Chapter 3

Stepping out of the bank, Cynthia said, “Oh, God! What is that smell?”

Smiling at the look of disgust on her face, Sid answered, “That smell is humanity at its unwashed best.”

“It is horrible!,” Cynthia said holding her nose. The stench was nearly enough to bring tears to her eyes.

“You’ll get used to it. Besides, once we leave town, we’ll leave the smell behind,” Sid said looking around to get his bearings. He spotted the stable at the end of the street. He said, “We’ll go to the stable and buy horses and a saddle.”

“Lead on,” Cynthia said.

“Walk beside me,” Sid said thinking he wanted to keep an eye on her. He didn’t want her to disappear on him.

“Okay,” Cynthia said looking over at him.

As they walked down the street, Cynthia had to watch where she was stepping to avoid the piles of manure and puddles of urine that littered the way. There were farm animals that roamed the street. Not having much experience with pigs, she kept Sid between her and them out of fear that they would attack. She had always thought that pigs were little animals. It was hard to believe that people lived in such filth like this.

She spotted a man taking a piss on the side of one of the buildings. The idea that someone would actually do that in a public place shocked her. What was even more shocking to her was that no one even seemed to take notice of it. A woman walked past without even a glance at the man.

Cynthia looked around at the other people in the street. She noticed that folks gave Sid a wide berth. It reminded her of scenes from Westerns when a gunfighter showed up in town. Everyone seemed to know with just a glance that he was dangerous. A few of the men did pause to check her out. She stepped a little closer to Sid when she noticed their attention.

Sid walked to the stable keeping his eyes open for threats. On reaching the stable, he paused by the corral to check out the horses. There were six horses standing around in the corral, although only two of them looked decent. He said, “I was afraid of that.”

“What?”

Sid answered, “Their stock is in pretty poor condition.”

The owner of the stables came out and examined Sid for a second. He had scars around his hands; but they weren’t the kind of scars that came from dealing with horses.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he asked, “Is there anything that I can do for you?”

“Are these the best that you have?” Sid asked.

“Only two of them are for sale,” the owner answered, “The gray mare over there and the black mare over there.”

Sid looked at the two horses and shook his head. The only positive thing he could say about the pair was that they weren’t the worst of the lot. He said, “I’ll give you a conch for the pair, halter, and a saddle.”

“Two conch,” the man replied.

“No deal. I’d rather walk than waste that kind of money on those nags,” Sid said.

Cynthia was looking at the horses, and didn’t see anything wrong with them. She rather liked the gray mare. She looked over at Sid and noticed that he had put his saddle down and his hand was resting on the hilt of his sword. She looked around and noticed a man watching them.

The man appeared to think about the matter for a minute and then said, “Okay. One conch and two quad for the pair, a halter, and a saddle.”

“One conch and a quad,” Sid countered.

“Okay,” the man said. He glanced over at the man standing by the barn.

Sid noticed the glance, but didn’t comment on it. The horses should have cost more even though they weren’t the best he’d ever seen. He said, “Bring out the gear, and we’ll saddle the horses. I need to leave soon.”

“Okay,” the owner said. He headed over to the barn to get a saddle.

While the man was gone, Sid asked, “Which horse do you want?”

“The gray,” Cynthia answered happy that she was going to get the horse she liked.

It took Sid only a few minutes to saddle both horses and to get his gear packed. He checked over the saddle he had just purchased thinking that it was of higher quality than he had expected. He glanced over at the man by the barn and then over at the two quality horses in the coral. Taking the horses, he said, “We’ll go over to the general store.”

“Okay,” Cynthia said running a hand along the neck of her horse. It was kind of thrilling to think that she had her own horse.

They walked over to the general store leading their horses. Sid tied them to the hitching post and looked around. In a low voice, he said, “We’ll go in the store. You stay by the door and watch our stuff. If anyone tries something, don’t go outside. Tell me, and I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay,” Cynthia said thinking that Sid was being overly cautious.

She watched out the door of the general store while Sid made his purchases. She was dying to have a chance to browse, but stayed at her post. No one even approached the horses. She noticed the man who had been by the stables walk over to a building. The appearance of the building made her think of a tavern.

Sid appeared at her side with his purchases and said, “We’ll head over to the market and get supplies. I want to get out of town as soon as possible.”

“What’s the matter?” Cynthia asked.

“I think a couple of gentlemen are thinking of taking our horses once we get out of town,” Sid answered. He gestured over to the tavern. The man and two of his friends came out of the building and headed over to the stable.

“I didn’t think you had even seen that guy,” Cynthia said.

“I saw him,” Sid said. He went over to the horses and packed the goods on Cynthia’s gray mare. As he worked, he said, “We’ve got about eight hours of daylight left. We need to use every hour of it.”

