Camelot II

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King Jake of Camelot was originally just a lonely NASA pilot from Earth who brought forth the Bronze Goddess Linda, and the entire universe changed forever. He died in a skiing accident at the age of 98 the first time.

He died in bed of a heart attack at 93 the second time.

He has an Army of deadly warrior women and he calls them wives.

Guilty! Hang Him

I remember the floor drop, the rope choking. I remember peeing my pants. Since I died why do I still remember? Am I now a ghost?

I do not remember the where, nor do I remember all the whom, I do not even remember the what. I do remember the why. I was hanged; Peter had me hanged for a crime he did. He really did not want to admit blame so I became the guilty one. He said they would not believe me. He was right. Yet I do not know who Peter is.

I was bouncing around; the smell of smoke was in the air as I became aware I had my eyes closed. Could I open them? Did I dare? Slowly I cracked my eyelids. There was light. I cracked them a bit more. I saw blue sky and tree branches going by overhead. I saw a face—a boy"s face I think—just a second of it.

Hey Lil, his eyes opened, a boy"s voice said.

I opened them a little wider. I was in a box, my arms were crossed on my chest. I couldn"t move them.

I saw a different person, a girl, maybe twenty or twenty-one with dark eyes and hair, a slender face, petite nose and thin lips, a strong and very pretty face.

"Listen, you are dead. Stay dead! We have two more checkpoints. Say nothing, do nothing, move nothing, or we all will be dead. Close those baby blues and be dead again, please? We risk our lives," and her hand gently slid over my face as I closed my eyes.

I will guess about five minutes went by. I heard some guy holler, Stop!

The boy hollered, Whoa. The bouncing stopped.

What ya got today, Lilly? the guy asked.

Two dead, one hanged by Peter, and one died either of old age or plague; they are not sure. Coffins are open if ya want to check them, she said.

Peter has been doing a lot of that. Ever notice they never seem to recover any of the stuff taken or anything? Oh, never mind, not our worries, is it? Na, go ahead through, he said. Ol Mike on three gonna be mad. He gonna be mad cause you aint got no dead female he can play with. He snorted.

Shit, hes mad even when I do! She laughed. Sees ya, Jerry.

Gyup," the boy said, and we started to move again.

About three minutes later she whispered, Hey, dead guy, one to go. Stay dead!

About ten minutes farther on, while I occasionally took a peek at the sky and her back, she turned and looked at me then slid the wood cover over. A little later we stopped again. Hey Uncle Mike! Hows it hangin? She gave a little laugh. Got one of Peters hanged ones and a female, but shes about ninety, may have been got by the plague. Want her for a while? I swear she has a wonderful laugh.

An ugly sounding voice, raspy and deep, said, Lilly, you piss me off, gonna be you I playing with!

She came right back with, They say Peter got a youngin coming up sometime this week for hanging. Unless her parents claim her, Ill drop her by for you. Remember, you promised, when I die you dont play with me though, okay?"

I remember. His voice was a lot closer.

I felt the wagon tilt, I think he was climbing up the rear. I hear my cover move. Strange, a guy with gold hair. Then another cover, Damn, shes even too ugly for me! Plague you say?" I almost choked from the putrid smell.

They werent sure, said maybe the plague. Want her?" she asked.

Na, I git dibs on the youngin though, okay?" he asked, as I felt him step down.

You got it, big guy, the girl called Lilly said.

Gyup," the boy said. I felt us moving again.

About five minutes later I heard her laugh. Well, dead guy, you can git up now. We are clear from here on.

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was in a wooden coffin in the back of a wooden four-wheel wagon.

I slowly moved my arms—they were dead blocks of meat, no feeling at all. I flopped one by my face and it was cold. Finally I felt tingling in them, then shooting pain like thawing out after being numb from cold.

How come you are different? Lilly asked.

D…dd… Sputter, cough, hack. I tried but nothing intelligent came out.

She took a little skin bag and squirted something down my throat. It burned like hell as I swallowed it.

