`Warrior Girls' by Bill Etem
Company Roster. (Version 1.13)
Seraphinaria - Commanding Officer
29 years of age, Captain in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian nobleman / cavalry officer, mother of boy (10-year-old, Jackson), girl (5-year-old, Morgan) and boy (3-year-old, Jay-Jay).
Valmyristarsis,
25, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (7-year-old, Heather), boy (6-year-old, Hugh ) and boy (3-year-old, Hamilton, aka Buddy).
Casilevatates,
26, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (7-year-old, Jacqueline), girl (5-year-old, Camille).
Mirabrasantes,
27 Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian lawyer / army officer, mother of girl (8-year-old, Marla), boy (7-year-old, Brent).
Navorrasicaa,
27, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian army officer, mother of girl (7-year-old, Barb), boy (4-year-old, Curt).
Misevasundia,
27, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian businessman / army officer, mother of girl (9-year-old, Shelby), girl (5-year-old, Mercedes).
Sevaladelia,
29, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian beer and spirits salesman, mother of girl (11-year-old, Desiree), girl (9-year-old, Delilah), boy (5-year-old, Dante).
Heliomirabellisima,
28, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (9-year-old, Kayla), girl (5-year-old, Guilia).
Martha Manning,
37 (alleged), Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, alien (confirmed), parallel universe traveler (alleged), single woman with no kids (alleged).
Luke, A Wonderful Little Orphan Boy (9).
Jasmine, A Beautiful Little Orphan Girl (7).
Jocelyn, A Gorgeous Little Orphan Girl (5).
Guide to pronunciation: Ser-ah-fee-NAR-ee-ah, Meer-ah-brah-SAN-tees, Nav-ohr-rah-SICK-a-ah, Mis-eh-vah-SUN-dee-ah, Seh-vah-la-DEE-lee-ah, Hee-lee-oh-meer-ah-bel-EEE-see-mah, MAR-tha MAN-ing, Val-my-ris-TAR-sis, Cah-sil-eh-vah-TAH-tees.
After Al had a moment to study the Company Roster, Seraphinaria introduced Al to her subalterns, to these female warriors who were more or less in their primes, that is they were all under the age of 30. Except for one who was at least 50 years old, and rather plain in the looks department, Al was pleased to see that all of the others were very cute and some were quite striking.
`It says here, on the Company Roster,' said Al Mancini, `That there is a Martha Manning who claims that she, like me, is also a traveler from a parallel universe.'
`That's me! I'm Martha!' said Martha Manning. `Wow, you look just like the young Rock Hudson.'
`That's what everyone says,' replied Al. `But it says here that you, Martha Manning, an alien, are a Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army. Does Avallonia let slaves be lieutenants in her army?'
`But I'm not a slave!' said Martha.
`As the shopkeeper was saying, there was a change in the laws a few years back,' began Mirabrasantes. `At first aliens were not to be alienated from their inalienable right to their Liberty, at least not under the Old Laws. But now, under the New Laws, aliens are deprived of their Liberty - as the exigencies of incessant warfare necessitate that we take no chances with these aliens, as many of them have turned out to be enemy spies. Yes, there is a faction in Avallonia, among the more reactionary Conservative circles - the Liberals have always been opposed slavery - who agitate to have aliens, who have been granted their liberty, to be grandfathered in under the new laws, and reduced to slavery. But there is also strong opposition in Avallonia, even in Conservative circles, to not have them grandfathered in.’
`So, Martha and me are both aliens, but I'm a slave and she is free?' questioned Al with some incredulity.
`Precisely! Now you've got it,' said Seraphinaria.
`But that's not fair,' exclaimed Al.
`Well, do you want me to be made a slave just to make if fair?' demanded Martha Manning.
`I want my freedom too! And I think there should be one law for all of us aliens,' insisted Al.
`That's not the way it works here,' said Martha. `The aliens who were here prior to 3 years ago haven't been grandfathered in under the new laws. We have not been forced into servitude. So that's good for me but it's tough for you! So stop your bitching and moaning and accept it.'
