Chapter 76

The city below them was bigger than Oak Hall and Izmir combined. The buildings in it were all made of mud brick and thatched roofs and many near the centre of the city were two storey's tall. As for population, the place was packed. People wandered along the road leading down from the heights where I stood with my people and they wandered along the lanes and tracks that spread out from the hub of the city. There were people working in the fields that dotted the landscape and there were people on the river loading barges and paddling fishing boats. There were even armed guards wandering the low walls that circled the place.

Most of my people were back under cover amongst the rocks and the brush that cluttered that area we were in. Some were resting and others were standing guard. I was hidden behind a large flat sandstone boulder. Beside me were Ben, Igor, and Anastasia. I had my binoculars in my hand and I was listening to them as they described what they remembered of their stay in the city. The first thing that they did was point out where the cells were.

"There over to the right," Ben told me, "near the gate that leads to the river and the dock. You can see several of the cages there up against the wall."

He was right. Even with the naked eye you could make out the outline of large pens that stood against the exposed stone of the city wall. With the binoculars you could see more including the fact that most of the visible cages were empty.

"I don't see that many prisoners down there," I noted aloud. "Either they've just cleared out their stock or their feeling the affects of my action on the other Earth."

"Probably both," Igor snorted in response, staring sternly down towards the village. "When we were there, they routinely got rid of anyone they captured and sold as fast as they could."

"That's because they would lose profit if they kept anyone there more than a day or two," Anastasia declared angrily. "They don't take good care of their guests."

I said nothing about that. Instead I focused on the things that were visible to me. I counted the guards on sentry on the walls and the number of men patrolling about the cages. I watched while a small caravan arrived from up the river. Only the leader of it was mounted on a beast. His men walked behind his mount and on either side of the group of people they were escorting in. There were twenty men, women, and children and they all looked like outworlders. I wondered where they were all coming from. It made me wonder if I had missed something back on the other Earth. I kept that thought to myself as I monitored what happened to the prisoners as they came into the city. It wasn't fun to watch. The men were pushed and shoved into one cage while the women were shoved into another and the children into a third cage. In the process of separating them the men were struck violently and the women grabbed and molested. Only the children escaped harm in the process. I watched for another hour then gave the duty over to one of my men from Oak Hall. I left instructions to note anything new that I hadn't seen before and that he was to keep me informed.

We waited until after dark to approach the city, hoping that the lack of moonlight would help us get close enough to slip over the walls without being noticed. When we headed down, I led the way. I had the best eyesight in the group and if anyone was going to spot danger to us it would be me. Behind me trailed my six men from Oak Hall, Namur and my three other new recruits. I was leaving Suzy and the good doctor behind to watch our mounts. As for my three new recruits I told them to keep quiet and to let us do our stuff. That didn't go over that well with Igor and Anastasia but I didn't care and I told them so to their faces when Igor started complaining about being a trained soldier.

"And I've been killing people for the past year as have these men," I told him bluntly, "and we've been doing it together so we know what to expect from each other. Now you've got two choices in this situation. You can follow orders or you can stay behind with the good doctor and Captain Park and watch the horses."

I had no problems after that. I did however get one question thrown at me from Ben Thompson that I had to answer before heading out. He wanted to know why we were doing things the old fashion way considering the fact that my people were all dressed in modern combat clothing and it was obvious that I had immediate access to advanced technology that included the capability of teleporting people about at whim.

"It's like this," I told him and the other two who were clearly interested in my response, "I could just teleport the people in those cages to safety if I wanted to and then if I really wanted to, I could level the city with an airstrike. I have that capability and much more, but I won't do it. I keep to the basics because it makes things personal. Since coming to Game World I've killed a lot of people and most of the time I've seen their eyes when I've put my blade into them. I've also tried to reason with some of them. I made friends with one man who I could have just killed and one of my best strike team leaders once fought against me. He chose to surrender instead of dying and he chose to follow me instead of being my enemy. It's hard to make friends when you lob missiles against your opponents from miles away and it is too easy to kill people when the blood doesn't get on your hands. Besides, in the case of slavers, I like to deal with them personally as do my men."

"A missile would be better," muttered Igor in a low disgruntled voice. Sighing and shaking my head I chose to ignore him.

Thankfully no one brought up what I did with the drovers that we'd captured back at the pass. While I was against slavery, I made use of it. I'd rather a man live out his life as a slave than for me to just kill him. Eventually I'd have to explain it to these people and probably others, but not tonight.

The approach to the city wall took time and a lot of effort. I decided to come at the city from the wall that faced the fields that surrounded the city. The reason was that it was the least watched route towards the city. The road coming down from the highlands had to pass through the city gate and it had a guardhouse and towers on either side of it. The same existed on the other side of the city towards the river. That had a gatehouse and towers and it had a patrol that wandered about near the cages where the prisoners were kept. The sentries on the walls were more likely to be attentive in those spots than they were on the adjacent walls where there were no gates. Here men walked back and forth with spears resting on their shoulders and that was it. Once in a while they would stop and look out over the land but it was only a rare occurrence.