Different how? I croaked.

You was one of Peters pigeons. You was hanged, I watched. You aint dead, she said. You got golden hair. Nobody got golden hair. She came into view. I saw the trial. You do not even talk like us—youre different, why?"

I was finally able to move a little so I sat up and slid my legs and butt back a bit in the box. They were still numb, as in unresponsive clumps.

If you saw the trial you know he said I was a spy from someplace across the water and I stole some gold or something. You didnt believe your ruler?" I asked.

Hell, nobody believes him. Not even he believes him, said the boy, and snickered.

I turned to look at her. She sat on the wagon seat. Slender build with small hands. She had well formed, but not overly large breasts, long dark hair, and as with my first impression, pleasing to look at. What was stunning was the slight blue ring around her dark pupils.

Where are we going? I asked. I wasn"t familiar with any of this area.

Graveyard, its where all dead people go," the boy said.

Your son? I asked her.

I thought she was going to bust a gut as she hit his arm, and he said, Oww.

Funny, hes my younger brother. He drives me to and from the city to get the bodies. I am not married and am not that old. She just sort of frowned. Do I really look that old?"

No you dont, but since I have been here I noticed all the women seem to be such beautiful creatures it is almost impossible to figure out how old they are, I said, trying to be apologetic. I saw some in town either were a lot older than they looked or had children at a really young age, but I wasn"t permitted to become familiar. I was arrested the same day I arrived.

They said you walked into town naked. What did you think would happen? She didnt wait for an answer. Might have been some of Peters women. He goes around the country, sees one he likes, he takes her. Married or not, and does to her whatever he wants. None can protest. Many of the people who do, die, or are tried for crimes he may have done, or he made up. Like you, they were hanged…but they stay dead, she said. She thought a minute and said, He almost took me when I was younger, but lucky for me and unlucky for her, a younger girl came by and he took her instead. Now I am almost nineteen so I am way too old.

Um, look, I got a problem, I almost died and I ummm… I was searching for the best way to say it.

You pissed your pants? I know, I put you in the box. Most do if the rope doesnt break your neck properly, she said. Turning to the boy, Billy, pull to the lake up ahead to water the horse."

He just looked at her and nodded.

Might I have a sip of that bag? My throat is very dry, I asked.

She handed it to me and I took a small swig. It burned like pure hell.

Strong medical alcohol from grapes. We use it mostly on cuts and such, as well as sore throats. Want water? I nodded and received a different bag, which I drank from thankfully.

Why are you alive? I checked, you got a good pecker, I could have gotten a Gold Coin from a rich widow I know if you was dead and got Angle Lust and became all big and stiff! But youre not big and stiff, thats how I figured out youre not really dead, she said. They said you was dead and haul you away so I did, but I knew you werent.

I dont know why. I thought I was dead. Last thing I remember, I was hanging and I felt myself peeing," I told her.

Bad day. Mike doesnt want the lady. Widow wont take you alive. Only two dead, so only get two Gold Coins for the whole day. I told Billy maybe we just make you really dead, then maybe, but no, I want to see why you live. She smiled. Legally you are dead, you are my property to do with what I want—papers say so. City just gives me one Gold Coin each to haul off and bury. Youre not a spy from beyond the oceans?"

No, not a spy, I dont think." My mind was totally blank as to who I was or where I was from.

Billy moved off the road and over a little hill. We were at a small lake. He pulled up close so the horse could water.

Lilly got down and came to the step at the back. Legs still dead? she asked.

I tried to move them and nodded. She kind of sighed and climbed up, grabbed me by the arms and pulled me up a bit then flopped me over her shoulder and literally carried me down the steps and off around the lake behind some reeds and trees. She set me on the dirt. Breathing hard, she said, You are healthier than you look. She grinned and I noticed my staining had soaked into her dress. She saw it too, but said nothing about it. I guess gravediggers had seen far worse.

Oh well, lets get you presentable." She rolled me onto my stomach and pulled off my old cheap boots, grabbed my pants legs and yanked. They came off. I guess they were already undone. I noticed I had no underwear either.