`I see you lied about your age. Anyone can see you're closer to 77 than 37.'
`Oh You!' exclaimed Martha. `Let's return him and get our money back.'
They humored Al with more pleasant conversation while they brought a huge wagon with 4-axles and which had 4 enormous work horses harnessed to it, over to the shop to collect the ropes and climbing gear. This huge wagon, over forty feet long, was already loaded with provisions – loaded with no end of sacks of oats for the horses and sacks of flour for the humans, along with 200 bags of sugar, 50 bottles of olive oil, 40 sacks of coffee, and no end of sacks of dried fish, smoked fish, dried beef, dried apples, dried figs, dried apricots; many cans of: tomatoes, pears, peas, soup; enormous bags of rice and potatoes; barrels of salt, 100 bottles of bourbon, 100 bottles of brandy, 100 bottles of gin, 1,000 bottles of tonic water, 200 pounds of chocolate, canned mangos; no end of cans of condensed milk, of coconut milk etc., etc. They would have to find room on the wagon for all their recent purchases of ropes, stoves and ironmongery, and the wagon was already loaded with jugs of kerosene, tents, and all their bows, arrows, swords, shields, cross-bows, leather breeches and leather jerseys, silk underwear, lacy under garments, silk stockings, huge piles of thick woolen garments: trousers, sweaters, socks; thick wool cloaks, huge wind-proof canvas cloaks with immense hoods; silk scarves; flannel scarves; sheepskin mittens; piles of wool blankets and eider down comforters etc. And surrounding them, as they made their way to the Alpine store, wind their way through the streets of Rosen, were no less than 22 children running hither and thither, and ranging in age from toddlers to youngsters not yet in their teens.
`Welcome, Al Mancini. I'm Navorrasicaa,' said the beautiful dark-haired Navorrasicaa. `As you can see on the Company Roster, we have three orphan kids, but most of these children surrounding us are the sons and daughters of the warrior women you see here. The fathers of these children, our deceased husbands or boy-friends, were all slain in the northern wars.'
`No, No, No!' exclaimed Sevaladelia with no end of exasperation in her voice. `You'll get your guts ripped out of you in half a second if the Hibernians hear you pronounce it "SED-yool". You have to pronounce it as "SKED-yool". SKED! SKED! You have ZERO down pretty well though - that's good that you don't say ZED anymore - and you're ok at saying RemONstrate and not saying REM-on-strate.' Sevaladelia was trying to teach the orphan boy, Luke, how to pronounce some key words. He was useless at learning to pronounce words the way the Hibernians pronounced them - the Hibernians being the bitterest enemies of the Kingdom of Avallonia - but if they could teach Luke how to pronounce words the way an ally of the Hibernians, the Krull, pronounced them, then Luke could masquerade as a Krull refugee, and hence the Hibernians would admit him into the walled city which the warrior girls were intent on conquering, as the Hibernian policy was to aid Krull refugees. And then, on some dark moonless night, Luke could find some place on the high stone wall surrounding the city, some place hidden from sight from any soldiers and sentries, where he could let down a rope which would give Seraphinaria and her soldiers access to this walled city. They were shooting for the night of the new moon after the next new moon, roughly 7 weeks away, and the plan was to get Luke into the walled city before that time, to give him enough time to find a rope without being observed. Whether Luke let down a rope from atop the wall on that night or the night of the following new moon, or even on some later night, was of no great importance, though sooner is often better than later. But he had to find a rope in the city, and he had to find it while avoiding suspicion and detection, and
he had to get Seraphinaria and her soldiers over the wall so that they could use the advantage of surprise to subdue about 200 women of various ages and maybe 5 old men who were holding the city. They had to get control of the gate and the guard house, and barricade themselves until the Avallonian Army arrived. Fame and wealth would follow if they could re-conquer this walled city. Even with the element of surprise the whole operation was a long-shot. This walled city was formerly called, before the conquest, Cromwell Town, though of course the Avallonians still called it Cromwell Town, refusing to call it the new name which the Hibernians gave it - Cúchulainn. And Queen Brittany the Beautiful, the Benevolent etc., etc., would reward them handsomely if they re-conquered Cromwell Town for Avallonia. But Luke had to get his pronunciations right if he was to have any chance at being successful in masquerading as a Krull refugee. He had to get the pronunciations right or else the Hibernians would discover he was a spy, and then they would torture him to make him talk, to make him explain if he has some comrades hidden outside