Chapter 21

Sid, accompanied by Fred, entered the citadel riding beside Lord Drake. A brigade of his troops followed behind them. Side could see that the slaves were working beside the other residents of the city to restore the damage caused during the fighting. Looking over at Lord Drake, he asked, "What about the slaves?"

"There aren't any slaves in Drake Citadel. They were free the moment they entered my walls. It's just that it took us some time to make that ideal a reality," Lord Drake said. Spitting on the ground, he said, "Can you imagine anyone thinking that you can own another human being? Not in my city."

"What about the slavers?"

"Those that fought are dead. I give the survivors to you. You can decide what you want to do with them," Lord Drake answered.

"If you don't mind me saying this, but this would appear to be a rather sudden turn around," Sid said. He wasn't sure what to make of Lord Drake.

"There was nothing sudden about this at all. I've been planning it for ten years; ever since the day the slaver army came in and took over control of my citadel. I've been stockpiling weapons to arm these men."

"Why didn't you act before today?" Fred asked.

"I only had a thousand men. There was no way for me to train the slaves to augment my force to a level that could effectively fight the slavers. They kept five thousand men here. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, this was an occupied city. They let me act like I was still in charge, but I wasn't.

"When I heard that you were headed this way, I suggested that the slavers fight you out on the grounds in front of the citadel. That got most of their men out of the citadel and put my forces in the majority for the first time. They went for the plan before I could finish telling it to them."

Sid interrupted, "What if I hadn't been able to mount a serious threat?"

Lord Drake laughed and said, "I've had my spies out watching your army since I first heard that there was a force taking on the slavers. I knew that you'd come up with something. I figured that you could to engage them for an hour while I took care of the slavers within my walls and then I would be able to attack the slavers engaged with you from the rear. I had no idea that your plan would be so effective, though. You can't imagine my surprise when I watched the battle from the walls of the citadel."

Nodding his head in agreement, Dragos said, "I was busy organizing my men when my father sent word that the fighting was over. To say that I was surprised would be an understatement."

"I was impressed with how quickly your army returned to formation after we blew our horns," Lord Drake said. He had expected them to take fifteen minutes to sort themselves out, but they had been ready to fight in three. It was an impressive display of discipline. Turning to his son, he said, "Learn from General Sid how he managed to train his troops."

"Yes, father," Dragos said with a nod of his head. He hadn't seen what his father had observed and wondered what was so special about the training.

The men talked about trivial matters until they arrived at a large house surrounded by a high fence in the middle of the citadel. The gate opened and the group rode to a square in front of the house. It was a two story stone building fashioned as a defensive structure. There were no windows on the lower level. The second floor had narrow windows that allowed arrows to be fired through them.

Lord Drake dismounted and said, "Come in. We'll go to the courtyard and discuss the rest of your campaign. Dragos, get the maps from the study."

Sid and Fred dismounted and followed the man into his house. Sid was impressed by the architecture of the building. The center of the house held an atrium that was open to the sky. It was filled with a beautiful garden lined by a covered porch. One could sit and enjoy the garden while remaining out of the sun. He said, "This is nice. You must really enjoy the garden."

"Thanks. I may be the master of the house, but my wife owns the garden," Lord Drake said with a laugh.

Glancing over at Lord Drake, Sid grinned and said, "You must be a powerful man indeed if you are master of your house."

Pointing to a long wooden table bracketed by two benches, Lord Drake laughed and said, "She lets me say that. She doesn't want to hurt my feelings."

Sid took a seat with Fred sitting down beside him and Lord Drake seated across the table from him. Even before they were settled, a man was there with pewter cups and a pitcher of watered wine. Two women came out carrying plates of cheese, rolls, and sliced fruits. It was quite a spread.

Sid thanked the man after he poured a cup of the watered wine. He was about to reach for his cup when Fred took a sip from it, set it down, and then took a sip from the cup in front of him. Lord Drake frowned when he saw what Fred had done. In a way, Fred's actions were an insult. Even worse, it made him reconsider his opinion of Sid. An honorable man would not have a hired food taster; he wouldn't need one.

Disturbed by Fred's actions, Sid asked, "Who made you my food taster?"

"I did," Fred answered without embarrassment or apology. He popped a piece of cheese in his mouth.

