Depression by cmsix

Chapter 35

Geron didn't have time to get all the men ready for the big show. Things were too new and confused. I knew he wanted to get it done but it just wasn't possible. It would take a lot more than an hour or so to get things sorted out.

Thankfully the men that had been here since yesterday had been organized somewhat, and of course the men that were here when we came were good to go, so we had over a thousand men ship shape for the show off meeting.

About two hundred were heavy cavalry and a little over three hundred were mounted archers, with their new compound bows. The infantry, most of whom had been pikemen, were dressed up in their new armor too. Of course they had new space age pikes and two handed swords.

The pikes had been made to look like this time's normal equipment. They appeared to be made of wood but the material was much lighter and stronger than wood and the long steel tips weren't steel. They were metal of some kind but who knew what kind? I knew one thing, they were razor sharp. Two of the men had already accidentally lost fingers trying to become accustomed to using them.

It was an impressive show and the small guard accompanying the "holy" men knew at once that they were at our mercy if we intended for them to be. I'm guessing that it would have been the same if Pierre were still the main man around here.

There was the same old pecker test by the French-speaking priests, and they got the same treatment everyone else had. I told them to speak English or turn around and go. The youngest of the three priests started to make a no doubt wise assed comment but the oldest, the one obviously in charge, reined him in.

"Very well, sir. May I ask your name?"

"My name is John," I said.

"Thank you, John. Could you send for Pierre?" he asked.

"You'd have a better chance of contacting Pierre than I would."

"I'm sorry, I don't understand," he said, and even looked surprised. Maybe he didn't know what had happened.

"He tried to recapture Fawne after I rescued her. I was forced to kill Pierre and his sons. Later I was also forced to kill Jacques, Searlus, and their sons. I've taken the liberty of assuming control of all their lands," I said.

"This is highly irregular," he said.

"Not where I come from and I don't think it's all that irregular here as you're trying claim. I know Alphonse seemed determined to take property by force of arms in my country. He's safely dead now too," I said.

"But that can't be your country, it is free land for the taking," he said.

"That's what I mean, just like here. If you have the men, weapons, and balls it's all free land for the taking."

The youngest priest, if that's what he was, shouted something in French to the leader of their guard. Even no more French than I knew, I understood tuez-les, especially with the way he was pointing to Fawne, Jaycee, and I when he yelled it.

Somehow I managed to unlimber my Glock before Jaycee produced hers. I shot the young whipper snapper, twice, in the chest. I'm sure he was dead before he finished falling ass over teakettle off the back of his horse. I moved my aim to the one he'd been ordering, but Jaycee had beaten me there, she had him in her sights.

The soldier or knight or whatever he was seemed a lot smarter than the young dead fool had been; he was being very still and had both his hands on the pommel of his saddle. In the background I could hear our men drawing swords, nocking arrows, and such; the rest of the "honor" guard was looking around with alarm.

"But sir," the soldier Jaycee was covering said, "These are holy men."

"That don't impress me much," I said, beating Shania Twain to the line in this timeline.

"You have killed a priest," he said, sounding even more indignant now.

"He isn't the first and he won't be the last, unless they learn some manners. If they're so holy why don't they call God down to punish me? When is the lightning going to strike me dead?"

Of course it was a simplistic question, but it cut to the heart of the matter. The priests had no proof that they represented God. They said they did and you had to take their word for it. Unfortunately for them, I didn't have to take theire word for it.

A neat setup if you can get it to work. It lets you do all sorts of things without being questioned. Like raping a woman, claiming she's a witch, and having her tortured to death, little tidbits like that.

"The king will hear about this?" the oldest one spoke up again now.

"How?" I asked.

"I will tell him as soon as I get back to Paris. We are leaving now," he said.

"No, you aren't," I said.

"You can't hold me against my will. I am on Church business," he said.

"Wasn't he on Church business too?" I asked, pointing to the dead one.

Well that was a conversation stopper.

"Any of you that want to live should dismount now, lay down your weapons, and strip off to the skin. I've decided I will send you back to talk with the king," I said, and Fawne translated in case any of the men did not understand.

The fighting men, all except the leader, dismounted. The two remaining religious idiots and the head soldier stayed put.

"Who next, Jaycee? Would you like to shoot a priest or the head fighting man," I asked, and Fawne didn't bother translating since the ones still mounted understood English for sure.

"I guess I should shoot the knight but what the hell, I haven't shot a priest in days," she said, swinging the Glock toward the youngest remaining robed one.

It didn't take him three seconds to start unassing his horse, and when he hit the ground his clothes started coming off too. Jaycee changed her point of aim then. No doubt the knight was a brave man, but he wasn't stupid, and he was on the ground shucking armor pretty damned quick.