of the wall who were trying to re-conquer the city for Avallonia, provided they didn't act on immediate impulse and rip open his guts with a dagger as soon as they discovered he was an Avallonian spy. But Luke was a rather limited 9-year-old lad, rather limited upstairs, and he was having a hellish time trying to remember how the Krull pronounced certain words, and no doubt the thought that torture and death awaited him if he made a mistake only put more pressure on him, and perhaps he wasn't so great at handling pressure. The orphan girl Jasmine and the orphan Jocelyn were too young and confused to keep a story straight. Indeed, there was some discussion of training Casilevatates' precocious eldest daughter to do the job. But here the danger was she would botch things via over-confidence, because Casilevatates' precocious eldest daughter, Jacqueline, might be too smart for her own good, and her over-confidence might betray her. If the Hibernians vetting her ever got the impression that she was highly intelligent then they would become highly suspicious if they sensed she was playing dumb. Luke seemed to be their best bet because he was a brave and level-headed lad, and he might even be tough enough to withstand some torture if he had to, to convince his tormentors he was a Krull and not an Avallonian, and, honestly, how difficult could it be too remember how to say SKED-yool, and ZERO and TohMAYtoh etc?
`Nine summers have come and gone since that day when I crawled out of my dead mother's belly,' said the orphan boy, Luke, a nice-looking, blonde-haired lad. He was addressing everyone in general but Al Mancini in particular, `and ever since my life has been full of anguish and woe.'
`I can well imagine,' responded Al Mancini as he began to slip into the lingo of his environs, `that the cold unaffectionate nature of orphanages and the horrors of an endless war would cause no end of anguish and tribulation.'
`Nay, it was none of that, rather it is these damn schoolmasters and their damned insistence that I learn to read and write and pronounce foreign languages that I hate most.'
`Cheer up, kid. At least you have your freedom, unlike me. There aren't any chains on you. You never know where you might find your vocations and your avocations,' Al was rambling on some. `The schoolmasters have to push kids to learn lots of things.'
`These widow women just want to cuddle up with you on the long winter nights because you look just like the young Rock Hudson - whoever that is - so what are you complaining about? I saw you staring at Sevaladelia. She's wondrously beautiful isn't she?' asked Luke.
They decamped from the street level and climbed the stairs to the top of the huge stone walls which encircled the city of Rosen. They would sleep under the stars atop the wall and be ready to aid the sentries should the enemy attack. The sun had set but a full moon was rising in the east as the 32 of them strolled along the walkway atop the wall. Leaning over the parapet at one point, Seraphinaria was pointing out to Al where a company of 20 huge Hibernian warriors and Viking mercenaries would camp every night. They would stay up half the night hurling obscene insults at the women sentries atop the wall, telling them how they would rape them and how they would do other nasty things to them when they captured the city. One night the barbarians got drunk and then most of them made an attempt to the scale the walls with ropes and grappling hooks. Seraphinaria watched as at least 15 of them got high up their scaling ladders and close to the top of the wall before the sentries let them have it with the kerosene guns. These were only accurate within a range of 10 feet, but once the enemy was within 10 feet they could be doused with kerosene and set aflame. That night was soon rent with the screams of the barbarians being turned into human torches as they were burned alive. But tonight none of the enemy was in sight. The serene evening was interrupted by neither screaming barbarians nor by sentries blasting trumpets. The 30 women and children - they made 32 with Martha and Al - for several months now, had been going for long hikes atop the wall circling the city. They had to get the kids well-exercised and ready to walk long distances. Tomorrow they would begin their march 500 miles to the north. And for many of the kids tomorrow would be the first day in their lives that they would live without any protective walls surrounding them. It was therefore a terrifying night for these youngsters, because living without walls was a terrifying thing to contemplate. All of these kids had witnessed, at first hand, just how obscene and frightful and barbaric the enemy could be. And they had all watched as the 15 barbarians were burned alive. Even a little kid can understand the concepts of `the horrors of war’ and the `possibility of revenge’. And even a little kid can understand how he might be burned alive or torn limb from limb if there aren’t any huge walls to separate himself from the enemy.
