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ADAPTION
IIII

by: Rick Johnson
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Tucson, Az.
85717
RikJohnson@juno.com

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Table of Contents for Adaption.
Conversion. The arrival of Janice in Russia and the details of her curse. note: hidden until someone wants to read it.
Chapter One. Their leaving the Amazons and travels across Georgia.
Chapter Two. Their entry into the Ottoman Empire at Crimea. note: not finished
Chapter Three. Their travels within The Ottoman Empire.
Chapter Four. Their leaving the Ottoman Empire and visiting Translyvania.
Chapter Five. Their vacation in Bucharest.
Chapter Six. Their visiting Bulgaria.
Chapter Seven. Their visiting Greece. note: not yet written
Chapter Eight. Her visiting Venice. note: not yet written
Retreival. Their travels to Japan to rescue Janice's daughter. note: hidden until someone wants to read it.

Characters in these stories. Here you will find who these people and places are.

We were required to spend three nights at that farm to ensure that the undead would not return. The first night we killed them, then after the Captain left with his army (I never learned his name), we spent the second alone then the third he returned before dusk with three men to provide bait. But all was calm, the stench had vanished and all that was left was a peaceful farm. I spent the days exploring and remembering my own farm in Ireland that had been burned by the Brits and at times like this I became so maudlin and depressed I would ask Hansel and Gretel to service me as a diversion. I grew to enjoy the boy thrusting into me though I enjoyed the attentions of his sister far more and wished she were more aggressive, for though I am master on the field of battle, in the bedroom, I simply prefer to be used.

When the Captain returned, he was nervous and his men were terrified and even he was ashamed that during the battle of the previous nights, his men had shown terror but I remained calm. Then having me, a mere woman, remain alone at the farm (servants and slaves weren’t considered in that society as worth a mention) simply increased my reputation. They learned to ignore my gender and accept me as a person which is what the Koran told them to do but somehow, never happened with all the restrictions placed upon women.

One soldier abused Hansel then immediately fell to the ground as my sheathed katana slammed against his head, “These are MY servants, not your slaves!” I demanded. “They are free born and free men and women and you will treat them thus or I shall slice you into dog-meat and feed the pieces to the pigs!” The man sought to crawl away on his back but I followed, jabbing at him all the time until he peed his pants in fear of me.

Surpassingly enough, my assault upon him caused him and his companions to treat me with even more respect. Later the man even prostrated to me without orders and apologized for his actions. “You are apologizing to the wrong person,” I said and ignored him. He then, later, approached Hansel and gruffly said, “I’m sorry” then turned and left, which was more than anyone expected.

I, Gazelle and Hansel & Gretel slept that night but none of the soldiers did, nor did they leave the house despite threats and orders to patrol outside. I awoke in the night listening to the Captain make the direst threats if that man didn’t gird his non-existent loins and get the hell outside to check the grounds. The man in question shook in his boots but was willing to be flogged rather than take a chance ‘out there’. I ignored this dressing down but said, “Captain, I have to pee so if you will excuse me,” and he stepped aside and watched slack jawed as I walked outside with as much care as if I had been in my own palace. The soldiers crowded the window and door and watched me visit the barn, then a few minutes later return in complete safety. As I lay against Gazelle and returned to sleep, I heard comments, “She is the worlds greatest hero. Are all Celts like her? I can see why the Caliph is terrified of her. I heard she invoked shaitan himself in a pagan circle to service her body and destroy her enemies. How can a woman so beautiful and gentle be so powerful? I’d sell my left nut and all my sons for a chance to even see her tits! Ali, she’d crush your member without using her hands.” The comments got more graphic as they relaxed which was good for if they felt comfortable enough to speak thus about and before me, even thinking I was asleep, it meant that they accepted me as an equal or in their case, a better.

It made me recall a General I once served. We called him ‘Old Irondick’ and said he needed no lance for he charged the enemy with his own prick in hand. We would joke after a battle on how many soldiers he had impailed with his dick and someone had better pull them off and bury the bodies so Irondick could piss. His newer officers would berate us for our disrespect but that was our way of saying, “Sir, lead us to storm heaven or hell and we will follow” and we would.

In the morning we returned to Silistrio where the captain led us not to our inn but to the palace of the local caliph. It wasn’t really a palace but the home of the richest man in the city who had been turned out when the Turks had conquered the city. “His magnificence, Murat the Great, wishes to give you honor by granting you rooms in his own palace,” the Captain explained.

This could go either way. Caligula’s way of showing favor to his men was to rape their wives and daughters as they watched. And Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire forced Dracul’s son Radu into his harem to be his sexual boy-toy. Or he could be genuinely grateful for what we had done. A Christian King would have me burned at the stake as a Witch with a Jew and Moslem burning alongside. A Moslem king tolerated other faiths and even in Moorish Spain, the Sultan had a group of advisors that included Islamic Inmen, Christian Priests and Jewish Rabbis, all of whom were required to live and associate in peace. When Ferdinand took over and the Moors had been driven out of Spain, he allowed Torquemada to burn thousands of Jews in Grenada.

We were taken to the ‘palace’ where I insisted on caring for my own horse despite the presence of my servants. “Captain, my servants may set my belongings in place and do all other things but my horse, upon whose will and health I depend, deserves this respect.” Once I had removed his tack and brushed him down and ensured his feed, I allowed the Captain to lead me to the Caliph. Inside I curtseyed and Gazelle nodded for her people have none of these polite customs that we find so comforting. The man greeted us and offered us the hospitality of his home then called for servants to show us to our quarters where I sought a hot bath which happened to be in the Harem quarters.

The man had a dozen concubines, all vying to be the first to bear him a son and I doubt he had bedded a third of them or remembered any of their names. But they did understand pampering and by his command, they did just that. I love women, I love looking at them and touching them and being touched by them and especially bedding them so having a dozen beautiful concubines and an equal number of beautiful slaves fawn over me was a wonderful experience.

The bath was huge! So big that three slaves entered with me to scrub my body and I found the experience incredibly erotic, and my excitement was apparent as they touched my body. I knew his concubines were off-limits but these… when one washed my breasts, I insisted that she do so gently and they took fascination with my left nipple ring, playing with it which got me really hot. Finally I could take it no more and told one with large breasts and a very nice smile, “Touch that again and you’d better be kissing it!” Which shocked her but another woman said, “My Lady, didn’t that hurt?”

I laughed and slid my hand along her hip as I said, “I was drunk and don’t remember but it hurt like hell for days after and I wish my lover never had it done, though now I find a gentle lick and kiss and later some sucking to be very exciting. Please, try it out,” and I turned so allow her access. To be honest, I would have removed it long ago but I found that many women enjoy playing with it so it seemed a good way to get laid.

She did touch it with her tongue as the other girls watched and giggled. Then she moved closer and took the entire thing, and my nipple in her mouth and sucked a bit, bringing moans to my throat. When she released, too soon, the other girls asked what it was like to which my paramour responded, “Mostly like sucking an earring. But her reaction was fun.”

Now that the ice was broken, they all crowded around and I allowed them to play with me, encouraging some to other areas, “Girls, I have only a limited amount of skin and every inch is begging for your lips.” And so I spent the rest of the afternoon in pleasant release. As mentioned before, I am very noisy at times and with a dozen women competing at once for my body, I attracted a lot of attention from the concubines who shared me, and the wives who thought my antics were disgusting. Yet they seemed to enjoy listening to me climax over and over.

Finally I was spent and pushed them away. I was again washed and dressed and when I left the bath, I wore a beautiful gown with gold and silver threads with pearls in my perfumed hair. I looked good and couldn’t help stopping at every mirror I passed to see. Unfortunately, I remained with the women so long that when I exited, I was summoned to dinner and with Gazelle and the Caliph and a very few court advisors, I sat and nibbled at the meal. Like many Arabic foods, it was overly spiced and designed more for appearance and status than filling a stomach. I prefer plain Irish food. A slab of meat, a few vegetables and something starchy is my preferred meal. Spiced hummingbird tongues and caviar (which is little more than the fish eggs which I use for bait) did nothing to impress me at all.

The Caliph made the obligatory small talk about where I was from, was I married, why not, why did I choose to become a warrior and adventurer, what I thought about Turkish men and so on. I tried to be political with my answers but some I had to be blunt.

Finally he came to the point. No he had no desire to add me to his harem for “I am afraid that you’d geld me despite the army at my disposal. Your reputation, Lady Janice, precedes you and it is thus that interests me, though you look every bit a princess dressed as you are. However, I must admit that foreign sword you insist on carrying distracts from the look. No Lady Janice, I have one more task for you which I wish you would consider. No, please don’t stare like that. I feel as if you were a lion about to eat a rival to his pride. If you wish to leave, neither I nor any of my men would deny you passage through the Empire.”

He was sweating now. I could feel arrows pointed at my back and knew I’d be a pincushion long before I reached him but he didn’t know that.

“Lady Janice, here in this city is the daughter of a Wallachian merchant. How she came to be here matters not, it only matters that we wish her returned safely to her people. Obviously, with the state of war between the Empire and the sons of Dracula, if I sent her home with an armed escort, it would be seen as an invasion. If I sent her home alone and she was injured or died, it would look like we murdered her. But if you, a woman and a noted warrior were to escort her, she would be returned safe in body and virtue.. Why are you choking like that, is there something wrong with your drink?”

“No, My Lord. The drink is fine.” A woman’s virtue safe with me? Only if she were old or ugly. “Your request is reasonable but I must confer with my companion first.”

I looked at Gazelle who said, “It sounds reasonable. Too reasonable. But if you agree, I shall follow.”

“My Lord,” I began, “and what would be our fee for this escort? We have wealth from destroying the fiends at the farmhouse and safe passage through the Empire. I fear any more gold would attract bandits.”

“Then name your price,” he said with a calm voice. He no longer feared my wrath it seemed.

