7 comments/ 13343 views/ 5 favorites The Outlander By: Hubee The Knight sat and honed his sword, watching the preparations for the forthcoming engagement. To a casual onlooker, and there were many, he looked totally impassive. He seemed as unconcerned as a one who would remain a spectator to the afternoon's events rather than a participant. His equanimity was more puzzling to the majority who believed he would not survive what was to come. But his horse, more used to his master's moods than any human, could sense the growing anticipation and excitement in the big man's frame. The steed's harness jingled as he tossed his head and whickered gently. "Easy, Stonehoof," the Knight muttered, "save your breath. I may have need of it before this day is done." The Knight had hoped that he would never have call to put on his armour and take up his sword again. It was the last thing he wished to do. But it had become apparent that there was no other course of action open to him. Sheathing his sword he stood to survey the site for the tournament. The green meadow nestled between the town's walls and a bend in the slow flowing river. He watched a wagon splashing across the ford, bringing produce to this day's market and spectators to the battle. Whilst the sun was bright a light breeze cooled the temperature and snapped the gaily coloured pennants flying from the turrets above the gate. Savouring the scents of Spring on the breeze he whispered under his breath, "A good day to.........fight." His reverie was broken by the brazen tone of trumpets, calling the combatants to the lists. Hitching his cloak over his shield he walked towards the tents and hastily erected seating, already full with townsfolk. As he approached the knot of people in front of the largest tent the first thing he saw was the reason for his presence here, the Lady Angel. Her beauty pierced him, once again, like an arrow through his armour. In an instant he was carried back to his first glimpse of her. He had not intended to tarry in the town. The language of the locals was foreign to him and his accent and clothes marked him out as an 'outlander'. To these insular folk a foreigner was not to be trusted and to be called 'outlander' was amongst the worst insults they could muster. But then he had seen her sad face through the window of a carriage as it passed through the Market Square. Smitten by her beauty he asked passers-by who it was, so beautiful yet sad, that had just passed by. Overcoming their reluctance to talk to a foreigner he learned of Angel and her fate. She had been the fiancée of the King's Constable, Ilbem. Not yet ennobled Ilbem was ambitious for advancement according to those the Knight spoke to. They told of how he had abandoned Angel when he found another woman to marry. A woman who could give him the money and connections he now craved to continue climbing in power and position. Despite the fact that Ilbem had called off the marriage it was Angel's honour that had been ruined. The Knight discovered more as the tale was told. The men and women he questioned, especially the women, allowed the pleasure of reliving such a scandal to conquer their reluctance to talk to a foreigner. They told him that she was unlikely to find a husband now. The only way to restore her honour was for a champion to defeat Ilbem in 'Trial by Combat'. But an old fishwife put paid to that idea. 'She'll find none to challenge Ilbem. He is renowned as a swordsman throughout this land'. So that first sight of Angel had stolen his heart. But when his sense of chivalry was aroused as well, his fate was sealed. He had issued the challenge to trial by combat, under the Market Cross as required by tradition. If he defeated Ilbem her honour would be restored. As he mulled over these facts he thought of himself. 'Her honour is restored, but what for me?' He snorted silently, 'A few more dents in my armour is probably the least worst outcome.' Now, seeing her again, all the doubts that had been growing in his soul since that time were swept away. Whilst he could not fail to see the dark shadows of sadness etched under her eyes he was buoyed by the tiniest, trembling smile that she ventured in his direction. As his heart leapt his attention was diverted from the Lady Angel by the approach of Ilbem, accompanied by pages and the town's Mayor. The Constable was certainly an imposing figure. His armour was of the latest design and it was obvious that no expense has been spared. His emblem, a serpent entwined with a dagger, was embroidered in gold thread on his cloak and accentuated with jewels. The Knight was conscious of the audience drawing comparisons between this finery and his own travel stained garb and dented mail. But he felt no shame. His clothes and arms were for use, not for show. The many tales he has been told of the Constable's reputation as a swordsman come to mind now but caused him no concern. He has his own reputation as a warrior. Observing no traditions of chivalry Ilbem thrust his face close to the Knight and hissed. "I hope you have made peace with whatever pagan god you worship 'Outlander'. Today you will die for your stupidity in meddling in my affairs." The Knight was less perturbed by this insult than those townsfolk who heard it. The Knight quietly replied. "I have nothing to atone for when I met my Maker, Sir. Can thou say the same?" Unable to meet the hard gaze of the Knight, Ilbem twirled away and gestured to a knot of peasants behind the ropes of the arena. The Outlander had been expecting some demonstration of prowess before the 'Trial by Battle' proper. It was something of a tradition in these parts. It was a custom that he usually found a little tiresome. But when he saw that the peasants were struggling to carry an anvil to the centre of the grassy stage he became a little more interested. With a flourish Ilbem drew his sword. Raising it above his head in a two handed grip he brought it down on the anvil. With a flash of sparks the lump of metal was cloven in pieces. This demonstration drew a gasp of amazement from the crowd. But his opponent felt disappointed, remembering the words of the swordsman who taught him so well. 