Pepper

by Carol Buhler

  **

  Later, Pepper stood at the bottom of the basement stairs to supervise the unloading of the prisoners. He barely listened as someone told Jason all about the capture.

  “I distracted them by clicking shut the shotgun, then aimed it at the girl. They were gawking at me, when the rest threw the nets. We got them separated. Easier to handle, I bet, than you guys had it.”

  Another voice took up the tale as his partner opened the back of the van. While one reeth, then a second stumbled out, he said, “They obeyed quite nicely when I placed my pistol against the dark critter’s head. Shut right up, they did.” The speaker grabbed a long pole with a crook at the end, reached in, and pulled a bundled body out, letting it fall to the ground with no effort to break the fall.

  Pepper started forward to reprimand him when Firth called from above. He stopped and returned to his place. “I’ll be there in a minute,” he said. “Want to see this done first.”

  His boss muttered but didn’t order him to abandon his supervision. A second bundle was yanked out, this one smaller than the first.

  “We threatened them with toxic gas inside the trucks,” a third man said with a chuckle. “They were still as church mice!”

  One of the men picked up the first bundle and unwound the metal net. Astonished to see a girl, Pepper didn’t move in time to stop the use of the shock stick. Both captives screamed.

  "That's what'll happen if you animals get out of hand," Jason said harshly. "This is what we're gonna do," he continued with no sympathy or kindness in his voice. Pepper saw how frightened the children were, but he didn’t move. Six other men stood around in the basement with him, three of them he’d trained himself. He was outnumbered any way he looked at it.

  Jason went on issuing orders. "You, the light one, are gonna walk quietly into that box there, and the dark one goes into that other one." The reeth obeyed. Then, the biggest of the men picked up the girl and threw her in with her mind-mate. Pepper bit his lip in his struggle to stay still and not throw a knife. The boy, freed of his net, moved quickly to join his reeth. Jason closed and locked both doors.

  “Time for a party!” he shouted and the others raised their arms and hollered, “Hooray!”

  Pepper refused to join them with the pretext that Firth was waiting to speak with him. Before he went to find his boss, he stopped at the bathroom and fought to keep his anger controlled. Not since he’d found Byron hanging from the rafter in that warehouse had he felt such hatred for another human being. This time, he was part of the problem, however. He didn’t know whether to kill Firth, or Jason, or the big brute whose name he didn’t even remember. All three, he decided. The others, too.

  Then, he went looking for Firth.

  A big, blond man stood next to his boss when Pepper found him in the great room. The newcomer looked so much like Byron had before his beating that Pepper stopped in his tracks, his anger draining instantly away leaving him as cold as ice. Firth glanced at him with a smirk and Pepper immediately knew why the young man was there: to remind him where his loyalties had to lie. After a moment, he moved smoothly into the room, almost as if he hadn’t noticed. “Your next orders?” he asked without a quaver in his voice.

  Chapter 20

  Pepper opened the door and bowed. He allowed the sarcasm in his voice to come out clearly. "Welcome, Lord Roark. You're right on time."

  "Where's Firth?" Roark pushed past.

  "Awaiting you in the basement." Pepper led him down the stone steps. Firth stood staring at one of the room-sized boxes. He turned at their entrance.

  "Ah, Roark." Firth’s face was wreathed in the familiar benevolent smile he’d always used with the Lord. Pepper hated that smile. "Good timing. We've begun the assault and the east half of Garador will soon be in our hands!"

  "What have you done?" Roark demanded, taking a step toward him. Pepper moved quietly between them.

  "Why, just what I told you I'd do." Firth walked toward Roark, stepping past his aide, his smile seeming sinister. "I've bought most of Opel. Your lovely mother-in-law owns most of Juel. You, of course, own Kavv and will shortly control Pith. We've forces ready to overthrow the governments or destroy the economies of all the coastal states. And…" He waved a hand at the odd metal rooms. "…I've taken great pains to neutralize the don and reeth."

