Chapter 1.12

Ax

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I was really getting sick and tired of seeing slaughters. I had tried to pin it all on the gigantes, but this bandit crew that had cut their way through a temple of priests and priestesses proved they were no different or better. This was a violent, dangerous place where killing was routine and life was cheap.

“So what is your name, anyway?” I asked the old woman.

“I am Swordmaster Xia Fang,” she said. “My retainers are Jin Song and Jin Hai. Our fallen brother was Dai Wen. He was guarding the front door when those bandits charged.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Did you know him well?”

“He studied with me for several years, and was happy to take the contract when it was offered. I will make sure his pay gets sent to his father.” Her Greek was heavily accented, but I could make out her words fine. I just didn’t understand why the father would get the pay.

I nodded as if I understood. I was over my head with ancient Greek stuff. Throw in weird ladies with funny hats, and Chinese bodyguards and I was completely lost. But I dealt in the here and now, so I could roll with the punches.

“Alright, let’s see about those prisoners.”

I thought I’d seen the worst when I saw slaughters. I was wrong. The prisoner pens behind the temple were true horror. Half of the pens had emaciated corpses in them. The other half had men and women in each, stripped naked and starving. Most had a glassy-eyed stare, barely acknowledging our presence. The men were hogtied in their cages, ropes around their necks tied to their ankles. Several had literally choked themselves to death, to weak to keep their own body weight from killing them. The women were bent over a bar, spread eagle in their cages. Their arms were tied to the bars, their legs tied to lengths of wood to keep them spread. Each and every one had a haunted, devastated look on their faces. Those haunted looks tore through me, their impotence and humiliation almost a physical blow.

Two guards were asleep against a tree at the far end of the field of cages. Their swords were on the ground in their sheaths, and empty wine jars lay at their feet. I looked to the three Chinese bodyguards.

“Capture them alive,” I said tersely.

Xia Fang nodded, and gave a few commands to the two men. Minutes later, both guards were stunned awake with blows to the head, on their stomachs with their arms pinned behind them. Jin Song and Jin Hai tied them quickly, in a modified hogtie from their wrists to their ankles.

“Let’s get them free,” I said.

Freeing the prisoners took the better part of an hour. I sent for assistance from the refugees, and had them scour the temple for clothing. I walked from cage to cage, releasing each prisoner. A villager would assist, by bringing water and clothing. I had another one prepare a pot of simple fish broth, and had them help feed the poor bastards.

The women were in better shape than the men, at least physically. They flinched away from contact, but most began to recognize that salvation was at hand. The strongest of the women helped calm the most distraught, but all of them were overly cautious and scarred by their ordeal.

The two guards swore that they had never done anything to the ‘sacrifices’ demanded by the Great Mother, the Titaness Rhea. I saw the way the women eyed them, however. I decided to let them sort it out. I handed swords and knives to the most physically capable of the women, and left the guards in their care.

“What happens to the guards is entirely up to you,” I told them. “When you’re ready, we’ll be gathering in front of the Temple.”

I couldn’t do much to help alleviate their trauma. But I could give them vengeance.

By the time the screaming of the guards ended, the villagers had finished scouring the Temple. Another wagon was located, empty except for a massive canvas tarp, as well as two more oxen. Several chests of goods were hauled out, including one chest full of silver drachmas. Long bolts of fine bleached wool cloth, more food supplies, and several crates filled with amphorae of wine was located and loaded up.

The wagon was mostly empty, so I decided to make a covered wagon for the children. I had the crates loaded at the front to make a wall of sorts. The wagon was driven around to the front courtyard, where I gathered several iron strips from the first wagon. I shaped them into thin iron spikes, and drove them into the sides of the second wagon. From there, I conjured a long, thin iron bar that curved over the entire wagon bed, a frame for a covered wagon. I did this four times, making the ribs of a Conestoga-style wagon. I’d seen Little House on the Prairie and a bunch of westerns before.

The long canvas was pulled tight over the metal arch supports I made. I chopped up another iron piece into two dozen rough nails, which I used to tack down the canvas below the sides. With the cargo taking up the front behind the driver’s bench, this left only an opening in the rear.

“Do not dally in Assos, Ax. It will not stand for long. Tekmon is more suited to your needs. The Strategos of Assos is a fool.” Zahra’s words floated in the air behind me.

I turned from the wagon to see Zahra and Antiope mounted on large warhorses. The beasts were light of foot and had simple saddles overtop colorful blankets. Both now wielded short recurve bows. Antiope had a wicker shield tied to her saddle on her left. Zahra looked positively regal, with a thick fur cloak cascading from her shoulders. In this heat, that armor and cloak would be boiling hot. I felt bad for her.

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“I’ll let Karsos know,” I said. Her creepy predictions freaked me out, and I was already dealing with a lot of weird shit.

Her gaze darkened, then she turned to look at Antiope. “Another fool. Come, let’s see if the other one is smarter.”

Antiope gave me an apologetic look, and shrugged one shoulder as if to say ‘what can you do?’ It was amazing how much body language was universal. They turned their horses to the Temple. I could see Karson and Danae pulling trunks from the front door. More loot was always a good thing.

Karson stopped to speak with Zahra. I could see an animated discussion, complete with arms flailing and loud voices. I shrugged and turned back to our original wagon. It could use a cover also. Latona came over to me. She had shed her jerkin, and I could swear her boobs were bigger than they had been the day we’d met. She smiled at me, and as usual, her smile was stunning.

