Strange Vacation

(Told you I couldn't shut up...)

The man looked startled. "No, I do not wish open war."

"Then you accept the duel?"

"I accept the duel." The man spat. "You will be notified of the time and the place."

"Then leave me now. I have more pressing matters than you to attend to." And I turned my back •

on him. When I looked up later, he was gone without a trace.

The girl however was standing next to the fire, bent over to adjust one of the broiling fish.

"Hi there!" I said.

She stood up and brushed her hair away from her face. "You do not know what you have done." She said.

"Ah, you do speak!" I said. "And in a lovely voice indeed."

She gave me a small smile. "I am afraid that we have little time now. Once your duel is ended, I am forfeit."

"Oh no," I replied. "I carefully did not place conditions on the duel except that refusal would bring open war between my clan and his. You were not mentioned as a prize either way. I kept him too mad to notice that."

She blinked. "So you did."

After we eat, I want you to stay here. I have supplies and a friend coming, and I want him to meet you. He will take up your cause if I fail in the duel."

The girl looked dubious. "I will meet him. But I fear that you do not know who you have issued, challenge to."

"I know that he can't take the touch of cold iron. And I remember a lot of legends and the old tales."

She just knelt to start taking the fish off the fire. "These are ready."

"So what do I call you? Beauty? Love? Sunshine?"

The girl looked up at me and smiled openly. "Flatterer, You can call me as you like."

I gave her a sly grin. "OK, I shall call you 'Wife'." She stood upright and stared at me. "That was not what I was thinking of!" she exclaimed.

"By your own words, I can call you as I like." I said with a chuckle. "However if the thought of my calling you wife is so offensive, I shall have to find another name."

She brought her hand to her mouth and stared at me with her eyes wide. Finally she straightened up and dropped her hand. "The name does not offend me. It was merely, unexpected."

"Then I may call you 'Wife'?"

She met my gaze steadily. "You may."

"And what shall you call me? Turn about is fair play. Name me as you will." I said.

"I shall call you 'Husband' as is proper for a 'Wife'."

I held my hand out to her and she took it.

I bowed and kissed her knuckles. "Then milady, no matter the outcome of the duel, I am complete."

"And I." she said softly.

We sat down and shared out the fish. I started by breaking a small piece off and feeding it to her. She returned the favor, and we had a generally silly lunchtime.

Much as I teased her, I couldn't get her to give me her real name, she insisted on my calling her 'Wife'.

Just before 4 PM I heard the chopper in the distance. "Wait inside the tent until I call for you." I told Wife. "Yes my husband." she said. She crawled into the dome tent and reclined on the sleeping bag.

I got out the smoke flare and ignited it, tossing it onto the bare ground next to the campfire. The thick yellow smoke billowed out and rose into the still mountain air.

I could see the chopper then, coming on a more or less straight line from Lobo Blanco peak.

As they overflew the valley, I waved them to a landing spot in the meadow a couple dozen yards downstream. Pete brought the chopper in steep and fast, flaring out to end hovering just above the grass. I waved him on down. Peter turned the chopper in a complete circle, checking the situation, then set down. He kept the engine going and the revs up, ready to lift off at the first sign of trouble.

Brett opened the door of the chopper and started unloading supplies. I ducked my head and ran over to meet him.

"Hey bro! Glad to see ya." I said.

"Help me get this stuff unloaded. Something spooked Pete on the way in. I can't stay to chat." I dug out my wallet and gave him a couple of my credit cards. "This should pay Pete for the trip. Can you find this place in your ultralight?"

Brett considered a moment. "Sure."

"Come back in 7 days, unless I call you first, and bring your toys."

Brett tossed the last of the gear to the ground and climbed back into the chopper. As soon as Brett closed the door, the chopper lifted a dozen feet, then tilted forward and accelerated off in a climbing turn designed to avoid ground fire.

I shook my head. I was starting to like Pete. He had good instincts.

"Come on out now 'Wife'." I called.

Wife crawled out of the tent and came over to the pile of supplies. "Carry what you can." I told her. "Avoid anything with cold iron or that makes you uncomfortable."

I grabbed the first few heavy items and started back to the campsite. When I looked around, Wife was carrying a load that I could not have carried on my best day.

She dropped the load by the tent and said. "That is all that I can safely carry."

I leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Thank you milady." She smiled. "Please sort through these things, and open the bigger boxes, I'll help stow them when I get the rest of the gear."

I ran back to gather the last few items. As I stood up with the big aluminum gun case, I saw the man from earlier standing at the edge of the trees across the stream.

I looked over at him and lifted a hand in the classic one finger salute.

I heard a mocking laugh as he turned back to go into the woods.

I got back to the campsite and laid the stuff down on the ground.

"Let me know what will harm you or make you uncomfortable, and we will place it in the supply tent." I told her.

"Yes Husband." She replied.

We sorted and stowed the excess gear, and set up the additional supply tent. I rigged a couple of nasty surprises for anyone who tried to enter the tent.

I kept the gun case out, and opened it. Wife sat cross legged next to me and watched curiously as I assembled my Barret .50 BMG rifle and loaded it. "Just in case old jackass sends the big hulk again. Steel cored bullets."

Wife smiled. "That should definitely get its attention," she said.

I set the gun on its bipod out of the way and closed the big gun case.

I saw that Brett had brought me one of my knife cases. I opened it and to my delight found a dagger made from one of the exotic alloys supplied by a friend from NASA. "Can you touch this metal?" I asked Wife.

She reached out cautiously and laid a finger on the blade. "It feels like a part of me." Wife said wonderingly.

"Then it is yours, as part of your bride price." I said. "Use it to defend yourself and our home." She picked the knife up out of the wooden case and slipped it onto the sheath that came with it. She threaded the knife onto her belt and adjusted it to ride against her right hip.

At long last, all was stowed and we were ready for supper. Wife was not too sure she liked the MRE's, but she ate them anyway, when she had climbed into the tent, I put twigs into the ground all around the two tents. Then I strung thin steel wire on them to completely encircle us. Then I opened the flap of the tent and crawled in. My Barret was propped on the bipod to one side of the tent with the muzzle facing the door. Wife was tucked into the sleeping bag up to her neck. He clothes were piled by the doorway next to her feet, and her sheathed dagger was where she could reach it easily. I stowed the gun belt next to the butt of the Barret and wriggled out of my own clothes, slipping nude into the sleeping bag with Wife. She smiled up at me and slid her arms around me.

"My husband." was all she said. Then we were too busy to talk.

In the morning, I had her wait while I went out and recoiled the steel wire and put it away.

At first I thought that my precautions had been needless, then I saw all the tracks in the dirt by the fire pit.

Well, that would be taken care of tonight.

Wife was thoroughly happy that morning. Instead of her usual pants and shirt, she had come up with a thin, flowing dress that came to knee level, and a pair of ankle high leather moccasins that looked remarkably comfortable.

She had her dagger strapped to her forearm this morning, ready if she needed it.

I made us breakfast, and then sat down with her on our log. "It's time you told me why that idiot is trying so hard to kill you, and for that matter, who he is."

Wife thought about it for a moment.

"Fair enough, my husband," she said finally.

"My enemy and now yours, is my brother. He has many names. Most human folk call him Trickster." "Coyote." I said. "Or as my folk called him, Loki."

Wife looked surprised. "So you do know of him!"

"Too much to like, and not enough to be comfortable." I said.

"He had planned for me to be given to one of his allies. And I ran away." "He wanted you to be mated to his ally?" I asked.

"No, I was to be used as a sacrifice. My blood and my life would have been used to give his ally access to much more power than he had ever had before."

I was silent for a moment. Then, "You shall not be a sacrifice to anyone." I said.

To my surprise Wife laughed. "I would not do for his sacrifice now. When you wed me and took my virginity last night, I became useless to his ally."

"But he is still going to try for us because we thwarted his wishes." I finished grimly. "You do understand after all. " Wife said.

"Who is this ally? What are his weaknesses? If I can stop him from making a sacrifice of another, then your brother will not have as much power backing him at the duel."

Wife's eyes widened. "You do not lack for ambition my Husband."

"Brains I may lack, but not ambition." I told her with a grin.

Wife laughed along with me.

"Now then, who will he give to his ally in your place, and where will the sacrifice take place, and when?" I asked.

Wife hung her head. "He will have to give my sister to his ally now. Her name means 'Night Glow1 in your language, and she is but a decade younger than I." Wife said sadly.