'Brute strength and a well made weapon do not a swordsman make.' The Knight feels all eyes turn to him and he realises that he is expected to reciprocate. Pausing for only a moment he moved to where the Lady Angel is seated. He gestured to her neck and asked, "If you please Milady. May I have thou scarf." Without taking her eyes from his face she undid the knot and passed the silken cloth to the Knight. Their fingers touched briefly during the transaction and he felt a shiver pass through his body. With difficulty he turned away from Angel to face the watchers; and Ilbem. He threw the scarf into the air and held his sword in front of him, perfectly still. As the scarf slowly wafted down it gently fell across the blade of the sword; and sheared in two. The crowd did not gasp, but in its own way their silence was more eloquent. Ilbem was the only person to make a sound. He snorted loudly but the Knight could now see a new light of wariness in his opponent's eyes. The Mayor called them to him and began to explain the laws of 'Trial by Combat'. Neither listened as their eyes locked. They both knew that once battle was joined they would make their own rules. Once again Ilbem was unable to hold the gaze of the Knight and turned away before the Mayor had finished speaking. "Enough!" he cried. "The sooner we start the sooner this infidel dies." The Knight, observing the ritual, bowed to the Mayor and the other dignitaries. Then he stooped and took up a piece of the Lady Angel's scarf and tied it about his arm above the elbow before bowing deeply towards her. Then he removed his cloak and revealed his shield for the first time. This time the crowd did gasp. Ilbem had his back to the Knight, making last adjustments to his armour and only turned when he heard the sounds of amazement running through the onlookers. When he saw the emblem on the shield, a green heart on an ermine field, he was filled with a sudden fear. He did not need to hear the crowd whispering, "Emerald Heart? Emerald Heart!" to recognise, too late, whom he was facing. Ilbem was almost unmanned in an instant. Emerald Heart was famed through out many lands for his chivalry, courage and ability with a broadsword. He realised that the odds were now against him. Something was needed to improve his chances. He grabbed his page by the arm and began a desperate, rapid and one-sided conversation with him. The page departed towards the town's gates and only then, on shaking legs, did Ilbem approach the Knight for battle to commence. The encounter was bruising but brief. Ilbem began at a furious pace, made brave by desperation. Time and again his sword lashed down on the 'Outlander' but ever and again he turned away the blows with a swift parry or deft use of his shield. As Ilbem tired, the Knight moved onto the attack. Now it was Ilbem whose shield was shuddering and splintering under repeated blows. His ripostes were becoming slower and his opponent's blows more difficult to deflect. With the last remnants of his strength he flailed his weapon at the head of the Knight. Emerald Heart's sword flashed upwards in an instant counter-stroke. United in Emerald Heart's counter-stroke was an irresistible combination. A mixture of force of will, the strength of mind provided by the rightness of his cause and years of training. All this, combined with fine forging of his sword, could result in only one outcome. The two weapons came together with a shower of sparks before Ilbem's blade shattered at the hilt. Ilbem threw away the useless remnants of his sword and abased himself before the Knight. All his arrogance and hauteur were gone now, he thought only of saving his miserable life. Tears welled in his eyes and his voice shook as he begged, 'Please spare me, Sir.' Emerald Heart felt disgust well in his stomach at this display of cowardice. 'I would not kill an unarmed man, as much as he may deserve it. But I will have thee declare that the Lady Angel's honour is restored by thy defeat.' Seemingly grateful at his reprieve Ilbem, still on his knees, nodded his acceptance of these terms. 'I will have thee declare it before this audience?' Ilbem nodded again. The Knight turned to tell the assembled people that Ilbem would declare the Lady Angel's honour restored. But the minute he looked away from Ilbem the blackguard seized a dagger from his boot top and lunged. The blade was aimed for a weak point in the Knight's armour, between arm and body. Only the skill of an experienced warrior saved Emerald Heart. He heard the slight grunt of effort as Ilbem attacked and he had a split second to fling himself sideways, out of harm's way. Jumping to his feet Emerald Heart cursed Ilbem as a 'treacherous dog.' But his treachery was not done with. With his cowardly attack failed he turned to a fall back. The Knight watched as Ilbem signalled to a watchman above the town's gates. The signal was relayed and immediately armed men, arrayed in Ilbem's livery, began to issue from the gates. 'Now we know where he sent his page before our battle' the Knight muttered to himself grimly. Placing his fingers between his lips he issued a sharp whistle that quickly brought Stonehoof to his side. 'Looks like you and I are up against it once again' he said as he lifted himself into the saddle. 'But it should be fun never-the-less.' The Knight realised that he had little time for escape. He also knew that he could not leave the Lady Angel behind. Ilbem had displayed the blackness of his heart and the Knight knew that she would not be safe if she stayed in this town. Urging his horse through the milling crowd he rode towards her. At the last moment, barely slowing, he turned his mount with a touch of the rein and leant from the saddle to sweep her from the ground. She felt no strain or effort in his arms as he gently deposited her in a seated position across his saddle. For a timeless moment their eyes met before he glanced over his shoulder at Ilbem's approaching soldiers. She could see the concern in his eyes as he gauged their closeness. 'Too late............perhaps', he whispered to himself. At that moment the Mayor snatched at the bridle of the Knight's mount. Emerald Heart raised his sword to strike him down but the town's leader cried, 'Hold your blows Sir Knight, you have dealt enough this day. We have all now seen how little honour this Ilbem has, but we will make sure he keeps his end of the bargain. But there will be no safety for you or the Lady in this vicinity once we are done. So you must ride now Emerald Heart, ride!' The 'Outlander' growled to the Lady Angel, 'Hold tight!' and spurred his horse forward. She threw herself around his neck and felt one of the Knight's armour clad arms squeeze her to his chest. Over his shoulder she watched in amazement as the Mayor lead the town's folk to form a barrier between Ilbem's minions and their path of flight. She could see Ilbem spitting with fury as he urged his soldiers to pursue, in vain. Adding to his fury was the sound of the onlookers crying; chanting, 'Emerald Heart, Emerald Heart', as they watched the Knight and his Lady escape. Suddenly overwhelmed by a welter of emotions, the Lady Angel half swooned, her head against her saviour's chest. But even in this precarious position she knew, as surely as she knew her own name, that she was completely safe. Emerald Heart rode, trying to concentrate, trying to ignore the unfamiliar and dizzying scent of a woman's freshly washed hair. She came back to her senses when she felt his horse slow to a walk. She heard him softly saying, 'Easy there now Stonehoof...easy boy.' The horse whickered in response as the Knight guided the horse over to an ancient oak. She saw a swiftly running stream flowing between mossy banks. Lightly the Knight slipped from the horse and held up his arms to assist her in dismounting. She slid from the saddle and he caught her under her arms. Their eyes locked again and time slowed in a way that neither had experienced before. He noticed the flecks of darker green in the depths of her emerald eyes. After a few seconds, or hours, she found her voice, albeit tight with emotion, and said, 'You may put me down now if you like.' Suddenly embarrassed the Knight lowered her till her feet were once again in contact with the ground. He turned away, but not before she caught a glimpse of the blush that burned across the big man's face. The Lady Angel began to try and find the words to thank her rescuer. But she found herself talking to his back. Her words trickled to a halt before she took his arm and turned him towards her. But as she gazed up at his face he did not meet her eyes. 