Chapter 79

"What are we going to do now?"

It was three days after the action in the gorge and Anastasia had come over to chat with me after supper. As always she started our conversation with what was starting to be her personal catch-phrase. I tried to ignore it.

During those three days my people had been training the recruits with a little more diligence. While all of them could use a bow their skill and accuracy was still not strong enough to employ them against anything other than slavers. If I wanted to turn them into an army they needed a lot more time on the range and a lot more experience. That went for both Ben and Anastasia as well. They might be trained soldiers by their Earth's standards but if they were going to fight on Game World they needed to learn the basics. Here the weapons of choice were swords and knives and not automatic shotguns or assault rifles. It was something they were having problems with.

"Good evening," I said to the woman in Russian, refusing to answer the question that she'd asked.

"Good evening," Anastasia muttered in reply as she sat herself down cross from me.

"And how was your day?" I said to her politely.

"Long and boring," Anastasia replied in an annoyed voice. "I spent the morning trying to hit a target with my bow and the afternoon learning to ride a horse. Now I am here trying to learn when we are going to do something other than practice at being soldiers."

"Practice makes perfect," I muttered in reply.

"I am perfect," Anastasia declared. "Give me an assault rifle and some grenades and I will take care of all the slavers in this region by myself. I don't need to learn to use a bow or a spear."

"Firearms aren't allowed on Game World," I told her firmly.

"That is a crock of shit," Anastasia growled back at me. "That might have been the rule before, but from what I have learned from you and your people, it no longer applies. You defeated the bastards that made that rule and now you are in charge. If you wanted to you could bring a tank here and use it to destroy anyone who got in your way."

"But I don't want to do that," I said with a shrug of my shoulders. "Too many of my people died because firearms were brought into Game World."

"I just don't understand this reasoning," Anastasia muttered shaking her head in disbelief. "Your people died because the bastards had firearms that they could use against you. The bastards here who are raiding villages and taking people as slaves don't have firearms. You'd have the advantage over them. We could clean up this area in a matter of weeks given the technology that you have access to. Why won't you just make use of it?"

"As I told you before," I said with exasperation in my voice, "it's too easy to use a rifle instead of a knife. With a rifle you can pick a man off five hundred yards away and then kill another without seeing the first one hit the ground. With a sword or a knife or a spear you have to get in close and get personal about it. It makes you think twice before you kill someone."

"I didn't see you thinking twice when you killed the bastards in Iskar," Anastasia grumbled.

"Sometimes I get carried away," I admitted with a smile on my face, "and besides, they were slave owners. I rarely think twice about them."

"That still doesn't answer my first question," Anastasia pointed out. "What are we going to do now?"

I fell silent for a moment and tossed a dung chip into the fire. The chip crackled as the flames of the fire started to consume it. Anastasia just sat across from me waiting for me to say something. After a moment I gave her the answer she wanted to hear.

"The slavers operating in this region work out of a village due east from here," I told her in a low voice. "It is about two week's ride from here but that really doesn't matter much considering as you just pointed out I have access to advanced technology. The village has a few hundred people living in it and they are all part of the local slave industry. We're going to go there and we're going to kick some butt."

"It's about time," Anastasia replied bluntly.

I didn't say another word after that. I looked Anastasia in the eye for a moment or two and then I simply sighed and shook my head.

"What?" Anastasia asked defensively.

"I sometimes think that I should just move on," I told the woman in a matter of fact manner. "Since I defeated the alternative Earth and put an end to the bullshit that they'd been up to, I've been sort of at loose ends. I thought coming here and dealing with slavers would give me something to do but I was wrong. I sit here looking at you knowing that my goals aren't your goals. I want to stop these bastards and you just want revenge. Maybe I should just back away and let you have it."

My bluntness took Anastasia by surprise. It also made her very angry.

"How dare you?" Anastasia snapped at me. "You've never been a slave so you have no right to say anything to me. You came to this world with weapons in your hands and an idea of what was going on here. I ended up here not knowing a thing and being abused. Yes I want revenge and I'm getting tired sitting around wanting to get it. I even want revenge against you. You killed Igor and I hold you to blame for that. You pushed him instead of letting him do what he needed to do."

"I tried to stop him from killing innocent women and children," I said with a sigh.

"A slaver's family isn't innocent," Anastasia declared coldly. "They all should have died."

"That may be so from your perspective, but it's not from mine," I replied firmly, "and before you get on about me never being a slave once more, that's not really true. The people who sent me here gave me the memories of a thousand lifetimes to help me cope with living on Game World. In those thousand lifetimes I have been many things including being a slave. In fact I was a slave several times and in all those lives I was abused by overseers and I was worked until I died. I was even a woman once so I even know how that felt. Most of the time I try not to remember those memories. When I do, I feel the way you're feeling right now. Instead I focus on memories that give me strength. I suggest you try doing the same."