  He went to a table at the far side of the room and picked up a strangely designed helmet. Returning, he held the thing out. "I must insist you wear this from now on. You've become susceptible to their control. I have to protect you from them."

  Roark moved away from Firth’s offering. "What are you talking about? What is this thing?"

  "It's a helmet, made of lead. It blocks reeth control so you can be free of their dominance."

  "I don't want to be free!"

  What a stupid thing to say, Pepper thought. But then, he’d never much liked the Lord.

  Firth’s face lost its benevolence and Pepper felt a smidgen of sympathy as Roark finally saw the cold, hard creature he really was. Lord Roark had been thoroughly fooled, more so than Pepper himself.

  "It's too late to change your mind, my dear son-in-law. If you try to back out now, your wife and son will join my other guests." He waved at the lead boxes.

  "Who is in those rooms?" Roark whispered, suddenly filled with suspicion that Pepper could readily see.

  "Why, Joedon's young son, as well as others." Firth again wore his benevolent-seeming smile, so out of sync with his words and actions. He held out the helmet again. "Make your choice. Wear the helmet, or see your family in one of my traps."

  Roark snatched the thing and placed it on his head. "Why aren't you and Pepper wearing them? Don't you think they'll find you here?"

  "Not in time." Firth motioned to Pepper. "Take my good Lord Roark to his rooms. Bolt the helmet on, first, though."

  The lord refused to budge as Pepper picked up a welding torch and approached. "Are you responsible for the deaths of all those farmers?" the man shouted as he backed away.

  "Oh, them. No worries." Firth’s face crinkled as his smile widened. "A slight miscalculation only. They were supposed to be our foot soldiers, but they rebelled. They had to go. We found others."

  Roark stiffened in outrage. Pepper found himself in agreement. Firth’s utter disregard for the innocent people who'd lost their lives brought him to appreciate the sick expression on the lord’s face. In another life, we might have been friends.

  Firmly controlling his emotions, Pepper shoved Roark roughly and he lost his footing, falling to one knee. He yanked the man up by the arm and rushed him to the far side of the chamber. Fastening a flexible bar of lead on one side of the helmet with a quick weld, he pulled it under Roark’s chin, and welded it to the other side. The heat left scorched areas on cheeks and neck. Pepper returned Roark’s cold stare with an amused one.

  Once the helmet had cooled, Firth switched off the light and Pepper shoved Roark up the stairs. The man stumbled several times. Then, Pepper missed a step as the quick swish of a skirt caught his eye. Lady Jill is watching. What will she do? Does she care about Roark? I thought not, but maybe I’m wrong.

  **

  That night at dinner, Firth made Roark join him and Lady Jill. The man still wore his travel clothes and his face was bland and pale beneath the helmet. From his place at the door, standing still as a statue, Pepper fumed as Firth antagonized the man, asking about his wife and son, and making off-color statements about Lady Kelt’s disposition. Lady Jill remained very quiet. When she asked about Kelt and Roalt, Firth jerked, as if he’d forgotten he was criticizing her daughter and grandson. Pepper so wanted to throw his knife into the man’s throat. But he had no way to get himself safely out of the castle. And he refused to leave Lady Jill behind. Not even Roark, or those children in the basement, deserved what they were getting. I can’t save them.

  **

  It only took a day for the don and reeth to find the castle. They were on the bluffs before dawn. Safe within the lead-lined b
uilding, Firth gloated as he issued his challenges and threats. Pepper manned the radio, relating information to Firth as it came from the other city-states and the ongoing battles there. Lady Jill was locked in her room, Roark in another just down the hall from her.

  For a moment, the don and reeth were halted, camped on the bluff. Even with the exterior guarded by over three hundred men, according to Firth’s plan, all wearing lead helmets so they couldn’t be controlled by don or reeth if they chose to attack, Pepper still didn’t feel safe. This stalemate couldn’t last. Firth had gotten carried away. There is no way this encounter will end well for anyone inside the castle. Hostages are not enough to stop those outside.