`Mommy I'm scared,' said Giulia, Heliomirabellisima's youngest daughter.
`You're too old to call me mommy. Call me mom or ma. Scared, why are you scared?'
`What if a big mean man or a nasty woman tries to get me tomorrow when we don't have the walls to protect us?' asked Giulia.
`What were you learning in school last year?' asked Heliomirabellisima. `Now look. Say a man wants to hurt you. All you have to do is pretend that you will obey him. Then you slash his throat or stab your dagger deep into his guts when you get an opportunity. Don't try to cut his hands with your knife. Don't try to slash his groin. Those are not kill shots. Go for the kill shot! Go for the throat or the gut or the temple. Stabbing him in the eye isn't a bad option either, but usually the gut shot is your best option. The eye is a small target but the gut is big and impossible to miss, so just stab him in the gut and then twist the knife like I taught you.'
`The schools these days don't teach kids the basics anymore,' said Navorrasicaa. `I had to teach my oldest one how to gouge eyes, how to make poison that couldn't be detected in wine, ale and mead, how to handle the flaming kerosene gun etc. The schools will teach a kid how to use the crossbow and the longbow, and a maybe little hand-to-hand combat, but they do a very poor job teaching kids new skills and how to apply the old skills the kids have already learned.'
`Oh, I know! these schools!,' said Casilevatates. `I had to speak to this one idiot who was misleading my kid. My littlest one came home from school the other day, and she was like: "Mommy, Mommy, the teacher says if some big hairy man is hurting me, I should stab him anywhere I can." Then, my daughter told the teacher that I said she had to stab her dagger into his gut - and twist it good - or drive her dagger deep into the soft part of his temple, just above the ear and toward the forehead, and then stir his brains some by twisting the knife. But then the teacher tells my girl that I'm wrong, and then my girl tells the teacher she is wrong, and then the teacher says I'm wrong, and then my girl tells the teacher that she is an idiot, and then of course the teacher got mad at that. So I had to go find that idiot teacher and set her straight about kill shots.'
`Some of these teachers are just plain uneducated,' said Valmyristarsis.
`Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach,' said Navorrasicaa.
`Yep,' said Seraphinaria
.
The troop, all 32 of them including Al ended their stroll and set up their bed rolls either on the walkway atop the wall or atop an adjoining buttress supporting the wall. The level top of this buttress was roughly 20 foot by 20 foot, and it came with a fire pit and stacks of firewood. Here they would roast their steaks and turkey legs, and cook their potatoes, and drink their beer, while the full moon rose in the east, while the stars shone overhead. In former weeks the women would switch off every hour on sentry duty, because at least 1 from their company had to be on duty throughout the night. But in this last week before their departure the garrison commander released them from this duty, provided they slept atop the wall and were ready to help the sentries if the sentries blew the alarm. A cold wind was blowing out of the north as they huddled round the fire, wearing their cloaks and wrapped up in their eiderdown comforters and wool blankets to stay warm. As their steaks and turkey legs grilled over the flames, Al drank the cold beer which was handed to him in a stainless steel goblet by one of the children. He looked on while some of the older children prepared the gravy for the turkey and the potatoes. Al said he would have cranberries with his turkey and potatoes and gravy, when asked by the 4-year-old Curt, Navorrasicaa's youngest, for his order. Al wasn't terribly hungry after devouring the chicken earlier, but when some appetizers in the form of strips of grilled steak marinated in lemon juice, along with a pile of asparagus tips were offered he didn't refuse. Who knew if famine would strike him down as he marched north with the women and their kids? He knew he better stuff himself now because he might have some lean times ahead. So Al sat on his blankets and followed the fashion of everyone else, kids included. They held their stainless steel goblets full of cold beer in their left hands and they held huge turkey legs or sliced pieces of steak in their right hands. It was so cute to see the little 3 and 4-year-olds holding their turkey legs or their cuts of steak in one hand and their little goblets full of cold beer in the other. They could have water if they insisted, but pure water was something of a luxury, or at least there was much more potable beer than there was potable water in the city of Rosen. Al admired the manners of the little kids. They calmly and slowly put their goblets down on the stone buttress when they needed to reach for the salt or for a napkin, and they just put everything down in precise fashion when they reached for their forks and for their plates which were heaped with potatoes and gravy and sugar-sweetened cranberries. A certain amount of military discipline had to be used to teach the kids to wipe their fingers on napkins not on their cloaks, as these were the children of civilized warrior women not barbarian warrior women.
