Chapter 77

We ended up killing several more people before the day had really even started. I killed Isaac of Iskar myself. The middle aged man decided to be stupid when his slave introduced me to him. He actually came at me with a scimitar in his hands when the fat man and I showed up on his doorstep. After him I killed his son and a couple of his retainers. When I was finished at Isaac's home I moved on to the homes of the other town leaders. By then my men had joined me in my efforts, supporting me and covering my back as I kicked in doors and killed anyone who resisted me.

It became clear as the sun came up that we'd bitten off more than we could chew. Iskar had a population in excess of four thousand and while the cover of darkness had helped us overcome the local city watch and the slavers, daylight revealed to all who dared to leave their homes that our force was numerically inferior to the numbers that the citizenry could muster. As we moved through the streets and alleyways, herding our newly liberated group of ex-slaves we were confronted by one or two brave souls. Angered by our action and emboldened by their number they called on their neighbours to come out of their homes and join them in ridding the city of us. For the most part I ignored them and I ordered my people to ignore them as well, telling them to only deal with them if they pulled a weapon or they tried to attack us.

For the most part the men calling for their brothers to join them were simply loud mouths who did well in numbers but not so well when they came face to face with an armed man. When that happened most backed down and they got out of our way. Still there were many who wanted to take up arms against us and they were agitating their neighbours to join them. When I heard that I told them that they could. I said it to them coldly and then I pointed out where we'd left the bodies of the city watch and the slaver sentries and then I told them they could go and get the weapons that we hadn't picked up yet. My words gave most of the loud mouths a pause to think and many of them slunk back to their homes rather than get caught up in any violence that could endanger their lives. Still there was sufficient grumbling within the gathered masses to cause me to worry. I knew that sooner or later that the anger and resentment would well over and we'd be in a world of hurt. I decided we needed to get off the street and out of sight for a bit, so we could regroup, eat, rest, and rethink our strategy. I chose the home of Isaac of Iskar to be our refuge for the immediate future, knowing that if matters devolved to quickly, I could always have Hope teleport us out of there.

We did have something going for us by the time I decided to hide in Isaac's home. In fact we had several things that were in our favour. One was the fact that Isaac's home was a two storey dwelling that was enclosed behind a wall and it was gated. It also had a patio on the roof that made a great observation point for my people. Another thing in our favour was the fact that we'd liberated dozens of slaves between the time I had killed Isaac and the time I had finished with the city's elders. Many were women and girls, who were of little value to us as potential combatants, but there were also a few men in the group and some of those had served as household guards. Once it was made clear to them that they were now free men and that their continued status as free men depended on them helping us out, they quickly saw the light and joined up. Of the men we liberated, we signed on six who knew how to use short swords and spears as weapons. I immediately put them on sentry while I sent most of my people off to get some sleep. While they did that, I went off and ordered myself some breakfast so I could do some thinking by myself. Unfortunately my peace and quiet got interrupted by Anastasia.

"What are we going to do now?" Anastasia asked a half hour later.

I was sitting in the dining room in Isaac's house eating a breakfast of hummus, pitas, figs, and olives. A cup of water-wine sat before me. I was alone up until Anastasia joined me. There wasn't even an ex-slave standing by to wait on me. If I wanted something I'd need to shout for it and then wait. Hearing Anastasia speak, I looked up at her and sighed.

"Have a seat," I told the woman without answering her question.

Anastasia sat down on a bench across from me. I could see that she'd taken a moment or two to wash up. The dust and the dirt from our crawling through the fields had been washed away and her clothing had been brushed down. Even her boots had a bit of a shine to them as if she'd wiped them off and then she'd given them a buff. I also noticed that she was fully armed. When she sat down she'd placed her shotgun on the table next to her. I just nodded in acceptance of that. My own weapons were piled up beside me on a nearby chair.

"You didn't answer my question," Anastasia said pointedly to me, gazing firmly into my eyes as she said it. "What will we do now?"

"We can do many things," I stated bluntly and without hesitation. "We can stay here and fight or we can flee and fight another day. I can call in more troops and we could level this town or I could encourage the locals to see things my way. I've got a lot of options to look at and I haven't decided yet which one would be the best to follow."

"You should call in more troops," Anastasia told me with anger in her voice. "You should call in men with real weapons and level this town. These people deserve to die."

"Some of them probably do," I responded with a sigh of exasperation, "but not all of them and regardless of what you think I'd prefer to come up with another solution. I've killed a lot of people since my arrival on this world and I'm getting tired of it. Perhaps we can convince them of the error of their ways."

Anastasia scoffed at that and then she spat on the floor as if to get the disgusting taste of my words out of her mouth. When she'd finished she glared angrily at me once again and asked me the question that I had expected her to ask.

"What happened to Igor?" Anastasia asked coldly.

"He got wrapped up in revenge when he shouldn't have," I told her bluntly, "and when I told him to stop, he chose to try and kill me."

