Depression by cmsix

Chapter 33

Damien was respectful, spoke excellent English, and was thoroughly shocked by what I said.

"It's nice to see that you've learned from Percy's mistakes, Damien. My men will open the gate and you can all come in and rest. You and I will go to my study to talk while Geron shows your honor guard around before he provides refreshments," I said.

Of course Damien wondered how I knew his name, and Percy's name, and that Percy had stepped in shit deeper than he was tall. He wasn't about to say nay to a parley though. He was sent to get information and I could tell he intended to. I intended to give him all he wanted. I didn't really need to, but what the hell, I didn't have anything better to do this afternoon.

The first inkling that Damien had that things were not exactly normal was when one of my serving girls met me at my study's door. She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and then told me that the cook had indeed been told how to prepare coffee cake, then scooted away.

"Yes, I could use a little bit of a treat right now, come along Damien, I know you will enjoy this," I said, leading him to the dining room.

No doubt Damien had enjoyed the view already, if he liked girls that is. I'm sure the serving girl's very short skirt climbed at least halfway up her hips when she stretched to her tiptoes to give me that peck on the cheek. I knew damned well that this was the first time Damien had ever seen a maid costume like my maids were wearing.

When we got to the dining room Fawne, Jaycee, Cécile, Adèle, Meka, and even Tutsie met us just inside the door. They were all dressed in their new French finery, even Jaycee. Only Meka and Tutsie weren't. Meka was in Caddo Indian finery and of course Tutsie was naked.

Meka's new outfit wasn't exactly authentic, it sported a lot of beadwork and other frills, no doubt some more of Big Boy's handiwork. The quality was excellent, but to me it looked like a modern day estimation of what an Indian princess should be wearing.

They all lined up to present kisses to me, Meka too, and she didn't even giggle much when she did it. Tutsie gave me a nice lick up a nostril. Fawne welcomed Damien to our home then and directed him to a seat near mine. When we were in our places the coffee break began.

It was obvious that Damien knew exactly who Fawne was and exactly where she was supposed to be. He had the good sense not to bring it up though. I didn't, it was the first thing I began talking about.

"Wonderful country, France. I'm almost glad I ran into Alphonse now, so that I could hurry over and rescue Fawne. I'm afraid that Alphonse didn't do so well in his attempt to find riches in my country," I said.

"Your country?" Damien asked.

"Yes, America. You knew that Alphonse was on a journey of exploration didn't you?" I asked.

"I had heard that, yes," he said.

"Unfortunately, Alphonse didn't have much respect for those that didn't really want to be explored. I'm afraid I had to see to it that he was dealt with firmly," I said.

"Firmly?" he asked.

"Yes. You see Alphonse caused Meka's mother to be killed, and even caused Meka's arm to be broken. She has just recovered a few days ago. After we captured he and his men we turned them over to the tribe's women. They were not very understanding," I said.

"Tribe?"

"Yes, Caddo Indians. I believe you call all American Indians Red Indians here, an unfortunate mistake which leads to some surprises for those meeting them for the first time.

"Caddo Indians are usually peaceful, but they do not like to be bothered by Europeans seeking gold and treasure. Especially since they seek it on the Indian's land," I said.

"But what has become of Alphonse then?" he asked.

"Oh, he is safely dead. The tribe's women were slightly disappointed with Alphonse, since he only lasted through one night's torture. I have he and his men's hair in my other house if you'd like to see it," I said, trying to sound casual.

"Their hair?" he asked, plainly confused.

"Yes, the women scalped them, just like I did for Pierre," I said.

"I get Pierre scalp, Daddy," Meka said, and she was off like a shot.

Damien was looking a little pale around the gills about now. I already knew he wasn't a fighting man, and no doubt even fighting men in France would take pause at the Indian custom or lifting an enemy's hair.

I just thought Damien was pale when he heard about scalping. When Meka proudly displayed Pierre's former hair, Damien fainted. One of the serving girls was quick enough to keep him from falling out of his chair.

When Damien came around I guess he thought he'd gathered all the information he needed, I didn't think so but I didn't say anything until he started making noises as if to leave.

"I'm sorry, Damien, but I must insist that you stay here and enjoy our hospitality. If you go back tonight you might be hurt when we take control of Searlus, Jacques, and their men," I said.

"But, I came under a banner of truce," he said, trying to sound indignant.

