Buck's Phototales

As the swinging doors opened, I looked up from where I was seated, concentrating on a plate of refried beans
as I took my repast at a table located to the rear of the dining area of Aunt Chilada's Cantina.

A tall, dark-haired Amazon made her way through the entrance and paused at the threshhold.

She gazed purposefully first to her left and then to her right as though she were quickly accessing her situation.

Anyone who has eaten at a place where there are regular customers has witnessed something akin to this same performance.
It is done either for dramatic effect or else the individual may appear to bear a somewhat desperate look on their face
as they gaze furtively about seeking to gain the reassurance of a familiar face.

In the case of this individual, I expect that the Amazon was in full possession of all the self assurance she would ever need
and that all she required at the moment was a table and a chair on which to seat herself.

Having spotted one at no great distance from my own, she made directly for it and sat down, casting a meaningful eye
in the direction of the barmaid who, to her credit, quickly completed whatever chore that had been keeping her occupied.
The girl stepped quickly out from behind the counter and walked over to attend to the needs and wants of her latest customer.

"Aunt Chilada is expecting me! Please tell her that Autumn Gunn has arrived as promised! And bring me something to wet my whistle while I'm waiting!"

The barmaid returned to her post where she drew a pitcher of whatever favored brew was on tap that day.
She returned to her customer carrying both the pitcher and a glass, and, filling the glass carefully, she set both down on the table.
She gazed briefly at her patron who nodded her satisfaction, and the barmaid turned on her heel and disappeared
through a door marked Private that opened through the woodwork beside the bar.

In what was no more than a matter of moments, Aunt Chilada emerged from her office and the barmaid indicated the table
where the woman who called herself Autumn Gunn was seated sipping from her glass.
Aunt Chilada made in her direction as the barmaid returned to her post.

The greeting between the two women was brief and perfunctory and did not appear at first glance to be overly cordial.
Aunt Chilada picked up the pitcher and I thought for a moment that perhaps the proprietor had asked her guest to leave.
Instead, the Amazon arose from where she was seated and headed for the private office
while Aunt Chilada gathered up the glass and followed her guest and closed the door behind them.

It was not until some time later that I gathered anything of the conversation that ensued behind that closed door.

"I got here just as quickly as I could, Queen Chilada!"

"I realize that, Autumn Gunn!
And I appreciate it!
Believe me when I say that I detest having to call on any of you women from beyond the Gate!
Realizing as I do, what it often costs you to enter here!"

"How do you feel now?"

"As you can see, I have recovered fully and am the very picture of health, my Queen!"

"Good! Excellent! Ah, but perhaps one day when all else is said and done then none of these affairs will be necessary!"

"But as long as the Amazon Spirit is to assume a human form, then death becomes a necessary part of life, does it not, my Queen?"

"I fear that what you say will always be so, Autumn!
By the way! As long as you remain here, I am your Aunt Chilada! Just as I am to everyone else! Is that clear, Autumn Gunn?"

"Certainly, my - uh - Aunt Chilada!"

"Good! Now then! Shall we proceed to the problem at hand?"

"By all means, Aunt Chilada!"

"Did you happen to take notice of that older gentleman seated at a table at no great distance from your own?"

"The man eating that plate full of beans?
Well, being that he was the only male in the room at the time, I would have to say that yes, I did!"

"But you very well might have taken no notice of him otherwise?"

"Probably not, no! Why? Is he the one?"

"Without that gentleman, Autumn Gunn, the Gate will close irrevocably!
It will disappear entirely!
You have no idea of the ages it took to locate this particular individual!"

"But if the Gate were to close, then that would leave us with no buffer zone between our own Amazon Territory and those demons from the Netherworld beneath the Portal!"

"Those fierce, frenzied females who are virtually impossible to put down for so much as a moment!"

"The Portal! Yes! And without this Middle Ground! So you see how vital this becomes to us all?"

"Does the old gentleman have any idea how dear that makes him to us?
Why, without him we would be granted no peace at all!
We might not even be permitted to exist!"

"I don't believe that he has any real idea, Autumn Gunn!
And he likely would not believe it were any of us to attempt to explain our situation to him!
But now you know why it is that I have sent for you!"

