Chapter 11

It had been over six months since Rolly came back from his second mission. In that time he had honed his unorthodox style, practiced fighting on horseback with bow, lance, crossbow, and sword, found an ex military guy to practice knife fighting, taken some martial arts lessons with the bo staff, and even found a guy in St. Louis who fought with medieval swords. The only problem was the distance. He was an hour or three away from those people. He had always excelled at knife fighting so the practice got him back to top form, and facing people skilled with staff and sword was good because it let him know the many ways he would die if he tried fighting someone like that on their own terms.

He had been sleeping with Rachel for a month. They were both too cagey about relationships to admit to themselves that they were in love, and had been from the second they laid eyes on one another. Everyone else was saying what beautiful children they were going to have.

Part of the problem was that Rolly didn't feel it was his place to bring up discussion of a relationship because he did love Susan, even if it was just as a special friend with benefits, and he was not going to give up going on missions. He knew opening that discussion with Rachel would be like setting foot in a mine field. So he took the coward's way out and decided to go on a mission when she was out of town. He did tell her that he was thinking about it before she left to work the rodeo circuit.

Rachel loved Rolly, loved the idea of him being badass on another planet, and really loved having sex with him, but she was so busy with her new job that she was living in the moment. If she had walked in on Rolly having sex with someone else it would have broken her heart, but the thought of him having sex with women on another planet, or possibly dying, didn't quite register. She wanted him to go on a mission so that his beard and long hair would come off.

Stephanie was home for the summer, and she had a girl crush on Rachel. That and her hero worship of her big brother meant that she was around too much for them to practice in private, so Rachel just told her what was going on.

Stephanie didn't get talked into believing it quite as fast as Rachel did, but finally she believed, and she got just as enthusiastic as Rachel, if not more so. So it was Stephanie who was standing by the cabinet when Rolly stepped in and disappeared.

The next fifteen minutes were the longest of her life.

Susan was sitting very lady like in a nearby chair when Rolly appeared. She had an elegant dress on, and a new hairstyle that made her look much older. She very calmly stood up, walked over and said, "Hero Roland, welcome back, would you care for a refreshment?"

"No thank you, but could you tell me where I might find my caretaker Susan?"

"What ever do you mean?"

"Well, my caretaker wears sexy costumes, jumps in my arms, and calls me Rolly?"

With that she was on him. "Oh Rolly, I missed you so much. I didn't think you were ever going to come back."

"I promised I would be back, I just had to practice more so I wouldn't make you a widow caretaker before you were old enough to vote."

"I'm old enough to vote, you big meanie. Rolly, why do you always come here in your underwear?"

The portal won't let metal through, and all of my pants have metal buttons or zippers."

"Who told you that?"

"The security woman told me after it ripped my buttons and zipper out the first time I came through."

"That's not right. Let me see what the problem is. Computer, why is Hero Roland's portal malfunctioning?"

A piece of paper appeared.

It says here that your portal is not malfunctioning."

"Then why did it rip my zipper off that first day?"

"Computer,... ?" Susan read another piece of paper. "The inactive portal had a security block on it that has since been removed."

She looked at him. "So that means no metallic objects large enough to be a weapon, or any other non metallic weapons."

"Good to know. What would you like for me to wear?"

"Nothing." she giggled.

"So what's with the new look and act?"

"I've been going to finishing school. That was from my poise class."

"What about the slutty seduction class?"

"I almost failed that one."

"Why?"

"It was taught by a prime who has a couple of children, and it's geared to seducing Cassandrian men. Since no one knows I'm a caretaker most of my answers were wrong."

"How so."

"Well, one of the assignments on the first day was to describe a seductive use of the shower. And I said that you would suck on my tits, and finger my clit and butthole until I came, and then I would suck you until you shot yummy goo all over my face and tits. I would lick that up while looking into your eyes and then I would rub the rest into my skin. That would get you hard and you would pound me from behind."

"I think that's really hot."

"So do I, but she said it was unrealistic."

"What kind of answer were they expecting?"

"Something like, 'I would light scented candles and wear a shear gown. Slowly undress you while rubbing my nipples all around and give you a soapy massage, and then, if you got hard, I would wrap my leg around your thigh and slide it in.'"

"That sounds nice for a starter; maybe you should practice that on me."

"And then can we do the other?"

"We can do the other right now."

"Oh Goodie!"

After taking the edge off, which took the rest of the day and all night, they got down to business.

The mission they decided upon was a damsel named Saleen who was being held in a mining camp brothel.

Susan gave the rundown.

"She has been lured there by an advertisement for a nightclub singer. Once the women show up the owner forces them into prostitution. Because she's a burner he mostly uses her as a singer and pretty face to bring in customers. At first she got roughed up and raped once, but now she's not in any real danger. The pimp cares about money, and miners with sore dicks don't come back, it seems.