“A boon to be named and granted at a later date, signed by you and to be paid by any in the Empire.”

He laughed at this and finally said, “Such an open payment could be disastrous but I see that you are an honorable woman and so I will gladly write such an order that will be accepted. Now for the rest, this woman is not a usual woman. She is… different from yourself… you are choking again?”

“My lord, I am far from a normal woman. But I see your words. What makes her so special?”

He looked at me and said, “She is a Beast-Master!” then ducked as I stood with goblet ready to throw. I held myself back, but barely. Memories of those kind flooded and I wanted to run from this place and this contract. He retorted quickly, “The deal is made, you agreed, the papers will be ready at sunrise and so shall she, goodbyeIhaveotherpressingbusiness!” and he fairly ran from the room.

I sat and screamed, “WINE! And lots of it!” Then occupied my time smashing crockery against the walls and scattering servants and slaves as I threw anything within reach. Even the guards had run. One slave crawled in, pushing a bottle before her, a bottle I grabbed and chugged as the slave ran for her life. Gazelle sat there calmly and munched her grass until I calmed down. Then she asked, “You dislike these Beast-Masters?”

“Do you have them in your world? People who can control animals with a thought? Sometimes they even control people. If a Beast-Master wishes you ill, they can infest your bed with spiders or snakes or turn every lap-dog in the city into a pack of rabid wolves seeking only your throat. I can see why the Turks want her gone, but why return her when she is safer to them dead.”

“We have none like that in my world. Are you afraid she will control me?”

I glared at her then finished the bottle in a few gulps and threw it against the wall to shatter. Then I turned to her, brushed a lock of hair from my face and said, “No my dearest love, I’m afraid she will control me! I am one of those few people who can be controlled by a Beast-Master as if I were a dog or a bug. It’s humiliating knowing that they call and I sniff at their feet as if I were a slave… and I enjoy it. I run to make them my master. I… do things… for them that humiliate me. And I beg for more. Gazelle, please watch over me and if I act as if I were under her control, kill her instantly. If you think, she will know and stop you so act fast without thought.”

“I will Janice. Now let us make ready for you have drunk much too fast and soon your stomach will revolt.”

I woke up with a headache and remembered NOT vomiting. I also remembered making Gazelle promise.. repress that memory. NEVER think it again. So I had Hansel and Gretel pack the wagon and when I was cleaned and dressed, we approached the gate and waited as I sent a messenger for my new charge.

They brought her out in a leather bag that contained everything but her head and there she was blindfolded, gagged and had wax in her ears and nose. She was also drugged out of her mind. “Might I ask why?” I pointed to her.

The guard who had tossed her into the wagon with her personal bag said, “Because we wish no trouble from her.” Then he handed me a map with a town, Ploiesti, marked in the Transylvanian Mountains. It was about thirty leagues northwest of us, and the road led through Bucharesti then north. Three days travel with an overnight in a big city. Were it not for our traveling ‘guest’ it would be a pleasant ride.

My original plan was to travel west to Giurgevo then cross the Danube and head north but that was some sixty to sixty-five miles away and might require an overnight depending on the roads and weather. This time of the year it rained a lot. And as I was directed to not untie her until we had left the Ottoman Empire, I wanted to get into Wallachia as soon as possible or she’d be tied in that bag for days. So we found a ford and with the help of the Ottoman army at that place, my papers did wonders to create respect and obedience, we crossed and were in Wallachia.

With the constant fighting, the border between the Ottoman Empire and Hungary depended entirely on how well Vlad Dracula fought and so the border tended to shift back and forth between the Danube River and the Transylvanian Mountains. Today it was the Danube.

By the midday stop we were easily eight leagues in and I looked over our guest who was still drugged out. We opened the bag and backed off in horror. She had fouled herself and between the heat and leather, the inside of that bag was disgusting. Gazelle pulled her off and carried her to the stream where we cut the bag off, then the ropes around her arms and feet then as Hansel and Gretel washed her down, I removed the coverings around her head. “My Lady, should we replace her bonds before she wakes up?” Hansel asked.

“No,” I replied after a moments thought. “If we do, then she will see us as enemies and call every beast of the forest down upon us. If she is free and dressed, she will be more willing to talk in peace.” I hoped.

It took some time to scrub the filth from her body for who knows how long she had been in that bag. I spread her legs and checked to find a redness around her vagina but that was likely caused by laying in her own urine and not rape. She looked old. But was that her age or torment at the hands of the Ottomans or the drugs? I couldn’t tell so when she was clean, finally, I emptied her luggage and found some clothing that I had Gretel and Hansel dress her in. From personal experience it is easy to get an unconscious woman naked but almost impossible to dress her afterwards. So I settled for having a light shift placed over her. When she was lucid, she could finish dressing herself. I then ordered Hansel to spoon-feed her water until we could make broth.

After our lunch, we placed her back in the wagon, leaving the bag behind, and continued on. Shortly after we found a castle, obviously one of Dracula’s that he had built to stop the Turks and as the sky was overcast, I chose to stop.

“Hello the castle!” I called in Slovak. Then I repeated it in Russian and Serbian then Latin and Greek. I wanted to avoid Turkish and Arabic for these were the languages that would cause a flight of feathered shafts.

Finally a head in the conical helmets of the Wallachian appeared and replied, “Who are you and what do you here?”

An army could have been pounding the walls before these fools reacted. Without Vlad Dracula to instill discipline, these people would be conquered within a year. “I am Janice Obrien, Lady Innis, a Noble of Ireland. My companions and I seek shelter from the coming storm.”

He ducked away then a moment later reappeared, “Go away! Don’t you know there’s a war on? It’s not safe for women out there.” What a moron.

“Then let us in that we may be safe,” I yelled back. He vanished again, then, “Up the road a bit is a place to sleep. Go there!”

Well, with idiots like this, I was safer on the road. Gazelle said as we passed the castle, “They are undermanned and fear for us to see, they fear we will tell the Turks and they be overrun. So they bluff to hide their weakness.”

A few miles up the road we found a small village. Too small for an inn but these kind often will rent a barn or room for a few coppers. A few more gets you a meal, of sorts, and a silver will toss in the farmer’s daughter. As we entered the village, no more than a dozen huts, people vanished. Most were in the fields but the old and young children and mothers hid from us. I suspect that had Gazelle not been with us they would still hide.

I stopped in the road and called out, “I am Janice Obrien, Lady Innis. I seek room and board for the night and will pay hard cash for what you have.” Eyes peeked and finally someone appeared and approached to fall before my horse to mumble something.

“Please stand, I cannot understand your words if they are spoken to the mud.” He wasn’t certain about that for both Slav and Turk believed that peasants were born in the mud, buried in the mud and were happier living in the mud.

“My Lady, I have room. My wife and children died and I will rent you my house,”

I didn’t ask how they died for it could have been war, disease, starvation or birth-trauma. But if there were no ghosts nearby, I would be happy. So we followed him to a hovel that would be filthy only had there been anything inside to get dirty. He appeared to have burned everything he owned to stay warm and was on the verge of starvation and so was desperate enough to listen to us. “It’s only for one night” I said.

I turned to the man and handed him a handful of coppers which he clutched as if he were suddenly rich. Then I asked, “Can you find clean hay for the floor, wood for the fire, grass for the horses and food for us?” I held another bag full of copper coins, more money than he probably saw in a year and he assured me that he’d get the best he could find. “Start with hay, then Hansel and Gretel will go with you for the food.” Then I left my servants to clean the hovel as best they could while our landlord went off to find hay. Gazelle and I cared for the horses under an overhang that would protect then from the approaching rains when a number of children approached with their elders. All stared but none spoke until one small girl came up and asked. “Lady, are you a soldier?”

Her mother screamed and started to rush forward but was restrained by her fellows who feared revenge. So I knelt and said to her, “No child, I am a warrior. I kill bandits and demons and right wrongs.”

“Is that a real sword? It looks funny.”

“It’s from Nippon, a land so far to the east that if you walked there, you’d be a woman before you saw it. Watch.” I then moved to an open area and picked up a stick. I wrapped a scarf around my eyes to blind me then tossed the stick into the air. As it fell, I drew and cut thrice then sheathed and returned to my horse as I removed my scarf. The children ran forward and each took one of the four pieces I had cut. I then knelt and tied the scarf around the head of the child and said, “The best swords never leave their sheaths. The second best swords dedicate their existence to making peoples lives, all peoples lives better. Now go, your mother is waiting.”

It started to rain then so the villagers ran for shelter and after making certain that the horses would be safe and dry, we ran for the house. “I will be glad when fashion allows a higher hem.” I told Gazelle as I held my dress from the mud.

“If it is such trouble, why wear it?”

“It’s a part of my curse. I have to wear dresses, make-up and be a woman as women are. If I start to wear pants or neglect my cosmetics, the curse gets worse. It’s not too bad considering… I have a body that makes men drool and women jealous. I look younger than I am and… well the sex is great! I never had multiples before.”

“You think too much with your loins.” She said.

“My love, the first six months after I was cursed, that is ALL I thought about. The only thing that saved me was that I was running from the Sarmatians all the time, then met Stars who was willing to satisfy me regularly. She kept me sane with all my hormones going crazy. I probably killed too many people those first months until I learned to settle down. Now I think before I draw and am celibate more often than not.”

“You still miss her.” She said. It was a fact, not a statement. I took a bite of dinner and thought about them. My lover and my daughter… no her daughter for Amazon children belong only to their mothers. But I was there when she was born and there as she grew inside Stars. I felt her kick the first time. I may not have sired her, that was some nameless bandit I killed for her, but we were lovers in more than name. I was there the entire time Stars carried her and … the memory still hurt.

Gazelle held me as I cried. For someone with such thick and armored skin and a mass greater than that of a steer, she was remarkably gentle. “I’m sorry, love, I thought I was over it. It must be that time of the month.”