"It is both an honor and a privilege to serve you in this cause, my - Aunt Chilada!
But if he is the man I think he is, then wouldn't the Lady Sabre be here to look after him?
By that I mean only that I've often heard that she speaks highly of him!"

"The Lady Sabre is due to arrive at any day now, Autumn Gunn!"

"Once she received word of what is developing here, there was no way of stopping her!
She will head directly for Simpson's Farm where you are to join forces with her!"

"What are we to be pitted against, if I may ask?"

"You have every right to ask, Autumn Gunn!
And every need to know! Your adversary is none other than Queen Mahala herself!"

"Queen Mahala!
I might have known!
A devil in her own right if ever there was one!"

"Mahala! Yes!
And she has vowed to see that the Gate to this Middle Ground is closed now and forever more by eliminating he who is the Keeper of the Gate!"

"How many warriors does Mahala have with her?"

"To be perfectly frank, we don't know how many have arrived thus far!"

"But she has what we suppose is an almost limitless number of warriors at her disposal?"

"Which she will keep throwing at you relentlessly unless ..."

"Unless?"

"Unless Queen Mahala herself is eliminated!"

"That is no small order, my Queen!"

"Aunt! Remember?"

"Yes, Aunt Chilada!"

"But not the least of your difficulties will be presented by Buck Simpson himself!"

"Buck Simpson?"

"The Keeper of the Gate!"

"The old man consuming the plate full of beans?
But what difficulty could he possibly cause me?
He has to worry about his own digestive system! Not I!"

"Autumn, you must remember that the Lady Sabre and I, and perhaps one or two others,
are the only Amazons with whom Buck Simpson has become, dare I say? Intimately acquainted!"

"Ah! I see! So Buck Simpson is under the impression that all Amazons are friendly, misunderstood females, does he?"

"It may be even more serious a thing that that, Autumn!
Buck Simpson has said that he does not really enjoy seeing any woman killed!"

"What?
Oh! Now! Aunt Chilada!
Come now! Really!
And this one is our Keeper of the Gate to the Middle Ground?
Why, he's virtually a Merchant of Death!
How else does he suppose that his Amazons most often seek access to his precious Gate in the first place?"

"He does not know!"

"He does not?"

"I have never told him, and I know for a fact that the Lady Sabre nor any other has either!
They fear to strike such horror into him that he will lose whatever control he exerts over the existence of the Gate!
Or perhaps they are not even entirely certain that they have been truly slain and yet rise to live again themselves!
Who really knows?"

"Well, now that I pause to reflect, there really is no clear recollection of the actual dying is there?"

"Mercifully, no!
Else which of us would ever be willing to risk enduring all of that pain and suffering again?"

"But if Buck Simpson does not thoroughly enjoy the prospect of we women being killed,
then how, may I ask, did he ever find himself enmeshed in all of this sort of thing to begin with?"

"He refers to it as Fantasy, if you will!"

"Fantasy?
As in Make-Believe?
In other words, a Performance? "

"To the best of my understanding, that is it, precisely!
I see that you perhaps understand the man more completely that I do myself!"

"I don't say that I understand it all exactly, Aunt Chilada!
Only that I can describe the situation!"

"Still, it is better than many will ever do!
Do you think that you can handle this operation?"

"I am likely more fully qualified to handle whatever Mahala is able to throw our way
than I am to make that gentleman out there in your dining room understand why it is that I have to do it, Aunt Chilada!"

I had finished eating my repast of Aunt Chilada's refried beans and would have been gone
by the time that the two women reemerged from the office, but for the fact that the barmaid had a sudden flurry of business.
I had not had the opportunity to settle my tab, and since I had nothing particular on the agenda for the afternoon,
I was in no real hurry and so had seen fit to bide my time and not attempt to add to the confusion.

As things turned out, it was just as well that I had waited.
Aunt Chilada went behind the bar to fill a fresh pitcher, handed her companion two new glasses from the rack over the bar,
and the woman turned and headed back in the direction of the table at which she had seated herself when she first arrived.

But the table was currently occupied by several of the later arrivals, and so the woman looked about again for a moment and her eyes met mine.

