CHAPTER 3
We traveled south for the next six days. We were traveling slowly because of the wagon and supplies. Sari and Saam kept to themselves most of the time although they responded to instructions readily. They behaved as hired hands or employees rather than part of a team. This was acceptable to both Cain and I. We didn’t need to discuss or debate the decisions we made.
Late in the afternoon of the sixth day, we spotted smoke on the horizon. Cain and I checked our map. There were no towns or villages noted. After some discussion, Cain and I decided we should make camp.
I explained to Sari and Saam that Cain and I were going to investigate the smoke and would return before dawn. I told them that they should wait here while we went down to determine the source of the smoke.
We gathered our weapons and we left on foot. Cain turned to me when we were out of sight of our camp and asked, "Do you think they will still be there when we return? Or did they take our supplies and head for their village as soon as we were out of sight?"
"They are a long way from home, and they're still wanted for murder by the village where we rescued them. I think they will be there when we return. We can't watch them all the time. If they're going to sneak off and leave they might as well do it now," I told him.
It took Cain and me three hours to arrive at the source of the smoke. What we found was an encampment of about twenty-five or thirty armed men. There was a large log structure as well as a mix of tents and lean-tos. As we moved around and studied the compound, we located a confinement area containing a large group of men. Slipping up to the detention center, I caught the attention of one of the prisoners.
"What is this camp and why are you being held prisoner?" I whispered.
The man said they were being used as workers in a gunpowder plant.
"Gunpowder!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, that's what I said. I don’t know what they want it for but we've been working here for about six months and I still don’t know what it's for but it must be important. We can only make about two pounds every two weeks and it takes a lot of manpower so it must be valuable. Let me out of here," said the prisoner desperately.
"First, I want to check out the gunpowder plant. Watch for me to return here by the fence, I’ll let you out when I come back." I said.
Then I slipped back into the shadows.
Cain was waiting for me about ten feet from the prisoner’s pen. I filled Cain in on the information I had gathered.
"We need to find out who these guys are and where they’re from," he said.
The training we had received over the last five years kicked in and we were automatically in an information gathering mode.
Cain and I made our way to the log building. Once there, we entered through a rear window opening. This appeared to be the office of the site manager. A large deer hide map on the wall showed the terrain around the site.
Marked paths led to three different locations. One of the paths terminated in the mountains at a point labeled "Sulfur". The other path terminated at a point that was labeled "Charcoal". The final path terminated in the old city.
I pulled the map off the wall and rolled it up and stashed it in my kit bag. We exited the room by the window we originally used as an entrance.
Making our way farther along the back of the building, we found a door. After we had listened at the door for several minutes, I tried the door. It was locked. I slipped my dagger between the door and door frame. I tripped the locking lever and eased the door open.
It was clear in the immediate area but I could hear voices. Moving from shadow to shadow I was able to get close enough to make out two men having a conversation.
"The Chief wants another delivery in three days?" one of the men said.
"Yes, and you know what happens when he doesn’t get what he wants," the other man said.
"Maybe we can finish off the next shipment in four days," said the first man.
"OK, work day and night, work three shifts if you need to. I’ll request more workers. But I want the shipment read in three days," said the second man.
"OK…OK, I'm on it boss." Said the first guy and he turned and stalked away.
When he was gone from sight, I stepped out of the shadows and said, "Hey boss, we’ve got a problem."
As the guy turned, I slammed him in the temple with the hilt of my sword. He crumpled. I dragged him back toward the door where Cain waited. I gagged the guy and we each took an arm and we exited the door and quickly started away from the compound.
When we had gone several hundred meters away from the compound, we stopped and after splashing water on the prisoners face, I slapped him several times. He started to gain consciousness.
"What….what the hell is going on? Who the hell are you?" he asked.
I slammed him in the face with my fist. "I don’t think you understand who’s doing the questioning here," I said.
He didn’t say anything else but I could see the hatred and defiance in his eyes.
"Ok, who are you guys and where are you sending the gunpowder to?" I asked.
He just looked at me.
"We need to get a get a little farther from the compound. I want answers and don’t want to spend a lot of time getting them. If this guy doesn’t want to talk, I’m going to whip some serious pain on him. And I don’t want to have to keep shutting him up or have him alerting the compound," I told Cain.
We continued to drag the man farther from the compound.
Finally, Cain said, "This should be good. Unless we have to skin him alive, we shouldn’t attract any attention."
"Cain, you keep watch. I’ll question him," I said.
"Ok, but save me some. If he won’t talk, let me try. I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be," Cain said, smiling at the prisoner.
I unsheathed my dagger. "Who are you guys and where are you from?" I asked.
"Screw you! You are a dead man and I don’t talk to dead men," he said.
I replaced his gag, then using my knife I removed his index finger from his left hand. I slapped him and said, "Stop screaming."
When he lapsed into sobs I said, "Who are you, and where are you from?"
He just looked at me and said, "You will die slowly for that."
I replaced his gag and I took the index finger off the other hand.
"I’m afraid your nose picking days are over friend. Let me phrase it differently this time. Who are you, and where are you from?" I again asked.
This time he said between sobs, he was the factory boss and that they were manufacturing gunpowder for The Army of the Great Basin.
"What the hell is The Army of the Great Basin?" I asked.
The factory boss just looked at me but didn't volunteer any further information. I grabbed his hand and set my knife on his thumb. Just as I prepared to remove his thumb he immediately started crying saying that he would tell me anything I wanted to know.
"They are the largest and most powerful army in the southern valley," he said.
"What is the gunpowder for?" I asked.
"The army has cannons and is developing rifles as well," he said.
"Where is this army?" I asked him.
"They have a compound about five hundred kilometers to the south of here," he told me.
"Do they operate from the great city?" I asked.
"No, they have a several compounds inside the old city. But the main headquarters is a large farm and living compound north of the great city. They sometimes hunt for materials in the city and surrounding areas," he said.
I turned and walked over to where Cain was keeping watch. I told Cain what I had gotten from the guy.
"Let’s find out where they store the stuff prior to shipment, and then we’ll burn this place to the ground. I’ve trained too hard to become obsolete because someone wants to bring guns back," Cain said.
We left the factory boss in the gully, gagged and tied. If the blood smell didn’t draw predators, maybe he would be found be
fore he bled to death or died of thirst. But we should be long gone before then.
When we returned to the compound, we slipped into the storage area and located the stock pile of small barrels of completed gunpowder. I picked up one of the barrels and pulled the bung from the end of the barrel. I poured a trail of the powder away from the stacked barrels of powder stored there. I touched a torch to the trail of powder. The powder fed flame blazed its way back into the storage area.
As the first explosion occurred, I cut the throat of the warrior guarding the prisoners. I opened the door to the confinement pen and told the prisoners to make their way into the hills to the east away from the factory.
Cain and I made our way north toward the camp where we had left Sari and Saam. We returned to the camp well before dawn. The sleeping forms of Sari and Saam were by the small fire.
I walked into camp and I heard Saam ask, "What was the source of the smoke?"
I looked over in the direction the voice had come from and smiled, he was applying the training he had received well. Had I been an intruder he could have launched a counter attack before I was aware the sleeping figures were fake.
"There was a factory producing gunpowder. But it caught fire and the slave workers used the excitement and confusion to run away," I told him.
"What is gunpowder?" Saam asked.
"A compound from the ancient times, if you set fire to it, it explodes." I told him.
"If we meet anyone asking if we know anything about it, tell them we don’t know what they are talking about," I said.
"Ok. Where is Cain?" Saam asked. As if in response to his question Cain roughly threw a man to the ground beside the fire.