Chapter 35

Geron didn't have time to get all the men ready for the big show. Things were too new and confused. I knew he wanted to get it done but it just wasn't possible. It would take a lot more than an hour or so to get things sorted out.

Thankfully the men that had been here since yesterday had been organized somewhat, and of course the men that were here when we came were good to go, so we had over a thousand men ship shape for the show off meeting.

About two hundred were heavy cavalry and a little over three hundred were mounted archers, with their new compound bows. The infantry, most of whom had been pikemen, were dressed up in their new armor too. Of course they had new space age pikes and two handed swords.

The pikes had been made to look like this time's normal equipment. They appeared to be made of wood but the material was much lighter and stronger than wood and the long steel tips weren't steel. They were metal of some kind but who knew what kind? I knew one thing, they were razor sharp. Two of the men had already accidentally lost fingers trying to become accustomed to using them.

It was an impressive show and the small guard accompanying the "holy" men knew at once that they were at our mercy if we intended for them to be. I'm guessing that it would have been the same if Pierre were still the main man around here.

There was the same old pecker test by the French-speaking priests, and they got the same treatment everyone else had. I told them to speak English or turn around and go. The youngest of the three priests started to make a no doubt wise assed comment but the oldest, the one obviously in charge, reined him in.

"Very well, sir. May I ask your name?"

"My name is John," I said.

"Thank you, John. Could you send for Pierre?" he asked.

"You'd have a better chance of contacting Pierre than I would."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," he said, and even looked surprised. Maybe he didn't know what had happened.

"He tried to recapture Fawne after I rescued her. I was forced to kill Pierre and his sons. Later I was also forced to kill Jacques, Searlus, and their sons. I've taken the liberty of assuming control of all their lands," I said.

"This is highly irregular," he said.

"Not where I come from and I don't think it's all that irregular here as you're trying claim. I know Alphonse seemed determined to take property by force of arms in my country. He's safely dead now too," I said.

"But that can't be your country, it is free land for the taking," he said.

"That's what I mean, just like here. If you have the men, weapons, and balls it's all free land for the taking."

The youngest priest, if that's what he was, shouted something in French to the leader of their guard. Even no more French than I knew, I understood tuez-les, especially with the way he was pointing to Fawne, Jaycee, and I when he yelled it.

Somehow I managed to unlimber my Glock before Jaycee produced hers. I shot the young whipper snapper, twice, in the chest. I'm sure he was dead before he finished falling ass over teakettle off the back of his horse. I moved my aim to the one he'd been ordering, but Jaycee had beaten me there, she had him in her sights.

The soldier or knight or whatever he was seemed a lot smarter than the young dead fool had been; he was being very still and had both his hands on the pommel of his saddle. In the background I could hear our men drawing swords, nocking arrows, and such; the rest of the "honor" guard was looking around with alarm.

"But sir," the soldier Jaycee was covering said, "These are holy men."

"That don't impress me much," I said, beating Shania Twain to the line in this timeline.

"You have killed a priest," he said, sounding even more indignant now.

"He isn't the first and he won't be the last, unless they learn some manners. If they're so holy why don't they call God down to punish me? When is the lightning going to strike me dead?"

Of course it was a simplistic question, but it cut to the heart of the matter. The priests had no proof that they represented God. They said they did and you had to take their word for it. Unfortunately for them, I didn't have to take theire word for it.

A neat setup if you can get it to work. It lets you do all sorts of things without being questioned. Like raping a woman, claiming she's a witch, and having her tortured to death, little tidbits like that.

"The king will hear about this?" the oldest one spoke up again now.

"How?" I asked.

"I will tell him as soon as I get back to Paris. We are leaving now," he said.

"No, you aren't," I said.

"You can't hold me against my will. I am on Church business," he said.

"Wasn't he on Church business too?" I asked, pointing to the dead one.

Well that was a conversation stopper.

"Any of you that want to live should dismount now, lay down your weapons, and strip off to the skin. I've decided I will send you back to talk with the king," I said, and Fawne translated in case any of the men did not understand.

The fighting men, all except the leader, dismounted. The two remaining religious idiots and the head soldier stayed put.

"Who next, Jaycee? Would you like to shoot a priest or the head fighting man," I asked, and Fawne didn't bother translating since the ones still mounted understood English for sure.

"I guess I should shoot the knight but what the hell, I haven't shot a priest in days," she said, swinging the Glock toward the youngest remaining robed one.

It didn't take him three seconds to start unassing his horse, and when he hit the ground his clothes started coming off too. Jaycee changed her point of aim then. No doubt the knight was a brave man, but he wasn't stupid, and he was on the ground shucking armor pretty damned quick.

The old priest seemed determined to sit his horse and take the consequences. I didn't want to kill him though, so when Jaycee moved her Glock his way I stopped her.

