Chapter 78

I spent one more day at Iskar and then I fled the city. That day turned out to be a very long and tense one and I quickly lost my taste for the adventure. What I saw and heard during the day just made me want to head home.

We ended up with four types of slaves as a result of our efforts. There were those that wanted nothing to do with me and my people. They grabbed what they could and then they fled Iskar in the hope of eventually finding some place safe where they could start life a new. I wished them well and I didn't interfere with their departure. The second group of slaves were the smallest group of the bunch. They were like Frank. They wanted to continue to stay and serve their former masters. Most of them were older men and women who feared what would become of them once we had departed. I treated them like the first group. I wished them well and let them do as they pleased. I still hoped that some would rethink their decision, but I didn't push them on the topic at all. As the day progressed however I did change my mind slightly. Hearing the bedlam that had broken out in the city and the cries of dying people, I turned some effort towards convincing Frank to go to Oak Hall. To my satisfaction, my efforts paid off.

The third group were men like Namur who wanted to fight back against slavery or who wanted to go to Oak Hall and start a new life there. Those wanting to fight were mostly locals, both male and female. In total we recruited another dozen. I had Hope send the rest of the ex-slaves to Oak Hall to be processed by Josh and Hugo.

The fourth group of ex-slaves proved to be the troublemakers. They wanted revenge and while I couldn't blame them for wanting it, it saddened me to see them destroying what they could use to survive. It also added to my problems when the citizenry turned to me for protection. While I had no love for slave owners, I found that I couldn't turn my back on women and children who were being attacked by men and women who had lost all control over their own actions. After watching one band of slaves cut down a family in the streets beyond the house that I was using as a headquarters, I started to take action. Unfortunately being outnumbered, I was forced to do things indirectly. I called on Hope to help by teleporting anyone coming to me for help to somewhere safer on Game World. It was all that I could do.

We left Iskar with the assistance of Hope. I had her teleport us off and away from the region so that I could take a day or two to rethink what I wanted to achieve here. My experience at Iskar had me shaking my head with the realization that once again I'd screwed up. My nature was to try and do things on my own and to do it with the tools at hand, but events kept getting out of hand. I wanted to deal with the slave trade that dominated the region but the scale of it taxed the resources I wanted to expend. I needed to sit back and make a choice. Either I accepted the need to bring in more troops and to arm them in a manner that they could easily overwhelm all opposition or I needed to pick smaller missions even though those efforts wouldn't garner the success that I was aiming for.

Hope set us down in a small valley to the south and west of Iskar. The land was mostly grasslands and rolling hills. There were a few trees about, but not many and most of them were low to the ground with massive crowns of branches that were only sparsely covered with foliage. They offered a little shade from the day's sun but not much. There was also a stream that flowed through the valley towards the east. It offered fresh water for us and the wildlife that lived in the area. It was a nice tranquil place that offered me the chance to think.

The first thing that I did was to set up camp. Once the horses were hobbled so that they could graze and drink, I sent out a couple of men out to have a look about and to bring us back some food. I then started work on building a fire pit, while some of the men wandered about collecting dry dung. With the lack of forest in the area we'd be burning that for cooking. By the time the sun had started to set, we had a fair size pile of it from which we could feed the fire. That night we ate roasted gazelle.

The next day I put Luther and Suzy to work with Namur and the newly freed slaves. Only a few of them actually knew how to use any weapon properly. Even the men who'd served as a household guard to their masters had no real knowledge of how to use their spears properly. Most of their time had been spent standing about and looking intimidating. In all honesty their former masters had avoided giving them any real training in the fear that the slaves might get it in their minds to turn their weapons against them. I naturally had different thoughts on the matter and regardless of what I intended to do I wanted those men trained to deal with anything that came their way.

For the most part I spent that day walking about and thinking. I did take my bow with me as I walked and I did bring back supper with me when I returned to camp. There was plenty of game in the region and I ended up dropping a young antelope near the end of my walk. It was while it was roasting over the fire that Suzy came over and asked me what was up.

"I've been thinking," I told her in reply.

"About what?" Suzy asked in return.

"I've been thinking about Iskar," I replied solemnly, "and the risks I took there and the danger I put everyone in. We were very lucky there. Those people could have easily overwhelmed us if they'd only stopped to think instead of spending all their time reacting to what we were doing."

"They could have," Suzy admitted with a knowing sigh, "but they didn't and as you've said, we were very lucky. You did put us all at risk though. Do you know why?"

