Chapter 9

Seated on a chair in front of the house, Sid watched the slavers settle their human cargo on one side of the road. Connor was out on the road talking with one of the slavers informing him about the 'arrangements' that had been made for hosting the troop of slavers. The suggestions Connor was making went along with what the freed men and women had told Masterson was common practice.

Everything was planned so as not to raise any concerns among the slavers. The farm looked busy with close to fifty men working in the field around the house. The slavers would not know that they were Sid's men and that their weapons were at their feet. Instead, they gave the appearance of slaves working under the watchful eye of the overseers.

Once the slaves were all seated on the road, the slavers divided into three groups. A third of them remained with the slaves to watch over them. The other two groups separated to walk to the two farm houses where they would be put up for the night. The one group had a fifteen minute walk to get to the other farm house.

Connor walked over to where Sid was seated with one of the slavers. When he reached Sid he turned to watch the one group disappear behind some trees. Satisfied that they wouldn't see what was happening, he turned back to Sid. Raising an eyebrow, he said, "Sir, this is Lieutenant Walker. He says that he's in charge here."

"Not for much longer," Sid replied with a grim smile.

The Lieutenant realized that things were not what they seemed and drew his sword. Sid's sword cleared his sheath a fraction of a second after the Lieutenant's sword. Like most men of Chaos, the Lieutenant had drawn the sword back to swing at Sid. Sid, trained in Epee, put the point of his sword through the neck of his opponent. The direct motion was many times faster than the long swing of the sword.

Everywhere around Sid, men joined the fight. The slavers were spread out in little groups of three or four men and disorganized. Sid's men were in close groups and prepared for the battle. When they charged, they outnumbered the enemy four to one.

Olaf, sandwiched between two slavers, cracked their heads together making a horrible sound. Once they were down, he pulled out his sword and stabbed them to make sure that they stayed down. He knew that they were cold-blooded killers and wouldn't have hesitated to kill him. Satisfied that he didn't need to worry about them, he raced towards another slaver giving forth a blood curdling yell.

The initial engagement was over in less than a minute. The slavers that had remained with the slaves reacted in a predictable manner. Individually, each slaver started towards the action, but they were too late to help the first group. It was clear that the majority of the men were overseers since most of them were armed with clubs.

Sid and his men were ready for them when they arrived. The yell of men entering battle echoed through the air. The battle cries of the slavers quickly changed character. Men screamed as metal met meat and men died. The slavers fought furiously, but they were out numbered since they arrived in small groups that were easily overwhelmed. The engagement lasted several minutes.

The third group of slavers, almost five minutes down the road, had recognized that something was wrong when the second group had charged. They turned around to back up their associates. Unbeknownst to them, one of Sid's squads had been waiting for them on horseback further down the road. They swept down on the rear of the slavers and took them out in surprise. By the time the front of the group realized what was happening, the rest of Sid's forces had them surrounded. Out of the original one hundred and fifty slavers, only ten survived as prisoners. Most of them had wounds.

Among Sid's men, three were wounded. The camp women moved in and took care of the wounded men. Minor wounds were covered with honey, sutured, and bandaged. The use of honey as an antiseptic was widespread in Chaos. It was often carried on campaigns for that use rather than as a sweetener. Deeper wounds were carefully tended and covered with honey and bandages, but left open so that they could drain. The resulting scars were often very hideous.

While the wounded were being treated, Sid went to the road to take care of the slaves. Standing ill at ease, and supervised by a handful of his men, were four groups of families. Sid smiled when he realized that the slave owners had not participated in the fight. He told his men, "Take them to the smoker. Masterson will question them in a while."

The men moved out with the families. Sid turned back to look at the slaves. They were looking at him with mixed expressions. Some were afraid that they were being taken by a different group of slavers. Others were hopeful that they were being rescued from a life of slavery. Sid took a moment to examine them. It was clear that they were exhausted from their march. Taking a breath, he said, "We'll have you out of your bindings in a minute. We have food for you. Rest here tonight. Tomorrow, you can get on with your lives. Down the road are empty homesteads and you are free to take one. Just make sure that they are empty. The men and women that we liberated here yesterday have already gone to take up residence in some of them."