"Sorry sweetie, we need him to deliver the report. You can knock him off with a pike if you'd like, or I'll do it," I said.

"I don't need a pike for that," she said, walking to the horse, grabbing a priestly foot, and lifting swiftly.

As the priest lay on the ground I asked Fawne to get someone to take his clothes off without damaging them. She called a few of the larger women who'd come to watch the show and they were happy to deal with that little detail.

I know it's a little weird to be stripping men naked and sending them off, but I wanted them to know that they didn't mean shit to me. Big Boy wasn't around anymore but I was hoping that whoever was in charge now would give these guys the same treatment as the men I'd sent off dragging corpses away from our first landing site. As a hint, I had three of the naked men hitched by rope to the one I'd killed.

"Scalp, Daddy," Meka said, as they were about to leave.

"Might as well," I said, pulling my knife and dealing with it to the astonishment of all the naked ones.

"I think he has the best hair I've lifted yet," I said, and Meka agreed with me, taking possession and running off to hang it to dry somewhere no doubt.

His exit from horseback and then the disrobing had put the oldest priest in a quiet mood. He didn't offer any more threats anyway. When I let them, they all left.

After they were out of the gate and it had closed I turned to Geron.

"I know that I'm rushing you, but the rest of the men have to be organized and outfitted with the new weapons.

"Tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, you need to have every able bodied man here and any women you can convince start learning to shoot the new bows. We need to increase our firepower."

Fawne translated for me and then Geron said something to her and left.

"He says it will be as you command. I don't know how he can possibly do it though," Fawne said.

"He can't, but I hope he can make at least some headway. We'll be okay if the walls are as good as I was told, and if they stay," I said, and then headed back inside toward the new coffee break room.

Fawne, Jaycee, and all the others came with me.

"I don't see how we can stay here. The king has many men, thousands," Fawne said.

It was easy to tell that the new women, those from Jacques and Searlus' homes didn't see how either. At least I was heartened by the small smiles on Delphine, Adèle, and Cécile's faces. Apparently they didn't doubt I could take care of anything that came up. Bless their hearts.

"Technically I'm sure you're correct, but does he have a standing army or only hundreds of nobles that have sworn fealty to him? We have at least a week before he can mount an attack even if he, or his mother, want to.

"In reality we probably have three months or more."

"But he will have to attack. They will have to, if they don't it's as if they have no control over their own country. He is the sovereign, if he can't enforce his will he is nothing," Fawne said.

"If he chooses to take us on. Don't you think they'll want to get a military man's opinion before they do anything? When his nakedness and the others get back to Paris and tell their tales, won't someone wonder how I'd have the balls to try something like this?"

"Well, of course they will send scouts, especially when they learn of the new walls. They are something even the biggest idiot could not miss," Fawne said.

"Don't you think there will be a lot of questions asked about how the walls sprang up so quickly? Won't something be said about the way I dared the priest to have God strike me down?"

"There will be a lot of talk about it and many arguments too, I'm sure," she said.

"Then which will be worse for the rulers, taking me on and losing or ignoring me?" I asked.

That pretty much ended the conversation and I was glad of it. I hadn't thought things through; I'd just done what felt right at the time.

The soldier said I'd killed a holy man. I doubted it.

Centuries later there would be some holy men in the Catholic Church, hell, their might even be some now. I was pretty sure they were in the minority though. The main interest of the ones I'd met so far was to advance in their own hierarchy. As far as I was concerned they were just another way to keep the peasants pacified, afraid, and in the dark.

I didn't care what went on in Paris or anywhere else in France or even Europe for that matter. I cared about what happened here only because it was where I was. I didn't even know why I'd been put here.

I'd come to understand that Fawne had only been a trick to make me want to come here. Some part of They had a reason for this and I hadn't been let in on the joke. All I could do was the best I could and wait to see what happened. Oh yeh, I could wonder too. Mostly I wondered where Big Boy had gotten off to.

Lunch had been great but necessarily a hurried affair, what with the holy visit still pending. When we got to the coffee room we found Harriette had fixed roast beef sandwiches along with other assorted goodies and sent them to us via a few of my scantily clad maids. We had a pleasant little snack and I felt like I could make it to supper now.

After a few more minutes of sitting around with coffee, I stood to leave. Jaycee stood with me. Meka, who'd showed up shortly after we started eating, announced her intention to stay with Fawne and the others. Jaycee and I headed for the basement's basement.

"I really should teach Geron, or someone, more about the rifles and other weapons here. I can't teach every man to shoot, but there are plenty of rifles and Glocks to go around. I just don't have time for all the training it will take," she said.

"No one would, Jaycee. You'll have to find two or three smart ones and teach them, then they can teach the rest - same thing with the new bows and crossbows. I'm sure they have an idea how those work at least, but they'll do much better with training and practice."