Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2)

by Hechtl, Chris

  “It was destroyed too!” she said, throwing her hands up. He stared at her. “You really don't know what that lout has been allowing in the capital, do you? A lot of the machinery is either gone or destroyed. The paper making? You know, to make the paper sacks for the weapons? Gone. The smelter? Gone. The artisans we charged to make the weapons? Some say they are trying but most are just trying to find food for their families. The alchemists too. Some are gone.”

  His stare started to turn ugly. “I hadn't known that.” His jaw worked. He'd gotten a report that the artisans in charge of making weapons had shut down due to the carnage. He'd been too busy to inquire as to why. Now he realized that had been a mistake.

  “Anyone with the knowledge we need has run off or been killed by that fool Stephan and his red-headed twit of a mate,” she said angrily, waving a burned book. “The materials we need, we desperately need if we're going to defend our home is in ruins because he couldn't control his impulse to destroy it! Tell me it's better here?!?”

  He frowned. “We both know the radio and other device have been destroyed. The library …”

  She scowled. She'd seen how it had been looted. They'd already had an argument over that. Some of the material had been returned.

  “I'll look into it.”

  When she started to say something further, his glare cut her off. Her eyes widened at the look of anger. There was something there, something dark that made her stop herself. “I said I'll look into it,” he said tensely and then stormed off.

  She wondered briefly if the first cracks in their regime were beginning to form.

  ~~~^~~~

  Drott Stephan was not having a good day. Again. He'd thought things would be better when he was in command, but that was not the case. He and his mate were constantly besieged with complaints now that the fighting had stopped. During the fighting, it had been tense but freewheeling; he'd reveled in the death and destruction. He'd ignored the others and their demands to rein in the rule of terror. Freya had finally grown tired of the bloodlust though, so he'd started the patrols up and tried to get things back to normal. Order was slow to be restored, and many people were upset, hungry, and angry.

  A restoration of resources and a return to normal was important. It would prove that they were in charge. But there were problems, always problems. Many of the problems were beyond him.

  “You said we'd have the same as the Imperium!”

  “Well, get over it! We're free!” Stephan growled back, slamming his fist into the table hard enough to shake it.

  “For now,” Dominus Percival said, coming up behind Stephan. Stephan turned to him. “We need to talk.”

  Stephan saw his look and then angrily motioned for the others to leave.

  ~~~^~~~

  Olaf looked into building hoardings on the capital walls and castle. He found out there wasn't enough cut wood; the supplies were short due to all of the projects from the princess. The lumber mill and its supply of wood had been one of the casualties of the night of knives as well. He couldn't help but swear about the stupidity of people.

  Wherever he looked in the city, he saw people scavenging the burned buildings again. Fights were breaking out over things. Cries of thieves were screamed from time to time. There were more beggars out, huddled under worn blankets. Haggard faces were everywhere. It was right back to the way it was. “It was supposed to be better,” he said with a heavy sigh.

  “Not you too?” Dominus Fenton said.

  The drott turned to him and noted the dominus had a small guard force and was packed for travel. “Where are you going?”

  “To check on holdings. Keep those louts from burning down the city,” the dominus said as he turned and left.

  Olaf shook his head. He wanted badly to get drunk. Rip roaring black out drunk but there was too much to do.

  ~~~^~~~

  Some people begin to slip scraps of food to the dungeon to keep the Imperials alive. One woman even gave them a ham bone with meat on it. “Now you remember old Maud when the Imperium comes back,” she insisted.

  The miles who took the bone thanked her and repeated her name.

  “I think that their hold on the people is crumbling,” a miles said.

  “I think it is nice to hope for, but I'll believe it when I see it,” another said.

  ~~~^~~~

  Dominus Fenton returned nearly a hafta later, thoroughly disgusted. He reported that the roads west were blocked by snow. “They were never much anyway, now they are just impossible,” he said with a shake of his head. “I can't get to my holdings. Any letters you sent to get support from the western lords …,” he shook his head again.

  Domina Rasmussen nodded. “Well, look on it for the bright side,” she said with a smile.

  “Oh? How's that?” he asked as he looked at her.

  “If the Imperials went in that direction, they either died from exposure or were driven to ground. If they got all the way to Baron Farragut, there is no way the old man can send a force to help fight.”

  “Help us fight?” Stephan demanded hopefully, coming into the conversation late.

  “Farragut will make his own decision. He wants freedom for our people too, I got that much out of him, but he plays the long game. He won't make a move until we've proven we can hold against the Imperials,” Rasmussen warned.