"And how old is that in my terms?" I asked. "It makes a huge difference in planning a rescue."

Wife looked at me with hope. "She is near 400 years old in your terms." Wife said. "Will you truly try to save her?"

"I will." I replied. That earned me hugs and kisses, and Wife dragged me back to our tent to show me her appreciation.

That evening, I questioned Wife further.

"Who is this ally?"

"He is one of the beings that the northern people of this land called 'Wendigo'. And he is a terrible enemy."

I pondered a moment. "What are his weaknesses? Can anything harm him?"

Wife thought about it. "He can be killed, but to make him stay dead, you have to burn his heart, head, and body in separate fires and scatter the ashes."

"Slice him, dice him and fry him. Got it." I said.

Wife pointed to Lobo Blanco peak. "His lair is on yon mountain. And the sacrifice must me made during the new moon."

I looked up at the sky. "That leaves us 3 days to get there and get rid of the Wendigo." I mused.

Wife gazed soberly at me. "The night I came to your fire, it was Wendigo that you taunted across the stream. He would have slain you then, but he cannot cross running water without intense pain."

"Maybe I can use that." I said. "Don't fret my Wife. I will think of a plan by the time we get to the mountain.

I made a decision. "Wife, gather food and supplies for 3 people for 6 days. Dress in black. We move out tonight."

Wife looked frightened. "But the forest will be full of my brothers minions."

"And they will be watching this place, and not expecting us to leave so soon."

Wife simply kissed me, then started to do as I had bade her.

I gathered my Barret and ammo, the crossbow and quarrels, and my gun belt.

Then I took one of my demolition packs. I walked to the stream and picked up a large chunk of driftwood. I rigged a couple pounds of C4 to it with a timer, and then set the wood adrift in the stream.

I went back to the tent and crawled in with Wife. She shrank away from all the cold iron I was carrying. "When I give the word, we leave, fast and quiet. Stay within arms reach, and do NOT go off by yourself for anything." Wife nodded silently. I leaned over and kissed her hard. "For luck."

"For luck." She whispered back.

We lay there close for a few more minutes, then, at the far end of the valley, the explosives

detonated with a mighty blast that lit up the sky and sent debris flying.

"We go now." I told her.

Wife scrambled out first, I followed moments later. I slipped on a little toy that Chuck had included even though I had forgotten to ask him. A pair of military Night Vision Goggles, or NVG's. These would allow me to see in the dark as if it were daylight.

I slung the Barret muzzle down across my back and cocked the crossbow. I slipped a steel shafted bolt into place and moved on out for the trees.

I had the goggles set to pick up infrared images. Anything that generated body heat would stand out like a beacon.

Wife was carrying the much heavier pack, but I wasn't worried. She was far stronger physically than I was. I glanced back at her, she showed up in the goggles clearly. Good, that meant her kin would also show up.

We were almost a half-mile from the camp when I picked up a thermal signature from some trees ahead. I raised the crossbow and put a bolt dead center into the bright spot. Wife gasped when I fired. She hadn't seen or sensed anything there. I set my foot in the cocking stirrup for the Barnett and recocked it. I slipped another steel shaft into place and moved on. When we reached the target, little was left except rapidly crumbling bone. I recovered the steel bolt and we moved on. By dawn, we were a good half dozen miles from our camp, and we had killed a dozen or more of the Sidhe-kin without any of them being able to give a warning.

Wife seemed tireless, but I was nearing my endurance limit.

Wife tugged my sleeve and pointed to a small cave nearby. The cave mouth was hard to see from the trail. It was only about 2 feet wide, and about 3 feet high. Once inside, the cave opened up into a decent sized room after a dozen yards of crawling around corners.

"We'll be safe here for the day," said Wife.

I was too tired to argue. I extended the bipod on the Barret and set it down pointing at the cave entrance. Then I shrugged out of the harness and gun belt.

Wife had already put her pack down and dug out some food.

As we ate, I heard a snuffling sound from the cave mouth. I rolled over to grab the Barret, but Wife stopped me. "It is a friend." Wife assured me.

A large grizzly poked his head into the room and grunted. Wife stood up and moved forward. The bear came the rest of the way into the room. It gave me one glance, and then turned it's attention back to Wife.

She walked up to the beast and stroked its head, scratching it behind the ears and murmuring to it. Finally the bear looked at me again, then padded over to where I sat and sniffed me.

