Chapter 9

As they passed farms they saw many farmers struggling to bring in the harvest. The column would stop and the machines would be assembled. The farmers were amazed at how quickly these new harvesters could harvest the crops. The farmers were told about how to get the new machines from Small Cove. As they travelled along, one by one, the farmers reached their homes. They all came up to Tom and thanked him for seeing them home safely.

"You have no idea, Sire, what this means. The journey is normally is one of fear and trepidation. This time it was one of joy and happiness. Thank you, Sire, you really are a great Lord," one of the farmers said to him as they left the column.

Tom didn't know what to say.

"Thank you" he replied, "It has been a pleasure to have your company on this journey"

The farmer bowed to him, and taking his family, made his way home. The one thing Tom and the others could not fail to notice was the appalling state of the roads. They were no better than rutted tracks, and in some cases not even that. At one stage they were caught in heavy rains, and the road deteriorated into a swampy morass. Progress was slowed to a crawl. They had to hitch two teams together in order to drag the wagons through one particularly boggy stretch. It took the whole day to cover five miles.

They finally arrived at Jonathan and Mary's farm. It took them a full day to harvest the crops and another to plough and plant the new crop. The following day they arrived at a small town. There was an inn, a smithy, and what could pass for a store. By the time they arrived at the inn it was late. They were cold, tired, hungry and filthy. When they arrived Tom noticed that the innkeeper seemed nervous. He asked if they may set up camp in the field at the rear of the inn, and if baths could be arranged for his people. He enquired as to the man's name after introducing himself, and was told it was Bertie.

"Well, Bertie, there are thirty tired, hungry, cold and dirty people out here, who need food shelter and a good bath. I would be grateful if you could arrange hot water, hot food and clean beds for my friends." he told him.

"Ah, yes, certainly, Sir," he said, nervously looking towards the door. "Marlia!" he called. "We have guests. We need food, hot water and the beds need changing."

A large middle aged woman came bustling out of the kitchen.

"Okay you old bastard, who have you got here now?" She stopped when she saw Tom. "Oh! I'm sorry, Sir. I thought, well, some of the people that call here, sometimes ... well, they're not always the nicest of folk."

"I can assure you that we are the 'nicer sort of folk, ' and we do need the hot water, hot food and clean beds," Tom told her.

"Oh ... yes, Sir. Right away, Sir," and the woman disappeared back into the kitchen.

Tom went back outside. Tony came up to him, and seeing the look on his face asked him what was wrong.

"I don't know, something's not right, here. The innkeeper's very nervous about something, and a nervous innkeeper normally means trouble, better warn the guards to keep an extra sharp watch tonight. However, there should be some hot baths, and some hot food soon. Hopefully the beds won't be too bad. I'd hoped to get a good night's sleep."

"Okay, I'll warn the guards. Let me know when the water's ready, I could do with a good soak myself." replied Tony.

The water was readied, and the girls had the first baths. Tom, Tony and some of the guards were next, followed by Paul and Simon and the rest of the guards. Everyone had finished their baths and stew when another group arrived at the inn. They were a large group of men, perhaps twenty in number, all mounted and seemingly well armed. Their leader walked through the door like he owned the place. He was flanked by two others.

"Well, well, well," he said with a leer. "Another group of travellers ready to pay their taxes I see. Oh, women as well. My men will like that." From the window Tom could see some of the newcomers move toward the wagons. The men on guard formed up, shields ready and spears pointing outwards.

"Who are you and what do you want?" asked Tom, standing up

"I'll tell you who I am. I'm the man in charge of this district. I'm Athgar. I'm from a group called the Brotherhood and we've taken over this place. We've taken Small Cove, and we're moving up to take this entire region. We're your new masters."

Tony stood up smiling. "You're behind the times friend. You didn't take Small Cove. You ran into a small problem: US! Oswin was the name of the man there, wasn't it. Well he's dead. I killed him. Took his head clean off. You may have heard of me. I'm Sir Tony. They tell some tales of some fun I had in a little place called Gronhinne. Last time you lot were here, there was a chap called ... now, what was it?"

"It was Orleck," said Tom. "He was a noisy bastard as well. A young boy shut him up though. Ran him through like a stuck pig. You should have seen the look on his face. We had, of course, stuck a few arrows in his men. You Brotherhood boys certainly know how to die. You do it every time we meet. I guess it's your turn, now."

The man paled at this, but then recovered.

