Murdock was careful not to let his anger get in the way and tip his hand to any of them. As he walked past the tool area, he picked up a few tools that he felt he would need. No one seemed to care what he was doing and no one tried to stop him.
“Are you at the edge of the encampment?” he flashed Rose and Mei Lee as he made his way out of the encampment.
“Yes, we are safely away,” Rose flashed.
“Start toward the river by the straightest path. Move quickly, but don’t appear to be running away. I’ll intercept you,” Murdock flashed to the two women.
Murdock was halfway through the encampment when a tall, thin man blocked his way.
“Mister Murdock,” the man greeted him with a fake smile. “I’m Richard Jameson. I doubt you remember me.”
“I remember that you didn’t seem to speak up very often,” Murdock retorted and decided to allow Rose to hear. Jameson’s jaw clenched and unclenched.
“I see you’re borrowing more tools,” Jameson continued without shrinking. “Can I ask when you’ll be returning them?”
“I’ll return them when I’m finished with them,” Murdock said. “If there’s a problem, Mei Lee can vouch for me.”
“Mei Lee is no longer in a position of power, as you well know,” Jameson said. “If you can’t give me an answer, then I can’t allow you to leave with the tools.” Jameson raised his arm as if to signal someone.
“If you drop that arm,” Murdock said coldly and quietly, leaning into him a little, “I’ll remove it long before anyone here can do anything about it.”
The possibilities running through Jameson’s mind played across his face. Murdock cocked his head and grinned at him. Then he caught a slight movement out of the corner of his eye. He stepped to the side just as the spear passed him. The instrument that would have skewered his back caught Jameson full in the chest. Jameson stumbled back a few steps and Murdock continued on his way, stepping around the dying man and pulling the spear from his chest as he passed.
“Do you need assistance?” Rose flashed.
“I could use some cover,” he flashed back, “but don’t allow anyone to get behind the two of you. You can tell Mei Lee that her replacement is dead.”
“You didn’t . . . ?” Rose flashed.
“I didn’t. The person who threw the spear should have had more target practice, though. Being around any of these people will be very dangerous for the three of us.”
“I know,” Rose flashed. “And just when I was getting used to being welcomed, too.”
No one else tried to stop Murdock as he exited the encampment. He was not far outside the boundary when Rose fell into step behind him. Neither looked back to the encampment, but Murdock used his enhanced perception to check for someone following them. When he and Rose got to the cart Mei Lee held, he quickly loaded and secured the tools he had borrowed and assumed his place pulling the cart. Then they made a straight line for the river.
20
“Do you think they’ll follow?” Rose flashed to Murdock.
“Someone is following us now,” Murdock flashed back. “They’re far enough behind that we can’t see them easily. There are times that I wish I could disappear the way I’ve seen Beron disappear.”
“Even so,” Mei Lee chimed in aloud, “it’s only a matter of time before they find the cabin.”
“We could make hunting us an unhealthy proposition,” Rose added, “unhealthy for them!”
“Do you really want to go down that road?” Murdock asked both women.
No one said anything more about it for some time. All three tried to decide on a proper course of action, one that would allow them some measure of security. Soon Murdock could see the river in the distance. They had made very good time in their escape.
“When we get to the river, head downriver; away from the cabin,” Murdock told the two women.
“Why?” Rose asked. “Won’t they be able to follow?”
“I’m counting on it,” Murdock said. “There’s bound to be a place to cross the river further downriver. If we can get across unseen, they’ll think we just disappeared.”
“What are you playing at?” Rose flashed to her husband.
“It means showing Mei Lee some of the tricks Beron taught us,” Murdock flashed back, “but she is fully a part of our family now, so it doesn’t matter.”
When they reached the river, they all turned downriver. After they were out of the direct line of sight, Murdock used his astral-self to check behind them. Three of the men from the encampment followed them. Then he saw something that made him smile. He saw one moving out into the lead of the three pursuers, leaving the other two behind
“Well, I have some good news,” Murdock told the two women. “The pursuers have dropped to one, and that one is Whittier!”
“I know what you want to do, dear, but don’t,” Rose cautioned.
“How far back is he?” Mei Lee asked.
Murdock checked again and saw Whittier stopping. The other two men had already given up and were heading back to the encampment. He saw Whittier finally collapse from exhaustion. Seeing that, Murdock stopped.
“Why are you stopping?” Rose asked. She and Mei Lee had come back to see if something was wrong.
“Whittier has collapsed a mile or so back, and the other two have turned back,” Murdock said. “I think we can safely cross the river here, and if we’re careful, we can head for home unobserved by Whittier or any of the others.”
“How can we cross here?” Mei Lee asked. “We don’t have the tools or the time to build a bridge; or anything else, for that matter.”
Murdock didn’t answer her. Instead, he closed his eyes so he could concentrate. He felt himself as well as the cart being lifted slightly. He opened his eyes a little and saw that the cart, himself, Mei Lee, and Rose were levitated and moving across the two hundred yards of swiftly moving water. After a few minutes, they had all safely crossed the river with the cart.