Chapter 3. `Then shall ye suck'
Seraphinaria - Commanding Officer
29 years of age, Captain in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian nobleman / cavalry officer, mother of boy (10-year-old, Jackson), girl (5-year-old, Morgan) and boy (3-year-old, Jay-Jay).
Valmyristarsis,
25, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (7-year-old, Heather), boy (6-year-old, Hugh ) and boy (3-year-old, Hamilton, aka Buddy).
Casilevatates,
26, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (7-year-old, Jacqueline), girl (5-year-old, Camille).
Mirabrasantes,
27 Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian lawyer / army officer, mother of girl (8-year-old, Marla), boy (7-year-old, Brent).
Navorrasicaa,
27, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian army officer, mother of girl (7-year-old, Barb), boy (4-year-old, Curt).
Misevasundia,
27, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian businessman / army officer, mother of girl (9-year-old, Shelby), girl (5-year-old, Mercedes).
Sevaladelia,
29, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, widow of a former Avallonian beer and spirits salesman, mother of girl (11-year-old, Desiree), girl (9-year-old, Delilah), boy (5-year-old, Dante).
Heliomirabellisima,
28, Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, single mom, mother of girl (9-year-old, Kayla), girl (5-year-old, Guilia).
Martha Manning,
37 (alleged), Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army, alien (confirmed), parallel universe traveler (alleged), single woman with no kids (alleged).
Luke, A Wonderful Little Orphan Boy (9).
Jasmine, A Beautiful Little Orphan Girl (7).
Jocelyn, A Gorgeous Little Orphan Girl (5).
Guide to pronunciation: Ser-ah-fee-NAR-ee-ah, Meer-ah-brah-SAN-tees, Nav-ohr-rah-SICK-a-ah, Mis-eh-vah-SUN-dee-ah, Seh-vah-la-DEE-lee-ah, Hee-lee-oh-meer-ah-bel-EEE-see-mah, MAR-tha MAN-ing, Val-my-ris-TAR-sis, Cah-sil-eh-vah-TAH-tees.
After Al had a moment to study the Company Roster, Seraphinaria introduced Al to her subalterns, to these female warriors who were more or less in their primes, that is they were all under the age of 30. Except for one who was at least 50 years old, and rather plain in the looks department, Al was pleased to see that all of the others were very cute and some were quite striking.
`It says here, on the Company Roster,' said Al Mancini, `That there is a Martha Manning who claims that she, like me, is also a traveler from a parallel universe.'
`That's me! I'm Martha!' said Martha Manning. `Wow, you look just like the young Rock Hudson.'
`That's what everyone says,' replied Al. `But it says here that you, Martha Manning, an alien, are a Lieutenant in the Avallonian Army. Does Avallonia let slaves be lieutenants in her army?'
`But I'm not a slave!' said Martha.
