Chapter 37

They left at dawn the following morning. The two columns were slowly snaking their way through the countryside. The lad - Petik, who had raised the alarm - rode alongside Tom.

“Sire, why are they doing this?”

“What do you mean, lad?”

“Why are they attacking us? They have their own lands, their own crops. If it’s just food they’re after, then we would gladly trade with them. With all the new machines and methods that have come to us lately, there’s enough for everyone. I don’t understand why they have attacked us.”

“I can’t answer that. It may be because they are lazy and think that stealing is an easier way of getting what they want. It could be a lust for power. For some men it is like a drug, they just cannot get enough. Once they control the village, next they must control the tribe. Once they control the tribe then they must control all the tribes, after that it is all the peoples, next it is the whole country, then the whole world. It never stops, there’s never enough.”

“That’s just crazy. No one can control that much. The people wouldn’t stand for it!”

“I know that; unfortunately, there are those who do not. It has been the cause of many a war where I come from.”

They rode throughout the morning. It was a different kind of trip. Previously they had been a happy laughing band, welcoming the locals, the women and girls going off into the woods to find different kinds of plants. Some were to eat, others were medicinal. Now they kept in tight formation, moving forward with purpose. Outriders kept watch and also discouraged anyone approaching the column.

Lunch was a hurried, cold affair taken on the move. Time was taken to water the horses and for folk to attend to their own needs, but that was all. It was essential to cover as much ground as possible. It was the following day when they had their first sign of trouble. They came across a small band of refugees trying to get away from the horrors they had witnessed. Tom ordered them brought to him. He watched as a small group of terrified men women and children were herded towards him.

“Tell me, what happened to you?”

“We have a farm outside Fastholm. We saw a rider approaching and he told us of the raiders attacking the town. We gathered up our things and were going to try to get there. Just when we were ready to leave we saw some men approaching so we ran. We just got away in time. The next thing we saw was the flames as they burnt our farm. There wasn’t much food left, as we had packed most of it and brought it with us. I don’t know what we’re going to do next year, though. Our harvest is in the fields. If we don’t get the chance to get back and bring it in, we’ll starve!” one of the men said.

“What are we to do? We’ve lost everything. We have no home, no food. What’s to be come of us?” A woman exclaimed hysterically. She had visions of having to prostitute herself, or worse still prostitute her children in order to feed them all through the winter. The loss of the harvest meant that or watching her children slowly starve to death. She was in total despair.

“I am King Tom. We will look after you. I promise you that neither you or your children will go hungry this winter. I intend to drive these beasts back where they have come from, then teach them a lesson they will never forget! If they think they can attack my friends, my subjects and get away with it; then they are in for a nasty surprise! They cannot afford to wage war during the harvest season, but we can! We have, as we speak, men ready to gather in the harvest. We will not go hungry this year, but we will ensure that they do. They will rue the day they started this.”

On hearing this, knowing they were saved, the women wept and clung to Tom’s clothes. The men knelt before him.

“Sire, we do not know how to thank you. You have saved us, all of us from a terrible fate.” one of the women cried

“We are yours to command Sire.” the first man declared.

“Very well. First you must get a good meal inside you, then make you way to Battle Valley. There you will be safe and well looked after.”

It was a much happier group that went to find what food they could. They had escaped with very little, just the clothes on their back and a little food. That was nearly all gone so the idea of sharing a meal with their King, even a cold one, was not something to turned down.

After the meal a much happier group set off in the direction of Battle Valley. The column set off again, and soon came across scenes of devastation. There were burnt out farms and the bodies of those not fortunate enough to escape. It was late in the day when one of the scouts came back to report that they had spotted a band of around twenty raiders.

“Where are they and did they see you?” Tom asked the man

“They are just over the next rise, and are making camp. I can assure you, Sire, they did not see us. They have captured some women. I think they intend these unfortunates to be their entertainment for the night. They were setting up camp as I left.”

“Very well, assemble the men. We will teach them to capture and rape our women.”

Tony and Hugh approached him. “You’re not thinking of taking part in the assault on the camp are you?” Tony asked him.

“Yes, why?”

“Because that would be the stupidest thing you would have done in a very long time. You will stay here. I will lead the attack. You are much to valuable to risk in a small scale thing like this.”

Just then Talbath came up.

“Sire, my Lords, I just wished to say, meaning no offence, but none of you should take part in this. You are all too noisy. None of you can move quietly through the forest. They would hear you coming from a mile off. Let us go and free them. We can take them out and be away without anyone hearing a thing.”