Now, there's nothing either furtive or subtle about me, I'm afraid.
There isn't now and there never has been.
I've been caught looking at least as many times as any man alive and quite possibly more often than that.
Much to my surprize, instead of looking away, the Amazon smiled and promptly set forth in the direction of the table at which I had remained seated.

"It's suddenly rather crowded in here! So do you mind if I join you?"

"Why, no! Not at all" I said as I rose hastily to my feet. "As a matter of fact, I was hoping that you would!"

"And you won't even have to buy this lady a drink! You see? I came prepared! Do you mind if I pour?"

"Well, now! That's mighty generous of you, Miss!"

"My name is Autumn Gunn, Mr Simpson!"

"How do you do, Autumn? It's Buck to everyone who knows me, and Uncle Buck to some of 'em!"

"I feel as though I've known you for ages, Uncle Buck!
You see, Aunt Chilada has just told me a great deal about you!"

"She did? My! I hope it wasn't anything too bad!
But then I'm sure that you know full well not to believe more'n half of what you hear!"

"Tell me, Uncle Buck! Was it really you who discovered the Gate?"

"The Amazon Gate?
Well, yes! In a way!
To tell you the truth, I think that it was more likely Sabre herself who discovered it that day!
I guess it was more or less by accident! Or could be that it was the old Night Mare!"

"Nightmare?"

"My neighbor, Ed Newton has this horse who likes to push a rail out of her corral and wander periodically, you see!
Usually at some time during the wee hours of the morning!"

"Oh! I get it! A Night Mare! A horse! How clever!
But tell me, Uncle Buck! Can you show anyone - someone like me, for instance - the way to the Gate?"

"I can and will show you to the place where I've seen the Gate appear, Autumn!
That is, if you're sure you'd like to?
It's kind of rough going in places!"

"Oh! I'm well used to that, Uncle Buck!"

"The only thing of course is that I can't promise you that the Gate will actually be there!"

"Not be there, Uncle Buck? I'm afraid that I don't understand!"

"Autumn, locating the precise whereabouts of the Amazon Gate seems to me to be more of a matter of need, or a state of mind perhaps,
rather than simply because anyone takes the notion that they'd like to know where it is!"

"But if you don't know where something may be, then how can you or anyone ever hope to find it when they need to, Uncle Buck?"

"I don't rightly know the answer to that, Autumn!
It's just that the Amazon Gate seems to sort of suddenly loom up right there in front of you whenever it appears!"

"I guess that perhaps you've explained why the Lady Sabre doesn't visit you more often, Uncle Buck!
Perhaps she has a difficult time finding the Gate too!"

"You could be right, Autumn! I just kind of assumed that all Amazons knew the location of the Gate!"

"Oh! Not at all, Uncle Buck!
Why, I'll bet that there are any number of us that never do find the Gate, no matter how long or hard they try!"

"Well, I guess that tends to explain why I don't see much of my Amazon warrior-friends as much as I'd like to! That's for sure!"

"Why, yes, Buck!
I'm certain that it does!"

There was a brief lull in our conversation and the Amazon took it as an opportunity to refill our glasses from the pitcher.
She set my glass down in front of me, raised her own to her lips, smiled at me coquetishly over the rim,
then set her glass down on the table as though she had just decided on something and looked me squarely in the eye.

"Uncle Buck? I've been meaning to ask you something! That is, if it's okay with you?"

"I guess it's okay to ask me anything, Autumn! What's the worst I could say? Ask away!"

"Well, you see, Uncle Buck! It so happens that I don't seem to have much in the way of money right now and ..."

"You are in need of a small loan to tide you over?" I completed her sentence for her when it probably would have been better if I hadn't.

"Actually, I'd be more interested in having a place to stay for a few days!
Aunt Chilada has a few rooms for lodgers here, but right now, she's full up!"

"I must have chuckled before I made any other response to her request.

"May I ask, what's so funny?"

"Autumn, back when I was a young Buck, girls like you wouldn't so much as give me an appreciative nod!
And now that I'm old and harmless, I get an offer that I can't very well refuse!
Sure! Certainly you I can find room for you out at my place! For just as long as you'd care to stay!"