After everyone stood on the ground, he looked back, astrally, over their escape route to check Whittier’s position, as well as to check to see whether anyone from the encampment had observed them. Whittier had given up the chase and was heading back to the encampment, and failing to find any sign of anyone else observing them, Murdock quickly pulled the cart away from the river and into a small depression hidden from view by a thick stand of trees.
“We can rest here for a while,” he told the two women. He sat on a log and took a few long pulls of water from the water skin.
Mei Lee looked at him; her mouth agape in disbelief.
“Rose and I decided to show you that little trick because you’re now part of our family,” Murdock explained as he handed her the water skin.
Mei Lee took the water skin, drank from it, and passed it to Rose without saying a word.
“I take it we were unobserved?” Rose asked as she took the water skin from Mei Lee and drank deeply from it.
“Whittier was heading back and was too far behind to see,” Murdock answered. “Pretty bad when a man, pulling a loaded cart, and two pregnant women, walking beside, can outdistance three supposedly fit men!”
All three laughed at his quip.
“How did you do that?” Mei Lee asked, still surprised.
“That was a trick courtesy of Beron,” Murdock said. “I didn’t do it alone. Rose helped.”
“How is that possible?” Mei Lee asked skeptically. “How do you know where Whittier is? How did you know where the other two pursuers were? I just don’t understand.”
“Some of those things were learned by way of Beron,” Murdock said as he took the water skin again and drank deeply.
“The rest are from his personal experience and skills,” Rose offered. Murdock looked at her with concern.
“That isn’t exactly true,” Murdock explained. “I’ve been physically enhanced. I don’t know when or by whom, but I’m what some would call a freak.”
“The father of my baby is not a frea
k,” Rose said, beginning to cry. “You’re using everything you know and everything you’ve learned to try to keep as many of the humans on this planet alive for as long as possible, even if they don’t appreciate it or deserve it. That doesn’t make you a freak!” Rose turned her back to the others and buried her face in her hands, crying quietly.
“If Mei Lee is to be part of our family, she needs to know what she’s getting into,” Murdock said in a quiet, somewhat sad voice. “We can’t hide such things from her.”
Mei Lee thought about what she had heard. “What am I supposed to do?” she asked. “Am I supposed to take off screaming? Am I supposed to go back to the encampment? You both say I’m part of your family. I say you two are my family. All the family I’m likely to have. With the two of you I’ve felt cared for and looked after as never before. I’m not likely to turn my back on that.”
“You do need to make your own decisions,” Murdock told her as he got up and assumed his position pulling the cart.
“Do you want me to fill the water skin in the river?” Mei Lee asked.
“No,” Murdock said. “We need to stay out of view of the other side of the river and try to get home without leaving too much of a trail. I don’t think anyone at the encampment could figure a way to cross the river, let alone follow a trail, but I’m not willing to risk it.”
As they started off, Rose wiped away the tears and took up her position with the bow at the ready. It would take a few more hours to reach the cabin.
“I need you two to figure a way to make the cabin more secure,” Murdock said.
While they walked, Murdock flashed to Beron, “You are aware of the situation at the pod?”
He received an affirmative from his large friend.
“I think the Oomah should be warned away from the encampment.”
About an hour before dark the little group reached the cabin.
After the cart was emptied, Murdock entered the cabin and sat by the fireplace. Rose handed him some venison as he sat.
“What have you come up with?” he asked both women as he ate.
“We should dismantle the bridge you made to cross the river,” Mei Lee offered. “It would make it difficult for the others to cross to this side; maybe difficult enough that they would give up.”
“That won’t happen,” Rose argued. “Those with a single-minded purpose would eventually conquer any obstacle that stood in their way. And knowing what I do of Whittier, he definitely has a single-minded purpose.”
“So, what would you suggest?” Murdock asked.
“Prepare,” Rose said after thinking about the situation for a moment. “We should dismantle the bridge to slow any advance, and we should prepare for a fight.”
“I agree,” Murdock said with a small grin.
“That’s what you’d come up with before you asked us to think about the situation,” Mei Lee said. “Why have the two of us come up with a solution you had already decided on?”
“I asked you to come up with solutions because I needed to make sure that what we do is not simply because it was my idea,” Murdock explained. “For all of us to get behind a course of action, we have to believe it’s the only acceptable solution open to us. We do need to prepare, and part of that preparation is making two more bows and a lot of arrows. Also, you two need to train, primarily in knife fighting.”
Both women could see the wisdom in what Murdock had said. They needed more weapons and they did need to know how to use them. They needed to prepare for winter as well as a possible attack. With an action plan in place, Murdock, Rose, and Mei Lee felt better and could sleep in peace.
#
Whittier finally gave up the chase a few miles from the encampment. I know I let my anger get the better of me, he thought, to the point that I have gone into the domain of my enemy, which is dangerous and stupid. Now, he was lying in the middle of nowhere, too exhausted to move. Murdock chose to hobble himself with two women, he thought, so it should have been easy to eliminate him, but, for whatever reason, Murdock has escaped.
As he lay exhausted, he expected Murdock to double back and deal with him, as Murdock had threatened to do many times. But when he had caught his breath somewhat, Murdock still hadn’t arrived.
