Free the North! (Free Trader Series Book 5)

by Craig Martelle

  Bounder prodded him until he did as he was told. The women turned away as the naked man walked cautiously to the south, past the wagon, and then started running. Braden fired one last blast at the man’s clothes.

  “By the time he’s dressed again, I expect all of this to be over,” Braden told the others. With all of them back in the wagon, Arnie swung the wagon wide around the burning shack and they continued north.

  Skirill checked in, disappointed that they had not caught up with the man riding north. They started to see people tending the fields and herds grazing nearby. They’d reached the outskirts of Jefferson City.

  It was too late. Governor Anderle knew they were coming.

  The Dark Clouds of War

  ‘Holly, we’re heading toward Jefferson City and expect to get a warm welcome. We don’t want to hurt anyone we don’t have to. Any advice?’ Braden asked over his neural implant, having already gotten input from the companions.

  ‘Looking at the imagery of the city, I suggest you don’t use the flame setting on your blasters or any lightning from the Wolfoids’ spears, to minimize a fire that would quickly grow out of control. I fear there is no firefighting capability in Jefferson City. On a different note, if you can approach from the east, you’ll probably encounter less resistance as they are expecting you from the south. Besides that, I can offer no other insights,’ Holly finished and held the link open, waiting to see if Braden had anything else. He didn’t.

  “He suggests that we approach from the east,” Braden said matter-of-factly. They’d already reached that conclusion based on the hasty barricade erected south of the city boundary that the Hawkoids had shown them. There was no wall surrounding the city, no fortifications. Only buildings and wide roadways as it had been the center of trade for the known world, that was known to people like Braden and the Caravan Guild. To the north, the towns of Seinhold and Breston counted on trade from Jefferson City.

  Anger seized Braden again. It was time to cut the weeds out of the garden.

  “We’ll head east on a trail that’s coming up soon, ditch the wagon, and then we go in. All of us, including Nerise, especially Nerise. For her future and all those of her generation, we have to restore trade. They need to have the chance to grow up with the opportunities that they carve out for themselves, not what the Provincial Government rations back to them. The government–take away from the people and then give it back. No one should work like that. No one…” The others listened to Braden, more thinking out loud than lecturing.

  Braden would always be the Free Trader. That persona was just below the surface at all times, ready to come out when the situation warranted. It bothered him immensely that in three short cycles, all trading had ceased in the north. With one final battle, they could restore it. He hoped the leaders of the Caravan Guild were still alive, but he was skeptical. The Provincial Government had shown itself to be ruthless toward anyone who didn’t share their beliefs.

  Although he didn’t want to, he had to. Braden asked Arnie to run along the trail east. Braden wanted to put as much distance as possible between where the government thought they were and where they actually were. It pained Braden to see the Aurochs’ injuries start leaking again. Zeller started to cry as she shared her friend’s pain, although he reassured her that the numbweed was still working and he felt no pain.

  Brandt hung his head in dismay, hoping that this was the worst sacrifice they’d have to make. In reality, he knew that they faced a difficult enemy in a location that did not favor Braden and his companions.

  ‘I expect we have the people on our side, Master Braden,’ Brandt said in his booming thought voice. ‘If we can win them over early, they can help us keep it from becoming a full fight. I don’t think we can win a shootout. There is no place for us to run or hide. Arnie and I will be killed.’

  The breath caught in Zeller’s throat at such a candid assessment of their future.

  Braden thought about it. The Aurochs were too big to move within the city. He wanted them there to celebrate the victory, but the risk was too great.

  “Will you protect Nerise?” he asked his large friend.

  ‘To my last breath,’ Brandt answered.

  “No!” the little girl cried. “I want to go with you. I have to go with you.”

  “Why?” Micah asked.

  “To see why. To see what it was all about and why I have a new family now.” Braden’s insides churned. He pinched his eyes closed, the image of the fat man, Nerise’s father, choking out the last of his life at Braden’s feet threatened to overwhelm him. A hand gently squeezed his shoulder. With a heavy exhale, he composed himself.

  “Okay. You come with us, but you have to stay with Patrice and Delavigne. Deal?” Braden choked and held out his hand. Nerise had been too young when the last trades happened in Cameron. She didn’t remember what the handshake was for. “We shake hands to seal the deal, to finalize the trade. We negotiate, agree, and then deliver. That’s all there is to it, and that’s what makes the trade great,” Braden said, feeling hollow reciting the laws of trade, while at the same time embracing the foundation it gave him.

  She slapped her little hand into Braden’s and they shook. He pulled her to him and hugged her fiercely. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. Before she stood up straight, she wiped her face with the back of her hand, then joined the Rabbits in the back.

  “Are you okay with waiting with the wagon, Arnie? Brandt? We’ll stay in touch and if we need you to run down any mobs, we’ll call for help. Skirill and Zyena will show you where we are.” The Aurochs agreed because they had no choice. Although the injury to his knee was fully healed, Brandt had realized his mortality. In the city, he was afraid that he’d be trapped and killed like a piece of livestock. He wasn’t ready to die and more so in an effort where he couldn’t contribute. He’d be a distraction and the companions couldn’t afford that.