I reached up and scratched behind the ears like I had seen Wife do. The bear promptly licked my face. I offered it a piece of beef jerky. The bear munched the beef jerky then nuzzled my chest looking for more. I gave it another piece. This one the bear took over by the entrance to the cave and flopped down to munch it.

Wife came over and sat beside me. "I think he likes you too," she said.

I arranged a blanket roll as a pillow and lay back. Wife lay back with me and cuddled close. We went to sleep with her head on my shoulder and my arm around her.

We woke up about dusk. The bear looked at us and whuffed. It squeezed through the tunnel and left.

Wife and I gathered our things and left. We had reluctantly used a pit in the floor of the cave as a toilet before we left, so we were able to get a good head start without having to stop for anything.

We were only a mile or so from Lobo Blanco peak, so the rest of the trip was short, but took us over an hour to cover the remaining distance due to the number of watchers that we had to kill silently. This time, Wife made as many kills as I did. Using that new dagger to deadly effect.

When we reached the cave that was the Winding's lair, I stopped just inside.

Using quick drying epoxy developed for mountain climbers, I attached steel rings to the rock all around the entrance to the cave.

I took my steel wire and wove a web crisscrossing the opening, effectively invisible in the darkness. A nasty little surprise for laughing boy if he showed up later.

Wife led the way down into the cave, pointing out traps and obstacles that the NVG's didn't pick up.

Finally there was enough light to see without the goggles.

Wife slit the throat of a guard who was watching the scene in the cavern instead of the tunnel like he was supposed to.

U peered around the corner. In the firelight was the thing that had been balked by the stream. Easily as big as a semi tractor, and looking like a cross between a bear and a gorilla was the Wendigo. There was a cage over against one wall holding a girl who looked an awful lot like Wife.

"That is her." Wife whispered in my ear.

"Big bastard." I whispered back. "Any place in particular where he's sensitive?"

Wife shook her head.

I unslung the Barret and slipped off the safety.

The crossbow was on the floor near Wife's feet.

There was a single Sidhe male standing guard near the cage. "Can you use the crossbow?" I asked, "The only steel part is the bolt."

Wife nodded and picked up the Barnett. I took a breath and stepped into the cavern room.

"Hey ya big hairy son of a bitch. Since yer too chicken to come to me, I've come to you!"

The Wendigo looked at me and grinned, showing a mouthful of teeth.

(Remember my trouble keeping quiet?)

I took two steps forward and triggered the Barrett. I should have been prepared for the effect of firing a .50 BMG round in a cavern. But I wasn't.

(Ah, the benefits of hindsight.)

The first round hit the Wendigo in the gut. The Wendigo opened its mouth and screamed in rage and pain, but after shooting that damn gun, I couldn't hear a thing. Since the Wendigo's open mouth was such an inviting target, I aimed between the fangs and fired again. This time I hardly heard the muzzle blast. But I sure saw the top of the Wendigo's skull shatter and spray brains across the cavern behind it. I shifted my aim to the chest and emptied the other 9 rounds in the clip.

I reloaded and moved forward. My ears were ringing hellishly, and I couldn't hear anything. The Wendigo was down and not moving, but I could already see the edges of the wounds slowly starting to grow closed.

I looked over at the cage. Wife was there trying to open the door. I crossed quickly to her side. She said something I couldn't hear. I motioned her back and used my Bowie to break the latch holding the cage door locked. The girl inside was cowering as far from me as she could get. And judging from the state of her dress, she had long since rendered a bathroom stop irrelevant.

I went back to the Wendigo's corpse. I didn't have a lot of time left.

I used det cord to sever the head, then a little impromptu surgery with my Bowie to remove the heart, and I was ready for the next step.

I poured some Thermit on the head and heart, then tossed flares on each.

As they blazed up, I used more det cord to section the body. There was a bed of hot coals in a pit nearby, and I lugged the pieces one at a time over and dumped them in. I tossed a couple of white phosphorus grenades in the pit with the body parts and ducked back. My ears may not have been working, but my nose worked just fine. That hairy bastard stank worse dead than alive, and that was going some.

It took 2 more white phosphorus grenades and the rest of my Thermit, but eventually I got the last of the Wendigo burned away. I collected ashes from all three piles and stored them in separate pouches on my harness.