The girl was awake now and alert. She stared at us so I handed her bag to her and she clutched it and ran behind the blanket we had hung to divide the room. When she returned, she was fully dressed with shoes, short dress and vest, all of which had seen better times. I motioned to Gretel who handed her a plate of dinner, not much and not excellent but it would fill her stomach and stick to her ribs which were showing. The Ottomans hadn’t bothered to feed her overly much.

I knelt before her and said, “I am Janice Obrien. You may call me Lady Janice or Lady Innis or My Lady. What should I call you?”

She looked at me and said between mouthfuls, “Ruth.” Then stuffed herself more. Ruth! I should have seen it. The black hair, the nose and a Hebrew name, she was a Jew. Although the Christians hated Jews, the Mohammadans accepted them as any other religion. Especially as they paid the taxes that the followers of Allah did not.

“Ruth, we are taking you to Ploiesti to your family. We are about eight leagues north of Silistrio and within the borders of Wallachia. If the weather allows, we will be in Bucharesti tomorrow night then Ploiesti the next night. My companion here is Gazelle. We are sisters in arms. My servants are Hansel and Gretel. Be kind and we shall return your kindness. Is there anything you wish to know?”

She held the bowl out and asked, “Can I have more?”

“As much as you wish.” I had no idea if she had been beaten or raped or tortured by the Turks. I did know she had been starved and I knew what that meant so I continued, “But eat slow and chew well, your stomach may not be able to handle too much too fast.

She looked around and focused on a spider in the corner and concentrated. I watched and nothing happened. Maybe her powers were reduced by starvation and drugs. Her concentration was broken when Gretel brought her another plate. As she ate, she stared at Gazelle who ignored her and settled down to sleep. I moved over to her and as I lay against her with my own plate asked, “Love, can you feel anything from her?”

“Nothing. She smells normal too so her powers are not magickal. Maybe she is too weak to do anything.”

“I hope you are right. Life would be easier if she has lost her abilities.”

After we finished eating, I fell asleep against Gazelle, feeling her warmth. I was far older than Gazelle. Hell, I had children older than she and some of my children had children of their own but I felt tiny and loved laying next to her. It made me feel loved in a way my own mother never did. I fell asleep listening to her heartbeat and thinking of my children, the ones I had, the ones I lost and the ones that never were completely mine.

Damn! I woke up and looked like a raccoon again. I thought I had mastered the art of remembering to remove my make-up before bed. So I washed my face, performed my toilet in the chamber-pot and by the time I was decent again, breakfast was ready. So we ate then as the kids loaded the wagon and harnessed the mare, I saddled Rock and then, mounted, I rode to my host and called to him, “Thank you for your hospitality. Here is a little something extra,” and I tossed him a couple small silver coins. I suppose he was now the richest man in the town because of one night’s graciousness.

We rode all day towards Bucharesti, stopping once for lunch and again Ruth ate more than her share. She tried to focus on the horses and any stray bird but nothing happened nor did she talk unless she was asked a direct question. I pushed us faster than I wanted for I needed to be in Bucharesti before dark. Small towns were lax but cities would bar their gates at night.

Unfortunately, we made it just as they were closing the gates. I rushed ahead to have them hold the gates to no avail. It was sunset and the gates were to be closed and no one was to enter or leave. In peace-time things may be different but with the Turks only a days march south, they took no chances. Even my rank meant nothing to the guards, “Were you Prince Vlad himself, we would bar these gate.” He said and backed inside. I think he would for once Dracula gave an order, even he was subject and there were stories of Dracula walking about town in disguise to test his people.

The city walls were high and strong and well guarded and they went on forever. But the road from the city had buildings and some of those were inns for foreigners who weren’t allowed into the city or late-arrivals such as ourselves. So I chose the best of the lot and rented the entire first floor as Gazelle couldn’t navigate the narrow stairs. We settled our horses into the stable, ensured they were groomed and well fed then went into the Inn. Unlike my habit in the Turkish nation, I left our tack in the wagon and took only the important gear and money.

After paying the usual inflated fees for Gazelle and ensuring that the rooms were large enough, we settled in. “Janice?” Gazelle asked. “Why did you leave our tack in the wagon? You always brought it into the room before.”

“Before, we weren’t in Wallachia. Vlad Dracula wanted to give his people freedom from crime. So he had every criminal in prison, plus those accused of being criminals as an example to others. Anyone who was convicted of crime was simply stuck on a stake. Do that often enough and you eliminate the stupid and clumsy criminals from society. Those who survived were very smart, very good or very determined to risk their lives only for vast wealth. Our saddles are not worth anyone’s lives so are safe.”

Ruth looked up and said, “You know much about my country. Too much for a foreigner. Why are you here?”

“Our guest speaks!” I laughed. “We are here for one reason, we are paid by the Turks to return you safely to your home. In return for which, we get safe passage through their empire. And I need that passage to return my servants and Gazelle to their homes.”

“You are not a Turk?” she asked.

“Hardly! I am a Celt from Hibernia. My home lies more than 500 leagues northwest of here. We are at the border of an ocean so vast the Black Sea would be as a bucket of water. And before you ask, I am neither Christian, Mohammadan or Jew.”

“I wondered. Your skin is too fair for even the Slavs and I’ve never seen hair like yours. It’s like red and yellow and white all mixed together. Plus no Boyar or Caliph would be as kind as you are.” She said as she sat there in the corner, holding her knees.

I laughed with her, not at here and explained. “My hair is called ‘strawberry-blonde’ and comes from the Danes who invaded my country centuries ago. And we Irish know well that a Lord who is cruel often finds himself sinking in a bog with rocks tied to his feet. I may be noble but I remember that even peasants are people and ALL people deserve kindness and respect.”

“Yet you are a soldier.” She offered.

“My people are warriors. We fight those who invade our countries and we fight among ourselves. It is a part of us. But some of us remember to fight FOR people and not against them.”

“And yet you serve the Turks.”

“Sometimes we must do what we must do. Gazelle and I were passing through to her home when we were attacked by specters of the dead. Because we survived, the Turks gave us a choice, go back and destroy the fiends or face their might. Alone, I can kill demons easier than armies so I agreed. Then when they showed you to us and asked us to return you home, I agreed. Do you know what they did to you?”

“Yes,” she said quietly, looking down. I didn’t ask for details.

“When they gave you to us, you were bound naked in a leather bag, lying in your own filth, blind, deaf and gagged and they drugged you too. Had I left you there, I think you would have suffered more until your death. So serving the Turks to save you seemed like a good decision.”

“What will you do when I am returned home?”

“Then I will return my servants to their family in Sofia then Gazelle to her family.” I shrugged and continued, “It’s what I do.”

Hansel & Gretel returned with our food and drink and as they served me, I said, “Thank you,” as was my custom and ate. Gazelle happily munched her bread until I suggested, “My love, there is a food called a sandwich that was invented by a nobleman who so loved gambling he refused to leave the table even to eat. Mayhaps he gambled sitting on a chamber-pot too, but his invention was to cut bread into slices and place meat, butter and cheese between the slices that he could eat all in one handful.” She looked at her bread, then took a knife and sliced it in twain, then she placed her wheat and barley between the slices and munched. “Interesting taste” she commented but continued munching.

Ruth ate her meal then asked for more and when Gretel gave her another plate, she thanked her before stuffing herself.

“I feel the need for a walk and a drink. Ruth, would you like to accompany me?” She looked at me and I added, “This is an offer, not an order. Gazelle will spend half the night eating and I feel the need to talk. I’d like to know about your family. The Turks say you are important?”

She wiped her mouth then stood and said as we left the room, “My father is a merchant in Ploiesti. He is wealthy enough to have bought my freedom from the Caliph though I don’t know why. I have little value as marriage material and none seek my hand in marriage.”

“Fathers may be gruff,” I said, “But they do love their daughters. Even if you are little more than chattel, he is still your father.”

“Duty?” she asked. “Probably. Nothing more.”

We walked and talked of little things, I mentioned that I’d buy her a decent dress when the city opened, commented that I needed a bath and when she asked about Hansel & Gretel, I explained. “They were slaves in Silistrio. They served me well in my bath so on impulse I bought them and freed them. Now they are servants, paid for their work. I intend to return them to their family as I said.”

“You are Boyar and treat peasants and lesser beings as if they were people. You consort with …(my look made her hesitate) Gazelle as an equal. You are a woman yet a warrior. And you are kind to me though I know you want to get rid of me as soon as possible. I don’t understand you at all.”

“Some people are noble by birth, some are noble by character. It’s nice when both are in the same person but I prefer nobility of character to be more important than their blood-lines. Hansel and Gretel are peasants and slaves but they were very nice people who work hard to make my life easier. They do so because they love me in their own way. This is nobility of character and makes them better people than a king who uses his people as dirt. Here, I am thirty, let us drink.” And to her shock I opened the door for her. “We must both enter, were you closer, you’d have taken the latch instead of I.”

I found a clean table and I sat then had to invite her to sit next to me. Then I called for the barmaid and stared at her bosom as I told her, “Wine please, the best you have.” She did have a really nice wiggle as she walked to the bar, my eyes following.

Immediately, men approached and asked to sit and I rejected them all. When the maid returned with our drinks, I smiled at her and gave a generous tip which immediately vanished down her bodice. I followed it with my eyes and wished I could do so with my tongue.

Ruth looked at me then asked, “My Lady, your eyes follow the bar maid and ignore the men. Are you one of those…” she didn’t finish so I did, “Yes, I am a woman who finds pleasure in the arms of other women. I find hairy men no different from hairy dogs. Does this bother you?”

She looked into her drink and hesitated before she answered, “It is not my place to judge my betters.”

I touched her hand which caused her to tense and said, “Worry not. Although you are attractive, I do not force my attentions where they are not wanted. Let us be friends and find passion in our own ways, you as you choose and I as do I.”

