Chapter 5

I glanced at the innkeeper, and he nodded his head telling me that everything was well with my charges. I made my way back to the room and used the key to open it. The door opened and there on one bed were Mandy and Sissy. Next to them, on the floor, was Glenn.

What the hell I thought as bent over and picked up Glenn and put him in the bed. He didn't stir so I closed the door after that and put my back against it and fell asleep there.

I woke up to find Sissy asleep on my lap, her head against my breastbone. She must have climbed there sometime during the night, but I was just too tired to have felt her. I looked up and Mandy was staring at me but Glenn was still asleep on the bed.

Mandy got up and came over to me quietly. She said, "Why didn't you sleep in the bed?"

"It looked like Glenn needed to sleep there."

"He was fine on the floor."

"How long were the three of you sleeping in that cage?"

"It was over a week."

"He needed to sleep in a bed more than I did," I replied.

"But he was fine..." I held my hand up to stop her.

"I put him there; it's fine."

"When did Sissy come and sit in your lap?" Mandy asked.

"I don't know. I just woke a while ago, and she was here."

"So what do we do now?" Mandy asked.

"Well, we have to eat breakfast and then decide what needs to be done to get the three of you back home."

"I like the sound of that."

"I bet. How faraway do you live from here?"

"Four days to the West for horses alone, more with a wagon."

I sat and thought about my circumstances then. I needed to go South to rescue Vanessa Schoolteacher and every day she was waiting was one more with her suffering or possibly dying. There was no way I could take these three with me. The rock and the hard place again, which was the story of my life these days.

We got up a short time later with Mandy getting us some water, clothes and soap to clean up with. They went and used the facilities while I stood guard, and then I put the three of them back in the room while I did the same.

Over breakfast, we spoke and it became obvious to them that I was going to have to take them back. There was just nowhere that I could leave them and not worry about their safety. The problem with that was they were not big enough to ride all day on a horse, so I needed to take the wagon. That meant that I was going to be delayed even more.

It was snafu but not fubar so all I could do was hope that everything would be ok with Vanessa Schoolteacher when I made it back to rescuing her. My first stop was at the livery stable, and I got down to trading the extra horses. Mandy watched me doing it and was shaking her head no.

I stopped what I was doing for a moment and walked over to her.

"Keep an extra horse for you, and he isn't giving you enough with all the tack and saddle included."

"How much should I get?"

"A shell apiece at least," she said.

"That seems like a lot."

"Not when you include the saddles."

"Would you like to see if you can do better than I can?"

"Sure, my Daddy has been letting me do most of the trades for him."

"Then by all means, be my guest."

She walked over to the livery owner then, and he started to balk at her doing the trading. I gave him a glimpse of my war face, and he was more than happy to give her the five shells and six pinches for the five horses, tack, and saddles. I kept the big bay and another horse Glenn thought was best.

The stable owner was so happy he even threw in checking the wagon over to make sure it was in sound condition. I thought that was also because he didn't want to see Mandy back with a warrior whom he had no doubt heard about.

We got the wagon and the horses going and headed over to the weapon store. I needed to unload some of these. Since Mandy had made herself my chief negotiator, I decided to let her make this deal too. She let him look over the items but wouldn't let him have them all. There was some method to her madness. We ended keeping about half of what we went in with. I did get a crossbow out of the deal with one shell and three pinches.

Next was the armor shop, and I was now wearing some new leather items but would need to come back for the rest when I was back this way. That cost me eight of the pinches I had. Then we made our way over to the general store, and I just let her decide what was needed for the trip. She got us everything, like bedrolls and food and some cooking items. I watched Glenn and Sissy eyeing the candy and made sure we got some of that.

I broke out a shell, and she handed me back a pinch.

Janice had discussed the money system with me but Mandy was a native and knew her way around it. We got everything loaded and started out. I had Mandy drive with Glenn riding shotgun, the crossbow at his feet. No doubt I would need to keep it with me at some point but for now I had enough to do just keeping myself in the saddle.

We rode along past farms and fields. Sissy convinced me to let her ride with me for a little while. We ate lunch as we went along and made camp an hour before dusk. We hadn't gone all that far, but we were on our way. Our camp was behind a small rise, so I wasn't worried about the campfire being seen from the road. We were going to sleep up on the rise away from everything, anyways.

I took Glenn out with the crossbow and had him practice firing it at a tree. I made sure he got basic weapons safety with a crossbow instead of a rifle. He could aim and fire and reload. If he could hit someone while they were viewing me as the threat, that would be all the advantage I needed. Mandy with Sissy's help made a dinner of some meat and vegetables she had gotten for us, and it beat the stew I had eaten the two nights before.

The night was quiet and we got going shortly after sun up. It was another boring day in the saddle and on the wagon, and Sissy got her ride after lunch, which we stopped for this time. We had come across another wagon late in the afternoon going in the other direction but other then that, it was quiet.

