TRACK 9 –

LAW

“This is the last time I’m going to ask you. Where is your Chief? Where is your tribe?” I said, my voice monotone and devoid of emotion.

The Fallen warrior just glared at me, saying nothing. He hadn’t said a word since his capture.

“I don’t think he’s gonna say much, the bastard is tough, I’ll give him that.” Billy said, from the Fallen captive’s side.

“Aye, let’s just kill him or we could start pulling his fingernails and toenails off one by one.” Patty said, a wolfish smile across his face from the opposite side of the captive.

“Ha! Kill me, you filthy maggots. Kill me!” The captive raged, speaking for the first time since his capture and healing.

The Fallen raged against his restraints, his arms and legs were chained to a table I’d made just for this purpose. Smoking Bluejay and me had put together a forge area and I knocked out an interrogation table based on a video I’d seen. It was of an Iraqi terrorist being tortured by some nondenominational special forces until. I had been horrified the first time I’d seen it, like when you drive by a really bad car accident and can’t take your eyes away. My memory had memorized every single detail and though it was a terrible and inhuman thing, I was going to do it.

I nodded at the cousins. They nodded back still giving me a skeptical look neither really thinking that my plan would work. A lever was pulled on the table and the platform that the Fallen captive was confined to was flipped backward.

“What are you doing? Kill me! Kill me you cowardly trash!” The Fallen screamed, his head now upside down along with the rest of his body.

The three of us looked at each other then down at the screaming and straining Fallen. Billy turned and grabbed a towel and Patty went held up a large pail of water. I grabbed both and dipped the towel in the pail then wringed it dry. Patty held the pail for me and I placed the wet towel over the screaming man’s mouth who started laughing when the towel set. I waited a moment until he stopped laughing and screaming, then went quiet. His breathing started to go shallow and then ragged, he couldn’t see and didn’t know what we were going to do.

Sometimes the human mind is the best way to inflict terror on someone. Especially, those type of beings that horrid themselves. They can create scenarios in their minds that most normal folks couldn’t even imagine.

This is the reason why waterboarding is so effective and outlawed by the Geneva Convention. It takes so many primal fears and blends them into one tortuous horrific experience. I will explain. The human brain has quite a few primordial fears built into the psyche of these there are; fear of the dark, fear of drowning, fear of confinement, fear of mutilation, fear of choking, and fear of dying.

All these are part of waterboarding.

I took the bucket and filled a just. I poured the water slowly and messily so it splashed as well as went into the vessel. The Fallen warrior’s breathing went more ragged and he flinched this way and that in his confinement with the wet towel hindering his sight and impeding his airway.

I took my time and stood up slowly making the bottle clink on the floor when I picked it up. Then, I moved over and crouched next to the captives head. I stopped their holding the jug over his covered face, so the shadow would cover the light. This way he knew something was coming but not what. Here is where I took the next few minutes. I weaved back and forth with the jug not pouring water yet, just shadow, light, shadow, light.

The Fallen’s breathing and jerking became even more labored and out of control and hyperventilation was setting in. This is when I began. When he had not choice but to suck in lungful after lungful of air to oxygenate his body. That’s when I the technique worked the best.

My hand turned the jug and water slipped so slowly that it looked like it could have been an accident, but it wasn’t. The small stream of water hit the towel where the Fallen captive’s mouth was and he jerked and coughed and spasmed. I didn’t stop. Everywhere his face turned and tried to move I followed with that slow stream.

The next half hour went this way and it turned my stomach and vomit rose in my throat, but I continued. First he raged, then he screamed, then he cried.

“Oh, shite Law, this is terrible.” Billy whispered, then left the room.

Still I continued.

“Law, how long are we going to do this… this… this thing.” Patty asked, his face green.

“For as long as it takes brother.” I replied, my voice devoid of emotion.

“Fuck me… I can’t…” Patty said, leaving the way his cousin had.

I watched the door shut behind the two men from Eire. The only sounds in the room the dripping of water and the weeping of an evil, broken man. Thankfully, I had my soundtrack and I mentally cranked it up and returned to my task. I had to be sure he was going to tell the truth and restarted the process.

“No! No! For all the gods no! I’ll talk! Whatever you want, just stop…” The captive screamed as I dripped water onto his face.

At least, that’s what I saw as I read his lips.

“I know pal, but I gotta be sure. It’s nothing personal… actually, never mind that, it’s very personal.” I replied, my voice the same emotionless monotone.

The screams and weeping continued.