Eventually, as often happens, some idiot male who thought with his dick refused to take no. Normally I could easily handle this. A smile and a dagger under the table often cooled their ardor but this one was so stupid he didn’t even feel my knife pricking his prick. Finally I demanded, “Begone, peasant. I am Lady Innis, a noble of Hibernia and I wish not your attentions so leave before I have you beaten from this inn!”

The fool placed his hand on mine and insisted on a kiss so I tried to stab his wrist with my drawn knife but he moved too fast and I struck only wood. “I like them wild. It gives a better ride.” He laughed.

I kept my eyes on him as he stood and said, “Ruth, get out fast” and I stood and started to back off myself. Then somehow arms wrapped around me in a bear hug and I was lifted from the ground. I smashed my head back fast and hard and felt my attackers head impact then he shook me as a dog shakes a rat until I was nigh senseless. My first paramour then grabbed a breast and forced a kiss so as I was gagging from his smell and taste, I kicked hard! He backed off, then slapped me hard and I saw stars and tasted blood. Then he took my chin and said to the room, “What a woman-lover needs is a good man to show her that she is still a woman. Then he forced his lips onto mine again. I tried to stab him with my knife and must have done some little damage for he backed off holding his side.

“Bitch!” he snapped and struck me again so hard I dropped my knife. “On the table with her. Look at her pretty blades.” He took my swords from me as I was slammed down on my back, two men holding my kicking legs, another my outstretched arms. “You don’t need these girl, I have sword enough for you. Here.” He then picked up my knife and cut the laces of my bodice and pulled it apart. Then he grabbed my dress and ripped it to my waist. “What’s this? A harness for her breasts? Or something to hide and pad them. They feel real underneath.”

I kicked as he grabbed my breasts and screamed, “Gazelle!” as loud as I could. “Scream on bitch until we shove something better down your throat, something that will split your jaw as I intend to split your legs.

I thrashed and fought to no avail as I kept screaming for Gazelle then he broke my bra apart and yelled, “Hey! Look, she has a ring in her tit!” And he took it and pulled, causing me to scream in pain. Finally he got tired of playing and decided to get down to business. The entire room was watching the game as he undid his pants and said, “Lift her head, I want her to see this!” and someone took my hair and pulled my head up that I could see my rape as he threw my dress up to my waist.

Instead I saw a large olive hand wrap around his head then a twist and he hung there, dead as a rat in the mouth of a cat. Gazelle tossed the body aside then with two blows of her spiked club she sent parts of brains and skull flying and my legs were free. The man holding my arms vanished and I rolled off the table, hiding and clutching my ruined dress to me as she strode around the room, killing.

Finally I saw my sword on the floor and crawled to it over the body of someone whose mother could no longer recognize him. I pulled it to me and taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, drew and stood then saw that most were dead with Gazelle pushing some against the wall and those smart enough to run trying to push through the door which they couldn’t open. I screamed and charged them, not using my katana as it should be but as a cleaver. And then it was over. One man was on the floor and I was hacking him into pieces when Gazelle said quietly and calmly, “I think he is dead.”

Slowly I came to my senses and looked around. We two were the only things living and gore covered the floor, walls, ceiling and even us. I stomped to the bar and saw the keep and maid hiding below and pulled them both up by the hair as I screamed at them, “You did NOTHING to stop them! Neither of you ran for the Watch! How many have suffered because of you!” Then I shoved them back, my desire for the maid gone as I took my katana and prepared to kill them both.

Then fell to their knees crying and begging for mercy and so the mood passed. “Tomorrow,” I said, “I call the magistrate to take your inn and send you to prison.” I then slammed my sword, still dirty I was so angry, and grabbed a couple bottles of wine and stalked to he door. It opened for me and I noticed Hansel and Gretel and Ruth there. She had run for help and Gazelle had saved me again. Then both had barred the door to prevent any from escaping.

Part way down the street Ruth said, “My Lady” and I turned to her and demanded, “What!” than calmed, relaxed and said, “I apologize for that. I’m still angry. What is it please?”

She looked and said, “You are covered with blood and your breasts are exposed.” I looked down and the front of my dress was ripped upon, my vest and bra free and I looked like a woman of ancient Crete except I was covered with so much blood, modesty prevailed. I started to laugh at the sight of my bouncing boobs flinging scarlet drops with every step and so, handing my wine to Hansel and Gretel, I tried to adjust as best I could. It didn’t work so I simply held my dress together as we returned to the stable where I stripped and had the twins douse me and Gazelle with buckets of water as I used the remains of my dress to scrub myself clean.

Ruth returned with my shift and soap which I used to wash my hair and then when clean enough, slid my shift over my body so I could enter the inn in relative modesty.

Once in our room, Gazelle asked, “What were those men doing to you?”

“They were trying to rape me my love. They thought that if enough of them forced themselves on me, I’d give up women and seek their beds.”

“But you enjoy sex. I don’t understand why you fought them?”

“Sex is wonderful when wanted and when the people desire each other. But when forced like that, against the wishes and desires of the person, it becomes an abomination.” I tried to explain but her kind mated only to make babies and then only when the woman was in heat. They had no word or concept for sexual pleasure or rape.

She shook her head and said, “The mysteries of your race are beyond me. It is enough that they sought you harm. And for that they paid.”

I hugged her and kissed her saying, “My dearest love, thank you for being there for me.”

“It is no different from when you rescued me from that cage in Aktau.” She said.

Then I turned to Ruth and, “Thank you for running to fetch Gazelle for me. I am in your debt.” Ands I kissed her hand as if she were noble and I peasant. She stared at her hand forever for no one had ever done that to her. She lived in a Christian country and was a peasant and a Jew so she was accustomed to abuse and insult. She had no way to respond to this.

“I need to put this evening past me or it will affect my life. Ruth, you may wish to sleep with Gazelle for I may embarrass you by my deeds. Gretel, will you and Hansel please pleasure me tonight but be gentle and slow for I have had enough with rough sex for now.” I said to them all.

Ruth was shocked at this casualness. “I thought you liked women and after this night, you still…?”

I laughed at this. “Ruth. I enjoy sex. I prefer women and Gretel services me adequately but I am seeking to learn to enjoy men too and Hansel helps there.” Then I smiled at her, “You are welcome to watch if you wish?” hoping that if she did, she’d join in.

She turned red at the thought and ran to Gazelle’s room where, I imagine, she slept with a pillow over her head to drown out my cries.

I awoke tired, but with my frustrations gone and sent Hansel and Gretel out to fetch breakfast. Once we finished eating and cleaned up, we headed to the city gate where I filed a complaint against the tavern of my previous encounter. At first the guards didn’t believe me, then they couldn’t understand why a Noble would simply file a complaint when she could easily have the place burned to the ground. The fact of a gang-rape being wrong never entered their head, it was only an assault upon a Boyar that they took seriously. So I asked for a good inn to stay, told them they could find me there and we entered the city. Bucharesti was a very large city of thousands. It had successfully held off the Turks and when it fell, it was able to hold off even Dracula. Now it as Wallachian again and so life went on.

We located the inn, stabled the horses and wagon, put our belongings in our rooms and went shopping. I was wearing the gown given to me by Murat simply because I had nothing else to wear but the gown did make me look important and people treated me well.

At one dress-shop, I bought more traveling clothes for me and Ruth and another set for Hansel and Gretel simply because I felt like it. Things in the big city were expensive and the stench was terrible. With the city walls containing growth, buildings went up, most were two or three stories with a business on the ground and living spaces above. Thus, with the high walls and narrow streets, chamber pots were simply tossed into the street despite laws to prevent such actions. Legally, you left your chamber pots on the curb and a daily wagon would come by and empty them into barrels which were then taken outside the city and dumped. I didn’t want to think of the sanitation problems here or there but most people who owned only one pot would wait until they needed to shit or pee and dump their pot in the street and return them inside. A few would even toss the contents from their window, not caring if the sewage struck anyone. This is why men walked on the inside, to protect their lady from such splashing. In cities with adequate sewage or outhouses, men walked on the outside to protect their ladies from wagons splashing mud. Thus does custom follow technology.

We spent a pleasant afternoon sight-seeing and shopping for now that I owned a wagon, I could carry more. I wasn’t thinking of what I would do when I sold the wagon and returned to a single horse.

Bucharesti was one of the great cities of Eastern Europe, only Budapest and Constantinople being greater and so it was a prize for every invader in the continent. Their churches were huge but the Gothic Architecture hadn’t reached this far east yet so they didn’t have the massive open areas inside you found in Italy, Germany or France. And you could buy anything you wanted from silk from Italy, silver from Hungary, cotton from Turkey, amber from Russia and even slaves from any country you wished to name.

We had an excellent lunch at a fine restaurant and I noted that Ruth was putting on weight and looking younger with every pound. One disconcerting incident happened when a horse began to buck in the street. Ruth looked at it and it immediately calmed down. Her powers were returning to her. Gazelle and I pretended to ignore the act.

When we returned to the inn, we found a messenger who asked us to visit the Watch house where we were interviewed by a police official. He as very polite and when done, he informed us that when the tavern was searched, they found the bodies as described (he shuddered at this and backed away from us a bit) but the owner and the maid were missing. He believed that they had fled to avoid prosecution so lacking conflicting testimony, he was ruling in my favor and no charges would be pressed against me. I thanked him for his work and when we left, mentioned to Gazelle, “This is why I hate police. They let us do their dirty work then seek to arrest us pretending justice because they know we will surrender but arresting criminals is dangerous.”

I took a nice bath after dinner and had another foot-rub by Hansel who was getting much better at that and even Ruth bathed, which I gather was a new experience for her as Jews bathed only on holy days and not to get clean or relax. Once Gretel started to wash her hair, she melted and ignored Hansel’s stares as he rubbed her feet. Most Jews were very careful about being naked around anyone, including their husbands so this was a big step for her.