"Get them!" he hissed and charged

Tom, Paul and Tony drew their swords and met the challenge. Athgar came straight at Tony whilst Paul and Tom fought the other two. Outside the guards had formed up with raised shields, while the boys and two of the Angels had their bows. The bandits did not have shields, and looking at the spears, and the professional way they were being handled made them reluctant to attack. After much pushing, shouting and threatening they finally charged. The paddock where the camp had been made had a large fence of briar thorn bushes around it, and Tony and Simon had arranged the wagons leaving only a small gap to walk through. This was easily defended by the guardsmen, especially when two of the boys had climbed up on top of the wagons and started firing their bows into the enemy.

Inside the inn things were going no better for the slavers either. Athgar came at Tony, but soon realised his mistake. Athgar was good. He was big, strong, and reasonably fast; but, he was no match for Tony! Athgar swung his sword down quickly to try and catch Tony unaware, Tony skipped to one side, parrying the blow with his sword and raking his dagger across Athgar's chest. Athgar screamed with anger and rage. Tony smiled at him, and blew him a kiss. This enraged Athgar even more and he charged again swinging wildly. Tony moved to one side and sliced him across the belly. A look of disbelief spread across Athgar's face as his intestines slowly spilled out from his body.

Tony said, "Goodbye," and then sliced off his head.

Paul had taken on a large brute of a man who wielded a large axe, which, in the confines of the inn, did him no favours at all. As he swung his axe, it caught on one of the overhead beams. Paul simply stepped forward and gutted the man.

Tom on the other hand was in trouble. The sword had never been his best weapon, and his opponent seemed to know how to use his. He swung at Tom's head, while moving off to the side. Tom ducked and his opponent jabbed at him, just catching his tunic. Tom moved back, and almost tripped over one of the tables. The man charged Tom again, but Tom managed to parry his attack. They ended up face to face, and sword to sword. Tom pushed him away but felt him try to bring a knee into Tom's groin. Tom stabbed down with his dagger and sliced the man across the inner thigh. The man gave a gasp or surprise and tried to back away, but his leg gave way beneath him. As he fell Tom swung and took off his sword hand at the wrist. He then stepped forward and plunged his sword through the man's throat.

Then they rushed outside to see what was happening. The bandits had finally charged. Simon calmed his men.

"Steady, lads!" he told them. "Remember your training."

The men held firm. The bandits charged forward and the front rank impaled themselves upon the spears. The boys on top of the wagons were firing down into the survivors.

"Now lads, thrust!" called Simon

The guards thrust their spears forward. The second rank backed away. There were about ten left. Tom wished he had his bow, but it was in the wagon.

Tony smiled and called out, "Over here boys. Come and get it."

Paul looked and shook his head whilst Tom was horrified. All ten survivors charged at them. Tony threw back his head and laughed. He then charged.

Paul called to Tom "Come on" and joined the chase. Tom swallowed hard and then followed.

Tony arrived first and went through the pack like a hot knife through butter. He parried one with his sword whilst gutting another with his dagger, a downward sweep of the sword and the first one's arm was lying in the dirt. He ducked and sliced and another was dead. One more came towards him and Tony parried his stroke with his dagger and then ran his sword between the man's legs, gelding him. His victim's screams rang out, cutting through the noise of battle. By the time Paul and Tom arrived, three were dead and another was dying.

Paul faced one man who made an upward swing at him. He spun around and back-handedly caught the man on the back of the knees, hamstringing him. The man clutched his leg and collapsed. Paul then ran him through.

Tom faced a man who didn't seem to have too much skill. He swung wildly at Tom making him duck and swerve. Tom countered these moves easily enough, and when the man slipped slightly, managed to swing his sword up and cut the man at the elbow. He then swung behind him and chopped off his leg at the knee. The man fell to the ground screaming with blood spraying all around him.

Tony by now had taken out two more. The first charged at him with his arm raised. Tony waited until the man was almost on top of him, then as the man brought down his sword, Tony stepped inside, swung his sword up, and severed the man's arm. The look on the man's face as his arm fell away was one of utter astonishment. The next one tried to chop Tony from the side, he may have succeeded if Tony hadn't already dispatched the first one. Tony spun inside, bringing his dagger up and slicing open the man's throat. Blood sprayed everywhere as the man fell gurgling to the ground. The two remaining bandits seeing it was hopeless stepped back and dropped their weapons.

Everyone came rushing forward, and for a moment, there was pandemonium. Simon and two of the guards held their prisoners at spear point. Janice came running up to Paul and threw her arms around him.