'I did no more than my duty M'lady'. He mumbled. 'Once I heard of thy fate my Code left me no choice other than to challenge Ilbem.' The Lady was stunned and almost at a loss for words. Then with a sudden insight she saw through the shield of Emerald Heart's gruffness. Here was a man of war, with no time for the airs and graces of polite society. She knew many of the stories and legends that surrounded this man. But none of them made mention of a woman in his life. She suddenly realised why he seemed to be withdrawing from her. As she thought to herself, almost laughing, 'you great shy oaf', she managed to say. 'What you did Emerald Heart was far more than was called for by duty. How could I possibly repay you.' She felt her heart beat faster as she thought of one way she could repay him. But already he was starting to mumble more excuses. The Lady Angel realised that she must 'lead from behind' as her mother had described it. She silenced him with a fingertip across his lips and was rewarded with another blush. Turning away to hide her smile she decided to change her tack and called over her shoulder, 'I am much dishevelled by the roughness of your rescue'. She turned in time to see a look of hurt cross his face. Laying the palm of her hand against his cheek she soothed him. 'But how else could I have been saved Sir Knight?' At this he lowered his eyes to meet hers. As she held his gaze his eyes filled her vision. She felt herself pierced by blueness, like a summer sky. Her words became large in her mouth and had trouble escaping. 'I...am........not, angry kind Sir. I just need to repair the ravages in that stream.' Quicker, more confident, she added. 'Whilst I do so you may think of what reward you would claim from me.' Suddenly inspired she added, 'I do not feel entirely safe from Ilbem yet', she dissembled, never having felt safer. 'I hope you will watch over me as I bathe, to protect me.' She looked away, but only when she had seen his cheeks start to flush pink once more. She heard him gruffly answer, 'Of course M'lady, I am your servant' Without looking at the Knight she made her way to the stream. Choosing an entirely inadequate screen of reeds she disrobed. Only when she was naked did she glance over her shoulder. Her guardian knight had his back firmly turned to her yet the set of his shoulders and neck seemed to indicate a terrible internal battle. Giggling to herself she slipped into the stream where a large rock had formed a pool. At first she gasped at the chill of the water, her nipples crinkling even further. She may have had an ulterior motive in bathing this way but after all the excitement and exertion of the day it was an unalloyed pleasure to refresh and clean her body. She splashed like a child, revelling in the feeling of freedom at so many different levels. A few quick glances showed that the Knight had not submitted to temptation, he kept guard without looking in her direction. Lady Angel flounced every so slightly as she climbed from the pool. She would have been disappointed if he had tried to look upon her nakedness. But at the same time she was disappointed that he hadn't. Looking at all the clothes she had discarded she made a quick decision. She had felt over-dressed at the tournament and would be more so in these circumstances. With nothing to dry herself with she did not feel like putting back on all her clothes. She selected a sheer muslin under-shirt and slipped it on. Immediately the wetness moulded it to her curves and she felt a shiver run through her body, although the afternoon air in the glade was warm. Straightening, she started to walk up the bank from the stream towards the broad back of the 'Outlander'. Clearing her suddenly tight throat she called to him, 'I am finished. Have you chosen your reward yet?' He turned to answer her question, and froze. He stood transfixed as he gazed upon her beauty. The thin material clung to every curve, concealing nothing. Without conscious thought he moved closer to her, his breath suddenly catching in his throat and his heart racing. Staring deep into her glowing, green eyes he felt his world contract to the space between them. Finally he spoke, as much to break the spell that made him believe he was about to fall into gaze and be lost forever. In a voice made gruff with passion he mumbled, 'It seems the choice has been made for me.' Slowly, hesitantly he reached for his Lady. Then, in an instant, they were in each other's arms, her curved softness contrasting with the hardness of his armour. Suddenly, the tension broken, he laughed and slapped his breast plate, 'It would seem I have no use for this protection now'. He dropped his sword belt and quickly unbuckled his mail, dropping the pieces about him. When he turned again to Angel she stood, arms crossed in front of her breasts, suddenly hesitant and shy. Cupping her chin in his hand and gazing into her once again he whispered, 'Why so coy now M'lady?' Drawing her face to his he paused for an ageless moment before gently bring her lips to his. Their mouths melted together in a first kiss that pierced the Knight to his core. Angel felt her legs tremble and it was only the strong arm of Emerald Heart around her waist that prevented her from falling. Tongues began a gradual exploration that slowly became fiercer. Advance and retreat, attack and surrender, a tender battle. A low moan of desire grew and neither of them knew who betrayed their longing in this fashion. The Outlander "You be one of them outlanders." I had pulled into the petrol station out of necessity; I didn't know how far it was until the next available fuel. I had taken a wrong turn a while ago and by the time I had realized that I was lost I was low on fuel. My GPS was no use out here, it gave me GPS co-ordinates but they meant nothing without a map and there was no map available on the system out here. The man had walked out of the shop in neat overalls wiping his hands on a rag that he stuffed into his back pocket. "What be you wanting today sir?" I looked at the pumps and couldn't see what I was looking for. "Do you have premium unleaded?" "There's super and standard, I would say we have diesel as well but that fancy looking car you got don't look like it'd run on diesel." "What's the octane rating of super?" "Super is ninety-eight octane and standard is ninety-three." "I guess that it'll have to be super then, fill it up thanks." I popped the fuel filler hatch for him. "Now don't that beat all, I was looking for the filler cap and there it is hiding under that flap. Now I've seen everything." He filled the tank and hung up the nozzle. "Would you like me to check under the bonnet for you sir?" I popped the bonnet catch and he fiddled around for a while until he found the