Anastasia glared at me angrily for a moment or two and then got up and walked away without saying another word. I just sat there and watched her go knowing full well that nothing had been resolved. As she headed to her bedroll she wandered past where Ben Thompson was sitting. He and Namur were talking together. Both men looked up as Anastasia went by. Then they glanced over to look at me. I held their gaze for a moment and then watched as they looked away and returned to their private conversation. I kept watching for a moment or two and then I shrugged my shoulders and decided that I needed some sleep as well. Still I hesitated for a moment before turning in letting my mind drift to Ben Thompson and Namur. Both men had demonstrated a hell of a lot more patience towards my agenda once I'd explained it to them, compared to Anastasia and most of the other men that we were training. Perhaps I should recruit them to talk to the others. I'd have to think about it, but it might be a good idea.

The next morning Hope moved our entire party almost three hundred miles to the southeast plopping us down in an area of semi-arid hills. The terrain was sparse in vegetation and in game but it had water flowing through it that would help sustain us for the time we would be in the area. With luck our stay wouldn't be that long.

Our target was called Tabor Crossing and it lay to the northeast of our camp within half a day's walk. I spent some time organizing our camp and posting sentries and then I mounted up my horse to go and take a look at it. I left Luther and Suzy in charge of the camp and I grabbed Ben Thompson to come along with me. That caused Anastasia to glare at me for a bit, but that was the way it was.

The ride took very little time. We worked our way down through the hills until we were near the river that flowed by the village that took its name from it. We kept out of sight as best we could with the terrain being so stark and without cover. I wasn't that worried about being spotted and I had told Ben that before we'd headed out. The man had suggested that we jog instead of riding but I had told him no. As I explained it to Ben, I wouldn't mind if somebody did spot us. Based upon the intelligence provided by Hope on the strength of the slavers currently in town, drawing a few off so that we could ambush them wasn't that bad of an idea.

We didn't get that lucky but we did get a good look at the place. In some ways it was exactly like Iskar, only smaller and the buildings that made up the village actually straddled the river. Most of it lay on the north bank, but part of it and by my estimate the most important part, lay on the south bank of the river. It was here that the slave pens stood and where the slavers congregated. Only the caravan leaders stayed on the north side. Everyone else stayed on the south according to what Hope had told me. There were at least two taverns and a whorehouse that served the area and a stable and corral that held the slavers' animals. There were also barracks where the slavers could sleep. Like Iskar there was a low wall that ran around the place. The only area that wasn't walled was the area by the river and that point had towers on each side. It meant that we'd have to take out four sentries to ensure that no one spotted us when we tried to make our approach.

"What do you think?" I asked Ben, handing him my binoculars as I asked the question.

Ben didn't reply right away. Instead he took a look at what I had been checking out with my binoculars. He focused on the south side of town first. He spent several minutes checking it out and then he looked at the north side. He only spent a few minutes checking it out. Once he was done looking, he handed me back the binoculars.

"It looks easy to me," Ben said with confidence, "although we will need to use everyone on this raid. I'd send your people in to the south side to do the grunt work. Like you've told me, you and your people have worked together for a while and you know each other's abilities. Together you should be able to take out the guards in the towers and free the slaves without any real problem. While you do that, I'd put the remainder of our force by the crossing. That would put us in a position to help back you up if it becomes necessary and it would also allow us to oppose anyone trying to go from the north side to the south side. Of course the real question is what we should do after the slaves have been freed. Do we slip away into the night or do we slip into the barracks and slit a few throats?"

"Anastasia would say that we should slit throats," I muttered in response, giving the man a look, "and then we should raze the village and send any survivors off to be slaves. What do you think?"

"Well," Ben said with a sigh, "I'm not going to criticize Anastasia. She has reasons for hating these people and I can't fault her on the subject. I also understand what happened with Igor. Anastasia said that you killed him, but that you claimed self-defence. I think she believes it but it still doesn't make her happy that it happened. Igor was her link to her old life."

"I know, but the man went off the reservation while we were in combat," I stated bluntly, "and when I called him on it he tried to shoot me. I'm sorry about how it went down but I'm not going to let someone fuck up the way he did and risk the lives of everyone else. I'm just hoping the Anastasia doesn't do the same."

"I'm worried about that as well," Ben sighed, "but there isn't much I can do about it. The woman has a chip on her shoulder from before she even got here and I get the feeling she doesn't like Americans. The impression I've gotten from her is that Imperial Russia has been at war for a few years with her version of the States and things haven't been going to good for the Russians."

"Great," I muttered with frustration in my voice. "That's another thing that we don't need going on here on Game World."

"Hey," Ben said defensively, "it's not my fault. On my Earth, Russia and the States are allies."

"You've got to be kidding?" I exclaimed looking at the man in disbelief.

