by Allan Joyal
"Foul!" she hissed as she skipped back. I did not follow, but dropped into a crouch, keeping my knife between us. I noticed that it had twisted in my hand and I switched my grip so that the blade was pointing down.
Heather had paused and pulled her blouse out from under the skirt she was wearing. She pulled up the blouse and tried to look at the place where I had struck her.
"There's no bruise," Lydia called out. "Go again."
Heather dropped back into her crouch. This time she circled to my right. I tried to keep her in front of my blade, but crossed up my feet and stumbled. Like a panther, she dove forward, putting the blade across her body.
I noticed that she was still holding the blade so that it pointed up and towards herself. Stopping my stumble, I rushed forward and pinned her arm to her chest. I claimed a quick kiss before raising my arm and putting the knife against her neck.
Heather jumped away with a scream of fury. "How are you doing that?"
"Calm down," Lydia called out. "Ron is just letting you attack and then countering. Be patient next time."
Heather nodded and settled back into a crouch. I mirrored her. This time Heather was much more deliberate as she crept closer to me. She tried a few experimental swings with the knife. I found that I could easily parry her tentative strikes. She obviously was trying to avoid falling into a pattern, but most of the attacks consisted of a pair of swings. I waited through four series and then as she completed a backhanded swing jumped forward, once again grabbing at her right arm with my left hand.
I had raised my right arm as I jumped in and was able to bring it down on her left shoulder as I trapped her right forearm with my left hand. She struggled against me as I flipped the knife in the air and caught it in front of her.
Steve laughed. "Done already?"
I looked down at Heather. Her face was stormy and promised me pain the instant I released her arm. "Not with loving my lady," I replied. "But she's taking this a bit too seriously. I think we both need a break."
"No problem," Steve said. "Esme still needs a chance, so I'll try a few rounds with her, while you make up."
Heather pulled her arm free and then rammed the knife against my rib cage. "I can't believe you did that to me!" she screamed.
The blow hurt, but I ignored her actions and turned to hand the knife I was holding to Steve. Then I walked over by the fire. I had been sweating heavily so I pulled my shirt off and used it to wipe the sweat away. Once my torso was dry I tossed the shirt into the washbasin sitting by the fire.
"Why do that?" Lydia asked.
"I remember reading that letting sweat dry on you when the temperature is very low is not healthy. Something about leeching heat from the body."
"But you're going to be cold!" Jennifer complained.
"I might be, but I can do this," I said as I reached out and picked up a bedroll. I spun it over my head and then wrapped it around my body and huddled under it next to the fire.
Heather came over and sat down next to me. "Sorry," she said mournfully.
"You wanted to do well," I responded as I put my hand on her shoulder. "On another day, you might have defeated me. It's not like I know how to do this."
"You defeated me with ease three times," Heather complained.
"I know you," I reminded her. "Somehow I knew where your attacks were going, and all I did was step in close so they would miss. I will say that you might try reversing the blade when you hold the knife. Point the blade down, rather than up."
"There is no way to thrust if you do that," Heather pointed out.
"Humm … . True," I said. I held up the bedroll. "Want to cuddle with me?"
Heather exploded into motion and threw her body against mine. She pulled my arm down so that the bedroll covered both of us. I expected her arms to surround me, but they disappeared under the bedroll. She fumbled around for a few moments. I was about to ask what she was doing when her right arm thrust through the opening in the bedroll. She was holding some cloth that she tossed toward the washbasin. Before I could say anything, her hand disappeared, only to emerge again with another cloth that joined the first by the washbasin.
Her antics complete, Heather leaned against me. I could feel her nipples boring into my skin and turned to look at her. "Heather?"
"Quiet," she said, closing her eyes as she leaned against me. "I'm warm and protected."
I turned back to watch the knife practices resume. Outside, we could hear that the winds had really picked up and were now howling their fury against the roof of the lodge. I understood that we were once again trapped for the duration and concentrated on what was in front of me, watching Steve overpower Esme as they practiced with the knives.
A pattern had been set that would last for the next three days. Kariy would cook, assisted by two or three of the others, who were learning to cook. The rest of the time was devoted to weapons practice and exercise. With the limited space of the room, we never could fully explore the possibilities with the spear, axe, or hammer, but knife fighting became a regular pastime for all of us. In every session, I would eventually end up matched against Heather. She quickly figured out ways to get me off balance and was soon winning as many bouts as I did. Kariy and Victoria were the real champs though. No one could touch Kariy without taking at least four hits to the arms, and Victoria never failed to surprise one of us when she launched one of her rare attacks. Both were surprisingly good on defense, parrying the majority of attacks made against them. Sadly, Esme proved to be very clumsy with a knife and finally gave up on learning it after the second day. Natalie trained even harder, trying to make up for her lover's lack of talent.
The morning of the fourth day since the storm began, we woke to silence. The storm had finally blown itself out. Kariy jumped up and ran over to encourage the coals of the kitchen fire to life so she could prepare a warm breakfast.
