Chapter 4

I woke up still in one piece, so I was happy for that. I ate a quick breakfast of three high energy bars and drank as much water as I could hold. I figured to be too busy for a while to be able to take the time for more food or drink. I double checked my weapons and left the tree. I moved as quickly as I could toward the camp while still keeping a lookout for any men who might be sneaking up on me.

When I got to the appropriate place, I made a careful search for sentries. I found them in pairs this time. Well, I could see that my time of easy silent kills was long gone. I could see that there were damned few people sleeping in the camp, so I figured that the woods must be full of men hunting for me. Under those circumstances, I might as well use my guns because I wanted to scare them away or attract them close enough for me to see them. Gunshots should do that.

Therefore, I did not hesitate more than a few seconds before I went to my shotgun in my left hand and my revolver in my right. My four shotgun loads, two in the shotgun and two in the revolvers, were all buckshot. This did not seem like the appropriate time for solid shotgun slugs. I fired at the two sentries whom I could see and hit both of them in the chest with .44 caliber bullets. As expected, that put them down permanently.

The noise of those two shots was enough to wake up the camp, and surprising number of fools stood up. Well, maybe I should not call them fools because they were armed only with swords and knives, and that style of weapon could best be used while the fighter was standing. Anyway, the temptation was just too great. I holstered my pistol and brought my shotgun to my shoulder. By this time, a few of the kidnappers were charging at me, so I had the perfect target for my shotgun. I aimed at the man in the middle of the crowd and fired one barrel. The men were so close together that I knocked down seven, and that was enough to break the charge.

I swung around looking for another target, and I saw another group charging at me. I fired the other barrel and collected six hits this time. I noticed that the rest of the men that I could see were now running in the opposite direction. They were not familiar with my shotgun and could be forgiven for assuming that I had additional loads ready to fire. I didn't, but I remedied that as quickly as I could. I might have taken as much a 5 or 6 seconds to reload my shotgun and have it ready for action. Well, I didn't need it: everybody was running away as fast as his legs would carry him.

Uh-oh, I had to modify that thought. One man was standing behind Lady Sinola with a knife to her throat. He said, "I will cut her throat if you come any closer."

"If you harm her in any way, I will leave you to the tender mercies of the liongriths. You can drop that knife and face an honorable death at the end of my sword, or you can be eaten alive. The choice is yours."

"You want her, she's yours!" With that, the man pushed the woman toward me and turned to run.

He managed to get about three steps before he was sufficiently clear of Lady Sinola to take a shot at him with my revolver. Of course, I used a bullet instead of the shotgun so that I would not shoot her accidentally. I fired quickly, but I did manage to hit where I was aiming—his right hip. The bullet tore into him and he fell on his face. He screamed in pain, but I ignored him: he was not going anywhere with that shattered hip.

I ran to Lady Sinola to help her to her feet. As soon as I did that, she grabbed me around the waist and said, "You saved my life! I am your wife and slave forever!"

Oops! I had forgotten the custom on Horurie that said that when a man rescues a woman from certain death, she had to become his wife. Dammit, now I had two wives, and I was sure that I was in deep trouble. I had no way out because a man could have as many wives as he wished. Shit! I was stuck. There were no two ways about it.

Well, I could put off the inevitable for a little while. "Lady Sinola, were you harmed by these men?"

"No, but I sure was uncomfortable with them surrounding me. That bastard you just shot was the leader of the band, and I could see that he was counting the days until he could rape me."

"He will never bother you again. The bullet in his hip is going to keep him from running away when the liongriths show up, and I understand that they enjoy eating their prey alive whenever possible. Let's leave him to his fate."

"Very well, Master, if that is what you want, but I am afraid that he will find a way to kill himself before the liongriths find him. May I borrow your gun to make that impossible?"

I had learned not to argue with my first wife, and I extended that to my second wife. She was supposed to be a gun expert, so I handed the revolver to her. She took it and walked over to the wounded leader of the kidnappers. When she got there, she kicked him in the wounded hip.

"Pay attention, you bastard. I am going to make sure that the liongriths get their full satisfaction from you." With that statement, she shot the man in both elbows and both shoulders. Now, he had no way to use either arm or hand. "There. Now, I hope that it takes the liongriths a long time to find you."

She handed the revolver back to me, and I took a moment to reload it. I handed it back to Lady Sinola and said, "Here, you can keep this for now. I hope you don't, but there is always a chance that you will need it before we get home."

"Thank you, Master. I had heard of you, and I know now that I have the perfect husband. Shall we go?"

I signaled for my flier to come pick us up, and we had a few minutes to talk before the flier got to us. I told her that Anslee was pregnant, so she would have to walk softly around her until the two of them could come to an accommodation. Lady Sinola assured me that she knew that she was a junior wife, and she only hoped that she could make me happy to have her as a wife. Well, if she stuck to that attitude, I might live through this after all.

We flew back to Sir Bornly's estate and everybody greeted Sinola as if she had returned from the dead. Nobody was surprised when she announced that she was marrying me as a junior wife since I had saved her life. The only question remaining seemed to be as to the when and where of the wedding. I told Sinola that the wedding was up to her and her mother. I did agree to be there, but I wanted her to meet Anslee before she made too many plans.

I said that I could take her with me back south where she could meet Anslee and get things settled. It was still early enough in the day that we could get there before dark, but I did not mention that to anybody at this time. I was going to wait until I had Sinola in the air before I let her in on that news. My excuse for hurrying was that I had to report to the king, so we were excused for my haste, and we got away before noon.

Once we were out of sight of the estate, I bundled us in warm clothes and took us up to about 10,000 feet. There I turned on maximum speed, and we blasted through the air to get us home before the sun set. When we got fairly close, I used the radio to call ahead to tell everybody that we were almost home. I did not mention Sinola by name, but I did say that I was bringing home a surprise.

I expected a strong reaction from Anslee when she met Sinola, but I was surprised when the two met, embraced, and talked calmly. Later, I found out that Anslee had figured that this would happen and had already worked out her unhappiness in the face of the inevitability of custom. Her mother had helped Anslee through the anguish by pointing out that she was facing one of the problems of having a hero for a husband.

I did rush to report to the king, and he chuckled at my fear over having a second wife. His comment was, "Just be happy that you only rescued one woman this time." Thereupon, he burst out laughing. What did he mean about 'only one woman this time?'