Amy cursed as she hit a slavers shoulder. But he went down. The villagers would finish him off. Seven! I’m getting excited, Amy thought. Must calm down! Can’t miss!
The villagers had most of the prisoners loose now, their bonds cut, urging them to run into the forest. Three guards had moved together and were holding off the villagers. Amy heard the boom of Frank’s shotgun and the crack of Paul’s pistol, realizing she’d been too focused to know how many times they'd fired. Firstscout was trying to organize the villagers into a circle around the three guards. Amy joined the circle around the guards.
Someone bumped her as she fired. Missed! Eight. Try again. Clean shot to the chest, just where she had been told. Instantly down. Better! Nine!
Next. Dropped like a rock, must be dead. Ten! The villagers took care of the other guard, two spears thrust into his back.
Have to stay up to Paul and Frank, Amy realized, starting to run. Suddenly she found she was at the end of the line. Frank moved over to join her, and Paul stopped in the middle of the road. The officer was urging the slavers in the rear contingent forward; they were scared by what they’d seen but were forming a line across the road, shields up. There were more than eleven; Amy realized that some of the slavers guarding the prisoners must have run back here. She thought that seeing other men fall down dead, as if from magic, would probably scare anyone into running.
“Surrender! You’ll not be killed,” she shouted. After what she did in the meadow Amy was determined not to kill anyone who would surrender. Behind her the villagers were cutting the last of the prisoners free.
Two of the slavers ran out towards her with swords raised, one shouting, “We don’t surrender to whores.” Eleven! The body skidded through the dust to lay dead at her feet. Teach him to call her a whore! She felt a little guilty about the satisfaction that gave her.
She shot the slaver following him. Twelve! Down in the dust.
Another! Down in the dust too, badly wounded, moaning. Thirteen! She was out of bullets. Amy heard Paul fire twice and Frank once. There were bodies in front of them too, some of them groaning and crying. But that was the end of slavers who wanted to attack them, the rest looked frightened.
“I’m out,” Amy said in English. “Me too,” answered Frank. “One bullet left. Next time we bring more ammo,” said Paul.
Changing back to Galactic, she shouted, “Surrender, no more need to die!”
The officer pushed his way to the front. He carried a gold plated spear and wore a gold breastplate on the front of his tunic. “We serve the Slave Planets and were given this task by the Evil One. We don’t surrender to whores! Kill her.”
Amy made a mental note to find out more about the Slave Planets and the Evil One later. Pointing, she quietly said, “Paul, kill him.”
Paul raised his sidearm and shot. The hole in the fancy breastplate was impressive. The officer’s shock was frozen on his dead face. There was a lot of whispering by the slavers.
Amy shouted, “Who’s in charge now? Step forward.” They were out of bullets, but she felt she could negotiate an end to this.
There was some shuffling then one of the slavers was pushed forward by the rest.
She pretended to be calm, casually putting a foot on the body of number eleven in front of her, and leaning forward, asked, “Tell me who’s in charge after you, so when we kill you for not surrendering we will know who’s next.”
The slaver was sweating, and looked like he was going to faint.
Amy lifted her sidearm and aimed at the center of his chest. Trying to sound bored she demanded, “Do you surrender?” The slaver knew what the sidearm could do. She was out of ammo and ready to yell ‘run’, but he didn’t know that.
The slaver in a shaking voice answered, “Yes, but you have to promise us our lives, to protect us. We surrender to you, not the villagers.”
Amy nodded. At last someone with some sense. “Agreed! Put your shields and weapons on the ground, and then help anyone who is wounded.” They moved off to one side to let the slavers pass, keeping their empty guns pointed at them. Some of the villagers on seeing the slavers surrender moved in to pick up the spears, swords and knives.
She heard Frank mumble to Paul. “You’re right. I’m not playing poker with her!” In spite of the situation, she laughed. Some of the villagers backed away from her.