"My thanks to you, Uncle Buck! That will make my job here ever so much easier!"

"Everyone's got to have some base of operations, Autumn!
It's no palace but at least it will be a roof over your head!"

Autumn walked along beside be as we made our way to the bar where I was to settle my tab.
But Aunt Chilada waved me away, for which I thanked her.

"Another time, Buck!
Say! Autumn! Are you with him? Look out for that old rascal, will you?"

"He says he's harmless, Aunt Chilada!"

"Harmess? Ha! Look out for that kind!
His mind is still quite willing and sometimes that's all that counts!"

I was to learn some time later that as Autumn Gunn and I left Aunt Chilada's,
a number of the group that had gathered there stared silently at the door as it closed behind us.

"Dammit all! I knew we should've moved in quicker when we had the chance!
That old geezer won't pose us any problem at all!
But now that he's got that Amazon looking after him, this don't look to be so all-fired easy!"

"Aw, relax!
Here! Pour yourself another drink!
We'll give 'em a few days and when Autumn drops her guard just a wee bit ...
Pow! We'll let 'em have it!
First her! Then him!
And the Gate's as good as ours! I'm tellin' ya! There's nothin' to it!"

I always enjoy showing my guests around the old home place.
The house is something over two hundred years old and there's hardly a truly modern board in it
so by modern standards I suppose that everything about it is impossibly antiquated.
But it's been kept in good if not excellent condition and I like it and always have,
so I was not the least bit ashamed to show Autumn around.

"Your home is beautiful, Buck! And so comfortable! It's almost as though it were bidding me welcome!"

"And yet you say that you would prefer to bed down out in the barn, Autumn?"

"We Amazons are outdoor girls by nature, Buck!"

"I suppose! It must have taken her three visits here before I could coax Sabre to spend the night indoors!
Pariah, as I recall, wasn't quite as stand-offish!
But then I guess that she was in considerable pain what with that ankle of hers and all!"

"Pariah? You mean the Gleaner? She has visited you too?"

"Over the years, yes! A fair number of times! Not so much lately though, unfortunately!"

"Could you show me around the barn, Uncle Buck?"

"Oh, yes! Sure! Here!
Let me get something to freshen up the bedroll so's you can make yourself comfortable!
That is, if you're sure you won't change your mind and take a room here inside the house?"

"Your barn will be fine, Uncle Buck!"

"Okay! But the offer remains open all night!"

"Thanks, Uncle Buck! You're so sweet!"
And Autum Gunn gave me one of those apparently impulsive female body-hugs that're enough
to make all your hair stand on end and your socks roll up and' down
even if nothing else seems to work the way it did once upon a time!

As Autumn Gunn settled into her bedroll for the night, the thought kept running through her mind, Sabre and now Pariah!
Other than Mahala herself, those two have to be among the the deadliest female warriors on either side of the Gate!
And Buck Simpson has befriended them both!
Why, if Mahala knew this and were to play her cards right, she could turn on the charm and wrap the old boy right around her finger!
He'd be apt to give her the key to the Gate if it had one!
No wonder Queen Chilada is so concerned!

One thing was for certain!
Old Buck would be safe enough as long as he stayed inside the house!
That old place has a hedge or protection around it at least a foot thick!

The Amazon hunkered down in her bedroll but if she slept at all, it was with one eye open, or so she thought.
The night breeze that was blowing in gentle gusts made the old building creak and crack with unfamiliar noises.
It seemed to the woman that she was awakened every five minutes.
Then all of a sudden she was startled by something and she was instantly alert!

A pair of the darkest eyes she had ever beheld were staring intently into her own.
Instinctively, Autumn Gunn's right hand moved for the gun that lay by her side.
Then she was made very much aware of the knife blade that had materialized at her throat!
The face that hovered over her broke into a mirthless smile and Autumn realized perhaps for the first time
that the face was inverted - upside down!

"You so much as think of making a play for that gun of yours and I may just have to cut your throat from ear to ear!"
A low voice hissed. "Now relax! I'm a friend!
And you set that thing off and you're apt to scare that old fellow in the house over there out of a year's growth!
It so happens that I have a soft spot in my heart for him! I really do!"