secondary catch, and he raised the bonnet. He just stood there looking in the engine bay for some minutes scratching his head. "How do you find things under here?" I was confused, what century was I in? I walked to the front of the Audi A8. "You can touch anything that's yellow like the dipstick and the catch tank for the cooling system but that's about it." "I wouldn't like to work on one of these, I wouldn't know where to start." Just then a young woman walked out of the service bay wiping her hands. "Mary's car's running sweet as a nut, I'll run it over to her and she can bring me back and pay you at the same time." "Sure thing Lucy, before you go would you came and have a look at this thing." He pointed at the engine bay of my Audi. "I hope there's nothing wrong with this car mister, I sure as hell wouldn't want to have to work on it, I wouldn't know what to look for. I'd better be gone Mary's waiting on her car to do her rounds." She walked back into the service bay and an engine started and a car that I'd never seen in the flesh before reversed out and drove off, it was a P3 Rover from the late 40's. I did sound sweet though and there wasn't a trace of oil smoke from the exhaust. "That comes to thirty shillings and six pence." The man held his hand out for the money. "What?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "That's correct, she took just about fifteen gallons at two shillings a gallon." (In today's currency that equates to just under 12 cents per litre.) "Do you take plastic?" I took my wallet out and pulled my Visa card from it. "I ain't seen one of those before mister, we takes just cash, pounds, shillings and pence." "I am still in Australia aren't I? We haven't had pounds, shillings and pence since nineteen sixty-six. I only have dollars and my card, how am I going to pay you?" "I guess you'll be wanting to change your funny money into real money and the only place you can do that is to the bank, it's just across the road and down a bit, the big stone building next to the meeting hall. You'll be leaving your vehicle here while you get some money." I had no choice, I crossed the road, waiting while a couple of cars drove past it was about then that I noticed that they were all old cars, mostly English with the occasional Holden thrown in, but even they were old, FX's and FJ''s nothing newer than that, it was as if I was stuck in the 50's. Where was I and more to the point when was I? Being inside the bank didn't help, the thing that struck me as I walked through the door was the noise, the clatter of typewrites and accounting machines almost drowned out the sound of people talking. The customers would walk up to the teller's window and hand over a small book and tell the teller how much they wanted to pay in or take out, the teller would then write in the transaction, work out the new balance in his or her head and then stamp the book, all the time exchanging chat about the weather and whether the dance on Saturday night would be better than the last one. Even the parting had a different ambience to it, none of the phoney 'have a nice day' about this, it was 'see you on Saturday Mabel' and 'Take care of your chooks (chickens) it's going to be a scorcher today and they don't like it too hot.' I walked up to the teller. "I'd like to exchange this money for pounds please." "Just a moment sir," She turned to the head teller. "Fred, what's the exchange rate for dollars these days?" "Not changed from yesterday, it's still two for one." She took my hundred dollars and gave me fifty pounds in exchange. "You planning to stay in town for long?" "No longer than I have to, I have somewhere to be in a day or two and it's going to be a rush now." I pondered all of this as I walked back to the petrol station. It was almost as if I was back in my grandfather's time, I remembered him talking about the way things were done back when he was a young man and I didn't believe that the world was ever like that, now I wasn't so sure. "I hope you weren't planning on driving too far today sir, after I moved your car off the forecourt I noticed some oil on the ground that couldn't have been there before you came in. Lucy's having a look under it now to see where it came from." "What? This car is not more than six months old and it's one of the best German cars around." "German eh, I guess that they don't make cars like they used to, those Auto Unions were good cars before the war." "Auto Union? This is an Audi." Lucy came out of the service bay and motioned for me to follow her. Pointing up underneath the car on the hoist she showed me traces of oil coming from the motor. "There's your problem, it seems to be coming from the oil pump gasket, I can make a new one for you or you can wait while I send outside for a new one, what should I do?" "I need to get moving as soon as possible, can you fix it today?" I was starting to get worried. "I couldn't say until I take the pump out but if it's not today it will be ready for you first thing in the morning." "Where can I make a phone call?" "If it's a call to outside you'll have to use the telephone at the Post Office, if you hurry you'll get there before they close." "Where is it?" She pointed down the road past the bank. "It's on the next block past the bank. They close prompt at four." I looked at my watch; I had just over half an hour. "Did you reset your watch? We're half an hour ahead of outside time. "Shit!" I ran but obviously not fast enough, I reached the Post Office as the closed sign was put in the window and no amount of banging on the door attracted the attention of the staff inside. Disheartened I trudged back to the service station. "Is there a hotel or something where I can spend the night?" "There's the Valley Hotel on Main Street that's good and comfortable if all you want to do is sleep, and then there's Martha's Bed and Breakfast on South Street for good home cooking and a hearty breakfast" Lucy thought for a little and then "I could always put you up for the night, I can't guarantee top quality food but it's healthy and there be plenty of it." "Don't you live with your parents?" She didn't look old enough to live on her own, but then she doesn't look old enough to be a mechanic either. "No." That was all, just no. "That sounds interesting, when can I see your place?" "Give me five minutes to shut everything down and lock up and I'll be ready to take you home." She walked out the back of the service area and I could it getting quieter as she shut down. The next thing I knew was a young woman coming towards me running a comb through her hair. The transformation from tomboy type mechanic to this was amazing. I must have been standing with my mouth open in amazement. "If you don't shut that thing you'll be swallowing flies." I shut it. "Come on." She led the way around the corner of the building and climbed into a low slung sports cart and fired it up. The motor burbled quietly as I walked around it taking in its classic lines, I had never seen one of these before. "What kind of car is this?" I sat and looked at the dash panel, it was a work of art. "It's an SS 100, a very early Jag." Lucy pushed the gear lever gently forward until the