"You came to get information. Now you know there's no chance of taking my holdings from me. What Jacques and Searlus don't understand is there's no chance of them living past sunset tomorrow. All the men will be within my walls, unarmed, naked, and bound shortly after the sun comes up.

"Do you really want to be with them, defenseless, when my men take control?" I asked.

From his facial expression it was easy to see that Damien wasn't looking forward to being with his Baron when my men arrived for a nighttime sneak attack. He didn't know that everyone would be asleep and I'm sure he envisioned quite a battle in the dark. He tried to keep up appearances though.

"But my honor guard," he said.

"Dead drunk by now. We have very powerful wine when we need it. It is excellent wine, just very strong," I said.

I must say he took it well, finally admitting that he was probably better off. After all, he'd seen the mess Percy had gotten himself into. I hoped that they hadn't really killed Percy. I was looking forward to having him around, if only to rub his nose in it.

I left Damien under the watchful eyes of Jaycee and the other women while I went down to check on Geron. He was smiling widely and trying not to laugh at the drunken honor guard. He'd left them where they passed out, for my amusement, he said. Soon enough they were stripped and bound too, and then taken out to a barracks to sleep it off.

After supper, which Damien attended - and was once again in high spirits for - Geron, Jaycee, and I went down to meet the men. Jaycee had already had boxes and boxes of handcuffs and leg irons that Big Boy cheerfully provided brought up to our make do parade ground. She'd also had the unconscious honor guard brought out as demonstration props.

She used the honor guards for examples and showed my men how to use the handcuffs and leg irons. I explained that everyone they encountered would be asleep and that they wouldn't be able to wake until morning. The men were instructed to strip them all naked and then secure them. I warned them not to bother the camp followers.

The raid went off without a hitch. We even found the whipped Percy and Jaycee did a little first aid on his back. It was an awful mess. After that we sat around talking for a while and then Jaycee and I made ourselves comfortable in Jacques's tent. It was nice.

Jaycee and I were out before sunup the next morning and someone had made sure we had coffee and pastries to keep us until we could return for a proper breakfast.

You can imagine the surprise of the men as they woke. There was very much complaining but it didn't last long, because stout switches had been provided for my men and they weren't shy about shushing our captives.

Searlus and Jacques were the most indignant, but it didn't do them any good. In their special case I provided a switch for Percy, and he was diligent in its application. Even though his ravaged back began bleeding again as he put switch to naked ass.

It only took about an hour to get things moving. We politely explained to the unharmed camp followers that we would need their help getting all the horses, tents, arms, and other equipment inside our walls.

I promised that they would all be rewarded handsomely and that I would leave a hundred or so armsmen with them for their protection. I'm sure that had a lot to do with their cooperation.

As I walked in through my front gate I saw a surprise that Big Boy had provided for me. There, in regal splendor, a hundred and seventy-two years early, was France's first Guillotine. How fitting.

Actually Searlus and Jacques hadn't had time to do me any harm, but I've always felt it was the thought that counted, and I didn't have any doubts about what they were thinking when they left home with their small army. I gave Geron an hour to gather a crowd and he did a magnificent job.

I knew I was in danger of becoming a show off, but it didn't stop me. I scalped Searlus and Jacques before they met their maker but I refrained from giving that honor to Jacques' twenty-three year old son or Searlus' two boys of twenty-five and twenty. I did use the Guillotine to keep them from becoming a nuisance later.

Maybe it was unjust of me and maybe I was being cruel, but these were cruel times, and besides, I knew much better than to leave a live enemy behind me if I could avoid it. I wasn't worried about Damien or Percy.

Strangely I wasn't worried about the armsmen either. They had sworn to Searlus and Jacques but the two were dead now, and the armsmen needed a way to make a living. If I needed to I could have Big Boy assure their allegiance, but I didn't really think that would be necessary. I'd just ask him to keep some eyes on my new recruits.

When I had Geron question the naked men about swearing to me, they agreed to a man, and I didn't even have to let them know that if they didn't they would be killed out of hand. The tally ended up being eight hundred and sixty one new men. I didn't even have a guess about the camp followers.

We had done our best to make sure that no one got away to spread the word. Big Boy had even located the scouts for us and guided men to the spots where they had fallen asleep. He'd also made sure none of the camp followers got away, and only a few tried.

