It was seeing a woman being drag into a large tent that concern Tex. The woman's head was enclosed in a wool bag, and her hands and feet were tied. He watches as they threw her into the tent. His fingernails were cutting into his hand that brought him out of his rage, forcing him to look around, hoping no one saw him staring.
Seeing that in the distance not far from that tent is the mess hall, Tex avoids the sentries around the camp. The sentries were easy to spot. Now that he knew how the troops would tie a cord of leather around their left leg above the ankle, as an extra security measure. It would make it easy to catch a spy walking in with just a yellow cloth tied around their right arm if they didn't watch the camp. It still bugs Tex that there are no boots or moccasins anywhere. Tex loves leather products, many of them he made in his lifetime. Never finding a home of his own until the end of his life, he travels a lot while farming, ranching, and doing odd jobs after his two grandfathers passed away. One of the jobs allows him to learn to be a cobber from an old man that made leather boots and cowboy hats. The old man also reshapes the old hats for the older generation that bought the hat base on quality and nostalgia. He also was taught to appreciate the quality of handmade items. It is one of the reasons he had ten boots in his truck. One he made himself and nine other made by different artisans across America that he picked up over the years in his travels.
Tex walks through the camp as if he belongs, making it to the chow line at the mess hall tent. Pulling out a wooden bowl and a broken wooden spoon, he found along the way and allowing one of the serving women to put a ladle of soup in the bowl, grimacing at the smell as he sniffs the watery soup as he moves away. Can't be too picky about the food. Still, it did bring back memories of the food that he was going to miss like, chili, barbecue ribs, and cheeseburgers just the thought of the food made his mouth drool. That was until the smell of the soup hit his nose again, which made his stomach feel nauseous. Moving off to watch the women that were cooking, he spotted the older women from his village and two other villages nearby. Tex was frowning as he counted a total of sixteen women in the mess hall from the villages. None of them were young women. Most were in there forties and fifty. For this type of world, they were old, considering most would be dead from illness or child labor long before now. All of the women were either being slap or yell at while they cook or clean pots and dishes.
Sitting down beneath a nearby tree, an officer in partial armor grabs a bowl of soup and move over and sat down next to him. Tex looks the man over and seeing that he is about mid-twenty and standing about five feet ten inches or so with a clean-shaven face. With a copper badge of a sun on his chest representing him as an officer. A red ribbon is hanging down from the star, showing that he is a nobleman.
Tex starts to get up to salute like some of the men did earlier to a nobleman.
"Sit. Enjoy the food." The man waves him down.
"Thank you. Sir!" Tex responded to the man as he repositions himself beneath the tree.
"Not seen you before." The officer said while looking him over.
From the way the officer is dress in fine clothing, he figures he is one of the Duke's men, and maybe the man not met all of Baron Scoon men thinking of a large town in the barony to the north. "Walter of Thornfall, my Lord. Was scouting the enemy until they killed my horse, and I made my way back to here. It took me a few days avoiding the enemy. I reported to the Baron's first son when I flag them down on the way to warn them of sentry posts ahead of them. Nearly gotten killed by the Lord if not for one of the men remembering me from Thornfall." Taking a deep drink of the nasty soup to hide his face from the man.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Anything of important you found." The officer asked.
Tex was smiling to himself on the inside over the thought of causing some trouble. "Yes, sir! A heavy loaded cart was going east from the crossroads with four mules pulling it and several dozen men with bows moving on both sides as if guarding the cart. Saw several knights leading the cart. After that, I came across some horse tracks running alongside the road. I counted ten horses, and maybe extra mounted guards that were keeping out of sight. The First son seems to be excited about this. I was told to get something to eat and sleep when I get to the camp. I was told he would report what I saw to the Duke." Tex explains to the officer.
You could almost see the greed in man's eyes as he got up suddenly. "Your right, you should get some rest, maybe use the camp whores before heading out."
"Whores?" Sounding a little excited. "Where might they be."
He pointed to the other side of the mess hall at a large tent where Tex spotted the tent earlier for the camp whores. The officer got up, pausing for a second in thought. "When did you encounter the cart?"
Tex scratches his arm, pretending to be in thought. "A few hours before sunset. Just a few miles or so east of the crossroads."
Tobias tossed down a piece of sanded wood with the branding of the Duke's crest. "Head north in the morning with a horse and scout the land for any alternate routes north of here toward the silver mines to the northeast If you find anything reports to me. I am Lord Flaus' elder son Tobias. Show this token to get what you need, and return it after you completed your mission. Oh, and do not tell anyone what you saw today or any information on the silver mines that you find. You understand?" Looking Tex in the eyes, only seeing a frank look staring back at him.
Tex stood up and saluted with his right fist against his left chest like he saw other soldiers in camp did. "Yes, sir! My Lord. I go clean up and get some rest."
Tobias absentmindedly saluted back as he heads back into the camp tossing his bowl of soup to the ground. He is smiling while in deep thought over the thought of capturing silver from the enemy and padding his vault. He was going to have to beat out that Baron's first son on getting the silver maybe the pompous ass will conveniently be killed by the enemy.
A small hint of a smile touches Tex's face as he cleans up his bowl and spoon. Pulling out the token, he smiles again as an idea pop into mind.
Showing the token to one of the women and pointed to the women scrubbing dishes, seeing that the village women were getting bully by the enemy's camp followers. He moves over to them as one of the women was slapping a villager. Telling her that they are not to eat until all the dishes are scrub again and only after she inspects them. The woman stops scolding them and frowns as Tex walks up.
"Solder! No one is allowed here unless by order of one of the officers or the Lord himself!" snorting at the man looking him up and down with disdain. The man before her was only a lowly soldier, not worth the dirty clothes he was wearing. Although the boy's face is handsome, the dirty and blood on his face and clothing turns her off. She prefers her men to be clean and with more money in their pouch.
Tex held up his pass token, "I have orders to move these women to the west by Lord Tobias. Make sure they been fed and loaded in a cart in an hour!" Barking out an order to the camp follower. After pointing out the women he wants while trying not to show his face to them. The woman seems to be flustered and started herding the women to the food line as fast as possible. Knowing the Lord doesn't like to wait on anyone and have punished those that do make them wait.
After he was done giving out instructions, he headed west toward the whore camp. There was only a guard sleeping while sitting in front of a large tent where the scream of pain mix in with other sounds of sexual pleasure could be heard from within. The camp had quiet down as people were going to sleep for the night except for Lord Tobias leading fifty knights out of the camp with horses. They were Heading toward the East-West road using torches. Hoping his friends would not be spotted by the group. Tex gave a silent prayer to the gods of this world that they are safe before turning to find the rest of the girls in the whore house.