Chapter 15

When I finally awoke, it was sometime after noon. I could smell food cooking and the tent was uncomfortably warm. I pushed the blanket off me to inspect my side and noticed my pants were gone. Missing clothing is always odd to wake up to.

The wound was completely sealed now and it had obviously been carefully cleaned with the water I’d requested since all the crusted blood was gone. There was still a lot of tenderness in the area, but I could move pretty freely.

I saw a pitcher of water sitting beside the bed and decided to give myself a sponge bath, given that it had been a couple of days and I was feeling a bit ripe. So I was still sitting naked and cross legged in the middle of the tent when Cayden entered. He looked very happy to see me awake. Or very happy to see me naked. Or both.

“You’re looking much better than you did a few hours ago.”

“I’m a fast healer.”

“So I’ve seen. You frightened the doctor. He thought for sure your wound was fatal given how much blood you’d lost, yet by the time he brought in the water you requested, it had already stopped bleeding. I think we’re back to the men believing you’re a witch.”

He sat down beside me. He had a look on his face as if there was something else he wanted to say, but didn’t know how.

“Did O’Greer fill you in on what we found?”

“Some of it. He mentioned some kind of box that was guarding the estate. He tried to explain, but I had no idea what he meant. He said the box allowed San Martin to see us?”

“I don’t know how to explain it to you. It’s called video and it lets a person see things that are going on far from where they are.”

“Like a seer.”

“Um, yeah. Ok. Sort of. Except it’s a machine, like a catapult, or a water pump, just more complicated. But it’s just a machine. No magic. This wizard guy, Goldberg? He’s just really good with machines. They brought some back with them from my time. What I can’t figure out, though, is why here and why now. And how they did it? The equipment used to come back in time is carefully guarded. I don’t see how they could have – Hey, my eyes are up here.”

Cayden adjusted his view with a smirk. “I apologize. You were saying?”

I couldn’t resist. I lay down and lounged, just a wee bit provocatively. If me being a bit of a tramp hasn’t become obvious by now…

“Well, anyway, the boxes allow San Martin to monitor your movements. When you approach for an attack, he can see you coming before you even get close the castle grounds.” I still had the rag in my hand I’d been using for the sponge bath. I became quite intent on cleaning my boobies. Cayden became intent on my doing that as well.

“So, you…ah…have a way for us…do you have a way for us to…avoid these boxes?”

I suddenly noticed how dirty my stomach was. It needed a good scrubbing as well.

“It would be too hard to have this entire army of men avoid the boxes. So, I’ll stop the boxes from seeing us. But I have to go back out tonight. I’ll just need a couple of guys and I can -

Suddenly, his eyes focused hard and sharp on mine with that. “No.”

“No? No what?”

“No. You’ll tell O’Greer what to do and he’ll take a couple of men to execute your plan. You’re not leaving the camp like this.”

“Like what?”

“In your weakened condition.”

Weak, huh? Wanna know how to get me riled up? There you go. Quicker than Cayden could react, I reached out with one hand and grabbed the knife out of the sheath on his belt and with the other pushed him backwards till he was lying on his back, his own knife now at his throat.

“You wish you were as weak as me, bub.”

Without even blinking, he punched me in the side. Not hard, mind you. I’m sure he didn’t even use half his strength but he was teaching me a lesson and he was determined I would learn it. A little humility goes a long way.

My breath had been knocked out of me from the pain, so he had no trouble taking the knife away and rolling me over so he lay on top.

“I’m sorry. Are you alright?” He didn’t look all that sorry.

“Fine.” I rasped. “How soon can I meet with O’Greer?”

He smiled and kissed me. Then he picked up the rag I’d been using for the sponge bath, poured some clean water on it, and finished the job.

Did you know sex releases all sorts of endorphins which make you happy, help you heal, and which in general are very good for the body? Especially long, slow, exceptionally satisfying sex.

That’s why I have sex so much. Really. It is. It’s for my health. And the health of those around me.

As dusk descended, O’Greer and two beefy sidekicks were set to conduct a little sabotage. The fun thing was that with all the sophisticated technology that San Martin and Goldberg had smuggled back here, all it was going to take was a small blade and a flask of water to take away their advantage. I explained to the guys with a few drawings how to pry the back off the cameras and douse the inner workings with water, making sure that they fizzled appropriately and stopped humming.

Since O’Greer had been with me when we scouted the perimeter, we knew where at least a few of the cameras were. They could create a large enough gap in the boundary to let the boys make their way on to the grounds. Once they got closer to the castle, of course, the sentries would spot them, but at least they wouldn’t see them coming from miles away.

Cayden wished them well and they started off. They probably hadn’t gone more than 500 yards when we heard shouts coming up from the other end of the camp. San Martin’s men were attacking. I felt incredibly stupid at that moment. O’Greer and I had led the bad guys right to the camp.

Total chaos took hold. Everyone was running for their weapons. Arrows were flying from unseen archers in the woods. Men falling left and right. Cayden grabbed my hand and headed for the center of camp where several dozen men were preparing for a stand off. One of them gave him a huge sword and shield. I looked around desperately for something to use as well but all swords were currently in use.

There must have been a hundred invaders. Cayden didn’t have anywhere near that number. This wasn’t going to go well. As bad as I felt about it, I grabbed the sword of one of our guys who had gone down and started out into the fray. That’s when I heard “There she is!” from amongst the evil rank and file. I recognized that accent. Sure enough, Goldberg was hiding behind a bunch of burly muscle, pointing frantically at me, chip detector in his hand. Maybe I hadn’t led him here after all. He could theoretically have used the detector. I took small comfort in that.

Operating purely on instinct, I grabbed a decent size knife out of the sheath of a guy standing near me and tossed it, full force at Goldberg. It hit home, embedded beautifully in his scrawny little chest. I would have enjoyed the way his cocky expression faded into disbelief as he stared at the protruding handle, except for the fact that a group of maybe seven or eight bad guys were now taking pains to completely surround me.

I held my own for maybe a minute, possibly two, when I felt the blade slice through me from behind. Funny how it doesn’t hurt at first. Just cold and disturbingly breezy. I caught Cayden’s eye right then, as I felt the cold spread through my body. He started toward me, a look of horror on his face. I tried to warn him, but there was no air left in my lungs. The big guy behind him swung hard and fast and the mace smashed into Cayden’s head. He went down hard. And then I died.