  ‘We’ll stay with the wagon, but we’ll be ready if you need us,’ the King of the Aurochs told them.

  The trail led past small farms and fields. One had livestock and a large field of green grass. Braden asked Arnie to stop by the small home. A man, walking in from the pasture, stopped and looked at them, uncertain of what he was seeing. Braden waved and jumped down, walking boldly to the rancher.

  “Greetings, good sir! I am Free Trader Braden and I would like to trade for access to your field for my two good friends here, Arnie and Brandt, and temporary storage for our wagon.”

  “What are they?” the rancher finally asked after squinting to see everything better and looking them over carefully.

  “They are Aurochs, distant cousins of the water buffalo. But these two are intelligent, smarter than you or me. I am willing to pay two pieces of gold for them to have access to the field, but they need to be able to leave whenever they want. They can’t be fenced it.”

  “Two gold? You have gold?” the rancher wondered. Braden shook his head before producing two gold pieces from his pouch.

  “A steep price to be sure, but these are uncertain times, are they not?” Braden held out his hand. They shook and Braden turned the gold over to the rancher.

  “Makes no difference to me. Those provincial types will show up and take the gold from me anyway and probably your friends, too.”

  “I think not, Master Rancher. When the sun sets, you will be living in a new world, much like the old world where you set your price and trade appropriately. I say, welcome back to the way things should be.”

  The rancher narrowed his eyes at them, looking from face to face. “As I said, makes no difference to me…” He drifted away and went back into the small building he called his home.

  Brandt and Arnie headed into the field, not feeling hungry. They watched the companions get ready for the coming battle. Braden and Micah prepared their bows, made sure their quivers had their remaining arrows, checked their blasters, just in case, and loosened their swords in the scabbards. They waved to the Aurochs, who dipped their horns in reply
.

  Braden stepped away smartly. He wanted this to be over with. Skirill and Zyena continued to scout the path in front of them. The group walked past small farms and houses outside the city, noting how the quality of the buildings changed the closer they got to Jefferson City. With more modern structures came a decrease in the amount of space people had.

  Surprised citizens watched as they passed. No one looked happy. No one cheered. No one asked questions. Many ran back inside, away from those who would flaunt the law against people carrying weapons.

  A hastily formed group of soldiers raced toward them along the street ahead. They stopped, stood at attention, then lowered spears with shiny metal points. One man, armed with a sword, stood to the side and yelled at the companions to stop. Braden figured they were close enough, so they spread out. Bounder stood next to Micah with his lightning spear ready, although he would only use it as a last resort. Gray Strider stood next to Braden, protecting him. The Rabbits stood with their laser pistols out, Nerise positioned tightly between them. G-War was nowhere to be seen, which Braden expected and counted on.

  “You will surrender to proper authority!” the man yelled. Braden nodded to Micah and they both nocked arrows. “Your weapons are illegal here,” the man resorted to a useless statement with a made-up law that Braden and the companions refused to recognize.

  ‘You take the big mouth and I’ll take one of the spearmen. Maybe we can convince the others to put their weapons down,’ Braden told Micah over the mindlink. ‘Be ready. If they charge, we’ll need to break it before they get too close. Don’t start a fire, please.’ Braden smiled at his good manners as the first shots of the final battle were about to be fired.

  Micah loosed her arrow unerringly into the chest of the sword-bearing leader. Braden’s hit at nearly the same time, taking out a spearman in the middle of the line. They both re-nocked and fired a second arrow before anyone moved. Their targets were in the middle of the left and right ranks of those holding spears. They picked the men who would be seen by most of their fellows. Too many men found the nerve to start running toward the companions. Braden and Micah dropped the first two and the others hesitated. They killed the next two and nocked new arrows.

  Bullies, Braden thought to himself. No stomach for a real fight. Their spirit broken, they sought to run, but Braden shot the one who was in front of the growing retreat. “STOP!” he commanded in his best Free Trader voice.

  The companions ran forward, hoping to disarm the men. Braden didn’t want to have to fight anyone twice. One man turned and looked with disdain at Gray Strider. He leveled his spear and advanced. Bounder was incensed and raced in front of his mate to take on the smaller human. He parried the man’s spear in a motion too quick to follow and drove the point of his lightning weapon so far through the man he had difficulty removing it. Gray Strider covered her mate while he held the dead man down with a back paw and yanked his spear free.

  The others gave up after Zeller made a show of cutting a spear in half with an angry slash of her sword. The rest threw their spears to the ground.

  “So what do we do with the six of you?” Braden asked the men as he approached them. Micah checked with Skirill and Zyena. No one else approached, but the men who’d been south of the city were starting to stream back toward it.

  “We’d better hurry,” she said.

  “I don’t want any lip or garbage from any of you. Take off all your clothes and run that way.” Micah looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Okay! Keep your shorts on. Now hurry up!” He prodded one with his bow. They stripped and started jogging. Gray Strider caught up to them quickly and swinging her spear like club, she smacked two of the men across the back of their legs. This added greatly to their momentum and the men ran from the city in a headlong panic. She chuckled to herself while Bounder shook his shaggy head.

