Chapter 7

From Toreas

Her armor glinted in the sunlight.

It was late morning and they almost reached their destination. The small town was called Iron Reach, consisting of a few dozen buildings, built along the two roads that merged into one towards the plain. This fork lead to a large number of mines, mostly hauling iron but also some other metals and even some gems. Because of this it was a very important location to control.

Everything brought to the mines had to pass there, just as everything coming from the mines had to pass again. Baron Jeremias Moran had been waiting a long time for this. Most of the plain was under his control. He had also captured a few mountain villages, but this was one of the larger towns. With the area at the entrance to the valley tightly in the barons grip, this was a stepping stone to gaining control of the most productive mines themselves.

People living in the mountains adopted the hard qualities of their surroundings, she mused, and so it had been very though for the Baron to make headway in his expansion plans. She had been commanded to do a few things already, but this was different. The people were head strong, hardened like their hard surroundings.

Taji'ra did not feel apprehension. In her mind was only a determination to fulfill her task. There was a lot more leeway than in the past orders she had received. The barons general had sent her with thirty men, put her in charge and gave orders to come back with either control over the town or everyone inhabiting it dead. How to gain the control, the general had not mentioned, so it was entirely up to her. The leader of the barons military forces was probably the only person truly understanding her and knowing how to use her most effectively. It was not a really pleasant thought, considering he had given orders to kill entire villages a couple of times.

The men with her did not respect her, but were genuinely afraid of her presence. They wouldn't die for her, but think long and careful before trying to ignore her commands. That would do for now. She pulled the reigns and waited for the men behind her to come to a full stop.

"Lieutenant. Guard this road. Setup a couple of advanced posts there and there", she pointed to good hiding places, "to signal any incoming people. Detain anyone trying to flee. If you or your men will kill anyone, I will personally end the soldiers life that did the killing. Understood?"

The man saluted.

"Yes, understood."

"Anyone you detain, you keep in good health. If they get beat up, you will receive the same treatment."

"What if they resist?"

"You have thirty trained soldiers. I'm sure you'll figure out how to detain villagers without bludgeoning them half to death."

He resented this assignment. She was put in charge and they had to follow her orders. If that was not bad enough, she would probably slaughter every man woman and child in that town and they would have to clean it up. Not that he cared too much about the people, but it galled him that he was being placed under her rule. The general had explained many times that she was a tool to be used and that nobody should see her as anything else. Like for example as a killer capable of killing everyone in his presence without taking a scratch.

Not having a rank to call her and not allowed to use her name, the soldiers were uneasy as it was. Taji'ra saw no reason to make their life any easier.

"If I'm not back by sun up, I'm dead. Return to the castle and report to the general in that case and get new orders what to do. Do not come looking for me. If they killed me, they will probably kill you as well in the numbers you have here."

Again the man nodded and saluted.

Without waiting for a verbal response, she spurred her horse on again and was around a bend in the path before the first soldiers were able to get out of their saddles.

She had missed riding. Riding without shackles she had missed even more. Jeremias did not trust her. His brother had not trusted her fully either, but he at least had understood her nature. The current baron was completely ignorant in that regard and she felt not bad keeping him in that state. It was his own doing, not hers. She had fulfilled her duties.

It had been the general who had brought the idea to the baron to use her like this and helped formulate her orders. She was to return in three days time, no matter what happened. She was to make sure Iron Reach was captured. There was no misinterpretation that would mean she could get away, which was the barons main concern. As if she could have, she thought to herself.

If she was ordered to, she could have slaughtered the entire city of Northwood and not really anyone or anything in that city would be able to stop her. Except of course new orders.

Seeing the first buildings of the town in the distance, she stopped and tied her horse to a tree off the path and hidden by some brush. She made sure it could lay down and removed the saddle. The knot was loose enough that it could pull the reigns off the tree if she did not return. And if she had to make a quick getaway, she could ride on the horse without a saddle, at least for a while.

The rest of the way she walked.

It was a very good plan she had in her mind. It would mean that nobody had to die today. But she was counting on a few things, that she had little control over. In the worst of cases, they all died.

Immediately people started pointing and murmuring as she came into the town. She ignored it and went to the large open area where the main road forked up. There was a way post here with three signs nailed to it, proclaiming directions. A few paces in front of it, she knelt on the ground, pulled out her sword from behind her back and placed it flat on the ground right in front of her. With her knees touching, she laid her hands flat on top of her thighs and kept her head held high and straight.

