The Edge Page 21

  They made good time to the Humber, where, once they had crossed by ferry, they felt safe to be back in Arthur's kingdom.

  The next few days were uneventful. They took a different route back. They came to another town, but Bedivere was even more hesitant to enter it than usual, even though it was very quiet. As they rode in they were expecting to be asked to save the town from some monster, but people just smiled and waved. No one stopped them. Bedivere had told them about always being stopped, and apparently this was unusual. Curiosity got the best of Sally, and she stopped to talk to one of the locals, a farmer with a vegetable cart. “Everything okay here, sir?'

  “Yes, Sir,” he did a double take, never having seen a woman in armor before, “I mean, M'lady, everything's fine here, yessiree. No problems, not a thing wrong here, no dragons or ogres, and definitely no brutal tyrants living in yonder castle,” he motioned with a slight movement of his head and a roll of his eyes, “nope, no murderous, vengeful Dukes enslaving and torturing us peasants, and defying the king here. No evil overlord, who's as likely to behead you as to say 'g'morning', no, not here, everything's great, thank you, have a nice day, nice meeting you.” He smiled and waved, and walked away.

  Bedivere said, “Sounds like our services are not needed here, let's move on.”

  Sally said, “Bedivere, these people need our help.”

  “They clearly do not, weren't you listening just now? He specifically said that they did not have any problems here.”

  “Bedivere, don't you think he was a little too specific about the problems they don't have.”

  “It's probably just a local manner of speaking, just making conversation, you know. Let's go find a town that needs help.”

  William said, “This is Bedivere's quest, he decides where we go.”

  “Bedivere would have decided to stay in that last town, if we had let him.”

  “That was a special case, he was under the influence of pheromones.”

  “None the less, we've got to help them.” Sally pleaded.

  “We've got to move on.” Bedivere said.

  “Alright, I'll do it myself.” and she rode toward the castle.

  Bedivere said, “She is truly brave, Sir William, I can understand your love for her. I generally only help those who ask for help, but I guess I'll make an exception here.”

  He and William followed her.

  Sally rode over the drawbridge, and through the portcullis, she was stopped by an armored guard with a pike, “What is your business?”

  “I'm here to see the Duke.”

  “Do you have an invitation?”

  “Why yes, I do, here it is.” With a swift movement, her sword had severed the point of his pike, and had come to rest just under his chin.

  “Oh, of course, I should have been expecting you, come on in.” he stepped aside.

  “Thank you.”

  William and Bedivere caught up with her, and followed her into the castle. She turned and asked the guard, “Where might I find the Duke?” He pointed toward some steps that led up to a large, open door. She proceeded to ride the horse up the steps, over the shouts of protest of several guards who were not quick enough to stop her. She found herself in a great hall of stone, stone floors, stone columns, and a high arched stone roof. At the far end of the hall, surrounded by courtiers, sat the Duke.

  William motioned to Bedivere to stop, and the two of them waited by the door as she rode toward the Duke. As she rode toward him, Sally could see that he had once been a large powerful man, she imagined that he had once stood tall, proud, and handsome, but now he was an obese mass, misshapen by gout, arthritis, sloth, and his own loathing for what he had become.

  The Duke looked up at the woman before him, astride a monster of a horse, and dressed in armor polished to a mirror finish of quality far beyond anything he or anyone else in this world had seen before. In her own world, she had been taller than the average woman, in William's world she would have been of average height, here she was as tall as the average man, and she held a sword that was three-quarters as long as she, and wielded it as if it weighed nothing. If the Duke had not once been a great warrior, he would have been intimidated, as it was, he was only amused, with only a very tiny bit of fear in the far left rear corner of his brain, of which he quickly disposed.

  “Miss, I should have you beheaded for such insolence, but I like your spunk, what can I do for you today?”

  “You can begin treating your subjects your subjects with common decency, and stop killing them at random, so that they don't live in fear, a fear of which, they are even afraid to speak. You can renew your allegiance to Arthur, the rightful king.”