The old priest seemed determined to sit his horse and take the consequences. I didn't want to kill him though, so when Jaycee moved her Glock his way I stopped her.

"Sorry sweetie, we need him to deliver the report. You can knock him off with a pike if you'd like, or I'll do it," I said.

"I don't need a pike for that," she said, walking to the horse, grabbing a priestly foot, and lifting swiftly.

As the priest lay on the ground I asked Fawne to get someone to take his clothes off without damaging them. She called a few of the larger women who'd come to watch the show and they were happy to deal with that little detail.

I know it's a little weird to be stripping men naked and sending them off, but I wanted them to know that they didn't mean shit to me. Big Boy wasn't around anymore but I was hoping that whoever was in charge now would give these guys the same treatment as the men I'd sent off dragging corpses away from our first landing site. As a hint, I had three of the naked men hitched by rope to the one I'd killed.

"Scalp, Daddy," Meka said, as they were about to leave.

"Might as well," I said, pulling my knife and dealing with it to the astonishment of all the naked ones.

"I think he has the best hair I've lifted yet," I said, and Meka agreed with me, taking possession and running off to hang it to dry somewhere no doubt.

His exit from horseback and then the disrobing had put the oldest priest in a quiet mood. He didn't offer any more threats anyway. When I let them, they all left.

After they were out of the gate and it had closed I turned to Geron.

"I know that I'm rushing you, but the rest of the men have to be organized and outfitted with the new weapons.

"Tomorrow, or the next day at the latest, you need to have every able bodied man here and any women you can convince start learning to shoot the new bows. We need to increase our firepower."

Fawne translated for me and then Geron said something to her and left.

"He says it will be as you command. I don't know how he can possibly do it though," Fawne said.

"He can't, but I hope he can make at least some headway. We'll be okay if the walls are as good as I was told, and if they stay," I said, and then headed back inside toward the new coffee break room.

Fawne, Jaycee, and all the others came with me.

"I don't see how we can stay here. The king has many men, thousands," Fawne said.

It was easy to tell that the new women, those from Jacques and Searlus' homes didn't see how either. At least I was heartened by the small smiles on Delphine, Adèle, and Cécile's faces. Apparently they didn't doubt I could take care of anything that came up. Bless their hearts.

"Technically I'm sure you're correct, but does he have a standing army or only hundreds of nobles that have sworn fealty to him? We have at least a week before he can mount an attack even if he, or his mother, want to.

"In reality we probably have three months or more."

"But he will have to attack. They will have to, if they don't it's as if they have no control over their own country. He is the sovereign, if he can't enforce his will he is nothing," Fawne said.

"If he chooses to take us on. Don't you think they'll want to get a military man's opinion before they do anything? When his nakedness and the others get back to Paris and tell their tales, won't someone wonder how I'd have the balls to try something like this?"

"Well, of course they will send scouts, especially when they learn of the new walls. They are something even the biggest idiot could not miss," Fawne said.

"Don't you think there will be a lot of questions asked about how the walls sprang up so quickly? Won't something be said about the way I dared the priest to have God strike me down?"

"There will be a lot of talk about it and many arguments too, I'm sure," she said.

"Then which will be worse for the rulers, taking me on and losing or ignoring me?" I asked.

That pretty much ended the conversation and I was glad of it. I hadn't thought things through; I'd just done what felt right at the time.

The soldier said I'd killed a holy man. I doubted it.

Centuries later there would be some holy men in the Catholic Church, hell, their might even be some now. I was pretty sure they were in the minority though. The main interest of the ones I'd met so far was to advance in their own hierarchy. As far as I was concerned they were just another way to keep the peasants pacified, afraid, and in the dark.

I didn't care what went on in Paris or anywhere else in France or even Europe for that matter. I cared about what happened here only because it was where I was. I didn't even know why I'd been put here.

I'd come to understand that Fawne had only been a trick to make me want to come here. Some part of They had a reason for this and I hadn't been let in on the joke. All I could do was the best I could and wait to see what happened. Oh yeh, I could wonder too. Mostly I wondered where Big Boy had gotten off to.

Lunch had been great but necessarily a hurried affair, what with the holy visit still pending. When we got to the coffee room we found Harriette had fixed roast beef sandwiches along with other assorted goodies and sent them to us via a few of my scantily clad maids. We had a pleasant little snack and I felt like I could make it to supper now.

After a few more minutes of sitting around with coffee, I stood to leave. Jaycee stood with me. Meka, who'd showed up shortly after we started eating, announced her intention to stay with Fawne and the others. Jaycee and I headed for the basement's basement.

"I really should teach Geron, or someone, more about the rifles and other weapons here. I can't teach every man to shoot, but there are plenty of rifles and Glocks to go around. I just don't have time for all the training it will take," she said.

