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As soon as someone died, Ailene or Thorburn said something. "You could have kicked that bucket into his path, tripped him up." You tried following him up the slope. You could have circled around, put yourself on the same level." "Did you see where you could have pushed that branch in his face, maybe blinded him. You were there before he was." "If you're going to follow him down that narrow pathway, you have to use your sword to stab, not swing." "You followed him into that doorway. I would have thought you learned that one during my demonstration today." "You're dead, stumbled over a tree limb you should have known was there." "You tried to follow him over the fence instead of going around it." "Tam, you should have told Grant he was going to step into a hole. You saw it, you were alive, he wasn't your opponent. Protect each other."

When the first group was finished, the winners started paring off again. "Keep your eyes on the action," Ailene warned the losers. "Even if you're dead and not competing anymore, you can still learn from the deaths of others. Easier to learn from the mistakes of others than make them all yourself. You only have one life."

It took most of the morning, but soon as the last man was standing, Ailene went up to him. "What's your name, sir."

"Landry, Lady Ailene."

"Have you been in battle before, Landry?"

"Aye, ma'am. I fought in Europe a few times, couple times for Thorburn. Followed him here."

"Are you the best of Thorburn's warriors, Landry?"

"Nay, Lady. I'm about the middle of the pack. Better than some, worse than others."

"You were the best today, Landry. You're the only one still alive. All the rest are dead. Look around; everyone else is gone. Did you think you were going to win today?"

"I didn't expect to, nay, Lady."

"Gentlemen, I'd like you to look at Landry, please. He freely admits he's not the best man out here, yet he's the last one standing. It's been our experience at Lady Luck that those who've fought real battles before, tend to last longer than those who've never been blooded. I imagine he pulled some stuff today the rest of you didn't expect and it's why he's standing now and we're putting the rest of you in the ground tonight. I want you to learn the same things allowing the average warrior among you make it to the end without you having to survive real battles as he did. Think about what you did right and what you did wrong and how to avoid making the same mistakes tomorrow. We're going to be going two on one and three on two. I want you to live even if you're outnumbered. For now, I want you to follow me in the kitchen."

She led everyone into the kitchen and walked them around.

"Are we here to eat lunch?" Landry asked.

"You're the only one left alive to eat lunch, Landry. I suppose you can eat. The rest are here for another purpose."

Landry sat down and started to eat, keeping an eye out, wondering what Lady Ailene was doing. Thorburn was wondering as well. She let them stand around for a few minutes, then told them all to follow her outside again.

"What were we doing in the kitchen?" Lachlan asked.

"I wanted you to look around and see what you had to defend yourself with. You were eating lunch and you just got attacked. Were you going to die again or did you have some way to protect yourself and the cook. What did you see?"

"I was thinking about lunch. I saw the stew on the fire," Lachlan said.

"I saw about thirty things with which to defend myself. I guess I'm the only one to survive lunch."

"You didn't tell us to look around for ways to defend ourselves," Tam said.

"So you're only going to live if someone tells you how to do it, Tam. Someone's going to have to yell, 'Tam, save yourself' or you'll just surrender your life."

"Well, nay. I'd do something."

"I have to admit," Thorburn said, "I didn't know why we were in the kitchen either."

"But you've been in fights before, Thorburn. You'd have thrown a table or something at your attackers."

"True," he laughed, "but I'm not sure I saw thirty things to protect myself."

"Come on, people, surely you saw something in there."

"Well, I could throw a chair at somebody," one said.

"The cook was using some knives."

"We could throw a pot at somebody."

"As long as it didn't have my stew in it," one of them joked.

"Some burning brands from the fire," Grant said.

"Or a shovelful of hot coals," added someone. "Throw those in the face and they'd be hopping."

"Even boiling water or the stew. Be like hot oil."

"Or every piece of crockery in the kitchen," Ailene said. "I can replace the crockery. I can't replace you. Serving trays, lamps, benches, pans, knives, forks, spoons, any food from a loaf of bread to a cow shank. Flour in the face, good as dust, hey, Lachlan. Every place I go now, I take note of it all, because it might become a battleground. I want you to do the same. What will you do when you're out in the open. What will you do in the barn or stables. What will you do in your bedroom. Every place you walk into from now on, look at it like your new battlefield. Things get moved around all the time. Where's the pot now compared to where it was this morning. Where's the pitchfork you used on the hay this morning when you fed the horses. Could you whip someone with reins hanging in the barn, throw horse shit in someone's face, push a wheelbarrow into someone's legs, hit them with a spade or a hammer, stab them with a chisel, hit them with a poker. You practice with swords and knives and bucklers, but if you don't have one to hand, you still have weapon's available. Know where they are all the time.

"The reason Isobel and I could beat twenty of you men wasn't because we're that much better than you. We know we're not, and we're afraid. Afraid to get captured and raped, or tortured, or be cut up. We think about those things. I don't know if you do. We know life isn't very pleasant for women who are taken. We've imagined it in our worst nightmares. The second I got killed by someone who I knew I was better than, I realized how I had to turn every little thing to my advantage, or into your disadvantage. When I go on the battlefield with you, I will use every tool at my disposal to beat you, from my skills, to my smarts, to my knowledge of where I'm fighting, to my teeth and nails if I have to. If you're not prepared to do the same, I'll win almost every time. I ought to make you dig your own graves before you eat, but if you're still hungry, you may get some lunch. While you're eating, look around a little. I might ask you again where the weapons may be found."

Thorburn leaned over Ailene and whispered, "Horse shit or flour in the face?"

"Don't get into a fight with me in the kitchen or the stables or you might find out."

Thorburn laughed and lifted her up in the air and twirled her around. "I ought to make you our battle commander. God, you're beautiful. I didn't know you had all this stuff trapped inside of you."

"I didn't either. I would have been happy to be a wife and mother. Necessity has forced me into it."

"Blackthorne best be careful when he's allowed to capture you lass, or he'll be the one needs rescuing, not you."

"Wouldn't that be nice, finally over and done with," Ailene said.