Seven hours out of town, Sid and Cynthia approached a small copse. The trees were small and twisted as though the soil couldn’t support them. Sid stopped his horse and examined the stand of trees. He looked back down the road they had traveled and said, “This is the most logical spot to camp.”

Cynthia didn’t care if the spot was logical or not. She was so sore that she could barely move. Seven hours on horseback were four hours longer than she had ever been on a horse. All she wanted was to get some rest. She wasn’t even interested in sex and that was saying a lot. She said, “Great. I’m bushed.”

“We won’t be getting much sleep, tonight,” Sid said nudging his horse towards the trees.

“Why not?” Cynthia asked hoping that he wasn’t going to make her train with the staff after dinner.

“I expect we’ll have some visitors about six hours from now,” Sid answered looking over his shoulder.

The horizon of the flat plain was unbroken. All that meant was that the people following them were taking their time.

Cynthia looked back and said, “I don’t see anything.”

“Neither do I,” Sid said.

“You’re sure about this,” Cynthia asked.

“Yes, I am,” Sid answered as they reached the trees. There was a nice little spot in the center where a fire pit was located. He said, “You set up camp while I look around.”

Cynthia had no idea how to set up a camp. She asked, “What should I do?”

“Gather some firewood and start a fire. Put our sleeping gear next to the fire,” Sid answered, forgetting to mention that she should dig a latrine pit. He dropped their gear near the fire pit and led the horses away. He tied the horses to a tree and then took a walk around the copse.

Cynthia went around and gathered a little firewood. It was mostly deadfall twigs. She built a little pile of them in the fire pit and realized that she didn’t have any matches. Feeling helpless, she stood there wondering what to do. She was still there when Sid returned half an hour later. He looked around and asked, “Where’s the firewood?”

“They’re in the fire place,” Cynthia answered gesturing to the fire pit. It had been a lot of work to pick up that much.

Sid laughed and said, “That’s kindling. Come on. We’ve got to gather enough wood to last the night.”

Cynthia learned that gathering firewood was not a five minute task. She and Sid collected a pile of wood that stood a couple of feet tall with good sized branches. It seemed to her that the pile would last for a year, but Sid seemed to know what he was doing. It was dark by the time Sid finished teaching her how to start a fire using a flint and a very small piece of iron.

As her stomach growled, she asked, “When’s dinner?”

“We’ve got to cook it, yet,” Sid answered with a grin.

“Oh,” Cynthia said.

Sid pulled out a pot and put a little water from his water bag in it. He set the pot over the fire, and dumped in a bunch of vegetables that they had purchased at the market. He added some of the dried meat that they had bought. With a sigh, he said, “We’re stuck with camp stew tonight. It’ll be ready in about an hour.”

“An hour?” Cynthia asked dismayed by the prospect of waiting an hour.

“The dried meat will take that long to absorb the water,” Sid said. He asked, “Where did you dig a latrine?”

“Huh?” Cynthia said. She hadn’t known that she was supposed to dig a latrine.

“What were you doing while I was checking out the area?” Sid asked.

“I was trying to figure out how to start the fire,” Cynthia answered. She raised her hands out to the side and said, “I’ve never really been camping before.”

“I kind of figured that out,” Sid said with a grin.

He went over to their gear and got out their sleeping blankets. He threw hers to her and then laid his out on the ground. She mimicked his actions.

“What did you find when you looked around?” Cynthia asked to fill the silence.

Sid answered, “I found some shallow graves.”

“Oh,” Cynthia said feeling a little sick to her stomach.

Cynthia woke when a hand was placed over her mouth. She struggled for a moment until she realized that it was Sid.

He leaned down and whispered, “We need to get up, now. They are approaching.”

“Okay,” Cynthia whispered back. She climbed out of her sleeping blanket and glanced over at Sid’s blanket. It was lumpy like someone was inside it. The fire had burned down to embers and cast a pale red glow over everything. A few feet from the fire pit, it was dark. She looked up at the star-filled sky and realized there wasn’t a moon.

Sid pushed her aside and put a couple of branches with leaves under her blanket. Suddenly it looked like someone was asleep underneath it. He pointed to her staff and whispered, “Keep your staff with you at all times!”

“Yes, Sir,” Cynthia answered in a whisper.

She picked up her staff thinking that it might have been a good idea to have practiced more with it.

Sid led her away from the camp, to where it was so dark that she could barely see anything around her.

He pointed over to a small bush and whispered, “One of the men will probably come through there. I want you to hide behind this bush and when he passes by you, I want you to hit him across the neck with your staff as hard as you can. Do you understand?”