"Nope," Ben said with a chuckle. "I'm not kidding. Anyway ... getting back to this village and what we should do once the slaves have been liberated; if we can I think we should slit a few throats. It'll leave a message to those we don't kill and it'll thin out their ranks."

I didn't answer Ben right then and there. I fell silent for a second or two to think about what he had told me. His thoughts on the raid were similar to mine, up to a point that is. I personally felt that the fewer people involved in the raid the better; unfortunately I also knew that if I tried to hold people back that they would probably rebel. I just hoped Ben could keep them under control. It was my intentions to let him lead the force covering the crossing. That was the reason I'd brought him with me. I wanted him to see the job with his own eyes before handing it to him. For now however I kept my mouth shut about it. I'd save the news for when we got back to camp.

"All right then," I said after a bit, "I think it is time to get back before someone misses us."

Ben and I turned about and rode back into the hills towards where we were encamped. Again we took our time. From time to time we paused and checked our back-trail. While the people in Tabor Crossing hadn't shown any interest in us while we'd sat out in the open spying on them it didn't mean they wouldn't try and follow us once they spotted us moving away. They didn't but it didn't hurt to be cautious and the time riding back was spent chatting with Ben. We mostly spoke about his Earth. I was curious about an Earth where the Russians and the Americans were allies. I wasn't happy to find out that the Americans had gobbled up Canada back during their revolutionary war.

It was dusk by the time Ben and I got back to our encampment. Once there we dismounted and picketed our horses and saw to their needs before we saw to our own. When we got done and joined everyone around the campfire for some supper I got a surprise that I hadn't been expecting. Anastasia was gone.

"She slipped out about half an hour after you and Ben rode off," Suzy told me looking a little guilty. "I was drilling her and my three other women and she asked to take a break so she could tend to nature's call. I told her yes and then I went back to supervising the other three women in our group. In the course of giving them some one-on-one coaching, I kind of forgot about her. She'd been gone for over forty minutes by the time I noticed and by that time she was long gone."

I cursed on hearing that and included a few words about what I thought about Anastasia. It startled the people sitting closest to me. I ignored their reaction and called out to Hope.

"Hope," I bellowed with frustration in my voice, "do you hear me?"

"Of course Charles," Hope responded immediately. "You don't have to yell. What can I do for you?"

"Anastasia has gone AWOL on me," I snapped in reply, "and I want to know where she is at this moment."

"One moment..." Hope said letting her response draw out for a second, "I've found her. She is currently a mile and a half to the northwest of the village that you are intending to raid. Unfortunately she's been captured by a party of slavers. She has also been injured. Someone has hit her several times and her face is swollen and her nose is bleeding. Other than that she had no other injuries. Do you want me to teleport her back here?"

"Not yet," I told Hope, "however please keep a camera on her and if her life gets threatened then you can pull her out."

My group had followed my side of the conversation with Hope. While I had spoken to her in English the translation units being worn by everyone allowed everyone to know that I knew where Anastasia was. Once I was done with Hope, I filled them in on the rest.

"So why aren't you grabbing her now?" Dr. Gauthier asked out of curiosity.

No one else dared or wanted to ask the question. Suzy and Ben and the six men from Oak Hall probably had a good idea why I wasn't having Hope rescue her and if I were to put money down on it, their ideas were probably right. Namur and the other local recruits just didn't care. The men as I've stated are misogynistic and they didn't like Anastasia showing them up during training. The three local women just felt that she wasn't a team leader and while no one said it at that moment, I knew that was how they thought. Dr. Gauthier however really didn't have much of an opinion one way or another so she was surprised when everyone looked away when she asked the question.

"What did I say?" Dr. Gauthier wanted to know when they did.

"You didn't say anything, Doctor," I told her in a reassuring manner, glancing about as I did. "In fact you asked an important question and it deserves an answer. The fact is that we're getting ready to raid the village and if we yank Anastasia away from the party of slavers that currently has her, then somebody in that group might decide to ride ahead and tell the people in Tabor Crossing what has happened. At the minimum they'll think that he is a nut case and possibly kill him and at the worse they'll post a few more guards wondering what is up. The fact is we don't know how much the local slavers know about Game World. Outworlders know that they're living their lives; one minute on their Earth and the next they're on Game World. All they remember about the experience is that a white light envelopes them and then it disappears leaving them fighting for their lives. The slavers down there might know about it and if we have Hope grab them then somebody might get curious about it."

"So we just leave her to her fate?" Dr. Gauthier asked, looking at the people gathered about us and not at me.

"No," I told her bluntly, "we don't leave her to her fate. Like I said, we're going to raid that camp tonight. Hopefully they'll simply toss Anastasia into a slave pen for the night and leave her be. If they do we'll liberate her when we liberate the other prisoners. If they don't then I'll have to decide whether I want to go after her myself or if I'll simply have Hope grab her."