flipped it over the back pole of the canopy. She tied the end around the neck of the doe and pulled it up. The rods seemed like they would hold so she got the animal hung up and began to gut it. Aco started the horse walking again while Betty worked. This made it harder to prepare the animal for cooking, but she didn’t want to lose any more time than they already had. She cut around the anus, then slit the belly up to the throat. She stepped to the side and cut the throat loose. The innards fell out with a wet sucking sound.

Betty then picked up a dead fallen branch and worked the pile to the edge of the road. The road was well cared for here with gravel and wood supports. It made traveling much easier. She caught back up and continued to work the body over. “I need a bucket or basket for the meat, Robin.” Robin had one bucket and didn’t want it to be fouled by the bloody meat. She used it to carry fresh water at camp. She did have a small basket that might work. It was a reed woven basket she had picked up long before she had met Aco. She carried her clothing in it most times. Now that she had a good waterproof pack, at least she hoped it was, she had her clothing in it now. She held the basket while Betty cut the meat from the bones, tossing it in the basket. She could see it was leaking blood that was getting on Robins’s shoes. She mentioned this and Robin curse quietly. “They will wash when we can stop at another stream or river,” she said after glancing down.

It only took Betty another five minutes to finish stripping the usable meat from the doe. When done, she dropped the doe to the road, released the rope after dragging the carcass off the side of the road. She coiled the rope, noting some of the blood had gotten on it. She showed this to Robin who just shrugged. Rather than put it in the pack she had pulled it from, she hung it from a strap on one of the hanging bags. Betty took the basket to carry, keeping it away from her body as much as she could so not to get more bloodstains on her borrowed clothes.

Aco looked back and saw what Betty was doing and stopped the cart. She unfolded a set of short polls and slid them under the packs in the seat. Betty was able to seat the basket and using the rope, able to secure the meat-filled container in place. “That should do it,” said Aco. We’ll stop at the next crossing so you can clean up. You have blood all over you.” Aco went back to leading the horse.

The party of tired women came to another, stream several hours before sundown. This one was larger and flowed much faster. The water was also quite cold. Betty came out shivering after she washed the blood off her hands and arms. She also had to wash her hair again to finish clearing and pest from her hair. Aco and Robin washed down as well. The day had been hot and they had sweated hard as they had walked. Spots had set a fair pace in-spite of the efforts to keep the speed down. Betty and Robin gathered dry wood and Betty saw a few herbs she knew would go well on the meat. Aco spent the time setting up the camp, building the fire pit didn’t take long, there was a spot that had been build by another traveler with the stone already set up in a circle. It was large enough that they could cook all the meat at once.

Having a meal of freshly cooked meat made for a nice change. Sated and relaxed as the night closed in, they cleaned the camp, wrapped the remaining meat in a cloth, and placed it in the cold water, covering it with the basket that Betty used to hold the meat. Tonight, Aco was in the middle. She held her arms out to the others and they joined her. She guided their mouths to her breast and said, “Just suckle and relax. Tonight we sleep.” Robin did as told and relaxed. She did slide her right hand down Aco’s belly to rest over her slit, but not sliding in.

She whispered, “ Someday Aco, you will have a child down here, and she will be you, reborn.” Aco shivered at hearing this and whispered back, “Someday.” Betty was sucking and fell asleep, her mouth still attached to the woman’s breast. Robing snuggled down and soon slept as well. Aco just lay there, thinking about her future and what wonders and terrors it may hold. Sleep took her and she dreamed.

The Inn, no, more of a mansion had proven to be profitable for her and Robin. The owner and staff loved her and helped her reach several of her goals. She had met others that had taught her greater skills in combat and leadership. She saw a group come in, and one of the men looked at her and froze. She couldn’t see his face, but she would know it when she saw it. The dream faded and darkness engulfed her. A voice whispered to her, “The other has agreed to leave you to me. I will be your guide and sometimes guardian now Aco. I am of this world, he is not. But be warned girl, I will not step in to protect you except in the most indirect manner.” The darkness went away and Aco slept deeply for the rest of the night.

Betty woke up once during the night when Aco shifted and rolled on her side to face her. She could tell Aco was still asleep so she closed her eyes and returned to a deep slumber. Robin didn’t wake at all that night.

The morning light came with its normal cacophony of birds singing their songs. Aco woke first, felt her bladder telling her it was ready to let go if she didn’t pay attention to its warnings and soon. She slid out from the cover, causing groans from her companions. “Time to get up ladies. We have many miles to go today.” Betty opened her eyes and blinked at Aco like an owl that had just hit a bright light in the middle of the night. Robin muttered, “Bladder,” and began sliding to the entry flap.

Aco, being in the middle, slid out first. She knelt, then made her way to her feet, groaning in discomfort as her back complained about the hard ground she had been sleeping on. She may be in good shape and flexible, but the hard ground still bothered her.