One of the men looked at Sid and asked, "Can I join you?"

"Yes. All those who want to join us can come by the house after you've eaten," Sid answered.

"Good," replied the man. He stood straighter and looked around at the other men and women around him. He added, "I will be first in line to join you."

It took an hour for the four hundred slaves to get situated. Used to boiled grains for meals, the freed men and women were excited at the feast put out for them. The camp women had prepared large vats of noodles with slices of beef. The slaves had crowded around the vats for the chance to have real meat. Bushels of dried fruits were set out and quickly disappeared.

Sid watched the freed men and women slowly come to acceptance of their changed circumstance. Close to fifty men and women came to him after eating to volunteer to join his army. It was far more people than he had expected. Once the volunteers had finished gathering in front of the house, Connor asked, "How many have fighting experience?"

Ten of the men raised their hands. Pointing to a group of four veterans, Sid said, "The four men over there are in charge of our four companies. Go over and get assigned to a unit."

Sid pointed to one of the older women and said, "She's in charge of the camp ladies. If the women would join her, she'll make sure that they have work to do."

One of the women raised her hand and said, "I want to kill slavers, not cook food."

Startled, Sid looked at her and took in the torn state of her clothing. It was clear that she had been a camp favorite among the slavers. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, "Then we'll put you in a position where you can kill slavers."

"Thank you," the woman replied. She looked around at the other men as if seeking out anyone who would challenge her decision.

Sid asked, "Does anyone have special skills? Blacksmith? Drover? Herder?"

One man raised his hand and said, "I'm a smithy."

Pointing to Peterson, he said, "Join that man over there. He'll get you set up with all you need to work as a smithy."

"I was apprenticed as a tanner. I know how to make boiled leather armor," another man said.

"We can use a man like you," Sid said. He pointed to Peterson and said, "Go with Peterson."

Connor stepped forward and said, "The rest of you will come with me. We'll break you into two groups for training."

Sid watched the men and women go to their assigned places. Masterson remained by Sid and looked over at him. In a soft voice, he said, "Your army is growing. We've gained sixty people in two days. At this rate, you'll have a thousand men in two months."

"We'll have an army of untrained soldiers. That's not good," Sid said.

"Connor will have them trained as spearmen," Masterson said with a satisfied nod of his head. It would be good to have a couple of companies of spearmen who could function in a defensive role.

"We don't need nine hundred spearmen," Sid replied.

Pointing over to where Olaf was taking care of the cattle, Masterson said, "Olaf was very good out there today. He had six kills."

"Olaf was particularly bothered by the destruction in the town," Sid said.

"He's still a good fighter. He has leadership skills as well," Masterson said.

Sid nodded his agreement with Masterson's assessment. Knowing where Masterson wanted to lead the discussion, Sid said, "I don't want him put in charge of a company. He serves a critical role here."

"The herders form a natural company anyway," Masterson said conceding to Sid. He had already learned that trying to argue with Sid was like talking to a rock.

"Yes, they do. They have to keep off raiders, wolves, and other hazards to the herd. They do not need to be on the battlefield to fight."

"You're right," Masterson admitted. He looked over at Olaf and said, "Still, Olaf is special."

"And he's in exactly the right position," Sid said.

Connor returned to the front of the house. Looking back, he said, "I've got our new recruits settled. Tomorrow we'll start training them as spearmen."

"Tomorrow we move out," Sid said.

"I know," Connor said. He grinned and said, "The first lesson is how to move as a unit."

Sid laughed and said, "They'll have plenty of practice at that."

"They've already had plenty of practice at that," Masterson observed. The slaves had to march in lockstep to avoid tripping each other up while being moved.

"Walking in a straight line is different than marching in formation," Connor said.

Peterson came over to the group and nodded his greetings. Sid turned to him and asked, "How are we doing on supplies?"

"The slavers had supplies to last for a couple of days. We've added them to our supplies, so we aren't in too bad of a situation. I've distributed some of the leather armor to the new recruits. I've taken some of the cured lumber from this place to make spears. We have more than enough spearheads left to outfit another two hundred men," Peterson answered.