"I don't want you to do that for me," Sid said frowning.

Fred swallowed, shrugged his shoulders, and then replied, "You may not want it, but I'll do it anyway. I'm your sworn man and I shall do what I feel is necessary to serve you."

Dragos nearly dropped his maps at hearing that Fred was Sid's sworn man. He stared at Sid reconsidering his opinion of the man. Even his father had never impressed another man sufficiently to have him swear service to him. In an awed voice, he asked, "You swore service to him?"

"Yes," Fred answered reaching out and tasting a slice of fruit.

Sid wanted to slap Fred's hand, but he resisted. It would do no good. Fred would taste everything on the table before allowing Sid to eat. He accepted a small plate of food from Fred and took a bite from a slice of cheese. He said, "This is good cheese."

"Thank you. It is from my lands," Lord Drake said with obvious pride. He gestured to his son and grabbed a map out of his hand. He said, "It is my hope that the men who made the cheese will return to make it in the future. I have promised them all ten years without taxation if they will stay."

"You are offering the slave owners tax breaks?" Sid asked.

"The slave owners didn't make the cheese. The people they thought they owned did all of the work," Lord Drake answered surprised by Sid's comment.

"Sorry. I misunderstood what you meant," Sid said. He took a drink of watered wine.

Lord Drake nodded and spread out a map. While his hand moved over the map, he said, "We are here. The land to the south was mine and I plan to reclaim it with your help. The slavers have fortifications here, here, and here. There are about five hundred men at each, although they may reinforce them now that you have taken my citadel.

"The farms down to this point have all been abandoned. Most of the owners came here out of fear of your army. Some of them left their slaves and overseers behind. I figure that there are about three hundred places with overseers. It will be a lot of work to liberate all of those places."

Sid nodded his head finding that Lord Drakes report echoed what his scouts had been telling him. He said, "I figure that it will take about two weeks to clear that area of overseers. The smart ones leave before we get to them. The dumb ones can't mount a reasonable defense."

"Two weeks? That's a lot of territory to cover," Dragos said. He didn't think it could be done in that time.

"I'll send out twenty teams of fifty mounted men each to liberate the farms. They'll sweep across the land almost as fast as a rumor," Sid said tracing twenty routes across the map.

Lord Drake nodded his head while considering Sid's plan. He couldn't find fault with it. He asked, "What will you want us to do for you?"

"I will send men to the forts and capture them. I'll add your force to mine and we'll go after this one," Sid said pointing to a location on the map. He said, "I am looking for someone that is supposed to be in that area."

The comment caught Fred's attention. He looked over at the map and asked, "How many of your friends are left for you to rescue?"

"Just that one," Sid answered. He shook his head when he thought about Danny Sun's region and then added, "Well, there are three others to the East that may need my help as well."

Lord Drake listened to the exchange and wondered if rescuing a couple of his friends had motivated the man to take on the slavers. If so, then it would be very good to be one of his friends. He asked, "How many friends did you have taken by the slavers?"

Sid looked at Lord Drake for a moment before he answered, "There were a number of people taken. I came here to rescue three of them. Danny Sun came here to rescue three of them as well."

Lord Drake nodded his head. He knew that Danny Sun had been killed. The Colonel of the slaver army had been very happy to share that news. Leaning forward, he said, "I know that Malcolm Chambers and Colonel Lee are leading two other armies. I assume they are here to rescue the rest."

"Yes," Sid replied.

"What do you think of slavery?" Lord Drake asked thinking that the only reason that they were fighting was to rescue their friends.

"We detest it. That's why we raised armies to liberate the entire area rather than just rescue our friends," Sid answered.

"I'm glad to hear that," Lord Drake said with a smile. He picked up one of the other maps and unfolded it. Pointing to a symbol for a citadel, he said, "This is held by Jameson. With a little help, he'll take out the slaver army in his area and help raise an army. There's a fellow to the south of that citadel by the name of Sebeson. He's one of the best military minds that I know of, but he's being held in a stockade. If you can get him free, then you'll have a great resource for freeing that whole area."

Sid looked at the map of the area that had been Danny Sun's territory. The Citadel was to the south of where his forces were located. It would be another month before he could have much of a presence in that area. Sid said, "It will be a while before I reach that area."