"The camp is called Whitewater. It's isolated in the mountains two weeks travel from civilization, and in winter it is cut off by deep snow in the high passes. The nearest towns with banks are Safe Harbor in Goltrun Fjord to the north and Port Balkat, at the mouth of the Balkat River near the Barony of Sachs-Tyndell, to the south. Safe Harbor is fairly isolated because the North Sea can be treacherous, and there are no other harbors for many leagues. It was originally settled as a farming community, but they export furs, timber, dried fish and whale oil.

"Getting there from Port Balkat is a longer trip, and from the other side of the mountains. You would have to travel through the Barony of Sachs-Tyndell in Glen MacTynnen for a week before getting to the trail head. The trail into the mountains from there is too rough for wagons in places; there is very little traffic to the camp from that direction, and you might have trouble getting supplies needed for a mining camp there. Because of those factors the camp consists of only about five hundred people even though gold was discovered two years ago."

They decided that Rolly could pick up more information along the way if he started at Safe Harbor, and if anything went wrong he could use the rough trail to Glen MacTynnen for his escape.

When he walked out of the bank he found that it was late summer. He hoped that he could get in and out before bad weather set in, but he decided to prepare for the worst. He bought two riding mules because they were tougher and more sure footed than horses. He decided to use both as pack animals on the way to the camp. He wanted to look like a prospector supplied for winter; he could always sell what he didn't need at a profit.

Rolly didn't get much additional information about the camp in Safe Harbor. It was starting to look like a big find, and they were preparing for next summer when they anticipated a lot of people coming in, and a lot of materials going out. It seemed that the 'magic' bank would assay the gold, set the price and turn it into currency. There would be no gold shipments leaving Safe Harbor to be lost at sea, except for a little going to jewelers.

Four days up the trail, Rolly ran into a group of wagons coming the other way. He pumped the men for more information and found out that they were headed down to load up on winter supplies for the camp. A lot of people would come down to the lowlands for winter, but many would either stay at their claims or move into camp when the creeks froze up.

Rolly also found out a bit more about the saloon where the damsel was being held. It was run by a man by the name of Meargen, who had a tough called Tobor, or just Tobe. Tobe was a bouncer and bodyguard, and a cutthroat when Meargen had the need. There were also two other men that worked for Meargen in the saloon/brothel. Both were fairly dim and would do Meargen's bidding. The camp was full of rough men, but they had their own set of rules that kept things running smoothly. Many of the miners had fought on the winning side in the recent slavery wars far to the southeast. Those that fought on the losing side kept their mouths shut about it.

By the following evening Rolly had progressed upwards another fifteen hundred feet in elevation and reached the top of the pass. That night it was cold and the wind tried to tear his tent down. The next morning he had to dig out from under a half foot of fresh snow. That made the trail hard to follow.

Two days later Rolly spied an odd looking lump off the side of the trail. It turned out to be the carcass of a mule that wolves had been feeding on. A crossbow bolt appeared to be the cause of death and on the patches of ground clear of snow there were a lot of horse tracks. After a search of the area he found a very shallow grave that the wolves had shown interest in by partially uncovering. He dug out a man who was, presumably, the owner of the mule. Rolly guessed that whoever did it was too lazy or too stupid to hide the mule. He suspected it to be the work of road agents.

Since people going towards a gold camp generally had no gold, he felt fairly safe, but it would be best if the road agents were dealt with to make his return with the damsel easier.

The dead miner had probably got a late start and tried to catch up with the wagons. It looked like the attack happened just before the snowstorm, so Rolly expected that the bandits wouldn't be too far away.

He took special care to muffle his supply packs and proceeded slowly with the mules for two days until he caught a whiff of camp smoke. He then backtracked the mules and hid them in a secluded spot, took his weapons, and prepared for a night of reconnoitering.

The camp was set against a rock wall about a quarter mile off of the trail and had a view of the trail down slope, so the bandits could see prospective victims. There were four in the gang. One appeared to have a sword, one a staff, and two had clubs and daggers, and there were two crossbows lying on the ground.

Rolly began to prepare in the fading light of day. He set up several tangle traps along the trail to the camp and in other key locations. These consisted of two types, oversized rabbit snares that would catch feet walking down a trail, and deadwood set up at shin level on paths that had been clear the day before. Both would keep the men off balance and give Rolly an edge when he attacked. Further down the trail he set a few larger snares higher up for horses. They wouldn't harm the horses but would cause a rider serious trouble trying to control the animal.

The next step was to move some boulders and logs into position on the steep slope above the rock wall. Luckily, he had brought a good length of line and could set it up to release his mini avalanche from a distance.

The road agents felt safe enough in their location that they didn't post a guard.

In the late hours when the fire no longer provided any light, and when the bandits should be sleeping the most deeply, Rolly began his attack.

First he loosened the rocks and logs on the slope above. Some of the material stopped before getting to the edge, and some fell too far forward, but two large rocks fell onto sleeping men. One rock broke an arm and ribs, while the other broke another man's knee.

As soon as Rolly heard objects falling on the camp he started firing arrows into the darkness at where he though the men would be. Screams told him that some of his arrows had hit.

Next he carefully walked into the camp. There was a bit of light from starlight reflecting off patches of snow and he was gambling that he could see well enough to attack.