`As the shopkeeper was saying, there was a change in the laws a few years back,' began Mirabrasantes. `At first aliens were not to be alienated from their inalienable right to their Liberty, at least not under the Old Laws. But now, under the New Laws, aliens are deprived of their Liberty - as the exigencies of incessant warfare necessitate that we take no chances with these aliens, as many of them have turned out to be enemy spies. Yes, there is a faction in Avallonia, among the more reactionary Conservative circles - the Liberals have always been opposed slavery - who agitate to have aliens, who have been granted their liberty, to be grandfathered in under the new laws, and reduced to slavery. But there is also strong opposition in Avallonia, even in Conservative circles, to not have them grandfathered in.’
`So, Martha and me are both aliens, but I'm a slave and she is free?' questioned Al with some incredulity.
`Precisely! Now you've got it,' said Seraphinaria.
`But that's not fair,' exclaimed Al.
`Well, do you want me to be made a slave just to make if fair?' demanded Martha Manning.
`I want my freedom too! And I think there should be one law for all of us aliens,' insisted Al.
`That's not the way it works here,' said Martha. `The aliens who were here prior to 3 years ago haven't been grandfathered in under the new laws. We have not been forced into servitude. So that's good for me but it's tough for you! So stop your bitching and moaning and accept it.'
`I see you lied about your age. Anyone can see you're closer to 77 than 37.'
`Oh You!' exclaimed Martha. `Let's return him and get our money back.'
They humored Al with more pleasant conversation while they brought a huge wagon with 4-axles and which had 4 enormous work horses harnessed to it, over to the shop to collect the ropes and climbing gear. This huge wagon, over forty feet long, was already loaded with provisions – loaded with no end of sacks of oats for the horses and sacks of flour for the humans, along with 200 bags of sugar, 50 bottles of olive oil, 40 sacks of coffee, and no end of sacks of dried fish, smoked fish, dried beef, dried apples, dried figs, dried apricots; many cans of: tomatoes, pears, peas, soup; enormous bags of rice and potatoes; barrels of salt, 100 bottles of bourbon, 100 bottles of brandy, 100 bottles of gin, 1,000 bottles of tonic water, 200 pounds of chocolate, canned mangos; no end of cans of condensed milk, of coconut milk etc., etc. They would have to find room on the wagon for all their recent purchases of ropes, stoves and ironmongery, and the wagon was already loaded with jugs of kerosene, tents, and all their bows, arrows, swords, shields, cross-bows, leather breeches and leather jerseys, silk underwear, lacy under garments, silk stockings, huge piles of thick woolen garments: trousers, sweaters, socks; thick wool cloaks, huge wind-proof canvas cloaks with immense hoods; silk scarves; flannel scarves; sheepskin mittens; piles of wool blankets and eider down comforters etc. And surrounding them, as they made their way to the Alpine store, wind their way through the streets of Rosen, were no less than 22 children running hither and thither, and ranging in age from toddlers to youngsters not yet in their teens.
`Welcome, Al Mancini. I'm Navorrasicaa,' said the beautiful dark-haired Navorrasicaa. `As you can see on the Company Roster, we have three orphan kids, but most of these children surrounding us are the sons and daughters of the warrior women you see here. The fathers of these children, our deceased husbands or boy-friends, were all slain in the northern wars.'
`No, No, No!' exclaimed Sevaladelia with no end of exasperation in her voice. `You'll get your guts ripped out of you in half a second if the Hibernians hear you pronounce it "SED-yool". You have to pronounce it as "SKED-yool". SKED! SKED! You have ZERO down pretty well though - that's good that you don't say ZED anymore - and you're ok at saying RemONstrate and not saying REM-on-strate.' Sevaladelia was trying to teach the orphan boy, Luke, how to pronounce some key words. He was useless at learning to pronounce words the way the Hibernians pronounced them - the Hibernians being the bitterest enemies of the Kingdom of Avallonia - but if they could teach Luke how to pronounce words the way an ally of the Hibernians, the Krull, pronounced them, then Luke could masquerade as a Krull refugee, and hence the Hibernians would admit him into the walled city which the warrior girls were intent on conquering, as the Hibernian policy was to aid Krull refugees. And then, on some dark moonless night, Luke could find some place on the high stone wall surrounding the city, some place hidden from sight from any soldiers and sentries, where he could let down a rope which would give Seraphinaria and her soldiers access to this walled city. They were shooting for the night of the new moon after the next new moon, roughly 7 weeks away, and the plan was to get Luke into the walled city before that time, to give him enough time to find a rope without being observed. Whether Luke let down a rope from atop the wall on that night or the night of the following new moon, or even on some later night, was of no great importance, though sooner is often better than later. But he had to find a rope in the city, and he had to find it while avoiding suspicion and detection, and
`Nine summers have come and gone since that day when I crawled out of my dead mother's belly,' said the orphan boy, Luke, a nice-looking, blonde-haired lad. He was addressing everyone in general but Al Mancini in particular, `and ever since my life has been full of anguish and woe.'