  With nothing he could do to change the situation, he continued to report on progress elsewhere.

  **

  The next day, Firth called Pepper into his room. He was dressed completely in lead armor, a helmet under his left arm. Stopping abruptly, Pepper tried not to goggle at the sight. He’d known nothing of lead armor.

  “I’m going out to check the troops around the castle.” Firth waved at another lead suit spread out on the bed. “Put that on, quickly.”

  “Sir, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Pepper struggled to keep his voice even yet filled with warning. “Reeth and don surround us.”

  “Can’t touch us in these.” Firth fitted his helmet.

  “Lead doesn’t stop bullets,” Pepper said. Against his will, his voice had risen. He absolutely did not want to go outside with those things on the bluffs. Even wearing lead.

  Firth whirled on him. “So they have got you spooked!” he snapped, his voice reeking with scorn. “Stay here then, you coward.” He stomped out the door and down the stairs.

  Pepper waited until he was outside, then headed for the kitchen. A little while later, Lady Jill surprised him there and asked where her husband was.

  Pepper put down the packet he’d been shaking into the stew. "He won't be back until later, Lady Jill. What can I help you with?"

  "I want to do something to help. What's he hiding in the basement? This is my future, too, and I've worked hard to earn my place at his side."

  He looked at her for a long time, thoughts and memories tumbling disjointedly through his head.

  She looks sincere. Does she really mean what she says?

  She was easy to teach and learned rapidly and well.

  She is Roark’s mother-in-law. Grandmother to his child.

  She told me once how dearly she loved babies.

  She’s been used shamelessly by Firth, as I have.

  A flash of fear appeared in her eyes at the time he was taking. He made a decision. "Let me show you, Lady Jill."

  He escorted her down the narrow stairs into the basement and conducted her to each of three huge metal boxes. Watching her reactions closely, he explained who was locked in each. Her eyes flickered with fear—not for herself, he thought, but for the children. Then, he revealed the overall plan, much of which had already taken place.

  "Your holdings,” he said provocatively, “helped secure Juel and Opel. And of course, Roark brought us Kavv."

  She shifted from foot to foot. "Roark. Why is he locked up?"

  Carefully, Pepper set his final hook. "He's gone over to the other side. He tried to stop Mr. Firth. Can't let that happen, can we?"

  "No. I never liked him, you know.” Her answer was a touch too quick. “My daughter and grandson, however, mean the world to me." She strolled to the lead box on the left with Pepper watching her like a cat ready to pounce. "Who did you say was in here?"

  "That one has Joedon's son, the boy who's supposed to take Sor Roalt's place as the Pith heir. No fear of that now." It was an unfair jab, meant to spur her into some sort of action. What she did, he didn’t really care. As far as he was concerned, only she and Roark had a prayer of stopping the madness swirling around him. He would give them the chance. And he wanted out!

  She swept around and her eyes flew wide. "Who is that?" she shrieked.

  Willingly, he whirled. From the corner of his eye, he watched her pick up a bar lying on a table and bash it over his head. He dropped like a rock. Vaguely, he felt her rip the keys from the ring on his belt, then succumbed to the waiting darkness.

  Sometime later, Pepper rolled over on the stone floor clutching his head. She surely took advantage. Hesus! I didn’t mean for her to kill me. He touched the dent in his head and moaned.

  Before he could rise, even to his knees, someone slammed the door at the top of the stairs, then unguarded steps hurried down. He forced himself to grip the steel cabinet to help him gain his feet. The pistol in his hand was comforting, much more than the pain in his head.

  Legs showed trousers… Firth? No. He was wearing armor!

  The man—Roark—burst down the remaining steps. Lady Jill followed through.