She tossed the pants into the water near the shore. Flipped me over and started undoing my shirt. I managed to help her get a few buttons undone but my hands were still tingling. She added it to the pants and I sat naked.

She stripped her dress and threw it by the pants too. She had no bra, just some rough underwear on. She bent and picked me up. I had to put a hand around her shoulder as she pulled me into the water. About my waist I noticed it was cold. She backed us up and set me in the water and splashed water on me as she rubbed me down asking what was still numb and what wasnt. She washed herself off and went to the clothes and was rubbing them together and slapping them on a large flat rock. She finished all that and the bushes around us became her clothes lines.

She pulled me up on the shore and asked me where I could feel. I indicated about my crotch.

She was massaging my legs and feet and I found I slowly got excited. She saw it and smiled and slapped the hell out of it!

Ouch! Damn that hurt!

Good, means the feeling is coming back, she said, and continued down the legs to the feet.

I finally felt tingling in my feet and legs and told her so. She stopped and plopped me back on the grass and lay beside me, staring me in the eyes. Where are you from and what is your name besides dead guy?

As I told Peter, I dont know where I am from, but I think my name is Ian. I do know I am from far away. I see falling then nothing. I rubbed the back and side of my head, Almost gone now, but I had a bump on the back right side of my head when they found me. Big one, about here."

She ran her hand over the area and nodded. Ian? What kind of name is that? She looked at my head.

I am not sure, but I think it means the same as John.

Well, Ian, there is still a little bump. Oh, I am called Lilly, but my real name is Lillian. Lillian Townsend, and you met my brother Billy who is William.

You and your parents live around here? I asked.

She laughed, almost viciously. My parents were killed trying to stand up to Peter when he took my younger sister to his city. They killed two of his guards while Billy and I ran away.

She get away? I asked.

My sister? No, they burned her body a few weeks later, after she killed herself. She was crying now.

This Peter is a bad man I take it? I asked, more stating a fact than anything.

He is a vicious, most foul monster, and someday I swear I will get close enough to kill him! She was glaring at me. She got up, brushed sand off and went and checked the clothes, hollered to Billy we"d be a few more minutes, as the clothes were still wet.

She sat back down next to me, hands warped around her legs and chin on her knees, staring across the lake.

A stunning pose, I said.

She looked at me, back to the lake, then back at me. You walk yet? she asked.

I wiggled my toes and managed to bend my knees up and got my hands on them and said, Almost.

She looked at me and said, A stunning pose as well. She cracked up.

I blushed. Im sorry, really, I didnt know, or think.

Not to worry, not the first Ive seen, not the last. Not everyone I work with is dead. There have been enough offers that I feel maybe I am not as ugly as I once thought I was."

I find you quite attractive myself, as you have seen.

Sorry, Ian, I am not going to be like so many others, having a brat sucking my teat while I wonder what happened to the man that loved me who has run off with another, and she patted my cheek.

She stood, got behind me, and put her arms under mine and around my chest, and hauled me to a standing position. I could stand, but as I tried to move, my legs collapsed.

Almost, she said, as she stood me back up.

She held me and came around the front and put each of my hands on her shoulders, and said, Okay, try to walk toward me. Put most of your weight on your arms.

I slowly dragged a foot forward, planted it, then the other. I did that for ten yards and found I could actually lift them. She had me follow her around in slow circles until I could do it without support. Good, she said.

She sat me back down and helped me dress. I watched her get dressed and she put my arm around her waist and helped me walk to the wagon where Billy was sitting, asleep.

He woke as soon as we got near and the horse snorted. He helped her get me up on the seat. He g"yupped, and we were moving again. By holding the side rail of the seat I could almost maintain my balance and she would rub my legs from the waist every once in a while which actually helped.

We followed a meandering road and two hours later we were at a large grave yard. A beat-up old sign on a metal arch said Eternal Rest Cemetery. Down the right side was a newer sign; it said City of Devon property. Trespassers will be prosecuted.

