They are not alone. Several horses are tethered outside the barn and many more men are making their way towards it. Balto knows the presence of men usually involves the cessation of his adventures. If he goes into that barn, he could get into trouble with his Pa. They will report him to his father, and he will be forced to return, where he will no doubt get into trouble, perhaps receive a whipping. And he will have no more fun for the day. Unless those men do not see him.
If he could obscure himself and remain unseen, he could eavesdrop on them. That would be an adventure. The smile re-emerges on his face and he darts forward. Riley chomps down onto his pant legs as if to deter him. Balto looks back at Riley and pulls the pants from his mouth and then runs forward.
Riley, clearly disapproving, reluctantly follows. Balto ventures forward until he is about a hundred yards away from the barn. A couple of men on horseback notice him but take little notice. They have more pressing matters at hand.
Balto heads to the trunk of a massive Chapparall tree, which shades the barn and casts many shadows in the ground, helping to camouflage the boy. At the back of the barn are two oak doors that stand over 12 feet high, large enough to accommodate any beast of burden. Balto ventures around the barn and notices a stairwell that leads underground.
He sneaks forward, careful not to be seen by anyone and walks down the dark and dank stairwell, the darkness enveloping him the further down he ventures. Unable to see anything, he pulls out his methane pen light and lights it. The bright glow immediately reveals everything around and casts everything else into a dark, ominous obscurity. Riley emits another whimper.
Balto wipes away the thick, irritating, cobwebs that festoon the stairwell. Large, hairy spiders, some nearly a foot in length run amuck frenetically, unused to their home being intruded on. Hapless slugs, mites, flies, and even tiny toad mice sit in the webs, paralyzed and waiting to be devoured. When Balto reaches the bottom of the stairwell, he tries the door and is delighted when it opens. He walks in.
(2)
Felinius walks around the barn and greets the men as they enter, giving them a cursory nod, a handshake, or a grave look on his face. The men know the situation is dire. Herod has sent him here, along with two Gaulian counterparts - Aster and Soke.
As the men enter the barn, they are asked to remove their arms. Though most are reluctant, when Aster tells them to at the demand of Herod Antipaz, they reluctantly forfeit them. Felinius has no doubt that many men are hiding shooters on their person. None are being frisked. To do so would imply that Felinius and his crew did not trust them. And more than anything they did not want to appear to violate that trust. It worked better in obtaining their cooperation.
An acidic and uncomfortable rumbling eats its way into Felinius’ stomach, causing him nausea. He sighs and tries to push the feelings away.
(3)
Balto uses his pen light to explore the basement of the barn and notices some curious things. Large drums of some sort of foul chemical are encased in the drums. The closer he ventures to them, the more noxious it is and the harder it is to breathe. He barely stifles vomiting and walks away from the drums. He notices what looks like a trail of gunpowder that ends at the base of the drums and is curious. It is if someone had grown careless with their gunpowder. Who could be so careless?
As he investigates further, he notices that there are several trails of gunpowder and they all seem to end at the base of the drums. He hears voices. From his position, the voices are unintelligible. He wants a closer peek and a listen. After all, this is an adventure. Riley whimpers in frustration and seizes his pant leg in his jaws, hoping to induce him into leaving, but Balto is much too curious. He pulls it out and motions to Riley who reluctantly follows.
Aster and Soke take Felinius aside. “I believe all the men are accounted for,” says Aster.
“All except for one and he is a man of some reckoning in these parts,” corrects Soke.
“Who?” asks Felinius.
“Vandemus,” says Soke.
“The goldsmith?”
“Ai. Tis so.”
“We’ll find him later, so we will,” exclaims Aster.
Felinius nods. He sighs again. “So, I suppose we shall begin.”
“Ai. Time to get this hard business behind us.”
Aster and Soke nod to the men who are obscured throughout the barn. The crowd of men murmur to themselves in groups uncomfortably. Felinius goes to the front to address them. He holds up his hands, indicating a moment of quiet. The crowd quiets down and stares at Felinius. “Good day to you, men. I say thankee for cooperating with us and agreeing to meet us so we can get this hard business behind us. You can relax. And know that we have your best interest. We wish only to rectify this situation. Herod himself is making his way here and will speak to you. Set watch and warrant it, none of you are in trouble. We wish only to fix this leak of information in the best interest of us all.”
