A Proper Scottish Wife Ch 29

I believe there are only four chapters to follow this one and this novel will be complete. Due to what's happening now, there isn't much in the way of erotic content in this chapter, but I think the next two will have a bit more. I apologize to all those who are primarily interested in sex.

*****

"I see you've put a lot of obstacles and devices on the practice field," Thorburn said.

"We wanted more lifelike conditions. One never fights on flat even ground. Even a house has obstacles in it; table, chairs, doorways." Bjarkë shrugged. "It's more realistic."

"What other changes were made?" Thorburn asked.

"During the practices, if you die, you leave the practice field to reinforce there's no coming back from your own death. When you die, we analyze how you died, point out if there was anything you might have been able to do to save your life, then you're done for the day. If you die early, too bad. You stay to watch the others, learn from their mistakes, but otherwise, it's over for you."

"What did you want to show me today, Bjarkë?"

"A little demonstration. Two of our best students against fifteen."

"Two against fifteen. The fifteen must not be very good?"

"On the contrary, nephew. Other than the two they're competing against, they're the best we have. Three are from the Keep. You'll recognize them," Bjarkë said.

"Who are the two?"

"Here they are now."

"Hello, Thorburn. Good to see you this morning," Ailene said. "I hope you had a good night's sleep. Teárlag, how about you." Ailene kissed her husband. "Good morning, Stuart. Come to see how our training is going?"

"Yes, Bjarkë's putting his two best students against fifteen. We're going to watch."

"I slept fine," Teárlag said. "Are you here to watch as well?"

"Nay, we're here to fight," Isobel said. "We're the two."

"Just you two?" Stuart asked.

"You're going to fight fifteen men?" Teárlag asked.

"Only fifteen, Bjarkë?" Ailene asked. "Are you taking it easy on us today because we didn't practice yesterday?"

Bjarkë laughed. "No, it's only fifteen because I think Thorburn won't believe what he sees and he may want to see it again."

"Are you ready, Isobel?" Isobel nodded and Ailene said, "Let's get this over with."

"You may want to stand up here, Thorburn. You can see more of the field due to the obstacles." Bjarke climbed to the top of a ten foot platform and Thorburn climbed up beside him.

Ailene and Isobel took up positions in the middle of the practice field and the other fifteen approached cautiously, already knowing what they faced. Twenty minutes later, all fifteen of them were dead and the two women stood at the far end of the practice field, breathing a little faster, but none the worse for wear. Teárlag and Stuart couldn't see what happened and asked how they did?

"All fifteen men are dead and the women are both fine," Thorburn said. "Bjarkë! I've entrusted you to train these people and two lasses just beat hell out of them. What the hell have you been doing?"

"They're that good," Bjarkë said. "If you don't believe me, put twenty of your best lads out there and the result will be the same."

"Why twenty? Why not fifteen?" Stuart asked.

"Because they're not used to fighting on this field. My suspicion is the fight ends sooner, despite the larger number. If you want, Thorburn, you can watch from right next to the fighting so you can see how they do it, but even watching, you'll wonder how it's done."

"Can we watch from up there, Bjarkë?" Teárlag asked.

"Aye. I'll get down too and they'll be room for the both of you. Come on Thorburn, we'll start your boys at the other side so the fighting comes this way, so Stuart and Teárlag can see more of it."

They walked to the far side where Isobel and Ailene were sitting quietly on a log, waiting for the after battle discussion.

Bjarkë said, "I was right, lasses. Thorburn thinks I've been slacking on my duties and he wants to see you fight again. I thought twenty of his, as his lads haven't practiced this type of fighting. Go easy on them, right?"

"Whatever you say, uncle," Ailene said, brushing back a lock of her hair.

"Pick whoever you want, Thorburn. I don't want to be accused of favoritism for picking your worst fighters."

Thorburn picked his best twenty men.

"Tell them the rules, Frang," Bjarkë said.

