He shrugged. "You need to know, if you're going to help me."
So I started my training. I started with a simple task, to close my eyes and describe where each of the soldiers in the camp was.
Mostly they were just inside, and I could actually remember where they were sitting. One of the soldiers, usually Junior, when he wasn't out on two day patrol, sat in the door and told me whether I was right.
Once I got good at remembering where they were, they started moving around. I was thrilled when, on the third night, I felt them moving in my head. Every night for an hour or so I would sit there with my eyes closed, meditating, and gradually extending the distance that I could feel the locations of living things.
I felt as though my eyes had been opened. I became aware that the camp was just part of a greater community. I could feel the trees, the horses, the fish, and the birds in the trees.
I became aware of the men, how they were feeling. I could feel them in the camp. The most amazing part was how much more aware of their feelings I was when I made love to them. It lifted me to a whole new level;
I could feel the desires that they didn't even know how to express, and often I could anticipate them. And when they came, I shared in the explosion of pleasure in a completely new fashion, and doubled my enjoyment.
In the third week, the men had found a big party of the enemy thugs coming through, so several of them missed out on their rest day. I was left behind, alone, at camp. I realised that this was the first time since I arrived in the city that I was properly alone.
In all that time, I had never even slept behind a closed door. I spent the morning in a frenzy of cleaning, and then treated myself to a long hot bath at lunch time. After lunch, I sat outside and felt my surroundings.
The camp felt so quiet and peaceful, compared to its usual state, since there was no men or horses around. I realised that for the first time, I had the opportunity to escape.
When I thought about it, I knew that there were two main reasons why I wouldn't try to escape. The first was that I knew that there was no way I could actually get away from these men, and secondly, I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be than right there right then. So I just relaxed and enjoyed my peaceful break.
When the men came back later in the afternoon, I was asleep, but their presence woke me as they came close. Some of them had minor scratches and bruises, mostly from crawling through the bush, but none of them were seriously injured;
the ambush had been complete. But since they were tired, I volunteered to cook for the first time.
I went all out. I felt that I was on display. I remembered one of my favourite recipes from when I used to cook at home that I could make with the dried meat, one that softened the meat and brought out good flavours from the meat.
That night, for the first time, all eighteen of the soldiers sat around the fire at the same time, and we shared the meal I had cooked.
I sat in circle, watching them eat. Would they like it? They ate in silence while I fretted. Why didn't they say anything?
Gong was the first to finish. He burped, and grinned. "There was something wrong with that meal."
There was a silence. Oh no, they didn't like it. My heart fell.
He smirked. "It ran out. That was good."
The squad burst into laughter at the expression on my face. Gong had got me good.
Tin Man said "Why do we have to cook? Zia can cook, she's a woman, she should always do it."
Again, there was silence and my heart dropped. I really didn't think that I could face cooking every night as well as everything else. They all looked at the captain.
"Well", he said, "it's certainly true that she's shown herself to be an excellent cook." He turned to me. "That was great. But, you know, there's only so much that she can do in a day, and somehow, I'd rather she focused on her other duties. I'd hate to get you guys to share those duties."
They all burst into laughter. I looked around the circle, at them all laughing. I think, again, that I'd had my leg pulled. They had probably planned it while I was cooking.
I looked at the happy faces, and felt a thrill of pleasure. These were good men, and their happiness was my doing. I felt so lucky. But I felt sure that it was too good to last.