Chương 6: Army of Slaves
The commander attempts to investigates the stagnant body of the former chief, Abe's head is lifted up to by Jean before the commander receives a sharp stab through his right leg by the half dead man. "JUDITH!!!!!" Shouts Abe his voice half muffled by the gargle of blood. he brutally and repeatedly stabs the commander's right leg, as if he was a feral dog who was pushed into cornered.
Jean try's to kick the chief's head to pacify him, although this doesn't falter his attacks, so he resorts to sword. He clutches onto his sword before using his body weight to slam it down onto the back of his skull, and then he does it again, and again, and so on and so forth.
For the final time, Abe rears his—bloody and beaten—head, he looks down at his bloody sword and launches it at Judith's head, although the sword just barely grazes by him and flys through the dark and blood soaked tunnel.
Abe stares at Judith for a brief second—with Judith staring back—before Abe whispers to himself, "Monster," his head this time falling down for good as the final strike was blown to the back of his skull, finishing him off.
As Abe's essence is drained from his soul with each stab of the sword, he thinks back, was his life good or was it bad. After so many years of being a ruthless man, he died cornered and utterly useless. His mind repeatedly came back to his eighteen years of chiefdom, the most glorious time of his life, a time he wishes would return.
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It was a warm and humid day in June, eighteen years ago, Abe had just completed his short and brief stay in the military. He was in the midst of a raid on a noble's farmland, his friend Brandon, accompanying him in the raid.
It was midday when the two of them broke into the farmhouse, their steps quiet and slow, although the old and beaten floorboards creaked regardless of the men's pace.
When they both eventually found their way into the noble's room, Abe walked up close towards the side of the bed, he stared into the eyes of the man, who was slowly begin to wake up.
When the man fully awoke, he tried to scream but soon enough abe drove a sword down his throat, the screams silenced and the blankets stained in blood. The dying man shared a brief look at the thief's, his face painted with terror, and their's with a sense of pity.
When the man finally died, Abe sat down on the end of the bed, his head in his hands, before letting out a deep sigh and a moment of though before getting back to his mission—with a small bit of pity inside of him.
Abe's somber tone was fixed when they finnaly got to looting the place, as abe remembered why he has raided so many places, for their goods. They both spent their time wisely as they rummaged through the desolate house, both acquiring fine goods wherever they looked.
They eventually stumbled their way into the barn, their face's writhing in ecstasy, as they soon forgot about the dead man. Their blades were covered in the blood of the noble, and his jewellery adorned both Abe and Brandon respectively, although what they saw in the barn caused their once ecstatic face's to fade, as before them were twenty odd slaves, all of which engulfed in chains that clasped onto their joints.
After some brief thinking, "What do you think we should do with these men? They're witnesses to our crimes," Prys Brandon, looking up to Abe as if he was a saviour.
After a brief moment of deep thinking he replies, "We could use these men," his eyes looking down and meeting Brandon's, "With my military expertise we could train them and help us do our dirty work."
From their kneeling position, the slaves looked up at Abe, their faces mixed with that of hope and that of fear. Some thought this would be a new beginning, while others knew it would be more of the same.
"Do not expect a easy life you slaves, but together, under my command, we will raid and pillage the land, the land that once punished you and inslaved you! Together we will live in wealth, hidden away from the society that persecuted you so easily, the society that persecuted me!" shouts Abe, and with that, every single slave in the room that day cheered.
Soon after that, all the slaves were gathered up in the sun-touched fields before they set out to march, their destination being an isolated fishing village known as "Sina" that lay not too far away.
Both Abe and Brandon walked together, side by side. They marched a little ahead of their newly acquired slaves, who followed a little bit behind.
Brandon turns to the self proclaimed Cheif before asking, "what do you mean persecuted you?" His tone one of great curiosity.
"I guess we've known each other for long enough now, but when I first left the military, they tried to hunt me down, but when they couldn't find me, so instead they burned my family home, after that I fled the land and that's how I found you," replies Abe, his face unphased and his gaze fixated on the distant horizon, the wind blowing faintly against his face.
Neither Brandon, nor Abe spoke a word after that, a calm yet melancholic sentiment washing over both of them, dreams of grandiose and wounds of the past consuming the pair.
…
After some time the men set up camp for the night not too far outside of the seaside community, although the only weapons the men had were farmland tools such as; shovels, pitchforks and axes.
