Empires To Build

[Silence]

@Empress


The wind swept across the field and tugged relentlessly at the clothes on the dead and wounded strewn across the ground. A single officer walked through the fields to examine those remaining. Some of them were unfortunate souls. If they were not strong enough to move themselves they were left by their companions. Never had he faced such a pitiful army in his life. Mostly made up of boys and farmers. There wasn’t a soul that knew what they were doing.

Some might have argued that it was a fight for freedom. What was freedom anyway? They were all peasants to fight under one lord only to have another take over. Majority of them likely fought because they were conscripted to their lord’s service. Truly it was only their lord’s head that was risk and his family’s freedom at stake. All the common folk would be left to live as they always had except they would be under his rule.

War was a way of life, an art, and a thing of beauty. It cleansed the land of the incapable and made the people hard. Marcellus finally stopped when he heard a man call for help. Peering into the eyes of the one crying he offered a hand. “Aye…and who might you be?”

Soon as the man realized who it was that answered his call he recoiled.

Marcellus didn’t move. Instead he held his gaze steady. “Oh don’t you worry lad. It’s all the same to me if you die here or return home. If I wanted to kill you I would have already.”

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A march started through the city as soon as the army was assembled and in better order. Always it proved to be beneficial to appear the conqueror in strength. All the ill and wounded had been put to camp only a few hours ago.

Riding at the front of the line was the conquering lord, Marcellus. He was himself an intimidating figure at 6’8” and nigh 240 pounds without an ounce of fat. In fact at that weight he was quite lean. Before riding into the city he had washed his face and arms from the blood. Enduring the unwelcome glares was nothing new and neither did it bother him. With time the people would come to accept their fate under his rule.

 

[Empress]

Whispers and rumours were carried by the fresh winds of spring. The leftover chill from winter was still threatening to come back, only to retreat and allow plants to sprout anew, and come back a week later to give them the worst shock of their new life. But this time, it wasn't just rumours that the chilly wind was carrying; it was the smell of death, of blood and terror. Most of the city's military had been sent out to protect the walls, but the rest were now silently succumbing to their new ruler, or deserting their position.

"Move!" a rasp, manly voice sounded as several bodies were carried inside of the local infirmary. Citizens were forced out of bed, both elderly, women and children as well as men. A woman who had been sitting next to her ill child's bed, was now arguing violently with one of the soldiers. The man's impatience seemed to grow with every word that the woman spat out, and with her joined a choir of other voices, moaning and yelling, complaining. The situation wasn't all that clear; the infirmary laid in the quieter part of town, and so word traveled less fast out here: But when the soldier's head was so red it looked like he was going to explode, he lifted his hand and hit the woman to the point of nearly knocking her out, simply with the back of his hand, his small and grey eagle-like eyes as cold as his action. The child instantly fell to his mother's side, begging for her to get up, and small, quiet cries of women's voices were heard in the room. All other voices had died out with the loud 'smack'.

"This is now the city of Lord Marcellus! Forget whatever ruler you may have been loyal to. This is your lives now, and you are under his command." He turned to look at the nurses, most of them piled up in a corner, the others helping patients up from the floor. "Get back to work. Now!" Then he spat at the floor, only to turn around and walk out of the very door he had appeared from.

"There, there, Norma," said a gentle female voice, currently comforting one of the elderly nurses. Her eyes were of a warm, brown colour, staring in the direction of the door. What a horrible man, she thought to herself. She, Serena, was an apothecary doing volunteer work at the infirmary during her off hours. Her raven black hair was tied up in three braids, two of which were falling over her chest, only to stop near her navel, whereas the other, the thickest, was resting on her back, reaching a little longer than the front ones. "I'll prepare more beds; for now, just help the soldiers. Best to do what the man says. We're no army," she mumbled, feeling rather defeated.