  Dominus Fenton nodded. Stephan grimaced.

  ~~~^~~~

  Of the two surviving Tech smiths in the dungeon, one gave up hope and died from wounds, the cold, and lack of food and proper care. His death triggered the guards to remove the body several days later.

  Augustus noted that a harried medicus came by to check on the remaining tech smith, Herb, later that day. She seemed out of sorts. When she admitted she was a midwife, he groaned internally. At least her ministrations were something, even if they were limited to just the smith. She muttered a lot about how everything was going to hell again.

  She was appalled by the conditions in the dungeon and couldn't get out of there fast enough. She couldn't even bring herself to look at the others in the dank cold chamber.

  Things changed slightly after that visit though. The prisoners were given more blankets, most of them soiled or old. And they were given stale beer and crusts of bread or other leavings daily. It wasn't much, some of it was moldy, but it was better than what they'd had before.

  ~~~^~~~

  Zara had little to do in the tower. The floors were too thick to hear much from the room below. The tower was too high up to hear much outside. All she could do was clean, do yoga, and train and play with her imps.

  She remembered some Terran movie and trained them to do tricks and things on command. Sharing her food acted as an incentive for them to behave.

  She tried to get into a routine. Since she didn't trust the bitch Emma, she used the snow melt to supplement her water and even used it to wash her clothes and linen. She remembered to boil it before drinking to stay healthy.

  Her wood supply was strictly limited. She rationed it. When Emma noted that, she cut back on the wood, so Zara hid some of the wood. When a guard inspected her quarters and noted her fire was out, he ordered more wood for her.

  She tried carving the wood to pass the time but didn't have a knife. There was nothing else to do except look out to the window, watch the snow, and wait for something to happen.

  ~~~^~~~

  Problems cropped up in the kitchens. Supplies quickly ran out, and those that had been stored off site were not coming in regularly. Some of the Terran machinery was not working right. That left people sullen and angry.

  With no one to attend the wind turbines, dam, and pumping station, they stopped working. With no one to feed the furnaces and the boilers, they went out. In the cold depths of the night, the temperature in parts of the castle dropped below freezing and the water in the copper pipes froze, bursting the pipes.

  No one was willing to report it initially. Finally a guard did so. The dominus was irritated.

 
; "Bah, get rid of it and go back to what works. It worked for us before!"

  When the lights went out, people bickered over that for hours. Some of the kitchen staff had enough. They hadn't been paid, and they'd been hassled by the new guard. They slipped out on supposed pickups and never returned.

  ~~~^~~~

  The first the domina heard about the kitchen problem, or at least the first time she took the complaints seriously, was when dinner was late. She sent a servant to find out what was going on when food was demanded, only to get word that half of the kitchen staff was gone.

  “What do you mean, gone?” the domina demanded, storming into the kitchens. She found only a handful of aunties and a couple of simpletons there, trying to make a hash of a simple stew.

  “They left,” the elderly cook said, stirring a stew. “I'd go too but my family are all dead,” the woman said, sounding angry. “None were paid; some wanted no part in killin'. There'll be a reckonin', mark my words,” the woman said, shaking a stew ladle at the domina.

  The domina stared at her, taken aback. She eventually got control of herself and scowled. The woman blanched as she realized who her target was. “Forgiveness,” the woman said, looking down and then back to her pot.

  The domina turned and stormed out.

  ~~~^~~~

  With the castle and Kattegat firmly in their control, the conspirators began to shift from winter survival to marshalling their forces for war. Dominus Fenton had already begun the process with high taxes, stripping the capital and land for resources to bring to the castle. The group was dismayed by the lack of volunteers though. A survey showed that there were plenty of women but few able-bodied men. There was not much in the way of some supplies either. Not enough people to tend to the farms for some time, despite the Terran innovations.

  The farms that had listened to Terran knowledge and benefited had the best surplus. Dominus Fenton had them stripped. “We thank you for your generous donation,” was the catch phrase. When the rightful owners protested that they'd already paid their annus tribute, they were beaten or driven out. Occasionally, some of the women were raped.

  Many burned with anger and resentment over the high-handed actions. Some saw it as necessary if they were going to win, but some of the veterans who had returned to their home farms were haunted by visions of what had happened in the Imperium and wanted no part of what was to come.

  Olaf, Percival, and Fenton tried to recruit veterans in the area who had been returned with the convoys or had deserted before the surrender. Some agreed to join them; they wanted vengeance. Others flat-out refused. Some were too haunted; others just didn't want to be involved. They even took on those who had lost a limb in battle, using them as support staff where possible.

  The promised weapons never appeared though. Copies were presented but they were poor. None worked. A few parts did work on originals but not many. Not enough to make complete weapons.

  When it sank in how far they were behind, that started a discussion in the command group about how far the Terrans would limit their sharing. “They repeatedly said they would not allow their weapons to be used for offense. They wouldn't allow them to be used to invade,” Dominus Fenton insisted.

  “I wonder if they'll hold to it. The Imperium has the weapons now, and they have to have the makings of them,” Freya murmured.

  “They will. The Imperium is all about holding up its word,” Percival said contemptuously. “That is how we'll win. We'll get them to agree to our terms.”

  “It's a lot to hope for, that a foreigner will hold to his word when we couldn't hold to our own,” Olaf rumbled. “At least some of you.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Percival asked.

  “You know what I mean,” the old drott drawled.

  “I don't see you falling on your sword for failing to fulfill your oath,” Freya said tartly.

  He turned on her and studied her long enough to make her squirm uncomfortably. “Unlike you, I never bent my knee to the princess or to anyone other than King Richard. Liberating our lands is a part of my oath.”

  “As it is ours. We just … pretended to bend a knee long enough to get into position to … liberate our lands as you said,” Freya said.

  Olaf studied her, drumming his fingers on the edge of the table for a long moment. No one said a word. He finally decided to let the matter drop.