Robin walked over to the small pit they had dug the night before for the camp’s waste and garbage. It was only a foot deep and wide, but it was enough. Robin squatted and let go. The other end let out a wet burp that caused giggles all around. Her body had other plans, her bowels let go, violently. The giggles stopped, Aco and Betty backed away as the odor spread and hit them. It also triggered their bodies to need to be taken care of as well. Aco went one way back up the road a few yards, Betty into the brush across from the camp. “I think the meat wasn’t cooked well enough,” she said.

“Could be,” replied Robin.

“This is going to be a problem today if it keeps up,” said Aco.

Spots snorted and pulled away as far as his lead would allow him to. Robin felt like she might be finished so stood up and went straight into the stream to clean herself off. Some of her shit had splattered on her legs the blast had been so violent. Aco and Betty joined her a few minutes later.

Betty looked pale and sweating, “My stomach is cramped,” she said. Both Aco and Robin said they felt the same. “It has to be the deer meat. That is the only thing we ate that was different.”

Aco moved to the spot she had drawn water from the night before. She could see in the daylight what she missed the night before. A dead rabbit in the water just upstream from her. It had been there several days already from the looks of it. “It wasn’t the meat, it is the water. Dump all of them we filled here last night,” she called out.

Robin came over and Aco pointed and the carcass. “Oh damn, we are in trouble Aco. Wine can’t clean that kind of poison out.” She moved further out in the stream and up from the rabbit. She then began drinking what she hoped was cleaner water. When she had her fill, she told Betty and Aco to do the same. It was decided that they were not going anywhere today.

“I wish we had somebody with us that knew advanced herb lore. We are going to be sick for days,” Robin said, then ran back to the stream down from camp and her stomach heaved. Most of the water she had drunk came back up in just a few heaves. Aco and Betty soon joined her in mutual agony as their stomachs really began to cramp.

When they had all rinsed off, Aco decided she would not be put off and began her stretching exercises. Robin and Betty joined her, all three stopping several times to allow their stomachs to empty out. They had rebuilt the fire and boiled some water for tea and drinking. The shits subsided later that afternoon, but keeping anything down was still an issue. By nightfall, Betty was keeping jerky down along with some of the boiled water. The cooking pot was the only thing they had to boil it in, so stews were out until they could buy or trade for another pot to cook in. That night they slept out under the stars to avoid having accidents in the tent. By the next morning, Aco was keeping water and food down as well. It wasn’t until the morning after that, that Robin was recovering. They had not been idle while recovering though. All the water bags had boiled water now to go with the wine. Aco had found another doe and they had managed to smoke the meat. Betty was a wealth of information in cooking and food preparation from working in the kitchen most of her life. It had only been in the last year that her father had her out serving the patrons.

Another chore was the cleaning of Betty’s clothing. The soaking had seemed to work. No flees of ticks could be found, but mites and lice still had a hold on the cloth. After several days of washing and drying, they still had not been able to remove all the pests from the seams. Betty decided she would have to buy new when they arrived at the next crossroads or shipping center. Aco only knew of one more major crossroads town before the long trek to Terin’s Crossing. There they would try to join a caravan west, or stay long enough to prepare to make them run on their own, even though it would be long and hard.

The Bounty hunter and his two followers left the morning after they had been told about the daughter leaving to follow the target. “We will try to stay at least a full day behind them. The tracks they are leaving will make them easy to follow.” He pointed at the ruts in the dirt left by the cart. The other two just nodded. They normally captured or killed the target right away. With the alive reward being so high, they agreed to just follow. That is why they almost panicked when they caught up to the women while they recovered.

It had been worked out that they would get back on the road the following morning, so they had already partially repacked. Even Spots was ready to get moving again. It was when his head popped up and he snorted that all three women turned to face where he was looking. They didn’t see anything, but Spots was upset about something back the way they had come from.

“Robin, Betty, finish the load up. We move as soon as you are done. I am going to tell them to back off or I will kill them,” said Aco. The two women quickly broke down the camp and began loading and securing everything on the cart. Betty went and pulled Spots in and quickly had him in harness. For once he didn’t object. Aco openly changed into her black-cat-suit, put on the dragon mask, then walked down the center of the road, her weapons out, spinning them in her hands.

She reached the point she suspected them to be hiding and stopped. “I will warn you once, and only once. Stay back, do not interfere, and you will live. Hinder our journey in any way, I will hunt you down and kill you. If you wonder who I am to tell you to back off, think of Tres and think of the Claw.” She didn’t wait for an answer, she turned around and returned to the camp. The cart was loaded and Robin gestured that they could go. In the time they had spent at this spot, they found the best fordable place and crossed the stream on it.