  The Duke thought for a moment, his gnarled hands clasped together with his extended forefingers held to his pursed lips, “Nope, sorry, can't do it, anything else? Something simpler, more realistic, perhaps?”

  “All people, regardless of station, are entitled to be treated with respect. You shall give your subjects that respect.”

  The Duke, with some effort, stood, “My subjects belong to me, that is why they're called subjects, they are subject to my rule and my law, I owe them nothing, for they are nothing, they are as common as dirt, and as worthless, if I kill ten, there will be twenty more born to take their place. They are mine, and they will do as I say, If I tell them to smile, they will smile, and if I tell them to die, they will die!”

  He turned and walked away, saying to his guards, “Kill her, and throw the other two in the dungeon.”

  At this, the courtiers scattered and several dozen guards descended on the three of them, Sally and William, with the strength enhancing battle armor were able to deal with all the guards that approached, and they tried to disable them without inflicting too much permanent injury. At one point a guard tried to hobble William's horse, but when sword hit the robot's legs, the horse did not even move, and the guard's miscalculated blow sent him flying instead.

  Bedivere was able to dispatch half a dozen guards, having no qualms about inflicting injury, but eventually another six guards subdued him, and dragged him away before William or Sally could get through the mass of guards to help him, when, at last, they had incapacitated the last of the guards, Sally said to William, “Get Bedivere, I'm going after the Duke.”

  William ran down the side hall where they had taken Bedivere, he was able to follow their trail by the fresh scrapes his armor had left on the stone as he had been dragged down the hallway. The scrapes veered off into a side passage that led down a narrow, roughly hewn passageway that went down a series of uneven steps. It was not well lit, so William activated the infrared vision in his visor, and was able to follow their path with no problem. The passageway was long, narrow and winding. He encountered no-one, all the guards must have been sent up to fight them. At last, he reached the dungeon, which was somewhat brighter from torchlight, and a tiny bit of sunlight that streamed in though a few tiny windows set high in the wall. Two guards had just finished locking Bedivere in a cell, and turned to face William with their swords drawn. With only two of them, he slid his sword back into its scabbard, and then reached out with both hands, grasping the guards' drawn swords by the blades, and snapping them both like twigs. The stunned guards backed away as he ripped the iron bars of Bedivere's cell from where they had been set in stone, Bedivere was battered, but able to walk. William turned to the guards, easily pushed them both to the floor, “You two will stay here until you are instructed otherwise.”

  “Yes sir, right here.” they said.

  Sally stalked the Duke. He had disappeared through a maze of hidden passages that would have baffled most of his enemies, but offered little challenge to Sally, with her innate ability to see tiny details that most people would never have noticed. This ability, augmented by the suit's sensory enhancement equipment, made the Duke's path as clear as if he had been turning somersaults in newly fallen snow. He was huddled in the corner of a hidden chamber, with two more guards in front of him.

  “Ki
ll her!” The Duke shouted. The guards looked at each other, and then turned to the Duke, one of them spoke, “I'm sorry, sir, do we know you?”

  Then they turned to Sally, “Sorry to intrude, Miss, if it's all right with you, we'll be on our way.”

  Sally allowed them to pass, and the Duke tried to run past them, but was stopped when Sally grabbed his collar, and when she lifted him off the ground, he fainted.

  She met William and Bedivere in the courtyard, where they waited with the horses, she bound the Duke, and threw him over the back of her horse. The duke came to, struggled a little while, and then said, “You know, Miss, I've been thinking about what you were saying about treating people with respect and common decency, you know, you might have something there, maybe we could talk about it, and you could help me institute a new system here, I guess I have been a little harsh and mmph..mmph.” as William gagged him.

  William asked, “What are you going to do with him?”

  “I'll explain on the way. Bedivere, I think it's best if you stay here for now, we should be back tomorrow.”