Autumn craned her neck around slowly for a look at her captor and found it difficult to believe that the woman
had a soft spot anywhere!

"Now then!" Slide both your arms out from under those blankets real slow and easy!
Then keep your hands where I can see them! That's the way! Now then! Who are you?"

"I'm called Autumn Gunn! Queen Chilada sent for me!"

"Did she now! Did she tell you why?" The Amazon asked as she returned her knife to its sheath.

"Mahala has lead a party of warriors through the Portal in an attempt to find the Gate!"

"And to see to it that the Gate to the Middle Ground remains sealed forever, I would expect! When did you arrive?"

"Only this afternoon! I went straight to Queen Chilada!"

"I see! You'd best fill me in on the details later! How did you come to be here?"

"I met Buck Simpson at Chilada's Cafe!"

"Ha! Still picking up girls at his age, is he? He should be ashamed of himself!"

"Actually, it was more a case of the other way 'round! I approached him first!"

"I'm glad you said that, Autumn! Now perhaps I won't have to read him the Riot Act!"

"Riot Act?"

"The part of it that deals with allowing oneself to be picked up by stray women!"

"Why, you must be the Lady Sabre that Aunt Chilada told me about!"

"I guess that I am, at that, Autumn!"

"Then we are supposed to be helping one another!"

"I'd be grateful for that, Autumn!"

"Does Buck Simpson know that you're here?"

"No! And we're going to do our best to see to it that he doesn't either!
At least not until some time after we have the chance to set the present situation to rights!"

"Then I guess that you and I are going to have to slip out of here before daybreak, Lady Sabre!"

"You're catching on quickly, kid!"

Later that morning, the two Amazon warriors had traversed a swamp and were now making their way through a thinly wooded forest.

"Where are we headed, Sabre?
And why were you so anxious to leave before dawn? I would have liked to thank Buck Simpson for the hospitality he has shown me!"

"To answer your first question, Autumn, we're headed for the Gate to this Middle Ground!
I just came through it myself early last evening, so with any luck at all it ought to still be there when we meet up with the Gleaner!"

"Is she the crippled warrior they call the Pariah?"

"That she is, Autumn! Lame she may be, but there's no better warrior to have acting as a rear guard in a fight!
Now, in answer to your second question, I'd have to say that from your own experience you know what a soft touch old Buck can be!
Were Mahala to try working a few of her womanly wiles on him, he'd be inclined to give her a personal escort to the Gate!
Better to tell him of our exploits afterward rather than before hand. We've got to save the man from himself sometimes!"

The two women hiked on in silence for a while and then Autumn caught her companion by the arm.

"Sabre!" she whispered hoarsely. "Do you think that we're being followed?"

"Yes! And we have been for some time now! Mahala wants the Gate to the Middle Ground closed at least as badly as we need to hold it open!
They probably won't attack before we catch sight of it! But once we do, we'd best be ready for anything!"

And it wasn't long before Autumn exclaimed, "Sabre! Look! Over there! Is that it?"

"Damn! It is! And here I'd hoped to lead Mahala around in circles to give our reinforcements time to arrive!"

Autumn Gunn heard the familiar sound of automatic weapons being made ready.
"Sabre! Get down!"

Several rifles cracked and bullets tore through the trees just over the heads of the two women who had only just managed to duck in time.

"There's a line of bunkers in front of the Gate! We'd better get there and fast!" Sabre said as she drew her sword
while Autumn made certain that her own weapon was ready for action.

"Go! I'll cover you!"

Sabre bobbed and weaved as she sprinted for the cover offered by the bunker
while Autumn Gunn fired a burst into the woods behind them to cover their retreat.

"I'm gonna be about as useful as teats on a bull with this thing!" Sabre waved her sword around in disgust.
"Autumn Gunn, honey? I'm afraid the outcome of this set to is going to be left entirely up to you!"

"Don't you think that at least some of it depends on Mahala's warriors, Sabre?"
Autumn grinned at her companion, but then a bullet ricocheted off a wall of the bunker and she sobered quickly.

"Damn! That was close! Mahala's warriors know how to use their guns, worse luck!"

"Did you think that they wouldn't?"