Felinius motions to Aster and Soke. “I just received signal. Herod Antipaz is here, and he will speak to you in person.” The crowd seems to murmur in approval. Several men raise their hands as if to voice a question. “Please, save all your questions. Herod will answer all of them in due time. You have our word.” He walks off and gives Aster and Soke the signal. Aster and Soke alert the men.
Though Balto cannot decipher what the men are saying in the main floor, he ventures closer. From beneath the floor, the voices are quite muffled, and he longs to get a glimpse of what they are doing as well. After exploring the dingy and neglected basement, he discovers another stairwell, leading up towards the floor. Riley continues to whimper but Balto will not be dissuaded.
He slowly creeps up the stairs, careful not to make too much sound, which is difficult given the disarray of the wooden stairwell. The stairs creak with every step. Even Riley does his best to step gingerly on them. Many of the boards have succumbed to dry rot and are near the point of breaking. It’s a small miracle they remain intact as they pass over them.
Balto reaches the top and slowly opens the door. He looks outside and sees several armed men. Careful not to let anyone see him, he steps out of the shadows along with Riley and crawls out. When he has traveled less than ten yards, he is jolted out of his frivolity by thunderous gunshots, which echo off painfully and horrifically. Seeing a place of refuge behind a large haystack, he bolts for it, adrenaline fueling his wobbly legs. He sits behind the haystack and breathes in raspy, shallow breaths. His heart trip-hammers in his chest so hard he believes it might explode.
The gunshots reverberate throughout the barn continuously, amid the cries of dying men. They don’t have a chance. Felinius mercenary squad is ruthless, gunning down anything that moves. A couple of men who had hid their pieces reach for their guns but to little avail, as a hailstorm of bullets rip through them, severing arteries and piercing vital organs. Blood gushes out of severed arteries with each round of bullets.
Men sitting down in pulpits are thrown back and forth frenetically like rag dolls as a stream of bullets splinter the wood and pierce their organs mercilessly. When the bullets stop, they drop to the ground, dead the moment they hit it.
Men try in vain to stifle blood flow from neck, chest and head, while bullets riddle other parts of their bodies, dropping them to the ground dead. One man manages to get off a shot but is subdued immediately after he fires his gun.
Men lay motionless on the ground, viscous, dark red blood still gushing from severed arteries. Another man lays twitching spasmodically, silently gasping and choking for breath like a fish out of water.
Felinius looks on, the guilt apparent on his countenance and heavy on his heart. He catches movement out of the corner of his eye and goes to investigate. He approaches closer and sees a young boy, huddled behind a haystack, a large dog next to him, who growls menacingly as he gets closer.
“What is it?” asks Aster. “Did one of the men escape?”
A large horse blanket lies on top of the haystack next to the boy and ins
tinctively, Felinius casually flicks it onto the two of them.
“It’s nothing. Rats. Go about your business.” He says.
Aster and Soke look on and observe the blood bath. He addresses one of the men in charge. “You, go and finish off any survivors.” Aster says.
The man complies, walks around the room, and fires his shooter at anyone that twitches. With each shot, the thunderous boom echoes painfully in his eardrums.
“We need to make our own preparations,” says Soke.
Aster and Felinius nod. “Ai.”
Soke walks back to the stairwell and Felinius cuts him off. “I’ll see about locking the doors. I need to check on the drums. There’s no room for error.”
Soke nods. Felinius walks back to the haystack and pulls the blanket off the hapless stowaways. He puts his finger to his lips in a shushing gesture and then points to the door. They crawl back down, careful not to be seen.
When the trio get down the basement, Felinius addresses the boy. “What are you doing here, boy? How did you get in here?”
The boy vigorously shakes his head and points to his lips and then shakes his head again. The message is clear. He is a mute. “Are you a mute boy?” asks Felinius. The boy nods his head.