All of the slaves were gathered arround a campfire, with the chief Abe and slaver Brandon at the centre standing as a commanding presence.
"Soon we will raid this land, and make it our home, a seaside village isolated from any other town, it will make a perfect fit, if you doubt your conviction to murder, think of how the world has wronged you, and channel that into anger," shouts Brandon, his tone intimidating yet motivating. "I will be the slave master, and I will command over you." The crowd immediately erupts into applause, their weapons held high to the skyline, and hope engulfing their faces.
"It is the time, we attack now," clarifies Abe, his hand resting on Brandon's shoulder while looking to the crowd.
Abe turns his back before he begins to march through the forest, Brandon and the rest following suit immediately after, not a single of them daring to speak as they walk through silent forest.
Soon enough, they reach the edge of the forest, the village laying at the bottom of the hill they stood on. Abe stands atop the hill, leaning against a tree as he stares at Brandon, waiting for him to take initiative.
"We will attack the enemy by striking the barrack first, leaving the village defenceless, then we strike the civilians," declares Brandon, his tone serious and stern, yet with a hint of enthusiasm.
The men march under the command of Brandon, who uses the tall grass as cover as he slowly sneaked his way up to towards the barracks, his body in a crouching position as he makes his way through.
Local soldiers patrol through the grass to detect any intruders, the guards are equipped with a sword and a torch per soldier. It starts with just one patrol guard falling, until another one falls, and then another, and then some more.
The slaves slowly take down the outer guards, looting their equipment before moving in further, but due to the torches falling, the grass begins to light on fire and alert the guards, the flames rising high and casting a barrier of fire arround the village, letting no one escape.
When all of the guards rush to check on the inferno of flames, from the grass jumps the slave army, where they slaughter every guard that comes in proximity until there are no more to murder.
After all of the violence and bloodshed, the only thing that stood between the army and the village is the stone walls that surround the place.
With the command of Brandon, the men began to pour into the village, they ruthlessly plundered the land, the distant cries of women and men could be heard as they were struck down trying to flee.
Some locals tried to escape by running through the wall of fire that engulfed the village, but none did, as instead they were burnt to a crisp.
The only ones of which who were spared in the village that night were the kids, so that they could be raised as soldiers to serve for Abe and Brandon.
In the midst of the battle, Abe sat atop the walls and forced himself to watch all of this suffering, as he believes he must have strength to watch such violence to become a leader, and as the night went on, with every death, his soul was hardened and his demeanour grew colder.
When the day broke, all that was left were Brandon's army, and in the centre of the square a pile of valuables that were collected. Abe got down from the walls to meet the exhausted men who had just spent the night fighting, he congratulated them and shook their hands, although many men were in low morale.
"Hey Abe, I take eighty percent of this loot and the rest take twenty, although you won't get any, as you did nothing," said Brandon, his arms folded and his men standing close by, their heads bowed down to the ground from the tiring battle.
"We will discuss this later," whispered Abe to Brandon, before Abe looked at the men with a smile. "Now men, we will feast, a large dinner will be served at the town hall! Sina is ours!" Exclaimed the Chief, his tone victorious.
The men were given permission to rest, and the local teenage girls were made cook the food, with the oversight of the chief.
It was not even three hours later before it was finished and the men were awoken and called to dinner, the tables set, and a small podium for the Chief and the Slave Master.
All the men began to pour into the town hall, their chatter loud and their foods all laid out infront of them. Abe and Brandon shared a seat atop the podium, two of them having an awkward moment of tension between them.
"You said you wanted eighty percent of the treasure?" Asks Abe, looking down and focused on his food, his voice collected.
After a brief glance over, Brandon collects his thoughts and replies, "Yeah, without my leadership we would've failed, and you also did nothing," his voice calm and quiet.
"I understand why I don't deserve a cut, but twenty Percent to your men is quite harsh."
"They are slaves!" Pipes Brandon, his neck snapping arround to face Abe with a serious expression.
"Our plan was to free them from the oppression, and you go and do this?" Abe mentions, his voice still rather monotone, but this time louder.
"I helped you so we could be rich, not them!" Shouts Brandon, who is now standing up with his hands slammed upon the table.
The chief stares at him for a short second before opening his mouth to say something, but Brandon had already began to walk out. Abe follows him as he leaves the building before resting his hand on Brandon's shoulder. "What're you doing?"
"I'm just gonna get some rest," Brandon said coldly, before shrugging off Abe's hand, and walking out the door.