"Hey! I can always hope for the best, can't I?" Autumn countered.
"That's it, babe! You just go and stick your head up again the way you just did!"

BLAM!

"Ha! I just bagged one of 'em!"

"I only got 'er in the shoulder, but it should be enough to keep her out of action!

"I'll do better next time, Sabre! Just you watch me!

"Hey! How about this bare-chested one?

"So! Y'wanna die like an Amazon, do ya?"

"Then take a load of this!"

BLAM! B_BAM! BLAM! B-BAM!

"I've got to calm down a little and play this kind of on the cool side! I didn't carry all that much ammo with me on this trip!"

Suddenly a furious fussilade of shots came in their direction.
Autumn Gunn managed to duck to safety but in the midst of the barrage, Sabre yelped in pain and surprize.

"Sabre! You're hit! Is it bad?"

"Bad enough, I guess!" Sabre spoke through gritted teeth. "
I was lucky, I guess! Caught a ricochet!
But I think the damn think has busted my arm!
Sorry, kid! I seem to have gone from bad to worse in a hurry!"

But then, suddenly, Autumn Gunn was on her feet and firing with deadly accuracy.

"Miserable bitches!
Hit one of mine, will you?
Now I'll show you how this is done once and for all!"

BLAM!

B-Blam!

BLAM!

Up until a matter of moments prior to this, Autumn Gunn had been in complete possession of a cool head, a keen eye, perfect timing,
and perhaps more than a fair amount of good luck.

But her concern for the plight of her new-found friend may have caused a lapse in Autumn's intense concentration,
and in a running gun battle, any lapse will almost inevitably result in fatal consequences.

Autumn Gunn stood up to fire a moment too long with the result that she took a slug dead center in the region of her upper chest.

Sabre heard the sound of the impact and saw Autumn Gunn go bolt upright as the bullet struck home and she toppled back.

Somehow, Sabre managed to catch the stricken warrior and lower her gently to the ground, knowing at the same time that the girl was dead.

"I got her! Mahala! I got her!" Exhulted the opposing warrior who had just killed Autumn Gunn.
Her cries of jubilation were destined to be short-lived however, for Sabre had retrieved Autumn's weapon from where in fell,
aimed in the general direction of the exhuburant warrior and squeezed the trigger.

In the resulting burst of gunfire, at least one or two of the slugs found the intended target
and the warrior's jubilation was ended as she pitched back and fell from view.

A momentary hush fell over the field of battle.
Then came the order, "Okay, Ladies! On your feet! Move forward and mop her up! That one gun is empty! Attack!"

Sabre tossed the now useless weapon aside and grasped her sword in her left hand.

"No one can call Mahala, stupid!" Sabre spoke aloud. "She knows that I don't know how to reload even if I had the bullets!"

Sabre looked out across the clearing at the line of Mahala's warriors who were advancing cautiously in her direction.

"I guess this may be my day to go down swinging!"
Sabre gritted her teeth as she sized up her chances pitted alone against the opposition,
which she calculated to lay somewhere between slim and none at all!
"Six to one aren't favorable odds in anybody's book!"

But then, from the entrance to the Gate that lay behind her, Sabre heard an imperious shout that was not to be denied!

Sabre! Get your ass down! Now!

And without so much as a moment's hesitation, Sabre threw herself headlong to the ground
just as a fussilade of arrows ripped through the air!

And the next thing of which Sabre became aware was a chorus of screams
followed quickly by a series of yelps, grunts, groans and moans as each of Mahala's remaining warriors fell to a shaft through her breast or belly!

Sabre craned her neck around to look back at the Amazon Gate as she scrambled to her feet.
Pariah had arrived with no fewer than twenty archers in her company! The Gleaner limped hurriedly forward.

"Sabre! You're wounded!"

"Yes! And poor Autumn Gunn is dead!"

"For which I am truly sorry, Sabre! We arrived as quickly as we could!"

"And just in time to pull my fat from the fire!"

"Sabre! The voice of Mahala broke in upon their celebratory mood.
"What do you say? You and me! Just we two!
Just like in the Old Days! I win and I walk away! Agreed?"
Sabre stared stonily at the Gleaner, then nodded grimly as she turned away from her friend.