 

[Silence]

Marcellus took to ordering the towers to be occupied by his men and store houses inventoried. He needed to know what the town had. They would leave enough for the people to survive the rest of the difficult times. Excess would be confiscated by the army. There was no time to waste. By now it was too late in the season to risk marching the entire army home. There were enough to guard against any attack at the home front and he could be sure that the region here was properly subdued before they made a march home and resumed the conquering come spring. This town would become a wealthy little spot to conduct trade and rejuvenate his army. If he was to take any men from this city to be in his army they would require training.

Finally he stopped at the last place. It was the house belonging to the lord. While some thought you could have a defeated enemy claim allegiance they were often undermining their new master at every turn and he could not afford for that to happen. Knocking on the door he waited for someone to answer and when they didn't he beat on the door till it developed a crack and began to groan with the pressure. At last it opened with a loud creak.

A string of soldiers walked into the main castle with him. Marcellus found the man huddled with his wife and children. "You didn't give the city up as I demanded." Meeting the man's gaze he motioned for him to stand. "Come now. Let your family remember you as a man of courage. I admire the courage to refuse and despise a coward that will not meet me in battle." If the man had been on the battlefield and surrendered Marcellus may would have spared him. Instead the man had sent the soldiers and villagers to die and then would not issue a surrender. "I'll make it fast." Walking up to the trembling lord Marcellus sliced his throat and then turned toward the family. There were no sons. That was a mercy. Marcellus was more than prepared to kill a male heir if need be.

Motioning to an officer behind himself he gave an order. "See to it they are sent to the capital. I don't need any trouble here." In the capital they would be allowed to live but, carefully monitored.

Now that the ugly part of the business was done the man started to walk down the stairs. His next stop was to be at the infirmary to see his men were well taken care of. It was never difficult to find the infirmary. There was always the smell of rot and blood. Frowning slightly as he came to the doorway he ducked to step inside. Once he was in the door he rose to his full height and glanced about the room. Making his way along the beds he came upon a woman with a large bruise on her face. She was holding a child and Marcellus paused. "What happened?"

The lord's eyes searched the place for an honest face of some kind. Most of the women kept their heads down and no one would speak. Reaching for the woman's face he turned it so that the nurses could see. "This woman was struck just recently." It was red and swollen without signs of advanced bruising. She was not on the battlefield and he knew that. Letting her face go he pointed to a quiet and yet confident looking woman. "You tell me what happened."

Face darkening he listened to her report. "Would be able to identify the man if you saw him?" Calling for the infirmary guards he had her examine them all. If it was not one of these men then he would have no way knowing who had done it. Still he wanted to know because it was not in his order to cause violence in the city.

 

[Empress]

The woman was able to identify him, and as soon as she saw the guard, she pointed right at him. It may have been a little naive of her to do, some would say, but Serena understood why she was doing it. With a new ruler at hand, it was best to be on his good side, and besides; if he did sympathize with the people then there would be no reason to disallow him to help.

The accused - and the guilty - simply laughed it off, his face still red from the instance. "You take the word of a commoner rather than that of your soldiers?!" The room was quiet, except for the guard's voice. Clearly, everyone was afraid of him, of the entire situation. "They are simply using your kindness, my Lord. She probably got that bruise from someone else, with a face like that it isn't hard to attract a few beatings in occasion," he admitted, and Serena felt her stomach turn. What a disgusting, cowardly man. As if to defy him, she got up and walked past, piercing his eyes with her own, only to stop at the crying woman with the bruise.

She worked around with a few jars and liquids, mixing something in a mortar with the aid of a pestle. In the background, the woman who had pointed out the culprit was now explaining that she was, in fact, not lying, and then encouraging the rest of the witnesses to stand up to this man. But none did. They were either too afraid or too insecure, but without turning away from the mixture, Serena spoke. "She's speaking the truth." A pause, while she was measuring how much of this salve was needed for the woman's skin to recover as soon as possible.