During the bath I had a chance to look over her body and saw that like most people, she never shaved. Thus her armpits and legs were covered in hair which was dark to match her head. She had very lush pubic hair and her breasts were small and sagged because of lack of support. I also saw some old scars that indicated torture or injury but declined to ask feeling that her experiences were probably the kind she wished to forget.

We were enjoying a glass of wine when she commented, “Lady Janice, I note, and please forgive me, that you have no hair on your body save where your womanhood lies. Do all your people pluck or shave it off and why?”

I settled into the water and called for more heat and said, “My people do shave our armpits and legs regularly as a form of beauty. Some even shave their pubes though usually girl-lovers such as myself shave between our legs to encourage female exploration. Some shave the rest of their pubes because they feel it looks attractive or they are trying to look like a young child seeking men who have that taste or because fashion dislikes hair peeking past their clothing. I find that shaving my womanly areas to be uncomfortable when the hair re-grows and I dislike hairy legs and arm-pits as they remind me of men who are hairy and never bathe. Do you find my appearance unattractive?”

She assured me otherwise, “No Lady Janice, it is simply strange to see. I’ve never really been naked with another person, willingly that is, and to lay here, relaxing in the presence of women and a boy requires me to rethink my upbringing. But then, I could easily get used to these baths and massages as you call them.”

I almost reached over to caress her arm but feared rejection so sipped more wine. Perhaps when we both were drunker. Someone once told me that most women were curious about being with another woman but if so, I wish I could find them.

“You are not married, I understand,” I started in my clumsy way. “Is there anyone who you find desirable?”

“There was a boy I liked,” she began. “But when I changed, he began to avoid me as did everyone else. I am not as I seem.”

“None of us are,” I mentioned, remembering how Stars reacted when I told her about myself. Tears took it well but then, Tears and I hadn’t been lovers for years so she didn’t feel betrayed and lied to as did Stars with whom I had still been living and loving.

“And now, I am no longer fit for marriage.” She almost cried at that.

I offered, “Too many men place too high a price on virginity. From what I hear, most virgins have no idea of what to do or how to please anyone, male or female. It took me a number of lovers to learn how to please a woman. Perhaps this is why so many married men visit whorehouses. It is there they can find a woman who will do more than just lay there counting ceiling cracks.”

“But they do. And a daughter who is not, has little chance of a desirable marriage.” She said.

I stood, letting the water run from my body and let Gretel towel me dry. “I could say that if a person loved you, the state of your virginity wouldn’t matter but frankly, I’d be lying. I am far from virginal and yet I have no lack of suitors, though to be honest, I don’t know of any who think of me as anything other than an evening’s drab. Fortunately, I am not ready or willing to marry anyone, man or woman. Though I do enjoy the pleasures from a randy woman.”

In the morning, as was our habit, we awoke early and broke our nightly fast, then attended our toilet, dressed and saddled my horse and rig, then we simply left the big city for the road north. Every league or so we passed a small hamlet or village and by evening reached our destination. But as we entered the town, people stared in anger and fear.

Ruth offered, “It is me they fear. I don’t believe we will find a room here tonight.”

“What of your family?”

“They live a few leagues north of here. In the foothills. We should hurry for no one sleeps in the open here.” She was obviously scared. Wolves wouldn’t worry her at all and if there were wolves, they would protect her from bandits so what terrified her thus?

We passed through the town and continued north for another couple hours as she had us rush and she started at every bat and owl that flew overhead until we reached a large house on a hill with bars on the windows and heavy doors. She pounded on the door screaming, “Let us in, it’s Ruth! I’ve come home. Open up!” until someone opened a spy-window in the door and recognized her.

“Ruth is that really you? Or are you a ghost come to torment us? Let me fetch your father,” and the opening closed with a slam. Ruth turned to me and said, “Lady, please ready your swords though I fear that if you need them, they will be useless.”

What an odd thing to say. But then the spy-hole opened again and an older man called to her, “Is that you or some specter come to destroy us? Ruth was taken by the Turks and must be dead by now.”

“Father, it’s me, your daughter. The Turks released me and I have been returned by these wonderful people. Let us in please before it is too late.”

“I cannot until I know you are really my daughter and not some specter wearing her body.” He then started to talk to her in Hebrew, which she repeated easily. It sounded like a prayer though I don’t speak the language. Finally the door opened and he stood back as she entered and hugged her father. I noticed that he didn’t invite her in at all but expected her to take that step.

She pointed to us and said, “Father, despite their strange appearance, these are my companions and protectors. Please allow them to stay the night under your protection.”

The man said to us, “I am Abraham and you may place your horses in yonder barn but be certain to lock it well.” And he then turned and shut the door in our faces. We entered the stable and readied our horses for the night and stored the tack in the wagon. Then when we were certain that all was well, we took our personal gear and food and returned to the house where after banging on the door for too long a time, we heard Ruth arguing with her father who finally opened the door. Ruth stared at us as if we were beasts then said, “Hurry inside.” And the door was locked and barred behind us.

A servant showed Gazelle and myself to our rooms and Hansel and Gretel to the servants quarters then as we settled in, I pondered, “I wonder what is happening here? They don’t act like they are afraid of bandits or Turks. It’s like they are terrified of ghosts.”

Gazelle added, “When we returned to the house, Ruth tried to listen to my mind. She has tried to control me before but ceased when I ignored her. Now she tried again.”

“Then we should question her upon the morrow before we leave.” I suggested as I changed into my shift. “Keep your weapon handy.”

Nothing happened to disturb our sleep and in the morning the twins knocked on our doors to awaken us for breakfast. I called them in and asked, “Did you learn anything from the house servants?”

“Yes My Lady, Much! Vampires haunt the night killing all they find and Ruth is cursed by their god. This is why she left. She is part beast and they come to her and serve her as if she were a demon herself. The people in the village would not accept her so she left. Her father heard she had been captured by the Turks and ransomed her back but now he fears he acted in haste and should have left her there.”

“Tell me more about the vampires,” I asked as I laced my vest and adjusted my breasts.

“They have always been here in small numbers but lately with the death of Prince Dracula, their numbers have increased and now they are masters of the night. There is a reward for anyone who can destroy the fiends. So I told the servants about how you destroyed the specters near Silistria when the might of the Ottomans could not. They were very impressed.”

I looked at them and said, “I don’t think that was a good idea. The Caliph forced us back to that farmhouse when he heard how we prevailed. If these have the same fear, we may be pressured here too. We should skip breakfast and leave while we can.”

Unfortunately, this wasn’t to be for we were summoned to eat with the family and although uncomfortable with Gazelle, I saw that they avoided Ruth even more. She never looked up and I could see that she regretted being returned to her family who rather than loving her, feared her abilities. I’ve never had a meal with Jews before so it was an experience to eat from two sets of crockery for the Jewish people kept their meats and vegetables separate and wouldn’t consider that both would settle in the same stomach. Fortunately, these were not Orthodox but were showing off as if they dared me to comment. I was far more tolerant of their faith than they expected simply because the Christians had burned my people with as much joy as they did the Jews. And their own King David had destroyed all the Temples to The Goddess when he decreed only one god, so I had lived with as much repression as did they.

When the meal was over, I explained that with the return of his daughter my service was done and now we would leave for the south. Abraham agreed. I never heard him use his family name though the Wallachians often took their father’s name for their family as did so many other peoples. The Wallachians added an ‘a’ to the end of their father’s name such as Dracula, son of Dracul just as my people added an ‘o’ before their father’s name such as Obrien, son of Brian. So it was possible that Ruth was Ruth Abrahama or Ruth Ploiesta for I had no idea of how Wallachian Jews named their children.

We were taking our gear to the stable when Ruth approached. “Lady Janice, I beg you to remain a few days. My father is too proud to ask but I am not. Our land is plagued by vampires and we need a hero such as yourself to rid us of this plague. If you agree, he will pay well and I know you spent much of your money bringing me here and caring for me. Please let me take you to my father.”

“Ruth, dear child, I was under the belief that neither your father nor your countrymen wished you around. So why do you care so?”

She looked at her feet and said, “He is still my father.”

I looked at Gazelle who gave me that shrug and so said, “Lead me to him and I will listen but promise nothing more.”

She took me to his office where he was talking to a couple men so I politely ignored the conversation until they were finished and we were alone. Then Ruth said, “Father, Lady Janice here is a great hero. She defeated the demonic ghosts that haunted a farm near Silistrio, defeated evil magicians at Shukaria, killed a Sarmatian Khan and his retinue and I, myself, saw her kill a dozen of the men who would have raped her after she was willing to sacrifice herself to save me, your daughter. She is a hero of such renown that even the Turks fear and respect her. I believe that she can rid us of these monsters if you would but speak to her.”

He looked at her and I saw that look of disappointment in his eyes that said ‘you are not what I wanted you to be’. I saw that same look in my own father’s eyes as I grew into a person not of his choosing. If he saw me today, he’d be horrified so I knew what he was thinking. He bade her leave and then bowed to me and said, “My pardon Lady Janice for my lack of manners. All that I have done is falling about me in ruins. My daughter became something that made people fear her and with her capture and… abuse by the Turks, I will be hard pressed to find her a decent husband. Now my land and property is plagued by these vampires and none can stop them. The Prince and local generals are so busy fighting the Turks they can spare no men to help us so we must hire mercenaries ourselves to defend us and all have been killed. Yet, Ruth thinks that you, a mere woman can do what bands of men cannot.”

“Your daughter has been blessed by the gods in ways that you cannot know or understand. The gods work in ways beyond our ken and perhaps she has been chosen by them. Rather than fear her, perhaps you should seek to understand her gifts and use them to your advantage. When I was cursed by that Sarmatian god, I fought and argued and pitied myself for what he had done to me for I felt my life was ruined. Finally I stopped feeling sorry for myself and decided to learn to use my curse to my advantage. True, sometimes it isn’t pleasant as when those men at Bucharesti beat me and sought to gang-rape me but life isn’t always wonderful. So I deal with my inadequacies and focus on my strengths.” I said to him.