"You're bleeding!" she cried with tears streaming down her face.

Paul shook his head, and kissed her fiercely.

"No, I'm not. That's their blood, not mine," he said pointing to the dead men lying at their feet.

"I was so worried, especially when that giant swung at you with his axe. I thought he was going to kill you," she sobbed, her head buried in his chest.

"No. He was big, bad and mean, but that doesn't mean he was smart. Swinging an axe in an enclosed building? Just what did he expect to happen? It just made it easy to run him through. Damn fool," Paul said, holding her tightly. "Anyway, when that arse said that they were going to 'enjoy' you Angels, well that just sealed their fate. They just had to die. Nobody, but nobody threatens my woman and lives."

"I AM your woman aren't I" she asked, her eyes shining

"My one and only, now and forever," he said, pulling her in for another kiss.

Tom coughed, and Paul and Janice looked up.

"When you two have quite finished," he said.

"Sorry," said Paul, "but I have some thing to tell you. I have asked Janice to marry me. I do not know what that means for us or what the future holds. I only know that she is the woman I wish to spend the rest of my life with; be it here, or at home."

"Well, it certainly isn't unexpected, but your timing is lousy. Congratulations to you both, but we'll have to talk about things like that, later," said Tom

The other Angels had come over to Tom and Tony. They were all covered in blood, but amazingly, none of them were injured. They checked the guards over and none of them were injured either. They went over to the two prisoners.

"Okay," said Tom, "I'm going to give you one chance. If you answer truthfully you will live, if not you will join your fellows here." he told them, pointing at their dead comrades. "Now tell me who you are, what you have done, and what you were doing here."

"Why should we tell you anything?" said one of them

Tom just stood there and shook his head.

"Wrong answer!" turning to Simon he said "Hold out his right hand."

Simon held out the man's hand. Tom drew his sword. The man's eyes went wide as his sword flashed and his severed hand fell to the floor

"No-o!"

The man screamed and writhed in agony. Paul collected a burning brand from the inn's fireplace, and cauterised the wound.

Tom turned to the other one.

"Now, I'll ask you the same question. How you answer is your decision, but you can see what happens if you don't answer truthfully. Now, decide!"

Looking over at his comrade writhing in agony he said "We came over with Oswin. We were to ride out and collect foodstuffs and slaves. We rode around the Small Cove area, but there was no-one there, not only that, but the harvest was either still in the fields or was just missing. It was only as we got further north that we found any food. We also found some people. We were using this inn as a base. The innkeeper was terrified of Athgar, and was told that if he didn't co-operate we'd kill him, and rape his wife and daughters. We keep the slaves in a farm about five miles from here. We were going to stay here until Oswin took Small Cove and ride up towards the Hunter People. Once we'd dealt with them we were going to head towards Bridgetown and hold it until we linked up with Fedor who was moving up from the east. Once we linked up we were to head north take the rest of the island."

"You seem to know a lot about their plans," said Tony, stepping forward and making as if to draw his sword.

"Athgar always told us what was going on. He told us we couldn't lose, as there wasn't any King of the island who could unite all the various tribes. We would just take them one by one and the whole island would be ours to do as we wished with. I wanted a farm so I could find a wife and raise a family, but being a bastard peasant, where would I get the money for a farm, and what woman would look twice at me? That's why I joined up, to get the money to buy me a farm and to find me a wife."

"Well, you've brought yourself ten years of indentured servitude. If you try to run away, your face will be branded and your sentence will be increased to twenty five years. Run away again and it's death. Your choice," Tom told him.

Tom went over to the other man, and drawing his knife and placing it against his testicles said "Has he told me the truth?"

"Yes," the other sobbed.

"Good," said Tom. "I can't stand it when people lie to me. Now let's go and see the innkeeper and tell him the good news, and then we can go to the farm and free these unfortunate folk you have enslaved."

Bertie had seen the fight, and was stunned. The men he had feared were crushed by these newcomers. He was still wary though, just who were these men, and what did they want? He watched as Tom questioned the men and flinched when Tom chopped off the bandit's hand. He heard what the other man had said and knew that it was true. Athgar had been drunk enough times in his inn, and that man had a very loose tongue even without drink, when drunk you could barely shut him up. He had to know more about these strangers.

"Tell me sirs, who are you?" he said as Tom and the others approached came towards him.