  One of the townspeople who had gathered around approached, “Excuse me, M'lady, did you say 'Bedivere'?”

  “Yes, he is Sir Bedivere, a Knight of King Arthur's Round Table.”

  The townsman turned to the crowd, “Bedivere has returned to us! All hail Duke Bedivere!”

  “Duke Bedivere?” William asked him.

  A tear came to Bedivere's eye, “This town was my home, my father was the duke, his younger half-brother, Kevin was jealous of him, and when he had the chance, he betrayed my father, and he tried to kill my mother and myself, but my mother fled with me to Camelot, where she had relatives in Arthur's court. I was seven.”

  An older man stepped forward, “He told us that your whole family had been killed by rabid weasels, and he took over, killing anyone who got in his way.”

  “This is Kevin?” asked William.

  “Mmph.” said Kevin.

  “Yes, hardly the man he used to be, but that is him.” Bedivere said.

  Sally said, “He will not bother you again.”

  The crowd cheered, and gathered around Bedivere. Sally told him that they would be back in a few days, and then led William out of town a different way than they had come.

  “So, where are we going?” William asked.

  “Back to Elsie's village.”

  “Elsie's village?”

  “I have a plan,” she held out a small bag in the palm of her hand, “I believe it's valuable coinage, I removed it from his belt, I think we can use it to make a deal.”

  It took them two days to get to Elsie's village, where they used the gold coins in Kevin's pouch to pay the people in the town to keep him in the small jail they had in the middle of the town, then they went in search of Elsie. They found her behind the mill with Mattie and a young woodsman who had been passing by. She ran out to them, adjusting her dress. “Welcome back, I missed you, where's Bedi? Won't you stay? I never got to know you. I love you anyway.”

  They explained the situation, and Sally explained her plan. She asked Elsie if she could visit Kevin every day and touch him through the bars, but she mustn't try to do more.

  “I'm not going to do it through bars.”

  “I don't get it,” William said to Sally.

  “You know how much Elsie's touch arouses anyone, even us. How would you feel if she touched you every day, but you were locked in a cell, and couldn't do it with her or anyone else?”

  “It would be torture; my arm would get really tired.”

  “Did you see how gnarled his hands were from arthritis, I don't even think he could do that.”

  “You're cruel, Sally, what ever happened to treating people with common decency?”

  “Some people waive that right by the way they treat others.”

  They rode back to meet Bedivere who was preparing to complete his quest by returning the Wingnut to Camelot, He would now be traveling with a small entourage, being a duke. Sally and William rode with him until they got near the spot where they had met him, Sally said, “Do you smell that? I believe that there is a dragon nearby, why don't you ride on to Camelot, and William and I will deal with the beast.”

  Bedivere saluted them, and said, “Lady Sally, thou art the bravest lady, no, the bravest knight I have ever known, it has been a pleasure, and thou forever hast my gratitude. Sir William, I have enjoyed our debates, but you're wrong, the Earth is the center of the Universe.” He nodded, and rode away.

  They were both ecstatic to be back in the Winnie, with hot showers and good food, but mostly for the privacy, with the exception of the few days Bedivere had been with Elsie, they had had little time for lovemaking, and now were intent on making up for the lost time for the few days they had left until the next jump.

  One evening, Sally asked, “William, do you like my body?”

  “I love your body, it's beautiful, and I love what you do with it. You've got fantastic muscle tone, you're strong, a good match for me.”

  “You wouldn't like it more if I were softer?”

  “I can't imagine liking it more that way. I like you fit.”

  “What about my breasts? Would you like them more if they were less droopy?'

  “I love you as you are, why are you asking this?”

  “I know you love me, but wouldn't you like it if my breasts were firmer?”

  “I love them the way they are, now tell me why this has suddenly has become important to you.”

  She had already told him most of what had happened with Morgana, but had not told him about bathing with her. He seemed to find it a little disturbing at first, but she reassured him that nothing had happened, but that it made her curious about what kind of body men find attractive.