City property? I asked.

Yeah, Peter started killing so many and the owners where charging too much per plot. They have two nice graves in the back corner now.

He killed them? I asked her.

No, he murdered them in cold blood, she said.

I noticed Billy had closed the lids on both boxes while we had cleaned up at the lake.

We went into the graveyard and sure enough, there were four empty holes dug.

Lilly got down and helped me. I was able to walk, but was still a little tingly and wobbly.

She took my empty coffin and threw it in a hole, and she and Billy wrestled the other out and rolled it into another hole. Seems dignity wasnt a part of their burial rituals. She saw my look. Dead is dead, they dont care. Peter dont care, why should we? Its a job.

I did manage to help fill the holes in with dirt. She said a short prayer to the God Father and Mother for the old woman"s soul to rest before recycling. We piled the extra dirt into neat mounds on top.

OK, you are dead-dead now, so I get my Gold Coin. I guess we are stuck taking you home. Lets go." They loaded two shovels and a pick in the back. She helped me up, and we were off.

No marker or stone?

Not unless someone gives us one they want put up, no. The old woman was a spinster, no friends or relatives we knows of so no marker, Billy said.

As we started down the road, Billy said, At least we have two empty holes left so were good for a few days."

Rather have the coins than the holes, Lilly said.

We headed back toward town and the lake; it was almost dusk. We pulled up in front of a pile of old gray boards cobbled into a building that wasn"t any bigger than a toolshed. Since I knew what one was and its size I realized my memory was returning, bits and pieces anyway.

She climbed down and helped me. Billy took the horse and wagon to the back and she took me inside.

It was dark inside and she soon lit a candle. There was a little wood stove on the right in the corner. A small pile of wood and kindling next to it and a bed against the back wall on the left. No table, no chairs, no room. I saw two dresses hanging from the wall by the head of the bed on the right, and a couple shirts and a pair of pants on the wall to my left. That was about it. Add a couple old pots and a water bucket and a couple wood boxes and bags under the bed, and the tiny shack was full.

Welcome to my humble dwelling, Ian. Isnt much, but it stays dry. Sit on the bed or Billy wont be able to get in. He is watering and feeding the horse. Hell be here in a few minutes."

She started a fire in the stove, took a pot and filled it with water and placed it on top. She closed the little fire door and sat on the bed beside me. Gonna be hard, no room. Our house used to be out back from here. Ill show you tomorrow. Peter burned all of it and just left this. Said he left it for us out of his kind heart."

I find I have taken a strong dislike to this Peter guy. I think I frowned, even my face still felt tingly.

What a quaint way to put it. She looked into my eyes and just stared as she was tearing my heart out. The door opened, Billy came in and sat on the bed next to his sister.

He looked around and said, Honest sis, I am trying to get her pregnant. If I do, I can be out of your hair.

She got up and added some leaves to the water, now boiling, then took it off the stove and set it on a little shelf I hadn"t seen, and sat down again.

I told you, youre only fifteen, too young damn it! We have made it fine for years here, what is the sudden rush? How many times she let you in her pants, two? Three? Hell, she is almost seventeen. You know I wont forbid you, I am not stupid, but you dont have to do it, we can manage." She was crying now and he held her and looked at me.

Mays dad owns a mill further out a bit. If I can get her pregnant she swears hell let me work there so I can support a proper family. Well, she says if I accidentally get her that way. He just looked at me. Sis knows it has been a lot more than three.

You love her? I asked.

I told Lilly, maybe, though I dont want to. I think about her all the time, not just taking her clothes off or anything. Sitting by a fire drinking coffee or tea, holding her and watching the fire burn, things like that."

I dont know your ways—I am not from here—but I dont know where I am from either. What is the normal marriage age here? I asked him.