That’s just what I figured. Whittier thought. You’re all talk, Murdock. All you do is intimidate others. After some time, although he was still exhausted and his leg muscles hurt, he was able to stand and keep his feet. “No more! You can’t intimidate me anymore! You want me? I’m right here,” he yelled at the sky. The yelling helped relieve some of his frustration. Then, when he was finally able, Whittier headed back to the encampment. He ran all sorts of scenarios through his mind. He would also have to deal with the failures of his henchmen.
“The plan was so simple,” Whittier said aloud to himself as he traveled. “Wait for Murdock to try to steal more tools after Mei Lee returned; after her vacation. Dick Jameson was to delay Murdock just long enough for Brian Scott to shove a spear in his back; use it like a pike. Is that what you imbeciles did? Did you stick to the plan? No-o-o-o! You just had to do it your way.” Whittier got more livid as he walked to work off his anger. “Now, Jameson is dead, a waste of a perfectly good moron, Murdock has escaped, and to top it all off, he has stolen most of my valuable tools and two of my personal slaves!” He waved his arms and gestured as he walked back. “You just had to throw the spear, didn’t you Mister Scott! You just had to give Murdock the weapon he used to kill poor Dick Jameson!”
As he proceeded to the encampment, he tried to decide the best way to correct this debacle. He leaned toward slitting Scott’s throat himself.
“You can’t have blood on your hands,” his father’s voice said inside his head. Hire another to do it or allow Murdock to do it for me, he thought.
“I’m too much your son to forget something like that,” Whittier said harshly to the voice inside his head.
#
For the next two weeks, Murdock, Rose, and Mei Lee kept busy. Murdock dismantled the bridge he had built only a month before. He used the logs to build a small enclosure for the spa that Beron had provided, which would allow them to use it all winter long and keep most of the snow away. All three got the rest of the hides processed so that they could make winter wear. Mei Lee caught, cleaned, and got the fish into the smokehouse. Murdock took the bow and cart out, and after several tries, harvested two more deer. At night, Murdock worked on his bow while Rose worked on the mittens and mukluks. Mei Lee tried to make her own bow and some functional furniture for the cabin; she had unilaterally determined that they needed, at least, a proper table.
When Murdock had finished his bow, he pulled it a few times before pulling it to full draw. When Rose and Mei Lee asked to see it, they tried to pull it, but couldn’t manage more than an inch of deflection. This caused the women to speculate, to themselves, as to his abilities.
Rose made both pairs of Mei Lee’s mukluks and mittens out of one deer hide with enough left over to make leather thongs, some of which Murdock used to finish his bow.
When Rose finished the first pair of mittens and mukluks, Mei Lee tried on the inner pairs. They fit perfectly — not so tight as to cut off circulation, but just loose enough to allow the hands and feet to breathe. When she tried on the outer pairs, they fit well and sealed out the air.
“Those are way too warm for inside the cabin,” she said as she quickly removed them.
When Mei Lee finished the table, which was extremely sturdy, first Rose and then Mei Lee lay down on it. Murdock didn’t have to tell them that this is where they both were going to birth their babies, which changed the mood in the cabin to one of quiet, concerned reflection. Murdock was the most concerned. I have no idea how to birth a baby so my job is going to be that of helpless spectator, he thought, while both women’s lives were going to be in each other’s hands.
Murdock had been watching Rose and Mei Lee as their bellies swelled. Rose looked to be further along, but that could be from
a myriad of factors. Rose would sometimes act like a silly model when she caught him looking at her. Mei Lee usually tried to hide her belly.
One night, Murdock awoke because of a bite in the air. He didn’t think much of it. He just put some more wood in the fireplace and went back to bed. When he awoke again, at his normal hour, he went outside to find the ground covered in thick frost. He immediately tried to communicate with Beron.
“When you go long-sleeping?” Murdock asked.
“Soon,” Beron responded.
“May we visit?” Murdock asked.
“Yes,” Beron responded.
“Do we have anything major going on that can’t wait for a few days?” Murdock asked as he entered the cabin.
“Nothing that I can think of,” Rose said. “What’s going on?”
“The first frost is here, and Beron will be hibernating soon,” Murdock explained. “We need to ensure that no one knows where the cave is and that we can find a way in, should we need to.”
Mei Lee was confused as to what was going on.
“I’m up for a little walk,” Rose said with excitement. “When did you want to leave?”
“After breakfast, so the fire can burn down some,” Murdock said, going outside to get the cart ready.
During a rest, as they walked to the cave, Rose took a long drink from the water skin and then passed it to Mei Lee. “Are you in a big hurry or something?” she asked Murdock.
“I know we’re not being followed,” Murdock said as he surveyed the area, “but I’m still nervous and cautious.” He took the water skin from Mei Lee and had a long drink.
“You seem to be in a big hurry to me,” Rose said. “You’re walking a lot faster than you usually do. I don’t know if I can keep up.”
“How are you doing, Mei Lee?” Murdock asked as he resituated some of the hides they had brought with them on the front of the cart.
“I’m a bit winded,” Mei Lee said, “but I think I’m okay.”
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