"Lads," Frang said. "These two lasses are going to go out there a ways. You're to go after them the way you normally would on the training grounds. The only difference is, if you get hit, you're dead. You stop right there. You can watch the rest of the fight if you want, but you can't join in again, because if you've died on the battlefield, there's no getting up. The same applies to them. If you get a blow on either of them, they're dead and out of the fight. Once both of them are dead, you've won. If they kill all twenty of you, they win. Those are the only rules. Oh, and I recommend you wear your helms, because anything goes out there. They will use any method they can to kill you and if that means beaning you with a rock, they'll do it."

"Lord Frang, is this some kind of a joke?" One of the twenty asked.

"No joke, I assure you."

"It's a couple of lasses."

"A couple lasses trained by me and I'm sure you remember I poked Thorburn three times without getting hit myself. But additionally, they've been fighting out there for the last ten days. They know this ground and you don't, just like a real battle."

They looked at each other, still not believing twenty of them were expected to be fighting two women.

"That's it then. Kill the two of them and we're done?"

"The twenty of you against the two of them," Frang confirmed.

"A short mornings work then," he said. "Let's get 'em, boys."

He raised his sword and started running at the two women. His closest friends started running after him, screaming their lungs out.

"Ooh, rushing in," Bjarkë said. "Bad move. They should have proceeded more cautious like."

He and Thorburn followed. Five of the lads died in the first minute, rushing at the women. As soon as those died, the other fifteen proceeded more cautiously. Ailene and Isobel retreated slowly and one by one, Thorburn's best fighters died. Isobel kicked a barrel in front of one and he tripped, Ailene stabbed him. They went through a gate between two fences and as soon as two started to follow, Isobel and Ailene did two quick lunges and two more were down. One tried hopping the fence instead of going between and he got a hard point to the chest. The others tried to circle the fence and Isobel went left to meet half of them. Ailene dispatched the one left at the gate and fell on the ones going after Isobel from the rear and they were decimated before they realized they were in a pincers, fighting on both sides. Five more went down. Only six left. They continued to retreat from the other six, staying within attacking range, but the ones remaining were very cautious now. They'd already lost sixteen of their brothers and the fight wasn't even five minutes old. The two women split up, going two different directions, Isobel leading them toward the corner obstacle, Ailene going a different direction. Ailene seemed to stumble and the three following her rushed in to take her out, only to get a faceful of sand and dirt in their faces. Before they could clear their eyes, they were dead. Isobel was holding off the three in her corner and while they were engaged with her, Ailene fell on them from behind, taking down two as Isobel took out the last one.

Isobel and Ailene heard Stuart and Teárlag yelling and screaming from the stand and turned to them and bowed. Suddenly the twenty men they'd killed started clapping as well, as embarrassed as they were. They had to appreciate the two women taking out all twenty without a single casualty.

"If I hadn't seen it myself, I'd not have believed it," Thorburn said. "Less than fifteen minutes and all are dead. They did worse than yours, Bjarkë."

"Only because mine are more accustomed to fighting on this field and know who and what they face. A couple days ago, we sent 26 boys against those two and 25 died before they were both dead. Doesn't matter if we send rapiers or claymores against him. I tried going after Ailene with an axe in there and got killed twice. She thanked me for not throwing my axe. You're welcome to try if you want."

"I'll take your word for it."

"The thing is, Ailene's the best tactical fighter I've ever seen. Put her against Frang in a normal training situation and she'll lose more often than she wins, about 40-60. Put her in this field and she wins about 90 to 10. Isobel is almost as good. They recognize where the terrain and obstacles give them an advantage, and where they don't. Every rock, stone, stick, fence, ditch and hill is something to be used or avoided. Ailene lost the first time she went in there against one of her better students, but someone she'd never lost to before. She hasn't lost easily since.

"She commonly wins against as many as ten opponents before succumbing to the numbers. Isobel's gone against seven and won. We thought that meant we could put eighteen lads out there to test them. It wasn't nearly enough. They seem to read each other's mind. Know exactly what the other's going to do and when. At the gate, when your boys split up, they didn't talk about it. Isobel went one way and you'd think Ailene would go the other to meet the other bunch, or that they'd keep retreating. Instead, Ailene takes out the one left at the gate and goes after the ones trailing after Isobel, and before they know what hit 'em, they're dead. Only six left. Then they split up, half your lads going after one, the other half after the other. Isobel leads her bunch to a place where they can't get behind her where she can hold her three off as long as possible. Ailene falls to the ground like she trips, grabs a handful of dirt, blinds her three so she can kill them quickly and reach Isobel before she can be killed. I'm not sure I can teach anyone to fight like that. Certainly not the ability to know what your partner's going to do without saying anything. If one goes high, the other goes low. If one goes right, the other goes left. If one retreats, the other advances, and it's always the right decision for the circumstances."