"No one would, Jaycee. You'll have to find two or three smart ones and teach them, then they can teach the rest - same thing with the new bows and crossbows. I'm sure they have an idea how those work at least, but they'll do much better with training and practice."

"Shit, you're trying to boost me up into officer's territory," she said.

"Somebody has to do it."

"All right, let's find Geron and see if he can give me a few candidates," she said, but her heart wasn't in it.

"We'll have to go right back and get Fawne. We can't talk to Geron anymore," I said.

"Yeh, and what's up with that? I thought he spoke English."

"I think it was a Big Boy trick, and Big Boy has been missing since I got up," I said.

"I noticed that something wasn't right, or at least wasn't the same, but I didn't know what it was. Big Boy and I weren't really on a first name basis. Who's taking his place now?" she asked.

"No one so far."

"You mean we're just here with no more hints to be provided?" she asked.

"So far. I'm just hoping they don't start taking other things back," I said.

"You and me both. We'd better put a hold on fetching Fawne. I think we should check out the heavy weapons and see if they're still where we left them."

It was a damned good idea. Even though we hadn't needed anything like that so far didn't mean we wouldn't later and I didn't want to count on them if they weren't here any longer. We walked down to the entrance and opened the door.

The first thing I saw inside was a little writing bench sort of thing, with a note on top of it. It wasn't hand written, it looked more like something Bob would have printed.

----------------------------------------------------------

John:

I have been recalled from this project. I was given some time to clean up the details and I did so. Necessarily I acted without your permission and I apologize for that.

Here, we have increased your equipment and ammunition for that equipment. You are probably wondering if some of it will be removed. It won't be.

Even with changes in management we don't do takebacks. That is the main reason I made sure you would be adequately supplied for the foreseeable future. I cannot tell you what to expect from the new leadership.

In Paris, the property of Alphonse was about to be confiscated by the Church. No doubt they would have taken the property of Pierre, Jacques, and Searlus soon also. All four of the city residences will arrive here in the morning, along with all the staff members and their families. We will leave the vacated property bare but unusable. It will be paved with the material that covered the ground while your home was upgraded.

----------------------------------------------------------

That was it. No see you later or best wishes or even a signature. It just ended. I probably had more questions now than I'd had before the note.

Jaycee had been looking around while I read it. I handed it to her and when I did she pointed to a massive stack of what looked almost like gold coins. While she was reading, I headed toward it.

The reason it looked like a stack of gold coins was because it was a stack of gold coins. I didn't even have any idea what coins they actually were and I didn't know the value of gold in this time or place. I did have a suspicion that I was now richer than Bill Gates, relative to the here and now anyway. I guess I wouldn't have any trouble paying the increased salary for the cooks and serving girls.

The note did bring home one other fact. I was fucked, good and proper, and I knew it. Not so much for my current location but for the rest of my life.

I was back to zero control, if I'd ever really had any. My travels through time to exotic places was back to being completely at the whim of whoever was pulling the strings.

All that was interesting but for another time. Here and now I had control within my walls and if I wanted to keep it I'd have to organize. Jaycee had finished reading the short note in a few seconds and she was beside me.

"I think I'm going to have to put the rifle training off on you," she said.

"What?"

"I need to take a better look around in here. We might need some of this stuff now, especially the small drone helicopters. We'll want to be able to see what's coming as soon as we can," she said.

Damn. I hate it when she's right. I left her to her toys and headed back upstairs. It was back to the coffee break room for me. I had to get Fawne and then let her translate a talk between Geron and I.

Fawne and the other women and girls were still in the coffee room. I explained what I needed and she sent one of the maids off to get Geron. After the maid left, Fawne sent Cécile off with all the others except Meka and Tutsie. I'm not sure where they were going but I was glad there wouldn't be such an audience while I was trying to make Geron understand what I wanted.

It turned out to be easier than I expected. Geron had already had a little time with a rifle and I was able to tell Fawne what I wanted from him before he joined us. It only took her a few minutes to get him going and then we had time on our hands while he was about it.

Male pig that I am, I pulled Fawne down into my lap and began abusing her shamelessly. She didn't protest at all and Tutsie only barked at me a little while Meka giggled. At first I'd though it was a shame she was all decked out in what passed for women's clothes of the time. There was entirely too much material for me.

Still she felt nice sitting on my lap and she was enthusiastic as we kissed and I did my best to fondle. It was even nicer when I found that getting her titties out of the low cut top was easier than it had any right to be. I had both her nipples plump and throbbing before we heard a light knocking at the door. I left Fawne struggling to put my toys away as I went to the door.