Amy saw the Holy One and some villagers coming down the road with carts. Good! She relaxed for what seemed to be the first time in a long day, putting the empty sidearm back in her holster. She hadn’t thought about help for the wounded, she should have. Next time. Let’s hope there isn’t a next time! As the villagers had everything under control, she moved down the road to meet the carts.
The Holy One smiled sadly, “Amy Elizabeth La Reine, I see we won.”
“Yes, Holy One of Great Island One, but we had a few casualties.”
“And so did they!” said the Holy One in a horrified voice, looking at the bodies in the road where the rear contingent surrendered, and the line of slaver bodies leading to the pile of bodies that marked where she, Paul and Frank had slaughtered the lead contingent.
“Well, they started it!” retorted Amy, but then her body betrayed her and she ran behind a bush to puke.
* * *
Fortunately, someone asked Amy’s permission before slitting the throats of the wounded slavers. “And they think we’re barbaric!” she’d shouted. Now she knew why the slavers wanted to surrender to them, and not the villagers. Amy stayed close to the prisoners.
The young men and women loaded the dead villagers, the wounded villagers and prisoners into the carts. The dead slavers had been dragged into the forest for nature to do its work. There had been happy reunions with the living, and wailing and tears over the dead and wounded villagers. They walked back to the village behind the carts. Amy discovered she was both physically and emotionally exhausted. The carts went straight to the Temple, where the wounded villagers and slavers were separated to opposite sides of the main Temple room, joining the wounded and prisoners already there. The villagers then took the dead bodies away somewhere; Amy was too tired to ask.
Amy didn’t think that the wounded slavers were going to run away, but she was responsible for them, so she chose a spot on the floor near the Temple entrance and the prisoners. Paul and Frank joined her. They looked as tired as she felt.
Firstscout brought them some water and bread. Amy asked him to send someone to get their packs and staffs and bring them to the village. She watched Firstscout go into the square and pick out six teens from the crowd. She was worrying about how wise it was to send teens outside of the village right now, to a meadow covered with bodies. Each of the teens grabbed a spear, and Amy sadly realized that after today she wouldn’t feel young or innocent again, and neither would they.
* * *
As the Holy One of Great Island One waited for his ceremonial robes, which he hoped the slavers hadn’t found, he watched Amy Elizabeth La Reine and her friends sitting apart, near the prisoners. When he'd heard the stories about the three strangers led by a female carrying a Master Wayfarer’s staff coming to Ravinesedge, he'd arranged to be here at the time they had said they would return. For once something interesting on this planet; instead of a quiet few days, he'd been taken by slavers and if these three hadn’t arrived today, he’d be dead.
He said a quick prayer of thanks to the One Who Tests for his rescue!
He wondered again if they were the three from the prophesy; which said that ‘she shall lead and care for all, a wizard shall advise and guide them, a soldier shall protect and serve them’. They were strange people. Savage in battle, showing no mercy or restraint, causing death so quickly that the enemy had no time to surrender, and now defending and caring for the wounded enemy. Amy Elizabeth La Reine expressed her disagreement, when he’d told her that as the slavers served the Evil One, the wounded were always killed. She told him that their God instructs them to love their enemy. Comin
g from someone who had just mercilessly killed many of the slavers it was a strange statement, her God and the One Who Tests could not be the same.
No matter. These three strangers and their weapons were dangerous. The Temple Guild would follow and watch them. He needed to find a way to get them to come to his Temple in Northcentral where he could find out more about them.
* * *
Amy watched Firstlight deliver some bags to the Holy One. They both went to a room at the rear of the Temple. The Holy One came out a few minutes later wearing a reflective robe over the top of his clothing. It shimmered in the evening light, more than silk did, like a flexible mirror. It seemed to be purple, but it reflected every color around, so it was hard to tell. The villagers cleared away some benches in front of the platform, a raised area at the back of the Temple, and sat on benches set in a semi-circle around the open space. Four of the villagers carried one of the wounded women to the open area on the stretcher-like bed she’d been placed on. They carefully positioned her so that her head was towards the back of the Temple.