"Arrogance and stupidity," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "I've spent almost a year on this planet fighting people and with each engagement things have escalated just a little more. Of course part of that had been the networks trying to get their viewer numbers up by challenging me with more and more situations that put me in danger. Unfortunately the other part was my willingness to push the envelope. When faced with numbers that were overwhelming I still jumped into the fray knowing that my sword would cleave through any put up against it and that my armour would stop any attack directed at it. I guess that I've become too cocky. Even during our invasion of the alternate Earth I had no problem facing down whatever the bastards threw at me. That cockiness cost me my mate and my friend and a lot of other people and for a bit I had stood back and said no more. I wanted to go off and do things on my own but that didn't last very long. We came to Africa to free slaves and while I'll admit that our first engagement was reasonable given the resources we had, our incursion in Iskar was really beyond our capability. I went from raiding slave caravans to conquering cities again in a matter of days and this time I didn't even bring enough troops to support me."

"We survived," Suzy muttered into the night, poking the fire with the tip of her sword, "although I will admit that it wasn't the best thought out thing that you've done since I met you. Then again you have to admit that you usually thrive on that kind of stuff."

"I do," I admitted with a chuckle. "I've come to enjoy going up against the bad guys and rubbing their noses in it. However sometimes I get carried away. It happened in the Gulf of the Twelve Kingdoms and it happened in Iskar. A lot of civilians ended up dead before we left and I'm certain that Iskar will be burnt to the ground within the next day or two. The ex-slaves that we left behind really wanted revenge."

"They did," Suzy said with a nod of her head, "and there was very little you could have done about that besides taking on the ex-slaves and you didn't want to do that."

"No," I stated with a shake of my head, "I didn't want to do that."

"Well forget about them now that we've left them behind," Suzy advised me, "and focus on what you really want to do. You've got two dozen ex-slaves that you're training to fight. You can continue to train them while striking out at caravans and raiding parties or you could abandon them to their own devices and move on. You've said that places like Mombasa are serving as conduits that are funnelling slaves to regions like the Twelve Kingdoms. You could attack them directly, but if you want to do that you're going to have to accept the fact that you need more troops. You just can't do that kind of work with only a dozen people backing you up. Even if you arm us all with automatic weapons, places like Mombasa are too big for us to attack without a lot more support."

I thought about that for a minute or two and realized that Suzy was right. I could go and attack Mombasa but I would definitely need some help doing it. At the very least I would need to assemble a fleet of vessels that could capture the various trading ships that left the city-state laden with human cargo. I had the ships and the men back in Oak Hall; I just needed to make use of them instead of trying to do everything by myself.

"Perhaps I need to talk to Hope," I suggested, reflecting aloud on a thought that had popped into my head.

"Why is that?" Suzy asked out of curiosity.

"Well," I replied tentatively, "I really hadn't planned this expedition beyond my desire to strike out at slavers and to do something other than sitting about Oak Hall while it rained. Hope is tied into all the left over cameras that the networks used here on Game World and I should have been using her help to pick targets that our force could attack without running the risks I put us through in Iskar. I think tomorrow while everyone is training, I'll be doing some planning."

"Sounds good to me," Suzy murmured thoughtfully. "For now though, I think you need to get some sleep. I know I do."

I silently watched Suzy walk over to where her bedroll lay. She was a great looking woman and even though she was dressed in full combats the sight of her ass swinging from side to side and her long legs made me remember that it had been a few days since I'd laid with any of my mates. Thinking about that got me thinking about those who were back at Oak Hall and those who were on 'zombie land'. That got me thinking about Nimue and how she was doing. I sighed at that thought and decided to find out.

"Hope," I muttered in a low voice.

"I'm here Charles," Hope responded promptly. "I hadn't thought that you'd be calling me until tomorrow morning. Do you want to talk about the intelligence you requested or something else?"

"I'm interested in something else," I replied, keeping my voice low. "I was just thinking about Nimue and I was wondering how she was doing. Do you have anything to report? Is she fine or has anything gone wrong on that other Earth?"

"Everything is fine on the other Earth," Hope stated calmly. "The facility is still secure and zombie free. Dork and Rory have everything under control and your two soldiers have been patrolling the area on a daily basis to help keep the shuffling zombie population in check. As for your mates, Nimue is doing very well. The 'bud' that Dr. Gruber planted in the stump of her arm has taken root and there has been no genetic rejection. Growth has begun although what growth has occurred is barely measurable by the naked eye. Still Dr. Gruber has told Felicity that within a month Nimue should have a new arm and hand. Of course there will be some need for physiotherapy after that."