Aco looked back and saw a figure in a blue coat standing in the road, watching them go. She asked Robin, “Do you think they will stay back a few days?”

“If they know what is good for them, yes. If not, well...”

The two men remained in hiding until the party of women was out of sight. The large man stormed over to the bard still standing in the road, grabbed him by the front of his overcoat, and threw him into a tree-trunk. “You stupid bastard, you didn’t tell us we were following her!” he screamed. “You have us tracking a member of the Shigeto clan? Are you out of your fucking mind?” He reached down and pulled the stunned man to his feet, “That woman with the mask, that is Shigeto Aco, the Fucking Claw. She was the enforcer for the thieves! Even the fucking Brotherhood is afraid of her, and they are the scariest bastards on Gardallen!”

The little man backed away, whispered a single word, “Oh.”

The bard regained enough composure to defend himself. “She is one person, a bitch no less and you’re afraid of her?”

The big man yanked him off his feet again and shook him hard enough to rattle his teeth. “Her parents, do you have a clue to what Merc’s was you idiot?”

“Yeah, a force that got wiped out years ago,” said the bard.

“No, not wiped out, slaughtered in battle. Her parents survived by sheer luck, as did a handful of others. They trained her in the arts of combat, you and your fancy sword and drum are no match for her. We wait four days right here, then we will follow, not one damn minute sooner.” The little man nodded in agreement.

Now he spoke, “I saw the show once a few years back. She is walking death on two feet. It is said to see her real face is to court death before the sun sets.”

“What worthless weaklings you two are. She is nothing to me. I am a master fighter, an enforcer of the highest level,” said the bard. “I will not be scared off by a worthless slit. I am after Robin Songbird. Nothing else matters.” He straightened his jacket and looked at the two men, “I have never failed to bring in my prey. I will not fail here.”

“We wait four days right here,” said the big man. “And the name is Barton. If you think I can’t take you down blue boy, think again.”

The bard stepped back now. That name was one of those you avoided. This Barton was known to be a master tracker and hunter. “Very well, Barton, we will wait. But understand this, If the bird gets away, I will hunt you myself.” He knew he wasn’t fooling anyone, he was scared to death. This Aco is a member of the thieves guild, an enforcer, and collector further west. Once they reach the Crossing, he knew he didn’t dare act against her. “We wait.”

Aco was getting worried, her past was catching up with her far too quickly. She wasn’t sure how much to tell the others of her past. The Show had stayed in Tres over the winter months when she was only fifteen. Her skills had caught the attention of the local Thieves Chapter when they needed an enforcer for collecting debts. She had been a terror to the underside of the city and parts of the upper class as well. She had enjoyed collecting gambling debts when they came due. It was with the money she earned on those jobs she was able to have her faces made.

She had not told her parents about her part-time work, but she figured they knew and decided to remain circumspect about it. When the roads thawed, she had parted ways with the local thieves on good terms. Now she was heading back to Tres and would have to avoid direct contact with the guild. Too many things were happening for her to be delayed by helping them. She decided to not tell either of them of her connections to the thieves for now.

The remainder of the day passed without incident, Aco was thankful for that. That evening as they set up camp, Robin finally asked Aco what she had done to drive the bounty hunter back. “Robin, please, don’t push for answers you don’t want to know about. It is safer all around if you remain ignorant of certain facts.” She waved her a hand to forestall the inevitable objection, “I know, I know, you will go nuts wondering what I know that you don’t.” She lifted the mask off and looked Robin square in the face, her eyes cold and dead, “You do not want to know, I can’t stress that enough.”

Robin stepped back and shivered. She had just seen death in those eyes. Aco may not be a member of the Brotherhood, but the Lady was very much with her. Robin simply nodded she understood and turned away to help Betty finish setting the tent up for the night. Aco took the time to clean out the fire-pit that was already in this clearing next to a small stream. ‘This is a good spot to stop’, she thought, ‘It also means it is dangerous as all hell.’

Spots had settled by a dense patch of grass and he was quietly munching away. Aco figured that as long as Spots was calm, no immediate danger was apparent. She was both right and wrong. Mankind isn’t the only danger in the wild, a fact she had seemed to have forgotten. The night was quiet and they had settled into their combined sleeping rolls after Betty and Robin had turned Aco into a quivering wreck of orgasmic bliss. They had been asleep for several hours when Spots started moving around and snorting. It was only when Spots let out a loud squeal of terror that the women woke up. They heard loud growling and the horse had gone silent. A few seconds later, something large began to paw at the side of the tent, causing them to scramble to pick up weapons and try to get out of the low tent as fast as they could. Aco was the quickest and made it out just as a black shape in the dim fire-light ripped the tent from its ground-stakes. Robin and Betty both managed to scramble free before they could be trampled by the attacking beast.