Depression by cmsix

Chapter 36

Surprise might have been the big thing for the new arrivals but these happenings were old hat for the folks already here. Geron made the rounds of the houses speaking to the muscle that had watched over the properties. Alain, Pierre's former majordomo and now mine by default, went to explain how things were going to be to his counterparts in the newly arrived homes.

There was no need for me to try to work out the details, even if some of the new people could speak English. In fact, I hadn't even had to bother with organizing most of the things that were being taken care of now. Fawne was turning out to be quite an administrator, and I was happy enough about that. She had everyone moving before my newly increased household party made it to the breakfast table.

Harriette and her nearly naked serving crew had things squared away where it mattered most, at the table. She must have been quizzing someone about my eating habits too, because the pastries and such that were usually scattered around everywhere had been put farther down the table from me this morning. That had been done to make room for what I called solid food.

Easily within my reach were serving dishes piled high with scrambled and fried eggs - one platter of each - a mountain of bacon and a smaller one of ham, and all the cat head biscuits a man could dream of. Did I mention the flapjacks; they were in abundance too, along with a pitcher of syrup and a big tub of butter. I ate like a pig, but tried not to make the hog noises.

About halfway through the meal one of the scantily clad servers came from the kitchen, whispered something into Fawne's ear, and then left. I wasn't too curious, but Fawne clued me in anyway.

"After we've finished breakfast and coffee we should all go to your study. Alain wants to introduce the main members of the now combined staffs and Geron wants to do the same for the men he met. It won't take long and all you need to do is be there and look important," she said, grinning.

"I can do that. Maybe I should put on my biggest cowboy hat," I said, teasing.

"That is an excellent idea. What is a cowboy hat?" she asked.

"He doesn't even have his best one here, Meka and I will go to the other house for it after we're done," Jaycee said.

"We get scalps too. Hang all scalps in study," Meka said, grinning.

"Perhaps Meka is right. They are gruesome but they will tend to stifle objections," Fawne said.

It sounded a little gruesome to me too, but what the hell, most of this trip had been full of gruesome incidents. Hell, it beat politics and I wasn't going to complain.

Of course gathering them up took longer than expected, but I didn't care. I knew it was going to take Geron and Alain longer than they'd thought too. After breakfast was done, my young harem and I went to the study and gabbed until Alain showed up.

He ushered in four men and they all introduced themselves. Every one of them could speak English and they all seemed just as glad to be under new management. No doubt the fact that their former employers were very dead made them think practical thoughts. Being moved, building and all, in the middle of the night couldn't have left them feeling very safe and secure either.

Geron was next, and his bunch couldn't speak a word of English. They did at least provide a little excitement. In the first place he brought more of them. Two from each of my new homes in fact.

They were what I had envisioned - muscle. They weren't trained fighting men since that wouldn't be necessary in the city. They were basically thugs with nicer clothes. I could tell they would be rough and ready fighters in the type of brawl that might break out on city streets.

The excitement came when one of them pulled a knife and rushed me, shouting something about Pierre in French and intending to do me in. Jaycee and I both palmed our Glocks and shot him. Both rounds took him center of mass. He didn't even wiggle much as he bled out.

"Scalp Daddy. Don't forget scalp," Meka said, just as he stopped kicking.

What the hell, she liked for me to do it and I didn't really mind. I pulled my belt knife, grabbed a handful of hair, and started slicing. I didn't pay any attention to the others as I was at it.

Meka was right there to take it when I was done and even though it was still dripping blood, she took it over and hung it among the others. She had made a little display of them on one wall.

I looked at the other street toughs as she was doing it and I could tell they had been impressed by the whole thing. I'm not sure it was favorably impressed, but I was pretty sure it was going to cut way down on backtalk.

Coming out of his surprised silence, Geron started apologizing and even though it was French I knew what he was doing. Fawne translated.

"Hell, don't worry about it Geron. I don't mind if a man wants me to kill him and take his hair. I need a little excitement every now and then," I said, after Fawne's translation was done.

Of course she had to translate again, for Geron and the remaining new men. They all tried to smile and go with the joke, but Geron was the only one that looked convincing. They were even more surprised a few seconds later when Geron told them to strip the guy naked and then haul him away, leaving his clothes where they were.

Geron ushered them out with the dead weight after that and he was telling them something - then he laughed.

"What was that last about, Fawne?" I asked.

"Geron told them that you liked to strip your victims naked and save all their clothes and weapons for mementos. He warned them not to make you mad if their short clothes were dirty or had holes, since all the world would know it quickly," Fawne said, and then we all laughed about it.