“Are you going to make this wagon like the other?” she asked.

“I was thinking so. If we rebalance the load between the two, we can fit a lot of people in the back. Most of those prisoners can barely stand, much less walk for hours on end.”

“We have a solid ten men now who want spears and shields to fight with us. Xene is out of leather for jerkins, and we used up the last of the clothing on the refugees. There was enough spare clothing in the Temple for the prisoners, but we’ll need to buy more in Assos.”

“We need to sell off some of what we don’t need, the most perishable foods, and get some more rations, perhaps another wagon or two. I also need to buy a set of armor to use as a template.”

“Template?” I could swear she was subtly trying to flirt. I couldn’t quite reconcile that with the fact that we’d buried her fiance only a few days before. Karson was always better at understanding people’s motivations than I was. Maybe he’d point me in the right direction. Before I could explain what a template was, Karson called to me from the Temple stairs. Latona and I went over.

“Ax, I need your help in here,” said Karson. “Latona, could you get someone to load these trunks in our wagon? They stay with our trusted people only.”

“Myrmidons,” I said. “We need a name for our people, so let's call them Myrmidons.”

“It is a name that is fraught with destiny,” said Zahra to herself.

“Names later,” said Karson firmly. “I need your help now. I found more prisoners.”

I followed him into a room that looked like a library, although a lot of scrolls were now missing. I guess they wound up in that chest he found. Then I saw the dead man in the corner, and a trap door open in the floor. I grimaced at the thought of seeing more of those poor, devastated souls. I climbed down the ladder.

What I found at the bottom was a small room with a cage made of ice hanging in the air. It was attached to the ceiling by four small columns of ice, so that no part of the cage touched any solid surface. In the cage were four tiny beings. They were humanoid, about three feet tall with earthy brown skin and dark green hair. Their faces were wide triangles with large noses, but with an ethereal quality. It was three men and a woman, each with a metal collar around their necks. The three men wore similar clothing - brown leggings, tan tunics and green vests covered in pockets. The colors of their cloaks also varied from light tan to black. The woman wore a dress with a corset overtop it, but her pushed up cleavage was covered modestly by the dress. She wore a cloak that had been white once, but had seen better days, and a scarf around her head.

“Lord Magi, if you free us - “ began one of the men. But I wasn’t going to make them bargain for their freedom.

“Where do I melt this?” I asked Karson, who had followed me down.

“Melt on this corner,” said Ax. “The whole spell will unravel, and the ice should shatter under its own weight.

“Cover your heads and get ready to fall,” I warned the creatures. I made my right hand blaze with fire, and placed it directly on the corner. The flames seemed to shy away from that spot, so I poured more magic in, until I felt a pop. Then water began to pour from the corner of the cage, and the bars became brittle. I stopped the spell, and grasped the bars closest to me. With a wrench, I began to break off large pieces of the bars. The whole cage began to sag dangerously, so as soon as the hole was large enough, I held out my hands to help the little beings to the floor.

They were surprisingly heavy, far more so than human children their size would weigh. The men went first, then shooed me out of the way so they could help the woman. All of them sagged in relief, and contact with the ground seemed to give them a vitality they had lacked when they were suspended in the air.

“You have our deepest gratitude, strangers,” said the woman. What are your names?”

“I am Axerios, and my brother is Axiokarsos,” I said.

The woman bowed her head respectfully. “Magus Axerios, Magus Axiokarsos. I will remember your names.”

“If you don’t mind my asking, what are you?” I asked. Karson slapped my shoulder, but the woman smiled.

“We are the neblin, although humans often call us gnomes.”

“How did you come to be in that cage? The prisoners we found upstairs were captured to be used for human sacrifices, but you were hidden down here.”

“Our village was raided by cynocephali. They are an ancient enemy of ours, and their shamans have perfected spells that lift us from the ground to weaken us. We were sold to the Atlantean magus to be used for his spellcraft. These collars steal our mana, keeping us weak.”

“Do you need assistance in removing them?”

“No,” said the woman. “Tobias here is strong enough to break the magic, now that we are earthbound once more.”

As if in answer to the question, one of the men touched the collar around his neck, and it fell off him and to the ground. He gave a deep sigh of relief, and through the magic-sight ring, I could see power pour into him from the ground. Tobias touched the collars on his colleagues, freeing them as well.

“We will spread the word of your kindness,” said the woman, walking to the wall. At a touch, a tunnel opened up. All of the gnomes entered, leaving the woman to last. “Farewell, and safe travels.”

The wall closed behind them, swallowing them up. Karson looked at me and said, “I guess they don’t need a ride.”

“You couldn’t dispel that?” I asked.

“No, it was warded against dispelling, and I didn’t have enough mana to overcome the wards.”

“What did you find, anyway?”

“A lot of scrolls about magic, a mystery box, a dictionary, and journals.” Karson brought me up to speed as we returned to the yard. He helped me rig the supports for our first wagon as he talked. Latona had gone ahead and had the cargo shifted around to balance it between the two wagons. The children rode in our wagon, while the former prisoners rode in the second wagon. We were only a day or so away from Assos, where we could regroup properly, which was good. At this rate, we were going to need a lot more food.