It was flatter ground when we camped tonight so we ended up sleeping near the wagon. I didn't get much sleep, listening to the noises of Chaos, but I managed as much rest as I got when on a mission. Breakfast and our morning issues completed, we were back on the road. Just before lunch, I spotted a town ahead and Mandy decided it would be best if we ate there.

We ate at the inn, and while we were doing that I decided it would be for the best if we stayed the night. I didn't get a complaint from any of them until I mentioned to the innkeeper I wanted a tub and water brought to the room for a bath. The kids looked at me, and I pointed at the three of them. "You're filthy and need new clothes. We will trade more of the weapons and get you some new clothes to change into."

Sissy and Mandy were fine with that, but you would have thought I had pulled something out of Glenn at the mention of it. He wanted to say something more about it, but I gave him a bit of the face, and he quieted right down. I was looking over the longer sword as Mandy was trading the rest of the items with the weapons store owner. I kicked myself for not getting some lessons with it from John now.

We stopped off at the general store and got new clothes for them to wear and then put the horses and the wagon up at the livery for the night. The innkeeper had the tub up in the room and a woman brought many buckets of hot and cold water to fill it.

Glenn and I stood guard duty outside the door as Mandy and Sissy cleaned up. I went and got the woman, so we could empty the water from the tub so Glenn would have new water for his bath. I thought that might have been one of his complaints about taking a bath. That done, Mandy, Sissy, and I sat outside the door as Glenn took his bath. We went back inside when he was done then used the bucket to dump the water out the window as the woman had done earlier.

Since it was still early, I convinced Glenn to stand guard duty at the door, inside course, so I could catch a battle nap. They let me sleep longer than I would have out in the field, but it was fine with me. We went downstairs and had dinner. I watched one man eye Mandy as we walked into the dining room. I put my hand on her shoulder and looked at him. He might have wanted to, but he wasn't prepared to fight for her, and by my look he knew I was.

Glenn wouldn't let me sleep at the door. He was going to do that like I had when he spent the night in the bed. I could have made an argument about it, but he had his sword in his lap when he leaned up against the door. He was modeling what I had done and was going to protect his sisters, so I let him.

We got everything done in the morning and were back on the road shortly after that. The miles were going along and not much was happening. We hadn't discussed much while we were doing that. My mind was thinking about how I would fight from horseback. I had a sword but it was shorter than others I had seen so my edge would be to get my opponent or opponents to the ground.

I wanted to have some advantage and thought that having Mandy drive the wagon into anyone who was in front of her would disrupt them enough for me to close any distance I needed. With any luck, Glenn could or would kill an attacker, and I would be left to face the rest.

Mandy driving into them would have me doing the same with my mount. I would head into whomever was doing the talking, since he would likely be the leader. It wasn't perfect but at this point given what I had to work with it was likely the best.

So when we stopped for lunch, I discussed my plan with them.

"Why are you worried about that now, we're almost halfway home?" Mandy said.

"I'm wondering who had you kidnapped," I said.

"Those men just did it that on their own didn't they?" Glenn asked.

"I don't know. They could have but why would they just decide to attack your house and take the three of you?"

"So you think someone planned to have us kidnapped?" Mandy asked.

"I don't know but if they did, they could be coming to check up with Steamer."

"So what should we do?"

"I was thinking about that all morning. I need to have an advantage with them. My advantage is them having to chase after you. So if we have any problems, I want you to drive the wagon into them if possible and have Glenn shoot the one who is closest as you go by."

"What will that do?" Glenn asked.

"I can attack the one who is taking to us as he will likely be the leader. Once I kill him, anyone else will either want to chase after you or attack me."

"But what if they chase after us?" Sissy asked.

"Glenn knows how to reload the crossbow. So he can do that while you're driving away."

"But what if they still want to kill you?" Mandy asked.

"I'm not that easy to kill," I laughed.

"How do we know when to drive the wagon into the others?"

"I'll say 'It's a good day to die.' When I say that, you drive the wagon into the horse closest to you, and Glenn get the crossbow and shoot whoever is closest.

"What will you do when we do that?" Mandy asked.

"I'll ride my horse into the leader and jump from it, taking him down to the ground."

"What then?" Glenn asked.

"I'll kill him and then anyone who is left."

"But they will be on their horses." Mandy said concern in her voice for me.

"If Glenn shot one and I killed one, even if there are four of them, they will not have their leader. And that leaves only two of them to attack me. If they chase after you then I will get back on my horse and chase after them."

"But it is still two of them against you."

"I don't mind those odds. And remember that they aren't going to want to go too close to the wagon after Glenn shot one of them with the crossbow."

"So you will catch up and attack them from behind then," Mandy said.