Alain proved his efficiency again by bringing up a couple of men to try getting most of the blood cleaned up. He apologized, saying that it would probably leave a stain in the Persian rug.

"No matter," Fawne told him, "Perhaps it will make the next fool think twice before acting."

"I wonder what set him off so early in the morning?" I asked, but to no one in particular.

"He was one of Pierre's bastards. No doubt he thought he would get revenge on the man who killed his father," Fawne said.

"Well, I guess he did. He stained my rug."

A few minutes later Tutsie and I were the only ones left in my study. Jaycee took off to make sure Damien and Percy were getting along ok on their first batch of students. Fawne and the rest of the women took off to tour their former city homes, and Meka grabbed the fresh scalp to take it somewhere to dry. Apparently hanging it among the others had been for the benefit of the tough guys in attendance.

Tutsie went over to stand by my chair behind the table/desk and waited patiently until I took the hint and sat down. Then he hopped into my lap and began a terrible battle with one of my fingers. I was wounded early, and often.

He kept it up for about ten minutes and then stopped and hopped onto the table, curling up for a short snooze. What the hell, I fished out one of Pierre's cigars and had a smoke. I'd just gotten it going when Francine appeared with coffee and a few pastries. Being a Baron wasn't half bad, even if it could get a little boring.

About an hour and a half later Jaycee was back. She said Percy and Damien were doing well with their new job. She was also happy about getting some of the little drone helicopters up and flying.

"Who is flying them?" I asked.

"They pretty much fly themselves, at least that's what the instructions I found said. They're even supposed to give a warning signal if the weather gets bad or the wind is too strong for them," she said.

"But don't you need to watch over the controls or something?" I asked.

"I guess it's best to keep an eye on them, but there are supposed to be controls in your theater room. Come on, let's see if we can find them," she said, heading for the door to the room we'd watched from before.

Jaycee spotted a glowing handprint and went right to it. When she put her hand on it part of the back wall started moving and in a minute or so a desk with a flat panel display, a big joystick, and rows of gauges and meters had slid into place. She sat at a chair that also came along and flicked a switch or two.

Suddenly the giant screen on the front wall came to life. I took a seat to watch the show.

The screen was split into four viewing areas and each of them was showing a bird's eye view of their section of the French countryside. It was obvious that the cameras were moving.

"Where are they going?" I asked Jaycee.

"They are set on a pattern to work their way out from the launch point and scan everything. They're supposed to give a signal if they sense groups of people but they'll ignore one or two. The group size can be adjusted," she said.

I watched closely, flicking my eyes from screen to screen. It was a little odd and about to turn boring from seeing nothing but landscape, then a small hut type building came into view. It must have been for a farmer since it was near a field. It looked deserted and I figured no one needed to be in attendance this time of year. At least it broke the monotony.

"Bingo." Jaycee said.

"What?"

She did something on the panel in front of her and one of the views on the screen I was watching enlarged to take up the whole thing. It was a trail of sorts, almost a road, and our camera started following it. At the extreme range I could see what looked like motion.

The little scout must have been pretty fast because it closed the distance quickly. Soon enough we had a good view of the naked men I'd sent packing yesterday.

"How far have they made it?" I asked.

"About ten kilometers, they aren't moving very fast," she said.

"Maybe they'll do better today. The shock has probably worn off a little," I said.

"If they don't, they're going to starve to death before they get to Paris," she said.

"Fuck 'em. I didn't invite them out here."

"Just the same, I think I'll set this bird to keep a watch on them," she said.

"Does that mean you, or somebody, will have to stay with it?"

"No, it's recording everything anyway, and the software that tells it where to fly and what to look for seems to be very advanced," she said.

"I don't wonder why. Everything They have given us seems very advanced."

We watched for nearly an hour in relative silence after that. Nothing much was happening, except for naked men walking down a road, dragging one dead body.

It was more interesting than you'd think though. Within ten minutes of the time we'd found them they met two men on horseback coming the other way. It was really odd how they passed with neither group acknowledging the others, almost as if neither saw the other group. The odd thing was that they all moved over to keep from colliding.

Twenty minutes later a man leading a donkey approached and it was the same thing. He didn't acknowledge the others and they didn't mention him, still allowances were made to avoid bumping into him.

The strangest thing was that no one was speaking, at all. The naked group didn't say a word, even to each other. None of them were even bitching about their predicament. They just kept walking.

"Do you have any idea how long it's going to take them to get to Paris?" I asked.

"I've already wondered about that and my best guess is five days," Jaycee said.