“With Ruth, she is a good girl with talents that are valuable were you to know them. With me, I may look a young girl but I am far more. Ruth has asked me to help. And help I shall only because that is what I do. I do it not in the hopes that gods will look upon me with favor and remove my curse or blessing for in recent months I have come to accept what they have made of me. Nor do I do it for wealth though I do expect to be paid for risking my life for you. Nor do I do it for fame. I do what I do simply because it is the right thing to do.”

“Abraham,” I said, my voice softening. “My father wanted something of me other than what I became. That disappointment in his eyes separated us as a canyon and to this day we have not spoken. I have children I miss terribly and it is only my fear and false pride that keeps me away from them. If you cannot accept Ruth as she is, her gifts and her abuses, then daily will grow that canyon between you.”

He was a proud man, this Abraham. He and his people had left Palestine seeking a home and he had fought for every shekel and kopeck he had earned. I hoped he would listen and soften his heart towards his daughter. But he did nothing so I turned to leave.

“Wait! Please Lady Janice, I need your help. I’ve heard Rabbis who spoke less eloquently and I will try. But for now, Please help rid me of these monsters and I will pay you well.”

“Fetch me a map of the area, men who know about them and Ruth. Call me when you are ready but make it soon.” I commanded, again a noble.

“Ruth, why her? She is only a child.”

“A child no longer but a woman. And a woman with talents that I find valuable.” I commanded. Then I left.

Ruth was standing outside and followed me saying, “I listened at the door and heard what you said. Thank you for that.”

I hugged her and this time she didn’t tense. But then I hugged her as a sister and friend and not as a potential lover. In our rooms I told Gazelle, “I’m sorry my love, but I believe that we must seek out and destroy these vampires before they destroy all and spread. I think Ruth can help us there and should accompany us in our search.”

“I agree,” she said. “But what are vampires and how do we destroy them?”

Ruth interrupted then, “Me? You want me to help? How?” I saw fear and pride in her eyes. Fear that we’d know about her and reject her, pride that we considered her to be valuable in ways other than as a bride to make alliances between families.

I held her hands and looked into her eyes, “Ruth, I know you are a Beast-master. You can control the animals of the fields. This is why the Turks wanted you gone, this is why the villagers fear you. But it’s not a curse, but a blessing. No, don’t look away from me but see your gift as a gift. Were your father to raise horses, you could calm a herd and direct it to the pastures without whips. You can send wolves away before they harmed your sheep. You can bring hawks to chase crows from your crops. You should only look at your gift as a blessing and the world will open for you. If you do these things, your family will become wealthy and men will seek your hand and YOU can choose who you wish, not your father.

“Now, in this case, these vampires come out only at night so we can seek them during the day in safety. But they hide somewhere and you can send the birds and wolves and squirrels to seek for us, to help us. Rather than search every inch ourselves, we use your gift to search for us and we examine those places your animals find. And, you can control wolves to escort and protect us.”

She brightened at that. She could be valuable. All her life she had been raised to be a virgin bride to marry who her father chose and with her rape at the hands of the Turks, that was no longer an option so now I was giving her a life.

Later, around lunch was when Abraham called us together with his ‘experts’. None were happy with either Ruth or Gazelle present and none believed that a woman could deal with the problem but once they started to talk, they didn’t stop.

“They started appearing when the Turks overran the land. Some say they came from unburied bodies who were denied proper burial and prayers, others say they were summoned by Vlad Dracula to serve him during his damnation. At first they were few and easily avoided, but now they add to their numbers and they attack not only livestock and wanderers alone at night but also they attack houses that are not barred.”

“There are many types of vampire here…” The Wallachians called them Strigoi or Moroii.

“Strigoi vii are Witches who will become vampires after they die and can send their soul to meet with others of their kind…” I didn’t tell them that I was a Witch.

“Strigoi Mort are bodies which leave the grave to feast on the blood of livestock, relatives or neighbors…” I wondered about vampire cows that had no upper front teeth, did they starve?

“The Vircolac is a wolf that can devour the moon…” Then how did the moon return? Was it vomited, shit or farted?

“A person born with a caul or teeth or a tail can become a vampire…” So any defect of birth would condemn a baby to a life of horror and abuse? My own people believed that about changelings. It’s just an excuse to beat a child.

“The Christians say that if you die unbaptised or without their last rites, you will become a vampire but this is to force we Jews and the Mohammadans to convert…”

“Vampires leave their graves through small holes they make as they exit……” This was useful.

“You can only destroy a vampire by driving an ash or oak stake through it’s body or by removing it’s head….” I suppose that I could kill any living person in this room the same way.

“Most vampires feed upon their relatives who sicken over the days until they perish and then become vampires themselves….”

“Vampires can take the form of a person and live as a live person….”

“Pricolici are…”

“Zmeu take the form of a man or woman to marry and life a pretend life…”

“Moroii serve the Strigoi…”

“ENOUGH!” I cried. “You fill me mind with so many fables and legends and myths and stories that I am near bursting with the words. If these creatures are as common as you say, I wonder how the human race survives! Forget all that you believe you know and tell me only facts that are true and know about this infestation!”

I continued thus, “First these monsters suck the blood and eat the flesh of livestock and relatives and neighbors. Therefore, they must be related to you, Abraham. Who has died at the beginning and may be one of them?

“Second, they appear to be solid beings and not spirits. So they cannot enter a barred house but they can an unlocked home. Therefore they are physical and so can be killed.”

“Third, they add to their numbers. Have I missed anything of importance?”

They all looked sheepishly and agreed that as far as hard facts go I had summed it up well.

“Then, here is the map I asked to be made. Mark on this map the locations of every known attack and the date of that attack. Both facts are important so be accurate. Call me when you are done, for now I need a hot bath and a foot rub.” And I stalked from the room to leave these wise men to their discussions.

Ruth came to talk as I bathed, no longer shocked at my nudity or the presence of Hansel. “They mean well but they are scared. You are a warrior and a hero so don’t understand what it’s like to live in terror like this. Please be gentle with them.”

“Ruth, when Gazelle and I leave to search, I need you with us. You can protect us from bears and wolves and you can send them to help us search. Without you I may not succeed, with you we prevail.”

“Lady Janice, may I speak in private?” I nodded to the twins who left, and as soon as the door closed she began to cry. I held her, water from my bath soaking her dress, until she calmed and said, “The Turks didn’t rape me. They were afraid to. I was… I… That boy I told you about, Petre Marinescu. I loved him and he loved me, or so I thought. One night I… I gave myself to him hoping he would marry me. But when he was done and I asked, he just laughed and said he couldn’t marry a Jew! I was so hurt and angry I made his horse trample him to death. Then I became scared that they would burn me for what I did so I ran. I ran for days, hiding and stealing what food I could until I was captured by the Turks. I turned their own horses against them until they struck me and when they imprisoned me, I called rats from the dungeon to attack my jailers and told them that if they killed me I’d turn into a demon and destroy them all. So they fed me something that made me sleepy and I remember nothing else until I came to under your protection.”

So that’s why they were afraid to kill her. Beast-masters were rare but dangerous and no one knew how far their powers extended. Murat must have contacted her father and negotiated her return hoping he’d be safer with her here. I was just in the wrong place in the wrong time.

She cried some more than asked, “Am I such a horrible person?”

Damn! I tried to remember how to be a parent. I must have done ok because most of my children turned out decent but I was noted for saying exactly the wrong thing. “Child, we all do stupid things. Gazelle says that I think more with my loins than with my mind and perhaps she is right because I gave away my own children for the woman I loved. But she didn’t love me as I loved her for she cheated on me often with men and women. We will always do stupid things for that is a mark of being human. We cannot change the past but we can learn from it and not repeat those mistakes. Killing Petre was wrong and using your gift to kill him was worse but what is done is done. Pay his family for the loss of their son and next time, take a deep breath, count to ten, then count again before you act.”

I kissed her on her forehead, which wasn’t easy as we were both the same size and continued, “No my dear, you are not a bad person, you are simply a confused girl who never had a chance to grow up properly.”

She hugged me then and said, “I love you Lady Janice,” then ran from the room before I could respond.

When dinner was announced, we had a mixed group. Most were Jews as were my hosts but there were Orthodox Catholics present also so each took turns praying over the meal. Not to be outdone, I made an offering to my own gods and this brought glares from all save Ruth but they needed me far more than I wanted them and so they did and said nothing.

“Gentlemen, have you finished the map as I asked?”

Abraham spoke for all, “Yes, Lady Janice. We had to send riders for some of the information but it is as accurate as we can make it. You may examine it after we sup.”

“Excellent. Master Abraham, We will begin our search in the morning. Will you please arrange for food and drink to accompany us? And Ruth, can you ride a horse or must you remain in the wagon?”

She looked at her father and said, quietly, “I can ride My Lady.”

“Good, please be ready in the morning and we three, you, Gazelle and myself will search. My servants will remain here for the time being. We may need them later but for now, the fewer I must protect, the safer we will all be.”

When we looked over the map, I saw a pattern that made little sense. I took a pen and drew circles around the attacks and found, “Look here, the first attacks happened around this ruined castle. Then they stopped and moved to this farm and the town. Then they moved to this farm then back to the castle and so on. It is as if the fiends are packing up and moving in mass. Yet, I see your house, Abraham and this farm here are immune. Why is that?”

Abraham explained that this map shows only the attacks. “These monsters visit my home nightly but we lock our doors at night so none are harmed, but still they come. This farm here is that of Pyoter Marinescu whose son was killed in a riding accident the day Ruth was stolen away. They are soldiers and so protect their lands well. The monsters did not move, it is simply that those who survived learned to bar their doors to prevent further attacks but still they come.” I squeezed Ruth’s hand, she was safe here.