Um, seventeen usually, but boys can marry as young as thirteen and girls twelve. Lilly has taken care of me by herself after Peter took Sis and killed our parents. I am in her way, she is still a virgin at nineteen, and a couple more years she wont be able to find anyone will want her. She knows it, and I know it! Peter claims our land here as his, and we cant even add to this lousy shack—he has it torn off—we tried a couple times. Says it is a reminder to people around here who might want to disobey him again. Hell, the bastard left our parents hang in the big tree until their bodies rotted away so much they fell on their own. Now he was crying.

Yup, definitely not liking this Peter guy, I said.

Lilly stood up and took an empty can and poured some of the liquid from the pot into it and gave it to me. She took a metal cup and put some in it and gave it to Billy.

Taste it, it isnt much, but we call it tea," she said.

I sipped it. I found it was quite refreshing compared to that swill they gave me in the prison. This tasted like a spice tea I had someplace. I noticed she had none.

You dont drink it?" I asked.

Soon as one of you finish with our fine china I will get a little too. She laughed with a touch of sarcasm.

A can and a tin cup—geez.

I gave her mine as soon as it was done and she poured some for herself.

So Billy, before you go meet her, what is for supper? she asked. It is your night to cook.

Kidding right? We got the choice: stewed veggies or veggie stew. Which one you want? He pulled up a large pot from under the bed and poured water in it from the wood bucket, and set it to boil. He took out an old knife with a broken handle and a flat piece of wood and set them on his lap. He pulled out and opened what looked like a small burlap bag. From inside the bag he pulled out a couple large roots and a few potato-looking things along with some greens and a pepper-like vegetable, and peeled and chopped them up and threw them in the pot. He took some dried herbs and rubbed them between his hands over the pot and put in a little sprinkle of what looked like salt. He stood and said he"d be right back as he took all the peelings outside.

They go to the horse, she said. Gives him the shits, but hell, hes gotta eat something too. Grass is a bit sparse except by the lake this year. She looked off into the world of her mind someplace then came back and said, If the horse dies I guess were back to the two man push cart again. Probably shouldnt have bought him, but it took us two days before."

Billy came in and said, Sis, Im going to go meet her. You two eat the stew. Im not hungry anyway. He gave her a peck on the cheek and was out and gone.

She looked like she wanted to cry again. She said, Hes a good boy. Hes starving to death but knows we are still short our rent so wont eat to make the food last longer."

Umm, you pay rent on this thing? I asked.

Peter charges us eleven Gold Coins a month for the honor of living on his land and two Gold Coins more for the roots and wood we steal from his forests. She got up and stirred the pot, which was starting to boil, then set it on the shelf to cool.

She took up the cup and can and filled them, dug up an old spoon and gave it to me and she used the knife. It tastes bad, but it is filling, and I have been assured by the others forced to eat it as well that it provides the needed things to stay alive. She started eating it.

It tasted like sawdust laced with gear oil. Youre right, it has a bit of a unique flavor!" I said.

She busted a gut laughing. You are definitely not of here. She finished hers and got some more.

I finished mine and told her to save some for Billy. She shook her head. Goes bad in a couple hours, and then it will kill you. Eat it all now, or we throw it away.

I ate two more helpings, I was starving.

She cleaned the pot, cups, knife and spoon in the water bucket. She threw the water on the fire in the stove and blew out the candle. Sleep.

There was just enough light to see her get undressed. She left her undies on. I laid down and she said, No, take off the clothes, you will need them in the morning, it will be cold. Fold them and place them under the cover at the foot.

I have no undies, I said.

I know, do it anyway, I promise I wont harm you or anything," and she laughed.

I got up, stripped and lay back down. She snuggled to my back and pulled a rough wool blanket over us. She laid one hand along my leg and the other up under my neck—at least the pillow was the full width of the bed. I heard her breathing change. She was asleep.

Sometime in the night I heard Billy come in and he got in under the covers behind her. I don"t remember anything until morning and she was right, it was cold! I remembered the one morning I had in prison too, it was cold as well, but you had no cover or bed. Just a cell floor to shiver on because I was naked. They gave me the rags to wear just before the trial.