The three of them looked at each other. They knew Talbath was right.

“Do you know something, young man, you may have a point here. Rolof was so quiet it was scary,” Tom told him.

“Rolof is not so quiet. He’s not as noisy as you, but I always know where he is. I am much quieter.” said a smiling Talbath.

“Very well, make it so.” Tom ordered.

Hugh and Tony both smiled at this reference to Star Trek, but neither said anything.

Talbath grinned and disappeared into the woods. He gathered his men together and they set off. It took them just over an hour to arrive at the camp. The men moving around setting up their camp. The women were nervously preparing the evening meal. One of the men stood up, and grabbed a young woman. He started to drag her off towards his tent. Her cries and screams rang out as she struggled against the brute. The others laughed at her efforts. Another man looked up at the girls. He pointed to a young girl, no older than thirteen.

“You’re next. Once we’ve eaten, you’ll be our playmate for tonight!”

The other men laughed at this while the women wept and whimpered. Talbath nodded to his men. They had silently taken out the sentries and had surrounded the camp. They each chose a target, drew their bows and at Talbath’s signal, fired.

The arrows struck true. All the men sitting at the camp fire were hit, no-one missed. The man who had dragged the girl into his tent heard the cries of his companions and came rushing out. He was peppered with several arrows. He looked like a giant pin cushion.

The hunters made their way slowly into the camp. Some of the men were only wounded. Any that tried to rise were shot again. They were taking no chances. The women were looking at them, wide eyed in terror. Talbath stepped forward.

“You are safe, now. No one here will hurt you. We will take you to our King. He will look after you. He will know what to do.”

They went into the tent where the young girl had been taken. She screamed as she saw the approaching men. They backed off, and stepped out of the tent. Talbath went over to one of the older women

“Could you go to that young girl, please, and assure her that we will not hurt her? We are only here to help you.”

The woman looked at him and smiled. She knew then they were safe as she waved to another woman. The girl’s mother was among the freed women. She ran over to her terrified daughter. They clung together for support. Several of the women were clinging together, desperate that they were not going to be hurt or worse. Talbath, seeing this addressed the women.

“My name is Talbath. I am from the Hunter people. I am here with King Tom. We are here to free you. Gather your things and come with us. We will take you to him. You will be safe.”

“What about the wounded?” one of his men asked.

“Well, we could do with one or two to question. The others?” He shrugged his shoulders.

The mother of the young girl seemed to rally at this. She went over to one of the wounded slavers. She picked up a knife from the ground. The man screamed as he saw her approach.

“I want this one. He isn’t dead, yet!” she told them.

Talbath nodded. He could guess what the man had done, He knew what the woman was about to do.

She knelt down by the man, he started pleading “No, please! I beg you, no!”

“That’s just what I begged of you, when you raped me. I begged like that when you forced your cock up me arse. You just laughed didn’t you. You laughed when you made me suck you clean, afterwards. You thought it was really funny when you pissed in my mouth, telling me if I refused you, all of you would take turns with my daughter! Well now, it’s my turn!”

She cut away his trousers, then sliced at his testicles. Opening his sack, she removed his testicles. The man screamed, then passed out in shock. He was fortunate. He didn’t feel it when she removed his cock and forced into his mouth. He soon bled out. She then stood.

“I’m done. I’m ready to leave.”

Their things were quickly gathered. Two of the least wounded were selected, the rest were quickly dispatched. It was a subdued group that returned to King Tom and the rest of the army.

“That was savage what that woman did to that man wasn’t it?” Polti, a young hunter enquired of Talbath

“Did you hear what the woman said? Did you hear what he and his friends did to her? I personally think he got off lightly. He abused her in the most horrific and brutal manner. She had to endure it for the sake of her daughter. If anyone threatened to do that to my wife or children, well, I tell you, there is no pit in hell deep enough to protect them from my vengeance. As I say, he got off lightly.”

Polti looked at the man he had known all his life with new eyes. He had never seen him so determined and fired up.

Tom was waiting anxiously for their return. He breathed a sigh of relief when they finally emerged into the clearing.

“Your Majesty, we have cleansed the enemy camp, freed the captives, and brought two men for you to question.” He dragged the two wounded men behind him, headless of their cries and threw them down in front of Tom. He knelt down and whispered in their ears “If you refuse to answer any questions, I’ll give you to the women!”

Their eyes widened at this, they quickly nodded their heads. Tom stood before them.

“I am King Tom, ruler of these lands. By what right do you come here and attack my people?”

