Fred Sparkrock: Burning Desires

From the cockpit of the small craft, he retrieved a laser pistol and a signal beacon. The hard plastic and polyurethane foam used for the interior could add nothing to their skimpy clothing. Slamming the airlock shut, he fiddled with the compact signal beacon. A small green dot appeared at the extreme edge of the screen, pinpointing the location of Jan's misguided landing. The signal was several hundred kilometers to the north. Ponkert had a long, arduous journey ahead of him before he would again see his lovely copilot.

"Milor-Chad, if I might suggest, we can go to my father's inn. I want nothing more to do with Yngvi or his scullery."

Since there were no better offers, Ponkert replied, "Yes. Yngvi is a louse. Lead on, fair lady!"

Terri's green eyes sparkled and she started off toward a small rise to the north. Her coral-tipped jugs bounced freely to and fro. Ponkert willingly followed. No matter what Terri's family was like, at the moment he had no better place to go.

The trek to the inn, about ten kilometers as best the Earthman could estimate, was uneventful. The caravansary, as Terri explained, was located on a main trade route between two small kingdoms. Luckily, none of the numerous caravans Terri described were en route this evening.

Despite his laser, Ponkert felt more than a little naked in this new world.

As they approached the two-story wooden inn, a series of rather high-pitched screams, definitely coming from a woman, followed by several large crashes met their ears. Grabbing Ponkert's hand, Terri trotted forward to the commotion coming from the interior of the building.

Throwing the door open, it took Ponkert but a fraction of a second to take in the scene inside. A fight was in progress. An aproned man, obviously Terri's father, was vigorously fending off the blades of three scurrilous-looking men with an iron fireplace poker.

"Highwaymen!" Terri gasped at his side.

As Ponkert stepped into the room, the innkeeper raised the poker and squarely bashed it into the head of one of his opponents. The attacker crumpled to the floor with a loud howl, then remained still, blood pooling around his head. However, one of the remaining two robbers lunged forward, jarring the innkeeper's weapon from his hand. The helpless man just managed to duck and evade the two blades that sought his throat. Steel thudded into the rough log wall of the inn as the innkeeper scurried away.

As the two highwaymen yanked their blades free, Ponkert rushed forward and grabbed one of the mens' wrists. Retaining a tight hold on the brawny arm, he twisted to his left and tugged downward. The simple application of a little leverage sent the assailant sprawling on his back on the wooden floor of the inn.

Without hesitating, Ponkert followed through his attack, dropping to one knee beside the downed man. Using his fisted hand like a hammer, he delivered a sharp atemi-waza blow to his opponent's exposed throat. A gurgling noise came from the man's mouth, followed by blood that trickled from his lips and nostrils. With his windpipe crushed, the robber would be of no further menace.

Ponkert cast a quick glance over his shoulder. The other swordsman stood behind him, his blade swinging in a high arc above his head-a blow, if ended, that would split Ponkert's head like some hollow gourd.

Almost in reflex action, the half-naked Earthman dived to the side as the blue-steel sword descended. The metal sang in a high-pitched whine as it fell through empty air that had once held its intended victim. So close was his escape from the deadly bite, that Ponkert felt the hair being shaved from his biceps.

Rolling on his shoulders in one smooth ukemi movement, Ponkert came upright and stood face-to-face with his would-be assassin. The highwayman had recovered from his empty blow and advanced. He held the wicked blade in a two-hand grasp before him. A self-assured smile of victory twisted his lips evilly.

With a loud cry, the bandit swung the razor-sharp sword over his head again and charged. As the honed length of death arced downward, Ponkert launched forward and caught one of the man's massive wrists in a perfect seoi-nage, the Earthman twisted into his assailant, throwing him over his shoulder.

To complete his attack, Ponkert, still grasping the fallen man's arm, twisted in a violent application of kansetu-waza. The joint-rending action was all that was needed to break the swordsman's arm at the elbow.

His chest heaving, the loin-clothed Earthman stepped back and viewed the results of many hours of judo and karate training. The fight had lasted less than a minute, though Ponkert, living it in the slow motion timelessness of a trained fighter, felt as if the encounter had lasted for hours.

Suddenly Terri was all over him. Her arms were tightly wound around his neck and her lips kissed wetly over his face between flourishes of praises of his strength and courage. Through the golden forest of her tresses, Ponkert watched his last opponent limp from the inn, clutching his mangled arm.

"Get away from him, you oversexed wench!" a loud voice belonging to the girl's father boomed. "I might have known my ugly daughter would come home with a common street brawler!"

The aproned innkeeper was beside them, his arms wrenching them apart-an action which Ponkert felt showed a definite lack of gratitude on the man's part. After all, he had just been saved from being skewered on the wrong end of a sword-or maybe two swords.

But before the Earthman could protest, Terri was bubbling forth a story of how Ponkert had met and defeated Sir Yngvi and fourteen of his men, chased them back to the black knight's iron castle and threatened their castration if they ventured from behind the walls again. As she went on, Ponkert was amazed to learn he was a king from some far off province on a sacred quest. He also learned his clothing was lost in a single-handed attack of the equivalent of a fire-breathing dragon.

Ponkert watched the man's face soften from a hard visage, then absolutely glow with pleasure when Terri mentioned something to the effect that the Earthman was a king from a distant land.

A wide grin splitting his face, the innkeeper slapped Ponkert on his bare back, "Milord, 'tis a pleasure for my humble house to be visited by royalty. I am called Vern Hogar and I would be greatly honored if you would deign to accept my simple hospitality. 'Tis not often I can claim that a king slept within my inn."

"I'm afraid Terri exaggerated a bit… " Ponkert began, then paused as the glow on Hogar's face started to fade. Realizing a few more words could return him to the status of a "common street brawler" he continued, "… I didn't lose my clothes fighting a dragon. But they were so scorched, I was embarrassed to be seen in them with such a beautiful lady as your daughter. So I discarded them!"

Somehow the story just didn't seem to fit right with him, but Hogar was delighted, which was all that mattered.

"By all the gods of Ulfbom, you must rule a woman-poor kingdom to think Terri the least bit attractive," Hogar laughed, once more applying a friendly, but stinging slap to Ponkert's back. "But a king is a king and I'll not dispute your word. But you must see my other daughter, Letti."

The innkeeper called out. Immediately a second girl hastened into the room from the kitchen, where she had apparently hidden during the fight.

Ponkert was hard-pressed to believe the sight that met his eyes. This gorgeous creature was a carbon copy of the girl still clinging around his neck! The same flowing blonde hair, the deep, emerald green eyes that danced with light, and the same fabulous body. His balls did some nice-feeling flip-flops. An old twentieth century advertising slogan flashed through his mind, "Double your pleasure, double your fun!"

From the corner of his eye, Ponkert noticed Terri's mouth turn up slightly with disapproval at the gaze he had given her sister. But a quick light kiss remedied the frown.