"If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it," Thorburn said. "Thirty five of our best fighters all taken out of the fight by our two women."

"It's not just here," Bjarkë added. "I see them looking over the ground every place they go, the house, the barn, the sheds. If you started a fight anywhere, the results might be the same. They've already figured out how to use it to their benefit. The only place they're at a disadvantage is our old training grounds. Flat, even ground and not a thing to use. It puts them on even footing with everyone else and they become ordinary. Still good, nearly Frang good, but ordinary. Cyrus McTeague says they fight to die. They don't want to be captured, so they fight until they win or die. There can be no surrender."

Thorburn nodded. "Do you think we should all take up the new weapons, Bjarkë. They've certainly proven their worth in a fight."

"They have their place, Thorburn, but something else Cyrus said. He's fought with the claymore and he's learning the rapier. He said in a large fixed battle, armies on both sides, what would frighten you more; a charge by a bunch of men holding rapiers, or one with men holding claymores and axes?"

Thorburn chuckled. "I see his point. The fear would be more for axes and heavy swords."

"As a heavy weapon, one swing of the claymore might take down two or three men. The rapier is designed to use the point, which unless you've got people in a nice tidy row, is only going to take down one at a time. Good for hallways, smaller rooms, doorways, places where only one or two can come at you at once and swinging a weapon isn't practical. I agree with him. Let those training with one now, keep using the one they're used to. The footwork is all different between the two and he's having to relearn how to move his feet. Those that have started on the rapier, keep using it. Don't make them change just because they get older and stronger and can now handle the big sword. They'd become less effective switching. He guesses guns will eventually replace swords anyway as they become better."

"Sounds like I should pick the brain of Cyrus, like you have."

"He's a canny man. I find his advice to be sound."

"Come on, let me congratulate our two women."

Thorburn walked up to Isobel and Ailene and smiled widely at both. "Lasses, you put all our work to shame. Do you think you can teach our men to fight as you do?"

Ailene looked at Isobel and she shrugged. "Parts of it certainly," Ailene said. "How we look at the terrain and determine whether it helps or hinders and how to use it. I'm not sure we can teach how well we work together. That's more instinctive. I just seem to know what Isobel's going to do and how I can use it, just as she knows what I'm going to do. It's more than a look, maybe recognition of what I'd do in the same situation and knowing she saw the same thing I did. I don't work that well with anyone else. It's not the same. I don't know if it's because we're both women or I know her and her mind so well."

"I agree," Isobel said. "I'm not sure I like to give up all my secrets because it feels so good knowing we can take out thirty-five lads without getting killed, but I know if they get better, we all benefit. But I'll be sad when it only takes two or three to kill me."

Frang had walked up and heard Isobel's last comment. He laughed to hear it. He'd finished critiquing the battle for Thorburn's troops and they'd followed him up. "Do you hear that, lads. My wife is afraid to give away her secrets to the point where it only takes two or three of you to do her in."

A bunch of them laughed. "Please, Lady Isobel," one said, "all the others are laughing at us for getting killed so easily by two lasses. Tell us what you can."

"Just tell them they're welcome to try themselves if they think it's so easy," Isobel said.

A bunch of them laughed at that. Stuart and Teárlag had climbed down from the platform and hurried over and Stuart grabbed up Ailene and swung her around.

"My dear wife," he said, "I didn't know you'd become so good. It was amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

"I'm not that much better," Ailene said, "honest. But I do think this new training is bringing out the best in me. I've taken to it like a duck to water."

"It doesn't matter," Teárlag said, "how you did it. The fact you did is a miracle." She hugged Isobel, then Ailene. "You give me hope. I only wish I could do what you did."