“Can you understand me?” He asks.
The boy nods. “Get out of here. Go back the way you came. Now!”
The boy turns to go, but he is stopped short by an unexpected voice behind them.
“Appears we have an unexpected complication,” says Soke.
“The boy is a mute. He is of little concern,” says Felinius nonchalantly. “He is of no consequence to us.”
“I know this boy. He is Vandemus’ boy, Balto. The boy is of great concern. He can write and tell of what he has seen.” He looks at Felinius, emphasizing the severity of the matter. “And you know what needs to be done.”
Felinius sighs and nods. “Ai. Know it well. Permit me to do it though.”
Soke nods. “Ai.”
With preternatural speed, Felinius pulls out his shooter and fires, sending Soke’s brains out of the back of his head, hurling him back against the wall, a cavernous hole in the back of his head, gushing blood and brain matter.
“Go now!” orders Felinius.
Balto and Riley waste no time in absconding. They head straight for the stairwell. Felinius goes back up the stairs and then locks the door.
When he turns around, Aster is there. “What were those gunshots? Where is Soke?”
“A man got away and blindsided him. Dead.”
“Don’t see how he could have escaped our notice. And I only heard one shot. If he fired upon Soke, why didn’t you fire back?”
“I threw a knife,” explains Felinius.
“Though you are a bit handier with a shooter? Why?” Asks Aster.
“You an imbecile? There are flammable drums down there. If a bullet should happen to ricochet off or penetrate drums, we are all dead. You ken?”
Aster nods and seems satisfied. “Ai. Well let’s get then.”
Aster nods to a couple of conspirators and they follow the duo outside. Once outside, they place a large board over the doors and chain the door latches with massive chains. Several men knock and begin to shout. “Hey, what gives!?”
“We’ll be back to get you shortly, set watch and warrant. Hold tight. You ken?”
The men run back out to the large group of birch trees. Aster nods to Felinius, who cuts a trip wire, securing twenty large torque arrows, capable of sending a volley of arrows several hundred yards. They won’t need to go that far, but they will have to penetrate the large oak doors of the barn.
As soon as the trip wire, is cut, the arrows are released, traveling through the air at extreme velocity. Large arrows penetrate several men, emitting cries of agonizing wails. The force of the arrows is so great that two men are impaled together, crying out in excruciating agony as they bled to death from the inside. Sadly, their agony will not be short-lived.
Men who had escaped the volley of arrows unscathed began to shoot their way out of the barn in a spray of bullets. Some men began charging the barn after their bullets pierced the walls, but the structure is well fortified, and they had not the time.
Felinius releases an incendiary group of arrows, which penetrates the barn, impaling many more men. As the incendiary arrows touch down on the dry hay, they ignite in a rapidly advancing fire, which soon becomes a raging inferno.
Unwitting men who had escaped the arrows run headfirst into an onslaught of flames, which lick at their heels and then engulf them in an all-consuming ball of horrific screams and burning, melting flesh. Within minutes, the entire barn is ablaze.
Several minutes later, a thunderous explosion rocks the entire structure, causing shrapnel to blow out from the structure. If it weren’t for the cluster of trees Felinius and his group were behind, no doubt they would have been in the line of fire.
Felinius watches as the hungry flames consume everything in its path, devouring the last bit of wood, burning it to a cinder. The explosion had devastated the structural integrity of the barn, causing the floors to collapse in on themselves.
“I do believe they’re all dead. You ken?” asks Aster.
Felinius sighs. “Ai. We have whitewashed those who were whitewashing the scene. So now, everything is whitewashed. Herod’s wrath knows no bounds.”
Aster clasps him on the shoulder. “But we still stand. You ken?”
Felinius shrugs off his hand and looks at him contentiously. “Ai. We stand. For now. And when we have performed our part and Herod no longer considers us of value, he will discard us as easily as a lame, withered horse. These men were loyal to Herod, and this is their just recompense for their loyalty.”
Aster opens his mouth to retort but is interrupted by one of his men, Pell. “You know Vandemus boy, the mute?” He asks.