Twenty minutes later I left the interrogation area and walked over to my tribe’s men and women. All of them were quiet and none would look at me. I took a deep breathe and put my hands on my hips, as I quietly surveyed the area.

Walking Coyote had returned in an hour with a full squadron of airships, basically all we had, full to the brim with supplies, workers, and warriors. He also informed me a flotilla of ironclads was on the way with more of the same. He said they decided to changed the forward base to an outpost and focus on making our new forward operating here. I agreed with their idea and told them so.

That was earlier in the day and the amount of work they’d accomplish was mindboggling. The veteran workers and warriors of the assimilated tribes were the best artisans and craftsmen possibly in the history of the world. My knowledge and teaching ability combined with their work ethic, natural talent, and magical ability was a trifecta of awesomeness. Without it I don’t think I’d be able to have accomplish what I have so far and what I still needed to do.

The main fortress, walls, surrounding waterways, harbor, and forge area were already completed. The rest of the structures and fortifications would be done within the day before the arrival of the ironclad flotilla. That was good, we needed to be getting ahead of the game.

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“Did you find out what we needed to know?” Patty asked, breaking the silence.

All my elites were here except Arun, his sister, and the brothers Thunder Foot and Lightning Fist. They had already departed on their missions with their portions of the military. I sighed and then sat down at one of the freshly made tables in the mess area.

“He told me everything, starting from their retreat at the first battle of Thrudheim. The leader of The Fallen is a man named…” I started explaining.

“A member of The Fallen an evil, corrupted, vile man.” Sage interjected.

“Yes, that, anyway, he is the Chieftain and his name is Baron Samedi.” I said.

They all looked at each other and then I saw blank stares and shrugs. A sigh involuntarily escaped my lips as I knew that none of them would know the name. The myth hadn’t even been started until later in the timeline. It just showed that the coalition of evil gods had been moving even more than we thought. I looked around the room until I had everyone’s attention and began telling the story.

“Baron Samedi is from the future. Well, he’s a myth from the future and doesn’t exist yet, well he does now. This is confusing. Ok, starting over. Baron Samedi is the leader of The Fallen, he is a magic user known to control Loup Garou and zombies, I’ll go over them later. His legend is from the native islanders in the Caribbean and other slave based locations. The captive let me know that all of The Fallen from all over the Americas and the Caribbean have flocked to his call and gathered at New Orleans. Already, the combined forces of the conquistadors and The Fallen number over ten thousand. The number of ships number of a thousand. And more are coming. With the addition of the magical zombies and Loup Garou this will definitely not be an easy battle.” I said, my tone serious.

“Damn Law, that’s a lot of enemies. What are these Loop Goats you keep talking about?” Billy asked.

“Loup Garou are werewolves, people who turn into half wolves or full wolves. Zombies are the living dead. People who have died and come back to life to a varying degree. I have sent info packets to each of you.” I said, watching as their eyes did the familiar glaze over as they accessed their information screens.

I did the same going over the info as well.

BARON SAMEDI INFORMATION SCREEN

LOUPGAROU INFORMATION SCREEN

ZOMBIE INFORMATION SCREEN

I closed the windows and waited for the rest of them to finish. When they were done I continued.

“With the addition of these more mythical troops the makeup of the enemy forces is even more unknown. I also found out that combination forces of Fallen, Invaders, and these monsters have and are being sent out in all directions gathering slaves for their construction projects. I’m also not sure how effective firearms will be against Loup Garou and Zombies so be prepared to use your close combat weapons. The Fallen has only seen them hurt by Baron Samedi and the Conquistador leader. Our captive didn’t know his name just the weapon he wielded a large two-headed axe along with his other conquistador weaponry. Fragarach and The Spear of Lugh are perfect for the job if that’s the case and you can be sure of their effectiveness. I’m fairly sure that our magically enhanced weapons will work but be careful during your first engagements. What are your plans?” I asked.

The cousins shared a look and a nod. Patty left and Billy stood up and addressed the assembly his eyes doing the familiar glazing over as he talked.

“If you pull up your maps, you can see roughly the area we need to cover. You can see here that Silent Mouse’s scout rangers are already under heading out to the Appalachians and Gulf of Mexico. They were told to give a wide berth around the New Orleans territory. Each of their squads has a new radio and is composed based on the SEAL CRT squad. They are the best of the best. Patty is already updating them on the new information. Next, The original plan was to assault New Orleans with overwhelming force after having subdued the surrounding territory and consolidated our powerbase. The plan is going to be altered to one of containment. As you can see by the map we don’t have enough troops to do all the things we want to do.” Billy explained.