It was Geron and I asked him to come in and sit down. Fawne, with her titties out of sight again, translated. In fact, she did the talking and clued Geron to the fact that I needed to teach someone to teach the men to shoot. That someone needed to be proficient in English.

I was surprised at his suggestion. He thought Damien and Percy would be the best ones for the job. Not so much because they were familiar with firearms, hell, no one in this day and time was. Geron said the two undoubtably spoke the best English and he knew that they were at least familiar with most of the fighting men from Jacques' and Searlus' group.

He left us then but was back with my two new instructors to be in a few minutes. I explained to the pair what I wanted from them and they said they could do it. I'd see. We left Fawne, Meka, and Tutsie and headed down to the big shooting range.

Percy surprised me. He didn't seem the least bit offended by what had happened. In fact he seemed glad to be on this little jaunt.

"Tell me, Percy, what's changed your attitude toward me?" I asked, finally.

"I didn't really have an attitude toward you. At the wall I was trying to do what my lord told me to. He had a nasty way of assuming people would know what he wanted without his having to bother with explanations. You saw what I got from him for my troubles.

"Then your men came and gave me my heart's fondest desire the next morning. I not only owe you my life, I owe you for the best meal I've ever had," he said.

"Meal?" I asked.

"No dish is as satisfying as revenge. I couldn't have asked for anything I'd have liked better than chivvying Searlus back into your fortress. The bloody display of taking his "scalp," I believe you called it, and your fantastic head-removing machine were just extra treasures.

"Then earlier today you dealt with those swine who claim to be holy. It was even better. It seems that every time I turn around you do something I think is just wonderful. I'm in awe actually," Percy said, and he seemed so sincere.

He and Damien were even more attentive when I showed them how the rifles worked and explained the high points of what they should teach the men. Thankfully there was no song and dance about iron sights. It's hard to get crosshairs wrong.

Most of the rest of it is teaching them to load and unload the weapon, not to shoot each other, and to take a good position before firing. Ninety percent of people that use firearms don't understand that finding a way to be stable, before you fire, will do more for your accuracy than anything else. The tiniest movement of the muzzle will change the point of impact. That movement, while impossible to do away with, must be minimized as much as possible.

I had them try a few rounds each and they did respectably well. It wasn't so much that they needed to learn to shoot. They needed to learn to teach others how to shoot.

After a few rounds of practice for each of them, I found a chair and watched. I let them teach each other how to get better at it, letting one fire and the other watch and make suggestions. I kept quiet.

I would have spoken up if they said or did something really stupid but they didn't so I didn't. After a couple of hours they were doing fine and I thought that tomorrow they could start with a group of five or so each.

I called a halt about thirty minutes before time for supper. On the way out I had Percy and Damien press their hands to my handprint while I was touching it also. I hoped it would serve to let them get in or out on their own but I was just guessing. We'd see tomorrow. After that they went on their merry way.

In the dining room I got a big surprise, and it made my dick hard. Jaycee must have finished her examination before I finished teaching, because I'm sure she instigated the display around the table.

All the women of my household were wearing T-shirts that had been trimmed off so they only barely came below their wobbling breasts. Instead of dresses or pants, they were wearing what looked like silk gym shorts, and that was it. I saw flashes of flesh at every movement, and even the maids were teasing me more than usual.

Supper was wonderful again but I can't even remember what it was. I know it tasted good but I only glanced down long enough to stick my fork in something.

After we finished we all, except Meka and Tutsie, went to my bedroom. Jaycee told me that Meka had her own room here too, for times like these. Great!

In my bedroom clothes dropped quickly and soon naked beautiful women were putting me to bed. I had no doubt they intended to get some hard use out of me, starting any second.

Then I felt myself slipping away and if I'd had time I'd have cursed a blue streak. It didn't feel exactly like a time trip coming up, but it did feel like something was about to happen, and then I didn't feel anything. I didn't even have time to get mad before I was out.

My brain came awake the next morning and I had time to decide that I was going to fuck somebody before I got out of bed, but I didn't have time to even open my eyes before I heard a quiet but insistent tapping at the door.

"Ok, I hear you. Just a second," I said, making my way out of the tangle of bodies and dragging up my jeans.

When I opened the door it was Francine, and I was thankful it was only one today. She started rattling French to me, sounding excited. I looked toward the bed in time to see Fawne's lovely naked ass as she climbed out and pulled up the nearly nothing gym shorts and then covered her lovely big swinging titties with her half-a-T-shirt.

"She says there are more houses here and more people too. She doesn't know who they are but she says Harriette knows some of them," Fawne told me.

"It's the city homes of Jacques, Searlus, Pierre, and Alphonse plus all the staffs for each and all their families. I knew they were coming but I didn't realize they'd be out and about so early," I said, giving Francine a look and then changing it to a smile. It wasn't her fault.