"Of course," I sighed in response.

"Is everything all right with you, Charles?" Hope asked when my statement trailed off.

"I'm just out of sorts once again," I replied. "I thought this trip to Africa would sort me out but it hasn't. I'm still wondering why I haven't seen Victoria's people yet and I'm concerned that they have prevented you from contacting them. With the alternate Earth defeated and Game World technically under my control, you'd think that they'd contact me. It makes me wonder if I've screwed up somehow."

"Like how?" Hope asked with curiosity in the tone of her synthetic voice.

"Maybe I wasn't suppose to defeat the networks in the way I did it," I murmured in response, "or maybe I shouldn't have let Elsa import firearms to Game World. I just don't know."

"Unfortunately," Hope said in a tone that suggested a sigh, "there are too many variables to consider to give you a response that would statistically be even close to being accurate. I would suggest leaving the thought alone for now until more data becomes available. For now you should get some rest."

Nodding in agreement I told Hope that I would speak to her again in the morning. Then I bid her goodnight. After that I took a quick walk around to check on sentries. Once that was done, I headed off to bed. I knew that tomorrow would come soon and I really did need the rest.

I didn't call Hope right away the next morning. Instead I saw to the camp and to my people and their immediate needs. Once that was done I took Luther aside to chat about how training was going with our new recruits. What he told me was both encouraging and a little disheartening.

"The men are enthusiastic, my lord," Luther told me, "and all of them want to learn what I have to teach them. The only real problem that they have is the presence of women in our group. Bluntly the men are misogynistic and they don't see why the women are being trained to fight."

Of our twenty-four local recruits three of them were women. The women had been field slaves so they weren't soft or weak and that was one of the reasons that I had allowed them to join us as potential fighters. The other reason was the burning hatred that I'd seen in their eyes. I knew without even asking them that they'd been abused during their lives as slaves. I also knew without asking that they wanted revenge for what had happened to them. When I accepted them I did so hoping that they could manage that desire for revenge in a way that would make them stronger both as individuals and as warriors. The news that the local men didn't want them learning to fight pissed me off.

"I'll get Anastasia and Suzy to train them separately," I told Luther after a second or two. "I'm not going to turn these women away. Regardless of whether I make use of them against the slavers, I will make certain that they know at least enough to protect themselves in the future."

I dealt with that matter right away. I called both Suzy and Anastasia over so we could chat. Anastasia was immediately indignant to hear that the men didn't want to train with the women and she was furious when I told her that they didn't want the women trained at all. I didn't blame her for getting angry considering what she'd gone through in the slave pens at Iskar. Suzy on the other hand was calmer and more accepting of the fact that the men were being men. She'd experienced it before back on our Earth when she'd been training for the Olympics. As she put it bluntly, there were always men who couldn't think beyond their attitudes, and while it was annoying, it wasn't worth getting upset over. She promised to do her best with the three local woman and Anastasia. I thanked her for her understanding and then I let her get to work. Once she and Anastasia were gone, I took a walk with my bow and I had a chat with Hope.

"So where do you wish to begin Charles?" Hope asked me when I finally called her so we could chat.

"I screwed up in Iskar," I told her bluntly. "I got carried away again and I didn't think things through clearly before attacking the place."

"You stayed too long," Hope stated in a matter of fact manner, "given the resources you took with you."

"I know," I acknowledged with a sigh. "I should have gotten out of there right after we liberated the slave pens but I didn't. I could have gotten everyone killed."

"True," Hope agreed, "but you didn't so you need to let go of that and move on. Beating yourself over your mistake won't make things better. Instead you need to learn from it and you need to make certain it doesn't happen again."

"I know that," I muttered in reply. "Unfortunately it's becoming harder and harder to manage what I want to achieve. I want to keep high tech weapons out of circulation on Game World in an effort to minimize casualties, but I keep wanting to escalate the missions that I'm getting involved in. I need to find a way to balance things out."

"Well," Hope said in a suggestive manner, "seeing that there isn't a real urgency to succeed in your current mission, beyond liberating slaves from those exploiting them, I think you should stick with what you're doing here in the valley. Train a small army and use it to liberate the slaves and then recruit more volunteers and train them. Keep it going until you feel strong enough to take on a larger target. I think it is your best option for now unless you wish to call in troops from Oak Hall and from my world."