"Yes. Glenn, only shoot the crossbow when they are no more than seven feet way. And shoot their horse because it is a bigger target." Then I held out my arms to show him how far that was.

"Why let them get that close and why the horse?" Mandy asked.

"Because I want to make sure that if Glenn shoots, he hits it. That is too far for them to be able to use their swords, and if they are riding hard, the horse will fall when you shoot it and the rider will crash to the ground."

"But you will kill the horse."

"Yes you will and I hope the rider too."

"But the horse is not bad. Why do we have to kill it?" Sissy asked with a slight whine in her voice.

"I don't want them to capture you again. So if they are using the horse to do that then the horse needs to be stopped." I pulled Sissy into my lap and held her.

"I'll do what you need me to do Willy." Glenn said.

"Me too, I don't want to be in that cage again," Mandy said.

"What am I going to do?" Sissy said.

"Keep looking pretty," I said and smiled at her.

"You think I look pretty."

"Oh yes, especially after your bath."

Sissy laughed. "So if I am pretty, isn't Mandy beautiful?"

"She is indeed and just the more reason to keep both of you out of a cage again."

With that, we got back on the road. Sissy took another ride on the horse with me, and we made camp out behind some trees. I had us bed down in the trees while the wagon and horses were out by the fire ring. It was another quiet night.

We got breakfast finished and everything loaded back up. We were on the road for another day.

"How far is it to your farm?"

"Three more days in the wagon," Glenn said.

We rode along through a small forest. We went up a small hill and then down again. There was a creek that ran alongside the road there. We got off the road and went down to the creek to have lunch. We let the horses drink while Mandy and Sissy worked on making lunch.

We were back on our way and later that afternoon we found an inn where we could stay the night. That sounded better than sleeping on the ground, so we arranged for a room. We went up to the room and when we were in there, Sissy came over and said, 'You need a bath, you smell."

"And you need some new clothes." Mandy said.

There are times to argue and there is a time to surrender, and this time I needed to surrender. I did smell bad and another set of clothes wouldn't be bad either. So the better part of a shell gone, and I had some new duds. I left the kids down in the corner of the dining room with the innkeeper sitting next to them. He wanted to argue with me but I convinced him otherwise. A couple of pinches for his time didn't hurt either.

I was fresh as a daisy on Chaos when I came back down a half hour later with my new duds on. He was still there waiting for my return, the kids no worse for wear. We had dinner with us sitting in the back of the dining room. I kept an eye out when anyone entered. I realized I should have had Mandy doing that but for now, it was what it was.

We spent the night with me at the door and Glenn on the bed. He wanted to say something but decided that it wasn't something I was going to let him do. I woke up this time when Sissy crawled into my lap but just let her do so, and she fell asleep shortly after that.

"She is going to miss you when we get home," Mandy said quietly when I opened my eyes.

"I'm getting used to her being around too. But I have things to do, and you need to be back at your home again."

"Do you really think I am beautiful?" Mandy asked.

"Yes."

"Then why can't you stay at the farm when we get back?"

"I have another who needs me to rescue her. That is why I'm here but when I found the three of you, I delayed doing that to take you home."

"We could have gone with you or stayed at the first town."

"I don't know who is keeping her or how dangerous they are. But I couldn't risk your lives for hers. I'll have to hope she forgives me when I do finally find her."

"But she could be hurt or die, and it would be our fault."

"No, it would be the fault of those that hurt her, and I would kill them all for it."

"But she would be dead."

"Yes, she could be and she could have been before I left to come for her. I can't change the past, only help her in the future." That finally dawned in my thick brain then. So I sat there and just let the thought sink in.

I heard Mandy again, "We need to get up and get going as fast as we can then. You need to go and help her."

"We will continue to go just as we have been. I don't want to rush into anything because we didn't take our time."

"But she could be killed."

"And so could we and if I am dead, she won't be rescued. So we will go along just as we have been, and it will be fine."

We got breakfast eaten and all of our gear to the livery stable and were back on the road. I could tell Mandy was pushing so I moved the bay next to the one pulling the wagon and slowed him down.

That done I moved away and let her pass me before I rode up. "We can't have the horse all used up if we need to do the plan if we're attacked."

She looked at me but didn't say anything, and we went back to the same pace that we had been going on the other days. We stopped to eat lunch and then were back on the road. About an hour before dusk, we came to a small outcropping of trees where we could make camp and bed down for the night.

It was another uneventful night, and we had breakfast early and got going. We came into the town that was closest to their farm, and I saw people pointing at them and me as we did. No doubt word of our impending arrival would be going on ahead of us before we got to their farm.

"I think it would be best if we ate lunch at the inn."

"Why?" Mandy asked.

"Because I believe your parents will be here shortly, and I would rather meet them here than on the road."

"They wouldn't hurt you; you saved us," Sissy said.