“Ai. He is a curious tard, so he is. Doesn’t speak but is a curious wanderer. Always believed his wanderings would get him killed,” says Aster. “What of him?”
“The boy was just witnessed by Jupert. On foot, running heavy, assumin’ that it’s back to home.”
Aster nods. “Ai. His father was unaccounted for, so he was. Let’s find him and finish off all of them in one fell swoop. Time to end this.” He looks at Felinius with contempt and a glint of accusation in his eyes. “You to accompany us, Felinius? If it suits your disposition, of course.” He snickers sardonically.
Felinius nods gravely. “Ai. We finish hard business and if it be Herod’s will, perhaps finish you off as well. You ken?”
The sardonic gleam disappears from Aster’s face. “You would be prudent to tread cautiously. These parts can be mighty dangerous, especially for those with an inciting tongue.”
“Perhaps you can both have your disagreements at a more befitting time. You ken?” scolds Pell.
Felinius and Aster nod. “Let’s go,” says Felinius.
(4)
Vandemus had taken his most cherished gold pieces he could simply not relinquish. Several other pieces had yet to be picked up by customers, but unfortunately, he won’t be around to accommodate them.
His wife, Ophelia, runs around in a mad panic, trying to decide on only the most necessary items to pack. Tears stream down her face as she loads up items into several large saddle bags.
“Leave the trophy marks, Ophelia. There is only so much we can safely put into the fort wagon. Quickly now.”
“I can’t bear to leave them.”
“Leave them, woman.” He orders.
Some important question seems to materialize in her eyes. “Have you seen Balto and Riley?”
“Not since last night, but I told him to remain here. He understood.” Vandemus says, a little defensively.
“Mandy, Colton!” She yells in frustration.
Seconds later they run in. “Ai, Mama?”
“Where is your brother?”
Mandy and Colton look at each other and shake their heads. They look at the
ir mother and shrug. “We don’t know, Mamma.”
“I haven’t seen him since last night,” says Colton.
“And either have I,” says Mandy.
Ophelia and Vandemus exchange an alarming look. Their hearts begin to trip-hammer in their chests. As if to expedite their sense of urgency even more, their home shakes and shimmies, as if a small earthquake rocked the valley.
Ophelia cries out. “What in God’s name was that?”
Mandy cries and Colton hunches down as if the house should unexpectedly give way.
“Was it an earthquake?” cries Ophelia.
Vandemus tries to force his heart to slow down, lest he give into a full-scale panic attack. He would be nothing to his family if he should lose his composure and wit. “Not likely.” He replies, trying hard to conceal the panic in his voice, though it breaks and does little to allay their fears.
He goes to the large picturesque window and looks out. A large, menacing plume of smoke is billowing out. And he knows where. His mind races. Can he jeopardize his entire family for the boy and his dog? More than likely, a band of assassins are already on their way to slaughter them all.
Ophelia nudges him desperately. “Find him, Vandemus. For Christ’s sake, find him!” She yells, tears streaming down her face.
“Find him, papa!” cries Mandy.
Though the course of action belies his initial instincts, he reluctantly agrees. He cannot leave Balto. He would be a mired duck, unable to escape the clutches of a fox. He regains himself from his stupor and nods. “Ai. I’ll find him, so I will, set watch and warrant.” He runs out to his stable and saddles Feathermore. Though not his best horse, Feathermore is certainly the fastest.
He gallops off, pushing Feathermore to his full sprint. The horse does not disappoint. As soon as he clears the meadow, he sees Balto and Riley. They too are induced into a panic. He gallops up to the boy. Though he was enraged with the boy, those emotions melt away and give way to relief.
“Balto, I’ll tan your hide, so I will. Where have you been boy?”
Balto shrugs. “Hop on boy and bring your mut as well.” Balto hops on but is unable to lift Riley. Riley, sensing desperation and his inability to lift him, makes a run and slings himself onto the back of Feathermore, who lets out a whinnying protest as soon as Riley jumps on his back. He shakes his head and whinnies in protest more but complies when Vandemus puts him into a gallop.
The Test of Ostra Page 8