INSERT MAP OF NORTH AMERICA SPECIFICALLY MISSISSIPPI RIVER VALLEY AND SURROUDNINGS, NEW ORLEANS, CARIBBEAN.

All of us were quiet as we studied the map and looked at our battle plans and distribution of our forces. A few moments later Billy continued.

“Supply lines aren’t a problem and additional tribe’s folk are coming in everyday, but just not fast enough. This is why we need to switch to containment till Moon Flower and her forces meet up with us.” Billy said.

“I see what you mean but I don’t know if that is viable. She and her elites have their own missions and we may not be able to count on them in time. The problem is that I agree with you and containment is the best option. The only downside is those suffering inside New Orleans, they are being used up and thrown away. The longer we wait the more of them die.” I said, looking around the area to see what everyone thought about that.

“That’s what we all thought you’d say.” Patty said with a grin, coming back from the radio room and patting me on the back.

“Aye, he’s right, here is the new plan that all of us already worked on while you were taking care of the shite task of interrogating that Fallen arsehole.” Billy said, with a grin that was mildly sick but full of determination.

My periphery started flashing and I quickly accessed the new map.

INSERT NEW MAP PLAN OF ATTACK

“Damn, that’s aggressive as fuck and dangerous as hell. I love it.” I said.

“Thanks, War Shaman. As we can see most of our outlying plans stay the same. Cunning Wolf and Sage will continue their westward expansion and meet up with the girl’s.” Billy said, pausing as all the women gathered gave him a raised eyebrow and withering glares. “Ach, you daft females, I mean the girls as in Ice Blossom, Night Star, and Dancing Lion. They are all lasses to me. Don’t give them silly looks. As I was saying, those are still as planned. Arun and his family are still taking the Great Lakes and surroundings. Now, Law your mission…”

“Yes, my mission is to head west. I have to go alone…” I began, Freak though growled loudly from my side having just returned from wherever he was. I patted him on side and continued. “Freak and I have to go alone because we need to meet up with someone and bring them back with us.”

“Who?” Sage asked.

“I’m not quite sure.” I said, trying to hide the sheepishness from my voice.

All eyes were on me as I squirmed under their gazes.

“What you are saying is, that at the most complex and difficult time during our campaign you are leaving to meet someone and you don’t know who?” Patty asked.

“That’s correct.” I replied, with complete self-assurance in my tone, trying a different tactic and seeing how it worked.

“Don’t use that tone on me little boy. This is more serious than you are letting on. You are our War Shaman and yet you are leaving on a ridiculous errand.” Freya scolded me, the rest of them agreeing with her.

“Look guys and gals, it’s not my fault. I don’t even want to go but the gods said so.” I said, exasperated and looking around for support.

“Oh, you didn’t say it was the will of the gods and goddesses. That’s what it is then. We will all make do.” Walking Coyote said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Everyone else agreed with him and the whole mood changed.

“Wait a minute, are you guys serious? Was that all I had to say?” I asked, disbelief radiating through me.

“Of course, Law. The will of the gods is the will of the gods.” Sage chimed in.

“This is fucking ridiculous. I’ve been tiptoeing around the issue for days because I knew you all would be pissed and all I needed to tell you was the gods said so.” I said, more to myself than anyone else.

“Are you still going on about this Law? I don’t think we have time to keep beating a dead man, as you say.” Sage said, as if I was the one being ridiculous.

Various forms of this was said to me and I looked around eyes and mind boggling at my compatriots.

“What in the fucking hell? Am I taking freaking crazy pills? Are you all so fucking daft and…” I began ranting, but caught myself as everyone, from Cunning Wolf to Dusk and Dawn broke out in guffaws of uncontrollable laughter.

“You sons of bitches…” I growled, my voice trailing off.

This just made them laugh even harder and I crossed my arms, then turned my back and began sulking. A moment later I realized I was being ridiculous, and because laughter is infectious, and because of the horrid shit I’d just done, I started laughing as well. The cousins came over and patted me on the back and eventually we all stopped laughing and regained our composure. I cleared my throat and looked around the room looking all my friends and newfound family in the eyes.

“Seriously though, all of you be safe. I know you will all try your hardest to the point where you will put yourselves in harms way. Be smart, don’t die. We can always fight again, but I can’t replace you. You’re my family. Good luck and god speed to all