And then she waited.

The gesture was common and meant that she came to talk, not fight. It was also a veiled threat, that she could pick up that weapon at any moment and start the fight if nobody wanted to talk. Mostly though it was used in a way that the person using the gesture was lower in power than the person it was made for. If that was not the case, then it was a gesture of a lot of good will. She hoped they would recognize it as the later.

It took a while before something happened.

Taji'ra rolled to the side, swept her arm up and caught the blade that was meant to hit her torso. Coming to her feet, she twisted the blade from the owners grasp and flung it with the same momentum away. The confused looking man was young and thought a moment to pickup her sword laying now closer to him than to her. While the thought was still forming, she stepped closer watching the thought fleeing from the mans face while terror replaced it.

"I came to talk, why did you attack me?"

"You killed my family. They lived in Stonefurt on the plain."

"Yes, it's most likely that I did kill your family in that case."

"How can you say that so easy? Do you not have any remorse about killing all those innocent people?"

"My heart weeps for them, but I'm more than a heart. I am the sword of my master, his will dictates my actions, not my heart. Are you faulting your weapon for who you injure or kill? Or is it you that makes the decisions leading to one or the other?"

"You are a person like me, you can decide and you decided to kill them."

She shook her head.

"I am not like you."

Another young man approached carefully and whispered something in the mans ear.

"That doesn't change anything, she killed them", he screamed at the other man, pointing at Taji'ra.

She eyed the young man closer. He had some fuzz on his chin, obviously growing a beard. His hands had some callouses from hammer work, a smith probably. From his age he was most likely an apprentice.

Slowly she picked up his blade and went back to him, not leaving her eyes off her attacker. It was a good blade, rough but well balanced. She handed it, hilt first to him.

"Take it and leave, blacksmith. I have no use for your services."

He looked taken back.

"You are not killing me?"

"No. I have no orders to do so."

She was shaking her head and started kneeling down again. She could still see him in the reflection off her blade in front of her, the same way she had spotted him before when he approached.

"But you killed my family. You admitted it."

"And so were my orders then. My orders now are to deliver the control over this town to my master. I can chose as long as I fulfill my orders. An order to kill, I have little choice. If I killed them, they died fast and with the least pain possible. That's all I can do for you. Now fetch me whoever controls this town so I can prevent something happening here that did happen to your family."

It took a moment to sink in. Then he turned and quickly moved away shortly followed by his friend.

It was hard for them to understand sometimes. There were so few of her kind left that it was normal that they had no knowledge of the most basic things. Even if they did many had problems grasping the depth of their nature.

For a long while nothing happened. People went out of her way. Only a few children passed close by her, probably because they didn't know and not because they were brave. She did not move at all. Some woman, obviously the mother of one of the children smacked a little boy in the back of the head, pointing at her, waving her finger and then waving it again at her boy. They all watched her and listened to the angry woman before they left the open area in a hurry. A baby cried in the distance and whoever was close to it tried desperately to make it stop. It would take a lot more than a baby cry to get her to attack anyone.

She hoped nobody would get creative with a bow. Although her armor was well made, certain bows with special arrowheads still could penetrate it. It was moments like these that she missed her own armor. And her own sword.

A group of two women and a man approached. They were ordinary clothed, but clearly the woman in the lead was in charge by the way she held herself. They came to a halt in front of her, a couple of steps before they would have stepped on the sword.

"What is it you came here to do? You have not attacked us yet, so what is it?"

"My master ordered me to get control over this town for him. My wish is to do so without bloodshed. If I do not succeed that way my orders are to kill anyone."

The woman sucked in some air sharply and the two behind her murmured lowly to each other.

"You what? Are you insane? This town is governed by me and we follow the king, not the baron. Take your veiled threats and go elsewhere."

She made a throwing away gesture, towards the exit of the town to the plains.

A moment later the tip of Taji'ras sword was at the woman's throat. She still had her hand stretched out towards the plains. The armored woman was on one knee, her arm stretched and the blade still a bit muddy from the ground. A drop of mud fell down.

Nobody moved. The square gotten entirely quiet. Some people came out of their freeze and started to quietly and not too hasty, bustle away from the square.

