Chapter 43: Act 1: Chapter 33
Thirtieth day, Ninth Moon, 250 AC
Awareness came back to me in a rush, as the ice-cold water was dumped on me.
I tried to surge to my feet but found myself tied to the main pole of the barn. I cracked open an eye to find myself surrounded by four angry men and a bucket.
One of the men stepped forward and punched me in the gut, without warning.
I erupted into a fit of wheezing as I tried to regain my breath and move past the pain. The man punched me twice more before stepping back.
"You killed Artie," said the man, who had entered the barn first, originally.
My stomach was on fire, but I coughed out, "You slit his throat."
The man shrugged. "He was a dead man, still breathing. That's on you. Where's the gold?"
Gold? They were just after gold?
"I don't have any gold. Got some silver though. Just take it and leave."
The man started to laugh, and his fellows followed his lead.
"Funny. Tig, go search the house. Seban, take the rest o' the barn; Carron, look outside for a buried pit."
"And what'll you be doing, Barrick?" Asked Tig.
"Watching the prisoner, you fool." Replied Barrick.
After the rest of the men moved off, the leader, Barrick, said to me, "Well. We can do this the hard way, or the easy way."
The way he said it, reminding me of a cheesy one-liner, had me start laughing, heedless of the danger I was in.
At my laughter, Barrick scowled. He punched me again in the gut, but I didn't stop laughing.
I could feel the hysteria building in my gut and felt that if I stopped laughing I would start crying.
Barrick punched me in the face and I could feel my nose break before the pain erupted.
"Fuck!" I swore.
"Tell me, where the gold is! I know it is here! No games!"
"I don't know what you mean!" I pleaded. "I've never had a lot of gold. I've got some silvers, like I said. I ain't a Lord."
He looked me in the eye, and seeing my earnest, though pained expression, he swore and marched out of the barn.
I remained alone for a while, before I heard their voices start talking outside.
"Find anything, Seban?" Asked Barrick.
"Nah," replied Seban, "I didn't even find any o' that gold tha' grew on plants. Got some drink though. The alcohol is real strong. One looks like water, the other like wine."
I could hear them pouring out my vodka and brandy into cups. Anger rolled through my stomach. How dare they? Coming into my home? Stealing my things and holding me prisoner?
"He doesn't have any gold, or so he claims," said Barrick.
The other men erupted into an argument. "The fuck he does!" Said Tig. I could hear him throw down my bag of coins onto the ground. "See," he said, "There's plenty of silver, he's just hiding the gold!"
"Maybe it's with his wife?" Carron said.
"That's dumb, why would she carry it around?" Replied Barrick.
"What was the riddle again?" Tig interrupted.
"The riddle? You mean the one that Marion found out?"
"Yeah, that one. How's it go?"
"Something like: All he has glitters like gold. Or something like that."
I felt confused. All I have glitters like gold? What the fuck? What does that even mean?
"I think I understand!" Exclaimed Tig.
The men entered the barn again, and Tig led them over to my machinery.
"Right here! See this? It's metal. And it ought t' glitter like gold, but he's a tricky one! Like you said, Barrick! So, he's gone n' painted it t' hide it!" Tig said proudly.
Barrick rapped the metal portion of the threshing machine with his sword. A dull clang rang out.
Barrick facepalmed. "You idiot. That's just iron!"
Tig's face went red in embarrassment. "Wait! He's… He's so tricky, that he's gone n' hid it inside the iron! Yeah, that's gotta be it!"
"And how's he done that, you fool?" asked Barrick exasperatedly.
Tig stammered out, "I don't right know! Ask him!"
The silence was deafening.
My mind was still mulling over that riddle. It sounded so nonsensical. But familiar at the same time.
Tig, fed up with the silence, rushed over to me and pointed his sword at my head. He said in a low voice, "Tell me how you hid the gold, or I'll start cutting bits off."
I blinked in shock at his threat.
Holy shit. He looks serious. Wait…
That means I'm being tortured. Taking me prisoner and hurting me till I talk…. That's torture.
I'm being tortured. I'm actually being tortured. What the fuck. Holy shit, this is a real torture situation. This is not a movie. This isn't a story of someone in some far off, barbaric place.
…
Fuck. Oh, fuck.
My lack of response pissed off Tig, who moved his sword back and eyed my foot as he prepared to swing.
Before he could swing downwards, and arrow sprouted from his throat. He blinked in shock before falling to the ground with a thud.
I stared in disbelief at his body. I quickly turned to look at the other three men and saw another was down on the ground with an arrow sticking out from his chest.
The other two men immediately picked up their shields and hid behind them.
They were talking in whispers and I couldn't overhear them.
It was still silent, which was odd. What happened to the animals?
Three dogs cantered into the room, looking like fierce predators. Mimi, looked unusually ferocious, especially alongside Buddy and Willie, our livestock guardian dogs. They all had a seriousness to them that indicated that Violet was here!