`I can well imagine,' responded Al Mancini as he began to slip into the lingo of his environs, `that the cold unaffectionate nature of orphanages and the horrors of an endless war would cause no end of anguish and tribulation.'
`Nay, it was none of that, rather it is these damn schoolmasters and their damned insistence that I learn to read and write and pronounce foreign languages that I hate most.'
`Cheer up, kid. At least you have your freedom, unlike me. There aren't any chains on you. You never know where you might find your vocations and your avocations,' Al was rambling on some. `The schoolmasters have to push kids to learn lots of things.'
`These widow women just want to cuddle up with you on the long winter nights because you look just like the young Rock Hudson - whoever that is - so what are you complaining about? I saw you staring at Sevaladelia. She's wondrously beautiful isn't she?' asked Luke.
They decamped from the street level and climbed the stairs to the top of the huge stone walls which encircled the city of Rosen. They would sleep under the stars atop the wall and be ready to aid the sentries should the enemy attack. The sun had set but a full moon was rising in the east as the 32 of them strolled along the walkway atop the wall. Leaning over the parapet at one point, Seraphinaria was pointing out to Al where a company of 20 huge Hibernian warriors and Viking mercenaries would camp every night. They would stay up half the night hurling obscene insults at the women sentries atop the wall, telling them how they would rape them and how they would do other nasty things to them when they captured the city. One night the barbarians got drunk and then most of them made an attempt to the scale the walls with ropes and grappling hooks. Seraphinaria watched as at least 15 of them got high up their scaling ladders and close to the top of the wall before the sentries let them have it with the kerosene guns. These were only accurate within a range of 10 feet, but once the enemy was within 10 feet they could be doused with kerosene and set aflame. That night was soon rent with the screams of the barbarians being turned into human torches as they were burned alive. But tonight none of the enemy was in sight. The serene evening was interrupted by neither screaming barbarians nor by sentries blasting trumpets. The 30 women and children - they made 32 with Martha and Al - for several months now, had been going for long hikes atop the wall circling the city. They had to get the kids well-exercised and ready to walk long distances. Tomorrow they would begin their march 500 miles to the north. And for many of the kids tomorrow would be the first day in their lives that they would live without any protective walls surrounding them. It was therefore a terrifying night for these youngsters, because living without walls was a terrifying thing to contemplate. All of these kids had witnessed, at first hand, just how obscene and frightful and barbaric the enemy could be. And they had all watched as the 15 barbarians were burned alive. Even a little kid can understand the concepts of `the horrors of war’ and the `possibility of revenge’. And even a little kid can understand how he might be burned alive or torn limb from limb if there aren’t any huge walls to separate himself from the enemy.
`Mommy I'm scared,' said Giulia, Heliomirabellisima's youngest daughter.
`You're too old to call me mommy. Call me mom or ma. Scared, why are you scared?'
`What if a big mean man or a nasty woman tries to get me tomorrow when we don't have the walls to protect us?' asked Giulia.
