Chapter 5

The first thing we did the next morning was clear everything from my new cart. My wives were not allowed to put on clothes until they had washed the stink from themselves and the children. They washed in the stream, and the water was damned cold, but they didn't seem to mind, now that they found that cleanliness was to be the order of the day. The children did mind, but that didn't slow down the washing. I even went in and washed, I knew that I needed it.

We were all still naked and this attracted some interest from our neighbors, but mostly just to laugh at us. We sorted through all of the goods and gimcracks that Thunder Man had collected over the years. A lot of it was junk and some of it I didn't even know what it was, but, if we had no immediate or obvious need for it, it went to the midden. The few clothes that had been in the cart were checked, and those that could be salvaged were set aside to be cleaned, the rest were discarded.

The cart had windows, but nobody knew when the shutters had last been opened. We opened them and the door so that fresh air could circulate through. There was a nice breeze blowing that day, so we had some help from that. The women spent several hours washing down the interior of the cart and getting it as spotless as could be done after 50 or so years of neglect by Thunder Man and his predecessors.

The bedding was simply a lost cause. It was discarded, and one of the women was assigned the job of replacing it. Another woman was sent to wash clothes, and the third was put to restoring the salvaged items to the cart and putting the clean items in place as they were delivered.

By that night, the stench was gone from the cart interior, and it was hardly recognizable as the place where Thunder Man had wallowed in filth. Now I allowed the women to dress in the clean clothes and dress the children as much as was ever done for them in that era. That night, my three wives welcomed me into my new home with an orgy of sex in appreciation for ridding them of Thunder Man. The youngest, Trudy, actually had her first orgasm that night; Thunder Man had always simply relieved his pressure in her and sent her to her rags of bedding on the floor. Orda and Junga had achieved orgasms once or twice with their husbands before being taken by Thunder Man, but none since being claimed by him. Suddenly, I had three devoted sex slaves, but the good kind of sex slave who would have followed me to Hell if they were assured of continuing to receive the kind of sex I showed them that night. They taught me things, too, over the next few weeks, so I was pleased to have them as my wives.

The children were two boys, both fathered by Thunder Man. The elder was only six years old, but had already been whipped by Thunder Man for not obeying orders fast enough. The younger one was two years old, so he had not been expected to do anything, yet.

My wives were surprised when I treated them with courtesy and respect, since that was not usually done in this camp, nor anywhere else, for that matter. Thunder Man had forbidden them to wear clothes except when they went outside in very bad weather—a light snow had not been considered bad weather. Thunder Man used to send them outside in bad weather just to see them run around without clothes. They also had to be ready for sex at his whim at any time, day or night. No wonder they were happy when I replaced him!

I had almost four weeks of peace and tranquility in the camp before I was forced to do something that I hated. Hard Rider called all of the men together to order a raid on a group of chosen ones who did not acknowledge him as ruler. It seems that Hard Rider had delusions of ruling the world, and this was a band of dissenters; therefore, they had to be eliminated.

The raid was to be held tomorrow when the other group came the closest to our camp. After Hard Rider dismissed us, I cornered Black Horse and asked what was going on and what he planned to do.

Black Horse said, "This is a stupid raid. That other group outnumbers us and can beat us if they have any warning. Hard Rider is so blown up with his ambition that he will not listen to reason. I have been on a few of his raids, but I am sick of the stupid killing just for the glory of Hard Rider. If I could kill him, I would, and take over running our camp. The problem is that I am simply not skilled enough as a warrior to challenge him the way it would have to be done so that everybody would follow me."

I said, "I can beat him. I have the protection of the gods, so that I can beat anybody. Would the people follow me if I killed Hard Rider?"

"You may be a good fighter, but you cannot beat the skill and experience of Hard Rider. The battle must take place on the open field with both of you on horses. He will beat you at your first meeting."

"How badly must he beat me? I would not be surprised if he knocked me off my horse, but is that enough to make him the victor?"

"No, it isn't enough. In this kind of challenge, the only way that it can end is with one of the combatants dead. He would have to kill you, even if he knocked you off your horse, and you survived that encounter."

"In that case, I have already won! What do I have to do to force him to accept my challenge?"

"The easiest way would be for you to challenge him tomorrow when we meet for that damned raid. Insult him with some sort of challenge to his manhood and his fitness to lead. He will accept the challenge right away. You can be sure of that!"

"OK, for the sake of our discussion, assume that I beat him and become the leader of the camp. Is there some way that I can make you leader in my place without actually having to fight you."

"Oh, thats no problem. Just announce that you no longer want to be leader, and you want me to take your place. Of course, if you do that, you will have to leave the camp."

"That's no problem. I am a wanderer by nature, anyway. Let's do it. I will defeat Hard Rider and appoint you to take my place as leader. I will leave camp the next day."

"You would do that for me!?! I cannot believe that such is possible. If you do that, I will always honor your memory."

The next morning, Hard Rider called us together to assemble for the raid. When everybody was there, but before we left, I shouted out, "HARD RIDER, YOU ARE A COWARD WHO IS NOT FIT TO LEAD A BUNCH OF WOMEN TO COLLECT HORSE FODDER! I CHALLENGE YOUR RIGHT TO LEAD THIS CAMP! I DEMAND THAT YOU FIGHT ME TO SEE WHO IS THE BETTER WARRIOR! HARD RIDER, I SPIT ON YOU!"

That last statement sure got his attention. It was the greatest insult in the language. Hard Rider shouted back at me, "VILKATAS, YOU ARE A FOOL! I WILL SMASH YOU UNDER MY HORSE'S HOOVES AS SOON AS WE RETURN FROM THIS RAID!"

"NO, YOU WILL FIGHT ME NOW! I WILL NOT GIVE ANYONE ELSE THE OPPORTUNITY TO KILL YOU! WE WILL FIGHT BEFORE THIS STUPID RAID! WHEN I WIN, I WILL CANCEL THIS RIDICULOUS DEMONSTRATION OF YOUR STUPID EGO!"

I could see Hard Rider seethe under my last words. I guessed that the more I could raise his ire, the easier time I would have defeating him. I shouted, "HARD RIDER, TO SHOW YOU MY COMPLETE COMTEMPT FOR YOU, I WILL NOT EVEN DEIGN TO FIGHT FROM MY HORSE! YOU MAY USE YOUR HORSE, BUT I WILL STAND ON THE GROUND AND WAIT FOR YOU TO CHARGE ME!"

The look on Hard Rider's face was priceless. I could tell that he was now sure that he could not lose. In face, everybody thought that I had lost my mind. I simply made matters worse by wearing a large smile while I waited for his answer. Hard Rider did not say anything else, he simply wheeled around on his horse and rode out onto the plain where there was room for his horse to operate. I rode my horse to a convenient place and dismounted. I waited while Black Horse took my horse out of danger, and I stood leaning on my lance as I waited for Hard Rider's charge.