"You killed him?" Anastasia muttered in response, more statement than a question.

"He gave me no choice in the matter," I stated in reply.

"These people deserve to die," Anastasia declared forcefully. "Igor did nothing wrong."

"He disobeyed orders," I told her just as forcefully, "and he endangered our operation and when I called him on it, he tried to kill me. I think he did several things wrong."

"Will you kill us as well?" Anastasia asked looking at me from under a furrowed brow.

"If you endanger my people I will," I answered her in all honesty.

We were interrupted then by the fat man who'd been a slave to Isaac of Iskar. I'd learnt that the man was an outworlder who'd been taken as a child almost thirty years ago and that he'd been made a eunuch. Since his early teenage years he'd served Isaac's household in one capacity or another. Technically he was the family's steward. His name was Frank.

"What is it Frank?" I said harshly, annoyed at the interruption and venting my anger at Anastasia towards him.

"Forgive me great lord," the man muttered in response, bobbing his head subserviently as he shuffled into the room. "I have been sent by my mistress to ask what you intend to do with her and her children now that you've slain her husband and her eldest son."

"You no longer have a mistress Frank," I said to the man with a hint of exasperation clinging to my voice. "You're a free man now."

"Yes, my lord," Frank replied hesitantly, "this is true and I am grateful for your service in freeing me, however it is also true that if I am free then I have the freedom of choice and in this case I choose to serve my former mistress."

I blinked at the audacity of the man and then I started to laugh. The man just stood with a lowered head and waited until I was done. It took me a while to get control of myself. During that time, Anastasia sat across from me and stared in wonder at my reaction. At a point I didn't know what was funnier; Frank's reply or Anastasia's face. I ended up laughing some more. It helped me a lot, but it also pissed off Anastasia. She just couldn't get beyond her anger at the world.

"You are cleverer than I gave you credit for Frank," I told the man bluntly, still chuckling as I said it, "and a lot more brave. Well done! I am suitably impressed and I will concede your right to continue to serve your former mistress if that is truly your choice. Personally, I'd rather you'd come with me and take a job in my keep. I think you'd do a splendid job there."

"I would be honoured, my lord," Frank responded softly and politely, "but for now I must think only about what my mistress needs of me and not what others desire. As I initially stated, my mistress is interested in knowing what you intend to do to her and the rest of her family now that you have killed my former master and his eldest son."

"We're going to sell her into slavery," Anastasia spat out before I could reply, "and her daughters as well and we will see how they like being abused on a daily basis."

"We will not be selling anyone into slavery," I stated firmly contradicting Anastasia, "and you can reassure your former mistress that she and her daughters will be safe so long as we are here and we are left unmolested by the local population. Of course I will be plundering this house and removing everything of value in the building before I leave and I will not guarantee how they will live after I and my people leave but that will not be my concern."

"I will tell her that, my lord," Frank responded with a bow of his head, "and I am certain that my former mistress will be grateful for your promises."

With that Frank bowed again and then he backed out of the room. Even before he was gone, Anastasia was once again venting her belief that I should raze the city and enslave everyone within the walls as punishment for what the people had been doing for centuries.

"I've got no desire to take slaves," I told the woman, shaking my head in frustration as I said it, "and even if I did, the slave markets to the north are glutted by the men and women from the other Earth who I already sent to that fate. For now just let it be. I have other matters to think about."

Anastasia didn't like my response but she did fall silent as I sat in silence and finished the food I had been eating and the drink that I had been drinking before she'd interrupted me. Regrettably my thoughts were again disturbed by the arrival of Luther Gant a few minutes later.

"What's up Luther?" I asked the man as he entered the room and cleared his throat.

"The natives are restless, my lord," Luther informed me. "It looks like some of them decided to pay attention to what you told them and they went off and gathered up the weapons that we left lying in the streets. They're outside the front gate in force and they look like they're about to charge the place."

I sighed at that piece of news and then forced myself up out of my seat. Anastasia rose as well and moved to join me. I just accepted her presence with a shrug of my shoulders and focused my thoughts on what I was going to do to the locals. I had an idea of what to do. I only hoped it would work. Grabbing my weapons and shield and helmet, I followed Luther out of the room and then the building.

I went out into the courtyard of Isaac's home and hurried over to the front wall. There were no parapets or ramparts or guard towers built into or on the wall and to see over it I needed to stand up on a wagon that had been pushed up against the wall. One of the liberated house guards was already standing on it, keeping a watch. The man looked terrified at what he was looking at. Seeing him I ordered him off the cart so I and my people could have a look.

There were several hundred men and boys arrayed in the street outside of the late Isaac of Iskar's home. Most were armed with clubs and pitchforks; the rest were armed with the spears and long knives and the bows that had once been the armament of the local garrison. We even spotted a few of their survivors mixed in amongst the civilian population. There were certainly too many of them for my men to deal with on their own. I called for help from Hope.