The Ironborn quickly but confidently moved over to me and shouted out, "Get your damn dogs out of here, or we kill the old man!"
The dogs paused for a moment, before Koryn shouted from outside, "Put your weapons down, and we won't kill you!"
Seban and Barrick each quietly snorted at that.
"Pull your dogs out o' the barn, 'n maybe we'll talk!" Barrick shouted.
The dogs reluctantly exited the barn and disappeared from view.
"Now, let's talk about you leaving!" Koryn said.
Barrick indicated that Seban should go near the door to ambush the next person to enter.
I didn't like that much, so as Seban passed by me, I lashed out with my leg, tripping Seban, while shouting, "Get in here!"
Seban tucked into an awkward roll and came to his feet but was met with three dogs who jumped onto him and tore into his neck and arms.
Seeing his partner go down, Barrick tried to escape by smashing the nearby window and attempting to jump through it.
Unfortunately for him, Koryn and Bran has entered the barn with their bows drawn and seeing him flee they quickly brought him down.
Violet entered after and ran over to me, shouting, "Dad! Are you alright?"
I groaned in relief as she cut through my bonds and I felt the circulation return to my hands.
"Roughed over a bit, sweetie. I'll be alright though." I replied.
While Violet had been releasing me, Koryn and Bran had been making sure that the Ironborn were actually dead.
As Violet helped me to my feet, she helped me walk over to where Barrick was laying on the ground. As we approached, we could hear him making a low moaning sound. Bran rolled him over with his foot, so that his bow was at the ready in case Barrick tried anything.
The man's mouth was bloody, and his eyes darted around the room in panic.
"How many more of you are there?" Asked Bran.
Barrick kept moaning and did not answer.
"Answer me, you pig! How many more?!" Bran shouted.
Barrick gave a low cough. "What is dead, may never die." With a final breath, the life went out of Barrick.
"You're dead now, you fuck," cursed Bran. He turned to me and said, "We met others fleeing from the village. It's under attack, but we don't know how many there are."
I sat down heavily on a chair near my workbench; I was exhausted and felt wrung out. "How did you find out?"
"Well, we were leaving this morning," Violet said, "and as we got nearer to the village we could smell smoke, so we continued on cautiously. We ran across some of the villagers fleeing in the forest, and they told us what happened. We wanted to get a closer look, so we left the road, but we were soon passed by five men jogging down the road to our farms. So, we ran back as quick as we could. We managed to warn a few farms, but the raiders got ahead of us; it looked like they were coming straight here. Grandpa saw them coming and ran into the forest, but they didn't chase him. Him and Jeran went to go find the rest of the family at the sunset cliff, while Bran and I continued on."
Violet took a breath to drink some water, as she and Bran both looked tired and thirsty. She continued, "Uncle Zane ran off too before we got there, and we got to Uncle Koryn's just in time to see him run. They looked briefly at the house but kept coming to our farm. When we finally got here, we saw they caught you. And, well, you know the rest."
"And the rest of the family?" I asked.
Violet gave a reassuring smile. "Safe. One of the dogs, Trevor, is with them now. I sent him along once you were safe. They are coming back now."
"Good. Anyone have any more water?" I asked.
Bran handed me his flask, and I took a long, refreshing swig of water.
I was tired, and I hurt all over, but the water energized me a little. I took a moment to just relax on the chair, while we waited for the rest of the family.
It was a few minutes before they all came rushing into the barn. The reunions were teary eyed, but it felt good to have Nyra in my arms again.
It took a while for everyone to settle down, and then Koryn asked, "Now what? These Ironborn came right here 'n ignored everything else. They probably won't just steal from the village and then leave."
Ethan and I shared a haggard glance.
Zane stood up and said, "We can't just do nothing! This is our land! I say we take the fight to them!"
"And how are we t' do that, son?" Asked Ethan.
"We can gather the villagers who fled into the forest and fight!" Retorted Zane.
"That will take too long," I interjected. "We need a good plan. Someone pass me that map I have on the wall over there." Ryden passed me the map, and I continued. "Okay, how about Zane, Koryn, and I head on down the village, while everyone else heads back the cliffs."
Ryden was about to interrupt, but I cut him off. "No Ryden, we need to look over the young ones. You need to watch over your younger siblings and cousins." At his reluctant nod, I went on. "Okay, Zane, Koryn, and I will head on to the village, following the road but not actually on it. We will need to go slow and fight out how many are actually there. It will take to long to search the woods for people, but we might be able to get those still inside the village to help us fight. Now, why don't some of the women go and collect supplies for us. Weapons and armor for the three of us, along with some medical supplies; and some medical supplies, food, and weapons for the rest of you."
As the group dispersed to their tasks, I groaned as I stood up and tried to get my body limber. It was going to be a long day.