"He came in here and pushed our current patients out of bed. By all means, I won't be one to defy the orders of our new Lord, so we would have seen to the needs of your soldiers. But we didn't get a chance to do so." Serena turned around, bringing the mortar to the woman, lowering herself before her, only to dip a fingertip in the salve, gently padding it onto the bruise. Then she continued to speak. "This woman was brave enough to stand up to your soldier, but it's safe to say that he forced her into silence." She barely got to finish her sentence, before the guard took a step. "That's outrageous! Why protect a whore and her bastard child? My Lord, they are clearly making this up."

His words only fueled Serena's anger, but she continued to make sure the bruise was covered with a thick layer of the healing cream, handing her a small jar containing the same salve, completely ignoring the man behind her. "Rub this onto your bruise twice a day. And say hello to your husband, I know he's working hard at the harbor."

 

[Silence]

As with most of these kinds of situations it got sticky. The guard wasn't interested in taking the blame and the people seemed to think that they had done what was right. In fact the more that he heard the higher his temper rose. Finally he held a hand up and the guard quit all his talking. Everything came to a pause. "I've had enough. Both sides have said their part." At this point it was not beneficial to offer any kind of remedy to the situation. However, he couldn't allow for it to slide. Perhaps there had been a kind of violation of his orders.

Marcellus tried to give the benefit of the doubt to both parties and it was not working. All the villagers were naturally going to back one another up and then the immediate peers of the man were going to agree with him. The most important was to appear impartial. Any decision made at this point would easily defy the nature of justice. "This matter will be decided later." Quickly turning on his heel he started for the entry of the tent and forgot to duck. Staggering slightly, he growled a bit and backed up so that he could duck and proceed on his way back to the newly acquired castle. It would operate as his headquarters for now. To be sure there were no further issues at the makeshift sick ward he had the soldier transferred to watching the store house. Anyone entering without a seal of permission could be turned away and with violence if necessary. That location was closer to a few more officers. It would ensure that if the soldier was trouble he wouldn't dare create anymore.

Shortly after he reached his castle he scanned the main hall. Taking a seat near the fire he beckoned for a man to come to his side. "I want the officer that oversaw the transportation of the wounded." All of his officers were trusted men and Marcellus felt more comfortable taking his word for the situation.

Eventually the officer arrived and saluted. Marcellus rose from his seat and walked over to the man. "Villagers reported violence when one of the soldiers announced the arrival of the wounded. He hit a man as they claim and the soldier denies it." The denial had been quite heavy and wreaked of guilt because of his pathetic reasons for the bruise that the woman bore. With a short description of the man he then continued, "Have you noticed the man to be particularly violent or were there any problems transferring the men to the hospital?"

The officer did not want to admit that he had lost control of a man. Lying was far more grievous. Even to one's detriment the truth was the better route. Nervously he nodded. "Aye, there is a soldier like that. He is violent and it is not the first time that he has disobeyed a simple order. I'll have him moved to cooking with the boys." It was one place that he was sure the man would not come into contact with regular citizens.

Marcellus admired the truth offered and the solution. "So be it. You make sure he doesn't cause problems again. I can't have my men disobeying my orders. If they think that one can do as he pleases then what will stop the rest?" Though he had not made a show of it the lord felt that justice had been served as best it might. The villagers may think that he favored his soldier's tale but, his men knew that a fitting punishment was in store. A man that could not control his temper needed to be with boys that travelled with the army, boys that were still learning to become soldiers. Men without control of themselves were hardly better than children.

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For the first week it was all quiet in the village. Marcellus made his rounds to see to it that his men were at their stations and managing them without causing any undue hardship to the citizens. The people needed to see that being conquered made no difference at all. They were proving to be a stiff necked people. No matter that they had been left their homes and enough food to eat for the winter they glowered at him and the soldiers. Some spat when soldiers walked by and others sneered. It was just a part of the phase of conquering. By spring they would no longer consider him a foreign ruler.