"No, Sabre! You can't do this! Your wound!"

"I'll have to fight Mahala with one hand then, won't I?" Sabre said, looking down at the body of Autumn Gunn.
"I owe you this much, Autumn Gunn!
You're on, Mahala!
It's a deal!
Beat me and you walk away!"

Mahala strode confidently forward to meet Sabre who stood waiting, her sword gripped in her left hand.
Mahala noted that her opponent was attempting to hide the fact that her right arm was useless.

"So! You think to fight me with one hand? I'd be insulted if my own position weren't so unenviable!
You, M'Lady Sabre, are out of your mind!"

"We'll just have to see about that, Mahala! Make yourself ready!"

"For this, M'Lady, I was born ready!"

The combatants assumed their stance then circled warily about as each studied the other
much as would a pair of wrestlers or prize fighters - each seeking a weakness in the other through which she might gain an advantage.

Both of the Amazons were big women and Sabre's advantage was that she was likely the stronger of the two.
Except for the fact that her wound forced her to fight using one arm, and her left one at that.
The Lady Sabre was for all intents and purposes right-handed and were circumstances otherwise,
she probably would have been the odds-on favorite in the contest.
Mahala was counting on her opponent's handicap to capitalize on what she thought was to her advantage.

Mahala was the first to make her move, and, clasping the hilt of her weapon in both hands, she launched her attack.
She came at Sabre swinging the heavy blade of the bronze age, fully expecting to land a blow intended to disarm her opponent.

But instead of standing rooted to the ground to bear the brunt of the blow,
Sabre lunged forward to meet the stroke with a countermove of her own and,
catching Mahala's blade with her own, she managed to thwart the stroke before it had gathered its full momentum.

So rather than have the pleasure of seeing her opponent's sword fly from her hand and go ringing harmlessly away,
Mahala was left stumbling to recover her balance.

"So! This is the way it will be, is it!" Mahala growled. "We shall see about that!"

The Amazons squared off again and Mahala launched a second, shorter stroke that Sabre caught with her sword.
The blades slid together and locked at the hilts as the two women stood nose-to-nose with each one trying to literally
out-muscle the other in a contest of sheer strength.

Their efforts left both women panting for breath as they broke the clinch.
Sabre's arm was throbbing painfully and she wondered how long she could stave off her Mahala's attack.
From the first her plan had been to defend against Mahala's assault and to take her down when she became winded.
"Had I the use of both arms, I could hew her down like a tree! But with just one?" The Amazon was not entirely certain!"

For her own part, Mahala had found that she was no match for her powerful opponent in what had come to be a contest of sheer strength!
She had counted upon an easy victory over her one-armed opposition!
But now that the contest was threatening to become a matter of endurance, Mahala was no longer as altogether confident as she had been.

Again the Amazons circled one another before they came together.
This time when they broke their clinch, Sabre stumbled slightly and she lowered her guard long enough for Mahala
to direct a slap at Sabre's wounded arm.

The blow in and of itself was not damaging, but the pain that shot up her arm seemed to radiate throughout her frame
and was enough to almost paralyze Sabre, and it brought her to one knee.

"Thou art mine now, Sabre!" Mahala exhulted and leaped forward to launch a stroke that was intended to put an end to her adversary.

But in her over-confidence, Mahala threw caution to the wind and so came swinging her sword over her head as though it were an axe.

At that moment, Sabre recovered herself sufficiently to bring her own weapon to bear,
the point of the heavy blade taking the charging Mahala directly through the navel!
And Sabre had no second thoughts about driving it deep!

It may have been the forward momentum of Mahala's charge that lead to her own undoing.
Nevertheless, Sabre was in no proper frame of mind to take any further undue risks and so she lunged forward,
driving her blade deep into her enemy's gut.

Mahala went goggle-eyed and Sabre, in the heat of rage, was inclined to rock or twist the blade even as it was buried in the woman's belly!

She restrained herself however and as Mahala wobbled, Sabre pulled her sword and stood watching as the woman sank slowly to her knees.

"You've killed me, Sabre! I shall be remembered only as she who was defeated by a one-armed warrior!"

"But you had me worried for a moment, Mahala!"

"I had no choice, Sabre!"