gears meshed and then accelerated smoothly out on to the road. I noticed that each time she changed gear she would depress the clutch, move the gear lever into neutral adjust the revs, depress the clutch again and change smoothly into the next gear. She noticed my interest in these manoeuvres. "Haven't you seen anyone changing gears before?" "Not like that, I've driven a manual but this one is different, for a start it's much noisier than I'm used to and then you have to use the clutch twice to change gears." "It's called double shuffling, the official name for it is double de-clutching, and it's necessary with these Moss boxes, they've got straight cut gears, that's what causes all the noise, and no synchromesh, you have to get the revs right or you crunch the gears and it doesn't do the box any good. This car is eighty years old and still going strong." I don't know why I expected a modern cottage with a roller door to the garage but what I saw as we turned off the road was nothing like that, it was an old style house with a bull nosed veranda all the way around it and the garage set back level with the rear of the house, its brightly painted wooden doors gleaming in the late afternoon sunlight. "Would you open the doors for me, it'll save me getting out." They swung smoothly on well oiled hinges and Lucy drove in and let the car idle for about a minute before shutting it off. "This is a nice house you have here, do you live here alone?" "Yes, ever since my father died. His father built the place when he first moved here from the outside and married my mother. He was an engineer who specialised in farm machinery but with the advent of the motor car he took to mechanicing and my father followed him into the business. Because I was an only child I followed him into the trade." We were inside the house and I couldn't get over how new it looked given the time line Lucy had just told me it would have to have been at least sixty years old yet it looked as if it had been built yesterday. "Would you like a drink? I think you should try the local beer it's very nice." She opened a door to what must have been a cool room and brought out a bottle that was different from any beer bottle that I'd ever seen, instead of the usual crown seal it had a cork that was held in place by a wire cage. A quick twist loosened the wire and a corkscrew had the cork out. The beer had a slightly nutty taste to it, not the slight bitterness that I was used to in beer, but it was cool and very refreshing. "I'm Lucy by the way but you already know that." She held out her hand. I took it and shook it briefly. "Duncan, Duncan Roberts." "I can offer you steak or lamb, both are good local produce and vegetables or salad." "Steak would be nice, thank you." She went back into the cool room and came out with a piece of beef and proceeded to slice a couple of thick steaks from it. It was then that I noticed a complete lack of electrical appliances or lights for that matter. Lucy raised a cover on the big stove and tossed the steaks onto a griddle where they began to sizzle while she prepared the salad. She noticed the expression on my face. "It's a slow combustion stove it stays on all the time and apart from cooking it provides me with hot water." After dinner she went off to have a shower leaving me with little to do other than wander around the living room picking up things to read, there was no TV or HiFi. I picked up a copy of the local newspaper if you could call a couple of A4 sheets stapled together a newspaper. 'The Town Crier, all the news you need', was written in a chatty manner with such controversial topics as; 'This year the Christmas puddings will be cooked up at Marjorie Thompson's place, Judy Stevens has donated the eggs, the Co-op is supplying the fruit and flour. All welcome and bring your threepence and sixpence coins for inclusion.' (These pre-decimal coins were small and made of silver and safe to place in Christmas puddings) and 'Fred Merryman will be slaughtering twelve prime hogs for Christmas hams. All welcome to help with the butchering and curing of this choice meat, helpers will get first call on hams.' and 'Bert Browne's potatoes are ready for harvest, all who help will get first call on produce.' and Tom Rutherford will paint your house in exchange for paving bricks for his driveway, first class tradesman.' There were dozens of other similar offers and it seemed as if there was a thriving barter economy in operation in this place, none of the advertisements had a monetary value attached. Lucy came into the room , my breath was dragged out of my chest and flung away. She was dressed, if you'd call it that, in a dress that was that sheer that you could almost see everything and imagination did the rest. Mine was in free fall, what the hell was going on here, it was almost as if she was issuing an open invitation to me to fuck her. "I want you to fuck me." "What did you say?" I was incredulous. "I said I want you to fuck me." "But why me?" Let's face it I didn't have the looks of a model or movie star and I certainly didn't have the buff physique of an elite athlete and we hadn't talk enough for her to gauge my intelligence, so what was this about? "Do you want to do it or not because if you do let's get to it, if not I'll drive you to the hotel." Being normal in most of the important aspects of manhood my cock was trying its damndest to claw its way out of my pants and the smile on her face told me that she'd noticed it. She held out her hand and led me to her bedroom where she attacked me with a ferocity I had never experienced. I have to mention here that I'm not inexperienced when it comes to sex but I approach the matter differently, I believe one should get to know the object of one's desire before broaching the subject of sex and even then a little foreplay sort of sets the tone for the experience. This was a new and alien experience for me and while I find Lucy attractive I was sort of hoping for a period of familiarization before the event. She was naked within seconds of entering the room and my shirt gave up the ghost under her onslaught, the buttons pinging off walls and the ceiling before she literally ripped the shirt from my body. Without so much as pausing to admire the scenery my trousers were the next to fall by the wayside, she dragged them down to my ankles before making a grab for my cock that was ready for action even if I wasn't. With a mouthful of cock she pushed me onto the bed and straddled my face, pushing her pussy onto my mouth. It would take a stronger man than me to resist her so I didn't, I decided about then that I should participate and try to get some enjoyment from all of this action. I licked her, I fingered her, I played with her clit until she was thrashing around the bed, I was a little concerned that she might get over-enthusiastic and bite my cock, instead she spat it and growled. "Come here, I want all of your cock inside me." She swung herself around and lowered herself onto my rock hard cock. "Are you on. . . ." "No." "I don't have any condoms. . . ." "Fuck the condoms, just fuck me." Oh well, I tried, what a magnificent sight, her firm breasts, millimetres