  ~~~^~~~

  There had been only a handful of prisoners in the dungeons when the Imperials had been thrown in. Thieves mostly, capital cases had been dealt with swiftly by the judiciary. Thieves, bullies, and domestic abusers were serving their sentences.

  Their families would occasionally come by and give them food, scraps, fat, and leftovers. From time to time real food.

  It hurt more than one Imperial to see the favoritism and endure the taunting. One or two of the prisoners were smart enough to give them scraps, even if it was moldy bread or stale beer.

  They tried to draw the rats and pests in to kill them for additional food. It gave them something to do, a way to cling to hope.

  Still, it was hard. Some lost focus from time to time. Augustus was worried about their diet; more than one person showed signs of scurvy. Some of their teeth were loose.

  "No one is coming for us."

  "Not yet, " Augustus would remind them.

  To their surprise, the Duluthian prisoners were pardoned on one sunny morning. A guard came down and sorted them out. Their chains were removed, and they stumbled up to the ladder in their rags, some thin but still able to move. Once on the floor above, they were given a choice, to serve the conspirators or leave in the snow. Many were just happy to get out of the dungeon and stuttered out anything they could if it would gain them their freedom.

  "I won't begrudge a man for wanting out of this hell hole," Augustus said, eyeing the group.

  "If you don't mind, we'll stay here," a miles said firmly.

  A few heads nodded. Even the lordlings nodded, though a few did so hesitantly.

  "Why?"

  "Because we know the queen will be coming in time. Her vengeance will be absolute. We would rather not get between her and those that have caused this."

  "True," Augustus said. He noted that simple statement sunk into the others who had seemed on the fence.

  It wasn't right to use peer pressure to keep the others in line. That had not been his intent. But he was still mollified and even touched by the act of solidarity. They might be down but they were by no means out.

  ~~~^~~~

  Olaf and Percival sent recruiters out to find more people. The recruiters dragged in many people, but most were unfit for service.

  In desperation Olaf visited the dungeons, wondering if there were any there who the princess had imprisoned. He harbored the belief that given the conditions even some of the Imperials would turn their coats.

  The warden warned him that all of the Duluthians had already been pardoned. That dismayed him. He still went in and pitched his offer to the Imperials. To his surprise, none agreed to help him.

  "We'd rather suffer here than be a traitor to kin and country," Augustus said, voice gravelly. "We know the queen will send her army soon enough. Those who stand against her will fall."

  The guards scoffed and one even went so far as to uncover and piss all over them in front of the drott. One of the guards laughed loudly at the rain. "Tis beer, drink up!" he roared. He slapped the back of the guy taking a piss and nearly knocked him in.

  Olaf scowled at them but didn't have the heart to reprimand them for showing off their loyalty to him and their disdain for the Imperials. Instead, he felt troubled by the experience as he walked off in search of a drink.

  ~~~^~~~

  Percival consolidated a force with Stephan's louts and sent them to march south during a short warm spell. The men had been lightly trained on the Terran weapons.

  They had orders to force Domina Berg and others to surrender or let them stay under captured guns. The two lords were also force
d to supply men and material to the small guard towers and the abandoned border fort. Olaf and Percival wanted lookouts for when the enemy came north.

  Domina Berg and Dominus Hansen both wanted no part of the treason and made it clear to them of their intentions to remain neutral. But they reluctantly housed the soldiers nonetheless. They were not happy about their lands looted as winter started in. Some reports of rape came in; Percival shrugged it off. The men needed some outlet. The women had to comply; it was the way things should be.

  ~~~^~~~

  Berg

  Domina Berg sat at the head of her table and watched the uninvited “'guests” at the other end drinking and making loud crass merriment. She bitterly compared her own people's actions to that of the Imperial occupiers. The princess had come by, yes, but she'd given gifts and then left. She'd taken tribute, yes, but she hadn't done this.