Still, I now had two more locations and they were annoyingly distant. I worried about it for most of the rest of the day. Geron and Jaycee took care of getting the new men set up with the arms and equipment Big Boy had cheerfully furnished. He even intended to provide two more large barns tonight, for the additional horses.

I pondered and worried about what to do with the other holdings. For a while I considered letting the new men don their old armor and return, taking Searlus' and Jacques' bodies back for burial as an excuse to help them into their former lord's walls. In the end I couldn't make up my mind and so I just fretted.

I guess Big Boy had enjoyed all of it he could stand after supper. When I went to bed, intending to at least break in Cécile or Adèle, or both, he put me out right away.

"What are you worrying over?" he asked," in my head.

"I can't decide on the best way to consolidate my new holdings. I've had several ideas and I just don't like any of them," I thought to him.

"Why don't you let us bring it all here? We can include all their territory and yours inside one set of walls and put all three residences side by side here. We'll put a small barracks at every road gate and you can rotate men to tend the gates.

"It will free up farmland for the peasants and they will be safer than they are now. I'll admit that it will be a large wall, but nothing like the one that was hand made in China.

"Your only worry after that would be highwaymen and it won't take long for them to be tracked down, especially since they won't be able to get out of the walls. At least it will be very difficult for them to, even without our intervention."

"I hadn't even considered asking you for that much help," I said, and it even sounded lame to me.

"Well please consider it."

"Will you be bringing all the people that live within the other walls here?" I asked.

"We plan to, unless you have some reason for leaving them where they are. You keep referring to the residences as castles, but that isn't what they actually are. They are châteaux that happen to be within walls.

"A castle, or château-fort is actually a fortress. A château is a grand country home, a residence for the lord. I'll admit the Pierre's residence leans more heavily toward an actual castle, but that was because he didn't spend much money or effort on his outer walls. If things got bad for him he'd planned to save himself and his family in the castle and leave the peasants to fend for themselves.

"The homes of Jacques and Searlus are not really defensive structures, they're magnificent homes that happen to have some defensive features. With the walls we've provided Pierre's residence becomes the least desirable of the three.

"We can bring all three here and level the walls Searlus and Jacques had. We will expand your walls to enclose all the land they controlled, and we will move almost all your people here, leaving only the farmers and herders that need to be near there fields or stock," Big Boy told me.

"That sounds very workable but it requires centralization that just isn't normal or practical in this day and time. I appreciate all you've done for me already, and what you're prepared to do now.

"It seems to me that if you bring everyone, or almost everyone here that the ones actually doing the farming and tending the stock will be too far from anyone in authority. They might be safe from external threats but will they feel safe out there mostly alone?

"I don't know what your goals are and I try not to think about them. I'm just trying to deal with things as they happen. Since I don't know the desired outcome I have no way to plan for it," I said.

Time in a dream is funny, even if you're conscious during the dream like I was now. Big Boy was gone for a while, I don't have any idea how long, and then he was back.

"You have made an excellent observation, bringing the other residences here would be counter productive. Still, you will need some of the people to help deal with your expanded forces here. We also think that Jacques' and Searlus' wives and remaining children should come here, along with most of their household staffs," Big Boy said.

"You're probably right on that score. How many are we talking about?" I asked.

"Over two hundred should come here to live. If we're to leave the other residences where they are some people will have to stay to tend them," Big Boy said.

"Of course, and while management has never been an interest of mine, I'll have to develop some skills along those lines.

"The way I see it, I'll need one man to be in charge at each of the other compounds. You know more about them than I do; I'll let you pick one for each location, then he can take care of the details on site. If you can provide me the ability to watch what goes on there occasionally I could keep an eye on what they are doing without them knowing I was. I'd also need communications, something like the intercoms that you've put in the gate houses," I said.

"We could make video available in you information center, as we did for Percy's return."

"That should do fine. Now, how are we going to provide for two hundred more people here?"

"Some of my people are ahead of you on that. They enjoyed working over Pierre's castle but have tired of its limitations. They have a new residence planned for you. We can let you wake up in it in the morning?"

"But what of the others, the wives and children of the Barons and the household workers?"

"The new residence is much larger and provisions have been made. If we do the move tonight, the wives and children and their helpers will wake up in the new building just as you will.

"There will be some initial confusion but we will help keep them calm if we need to," Big Boy said.