Steve and I put on some of the native pants and shirts we had been given in Linktrum. I also found the leather vest the dwarves had given us and put it on before we walked over to the door and pulled it open. A small avalanche brought a pile of snow into the lodge.
"Damn," Steve said. "The doorway is a solid wall of snow."
"We're stuck here for a while then," I said. "I'm not going to try to dig through that."
"They said it would be a big storm," Steve said," We've had at least ten feet of snow. I never imagined so much."
"I remember that the academy is in the northern part of the plains. We probably are one of the first places the winter storms hit," I said.
I was looking past Steve at the snow and noticed that there was a bright red glow above his head. I stepped forward and realized that it was above the snow outside the lodge.
Steve noticed that I was looking past him and turned around. "What?" he asked.
The glow kept increasing. It seemed to burn down through the snow until it was waist high and then it moved towards the doorway. Steve and I stepped back as the snow directly in front of the doorway turned to steam. The instant the doorway was clear, two lights floated into the room. They drifted over by the woodpile. Once they stopped moving, there was a blinding flash and two of the messenger demons were standing in their place. Each one had a large bag over one shoulder. They ignored us, but began pulling cut and spilt logs from their bags and placing them on the woodpile. The bags were definitely larger on the inside because when they finished they had replaced all the wood we had burned in the last two days and started a second row of logs. Nothing was said when they put the bags back on their shoulders and then walked out of the lodge.
Steve closed the door after they had left. "I do not believe that," he hissed.
"What?" I asked.
"Those messenger things. They show up as some weird light, melt the snow so they can get in the door and once they make the delivery, they leave. It's unnatural," Steve said.
"Steve," Lydia said condescendingly, "we've been told that they are demons. Of course they can do things we consider unnatu
ral."
Steve shook his head as the coeds giggled. I could see that Natalie and Esme were both pulling on their boots. I glanced around and noticed that Kariy was also pulling boots on.
"Right," I said. "So I believe the next things we were going to do was make some visits. I have a merchant to talk to, and Lisa wants to see if the local tavern keep was right and the bard he talked about has arrived. Who wants to come?"
There was a chorus of affirmative answers. I nodded and moved to the pile of boots and shoes we kept. I picked up my shoes and took a look at them. Heather giggled. "You need boots."
"Just another thing to deal with," I muttered. I started to slip my feet into the shoes. My right foot was secure in the shoe, and I was tying the laces when there was a knock on the door.
Steve opened it. Four people slipped inside as the door opened. All were covered in thick fur robes. The leader of the quartet pushed the hood of his robe back to reveal the merchant I had visited four days before.
"Merchant Relway," I said. "This is a surprise. We were about to go and visit you."
"I know," he said with a nod. "It would have been the only reason for me to open the front of the store. However, something came up, and I thought you might be interested. In the middle of the storm, my daughter heard a scratching at the door to our home. We opened the door and found ... ."
The other three who had entered with Relway were standing together. One of the trio was standing tall between the other two. The two others were hunched over, the opening in the hoods turned away from the room. They had their arms wrapped around the middle person, who worried an arm free and then pulled her hood off to reveal the young woman who had brought logs to the fire when we visited Relway's shop. She nodded at me and then pulled the hoods off the two people who clung to her.
I do not know what I expected, but Heather gasped. One of the two women had a permanent tan. During our journey across Jord, everyone we met appeared Caucasian with pale skin. The other woman had short black hair cut in a pageboy style. She had several still-healing cuts on the right side of her face.
"No!" the black lady screamed. She had an accent. I could not place it, but it only made it clear that the woman was not from Jord.
"How?" I asked. "You said they were scratching at your door? We went as fast as we could and barely beat the storms."
Relway's daughter nodded. "They were huddled in the fur hoods you see them in. They had wrapped their feet up in fur as well. But they barely tolerate my touch and refuse to allow my father near. When we looked at the one woman, we thought you might know her."
"She's a paralegal," Lisa said. "She worked two floors above me. I think her name is Sharice."
The woman looked up. She seemed to be trying to see Lisa, but after a quick glance at each of us, she shivered and buried her head.
"They've been raped," Lydia said. "I can see the signs."
"What do we do?" I asked.
"They probably need to see or hear something familiar," Lydia said. "But Lisa's voice wasn't enough for Sharice to break free from her terror. I bet they are starving though. They probably just kept running after they escaped."
Heather looked around the room and then shrugged. She moved over to the packs containing the goods we were not currently using. "Natalie, where is the extra clothing?" she asked.
"The pack in the corner," Natalie said. "Why?"
Heather said nothing, but went over to the pack and then burrowed down to the bottom of it. She pulled out something and then walked to one of the side rooms. "Be right back," she said unnecessarily.
I looked at Relway. "They do appear to have arrived on Jord when we did. The one woman probably arrived from the same place as Lisa. The other hasn't spoken so I cannot say."
Relway nodded. "Can you help them?" he asked.
I sighed. "I don't know. The problem is that the way we arrived on Jord, ripped us from our family and friends. These two ladies don't know any of us. We can offer something familiar, but this land is very strange to us."