"Your words are hollow. What is your name?" Taji'ra asked.

"Meredith, Meredith Baker."

She was shaken and slowly lowered her arm to her side. She bent slightly away from the blade but the cold steel on her skin followed.

"Well then Meredith Baker of Iron Reach. The Baron Jeremias Moran is now taking control of this town. You can be the administrator for him here, but you will follow his rule and pay your dues to him. If you fail to do so, he will send me here with the single order to kill everyone. Do you understand me Meredith Baker?"

The woman tried to nod first, but stopped as she felt the blade push harder against her skin.

"Yes, I do."

"Then what is your choice? Die or obey?"

"I.. I have to ask my council members."

Meredith indicated the people behind her.

The blade vanished in a flash of activity and found its way back into its sheath. Taji'ra rose and stood with arms at her side just one step away from the other woman.

"Do so. Now."

The three people huddled together and spoke softly but intently with each other. Taji'ra did not care to listen to it and just looked around to see if anyone rallied to attack her. The square was pretty much empty now, but out of alleys and windows she could see many people watching carefully what was going on. They were terrified, she thought. Some probably already were fleeing the town behind the houses, others would grab weapons and get ready should this get ugly. It was entirely in the hands of the council now though.

If she had to attack, she should first go to the plains exit and work her way from there through the city. That way more could escape up into the mountains and the lest amount into the hands of the soldiers.

"We yield", Meredith announced.

Taji'ra focused her attention again on the woman.

"Do you accept Baron Jeremias Moran as your ruler?"

"We do."

"Very well. My task is done here."

With that she turned around and started walking away.

Confused the council of Iron Reach stood there. The man was the first to get his wits together again.

"Wait, what happens now?"

She stopped and turned around.

"Expect soldiers to come and someone to look at the town's treasury. Beyond that I do not know, that is not my task."

She waited a few more moments to see if there was something else they might ask, but no question came. The council was left baffled where they stood.

The young man that had attacked her earlier was following her behind the houses. He thought he was stealthy but it took a lot more of that skill for Taji'ra not to spot them. She stopped and looked at a gap between houses. A moment later the young man appeared, wanting to move fast to the next building. He stopped midway, as he saw how she was turned towards the gap.

He slowly passed between the constructions and came closer, stopping a few paces away from her.

"Why are you following me?"

Her tone was neutral, not threatening, not even curious.

"You have not killed anyone here, yet you slaughtered entire villages. Why?"

"Control over the town was my task here. My task in Stonefurt was to kill everyone. It was not my choice."

She felt something deep inside her, something she had not felt for a long time. She had to continue to speak because of that feeling.

"If it had been up to me, they would not have died."

The young man looked to the ground and turned towards the town center, slowly walking away. Taji'ra followed him with her eyes for a bit and wondered what was going on inside him. There was so much pain and hate, she just could not see how he could live like that. It was her hope that it would not eat him up.

Riding at a walk, she came upon the position where she had left the lieutenant and his men. They were prepared and had even dragged a few obstacles on to the road to stop anyone from fleeing. A cart was stopped behind their barricade from going into the town.

"Remove the barricade, let the cart through. Our task is done, the town is ours."

The soldiers were relieved in one way but not really cheerful either. They did not like it when she made something happen, when she did something more than kill. It destroyed their illusion of her being just a tool and they had to think about what she could do. Having her in charge was hard enough, now she completed the task without a fight, that scared them even more.

"Right away", was the lieutenants answer and they cleared the road.

If they rode hard they could make it back to Northwood the same night. She sent a couple of scouts ahead with the news then watched as the rest of the men prepared to leave.

There was nothing left for her to do. Just return to the city. Many conflicting emotions and thoughts were making themselves known.

She should be happy for her master. She completed the task he had given her successfully. This would increase her masters influence greatly and make him richer as well. But none of these things did make her happy. She was happy that nobody was injured or died today. But why did those things about her master make her almost sad? This was very disturbing. Her master was the most important person in her life. There was nobody more important and making him happy, obeying him was her purpose in life. Why did she feel like that?

This was not the first time. She had thoughts like that even with her masters brother. Before that though, she never had any of these thoughts, ever. What was going on?

With her thoughts and feelings in turmoil she rode back to the city.