“And at what times did the attacks take place?” I asked.

“These in town late, past midnight. Those at these farms early, before midnight.”

“This implies that the creatures traveled far each night, killing those nearby early and the farther they walk, the later they kill. Who are these who died at the castle?” I asked.

“Soldiers and adventurers who we hired to destroy the fields. They believed that the castle was the center of the attacks and paid for their beliefs.”

“Then in the morning, when it is safe, there is where we will start our search.” I directed. Then as we left the room, I asked Ruth to accompany me to my room.

“Ruth, We will watch tonight for visitors to this house. Do they climb or are they bound to the earth?” I asked.

“They pound on the doors and windows but only on the ground floor. Never have we seen them climb but then, I have been gone since the first attacks and so know little else.”

“Then we find a way to watch from above.” I said. “Ruth, can you bring owls and bats and other creatures of the night to watch and let us know when they arrive?”

“Mayhaps. I’ve never tried.” She replied without conviction.

“We will also need rope. Light weight but strong enough to lift a man.” And so I explained my plan and we prepared for the night.

When the creatures appeared and began to pound on the door, I tied a rope about myself at a second floor window that I opened. The other end was tied to a strong beam and I leaned out and began to call the monsters that prowled the grounds. “I see four only. This should be simple. Hand me my bow.”

With my Sarmatian bow in hand I waited for one to come beneath and then I fired at full draw. The arrow passed completely through the monster at this range and then I fired two more through the other fiends. The fourth remained too far away. Then the twins pulled me back inside and Gazelle pulled the rope that I had tied to my arrows. As she pulled the ropes, they pulled through the fiends until the arrow lodged against their back. When that happened Gazelle pulled them up the wall and into the room one at a time. Once inside, she held it while Ruth and I bound the monster with iron chains then we cast it aside and pulled the other two in. Now we had three prisoners, dead yet not dead.

We then dragged them into the cellar where they were tossed into a cage for our pleasure. They stank of the dead but that was to be expected. Abraham was terrified but a glance from Gazelle caused him to back away.

“Ruth?” I asked.

“I can usually feel living things but it is as if there were nothing there. Not even maggots or fleas.”

“Next step, let us question them.” But they didn’t understand or were so far dead their minds were missing. “I wonder if the one that stood apart could still think? Perhaps these are in thrall to a master? It is clear that an arrow through their bodies slows them naught.

Gazelle struck one with her club and the blow tossed it against the wall, broken. Yet it struggled to stand, broken as it was. “This bears merit. You cannot kill what is already dead but neither can they stand upon broken bones. Try the ax please.” I asked.

Gazelle picked up a Turkish berdiche, the eight foot handle of which we had cut down to make a hand weapon for her, and she swung to remove the head of the one she had smashed. It flopped then died, exuding a stench that made us all run for fresh air. When we returned with clothes over our faces, dipped in scented water, the dead was truly dead. “Now we know how to kill them. One final test. Bring the other two please.” And I led them to the front door.

Once there, we checked to ensure the door was clear, then I walked outside with katana slung through my belt and waited. The twins and Ruth begged me to reconsider and return inside where it was safe but I needed to see this. I looked around and seeing that I was alone, I nodded and Gazelle released the two Strigoi and shoved them outside towards me. They looked at me then the house and attacked me as the closest. I then drew and cut and there were two headless corpses before the house.

“Lady, behind you!” Ruth yelled and before her owls could arrive to help, I turned and cut the fourth in twain. The side with the head kept moving though it had only part of a chest and one arm. The other side, mostly body and legs and one arm did not move. Another cut and the head rolled free and all ceased to move.

“Ruth, are we alone?” I asked.

She concentrated as the owls and bats flew about then said, “Yes, My Lady. There are no others nearby.”

“Good! Let us return to examine what we have learned.” And I entered the house which was again locked and barred. Abraham and his servants stood they, mouths agape at my foolishness or courage but then a glimmer of hope built up.

Abraham came to me, bowed and asked, “My Lady Janice, never have I seen such courage and skill. This night I have hope for the first time in years. Please, Let me serve you wine with my own hands.”

There were no more visitations that night.

When I finally said, “Enough, any more and I will not be responsible for my actions,” and staggered to my bedchamber, Gretel helped me undress exclaiming on my courage. Then I climbed into bed and dismissed her for I was too drunk to enjoy her body. Moments later, the door opened and Ruth entered, wearing her shift. She knelt by my bed and asked, “Lady Janice, may I sleep with you tonight?”

I moved over and lifted the covers and as she slid next to me, said, “Thank you. I see in you the mother I lost so long ago.” Which caused my hand to stop, then change direction to her waist. Damn! I kissed her on the cheek and said, “Sleep tight child. You are safe with me.” And soon she was sleeping as if she were my own daughter at my breast. If she slept well, I suffered but eventually fell asleep myself.

In the morning we awoke and dressed and broke our fast then mounted our horses that had been saddled for us. The bodies had been removed and burned and we three headed northeast, Ruth and I on horses, Gazelle trotting alongside carrying her new ax.

Once we were past her father’s fields, she asked us to stop and removed her dress and replaced it with shirt and pants. Her dress she rolled up and stuffed into her saddlebags. Then she remounted and smiled at me, “I thought if I must be my own woman, I should dress as I choose.”

As we continued on, my gelding began to get nervous but Ruth calmed him with a glance. Then I saw the wolves padding along on either side. “Yours?” I asked. She smiled and nodded.

The castle was little more tahn a single ruined tower and fallen wall. It had apparently been built centuries ago then abandoned as indefensible once the Turks breached it’s walls. With no pressing military value here, no pass to defend, no large city to guard, it was simply allowed to return to nature and in a few more centuries, naught would remain but rubble and trees.

“The wolves smell death,” Ruth said.

“Where?”

The animals began to track around the ruins then after some time, they entered and stopped immediately. “Inside. They are afraid and refuse to go further.”

“Please ask them to remain outside and warn us if any approach. Also, please don’t let them eat our horses,” I directed and dismounted. I led Rock, my gelding to a tree within the walls and tied him to a branch with a lot of grass within reach and Ruth followed with my mare. “First, we search the walls and gatehouses. Then inside, slowly and carefully. We watch each other’s back.” I then attached a light boar-spearhead to a shaft and handed it to Ruth. “If they come, plant the end and step on it thus! Aim for their chest and as they stick on the end, use the pole to keep them away from you until we can kill it. Take no chances child! WE are the fighters here, not you.”

The walls were in ruins and as all castle walls, a shell of rock filled with rubble, watered and tamped to make it as solid as possible. Once the outer shell was breached, it was easy for the Turks to dig through the solid dirt to the inner shell, then break the inner shell and enter the keep. Then once abandoned, the rains would wash the filler away and the shell would collapse. With these walls, there would be no secret passages or chambers to weaken the structure. Only a fool would do that and Dracula was no fool.

We made an easy circuit of the inside knowing the wolves were following outside then there was nothing left but the gatehouses and the keep itself. The right gate was in ruins and nothing but rubble. We poked around a bit and Ruth sent a martin to search but there was nothing at all. It’s left companion was still in place, but the floors were gone, the support beams burned away and the second floor collapsing into the ground. Again, no rooms or lower levels here so we stood before the keep itself. This is where the first known death took place, this is where they killed early in the evening or just before sunrise so this must be their resting place. As to who many there were? I could not tell other than they were four less than before.

We entered with weapons drawn and Ruth said that there was nothing alive here. The keep was simple. A large round tower of three floors and a flat fighting roof. Off the main room were numerous rooms for weapons and supplies and sleeping areas for guards. The above rooms would be for the master of the castle. Horses would be outside but their stables had long ago vanished.

We started at the main door and examined each room as we passed. When we reached the stairs, we passed them by and continued. Everything was moldy and rotten but there had been no looters. We saw evidence of people sleeping here, doubtless in the hope of security during the night as they passed and maybe some lived. But with the first floor searched and nothing found, we climbed to the second, and third and roof to find nothing at all.

I sat in the sun and looked over the walls. From here the view was astounding. I could see Ploiesti in the distance and some of the farms where the trees had been cleared. “I wonder if the castle warden would come up here to gaze over his domain and wonder at the beauty of it all?” I looked up to the sun high in the sky and said, “Lunch?”

As Ruth prepared our meal of bread, cheese and dried meat and wine, I loosened my vest then pulled my dress off my shoulders and down as far as I could. Then I tied my hair high on my head and pulled my hem to my waist. When Ruth stared at me I said, “I like the sun on my skin. Were we not here on duty, I’d be naked.”

After we ate, I adjusted my clothing and led the way to the ground. “If they are here and they are not in the keep, then they must be under the keep. Let us search for an entrance to the dungeon. They would keep food and prisoners there where it is cool.”

On the floor, I found a heavy pole and started to pound the inner walls and floor. The outer walls would be solid stone so any passage would be on the inner support walls. But despite my pounding, it all sounded solid. “Maybe a secret room within a room. Let us measure each in turn.” So I would enter a room, pace off the dimensions and mark a map before reaching the next. We sat in the main room where the throne would be and where there was the most light and looked over my map. “Notice that when we used the center of this room as a reference point and paced to the outer wall, we find the inside to be the same as the outside with the walls of an even four feet thickness. This sounds normal for the lower wall must be thick and solid to support the entire keep. Each floor would have thinner walls with the top floor being only a foot thick.

“The inner walls are also thick and solid and are three feet thick for support. Pounding indicated that they too are solid.

“Now we know that these doors are in the correct position and when we pace off each room we find that both inner and outer walls are correct. But note here! Between these two rooms is a wall that is more than two spans thick when all others are only a couple feet. Why a fourteen foot thick wall between rooms? If we allow a normal two feet for the walls, there is still ten feet unaccounted for. HERE is where the secret passage is. Now we must find the door.”

