CHAPTER 04


   The skies were clear today and the cool brisk breeze had a bit of a bite. Leaves were falling from the trees. Joe knew all about that from one main source. The leaves were all over his side porch. He had been looking at them for most of the afternoon and wondering exactly why Lang had not ordered one of the hired hands to clean them up. Joe would have to speak to Lang about that and a few other things. There were quite a few chores that had not been getting done. It also occurred to Joe that he had not seen the first of his help all morning.

When Lang showed up nearby, Joe called him over. "Where's everybody at?"

Lang hesitated before answering. He tried to go down the list of the people that were here. That was a very short list. This prompted the question that Lang had been able to avoid being asked for some time. His much absent boss had taken a while to notice. Lang cleared his throat, "Well they all quit."

There was no anger in Joe’s voice. He simply thought about it. If nothing else he was puzzled by it. Where would any of the likes of those men go and find a job that paid them what he did? They were all, for the most part, generally worthless types who could barely manage the odd jobs he paid them to do. They certainly had no trades or skills to speak of. Since there was little call for menial chores in the local area, at least those that people could pay to have done, where did all of his former help find work?

"Well general, they sort of became merchants. I mean a few of them pooled their money and went and opened a dry good store of sorts. Two of them, I heard tell of, went into business cleaning up buildings. You know they go in at night and leave the store cleaned for the morning."

"Sounds like thievery to me," replied Joe. "What in the hell prompted all of this?"

Again Lang was hesitant to speak. "My opinion General?"

"Sure."

"Well they all saw how well the newcomers had done out there with that Inn. They kind of figured they could do it too. I mean, not an Inn, but you know. Work for themselves."

They were fools. Joe realized most of them would come back looking for their old jobs. Jack and his people were not run of the mill low class types. They actually had skills that were far beyond most everyone's understanding. A wide variety of them as well, if what Joe had seen was any indication. Only thing about all this was, what if some of those hired hands never came back? What if some them were successful? In the end that would not be such a bad thing. Joe had made his fortune himself. He respected it in others. If they did manage to make a business work then both they and community would be better off for it.  

The interesting part of all this was that the idea had occurred to any of them in the first place. Unlike Lang, Joe did not place all of the blame squarely on Jack and his crew. Times were changing and it was that simple. Joe had seen too much evidence of this everywhere. When Joe got back from the war he had noticed it. Young farm hands were flooding into the cities seeking their fortunes. All of them veterans who had never left their farms until the war came. It was hard to go back after having seen so much of a world that they had never really known existed prior to the war.  

The Emperor's government itself was expanding the size of its active duty military. More guns, and small arms, nails for barracks, stakes for tents, tacks, and even the machines to make these items all required ore. The mines in the northern most mountains of Zeat had been put under pressure to supply this. As a result, family businesses were now becoming large companies in order to meet demand. Actual money was flowing into the region in sums great enough to be changing the way people lived. In a region where wealth had been calculated by the ownership of land, and in possession of fruit groves, ore, and timber, this was having a dramatic effect.  

It was all just another pressure being placed on old systems. Mechanisms of maintaining law and order that were thousands of years old were coming under an attack left over from the war that even the enemy could not have foreseen. How would this change Joe's proposal to the provincial legislature? So far he had failed to convince that many to join in with him. Only those radicals that had always pushed for independence were on his side.

It was going to take more than that. It was going to take an occurrence, something from out of nowhere, to shock and horrify those in the middle. It was only a very brave few, and some crazy ones as well, that would voluntarily leap into the abyss. Everyone else required a push. Joe wondered if this "event" would ever happen. He wondered from what quarter it might come if it ever did at all.


_____________________


"Julia!" exclaimed Chree. She twisted her wrists in the shackles and tried to look around the pole. "Julia! Are you awake? Wake up!"

The world seemed hazy. Julia wanted to rub her forehead. When she couldn't move her arms, waist, and feet she realized where she was. Reality sank in with full force. Julia took heed of the fear in Chree's voice. She looked toward the door of the room they were locked in. There was movement and voices just outside. "What's going on?"

Chree felt panic descend over her. She started trying to pull against her bonds. She started twisting violently.  "They're going to kill us! They're coming for us!"

The door opened. Julia took a deep breath and shut her eyes as the soldiers unshackled her from the pole. When she was free she collapsed onto the floor. Two of the soldiers picked her up. Julia stayed limp as they drug her out of the room. She could hear Chree screaming, pleading with them. Julia had nothing to say.

A wagon was waiting outside the door. Julia collapsed in the back. Chree was pulling at her, trying to wake her, "Julia! Please stop them!"