I stood up and dressed, and figured out how to start the fire. I found the well pump out back and cleaned and refilled the wooden water bucket. Once inside I put some water on for the tea.

The chill came off quickly and I went to sit on the bed. A hand came from under the cover and patted my leg. Thank you, Lilly said.

For what? Starting the fire? Its chilly," I said.

No, for being here, thank you. She smiled in the pale flickering light from the open stove door.

I guess youre welcome, but I am a bit confused."

You are not of here. I saw it in a dream last night—you are not. I believe some of my dreams. Your hair says the same. The gold color.

Its called blond, I am called a blond, I said. Waters boiling, how much of that tea do I put in?" I asked her.

Blond. What hair have you seen on us, any of us? she asked. Very dark brown to glistening black was all I"d seen.

She put her hand behind her and patted Billy, and slid out from the covers and went and showed me—six leaves, and as soon as they were in and the rolling boil started again she took it off and set it on the shelf. She was very pretty standing almost naked in the flickering fire, and I told her so.

Thank you, even you are pretty in the flickers too, and she laughed quietly. She sat on the bed and took down a dress and slipped it on. She went under the bed and pulled out a little wooden box and took out a pair of undies and managed to slip the old ones off and the clean ones on. The children you know," and she smiled. I guess, even though she sleeps almost naked, Billy had never seen her that way? Maybe she just wanted to pretend he never peeked or anything. I know I heard snickers from under the cover.

She poured tea into the can and the tin cup and gave me the cup. I sat there and sipped hot tea on a bed with a very pretty girl who was a gravedigger in a hovel of a shack near someplace called Devon. I hated a guy called Peter, and the very pretty girl had a fifteen-year-old brother she takes care of, and there was some pervert named Mike.

That Mike guy at the last stop. You really drop dead women off there for him? I asked.

Uncle Mike? Sure, why not? I drop them one day, pick them up the next. I get a Gold Coin from him. Extra if they are still warm, she said. He was a famous warrior once.

What does he do with them?

I dont know, honest, never asked. Must be okay, I never had one complaint when I picked them up the next day to bury." She laughed at her morbid joke.

Mike was at the final battle of Topshire Glenn with General Oran. He got an ax stuck right in his head. Somehow he lived, but hes not right in the head now and leaks really smelly stuff from his skull all the time. He is officially retired, but Peter has him do the third gate because if the enemy comes he will fight, and is a fierce one. Also because they want his perversion and smell someplace else besides town, so he lives there inside the third gatehouse, alone. You heard me say about the tender youngin coming up? She asked me.

I nodded.

I have been telling him that for almost four years now, every day. He never remembers. Sad but… She gave a sad kind of laugh and shrug.

I got to pee, I said, now that I thought about it and had no idea where.

Okay, follow me.

I followed her outside. We went around back of the shack, the sun was just starting to peek from behind the hills off to the east, and there was a mist slowly rolling about the ground. We went south and about thirty yards from the shack, across what looked like what once was a large lawn, we came to the burned out ruins of a large building.

Before Peter burned it to the ground we called it home. Two floors high. She moved to a corner and stood. My and Sis bedroom was right here, second floor. Use to be so wonderful, and she broke and cried. They never had a chance—his troops came barging in and Sis was in the living room. They grabbed her, she screamed, and father grabbed a sword and killed one guy. They grabbed him and mother came screaming in from the kitchen with a knife and she fooled them, she stopped right at the door and spun low and got one right in the gut and laid him open and spun and hurt a couple more, but then they finally took it away from her. I was at the top of the stairs and Mother hollered to get Billy and run. We came down as they dragged them outside and Peter said something about his rights. They hung them slowly, right there on that tree! she said. It was a large oak that would have been a few yards from the front door, probably a nice shade tree. You could still see two parts of rotting ropes hanging there. Billy and I ran out the back, and ran, and ran, and we stopped by the lake and he ran to get help as I cried."

I am sorry, I said.

