Chapter 2

All four of them pulled long knives from their belts and advanced on Verine and I. "I am warning you now, don't press this or you will be hurt or killed," I told them.

They continued to advance and spread out. I raised the Uzi and shot the leader in the forehead. The others rushed me and I began shooting them. I got the second one closest to me and Verine shot the last two at the same time.

The Tik girl came up to me and said, "Thank you, sir."

I said, "You are welcome, Miss. Thank you Verine, I was hoping you would be so kind as to help me."

I had fired two shots and Verine had also fired two.

The Tik girl said, "My name is Erma Nac. Those men were going to beat me for doing business with Grest merchants."

"Miss Nac, I am glad that Verine and I could save you from that fate. I assume we need to move these bodies and hide them if possible," I said, changing directions in mid conversation.

We picked up or dragged the bodies away from the road, and stripped them of any valuable item that they might have. I asked, "Are any of these items things that would identify us as the perpetrators of this killing?"

Erma said, "Those silver pins are badges of office. Those men were tax police."

"Anything else?" I asked.

"That fancy handled knife, was probably custom made," she offered.

"The large pouches of money are collected taxes, I assume," I said.

"Most likely," Erma said.

"How rich are we?" I asked Verine.

Verine looked in the pouches. Her eyes got big. "Bill, we are very rich."

"I think we had better put the valuables in our packs out of sight, and we had better wash up Erma's wounds," I suggested.

We left the bodies and walked on to the next creek. We stopped and washed ourselves and cleaned Erma as well as we could. Her clothes were a wreck, so I got out a tee shirt from my clothing and gave it to her. Erma just stripped off and put it on. It fit her like a dress.

Erma was about 5' 2" tall and weighed about 105 pounds or so. Just a little bigger than Verine. She had a womanly figure with small breasts and large dark nipples and areolas. Her hair was brown and so were her eyes.

She said, "Bill you are the biggest Grest I have ever seen."

"I am not a Grest, I am a human," I told her.

"You are the biggest whatever I have ever seen," she said.

"And you are the most beautiful Tik, I have ever seen. You remind be a bit of my wife, but she was slightly bigger than you are," I said. "I am very fortunate to have two beautiful girls keeping me company."

They both blushed and smiled.

"Erma, do you live near here?" I asked her.

"Not any more. The tax police took my home as punishment for my crime," she explained.

"Is it actually against the law for you to do business with Grest merchants?" I asked.

Verine said, "Of course not. Those guys just thought Erma was pretty and were going to rape her and probably kill her."

"Who gave them so much power?" I asked again.

"The first one you shot was the nephew of the local magistrate, and did just about what he wanted," Erma said.

"Where will you go now, Erma?" I asked her.

"I don't know. May I go with you and Verine?" She asked back.

"What do you think, Verine?" I asked the redhead.

"I doubt if anyone will look for her after seeing them drag her out of town, so she probably is a safe companion," Verine said thoughtfully.

We walked on toward the temple and made decent time for the next few hours. Verine motioned us to a quiet stop just before sunset. She stalked away from us and then I noticed where she was going. I saw three small deer, grazing in a meadow.

Verine sneaked up close to them and shot the largest of the three. The 60-pound deer fell to the shot. The others sniffed him and walked away. We cleaned the deer and stored the boned out meat in the hide and cooked what we wanted on a small fire.

The venison and bread was a tasty meal. We hung the meat and hide up in a tree with a cord that Verine had brought. I walked down to the stream to wash up and both girls walked with me and stripped off and bathed. I stared. I couldn't help it. Verine said, "Haven't you seen women before, Bill?"

"Not many as beautiful as you two," I answered. "I am sorry for staring."

Verine smiled really big and said, "You look if you want. I am glad that you think I am beautiful."

Erma nodded smiling, "What she said."

I watched for a few more minutes and got self-conscious, so I walked back to our camp. I spread out the blanket and lay down.

In a few more minutes the girls came up and lay down beside me and snuggled up on each side of me. The night was not cold, so we slept easily. One thing I noticed, no mosquitoes.

The next morning we got up and ate some more of the deer and some bread. Verine led the way and I just walked with the girls who were chatting away. I was looking at the beautiful countryside. This was an area where the forest was trying to change into grassland. The grass grew lushly and everywhere there was a wet spot trees grew. Assuming the sun rose in the east, to the south of us was a mountain range that could be seen to go out of sight to the east and west. Green mountains like the Appalachians.

We crossed small streams several times per day, so water was not a problem.

"Erma, would you like to carry one of the small swords that the policemen had?" I asked her.

"No, Bill, women are not allowed to carry swords," she answered.

"How about this?" I showed her my folding knife.

"That would be fine. That folding mechanism is very unique," Erma allowed.

I gave her my folding knife and I got out a sword and put it on my belt. I would really classify it as a big knife. It was similar to an Arkansas Toothpick with one edge. This was a good knife. It was a workman's tool, nothing fancy there.

Verine said, "We should reach the temple tomorrow. I hope they can help you, Bill."

"If what you want is to return home, then I hope they can help you, also," Erma added.

We slept together again that night. I awoke the next morning with my arm around Erma and my hand on her breast. I covertly tried to remove my hand, but Erma held it in place, and said, "Bill, I like that."

"Erma, I am sorry to have taken liberties with you. I always slept that way with my wife," I said.

"Humph," I heard form Verine. "I knew my breasts were too small to attract you."

"Now wait just a minute," I said. "In my land a man does not touch a woman's breasts unless they both have agreed that it is allowed in their relationship."

"You are allowed," they both said.

"Listen," I said. "I care for you both, but I don't know you well enough to love you."

They looked at each other and then Erma spoke for them. "We both care very much for you, Bill. You are kind and gentle with us, but strong and unyielding as a rock against wrong."

Verine said, "When you go home, if you go home, I want to go with you."

Erma added, "Me, too."

"You don't know me well enough to commit to that. I am screwed up because it has not been that long ago that Nita and Gloria were killed," I told them.

"I know you well enough to know that I care for you more than any other man I have ever met," Erma said. Verine nodded.

"Suit yourselves," I said and kissed them each on the cheek.

I got up and took care of business and washed up in the stream. Breakfast was eaten and we left for the temple.

We got there around noon. There was a small village around the temple. I asked if the girls thought we should get some more clothes and some food.

Erma bought three sets of clothing, and some new sandals. Verine also bought three sets of clothing, but she got short boots instead of sandals. Erma bought a good-sized pack and some bedding, toiletries, and brushes. Verine paid for them with a couple of coins from her pouch.

They looked everywhere and could not find any clothing to fit me. They found a tailor, and ordered me five sets of clothing, two new belts and one pair of shoes and one pair of sandals.

Verine said quietly that she didn't have enough to pay got my clothes.

I reached in my pack and got a small handful of coins and gave them to her. She got a funny look and paid for my clothes with three of the coins. She put the rest of them in her pouch.

As we were shopping for food, Verine said, "I have never had this much money of my own."

"Me, either," Erma added.