"They'll be too weak to make it. Even if they find water along the way, the lack of food will do them in. From the way they act and the way others react to them I don't think they'll try to get any food," I said.

"You might be right. They seem to be traveling in a fog of their own."

"We'd better see about getting Geron to send someone out to take them a meal or two," I said.

"I'll go get him," Jaycee said.

"No, I'd rather you keep an eye on them a while longer at least. I'll go get Francine and ask her to find Fawne and bring her to us."

"That will be a lot of going and getting for not much help. Why don't you go get Percy or Damien? They both speak English and they can understand what's happening well enough to help us explain what we need to Geron," Jaycee said, making a lot better sense than I had.

I went down to the armory/firing range area and interrupted the lesson. Percy and Damien had a group of six men each but I could tell that they had basically combined it into one bunch and were both taking turns giving instructions. When I came in Percy kept teaching and Damien came to see me.

"I need for one of you to come with me. We have a project to work out," I said.

"If it is acceptable I will let Percy go. He is just finishing his portion and I should be taking over to get them started firing their first shots," Damien said.

"That's fine, and there's no real rush. I'll let him get done and then we can go."

I watched while Percy finished. It was enough of a look to see that he was sprinkling in a little English with the lesson. I noticed that he used English exclusively for the names of the rifles, ammunition, and the targets and such. It was a damned good idea to my way of thinking.

After Damien took over I gave Percy a very short version of what was going on, then he and I left to go to Jaycee in the viewing room. There was a surprise when we arrived.

Fawne and the whole crew, including Meka and Tutsie, were sitting in the seats watching the naked travelers, and they were spellbound. At first I wondered why.

I wasn't the only one surprised, but Percy's surprise wasn't the others in the room. He was staring at the screen too.

"It is magic. I've heard of magic but I never believed it before. I thought the church was only using it to scare the peasants," Percy said, and he was clearly astonished.

"Percy, it only looks like magic because you don't understand what is doing it. It is not magic, it is machinery," I said.

"But no machines can do that," he said.

"Any technology too advanced to be understood appears to be magic," I told him, paraphrasing Arthur C Clarke before he was even born.

"Are the rifles you are teaching those men to use magic? If I'd shot Searlus from a thousand yards you'd have thought it was magic before you knew about it. You don't think it is magic now do you?"

That stopped him in his tracks and I could almost see the wheels in his head turning, trying to come to grips with the analogy I'd given him.

"When we are done here I will go and show you how the "magic" is done and you will see that it isn't magic," I said.

He couldn't help himself; he turned his attention back to the screen to watch. I walked back to Jaycee.

"Did I miss anything exciting?" I asked.

"In a relative way I guess it was exciting. They stopped at a creek to drink and took a trail break. Not a one of them has spoken a word though," she said.

"I'll bet if we send someone out to them with food they will eat it, but if we don't they'll probably keep going until they drop," I said.

"I think you're right. Since we took everything from them they can't even hunt. They probably wouldn't even if they had weapons," Jaycee said.

I walked back over to where Percy was standing, pointed him toward a chair, and sat beside him once he had taken one.

"Percy, they do stop and drink but they don't speak to anyone they meet and no one speaks to them. They are still several days from Paris and I'm afraid they will starve to death before they make it," I said.

"Why should we care if they are too stupid to even ask for food," Percy said, obviously not very sympathetic to their plight.

"I care, because I want them to take word to the king, his mother, and the other churchmen. We need to send a group of men to them with enough food so they can finish their trip. Will you help me explain things to Geron, since he doesn't understand me?

"Those delivering the food need to be able to take rifles so they can defend themselves without having to go as knights, in armor," I said.

"I see," he said, obviously considering things.

"We will not attract as much attention if we are dressed normally. We can all wear a normal sword but the rifles will not even be recognized as weapons," he said.

"Exactly. Are there enough men that can use rifles?" I asked.

"Yes, the first ones we taught already knew how, since they were the small group Geron had taught. We used them first to make sure we were telling things correctly. They taught us as much as we taught them. I'm sure they'd be happy to go along," he said.

"Good, will you go find Geron and bring him here and then help explain what I want?" I asked.

"Certainly," he said, and left right away.

He was back with Geron in only a few minutes and it seemed even less time than that before Geron understood what was needed. I let them go talk to Damien and asked them to decide who was going.

Meanwhile, back in the theater things had become more normal seeming now and the naked traveling band was losing its entertainment appeal. Fawne showed her value again by announcing that we should head to the dining room for lunch. Jaycee said she'd be right behind us, after she tried launching another drone, from this room this time.

That was fine with me. I already had food on my mind.