Relway's daughter nodded. "They were asking for things I've never heard of. The dark one kept asking me to allow her to use my phone. And they both seemed to expect our home to have a shower. I am not even sure what they were talking about."
Steve looked over at Lydia. "Lydia, what do you suggest?"
"Why don't we show them something they might recognize?" Heather asked from the doorway to the room she had entered.
Our blond friend was standing in the doorway wearing the blue bikini she had arrived on Jord with. Hencktor gasped at the sight, causing the other coeds to giggle.
"What is that?" Relway asked.
The two women huddling around his daughter looked up and noticed the bikini. The one with black hair screamed and then ran over to Heather. "Please! Help me!"
Heather caught the woman's charge and held her close. "That's why I'm here," she whispered. "You are with friends. You are safe here. Stay calm."
The woman shivered, but relaxed her grip and started to look around the room. She seemed to have some difficulty seeing in the flickering light of the fire. "You left the clearing as a group?" she asked.
Heather pointed at me. "Ron led us. He was the first to suggest that we leave the clearing. How did you get this far?"
Sharice finally seemed to realize that we were from Earth. "How can I trust you?" she asked. "I trusted that lawyer. Both of us did. But we were raped our first night with him."
"Right after you looted the battlefield then?" I asked.
"How did you know?" the woman asked as she whirled to stare at me.
I looked over at Al. "I don't remember you saying that there had been any sounds of a rape that night. But then again, you did say that it was hard to hear anything."
"You could hear us?" the woman asked again.
"We were there just before the group you were with arrived," Lydia said. "When we heard you coming, we left the road. We followed a trail that led us down the cliff. We spent the night close enough to hear when you arrived at that massacre. I don't remember any shouting though, except for the men saying they wanted to hunt our group down to claim the women in it."
"No one screamed," the dark haired woman said in a near whisper. "Roy told us that no one would hear us."
The woman was shivering in Heather's arms. I looked over at Steve and nodded towards the far corner of the room, near the woodpile. "Let's step away for a moment. Relway, if you could spare us a few moments."
Steve nodded and then reached over to put his hand on Hencktor's shoulder. He whispered something to the big man. Henck tore his eyes away from Heather's body and joined Steve in walking toward the corner. Al paused to pick up the hammer and stepped out of the building, pulling the door closed behind him.
Relway's daughter followed us to the corner. She was looking back over her shoulder at Heather. "What is that whore wearing?" she hissed.
"Heather is no whore," Steve said with a sigh. "It's impossible to explain completely, but where we once lived, that is an outfit worn by young women about to go swimming. Heather obviously thought seeing it might get the two women to relax a little."
Relway nodded. "I thought they'd never leave Beatia's arms. They jump whenever a man comes near. What happened to them?"
"We'll have to ask them later," I said. I watched as Esme walked over to them and gently coaxed the dark haired girl to remove her fur. Natalie had limped over to the cook pot and was preparing two servings of hot stew.
"Meanwhile," Steve said. "I'm guessing that you are the merchant Ron spoke with before the storm."
Relway nodded, pulling his gaze away from Heather. "Yes, and that was part of what I wanted to talk to you about. My children managed to run a couple errands for me before the storm forced us to take shelter. Vincanto and Lewrin, two of the local farmers, are willing to meet with you after the next storm. They said they'd have some questions and suggestions by then."
"What did you tell them?" I asked.
"Mostly that you were a group of travelers seeking help in preparing a new farm, but that you would not be in direct competition with them," Relway said. "I also checked around about a crossbow. There isn't one to be had in the city. I can supply about sixty bolts, but that's all."
"How about a way to transport everything over snow?" I asked.
Relway's daughter raised her hand. "I asked Vincanto. The farmer who tilled the field next to him died two years ago. His widow abandoned the farm to go live with family. He says that there is an old logger's sledge behind the shack they lived in. You'd need to come up with a way to pull it."
"I can look at it," Hencktor said. "Some of the miners back home like to use carts to move stone and ore. I helped them repair the harnesses. I'll need leather strips and some rivets to make it all work. We probably will want extra leather, it's always useful for repairing tools."
Relway smiled. "I can provide both items for you."
"What about farming tools? I know that we'll need shovels and hoes. I expect we'll also want some kind of scythe and a tool to break up heavy soil. And that's before we seek out a plow," I said.
"I can't help with a plow," Relway replied. "Some of the other items would be cheaper if you purchased the metal parts from a blacksmith and then assembled them yourself. I can ask around and find out if any blacksmith has what you need."
"We can't pay you more," I said.
Relway smiled. "I didn't ask you to. This is interesting. Normally I have little to do during the winter months. The wizards might want a few items, but I rarely can get those during the winter, so most of what I do is clean up the store and spend time with my family."
"I'm sure your children appreciate the attention," Steve said.
Relway's daughter giggled. "Only so much," she said. "My father has scared away a few suitors over the past three winters."
"They weren't worthy of you," Relway said with a sniff.
The look Relway received from his daughter made it clear that she wanted to be the judge of her suitors' worthiness. Relway shrugged off the glare and turned back to me. "That's about it for now. I expect you will be busy until the next storm passes."