It still wasn't that great of a route to take. The land all about the city was open and fairly flat. The crops in the fields were mostly root vegetables and low lying creepers and they offered no obstructions that could hide our approach. There were irrigation ditches that crisscrossed the area and we'd make use of them as best we could. We also made use of blankets and travelling cloaks. The thought was that the blankets and travelling cloaks would break or obscure our outline as we tried to get close to the wall. We could only hope that it worked.

The trip down to the fields was the easiest part of the night's activities. Once there I dropped into an irrigation ditch and then I crept along its length until I was at the end of it. Then I kept watch as my people came and joined me, moving one at a time down the length of the ditch. When we were all stretched out in the ditch, the hard part of the night started. While my men watched the wall, I crawled towards it, crossing the first stretch of field until I reached the next irrigation ditch. Once I was down in the ditch, it was the rest of the team's job to crawl across the field while I kept an eye out on the activity on the wall. In all we had eight ditches to crawl to before we were within range to assault the wall.

Good fortune was with us and we made the last ditch without being spotted. Still by the time we got there it was deep into the night and we were tired. The good thing was that patrols along the wall had decreased as time had gone by. The locals were lax in their discipline and those on duty preferred to socialize instead of marching back and forth through the dark. It made going over the wall relatively easy.

The height of the wall helped as well. The wall was actually only six feet high. It meant that I could easily hop up and swing over it. That was exactly what I did, right after Luther Gant and another man from Oak Hall dropped the two roving sentries who had made their appearance just before I was about to move. Once those two were done, I dashed across the open space between the irrigation ditch and the wall and with a leap I was up onto its lip. After a quick look about to ensure that no one had spotted me, I signalled my people to join me. One by one my people dashed forward and with a helping hand from me I had them up and over the wall. My three new recruits were the last to come across. Once they were in the city, I dropped in after them and we started to move.

The first thing we did was to dispose of the bodies of the two patrolling guards. I had my men drag them off and hide them behind a wooden shed. Then we moved away from the wall and towards the city centre. As we slipped into the streets and alleys that wound between the buildings we kept an eye out for foot patrols. I figured we'd run into one eventually and we did. Being on point I had to deal with it personally.

The men patrolling the back streets and alleys were few in number and most we could avoid with easy. They were armed with a club or a long knife and nothing else. They didn't even have any armour. The one I actually ran into was near the centre of two and he had been pissing up against a wall and therefore out of sight when I started to slip across the main road that lead from the one gate to the other. The man started upon seeing me and he hefted his club in response before even shouting a challenge or stepping towards me. His motion however showed intent and I dealt with him quickly. My right hand flicked over my breast and snatched a throwing knife as I paused and faced the man. Then before the man could do anything I threw the blade and ended the man's life. As he dropped I hurried over to him and grabbed him by the scruff of his tunic. A second later I had him hidden in the shadow of a buildings wall. It all took no more than thirty seconds. Then I waved to my people and they crossed the road and joined me. After that we moved on.

We started picking off more and more guards as we approached the area where the cages were. There were larger homes in the area with wealthier tenants than in the area that we'd slipped into the city by. Some of them actually had men standing watch outside there doors. Regrettably they had to be eliminated before we moved on. I would kill a man and then Luther Gant would eliminate one. I even allowed Anastasia to slip in beside a curious fellow who came to see who was skulking about behind his master's home. She did a good job that was quick and clean, but it was clear in her eyes that she enjoyed it too much. I'd have to keep an eye on her.

Eventually we made it to the area of the cages. From the alley we were hiding in I could clearly see half a dozen guards wandering about with crossbows and swords. I could also see the gate to the city from where we were and I noted it was closed for the night. It wasn't abandoned though. Four men sat in front of the small guardhouse throwing dice while two men stood upon the towers on either side of the gate splitting their watch between the game that was going on beneath their post and the duty that they were supposed to be concentrating on.

I quickly led my people back up the alley we were in so I could brief them. Posting one of my men as a guard to watch our backs and Namur to watch our front, I pulled my dirk from my boot top and as best as I could, I drew a map of what I had seen for the others to look at. I then marked where the guards were and when I was done doing that, I gave everyone a job.

The first thing I did was to send my people high. I wanted them off the ground and reasonably safe so I pointed out a couple of nearby houses that were only one storey. I sent my people there and told them that they were to deal with the guards on the gate and the wall and in the towers. While they dealt with those men, I would lead Anastasia, Ben, and Namur to take out the sentries watching the cages. I left Igor to watch our rear. Again the man didn't like the idea, but this time he didn't open his mouth.

Everything went smoothly for the first few minutes. My people got in position and I led Namur, Ben, and Anastasia around and behind where the sentries who were watching over the cages were standing. As my men struck, taking down the guards on the wall first with their bows, Namur and I started picking off the sentries with our bows. Ben and Anastasia stood guard and covered us with their shotguns. Then things went to crap. A shotgun blast broke the silence of the night and I immediately knew that we were in trouble.