Tom smiled and told him "I am Lord Tom. I am Lord of Small Cove, of the Hunter People and of the Medithi. This is Lord Paul." he said, pointing at Paul. "He is Lord of the Hunter People and of the Angels. This is Sir Tony of Branwold. He had a little adventure at a place called Gronhinne. He is probably the best swordsman on this world."

Bertie stood there and took in what he had just been told.

"I have heard of you. I have heard of all of you. I did not think you were real! I thought you were just tales that the minstrels sang. I never thought I'd get to meet you."

"In the morning we will need to free the slaves that have been taken. We'll get the prisoners to take us there. If you would tell the rest of the townsfolk that we have freed the region from this curse, when we return we will talk to you all about preventing this from ever happening, again," Tom told him.

The following morning they told the prisoners to take them to the farm where the slaves were being held. Tom reminded them what would happen to them if they tried any funny business. They left the wagons at the inn with half the guards. The farm was just over two hours away, Tony asked the prisoners how many guards were at the farm and was told there were five. As they rode along, Tom noticed that one of the Angels, Sophie, was riding very close to Simon. He thought about the situation and could see the men pairing off with the Angels. As they approached the farm Tony came alongside.

"Don't look now but we're being followed. There are people in the trees over there," he said.

"Okay, what do you suggest?" Tom replied.

"I think we should stop and invite them down. It would surprise them, and we could reassure them that we mean them no harm. I suspect that they have relatives held captive," said Tony.

"Very well, pass the word." said Tom.

The word was passed and the column halted. Tom rode to the head of the column.

"I am Lord Tom of the Hunter People and Small Cove. We have defeated the slavers and are on our way to free the prisoners. I would like it if you would come down and join us, so we can reassure you as to who we are."

They waited for a few minutes, then they saw movement from the trees; four men and three women came down from the trees. Cautiously they approached the column, nervously clutching their weapons. They walked down to where Tom was waiting for them. Tom dismounted from his horse and walked towards them.

"Hello" he said extending his hand towards them. "I'm Lord Tom and behind me are Lord Paul, Sir Tony and Captain Simon, of the Small Cove guard. The ladies with us are Angels Janice, Sophie, and Amy."

The leader of the group took his hand "I'm Lidrath, this is my wife Hannah, my brothers Riflar, Mithlar and Poldi. These are Ludmilia, and Poppi. You say you have killed all the slavers, how do we know what you say is true?" he asked.

"There were twenty slavers at the inn. These two are the only survivors. Ask them what happened if you doubt me," he said. "I take it you have family who have been taken. If that is the case I would like you to accompany us as we free them."

Lidrath said "Yes. They have taken my son and daughter, Riflar's wife and young daughter, and Ludmilia's and Poppi's children, a boy and two girls. I know of three other families that have disappeared in the last month. We think they are being held on the farm up the road."

"We know they are. These men were part of that group. They tell us that there are five men guarding the farm. We intend to free the prisoners and deal with their captors. We would be glad of your help."

"If you are sure, then we will willingly help." said Lidrath.

They made their way towards the farm. As they approached they saw two of the men dragging a young woman towards the house. Tom, Tony and Paul drew their bows and fired. The two men fell, and the friends rushed forward to help the woman. As they did so, three more came rushing from the house.

"Who the hell are you." shouted one of the men

Tom Tony and Paul did not answer. They just shot these three as well.

They moved forward and checked that they were dead. Lidrath and his family rushed to where the young woman was standing, screaming, totally traumatised. They then went into the barn. The sight that greeted them was nauseating. The smell was the first thing that hit them, and then the sight of the people was worse. It seemed that Athgar took great pleasure in hurting people.

All the women were naked, as were most of the men. They had all been beaten, and most had been raped. He had even forced the men to rape each other. He was truly one sick bastard, and the world was a better place now he was dead.

The children there were also traumatised, having witnessed the horrors visited upon their parents and older siblings. There were twenty three in all, one as old as fifty, some just babies in arms. They were all taken outside and a bath was prepared. The shocked female captives were washed by Janice and the other two Angels, whilst Paul and Lidrath washed the men. After they had washed the captives down, some of them seemed to rally, and recognising that they were free, they clung to the few family members that remained. Lidrath's son and daughter were both there. They clung to their parents with unbelievable joy. Riflar's wife and child were there as well, as were Ludmilla's and Poppi's children. It was a tearful reunion as husband and wife, child and parent, and brother and sister were reunited. Amidst this joy Janice spotted a small girl of about three or four. She stood, without moving. Her clothes torn and dirty. She was just standing there, staring into space.