Keeping close to the wall, Amy moved quietly up one side of the Temple so that she could see better. Once near the platform, she could see that the woman on the stretcher was placed so that her head was exactly over a yellow stone, smaller than a pillar, in the center of a mural which had three yellow rays and eight larger and longer red rays coming out of a sun. It was similar to the mural in Mexico.
The Holy One knelt down above the head of the woman, put his hands on her head, and started a singsong chant that sounded similar to the blessing in the meadow. Some of the words sounded like Galactic, but so few that she couldn’t make sense of it. It was a two-part blessing or prayer, with the villagers responding to the Holy One after each line. Amy wasn’t sure at first, but there was a glow coming out of the palms of the Holy One. Then the chant stopped and the Holy One stood up. This was the signal for the end of the ceremony.
The four villagers took the woman back to where the other wounded villagers were lying. They brought another wounded woman and carefully placed her in the exact same position on the mural. Again, the Holy One knelt down and put his hands on her head. Amy moved along the wall to see the Holy One’s hands from a different angle. The glow was definitely there. This ceremony was completed for every one of the wounded villagers. The only change was for the walking wounded; they came to the mural on their own, laid down on the hard floor without a stretcher, carefully placing their head on the yellow stone.
Once the ceremony was over, the villagers left the Temple assisting their wounded to walk, or carrying them on stretchers. Amy approached the Holy One as soon as he was free. “Holy One of Great Island One, what was that ceremony?”
“Amy Elizabeth La Reine, it was a blessing for healing, one of the oldest ceremonies we know.”
“Holy One, I saw your hands glow each time you performed the ceremony. What was that?”
The Holy One was startled, “Glow? You must be mistaken. Ask any of the villagers or the wounded if they saw a glow, I’m sure they will say no.”
Amy was puzzled by the Holy One’s denial, but decided not to pursue that question, as she had a more important question. “Why was the ceremony not performed on the wounded prisoners?”
The Holy One was now shocked. “Amy Elizabeth La Reine, this is a holy blessing. It is not for those in the service of an Evil One!”
“Simon, the man you knew as Hillseeker of Bayside City, taught us that this society is governed by a number of principles, and you apply those principles to your service of the One Who Tests. Let me try to quote the first principle to you. A guild, planet, community, or person shall serve the good of the One Who Tests, the good of the galaxy, the good of the planet, the good of the community, and the good of others. Is that not correct?”
The Holy One was pleased at the quotation. “Yes Amy Elizabeth La Reine, you have said it correctly, but how does it apply here?”
Amy wasn’t sure how to express her feelings, but she tried. “If the prisoners are not members of this community, then they must be ‘others’. Why do you not serve the ‘good of others’? Don’t they belong to the One Who Tests as well? On our planet we are taught to love our enemies.”
The Holy One was silent for a time; she’d used that phrase about loving your enemies again. “Amy Elizabeth La Reine, I understand what you are saying, but it is not our way. I will think on this, but it will not be changed today. Please care for the wounded prisoners the best that you and your companions can. In that way you can serve the One Who Tests.”
Amy asked Paul and Frank about the glow but they hadn’t seen it. They didn’t believe Amy, and that annoyed her. Before she could say anything more she saw the youths return with their backpacks and staffs. There was a small first aid kit in Frank’s bag. It was going to be a long night.
* * *
The three strangers were busy, trying to fix a slavers shoulder wound. A group of the slavers cautiously huddled together, trying not to attract the attention of the villagers guarding them. A slaver, older than the others, whispered, “All of the officers are dead now. The villagers say that the strangers could be the three, the Council of Three that was prophesized. Remember we’re their prisoners, not the villagers. The young woman stopped them killing the wounded and argued with the Holy One that he should heal us.” He paused while someone walked past them.
“They've talked about our punishment. The three strangers want us to work for the villagers to compensate them for their losses and be freed after that. They’re still discussing how long.” He paused; they’d all expected to be executed, a sword thrust through the neck. “This is our chance to get our freedom.”