“Please, Sir; I am Gunter, and this is Karl. We are part of Olaf’s clan. We were all following King Sven. He’s the king of the northern clans. He told us we could get food and slaves. He said that you were weak. He told us that your best warriors were away fighting in far off lands and that this would be easy.”

“Where is this Olaf?”

“He’s dead, sir. He was killed at the camp. Most of our men from the tribe were.”

The other man coughed and groaned in pain.

“You have been wounded. We will have your wounds attended to, then we will talk again. You will tell me everything I wish to know. If not, well, things will get a lot worse for you.”

Paul and Ilsa came over and attended to the men’s wounds. Tom turned to Talbath.

“Any problems, any of ours hurt?”

“No, Sire, they never knew what hit them. They were all settling down for the night for a good bit of rape and abuse. We got to them just in time. We have freed several women and children. They are very frightened and traumatised. God only know what these poor devils have been through.”

“Well done. We need to find their main camp. I suspect that there are several groups like this wandering the countryside, praying on the weak and unprepared. I’ll send Ilsa and a couple of Angels to tend to them. In the meantime, you and your men get something to eat.”

Ilsa and a couple of Angels went to tend to the women. One of the prisoners was mortally wounded. He had received a gut shot. Paul went over to talk to Tom

“One of the prisoners will probably make it, the other, unlikely. He received an arrow in the gut, it’s likely to become infected. He’ll be dead in a couple of days. Would you like me to give him something to ease his suffering? I know he’s the enemy but I can’t stand by and let someone suffer unnecessarily.”

“Very well, There’s no need for him to suffer. Just do it quietly. I don’t want a fuss.”

Paul nodded. He returned to the wounded man.

“Here, drink this. It will help with the pain.”

The man took the goblet and swallowed the contents. He smiled with relief as the pain subsided, then quietly fell into a deep slumber, from which he never awoke.

Tom questioned the last survivor. He asked him who King Sven was and why they had decided to wage war on his people.

“King Sven declared himself our King in the spring. Up till then we just had chieftains. Each clan has it’s own chief, Up until recently he decided what happened within the clan. Now we have a King, so he makes a lot of the decisions. We allowed him to be our King because he promised us he would ensure that this winter our women and children would not go hungry. He told us that together we would be so strong that no clan or tribe could stand against us. We would be invincible. He promised us wealth, food and slaves.”

“Did you not stop to think where this food and these slaves would come from? Did you not stop to think of what would happen to you if he were wrong and you were not invincible?”

“No, no we did not. He told us that he had information that most of the warriors from the southern tribes were off fighting some slavers from the mainland and this would be the most advantageous time to strike. He told us that there would only be old men, women and children defending their farms. We did not expect everyone to be in towns or to see such high walls surrounding them. We have raided a few farms, but have not got nearly as much as we expected. Most of the people have fled or are in the towns. This was to be the big push before the harvest season. We were told that once we had captured the women and children and had held them all winter that their men-folk wouldn’t want them back. They would be ours to keep.”

“Well let me tell you that your King Sven has just condemned your people to horrors you could only dream of in your worst nightmares. All your warriors will be killed or captured. Most of your women and children will struggle to survive this winter. Our warriors will chase you back to every farm, stronghold and hall. We will teach you a lesson you will never forget. As your men try to return to harvest your crops we will be attacking you. There will be no harvest for your people this year.”

The man’s eyes went wide in terror. “You cannot do that! You will be condemning not only my people but yours as well. You have to break off to do your own harvest. If you don’t then your families will starve as well!”

Tom smiled. “We have that covered. Trust me, we will not stop. Now, tell me about this Sven. Who is he and where did he get these ideas?”

“He is the leader of the Stirguard family. Each of our clans are family. Each spring we have a clan gathering. It is here that we compete to decide who is the best warrior, the prettiest maiden, the best archer and the like. It’s here that Sven won the title of King of the Clans. He beat Magnus Stormhammer of the Stormhammer clan. It was then he declared that we should raid you southern people as your men were away fighting. He had supplied plenty of ale, we had drunk most of it, so we agreed.

“We have been raiding on and off ever since. I must say though, the results have not been all that good. Most of the villages suddenly sprouted walls and ditches around them. We could hit the odd outlying farm, but for the most part it’s been quite poor. We tried to attack one town and lost several men to archers. We just couldn’t get through. We didn’t try that again. We avoid those fortified places now. Just a few weeks ago Sven gathered all the warriors together and told us we would take one town at a time, all together. He told us that we would be so strong and intimidating that they wouldn’t dare refuse to open the gates and let us in.”