`What were you learning in school last year?' asked Heliomirabellisima. `Now look. Say a man wants to hurt you. All you have to do is pretend that you will obey him. Then you slash his throat or stab your dagger deep into his guts when you get an opportunity. Don't try to cut his hands with your knife. Don't try to slash his groin. Those are not kill shots. Go for the kill shot! Go for the throat or the gut or the temple. Stabbing him in the eye isn't a bad option either, but usually the gut shot is your best option. The eye is a small target but the gut is big and impossible to miss, so just stab him in the gut and then twist the knife like I taught you.'
`The schools these days don't teach kids the basics anymore,' said Navorrasicaa. `I had to teach my oldest one how to gouge eyes, how to make poison that couldn't be detected in wine, ale and mead, how to handle the flaming kerosene gun etc. The schools will teach a kid how to use the crossbow and the longbow, and a maybe little hand-to-hand combat, but they do a very poor job teaching kids new skills and how to apply the old skills the kids have already learned.'
`Oh, I know! these schools!,' said Casilevatates. `I had to speak to this one idiot who was misleading my kid. My littlest one came home from school the other day, and she was like: "Mommy, Mommy, the teacher says if some big hairy man is hurting me, I should stab him anywhere I can." Then, my daughter told the teacher that I said she had to stab her dagger into his gut - and twist it good - or drive her dagger deep into the soft part of his temple, just above the ear and toward the forehead, and then stir his brains some by twisting the knife. But then the teacher tells my girl that I'm wrong, and then my girl tells the teacher she is wrong, and then the teacher says I'm wrong, and then my girl tells the teacher that she is an idiot, and then of course the teacher got mad at that. So I had to go find that idiot teacher and set her straight about kill shots.'
`Some of these teachers are just plain uneducated,' said Valmyristarsis.
`Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach,' said Navorrasicaa.
`Yep,' said Seraphinaria
The troop, all 32 of them including Al ended their stroll and set up their bed rolls either on the walkway atop the wall or atop an adjoining buttress supporting the wall. The level top of this buttress was roughly 20 foot by 20 foot, and it came with a fire pit and stacks of firewood. Here they would roast their steaks and turkey legs, and cook their potatoes, and drink their beer, while the full moon rose in the east, while the stars shone overhead. In former weeks the women would switch off every hour on sentry duty, because at least 1 from their company had to be on duty throughout the night. But in this last week before their departure the garrison commander released them from this duty, provided they slept atop the wall and were ready to help the sentries if the sentries blew the alarm. A cold wind was blowing out of the north as they huddled round the fire, wearing their cloaks and wrapped up in their eiderdown comforters and wool blankets to stay warm. As their steaks and turkey legs grilled over the flames, Al drank the cold beer which was handed to him in a stainless steel goblet by one of the children. He looked on while some of the older children prepared the gravy for the turkey and the potatoes. Al said he would have cranberries with his turkey and potatoes and gravy, when asked by the 4-year-old Curt, Navorrasicaa's youngest, for his order. Al wasn't terribly hungry after devouring the chicken earlier, but when some appetizers in the form of strips of grilled steak marinated in lemon juice, along with a pile of asparagus tips were offered he didn't refuse. Who knew if famine would strike him down as he marched north with the women and their kids? He knew he better stuff himself now because he might have some lean times ahead. So Al sat on his blankets and followed the fashion of everyone else, kids included. They held their stainless steel goblets full of cold beer in their left hands and they held huge turkey legs or sliced pieces of steak in their right hands. It was so cute to see the little 3 and 4-year-olds holding their turkey legs or their cuts of steak in one hand and their little goblets full of cold beer in the other. They could have water if they insisted, but pure water was something of a luxury, or at least there was much more potable beer than there was potable water in the city of Rosen. Al admired the manners of the little kids. They calmly and slowly put their goblets down on the stone buttress when they needed to reach for the salt or for a napkin, and they just put everything down in precise fashion when they reached for their forks and for their plates which were heaped with potatoes and gravy and sugar-sweetened cranberries. A certain amount of military discipline had to be used to teach the kids to wipe their fingers on napkins not on their cloaks, as these were the children of civilized warrior women not barbarian warrior women.
Chapter 3. `Then shall ye suck'