  A flash of steel in Roark’s hand warned Pepper. He fired as the knife flew, then toppled over, feeling his life bubbling out of the hole in his throat.

  Not going to stop this one.

  At least the poison will take care of Firth.

  The End

  Epilog

  Bonami Jeffs stepped out of his car and pressed the call button at the ornate gate. To the speaker—Ludo is still here, still butlering!—he announced himself. Once he reached the door, Ludo met him, bursting with smiles and welcome. Before he could say a word, Byron came striding down the hallway, arms opened wide as always, and enveloped Bonami in a huge hug. These days, that’s harder to do, Bonami thought as his substantial belly was squashed by Byron’s rock-hard muscles.

  “Good to see you, too,” he huffed when Byron let him go. “And Ludo’s still controlling things, I see.”

  Byron laughed. “Always will, I hope. What brings you visiting? You haven’t come for a long time.”

  Bonami let his smile fade. He had no idea how Byron would take his news, if the man would even believe him. “I’ve sad news, Byron. Let’s go sit down. Ludo, too. Let me rest a moment before I tell you my tale.”

  They took seats in a pretty parlor, newly decorated Byron proudly announced, followed by the comment that his beautiful wife was pregnant again. “Number eight,” he crowed, his spirits unhampered by Bonami’s promise of sad news. Ludo looked grave, however, as his cousin and supposed replacement appeared with refreshments for their beloved guest.

  “Byron,” Bonami started somberly after he’d swallowed a glass of lemonade, consumed several tea cakes, and caught his breath, “do you remember your brother, Laird?”

  Byron’s face fell. “I’ve been trying to. Ludo here and others have told me about him. About how he caused me to live here with all these wonderful people, but he never comes to see me. I have a picture of when we were little. Nothing else.”

  Bonami flushed. He’d never thought about it. He could have provided a picture of Laird when in his twenties. He resolved to send it as soon as he returned to Pith.

  “My story involves him. He has died, you see.” Ludo’s shudder halted his words. Bonami wondered if the old butler understood what Laird—Pepper—had been doing all those years. He chose to ignore the older man and continued with his own version of Laird’s life. “He was killed fighting against the madman you may have heard about recently who attacked the city-state capitals and tried to take over the continent.”

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Ludo sigh with relief. “He, of course, left everything to you, and believe me, it is a great deal of money as well as ownership of properties all over Bonn and Delt. I believe he worked for a man who allowed your brother to invest his own earnings into the same projects his employer did. He died a very wealthy man. And a hero, although one of many in that chaos.”

  Byron grinned with delight. Ludo smiled as though he wanted to believe, but Bonami wasn’t sure he did. The fortune and land were very real. How Laird had acquired them was questionable. The man was dead. Bonami wasn’t going to dig any deeper into that life.

  After a pleasant day of lunch and wa
tching Byron’s wife and children sing and play, Bonami returned to his own wife contented. Laird would be pleased with how his brother’s life has gone. And I don’t want to know more of Pepper than I already do.

  **

  If you enjoyed this story about Pepper, Byron, and Remé Firth, please consider leaving a review at Amazon. Go to Amazon.com and search for Carol Buhler. Pepper will be listed with my other novels. Click on Pepper to load the Book Page, then scroll down to find the button marked “Leave a Review.”

  Simply click the rating (1 star is “didn’t like” to 5 stars is “loved”). Amazon also allows you to write in things you especially liked about the book or disliked about it. Your opinion is valuable to me.

  Reviews are like gold to independent authors like me trying to build a following. They help other readers find books they might like and they help me promote my work.

  Thank you for reading.

  Author’s note

  To find out what happened to other characters after Pepper’s death, read Encounters and or Revelations.

  **

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  Pepper Glossary

  Vocabulary

  Human: colonizers from Earth who came to Gareeth 400 years in the past

  Lord: head of human city-state

  Lady: lord's spouse

  Soer: legitimate daughter of Lord