The soldiers piled in the back around them and the wagon began to move. It turned a corner and began down one of the long sloping roads that ended at the seawall. Julia opened her eyes. She put her arms around Chree as she looked down to the bottom of the hill. A crowd was gathered there.  

As they got closer, Julia saw what was in store for them. Two large poles with sharpened ends were buried in the ground. A frame had been built to each side with a crossbeam above. The frames looked like they were up on blocks of some kind. There was a man with a giant mallet at both frames. Julia figured it out. They knocked the blocks out and the cross beam would fall just a little each time.      

Julia shivered and held onto Chree even harder.  "I changed my mind. I don't want to die."


Flahust pulled his pocket watch out. He glanced at Prognos who was doing the same. If Flahust stalled just a little while longer then the corrupt bastard would miss his train. Such little pleasures in life were all that Flahust had to look forward too. "Relax Prognos, when was the last time the train actually showed up on schedule?"

Prognos growled. He stuffed his own watch back in his pocket and looked at the crowd gathered. "I am glad to see so many women out there, if not a little surprised."

"Why would that be?" asked Flahust. It didn't surprise him.  From what Flahust had heard, this Julia girl was well liked. She had lots of friends in town. "Why would they not come to pay their respects?"

Prognos sneered, "Why do you think that women feel the same as you and I. It has been scientifically proven that they are inferior in all respects to the male."

Now it was time for Flahust to sneer. He did not like being included in the same category as Prognos. Fortunately the wagon with the prisoners arrived and spared him the agonizing urge to tell Prognos just that very thing.  Flahust proceeded forward and faced the crowd in front of the stakes.  He waited until the prisoners were brought around to the ladders in back. He gave a nod to his lead soldier and they got underway securing the two women to the crossbeam above.

The ladder beneath Julia's feet was pulled away. Her wrists, tied to the beam above her head, now took the brunt of her weight. It was all that was keeping her falling down on the sharpened stake that her feet were dangling around. Julia tried to swing her legs clear of it but the soldiers grabbed her legs and pulled them apart, centering Julia just above the point. They secured her position by stretching the rope down to rings on the ground.

Flahust finished reading his proclamation. He looked behind him.  The prisoners were ready. He turned back to the crowd. He really did not want to do this. He decided that he was going to address his regrets to the crowd. Mainly because Prognos would not like it. What would it matter? Flahust was getting ready to retire anyway. Flahust even considered stopping this ridiculous archaic ceremony. He knew he would never be able to get away with it however, lest he change places with those two poor girls.  

"Furthermore I would like to add..." Up the hill, Flahust's eye caught sight of something that was just a bit out of the ordinary. One block over, on the best sloped street in town, was a wagon. It was on fire! It was rolling at high speeds toward the bottom of the hill. The Armory! It was sitting at the bottom of that hill with all of its powder stores! "I would just like to add....  HOLY SHIT! IT'S GOING TO BLOW!"

No sooner had the flaming wagon burst through the doors of the armory when the first bag of powder was touched off. The small explosion set off yet another, and then another, until the main supply of several hundred pounds, compressed inside their containers, exploded. The very ground shook and the area near the armory itself was covered in a dark gray cloud. Fire was falling from the very sky.  

Flahust looked up after he figured it was safe enough. He had laid out on the ground no sooner than he saw the wagon burst through the doors of the ready-made bomb. He was still stunned from the explosion when he heard the roar from the crowd. There were many running from this place with all speed. There were even more, all of whom appeared to be women, heading straight at him! They were even armed with a variety of sharp edged farming tools. Some even carried guns! Flahust jumped to his feet and fell back on a group of his soldiers who were also recovering from the blast.

The lead soldier had pulled his bayonet clear and was trying to fit it to the end of his weapon. Flahust snapped at him, "Just shoot you idiot! All of you shoot!"

"We can't! You know we don't keep out weapons loaded!" replied several of the soldiers.

Flahust realized that was the order he had given them. They didn't even have cartridges with them! All of that was in the armory and the armory was now in more than one place. Flahust did some quick thinking. He only had eleven soldiers under his command. There were more than a hundred women, with long sharp things, running at them. The math was simple, "I am issuing an order change."  

The soldiers were all ears. Flahust turned on his heels, "RUN!"



Julia found a jacket. It was involuntarily left by one of the soldiers that did not make it out of town. She slipped it on over the shirt that she had liberated from one of the shops in town. It was long after dark now. That shop, like most of Slolista, was now in flames. It illuminated the night. It illuminated the stakes. Julia searched the pockets of her new pair of pants. They were far from the quality of a good pair of jeans but, it felt so good to actually be wearing something that in her mind was clothing.  