  He said, “Different men like different things, some like this or that body part bigger or smaller. I like balance, I like fitness, and your body is fit, and perfectly balanced, your chest size perfectly balances your hip size, your thigh size is perfectly complementary to your waist size. Every part of your body is just right when compared with any other part.”

  “So they aren't too droopy?”

  “They're just fine, now can we leave it alone.”

  “I don't want you to leave them alone, that's my point.”

  “I promise I won't”

  “Okay.”

  They both drifted off to sleep, but she found that she couldn't leave it alone, the next day while he was in the lab, getting ready for the next jump, she programmed the Mecha-Med to rebuild her breasts with as little droop as possible with her genetics. It turned out that he didn't like them any better, so she put them almost all the way back, removing just a little droop and they were both happy. She thought that maybe in another twenty or thirty years, he might change his mind.

  Shortly before they made the jump, Bob announced, “You have a visitor.”

  “Who is it?” asked William, thinking it might be Bedivere.

  “It's a dragon, his name is most likely Eldon.”

  They went out front, there was a dragon looking curiously around the outside of the Winnie. William spoke first, “Hello, Dragon, I am William. How can I help you?”

  The dragon peered cautiously at him, “Hello, William, I am Eldon, excuse me, but I thought this was the cave in which my uncle Sid dwelt.”

  “We have only been here a few weeks, and are just preparing to leave, but I have not seen any dragons in this vicinity until now. However, the cave did smell somewhat of hydrogen sulfide, so it may have been occupied shortly before we arrived.”

  Eldon pondered this, “I suppose that it is possible that Sid left for mating season, which is the reason I am out and about, I was in this region, and thought I would stop by for a visit, but you say that you are about to leave?”

  “Yes, within the hour. Then you may have the cave if you wish, perhaps it did belong to your uncle Sid, and he will return soon.”

  “Yes, I will stay here, and if Sid does not return, I sh
all claim it, I will need a nest before I find a mate.”

  Sally asked, “Do you have someone in mind for a mate?”

  Eldon seemed puzzled that humans would take an interest in his personal life, most humans either ran away from dragons, or tried to kill them, “I have no she-dragon in mind, we are a rare species, and it may take me years to find a young female who is receptive.”

  William looked at Sally, “You're thinking of Dierdre?”

  “Why not, I don't think she's ever mated.”

  So they told Eldon about Dierdre, and he thanked them profusely.

  William apologized for having to leave, and they went inside just as Bob made the jump.

  Eldon was startled when by some magic, the box into which the strange, friendly humans had gone, suddenly transformed into a seagull which then fluttered a bit, and flew out of the cave, past him. He was tempted to snatch it out of the air, but they were such nice humans, he let the bird go.

  34.

  The tropical waters were placid and warm as Peter swam circles around Penelope, while she hovered just under the surface, coming up for air only when she had to, pretending to ignore him. Soon, they would tire of the game, swim off together, find something to eat, and go home, and make love. It was a ritual they performed almost every day when the weather was pleasant, which it almost always was here.

  They considered themselves very lucky that they were able to afford to live here. It hadn't always been that way, when they first started dating, they lived in the cold north where they both worked menial jobs, he had been a minor clerk, and she cleaned the homes of the wealthy, where she was paid next to nothing. They had very little except each other, but that was enough for them.

  Then one day, Peter's uncle, a bachelor, died unexpectedly in an accident, and Peter found himself, while not extremely wealthy, very well off, and if they didn't live extravagantly, they would never have to work, and would even be able to raise children in comfort, if they ever had any. Children were not a priority in their lives, they were so enraptured with each other, that it would have been unfair to any child that intruded on their relationship. The swimming in circles was almost like a mating ritual, though they had now been together for nearly five years, and had every expectation of being together for the rest of their lives. After a few dozen circles, he swam over to her, and they both surfaced, and breathed deeply. Penelope smiled, “Peter?”