"Hope," I muttered into my communicator, "I need a favour if you don't mind. I'd like a shotgun type grenade launcher and half a dozen tear gas grenades and I don't care where you take it from."

"Coming right up Charles," Hope responded, with a bit of a chuckle to her voice. "Have fun!"

The grenade launcher showed up a second later. It appeared on the cart between where I was standing and where Luther was standing. The grenades appeared in a bandoleer beside it. Reaching down between us I picked up the bandoleer and threw it over my shoulder. Then I reached down and picked up the launcher. As I did I spotted a few pieces of hay on the floor of the wagon. Once I had transferred the launcher to my other hand, I bent down and picked up the various pieces of stray hay that I could reach. There wasn't much, but there was enough for what I had in mind.

Once I was back up and looking over the wall again, I took a quick glance around. When I was done, I tossed the bunch of hay into the air and watched as the wind picked it up and blew it away. I quickly saw that the breeze was light and that it was blowing away from the house and towards the gathered crowd. I smiled upon seeing that and then I broke open the grenade launcher and I slid a grenade into it. Both Luther and Anastasia watched with interest as I did it.

"Here goes," I declared as I brought the weapon up to my shoulder and took aim/

I dropped the first grenade into the street just in front of the gathered crowd. The 'thunk' of the grenade launcher startled everyone and the 'bang' of the grenade going off cause the crowd to jump. Of course while everyone was staring with wide-eyed curiosity at the greenish-yellow smoke billowing out of the grenade, I dropped another one. This one I put down towards the far end of the gathered crowd. Then I followed it up with another grenade, halfway between the first two grenades. By that time people were coughing and gasping and throwing up and most of the crowd started to back away from the drifting cloud of gas. I decided to encourage them to move away some more by dropping another grenade right into their midst. That proved very effective.

The locals had no idea what to do about the gas except to try and run away. Many of the people dropped their weapons as they did, abandoning them so they could use their hands to wipe tears from their eyes or to pull clothes to their faces in an attempt to prevent the gas from getting to them. In seconds the area in front of the house was empty save for a body or two that lay motionless in the street. I didn't know whether the bodies were of people who'd been overcome by the gas or if they had been trampled by the other people who had fled and I didn't really care. What was important was that the streets were clear again and the threat to us had been averted. I handed Luther the grenade launcher and the last two grenades and then I got down from the cart.

"Keep an eye out on things," I told the man as he glanced down at me. "I'm off to get some rest. If there is a problem, let me know."

I left him standing there gawking in disbelief at what I'd done. I ignored him and Anastasia. I did however call Hope again. I asked her to pick up all the weapons that had been dropped by the fleeing crowd and to dispose of them for me. She said she would. I also asked her to teleport Suzy Park and Dr. Gauthier down to us from where I had left them with our horses. I figured it be wise to get everyone into one place if things started to devolve even further. I might need them.

I was able to get a few hours sleep before I got disturbed once again. This time it was another man from Oak Hall. He came and woke me to let me know that an emissary from the city was outside the gate wanting to talk to me. I thanked him and got up. After answering the call of nature, I went to see what this emissary wanted. I took with me my longbow and a quiver of arrows.

Climbing back up on the wagon that was pushed up against the wall I looked over the wall at the man who was standing out on the far side of it. A quick glance about told me that he was alone. The people who'd succumbed to the tear gas that I had fired into the street earlier that day were long gone. I didn't know if they'd recovered and made their own way away from the scene of the attack or if their fellow citizens had rescued them. In a way it didn't matter and I didn't really care. I just hoped that the guy waiting to speak to me had learned the lesson that the gas attack had been meant to teach them. If not, then things would probably escalate and if they escalated, people would die.

"What do you want?" I shouted out at the man.

"To parlay," the man called back to me.

"I've already stated my terms last night," I hollered to man. "I told Isaac of Iskar exactly what I wanted from this city and he refused me. Now he is dead. Are you willing to surrender everything that I'd asked for or have you come to die as well?"

"No," the man said shaking his head from side to side as he replied. "The others will not agree to those terms. We will give you some wealth but no slaves."

"Then you die," I declared raising my longbow with an arrow already nocked.

"No," the man cried out in fear, raising his hands before him as he attempted to back away, "please don't."

I ignored the man's plea and drew back my bowstring and then I let loose my arrow. The arrow shot across the street like a rocket and it struck the man in his shoulder. It hit exactly where I had aimed. The wound would be painful and if not treated properly, fatal, but the man wouldn't die right away.

"Go back to the citizens of this city and tell them that I grow tired of this game," I shouted out at the man as he struggled against collapsing in the street. "Tell them to free their slaves and to send me their wealth or I will raze this town and take what I demand."

The man fell to his knees and tottered back onto his heels. His body slumped against the wall of the dwelling behind him. Hands reached out of the alley and pulled him into it. I watched for a moment or two and then turned and left. As I jumped down from the wagon, I met Ben and Anastasia.