Rough and Ready by Sandra Hill

woman-sweat.
    Methinks it turns you lustsome seeing us wimmen bendin' and stretchin' our female parts."
    Pretty Boy, not missing a beat, replied, "Oh, yeah, honey, that churns my butter, all right." Then Pretty Boy changed to a simple toe touching exercise in rotations of twenty. At that point, a disgusted Frida, the cook, who had to weigh two hundred pounds, swore in Norse and told Pretty Boy, "If the gods wanted me ta touch me toes, they would have put them on me knees." With that, she stomped off to her kitchen.
    Pretty Boy laughed at Frida's abrupt departure and said, "Hey, ladies, remember: the only easy day was yesterday."
    To which, one woman yelled, "Yesterday I was wrestling sheep to ground.
    Naught
    is harder than that. You want to wrestle?"
    "Not right now, sweetheart. Maybe later."
    Cage had set up a target on a tall evergreen tree outside near the forest. He was instructing a group of women in knife-throwing, telling them how to aim for the fat line on a man: that area between the neck and the groin, where all the vital organs were located. Plus, they had constructed homemade slingshots and were practicing with those, too. He was having more success than some of the others with his lessons.
    Earlier, Torolf had hacked the narrow side limbs off of the straight trunk of a pine tree and taught a group of women in braies how to free-climb so that hopefully they would be able to gain quick access to the upper ramparts of Norstead and Amberstead. They were all going to have cuts and splinters in their hands by nightfall and black-and-blue butts from their numerous falls.
    JAM was doing defensive moves: karate, Tae Bo, that kind of thing, including the throwing star. "Come on, Max. Let's show them how to react when danger comes on you suddenly, and you don't have a weapon handy."
    A dozen sets of eyes watched closely as he approached.
    JAM said, "Pretend I'm approaching Steinolf's keep, turning left and right, surveying the area carefully, but this creep comes up behind me."
    "What is a creep?" one woman asked.
    "Bad guy," JAM answered.
    JAM pretended to be walking forward, glancing right and left, when Torolf came up behind him and wrapped an arm around his neck, pressing a knife into his back. JAM twisted and had him flying over his head, landing on his back. The women gasped in surprise, but it was no big deal. This was a maneuver they practiced over and over in PT.
    "Now, let's suppose we are approaching each other directly, both of us armed…
    in
    this case, with knives," JAM said.
    He and JAM walked warily toward each other. In a blink, Torolf had lifted a leg and karate-kicked JAM in the gut. When JAM bent slightly to get his breath, Torolf used his foot to hook him behind the knees and bring him to the ground.
    In less than a second, he had JAM on his back, with his hands held over his head with one fist, and a knife to his neck.
    " 'Tis unfair fighting that way," one woman said.
    "Lady, there's nothing fair about war," JAM replied.
    "We could never learn to do that," one woman complained.
    "Yes, you could. These maneuvers are taught in women's self-defense classes all the time. Let's partner up and practice a few exercises."
    Torolf's eyes connected with Hilda's at the edge of the group, just as she swiveled and began to leave. When she glanced over her shoulder and saw him following, she began to run. But he ran faster and with a flying leap, he tackled her, rolling at the last minute so that he took the brunt of the fall.
    While he lay on his back with Hilda on top of him, her back to him, he deliberately placed one hand flat over her belly and the other arm across her chest, holding her in place.
    He was laughing as JAM was telling everyone, "That's another move that can be used, even by a woman on a man. Roll with the blow. Hey, Max, how about doing that again?"
    "Later," he said.
    Hilda began to struggle, but he was still laughing, holding her even tighter.
    Into her ear, he whispered, "So, who's calling