"I just think it would be better this way."

I got a raised eyebrow from both Glenn and Mandy, but we stopped to eat at the inn.

"What is the problem?" Mandy asked.

"I don't know but something is not right. It's just a feeling and if your parents come to take you then that's great. If anyone else does, I think that will be the person who had you kidnapped or helped with it being done."

"Why do you think that?" Glenn asked.

"It is only a feeling, but it makes sense to me about your being kidnapped. Just remember that you only go to your parents. No one else, and stay behind me always."

If I were right, someone not their parents would be here to get them. I was the fly in their ointment, and they needed to have the leverage back. If I were wrong then it wouldn't matter.

We finished eating when three men came bursting into the inn. Mandy tightened which was enough to tell me that this was not her father.

I stood up and the kids got behind me. The three men walked over but the tables kept them from being able to spread themselves apart.

"Mandy, Glenn, Sissy, come over here right now."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"The question is who are you and why are the children with you?"

"I asked first." I put my war face on and watched their response.

"I am the overseer on their farm and these two are foremen there."

"Names."

"What is yours?"

"Death if you don't answer my question."

He likely thought the odds of three to one were in his favor. It was obvious I had blown his plan all to hell, and now they were going to be exposed.

I called out, "It's a good day to die." Pulled my dagger out as I bull rushed into the overseer. The plan was for Glenn to pick up the crossbow and shoot whoever was farthest away from me or anyone who came after them. He and Mandy would then use the sword and dagger I had given them for protection.

I was onto the overseer before he got close to pulling his weapon out. I pushed him straight back as I jabbed the dagger into his belly and sliced up to his sternum. The force of the collision had pushed him into the man behind him and that had him fighting to stay on his feet. I heard the bow sing out and a man scream. Luckily, it wasn't me as it did cross my mind, no matter how much I didn't want it to, that Glenn could shoot me in the back by accident. Even with a highly trained SEAL team, accidents happen and the wrong people get shot. Glenn was just a boy who had not shot a crossbow in anger before.

The eyes of the last foreman got wide as he realized that it was now just us and Death was staring him in the face. He dropped his weapon, no doubt thinking that I wouldn't attack him if he did. He discovered that mistake when my blade snapped across his neck slicing his throat. I ran to the door as two more men were coming in. I heard screams from Mandy, Glenn and Sissy of "Daddy" and that was the only reason I stopped, just two feet away from a man who could see death up close and didn't have a way to stop it.

The kids came running up and past me and flew into his arms. A woman came in whom I suspected was their mother from the hugs and kisses that were being shared. I moved back, turned and crossed over the bodies behind me and took a seat at the table. I listened to the man that Glenn had shot crying out about the pain. I looked over and saw the bolt sticking out from his belly.

He was going to suffer for his actions and there was no way I would shortcut that suffering. I sat there and watched the kids and parents slowly exchange small talk and then point to me. I reevaluated my conclusion that the first three men were responsible for the kidnapping. But that decision was in the past and there was nothing I could do to reverse it.

Finally, I put the dagger back away after cleaning it off on the napkin that was left over from the meal and waited for the meeting that I knew was going to happen. My adrenalin was starting to fade so I took a drink of the watered wine still in my cup and just sat back.

The kids came over leading their parents.

"Daddy, Mommy. This is Willy; he rescued us and brought us back," Mandy said.

I stood up and took a hold of the hand held out by her Father. "I am John and this is Martha. Thank you for bringing our children back to us."

"You're welcome. I couldn't leave them where I found them."

"What can you tell us about what happened?"

"I could tell you what they told be but they can do that. I need to be going, there is another I need to rescue who needs me to do that as soon as possible."

"Glenn said you killed eight men to rescue them and now my overseer and two of the foreman."

"I think that you will find the overseer and the foremen were the ones who arranged for the kidnapping."

"Why would they do that?" Martha asked.

"I don't know. Ask the one that is still alive over there," I pointed to the one who Glenn had shot.

"Who shot him?" John asked.

"I did, Dad." Glenn said.

"Where did you get the weapon to do that?" He asked.

"I gave it to him," I replied.

"You gave my son a crossbow?" Martha asked.

"I needed him to be able to protect Mandy and Sissy. He did just what I wanted him to do."

"But he is only a boy." John said.

"Who spent a week in a cage with his sisters and didn't want that to happen again," I replied in a little harsher tone than before.

"But he could have been hurt if he missed," She said.

"This is not the place or the time for ifa, woulda, coulda. Be happy they are back with you."

Mandy came running around to me and kissed me. Glenn came over and hugged me as did Sissy. The three of them were crying. When they finally let go, I saw a different look from their parents.

"We want you to come to the farm Willy."

"I appreciate the offer, I really do John. But if they were still being held, and I was off to rescue them, would you want me to wait one more minute?"