Another slaver whispered, “What about our families? I can't abandon my wife and children?”
“Once we are free, then we will ask the strangers for assistance in rescuing our families back on Strongharvest One. Pass it on, see what the others think.”
* * *
Amy pulled the blanket over the slaver’s head. He was too young to die. There were three blanket-covered bodies now, including the officer from the meadow, he’d lost too much blood, and there would be more slaver deaths tonight. Amy leaned back on a column and slid down to the floor, exhausted. Paul and Frank joined her, sitting quietly on each side of her.
Around them slavers were caring for their own, talking and whispering in Galactic, watched closely by armed villagers.
Amy suddenly felt alone, sitting on a stone floor, on a strange planet, surrounded by people talking in a language she wasn’t used to. It overwhelmed her, and tears started to run down her cheeks. She hoped her weakness was unseen in the dimness of the candle-lit Temple.
* * *
Earth time, four am, but an hour after sunrise in Ravinesedge. The sun was already hot and Amy was glad she was in the shade. The village square was empty; news of the slaver raid had spread and there were no merchants this morning. The villagers lined up the prisoners in the square, the wounded on stretchers. The prisoners with serious wounds had died during the night. As there were no antibiotics in the first aid kit, more would likely die from infections. That, it seemed, was the common result of a serious injury here, unless a person could be healed at a Temple. Frank and Paul had started a list of first aid supplies for their next trip. If any of them were injured out here, the results could be bad.
None of the seriously injured villagers had died and some of the villagers’ wounds had already closed up. Amy definitely wanted to know more about that healing ceremony!
Amy was told that there were ten dead villagers, three of them from the ambush on the road. They’d killed about thirty-five slavers on the forest road, no one had stopped to count the bodies, and the surviving twenty-five slavers were now waiting to hear their fate. Three of the twenty-two that Amy had shot had survived, meaning that she killed, no, slaughtered, nineteen men, not something Amy wanted to think about too much. So much for learning how to use a staff to defend themse
lves; no, it was guns blasting all the way! They’d been too naive about this whole adventure.
After some advice from the Holy One, Amy, Frank, and Paul made a decision on the fate of the prisoners. The Holy One was announcing it. The slavers would serve as unpaid servants to the families in the village for 512 days, a holy number, and then they would be set free with enough money to be able to travel home if they wished. Each prisoner would have their hands dyed red every Temple Day to mark their status during the 512 days, and to alert guards at the Transit Stations should they try to escape. They would get Temple Day off, the week was eight days long in the Isolated Planets, but they would be required to attend Temple services. Amy felt that this sentence was fitting and hoped it would re-educate them to a free life as a few of them had been born on the Slave Planets. Most of the surviving slavers were conscripts; young men taken in raids like the one on Ravinesedge, who didn’t know where their families were, or even if they were alive. Amy hoped that most of the prisoners wouldn’t return to the Slave Planets.
Immediately after the Holy One finished, the slavers turned as a group and bowed to the three of them. Amy could see that the Holy One was surprised, but was pretending that he didn’t see it. Why did the slavers do that?
* * *
Amy, Paul and Frank had agreed to travel with the Holy One to his Temple in Northcentral, the largest city on Great Island One. Amy was looking forward to this, as they’d only had a glimpse of the city last time. The trip was uneventful and cheap. It seemed that the Holy One and his guests didn’t need to pay tolls. Paul pointed out the alertness of the guards at the Transit Stations, suggesting that news of the slavers’ raid had spread.
On arriving at Northcentral, the Holy One took them across the square to the Temple, and through it to their quarters in another building. People stared at them, and pointed at their clothing and backpacks as they crossed the square and walked through the buildings. Amy thought that the people may be polite when they talked, but it didn’t seem to exclude pointing.
The Holy One excused himself after introducing their tutor, Planetsong of Northcentral, saying that he would sort out their schedule later, and asking Planetsong to guide them to his office following lunch.
Step on the Sun Page 23