away from my face, were too much of a temptation and when I took one of her nipples into my mouth she lost control and reached a shuddering orgasm. I joined her just as she was coming down from her high. "Wow! That was something else, do you do this to every man that you meet?" "No, you're the first in a long while." "What happened to the last guy, did he die of exhaustion?" "No, it was my uncle and he only did it so I could lose my virginity, he wore a condom so that there was no risk of my getting pregnant, but once we'd done it that was it, I was saving myself for you or someone like you." "This is weird and I don't understand it at all, you were saving yourself for me or someone like me, how did you know that I was coming?" "Someone had to come eventually. Now, you said that you had places to be, where do you have to be and how soon do you have to be there?" "I'm supposed to be meeting my fiancé's parents tomorrow evening, but I seem to be less enthusiastic about that now." "Good, I need you to fuck me again, now." "Whoa there, I'm confused, you claim to have had sex only once but you seem to know what to do, but then you don't know what to do." "What do you mean?" "Where did you learn how to make love?" She leaned over the side of the bed and took a few books from beneath it. "I've read these from cover to cover many times." The first was the Kama Sutra followed by the Perfumed Garden then the Joy of Sex. "Now I understand some of it, you see where I come from there is more to sex than just technical fucking, there is getting close to each other, of falling in love with each other and sex becomes the bonding agent for your lives ahead, together." "I don't care about that." "You don't now because you've never experienced it, believe me once you have tried it you'll never go back to pure animal sex again." "Okay, you'll just have to show me then." I took her in my arms and when she tried to devour my mouth I took hold of her face and eased it away from me, then I kissed her softly applying just a little pressure until she had relaxed and accepted that what I was doing was giving her pleasure. My pressure increased slightly and I eased my tongue between her lips, she opened hers to accept it. Meanwhile my fingers were caressing her cheeks, her neck, running lightly through her hair increasing her pleasure. My mouth left hers and travelled to her neck where I kissed her and lightly raked her with my teeth. She was beginning to respond to my touches, moaning softly and her arms were around my neck. My fingers found a nipple and slowly circled it, a feather touch that gave her much more pleasure than heavy manipulation, her hips were thrusting against mine and her moans had become louder, more insistent until with a loud sob she came. Her convulsions eventually subsided and I continued my caresses, moving down her body until my finger entered her pussy. "Oh god, I don't know how much more of this I can handle." "Isn't this better than what we did before?" "Yes, it's so much better and it will be even better if you'd just hurry up and fuck me." "No I'm not going to fuck you, I'm going to take my time and make passionate love to you." "Whatever, just do it before I rape you again." "Well if you're going to be like that I guess that I'd better stop what I'm doing and let you." "No! What you're doing is fine by me." So I continued what I was doing and sometime during the next hour I moved between her legs and replaced my hand with my cock and slowly made love to her. She must have come at least three times before I eventually couldn't hold out any longer and came, filling her pussy with my sperm once more. Lucy snuggled up beside me, her head on my shoulder. "That was so much better than I had expected, you are a very sensitive lover and so very different from my uncle, he just did it, there was no feeling involved at all." She went to sleep, there had been no mention of me sleeping in any other bed and I was comfortable so I stayed where I was, but sleep eluded me. What was going on here, why was she so keen to have sex with me and why did she not care about protection. My thoughts drifted to my fiancé Ami and her attitude to sex, if I didn't wear a condom I didn't get sex, she was paranoid about falling pregnant before we got married and was forever using pregnancy test kits even though her periods were as regular as clockwork. Women! I just couldn't understand what makes them tick, on one hand there's Ami and her paranoid fear of pregnancy and then there was Lucy who gave every impression of wanting to get pregnant. With this interesting though in mind I went to sleep. The Outlander The sun was shining through the window bathing us in its warmth when I felt Lucy stir. She looked at me for several seconds. "So it wasn't a dream after all, there is a man in my bed and by the feel of the sheets this man and I have been having sex." "We started with sex and finished with me making love to you. I was hoping that you'd remember that part of what happened." I turned to her and kissed her, "Good morning and how do you feel on this fine and sunny morning?" "I feel wonderful, I'm waiting for either the pearly gates to open and let me in or someone to nudge me out of this dream, which are you?" "I'm sure as hell not Saint Peter or any of the heavenly host and I don't believe in nudging you awake, I believe in loving you awake." I kissed my way to her nipple where I stayed for a couple of minutes before moving beyond her firm, ripe, glorious breasts until I reached her pussy with the aroma of us and my dried sperm matting her pubic hair. There was something intoxicating about this almost primal smell that I breathed deeply to savour before allowing my tongue to explore her pussy. "Stop!" This wasn't what I was expecting. "Before you get carried away I have to get out of this bed, get myself cleaned up, have breakfast and get to work, I have a busy day ahead of me, some guy came in with this really unusual car and it's going to take ages for me to decide where to start on it." "Forget about the guy and his car, he can wait." I took another slurp of her pussy juices. "But I thought that he was in a hurry to get somewhere to meet his fiancé's parents." "Forget about his fiancé and forget about her parents, I think that you'll find he's quite happy where he is." "And I'm quite happy for him to be where he is right now but I still have to get to work, I can't afford to be lying around in bed all day, not that that's not an attractive proposition." She scrambled out of bed and walked naked to the bathroom. I head the shower hiss into life as I headed to the kitchen to see what I could do about breakfast. I had a pan on the stove with bacon sizzling away, the fire door open and a slice of bread sitting on a fork getting a tan when Lucy emerged from the bedroom fully dressed and towelling her hair. She walked over to me and bent down and kissed me. "I didn't expect this but thank you. What are your plans for today?" "Seeing as how I don't know when my car will be fixed, I thought that I might take a wander around this placed, it intrigues me." "In what way?" "For a start I noticed all of the cars are old models, there are no new cars around, don't you think that's a bit odd?" "Why? Why replace a perfectly good car just because it's old? They're reliable and when something goes wrong it's easy to fix." "What about parts, they must be hard to find?" "Not really, if we can't find a part we just make one, simple. When I looked at your car yesterday I realised that I would be out of my depth it may take me some time to work out where to begin, you could be here for some time. Is that going to cause a problem for you after all you were keen to leave yesterday." 