"Deal with the rest of the sentries," I snapped at Ben and Anastasia as I turned and moved by them heading towards where the sound of the shotgun had come from. "I've got to see what Igor is up to."

As I ran towards where Igor had been, I heard several shotgun blasts go off behind me and several men cry out in pain as the buckshot of the assault shotguns struck them. I cursed silently for bringing these three along on this mission realizing that it had been a bad idea to give them firearms to use. I'd have to remedy that later.

I found Igor not in the street where I had expected him to be but inside the courtyard of a trader's home. A man lay dead on the ground by the gate to the courtyard, cut in half by the blast of Igor's weapon. I found Igor standing over another body that had been clubbed to death. He was glaring at the body in a state of rage as if he was going to hit it again. In front of him were a number of women and children and an old man. They were clinging to each other in fright.

"What's going on here?" I snapped loudly in Russian at the man.

Igor spun about and brought his shotgun up and aimed it at me. His teeth were clenched together and his eyes were filled with hate.

"Stand easy man," I told Igor curtly. "We need to get out of here."

"Fuck you," Igor shouted back at me, "I've got business here that needs to be done."

Frowning I looked at Igor and bit my lip. I still had my bow in my hands with an arrow nocked and ready, but I knew that it wasn't enough. Igor had me in his sights and if he wanted, I would be dead before I even had a chance to draw back on my bowstring. I needed to make the man lower his weapon so that I could at the least disarm him.

"We need to leave here Igor," I told the man firmly but calmly. "The others are freeing the prisoners and we need to get away before any more guards come to see what has been happening here. Come with me now."

"No," Igor growled angrily. "It is pay back time and these people will pay and so will others. I won't be leaving until I've taken my revenge."

"Look Igor..." I started to say and then hesitated. The man's eyes widened as I started to speak to him and his gaze flickered for a moment and I thought I knew why. As quickly as I could I dove to one side and rolled over onto my shoulder so that I would come up on my knees. As I came up I drew back on my bowstring.

In the moment I moved, Igor popped off a three round bust of buckshot. His aim had moved at the last moment and it had swung towards the gateway through which I had entered the courtyard. His weapon cut down three local guards armed with spears. As they dropped, he swung his shotgun back towards me.

"Don't," I snapped angrily at the man.

"Screw you," Igor replied loudly, moving to complete his action. As he did I let loose my arrow and then flopped to my right side. As I fell, Igor's shotgun spoke once again.

My arrow struck Igor in the face. The high tech broadhead went into his check below his right eye and penetrated his skull. It carried through into his brain and out the back of his head. He was dead long before he hit the ground. As for his shotgun blast, it missed me by inches.

I was on my feet a moment later and over to Igor's body before anyone could move towards him. I scooped up his fallen shotgun and then placed it against his body. I then signalled Hope and had her teleport his remains and the weapon out of here. It took but a second and it left the locals staring at me wide-eyed. They actually backed away from me in fright. I ignored them. Instead I turned and left the courtyard, drawing a new arrow from my quiver as I went. I nocked it as I slipped through the gate and out into the street, stepping over the dead bodies that cluttered the gateway as I went.

It turned out that I needed it. My arrival into the street drew a shout of alarm from off to my right. I quickly spun in that direction bringing my bow up as I did. I saw a small troop of armed men running towards me. They were local guardsmen and they were all armed with spears and long knives. Instantly I let loose with my arrow at the man leading the group. They were running at me and they were only about sixty feet away.

My arrow dropped the first man easily. He let out a sudden cry as he was hit. The impact of the arrow staggered him for a moment, causing the men behind him to slow and move about him. Then he crumpled into a heap on the dirt road. Those at the back of the troop actually tripped over his fallen form. Taking advantage of the disruption caused by the man falling, I turned and ran, heading back towards my people. A second later a new cry went up and the troop took after me again.

My men from Oak Hall were ready and waiting when I showed up. Two of them were covering the road from the other gate and as I ran by them, they rose up from where they had been kneeling on the roof of the dwelling and they started pelting my pursuers with arrows. It didn't take them long to whittle the force down to just a couple of men, who out of instinct turned and ran away, choosing discretion over valour. I just waved to my men and continued on towards the cages and the bulk of my forces.

"Where's Igor?" Anastasia asked when I came to a halt by the cages.

"Dead," I said coldly in reply. "We'll talk about it later. For now report."

My tone was sharp and curt and the woman didn't take it well. Fortunately Ben Thompson spoke up before Anastasia could say anything in reply.

"Your men took care of the guards on the wall and the gate," Ben informed me, "and they cleared the guardhouse of any opposition. They also took down some reinforcements that made their presence known once we started blasting away with our shotguns. I never noticed before how loud these things are when the only background noise in the area is crickets. Anyway, Namur, Anastasia and I dealt with the sentries about the cages and we made quick work of it. We've taken no casualties here and your people are out covering all the approaches. For now we're safe."