We searched and couldn’t find anything until Ruth left and returned with a handful of mice. These she lay in both rooms and waited as they searched back and forth. Finally she said, “There!” and pointed. I looked closer and found a hairline crack that I hadn’t noticed before. “Fresh Mortar,” I said. “Newer than the original as if someone had removed a door and put a wall in place. There should be a door.” But all we found were a few small holes that I could slide my finger into and not find the end.

“Gazelle, would you please break this wall?”

Gazelle stepped back and took a stone that weighed as much as I did and threw it at the wall. Cracks appeared in the mortar. Another throw and a stone pushed back. A third and fourth until a stone vanished on the other side. I ran forward and looked inside but saw only darkness. “Torches, oil and lanterns,” I called to Ruth. “Continue!” I said to Gazelle who proceeded to demolish the remainder of the wall. By the time Ruth returned, the opening as back to the original size and we all could enter.

“How long until sunset?” I asked. Ruth looked outside and said, “Perhaps four hours. We will need three to reach my fathers house and safety.”

“Time enough to see what’s below. Ruth, you should remain here where it is safe.” I suggested.

“Please my Lady,” she begged. “Allow me to accompany you. I have gone this far.”

“Very well, but remain behind and if I say run, you get your pretty ass up those stairs, onto your horse and home even if you must kill the horse doing it! Understand!”

She nodded then we lit torches and crossed into the darkness. The stairs went down then away from the main keep. That made sense, you wanted the walls on solid ground. I figured we were under the practice area and the air-holes had been blocked from above. The air was dense and still and stale. When we reached the dungeon, it was divided into a half dozen rooms, all barred and locked. Everything was rusted so Gazelle simply pulled them from their frame and we looked inside. We examined all six rooms and in each were bodies. None stank but all bore signs of wounds and claws.

“There are fifteen bodies here. Twenty-eight killed are certain and we killed four so nine are buried elsewhere. Does anyone see any more exit holes like we saw in the wall? Search carefully.” We did and found nothing so I directed that oil be poured over each, then we tossed torches into the room and ran. In the fetid air, they burned slow but burn they did and we ran from the keep choking and gagging but alive.

After we recovered, we mounted and returned to Abraham’s house, stopping long enough for Ruth to change back into her dress. As she did, I asked her to send the wolves around to search for the other nine or more graves.

We returned as the sun set and Ruth ran to her father and described what we did. “Fifteen father. We killed fifteen of the fiends and I helped. With the four Lady Janice killed last night, almost all are gone. Tomorrow we search for the rest. Aren’t you proud of us?”

He even hugged her in joy and as we supped, he ordered the best of his food and wine to be served. They celebrated all night though I begged off to get sleep. Ruth interrupted me just before I climaxed and, embarrassed, I pulled my shift down. I don’t think she knew what I was doing but she asked again to sleep with me and I was miserable, frustrated, laying next to girl I could not touch. In the morning I was somewhat cranky.

We made the rounds of the farms and town seeking the graves of those who had been killed to find that half had been buried in such a way that they could not return. These people did know what to do with vampires. We examined the graves and found no exit holes so that meant that we needed to search for only four more. Even the wolves couldn’t find the rest so we were getting nowhere.

By then it was getting dark so we visited Ploiesti and demanded a room. The inn-keep refused and demanded we leave until I pulled him forward by the throat, Goddess I was cranky, and I said very clearly and very slowly, “I am LADY Janice, Baroness Innis and I have over the past two days killed nineteen of the Strigoi who have terrorized your land. If I am willing to risk my life for your miserable ones, you had damn well better give us a room, a GOOD room, and do it FAST!” I let him go than added, “And show some respect for we who are saving your lives for while you cower inside, WE are out there facing and destroying these fields to keep your families safe.”

He bowed over and over, terrified and gave us the best rooms in the inn and the best food he could find. I figured a bath would be pushing it so cleaned off as best I could with cloth and water then removed my vest and bra to breathe a bit. “I wish the twins were here for I could use a decent foot rub and loving tonight.” Ruth didn’t understand the hint for she was seeing me more and more as her mother, which placed me outside any possibility of physical pleasure. Damn! Once this was over I was going to exhaust my servants.

An hour after sunset we heard the pounding at the door and the cries of terror from within. I ran to the common room, belting myself but bouncing as I hadn’t time to dress in bra or vest. “What’s happening?” I demanded.

They stared then I realized that my inner dress was almost transparent with the water I had spilled and they could see my nipples. “Damn it! Stare or look away if you must but tell me!” I ordered.

“Lady, some of the Strigoi have returned. They are demanding that we send you out or they will destroy the inn. If you are the hero you claim, then you must save us.”

I ran to the window and saw six of them in the street. All were armed and all definitely dead or rather, undead. “They can speak?” I asked.

“Yes My Lady. I recognize two as soldiers who died but days ago as they sought to stop these monsters.”

“Ruth,” I called but she was here with my katana. I slid it and my wakazashi through my belt, hiked my hem up to my calves and said, “Well, let’s not stand on ceremony, open the fucking door!”

I wanted to kiss Ruth before I left but didn’t. So as the door opened, I walked out and demanded, “So, here I am! I who killed nineteen of your kind. Tonight I add another six to my belt. How many more are there of you I must kill?”

One stepped forward as the rest surrounded me, “We are all that survives. But when we turn you, we will be invincible. Surrender and your death will be quick.”

“I’m a bit cranky right now. It’s that time of the month and my back hurts and I feel bloated and I haven’t been laid in days. So why not stop bragging and come forward so I can kill you fast and then find a nice girl with big breasts and a limber tongue.”

They came and they were good. Professional soldiers who had survived many battles because of their skills with a sword and being dead didn’t seem to slow them much. I kept moving and lopped off an arm or two, removed one head and then a leg and ran for the wall where they couldn’t surround me. Four facing, all fighting on the defensive until one could find an opening, one dead and the last crawling forward on the stump of a leg.

Then Gazelle and Ruth came around from behind. Stupid girl! When I told her to help Gazelle find a back door so she could flank the monsters, I expected her to remain inside. Gazelle walked past the crippled vampire and removed it’s head as she passed. Then she swung and killed another. Ruth stabbed one in the back with her spear and held on as it tried to free itself and I simply killed the remaining two.

Then I nodded to Gazelle who disarmed the remaining fiend and took the spear from Ruth, then I handed her a fallen sword. “If you are foolish enough to be here, you may as well have the honor.”

She looked at the sword, took it and screaming, swung. It took her three tries to sever the head and kill the monster but when she was done, the townspeople cheered her.

I cleaned my katana as Gazelle cleaned her ax and we returned to the inn and sat down asking for drink. We three were plied with beer and wine and anything else we wanted. “I don’t suppose you have a hot woman or two on hand?” I asked and they laughed at my joke. Damn.

Later when we dressed for sleep, I asked Ruth, “Dear, I’m a bit frustrated so can you give me just five minutes alone?” She didn’t understand but left to do whatever she did. I don’t know and didn’t care but when she returned to crawl into bed with me, I was flushed and relaxed and spooned her half the night.

We returned to her father’s house the next morning and spent the day relaxing and collecting our gear and supplies and the promised fee for our work. The local merchants had previously collected funds from the locals to pay anyone who solved their problem and as we did, they paid us.

I spent another frustrating night with Ruth in my bed. Funny how I originally thought she was old but the lines and gray hairs were the result of stress, starvation and drugs so now, fattened a bit and relaxed and happy, she looked the twenty years she was. The gray would never leave but the wrinkles did. But she thought of me as her mother and I didn’t have the heart to bed her.

We left with a wagon full of supplies and a paper of credit to any merchant-banker in Europe. Denied most businesses, the Jews were forced to become excellent bankers and borrowed from the Chinese the idea of bank-drafts where I could turn my gold and silver to a banker in return for a document listing the amount. Then I could visit any other banker who would honor that document. So long as I managed to keep it out of the rain or fire, we were well-off.

We were halfway to Ploiesti and on our way to Sofjia when a running horse caught up with us. It was Ruth in her man’s clothing. “Lady Janice, I want to go with you.”

“Why? My life isn’t easy and my road hard.”

“Because, Lady, I need you. Father will settle into his ways and he is already talking about marrying me off to some old man who cares not for my maidenhead. If I must settle down, I want to choose my own husband and you can teach me that. Please let me attend.” She was begging. I hate girls who beg.

“Ruth, I am not the one to teach you womanly arts. I barely know them myself. And as for husband material, I prefer women and haven’t had much luck there either so you may be better off with your rich old man and give him children by the stable boy.”

She moved in closer and took my hand to her lips. “Please. I can learn. And I will be whatever you wish, I can be your servant or your partner or your daughter or even…” she turned red with embarrassment, “your lover.”

Gazelle said to me, “Let her come Janice. She will follow anyway and with her here you can protect her.”

I sighed, “Very well, but as to our personal relations, let’s let that sort itself out as it will.”

---

Table of Contents for Adaption.
Conversion. The arrival of Janice in Russia and the details of her curse. note: hidden until someone wants to read it.
Chapter One. Their leaving the Amazons and travels across Georgia.
Chapter Two. Their entry into the Ottoman Empire at Crimea. note: not finished
Chapter Three. Their travels within The Ottoman Empire.
Chapter Four. Their leaving the Ottoman Empire and visiting Translyvania.
Chapter Five. Their vacation in Bucharest.
Chapter Six. Their visiting Bulgaria.
Chapter Seven. Their visiting Greece. note: not yet written
Chapter Eight. Her visiting Venice. note: not yet written
Retreival. Their travels to Japan to rescue Janice's daughter. note: hidden until someone wants to read it.

Characters in these stories. Here you will find who these people and places are.

To contact me or to request topics to be covered, send to RikJohnson@juno.com
by: Rick Johnson
PO Box 40451
Tucson, Az.
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