  Zyena urged haste. The armed men were starting to fill the street as they consolidated their force, heading toward the largest building in town. With Skirill’s help, Braden and the others were guided through the streets as they ran, trying to get in front of the approaching army.

  “Stone buildings!” Braden shouted as they ran.

  “What?” Micah yelled back. She was less winded than Braden.

  “We can use our blasters, but we need to get there first!” He started to sprint, gulping in as much air as he could between steps. Their Old Tech boots seem to be little help in letting them keep pace with the fired-up Wolfoids. The Rabbits and Nerise had fallen behind, but Braden wasn’t worried, knowing that they could catch up and that there weren’t any enemies following them. Not at the moment anyway.

  Braden, Micah, and the Wolfoids broke into an open area facing the wide road that led south. They pulled their blasters as the first of the armed men appeared. They both dialed a narrow beam. Bounder and Gray Strider crouched as they held their spears ready to fire into the approaching group. Four ranks across and countless deep, the men approached. Braden had heard of how a militia drilled and fought, but he’d never seen it until that moment. He saw how the discipline could strike fear into a disorganized enemy.

  That wasn’t what Braden and his companions were. Being bunched up was the worst thing this group could have done. A man carrying his sword walked to the side of the formation and started barking orders.

  ‘Gray Strider, he’s on your side. You take him and we’ll deal with the rest.’ Instantly, a lightning bolt leapt from the end of her spear, striking the man fully in his chest. The blasters opened up, followed by Bounder’s lightning. The first ranks of the men were decimated. Dead men littered the road from one side to the other, the stench of their burning flesh making their eyes water. Small black clouds billowed into the air from the impromptu funeral pyres.

  Braden, Micah, Bounder, and Gray Strider fired another volley into the surviving ranks. The destruction was horrible to witness. Zyena showed them her view as the men in the back broke and ran for their lives. More and more joined them until only the dead remained. Skirill watched the approaches to the open area for his friends, making sure that no one came in behind them. The streets were unsurprisingly empty as the two forces battled for supremacy.

  In the end, Braden and his companions were the last ones standing. He hated killing all those men, but as he’d rationalized with the others they’d killed, these men were fighting for the wrong side.

  Braden looked down to see G-War sitting at his side, patiently waiting. Patrice and Delavigne had been waiting to the side of the clearing until the firing stopped. Now that it was over, they brought Nerise to the others.

  The humans were still breathing hard. Zeller felt the exhilaration of battle, even though she had yet to prove herself in her mind. The Wolfoids seemed at ease, while the Rabbits were upset by the smell. Nerise didn’t seem to mind. She’d carefully watched everything Micah had done, studying.

  “It’s time to end this,” Braden told the others taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. “Shall we?” he asked. They turned from the open area and started walking toward the Governor’s Mansion.

  “Here we come, Governor Anderle, and there’s no one left to protect you,” Braden snarled.

  The Story of Jocelyn

  She stood, looking from the second story window. Jefferson City lay before her, smoke tendrils from the many cook fires drifting skyward. The air smelled stale. A new cloud of dark smoke appeared not far away, but it drifted away quickly.

  She wore her long sleeping gown as she was uninterested in getting dressed. What was the point?

  Her silken hair, the color of crow feathers, so black that it looked blue when the sun shined on it, trailed down her lean figure, ending just above her waist. She combed it absently as she watched from one window of the mansion that her husband, Governor Anderle had claimed as his own when he stormed to power.

  She had known him before that, when he seemed carefree and was wildly romantic. They married quickly, and after their oldest son was born, her husband decided that
he wanted something better for his children, so he sought power. Always charismatic, he convinced others to support him. He moved up quickly to lead a village, then a town, and finally the city. He had changed the police force into a military and consolidated most of the north tightly in his iron fist. All the trade went through his hands first. He took what he wanted, then parceled out the rest as if it was his to give.

  She didn’t know him at all now.

  It was too late. Even if she wanted, Jocelyn expected that she couldn’t leave. She hadn’t tried and she wouldn’t. Her children needed her. The two older boys were falling more and more under their father’s influence. The youngest, her daughter, was born in Jocelyn’s image, a beauty to behold. The little girl, Leah, collected animals, loving them unconditionally as they loved her. She and her mother were of pure-heart, so it came natural for them to love easily and be loved.

  It pained Jocelyn to see the direction her boys were headed, but she held out hope that she could remain an influence in their lives.

  Her husband yelled from another room. She couldn’t understand what he said, but expected the servants were running for their lives. No good ever came from a tone such as that.

  The sky paled. It would be another dank day. She probably would stay inside.

  Again.

  A commotion in the street caught her eye. She leaned through the window, not sure of what she was seeing. People were diving out of the way as a man and two women unerringly walked toward her home. They were accompanied by two of the largest dogs she’d ever seen, along with a couple Rabbits, also disproportionately huge, with a small child between them. A large cat appeared to be following them. The rough-looking orange creature lifted its head and looked right at her. For a moment in time, he seemed to be in her head, caressing her mind, telling her that everything would be okay. They’d be there shortly.