Abe turns arround and heads back to the podium, so that the night can proceed normally, although Brandon's words still lay heavy on his mind, even though he tries to shake them off.
The night proceeds as regular as any celebration would, drunken soldiers and laughing men all under one roof, until the night came to a close and the men began to pour out.
Abe was rather quiet for the rest of the night and he too saw it fit to leave, so he gets up and walks out the door and down into a village house to get some rest, but what he sees, is a horse and carriage missing, and a large chunk of the valuables gone missing.
Abe was utterly shocked and spent a while searching the nearby forest and inside buildings but to no avail. He tries his best to cover up that anything had went missing although he was concerned.
He later notified his men that their slaver had gone missing, yet it was never disclosed that any of the treasure went missing, Abe kept most of the wealth and slowly laundered it into goods and services, so that he could then distribute it to his men equally.
For the next few months there was an akward state of reorganisation until they eventually picked up their raids once again, where they soon gained notoriety in the region, first Laurence came, requesting to join, then did Johnny, then did Albert and so on.
These new slavers were a lot less liberal than Abe, and over time, they demanded that Abe not give the slaves such lavish life's, and Abe's heart, which grew colder every day, did not say no to the proposition. An era of darkness soon came over the slaves, where they lived in harsh conditions, and in full service to which ever slaver they were assigned to.
This became the status quo for a long time, as all of the new slaver's found themselves quite comfy inside the village of Sina.
——————————————————————
It was four years later, and Laurence was standing as a look out atop the three metre wall that surrounded Sina, he looks out across the sprawling hills that surround the seaside village, beside him is Abe who wanted to gaze upon the land, as the sun had recently just came up.
"I think I see something, Big Abe," says Laurence, his tone serious, and his eyes squinting to see what lay ahead in the distance, Abe too turned his head to see what it was.
A lone man, who beared the Tri Firma uniform emerged out of the forest, and out into the open planes, his march calm, yet still with a hint of conviction. He was wearing a heavy and dull mask made of stone that seemed to be clasped arround his face, with a small mouth hole for eating, and two for his eyes.
When the man got in earshot, he looked up to the men on the walls before shouting at them, "Big Abe, we must speak."
Laurence immediately hopped into action and jumped down to face off with the man, although Abe told him to halt any attack.
"Are you out of your mind Abe? He's Tri Firma, these men are savages!" Cries Laurence looking back for a brief second.
"And you want us to strike him down and escalate?" Prys Abe, "Do not be foolish!"
The chief looks back over towards the strange man and asks him to come up to the top of the wall and discuss, his tone sincere and welcoming, although his tall presence rather intimidating.
The man climbed up and so too did Laurance, who kept a watchful eye on the stranger. The man then proceeded to sit down beside Abe, with no weapon to be seen.
"It is me, Brandon." He says, his eyes looking out across the land, as if his words had little to no impact.
Laurence gives a confused look before he sees Brandon get slammed down to the ground by Abe, "Where did you go!" He shouts to the old friend, as he punches him in the face over, and over again.
"I was sent here as a scout, you can surrender now, or we will take you by force, either way you will all be killed. We will let you have the choice, so you can either give in now, or let us slaughter you all in battle, and don't even think about killing me, because they will just invade then." Says Brandon while laughing maniacally.
"Is it really you," Abe whispers, his hands pulling against the mask until it is fully off of him, and his face exposed.
"No!" Shouts the old friend. His face was burned and skinned, the muscles exposed, and one of his eyes missing.
Abe stands in horror looking at the disgusting mess of a face, his soul conflicted with that of hatred for the man, and sympathy for his current state, although he mostly remains silent before he says under his breath, "what did they do."
"I was going to tell the Tri Firma about your army, but instead they presumed me as the killer of the noble, and out of spite, for four years, I told them not a thing, and for that I was punished, but they offered me freedom if I told them about you, so I had to, it was the only way." Says Brandon, his disgusting face scrunching up and crying.
"I understand, tell them I surrender, and then live your life," Abe replies, his tone somber.
The man went back to tell the Tri Firma, and not even two hours later they marched into the village, although not a soul was to be found. The place was evacuated and the village burned.
For two weeks the slave army roamed the countryside in hope of refuge until they found the valley bastion where they settled down up until now.
——————————————————————
Abe's final thought was not one of guilt, or of fear, but he pondered one simple question to himself, in the back of his mind he thought, "Where is brandon."
…
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