Chapter 20

While I was making sure everything was ready to travel I could still hear loud voices from their camp. I couldn't understand what they were saying, but they were doing a lot of arguing. I could tell that much.

I didn't press them today - I just stayed close enough so I could get a look at them every now and then. They all rode a little way from the wagon now, keeping some space, but not straying far. They traveled straight on through all day, but the wagon was so slow they didn't even make it to a town. They pulled off into another small clearing for the night and they spent most of the rest of the daylight gathering firewood.

Really, they were idiots. They were working their asses off to make sure they'd have light during the night, but they never understood all it was doing for them was destroying their night vision. Hell, there wasn't even a moon on Chaos and as soon as they looked anywhere out of the tiny circle of light the fire gave off they were completely blind.

They were worn out besides. They'd been up most of the night while I'd catnapped several times. I'd even rested most of the time in the saddle today. I couldn't sleep while I was riding along, but I slumped in the saddle and did the next best thing most of the day.

While they were fucking with the world's biggest campfire I hid the horses in the woods again and even unsaddled all of them. I'd stopped along the way to let them grab a mouthful or two of grass today, but it wasn't nearly enough and they'd only really had one good sip of water.

I figured I'd have to get this over with tonight or the horses would be done for before sunset tomorrow, even the ones who weren't carrying anyone. When I had the horses secured I moved off about two hundred yards from them and lay down in the leaves to have a nap myself.

I slept for about two hours and woke up to listen then slept for three hours. I decided it was time to see what was up. I crept up on their camp, and it was a long creep, but it was productive. The guard nearest me was asleep and I got close enough to cut his throat without making a sound.

I backed off into the woods and moved back up to the next nearest. He wasn't asleep, but he wasn't paying attention like he should have been. I made my way between him and another one who was more alert. I put an arrow in the one and nocked another one. The one nearest him was asking him what had happened when my arrow found him.

The hell of it was I could see him clearly, but the bright fire near him had his night vision useless. This left only two men in shape to fight and they were about to panic. They got up from where they were hiding out and went to the fire. They were standing beside the wagon, arguing with the leader when I walked up within a hundred feet and shot one of them in the back.

The other one turned to look in my direction, but of course he couldn't see me and I put one right in his neck as he stood there staring out into the black woods.

I finally got some return fire from the wagon, but he must have been trying to aim by the sound since he didn't come anywhere close to me. Using my head for one of the few times I let him drag out another crossbow and then I threw a branch about twenty feet to the left of me. He fired at the noise when it hit in the leaves.

I wondered if he had another crossbow handily loaded and waiting, but I heard him fussing over the one he'd just fired so I decided he didn't. I soft footed it up beside the wagon seat where he was hiding and when he looked over the edge of the wagon side again I split him down through his head with my sword.

That was the crop as far as my count went so I called out.

"Lena, are you in there?"

"Yes, Who is it. Please help me," she said.

"It's Hero Jack, and you can consider yourself rescued."

"Oh, thank God. Please, come in here and untie me.

I did it at once and I found her in better shape than I'd expected, though her arms and legs were completely numb from being tied up so long.

I also found some provisions in the back of the wagon and as soon as I had Lena loose I dug into them and started cooking a simple meal.

They had a big barrel of water on the wagon and I put a pan of it on the fire to boil. They had some wine too, and I guess I could have made watered wine for us to drink, but I didn't know how long it needed to be in the water to provide the curative effects. Anyone could tell when water was boiling,

After about half an hour Lena wanted out of the wagon and she thought she could walk. As soon as I set her on her feet she headed for the edge of the woods to take care of business. She told me later they'd been making her use a chamber pot and she was sick of it.

After the meal I wrassled the dead one out of the wagon and moved a few of the things around so Lena could make herself a decent pallet and stretch out for sleeping. I had been doing all the good sleeping out in the woods so I picked out a place and went to sleep myself.

I was up at sunrise, but I didn't wake Lena right away. I stirred the fire back up and then went to work tending the dead men, as in stripping off their clothes and weapons and going through their pockets.

The one from the wagon had the most money. He had a conch and twenty-two shells plus some assorted pinches. The rest had a shell or two each, but taken all together it mounted up and I had more swords, crossbows, and knives than the law allowed.

As soon as Lena woke and went out to visit the bushes again we cooked some breakfast and then I told her about having to go and fetch the horses. She wanted to come with me before she saw me taking off through the woods. She decided to hide in the woods near the camp and wait.

I was back with the horses in about an hour and then I spent nearly as long watering them slowly from the big barrel. Lena cooked lunch when the time came around and we spent the rest of the day just resting and watering the horses. I even found a sack of grain and put some in their nosebags. I hobbled them about an hour before sunset and let them graze.

We had another meal after dark and then took our same sleeping quarters as the night before - Lena in the wagon and me in the woods. I might have been being over cautious, but slipping up on twelve men and killing them will do that for you.

When I woke at sunrise the next morning I started the fire again and woke Lena this time. I was already packing the horses and the wagon when she finished her business in the woods and started cooking breakfast. We left heading back the way the wagon had come as soon as we'd eaten.

Thank goodness Lena knew how to drive a wagon so I could ride Blacky and have some freedom of movement. It turned out we didn't need it, but it's always better to be safe.

We were able to move more quickly on the way back since I picked out the two best horses to pull the wagon. We were back in the decent sized town on the second day. There was a nice enough inn there and I rented us a room for the night and we had supper in the inn. We were both glad enough to eat someone else's cooking.

Lena was glad we were in a room together and she promptly got naked and crawled into bed. Who was I to complain, and I was licking her pussy and making her buck in no time flat. Lena showed me she knew a little about sex play without penetration too. She gobbled down my dick and made me even happier I'd rescued her.

After breakfast in the inn the next morning I left Lena there and took off with the wagon to sell all I could. I was surprised at the price the horses brought since they seemed a little higher than I'd expected. The wagon was about average and most of the weapons sold well enough. I still had a few we'd need to carry along and try to sell elsewhere though, so I kept one of the horses I'd intended to sell. Of course it made me end up keeping the best three besides Blacky.

It was about half way to sunset from noon when I finished and got the horses I was keeping into a livery stable. I went to the inn to get Lena and took her shopping. She bought a few items of clothing and plenty of traveling food. I'd already told her we'd be traveling horseback for the balance of the trip. We spent one more night in the inn, ate a quick breakfast there, and then hit the road.