18

By the time the sky clears and the sun sets, the valley has become a deep, red-wine lake, dotted with metal ruins. Half a foot from the deck rail, the water rests quietly, disturbed now and then by a straggling drop falling from an old wing; the drinking of furry beasts gathered on the shore; the swift beak of a bird in search of aquatic critters; or the faint reddish trickle that comes from Chester as he takes a piss.

A cold sweat runs down the Lancastrian as he watches his meat sword lie limp between his fingers like a dead fish. He taps it a couple of times with his forefinger; he imagines his governess naked; he thinks of a glorious death where he drags a mighty foe crashing into the sun.... Nothing works to raise that important mast. He recalls yesterday's combat, that moment where Erika kicked him treacherously. He shudders at the memory of the pain, and puts his cock back in his pants.

He returns to the bow. The girls peek out from the gaps and dead spaces in the railing. Nadjela follows with her eyes the shadow of a whale creating waves with its tail and legs. Erika tries to glimpse the lost armor in the background, without success.

The hunter wears a bandage around her head. She twitches as a heavy gaze buries itself in her back, turns and finds the Lancastrian glaring at her.

"Why do you look at me as if I were defiling your mother, your sister, and your daughter all at once?"

Chester swallows his anger and, clenching his fists, turns his face away.

To prove that yesterday is water under the bridge, Erika chooses herself for the mission of preparing breakfast. For the task she lures with kisses and hand gestures the naive wombats swimming as a family in the newborn lake. Confident in Erika's angelic face, they are greeted with horror when her paws catch them, and in a wave of her other hand Erika snaps their necks. Lacking fire, Erika skins the little animals with her teeth, eviscerates them using her fingers, and washes the flesh in the lake.

The princess has no problem in eating raw things, sometimes in the tribe they ate live fish and it had an interesting taste. Chester and Erika, being soldiers knowledgeable in the hardships of war, enjoy strips of meat and fat as much as anyone else. But that doesn't change the fact that Erika attacks Chester with a jest.

"Wow, the little nobleman is tougher than I thought" she smiles.

They are all sitting on the ship's gunwale, the little pig on Nadjela's thighs.

"I'm not like the other nobles" Chester replies, chewing on a wet, pink strip.

"Born a musky, always a musky. Muskite!" Erika continues.

"What is a muskite...?" Nadjela asks, looking at the swordsman and then at the huntress.

"A way of calling those coming from the Principality of Elon, since Motherfucker and Faggot became too honorable for them"

"I tell you, I don't give a damn about nobles! I fight for me, not for a house or for rotten legacies! But why do I have to justify myself to a madwoman? I don't even know why you're still here. Or what? Are you still planning to collect the reward?"

"I already have the reward... Well, part of it. But I've had enough of you two, fuck the assignment and fuck the tribals who asked for it"

"Fine" Chester nods. "But hey, before you go gargle, do you know where Thunderdome is? I'm in need of a mechanic"

The slayer's eyes widen like saucers.

"Shit!"

-Is normal blaspheme so much?" Nadjela asks quietly, almost to herself.

"Yes! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Goddamn it!" Erika pulls her hair, looks down at the lake. "Without my jager I'm fucked!"

"Did you get the internet?"

"Here in Australia? No, too much mess on the ground and junk in orbit. But I had a built-in compass with little colored markers that helped me a lot" She points an accusing finger at Chester. "You fucking cocksucker!"

"Why me?!"

"I lost my armor because of you, you asshole!"

"You're the neurotic who attacked me, I only defended myself!"

"Fuck you, Elon's dog!"

"No! Fuck you, Nazi bitch!"

"Peace, please, peace!" Nadjela intercedes and prevents them from falling to blows. The warriors snort, exchange glances, snarl, and avert their faces. They spend several minutes chewing wombats without speaking to each other, until Erika decides to be the mature one and explain her problem. It turns out that the software installed in the armor is what was guiding her through the wilderness, and without that help she will be lost.

"Maybe if I dive down and dig through the sediment..." Erika thinks aloud.

The princess notices his need, looks at the water, and concludes that it is too deep.

"You would drown"

Erika clenches her teeth and fists, holding in her tantrum because she knows the young woman is right.

Chester understands that he will have to hold on to the directions given by the burned man. He stands up and, with his hands on his hips, moves and stretches his back. His eyes trace over the water the various armored hillocks that would serve as platforms for him to reach the shore. With Nadjela he let himself go, but with Erika he is determined not to reveal his inability to swim.

"The Thunderdome is the only decent settlement around here" Erika says, biting her thumbnail. "There's no other way, I'll go with you. Problem with that?"

"Only if you don't try to kill us" Chester says very seriously, but soon gives Erika a quizzical grimace. "You have a nosebleed..."

The hunter perceives a metallic taste in her mouth, she runs her hand over her face, and when she looks at her palm she finds it varnished with crimson. Her legs fall asleep, her eyes roll back in her head, and her head hits the metal floor. She convulses, sputters, foams at the mouth. Nadjela kneels beside her, tries to keep her still and tries to keep her from biting her tongue.

Chester watches transfixed and stunned. It seems his flaccid penis is not the only consequence of yesterday's fight. He feels like a fucker for being relieved to have company in his pain.