Many of the girls in the crowd, gathered around the stakes, had dressed in a mismatch of men’s clothing. Julia saw this as good. The road to knowing that one was an equal was doing with your own body as you would, of knowing that it was not an object for someone else's pleasure, whenever they pleased. Julia climbed up the ladder in front of the crossbeam. She had found some papers in the pocket of the pants. She unfolded them and read to herself.

"So your name is Prognos. Chief Constable for this region of the South Coast. I found your travel papers in your pocket here. I of course assume you already know mine. You know who I am."

Prognos yanked his arms against the crossbeam. He couldn't get loose. He spit instead, "You think you're something because you can read and write do you? I'll tell you what you are! You're nothing but a woman! A miserable stinking woman!"

Julia leaned over and grabbed the back of his hair. She pulled his head back and then looked him in the eye. "What I am to you Prognos, is death. I’m the last thing you’ll ever see. I hope you think about that on the ride down.” Julia pointed down towards the blocks, “Tish!"

The big girl swung the mallet around. Instead of knocking out one block at a time she knocked them all free. The crossbeam dropped down a set of runners. Prognos fell with a scream. The motion only stopped as the stake thrust outward from his mouth. Julia came down from the ladders. She looked at the gathered crowd of women. Anyone who was not with them had already fled into the surrounding countryside. Julia couldn't believe the numbers. She did not ever remember seeing this many girls in town before.

"Gurcia, where did they all come from?" asked Julia as she looked on.

Zamtha had a rifle slung over her shoulder. It was taller than she was.  She answered for Gurcia, "They came from all over Julia. They heard! I told everyone what happened. About Euker and what he did. About Boey and Chree. The word just kept on going. They ran away from their homes, from farms, from cities all up and down the coast. They came here for you Julia. They want something better. They know you can it give to them."

"ME!" Julia turned around and paced. "How am I supposed to do that? What did I do that's so damn heroic?"

Chree stepped out of the crowd. She was solemn and reserved, "You told me Julia. You're not from here. Another world, another place, just like the prophecies told. ZeDollas said that there would be another. We've waited and hoped. They know this. They’re here for that. They are here for you.  You showed us by your actions, your dignity, your unwillingness to accept what you were. They know, they heard. They are willing to lay down their lives for what is right."

"Oh god! I'm none of that Chree!  I'm just trying to save my own ass!"

"Speaking of which," said Gurcia. For once there was a humbled tone in her voice. "What the hell we gonna do now? You know they going to come back. Then we all gonna wind up like mister spike over there."

She was right and Julia knew it. They had just vented their anger. They had just lashed out with no real plan, or reason. What could they do? "We don't have a choice now. We have to fight."

Thimina was holding her baby in her arms. She had long since discarded whatever she had used as a weapon. "With what? They'll send the army with guns and cannons."

"With everything we have," replied Julia. She took the rifle that Zamtha had been proudly carrying around most of the day. Julia climbed the stairs once again. She turned and faced the crowd of women. A silence fell over them. Julia called out, "Listen! They will come back! If you want to go home, if you can, now is the time.”

No one moved. The crowd remained silent. Julia went on. "We must do what we have to from now on. If they say, we must return to slavery, we will say NO! If they try to force us we will resist! If they try to kill us we will kill them! There is just one path left for us. We must fight! We're just as good they are. We are just as smart. We can fight them! We will win! We have no choice!"

Julia raised the rifle over her head. Arms went up through the crowds. They held a mix of weapons, farm tools, and small arms. The crowd began screaming a name. It was the name they had heard. The name that went with the legend they saw, not as the woman who was Julia. They saw the savior whose name they chanted, "MARY! MARY! MARY! MARY!"

Tish slapped Gurcia on the arm. She pointed into the shadows created by the fires of seaside shops. There was movement. Gurcia un-slung her rifle. It had no ammunition which was making her wish she had not thought up the idea of blowing up the city armory. When she saw a face she lowered her weapon. She eased down the other girls who were nervous at the sight of seven men approaching with rifles slung over their back. Gurcia ran out to the fat one leading the group.

"What you doing here. I told you get out of town yesterday."

Ouliat straightened up and took his hat off. "I know honey. It's just… well I know you're going to have to run off now. I told the boys here what was going on. They were all out netting near Salz point."

One of the men, a tall skinny one that only ever went by ZePure, stepped out of the crowd, "do you really think she's the one?"

Gurcia shrugged, "Hell I don't know. I sure hopes she something cause she's all we got now."