"I think you have to tell us how you did it," Bjarkë said. "I know how some of it works, but not all."

Ailene laughed. "I don't know why we should give up all our secrets, but okay, I'll tell you what I can. The first day I came out here, I was facing a man I'd been beating regularly. He's good, but I was better. He'd come out here twice before, so he was used to this training ground in a way I wasn't. I was advancing on him like I usually did. He retreated over a log and I went after him. When I had one leg over the log and the other behind it, he launched a fast attack and I was stuck, unable to retreat or advance. I tried to go backward and tripped and he killed me. I realized that on a field like this one, it didn't matter who was the better warrior. A lesser opponent could beat you if they understood the terrain better. And if I was the better warrior, I could be even more effective than usual if I could use it to my advantage.

"Afterward, Isobel and I walked all over the training field and looked at every single change that was made. We looked at each fence, barrel, rock, limb and ditch and wondered how each thing could be utilized. How a rock or limb could be thrown at someone's head to make them duck. How certain choke points forced people to crowd together and approach you one or two at a time instead of all at once. How some walls kept people from surrounding you. How some gully's or ditches made you look down at your footing instead of your opponent. Then we talked about how those different things might be used.

"To launch our attacks when the opponent was distracted by a thrown object, or their footing, or when an obstacle made it hard to swing their weapon. I know where every misstep can occur and how to avoid it myself or force someone else into it. I can't say I've memorized it all, but I recognize it when I see it. If I see where I have an advantage, I take it. If I don't, I retreat until I see a point where I do. I avoid situations where you can surround me or come at me from different directions. I try to take on only one or two people at a time, especially where it's hard for both to have full mobility. If two of you are crossing a ditch, I go after the one just come out of the ditch, while the other one is still worried about getting out of the ditch. Perhaps I can get the first one before the second is ready to help. At this point, it's recognition of situations that benefit me and not you."

"So everyone can learn this part of it, Lady Cameron," one of the defeated asked.

"I think so. If you work at it. Isobel and I make a point of looking at everyplace and everything now to see where we might be able to exert an edge over an opponent if forced to. It's becoming second nature to us now. The second part of the equation is not so easy to define. Isobel and I seem to be of one mind out here. I understand what she wants to do and how she'll do it and how it will help me do the thing I want to do. I can't explain it any better than that. I suspect if you fight with two or three people regularly, you'll begin to know what they'll do before they do it and it will help you become better together; in a way you can't be with a stranger. It's like the sum is greater than the parts. I have another suggestion, Bjarkë."

"Aye, what's that?"

"Change the training field every day in small ways, and every week in larger ways. Move stuff around. You shouldn't be able to memorize where things are and use it like that. We should be trained to recognize things in different configurations. Even if it's different, it's the same. It has the same uses it did before, even when unfamiliar. Recognize the patterns, not the specifics."

"Good suggestion, lass."

"You're welcome, uncle."

"I see the benefit of this training, Bjarkë," Thorburn said. "I'll institute it at the Keep. Ailene, I agree with Frang and Bjarkë you no longer have to stay here to continue your training. You'll be returning with us, which will make Stuart much easier to live with. I'll use your expertise to help us set up our own training program. Please pack your things. We'll be heading home after lunch. I'd like to have another meeting before we go. Can you please arrange it, Frang?"

"We'll be ready in an hour, Thorburn."

******

"I've considered Ailene's plan and I believe it has much merit," Thorburn said. He glanced at Stuart sharply to still the objection he knew was coming. "There are certain things we must do before we decide to proceed fully with the plan. First, I'd like to say I was surprised it was Ailene who came up with the plan, and not myself, but after seeing Ailene at practice today, I'm much less surprised. She's got the rare ability to look for every advantage she can. I'd never have considered using a woman as bait knowing what Blackthorne's like, and she did. But she didn't do it blindly, she knows it can't be anyone, it has to be someone with trade value who Blackthorne would not kill out of hand. I admire her more than I can say to offer herself." He paused and looked at Ailene. "I'm not willing to go forward with this unless certain conditions are met. I don't want to lose this wonderful woman any more than Stuart does."