"There is little for you to do now other than to Assume the Position, Mahala!"
Sabre said as she laid her hand upon the woman's shoulder and gently toppled her over backward.

"Sabre!" The Gleaner came forward grasping an arrow. "Let me put a splint on your arm!
I have little enough opportunity to practice my craft as a Medicine Woman!"

Sabre tried not to wince as Pariah cleaned and dressed her wound.

"There, now! That splint ought to hold until Aunt Chilada can get you fixed up with a cast!
That was a damn-fool thing you did, you know!" The Gleaner said in reproof of her patient.
"Taking on a warrior such as Mahala! Wounded and with the use of only one arm!
If she'd killed you, it would have been nothing more than what you deserved!"

"You may be right about that, Gleaner! Mahala's dying words were that she had no choice!
Do you really imagine that either one of us had one?"

"I suppose that you are right, Sabre!" Pariah conceded. "Although perhaps you had a better option than Mahala!
Had you refused her challenge, it could have been on legitimate grounds. You are wounded, after all!"

"Yes! But who will remember that in another hundred years?" Sabre grinned at her friend.
"All that anyone would recall would be that the Amazon Lady Sabre had walked away from a fight!"

"Still and all! That was better than the prospect that Mahala was faced with!
Do you think for a moment that those twenty archers I had with me would be inclined to allow her to escape?"

"Speaking of your archers, where are they? I meant to thank them for saving my life!"

"They have quietly faded back into Amazon territory, seeing that their services are no longer required!"

"Then you are faced with the prospect of picking up around here alone, Gleaner? I will stay and help you! I've one good arm, at least!"

"You can see that we have a head start on the process, Sabre! The archers gathered in the warriors that they shot down!"

"I see that they have left some of their arrows behind for you, Gleaner! Now, that was considerate of them!"

"Not as considerate as you might think, Sabre!
Our Queen Chilada is one of the traditional sort who prefers than an arrow be left protruding from the corpse of an enemy
in the belief that it prevents the Spirit from leaving the body!"

"It strikes me as strange that you would hold with such a superstitious practice, Gleaner!"

"I did not say that I did!" The Gleaner replied irritably.
"A good arrow is a valuable asset and leaving it behind cuts into my margin of profit!
But Queen Chilada sees to it that I am well compensated otherwise, so who am I to argue?"

"Autumn Gunn made some particularly fine shots for as long as she was able to do so! Wouldn't you say so, Sabre?"

"Yes! But then I would have to credit Mahala with providing her with some rather fine specimans as targets, Gleaner!"

"I trust that you will be heading back to Aunt Chilada's, Sabre?"

"Yes! I want give this arm of mine time to mend! And then there is the matter of its regaining strength!"

"It would appear to me that you do rather well using one arm! Are you going to tell Buck about Mahala's brief incursion?"

"Oh, I expect that he will hear about it one time or another!"

"But not from you, I gather?"

"We ladies dare not relate all our small secrets, do we, Gleaner? What will you do now, may I ask?"

"Well, first of all, I must see that the bodies of these warriors are all moved safely
to the other side of the Gate before it closes once again!"

"Do you need my help?"

"No, Sabre! Thank you all the same! I have a horse to pull the litter! I shall do nicely!
T'would be best were you to report back to Queen Chilada!
She will be anxious to know the outcome of this affair!"

"Do you know, Gleaner? I think that my only lasting regret is the loss of Autumn Gunn!
It seems that no matter how long you and I may continue to exist, each new generation seems to think
that killing is a fine new solution and an original idea!"

---

I learned of this episode in dribs and drabs on those occasions when I frequented Aunt Chilada's eating place.
To be honest, by the way the tale kept getting stretched and varnished as it was related to me by various historians,
I wasn't at all certain what was based on fact how much had been added to liven the account.

Several months later, Sabre put in her appearance and I trusted her to set the record straight. She didn't.

When I asked her about her one-armed sword fight, all she said at first was, "Well, aren't most of them fought using one hand?"

"But the left arm, Sabre? You're right-handed, aren't you?"

"Why, sure I am, Buck! But up in that Cold Country to the north ...

"They don't call me South Paw for nothing, you know!"