'I'm not so keen today, I realised that my life with Ami may not be as good as I'd hoped." The more that I thought about it the more I became convinced that there was something missing in the relationship and the pieces were slowly falling into place, what was missing was respect. I respected her, or at least I did until now, but I got the feeling that this was not reciprocated by her. I was coming to the conclusion that she was more in love with the idea of getting married than she was in getting married to me, I was just the chosen one, the one who could provide her with the life that she wanted. I headed for the shower and scrambled into fresh clothes and went back into the kitchen. Lucy had finished washing the dishes and was wiping her hands on the tea towel. "Come on if you want a ride." Lucy was heading for the door as she spoke so I followed her. She dropped me off on Main Street with a kiss on the cheek and an invitation to lunch with her at twelve. I had seen Main Street before in movies and on TV and it wasn't just the fashions being worn by the inhabitants of this town it was the hair styles and makeup, but there was one thing that seemed totally out of place, it was the attitude of the people, they all seemed so friendly. I was in the 50's style milk bar sitting in a booth drinking a chocolate malt, I didn't know what it was when the guy asked me what I wanted but it looked good on the milk shakes board so I ordered one. I was enjoying the thick creamy milk shake when I heard a couple of girls in the next booth talking. "I saw Lucy with a new guy in her car last night, she wasted no time sinking her claws into him, I hope she leaves enough for the rest of us." "Cindy, I don't know what you're getting so excited about you've got a husband who can serve you, not like us." "I know but a girl can dream can't she?" "It's not everyone who can have a father who's an outlander and a mother who was an only child and can marry anyone because they aren't close kin." There was a definite tone of jealousy in her voice. I thought on this conversation for a while before deciding that it meant little to me or Lucy so I filed it away in my memory bank of useless trivia. It was getting close to mid-day so I walked to the service station . My car was still up on the hoist and Lucy was peering into the bowels of the engine bay. "Any closer to working it out?" "Yes and no, I can see what the problem is but where to start? It's probably very simple once you know how." "Forget about it for now, we're having lunch remember." "How could I forget." She was close to me so it was no great feat of contortion for her to kiss me. "Don't you dare move, I won't be more than a minute." "Can I at least breathe or do you want me to hold my breath until you get back?" She didn't say anything, just ran to through a door at the back of the service bay and emerged not quite a minute later sans overalls and with a wicker basket in her hand. I made a show of releasing my breath and gasping for air. She kissed me, grabbed my hand and led me to her car. It was a pleasant drive along a winding road with green fields of some sort of crop or other on one side and a river on the other. Eventually we stopped beside a small lake, there was a small structure with a roof on four uprights, just large enough for a picnic table and a wood fired barbecue. Lucy placed the hamper on the table and began to unpack the contents. "Where did this come from? You didn't make this yourself." "I have a cousin who works at the hotel, she put it together for me." "I suppose that she asked you why you needed it." "Of course, you don't do something like this without the world wanting to know all about it. I told her that I had a lunch date with a handsome man that was full of potential." "Potential?" My memory bank of useless trivia disgorged on demand the information so recently filed. "Potential for what exactly?" She came and sat on my lap, her arm snaked around my neck and her lips found mine. "Potential to make a lonely. . . (kiss) . . frustrated. . . . (kiss) . . .randy. . . (kiss) . . . girl. . . (kiss) . . . very happy. . . (kiss, kiss, kiss) . . . You're not really hungry, are you?" "For food, no." How do you write a kiss that lasts a minute or more? My mouth was getting kissed out when our lips finally freed themselves and somewhere in that time my hands had found and released several buttons and entered her shirt to find her breasts, nipples already hard, and begin to caress them. Lucy moaned something about me clearing a space on the table so that she could lay back while her hands were busy with my trousers. I know that you're thinking that all that I'm interested in is jumping her bones and getting on with it but that wasn't the case at all, I wanted to make love to her. Decks cleared and clothes sufficiently removed I had my head between her legs and was tenderly kissing and licking her warm, moist, sweet pussy. "Oh my god I can't bear this any longer, will you please hurry up." "All in good time, I want both of us to enjoy this for as long as possible before we come." "But I have to get back to work, I can't stay out here all afternoon." "The work that you're in a hurry to get back to is my car is it?" "Yes." "What if I was to tell you that I don't give a stuff about my car right now, the most important thing to me is to make mad passionate love to you, the woman I love and want to marry." "What about your. . . " "Forget about her, I know that I have." I returned to her pussy, inserting a finger so that I could lick her clit. "Oh well I guess that I'll just have to grin and bear it." "I can see your grin from here." My eyes were not looking anywhere near her grinning mouth, I was concentrating on her pubes. In the fullness of time my attention moved over her trimmed pubes and between her beautiful breasts, pausing for a side trip to her nipples, and finally coming to rest on her lips. As I kissed her I moved between her legs and eased my cock between her sopping wet pussy lips. Heaven was right there on that table even if I did get a splinter in my knee as I entered its gates. As we drove back through town I couldn't help noticing that we were attracting a certain amount of attention. Lucy had just put her overalls back on when a car pulled up outside the service bay, a couple of girls got out. "Lucy, could you have a look at my car for me, it doesn't sound right." Lucy opened the bonnet and had a quick look. "Someone's been playing silly buggers haven't they?" She swapped a couple of sparkplug leads over and the car was running smoothly again. "This was just an excuse to come and