She shook it off and took my hand and we went on south and down a little hill and there was an old outhouse there. She pulled me inside, a two holer. She pulled up her dress and dropped her undies and sat on the right hole and said, Dont pee on the wood, nothing worse than coming out in the freezing cold and sitting in a puddle of half frozen pee!" She laughed.

I dropped my pants and sat the hole next to her.

My mom was always complaining about dad doing that. She was still smiling, but it was a little different, a remembering better days smile.

While I did my business, I asked, How come in the wagon you talked like you were unlearned, but now you talk, um, different? I asked.

Oh that, we are now considered gutter trash. We could be killed if we were caught acting above our station. My father used to be the province leader. We went to school until Peter came and closed it. I can read and write too, but we have to play the game to stay alive. She patted my leg. Done?"

Yes, just had to pee, I said.

Good. Before you ask, no, she said, as she stood and got presentable.

I pulled mine up and secured them and had to ask, No what?

I dont use the outhouse with guests, I dont bathe in front of guests, and I damn sure dont sleep naked against them at night either," she said.

But, you…

Let me ask you an honest question, but I already know, I knew when I touched you at the lake. You will never touch me without my permission, even though I get you hard as a rock, will you? I saw her eyes darting back and forth between mine.

Well, of course not, its not right and you know it," I said.

Do I? She looked at me, burning holes in my eyes and tearing my heart apart with her stare. There is probably only one woman between here and town that has never been successfully raped, and you are looking at her. I killed two guys who tried. I havent had any trouble since, but believe me, if you had tried, youd have been dead too. She put her hand up in her hair and from where I dont know, but she had a small, wicked looking dagger. Its sharp and I know how to use it.

As we were talking, we were back outside in the fresh air and heading toward the shack.

"Look, when you lay down and say okay, I will figure you want me, until then I may dream, but never take.

As I said, I already know, it is in your eyes, also as soon as I touched you I knew. Mother said it is a gift I have. I know a good or bad person instantly from a single touch. So I will tease the hell out of you, I promise, and love watching your pain.

Its not pain, its called lust or desire, I said.

But no love, without that we get stuck with a brat sucking our teat and a guy long gone. No thank you. She said it with a laugh, but there was so much sadness behind it.

On a cow it is a teat but on a woman it is a nipple or, the more vulgar name, a tit, I told her.

Call it what you want and Ill call it what I want, deal?"

Okay, deal.

We went in the shack. Billy was up and sipping tea, he made room on the bed.

May says she thinks we goofed. She missed her bleeding last week. He was grinning ear to ear. She decided she didnt care and last night was actually fun! No rubber with my little pinhole in it or anything."

Billy, you are really despicable, you know, Lilly said.

I know, and he laughed.

He slid out a box and took up a little silver package which had a small green x on it. I did this to them, he said, as he picked up a pin from the box and pushed it through the middle then cracked up.

Lilly hit his arm hard. That is so bogus!

Billy got serious. Look, Peter killed mom and dad and Mays dad did nothing to help. He was supposed to help, they had an agreement, I remember. I will get his daughter pregnant and marry her and do everything in my power to destroy him!"

I had to say something. First, by bleeding you mean her monthly period? He nodded. I see. This girl, May, did what to your parents?

May? Nothing. What has that got to do with it? he asked.

You would destroy him through her, using her as a tool? Would that not make you just as bad, even worse than Peter? Her father was probably scared or afraid for his family, but if what you and Lilly said is true, he could have done nothing to save your parents, they would have been long dead before he could have gotten here. Correct? I looked at him. He said nothing, just started at me. Correct or not? When the guards broke in, if you had ran immediately, at your fastest speed to his house, would he have been able to arm, get help, and be back before they hung your parents? Yes or no? I asked.

Well no, not really, but he promised! Billy had tears welling in his eyes. He promised.

He promised to help against what, Billy? This Peter guy, or some invading horde? Think Billy, I dont see any way he could have protected you or them against this Peter. Or is there some magic I am missing here? Lilly was staring at me. Billy stared at me. I"m sorry, it seems wrong