see me to find out who this man is that I've been seen with." The girls weren't even ashamed of this obvious deception. "I'm not even going to introduce you to him because he's mine and none of you, especially you Cindy are going to get anywhere near him." "What about the dance on Saturday night, we'll all get to dance with him during the progressive barn dance, then let's see if you can keep him to yourself." "Oh damn! I forgot about the dance." "I have a solution. I'll sit out the progressive barn dance, whatever that is." "No you can't do that!" Cindy shouted. "That's not fair and it goes completely against the rules." "Rules, what rules?" I was confused and curious at the same time. "I'll explain all later. Now off you go girls and don't try fooling around with your car just to try to get to know my man." I became a permanent fixture at the service station, cleaning up and pumping fuel and doing the sort of driveway service that has completely gone in my time, more's the pity, and helping Lucy with the basic grease and oil changes. It all seemed so simple on these cars, you'd put the car on the hoist, put a container under the motor and remove the sump plug, while it was draining you'd adjust the brakes, check the oil levels in the gear box and differential, do the rounds with the grease gun making sure that all the grease points on the suspension and drive train got filled up with grease. By this time all of the oil had drained from the sump, all that was left to do before lowering the hoist was to unscrew the oil filter and on the older cars take the filter element out and flush it in some petrol before replacing it. Down on the ground the oil was replaced with oil decanted from drums into glass measure bottles with a spout on top. Once topped up the radiator was checked and topped up if necessary, the service sticker placed on the top left corner of the windscreen and it was backed out ready to be delivered to its owner. Like I said, it was simple and didn't take long for me to pick it up. I survived the Saturday night dance, just. It became obvious during the dreaded progressive barn dance that my attraction to the girls, and there seemed to have been dozens of them, was centred well below the waist, as soon as contact was made her pelvis would be thrust hard against mine. The consensus of opinion was that I was definitely not homosexual but that I was besotted by Lucy and that there was no chance of success, so the pressure was relieved. Life with Lucy was perfect, it was never boring, never routine, while there was enough work to keep us busy there was also time for a quick kiss and cuddle in the back of the lube bay or a spontaneous lunch away from work, if the weather was good we'd take a drive to some place in the country if it was bad we'd go home for. . . you know. Things were looking up for us, I was settled into Lucy's life and her house and was for the first time in living memory really happy with my life. One afternoon Lucy went off on her own, she wouldn't tell me where she was going which left me wondering what was going on, all my insecurities rose to the surface and I was beginning to panic that my life was going to come to an end when she came back. I walked out of the lube bay where I'd been working on Fred Merryman's Austin A90. It was back on the ground and the six cylinder motor sounded just as it would have the day it rolled off the assembly line all those years ago. I looked at her to see if I could guess what was about to happen, I was way off. She literally ran into my arms and gave me a huge hug and even huger kiss. "Darling, guess what, we are going to have a baby." I returned the hugs and kisses, this was great wasn't it? "I'm not surprised given that we have never used any form of birth control since that very first time when you refused to let me use a condom, not that I had one, but I was prepared to pull out. It was almost as if you wanted to fall pregnant from day one." "I did, and then you showed me that having children could and should be a shared experience between two people that loved each other and forced me to rethink my position when it came to the rule." "There's that rule again. I'd almost forgotten about that, what is this rule and why is everyone so hung up about it?" "To explain this fully I'll have to go back to the very beginning of our history and that is going to take some time so I suggest you be patient until after dinner tonight and I'll tell all." We had finished dinner and cleared away the dishes. "A hundred and fifty years ago a party of settlers were heading for a settlement out West but they were caught in a storm. There was a lot of thunder and lightning and one strike started bushfire that trapped them in this valley. The leaders took a close look at the land and decided that it was fertile and could support a reasonably large population so they decided to settle in here. Their visions of self sufficiency was almost a success except for the intervention of a couple of wars when the government authorities came and took our best men away, many of them never came back. This caused an imbalance in the male to female ratio and caused concerns about inbreeding so the leaders decreed that any male 'Outlander' that ventured into this valley should be encouraged to service as many women as possible so that there was a new bloodline in the population." "So I was the outlander, the new prize bull here to service the heifers was I?" "That was the original idea, I saw you first so I was to have you first and then I was to pass you on to the next woman, but you and your love and your whole attitude to how a man and a woman should behave changed all of that for me, I just couldn't give you up, I wasn't prepared to pass you on to the next person but I had to keep you here I had to make sure that you stayed here with me so I couldn't tell you about this until I was sure that I was pregnant and then I hoped that you wouldn't get angry with the people of this valley and leave, I couldn't let you leave." "There's no chance of that now and there hasn't been for some time, I knew how I felt about you from the very first day and in time I knew that you felt the same way strongly enough to want to break the rule, whatever it was. I think I sort of worked out what the rule was and I probably would have understood if you'd decided to obey it, but I wouldn't have been happy and I would have fought it for as long as I could." I drew her to me and kissed her gently on the lips. "I love you and that's all that matters to me, now is there anything in that rule of yours about a man making love to his pregnant wife?" "Wife?" "You don't think that our child is going to be born out of wedlock do you?" "And just when were you planning to make love to your wife?" "About now would be great, I think that it'd be a tad hypocritical for me to ask you to wait until we're married before making love, given our present circumstances I'd say the sooner the better don't you think?" "I want you to fuck me, that was how this started wasn't it?" "Have I taught you nothing?" She didn't answer me in words but by the time we had finished it was obvious that she had learnt well.